LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 Hon. JAMES G. BLAINTt 
 
 "THE PLUMED KNIGHT" 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A FULL ACCOUNT OF HIS EARLY LIFE; HIS EDUCATION 
 AND CAREER AS A TEACHER; HIS BRILLIANT SER 
 VICES IN CONGRESS AND AS SPEAKER OF 
 THE HOUSE; HIS ABLE AND PATRI 
 OTIC RECORD IN THE SENATE 
 OK THE UNITRD STATES. 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 His Nomination for the Presidency; his Eminent 
 
 Services as Secretary of State ; his 
 
 Sickness and Death. 
 
 The Whole forming a Complete and 
 Graphic Account of 
 
 AMERICA S MOST DISTINGUISHED STATESMAN 
 BY HENRY DAVENPORT NORTHROP, D.D. 
 
 Author of " Story of the New World," Etc. 
 
 EMBELLISHED WITH SUPERB PHOTOTYPE ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 M. A. WINTER & CO., 
 
 RICHMOND. VA 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1893 
 
 LOAN STACK 
 
 GIFT 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 FOR many years the name of James Gillespie Elaine 
 has had a remarkable magnetism, and has awak 
 ened the greatest enthusiasm. No American states 
 man ever filled the hearts of the people more com 
 pletely than he did. 
 
 The martyrdom of Lincoln and Garfield won for 
 them a peculiar veneration, but Mr. Elaine, while liv 
 ing, gained the highest place in public esteem. He 
 was admired as the most brilliant statesman of his day. 
 He was loved for his warm and generous nature ; his 
 patriotism was so broad and bold that it won the ap 
 plause of his political opponents. He was followed 
 with the devotion and enthusiasm of the army that 
 bore the eagle of France when Napoleon marched to 
 his world-renowned victories, and even in defeat he 
 was worshiped as was the man of destiny after Mos 
 cow and Elba. 
 
 The complete and graphic story of his marvelous 
 career is written in this volume. The life and public 
 services of James G. Elaine are a part of our country s 
 most thrilling history, and this superb work is worthy 
 of the " Plumed Knight s " dazzling achievements. It 
 contains the fascinating story of the deeds of the most 
 renowned leader, orator and statesman of our time. 
 
 The work shows how an American lad, born and 
 
 (iu) 
 
 378 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 raised in a country town, secured a good education 
 and acquired habits of industry and self-reliance, 
 which were the ground-work of the great name he 
 was to make in after life. 
 
 How, by diligence, tact and faithfulness to duty, he 
 gained distinction as a teacher, and, by masterly abil 
 ity and untiring industry, achieved the highest success 
 as an editor and leader of public opinion. 
 
 How he was elected to the Legislature of his 
 adopted State, took high rank among his colleagues, 
 was chosen to be Speaker of the House, and showed 
 all the commanding abilities of oratory and statesman 
 ship which afterward made him the most majestic 
 figure in Congress. 
 
 How he was elected a Member of Congress, con 
 tinued fourteen years in this position, and during six 
 years of the period was Speaker of the House, taking 
 highest rank among the distinguished statesmen who 
 have occupied the Speaker s chair. 
 
 How he received the Portfolio of Secretary of State 
 in President Garfield s Cabinet, and upon the death 
 of the President delivered a magnificent eulogy upon 
 him before both houses of Congress. 
 
 How he was honored with the nomination for the 
 Presidency, became Secretary of State in President 
 Harrison s Cabinet, vigorously defended American 
 rights in the fisheries disputes with England, con 
 ducted the Pan-American Conference, and secured 
 the grand results of Reciprocity and commercial rela 
 tions with the South American nations. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Early Life of the Great American Statesman . . .17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Young Blame as a Student and Teacher . . . 34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Editor and Political Leader ...... ,54 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Blaine a Member of the State Legislature 69 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 v 
 First Term in Congress ...... , 88 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Second Term in Congress ........ 101 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Third Term in Congress ........ 120 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives . . . . 132 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Famous Mulligan Letters ...... .154 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 " The Plumed Knight " and the Presidency . . .185 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 Blaine in the United States Senate ..... 200 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Blaine as Secretary of State ....... 240 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Eulogy of James A. Garfield . . . ( . . . . *79 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 National Convention of 1884 at Chicago .\ . . . 316 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Enthusiasm for the " Plumed Knight " . \ . . . 33 2 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Blaine Nominated . . . . . . c4 347 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Accepts the Nomination . . . \ -379 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 The Great Campaign of 1884 . . . . . .409 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Again Secretary of State . 4*4 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Striking Characteristics of the Man . . . . .451 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 James G. Blaine 469 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 Blaine as a Man Among Men 477 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Home Life and Personal Traits 493 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Reminiscences of the " Plumed Knight " . . . .521 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 In the Valley of Death 537 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 The Closing Scenes 549 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Last Honors to the Dead Statesman . . . . 5^5 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 y Tributes to the Great Leader ... .5*9 
 

 
 JOSEPH R. HAWLEY 
 

 JOHN SHERMAN. 
 
LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 Hon. James G. Blaine. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Early Life of the Great American Statesman. 
 
 HIGH on the roll of America s illustrious sons 
 stands the name of James Gillespie Blaine. As a 
 statesman he was wise and far-seeing. As an orator 
 he was magnetic and persuasive. As a citizen he 
 was public-spirited, faithful to his convictions and 
 principles, and was respected and honored by his 
 countrymen. " Death loves a shining mark," and has 
 pierced with his unerring dart the most distinguished 
 statesman of his time. 
 
 The annals of our country, rich in the immortal 
 names of patriots and heroes, contain no brighter 
 page than that which relates the history of the great 
 chief who has fallen. He was born to be a ruler 
 among men. His public career was long and bril 
 liant; his eminent services to his country have placed 
 him in the front rank of those whom the nation de 
 lights to honor ; his eulogy is written in the hearts of 
 the American people, and his name is wreathed with 
 perennial fame. 
 
 2 (17) 
 
18 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Sympathetic in his nature, broad in his views, com 
 manding- in his personal power, he was greater than 
 any political party, and possessed the grandeur of a 
 true and lofty manhood. History is already em 
 balming his illustrious deeds, and millions of his 
 countrymen point with pride to his magnificent career. 
 The story of his life should quicken the pulses of 
 patriotism and inspire the young men of the nation 
 with noble purposes and resolves. 
 
 ELAINE S ANCESTRY. 
 
 James Gillespie Elaine was born January 31, 1830, 
 in Union township, Washington county, Pennsylvania. 
 He came from noted Scotch-Irish stock, his ancestors 
 having been among the pioneers who a century and 
 a half ago ascended the great limestone valley in 
 which Carlisle is situated, and founded that thriving 
 town. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s great-grandfather, Colonel Ephraim 
 Elaine, lived here for many years. This officer was 
 originally a colonel of the Pennsylvania line, but 
 during the last four years of the Revolutionary war 
 he was Commissary-General of the Northern Depart 
 ment, and during the terrible winter at Valley Forge 
 did his best to keep the wolf of famine and destitution 
 from the American camp. 
 
 " In this great field of patriotic duty," writes one of his 
 biographers, " Colonel Elaine won a splendid reputa 
 tion. Through himself and immediate friends he was 
 able, at different^times, when the Continental treasury 
 was empty, to advance large amounts of money toward 
 
20 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 purchasing supplies for the army; and during the 
 terrible winter at Valley Forge, Washington attributed 
 the preservation of his troops from absolute starva 
 tion to the heroic and self-sacrificing efforts of Colonel 
 Elaine. The high esteem with which Colonel Elaine 
 was held by Washington and his great patriotic 
 leaders in the Revolution was attested by numerous 
 letters from them, official and unofficial, still in the 
 possession of Colonel Elaine s descendants in this 
 State. 
 
 A LOCAL TRADITION. 
 
 " It is yet one of the pleasing local traditions of 
 Carlisle that in 1793, when the Whisky Insurrection 
 arose in the western counties, President Washington, 
 accompanied by his Secretaries of the Treasury and 
 War Departments, Hamilton and Knox, on their way 
 to the scene of the trouble, halted for many days at 
 Middlesex as the guests of Colonel Elaine, and while 
 there heard of the dispersion of the insurgents and 
 returned to Philadelphia. Their visit was the occasion 
 of the most lavish hospitality and old-fashioned merry 
 making, and was long remembered with pleasure by 
 the generation of Carlisle residents who have passed 
 away." 
 
 Colonel Ephraim Elaine s son, James Elaine, emi 
 grated from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, into the then wilder 
 ness of Southwestern Pennsylvania, and established a 
 country store at the mouth of Ten Mile Run, in Greene 
 county. He remained there but a short time, and 
 then moved to Brownsville with his wagon-load of 
 

 BLAINB, 
 

 JAMES O. ELAINE, JR 
 
ELAINE S EARLY LIFE. 21 
 
 goods, and opened a store which he kept for the rest 
 of his life. 
 
 James Elaine s son, " Squire Elaine," as he was 
 known in the community, was married to Miss Gilles- 
 pie, a devout member of the Roman Catholic Church, 
 but their seven children five boys and two girls- 
 adhered to the traditional faith of the Blaines. The 
 eldest of these five sons, James Gillespie Elaine, is 
 the subject of this volume. 
 
 RELIGIOUS FAITH OF THE ELAINE FAMILY. 
 
 Concerning the religious faith of his family and his 
 own attitude in religious matters, Mr. Elaine wrote 
 in later life March loth, 1876 as follows: 
 
 My ancestors on my father s side were, as you know, 
 always identified with the Presbyterian church, and 
 they were prominent and honored in the old colony 
 of Pennsylvania. But I will never consent to make 
 any public declaration upon the subject, and for two 
 reasons: first, because I abhor the introduction of 
 anything that looks like a religious test or qualification 
 for office in a republic where perfect freedom of con 
 science is the birthright of every citizen ; and, second, 
 because my mother was a devoted Catholic. I would 
 not for a thousand Presidencies speak a disrespectful 
 word of my mother s religion, and no pressure will 
 draw me into any avowal of hostility or unfriendliness 
 to Catholics, though I have never received, and do not 
 expect, any political support from them. 
 
 The Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine), about 
 this time, said on the same subject that " Mr. Elaine 
 
LIFE OF HON. JAMfcb vr. BLAINE. 
 
 has been for nearly twenty years a consistent member 
 of the Orthodox Congregational Church in this, the 
 city of his home. Orthodox Congregationalism in 
 Maine is precisely the same creed as Presbyterianism 
 in Pennsylvania." 
 
 ELAINE S BOYHOOD. 
 
 Speaking of Elaine s boyhood a well-known jour 
 nalist thus wrote of a visit to his early home in West 
 Brownsville, Pennsylvania : 
 
 I stood beside two old graves to-day in this village, 
 that are in the shadow of the little church that so 
 quickly recalled to me Longfellow s beautiful lines. 
 The marble that marked them was much newer than 
 the mounds and the surroundings impressed me with 
 the thought that a dutiful and reverent son had years 
 after, when means and opportunity came that were 
 wanting when death called father and mother away, 
 placed a fitting monument to mark the spot where 
 they slept. It is a plain, unpretentious stone that 
 marks these graves, and it was the names only that 
 attracted my attention. They were those of Ephraim 
 L. Elaine and Maria Gillespie Elaine. 
 
 "Who were these two people in life?" I asked of 
 an old gentleman, who had wandered along with me 
 to this quiet city where the dead sleep. 
 
 " Why, they were the father and mother of James 
 G. Elaine. I knew them both well. Eph Elaine and 
 I went to school together. He was one of the founders 
 of this town, and was squire here for many a year. 
 He was elected prothonotary of the county in 1842, 
 
ELAINE S EARLY LIFE. 
 
 and moved to Washington, the county-seat. He mar 
 ried Maria, a daughter of old Neal Gillespie, the 
 smartest man in this whole section, and from his 
 people James Gillespie Elaine derives his middle 
 name. 
 
 A REMARKABLE FAMILY. 
 
 " The Gillespies were among the most prominent 
 families in the State. The seal of nature s nobility was 
 stamped upon them, one and all. The men were brave 
 and stalwart; as strong in character, too, as they were 
 stout of limb. The women were very handsome, and 
 carried themselves as proudly as though the blood of 
 a hundred earls were coursing through their veins. 
 The beauty of old Mrs. Elaine, James mother, passed 
 into a proverb. Even in her decrepit age she pre 
 served much of her early attractiveness, and her eye 
 was like a hawk s, as clear and flashing then as in the 
 days of her budding womanhood. This was a pecu 
 liarity of her family, and she transmitted it to all her 
 children. 
 
 "The Gillespies were ardent, intense Catholics, and 
 made their religion the leading feature of their lives. 
 Neal Gillespie owned a good deal of land about here, 
 and Eph Elaine built the brick house you see yonder 
 on a portion of it, after his marriage with Miss Gilles 
 pie. There their first child, James, was born in 1830. 
 
 STORY OF THE BOY. 
 
 " I remember him very well when he was a lad and 
 used to paddle about on the river and make mud 
 pies along its banks. He was a bright lad. 
 
24 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 " I remember one little story about him, which I 
 often heard in those days, and which is interesting as 
 showing how truly, in his case, the child was father to 
 the man. When he was but a little toddler, so to 
 speak, some laborers were engaged digging a well on 
 his father s premises. The future statesman was 
 caught one morning peering down into the excavation, 
 and one of the men, with the idea of frightening him 
 and thus preventing him from again putting himself 
 in danger, thrust his shovel toward him, and made all 
 sorts of ugly faces. 
 
 "Jim ran away, but only to nurse his anger and 
 await an opportunity for revenge. Venturing to the 
 well a day or two after he had been driven away, he 
 found the men working away at the bottom. Im 
 proving the opportunity, he seized a clod of earth and 
 hurled it with all his little might full at the head of his 
 unsuspecting enemy, with the consolatory remark, 
 There, take that. Clod followed clod in fast 
 succession, with accompanying expletives, until the 
 men were fairly beside themselves with rage and with 
 the fear that the desperate child might take it into his 
 head to use some of the stones lying about him as 
 messengers of wrath more effective than mere lumps 
 of earth. 
 
 " Their shouts, however, brought his mother to the 
 scene, and the little avenger was unceremoniously 
 hustled off to the house. That was the old blood assert 
 ing itself. A Gillespie or a Elaine never turned his 
 back upon friend or foe. 
 
ELAINE S EARLY LIFE. 25 
 
 A BOAT WITH A FAMOUS NAME. 
 
 " That s the new packet James G. Elaine that 
 runs from here to Pittsburg. The two people who 
 sleep in this graveyard little thought when they died 
 that they d have a son big enough to have a packet 
 named for him. They died when Jim was young, and 
 they didn t leave anything for him to start with either. 
 
 " Eph Elaine was a rich man once. His grandfather 
 left him some fifty thousand dollars, but he spent it 
 having a good time. He was not a money-saver, but 
 believed in enjoying the world as he lived. He used 
 to drive fine horses, and drove em tandem, too. Old 
 Neal Gillespie used to call him My-gig-and-tandem 
 son-in-law. The Gillespies wasn t so slow, either, 
 but Eph Elaine led em all in this country. It s no 
 wonder Jim Elaine is smart. He comes of good 
 stock on both sides. All the Gillespies were smart. 
 Neal Gillespie was the biggest-brained man in all this 
 country." 
 
 " Do the Blaines or any of the relatives own the 
 old homestead ? " 
 
 " No, indeed. It s long since passed into strange 
 hands. There was little of either the Elaine or the 
 Gillespie estate left when the settlement day came. 
 The children all had to beoqn new. None of either 
 
 o 
 
 family live about here now." 
 
 PROUD OF THE STATESMAN. 
 
 There is much that is strange in the story that the 
 old man told me, and much more that is interesting. 
 We finished the talk beside the restless waters of the 
 
26 LIFE OF HON JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Monongahela, near which Mr. Elaine was born, and 
 his family lived for years. The little brick house 
 doesn t stand more than forty rods from the river, and 
 the old path which leads from the doorway that Elaine 
 helped to make in childhood is still there. The best 
 boat on the river now bears his name, and the plain 
 people love to talk of his having been born in their 
 midst. 
 
 A WILD COUNTRY. 
 
 It is a queer section of country in which to have 
 found the homes of two such families as the Blaines 
 and the Giljespies. Both strong houses both fond 
 of the best things of this life. Both educated and 
 brainy. The Gillespie family was a rich and powerful 
 family in the region. The strength of mind and 
 character for which all the family were noted is still a 
 proverb in the region. The Monongahela river at 
 this point separates the two counties of Fayette and 
 Washington. Brownsville is on the Fayette side and 
 West Brownsville on the Washington side. They 
 are both quaint old towns, and wear the mark of many 
 years. I don t suppose there are 5000 people in both, 
 and the houses straggle along the banks of the river on 
 the lowlands, which are just high enough to keep them 
 out of the reach of the overflow. 
 
 This country was new I might say wild when 
 the Blaines and Gillespies came here. The rich 
 treasures of the Youghiogheny region were floated 
 down the Ohio river in rude keel boats, and the un 
 told wealth in the rueeed mountains was then un- 
 
ELAINE S EARLY LIFE. 27 
 
 known. Albert Gallatin used to live in this country 
 then, and his residence was but a few miles up the 
 river from this point. But mighty changes have taken 
 place since those days, when he left his impress upon 
 the finances and credit of this country so that it can 
 never be effaced. 
 
 There seems to have been good feeling from the 
 first between the Elaine and Gillespie families, and 
 there seems to have been a special care to intermingle 
 the family names as each son was born. The old 
 man whom I encountered in the first part of this 
 story told me that nearly every son in the Elaine 
 family, as in the Gillespies, wore the family name or 
 some part of his autograph. 
 
 The Gillespie family seemed to run more to girls 
 than boys, and it seemed to be their good fortune to 
 link their fortunes with strong men. The daughter 
 who was next in age to Maria, who married Ephraim 
 A. Elaine, was wedded to the famous Tom Ewing, of 
 Ohio, when he was a poor lawyer in Lancaster, Pa. 
 That s how he became an uncle of James G. Elaine, 
 and the names of Elaine and Ewing became joined. 
 It made a strong combination. 
 
 o 
 
 A KENTUCKY SCHOOL TEACHER. 
 
 There is a tradition here that when old Tom Ew 
 ing was Secretary of the Interior, Elaine applied to 
 him for a clerkship and the old man sent him to Ken 
 tucky to earn an honest living teaching school. This 
 association of the name of Ewing with that of Elaine 
 has given rise to the story that the Ewing family of 
 
28 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Ohio helped James G. Elaine to an education. I 
 might as well destroy this fiction by telling the facts. 
 
 A short drive brought rne to Washington, the 
 county-seat of this county, and one of the first men 
 I met was Major John H. Ewing, an old veteran past 
 fourscore years. 
 
 " I married the sister of Ephraim L. Elaine," he 
 said. " He and I went to school together over in yon 
 der college, and I knew him nearly all his life. He 
 was a leader in the mischief of the school, and fond of 
 all the o-ood things of this life. He was the hand- 
 
 O , c3 
 
 somest man I ever saw, and he had a wife that was a 
 match for him. She was one of the noblest women I 
 ever knew. She inherited all the sterling traits of 
 character and strength of mind for which the Gilles- 
 pies were noted. 
 
 " So, you see, Elaine sprang from the best of stock 
 on both sides. His father was Justice of the Peace 
 over in West Brownsville for a number of years, and 
 afterwards Prothonotary of the County. He was 
 elected in 1842, and came here to live. James G. was 
 only about twelve years old then, and almost every 
 middle-aged man you meet on the streets here re 
 members all about him." 
 
 INTERESTING LETTER. 
 
 A letter, written upon the occasion of the Washing 
 ton County Centennial, in September, 1881, reveals 
 Mr. Elaine s deep attachment for the place of his 
 birth, and his loyal interest and pride in its history. 
 We give the letter entire. 
 

 D. W VQQRHBES. 
 
1 
 
 WIT .LI AM P. FRYE 
 
ELAINE S EARLY LIFE. 29 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C, Sept. 5, 1881. 
 JOHN D. MCKENNAN : 
 
 Dear Sir, I had anticipated great pleasure in be 
 ing present at the centennial celebration of the erec 
 tion of Washington County, but the national sorrow 
 which shadows every household detains me here. 
 
 I shall perhaps never again have the opportunity of 
 seeing so many of the friends of my youth, and so 
 many of my blood and kindred, and you may well 
 conceive my disappointment is great 
 
 The strong attachment which I feel for the county, 
 the pride which I cherish in its traditions, and the high 
 estimate which I have always placed on the character 
 of its people, increase with years and reflection. The 
 pioneers were strong-hearted, God-fearing, resolute 
 men, wholly, or almost wholly, of Scotch or Scotch- 
 Irish descent. They were men who, according to 
 an inherited maxim, never turned their backs on a 
 friend or an enemy. 
 
 For twenty years, dating from the middle period of 
 the Revolution, the settlers were composed very largely 
 of men who had themselves served in the Continental 
 army, many of them as officers, and they imparted an 
 intense patriotism to the public sentiment. 
 
 A FOURTH-OF-JULY CELEBRATION. 
 
 It may be among the illusions of memory, but I 
 think I have nowhere else seen the Fourth of July and 
 Washington s Birthday celebrated with such zeal and 
 interest as in the gatherings I there attended. I re 
 call a great meeting of the people on the Fourth of 
 July, 1840, on^the border of the county, in Browns 
 ville, at which a considerable part of the procession 
 was composed of vehicles filled with Revolutionary 
 soldiers. I was but ten years old, and may possibly 
 
30 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 mistake, but I think there were more than two hun 
 dred of the grand old heroes. The modern cant 
 criticism which we sometimes hear about Washington 
 not being, after all, a very great man, would have 
 been dangerous talk on that day and in that assem 
 blage. 
 
 ~~* r=_L . ,r=3_ .-_ ^ _^.-_. --,_ ^ 
 
 
 CHURCH AT BROWNSVILLE, PA., 
 And Cemetery Where Elaine s Parents are Buried. 
 
 These pioneers placed a high value on education, 
 and while they were still on the frontier struggling 
 with its privations they established two excellent col 
 leges, long since prosperously united in one. It would 
 be impossible to overstate the beneficent and wide 
 spread influence which Washington and Jefferson Col 
 leges have exerted on the civilization of that great 
 
ELAINE S EARLY LIFE. 31 
 
 country which lies between the Alleghanies and the 
 Mississippi River. Their graduates have been prom 
 inent in the pulpit, at the bar, on the bench, and in the 
 high stations of public life. During my service of 
 eighteen years in Congress, I met a larger number of 
 the alumni of Washington and Jefferson than cf any 
 other single college in the Union. 
 
 GREAT EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 
 
 I make this statement from memory, but I feel as 
 sured that a close examination of the rolls of the two 
 Houses, from 1863 to 1881, would fully establish its 
 correctness. Not only were the two colleges founded 
 and well sustained, but the entire educational system 
 of the county, long before the school tax and public 
 schools, was comprehensive and thorough. I remem 
 ber that in my own boyhood there were ten or eleven 
 academies or select schools in the county, where lads 
 could be fitted for college. 
 
 In nearly every instance the Presbyterian pastor was 
 the principal teacher. Many who will be present at 
 your Centennial will recall the succession of well- 
 drilled students, who came, for so many years, from 
 the tuition of Dr. McCluskey, at West Alexander, 
 from Rev. John Stockton, at Cross Creek, from Rev. 
 John Eagleson, of Buffalo, and from others of like 
 worth and reputation. 
 
 A FAVORED COUNTY. 
 
 It was inevitable that a county thus peopled should 
 grow in strength, wisdom and wealth. Its sixty thou 
 sand inhabitants are favored far beyond the average 
 lot of man. They are blest with a fertile soil and 
 with a health-giving climate, which belongs to the 
 charmed latitude of the fortieth parallel, the middle 
 of the wheat and corn belt of the continent. Beyond 
 
32 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 this they enjoy the happy and ennobling influences of 
 scenery as grand and as beautiful as that which lures 
 tourists thousands of miles beyond the sea. 
 
 I have, myself, visited many of the celebrated spots 
 in Europe and in America, and I have nowhere wit 
 nessed a more attractive sight than was familiar to 
 my eyes, in boyhood, from the old Indian Hill Farm, 
 where I was born, and where my great-grandfather, 
 the elder Neal Gillespie, settled before the outbreak 
 of the Revolution. 
 
 The majestic sweep of the Monongahela through 
 the foot of the Alleghanies, with a chain of mountains, 
 but twenty miles distant, in full view, gave an impres 
 sion of beauty and sublimity which can never be 
 effaced. 
 
 I talk thus familiarly of localities and of childhood 
 incidents because your assemblage, though composed 
 of thousands, will, in effect, be a family reunion, where 
 the only thing in order will be tradition and recollec 
 tions, and personal history. Identified as I have been, 
 for twenty-eight years, with a great and noble people 
 in another section of the Union, I have never lost any 
 of my attachments for my native county and my native 
 State. The two feelings no more conflict than does 
 a man s love for his wife and his love for his mother. 
 
 Wherever I may be in life, or whatever my fortune, 
 the County of Washington, as it anciently was, taking 
 in all the State south and west of the Monongahela, 
 will be sacred in my memory. I shall always recall 
 with pride that my ancestry and kindred were, and 
 are, not inconspicuously connected with its history, 
 and that on either side of the beautiful river, in Prot 
 estant and Catholic cemeteries, five generations of 
 my own blood sleep in honored graves. Very sin 
 cerely yours, JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
ELAINE S EARLY LIFE. 33 
 
 In the little burying-ground of Brownsville, close to 
 the church, is a plain granite monument, erected by Mr. 
 Elaine, over the graves of his father and mother ; the 
 pedestal bears this inscription : 
 
 EPHRAIM LYON ELAINE, 
 Born Feb. 28, 1796. 
 Died June 28, 1850. 
 
 MARIA GILLESPIE, 
 
 WIFE OF 
 
 EPHRAIM LYON ELAINE, 
 Born May 22, 1801. 
 Died May 5, 1871. 
 
 Requiescat in Pace. 
 
 Below this in large letters is the word " Blaine." 
 3 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 Young Blaine as a Student and Teacher. 
 
 JAMES entered Washington College in 1843, being 
 then thirteen years of age, and became at once prom 
 inent as a scholar amoncr the two or three hundred 
 
 o 
 
 other lads from all parts of the country, and because 
 of his splendid physique he was also a leader in all 
 manly athletic sports. He was not a bookworm, or a 
 burner of midnight oil, but he was. a close student, and 
 possessed the happy faculty of assimilating knowledge 
 from books and tutors far more easily and quickly 
 than most of his fellows. In debating societies he 
 held his own well, and was conspicuous by his ability 
 to control and direct others. 
 
 In his classes he was always foremost as a scholar, 
 and personally very popular. To the new scholars 
 who entered in succeeding classes he was a hero 
 uniformly kind to them, ready to give assistance and 
 advice, and eager to make pleasant their path in col 
 lege life. His handsome person and neat attire; his 
 ready sympathy and prompt assistance ; his frank, 
 generous nature, and his brave, manly bearing, made 
 him the best known, the best loved, and the most 
 popular boy at college. He was the arbiter among 
 younger boys in all their disputes, and the authority 
 
 (34) 
 
STUDENT AND TEACHER. 35 
 
 with those of his own age on all questions. He was 
 always for the "under dog in the fight. 
 
 GRADUATES WITH HIGH HONOR. 
 
 And at the end of the usual four years course at 
 college he was graduated, in 1847, with tne most dis 
 tinguished honors of his class, and went forth into 
 practical life well fitted in acquirements and training 
 to deal with its problems, and bearing as a crown 
 of youthful honor the affection and esteem of all his 
 associates. 
 
 Mr. Gow, the editor of one of the papers in Wash 
 ington, Pa., who was Elaine s classmate, speaks thus 
 of his school-days : 
 
 Yes ; Elaine graduated in the class of 47, when he 
 was only seventeen years old. I graduated in the 
 same class. We were thrown a great deal together, 
 not only in school, but in society. He was a great 
 favorite in the best social circles in the town. He 
 had the most remarkable memory of any boy in 
 school, and could commit and retain his lessons with 
 out difficulty. He never demonstrated in his youth, 
 except by his wonderful memory, any of the great 
 powers as a debater and thinker that he has since 
 given evidence of. 
 
 When a man has filled so large a place in the pub 
 lic eye as Mr. Elaine has, his early life seems a great 
 way off. When you get where every other man you 
 meet can tell you all about it, then you seem to see it 
 in a different light, and it leaves a far different impres 
 sion upon your mind. Here, what seemed to be to 
 
36 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 you, when away, traditions far in the distant past, 
 appear like the recollections of yesterday. People 
 cannot only tell you of his father and his grand 
 father, but of almost every phase of his life from boy 
 hood up. 
 
 REMEMBERED IN HIS COUNTRY HOME. 
 
 The stories of his early struggles and triumphs are 
 as vivid as those of his later years, and his name is 
 closely associated with the lore of the country side. 
 He left here soon after he graduated, but how little 
 did he then think that his home would be made in the 
 Northland, and his fame and fortune won many miles 
 away from the quaint old town where he grew up. It 
 is a nice place for peace and rest. The people are 
 contented and happy with their splendid educational 
 institutions, their rich acres, and plenty of money. 
 He had close alliances here then that were likely to 
 bring him back to stay. 
 
 Almost his first occupation after graduating was as 
 a teacher in the Pennsylvania Institution for the 
 Instruction of the Blind. Why before this he went to 
 Kentucky to teach school has been a question often 
 asked but never answered. There is a tradition here 
 that there is but one being who knows. Like other 
 
 o 
 
 boys he had his friendships and his loves, and it would 
 be strange if he had grown up for he is said to have 
 been as handsome a boy as he is a man without 
 leaving some impression upon the hearts of the 
 maidens of the neighborhood. 
 
 If there is one person living who can tell, and there 
 
I 
 

 
 
STUDENT AND TEACHER. 37 
 
 is, it has been and doubtless will be forever kept as a 
 sealed book, so far as the details are concerned. It 
 was one of those youthful misunderstandings that 
 often come to two people who hope to start out on 
 the voyage of life together, and are separated by an 
 angry sea before they meet. There is not even a sug 
 gestion as to which of the two was at fault for the 
 parting of the ways that led their life s journeys into 
 different paths. 
 
 IMPEDIMENT IN HIS SPEECH. 
 
 Mr. H. H. M. Pusey, of Iowa, classmate, and a late 
 member of Congress from Iowa, says: 
 
 James Elaine, as I remember him, was a pretty well- 
 built boy and a hard student. He had an .impedi 
 ment of speech, however, which at first prevented him 
 from joining in our debates and declamations, but he 
 could distance all his classmates in the matter of 
 studies, and his memory was remarkable. 
 
 We had in the college a literary society, of which I 
 was president, about the time Elaine was sixteen years 
 old. One day he came to me and said : " IB-Bill, I 
 would like to be p-president of the literary society, 
 Can you f-f-fix it for me ? " I answered : " Why, what 
 do you know about the literary society? You have 
 never taken any part in the debates, and have always 
 preferred to pay your fine to taking active part. Do 
 you know anything about parliamentary practice?" 
 He replied : " No, but I can c-commit Cushing s 
 Manual to memory in one night." 
 
 Well, the result was that at the next meeting I 
 
38 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 " fixed it M for him, and at the meeting the next week 
 Elaine was elected president, vice Pusey, term ex 
 pired. As he had promised, he committed the entire 
 contents of Cushing s Manual, and he proved the 
 best president the literary society of the college ever 
 had. 
 
 STORY OF THE GOOSE. 
 
 Another story of the same period, told by one of 
 his old neighbors, is too good to be lost: I remember 
 one day his father told him to get up early and go to 
 the market and buy a turkey. He gave him a dollar, 
 which was a good deal of money in those clays. 
 Well, James brought home the bird and handed it to 
 old Dinah, the colored cook of the Elaine family. 
 
 When the elder Elaine came down to breakfast 
 Dinah greeted him : " Mars Elaine, dat dar turkey 
 what Mars Jim buyed dis raawnin am de quarest 
 turkey I s ever seed. Deed it is, Mars Elaine." 
 " Why, what s the matter with it, Dinah ? ain t it big 
 enough ? " replied the old gentleman. " It ought to 
 be, surely; Jim paid a dollar for it." " Oh, yes, Mars 
 Elaine, de turkey is big nuff, but it am de funniest 
 turkey dis yer nigger ever seed." Mars Elaine went 
 out to the kitchen to look at the " turkey," and found it 
 to be a ten-year-old goose. He called Jim down and 
 hauled him over the coals, saying : " Why, Jim, you 
 ought to be ashamed of yourself. Fifteen years old, 
 and can t tell a turkey from a goose!" Jim hung his 
 head and simply replied : " Why, how s a boy to tell a 
 turkey from a goose when its feathers are off?" 
 
STUDENT AND TEACHER. 39 
 
 A BIG-HEARTED YOUTH. 
 
 Hon. Robert E. Williams, of Illinois, a prominent 
 lawyer, a college-mate, but not a classmate, bears this 
 testimony: Young Elaine was a big-hearted, whole- 
 souled, good-natured fellow in his college days. We 
 both attended Washington College, in Pennsylvania, 
 and were intimate friends. Elaine was a good com 
 panion in his school days strong in physical strength, 
 fond of out-door sports, yet in a certain sense loving 
 seclusion and his books. 
 
 He was a faithful student, and was regarded by his 
 college-mates as a brilliant and progressive scholar. 
 He was an aggressive fellow whenever there was any 
 thing to be accomplished which he thought would be 
 productive of good results. From his earliest college 
 days he seemed to have but one ambition, and that 
 was to make his mark as a journalist. 
 
 He was an industrious writer, and wrote, perhaps, 
 during his college course, a greater number and a 
 greater variety of essays and other articles than any 
 member of his class. He used to remark that a 
 school-teacher or an editor could accomplish more 
 good in the world than any one else, and he thought, 
 after leaving college, he would surely enter the jour 
 nalistic walks of life. 
 
 i 
 
 REMARKABLE FEAT OF MEMORY. 
 
 Another says : He was a great reader of history, 
 and was so methodical in his arrangement of facts that 
 he could in an instant present an array of them that 
 would overwhelm an opponent. An incident illustrat- 
 
40 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLALNE. 
 
 ing this power is told of him : When a little boy, his 
 sister challenged him to a contest in naming the 
 counties of the State of Pennsylvania. She named 
 them all, and he immediately named them, and every 
 county-seat besides. 
 
 Another writes : His most notable trait, perhaps, 
 was combativeness. He was always at home in an 
 argument, and generally invited it. It was the delight 
 of the Democratic politicians to engage him in politi 
 cal discussions, as he was, even then, well versed in 
 political history, and was an ardent upholder of the 
 Whio; doctrines to the last. During his course in 
 
 o o 
 
 1844, the party lines were drawn unusually close re 
 garding some widely discussed questions that led to 
 the Mexican war, and in all these affairs young 
 Elaine s readiness and force in argument was a matter 
 of general remark. 
 
 WOULD TALK POLITICS ALL NIGHT. 
 
 His ability to give utterance to anything he had to 
 say, in the most forcible manner, was also noticeable 
 in his wrangles or political discussions with his fellow- 
 students. His absolute self-command under difficul 
 ties here also exhibited itself distinctly in his character. 
 He was the most skilful mathematician in his class, and 
 frequently would demonstrate the problem in a way 
 not found in the books. 
 
 A room-mate gives this item, which is very sugges 
 tive as showing his strong political bent and power: 
 I remember, when we were rooming together, that our 
 room was a debating headquarters. Elaine would sit 
 
42 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 all night and talk politics if he could get anybody to 
 talk back or listen. He preferred an opponent, but 
 if he couldn t get one, he was content if he had some 
 one to sit and listen to him. 
 
 He had a fashion of sitting sideways at the table, 
 with his feet cocked up in such a way that he could 
 swing- his rio-ht hand around and whack the table. 
 
 <r> > 
 
 There he would sit and talk, and pound that table 
 until I often thought he would split our ears and that 
 table-top at the same time. 
 
 He had national, State, and county affairs on his 
 finger ends, was familiar with men and measures, and 
 could run over all of them. Many a night I have pleaded 
 with him to stop, and let me go to sleep, but the only 
 way to shut him up was to put out the visitors and 
 the lights at the same time. Then he had to go to 
 bed. 
 
 HIS POPULARITY. 
 
 One further reminiscence, and an interesting one : 
 To the new-comers and freshmen Elaine was always 
 a hero. To them he was uniformly kind, ever ready 
 to assist and advise them, and to make smooth and 
 pleasant their initiation into college life. His hand 
 some person, his ready sympathy and prompt assist- 
 ance, his frank and generous nature, and his brave, 
 manly bearing, made him the best known, the best 
 loved, and the most popular boy at school. He was 
 a natural student, excelling pre-eminently in mathe 
 matics and English branches, showing also good work 
 in the dead languages of the classics. Mathematics, 
 
STUDENT AND TEACHER. 43 
 
 without question, were to him a pleasure. He was 
 always perfect in mathematical recitations, and was 
 the idol of his teacher, Professor Aldrich. 
 
