On July 2. 1874, the Ashtabula Sentinel carried the following announcement: “Hon. W. C. Howells left home for Quebec on last Thursday morning. He will enter immediately upon his duties as Consul.” At first glance, there seems to be little of importance in this editorial lead: but, in fact, it marked the end of an era. For the first time since 1840, it seemed, the influential editorial voice of William Cooper Howells would be missing in Ohio. As editor of the Scioto Gazette, he had first put William Henry Harrison's name “at the head” of the paper for nomination; his first number as editor of the Hamilton Intelligencer recounted the Columbus nominating convention; and he marked his first year as editor there with the official announcement of Harrison's election—“the crowning of that great struggle for right principles that has characterized the past year.”