THE POLITICAL “ARMY OF SALVATION.”
PUCK, March 31st, 1880.
Loyalty and lack of moderation were equally marked as characteristic of the support which Mr. Roscoe Conkling gave to any cause that enlisted his sympathies. The hot, unreasoning, fanatical vehemence of the attempt which he made in 1880 to dragoon the Republican party into nominating General Grant for a third term undoubtedly made the third term idea far more unpopular than a more judicious advocacy might have made it. Mr. Conkling treated the question of General Grant’s nomination almost as though it were a matter of divine right; and although Mr. Conkling himself had a right to be considered honest in his enthusiasm, as much could not be said for the most of his active assistants in the management of the “Boom”—among whom were Ex-Secretaries Belknap and Robeson, two officials who had reflected anything but credit upon General Grant’s cabinet, Boss Shepherd, and other members of the ring that had been formed in Washington during the Ex-President’s second administration. The artist has drawn a parallel between the methods employed by the “Salvation Army,” which had invaded this country a little while before, and those of the “halcyon and vociferous” Mr. Conkling—to quote his own immortal phrase.