 His intellect early showed vigor, thoroughness, and 
 discipline. He was not content to follow the books. 
 A great memory rarely combines with high mathe 
 matical or reasoning power, but in Mr. Elaine was 
 early seen that most wonderful combination, and to it 
 his commanding force of intellect is no doubt largely 
 due. Few men have this union of reat retentive and 
 
 o 
 
 great reasoning power in any degree, almost none in 
 so marked a degree as Mr. Elaine. No one could 
 come in contact with him without being impressed 
 and almost startled by the tremendous power which 
 this enabled him to wield. 
 
 A POWERFUL ANTAGONIST. 
 
 The man who detects at a glance the weak point or 
 fallacy of an argument, and remembers unerringly the 
 one fact in the whole world of facts which exposes 
 it, the man whose memory never sleeps and whose 
 logic seldom falters, is an antagonist whose lance is 
 quick to kill and powerful to protect. 
 
 Even in college, while he could have memorized a 
 demonstration in Euclid as readily as Cushing s Man 
 ual, he rather sought to reach and establish his prop 
 osition in a fresh way and by original thought. His 
 vigorous and eager mind would sometimes throw off 
 restraints and discard aids, confident, like the athlete, 
 in the elasticity and discipline of his strength. 
 
 In college, as in after life, Mr. Elaine was strictly 
 
44 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 temperate in all his habits. He graduated in 1847, 
 sharing the honors, in a class of thirty-three, with Mr. 
 John C. Hervey, who afterwards became Superin 
 tendent of Public Instruction in Wheeling, Va., and 
 Mr. T. W. Porter, who devoted himself to journalism. 
 It is noticeable, as showing the tendency of his 
 thoughts, that his graduating oration was upon "The 
 Duty of an Educated American." 
 
 INSTRUCTOR AND FRIEND. 
 
 The best results of college training are not always 
 those which can be measured in marks, or even in 
 knowledge and discipline. Often it would be found 
 that the personal influence of some one professor, 
 more than anything that he or anybody else taught, 
 was that which in after life remained longest and bore 
 the best fruit. In our lar^e colleges such intimacies 
 
 o o 
 
 are increasingly impossible, but there was a man in 
 Washington College, in 1847, who did for James G. 
 Elaine what few men could have done threw around 
 
 him the influence of a thorough manhood. Mr. 
 
 t> 
 
 Elaine owed to Professor Murray a debt which could 
 not be measured, and which he was proud to own. 
 With this valued friend and instructor he read 
 through the Greek Testament, taking a portion every 
 Sunday. 
 
 It would be interesting to recover, if possible, the 
 Salutatory which James G. Elaine rose timidly to 
 address to his friends and schoolmates. The subject, 
 we have seen, was one that would only have been 
 chosen by a youth of some originality of thought. 
 

 WILLIAM MCKINLEY, 
 

STUDENT AND TEACHER. 45 
 
 His class numbered thirty-three, of whom seventeen 
 entered the Christian ministry. 
 
 The following is the commencement programme : 
 
 ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 WASHINGTON COLLEGE, PA. 
 
 Wednesday, Septe tuber 29, 1847. 
 
 
 GRADUATING CLASS. 
 
 
 Andrew Barr, 
 
 John H. Hampton, 
 
 Edward B. Neely, 
 
 George Baird, 
 
 R C. Holliday, 
 
 William M. Orr, 
 
 James G. Elaine, 
 
 John G. Jacob, 
 
 Samuel Power, 
 
 Josiah C. Cooper, 
 
 Richard H. Lee, 
 
 William H. M. Pusey, 
 
 George D. Curtis, 
 
 John V. LeMoyne, 
 
 T. Wilson Porter, 
 
 Thomas Creighton, 
 
 La Fayette Markle, 
 
 Huston Quail, 
 
 R. C. Colmery, 
 
 G. H. Miller, 
 
 Robert Robe, 
 
 Cephas Dodd, 
 
 J. R. Moore, 
 
 J. A. Rankin, 
 
 Hugh W. Forbes, 
 
 William S. Moore, 
 
 James H. Smith, 
 
 Alexander M. Gow, 
 
 Robert J. Munce, 
 
 John H. Storer, 
 
 John C- Hervey, 
 
 M. P. Morrison, 
 
 Alexander Wilson. 33. 
 
 MATRI ALMsE SIM US HONORI. 
 ORDER OF EXERCISES. 
 
 Music Prayer Music. 
 1st. Latin Salutatory John C. Hervey, Brooke County, Va. 
 
 Music. 
 2d, English Salutatory and Oration James G. Elaine, West Brownsville, Pa. 
 
 Music. 
 3d. Greek Salutatory T. W. Porter, Fayette County, Pa. 
 
 Music. 
 4th, Oration The Sword and the Plough J. G. Jacob, Wellsburgh, Va. 
 
 Music. 
 5th.. Oration Byron Huston Quail, Union Valley, Pa. 
 
 Music. 
 6th Oration The Era of Napoleon La Fayette Markle, Mill Grove, Pa. 
 
 Music. 
 7th. A Poem The Collegian G. D. Curtis, Grove Creek, Va. 
 
 Music. 
 8th, Oration Moral Warfare J. R. Moore, WeKsville, (X 
 
 Music. 
 
46 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 9th. Oration Poverty Useful in the Development of Genius 
 
 R. C. Colmery, Hayesville, O. 
 
 Music, 
 
 10th. Oration The American Boy. E. B. Neely, Washington City, D. C. 
 
 Music Conferring of Degrees Music. 
 
 llth. Valedictory William M. Orr, Wayne County, O. 
 
 Music. 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 From his alma mater young Elaine went to Blue 
 Lick Springs, Kentucky, and became a professor in 
 the Western Military Institute, in which there were 
 about 450 boys. A retired officer, who was a student 
 there at the time, relates that Professor Elaine was a 
 thin, handsome, earnest young man, with the same 
 fascinating manners he has now. He was popular 
 with the boys, who trusted him and made friends with 
 him from the first. He knew the given names of 
 every one, and he knew their shortcomings and their 
 strong points. 
 
 He was a man of great personal courage, and 
 during a fight between the faculty of the school and 
 the owners of the springs, involving some questions 
 about the removal of the school, he behaved in the 
 bravest manner, fighting hard but keeping cool. 
 Revolvers and knives were freely used, but Elaine 
 only used his well-disciplined muscle. Colonel 
 Thornton F. Johnson was the principal of the school, 
 and his wife had a young ladies school at Millersburg, 
 twenty miles distant. It was at this place that Mr. 
 Elaine met Miss Stanwood, who belonged to an ex 
 cellent family, and she afterwards became his wife. 
 
STUDENT AtfB TEACHER. 47 
 
 Elaine remained in Kentucky until about the year 
 1851, when he returned to Pennsylvania. He had 
 formed the intention of devoting himself to the law 
 profession, and was anxious to pursue his studies with 
 this end in view. " The lion knows he is strong," 
 and young Elaine, being conscious of his powers and 
 the influence he could exert over others, naturally de 
 sired to follow a pursuit in which he could appear to 
 advantage. 
 
 A LAW STUDENT. 
 
 For a time he read law in his native county, and 
 then removed to Philadelphia, where he would have 
 larger opportunities for study, and at the same time 
 might be able to earn a support by teaching. The 
 fame of the Philadelphia bar is world wide. Connected 
 \vith it have been some of the most famous lawyers 
 whose names enrich the annals of the legal profes 
 sion. 
 
 Here, the youncr student felt would be a crood train- 
 
 J o o 
 
 ing school, and he could thoroughly equip himself for 
 the profession which, at this time, he intended to 
 adopt. Yet he could not free himself from the 
 charms of anticipated journalism, and found it hard to 
 give up his early intention of making this his chosen 
 pursuit. For a time he studied law in the office of 
 the late Theodore Cuyler, but did not seek admission 
 to the bar. He never engaged in the practice of law, 
 although he would doubtless have risen to the front 
 rank in the legal profession. 
 
 "Yes, I remember young James G. Elaine dis- 
 
48 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 tinctly," said William Chapin, the principal of the 
 Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the 
 Blind, in Philadelphia. " He was principal teacher 
 here on the boys side for two years, and when he 
 departed he left behind him not only universal re 
 gret at a serious loss to 
 the institution, but an im 
 pression of his personal 
 force upon the work and 
 its methods, which sur 
 vives the lapse of twenty 
 years." 
 
 The Pennsylvania In 
 stitution for the Instruc 
 tion of the Blind, at Twen 
 tieth and Race streets, is 
 the second place in which 
 Mr. Blaine taught after 
 his graduation from 
 Washington College. He 
 I rang the bell at the front 
 ^Sm^SSS^^S^ door of the building one 
 IN THE BLIND ASYLUM. summer afternoon i n 
 
 1852, in answer to an advertisement for a teacher. 
 
 " There were thirty or forty other applicants," said 
 Mr. Chapin, " but his manner was so winning and he 
 possessed so many manifestly valuable qualities that I 
 closed an engagement with him at once, and he became 
 a teacher in the institution. . 
 
 " He was married, and his wife and little son Wai 
 
STUDENT AND TEACHER. 48 
 
 ker came here with him. His qualities, which im 
 pressed me most deeply, were his culture, the 
 thoroughness of his education and his unfailing self- 
 possession. He was also a man of very decided will, 
 and was very much disposed to argument. He was 
 young then only twenty-two and was rather impul 
 sive, leaping to a conclusion very quickly. 
 
 " But he was always ready to defend his conclusions, 
 however suddenly he seemed to have reached them. 
 We had many a familiar discussion in this very room, 
 and his arguments always astonished me by the 
 knowledge they displayed of facts in history and 
 politics. His memory was remarkable, and seemed 
 to retain details which ordinary men would forget. 
 
 ELAINE S FIRST BOOK. 
 
 " Now, I will show you something that illustrates 
 how thoroughly Mr. Elaine mastered anything he 
 took hold of," said Mr. Chapin, as he took from a desk 
 in the corner of the room a thick quarto manuscript 
 book, bound in dark, brown leather, and lettered 
 "Journal" on the corner. "This book Mr. Elaine 
 compiled with great labor from the minute books of 
 the Board of Managers. It gives an historical view 
 of the institution from the time of its foundation up to 
 the time of Mr. Elaine s departure. He did all the 
 work in his own room, telling no one of it until he left. 
 Then he presented it, through me, to the Board of 
 Managers, who were both surprised and gratified. I 
 believe they made him a present of $100 as a thank- 
 offering for an invaluable work." 
 
50 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Indeed, this book, the first historical work of Mr. 
 Elaine, is a model of its kind. On the title-page, in 
 ornamental pen-work, executed at that time by Mr, 
 Chapin, is the inscription ; 
 
 JOURNAL 
 
 of the 
 PENNSYLVANIA INSTITUTION 
 
 for the 
 
 INSTRUCTION OF THE BLIND, 
 from its foundation. 
 
 Compiled from official records 
 
 by 
 
 JAMES G. ELAINE, 
 1854. 
 
 The methodical character of the work is most re 
 markable. On the first page every abbreviation 
 used in the book is entered alphabetically. The first 
 entry reads : " On this and the four following pages 
 will be found some notes in regard to the origin of 
 the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the 
 Blind, furnished by I. Francis Fisher, Esq." From 
 this page to the i88th, in which is the last entry made 
 by Mr. Elaine, every line is a model of neatness and 
 accuracy. On every page is a wide margin. At the 
 top of the margin is the year, in ornamental figures. 
 Below it is a brief statement of what the text con 
 tains opposite that portion of the marginal entry. 
 
STUDENT AND TEACHER. 51 
 
 " Every year s record closes with an elaborate table, 
 giving the attendance of members of the board. The 
 last pages of the book are filled with alphabetical lists 
 of officers of the institution and statistical tables, com 
 piled by the same patient and untiring hand. One 
 of the lists is that of the principal teachers/ No. 13 
 is followed by the signature, Jas. G. Elaine, from 
 August 5, 1852, to and then, in another hand, the 
 record is completed with date November 23, 1854. 
 
 MASTER OF FACTS AND DETAILS. 
 
 " I think that the book," remarked Mr. Chapin, 
 " illustrates the character of the man in accurate 
 mastery of facts and orderly presentation of details. 
 We still use it for reference. 
 
 "I recall one incident," Mr. Chapin continued, "which 
 indicates Mr. Elaine s mode of discipline, and shows, 
 too, that he was in those days somewhat impulsive. 
 It was one of his duties to take charge of the boys at 
 breakfast, and sometimes there would be a few sleepy 
 laggards. One morning a whole room full of boys, 
 five or six of them, failed to appear. Mr. Elaine 
 quietly walked up-stairs and locked them in. The 
 boys had a screw-driver and they unfastened the lock ; 
 but by the time they reached the breakfast-room the 
 tables had been cleared. You can have no break 
 fast/ was the teacher s announcement. The boys 
 thereupon declared that they wouldn t go into Mr 
 Elaine s classes. He reported them to me. 
 
 THE REBELLION ENDED. 
 
 "Although I thought it perhaps a little severe to 
 
52 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 deprive them of breakfast, I felt obliged to sustain Mr. 
 Elaine, and told them to go to their class-rooms as 
 usual. They still refused, and I suspended them for 
 the day. The next morning they rose in time for 
 breakfast, attended classes, and the little rebellion was 
 over. 
 
 " Mr. Elaine taught mathematics, in which he ex 
 celled, and the higher branches. His wife was univer 
 sally beloved, and often read aloud to the pupils. 
 When he went away to become editor of the Kennebec 
 Journal, we felt that we had lost a man of large parts, 
 and we have watched his upward career with great 
 interest. He has called here a number of times when 
 he stopped in the city on his way to and from Wash 
 ington." 
 
 A PUPIL S RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was very popular at the Institution for 
 the Instruction of the Blind. A visitor to the Institu 
 tion met one of his pupils who said : " Everybody 
 loved Mr. Elaine and his wife. Both were always 
 ready to do anything for our amusement in leisure 
 hours, and we had a great deal of fun, into which they 
 entered heartily. I think that Mrs. Elaine read nearly 
 all of Dickens works aloud to us, and Mr. Elaine 
 used to make us roar with laughter by reading out of 
 a book entitled Charcoal Sketches. This large room 
 at the right of the main entrance to the building, sep 
 arated by folding doors from another room, used to 
 be thrown open, and in the evenings he would sit 
 there under the gaslight reading aloud to both the 
 
at* 
 
 GEORGE F EDMUNDS 
 
STUDENT AND TEACHER. 53 
 
 boys and girls. Then we would wind up with a spell 
 ing-bee. Sometimes Mr. Elaine would give out the 
 words, and sometimes one of the big boys would do 
 it, while Mr. Elaine stood up among the boys. Then 
 we would have great fun trying to * spell the teacher 
 down. " 
 
 When a celebrated minister in New York was asked 
 by a young and ambitious pulpiteer how he could get 
 a call to a large church and a wider field for the ex 
 ercise of his gifts, he was told to fill well the place he 
 then occupied. Promotion would come then in a 
 natural way. It was Mr. Elaine s ambition to be use 
 ful wherever he was and to " fill the bill/ This was 
 the great secret of his upward career ; he stepped 
 easily from the lower to the higher sphere. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 Editor and Political Leader. 
 
 Miss STANWOOD was a native of Maine, and after 
 her marriage to Mr. Elaine was anxious for him to 
 make that State his home. This he determined to do, 
 and in 1853 the young couple removed to Augusta, 
 where they made their home. 
 
 In the following year Mr. Elaine entered into part 
 nership with Joseph Baker, a prominent lawyer of that 
 town, and the two purchased The Kennebec Journal, 
 of which Mr. Elaine at once became the editor. The 
 Journal was a weekly paper, one of the organs of the 
 Whig party, and exercised considerable political influ 
 ence. In 1857 Mr. Elaine disposed of his interest in 
 this paper, and became editor of The Portland Daily 
 Advertiser. In the campaign of 1860 he returned 
 temporarily to his old post on The Kennebec Journal 
 on account of the illness of its editor. 
 
 His career in journalism lasted six years, and was 
 marked throughout by ability and success. It served 
 to give him a good introduction to the world of poli 
 tics and statesmanship. In everything he wrote Mr. 
 Elaine was vigorous and fearless. He contended 
 always for a principle. No amount of adverse opinion 
 could make him change his course. He was not 
 
 (54) 
 
d 
 
 W 
 
56 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 obstinate nor illogical, but after once forming an opin 
 ion, after carefully reviewing the causes that led to it, 
 he could not be swerved by persuasion nor intimi 
 dation. 
 
 HELPS TO ORGANIZE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 When the old Whig party went to pieces Mr. 
 Elaine joined hands with Governor Anson P. Morrill 
 in organizing the Republican party in the Pine Tree 
 State. His vigorous attacks upon the Buchanan Ad 
 ministration made him a power in the new organi 
 zation. 
 
 The late Governor Kent, of Maine, speaking of 
 Mr. Elaine s career in that State, said : "Almost from 
 the day of his assuming editorial charge of the Ken- 
 nebec Journal, at the early age of twenty-three, Mr. 
 Elaine sprang into a position of great influence in the 
 politics and policy of Maine. At twenty-five he was 
 a leading power in the councils of the Republican 
 party, so recognized by Fessenden, Hamlin, and the 
 two Morrills, and others then and still prominent in 
 the State. Before he was twenty-nine he was chosen 
 "chairman of the Executive Committee of the Republi 
 can organization in Maine a position from which he 
 practically shaped and directed every political campaign 
 in the State, always leading his party to brilliant 
 victory." 
 
 Mr. Blaine has given us the following masterly 
 review of the events which led to the formation of the 
 Republican party and its early history : 
 
 Thenceforward new alliances were rapidly formed. 
 
EDITOR AND POLITICAL LEADER. 57 
 
 In the South those Whigs who, though still unwilling 
 to profess an anti-slavery creed, would not unite with 
 the Democrats, were reorganized under the name of 
 the American party, with Humphrey Marshall, Henry 
 Winter Davis, Horace Maynard, and men of that 
 class, for leaders. This party was founded on pro 
 scription of foreigners, and with special hostility to 
 the Roman Catholic Church. It had a fitful and fever 
 ish success, and in 1854-5, under the name of Know- 
 nothings 5 enrolled tens of thousands in secret lodges. 
 But its creed was narrow, its principles were illiberal, 
 and its methods of procedure boyish and undignified. 
 The great body of thinking men in the North saw that 
 the real contest impending was against slavery and 
 not against naturalization laws and ecclesiastical 
 dogmas. The Know-nothings therefore speedily dis 
 appeared, and a new party sprang into existence com 
 posed of Anti-Slavery Whigs and Anti-Slavery 
 Democrats. 
 
 The latter infused into the ranks of the new organi 
 zation a spirit and an energy which Whig traditions 
 could never inspire. 
 
 INSTANT SUCCESS. 
 
 The same name was not at once adopted in all the 
 free States in 1854, but by the ensuing year there was 
 a general recognition throughout the North that all 
 who intended to made a serious fight against the pro- 
 slavery Democracy would unite under the flag of the 
 Republican party. In its first effort, without compact 
 organization, without discipline, it rallied the anti- 
 
68 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 slavery sentiment so successfully as to carry nearly 
 all of the free States, and to secure a plurality of the 
 members of the House of Representatives. The 
 indignation of the people knew no bounds. Old 
 political landmarks disappeared, and party prejudices 
 of these generations were swept aside in a day. 
 With such success in the outset, the Republicans pre 
 pared for a vigorous struggle in the approaching 
 Presidential election. 
 
 REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 
 
 The anti-slavery development of the North was not 
 more intense than the pro-slavery development of the 
 South. Every other issue was merged in the one 
 absorbing demand by Southern slaveholders for what 
 they sincerely believed to be their rights in the Terri 
 tories. It was not viewed on either side as an ordi 
 nary political contest. It was felt to be a question, not 
 of expediency, but of morality, not of policy, but of 
 honor. It .did not merely enlist men women took a 
 large part in the agitation. It did not end with absorb 
 ing the laity ; the clergy were as profoundly concerned. 
 
 The power of the Church, on both sides of the 
 dividing line, was used with great effect in shaping 
 public opinion and directing political action. 
 
 The Missouri Compromise was repealed in May. 
 Before the end of the year a large majority of the 
 people of the North and a large majority of the people 
 of the South were distinctly arrayed against each 
 ot^er on a question which touched the interest, the 
 pride, the conscience, and the religion of all who were 
 
EDITOR AND POLITICAL LEADER. 59 
 
 concerned in the controversy. Had either side been 
 insincere, there would have been voluntary yielding 
 or enforced adjustment. But each felt himself to be 
 altogether in the right, and its opponent altogether in 
 the wrong. Thus they stood confronting each other 
 at the close of the year 1854. 
 
 MR. ELAINE S EDITORIALS. 
 
 A few extracts from his editorials will, better than 
 any words of ours, show the drift of his opinion in 
 these stirring days. The following declaration of 
 principles appeared in the Journal soon after Mr. 
 Elaine assumed the management of it: 
 
 Politically, THE JOURNAL will pursue the same course 
 it has marked out for the last two months. We shall 
 cordially support the Morrill or Republican party, the 
 substantial principles of which are, as we understand 
 them, freedom, temperance, river and harbor improve 
 ments within Constitutional limits, homesteads for 
 freemen, and a just administration of the public lands 
 of the State and nation. We shall advocate the 
 cause of popular education as the surest safeguard of 
 our Republican institutions, and especially the com 
 mon schools of the State and city. 
 
 BRAVE WORDS. 
 
 In December, 1854, the following editorial appeared 
 on "The Permanency of the Republican Party:" 
 
 The great Republican party that has suddenly de 
 veloped itself on the political theatre, embodying the 
 anti-slavery sentiment of the country as its leading 
 characteristic, when considered in its natural elements, 
 
60 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 in its history and progress, or in the light of ex 
 perience, has every appearance of permanence and 
 progress. 
 
 It does not, as the Mercury intimates, foreshadow 
 the dissolution of the Union, but its salvation. The 
 slave States will never dissolve the Union. They 
 have too great a stake in its preservation, for the arm 
 of the Federal Government is absolutely necessary 
 to keep them from insurrection and massacre by the 
 millions of slaves now groaning under the accursed 
 lash. But dissolution, if it ever come, must come from 
 the free States, stripped of their rights and degraded 
 in the government, as they have been for the last 
 twenty years, and goaded on to desperation by a 
 continuance and perpetual repetition of these aggres 
 sions. 
 
 The Union will be saved by arresting the gigantic 
 strides of the slave-power towards political supremacy, 
 driving it back into its legitimate sphere, and restor 
 ing to the North its just and equal rights. But that 
 other alternative, mentioned by the Mercury, may not 
 in the end result from the permanent dominion of the 
 Republican party, we are not prepared to deny ; on 
 the contrary, it is the hope of many an earnest heart 
 that beats the warmest in this glorious movement, 
 that God in His wise Providence will make it the in 
 strumentality of the final " extinction of slavery " in 
 this Republic. 
 
 In this hope we live and labor, and will labor while 
 we live, believing that a country redeemed from the 
 
WILLIAM WINDOM 
 
THOMAS B. REED. 
 
EDITOR AND POLITICAL LEADER. 61 
 
 shame and curse of slavery, purified and restored to 
 the Republicanism of its palmy days, will be the 
 richest legacy we can leave to posterity. Drive rum 
 as a beverage from all the avenues of society, place 
 the tide of foreign immigration that is pouring in upon 
 us with such fearful power under proper restrictions, 
 and in a course of education that shall prepare it, as 
 the American citizen is now prepared, for the high 
 functions of freedom ; strike the fetters from the limb 
 of every slave that breathes in all this vast domain, so 
 that, from centre to circumference, only the glad shout 
 of liberty shall be heard, and the smile of Providence 
 will bless this land as it never has been blessed, and 
 the glory shall roll on from generation to generation 
 while time shall last. 
 
 MR. ELAINE ON THE NEW PARTY. 
 
 In March, 1855, Mr. Blaine wrote enthusiastically 
 of the formation of the new party in Maine, and of its 
 first convention : 
 
 It can no longer be questioned that we have in 
 Maine a well-organized and powerful party, which 
 shares the sympathy and influence of a decided 
 majority of the people. That radical and permanent 
 causes have been operating for years to bring about 
 the present condition of things, is so well known as to 
 need no repetition. Ignored and resisted as those 
 causes were by selfish schemers, personal aims, and 
 the force of old party watchwords, they increased 
 yearly in breadth and strength, until they have be 
 come one resistless current of public opinion, fed by 
 
62 LIFE OF HOtf. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 the various springs of moral and patriotic feelings, 
 which are so fresh and healthful in the social soil of 
 Maine, on which the ship of State is fairly launched, 
 with the flags of temperance, freedom, and American 
 enterprise waving proudly at the masthead. 
 
 The Republican party, therefore, is not the creation 
 of a few individuals ; it is the production of moral 
 ideas which have long been asserting their sway in 
 the consciences and hearts of the people. It is pre 
 eminently the child of ideas and of the people. Strong 
 as these ideas and their friends had shown themselves 
 in the political efforts of the two or three years past, 
 old political organizations had prevented the union 
 of men of like principles in one well-organized 
 party. 
 
 The men were called by different names, yet they 
 had a common faith and common purposes. Their 
 principles needed expression in a common platform. 
 The people desired one political family and one 
 organization. Right, expediency and necessity called 
 for a convention. What time more opportune and 
 appropriate than the birthday of Washington ? So 
 ready were the people for action, so manifest the 
 necessity, that a long notice was not required. 
 
 The convention of the 22d was one of the most re 
 markable and interesting that ever assembled in our 
 State. The number in attendance was very large 
 not less than nine or ten hundred. It was composed 
 of the true and influential portion of the people from 
 all parts of the State. Its members came in due pro- 
 
EDITOR AMD POLITICAL LEADER, 63 
 
 portion from all the former political parties, in names 
 of long-established reputation and worth, known in 
 the State and out of it ; in men possessing the confi 
 dence and representing the convictions of their re 
 spective vicinities, no political assemblage ever held 
 in the State surpassed the one of last week. 
 
 No body of men could be more united in opinion 
 and resolution. The enthusiasm manifested was not 
 a sudden and transitory feeling, but was the result of 
 a calm yet intense conviction that a new era had ar 
 rived in the politics of the State and Nation, that high 
 and solemn duties are now devolving on our citizens. 
 The resolutions and the speeches indicated the spirit 
 and the purpose, the principles and the settled de 
 termination of the Republicans of Maine, and, as we 
 believe, of that great and truly national party which is 
 so rapidly gathering numbers, strength, and prestige, 
 which is to march into power in 1856, and bring the 
 country back to the purity and the idea of its founders. 
 
 THE ONLY NATIONAL PARTY. 
 
 Upon another occasion Mr. Elaine wrote : 
 The Republican party is the only true national 
 party. Its platform is the only ground upon which 
 the friends of the Union can stand. Its fast gather 
 ing strength is to be the bulwark of the Union against 
 the dangers that thicken around its future. It is the 
 only breakwater against the tide of despotism that 
 threatens to spread over the whole country. 
 
 It calls on the nation to return to the policy, the 
 principles, and the maxims of the statesmen who won 
 
64 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 our liberties, reared the fabric of our Government, and 
 gave its first direction. Its principles are broad as 
 the Union. It demands national men, national meas 
 ures, and is the only truly national party that has the 
 
 WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
 
 prospect of carrying the country against the sectional, 
 dangerous, and corrupt political organization that now 
 controls the country, to the disgrace of the American 
 name throughout the civilized world. 
 
 TRIBUTE TO A GREAT STATESMAN. 
 
 On the election to the United States Senate of Wm. 
 
EDITOR AND POLITICAL LEADER. 65 
 
 H. Seward, the great Republican leader, in one of his 
 editorials we find these strong, exulting words : 
 
 The prayer of the freeman is answered. A ques 
 tion of the highest importance, the right decision of 
 which for months has excited the deepest solicitude, 
 has been solved to the joy of patriotic Americans, and 
 for the welfare of the public. By the force of his own 
 character as a man and a statesman, and of the moral 
 and political principles which he represents, and which 
 centre in him, William H. Seward has been re-elected 
 to the American Senate by the State which in her 
 earlier days gave the nation a Clinton, a Livingston, a 
 Jay, a Hamilton, and which now with her population, 
 her resources, and strength increased twenty-fold, 
 bears up in her arms freedom s great leader against 
 traitors at home and storms of relentless opposition 
 from abroad. 
 
 The heart of the nation throbs at the event which, 
 amid exultation and congratulations, lightning and 
 steam are announcing to the true men of this whole 
 continent and of the civilized world. The contest 
 through which he has passed is without parallel in the 
 history of this country. We have waited until the 
 clouds of the conflict were passing away and the can 
 non of rejoicing had ceased, to express our exultant 
 gratitude at the event to which we have looked for 
 ward with the strongest hope. 
 
 Reviewing the field, we saw that nothing but Mr. 
 Seward s naked strength and the devotion of the peo 
 ple of the Empire State to him and to his principles 
 5 
 
66 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 could rescue him from the combined array against 
 him. We watched the contest with the deepest solici 
 tude. Four months have passed. The coalition of 
 wickedness has culminated. The battle is over. The 
 great American statesman is unscathed, and now oc 
 cupies a prouder elevation before his countrymen than 
 ever before, and a serener and brighter future is 
 securely his. 
 
 Never since the establishment of the Republic has 
 there been a greater necessity for a leading statesman 
 of far-seeing vision, of heroic, unyielding will, of 
 courage that no threat or danger can blanch, of gen 
 ius to organize and guide. We trust the friends of 
 Mr. Seward will not misunderstand the cause and 
 meaning of his triumph. His election is not the suc 
 cess or defeat of the old political organizations. His 
 bitterest and ablest foes are among those who claim 
 to belong to the party with which he labored from its 
 formation to the hour of its final overthrow. Many 
 of his ablest and most devoted friends and supporters 
 have belonged to the Democratic party. In reality 
 his election has been secured by that party which has 
 been gathering numbers and strength from all former 
 organizations, which has arisen, a young giant. 
 
 Not as the champion of an effete and rapidly dis 
 solving party, but as a great statesman and sworn de 
 fender of freedom and the Union, he finds congenial 
 fellowship with Chase, Sumner, Wade, Fessenden, 
 Hamlin, King, Johnson, Wilson, Strong, Hall, Durkee, 
 and that whole school of vigorous, determined men of 
 
EDITOR AND POLITICAL LEADER. 67 
 
 common blood and aim, who are, by the will of God 
 and the people, to make it historical fact in 1860, that 
 slavery is sectional and temporary, that freedom is 
 national and universal, 
 
 AN ENEMY TO SLAVERY. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s early and consistent repugnance to 
 slavery is strongly shown in the columns of the 
 Journal : 
 
 We make it as a sober and well-considered state 
 ment that our country is to-day in greater peril by 
 elements and agencies within her borders, than at the 
 commencement of the Revolution by the plans of the 
 British ministry and the power of British arms. It 
 requires no prophet to decide that the aggressions of 
 the slave power are more dangerous to the freedom 
 and progress of the American people, than the threat 
 ened despotism of England in 1775. And what is 
 the most melancholy and shameful, these aggressions 
 have been invited and vastly strengthened by the 
 treachery and cowardice of men living in the free 
 States. 
 
 CHAMPION OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Speaking of the proposition to carry slavery into 
 free Kansas, he said : 
 
 Let not the fatal spirit of compromise induce us to 
 acquiesce in past wrongs, because of some promised 
 advantage and security in the future. Compromise 
 with slavery is but another phrase for Sacrifice of 
 Liberty ; and in the past we have had enough, and 
 more than enough, of that. 
 
B8 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. &LAINE. 
 
 NORTHERN TREASON. 
 
 Of th* famous Dred Scott decision, Mr. Elaine 
 wrote : 
 
 Whithei do all these things tend ? Are we to be 
 a permanently subdued people ? We can but regard 
 them as the last turns to the screws of despotism, that 
 presage the mighty uprising and triumph of the peo 
 ple. Slavery has got to the farthest limits of its 
 power and aggression. Henceforth it must lose in 
 the great contest which it is waging against freedom. 
 The day of truce has gone by ; the slaveholders have 
 left the free men of the nation no other resort but 
 revolution a revolution, if slavery wills it to be no 
 other, only through the peaceful agencies of the press, 
 public opinion, of religion, and of the ballot-box. 
 These aided by time, and the increase of free popula 
 tion, at no distant day, will give us every department 
 of the government, and regain to national freedom 
 what has been lost by Southern cupidity and Northern 
 treason. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 Elaine a Member of the State Legislature. 
 
 IN 1858, when he was in his twenty-ninth year, Mr. 
 Elaine was elected to the Legislature. He served 
 two years on the floor of the Lower House and two 
 years in the chair, where he displayed the qualities of 
 parliamentary leadership and control that afterward 
 gave him such renown in the National Legislature at 
 Washington. It is also worthy of mention that he 
 took an active part as a public speaker in the Fre 
 mont campaign of 1856. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was brought into prominence in his 
 adopted State through his able editorials in the 
 journals with which he was connected, and through 
 the active interest he exhibited in all political affairs. 
 He was public spirited ; his pen and voice were 
 always ready. It was not surprising that his neigh 
 bors and fellow-citizens should look to one so young 
 for a leader ; the young man was much older in wis 
 dom and experience than he was in years. His was 
 an old head on young shoulders. 
 
 In the campaign of 1856 the Kansas question, in 
 volving the introduction of slavery into new territory, 
 was discussed tumultuously throughout the country. 
 Blood ran high ; a new party was rapidly forming, 
 
 (69) 
 
70 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 and there was a stir in the nation as ominous as that 
 in the forest when the storm is near. Mr. Elaine fear 
 lessly expressed his views on the burning questions 
 
 STATE HOUSE AT AUGUSTA, MAINE. 
 
 
 
 of the hour and his words kindled fire. He became 
 a leader, an advocate of the great principles underly 
 ing the Republican party, and a champion of the new 
 cause. 
 
MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 71 
 
 ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 The prominent part taken by Mr. Elaine in public 
 affairs, particularly in the Fremont campaign, naturally 
 drew attention to him as one suitable to represent his 
 district in the Legislature. 
 
 One remarkable characteristic of the man is worth 
 noting. It would hardly be believed he was at this 
 time extremely timid and diffident, and with great dif 
 ficulty could be induced to give a public address. 
 Yet such was the case. His speeches at this time 
 were written out and committed to memory, and he 
 seems to have acquired only gradually the full com 
 mand of his powers and the ability to respond im 
 promptu to the demand of the hour. Returning from 
 the National Convention at Philadelphia, in which he 
 was one of the delegates who helped to nominate 
 Fremont for the presidency, he was asked at a ratifica 
 tion meeting to make a speech. At first he refused, 
 but finally yielding to the urgent request, he began in 
 stammering fashion, but soon rose to the occasion and 
 spoke with telling effect. 
 
 In the Legislature he exhibited those commanding 
 qualities and pre-eminent capabilities for leadership 
 which afterward made him one of the most remark 
 able and successful speakers who ever occupied the 
 chair of the House of Representatives. 
 
 AN IMPORTANT SPEECH. 
 
 There was a movement at this time, particularly in 
 the South, for the purchase of the Island of Cuba. A 
 bill was introduced into Congress by Mr. Slidell, of 
 
72 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Louisiana, setting forth the desirableness of making 
 such a purchase and providing that the whole amount 
 to be paid should not be over $i 25,000,000, and that 
 $30,000,000 of this amount should be put into the 
 hands of the President at once for the purpose of 
 beginning negotiations. 
 
 In the Maine Legislature, Mr. Porter, of Lowell, 
 introduced a resolution "that our Representatives in 
 Congress be instructed to exert their influence and 
 give their votes for any honorable measure that may 
 be brought forward looking to the early acquisition of 
 Cuba by the United States." It became widely known 
 through the newspapers that Mr. Elaine was opposed 
 to these resolves, and, as he said, they advertised him 
 for the performance. He did not disappoint public 
 expectation. In a brilliant and masterly oration he 
 pointed out the extraordinary character and dangeious 
 tendency of the Slidell bill ; he showed how it broke 
 down the constitutional safeguards of our Govern 
 ment by giving the whole treaty-making power to the 
 Executive, and by allowing him, at his discretion, to 
 annex territory, form States, and to resolve on peace 
 or war. 
 
 Then leaving the narrow question of the Slidell bill, 
 he stated his own views on the general subject of the 
 acquisition of Cuba as follows : 
 
 OBJECTIONS TO THE PURCHASE OF CUBA. 
 
 In reference to the general subject of the acquisition 
 of Cuba, which may be considered as in some sense 
 before the House, 1 have a few remarks to offer, and 
 
MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 7 
 
 I am frank to confess that " a good deal may be said 
 on one side of that question, and a good deal on the 
 other." The acquisition of the island would incorpo 
 rate into our nation a large number of people differing 
 radically and essentially from us in race, in language, 
 in religion, in domestichab its, and in civil institutions. 
 Even with our enormous powers of deglutition, diges 
 tion and absorption, our energies would be taxed to a 
 dangerous extent by the attempt to make the mixed 
 and mongrel people of that island homogeneous with 
 our own. 
 
 OTHERS MUST KEEP HANDS OFF. 
 
