AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A PENNSYLVANIAN
upon this address and attitude over the country. So far as I know, all of these men had burned their bridges and would have voted against Grant had he been nominated for a third term. In a second circular the demands of the League were expressed in the phrase, “No third term, a party without a master, and a candidate without a stain”—language due to MacVeagh. In a third circular the name of McManes of Philadelphia was mentioned in association with that of Tweed of New York, who not long before had been sent to prison.
James McManes, a thrifty, capable and vigorous Irishman, who accumulated a large fortune in street railways, was then at the head of the Republican organization in Philadelphia. He was an absolute autocrat, who tolerated no difference in opinion in the ranks. The use of the word “boss,” which has since become so prevalent in America, began with this circular and was the discovery of Henry C. Lea. McManes was the leading character in a book entitled Solid for Mulhooly, which was widely read and ran through several editions. McManes, who naturally did not appreciate this notoriety, meeting with E. Dunbar Lockwood at The Union League a few days after the issue of the circular, proceeded to give him a thrashing, upon the theory that he was the author. It was a case, however, of vicarious sacrifice. The circular was written by Henry C. Lea, with some emendations by me, and the reference to McManes was the work of Lea.
In May, a few weeks later, the League, becoming more decided as time passed, determined that they “will not vote under any circumstances for General Grant, but will support any other nominee of the convention,” and that a delegation should be sent to the nominating convention at Chicago. Those selected were Wharton Barker, Wayne MacVeagh, T. Morris Perot, John McLaughlin, Edward R. Wood, Stuart Wood, Hampton L. Carson, Samuel W. Pennypacker, Henry Reed and Rudolph Blankenburg. Though they were
