other Southern man
to run against Clayton. For that purpose a conference was
held;--composed of many of the active supporters of Arthur, Sherman, and
Edmunds,--to select the man to put up against Clayton.

I did not attend the conference. Senator Hoar suggested my name and
insisted that I was the man best fitted for the position. After a brief
discussion it was decided unanimously to select me. A committee was
appointed, of which ex-Governor Pinchback, of Louisiana, was chairman,
to wait on me and inform me of what had been done, and to insist upon my
acceptance of the distinguished honor which had thus been conferred upon
me. Another committee was appointed,--of which Hon. M.A. Hanna, of Ohio,
was chairman, to poll the Convention to find out the strength of the
movement. This committee subsequently reported that Clayton would be
defeated and Lynch elected by a majority of about thirty-five votes. For
two reasons I had some doubt about the propriety of allowing my name to
be thus used. First, I doubted the wisdom of the movement. It had been
the uniform custom to allow the National Committee to select the
temporary chairman of the Convention, and I was inclined to the opinion
that a departure from that custom might not be a wise step. Second, I
did not think it could possibly win. My opinion was that a number of
delegates that might otherwise vote for me could not be induced to vote
in favor of breaking what had been a custom since the organization of
the party.

I did not come to a definite decision until the morning of the day that
the Convention was to be organized. Just before that body was called to
order I decided to confer with Maj. William McKinley and Hon. M.A.
Hanna, of Ohio, and act upon their advice. McKinley was for Blaine and
Hanna was for Sherman, but my confidence in the two men was such that I
believed their advice would not be influenced by their personal
preference for the Presidential nomination. I did not know at that time
that Mr. Hanna had taken an active part in the deliberations of the
conference that resulted in my selection for temporary chairman of the
Convention. I first consulted Major McKinley. I had served with him in
Congress and had become very much attached to him. He frankly stated
that, since he was a Blaine man, he would be obliged to vote against me,
but he told me that this was an opportunity that comes to a man but once
in a lifetime.

"If you decline," he said, "the anti-Blai