 Its annexation would also increase to an alarming 
 extent the influence of the slave power in the govern 
 ment of this country, and would give them additional 
 strength and prestige in the Senate of the United 
 States, which, as every one knows, has always been 
 their stronghold, both for offense and defense. The 
 objections to the acquisition of Cuba, which grew out 
 of these considerations, are most cogent and pressing, 
 and certainly of sufficient weight to restrain the ardor 
 of annexation, which some of our people might be 
 supposed to cherish when looking at the subject purely 
 from a commercial standpoint. 
 
 On the other hand, there is a very general acqui 
 escence in the position that our country can never 
 permit any other power to obtain possession of the 
 island. Such is the well-known and peculiar situation 
 with reference to our own country, that we would be 
 deaf to the plainest dictates of self-interest if we should 
 
74 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 permit it to fall under the dominion of either of our 
 great rivals in Europe. It may, therefore, be consid 
 ered the settled policy of this nation to prevent the 
 island of Cuba from being transferred to any other 
 nation, and I think it is equally the settled policy not 
 to molest Spain in her peaceful and rightful possession 
 of it. 
 
 THE FATE OF CUBA. 
 
 Every statesman in the country who has been called 
 upon to affirm the position of our Government on this 
 question, has uniformly taken the ground that we 
 should not and would not disturb Spain in her owner 
 ship of the island, and that until she was ready to 
 entertain or propose terms of cession or transfer, it 
 was not becoming in us to agitate the question. Such 
 are the expressed and recorded views of John Quincy 
 Adams, Henry Clay, John C Calhoun, James Buchanan, 
 William L. Marcy, and Edward Everett six of the 
 most distinguished gentlemen who have presided over 
 the State Department of this Government. 
 
 If I had public documents at hand I could quote the 
 opinions of each and all these eminent men in support 
 of the views I have advanced. 
 
 I am able, however, at this time, to call the attention 
 of the House to an extract from but one of the 
 numerous State papers to which I have referred, and 
 that is from the letter of instructions written by Mr. 
 Buchanan when Secretary of State under Mr. Polk, in 
 1848, to Mr. Romulus Saunders, of North Carolina, 
 then our minister to Madrid. In that letter Mr. Bu- 
 
MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 75 
 
 chanan, speaking for the Administration, authorized 
 Mr. Saunders to offer one hundred millions of dollars 
 to Spain for the island, and he accompanied his in 
 structions with a disclaimer of any design or desire to 
 coerce Spain into the sale. I quote the following 
 extract from his remarks : 
 
 " The fate of this island must ever be deeply inter 
 esting to the people of the United States. We are 
 content that it shall continue to be a colony of Spain. 
 Whilst in her possession we have nothing to appre 
 hend. Besides, we are bound to her by the ties of 
 ancient friendship, and we sincerely desire to render 
 these perpetual." 
 
 Why, then, are we not still content that it shall be a 
 colony of Spain ? Do we not know, of a verity, that 
 " whilst in her possession we have nothing to appre 
 hend?" I commend Mr. Buchanan s words in 1848 
 to his adherents in 1859, and knowing as they do, that 
 Spain was never so reluctant to part with Cuba as 
 now indeed, never so fully determined to hold it as 
 at this moment what, I ask, can be the object of 
 agitation on this subject? 
 
 TROUBLED TIMES. 
 
 The foregoing utterances show that the people of 
 Maine had found a true and patriotic leader. An 
 instant response came from a multitude of hearts to 
 the warm words that fell from the lips of the young 
 legislator. 
 
 Meanwhile the commotion in the nation continued, 
 and the waves of popular strife rose higher and higher. 
 
76 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 The question of Slavery, it was evident, would have tC 
 be settled, even if armies waded through blood to do 
 it. The administration of Buchanan was condemned 
 by all except the extreme Southern party, and as the 
 national election of 1860 approached the tide of public 
 
 discussion ran 
 deep and strong. 
 The great ad 
 vocate of popu 
 lar sovereignty 
 was Senator 
 Stephen A. 
 Douglas, of Illi 
 nois. One of 
 the towering pil 
 lars of the Re 
 publican party 
 was Abraham 
 Lincoln, of the 
 same State. 
 These two great 
 tribunes met 
 each other in pub 
 lic debate, and 
 here Mr. Lincoln showed the conspicuous ability, 
 the sterling integrity and traits of statesmanship which 
 pointed him out as the most popular leader of his 
 party. 
 
 Mr. Elaine heard and described, as a newspaper 
 correspondent, the debates between these two remark- 
 
 STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 
 

 ; %V, . 
 
 1 
 
MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 77 
 
 able men. He has sketched the combatants with a 
 master hand. With a few bold strokes he has out 
 lined the giants in their gladiatorial combat. No 
 reader can fail to be interested in the following 
 graphic description, which is among the most brilliant 
 productions from Mr. Elaine s facile and graceful pen : 
 
 A GIGANTIC TASK. 
 
 The contest that ensued was memorable. Douglas 
 had a herculean task before him. The Republican 
 party was strong, united, conscious of its power, 
 popular, growing. 
 
 The Democratic party was rent with faction, and the 
 Administration was irrevocably opposed to the return 
 of Douglas to the Senate. He entered the field, 
 therefore, with a powerful opponent in front, and with 
 defection and betrayal in the rear. He was every 
 where known as a debater of singular skill. His mind 
 was fertile in resources. He was master of logic. 
 No man perceived more quickly than he the strength 
 or weakness of an argument, and no one excelled him 
 in the use of sophistry and fallacy. 
 
 Where he could not elucidate a point to his own 
 advantage, he would fatally becloud it for his opponent. 
 In that peculiar style of debate which, in its intensity, 
 resembles a physical combat, he had no equal. He 
 spoke with extraordinary readiness. There was no 
 halting in his phrase. He used good English, terse, 
 vigorous, pointed. He disregarded the adornments 
 of rhetoric rarely used a simile, and was master of 
 the sledge-hammer style of debate. 
 
78 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 A KIND OF IRON MAN. 
 
 He was utterly destitute of humor, and had slight 
 appreciation of wit. He never cited historical pre 
 cedents, except from the domain of American policies. 
 Inside that field his knowledge was comprehensive, 
 minute, critical. Beyond it his learning was limited. 
 He was not a reader. His recreations were not in 
 literature. In the whole range of his voluminary 
 speaking it would be difficult either to find a line of 
 poetry or a classical allusion. But he was by nature 
 an orator, and by long practice a debater. He could 
 lead a crowd almost irresistibly to his own conclusions. 
 He could, if he wished, incite a mob to desperate 
 deeds. 
 
 He was, in short, an able, audacious, almost uncon 
 querable Opponent in public discussion. 
 
 It would have been impossible to find any man of 
 the same type able to meet him before the people of 
 Illinois. Whoever attempted it would probably have 
 been destroyed in the first encounter. But the man 
 who was chosen to meet him, who challenged him to 
 the combat, was radically different in every phase of 
 character. 
 
 LINCOLN AS A DEBATER. 
 
 Scarcely could two men be more unlike, in moral 
 and mental constitution, than Abraham Lincoln and 
 Stephen A. Douglas. Mr. Lincoln was calm and 
 philosophic. He loved the truth for truth s sake. 
 He would not argue from a false premise, or be de 
 ceived himself or deceive others by a false conclusion. 
 
MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 79 
 
 He had pondered deeply on the issue which aroused 
 him to action. He had given anxious thought to the 
 problems of free government and to the destiny of 
 the Republic. He had for himself marked out a path 
 of duty, and he walked in it fearlessly. His mental 
 processes were slower but more profound than those 
 of Douglas. He did not seek to say merely the 
 thing which was best for that day s debate, but the 
 thing which would stand the test of time and square 
 itself with eternal justice. He wished nothing to ap 
 pear white unless it was white. His logic was severe 
 and faultless. He did not resort to fallacy, and could 
 detect it in his opponent, and expose it with merciless 
 directness. 
 
 He had an abounding sense of humor, and always 
 employed it in the illustration of his argument 
 never for the mere sake of provoking merriment. 
 In this respect he had the wonderful aptness of Frank 
 lin. 
 
 He often taught a great truth with the felicitous 
 brevity of an ./Esop Fable. His words did not fall 
 in an impetuous torrent as did those of Douglas, but 
 they were always well chosen, deliberate, and con 
 clusive. 
 
 Thus fitted for the contest, these men proceeded to 
 a discussion which at the time was so interesting as to 
 enchain the attention of the Nation in its immediate 
 effect so striking as to affect the organization of parties, 
 in its subsequent effect so powerful as to change the 
 fate of millions. 
 
80 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 A TRUE PROPHET. 
 
 The nomination of Lincoln in 1860 came about as 
 Mr. Elaine had prophesied, and after the election the 
 relations between the two men became close and inti 
 mate, and so continued. 
 
 On the 7th of February, 1862, an exciting question 
 came up for discussion in the Maine Legislature. 
 Resolutions had been sent down from the senate to 
 the house for concurrence, endorsing the administration 
 of President Lincoln, and stating " that it is the duty 
 of Congress to provide for the confiscation of the 
 (/states of the rebels and the liberation of their slaves, 
 and for accepting the services of all able-bodied men, 
 of whatever status, as military necessity may require." 
 These resolutions found an opponent in Mr. Gould, 
 of Thomaston, who made an elaborate argument 
 against them. To him Elaine replied. He discussed 
 the question in two phases first, as to the power of 
 Congress to adopt such measures ; secondly, as to 
 the expediency of adopting them. He denied that the 
 war power in this Government is lodged wholly in the 
 President ; he held with Hamilton, and all constitu 
 tional lawyers, from Marshall to Webster, that Con 
 gress had no limitation on its authority to provide for 
 the common defence in any manner, 
 
 POWER OF CONGRESS. 
 
 At the origin of our Government, Mr. Chairman, 
 the people were jealous of their liberties ; they gave 
 power guardedly and grudgingly to their rulers ; they 
 were hostile, above all things, to what is termed the 
 
MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 81 
 
 one-man power, and you cannot but observe with 
 what peculiar care they provided against the abuse 
 of the war power. For after giving Congress the 
 power " to declare war, and to raise and support 
 armies," they added in the Constitution these remark 
 able and emphatic words, "but no appropriation of 
 money to that use shall be for a longer term than two 
 years," which is precisely the period for which the 
 Representatives in the popular branch are chosen. 
 Thus, sir, this power was not given to Congress sim 
 ply, but in effect it was given to the House of Repre 
 sentatives ; the people placing it where they could lay 
 their hands directly upon it at every biennial election, 
 and say " yes " or " no " to the principles or policy of 
 any war. 
 
 In all that I am thus maintaining in regard to the 
 supreme war power of Congress, I make no conflict 
 between that and the Executive power, which in war, 
 as well as in all matters of civil administration, belongs 
 to the President. The question at issue between the 
 g entleman from Thomaston and myself is not whether 
 the President has power of great magnitude in the 
 conduct of a war, for that I readily admit, or rather I 
 stoutly affirm ; but the point at issue is, which is 
 superior in authority, Congress or the President ? I 
 think I have shown that the Constitution vests the 
 supreme unlimited power in Congress, and that the 
 President must obey the direction of Congress, as the 
 chief executive officer of the nation, and at the same 
 
 time he must be held accountable for the mode in 
 6 
 
82 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 which his subordinate officers execute the trust con 
 fided to them. 
 
 A BOLD REJOINDER. 
 
 Mr. Gould had denied the existence of a civil war, 
 and that the rebels had, therefore, full right to the 
 protection of property, guaranteed by the Constitu 
 tion, and could only be deprived of it by due process 
 of law. Elaine scornfully rejoins : 
 
 To assume the ground of the gentleman from 
 Thomaston, with its legitimate sequences, is practically 
 to give up the contest. For he tells you, and he cer 
 tainly repeated it a score of times, that you cannot 
 deprive these rebels of their property except " by due 
 process of law," and at the sa^me time he confesses 
 that within the rebel territory it is impossible to serve 
 any precept or enforce any verdict. He at the same 
 time declares that we have not belligerent rights 
 because the contest is not a civil war. Pray, what 
 kind of a war is it ? The gentleman acknowledges 
 that the rebels are traitors, and if so they must be 
 engaged in some kind of war, because the Constitu 
 tion declares that " treason against the United States 
 shall consist only in levying war against them." 
 It is, therefore, war on their side. It must also be 
 war on ours, and if so, what kind of war ? 
 
 Mr. Gould rose and said that he would define it as 
 domestic war. 
 
 Mr. Bkine : 
 
 Domestic war ! that s it ! Well, Mr. Chairman, we 
 shall learn something before this discussion is over. 
 
MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Domestic war ! I have heard of domestic woolens, 
 domestic sheetings, and domestic felicity, but a " domes 
 tic war" is something entirely new under the sun. 
 All the writers of international law that I have ever 
 read speak of two kinds of war, foreign and civil. 
 Vattel will, I suppose, have a new edition with annota 
 tions by Gould, in which " domestic war " will be de 
 fined and illustrated as a contest not quite foreign, 
 not quite civil, but one in which the rebellious party 
 have at one and the same time all the rights of peace 
 ful citizens and all the immunities of alien enemies 
 for that is precisely what the gentleman by his argu 
 ment claims for the Southern secessionists. 
 
 WRONG PREMISES. 
 
 The gentleman strove elaborately to prove that this 
 Government, this Nation, this great American people 
 have no right to clo anything not distinctly warranted 
 in the Federal Constitution. Sir, no position could 
 be more radically erroneous, and that false premise is 
 the corner-stone of error on which the gentleman has 
 reared such a superstructure of wrong deductions 
 and conclusions. 
 
 I affirm, sir, in opposition to this assumption, that 
 the American people have rights which are anterior 
 to and wholly independent of the Constitution ; and 
 I affirm, moreover, that while that precious instrument 
 will continue to be, God grant for these many genera 
 tions, the rule of our civil administration, yet that over 
 it and under it and outside of it and above it there is 
 engraven on the hearts of this people that God-given 
 
84 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 right, that great precept of nature, " Save thyself! " 
 And I maintain, sir, that the great law of self-preser 
 vation which in the individual knows no limit but 
 necessity, is even stronger in a nation, by as much as 
 the interests and importance of a nation transcend 
 those of an individual. 
 
 In the magnificent paragraph which I quote from 
 Mr. Hamilton, this self-evident truth is thus tersely 
 enunciated: "The circumstances that endanger the 
 
 o 
 
 safety of nations are infinite ; and for this reason no 
 constitutional shackles can be wisely imposed on the 
 power to which the care of it is committed." I have 
 now, sir, at somewhat greater length than I designed 
 when I rose, discussed the question of constitutional 
 power, so far as it is brought into issue by the pend 
 ing resolves. 
 
 RIGHTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 I have endeavored to establish as essential to the 
 maintenance of my position two propositions: First, 
 that the war power of this Government is lodged in 
 Congress ; and second, that under every principle and 
 every precedent of international law the Government 
 of the United States, while sovereign over all, has, 
 so long as the rebellion endures, all the rights of war 
 against those who in armed force are seeking the life 
 of the nation. The first resolve, endorsing the Ad 
 ministration in general terms, is, I believe, not objected 
 to in any quarter, and is not in dispute between the 
 gentleman from Thomaston and myself. 
 
 The only objection I have to it, is that it is cold and 
 
SAMUEL I RANDALL. 
 

 
 SHELBY M. COLLUM. 
 
MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 85 
 
 stiff and formal, whereas to reflect my feelings it should 
 be warm and cordial and unreserved. I am for the 
 Administration through and through being an early 
 and unflinching believer in the ability, the honesty and 
 patriotism of Abraham Lincoln, I did in my humble 
 sphere, both with pen and tongue, all I could to pro 
 mote his election. 
 
 NEGROES IN THE ARMY. 
 
 Then passing to the third resolution, respecting the 
 military employment of negroes, Mr. Elaine said : 
 
 The resolution must be taken and judged by itself 
 its own words. It simply declares that the services 
 of all men should be accepted this implies that the 
 service is previously offered, and expressly negatives 
 the idea of calling on the negroes " to rise." It fur 
 ther says, that these men should be employed as 
 " military necessity and the safety of the Republic may 
 demand." I do not anticipate that any necessity will 
 arise for arming the slaves, and as at present advised, 
 I would not vote for a resolution recommending that 
 step. But there are a thousand things which the 
 negroes may do, which would greatly lighten the 
 labors of our brave brethren in the ranks of the 
 National army. They may dig trenches, throw up 
 embankments, labor on fortifications, aid in transport 
 ing baggage, and make themselves " generally useful." 
 
 But lest the gentleman should infer that I shrink 
 from the logical consequences of some propositions 
 which I have laid down as ultimate steps, I tell him 
 boldly that if the life of the nation seemed to demand 
 
66 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 the violation of the Constitution, I would violate it, 
 and in taking this ground I am but repeating the ex 
 pression of President Lincoln in his message, when he 
 declared that " it were better to violate one provision 
 than that all should perish." And I will give a higher 
 and more venerable authority than President Lincoln, 
 for the same doctrine. 
 
 No less a personage than Thomas Jefferson wrote 
 the following sentiments in a letter to J. R. Calvin, 
 from his retirement at Monticello, September 22, 
 1810: " The question you propose, whether circum 
 stances do not sometimes occur, which make it a duty, 
 in officers of high trust, to assume authorities beyond 
 the law, is easy of solution in principle, but some 
 times embarrassing in practice. A strict observance 
 of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties 
 of a good citizen ; but it is not the highest. The 
 laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our 
 country when in danger, are of higher obligation. 
 To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to 
 written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, 
 liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them 
 with us ; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the 
 means." 
 
 This doctrine cuts ri^ht athwart, and scatters to the 
 & 
 
 four winds of heaven the whole argument of the 
 
 & 
 
 gentleman. He sticks to forms ; I go for substance. 
 He sacrifices the end to the means ; I stand ready to 
 use the means essential to the end. I stand with, or 
 rather follow after, Jefferson and Lincoln ; he assumes 
 
MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 87 
 
 a ground which both of those statesmen have 
 denounced and execrated. 
 
 I read in the President s Message something more 
 than a great proposition for compensated emancipa 
 tion. I read in it a declaration as plain as language 
 can make it, that resolute measures may be deemed 
 necessary to crush out the rebellion speedily and 
 effectually, will be unhesitatingly adopted. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 First Term in Congress. 
 
 IN 1862 Mr. Elaine was nominated for Congress in 
 the Kennebec District, and was elected by a majority 
 of 3,000 votes. To this position he was successively 
 elected, in each succeeding Congress, until his promo 
 tion to the United States Senate. 
 
 During the first term of his long career as Repre 
 sentative he had for colleagues such men as Klihu B. 
 Washburne, Owen Lovejoy, George W. Julian, Godlove 
 S. Orth, Schuyler Colfax, James F. Wilson, William B. 
 Allison, John A. Kasson, Alexander H. Rice, Henry L. 
 Davves, William Windom, F. P. Blair, Jr., James Brooks, 
 Erastus Corning, Reuben E. Fenton, Francis Kernan, 
 George H. Penclieton, Robert C. Schenck, James A. 
 Garfield, Samuel J. Randall, William D. Kelley, Thad- 
 deus Stevens, G. W. Schofield, and many other distin 
 guished men. Among these he soon was recognized 
 as a man whose influence was sure to be felt and to 
 increase with time. 
 
 His first reputation in the Lower House of Con 
 gress was that of an exceedingly industrious commit- 
 teeman. He was a member of the Post Office and 
 Military Committees, and of the Committees on Ap 
 propriations and Rules. He paid close attention to the 
 
 (88) 
 
FIRST TERM IN CONGRESS. 
 
 89 
 
 business of the committees, and took an active part in 
 the debates of the House, manifesting practical ability 
 and genius for details. 
 
 THRILLING SPEECH. 
 
 The first remarkable speech which he made in 
 Congress was on the subject of the assumption by the 
 General Government of 
 the war debts of the 
 States, in the course of 
 which he urged that the 
 North was abundantly 
 able to carry on the war 
 to a successful issue. 
 This vigorous speech 
 attracted so much at- 
 t e n t i o n that 200,000 
 copies of it were circu 
 lated in 1864 as a cam 
 paign document by the 
 Republican party. 
 
 In January, 1868, he 
 introduced a resolution 
 in relation to Congres 
 sional representation, which was referred to the Re 
 construction Committee, and was subsequently made 
 the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Decem 
 ber, 1867, he made an elaborate speech on the 
 finances, in which he analyzed Mr. Pendleton s green 
 back theory. "The remedy for our financial troubles," 
 said he, "will not be found in a superabundance of 
 
 E. B. WASHBURNE. 
 
90 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 depreciated paper currency. It lies in the opposite 
 direction, and the sooner the Nation finds itself on a 
 specie basis the sooner will the public treasury be 
 freed from embarrassment and private business be re 
 lieved from discouragement. Instead, therefore, of 
 entering upon a reckless and boundless issue of 
 
 legal-tenders, with their 
 constant depreciation, 
 if not destruction, of 
 value, let us set res 
 olutely to work and 
 make those already in 
 circulation equal to so 
 many gold dollars." 
 
 ELECTED SPEAKER OF 
 THE HOUSE. 
 
 At the opening of the 
 first session of the 41 st 
 Congress the Republi 
 can caucus nominated 
 Mr. Elaine for Speaker 
 by acclamation, and he 
 was elected by a vote 
 He was re-elected, 
 
 SCHUYLER COLFAX. 
 
 of 136 to 57 for Mr. Kerr. 
 without opposition in his own party, Speaker of the 
 42d and 43d Congresses. In that position his quick 
 ness of perception, decision of manner, thorough 
 knowledge of parliamentary law and usages, and 
 impartial and judicial mind, added to his clear voice 
 and impressive presence, made him a truly great 
 
FIRST TERM IN CONGRESS. 
 
 91 
 
 presiding officer. No person who has occupied the 
 Speaker s Chair has ever filled it more acceptably. 
 
 The Democratic "tidal wave" of 1874 returned a 
 Democratic majority to the House, and Mr. Elaine 
 returned to the floor. There his parliamentary skill 
 and self-possession, together with his audacity of 
 manner and versatility 
 of talent, made him one 
 of the most adroit, and 
 aggressive leaders ever 
 enjoyed by a political 
 party. 
 
 During Mr. Elaine s 
 first term in Congress 
 there were many excit 
 ing debates. The war 
 was in progress, and it 
 often required all the 
 courage and tactics of 
 those who believed in 
 pushing it to a conclu 
 sion to silence the fre 
 quent clamor for peace. H - L - DAWES - 
 Mr. Elaine did not believe in peace at the cost of a 
 nation. 
 
 DISCUSSION OF FREE TRADE.* 
 
 Then, as ever afterward, Mr. Elaine was an ardent 
 protectionist. He believed the country would thrive 
 under protected industries, and he was a cordial 
 supporter of all government measures for carrying 
 
LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 out this policy. A speech by Mr. S. S. Cox in favor 
 of free trade, in which he saeeringly referred to the 
 New England States as " protected States," called 
 forth from Mr. Elaine a gallant defense of his own 
 State of Maine. He spoke as follows : 
 
 It has grown to be a habit in this house, Mr. 
 
 Chairman, to speak of 
 New England as a unit, 
 and in assailing the New 
 
 o 
 
 England States to class 
 them together, as has 
 been done to-day, by 
 the gentleman from 
 Ohio (Mr. Cox), 
 throughout his entire 
 speech. In response to 
 such attacks, each par 
 ticular Representative 
 from a New England 
 State might feel called 
 upon to defend the 
 
 SAMUEL J. RANDALL. who j e sect j on . 
 
 For myself, sir, I take a different view. I have the 
 honor to represent in part one State, the State of 
 Maine, and I have no more to do with the local and 
 particular interests of the rest of New England than 
 with any other State in the Union. The other New 
 England States are ably represented on the floor, and 
 it would be officious and arrogant in me to speak for 
 them. But when the gentleman from Ohio presumes 
 
FIRST TERM IN CONGRESS. 
 
 93 
 
 to charge here that the State I represent receives from 
 Federal legislation any undue protection to her local 
 interests, he either ignorantly or wilfully misrepresents 
 the case so grossly, that for ten minutes I will occupy 
 the attention of this House in correcting him. 
 
 o 
 
 Sir, I am tired of such 
 talk as the gentleman 
 from Ohio has indulged 
 in to-day, and in so far 
 as it includes my own 
 State as being a pen 
 sioner upon the Gen 
 eral Government, or 
 dependent upon the 
 bounty of any other 
 State, I hurl back the 
 charge with scorn. If 
 there be a State in this 
 Union that can say with 
 truth that her Federal 
 connection confers no 
 special benefit of a ma- s * s * cox * 
 
 terial character, that State is Maine. 
 
 And yet, sir, no State is more attached to the Fed 
 eral Union than Maine. Her affection and her pride 
 are centred in the Union, and God knows she has 
 contributed of her best blood and treasure without 
 stint in supporting the war for the Union ; and she 
 will do so to the end. But she resents, and I, speak 
 ing for her, resent the insinuation that she derives 
 
LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 any undue advantage from Federal legislation, or 
 that she gets a single dollar she does not pay back. 
 
 This much, sir, I have felt called upon to say in re 
 sponse to the elaborate and carefully prepared speech 
 of the gentleman from Ohio. I have spoken in vindi 
 cation of a State that is as independent and as proud 
 
 as any within the limits 
 of the Union. I have 
 spoken for a people as 
 hicrh-toned and as hon- 
 
 o 
 
 orable as can be found 
 in the wide world. I 
 have spoken for a par 
 ticular class many of 
 them my constituents 
 who are as manly and as 
 brave as ever faced the 
 ocean s storm. And so 
 long, sir, as I have a 
 seat on this floor, the 
 State of Maine shall not 
 be slandered by the 
 
 gentleman from Ohio, or by gentlemen from any 
 
 other State. 
 
 DEFENCE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 
 
 Elaine advocated the enlistment of the slaves into 
 our armies. Mr. Mallory, of Kentucky, accused the 
 negro troops of cowardice. " My friend from Maine," 
 he said, "who seems to be listening so attentively, lived 
 in Kentupky once, and knows the negro and his at> 
 
 A. KASSON. 
 
FIRST TERM IN CONGRESS. 
 
 95 
 
 tributes, and he knows, if he will tell you what he 
 knows, that they won t fight." 
 
 Mr. Elaine made this incisive reply : 
 
 From a residence of five years in Kentucky I came 
 to the conclusion from what I saw of the negroes that 
 there was a great 
 deal of fight in 
 them. I have 
 entire faith and 
 if I had not, I 
 would never vote 
 a dollar of appro 
 priation for these 
 negro troops 
 that well -trained 
 and disciplined 
 negroes will 
 make good 
 troops. I do not 
 believe they will 
 make as good 
 troops as white 
 men, and I do not 
 value any white 
 man s opinion 
 who does think so. Now I ask the gentleman 
 from Kentucky if he believes that a thousand white 
 men, of the Kentucky race and I believe that no more 
 gallant race than the Kentuckians ever lived un 
 armed and undrilled, would have stood any better be- 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
96 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 fore the rebel musketry than the negroes themselves 
 did. 
 
 ARDENT SUPPORTER OF LINCOLN. 
 
 As might have been expected Mr. Elaine lent all 
 his powerful influence to the support of President 
 Lincoln and his administration. In respect to his re 
 lations with the President, Mr. Ward H. Lamon, who 
 was Marshal of the District of Columbia and on terms 
 of special intimacy with Mr. Lincoln, makes the follow 
 ing statement : 
 
 " I knew those who were Mr. Lincoln s friends and 
 those who were plotting against him, and I am sure 
 that there was no one among the younger members 
 of Congress on more intimate, cordial and confidential 
 terms with him than Mr. Elaine, nor was there any 
 one more implicitly trusted by Mr. Lincoln. When 
 the movement was made against Mr. Lincoln in the 
 
 o 
 
 winter preceding the campaign of 1864, Mr. Elaine 
 was the person with whom Mr. Lincoln constantly 
 conferred about Maine, and I was present at a con 
 ference between the two when Mr. Lincoln requested 
 Mr. Elaine to proceed to Maine and see if there was 
 any adverse movement there. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln became acquainted with Mr. Elaine 
 in Illinois during his memorable campaign with 
 Douglas in 1858. Mr. Elaine was corresponding from 
 the scene of contest with his paper in Maine, and in 
 one of his letters he predicted that Lincoln would be 
 defeated for Senator by Douglas, but would beat 
 Douglas for President in 1860. This letter was copied 
 
FIRST TERM IN CONGRESS.] 97 
 
 in several Illinois papers, and Mr. Lincoln cut it out 
 and carried it in his small memorandum book until 
 long after he was inaugurated as President. It natur 
 ally laid the foundation for cordial friendship between 
 the two." 
 
 VIEWS ON THE DRAFT. 
 
 The unswerving patriotism of Mr. Elaine was never 
 questioned, and no warmer words in support of the 
 war-policy of the Government were spoken than those 
 which fell from his lips. He admitted the necessity 
 of keeping the army up to the required size, yet he 
 was opposed to the extreme measures advocated by 
 some persons for bringing men into the field. Upon 
 these measures he had this to say : 
 
 A conscription is a hard thing at best, Mr. Speaker, 
 but the people of this country are patriotically willing 
 to submit to one in this great crisis for the great 
 cause at stake. There is no necessity, however, for 
 making it absolutely merciless and sweeping. I say, 
 in my judgment, there is no necessity for making it so, 
 even if there were no antecedent questions as to the 
 expediency and practicability of the measure. I be 
 lieve the law as it stands, allowing commutation and 
 substitution, is sufficiently effective, if judiciously en 
 forced. It will raise a large number of men by 
 its direct operation, and it will secure a very large 
 amount of money with which to pay bounties to vol 
 unteers. 
 
 I cannot refrain from asking gentlemen around me 
 whether in their judgment the pending measure, if 
 
 7 
 
08 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 submitted to the popular vote, would receive the sup 
 port of even a respectable minority in any district in 
 the loyal States? Just let it be understood that who 
 ever the lot falls on must go, regardless of all business 
 considerations, all private interests, all personal en 
 gagements, all family obligations ; that the draft is to 
 be sharp, decisive, final and inexorable, without com 
 mutation and without substitution, and my word for it 
 you will create consternation in all the loyal States. 
 Such a conscription was never resorted to but once, 
 even in the French Empire under the absolutism of 
 the first Napoleon, and for the Congress of the United 
 States to attempt its enforcement upon their constitu 
 ents is to ignore the first principles of Republican and 
 Representative Government. 
 
 ELOQUENT PLEA FOR THE SOLDIERS. 
 
 On an occasion near the close of the war, in a 
 speech on the Enrolment Bill, in February, 1865, 
 he spoke as follows in behalf of the soldiers in the 
 field: 
 
 Nothing so discourages and disheartens the brave 
 men at the front as the belief that proper measures 
 are not adopted at home for re-enforcing and sustain 
 ing them. Even a lukewarmness or a backwardness 
 in that respect is enough ; but when you add to that 
 the suspicion that unfair devices have been resorted 
 to by those charged with filling quotas, you naturally 
 influence the prejudices and passions of our veterans 
 in the field, in a manner calculated to lessen their per 
 sonal zeal, and weaken the discipline of the army. 
 
FIRST TERM IN CONGRESS. 99 
 
 After four years of such patriotic and heroic effort 
 for National unity as the world has never witnessed 
 before, we cannot now afford to have the great cause 
 injured, or its fair fame darkened by a single unworthy 
 incident connected with it. The improper practices 
 of individuals cannot disgrace or degrade the Nation; 
 but after these practices are brought to the attention 
 of Congress, we shall assuredly be disgraced and de 
 graded if we fail to apply the requisite remedy when 
 that remedy is in our power. Let us, then, in this 
 hour of triumph to the National arms, do our duty 
 here, our duty to the troops in the field, our duty to 
 our constituents at home, and our duty above all, to 
 our country, whose existence has been in such peril in 
 the past, but whose future of greatness and glory 
 seems now so assured and so radiant. 
 
 LOYAL MEN IN SECEDED STATES. 
 
 Concerning the duties of the Federal Government 
 toward the loyal citizens in rebellious States, Mr. 
 Elaine said: 
 
 Among the most solemn duties of a sovereign gov 
 ernment is the protection of those citizens who, under 
 great temptations and amid great perils, maintain 
 their faith and their loyalty. The obligation on the 
 Federal Government to protect the loyalists of the 
 South is supreme, and they must take all needful 
 means to assure that protection. Among the most 
 needful is the gift of free suffrage, and that must be 
 guaranteed. 
 
 There is no protection you can extend to a man so 
 
100 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 effective and conclusive as the power to protect him 
 self. And in assuring protection to the loyal citizen, 
 you assure permanency to the government, so that the 
 bestowal of suffrage is not merely the discharge of a 
 personal obligation toward those who are enfranchised, 
 but it is the most far-sighted provision against social 
 disorder, the surest guarantee for peace, prosperity 
 and public justice. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 Second Term in Congress. 
 
 MR. ELAINE S services in the House of Representa 
 tives were able and efficient. Not merely did he draw 
 attention to himself at Washington as the future leader 
 of the great Republican party, but throughout the 
 country his name became familiar and his popularity 
 was assured. 
 
 Naturally he was the pride of his own State. " The 
 Man from Maine " was becoming widely known ; his 
 strong personality was felt in Congress, and his manly 
 bearing, fairness in debate, and loyalty to the Union, 
 Were distinguishing traits of the rising leader. His 
 first term in Congress was the natural antecedent to 
 a second term, and when his district made its nomina 
 tion in 1864 he was selected as the Republican can 
 didate. 
 
 The letter of acceptance he wrote on this occasion 
 is of special interest, and we take pleasure in laying 
 it before the reader: 
 
 AUGUSTA, Aug. 20, 1864. 
 GEN. J. R. BACHELDER: 
 
 Dear Sir : I am in receipt of your favor advising 
 me that on the loth inst., the Union Convention of the 
 Third District unanimously nominated me for re-elec- 
 
 (101) 
 
102 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 tion as Representative in Congress. For this generous 
 action, as well as for the cordial manner attending it, 
 and the very complimentary phrase in which it is 
 conveyed, I am under profound obligations. It is far 
 easier for me to find the inspiring cause of such favor 
 and such unanimity in the personal partiality of friends, 
 than in any merits or services which I may justly claim 
 as my own. 
 
 In nominating me as the Union candidate, and 
 pledging me to no other platform, you place me on 
 the precise ground I desire to occupy. The controlling 
 and absorbing issue before the American people, is 
 whether the Federal Union shall be saved or lost. In 
 comparison with that, all other issues and controversies 
 are subordinate, and entitled to consideration just in 
 the degree that they may influence the end which 
 Washington declared to be " the primary object of 
 patriotic desire." To maintain the Union a gigantic 
 war has been carried on, now in the fourth year of its 
 duration, and the resources of the country, both in men 
 and money, have been freely expended in support of 
 it. The war was not a matter of choice with die 
 Government, unless it was prepared to surrender its 
 power over one-half of its territory and incur all the 
 hazards of anarchy throughout the other half. It was 
 begun by those who sought to overthrow the Federal 
 
 Ql J O 
 
 authority. It should be ended the very day that 
 authority is recognized and re-established throughout 
 its rightful domain. 
 
 The desire for peace after the sufferings and trials 
 of the past three years is natural. Springing from 
 the very instincts of humanity it is irrepressible. The 
 danger to be avoided is that in aiming to attain peace 
 we shall be deceived by the shadow and thus fail to 
 secure the substance. Peace on the basis of disunion 
 
(103) 
 
104 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE, 
 
 is a delusion. It is no peace at all. It is but the 
 beginning of war more wasteful, more destructive, 
 more cruel than we have thus far experienced. Those 
 who cry for the "immediate cessation of the war" are 
 the best advocates of its endless continuance. They 
 mean peace by the recognition of Rebel Independence, 
 
 and Rebel Independ 
 ence is absolutely in 
 compatible with peace, 
 Among the cherished 
 errors of those who are 
 willing to acknowledge 
 the Southern Confed 
 eracy as the basis of 
 peace, the most fatal is 
 that which assumes the 
 continued union, har 
 mony, and power of 
 the loyal States. This 
 cannot be. Contentions 
 and strifes without num 
 ber would at once 
 spring up. The border 
 States would be con 
 vulsed with a fierce 
 contest as to which sec 
 tion they would adhere to. The Pacific slope, to 
 escape the dangers and constant embroilments which 
 it could neither control nor avoid, would naturally 
 seek for independence; and the Northwest, if it 
 did not follow the example, would demand such a 
 reconstruction of the government of the remaining 
 States, as would make our further connection there 
 with undesirable, if not absolutely intolerable. In 
 short, disunion upon the line of the revolted States 
 
 W. P. FRYE. 
 
SECOND TERM IN CONGRESS. 105 
 
 would involve the total and speedy disintegration of 
 the Federal Government, and we would find ourselves 
 launched on "a sea of troubles," with no pilot capable 
 of holding the helm, and no chart to guide us on our 
 perilous voyage. 
 
