of the National Banking system is fully told. A chapter is devoted to the admission of West Virginia, and the final chapter contains an adequate statement of the relations of foreign governments to the United States during the war.

In the course of the volume, Mr. Blaine has often to present pictures of men prominent in national politics. within comparatively recent years. From certain of his estimates there must be many dissenters, but on the whole, they are conceived in a fairly impartial spirit, and are in the best taste. These few sentences upon Lincoln will be thought just :

"Mr. Lincoln united firmness and gentleness in a singular degree. He rarely spoke a harsh word. Ready to hear argument and always open to conviction, he adhered tenaciously to the conclusions which he had finally reached. Altogether modest, he had confidence. in himself, trusted to the reasoning of his own mind, believed in the correctness of his own judgment. Many of the popular conceptions concerning him are erroneous. No man was further than he from the easy, familiar, jocose character in which he is often painted. While he paid little attention to form or ceremony, he was not a man with whom liberties could be taken. There was but one person in Illinois outside of his own household who ventured to address him by his first name. There was no one in Washington who ever attempted it. Appreciating wit and humor, he relished a good story, especially if it illustrated a truth or strengthened an argu

ment, and he had a vast fund of illustrative anecdote which he used with the happiest effect. But the long list of vulgar, salacious stories attributed to him were retailed only by those who never enjoyed the privilege of exchanging a word with him. His life was altogether a serious one-inspired by the noblest spirit, devoted to the highest aims. Humor was but an incident with him, a partial relief to the melancholy which tinged all his years.

"He presented an extraordinary combination of mental and moral qualities. As a statesman he had the loftiest ideal, and it fell to his lot to inaugurate measures which changed the fate of millions of living men, of tens of millions yet to be born. As a manager of political issues, and master of the art of presenting them, he has had no rival in this country unless one be found in Jefferson. The complete discomfiture of his most formidable assailants in 1863, especially of those who sought to prejudice him before the people on account of the arrest of Vallandigham, cannot easily be paralleled for shrewdness of treatment and for keen appreciation of the reactionary influences which are certain to control public opinion. Mr. Van Buren stands without rival in the use of partisan tactics. He operated altogether on men, and believed in self-interest as the main spring of human action. Mr. Lincoln's ability was of a far higher and broader character. There was never the slightest lack of candor or fairness in his methods. He sought to control men through their reason and their

conscience. The only art he employed was that of presenting his views so convincingly as to force conviction on the minds of his hearer and his readers. . . .”

The volume has been extremely well received, both in the United States and in England, and the publication of its successor, upon which Mr. Blaine is reported to be now engaged, will be looked forward to with interest.

XIX.

THE NOMINATION.

THE story of the convention of 1884 is fresh in all minds; but for the completeness of this history it is proper to set it briefly down here. The calumny which had assailed Mr. Blaine before the meeting of the conventions of 1876 and 1880, was not wanting as a precursor of this; but it had become rather stale, and was taken up spiritlessly by all but one or two newspapers. He had twice nearly attained the nomination in spite of it ; this time he was nominated in spite of it. The best answer that could be given to it, save one, was given when 541 Republicans, chosen as representatives of their party, pronounced for him as the party standardbearer. No answer but his election could be more complete.

The usual time was consumed in organizing the convention, although there were no such differences to adjust as in 1880. The Mahone delegates were admitted from Virginia, and Powell Clayton, the Blaine nominee for temporary chairman, was defeated by the combination of the supporters of the President and Senator Ed

munds. A colored man from Mississippi, named Lynch, was seated through their efforts. The permanent chairman reported by the committee was General John B. Henderson.

The nominating speeches were made on Friday, June 5th. Augustus Brandagee, of Connecticut, nominated General Hawley; Senator Cullom, of Illinois, named General Logan; Martin I. Townsend, of New York, Arthur; Judge Foraker, of Ohio, Senator Sherman; and ex-Governor Long, of Massachusetts, the name of Senator Edmunds. The speech in which Judge West, of Ohio, nominated Mr. Blaine was a most fortunate and brilliant presentation of the history and character of the man who became the nominee of the convention.

"When 'Maine' was spoken by the deep-voiced secretary," says a newspaper account, "there was a sudden explosion, and in a twinkling the convention was a scene of the wildest enthusiasm and excitement. Whole delegations mounted their chairs and led the cheering, which instantly spread to the stage and galleries and deepened into a roar fully as deep and deafening as the voice of Niagara. The scene was indescribable. The air quiv

ered, the gas-lights trembled, and the walls fairly shook ; the flags were stripped from the gallery and stage and frantically waved, while hats, umbrellas, handkerchiefs, and other personal belongings were tossed to and fro like bubbles over the great dancing sea of human heads. For a quarter of an hour the tumult lasted, and it only ceased when people had exhausted themselves."