Blaine for the
Presidency. I thought it desirable for the interest of the
Republican Party that that breach should be healed and especially
desirable that the incoming administration, so beset with
difficulty, should have the powerful support of Mr. Blaine
and of those Republicans of whom he was the leader and favorite.
So I thought it best that he should be consulted in the matter
of the selection of a Cabinet officer from New England and
that I should keep aloof.
But the day after President Hayes's inauguration, rather
late in the afternoon, Mr. Blaine came into the Senate Chamber
and told me with some appearance of excitement that he thought
the President wanted to see the Massachusetts Senators. I
did not, however, act upon that message, and did not go to
the White House that day. I was at my room in the evening
when Senator Morrill of Vermont came and told me that President
Hayes wished him to inquire of me what Massachusetts man I
desired to have appointed to a place in the Cabinet. I told
Mr. Morrill that there were two gentlemen of great capacity
and high character, either of whom would make an excellent
Cabinet officer.
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