 There is indeed but one path of safety, and that is 
 likewise the path of honor and of interest. We must 
 preserve the Union. Differ as we may as to the meas 
 ures necessary to that end, there shall be no difference 
 among loyal men as to the end itself. No sacrifice we 
 can make in our efforts to save the Union is compar 
 able with that we should all make in losing it. He is 
 the enemy to both sections and to the common cause 
 of humanity and civilization, who is willing to conclude 
 the war by surrendering the Union ; and the most 
 alarming development of the times is the disposition 
 manifested by leading journals, by public men, and by 
 political conventions in the loyal States to accept this 
 conclusion. For myself, in the limited sphere of my 
 influence I shall never consent to such a delusive 
 settlement of our troubles. Neither at the polls as 
 an American citizen, nor in Congress as a Represent 
 ative (should I again be chosen), will I ever give a 
 vote admitting even the possibility of ultimate failure 
 in this great struggle for Nationality. 
 
 Very respectfully your obd t servant, 
 
 J. G. ELAINE. 
 
 AGAIN IN WASHINGTON. 
 
 To nominate Mr. Elaine for any office in Maine was 
 equivalent to electing him. The will of the people 
 was that he should serve a second term in Congress, 
 and should continue to take a prominent part in 
 National legislation. During his first term he had 
 
106 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 been a member of the Committee on Military Affairs, 
 which was second in importance to no other com 
 mittee at this time. Upon his re-election as represent 
 ative he resumed his position on this committee, and 
 was also appointed on the Committee on War Debts 
 of Loyal States. 
 
 In both these positions Mr. Elaine was active. He 
 took the ground that the loyal States ought to be re 
 imbursed by the Gov 
 ernment for their war 
 expenses, and brought 
 forward a proposition 
 to that effect. Never 
 half-hearted in any 
 thing 
 he was 
 
 and persistent in his 
 advocacy of this 
 measure, summoning 
 all his eloquence, re 
 sources, and great 
 qualities of leadership 
 in carrying it to a suc 
 cessful issue. In fact, 
 WILLIAM R. MORRISON. his achievement was 
 
 KO brilliant that from this time he was regarded as the 
 foremost leader of his party. Such a courageous, wise, 
 dashing, magnetic man was needed to bring together 
 and hold in invincible unity the various elements of 
 the great Union party, and lead it to victories in the 
 
 he undertook, 
 very earnest 
 
SECOND TERM IN CONGRESS. 107 
 
 Nation s capitol as magnificent as it had achieved on 
 the field of battle. 
 
 A MEMORABLE SPEECH. 
 
 The measure for reimbursing the loyal States for 
 their war expenses was advocated by Mr. Elaine in a 
 masterly and convincing speech. The proposition 
 came up in a Committee of the Whole House on 
 April 12, 1864, on a special order to reimburse the 
 State of Pennsylvania for its expenses in calling out 
 the militia during the invasion of that State by the Con 
 federate armies. Mr. Elaine moved to substitute for 
 the bill introduced by Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, a 
 bill to reimburse all the loyal States for the charges 
 they had incurred. 
 
 He had in the preceding January called the atten 
 tion of the House to this subject by submitting a res 
 olution, and now he desired the action of the House 
 on the bill proposed. There had been, he urged, a 
 legitimate expenditure in all the States for the pur 
 pose of suppressing the rebellion; these expenditures 
 were necessary and made in good faith for the defence 
 and preservation of the national life, and should be 
 refunded by the National Government. Such reim 
 bursement was just and expedient, and ought to come 
 from the National Treasury. In the course of his re 
 marks Mr. Elaine said: 
 
 If the twenty-four loyal States, now striving, with 
 patriotic rivalry, to outdo each other in defending and 
 rescuing the nation from its perils, were hereafter to 
 constitute the entire Union, there might be nothing 
 
108 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 gained and nothing lost to any one of them, by consol 
 idating their respective war debts into one common 
 charge upon the aggregate resources of the nation. 
 Under such circumstances each State would be freed 
 from an individual tax only to incur a burden of 
 similar magnitude in meeting its component part of 
 the total national debt. 
 
 THE UNION SURE TO BE RESTORED. 
 
 But the actual case, presented for our consideration 
 and decision, is far different from this. We are en- 
 
 ofaoed in a struggle which must inevitably result in re- 
 t> & >& * 
 
 storing to loyalty, and to duty, eleven States now in 
 rebellion against the authority of the National Gov 
 ernment. And beyond that, as a consequence of a re 
 stored Union, and of the boundless prosperity which 
 awaits the auspicious event, our vast Western domain 
 will be peopled with a rapidity exceeding all prece 
 dent, and States without number almost will spring 
 into existence, to add to the strength and insure the 
 perpetuity of our Government. 
 
 Well-considered estimates based on past progress, 
 and the established ratio of our advance in wealth and 
 population, assure us that within less than a century 
 from this time we shall have added forty new States 
 to our Union, making, with the number now compos 
 ing it, a grand total of seventy-five prosperous Com 
 monwealths. Were it not for the blood so freely 
 poured out, and the treasure so lavishly expended by 
 the twenty-four loyal States represented on this floor, 
 the eleven States now in revolt would not be saved 
 
ROSGOE CONKLING. 
 
S. BQUTWELL 
 
SECOND TERM IN CONGRESS. 
 
 109 
 
 from self-destruction, and the forty States so speedily 
 to grow up in the Mississippi valley and on the Pacific 
 slope would never come into existence. 
 
 WHERE THE BURDEN FALLS. 
 
 Of the immense national debt which we are incur 
 ring in this struggle, each State will, of course, have 
 to bear a share ; but it is quite manifest that for two 
 generations to come, 
 owing to our established 
 system of taxation, the 
 present loyal States will 
 have to endure vastly 
 the larger proportion of 
 the total burden. Is it 
 fair or just, that in addi 
 tion to this they shall 
 each be called upon to 
 bear, unaided, a large 
 local debt, necessarily, 
 and yet generously, in 
 curred in aid of the one 
 common object of pre 
 serving the life of the 
 whole nation? w. L. HOLMAN. 
 
 The question which I present, therefore, is not one 
 for dispute or difference between any of the States 
 here represented, for they all have a common interest 
 in adopting the proposed measure. The financial is 
 sue is rather between the twenty-four loyal States, on 
 the one hand, and the eleven revolted States together 
 
110 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 with all future new States on the other. We have it 
 in our power to-day to determine the matter upon 
 principles of the highest equity, and at the same time 
 for the interest of the loyal States, who are bearing 
 the heat and burden of the great contest. 
 
 The war closing in July, 1865, will leave us in this 
 condition: a nation numbering some thirty-three mil 
 lions of people, owning over sixteen thousand millions 
 of property, and carrying a debt of twenty-five hun 
 dred millions of dollars. The proportion between 
 debt and property will be just about the same that it 
 was when the Union was formed, while the ratio of 
 our advance and the largely enhanced productiveness 
 of agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial pur 
 suits, gives the present generation an advantage that 
 renders the debt far less burdensome at the very 
 outset. 
 
 DEBT INCURRED BY THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 And if the revolutionary debt became in a very brief 
 period so light as to be unnoticed, why may we not, 
 with a vastly accelerated ratio of progress, assume a 
 similar auspicious result with regard to the debt we 
 are now contracting? Were our future advance in 
 wealth and population to be no more rapid than Great 
 Britain s has been since 1815, we should at the close 
 of the present century have a population of forty-five 
 million souls, and a property amounting to fifty thou 
 sand millions of dollars. Even upon this ratio of prog 
 ress our entire debt would cease to be felt as a bur 
 den. But upon the increase of population and devel- 
 
SECOND TERM IN CONGRESS. 1H 
 
 opment of wealth to be so assuredly anticipated, the 
 debt would be so small, in comparison with the total 
 resources of the nation, as to become absolutely incon 
 siderable. 
 
 To those who may be disposed to doubt the future 
 progress of our country according to the ratio as 
 sumed, a few familiar considerations in respect to our 
 resources may be recalled with advantage. We oc 
 cupy a territory at least three million square miles in 
 extent ; within a fraction as large as the whole of 
 Europe. Our habitable and cultivable area is indeed 
 larger than that of all Europe, to say nothing of the 
 superior fertility and general productiveness of our 
 soil. 
 
 So vast is our extent that though we may glibly re 
 peat its numerical measure, we find it most difficult to 
 form any just conception of it. The State of Texas 
 alone is equal in area to the empire of France and 
 the kingdom of Portugal united ; and yet these two 
 monarchies support a population of forty millions, 
 while Texas has but six hundred thousand inhabitants. 
 
 OUR GREAT STATES. 
 
 Or, if we wish for a comparative measure nearer 
 home, let me state that the area of Texas is greater 
 than that of the six New England States, together with 
 
 o o 
 
 New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and 
 Ohio and Indiana all combined. California, the second 
 State in size, is equal in extent to the kingdom of 
 Spain and the kingdom of Belgium together. Spain 
 and Belgium have twenty millions of people, while 
 
112 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 California has not half a million. And we might 
 pursue this species of comparison almost indefinitely, 
 clearly showing that in capacity and assured destiny 
 our individual States, if peaceful and united, are to 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 become as wealthy, as populous, and as powerful as 
 the separate great nations of Europe. 
 
 Mere territorial extent does not, of course, imply 
 future greatness, though it is one great requisite to it. 
 And in our case it is so vast an element that we may 
 be pardoned for dwelling on it with emphasis and 
 
SECOND TERM IN CONGRESS. 113 
 
 iteration. The land that is still in the hands of our 
 Government, not sold nor even pre-empted, amounts 
 to a thousand millions of acres an extent of territory 
 thirteen times as large as Great Britain, and equal in 
 area to all the kingdoms of Europe, with Russia and 
 Turkey alone excepted. 
 
 THE NATION S WEALTH. 
 
 Combined with this almost limitless expanse of 
 territory we have facilities for the acquisition and 
 consolidation of wealth varied, magnificent, and im 
 measurable. Our agricultural resources, bounteous 
 and boundless by nature, are, by the application of 
 mechanical skill and labor-saving machinery, receiving 
 a development each decade, which a century in the 
 past would have failed to secure, and which a century 
 in the future will place beyond all present power of 
 computation giving us so far the lead in the produc 
 tion of those staple articles essential to life and civili 
 zation that we become the arbiter of the world s 
 destiny without aiming at the world s empire. 
 
 The single State of Illinois, cultivated to its capacity, 
 can produce as large a crop of cereals as has ever 
 been grown within the limits of the United States ; 
 while Texas, if peopled but half as densely as Mary 
 land even, could give an annual return of cotton larger 
 than the largest that has ever been grown in all the 
 cotton States together. Our facilities for commerce 
 and exchange, both domestic and foreign who shall 
 measure them ? Our oceans, our vast inland seas, our 
 marvelous and unlimited flow of navigable streams, 
 8 
 
114 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 our canals, our network of railroads more than thirty 
 thousand miles in extent, greater than the railroads 
 of all Europe and all the world besides these give us 
 avenues of trade and channels of communication, both 
 natural and artificial, such as no other nation has ever 
 enjoyed, and which tend to the production of wealth 
 with a rapidity not to be measured by any standard 
 of the past. 
 
 The enormous field for manufacturing industry in 
 all its complex and endless variety with our raw 
 material, our wonderful motive-power both by water 
 and steam, our healthful climate, our cheap carriage, 
 our home consumption, our foreign demand fore 
 shadows a traffic whose magnitude and whose profit 
 will in no long period surpass the gigantic industrial 
 system of Great Britain, where to-day the cunning 
 hands of ten million artisans accomplish, with mechan 
 ical aid, the work of six hundred millions of men ! 
 
 OUR IMMENSE RESOURCES. 
 
 Our mines of gold and silver and iron and copper 
 and lead and coal, with their untold and unimaginable 
 wealth, spread over millions of acres of territory, in 
 the valley, on the mountain-side, along rivers, yielding 
 already a rich harvest, are destined yet to increase a 
 thousand-fold, until their every-day treasures, 
 
 " familiar grown, 
 Shall realize Orient s fabled wealth." 
 
 These are the great elements of material progress ; 
 and they comprehend the entire circle of human enter 
 prise agriculture, commerce, manufactures, mining. 
 
SECOND TERM IN CONGRESS. 115 
 
 They assure to us a growth in property and popula 
 tion that will surpass the most sanguine deductions 
 of our census tables, framed as those tables are upon 
 the ratios and relations of our progress in the past. 
 They give into our hands, under the blessing of 
 Almighty God, the power to command our fate as a 
 Nation. They hold out to us the grandest future 
 reserved for any people ; and with this promise they 
 teach us the lesson of patience, and make confidence 
 and fortitude a duty. With such amplitude and afflu 
 ence of resources, and with such a vast stake at issue, 
 we should be unworthy of our lineage and our inheri 
 tance if we for one moment distrusted our ability to 
 maintain ourselves a united people, with "one country, 
 one constitution, one destiny." 
 
 GRAPPLING WITH HARD PROBLEMS. 
 
 The foregoing tribute to the loyal States is as just 
 as it is eloquent. It reveals the masterly thought of 
 the statesman and the wisdom of the financier. It 
 ranks among the great deliverances on the floor of 
 Congress and is worthy of Henry Clay in his palmiest 
 days. 
 
 Mr. Elaine discussed in the same able manner other 
 questions which came before Congress. He had evi 
 dently made a study of each, and his speeches, instead 
 of being so much wind and tongue, threw light on the 
 subjects he handled. He had some other end in view 
 than to draw the attention of his constituents to the 
 fact that he was making harangues in Congress, and 
 therefore they were to conclude that they were ably 
 
116 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 represented. He did not speak for effect ; he was not 
 constantly shouting " Mr. Speaker," in order to figure 
 in newspaper reports. To him the floor of Congress 
 was not a place for empty speech-making, but a tri 
 bunal where the questions profoundly agitating the 
 Nation were to be tried and settled according to 
 enlightened statesmanship, and in keeping with the 
 gravity of the interests at stake. 
 
 PROPOSITION TO TAX EXPORTS. 
 
 Looking to the sources whence the nation could 
 derive the immense revenue needed for its war-debt, 
 Mr. Elaine proposed to levy a tax on exports. This 
 was something new, and coming from any ordinary 
 man would have been considered audacious, if not 
 absurd. He threw around it such charms of eloquence, 
 gave such cogent reasons for its adoption, and was 
 so powerful in sustaining his novel views that his 
 measure attracted universal attention, and was dis 
 cussed throughout the country. 
 
 Mr. Elaine urged that such a tax was now needed 
 "for the maintenance of our National credit," and in 
 the conclusion of his speech followed Mr. Madison s 
 argument, who demanded export duties for the "pur 
 pose of encouraging domestic manufacturers and pro 
 curing equitable treaties of commerce with foreign 
 nations." He spoke next of the subjects liable to such 
 taxation : 
 
 The general and obvious distinction is to tax such 
 and such only as have no competing product in foreign 
 marts, or at all events such weak competition as will 
 
HQU$E OF REPRESENTATIVES, WASHINGTON, D, C 
 
UNITED STATES SENATE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
SECOND TERM IN CONGRESS. 
 
 117 
 
 the markets of England and the 
 
 give us the command of the market after the com 
 modity has paid its export dues in this country. 
 
 EXPORTS OF COTTON. 
 
 As an illustration, take cotton, which is our leading 
 export in time of peace. It is believed with confidence? 
 that the American product can pay an export tax of 
 five cents per pound, and yet with ease maintain its 
 pre-eminence in 
 European continent. 
 Our export in a single 
 year has reached three 
 million two hundred 
 thousand bales of five 
 hundred pounds each, 
 and it would rapidly run 
 beyond that figure after 
 peace is restored and 
 the competition of free 
 labor is applied to its 
 production. But if it 
 should never go beyond 
 
 the quantity named, an 
 export tax of five cents 
 per pound would yield THOS. A. HENDRICKS. 
 a revenue of eighty million dollars from this single 
 article, as any one will see by a moment s calcula 
 tion. 
 
 Tobacco and naval stores also afford a large mar 
 gin for an export tax, owing to the superior quality and 
 quantity of the American production of each article. 
 
118 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 THE LUXURY OF TOBACCO. 
 
 In the case of tobacco, might we not, at all events, 
 share with foreign nations the advantage of the 
 enormous tax which this article of luxury will bear, 
 making them pay a moiety into our coffers instead of 
 monopolizing it all for their own ? Should petroleum 
 continue to be developed in such immense quantities, 
 without being found elsewhere, it, too, will in due time 
 bear a very considerable export tax, as, indeed, will all 
 articles (without attempting their specific enumeration) 
 whose production is peculiar to this country, or whose 
 quality may be greatly superior to products of similar 
 kind in otfier countries, or, in the comprehensive phrase 
 of Mr. Madison, "articles in which America is not 
 rivaled in foreign markets." 
 
 The fear that has often been expressed, that the 
 Congressional power to tax exports might be used to 
 oppress certain sections, and to discriminate against 
 particular commodities, is manifestly groundless. It 
 is always safe to trust to self-interest in a nation as 
 well as in an individual. The highest National in 
 terest in the matter we are discussing is to encourage 
 exports in every honorable and practicable way ; and 
 the moment that an export tax should tend to check 
 or decrease exportation, that moment it would be 
 abolished or reduced. 
 
 Of course, there must be exportation before revenue 
 can be derived from an export tax, and hence I repeat 
 that the interest which underlies the whole design 
 affords the most absolute guaranty against any op- 
 
SECOND TERM IN CONGRESS. 119 
 
 pressive attempt to discriminate against any section 
 or any particular commodity. 
 
 EXPENSE OF COLLECTION. 
 
 Not the least advantage, Mr. Speaker, in this mode 
 of collecting the tax, is the cheapness with which it 
 can be done. The points of shipment of cotton are 
 so few that you may count them on your fingers; and 
 the tendency, owing to the converging of water-courses 
 and railroad lines, is against any increase in the num 
 ber of these ports. The same officers of customs, 
 that are already there, to collect your tariff duties, can 
 perform the labor of collecting the export duties, with 
 out a dollar s additional expense, beyond the salaries 
 of clerks that the increase of business might demand. 
 
 Compare with this the vast expense of sending an 
 army of excisemen throughout all the cotton and 
 tobacco plantations, and you will find that the system 
 of export duties would effect a saving of millions to 
 the Government, simply in the mode of collection. 
 And, sir, you could invent no more offensive system 
 of taxation than would be involved in sending your 
 Government agents to every rural home in the plant 
 ing regions, to interrogate the farmer as to the num 
 ber of bales in his cotton crop, or how many pounds 
 of tobacco he had raised. The officials, who should 
 perambulate the country on such errands, would ac 
 quire, in popular opinion, as bad a reputation as Dr. 
 Johnson, in his Dictionary, fastened on the English ex 
 ciseman, " an odious wretch, employed to collect an 
 unjust tax." 
 
CHAPThK VII. 
 Third Term in Congress. 
 
 MR. ELAINE was in Congress to remain. He would 
 nave been compelled to fight his way out if he had 
 wished to retire. Having become the most command 
 ing figure in the council of the Nation, he was ex 
 pected to remain and continue his career. He was 
 by this time a thoroughly qualified legislator ; his 
 value to his party and the country was gratefully rec 
 ognized ; in every position assigned him he had 
 proved his conspicuous ability and efficient service, 
 and his renomination in 1868 came as a matter of 
 course. It was felt, not merely by the people of the 
 district he represented, but by his party throughout 
 the country, that he was needed at Washington, and 
 his retirement from office would be a public calamity. 
 
 The question of the hour related to the national 
 currency. Mr. Elaine had long studied this perplex 
 ing subject, and was outspoken in the expression of 
 his views. He believed in an "honest dollar." Thad- 
 deus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, introduced his cele 
 brated Gold Bill, and Mr. Elaine moved to lay it on 
 the table. In doing so he gave one of his inimitable 
 thrusts which stabbed the Greenback fallacy to the 
 
 (120) 
 
THIRD TERM IN CONGRESS. 121 
 
 quick. "The bill," he said, "aims at what is impossi 
 ble. You cannot make a gold dollar worth less than 
 it is, or a paper dollar worth more than it is, by a 
 Congressional declaration." 
 
 He also made a powerful speech in favor of an 
 "honest dollar," which was one of the most important 
 contributions made in Congress to the discussion of 
 the vexed question upon which there was a great 
 variety of opinion. He resolutely opposed the views 
 expressed by G. H. Pendleton, of Ohio, and Benjamin 
 F. Butler, of Massachusetts. 
 
 SPEECH ON THE CURRENCY. 
 
 The position of these gentlemen"! understand to be 
 simply this : That the principal of the United States 
 bonds, known as the Five-twenties, may be fairly and 
 legally paid in paper currency by the Government 
 after the expiration of five years from the date of issue. 
 
 A brief review of the origin of the Five-twenty 
 bonds will demonstrate, I think, that this position is in 
 contravention of the honor and good faith of the 
 National Government ; that it is hostile to the spirit 
 and the letter of the law ; that it contemptuously ig 
 nores the common understanding between borrower 
 and lender at the time the loan was negotiated; and 
 that finally, even if such mode of payment were 
 honorable and practicable, it would prove disastrous 
 to the financial interests of the Government and the 
 general prosperity of the country. 
 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, suppose, for the sake of argu 
 ment, we admit that the Government may fairly and 
 
122 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 legally pay the Five-twenty bonds in paper currency, 
 what then ? I ask the gentleman from Massachusetts 
 to tell us, what then ? It is easy, I know, to issue as 
 many greenbacks as will pay the maturing bonds, re 
 gardless of the effect upon the inflation of prices, and 
 the general derangement of business. Five hundred 
 millions of the Five-twenties are now payable, and ac 
 cording to the easy mode suggested, all we have to do 
 is to set the printing-presses in motion, and " so long 
 as rags and lampblack hold out " we need have 
 no embarrassment about paying our National Debt. 
 
 ABSURD INFLATION. 
 
 But the ugly question recurs, what are you going 
 to do with the greenbacks thus put afloat ? Five 
 hundred millions this year, and eleven hundred mil 
 lions more on this theory of payment by the year 
 1872 ; so that within the period of four or five years 
 we would only have added to our paper money the 
 trifling inflation of sixteen hundred millions of dollars. 
 We should all have splendid times doubtless ! Wheat, 
 under the new dispensation, ought to bring twenty 
 dollars a bushel, and boots would not be worth more 
 than two hundred dollars a pair, and the farmers of 
 our country would be as well off as Santa Anna s 
 rabble of Mexican soldiers, who were allowed ten dol 
 lars a day for their services and charged eleven for 
 their rations and clothing. 
 
 The sixteen hundred millions of greenbacks added 
 to the amount already issued, would give us some 
 twenty-three hundred millions of paper money, and I 
 
THIRD TERM IN CONGRESS. 
 
 123 
 
 suppose the theory of the new doctrine would leave 
 this mass permanently in circulation, for it would 
 hardly be consistent to advocate the redemption 
 of the greenbacks in gold after having repudiated and 
 foresworn our obligation on the bonds. 
 
 But if it be intended to redeem the legal tenders in 
 gold, what will have been the net gain to the Govern 
 ment in the whole 
 transaction? If any 
 gentleman will tell me, 
 I shall be glad to learn 
 how it would be easier 
 to pay sixteen hundred 
 millions in gold in the 
 redemption of green 
 backs, than to pay the 
 same amount in the 
 redemption of Five- 
 twenty bonds ? The 
 policy advocated, it 
 seems to me, has only 
 two alternatives the BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 
 one to ruinously inflate the currency and leave it so, 
 reckless of results ; the other to ruinously inflate the 
 currency at the outset, only to render redemption in 
 gold far more burdensome in the end. 
 
 THE TRUE REMEDY. 
 
 The remedy for our financial troubles, Mr. Speaker, 
 will not be found in a superabundance of depreciated 
 paper currency. It lies in the opposite direction 
 
124 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 and the sooner the nation finds itself on a specie 
 basis, the sooner will the public treasury be freed from 
 embarrassment, and private business relieved from 
 discouragement. Instead, therefore, of entering upon 
 a reckless and boundless issue of legal tenders, with 
 their consequent depression if not destruction of 
 value, let us set resolutely to work and make those 
 already in circulation equal to as many gold dol 
 lars. 
 
 Discarding all such schemes so at once unworthy 
 and unprofitable, let us direct our policy steadily, but 
 not rashly, towards the resumption of specie payment, 
 and when we have attained that end easily attainable 
 at no distant day if the proper policy be pursued we 
 can all unite on some honorable plan for the redemp 
 tion of the Five-twenty bonds, and the issuing instead 
 thereof a new series of bonds which can be more 
 favorably placed at a lower rate of interest. When 
 we shall have reached the specie basis, the value of 
 United States securities will be so high in the money 
 market of the world, that we can command our own 
 terms. 
 
 HONEST MONEY FOR AN HONEST DEBT. 
 
 We can then call in our Five-twenties according to 
 the very letter and spirit of the bond, and adjust a 
 new loan that will be eagerly sought for by capitalists, 
 and will be free from those elements of discontent that 
 in some measure surround the existing funded debt 
 of the country. 
 
 And this, Mr. Speaker, we shall do. Our National 
 
WM. a ALLISON. 
 
EUGENE HALS 
 
THIRD TERM IN CONGRESS. 125 
 
 honor demands it ; our National interest equally de 
 mands it. We have vindicated our claim to the highest 
 heroism on a hundred bloody battle-fields, and have 
 stopped at no sacrifice of life needful to the mainte 
 nance of our National integrity. I am sure that in 
 the peace which our arms have conquered, we shall 
 not dishonor ourselves by withholding from any public 
 creditor a dollar that we promised to pay him, nor 
 seek by cunning construction and clever afterthought, 
 to evade or escape the full responsibility of our Na 
 tional indebtedness. It will doubtless cost us a vast 
 sum to pay that indebtedness but it would cost us 
 incalculably more not to pay it. 
 
 A MAN OF MANY AFFAIRS. 
 
 Such were Mr. Elaine s views upon the currency. 
 The majority of his countrymen received them as just 
 and sound ; the average common sense approved them. 
 A man who cannot talk common sense had better not 
 talk at all ; Mr. Elaine demonstrated his right to talk 
 by talking sense. 
 
 He was extremely active during this term in Con 
 gress. He had already proved his efficiency as a good 
 committee-man, and many committees wanted him. 
 He was the leading spirit in the House, and in all the 
 multifarious affairs of legislation his advice was sought 
 and his co-operation was heartily welcomed. From 
 the appointment of a restaurant-keeper for the Capitol 
 up to the drafting of a foreign treaty his voice was 
 heard ; he seemed to combine a good part of Congress 
 in his own person. 
 
126 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 One of the subjects much debated at this time was 
 the basis of representation in Congress. It was main 
 tained by some persons that the basis should be the 
 number of voters ; others argued that the only correct 
 basis is the number of population. Mr. Elaine held 
 to the latter view, and was opposed by so powerful a 
 leader and parliamentarian as Roscoe Conkling. 
 Blaine described Conkling as " presenting the spec 
 tacle of the waterman in the Pilgrims Progress, who 
 got his living by rowing in one direction while looking 
 in another." He then proceeded with his speech as 
 follows : / 
 
 BASIS OF REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS. 
 
 Since the beginning of the present session, Mr. 
 Chairman, we have had several propositions to amend 
 the Federal Constitution with respect to the basis of 
 representation in Congress. These propositions have 
 differed somewhat in phrase, but they all embrace 
 substantially the one idea of making suffrage instead 
 of population the basis of apportioning Representa 
 tives ; or, in other words, to give the States in future 
 a representation proportioned to their voters instead 
 of their inhabitants. 
 
 The effect contemplated and intended by this change 
 is perfectly well understood, and on all hands frankly 
 avowed. It is to deprive the lately rebellious States 
 of the unfair advantage of a large representation in 
 this House, based on their colored population, so long 
 as that population shall be denied political rights by 
 the legislation of those States. The proposed consti- 
 
THIRD TERM IN CONGRESS. 
 
 127 
 
 tutional amendment would simply say to those States, 
 while you refuse to enfranchise your black population, 
 you shall have no rep 
 resentation based on 
 their numbers; but ad 
 mit them to civil and 
 political rights, and they 
 shall at once be counted 
 to your advantage in 
 the apportionment of 
 Representatives. 
 
 The direct object 
 thus aimed at, as it re 
 spects the rebellious 
 States, has been so 
 generally approved that 
 little thought seems to 
 have been given to the 
 incidental evils which ROSCOE CONKLING. 
 
 the proposed constitutional amendment would inflict 
 on a large portion of the loyal States evils, in my 
 judgment, so serious and alarming as to lead me to 
 oppose the amendment in any form in which it has 
 yet been presented. 
 
 NON-VOTERS TO BE CONSIDERED. 
 
 As an abstract proposition, no one will deny that 
 population is the true basis of representation ; for 
 women, children, and other non-voting classes may 
 have as vital an interest in the legislation of the 
 country as those who actually deposit the ballot. In- 
 
128 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE, 
 
 deed, the very amendment we are discussing implies 
 that population is the true basis, inasmuch as the 
 exclusion of the black people of the South from polit 
 ical rights has suggested this indirectly coercive mode 
 of securing them those rights. Were the negroes to 
 be enfranchised throughout the South to-day, no one 
 would insist on the adoption of this amendment ; and 
 yet if the amendment shall be incorporated in the 
 Federal Constitution, its incidental evils will abide in 
 the loyal States long after the direct evil which it aims 
 to cure may have been eradicated in the Southern 
 States. 
 
 Basing representation on voters, unless Congress 
 should be empowered to define their qualification, 
 would tend to cheapen suffrage everywhere. There 
 Vvould be an unseemly scramble in all the States 
 during each decade, to increase, by every means, the 
 number of voters, and all conservative restrictions, 
 such as the requirement of reading and writing, now 
 enforced in some of the States, would be stricken down 
 in a rash and reckless effort to procure an enlarged 
 representation in the National councils. Foreigners 
 would be invited to vote on a mere preliminary " dec 
 laration of intention." 
 
 REVIVAL OF AMERICAN COMMERCE. 
 
 It has long been a puzzle to many reflecting persons 
 that a country like ours should have no distinctively 
 American commerce. Other countries are mistresses 
 of the seas. Mr. Elaine had some plain words to 
 speak on this subject. He denounced the granting 
 
ANDREW JOHNSON. 
 
 (129) 
 
130 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 of new American registers to ships transferred to 
 foreign owners during the war, and upon the subject 
 of ship-building said: 
 
 One word more, Mr. Speaker. The whole tone of 
 the speeches we have had from both the gentlemen 
 from Ohio (Mr. Spaulding and Mr. Garfield) was for 
 free trade. They urge that we shall buy our ships 
 wherever we can get them cheapest, and that all 
 restrictions as to registry should be abolished. Well, 
 sir, if we are prepared to reduce this free trade theory 
 to practice, why not have it in everything ? There is 
 no branch of American industry that is, to-day, so little 
 protected and so much oppressed by our revenue laws 
 as ship-building. It is taxed at all points, and nearly 
 taxed to death ; and I submit to these new advocates 
 of free trade that it would be better to begin with 
 some interest that is essentially protected by our laws 
 to-day. 
 
 If we are going to have free trade, let us have it 
 equally and impartially applied to all the industrial 
 interests of the land ; but for myself, I am opposed to 
 it altogether. In theory and in practice I am for pro 
 tecting American industry in all its forms, and to this 
 end we must encourage American manufactures, and 
 we must equally encourage American commerce. 
 
 AN HONORABLE CAREER. 
 
 It would be impossible within the limits of a single 
 volume to detail all the varied and eminent services 
 rendered by Mr. Elaine in Congress. He stood in the 
 eye of the Nation. His course was "marked by wise 
 
THIRD TERM IN CONGRESS. 131 
 
 measures, patriotic impulses, commanding oratory and 
 far-sighted statesmanship. One had arisen who was 
 a worthy successor of the Nation s most illustrious 
 sons; he was looked upon as a great leader, a sturdy 
 defender of all rightful legislation, and a benefactor 
 of his country by the measures he advocated in the 
 interest of all her citizens. 
 
 When he received his nomination in 1866, an influ 
 ential Democratic journal thus expressed its satisfac 
 tion in view of his prospective election : "As a ready 
 and forcible debater, a clear reasoner, a sound legis 
 lator, fearless advocate, and true supporter of the 
 principles and organization of the party of Union and 
 Right, he has made a mark in the annals of Congress 
 of which he and those who elected him may be proud." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
 
 MR. ELAINE was elected Speaker of the House of 
 Representatives on March 4, 1869. He was elevated 
 to this position for the reason that no other member 
 of the House was so well qualified to preside over its 
 deliberations. Even when in college, as we have seen, 
 he was a skilled parliamentarian, and at that time was 
 able to guide a deliberative body through all the intri 
 cacies of motions, counter motions, amendments, votes 
 and decisions. He was even then, without knowing 
 it, securing the training which afterward was to give 
 him efficiency and distinction in the Speaker s chair at 
 Washington. 
 
 o 
 
 His career in Congress naturally marked him out 
 for the highest distinction. His ability, firmness and 
 self-possession, had been proved many times, and it 
 was universally conceded that he would grace the 
 chair which had been occupied with pre-eminent ability 
 by Clay, Banks, and other great leaders, and would 
 add lustre and dignity to the high position. Looking 
 back now at his Speakership, it may safely be said 
 that history will assign him the most distinguished 
 place among the presiding officers of the House of 
 
 (132) 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 133 
 
 Representatives, and he will be remembered as 
 Speaker Elaine, a title that will distinguish him more 
 than any other he ever bore. 
 
 Having received the nomination for Speaker in the 
 Republican caucus, he was elected by one hundred 
 and twenty-five votes against fifty-seven for the Demo 
 cratic candidate, Hon. Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana, 
 Mr. Kerr was an able, popular and active Represent 
 ative, and in the changes of party precedent and power* 
 became at length one of Mr. Elaine s successors. 
 
 SPEECH ON TAKING THE CHAIR. 
 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I 
 thank you profoundly for the great honor which you 
 have just conferred upon me. The gratification which 
 this signal mark of your confidence brings to me finds 
 its only drawback in the diffidence with which I as 
 sume the weighty duties devolved upon me. Succeed 
 ing to a chair made illustrious by the services of such 
 eminent statesmen and skilled parliamentarians as 
 Clay, and Stevenson, and Polk, and Winthrop, and 
 Banks, and Grow, and Colfax, I may well distrust my 
 ability to meet the just expectations of those who 
 have shown me such marked partiality. But relying, 
 gentlemen, on my honest purppse to perform all my 
 duties faithfully and fearlessly, and trusting in a large 
 measure to the indulgence which I am sure you will 
 always extend to me, I shall hope to retain, as I have 
 secured your confidence, your kindly regard and your 
 generous support. 
 
 The Forty-first Congress assembles at an auspicious 
 
134 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 period in the history of our Government. The splen 
 did and impressive ceremonial which we have just 
 witnessed in another part of the Capitol appropriately 
 
 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 
 
 symbolizes the triumphs of the past and the hopes of 
 the future. 
 
 TRIBUTE TO GENERAL GRANT. 
 
 A great chieftain, whose sword at the head of 
 gallant and victorious armies saved the Republic from 
 dismemberment and ruin, has been fitly called to the 
 highest civic honor which a grateful people can be- 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 135 
 
 stow. Sustained by a Congress that so ably repre 
 sents the loyalty, the patriotism, and the personal 
 worth of the nation, the President this day inaugurated 
 will assure to the country an administration of purity, 
 fidelity, and prosperity ; an era of liberty regulated 
 by law, and of law thoroughly inspired with liberty. 
 Congratulating you, gentlemen, upon the happy 
 auguries of the day, and invoking the gracious bless 
 ing of Almighty God on the arduous and responsible 
 labors before you, I am now ready to take the oath of 
 office and enter upon the discharge of the duties to 
 which you have called me. 
 
 TAKING THE OATH. 
 
 The Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, senior 
 member of the House, then administered the oath of 
 office. 
 
 Mr. Elaine proved at once his fitness for the 
 Speakership. He could not be entangled in the 
 meshes of parliamentary tactics; his coolness was 
 conspicuous on all occasions ; his impartiality was 
 evident; his quick decisions stood the test of parlia 
 mentary law. In the wild storm of debate his calm 
 demeanor and guiding hand were felt. One word 
 from him would cut the tangle that a moment before 
 appeared to be hopeless. He was impatient of delays, 
 and expedited business by his prompt and ready 
 rulings. 
 
 " His quickness," wrote a well-informed Washington 
 correspondent, "his thorough knowledge of parlia 
 mentary law and of the rules, his firmness, clear voice, 
 
136 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 and impressive manner, his ready comprehension of 
 subjects and situations, and his dash and brilliancy 
 have been widely recognized, and really made him a 
 great presiding officer." He was soon celebrated for 
 his dispatch of business. 
 
 He was described as adverse to red tape, and hav 
 ing an admirable faculty for cutting corners and 
 
 knocking away obstruc 
 tions so that the House 
 could go by the most 
 direct way to the end it 
 was seeking. 
 
 No man since Clay 
 presided with such an 
 absolute knowledge of 
 the rules of the House 
 and with so great a 
 mastery in the rapid, 
 intelligent, and faithful 
 discharge of business. 
 His knowledge of parlia 
 mentary law was in 
 stinctive and complete, 
 HANNIBAL HAMLiN. and his administration 
 
 of it so fair that both sides of the House united at the 
 close of each Congress in cordial thanks for his im 
 partiality. 
 
 VOTE OF THANKS. 
 
