Any measure of which he was the author would
be likely to accomplish its purpose, and to stand fire.
David Davis, who was President pro tempore of the Senate,
used to say he could always compel Edmunds to vote in the
negative on any question by putting the question in the old
New England fashion, "Contrary-minded will say no," for Edmunds
was always contrary-minded. I once told him, borrowing a
saying of an Englishman, that if George Edmunds were the only
man in the world, George would object to everything Edmunds
proposed.
The morning after the Massachusetts Convention of 1880, when
the convention passed resolutions, proposing Edmunds as a
candidate for the Presidency, and placing me first on the
delegation at large, Edmunds came to me and said, I have no
doubt with absolute sincerity: "I have seen the proceedings
of your convention yesterday. If I know myself, I have no
desire to be President of the United States. I do not think
I am fit for it, and if I were, I should much prefer my present
service as Senator. I would say so in a public letter, but
I suppose the chances of my nomination are so slight that
it might seem ridiculous to decline.
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