ght of it a great deal." Then he
proceeded to relate from his point of view the state of the country and
the immediate situation. He spoke without reserve of his relations to
the nearest associated public men, of what were and what were not
his personal and party obligations, his attitude toward the political
questions of the moment, and ended by saying, "What do you make of all
this?"
"Mr. President," I replied, "you know that I am your friend, and as your
friend I tell you that if you go out of here the fourth of next March
placing your friend Taft in your place you will make a good third to
Washington and Lincoln; but if you allow these wild fellows willy-nilly
to induce you, in spite of your declaration, to accept the nomination,
substantially for a third term, all issues will be merged in that issue,
and in my judgment you will not carry a state in the Union."
As if much impressed and with a show of feeling he said: "It may be
so. At any rate I will not do it. If the convention nominates me I will
promptly send my declination. If it nominates me and adjourns I will
call it together again and it will have to name somebody else."
As an illustration of the implacability which pursued him I may mention
that among many leading Republicans to whom I related the incident
most of them discredited his sincerity, one of them--a man of national
importance--expressing the opinion that all along he was artfully
playing for the nomination. This I do not believe. Perhaps he was never
quite fixed in his mind. The presidency is a wondrous lure. Once out of
the White House--what else and what----?
II
Upon his return from one of his several foreign journeys a party of some
hundred or more of his immediate personal friends gave him a private
dinner at a famous uptown restaurant. I was placed next him at table. It
goes without saying that we had all sorts of a good time--he Caesar and I
Brutus--the prevailing joke the entente between the two.
"I think," he began his very happy speech, "that I am the bravest man
that ever lived, for here I have been sitting three hours by the side of
Brutus--have repeatedly seen him clutch his knife--without the blink of
an eye or the turn of a feature."
To which in response when my turn came I said: "You gentlemen seem to be
surprised that there should be so perfect an understanding between our
guest and myself. But there is nothing new or strange in that. It goes
back, indeed, to
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