 On the ^d of March, 1871, Elaine s first term as 
 Speaker came to an end. Mr. S. S. Cox, of New 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 
 
 137 
 
 York, his old opponent, a consistent and courageous 
 Democrat, moved a resolution of thanks to Mr. Elaine 
 for his conduct in the Chair. It was in the following 
 terms : 
 
 RESOLVED, In view of the difficulties involved in the 
 performance of the du 
 ties of the presiding 
 officer of this House, 
 and of the able, cour 
 teous, dignified, and im 
 partial discharge of 
 those duties by Hon. 
 J. G. Elaine during the 
 present Congress, it is 
 eminently becoming 
 that our thanks be and 
 they are hereby ten 
 dered to the Speaker 
 thereof. 
 
 The resolution was 
 agreed to unanimously, 
 and the retiring GEORGE s. BOUTWELL. 
 Speaker, in adjourning the House at noon, pronounced 
 the valedictory of the Forty-first Congress : 
 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 
 Our labors are at an end ; but I delay the final ad 
 journment long enough to return my most profound 
 and respectful thanks for the commendation which you 
 have been pleased to bestow upon my official course 
 and conduct. 
 
138 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 
 
 In a deliberative body of this character a presiding 
 officer is fortunate if he retains the confidence and 
 steady support of his political associates. Beyond 
 that you give me the assurance that I have earned the 
 respect and good-will of those from whom I am sepa 
 rated by party lines. Your expressions are most 
 grateful to me, and are most gratefully acknowledged. 
 
 The Congress whose existence closes with this hour 
 enjoys a memorable distinction. It is the first in which 
 all the States have been represented on this floor 
 since the baleful winter that preceded our late bloody 
 war. Ten years have passed since then years of 
 trial and of triumph; years of wild .destruction and 
 years of careful rebuilding ; and after all, and as the 
 result of all, the National Government is here to-day, 
 united, strong, proud, defiant, and just, with a terri 
 torial area vastly expanded, and with three additional 
 States represented on the folds of its flag. For these 
 prosperous fruits of our great struggle let us humbly 
 give thanks to the God of battles and to the Prince 
 of Peace. 
 
 And now, gentlemen, with one more expression of 
 the obligation I feel for the considerate kindness with 
 which you have always sustained me, I perform the 
 only remaining duty of my office, in declaring, as I 
 now do, that the House of Representatives of the 
 Forty-first Congress is adjourned without day. 
 
 RE-ELECTED SPEAKER. 
 
 The Forty-second Congress met on the following 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 
 
 139 
 
 day. It was a foregone conclusion that the popular 
 Speaker of the House would be honored again by his 
 associates. He received 126 votes, and the opposing 
 
 WILLIAM A. WHEELER. 
 
 candidate, G. W. Morgan, of Ohio, received 92 votes. 
 Mr. Elaine spoke as follows : 
 
 GENTLEMEN : The Speakership of the American 
 House of Representatives has always been esteemed 
 as an enviable honor. A re-election to the position 
 carries with it peculiar gratification, in that it implies 
 an approval of past official bearing. For this great 
 
140 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 mark of your confidence I can but return to you my 
 sincerest thanks, with the assurance of my utmost 
 devotion to the duties which you call upon me to dis 
 charge. 
 
 Chosen by the party representing the political 
 majority in this House, the Speaker owes a faithful 
 allegiance to the principles and the policy of that party 
 But he will fall far below the honorable requirements 
 of his station if he fails to give to the minority their 
 full rights under the rules which he is called upon to 
 administer. The successful working of our grand 
 system of government depends largely upon the vigi 
 lance of party organizations, and the most wholesome 
 legislation which this House produces and perfects is 
 that which results from opposing forces mutually 
 eager, watchful and well-nigh balanced in numbers. 
 
 A PROSPEROUS LAND. 
 
 The Forty-second Congress assembles at a period 
 of general content, happiness, and prosperity through 
 out the land. Under the wise administration of the 
 National Government, peace reigns in all our borders, 
 and the only serious misunderstanding with any foreign 
 power is, we may hope, at this moment in process of 
 honorable, cordial, and lasting adjustment. We are 
 fortunate in meeting at such a time, in representing 
 such constituencies, in legislating for such a country. 
 
 Trusting, gentlemen, that our official intercourse 
 may be free from all personal asperity, believing that 
 all our labors will eventuate for the public good, and 
 craving the blessing of Him without whose aid we 
 

 WILLIAM R. MORRISON. 
 
~s<* 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 141 
 
 labor in vain, I am now ready to proceed with the 
 further organization of the House ; and, as the first 
 step thereto, I will myself take the oath prescribed by 
 the Constitution and laws. 
 
 " ABLE, PROMPT AND IMPARTIAL." 
 
 Mr. Dawes, of Massachusetts, who had served the 
 longest continuously in the House, then administered 
 the oath. 
 
 Again, at the close of the second session of the 
 Forty-second Congress, a vote of thanks was moved 
 by Mr. Samuel J. Randall, of his native State of Penn 
 sylvania, " for the able, prompt, and impartial manner 
 in which he has discharged the duties of his office," 
 during the second session, and on the final dissolution 
 on the 3d of March, 1873, Mr. Dan. Voorhees, of In 
 diana, addressing the temporary chairman, Mr. W. A. 
 Wheeler, of New York, said : 
 
 I rise to present a matter to the House in which I 
 am sure every member will concur. In doing so I 
 perform the most pleasant duty of my entire service 
 on this floor. I offer the following resolution. It has 
 the sincere sanction of my head and of my heart. I 
 move its adoption. 
 
 Then, amid the silence of the crowded hall, the 
 Clerk of the House read as follows : 
 
 RESOLVED, That the thanks of this House are due, 
 and are hereby tendered, to Hon. James G. Elaine, for 
 the distinguished ability and impartiality with which 
 he has discharged the duty of Speaker of the House 
 of Representatives of the Forty-second Congress. 
 
142 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 The resolution was adopted unanimously. 
 
 FOUR YEARS OF SERVICE. 
 
 On the same day, in adjourning the House sine die, 
 Mr. Elaine spoke as follows: 
 
 GENTLEMEN : For the forty-second time since the 
 Federal Government was organized, its great repre 
 sentative body stands on the eve of dissolution. The 
 final word which separates us is suspended for a 
 moment that I may return my sincere thanks for the 
 kind expressions respecting my official conduct, which, 
 without division of party, you have caused to be en 
 tered on your journal. 
 
 At the close of four years service in this responsi 
 ble and often trying position, it is a source of honor 
 able pride that I have so administered my trust as to 
 secure the confidence and approbation of both sides 
 of the House. It would not be strange if, in the 
 necessarily rapid discharge of the daily business, I 
 should have erred in some of the decisions made on 
 points, and often without precedent to guide me. It 
 has been my good fortune, however, to be always sus 
 tained by the House, and in no single instance to have 
 had a ruling reversed. I advert to this gratifying fact, 
 to quote the language of the most eloquent of my 
 predecessors, " in no spirit of exaltation, but as fur 
 nishing a powerful motive for undissembled gratitude." 
 
 And now, gentlemen, with a hearty God bless you 
 all, I discharge my only remaining duty in declaring 
 that the House of Representatives for the Forty-second 
 Congress is adjourned without day. 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 
 
 143 
 
 THIRD ELECTION. 
 
 For the third time, James G. Elaine, of Maine, was 
 elected Speaker of the United States House of Rep 
 resentatives on December 2, 1873. He was con 
 ducted to the chair by Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, 
 and Mr. Wood, of New York, and spoke as follows : 
 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES : 
 The vote this moment 
 announced by the Clerk 
 is such an expression of 
 your confidence as calls 
 for my sincerest thanks, 
 To be chosen Speaker 
 of the American House 
 of Representatives is 
 always an honorable 
 distinction; to be 
 chosen a third time 
 enhances the honor 
 more than three-fold ; 
 to be chosen by the 
 largest body that ever 
 assembled in the Capi 
 tol imposes a burden F. T. FRELINGHUYSEN. 
 of responsibility which only your indulgent kindness 
 could embolden me to assume. 
 
 The first occupant of this chair presided over a 
 House of sixty-five members, representing a popula* 
 tion far below the present aggregate of the State of 
 New York. At that time in the whole United States 
 
144 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 there were not fifty thousand civilized inhabitants to 
 be found one hundred miles distant from the flow of 
 the Atlantic tide. 
 
 MARVELLOUS GROWTH. 
 
 To-day, gentlemen, a large body of you come from 
 beyond that limit, and represent districts then peopled 
 only by the Indian and adventurous frontiersman. The 
 National Government is not yet as old as many of its 
 citizens ; but in this brief span of time, less than one 
 lengthened life, it has, under God s providence, ex 
 tended its power until a continent is the field of its 
 empire, and attests the majesty of its law. 
 
 With the growth of new States and the resultant 
 changes in the centres of population, new interests 
 are developed, rival to the old, but by no means hos 
 tile, diverse, but not antagonistic. Nay, rather are 
 all these interests in harmony ; and the true science 
 of just government is to give to each its full and fair 
 play, oppressing none by undue exaction, favoring 
 none by undue privilege. It is this great lesson which 
 our daily experience is teaching us, binding us together 
 more closely, making our mutual dependence more 
 manifest, and causing us to feel, whether we live in 
 the North or in the South, in the East or in the West, 
 that we have indeed but " one country, one Constitu 
 tion, one destiny." 
 
 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 At the close of the session, March 3, 1875, Mr. 
 Elaine addressed the House in a very impressive man 
 ner. He took farewell of the expiring Congress and 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 145 
 
 of his own office as Speaker. After the customary 
 vote of thanks he spoke as follows : 
 
 GENTLEMEN : I close with this hour a six years ser 
 vice as Speaker of the House of Representatives a 
 period surpassed in length by but two of my predeces 
 sors, and equaled by only two others. The rapid 
 mutations of personal and political fortunes in this 
 country have limited the great majority of those who 
 have occupied this Chair to shorter terms of office. 
 
 It would be the gravest insensibility to the honors 
 and responsibilities of life, not to be deeply touched 
 by so signal a mark of public esteem as that which 
 I have thrice received at the hands of my political as 
 sociates. I desire in this last moment to renew to 
 
 A POST OF DIGNITY AND RESPONSIBILITY. 
 
 them, one and all, my thanks and my gratitude. 
 
 To those from whom I differ in my party relations 
 the minority of this House I tender my acknowl 
 edgments for the generous courtesy with which they 
 have treated me. By one of those sudden and de 
 cisive changes which distinguish popular institutions, 
 and which conspicuously mark a free people, that 
 minority is transformed in the ensuing Congress to 
 the governing power of the House. However it 
 might possibly have been under other circumstances, 
 that event renders these words my farewell to the 
 Chair. 
 
 The Speakership of the American House of Repre 
 sentatives is a post of honor, of dignity, of power, of 
 responsibility. Its duties are at once complex and 
 
 10 
 
146 LIFE 0$ HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 continuous ; they are both onerous and delicate ; they 
 are performed in the broad light of day, under the eye 
 of the whole people, subject at all times to the closest 
 observation, and always attended with the sharpest 
 criticism. I think no other official is held to such in 
 stant and such rigid accountability. Parliamentary 
 rulings in their very nature are peremptory ; almost 
 absolute in authority and instantaneous in effect. 
 They cannot always be enforced in such a way as to 
 win applause or secure popularity ; but I am sure that 
 no man of any party who is worthy to fill this Chair 
 will ever see a dividing line between duty and 
 policy. 
 
 Thanking you once more, and thanking you most 
 cordially for the honorable testimonial you have placed 
 on record to my credit, I perform my only remaining 
 duty in declaring that the Forty-third Congress has 
 reached its constitutional limit, and that the House of 
 Representatives stands adjourned without day. 
 
 SHARP SKIRMISH WITH BEN BUTLER. 
 
 The retiring Speaker s words thrilled the immense 
 assemblage. Cheers and shouts of approval attested 
 his popularity. Says an eye-witness : " Never before 
 was witnessed such a scene at the close of Congress." 
 The attack upon him by B. F. Butler will have a 
 special interest to the reader. On the i6th of March, 
 1871, when the House was debating a resolution pro 
 viding for an investigation into alleged outrages upon 
 loyal citizens of the South, Mr. Butler bitterly assailed 
 Mr. Blaine, and censured him for beino- the author 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 147 
 
 of the resolution and securing its adoption by a Re 
 publican caucus. The following sharp discussion en 
 sued: 
 
 Mr. Elaine I nominated Mr. Butler chairman of 
 the committee, because I knew that if I omitted the 
 appointment of the gentleman, it would be heralded 
 throughout the length and breadth of the country, by 
 the clacqueurs who have so industriously distributed 
 this letter this morning, that the Speaker had packed 
 the committee, as the gentleman said he would, with 
 " weak-kneed Republicans," who would not go into an 
 investigation vigorously, as he would. That was the 
 reason. So that the Chair laid the responsibility upon 
 the gentleman of declining the appointment. 
 
 Mr. Butler I knew that was the trick of the Chair. 
 
 Mr. Blaine Ah, the " trick ! " We now know what 
 the gentleman meant by the word " trick." I am very 
 glad to know that the " trick " was successful. 
 
 Mr. Butler No doubt. 
 
 Mr. Blaine It is this "trick" which places the 
 gentleman from Massachusetts on his responsibility 
 before the country. 
 
 Then he defied Mr. Butler to name any members 
 who had voted under coercion ; and on his refusal to 
 do so, on the plea that he could not violate private 
 conversations, the Speaker exclaimed : 
 
 Oh, no; but you will distribute throughout the entire 
 country unfounded calumnies purporting to rest upon 
 assertions made in private conversations, which, when 
 called for, cannot be verified. 
 
148 LIFE OF HOK. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Mr. Butler Pardon me, sir. I said there was a 
 caucus 
 
 Mr. Elaine I hope God will pardon you ; but you 
 ought not to ask me to do it ! 
 
 Mr. Butler I will ask God, and not you. 
 
 Mr. Blaine I am glad the gentleman will. 
 
 Mr. Butler I have no favors to ask of the devil. 
 
 THE PARTY CAUCUS. 
 
 Mr. Blaine had some plain words to speak concern 
 ing the binding power of the party caucus. He jibed 
 Butler for being a weather-vane in politics, changing 
 from one party to another. He defended his own 
 right to take part in the proceedings of the House. 
 These were his words : 
 
 Why, even in the worst days of the Democracy, 
 when the gentleman himself was in the front rank of 
 
 o 
 
 the worst wing of it, when was it ever attempted to 
 say that a majority of a party caucus could bind men 
 upon measures that involved questions of constitu 
 tional law, of personal honor, of religious scruple? 
 The gentleman asked what would have been done 
 he asked my colleague (Mr. Peters) what would have 
 been done in case of members of a party voting against 
 the caucus nominee for Speaker. I understand that 
 was intended as a thrust at myself. Caucus nomina 
 tions of officers have always been held as binding. 
 
 But, just here, let me say, that if a minority did not 
 vote against the decision of the caucus that nominated 
 me for Speaker, in my judgment, it was not the fault 
 of the gentleman from Massachusetts. If the requisite 
 
ROBERT T. LINCOLN, 
 

 CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW. 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 
 
 number could have been found to have gone over to 
 the despised Nazarenes on the opposite side, that 
 gentleman would have led them as gallantly as he did 
 the forces in the Charleston Convention. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, in old times it was the ordinary habit 
 of the Speaker of the 
 House of Representa 
 tives to take part in de 
 bate. The custom has 
 fallen into disuse. For 
 one, I am very glad that 
 it has. For one, I ap 
 prove of the conclusion 
 that forbids it. The 
 Speaker should, with 
 consistent fidelity to his 
 own party, be the im 
 partial administrator of 
 the rules of the House, 
 and a constant par 
 ticipation in the discus 
 sions of members would SIMON CAMERON. 
 take from him that appearance of impartiality which it 
 is so important to maintain in the rulings of the Chair. 
 
 THE HEIGHT OF INSOLENCE. 
 
 But at the same time I despise and denounce the 
 insolence of the gentleman from Massachusetts, when 
 he attempts to say that the Representative from the 
 Third District of the State of Maine has no right to 
 frames resolution: has no right to seek that under 
 
150 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 the rules that resolution shall be adopted; has no right 
 to ask the judgment of the House upon that resolution. 
 Why, even the insolence of the gentleman himself 
 never reached that sublime height before. 
 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, nobody regrets more sincerely 
 than I do any occurrence which calls me to take the 
 floor. On questions of propriety, I appeal to members 
 
 on both sides of the 
 House, and they will 
 bear me witness, that 
 the circulation of this 
 letter in the morning 
 prints ; its distribution 
 throughout the land by 
 telegraph ; the laying it 
 upon the desks of mem 
 bers, was intended to be 
 by the gentleman from 
 Massachusetts, not 
 openly and boldly, but 
 covertly I will not use 
 a stronger phrase an 
 insult to the Speaker 
 WILLIAM D. KELLEY. o f this House. As such 
 
 I resent it. I denounce it in all its essential state 
 ments, and in all its misstatements, and in all its 
 meaner inferences and meaner innuendoes. I denounce 
 this letter as groundless without justification ; and the 
 gentleman himself, I trust, will live to see the day 
 when he will be ashamed of having written it. 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 151 
 
 CREDIT MOBILIER SCANDAL. 
 
 At the second session of the 420! Congress, begin 
 ning December 2, 1872, Speaker Elaine on the first 
 day called attention to the charges made by Demo 
 cratic orators and newspapers during the Presidential 
 campaign just closed, that the Vice-President (Cdfax), 
 and the Vice-President elect (Wilson), the Secretary 
 of the Treasury, several Senators, the Speaker of the 
 House, and a large number of Representatives, includ 
 ing Jaoies A. Garfield, H. L. Dawes and William D. 
 Kelley, had been bribed during the years 1867 and 
 1868, by Oakes Ames, a member of the House from 
 Massachusetts; that he and his agents had given them 
 presents of stock in a corporation known as the Credit 
 Mobilier, to influence their legislative action for the 
 benefit of the Union Pacific Railroad company. 
 
 Upon Speaker Elaine s motion, a committee of in 
 vestigation was appointed by Hon. S. S. Cox, of New 
 York, a noted Democrat temporarily called to the 
 Chair. 
 
 After the close of the campaign (as was remarked 
 by the Republic Magazine at the time) the dominant 
 party might well have claimed, and would have insisted 
 had they been opposed to a thorough investigation and 
 a full exposure of corruption, that the verdict of the 
 people in the late canvass was sufficient answer to 
 these charges ; but the Republican party not merely 
 granted all the investigations sought, but summoned 
 on the leading committee a majority of its political foes 
 to conduct *^e inquest. 
 
152 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 In moving his resolution for the appointment of a 
 committee to investigate the charge Mr. Elaine said : 
 
 A charge of bribery of members is the gravest that 
 can be made in a legislative body. It seems to me, 
 sir, that this charge demands prompt, thorough and 
 impartial investigation, and I have taken the floor for 
 the purpose of moving that investigation. Unwilling, 
 of course, to appoint any committee of investigation 
 to examine into a charge in which I was myself in 
 cluded, I have called you, sir, to the Chair, an honored 
 member of the House, honored here and honored in 
 the country ; and when on Saturday last I called upon 
 you and advised you of this service, I placed upon you 
 no other restriction in the appointment of a committee 
 than that it should not contain a majority of my politi 
 cal friends. 
 
 REFUSES INCREASED SALARY. 
 
 In the strict discharge of his functions Mr. Elaine 
 had been in favor of economy, and refused to accept 
 the increased salary assigned to the Speaker by the 
 notorious Salary Bill. During the consideration of 
 the bill, on the last day of January, 1873, he addressed 
 the House as Speaker, and made the following re 
 marks : 
 
 ^The Chair now desires to make a statement per 
 sonal to himself. In reading the bill the Chair pre 
 sumes the language of this amendment would make 
 the Speaker s salary $10,000 for this Congress. The 
 salary of the Speaker, the last time the question of 
 pay was under consideration, was adjusted to that of 
 
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. 153 
 
 the Vice-President and members of the Cabinet. The 
 Chair thinks that adjustment should not be disturbed, 
 and the question which he now raises does not affect 
 the pay of other members of the House. He asks 
 unanimous consent to put in the word " hereafter," to 
 follow the words " shall receive." This will affect who 
 ever shall be Speaker of the House of Representa 
 tives hereafter, and does not affect the Speaker of this 
 House, but leaves him upon the same plane with the 
 Vice-President and Cabinet officers, upon the salary 
 as before adjusted. 
 
 Mr. Slaine s course was approved by the Nation, 
 and his refusal to accept increased salary was proof 
 that his main idea was not to grab the loaves and 
 fishes. When the repeal of the bill was under con 
 sideration he cast the deciding vote, as Speaker, which 
 kept the matter before the House. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 The Famous Mulligan Letters. 
 
 AFTER the war the Republicans had a majority in 
 Congress up to 1874. During this year, which was, 
 to some extent, a period of revolution in politics, the 
 Democrats obtained a majority of Congressmen, and 
 during the ensuing session they endeavored to make 
 the most of their power. 
 
 They assumed that the Republican rule at Wash 
 ington had been attended by wholesale corruption and 
 fraud. They began to pry and investigate. Commit 
 tee after committee was appointed, the object being 
 to fasten charges upon the party that had ruled so 
 long in Congress. Every stone was to be overturned 
 to see what was concealed under it ; every bush was 
 to be beaten to discover what game might be lurking 
 within it ; every man s pockets were to be turned in 
 side out to ascertain whether there was any lucre there 
 which had been dishonestly obtained. There was a 
 craze for investigation. The bloodhounds were to be 
 put upon the track. Congress was to play the detdfct- 
 ive, and rake the gutters for evidences of underhanded 
 dealings. 
 
 Unquestionably there were opportunity and neces 
 sity for investigation. No political party was ever in 
 
 (154) 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 155 
 
 power for a whole generation without drawing to it 
 some men whose patriotism burned to obtain the loaves 
 and fishes, whose highest ambition was to serve their 
 country for what they could make out of it. The in 
 vestigating committees did start some game ; with an 
 immense whoop and shout they chased and bagged it 
 It was the right thing to do, and no man who is not a 
 thief will enter a single word of protest. 
 
 ATTACK ON MR. ELAINE. 
 
 Of course, a mark so conspicuous as the late Speaker 
 of the House could not escape this mania for investi 
 gation. His political opponents were eager to cripple 
 his power and limit his influence. They foresaw that 
 under his leadership his party would likely maintain 
 its prestige, and would continue to legislate for the 
 country. Eyes were opened and ears were listening 
 for something that might prove damaging to his repu 
 tation. There he stood in all his integrity, his whole 
 life open as the sunlight, his course consistent and 
 honorable from the beginning, his name a tower of 
 strength in the councils of the Nation ; he was a mark 
 for envy, as every man is who, by his own genius and 
 brilliancy, rises above his fellows and is carried upon 
 the wave of a nation s applause. 
 
 The question therefore was whether any charge 
 could be brought against Mr. Elaine concerning his 
 conduct of public affairs, or his private transactions 
 outside of his political life. The movement against 
 him did not begin in Congress. A western newspaper, 
 far from bein^ a leading journal, made an attack upon 
 
156 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 him which at first awakened very little attention, but 
 which was repeated, and each time with greater bold 
 ness and definiteness of detail. This was a fine nut 
 for his enemies to crack ; this was something they had 
 been eager to obtain ; this gave them the opportunity 
 their malice had been seeking. It was not claimed 
 that he was a murderer, that he was a horse-thief, that 
 he was a pickpocket, that he had cheated his washer 
 woman, but it was asserted that as Speaker of the 
 House he had used his vast influence in favor of certain 
 western railroads, and that he had been amply com 
 pensated for his services. In short, he had taken 
 money which would not have come to him if he had 
 not favored the corporations from which the guilty 
 spoils were received. He had obtained stock from 
 these railroad companies on terms exceedingly favor 
 able, and his honesty as a man and statesman was 
 called in question. 
 
 AN INVESTIGATION APPOINTED. 
 
 At this time the Hon. Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana, 
 was Speaker of the House, and one of the most con< 
 spicuous members was Hon. Proctor Knott, of Ken 
 tucky. The matter of Mr. Elaine s dreadful conduct 
 having been brought to the attention of the House, a 
 committee of investigation was appointed with Mr. 
 Knott as chairman, a man who would not be likely ever 
 to incur the charge of whitewashing any man opposed 
 to his own political principles. 
 
 On April 24, 1876, Mr. Elaine made an eloquent 
 and convincing speech in the House in answer to the 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 157 
 
 charges, and by his frank statement carried conviction 
 to many minds which before had been somewhat 
 suspicious. And here it must be said, that in all this 
 unhappy affair by which he was placed as a culprit 
 before Congress and the country, his bearing was that 
 of an innocent, high-minded, noble, brave man, who 
 courted investigation instead of seeking to evade it. 
 In answer to the grave charge that he had received a 
 considerable sum of money from the Union Pacific 
 Railroad Company for official influence, and another 
 sum from an Arkansas railroad, he made the following 
 comprehensive and straightforward speech : 
 
 A SERIOUS ACCUSATION REFUTED. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, with the leave of the House so kindly 
 granted, I shall proceed to submit certain facts and 
 correct certain errors personal to myself. The dates 
 of the correspondence embraced in my statement will 
 show that it was impossible for me to make it earlier. 
 I shall be as brief as the circumstances will permit. 
 For some months past a charge against me has been 
 circulating in private and was recently made public 
 designing to show that I had in some indirect manner 
 received the large sum of $64,000 from the Union 
 Pacific Railroad Company in 1871, for what services 
 or for what purpose has never been stated. 
 
 The alleged proofs of the serious accusation were 
 based, according to the original story, upon the author 
 ship of E. H. Rollins, treasurer of the Union Pacific 
 Company, who, it is averred, had full knowledge that 
 I got the money, and also upon the authority of Morton, 
 
(158) 
 
THE FAMOTJS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 159 
 
 Bliss & Company, bankers, of New York, through 
 whom the draft for $64,000 was said to have been 
 negotiated for my benefit, as they confidently knew. 
 Hearing- of this charge some weeks in advance of its 
 publication, I procured the following statement from 
 the two principal witnesses, who were quoted as having 
 such definite knowledge against me: 
 
 UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY. 
 
 BOSTON, March 31, 1876. 
 
 Dear Sir : In response to your inquiry, I beg leave 
 to state that I have been treasurer of the Union Pacific 
 Railroad Company since April 8, 1871, and have 
 necessarily known of all disbursements made since 
 that date. During the entire period up to the present 
 time I am sure that no money has been paid in any 
 way or to any person by the company in which you 
 were interested in any manner whatever. I make the 
 statement in justice to the company, to you, and to 
 myself. Very respectfully yours, 
 
 E. H. ROLLINS. 
 HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 NEW YORK, April 6, 1876. 
 
 Dear Sir: In answer to your inquiry, we beg to 
 say that no draft, note, or check, or other evidence of 
 value has passed through our books in which you were 
 known or supposed to have any interest of any kind, 
 direct or indirect. 
 
 We remain, very respectfully, your obedient ser 
 vants, 
 
 MORTON, BLISS & Co. 
 
 HON. JAMES G. BLAINE, Washington, D. C. 
 
160 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Some persons on reading the letters of Morton, 
 Bliss & Company said that its denial seemed to be 
 confined to any payment that had passed through their 
 books, whereas they might have paid a draft in which I 
 was interested and yet no entry made of it on their 
 books. On the criticism being made known to the firm, 
 they at once addressed me the following letter : 
 
 NEW YORK, April 13, 1876. 
 
 Dear Sir : It has been suggested to us that our 
 letter of the 6th instant was not sufficiently inclusive 
 or exclusive. In that letter we stated " that no draft, 
 note, or check, or other evidence of value has ever 
 passed through our books in which you were known 
 or supposed to have any interest, direct or indirect." 
 It may be proper for us to add that nothing has been 
 paid to us in any form, or at any time, to any person 
 or any corporation in which you were known, believed, 
 or supposed to have any interest whatever. 
 
 We remain, very respectfully, your obedient ser 
 vants, 
 
 MORTON, BLISS & Co. 
 
 HON. JAMES G. BLAINE, Washington, D. C. 
 
 The two witnesses quoted for the original charge 
 having thus effectually disposed of it, the charge itself 
 reappeared in another form to this effect, namely : 
 That a certain draft was negotiated at the house of 
 Morton, Bliss & Company in 1871, through Thomas 
 A. Scott, then president of the Union Pacific Railroad 
 Company, for the sum of $64,000, and that $75,000 of 
 the bonds of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad 
 Company were pledged as collateral ; that the Union 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 
 
 161 
 
 Pacific Company paid the draft and took up the col 
 lateral ; that the cash proceeds of it went to me, and 
 that I had furnished, or sold, or in some way conveyed 
 or transferred to Thomas A. Scott, these Little Rock 
 and Fort Smith bonds which had been used as col 
 lateral ; that the bonds in reality had belonged to me 
 or some friend or constituent of mine for whom I was 
 acting. I endeavor to 
 state the charge in its 
 boldest form and in all 
 its phases. 
 
 THE WHOLE STORY 
 FALSE. 
 
 I desire here and now 
 to declare that all and 
 every part of this story 
 that connects my name 
 with it, is absolutely un 
 true, without a particle 
 of foundation in fact, 
 and without a tittle of 
 evidence to substantiate 
 it. I never had any 
 transaction of any kind J- s - MORRILL. 
 
 with Thomas A. Scott concerning bonds of the Little 
 Rock and Fort Smith Road, or the bonds of any other 
 railroad, or any business in any way connected with 
 railroads, directly or indirectly, immediately or re 
 motely. I never had any business transactions what 
 ever with the Union Pacific Railroad Company, or any 
 11 
 
162 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 of its officers or agents or representatives, and never, 
 in any manner, received from that Company, directly 
 or indirectly, a single dollar in money, or stocks, or 
 bonds, or any other form of value. 
 
 And as to the particular transaction referred to, I 
 never so much as heard of it until nearly two years 
 after its alleged occurrence, when it was talked of, at 
 the time of the Credit Mobilier investigation, in 1873. 
 But while my denial ought to be conclusive, I should 
 greatly regret to be compelled to leave the matter 
 there. I am fortunately able to sustain my own dec 
 laration by the most conclusive evidence that the case 
 admits of, or that human testimony can supply. If 
 any person or persons know the truth or falsity of 
 these charges, it must be the officers of the Union 
 Pacific Railroad Company. 
 
 CONVINCING LETTERS. 
 
 I accordingly addressed a note to the president of 
 that company, a gentleman who has been a director 
 of the company from its organization, I believe, who 
 has a more thorough acquaintance with its business 
 transactions, probably, than any other man. The cor 
 respondence, which I here submit, will explain itself, 
 and leave nothing to be said. I will read these letters 
 in their proper order. They need no comment. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C, April 13, 1876. 
 Dear Sir: You have doubtless observed the scandal 
 now in circulation in regard to my having been in 
 terested in certain bonds of the Little Rock and Fort 
 Smith Road, alleged to have been purchased by your 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 163 
 
 company in 1871. It is due to me, I think, that some 
 statement in regard to the subject should be made 
 by yourself, as the official head of the Union Pacific 
 Railroad Company. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 J. G. ELAINE. 
 
 SIDNEY DILLON, ESQ., President Union Pacific Rail 
 road Company. 
 
 OFFICE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, 
 
 NEW YORK, April 15, 1876. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have your favor of the I3th instant, 
 and in reply desire to say that I have this day written 
 Colonel Thomas A. Scott, who was president of the 
 Union Pacific Company at the time of the transaction 
 referred to, a letter, of which I send a copy herewith. 
 On receipt of his reply, I will enclose it to you. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 SIDNEY DILLON, President. 
 HON. JAMES G. ELAINE, Washington, D. C. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD Co., 
 
 NEW YORK, April 15, 1876. 
 
 Dear Sir : The press of the country are making 
 allegations that certain bonds of the Little Rock and 
 Fort Smith Railroad Company, in 1871, were obtained 
 from Hon. James G. Elaine, of Maine, or that the avails, 
 : in some form, went to his benefit, and that the knowl 
 edge of those facts rests wrth the officers of the com 
 pany and with yourself. These statements are injuri 
 ous both to Mr. Elaine and to the Union Pacific Rail 
 road Company. There were never any facts to warrant 
 them, and I think that a statement to the public is due 
 both from you and myself. I desire, as president of 
 
164 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 the company, to repel any such inference in the most 
 emphatic manner, and would be glad to hear from you 
 on the subject. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 SIDNEY DILLON, President. 
 COL. THOMAS A. SCOTT, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 OFFICE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, 
 
 NEW YORK, April 22, 1876. 
 
 Dear Sir: As I advised you some days ago, I 
 wrote Colonel Thomas A. Scott, and begged leave to 
 enclose you his reply. I desire further to say that I 
 was a director of the company and a member of the 
 executive committee in 1871, and to add my testimony 
 to that of Colonel Scott in verification of all that he 
 has stated in the enclosed letter. 
 Truly yours, 
 
 SIDNEY DILLON, President. 
 HON. JAMES G. BLAINE, Washington, D. C. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, April 21, 1876. 
 
 My Dear Sir : I have your letter under date New 
 York, April 15, 1876, stating that the press of the 
 country are making allegations that certain bonds of 
 the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad, purchased 
 by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in 1871, were 
 obtained from Hon. James G. Elaine, of Maine, or 
 that the avails in some form went to his benefit ; that 
 there never were any facts to warrant them ; that it is 
 your desire as president of the company to repel any 
 such inference in the most emphatic manner, and ask 
 ing me to make a statement in regard to the matter. 
 
 In reply, I beg leave to say that much as I dislike 
 the idea of entering into any of the controversies that 
 are before the public in these days of scandal from 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 165 
 
 which but few men in public life seem to be exempt, I 
 feel it my duty to state : 
 
 That the Little Rock and Fort Smith bonds pur 
 chased by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in 
 1871 were not purchased or received from Mr. Elaine, 
 directly or indirectly, and that of the money paid by 
 the Union Pacific Railroad Company, or of the avails 
 of said bonds, not one dollar went to Mr. Elaine or to 
 any person for him, or for his benefit in any form. 
 
 All statements to the effect that Mr. Elaine ever 
 had any transactions with me, directly or indirectly, 
 involving money or valuables of any kind, are abso 
 lutely without foundation in fact. 
 
 I take pleasure in making this statement to you, and 
 you may use it in any manner you deem best for the 
 interest of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 THOMAS A. SCOTT. 
 
 SIDNEY DILLON, ESQ., President, 
 
 Union Pacific Railroad Company, New York. 
 
 THE CASE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Let me now, Mr. Speaker, briefly summarize what 
 I presented : First, that the story of my receiving 
 $64,000 or any other sum of money, or anything of 
 value, from the Union Pacific Railroad Company, di 
 rectly or indirectly, or in any form, is absolutely dis 
 proved by the most conclusive testimony. Second, 
 that no bond of mine was ever sold to the Atlantic 
 and Pacific, or the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Rail 
 road Company, and that not a single dollar of money 
 from either of these companies ever went to my profit 
 or benefit. Third, that instead of receiving bonds of 
 
166 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 the Little Rock and Fort Smith Road as a gratuity, I 
 never had one except at the regular market price ; 
 and instead of making a large fortune off that com 
 pany, I have incurred a severe pecuniary loss from my 
 investment in its securities, which I still retain ; and 
 out of such affairs as these grows the popular gossip 
 
 of large fortunes 
 amassed in Con 
 gress. 
 
 I can hardly 
 expect, Mr. 
 Speaker, that any 
 statement from 
 me will stop the 
 work of those 
 who have so in 
 dustriously circu 
 lated these calum 
 nies. For months 
 past the effort 
 has been ener 
 getic and contin 
 uous to spread 
 
 JOSEPH R. HAWLEY. t h eS e StOHCS in 
 
 private circles. Emissaries of slander have visited 
 editorial rooms of leading Republican papers from 
 Boston to Omaha, and whispered of revelations to 
 come that were too terrible even to be spoken in 
 loud tones, and at last the revelations have been 
 made. I am now, Mr. Speaker, in the fourteenth 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 167 
 
 year of a not inactive service in this hall; I have 
 taken and given blows ; I have no doubt said many 
 things in the heat of debate that I would gladly re 
 call ; I have no doubt given votes which in fuller 
 light I would gladly change ; but I have never done 
 anything in my public career for which I could be put 
 to the faintest blush in any presence, or for which I 
 cannot answer to my constituents, my conscience, and 
 the Great Searcher of Hearts. 
 
 FANNING THE FLAME OF SCANDAL. 
 
 The foregoing statement of Mr. Elaine was final 
 and convincing except to those who were not willing 
 to be convinced by any denial or any array of evi 
 dence. The effect was to increase the confidence his 
 friends and his party had reposed in him ; but there 
 were members of Congress and newspapers quite 
 ready to renew the attack. The time for holding the 
 Republican National Convention was not far distant, 
 and it was understood that Mr. Elaine was a promi 
 nent candidate for the presidential nomination. The 
 favorite political game was played, and an attempt 
 was made to smirch Mr. Elaine s reputation and kill 
 his chances in the convention. 
 
