would have attained the acme of his ambition in reaching the Presidency of the United States.  It was Mr. Blaine’s misfortune to have made an enemy of the one man who, by a stroke of destiny, was so situated as to make it possible for him to prevent the realization of Mr. Blaine’s life ambition.  It was due more to Mr. Conkling than to any other one man that Mr. Blaine was defeated for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1876,—­the year in which he could have been elected had he been nominated.

Mr. Conkling was too much of a party man to support the Democratic ticket under any circumstances, hence, in 1884, when Mr. Blaine was at length nominated for the Presidency, Mr. Conkling gave the ticket the benefit of his silence.  That silence proved to be fatal.  In consequence of Mr. Conkling’s silence and apparent indifference in 1884, Mr. Blaine lost New York, the pivotal State, and was defeated by Mr. Cleveland for the Presidency.  The falling off in the Republican vote in Mr. Conkling’s home county alone caused the loss of the State and of the Presidency of the United States to the Republican party.

The quarrel between Blaine and Conkling originated when both of them were members of the House of Representatives.  In a controversy that took place between them on the floor of the House Mr. Blaine referred to Mr. Conkling as the member from New York with the “turkey gobbler strut.”  That remark made the two men enemies for life.  That remark wounded Mr. Conkling’s pride; and he could never be induced to forgive the one who had so hurt him.

As a United States Senator Conkling was both felt and feared.  No Senator ever desired to get into a controversy with him, because he was not only a speaker of great power and eloquence, but as a debater he was cutting and scathing in his irony.  Senator Lamar, of Mississippi, who as an eloquent orator compared favorably with the best on both sides of the Chamber, had the misfortune to get into a controversy on one occasion with the distinguished New York Senator.  In repelling an accusation that the Senator from Mississippi had made against him, Mr. Conkling said:  “If it were not that this is the United States Senate I would characterize the member from Mississippi as a coward and a prevaricator.”

If those words had been uttered by any other Senator than Roscoe Conkling it is more than probable that he would have been severely reprimanded; no other Senator, however, cared to incur Conkling’s displeasure by becoming the author of a resolution for that purpose.

Senator John J. Ingalls, of Kansas, was the only other Senator that ever came near holding a similar position; for, while he was by no means the equal of Conkling, he was both eloquent and sarcastic.  For that reason Senators were not anxious to get into a controversy with him.  On one occasion it seemed that he came near getting into a dispute with Senator Manderson, of Nebraska.  While the Senator from Nebraska was