no less than a hundred thousand people from all parts of the State
gathered at Springfield to see him, and it would not do to disappoint
so vast a crowd. He finally consented to go, but was very ungracious
about it, telling us not to disturb him during the trip from La
Fayette to Springfield, and at once retired to his drawing-room.

We soon came to a city in Indiana where there was a large crowd to
greet him, and following his orders, the train did not stop. He
emerged from his drawing-room very angry because the train had not
been stopped when a crowd was waiting to hear him. Afterwards we
halted at almost every station on the line to Springfield, where
we did not arrive until almost dusk. Probably a hundred thousand
people had been gathered there during the day, and at least fifty
thousand waited until we arrived; but it was so dark that the
audience could scarcely see the speaker. He left for Chicago that
night, hurrying through that city; hence to Wisconsin, I believe,
making enemies rather than friends. He had gained the election by
his Western tour, but lost it during his stay in New York City.
"Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," the Delmonico dinner, the old row
with Conkling beginning in the Thirty-ninth Congress, caused his
defeat. I told him afterwards that if he had broken his leg in
Springfield and been compelled to remain as my guest there, he
would have been elected. He agreed with me that he would.

Notwithstanding his defeat, however, he continued as one of the
foremost leaders of the Republican party up to the time of his
death. He might have been nominated at the Chicago Convention,
when Mr. Harrison received the nomination the first time had he
not retired to Europe, apparently so disgusted at his own defeat
four years before that he had not the heart to make the race again.

I do not think Harrison ever did like Blaine, but he invited him
to become the Premier of his cabinet, a position which Mr. Blaine
had held for a few months under General Garfield. Harrison and
Blaine never got along. As I say elsewhere in these recollections,
Harrison seemed jealous of Blaine, and Blaine was not true to his
chief. Mr. Blaine sent for me one evening, and I called at his
house. He related to me with considerable feeling how the President
had treated both his family and himself. He urged me to become a
candidate for President, but I told him that I would not think of
doing so. I afterwards supporte