"showed plainly that henceforth the young, vigorous, live men must rule. . . . It was a triumph not of gold but of intellect, against age and mediocrity."

1

While the Republican caucus was sitting, a similar meeting was held in another part of the Capitol building. The Democratic caucus was small and unenthusiastic. The form of nominating a Democratic Senatorial candidate was followed out. Mr. William Williams, of Erie, was chairman of the caucus. Mr. Henry C. Murphy, of Kings, was nominated by Mr. Jacobs of the same county. Mr. Develin insisted, in spite of the desire to make the meeting strictly harmonious, on nominating A. Oakey Hall, of New York, to show him the regard of the New York City members. An informal ballot gave Murphy twenty-five votes to twenty-one for Hall. The latter's name was then withdrawn and the nomination of Mr. Murphy made unanimous. A slight breeze was stirred up in the caucus over the question-what to do if the votes for Murphy were thrown out because he was at present a member of the State senate. This furnished a suitable vent for the feelings of a few strenuous members and then the question was withdrawn. Mr. Murphy appeared at once, and briefly but eloquently thanked the caucus for the honor.3

The Republican caucus elicited the usual rumors that large sums of money had been in evidence as an influence in the election. Yet we have Conkling's word to his wife that he had been elected honestly.

New York Tribune, Jan. 11, 1867.

'The Democrats were not to escape for this indiscretion. The Daily Democrat commented on the nomination of Mr. Murphy: "The Democrats have shown the hollowness of their regard for Constitutional restraints by voting for a candidate who as State Senator is confessedly ineligible and for whom all votes are void. They pretend to be the friends of the Constitution." Rochester Daily Democrat, Jan. 16, 1867.

'New York Herald, Jan. 11, 1867.

Great sums of money' are among the influences here. I have resolutely put down my foot upon the ground that no friend of mine, even without my knowledge, shall pay a cent, upon any pretext nor in any strait, come what will. If chosen, it will be by men of character, and if beaten, this will be my consolation.'

Conkling's rise had been meteoric. Andrew D. White states the reason which led him to advocate the candidacy of Roscoe Conkling.

Judge Bailey, of Oneida County, had called my attention to the claims of Mr. Roscoe Conkling. . . . He had, to be sure, run foul of Mr. Blaine . . . . and had received in return for what Mr. Blaine considered a display of offensive manners,' a very serious oratorical castigation; but he had just fought a good fight' which had drawn the attention of the whole state to him. He had shown himself equal to the emergency. . . . I had watched his course closely, and one thing especially wrought powerfully with me in his favor. The men who had opposed him were of the same sort with those who had opposed me; as I was proud of their opposition, I felt that he

1 Alfred R. Conkling, Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling, p. 287. "The gamblers say that I can have $200,000 here from New York in a moment if I choose, and that the members are fools to elect me without it."

4

2 Alfred R. Conkling, op. cit., p. 286.

Congressional Globe, 39th Cong., vol. iii, p. 2298.

Ibid., pp. 2298-9. On April 30, 1866.

'The anti-war Democrats, in conjunction with a number of disaffected Republicans in his district, combined to defeat Conkling's reelection to Congress. The New York Tribune gave him no effective support as was expected from the leading organ of the party. The reason appeared later, when it became known that Greeley was a candidate for the United States Senatorship. For a time it looked as if Conkling would be driven from public life. The whole number of votes cast in the district was 23,523, of which Conkling received 12,470 and Palmer V. Kellogg 11,053. Alfred R Conkling, op. cit. P. 281.

had a right to be so. The whole force of Tammany henchmen and canal contractors throughout the state honored us both with their enmity.'

While the more gallant of the Democratic Party congratulated the people on the fact that they would "now be heard in the United States Senate Chamber in a manner which will make the old state feel proud ", there were others of the Democratic faith not so generous. The World, rebutting the above statement of Andrew D. White, charged that the combination which had elected Conkling "was made up of the canal men, canal commissioners, the Oneida and Syracuse interests" and it also hinted at rumors of impeachment of the "Canal Ring officials with an exhibition of dirty linen on all sides, which will amuse if not interest the Democracy ".3 The World foresaw the formation of a ring" in the Republican Party under Conkling, which would lead to the party's disruption, and the return of the Democrats to power-hence it was jubilant.*

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During the course of the Senatorial campaign, the Tribune was strangely silent on the matter of the United States Senatorship until the morning of January 11, 1867, when it gave a full and fair account of the previous evening. It spoke of Conkling as "a most effective debater and canvasser, an unflinching Republican and a most devoted and efficient champion of Protection to Home Industry ".*

1 Autobiography of Andrew D. White, vol. i, p. 135. 'Cf., excerpts in Alfred R. Conkling, op. cit., p. 289.

New York World, Jan. 12, 1867.

