Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Three).djvu/500

 The development of the Grant “boom” naturally aroused active opposition on the part of friends of Blaine and other aspirants for the nomination. It also served to revive and reunite many of the former Independents, to whom the Secretary of the Interior was from the outset the particular counselor and friend. Both the pressure of his official duties and his sense of official propriety forbade him to take open and ostentatious part in the conflict; but his influence was none the less intimate and real. Through him was conveyed to Hayes the urgent but futile demands of Missouri and Pennsylvania Independents that the renunciation of a second term should be canceled, lest detriment should come to the Republic. To Schurz was communicated every shifting phase of the great battle which MacVeagh, Barker, Lea and the other Philadelphia reformers fought against the Cameron domination. He debated often and anxiously with various Independents the expediency of John Sherman's candidacy, sharing with others the conviction that while Sherman might serve a useful purpose in defeating the nomination of Grant, he promised little else in the promotion of reform. Schurz, finally, was kept fully aware of the widespread preference for Garfield among all shades of anti-Grant Republicans, and probably felt that his nomination would be as much of a mercy as the circumstances would permit. In the spring of 1880, as the date for the Republican convention approached, the probability of Grant's nomination became very strong. Lack of agreement among the opponents of the third term was largely responsible for the situation. Before this alarming prospect the Independents, with Secretary Schurz constant in urging and advice, organized a demonstration on the lines that had been followed in 1872 and 1876. A