 On the first of May it was stated with a great flour 
 ish in one of the leading newspapers of New York 
 that Mr. Elaine had received as a gift certain shares 
 of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and it was said that 
 positive proof was at hand of his then being engaged 
 in a lawsuit regarding these shares. It was shown 
 that John E. Elaine, brother of James G., was the one 
 
168 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 interested in the lawsuit in a Kansas court; it was 
 also proved by the lawyers and newspaper correspond 
 ents that Mr. Elaine was not in any way interested 
 or concerned in the transaction. He concluded his 
 explanation as follows : 
 
 OPPOSED TO A FLEA-HUNT. 
 
 Having now noticed the two charges that have been 
 so extensively circulated, I shall refrain from calling 
 the attention of the House to any others that may be 
 invented. To quote the language of another, " I do 
 not propose to make my public life a perpetual and 
 uncomfortable flea-hunt, in the vain efforts to run down 
 stories which have no basis in truth, which are usually 
 anonymous, and whose total refutation brings no pun 
 ishment to those who have been guilty of originating 
 them." 
 
 It was plain that Mr. Elaine was master of the situ 
 ation, and was not likely to suffer from the attacks of 
 his enemies. He was strong in his defence ; he boldly 
 met every charge and it fell before him ; his popu 
 larity, instead of diminishing, had increased, and the 
 weapons hurled at him had only struck his impenetra 
 ble armor and fallen harmlessly at his feet. 
 
 But he was not to be allowed to rest. Acquitted 
 by the great tribunal of public opinion, he had still to 
 encounter the political venom of his accusers in Con 
 gress. On the 2d of May Mr. Tarbox, of Massa 
 chusetts, introduced into the House a resolution calL 
 ing for an investigation of an alleged purchase by the 
 Union Pacific Railroad Company of certain bonds of 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 169 
 
 the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Company. It 
 was claimed that the price paid was much greater than 
 the real value of the bonds. 
 
 OBJECT OF THE RESOLUTION. 
 
 The statement of Mr. Tarbox in introducing his 
 proposition was, that the investigation was not aimed 
 at Mr. Elaine, and was not to be directed to his busi 
 ness transactions. As this was supposed to be a 
 truthful statement no objection was made, and the 
 inquiry was ordered. 
 
 At once it appeared that the object was directly the 
 opposite to what had been stated. It was another 
 covert attack on Mr. Elaine. Under the guise of an 
 investigation of a railroad transaction, he and his pri 
 vate affairs were to be dragged before the nation. He 
 was just as ready to meet this attack as he had been 
 to repel others. 
 
 He demanded a prompt investigation, for he was 
 not willing to remain a moment under suspicion. He 
 wished to meet at once all charges brought against 
 him. There was no haste on the part of his enemies ; 
 delay was what they courted, for it would damage 
 Mr. Elaine s chances in the National Convention. 
 
 NEW AND STARTLING FEATURE. 
 
 Suddenly it was announced that some of Mr. 
 Elaine s -private correspondence would be produced in 
 evidence. A confidential clerk, named Mulligan, had 
 come from Boston to Washington to testify that he 
 had abstracted some of Mr. Elaine s letters, showing 
 his transactions with certain Railroad Companies, and 
 
170 LIFE OP HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 these would show conclusively the crookedness of his 
 dealings. With almost equal suddenness it was an 
 nounced that Mr. Elaine had obtained possession of 
 his own letters, and they would not appear in evidence. 
 The affair was the talk of the country. Mr. Elaine s 
 enemies more than insinuated that he had secured 
 the letters in order to suppress them and stifle their 
 damaging disclosures. His friends were restless arid 
 nervous, and hardly knew what to think of his action. 
 In fact, he took the letters, not to suppress them, but 
 to make them public, to put the truthful construction 
 upon them, and not allow a misinformed investigating 
 committee to put an interpretation upon them which 
 was utterly false. 
 
 A BOLD MOVE. 
 
 Nothing could show more conclusively Mr. Elaine s 
 consummate generalship than his production of this 
 correspondence on the floor of Congress. His ene 
 mies were struck with astonishment; his friends ex 
 pressed their admiration and delight. In an instant 
 the whole situation had changed. There was nothing 
 in the letters he was ashamed of, and although Mulli 
 gan could produce letters he had no right whatever to 
 make public, he could not furnish any criminating evi 
 dence. The two witnesses from Boston, Fisher and 
 Mulligan, only gave him the opportunity to clear away 
 the whole mass of innuendoes, charges, whisperings, 
 and base insinuations which had been industriously 
 gathered about his name. The investigation commit 
 tee tried to obtain these letters. Mr. Elaine refused 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 
 
 171 
 
 to yield them up, claimed his right to hold and use 
 them, and in support of it brought forward the opin 
 ions of ex-Judge Black, a good Democrat, and Mat 
 thew H. Carpenter, the 
 distinguished Senator 
 from Wisconsin. 
 
 His refusal was at 
 tributed by many to 
 fear of revealing the 
 contents of the letters. 
 Judge then of their 
 astonishment when in 
 the course of his mem 
 orable defence before 
 the House of Repre 
 sentatives he held up 
 the parcel of letters, 
 and with a voice that 
 thrilled his auditors, 
 exclaimed: "I invite A. H. GARLAND. 
 
 the confidence of 44,000,000 of my countrymen while 
 I read those letters from the desk." 
 
 THE GLADIATOR FACES HIS FOES. 
 
 On the 5th of June Mr. Elaine quietly arose in the 
 House of Representatives, and said : " Mr. Speaker, 
 if the morning hour has expired, I desire to speak on 
 a question of privilege." Whereupon Mr. Elaine 
 proceeded as follows : 
 
 Mr. Speaker, on the second day of May this reso 
 lution was passed by the House: 
 
172 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 " WHEREAS, it is publicly alleged, and is not denied 
 by the officers of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, 
 that that corporation did, in the year 1871 or 1872, 
 become the owner of certain bonds of the Little Rock 
 and Fort Smith Railroad Company, for which bonds 
 the said Union Pacific Railroad Company paid a con 
 sideration largely in excess of their market or actual 
 value, and that the board of directors of said Union 
 Pacific Railroad Company, though urged, have ne 
 glected to investigate said transaction ; therefore, 
 
 "Be it resolved, That the Committee on the Judici 
 ary be instructed to inquire if any such transaction 
 took place, and, if so, what were the circumstances or 
 inducements thereto, from what person or persons 
 said bonds were obtained and upon what considera 
 tion, and whether the transaction was from corrupt 
 design or in furtherance of any corrupt object ; and 
 that the committee have power to send for persons 
 and papers. 
 
 AIMED AT HIMSELF. 
 
 That resolution on its face, and in its fair intent, 
 was obviously designed to find out whether any im 
 proper thing had been done by the Union Pacific Rail 
 road Company ; and of course, incidentally thereto, 
 to find out with whom the transaction was made. 
 
 No sooner was the sub-committee designated than 
 it became entirely obvious that the resolution was 
 solely and only aimed at me. I think there had not 
 been three questions asked until it was evident that 
 the investigation was to be a personal one upon me, 
 
THE FAMOtJS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 173 
 
 and that the Union Pacific Railroad, or any other in 
 cident of the transaction, was secondary, insignificant 
 and unimportant. I do not complain of that ; I do 
 not say that I had any reason to complain of it. If 
 the investigation was to be made in that personal 
 sense, I was ready to meet it. 
 
 The gentleman on whose statement the accusation 
 rested was first called. He stated what he knew from 
 rumor. Then there were called Mr. Rollins, Mr. 
 Morton, and Mr. Millard, from Omaha, a Government 
 director of the Union Pacific Road, and finally Thomas 
 A. Scott. 
 
 THE CHARGE DISPROVED. 
 
 The testimony was completely and conclusively in 
 disproof of the charge that there was any possibility 
 that I could have had anything to do with the transac 
 tion. When the famous witness Mulligan came here 
 loaded with information in regard to the Fort Smith 
 Road, the gentleman from Virginia drew out what he 
 knew had no reference whatever to the question of 
 investigation. He then and there insisted on all my 
 private memoranda being allowed to be exhibited by 
 that man in reference to business that had no more 
 connection, no more relation, no more to do with that 
 investigation than with the North Pole. 
 
 And the gentleman tried his best, also, though I be 
 lieve that has been abandoned, to capture and use and 
 control my private correspondence. This man has se 
 lected, out of correspondence running over a great 
 many years, letters which he thought would be pecu- 
 
174 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 liarly damaging to me. He came here loaded with 
 them. He came here for a sensation. He came 
 here primed. He came here on that particular errand. 
 I was advised of it, and I obtained those letters under 
 circumstances which have been notoriously scattered 
 over the United States, and are known to everybody. 
 I have them. I claim that I have the entire right to 
 those letters, not only by natural right, but by all the 
 principles and precedents of law, as the man who held 
 those letters in possession held them wrongfully. 
 
 VIOLATION OF PRIVATE RIGHTS. 
 
 The committee that attempted to take those letters 
 from that man for use against me proceeded wrong 
 fully. It proceeded in all boldness to a most defiant 
 violation of the ordinary private and personal rights 
 which belong to every American citizen. I wanted 
 the gentleman from Kentucky and the gentleman 
 from Virginia to introduce that question upon this 
 floor, but they did not do it. 
 
 I stood up and declined, not only on the conclusions 
 of my own mind, but by eminent legal advice. I was 
 standing behind the rights which belong to every 
 American citizen, and if they wanted to treat the ques 
 tion in my person anywhere in the legislative halls or 
 judicial halls, I was ready. Then there went forth 
 everywhere the idea and impression that because I 
 would not permit that man, or any man whom I could 
 prevent, from holding as a menace over my head my 
 private correspondence, there must be in it something 
 deadly and destructive to my reputation. 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 175 
 
 I would like any gentleman to stand up here and 
 tell me that he is willing and ready to have his private 
 correspondence scanned over and made public for the 
 last eight or ten years. I would like any gentleman 
 to say that. Dots it imply guilt ? Does it imply 
 wrong-doing ? Does it imply any sense of weakness 
 that a man will protect his private correspondence ? 
 No, sir ; it is the first instinct to do it, and it is the 
 last outrage upon any man to violate it. 
 
 PRODUCES THE LETTERS. 
 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, I say that I have defied the 
 power of the House to compel me to produce these 
 letters. I speak with all respect to this House. I 
 know its powers, and I trust I respect them. But I 
 say that this House has no more power to order what 
 shall be done or not done with my private corre 
 spondence, than it has with what I shall do in the nur 
 ture and education of my children, not a pafticle. 
 The right is as sacred in the one case as it is in the 
 other. But, sir, having vindicated that right, standing 
 by it, ready to make any sacrifice in defence of it, here 
 and now, if any gentleman wants to take issue with 
 me on behalf of this House, I am ready for any ex 
 tremity of contest or conflict in behalf of so sacred a 
 right. And while I am so, I am not afraid to show 
 the letters. Thank God Almighty, I am not ashamed 
 to show them. There they are (holding up a package 
 of letters). There is the very original package. And 
 with some sense of humiliation, with a mortification I 
 do not attempt to conceal, with a sense of the outrage- 
 
176 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 which I think any man in my position would feel, I in 
 vite the confidence of forty-four millions of my country 
 men, while I read those letters from this desk. . (Ap 
 plause.) 
 
 ******* 
 
 This is the letter in which Mulligan says, and puts 
 down in his abstract, that I admitted the sixty-four 
 thousand dollar sale of/bonds : 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., April 18, 1872. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fisher : I answered you very hastily 
 last evening, as you said you wished for an immediate 
 reply, and perhaps in my hurry I did not make myself 
 fully understood. You have been, for some time, la 
 boring under a totally erroneous impression in regard 
 to my results in the Fort Smith matter. The sales of 
 bonds which you spoke of my making, and which you 
 seem to have thought were for my own benefit, were 
 entirely otherwise. I did not have the money in my 
 possession forty-eight hours, but paid it over directly 
 to the parties whom I tried, by every means in my 
 power, to protect from loss. I am very sure that you 
 have little idea of the labors, the losses, the efforts and 
 the sacrifices I have made within the past year to save 
 those innocent persons, who invested on my request, 
 from personal loss. 
 
 And I say to you to-night, that I am immeasurably 
 worse off than if I had never touched the Fort Smith 
 matter. The demand you make upon me now is one 
 which I am entirely unable to comply with. I cannot 
 do it. It is not in my power. You say that "necessity 
 knows no law." That applies to me as well as to you, 
 and when I have reached the point I am now at, I 
 simply fall back on that law. You are as well aware 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 177 
 
 as I am, that the bonds are due me under the contract. 
 Could I have them, I could adjust many matters not 
 now in my power, and as long as this and other matters 
 remain unadjusted between us, I do not recognize the 
 equity, or the lawfulness, of your calling on me for a 
 partial settlement. I am ready at any moment to make 
 a full, fair, comprehensive settlement with you, on the 
 most liberal terms. I will not be exacting or captious 
 or critical, but am ready and eager to make a broad 
 and generous adjustment with you, and if we can t 
 agree ourselves, we can select a mutual friend who can 
 easily compromise all points of difference between us. 
 
 You will, I trust, see that I am disposed to meet you 
 in a spirit of friendly cordiality, and yet with a sense of 
 self-defence that impels me to be frank and expose to 
 you my pecuniary weakness. 
 
 With very kind regards to Mrs. Fisher, I am yours 
 truly, 
 
 J. G. ELAINE. 
 
 W. FISHER, JR., ESQ. 
 
 ARKANSAS LAND GRANT. 
 
 I now pass to a letter dated Augusta, Me., October 
 4, 1869, but I read these letters now somewhat in their 
 order. Now to this letter I ask the attention of the 
 House. In the March session of 1869, the first one at 
 which I was Speaker, the extra session of the Forty- 
 first Congress, a land grant in the State of Arkansas 
 to the Little Rock Road was reported. I never remem 
 ber to have heard of the road, until at the last night 
 of the session, when it was up here for consideration. 
 The gentleman in Boston with whom I had relations 
 did not have anything to do with that road for nearly 
 12 
 
178 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 three or four months after that time. It is in the light 
 of that statement that I desire that letter read. 
 
 In the autumn, six or eight months afterward, I was 
 looking over the Globe, probably with some curiosity, 
 if not pride, to see the decisions I had made the first 
 five weeks I was speaker. I had not until then recalled 
 this decision of mine, and when I came across it, all the 
 facts came back to me fresh, and I wrote this letter : 
 
 (Personal.) 
 
 AUGUSTA, ME., October 4, 1869. 
 
 My Dear Sir : I spoke to you a short time ago 
 about a point of interest to your railroad company that 
 occurred at the last session of the Congress. 
 
 It was on the last night of the session, when the bill 
 renewing the land grant to the State of Arkansas for 
 the Little Rock Road was reached, and Julian, of In 
 diana, chairman of the Public Lands Committee, and, 
 by right, entitled to the floor, attempted to put on the 
 bill as an amendment, the Fremont El Paso scheme a 
 scheme probably well known to Mr. Caldwell. The 
 House was thin, and the lobby in the Fremont interest 
 had the thing all set up, and Julian s amendment was 
 likely to prevail if brought to a vote. Roots, and the 
 other members from Arkansas, who were doing their 
 best for their own bill (to which there seemed to be no 
 objection), were in despair, for it was well known that 
 the Senate was hostile to the Fremont scheme, and if 
 the Arkansas bill had eone back to the Senate with 
 
 C> 
 
 Julian s amendments, the whole thing could have gone 
 on the table and slept the sleep of death. 
 
 In this dilemma, Roots came to me to know what on 
 earth he could do under the rules ; for he said it was 
 vital to his constituents that the bill should pass. I told 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 179 
 
 him that Julian s amendment was entirely out of order, 
 because not germane; but he had not sufficient confi 
 dence in his own knowledge of the rules to make the 
 point, but he said General Logan was opposed to the 
 Fremont scheme and would probably make (the point. 
 I sent my page to General Logan with the suggestion, 
 and he at once made the point. I could not do other 
 wise than sustain it, and so the bill was freed from the 
 mischievous amendment moved by Julian, and at once 
 passed without objection. 
 
 At that time I had never seen Mr. Caldwell, but you 
 can tell him that without knowing it, I did him a great 
 favor. Sincerely yours, 
 
 J. G. ELAINE. 
 
 W. FISHER, JR., ESQ., 24 India Street, Boston. 
 
 The amendment referred to in that letter will be 
 found in The Congressional Globe of the First Session 
 of the Forty-first Congress, page 702. That was before 
 the Boston persons had ever touched the road. 
 
 "THOSE BONDS WERE NOT MINE." 
 
 There is mentioned in another letter $6,000 of land- 
 grant bonds of the Union Pacific Railroad for which I 
 stood as only part owner; these were only in part mine. 
 As I have started to make a personal explanation, I 
 want to make a full explanation in regard to this mat 
 ter. Those bonds were not mine except in this sense : 
 In 1869, a lady who is a member of my family and 
 whose financial affairs I have looked after for many 
 years many gentlemen will know to whom I refer 
 without my being more explicit bought, on the rec~ 
 Ommendation of Mr. Hooper, $6,000 in land-gran-; 
 
180 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 bonds of the Union Pacific Railroad as they were 
 issued in 1869. She got them on what was called the 
 stockholder s basis ; I think it was a very favorable 
 basis on which they distributed the bonds. These 
 $6,000 of land-grant bonds were obtained in that way. 
 In 1871 the Union Pacific Railroad Company broke 
 down, and these bonds fell so that they were worth 
 about forty cents on the dollar. She was anxious to 
 make herself safe, and I had so much confidence in 
 the Fort Smith land bonds, that I proposed to her to 
 make an exchange. The six bonds were in my pos 
 session, and I had previously advanced money to her 
 for certain purposes, and held a part of these bonds 
 as a security for that advance. The bonds, in that 
 sense and in that sense only, were mine that they 
 were security for the loan which I had made. They 
 were all literally hers ; they were all sold finally for 
 her account not one of them for me. I make this 
 statement in order to be perfectly fair. 
 
 WHAT " SOMEBODY ELSE " SAID. 
 
 I do not wish to detain the House, but I have one 
 or two more observations to make. The specific 
 charge that went to the committee, as it affects me, is 
 whether I was a party in interest to the $64,000 trans 
 action ; and I submit that up to this time there has not 
 been one particle of proof before the committee, sus 
 taining that charge. Gentlemen have said that they 
 heard somebody else say, and generally, when that 
 somebody else was brought on the stand, it appeared 
 that he did not say it at all. Colonel Thomas A. 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTERS. 181 
 
 Scott swore very positively and distinctly, under the 
 most rigid cross-examination, all about it. Let me 
 call attention to that letter of mine which Mulligan 
 says refers to that. 1 ask your attention, gentlemen, 
 as closely as if you were a jury, while I show the al> 
 surdity of that statement. 
 
 It is in evidence that, with the exception of a small 
 fraction, the bonds which were sold to parties in Maine 
 were first mortgage bonds. It is in evidence, over and 
 over again, that the bonds which went to the Union 
 Pacific Road were land-grant bonds. Therefore it is a 
 moral impossibility that the bonds taken up to Maine 
 should have gone to the Union Pacific Railroad. They 
 were of different series, different kinds, different colors, 
 everything different, as different as if not issued within 
 a thousand miles of each other. So, on its face, it is 
 shown that it could not be so. 
 
 A GREAT DEAL OF HEARSAY. 
 
 There has not been, I say, one positive piece of tes 
 timony in any direction. They sent to Arkansas to 
 get some hearsay about bonds. They sent to Boston 
 to get some hearsay. Mulligan was contradicted by 
 Fisher, and Atkins and Scott swore directly against 
 him. Morton, of Morton, Bliss & Co., never heard my 
 name in the matter. Carnegee, who negotiated the 
 note, never heard my name in that connection. Rol 
 lins said it was one of the intangible rumors he spoke 
 of as floating in the air. Gentlemen who have lived any 
 time in Washington, need not be told that intangible 
 rumors get very considerable circulation here ; and if 
 
182 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 a man is to be held accountable in public opinion for 
 intangible rumors, who in the House will stand ? 
 
 Now, gentlemen, those letters I have read were 
 picked out of correspondence extending over fifteen 
 years. The man did his worst, the very worst he 
 could, out of the most intimate business correspond 
 ence of my life. I ask. gentlemen, if any of you, and 
 I ask it with some feeling, can stand a severer scrutiny 
 of, or more rigid investigation into, your private cor 
 respondence ? That was the worst he could do. 
 
 THAT CABLE DESPATCH. 
 
 There is one piece of testimony wanting. There is 
 but one thing to close the complete circle of evidence. 
 There is but one witness whom I could not have, to 
 whom the Judiciary Committee, taking into account 
 the great and intimate connection he had with the 
 transaction, was asked to send a cable despatch, and 
 I ask the gentleman from Kentucky if that cable de 
 spatch was sent to him ? 
 
 Mr. Frye. Who? 
 
 Mr. Elaine. To Josiah Caldwell. 
 
 Mr. Knott. I will reply to the gentleman that 
 Judge Hamton and myself have both endeavored to 
 get Mr. Caldwell s address, and have not yet got it. 
 
 Mr. Elaine. Has the gentleman from Kentucky re 
 ceived a despatch from Mr. Caldwell ? 
 
 Mr. Knott. I will explain that directly. 
 
 Mr. Elaine. I want a categorical answer. 
 
 Mr. Knott. I have received a despatch purporting 
 to be from Mr. Caldwell. 
 
THE FAMOUS MULLIGAN LETTEKS. 183 
 
 Mr. Elaine. You did ? 
 
 Mr. Knott. How did you know I got it ? 
 
 Mr. Elaine. When did you get it? I want the 
 gentleman from Kentucky to answer when he got it. 
 
 Mr. Knott. Answer my question first. 
 
 Mr. Elaine. I never heard of it until yesterday. 
 
 Mr. Knott. How did you hear it ? 
 
 Mr. Elaine. I heard that you got a despatch last 
 Thursday morning, at eight o clock, from Josiah Cald- 
 well, completely and absolutely exonerating me from 
 this charge, and you have suppressed it. (Protracted 
 applause upon the floor and in the galleries.) I want 
 the gentleman to answer. (After a pause.) Does 
 the gentleman from Kentucky decline to answer? 
 
 A BOLD CHARGE. 
 
 The gentleman from Kentucky in responding prob 
 ably, I think, from what he said, intended to convey 
 the idea that I had some illegitimate knowledge of 
 how that despatch was obtained. I have had no com 
 munication with Josiah Caldwell. I have had no 
 means of knowing from the telegraph office whether 
 the despatch was received. But I tell th e gentleman 
 from Kentucky that murder will out, and secrets will 
 leak. And I tell the gentleman now, and I am pre 
 pared to state to this House, that at eight o clock on 
 last Thursday morning, or thereabouts, the gentleman 
 from Kentucky received and receipted for a message 
 addressed to him from Josiah Caldwell, in London, en 
 tirely corroborating and substantiating the statements 
 of Thomas A. Scott, which he had just read in the 
 
184 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 New York papers, and entirely exculpating me from 
 the charge which I am bound to believe, from the 
 suppression of that report, that - the gentleman is 
 anxious to fasten upon me. (Protracted applause 
 from the floor and galleries.) 
 
 MR. ELAINE THE VICTOR. 
 
 All accounts agree in representing the scene in the 
 House during this speech as one unparalleled. The 
 grand bearing, the acute reasoning, the eloquent 
 periods and triumphant vindication of the accused, 
 made a profound impression upon those who were 
 present on that memorable day. Equally telling was 
 the effect upon the country at large. The man Mulli 
 gan had done his worst ; he had picked a number of 
 letters from a correspondence extending over many 
 years, had separated them from their connection, and 
 with infernal ingenuity had twisted their meaning to 
 his own contemptible purposes. Such rascality de 
 served the red-hot condemnation it received. 
 
 The scene was one of moral sublimity when Mr. 
 Elaine turned to his abashed accusers, and with all the 
 magnetic, overwhelming force of which he was capable, 
 roared out in thunder tones: "You have received 
 from Josiah Caldwell a despatch completely and ab 
 solutely exonerating me, and you have suppressed 
 it ! " The clay on which Mr. Elaine made complete 
 his vindication was a historic day in Congress, one 
 that can never be forgotten by any who were wit 
 nesses of the extraordinary scene. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 " The Plumed Knight " and the Presidency. 
 
 THE desire of Mr. Elaine s friends to secure for 
 him the nomination for the presidency took definite 
 shape in 1876. No one supposed his name could be 
 kept out of the Convention, for his long and brilliant 
 public career pointed him out as one most worthy to 
 receive the honor of a nomination. It was not certain, 
 however, that he could overcome the various prefer 
 ences which always appear in a national convention, 
 and gain a majority of the delegates. 
 
 There was a widespread feeling in the Republican 
 party that too many reproaches gathered about Presi 
 dent Grant s last administration to admit of his re-nom 
 ination. The breath of scandal mingled with the winds 
 that floated the Nation s flag. There was the scandal 
 of the Whisky Ring ; another of the Department of the 
 Interior; another of the War Department, and many 
 whisperings and insinuations of widespread corruption 
 in high places. 
 
 Any man who went boldly into the den and dragged 
 out hidden frauds or dishonesties was popular with the 
 people. The Attorney-General, Mr. Bristow, had done 
 this, and by reason of having uncovered the whisky 
 frauds was quite the man of the hour. But he had 
 
 (185) 
 
186 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 powerful rivals in Senator Conkling, of New York, and 
 ex-Governor Morton, of Indiana. 
 
 ALL HOSTILE TO MR. BLAINE. 
 
 Superadded to Mr. Conkling s pre-eminent ability, 
 which not even his political opponents ever disputed, 
 and the commanding position he held in the Senate, 
 he had the support of the administration. " Washing 
 ton " was hurrahing for 
 him, and all that is 
 meant by that term was 
 enlisted in his behalf. 
 
 Mr. Morton had been 
 the " war-crovernor " of 
 
 o 
 
 Indiana, had made him 
 self famous by a bril 
 liant record, was a rank 
 foe to the solid South, 
 and was making the 
 most of his past ser 
 vices to influence the 
 Convention in his favor. 
 Unfortunately on the 
 Sunday morning pre 
 ceding the Convention 
 at Cincinnati, Mr. Elaine met with a partial sunstroke. 
 In company with Mrs. Elaine he was on his way to 
 church when, being overcome by the heat, he was 
 compelled to sit down, and afterward to request that 
 he might be carried home. This untoward event 
 had some effect upon his prospects in the Convention, 
 
 EUGENE HALE. 
 
BLAINE AND THE PRESIDENCY. 187 
 
 yet his friends exerted themselves to the utmost, and 
 did their best to hold his forces in line of battle. 
 The report was industriously circulated at Cincinnati 
 that he had been stricken with apoplexy and his illness 
 was quite too serious to admit of his undergoing the 
 strain of a presidential campaign. 
 
 AN ENCOURAGING TELEGRAM. 
 
 The anxiety of Mr. Elaine s friends was allayed by a 
 telegram received from him by Congressman Eugene 
 Hale, of Maine, which read as follows : 
 
 I am entirely convalescent, suffering only from phys 
 ical weakness. Impress upon my friends the great 
 depth of gratitude I feel for the unparalleled stead 
 fastness with which they have adhered to me in my 
 hour of trial. J. G. BLAINE. 
 
 The decisive hour in the Convention was awaited 
 with breathless suspense. The excitement was intense, 
 not only at Cincinnati but in all parts of the country ; 
 excited crowds stood impatiently before bulletin-boards 
 to obtain the news, and the public fever plainly indi 
 cated that great interest was felt in the result. 
 
 At length the time came for launching Mr. Elaine s 
 name before, the Convention, and Colonel Robert G. 
 Ingersoll, of Illinois, ascended the platform. His ap 
 pearance was the signal for an outburst of enthusiasm 
 which shook the immense building, and seemed to roll 
 its waves to the Atlantic on the one side and the 
 Pacific on the other. He rose to the dignity of the 
 occasion and delivered an address which has been 
 famous since the hour that gave it birth. 
 
188 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 It was in this celebrated speech that Mr. Elaine was 
 first called "The Plumed Knight," an inspiring name 
 ever after designating his heroic spirit, his courageous 
 bearing and manly characteristics, all of which united 
 to make him the most magnetic political leader of his 
 time. 
 
 SPEECH OF ROBERT G. INGERSO1 L. 
 
 Massachusetts may be satisfied with the loyalty of 
 
 Benjamin H. Bristow ; 
 so am I ; but if any 
 man nominated by this 
 convention cannot 
 carry the State of 
 Massachusetts, I am not 
 satisfied with the loyalty 
 of that State, If the 
 nominee of this conven 
 tion cannot carry the 
 grand old Common 
 wealth of Massachusetts 
 by seventy-five thousand 
 majority, I would advise 
 them to sell out Faneuil 
 Hall as a Democratic 
 headquarters. I would 
 
 advise them to take from Bunker Hill that old monu 
 ment of glory. 
 
 The Republicans of the United States demand as 
 their leader in the great contest of 1876 a man of in 
 telligence, a man of integrity, a man of well-known 
 
ELAINE AND THE PRESIDENCY. 189 
 
 and approved political opinions. They demand a re 
 former after as well as before the election. They de 
 mand a politician in the highest, broadest and best 
 sense a man of superb moral courage. They de 
 mand a man acquainted with public affairs, with the 
 wants of the people ; with not only the requirements 
 of the hour, but with the demands of the future. 
 They demand a man broad enough to comprehend the 
 relations of this government to the other nations of 
 the earth. They demand a man well versed in the 
 powers, duties, and prerogatives of each and every 
 department of this Government. 
 
 They demand a man who will sacredly preserve the 
 financial honor of the United States ; one who knows 
 enough to know that the national debt must be paid 
 through the prosperity of this people ; one who knows 
 enough to know that all the financial theories in the 
 world cannot redeem a single dollar; one who knows 
 enough to know that all the money must be made, not 
 by law, but by labor ; one who knows enough to know 
 that the people of the United States have the industry 
 to make the money and the honor to pay it over just 
 as fast as they make it. 
 
 The Republicans of the United States demand a man 
 who knows that prosperity and resumption, when they 
 come, must come together ; that when they come, they 
 will come hand in hand through the golden harvest 
 fields ; hand in hand by the whirling spindles and the 
 turning wheels ; hand in hand past the open furnace 
 doors ; hand in hand by the flaming forges ; hand in 
 
190 LIFE OF HON, JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 hand by the chimneys filled with eager fire greeted 
 and grasped by the countless sons of toil. 
 
 This money has to be dug out of the earth. You 
 cannot make it by passing resolutions in a political 
 convention. 
 
 The Republicans of the United States want a man 
 who knows that the government should protect every 
 citizen, at home and abroad ; who knows that any 
 government that will not defend its defenders, and 
 protect its protectors, is a disgrace to the map of the 
 world. They demand a man who believes in the eter 
 nal separation and divorcement of Church and School. 
 They demand a man whose political reputation is 
 spotless as a star ; but they do not demand that their 
 candidate shall have a certificate of moral character 
 signed by a Confederate Congress. The man who 
 
 o J o 
 
 has, in full, heaped and rounded measure, all these 
 splendid qualifications, is the present grand and gal 
 lant leader of the Republican party James G. Elaine, 
 
 Our country, crowned with the vast and marvelous 
 achievements of its first century, asks for a man wor 
 thy of the past and prophetic of her future ; asks for 
 a man who has the audacity of genius ; asks for a man 
 who is the grandest combination of heart, conscience 
 and brain beneath her flag. Such a man is James 
 G. Elaine. 
 
 For the Republican host, led by this intrepid man, 
 there can be no defeat. 
 
 This is a grand year a year filled with the recol 
 lections of the Revolution ; filled with proud and ten- 
 
ELAINE AND THE PRESIDENCY. 191 
 
 der memories of the past ; with the sacred legends of 
 liberty ; a year in which the sons of freedom will drink 
 from the fountains of enthusiasm ; a year in which the 
 people call for a man who has preserved in Congress 
 what our soldiers won upon the field ; a year in which 
 they call for the man who has torn from the throat of 
 treason the tongue of slander ; for the man who has 
 snatched the mask of Democracy from the hideous 
 face of rebellion ; for the man who, like an intellectual 
 athlete, has stood in the arena of debate and chal 
 lenged all comers, and who is still a total stranger to 
 defeat. 
 
 Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James 
 G. Elaine marched down the halls of the American 
 Congress, and threw his shining lance full and fair 
 against the brazen foreheads of the defamers of his 
 country and the maligners of his honor. 
 
 For the Republican party to desert this gallant 
 leader now, is as though an army should desert their 
 general upon the field of battle. 
 
 James G. Elaine is now and has been for years the 
 bearer of the sacred standard of the Republican party. 
 I call it sacred, because no human being can stand be 
 neath its folds without becoming and without remain 
 ing free. 
 
 Gentlemen of the convention, in the name of the 
 great Republic, the only Republic that ever existed 
 upon the earth ; in the name of all her defenders and 
 of all her supporters ; in the name of all her soldiers 
 living ; in the name of all her soldiers dead upon the 
 
192 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 field of battle, and in the name of those who perisned 
 in the skeleton clutch of famine at Andersonville and 
 Libby, whose sufferings he so vividly remembers, Illin 
 ois Illinois nominates for the next President of this 
 country, that prince of parliamentarians that leader 
 of leaders James G. Elaine. 
 
 Maine sent us to this magnificent Convention with 
 a memory of her own salvation from impending peril 
 fresh upon her. To you representatives of 50,000,000 
 of the American people who have met here to counsel 
 how the Republic can be saved, she says, " Represent 
 atives of the people, take the man, the true man, the 
 staunch man, for your leader, who has just saved me, 
 and he will bring you to safety and certain victory." 
 
 RESULT OF THE BALLOTING. 
 
 Early in Mr. Elaine s career it became an under 
 stood thing that whenever his name was mentioned in 
 a popular assembly it would be attended with demon 
 strations of the wildest excitement and most enthu 
 siastic approval. It was so on this occasion. All that 
 has ever been said or written concerning the great 
 uprising of thousands of people in a national conven 
 tion when the name of some favorite candidate was 
 mentioned, would fail to give an adequate description 
 of the unparalleled scene when the " Plumed Knight" 
 was placed in nomination. 
 
 The first ballot gave Mr. Elaine 285 votes. The 
 whole number of votes in the convention was 756, and 
 379 were necessary to a choice. After the first ballot 
 had ended all compliments to " favorite sons " the real 
 
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 
 
 13 
 
194 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 contest began. After several ballots which made it 
 evident that neither Conkling, Morton, Bristow nor 
 Hartranft could be nominated, the inevitable " dark 
 horse " was trotted out, and the popular candidates 
 were defeated. On the seventh ballot Rutherford B. 
 Hayes, of Ohio, received 384 votes and Mr. Blainc 
 
 351. This was an unex 
 pected outcome of the 
 contest, but when it be 
 came evident that none 
 of Mr. Elaine s rivals 
 could be nominated 
 they united to compass 
 his defeat. Like a solid 
 phalanx his friends and 
 supporters stood by him 
 to the end. 
 
 HE HEARS THE NEWS. 
 
 The telegraph flashed 
 the result of the ballot 
 ing across the continent. 
 With his accustomed 
 BENJAMIN H. HILL. coolness and self-pos 
 
 session Mr. Blaine was awaiting the news in Washing 
 ton. A gentleman who was with him gives the follow 
 ing account of what transpired at Mr. Elaine s resi 
 dence. 
 
 "I happened to be in his library in Washington when 
 the balloting was going on in Cincinnati on that hot 
 July day in 1876. A telegraph instrument was on his 
 
ELAINE AND THE PRESIDENCY. 195 
 
 library table, and Mr. Sherman, his private secretary, 
 a deft operator, was manipulating its key. Despatches 
 came from dozens of friends giving the last votes, which 
 only lacked a few of a nomination, and everybody pre 
 dicted the success of Elaine on the next ballot. Only 
 four persons beside Mr. Sherman were in the room. 
 It was a moment of great excitement. The next vote 
 was quietly ticked over the wire, and then the next 
 announced the nomination of Mr. Hayes. 
 
 " Mr. Elaine was the only cool person in the apart 
 ment. It was such a reversal of all anticipations and 
 assurances that self-possession was out of the question 
 except with Mr. Elaine. He had just left his bed after 
 two days of unconsciousness with sunstroke, but he 
 was as self-possessed as the portraits on the wall, tie 
 merely gave a murmur of surprise, and before anybody 
 had recovered from the surprise, he had written, in a 
 firm, fluent hand, three despatches now in my pos 
 session one to Mr. Hayes of congratulation : 
 
 " To Gov. R. E. HAYES, Columbus, Ohio. 
 
 " I offer you my sincerest congratulations on your 
 nomination. It will be alike my highest pleasure as 
 well as my first political duty to do the utmost in my 
 power to promote your election. The earliest moments 
 of my returning and confirmed health will be devoted 
 to securing you as large a vote in Maine as she would 
 have given for myself. J. G. ELAINE/ 
 
 "Another despatch was sent to the Maine delegates 
 thanking them for their devotion, and another to Eu 
 gene Hale and Mr. Frye, asking them to go personally 
 
1,96 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 to Mr. Hayes, at Columbus, and present his good-will, 
 with promises of hearty aid in the campaign. The 
 occasion affected him no more than the news of a 
 servant quitting his employ would have done. Half 
 an hour afterward he was out with Secretary Fish in 
 an open carriage, receiving the cheers of the thousands 
 of people who were gathered about the telegraph 
 bulletins." 
 