'Another charge of the World was that it had been agreed with Ezra Cornell, of Tompkins County, that he should be the next Republican nominee for Governor. Cornell during the Senatorial canvass, the World claimed, subscribed $50,000 to Dana's paper in New York.

New York Tribune, Jan. 11, 1867.

The editorial comment of the New York Herald on the Senatorial choice was noticeable by its complete absence.

Harper's Weekly briefly commented-" Mr. Thurlow Weed has joined the Manhattan Club, and Mr. Roscoe Conkling is elected United States Senator ". The tribute of Harper's Weekly to Conkling was whole souled.

In Roscoe Conkling the State of New York has a Senator who truly represents the spirit and tendency of her regenerated political principle and policy. Young, fearless, devoted, able: of the profoundest convictions: of much experience acquired in critical and stormy times: with all his brilliant powers disciplined and available, the country no less than the state will find him a man equal to the hour.'

Of an entirely different hue was the estimate of Conkling given by the World. "He has a fair intellect, a bumptious kind of self-importance, and a restless desire to make a figure, which will perpetually spur him on to make a display of his talents such as they are. That his radicalism is a little deeper seated than that of Mr. Harris, is of no consequence, since he does not carry guns enough to be a party chief". The predictions of the World proved true so far as it concerned national leadership. It is doubtless.

1 Harper's Weekly, Jan. 26, 1867, p. 50.

Ibid.

New York World, Jan. 10, 1867.

The Diary of Gideon Welles (Boston, 1911), vol. iii, p. 16. Gideon Welles in his estimate of Conkling spoke of him as vain, “with touches of spread eagle eloquence, and a good deal of impetuous ardor." Speaking of Conkling, George F. Hoar says: "He was an able man, though not superior in his ability to some of his associates... He was undoubtedly a strong man. . . . But he was unfit to be the leader of a great party, and was sure, if he were trusted with power, to bring it to destruction. He was possessed of an inordinate vanity. He was unrelenting in his enmities and at any time was willing to sacrifice to them his party and the interests of the

1

no more than fair to say that had Conkling not prematurely severed his close relations with national affairs, his influence over the Republican Party would have been greater.

2

The editorial interest of the State journals in the outcome of the Senatorial contest at Albany was not so marked as that of the New York City papers. The Rochester Daily Democrat appears to have believed that Mr. Davis had not sanctioned the use of his name, which was utilized for commercial purposes to aid Senator Harris. "A Radical through and through ", Conkling gave the Radicals of the State full satisfaction. The Utica Morning Herald, Conkling's home paper, emphasized the point that the election had been won by fair means. The few State journals of Democratic alliance which noticed Conkling's election editorially

country." Autobiography of Seventy Years (New York, 1903), vol. ii, p. 55. Col. A. K. McClure, Recollections of Half a Century (Salem, Mass., 1902), p. 110, reporting his conversation with Conkling after the latter had been defeated in his endeavor to nominate Grant over Blaine, Sherman and Garfield in 1880, says of him: "Conkling, imperious as a Roman Emperor, could not accommodate himself to defeat, and when I spoke to him later in the evening about the political situation, and what New York would be likely to do as to the VicePresidency, his answer was quite too sulphurous to be recorded in the public press."

An extremely interesting and full account of the incidents attending Conkling's fall may be found in: Alexander, A Political History of the State of New York, vol. iii, pp. 428-82.

Rochester Daily Democrat, Jan. 8, 1867.

Ogdensburg Daily Journal, Jan. 14, 1867.

The following Radical Journals especially endorsed Conkling: Buffalo Commercial, Buffalo Advertiser, Buffalo Express, Binghamton Daily Republican, Syracuse Daily Journal, Syracuse Daily Standard, Ogdensburg Daily Journal, Utica Morning Herald, Auburn Advertiser, Albany Evening Journal (see, Jan. 11, 1867), Albany Express, and Rochester Daily Democrat.

5 Utica Morning Herald, Jan. 11, 1867.