There had to be a break
somewhere--to Grant from Sherman and Blaine, or from him to them, or
a rush to Conkling, or to Garfield, whose conspicuity had constantly
suggested it; and Blaine resolved that the chance to rout the
third-termers was to sweep the convention by going for Garfield, and
overwhelming him with the rest, thus winning a double victory over
Conkling.
It is a fact, and the one that makes certain the proposition that
Sherman could not have been nominated, that the majority of the Blaine
men from New York, turned loose by breaking the unit rule--there were
nineteen of them--preferred Grant to Sherman. If the break by Blaine
from himself had been attempted, for Sherman, Grant would have been
nominated if one ballot had been decisive. But Blaine was able to
transfer every vote cast for him to Garfield, with the exception
of that of a colored delegate from Virginia; and this movement was
managed so as to overthrow all who strove to stand against it. Grant
was in the lead for thirty-four ballots, but on the thirty-fourth
there were seventeen votes for Garfield.
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