ing, disarmed
criticism by its wisdom and ability.

When a prospective candidate for re-election in 1884 the press of New
York, having solicited expressions of fitness from delegates to the last
National Convention, I was pleased with the opportunity to make this
small contribution.

Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 1, 1884.

Dear Sir:

"I but voice the sentiment of the country when I say that I consider the
Administration of President Arthur has been signalized by its justice,
eminent statesmanship and wise discretion."

Such was the tenor of mention, but much more pronounced, by men of the
party, and Mr. Arthur's nomination previous to the assembling of the
next Presidential Convention seemed a foregone conclusion.

Nothing I can write will fittingly describe the personnel of James G.
Blaine, who was to be the prime feature of the Convention on nomination
day. As a man in the field of statesmanship and in intensity of
devotion, he was more idolized than any since his prototype, Henry Clay.
With political erudition was blended an eloquence inspiring and
fascinating; a nobility of character often displayed as the champion of
the weak; a disputant adept in all the mazes of analysis, denunciation,
or sarcasm, he had created antipathy as bitter as his affections were
unyielding. While Speaker of the House, with his counterpart in
eloquence, Roscoe Conkling, he had many tilts. One of the most noted and
probably far-reaching in impeding his Presidential aspirations, was his
defense of General Fry, whom Conkling sought to have impeached, but who
was successfully vindicated and afterwards promoted by the War
Department. During the struggle Conkling hurled a javelin of taunt and
invective, incisive, but thought to be unjust, inducing a response said
to have been terrific in its onslaught, confounding the speaker and
raising excitement in the House to the highest pitch. I transcribe an
epitome of the speech, which will be seen to have bristled with galling
ridicule: "As to the gentleman's cruel sarcasm, I hope he will not be
too severe. The contempt of that large-minded gentleman is so wilting,
his haughty disdain, his grandiloquent swell, his majestic supereminent,
overpowering turkey-gobbler strut, has been so crushing to myself and
all the members of this House that I know it was an act of the greatest
temerity for me to enter upon a controversy with him." Then, quoting
ironically a newspaper compari