tion in making the existence of
the administration possible.

"Can you, Mr. President, afford to do such a thing as this?" asked Mr.
Blaine.

To which the President gave a negative answer. Perhaps it did not occur
to Mr. Blaine at that time that, while the action of Judge Robertson
may have made the nomination of Mr. Garfield possible, the subsequent
action of Senator Conkling made his election possible. But,
notwithstanding this, the President decided that Judge Robertson should
have the office for which he was an applicant.

As previously stated, however, the President was anxious to avoid a
break with Senator Conkling. To get the Senator to consent to the
appointment of Judge Robertson was the task the President had before
him. With that end in view the President invited Mr. Conkling to a
private conference, at which he expressed a willingness to allow the New
York Senator to name every important Federal officer in New York except
the Collector of the Port, if he would consent to the appointment of
Judge Robertson to that office. But the only concession Senator Conkling
was willing to make was to give his consent to the appointment of Judge
Robertson to any position in the foreign service. This was not
satisfactory, hence the conference was a failure. The President was thus
placed in a very disagreeable dilemma, being thus forced, very much
against his inclination, to take a decided stand in a very unpleasant
controversy. He was thus forced to choose between Mr. Blaine, his own
Secretary of State, on one side, and Senator Conkling on the other. To
one he felt that he was indebted for his nomination. To the other he
believed that his election was largely due. It was asserted by some who
were in a position to know that, if the President had taken sides with
Mr. Conkling, Mr. Blaine would have immediately tendered his
resignation, and thus would have severed his official connection with
the administration. While no intimation of this was made known to the
President, yet he no doubt believed, in consequence of the deep and
intense interest Mr. Blaine had shown in the matter, that such action on
his part, in the event of an adverse decision, was more than probable.
When the President saw that there was no escape,--that he was obliged to
take a decided stand one way or the other,--he decided to sustain the
contention of his Secretary of State. Consequently, after the fruitless
conference between the President and Senato