If it had gone on, New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, Iowa, California, and perhaps Missouri, would
have cast their votes unanimously for Allison, and his nomination
would have been sure. I think no other person ever came so
near the Presidency of the United States, and missed it.
The result was the nomination of Mr. Harrison. It was a nomination
quite agreeable to me. I had sat near him in the Senate for
six years, my seat only separated from his by that of John
Sherman, who, for a large part of the time, had been President
pro tempore. So Sherman's seat was not then occupied and
Harrison and I were next neighbors. I had become very intimate
with him, and had learned to respect him highly as a very
able, upright and wise man, although he developed, as President,
an ability which I think his most intimate friends had not
known before. Our relations then, and afterward, were exceedingly
cordial. He was a wise, pure, upright and able President,
and an eloquent orator, capable of uttering great truths in
a great way, and able to bring them home to the understanding
and conviction of his countrymen.
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