 ON THE STUMP. 
 
 Although Mr. Elaine had been defeated in the 
 Convention he did not " sulk in his tent." He was 
 too loyal to his party and country to allow his interest 
 in political issues to cool. He did not measure his 
 duty to the nation by his own successes or defeats. 
 The nation is greater than any man or any party ; he 
 was a patriot, not a pretender. Men come and go ; 
 principles and ideas abide ; he was enlisted in behalf 
 of the principle, the idea, and not for the man. The 
 man, at best, was but a representative of the thoughts 
 and measures of the hour; not himself, but what he 
 stood for this was the matter of gravest concern. 
 
 Accordingly Mr. Elaine was found ardently sup 
 porting the nominees and platform of the Republi 
 can Convention. He threw his whole soul into the 
 campaign. Immense and enthusiastic throngs at 
 tended his triumphal progress through twelve States 
 in which he spoke, and never did king or conqueror 
 receive a more hearty ovation than that which greeted 
 him at every step. His audiences in some instances 
 reached 20,000 persons ; his name and portrait were 
 
ELAINE AND THE PRESIDENCY. 
 
 197 
 
 carried in bannered processions ; his coming was 
 everywhere the signal for a popular uprising, and any 
 one not acquainted with the circumstances would 
 have supposed he, and not another, was the presi 
 dential nominee, and everybody was going to vote for 
 
 him. 
 
 SQUIRE BROWN S HORSE. 
 
 Hon. Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, tells an anecdote 
 of Mr. Elaine which 
 shows one secret of his 
 unbounded popularity. 
 It illustrates his mar 
 vellous memory, and his 
 personal power over 
 men. He had a way of 
 making- them feel he 
 
 o 
 
 was specially interested 
 in them ; he could re 
 member names and 
 faces, and recall them 
 after long periods of 
 time. Judge Thurman s 
 anecdote is as follows: 
 All the people of 
 both parties turned out 
 to hear Elaine. I have among my clients a promi 
 nent old farmer, who is one of the wealthiest men 
 in the county. He was a good Republican and 
 after Elaine got through speaking, and was shaking 
 hands with everybody, I saw my old client in the 
 
 ALLEN G. THURMAN. 
 
198 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 crowd looking on at the orator of the day rather in 
 terestedly. 
 
 I said to him, "Squire Brown" (that is not his 
 name, but it will do here), " would you like to know 
 Mr. Elaine ? " 
 
 Of course he said he would; so I took him to the 
 Maine statesman and introduced him, at the same 
 time telling Elaine who he was. Elaine s eye was in- 
 stantly caught by the handsome appearance and style 
 of his trotters. One of them particularly pleased 
 him, and he said to my client that the colt should 
 be trained, as it would make a very superior trot 
 ter. Well, after a five minutes talk, Elaine went 
 away. 
 
 In 1880 he came into Ohio again and to my town. 
 He spoke to an immense audience as usual. In the 
 crowd was my old Republican client, Squire Brown. 
 He was waiting in the outskirts of the audience, won 
 dering if Mr. Elaine would Vemember him if he went 
 to speak to him. All at once Elaine caught sight of 
 the old man. He went straight up to him, called his 
 name, and after a few words said : 
 
 " Squire Brown, did you ever train the near colt 
 of that team you were driving when I was here four 
 years ago ? I have often thought of that colt, and I 
 believe he would make a great horse if trained." 
 
 "Now," said Judge Thurman, -"here was a man 
 who had made a canvass for the Presidency, and 
 had a nation s labor almost on his shoulders, and 
 yet so wonderful was his memory that the least in- 
 
ELAINE AND THE PRESIDENCY. 199 
 
 cident fixed itself there and was never forgotten. I 
 have never known any one in my day with a memory 
 like that, and now I begin to understand why it is 
 that Elaine s popularity is so much greater than that 
 of any other man in his party." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 Elaine in the United States Senate. 
 
 MR. ELAINE was appointed by the Governor of 
 Maine, July 19, 1876, to be United States Senator to 
 fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator 
 Morrill, who then became Secretary of the Treasury, 
 and took his seat in that august body at the opening 
 of its session in December, 1876. 
 
 Many regretted that the able Speaker of the House, 
 the dashing and brilliant debater in Committee of the 
 
 o 
 
 Whole, should, as they expressed it, be shelved in the 
 Senate. Four years passed, and it would be hard to 
 name a man who had been less securely shelved, a 
 Senator who moved so promptly to the front. The 
 Senate contained a large number of able men and 
 some skillful debaters, but in logical, off-hand discus 
 sion, in quick perception and full command of every 
 resource, it never contained a man superior to Mr. 
 Blaine. 
 
 His career in the Senate was as active as that in 
 the House. He took a prominent part in every im 
 portant debate, and though not fearing to differ from 
 his party, was always a strong party man, and one of 
 the recognized leaders on the Republican side. 
 
 (200) 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 201 
 
 ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 
 
 He was subsequently elected for the unexpired 
 term and for the ensuing term expiring in 1883. On 
 his appointment he wrote to the people of his Con 
 gressional District a farewell address, in which he said : 
 
 Beginning with 1862 you have by continuous elec 
 tions sent me as your representative to the Congress 
 of the United States. For such marked confidence I 
 have endeavored to return the most zealous and de 
 voted service in my power, and it is certainly not 
 without a feeling of pain that I now surrender a trust 
 by which I have always felt so signally honored. 
 
 It has been my boast in public and in private that 
 no man on the floor of Congress ever represented a 
 constituency more distinguished for intelligence, for 
 patriotism, for public and personal virtue. The cor 
 dial support you have so uniformly given me through 
 these fourteen eventful years is the chief honor of my 
 life. In closing the intimate relations I have so long 
 held with the people of this district it is a great satis 
 faction to me to know that with returning health I 
 shall enter upon a field of duty in which I can still 
 serve them in common with the larger constituency of 
 which they form a part. 
 
 A GLOWING TRIBUTE. 
 
 The Kennebec Journal of his State, well represent 
 ing the sentiment of the public in the State, said : 
 
 "Fourteen years ago, standing in the convention 
 at which he was first nominated, Mr. Elaine pledged 
 himself to use his best services for the district, and to 
 
202 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 support to the best of his ability the policy of Abra 
 ham Lincoln to subdue the rebellion, and then and 
 there expressed plainly the idea that slavery must and 
 ought to be abolished to save the Union. That he 
 has kept his pledge faithfully his constituents know 
 and feel, and the records of Congress attest. 
 
 " To this district his abilities were freely given, and 
 as he rose in honor in the House and in the public es 
 timation he reflected honor and ^ave strength to the 
 
 o o 
 
 constituency that supported him. Every step he made 
 in advance was a gain for them. It was a grand thing 
 for this district to have as its Representative in Con 
 gress for six years the Speaker of the House, filling 
 the place next in importance to that of President of 
 the United States with matchless ability. 
 
 TAKES UP NEW DUTIES. 
 
 "It was a grander thing when he took the lead of 
 the minority in the House last December, routed the 
 Democratic majority, and drove back in dismay the 
 ex-Confederates who were intending and expecting 
 through the advantage they had already gained to 
 grasp the supreme power in the Nation and wield it 
 in the interest of the cause of secession and rebellion 
 revived. For what he has done as their representa 
 tive in Congress, never will this Hid. district of Maine 
 forget to honor the name of James G. Elaine. It will 
 live in the hearts of this people even as the name of 
 Henry Clay is still loved by the people of his old dis 
 trict in Kentucky." 
 
 He at once entered actively upon his new official 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 203 
 
 duties, and his prestige in the House and his great 
 popularity with the people made him a prominent 
 figure in his new position. His progressive nature 
 had little regard for the tradition of that body, which 
 expects new members to listen to their elders instead 
 of pushing forward in debates. He could not remain 
 silent on questions upon which he was well informed, 
 and so he at once became a debater in the Senate. 
 
 He made a strong speech in favor of restricting 
 Chinese immigration, which was much censured and 
 much praised, according to the point of view of his 
 critics. He voted against the Electoral Commission 
 bill. He opposed the Bland silver bill in a vigorous 
 speech, and favored the coinage of an honest silver 
 dollar. The question of the restoration of the Amer 
 ican carrying trade upon the seas received a great deal 
 of attention from him, and his speeches and letters on 
 this subject attracted much attention. One of these 
 speeches was made at a New York Chamber of Com 
 merce dinner, and was accepted as a masterly presen 
 tation of the subject. 
 
 A PLOT FRUSTRATED. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s sagacity, coolness and wisdom as a 
 party leader were conspicuously demonstrated in the 
 measures he took to circumvent the Democratic plot 
 for stealing the State Government of Maine in 1 879, by 
 fraudulently counting out Republican members of the 
 Legislature. All the advantages, save that of being 
 in the right, were with his opponents at the start. His 
 supporters were eager to resort to arms as the only 
 
204 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 means of obtaining justice, but they were restrained 
 by him. 
 
 His plan was first to arouse public sentiment by ex 
 posing the enormity of the plot, next to tangle up his 
 antagonists in a web of contradictions, and then, after 
 obtaining the judgment of the Supreme Court, to seize 
 and hold the legislative halls. It was completely suc 
 cessful, and the conspiracy became impotent and 
 ridiculous. 
 
 His position on the Chinese question was the result 
 of a thorough investigation of the subject in all its 
 bearings, and when a conclusion had been reached, he 
 threw all the force of his genius and ability in opposi 
 tion to an unlimited immigration of those people to 
 this country. This action made him the most popular 
 statesman on the Pacific coast, and the people of those 
 States gave him the most decided manifestations of 
 their esteem and confidence. His independence of 
 action made him friends and enemies, but apparently 
 indifferent to personal interests or popular clamor, he 
 boldly proclaimed and defended his convictions. He 
 was no time-serving politician. 
 
 A STRONG PROTECTIONIST. 
 
 He never waited to ascertain the current of public 
 opinion and then drift with it. On the contrary he was 
 a born leader, who made public opinion, and his ad 
 vanced ideas led him to the front, while his magnetism 
 brought a host of followers. He possessed those qual 
 ities which make a military commander great, a diplo 
 mat effective, and a statesman popular. His position 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 205 
 
 on die tariff question was in strict harmony with his 
 party, and ever since he entered the halls of legislation 
 he advocated the doctrine of protection to labor. 
 
 In the Senate, as in the House, Mr. Elaine was a 
 staunch advocate of a protective tariff. 
 
 On the 22d of April, 1878, he offered the following 
 resolutions : 
 
 Resolved, That any radical change in our present 
 tariff laws, would in the judgment of the Senate, be 
 inopportune, would needlessly derange the business 
 interests of the country, and would seriously retard 
 that return to prosperity for which all should earnestly 
 co-operate. 
 
 Resolved, That in the judgment of the Senate, it 
 should be the fixed policy of this government to so 
 maintain our tariff for revenue as to afford adequate 
 protection to American labor. 
 
 On the ist of May, 1878, Mr. Elaine called up his 
 resolutions and urged their passage in a stormy speech, 
 which, however, was ineffectual at the time. 
 
 HIS VIEWS ON PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 
 
 In the Senate Mr. Elaine was as firm an advocate 
 of the principles and measures of his party as he had 
 been in the House of Representatives. There was 
 no wavering. The old classic saying that they do not 
 change their characters who change their skies applied 
 to him ; ancMie was the same man under the roof of 
 the Senate Chamber that he was before taking his 
 seat in that august body. 
 
 In the main he supported the policy of President 
 
206 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Hayes, but did not approve of the President s action 
 in recognizing the Democratic government in some 
 States of the South. His views were broad ; his range 
 of vision took in the whole country. Whatever was 
 American in the highest sense of the term, whatever 
 would advance the welfare and prosperity of the whole 
 country, found in him an earnest advocate. Moreover, 
 he boldly proclaimed his belief in popular rights, the 
 rights of the whole people ; these were not to be 
 trampled clown by any false theory of State sover 
 eignty. 
 
 SPEECH ON CHINESE IMMIGRATION. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s speech on the Chinese question at 
 tracted wide attention. A bill had been introduced 
 restricting the number of Chinamen on incoming ves 
 sels to fifteen, and otherwise placing obstructions in 
 the way of a wholesale introduction of this class of 
 foreigners into the United States. It was one of the 
 important questions of the hour, as it is still. Mr. 
 Blaine heartily supported this bill. His speech was 
 so masterly and comprehensive, that it is here repro 
 duced nearly entire : 
 
 As I said, the Chinese question is not new. We 
 have had it here very often, and proceeding some 
 what to the second branch, I lay down this principle, 
 that, so far as my vote is concerned, I will not admit 
 a man to immigration to this country that I am not 
 willing to place on the basis of a citizen. Let me re 
 peat that. We ought not to admit to this country of 
 universal suffrage die immigration of a great people, 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 
 
 207 
 
 great in numbers, whom we ourselves declare to be 
 utterly unfit to become citizens. 
 
 What do you say on that point? In the Senate of 
 the United States, on the fourth of July, 1870, a 
 patriotic day, we were amending the naturalization 
 laws. We had made all the negroes of the United 
 States voters practically ; at least we had said they 
 should not be deprived 
 of suffrage by rea 
 son of race or color. 
 We had admitted 
 them all, and we then 
 amended the naturali 
 zation laws so that the 
 gentleman from Africa 
 himself could become 
 a citizen of the 
 United States ; and an 
 immigrant from 
 Africa to-morrow, 
 from the coast of 
 Guinea or Senegam- 
 bia, can be naturalized 
 and made an Ameri 
 can citizen. The Senator Trumbull moved to add : 
 " Or persons born in the Chinese empire." 
 
 He said: "I have offered this amendment so as to 
 bring the distinct question before the Senate, whether 
 they will vote to naturalize persons from Africa, and 
 vote to refuse to naturalize those who come from 
 
 THOMAS F. BAYARD. 
 
208 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 China. I ask for the yeas and nays on my amend 
 ment/ 
 
 WHO THEY WERE. 
 
 The yeas and nays were as follows on the ques 
 tion of whether we would ever admit a Chinaman 
 to be come an American citizen. The yeas were : 
 Messrs Fenton, Fowler, McDonald, Pomeroy, Rice, 
 
 Robertson, Sprague, 
 Sumner, and Trumbull 
 
 9- 
 
 The nays were : 
 Messrs. Bayard, Bore- 
 man, Chandler, Conk- 
 ling, Corbett, Cragin, 
 Drake, Gilbert, Hamil 
 ton, of Maryland, Ham- 
 lin, Harlan, Howe, 
 McCreery, Morrill, of 
 Vermont, Morton, Nye, 
 Osborn, Ramsey, Sauls- 
 bury, Sawyer, Scott, 
 
 Stewart, Stockton, 
 
 JAMES F. WILSON. Thayer, Thurman, Tip- 
 
 ton,Vickers, Warner, Wiley, Williams, and Wilson 31. 
 My friend from Rhode Island [Mr. Anthony] and 
 the honorable Chairman of the Judiciary Committee 
 [Mr. Edmunds] are put among the absent, but there 
 was a vote of 31 against 9 in a Senate three-fourths 
 Republican, declaring that the Chinaman never ought 
 to be made a citizen. I think that settles the whole 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 209 
 
 question, if that was a correct vote, because you cannot 
 in our system of government as it is to-day, with safety 
 to all, permit a large immigration of people who are 
 not to be made citizens and take part in the govern 
 ment. The Senator from California tells us that 
 already the male adult Chinese in California are more 
 numerous than the white voters. I take him as an 
 authority from his own State, and I should expect him 
 to take my statement about my own State. 
 
 THE DILEMMA. 
 
 It seems to me that if we adopt as a permanent 
 policy the free immigration of those who, by over 
 whelming votes in both branches of Congress, we say 
 shall forever remain political and social pariahs in a 
 great free government, we have introduced an element 
 that we cannot handle. You cannot stop where we 
 are ; you are compelled to do one of two things 
 either exclude the immigration of Chinese or include 
 them in the great family of citizens. 
 
 Well, what about the question of numbers? Did it 
 ever occur to my honorable friend from Ohio that the 
 vast myriads of millions almost, as you might call them, 
 the incalculable hordes in China, are much nearer to 
 the Pacific coast of the United States, in point of money 
 and passage, in point of expense of reaching it, than 
 the people t>f Kansas ? A man in Shanghai or Hong- 
 Kong can be delivered at San Francisco more cheaply 
 than a man in Omaha now. I do not speak of the 
 Atlantic coast, wh^re the population is still more 
 dense ; but you may hike the Mississippi valley, Illinois, 
 
 14 
 
210 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, all the great Com 
 monwealths of that valley, and they are, in point of 
 expense, further off from the Pacific slope than the 
 vast hordes in China and Japan. 
 
 CHEAP TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 I am told by those who are familiar with the ccnv 
 mercial affairs of the Pacific side that a person can be 
 sent from any of the great Chinese ports to San Fran 
 cisco for something over $30. I suppose in an emigrant 
 train over the Pacific Railroad from Omaha, not to 
 speak of the expense of reaching Omaha, but from 
 that point alone, it would cost $50 per head, and that 
 would be cheap railroad fare as things go in this 
 country. So that in point of practicability in point 
 of getting there the Chinaman to-day has an advan 
 tage over an American laborer in any part of the 
 country, except in the case of those who are already 
 on the Pacific coast. 
 
 Ought we to exclude them ? The question lies in 
 my mind thus : either the Anglo-Saxon race will pos 
 sess the Pacific slope or the Mongolians will possess 
 it. You give them the start to-day with the keen 
 thrust of necessity behind them, and with the ease of 
 transportation before them, with the inducements to 
 come, while we are filling up the other portions of the 
 continent, and it is entirely inevitable, if not demon 
 strable, that they will occupy that great space of country 
 between the Sierras and the Pacific coast. They are 
 themselves to-day establishing steamship lines ; they 
 are themselves to-day providing the means of trans- 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 211 
 
 portation ; and when gentlemen say that we admit 
 from all other countries, where do you find the slightest 
 parallel? And in a Republic especially, in any govern 
 ment that maintains itself, the unit of order and of 
 administration is in the family. 
 
 A DISCORDANT ELEMENT. 
 
 The immigrants that come to us from all portions 
 of the British Isles, from Germany, from Norway, from 
 France, from Spain, from Italy, come here with the 
 idea of the family as much engraven on their minds 
 and in their customs and in their habits as we have it. 
 The Asiatic cannot go on with our population and 
 make a homogeneous element. The idea of comparing 
 European immigration with an immigration that has 
 no regard to family, that does not recognize the rela 
 tion of husband and wife, that does not observe the tie 
 of parent and child, that does not have in the slightest 
 degree the ennobling and the civilizing influences of 
 the hearthstone and the fireside, why, when gentlemen 
 talk loosely about emigration from European states as 
 contrasted with that, they certainly are forgetting his 
 tory and forgetting themselves. 
 
 There has not been from the outset any immigration 
 of Chinese in the sense in which immigration comes 
 to us from Europe. It has all been "under contract" 
 and through agencies, and if not in every respect of the 
 Coolie type, the entire immigration from China has had 
 the worst and most demoralizing features of Coolieism. 
 The Burlingame treaty specially "reprobated any other 
 than an entirely voluntary immigration," and yet from 
 
212 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 the first Chinaman that came, in 1848, to the last one 
 that landed in San Francisco, it is safe to say that not 
 one in one hundred came in an "entirely voluntary" 
 manner. 
 
 THEIR NUMBERS. 
 
 Up to October, 1876, the records of the San Fran 
 cisco Custom-House show that 233,136 Chinese had 
 arrived in this country, and that 93,273 had returned 
 to China. The immigration since has been quite large, 
 and allowing for returns and deaths, the best statistics 
 I can procure show that about 100,000 Chinese are in 
 California and from 20,000 to 25,000 in the adjacent 
 Pacific States and Territories. 
 
 Of this large population fully nine-tenths are adult 
 males. The women have not in all numbered over 
 seven thousand, and, according to all accounts, they 
 are impure and lewd far beyond the Anglo-Saxon 
 conception of impurity and lewdness. One of the best- 
 informed Californians I ever met says that not one 
 score of decent and pure women could ever have been 
 found in the whole Chinese immigration. 
 
 It is only in the imagined, rather I hope the unim- 
 agined, feculence and foulness of Sodom and Gomor 
 rah that any parallel can be found to the atrocious 
 nastiness of the Chinese quarter of San Francisco. I 
 speak of this from abounding testimony largely from 
 those who have had personal opportunity to study the 
 subject in its revolting details. 
 
 In the entire Chinese population of the Pacific coast 
 scarcely one family is to be found ; no hearthstone of 
 
BLAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 213 
 
 comfort, no fireside of joy ; no father nor mother, nor 
 brother nor sister ; no child . reared by parents ; no 
 domestic and ennobling influences ; no ties of affec 
 tion. The relation of wife is degraded beyond all 
 description, the females holding and dishonoring that 
 sacred name being sold and transferred from one man 
 to another, without shame and without fear; one 
 woman being at the same time the wife to severa) 
 men. 
 
 NOT FIT TO BE ADMITTED. 
 
 Many of these women came to San Francisco under 
 written contracts for prostitution, openly and shame 
 lessly entered into. I have myself read the transla 
 tion of some of these abominable documents. If as a 
 nation we have the right to keep out infectious dis 
 eases, if we have the right to exclude the criminal 
 classes from coming to us, we surely possess the right 
 to exclude that immigration which reeks with impurity, 
 and which cannot come to us without plenteously sow 
 ing the seeds of moral and physical disease, destitu 
 tion and death. 
 
 The Chinese immigration to California began with 
 the American immigration in 1848. The two races 
 have been side by side for more than thirty years, 
 nearly an entire generation, and not one step toward 
 assimilation has been taken. The Chinese occupy 
 their own peculiar quarter in the city, adhere to their 
 own dress, speak their own language, worship in their 
 own heathen temples, and, inside the municipal law 
 and independent of it, administer a code among them- 
 
214 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 selves, even pronouncing the death penalty, and ex 
 ecuting it in criminal secrecy. 
 
 ALWAYS THE SAME CHINAMAN. 
 
 If this were for a year only, or for two, or five, or 
 even ten years, it might be claimed that more time 
 was needed for domestication and assimilation ; but 
 this has been going on for an entire generation, and 
 
 the Chinaman to-day 
 approaches no nearer 
 to our civilization than 
 he did when the Golden 
 Gate first received him. 
 In sworn testimony be 
 fore an -investigating 
 committee of Congress, 
 Dr. Mears, the health 
 officer of San Fran 
 cisco, described as " a 
 careful and learned 
 man," testified that the 
 condition of the Chi 
 nese quarter is "horri 
 ble, inconceivably hor- 
 
 GEORGE F. EDMUNDS. rible." 
 
 He stated that the Chinese as a rule " live in large 
 tenement houses, large numbers crowded into individ 
 ual rooms, without proper ventilation, with bad drain 
 age, and underground, with a great deal of filth, the 
 odors from which are horrible." He described their 
 "mode of taking a room ten feet high and putting a 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 215 
 
 flooring half-way to the ceiling, both floors being 
 crowded at night with sleepers. In these crowded 
 dens cases of small-pox were concealed from the 
 police." "They live underground in bunks. The to 
 pography of that portion of Chinadom is such that 
 you enter a house sometimes and think that it is a 
 one-story house, and you will find two or three stories 
 down below on the side of the hill, where they live in 
 great filth." 
 
 Another close and accurate observer, a resident of 
 California, says: "The only wonder is that desolating 
 pestilences have not ensued. Small-pox has often 
 been epidemic, and could always be traced to Chinese 
 origin. The Chinese quarter was once occupied by 
 shops, churches, and dwellings of Americans. Now 
 these are as thoroughly Mongolian as any part of Can 
 ton. All other races flee from the contact." 
 
 A HIDEOUS RABBLE. 
 
 Dr. Mears further testified and gave many revolting 
 details in proof that the Chinese "are cruel and indif 
 ferent to their sick." He described cases of Chinese 
 lepers at the city hospital : " Their feet dropped off by 
 dry gangrene and their hands were wasted and atten 
 uated. Their finger-nails dropped off." He said the 
 Chinese were gradually working eastward, and would 
 by-and-by crowd into Eastern cities, where the con 
 ditions under which they live in San Francisco would 
 produce, in the absence of its climatic advantages, de 
 structive pestilence. 
 
 Perhaps a Chinese quarter in Boston, with forty 
 
216 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 thousand Mongolians located somewhere between the 
 south end and the north end of the city and separating 
 the two would give Mr. Garrison some .new views as 
 to the power and right of a nation to exclude moral 
 and physical pestilence from its borders. In San 
 Francisco there is no hot weather, the thermometer 
 rarely rising above 65. One of the most intelligent 
 physicians in the United States says that the Chinese 
 quarter of San Francisco transferred to Saint Louis, 
 Chicago, Cincinnati, or any Eastern city, would in a 
 hot summer breed a plague equal to the " black death" 
 that is now alarming the civilized world. 
 
 A LIBEL ON WHITE PEOPLE. 
 
 When Mr. Garrison says that the immigration of 
 Englishmen, Irishmen, Scotchmen, Frenchmen, Ger 
 mans, and Scandinavians, must be put on the same 
 footing as the Chinese Coolies, he confounds all dis 
 tinctions, and, of course without intending it, libels 
 almost the entire white population whose blood is 
 inherited from the races he names. All the immigra 
 tion from Europe to-day assimilates at once with its 
 own blood on this soil, and to place the Chinese 
 Coolies on the same footing is to shut one s eyes to 
 all the instincts of human nature and all the teachings 
 of history. 
 
 Is it not inevitable that a class of men living in this 
 degraded and filthy condition, and on the poorest of 
 food, can work for less than the American laborer is 
 entitled to receive for his daily toil ? Put the two 
 classes of labor side by side, and the cheap servile 
 
BLAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 217 
 
 labor pulls down the more manly toil to its level. Tht 
 free white laborer never could compete with slave 
 labor of the South. In the Chinaman the white laborer 
 finds only another form of servile competition in 
 some aspects more revolting and corrupting than 
 African slavery. Whoever contends for the unre 
 stricted immigration of Chinese Coolies contends for 
 that system of toil which blights the prospects of the 
 white laborer dooming him to starvation wages, 
 killing his ambition by rendering his struggle hope 
 less, and ending in a plodding and pitiless poverty. 
 
 IMMINENT DANGER. 
 
 Nor is it a truthful answer to say that this danger 
 is remote. Remote it may be for Mr. Garrison, for 
 Boston, for New England, but it is instant and pressing 
 on the Pacific slope. Already the Chinese male adults 
 on that coast are well-nigh as numerous as the white 
 voters of California, and it is conceded that a Chinese 
 emigrant can be placed in San Francisco for one-half 
 the amount required to transport a man from the 
 Mississippi valley to the Pacific coast, and for one- 
 third what it requires for a New Yorker or a New 
 Englander to reach California or Oregon. 
 
 The late Caleb Cushing, who had carefully studied 
 the Chinese question, ever since his mission to Pekin 
 in 1842, maintained that, unless resisted by the 
 United States, the first general famine in China would 
 
 o 
 
 be followed by an immigration to California that would 
 swamp the white race. I observe that a New England 
 newspaper I specially regret that such ignorance 
 
218 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 should be shown in New England says it is only " a 
 strip " on the Pacific that the Chinaman seeks for a 
 home. The Chinese are already scattered in three 
 States and two adjacent Territories, whose area is 
 larger than the original thirteen Colonies. California 
 alone is larger than New England, New York, Penn 
 sylvania, and Ohio, and is capable of maintaining a 
 vast population of Anglo-Saxon freemen, if we do not 
 surrender it to Chinese Coolies. 
 
 LEGIONS OF THEM. 
 
 Before the same committee of investigation from 
 whose report I have already quoted, Mr.T. W. Jackson, 
 a man of high character, who had traveled extensively 
 in the East, testified that his strong belief was "that if 
 the Chinese felt that they were safe and had a firm 
 footing in California, they would come in enormous 
 numbers, because the population of China is practically 
 inexhaustible." Such, indeed, is the unbroken testi 
 mony of all who are entitled to express an opinion. 
 
 The decision of Congress on this matter, therefore, 
 becomes of the very last importance. Had it been in 
 favor of Chinese immigration, with the encouragement 
 and protection which that would have implied, it re 
 quires no vivid imagination to foresee that the great 
 slope between the Sierras and the Pacific would be 
 come thee immigrating ground for the Chinese empire. 
 So that I do not at all exaggerate when I say that on 
 the adoption or rejection of the policy passed upon by 
 Congress hangs the fate of the Pacific slope whether 
 its labor shall be that of American freemen or servile 
 
BLAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 219 
 
 Mongolians. If Mr. Garrison thinks the interests of 
 his own countrymen, his own government, and, in a 
 still larger sense, the interests of humanity and civili 
 zation, will be promoted by giving up the Pacific to 
 Mongolian labor, I beg respectfully but firmly to differ 
 from him. 
 
 A LAW HIGHER THAN CHARITY. 
 
 There is no ground on which we are bound to 
 receive them to our own detriment. Charity is the 
 first of Christian graces. But Mr. Garrison would not 
 feel obliged to receive into his family a person that 
 would physically contaminate or morally corrupt his 
 children. As with a family, so with a nation ; the same 
 instinct of self-preservation exists, the same right to 
 prefer the interests of our own people, the same duty 
 to exclude that which is corrupting and dangerous to 
 the Republic. 
 
 The outcry that we are violating our treaty obliga 
 tions is without any foundation. The article on emi 
 gration in the treaty has not been observed by China 
 for a single hour since it was made. All the testi 
 mony taken on the subject and it has been full and 
 copious shows conclusively that the entire emigration 
 was " under contract " ; that the Coolies had been 
 gathered together for export, and gathered as agents 
 in our Western States would gather live-stock for 
 shipment. 
 
 THE "HIGH-BINDERS. * 
 
 A very competent witness in California, speaking 
 to this point, says : 
 
220 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 " On the arrival of the Chinese in California they 
 are consigned like hogs to the different Chinese com 
 panies, their contracts are vised, and the Coolie com 
 mences to pay to the companies fees to insure care if 
 he is taken sick and his return home dead or alive. 
 His return is prevented until after his contract has 
 been entirely fulfilled. If he breaks his contract the 
 spies of the six companies hunt him to prevent his re 
 turning to China, by arrangement with the steamship 
 company or their agents in the steamship employ to 
 prevent his getting a ticket. The agents of the steam 
 ship companies testified to this same fact. If a ticket 
 is obtained for him by others he is forcibly stopped on 
 the day of sailing by employees of the six companies, 
 called * high-binders, who can always be seen guarding 
 the Coolies." 
 
 Mr. Joseph J. Ray, a Philadelphia merchant, long 
 resident in China, and a close observer of its emigra 
 tion, says " that j* s of the Chinese who have reached 
 our shores were not free agents in their coming. Files 
 of the Hong-Kong newspapers from 1861 would sup 
 ply information regarding the * barracoons at that 
 port, and when the system had become too great a 
 scandal, their removal to Macao (a Portuguese colony, 
 forty miles distant), in which barracoons the Chinese, 
 in every sense prisoners, were retained until their 
 shipment to San Francisco, Callao, Havana, etc, 
 These, called by courtesy emigrants, were collected 
 from within a radius of two or three hundred miles 
 from Canton, and consisted of the abjectly poor, who, 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 221 
 
 willing or not, were sold to obtain food for their fami< 
 lies, or for gambling debts (the Chinese, as you are 
 aware, being inveterate gamblers), or the scapegraces 
 of the country, fleeing to avoid punishment." 
 
 A BROKEN TREATY. 
 
 It is, of course, a mere misuse of terms to call this 
 an " entirely voluntary emigration," and yet none 
 other was permissible under the Burlingame treaty. 
 Our Government would be clearly justified in disre 
 garding the treaty on the single ground that tjie 
 Chinese Government had never respected its provis 
 ions. But without any reference to that, our Govern 
 ment possesses the right to abrogate the treaty if it 
 judges that its continuance is " pernicious to the 
 State/ Indeed, the two pending propositions in the 
 Senate differed not in regard to our own right to abro 
 gate the treaty, but simply as to whether we should 
 do it in July, 1879, by the exercise of our power with 
 out further notice to China, or whether we should do 
 it in January, 1880, after notifying China that we had 
 made up our minds to do it. 
 
 Nearly a year ago Congress by joint resolution ex 
 pressed its discontent with the existing treaty, and 
 thus clearly gave notice to the civilized world if notice 
 were needful of the desire and intention of our peo 
 ple. In the late action of Congress the opposing 
 proposition moved as a substitute for the bill to which 
 I gave my support requested the President to notify 
 the Emperor of China that Chinese immigration, is 
 " unsatisfactory and pernicious," and in effect if he 
 
222 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 would not modify the treaty as we desired, then tha 
 President should notify the Emperor that after January 
 i, 1880, the United States will " treat the obnoxious 
 stipulations as at an end." 
 
 AMERICAN RIGHTS. 
 
 Both propositions the bill that we passed and the 
 substitute that we rejected assumed alike the full 
 right to abrogate the treaty. Whether it were better 
 to abrogate it after last year s joint resolution, or to 
 inform the Emperor of China directly that if he would 
 not consent to the change "we would make it any 
 how," must be relegated for decision to the schools of 
 taste and etiquette. The first proposition resting on 
 our clear constitutional power seemed to me a better 
 mode of proceeding than to ask the Emperor of China 
 to consent to a modification, and informing him at the 
 same time that, whether he consented or not, we would 
 on next New Year s day treat " the obnoxious stipula 
 tions as at an end." As to the power of Congress to 
 do just what has been done, no one will entertain a 
 doubt who examines the whole question. An admir 
 able summary of the right and power is found in an 
 opinion delivered by that eminent jurist, Benjamin R. 
 Curtis, when he was a judge of the United States Su 
 preme Court. 
 
 OPINION OF JUDGE CURTIS. 
 
 Judge Curtis said : " It cannot be admitted that the 
 only method of escape from a treaty is by the consent 
 of the other party to it or a declaration of war. To re 
 fuse to execute a treaty for reasons which approve 
 
BLAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 223 
 
 themselves to the conscientious judgment of a nation 
 is a matter of the utmost gravity ; but the power to do so 
 is a prerogative of which no nation can be deprived with 
 out deeply affecting its independence. That the people of 
 the United States have deprived their government of 
 this power I do not believe. That it must reside some 
 where, and be applicable to all cases, I am convinced, 
 and I feel no doubt that it belongs to Congress 
 
 A great deal has been said about the danger to our 
 trade if China should resort to some form of retalia 
 tion. The natural and pertinent retaliation is to re 
 strict American immigration to China. Against that 
 we will enter no protest, and should have no right to 
 do so. The talk about China closing her ports to our 
 trade is made only by those who do not understand 
 the question. Last year the total amount of our ex 
 ports to all Chinese ports outside of Hong-Kong, 
 was about $692,000. I have called Hong-kong a 
 Chinese port, but every child knows it is under British 
 control, and if we were at war with China to-day 
 Hong-kong would be as open to us as Liverpool. 
 
 AN EMPTY THREAT. 
 
 To speak of China punishing us by suspending trade 
 is only the suggestion of dense ignorance. We pay 
 China an immense balance in coin, and probably we 
 always shall do it. But if the trade question had the 
 importance which some have erroneously attributed to 
 it, I would not seek its continuance by permitting a 
 vicious immigration of Chinese Coolies. The Bristol 
 merchants cried out that commerce would be ruined 
 
224 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 if England persisted in destroying the slave trade. 
 But history does not record that England sacrificed 
 her honor by yielding to the cry. 
 
 The enlightened religious sentiment of the Pacific 
 coast views with profound alarm the tendency and ef 
 fect of unrestricted Chinese immigration. The " pas 
 tors and delegates of the Congregational churches of 
 California" a year since expressed their "conviction " 
 that "the Burlingame treaty ought to be so modified 
 by the General Government as to restrict Chinese im 
 migration." 
 
 PORTENTOUS EVILS. 
 
 Rev. S. V. Blakeslee, editor of the oldest religious 
 paper on the Pacific coast, spoke thus in an official 
 address : 
 
 " Moreover, wealthy English and American compa 
 nies have organized great money-making plans for 
 bringing millions it is true even millions of these 
 Chinese into our State, and into all parts of the Union ; 
 and they have sent out emissaries into China to induce 
 the people, by every true and false story, to migrate 
 here. Already two hundred and fifty thousand have 
 come, of whom one hundred thousand remain. 
 
 " The tendency of all this is tremendously toward 
 evil ; toward vice and abomination ; toward all op 
 posed to the true spirit of Americanism, and is very 
 dangerous to our morality, to our stability, and to our 
 success as a people and a nation. Millions more of 
 these Chinese must come if not prevented by any legal, 
 or moral, or mobocratic restraint, increasing incalcu- 
 
BLAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 225 
 
 lably by numbers the evils already existing, while a 
 spirit of race prejudices and clanship jealousies and a 
 conflict of interests must be developed, portending 
 possible evil beyond all description." 
 
 CHINESE HEATHENISM. 
 
