many of its members joined the Democrats. They were called by
their opponents "Mugwumps," and since they believed they were
acting for the best, they did not mind being called that or any
other name.

So many prominent and able Republicans joined the Mugwumps it is
sometimes forgotten that many more equally good and wise
Republicans refused to "bolt," but stayed with the party and voted
for Mr. Blaine. Either they did not at all believe the charges
which had been made against him--and it is as impossible now as it
was then to prove the charges--or else they thought that the
country would be far worse off with the Democratic party in power
than with the Republicans successful.

Mr. Roosevelt was disgusted with the result of the convention, but
did not believe that he was justified in leaving the party. He
therefore stayed in it, and supported Mr. Blaine.

The Democrats nominated the courageous Governor of New York,
Grover Cleveland. Both before and after this, he and Mr. Roosevelt
worked together for measures of good government, and respected
each other, while belonging to different parties. The presidential
election turned out to be close, and in the end several incidents
besides the split in the Republican party worked against Blaine.
He was narrowly defeated. The change of a few hundred votes in the
State of New York would have made Blaine the President. As in
later years large election frauds were discovered to have been
going on in New York, some people contend with good show of
reason, that Blaine and not Cleveland was really the choice of the
voters.