is point to the Hon. Thomas L. James, the
Postmaster-General in Garfield's cabinet, between Harrisburg and
Chicago. Mr. Blaine regarded beating Grant at Chicago as no loss to
the General and no reflection on him, but rather as the best thing for
him; and that the true policy and purpose was to beat Conkling, who
committed the error in strategy, however gallant the sentiment that
inspired him, of committing himself irretrievably to Grant--and though
the contested votes were all against him, he was unchangeable.
"No angle-worm nomination will take place to-day"--meaning nothing
feeble--was Mr. Conkling's oracular remark the morning of the day when
the Presidential destiny of the occasion was determined.

The drift toward Garfield was in so many ways announced before the
decisive hour that he could not be insensible of its existence, and he
was greatly disturbed. He said he would "rather be shot with musketry
than nominated" and have Sherman think he had been unfaithful to his
obligations as leader of the forces for him. That Senator Sherman was
offended is well known; but so far as he felt that Garfield had been
to blame, it was due to the gossip, widely disseminated, that Garfield
was personally concerned in working his own "boom." All that was well
threshed out long ago, and there is nothing tangible in it to-day.
The fact is, Garfield could not have worked a personal scheme. He must
have been defeated if he had tried it. A movement on his part of that
kind would have been fatal. On the other hand, if he had got up to
decline to be a candidate, it would have been easy to say that he
was making a nominating speech for himself. It was not particularly
difficult to call Garfield a "traitor," and the temptation to do
it was because he was so sensitive regarding that imputation in
politics--whatever hurts goes. He had no idea of concealing anything,
and told such queer stories as this:

The morning of his nomination--the fact that this was from Garfield
himself is certain--one of his relatives from Michigan saw him and
said: "Jim, you are going to be nominated to-day. I had a dream about
you last night, and thought I was in the hall and there was something
happening, I could not tell what, when suddenly on every side the
standards of the States [names of the States on staffs locating the
delegations] were pulled from their places, and men ran to where you
were sitting, and waved them over your head." Garfield stated that
t