 In regard to the process of converting and Chris 
 tianizing this people, a missionary who has been in the 
 field since 1849 testifies that not one in a thousand has 
 even nominally professed a change from heathenism, 
 and that of this small number nearly one-half had been 
 taught in missionary schools in China. The same mis 
 sionary says : "As they come in still larger numbers 
 they will more effectually support each other in their 
 national peculiarities and vices, become still more con 
 firmed in heathen immoralities, with an influence in 
 every respect incalculably bad." Under what possible 
 sense of duty any American can feel that he promotes 
 Christianity by the process of handing California over 
 to heathenism is more than I am able to discover. 
 
 I have heard a good deal about their cheap labor. 
 I do not myself believe in cheap labor. I do not be 
 lieve cheap labor should be an object of legislation, 
 and it will not be in a republic. You cannot have the 
 wealthy classes in a republic where suffrage is univer 
 sal legislate for cheap labor. I undertake to repeat 
 that. I say that you cannot have the wealthy classes 
 in a republic where suffrage is universal legislate in 
 what is called the interest of cheap labor. Labor 
 should not be cheap, and it should not be dear; it 
 should have its share, and it will have its share, 
 
 15 
 
226 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 There is not a laborer on the Pacific coast to-day, I say 
 that to my honorable colleague whose whole life has 
 been consistent and uniform in defense and advocacy 
 of the interests of the laboring classes there is not a 
 laboring man on the Pacific coast to-day who does not 
 feel wounded and grieved and crushed by the competi 
 tion that comes from this source. 
 
 CHEAP LABOR. 
 
 Then the answer is: "Well, are not American 
 laborers equal to Chinese laborers?" I answer that 
 question by asking another. Were not free white 
 laborers equal to African slaves in the South ? Wheiv 
 you tell me that the Chinaman driving out the free 
 American labor only proves the superiority of the 
 Chinaman, I ask you, Did the African slave labor 
 driving out the free white labor from the South prove 
 the superiority of slave labor? The conditions are 
 not unlike ; the parallel is not complete, and yet it is a 
 parallel. 
 
 It is servile labor ; it is not free labor such as we in 
 tend to develop and encourage and build up in this 
 country. It is labor that comes here under a mortgage. 
 It is labor that comes here to subsist on what the 
 American laborer cannot subsist on. You cannot work 
 a man who must have beef and bread, and would 
 prefer beer, alongside of a man who can live on rice. 
 It cannot be done. In all such conflicts and in all such 
 struggles the result is not to bring up the man who 
 lives on rice to the beef-and-bread standard, but it is to 
 bringdown the beef-and-bread man to the rice standard. 
 
BLAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 227 
 
 Slave labor degraded free labor; it took out its re 
 spectability ; it put an odious cast upon it. 
 
 THE CAUSE OF HONEST TOIL. 
 
 It throttled the prosperity of a fine and fair portion 
 of the United States ; and a worse than slave labor 
 will throttle and impair the prosperity of a still finer 
 and fairer section of the United States. We can 
 choose here to-day whether our legislation shall be in 
 the interest of the American free laborer or for the 
 servile laborer from China. 
 
 I feel and know that I am pleading the cause of the 
 free American laborer and of his children and of his 
 children s children. It has been well said that it is the 
 cause of " the house against the hovel ; of the cora- 
 forts of the freeman against the squalor of the slave." 
 It has been charged that my position would arraign 
 labor-saving machinery and condemn it. This answer 
 is not only superficial ; it is also absurd. Labor- 
 saving machinery has multiplied the power to pay, has 
 developed new wants, and has continually enlarged the 
 area of labor and constantly advanced the wages of 
 the laborer. But servile toil has always dragged free 
 labor to its lowest level, and has stripped it of one 
 muniment after another until it was helpless and hope 
 less. Whenever that condition comes to the free 
 laborer of America, the Republic of equal rights is 
 gone, and we shall live under the worst of oligarchies 
 that of mere wealth, whose profit only measures 
 the wretchedness of the unpaid toilsmen that produce 
 it. 
 
228 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 HIS VIEWS ON THE SILVER BILL. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s views on the coinage of silver were 
 equally pronounced, and were expressed with similar 
 force and clearness. 
 
 When the Senate considered the bill authorizing 
 the free coinage of the standard silver dollar, and to 
 restore its legal tender character, he offered a substi 
 tute for the bill, containing three propositions, as he 
 states in these words : 
 
 1. That the dollar shall contain four hundred and 
 twenty-five grains of standard silver, shall have unlim 
 ited coinage, and be an unlimited legal tender. 
 
 2. That all profits of coinage shall go to the govern 
 ment, and not to the operator in silver bullion. 
 
 3. That silver dollars or silver bullion, assayed trd 
 mint-stamped, may be deposited with the assistant 
 treasurer of New York, for which coin certificates may 
 be issued, the same in denomination as United States 
 notes, not below ten dollars, and that these shall be 
 redeemable on demand in coin or bullion, thus fur 
 nishing a paper circulation based on an actual deposit 
 of precious metal, giving us notes as valuable as those 
 of the Bank of England, and doing away at once with 
 the dreaded inconvenience of silver on account of bulk 
 and weight. 
 
 EXCESSIVE PAPER MONEY. 
 
 Mr. Elaine presented his views on the Silver Ques 
 tion in a rather lengthy and very able speech, on the 
 day he offered his substitute, which was February 7, 
 1878. The concluding portion of his speech read thus : 
 
BLAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 229 
 
 The effect of paying the labor of this country in 
 silver coin of full value, as compared with the irre 
 deemable paper, or as compared even with silver of 
 inferior value, will make itself felt in a single genera 
 tion to the extent of tens of millions, perhaps hundreds 
 of millions, in the aggregate savings which represent 
 consolidated capital. It is the instinct of man, from 
 the savage to the scholar developed in childhood and 
 remaining with age to value the metals which in all 
 tongues are called precious. Excessive paper money 
 leads to extravagance, to waste, and to want, as we 
 painfully witness on all sides to-day. And in the midst 
 of the proof of its demoralizing and destructive effect, 
 we hear it proclaimed in the halls of Congress that 
 " the people demand cheap money/ I deny it. I de 
 clare such a phrase to be a total misapprehension a 
 total misinterpretation of the popular wish. 
 
 SILVER ALWAYS CURRENT. 
 
 The people do not demand cheap money. They 
 demand an abundance of good money, which is an 
 entirely different thing. They do not want a single 
 gold standard, that will exclude silver and benefit 
 those already rich. They do not want an inferior silver 
 standard, that will drive out gold and not help those 
 already poor. They want both metals, in full value l 
 in equal honor, in whatever abundance the bountiful 
 earth will yield them to the searching eye of science 
 and to the hard hand of labor. 
 
 The two metals have existed, side by side, in har 
 monious, honorable companionship as money, ever 
 
230 LIFE OP HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 since intelligent trade was known among men. It is 
 well-nigh forty centuries since Abraham weighed to 
 Ephron four hundred shekels of silver current money 
 with the merchant. 1 Since that time nations have 
 risen and fallen, races have disappeared, dialects and 
 languages have been forgotten, arts have been lost, 
 treasures have perished, continents have been discov 
 ered, islands have been sunk in the sea, and through 
 all these ages and through all these changes silver 
 and gold have reigned supreme as the representation 
 of value, as the media of exchange. The dethrone 
 ment of each has been attempted in turn, and some 
 times the dethronement of both ; but always in vain ! 
 And we are here to-day, deliberating anew over the 
 problem which comes down to us from Abraham s 
 time the weight of the silver that shall be "current 
 money with the merchant." 
 
 STOOD UP FOR AMERICA. 
 
 It was a prominent part of the policy of Mr. Blaine 
 in public life, to stand armed against the undue domi 
 nation of foreign states in the affairs of America. He 
 consistently and persistently denied the right of any 
 foreign state to exercise a control over questions 
 purely American. Whenever a measure was sprung, 
 touching the strict independence of the country, Blaine 
 was found with drawn sword ready to repel the assault. 
 This policy led him, not infrequently, to take the 
 arena in opposition to measures which he deemed 
 likely to affect unfairly the high rank of the American 
 Republic. 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 231 
 
 It was this principle of action which brought him 
 into prominence during the debate in the Senate on 
 the Halifax Fishery Award, in 1878. He was one of 
 the most indignant of all at what he deemed the 
 treachery and overreaching of Great Britain in that 
 matter. Finally consenting to accept the report of 
 the Committee on Foreign Relations, he nevertheless 
 left on record a ringing protest against some of the 
 principles and facts involved in the controversy. On 
 the first of June he delivered an address in the Senate, 
 the spirit of which may be inferred from the following 
 extract : 
 
 A ONE-SIDED TREATY. 
 
 Mr. President, I shall support the report made by 
 the Committee on Foreign Relations, although I wish 
 that some amendments could be made to it. But I do 
 not concur in what was implied in the remarks of the 
 Senator from Ohio, on this subject, that Great Britain 
 had discharged her duties under this treaty with 
 exemplary fidelity, and that we were in danger of not 
 following a good example. 
 
 I maintain that from the first, throughout the whole 
 of the treaty and I know I am taking what has not 
 been heretofore a popular side, or the generally ac 
 cepted version it has been a treaty of a singularly 
 one-sided character, in which, as I shall show, the en 
 tire advantage was gained by Great Britain, and in 
 the parts that she^has not esteemed it to be her inter 
 est to fulfil it, she has declined to fulfil it. Up to 
 this day one of the most important parts of the 
 
232 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 treaty has been evaded, and its fulfilment refused by 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Let me explain. When the Joint High Commis 
 sion came to consider what were known as the Ala 
 bama Claims, they agreed upon three rules which 
 Great Britain diplomatically disavowed through her 
 commissioners to have been accepted rules of inter 
 national law at the time, but said that they would 
 agree to them as the basis of a settlement, and they 
 .might go before the tribunal as if they had been in 
 force as principles of international law at the time of 
 their alleged infraction. Then Great Britain and the 
 United States, in binding themselves to the observ 
 ance of these rules in future, assumed another mutual 
 obligation in this clause of the treaty : 
 
 "And the high contracting parties agree to observe 
 these rules between themselves in future, and to bring 
 them to the knowledge of the other maritime powers 
 and to invite them to accede to them." 
 
 Unless I am entirely misinformed, and I think I am 
 
 A BRITISH REFUSAL. 
 
 correctly informed, Great Britain has refused up to this 
 time, and it has been seven years this month since the 
 treaty was perfected, to join with the United States in 
 asking the other maritime powers to agree to those 
 rules. 
 
 I have ground for believing this statement to be 
 substantially, if not literally, true, and if the Senate 
 will support me in a resolution which I shall offer, 
 we shall find out, authentically that Mr. Fish, lately 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 233 
 
 Secretary of State, advised Great Britain that, refus 
 ing to join with the United States in proposing these 
 rules for other maritime powers, the United States 
 would be justified in treating them as a nullity. I do 
 not pretend at all to be inside of the secrets and aims 
 and purposes of British diplomacy, but I do know that 
 having got those three rules which bind us very tightly 
 which make us keep a very sharp police on fifteet; 
 thousand miles of ocean front that encircle our own 
 dominions, and hold us accountable for any priva 
 teers or depredators or " Alabamas," or any sort of 
 cruisers that may get out in case Great Britain goes 
 to war with Russia, as is now possible if not prob 
 able (I hope not even probable), and makes us ac 
 countable in damages afterward for any losses thus 
 resulting to her subjects that while she holds us 
 thus closely under the three rules, she has not asked 
 another nation in all Europe to be bound by those 
 rules ; she has refused to join the United States in 
 asking the maritime powers to accept them and be 
 bound by them. I do not believe in having one part 
 of the treaty quoted on us to the letter " which kill- 
 eth," and then to have the part which does not exactly 
 comport with the interest of Great Britain, absolutely 
 slurred over and denied. 
 
 I repeat, I do not pretend to see any further through 
 secret and hidden motives than anybody else, and I 
 do not pretend to know, much less do I pretend to 
 state, what the motive of Great Britain is, although I 
 have heard it, and I have heard it was because the 
 
234 LIFE OP HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 government of the German Empire objected to these 
 rules being made general in Europe. 
 
 SOME THINGS WE OUGHT TO KNOW. 
 
 At all events it is known, and we ought to know 
 here authentically and it would be some advantage 
 to know it before we pass on the measure we ought 
 to know authentically what has transpired between 
 this government and the government of Great Britain 
 with regard to these three rules, which were so finely 
 chiseled and so closely drawn and so narrowly con 
 structed that when we got into the tribunal, at Geneva, 
 we were practically powerless. When confessedly the 
 aid and support of Great Britain to the rebellion had 
 been hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to 
 this country ; when they swept our mercantile marine, 
 two-thirds of it, out of existence ; when their aid and 
 countenance to the Confederacy had destroyed one of 
 the great leading interests of the United States, we 
 consented to such a narrow construction of these three 
 rules as absolutely cut us down to fifteen and a half 
 million dollars for damages, and Great Britain at once 
 gets seven and a half millions of that back two mil 
 lions on the Washington Claims Commission, of 1871- 
 72, and now five and a half millions more on this 
 fishery award. 
 
 So, when the Senator from Ohio holds up the ex 
 ample of Great Britain to us to imitate in this matter, I 
 beg him to observe what Great Britain s course has 
 been in regard to this part of the treaty. It was Great 
 Britain s highest interest to pay the Geneva award. 
 
BLAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 235 
 
 She never paid fifteen million dollars in her life that 
 was so good an investment as that was under the 
 circumstances. 
 
 ENGLAND GETS MORE THAN SHE GIVES. 
 
 Whether we can find anybody, under the narrow 
 rules that were laid down, that is a lawful claimant for 
 the money awarded us at Geneva, is quite another 
 thing; that is for us to determine; but Great Britain 
 herself gained the incalculable advantage of making 
 us a practical ally to her, willing or unwilling, in all her 
 contests with European powers. The Russians are 
 watched by every form of observation if they land on 
 the coast of Maine, or if they buy a vessel in New 
 York or Philadelphia ; and the moment there is a dec 
 laration of war, instead of Great Britain doing the 
 watching, we shall be compelled, under the three rules, 
 to do it ourselves. 
 
 We shall be forced on the anxious-seat, and if a 
 Russian vessel should escape from our coast, and 
 Great Britain could show that we have not used due 
 diligence, we are to be responsible in the amounts of 
 money that may result from her depredations on 
 British commerce. Great Britain gets all these vast 
 advantages out of us, and then refuses, as I say, for 
 some reason, and continues to refuse, up to this time, 
 to agree that other maritime nations, in whose adop 
 tion of these three rules we might have very great in 
 terests, shall act on them refuses even to submit them, 
 as the treaty bound her to do and she has permitted 
 seven years to go by without so much as uniting with 
 
236 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 us in asking a single European power to accept 
 
 them. 
 
 A HISTORIC REVIEW. 
 
 Now, let us go back a little, inasmuch as we are dis 
 cussing this subject generally, as the Senator from 
 Ohio has introduced it. When the war broke out, in 
 1861, Mr. Seward, through our minister at the Court 
 of St. James, Mr. Adams, immediately proposed that 
 the United States should become a party to the treaty 
 of Paris, to which there had been forty-six or forty- 
 seven nations of the earth already parties, to suppress 
 privateering. Lord John Russell, recently deceased, 
 apparently received the proposition with the utmost 
 complaisance, and agreed to it ; and after the agree 
 ment was made, and we thought the treaty was about 
 to become a regular convention between the two 
 governments, he put in a condition that it should not 
 at all affect the existing relations between Great 
 Britain and the Confederate States, or that the ques 
 tion should not in the least degree be affected by the 
 relations of any internal dissensions in the United 
 States ; in other words, that if we lived to survive the 
 Rebellion in the United States, the very time when we 
 should not need the advantage of this treaty, we might 
 enjoy it ; but that, pending that, we should not have 
 any advantage from it at all. 
 
 WHAT SEWARD SAID. 
 
 And the British Government would not agree, on 
 the other hand, that if any disturbance should take 
 place in any part of the British Empire, we should not 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 237 
 
 be similarly bound as England was then. Let me 
 readjust what Mr. Seward said on that point: 
 
 " The proposed declaration is inadmissible, among 
 other reasons, because it is not mutual. It proposes 
 a special rule by which her majesty s obligations shall 
 be meliorated in their bearing upon internal difficulties 
 now prevailing in the United States, while the obliga 
 tions to be assumed by the United States shall not be 
 similarly meliorated, or at all affected in their bearing 
 on internal differences that may now be prevailing or 
 may hereafter arise and prevail in Great Britain." 
 
 The whole of it was one-sided. And now I will give 
 the honorable Senator from Ohio a very substantial 
 reason why the government of the United States ought 
 to proceed to the payment of the fishery award in a 
 different manner from that which the government of 
 Great Britain adopted with reference to the Geneva 
 award. 
 
 The struggles between the Dominion of Canada, 
 or that which now constitutes the Dominion of Canada, 
 the British- American provinces, and the United States, 
 for reciprocal relations of trade and commerce, have 
 been troublesome questions for eighty years, and 
 every time we have attempted to adjust them, the fish 
 eries have been put forward as the stumbling-block in 
 the way of a fair agreement ; and the payment of the 
 five and a half millions settles the question for only 
 twelve years, and then it is all open again. 
 
 But, on the other hand, the fifteen and a half mil 
 lions, paid in pursuance of the Geneva award, closed 
 
238 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 that account for. all time ; or, if it left it open at all, it 
 left it open with the three rules operating in Great 
 Britain s favor. But let us pay this five and a half 
 millions, as the honorable Senator from Ohio invites 
 us to do ; let us walk up without saying one word, and 
 pay this five and a half millions of dollars to Great 
 Britain, and what is the result? It is inevitably ac 
 cepted by the government of Great Britain as a con 
 cession on the part of the government of the United 
 States, as a just measure of value of those\fishery priv 
 ileges, and any subsequent notice that we might give, 
 six or eight years hence, would be treated as an after 
 thought. 
 
 DON T GO TOO FAST. 
 
 If we do not make that point at this time, we lose 
 all the advantage of making it at all ; and if we now 
 pay that money without in some form emphatically 
 entering our dissent from it as a just measure of the 
 value of the fisheries, we are estopped from ever plead 
 ing it hereafter, and we shall have committed ourselves 
 to the conclusion that those fisheries, in reciprocal ar 
 rangements for trade between the Dominion of Canada 
 & 
 
 and the United States, are to be reckoned as of the 
 value of a half million dollars per annum bonus from 
 the United States, in addition to the admission of 
 Canadian fish free of duty to our markets. 
 
 This question, Mr. President, has some sectional 
 and local relation, I know. We are much more af 
 fected by it where I come from than are the people 
 where the Senator from Ohio comes from. It is a 
 
ELAINE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 239 
 
 matter of daily, very pressing interest with us, and we 
 know very well that if we sit still here and consent to 
 this award being accepted publicly as a just measure 
 of value, we can never have the trade between the Do 
 minion of Canada and the United States regulated 
 thereafter upon any fair, equitable, amicable basis. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 Blaine as Secretary of State. 
 
 IN 1880 Mr. Blaine was a candidate for the nomi 
 nation for the Presidency. The movement to make 
 him the nominee of his party was not manufactured, 
 not in any sense " worked up," but was spontaneous 
 throughout the country. The general voice of his 
 party named him for the high honor. He did not 
 have to creep and crawl to obtain supporters. When 
 the public eye swept around the horizon in search of 
 a great leader in the approaching campaign, his com 
 manding figure towered up in stately proportions and 
 caught the gaze of the multitude. 
 
 The National Convention was held at Chicago on 
 June 2d. A strong minority of the delegates favored 
 General Grant for a third term ; the leaders were 
 Senators Conkling, Cameron and Logan. These as 
 tute chieftains used all the arts of persuasion and 
 diplomacy in favor of their choice. Like a solid 
 wall the Grant men stood, without break or waver 
 ing, until the final vote was declared. 
 
 John Sherman, of Ohio, was another candidate, and 
 a very respectable number of the delegates gave him 
 their votes. The third candidate was Mr. Blaine, 
 
 (240) 
 
BLAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 241 
 
 whose supporters were extremely aggressive and en 
 thusiastic. These three names were borne to the 
 front amidst a contest seldom equalled for courage 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 and generalship. The country waited with intense 
 interest for the decision to be declared. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was nominated by James F. Joy, of 
 Michigan, and the nomination was seconded by Will 
 iam P. Frye, of Maine, in a telling speech, which moved 
 
 the convention to tumultuous applause. 
 16 
 
242 
 
 LIFE OF HOtf. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 THE HERO AT THE HELM. 
 
 Mr. Frye said : I once saw a storm at sea in the 
 night-time; an old ship battling for its life with the 
 
 MRS. LUCRETIA R. GARFIELD. 
 
 fury of the tempest; darkness everywhere; the 
 winds raging and howling ; the huge waves beating 
 
BLAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 243 
 
 on the sides of the ship, and making her shiver from 
 stem to stern. The lightning was flashing, the thun 
 ders rolling ; there was danger everywhere. I saw at 
 the helm a bold, courageous, immovable, commanding 
 man. In the tempest, calm ; in the commotion, quiet ; 
 in the danger, hopeful. I saw him take the old ship 
 and bring her into her harbor, into still waters, into 
 safety. That man was a hero. 
 
 I saw the good old ship of State, the State of 
 Maine, within the last year, fighting her way through 
 the same waves, against the dangers. She was freighted 
 with all that is precious in the principles of our Re 
 public ; with the rights of the American citizenship, 
 with all that is guaranteed to the American citizen 
 by our Constitution. The eyes of the whole nation 
 were on her, and intense anxiety filled every Amer 
 ican heart lest the grand old ship, the " State of 
 Maine," might go down beneath the waves forever, 
 carrying her precious freight with her. But there 
 was a man at the helm, calm, deliberate, command 
 ing, sagacious ; he made even the foolish man wise ; 
 courageous, he inspired the timid with courage ; hope 
 ful, he gave heart to the dismayed, and he brought 
 that good old ship safely into harbor, into safety ; and 
 she floats to-day greater, purer, stronger for her bap 
 tism of danger. That man, too, was heroic, and his 
 name was James G. Elaine. 
 
 GARFIELD NOMINATED. 
 
 As none of the leading candidates could obtain a 
 majority, a compromise was effected and James A. 
 
244 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Garfield received the nomination. In the following 
 November he was elected. Soon after the election he 
 decided upon a visit to Washington. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was in Bangor, Maine, where he received 
 a note from General Garfield appointing an interview 
 in Washington about November 24. He reached the 
 capital on the 26th, and on the afternoon of that day 
 called upon the President-elect at the latter s private 
 residence. For two hours they were closeted without 
 interruption from a single person. At this conference, 
 General Garfield, without reservation, tendered the 
 State Department to Mr. Elaine. 
 
 When Mr. Elaine had recovered from his surprise 
 he replied : " General, I was hardly prepared for this 
 tender on your part. I do not know how to make 
 answer. I would like some time for reflection and 
 consultation, and in the meantime I will advise you." 
 General Garfield then and there urged Mr. Elaine to 
 accept, but he made no binding answer at the time. 
 Subsequently Mr. Elaine had a conference with his 
 closest friends, and the weight of their testimony was 
 that he should accept the place. Said he : " Gentle 
 men, I am inclined to accept General Garfield s offer; 
 but meanwhile, I will for a very short period still fur 
 ther hold it under advisement." 
 
 BECOMES SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 After this conference with his friends the fact that 
 General Garfield had offered the Senator the Secre 
 taryship of State was communicated to one or two of 
 Elaine s confidential friends, and he said : " If the sen- 
 
ELAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 245 
 
 timent of the country endorses the selection General 
 Garfield has made, I will accept the office. Otherwise 
 
 WILLIAM H. HUNT. 
 
 not." Early in December the announcement was made 
 in one or two newspapers, directly and absolutely, that 
 Senator Elaine had been invited by General Garfield 
 to take the State Department. It soon became ac- 
 
246 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 cepted as a fact. The universal expression of news 
 paper opinion was that the selection was a good one. 
 Thereupon Senator Elaine wrote the following letter 
 of acceptance : 
 
 WASHINGTON, December 20, 1880. 
 
 My Dear Gar field : Your generous invitation to 
 enter your Cabinet as Secretary of State has been 
 under consideration for more than three weeks. The 
 thought had really never occurred to my mind until at 
 our late conference you presented it with such cogent 
 arguments in its favor, and with such warmth of per 
 sonal friendship in aid of your kind offer. 
 
 I know that an early answer is desirable, and I have 
 waited only long enough to consider the subject in all 
 its bearings, and to make up my mind definitely and 
 conclusively. I now say to you, in the same cordial 
 spirit in which you have invited me, that I accept the 
 position. 
 
 It is no affectation for me to add that I make this 
 decision, not for the honor of the promotion it gives 
 me in the public service, but because I think I can be 
 useful to the country and to the party ; useful to you 
 as the responsible leader of the party and the great 
 head of the government. 
 
 I am influenced somewhat, perhaps, by the shower 
 of letters I have received urging me to accept, written 
 to me in consequence of the mere unauthorized news 
 paper report that you had been pleased to offer me 
 the place. While I have received these letters from 
 all sections of the Union I have been especially pleased 
 and even surprised at the cordial and widely extended 
 feeling in my favor throughout New England, where 
 I had expected to encounter local jealousy and per 
 haps rival aspiration. 
 
BLAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 247 
 
 In our new relation I shall give all that I am and 
 all that I can hope to be, freely and loyally, to your 
 service. You need no pledge of my loyalty in heart 
 and act. I should be false to myself did I. not prove 
 true both to the great trust you confide to me and to 
 your own personal and political fortunes in the pres 
 ent and in the future. Your administration must be 
 made brilliantly successful and strong in the confi 
 dence and pride of the people, not at all directing its 
 energies for re-election, and yet compelling that result 
 by the logic of events and by the imperious necessi 
 ties of the situation. 
 
 To that most desirable consummation I feel that, 
 next to yourself, I can possibly contribute as much 
 influence as any other one man. I say this not from 
 egotism or vainglory, but merely as a deduction from 
 a plain analysis of the political forces which have been 
 at work in the country for five years past, and which 
 have been significantly shown in two great National 
 Conventions. I accept it as one of the happiest cir 
 cumstances connected with this affair that in allying 
 my political fortunes with yours or rather for the 
 time merging mine in yours my heart goes with my 
 head, and that I carry to you not only political sup 
 port but personal and devoted friendship. I can but 
 regard it as somewhat remarkable that two men of 
 the same age, entering Congress at the same time, 
 influenced by the same aims and cherishing the same 
 ambitions, should never, for a single moment in 
 eighteen years of close intimacy, have had a misun 
 derstanding or coolness, and that our friendship has 
 steadily grown with our growth and strengthened 
 with our strength. 
 
 It is this fact which has led me to the conclusion 
 embodied in this letter; for however much, my dear 
 
248 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Garfield, I might admire you as a statesman, I would 
 not enter your cabinet if I did not believe in you as a 
 man and love you as a friend. 
 
 Always faithfully yours, 
 
 JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Mr. Elaine qualified as Secretary of State March 5, 
 1 88 1, two days following the inauguration of the Presi 
 dent, and immediately assumed the duties of the office. 
 
 PRESIDENT GARFIELD S CABINET. 
 
 President Garfield s Cabinet was as follows : 
 
 Secretary of State, James G. Elaine, of Maine; 
 Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom, of Min 
 nesota ; Secretary of the Navy, William H. Hunt, of 
 Louisiana; Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln, of 
 Illinois ; Secretary of the Interior, Samuel J. Kirkwood, 
 of Iowa ; Attorney-General, Wayne McVeagh, of Penn 
 sylvania ; Postmaster-General, Thomas L. James, of 
 New York. 
 
 The foreign policy announced by President Garfield 
 was : First, to bring about peace and prevent future 
 wars in North and South America ; and, secondly, to 
 cultivate such friendly commercial relations with all 
 American countries as would lead to a large increase 
 in the export trade of the United States. It was for 
 the purpose of promoting peace on the Western 
 Hemisphere that it was determined to invite all the 
 independent governments of North and South America 
 to meet in a peace conference at Washington on March 
 15, 1882. 
 
 The project met with cordial approval in South 
 
BLAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 249 
 
 America, and, had it been" carried out, would have 
 raised the standard of civilization, and possibly, by 
 opening South American markets to our manufac 
 tures, would have wiped out $12,000,000 balance of 
 trade which Spanish America brings against us every 
 year. The invitations to this important conference 
 were subsequently sent out by President Arthur, but 
 in a short time they were recalled, after some of the 
 countries had actually accepted them. It was a pacific 
 policy and was wholly in accord with the Monroe Doc 
 trine and the characteristic traditions of American di 
 plomacy. 
 
 THE PANAMA CANAL. 
 
 President Garfield in his inaugural address had re 
 peated the declaration of his predecessor that it was 
 " the right and duty of the United States to assert and 
 maintain such supervision and authority over any in- 
 teroceanic canal across the isthmus that connects 
 North and South America as will protect our Na 
 tional interests." This policy, which had received the 
 direct approval of Congress, was vigorously upheld 
 by Secretary Elaine. The Colombian Republic had 
 proposed to the European Powers to join in a guar 
 antee to the neutrality of the proposed Panama Canal 
 
 One of President Garfield s first acts under the ad 
 vice of Secretary Elaine was to remind the European 
 Government of the exclusive rights which the United 
 vStates had secured with the country to be traversed 
 by the interoceanic waterway. These exclusive rights 
 rendered the prior guarantee of the United States 
 
250 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Government indispensable, and the Powers were in 
 formed that any foreign guarantee would be not only 
 an unnecessary but unfriendly act. 
 
 PROPOSITION TO GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 As the United States had made in the Clayton- 
 Bui wer Treaty of 1850 a special agreement with 
 Great Britain on this subject, Secretary Blaine sup 
 plemented his memorandum to the Powers by a formal 
 proposal for the abrogation of all provisions of that 
 convention which were not in accord with the guar 
 antees and privileges covenanted for in the compact 
 with the Colombian Republic. 
 
 In his State paper, the most elaborate of the series 
 receiving his signature as Secretary of State, Mr. 
 Blaine contended that the operation of the Clayton- 
 Bulwer Treaty practically conceded to Great Britain 
 the control of any canal which might be constructed 
 in the isthmus, as that Power was required by its in 
 sular position and colonial possessions to maintain a 
 naval establishment with which the United States 
 could not compete. As the American Government 
 had bound itself by its engagements in the Clayton- 
 Bulwer Treaty not to fight in the isthmus, nor to for 
 tify the mouths of any waterway that might be con 
 structed, the Secretary argued that if any struggle for 
 the control of the canal were to arise England would 
 have an advantage at the outset which would prove 
 decisive. 
 
 A BASE SURRENDER. 
 
 "The treaty," he remarked, "commands this Gov- 
 
BLAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 251 
 
 eminent not to use a single regiment of troops to 
 protect its interests in connection with the interoceanic 
 canal, but to surrender the transit to the guardianship 
 and control of the British Navy." 
 
 The logic of this paper was unanswerable from an 
 American point of view. If the Monroe Doctrine be 
 anything more than a tradition, the control of the 
 Panama Canal must not be allowed to pass out of 
 American hands; and since the country having the 
 most powerful navy is the real guardian of the free 
 dom of an interoceanic canal under any system of in 
 ternational guarantees, or in the absence of treaty law, 
 the Panama Canal, as Mr. Elaine said, under the Clay- 
 ton-Bulwer Treaty would be surrendered, if not in form 
 yet in effect, to the control of Great Britain. 
 
 PROPOSED CHANGES IN THE TREATY. 
 
 In Secretary Elaine s instructions to Mr. James Rus 
 sell Lowell, Minister to England, is the following sum 
 mary of the changes in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 
 1850, necessary to meet the views of the United States 
 Government : 
 
 " First. Every part of the treaty which forbids the 
 United States fortifying the canal, and holding the 
 political control of it in conjunction with the country 
 in which it is located, to be cancelled. 
 
 " Second. Every part of the treaty in which Great 
 Britain and the United States agree to make no ac 
 quisition of territory in Central America to remain in 
 full force." 
 
 The admirable and forcible chain of reasoning by 
 
252 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 which Mr. Elaine led to these conclusions forced the 
 English newspapers to admit that he had made out a 
 good case upon British precedents, and that the right 
 
 SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD. 
 
 of the United States to control the Panama Canal was 
 stronger, and the necessity of such control greater, 
 than the right and necessity of England to control the 
 Suez Canal. 
 
ELAINE AS SECRETARY OP STATE. 253 
 
 WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION PROMISED. 
 
 The brief administration of President Garfield was 
 remarkable for its promise of broad statesmanship. 
 For many years Congress and the entire government 
 had been busy in making war, in restoring peace and 
 in paying the immense war debt. It was all the United 
 States could do to preserve the Union, and other na 
 tions were profiting by the neglect of this country to 
 properly cultivate its foreign relations. England had 
 absorbed our commerce and directed into her own 
 coffers the trade of the South American countries. 
 
 And now, under the auspices of the French Repub 
 lic, under the direction of a citizen of France, and 
 backed by continental capitalists, active preparations 
 had been made to construct an interoceanic canal 
 across the Isthmus of Panama, while, under the Clay- 
 ton-Bulwer treaty of 1850, the United States was 
 practically powerless to take any steps for the pro 
 tection of her own interests. 
 
 HOME POLICY. 
 
 At the same time at home a more sagacious South 
 ern policy was demanded, a policy which would pro* 
 mote the material reconstruction of the South, here 
 tofore neglected for the sake of political recon 
 struction. 
 
 The Southern policy of the Administration would 
 have been to cultivate cordial relations between the 
 different sections of the country, and, by thus promot 
 ing the flow Southward of Northern capital, to assist 
 the development of the Southern States. Mr. Elaine 
 
254 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 had great faith in the future of the South. On one 
 occasion he said : 
 
 In reconstructing the South we made the same mis- 
 
 WAYNE MACVEAGH. 
 
 take the British Government is making with the Irish. 
 If we had made a government donation of $50,000,000 
 for the purpose of constructing a railway from Charles 
 ton to the southern end of California, and spent ever) 
 
feLAINE AS SECRETARY Of STATE. 256 
 
 dollar of it between Charleston and the Mississippi 
 river in the first three years following the war, the 
 problem of reconstruction would have solved itself; 
 the people would have had business interests, instead 
 of politics, to occupy their attention. I believe that 
 within ten years the material increase in the Southern 
 States, east of the Mississippi, will equal, if it does not 
 surpass, that of the Northwestern States, west of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 FOREIGN POLICY. 
 
 As to the policy of the Garfield administration and 
 its course of action during the war between Chili and 
 Peru, a short and succinct presentation of the facts 
 should be given here inasmuch as Mr. Elaine was con 
 sidered the originator of the projected action on the 
 part of the United States. The following carefully 
 prepared article gives such a clear exhibit of the 
 subject, and which appeared in the New York Tribune, 
 will inform the general reader of the facts as the} 7 ex 
 ist, and which we publish along with Mr. Elaine s state-- 
 ment : 
 
 The war between Chili and Peru had virtually ended 
 with the capture of Lima on January 17, 1 88 1 . Pierola, 
 the president, had succeeded in rallying a few followers 
 in the north, and Calderon, assuming the provisional 
 Presidency, had convoked a Congress in the vicinity 
 of Lima. The State Department made strenuous ex 
 ertions to bring about the conclusion of an early peace 
 between Chili and the two prostrate States which have 
 been crushed in war. The influence of the Govern- 
 
256 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 ment was brought to bear upon victorious Chili in 
 the interest of peace and magnanimity ; but owing 
 to an unfortunate misapprehension of Mr. Elaine s 
 instructions, the United States Ministers did not pro 
 mote the ends of peace. 
 
 THE PEACE CONGRESS. 
 
 Special envoys were accordingly sent to South 
 America accredited to the three Governments with 
 general instructions which should enable them to 
 bring those belligerent Powers into friendly relations. 
 These envoys were Mr. Trescot and Mr. Walker 
 Elaine, and their mission was to perform a most deli 
 cate and important diplomatic duty in the interest of 
 peace. After they had set out from New York Mr. 
 Elaine resigned, and Mr. Frelinghuysen reversed the 
 diplomatic policy with such precipitate haste that the 
 envoys on arriving at their destination were informed 
 by the Chilian Minister of Foreign Affairs that their 
 instructions had been countermanded and that their 
 mission was an idle farce. 
 
 By this extraordinary reversal of diplomatic meth 
 ods and purposes the influence of the United States 
 Government on the South American coast was re 
 duced to so low a point as to become insignificant. 
 Mr. Elaine s policy had been at once strong and pacific. 
 (t was followed by a period of no-policy which enabled 
 Chili to make a conqueror s terms with the conquered 
 and to seize as much territory as pleased its rapacious 
 generals. 
 
 The most conspicuous act of Mr. Elaine s adminis- 
 
BLAItfE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 257 
 
 tration of the State Department was his invitation to 
 the Peace Congress. This plan had been decided 
 upon before the assassination of President Garfield. 
 The proposition was to invite all the independent 
 Governments of North and South America to meet 
 the Peace Congress at Washington on March 15, 
 1882. The representatives of all the minor Govern 
 ments on this continent were to agree, if possible, upon 
 some comprehensive plan for averting war by means 
 of arbitration and for resisting the intrigues of Euro 
 pean diplomacy. Invitations were sent on November 
 22, with the limitations and restrictions originally de 
 signed. Mr. Frelinghuysen lost no time in under 
 mining this Diplomatic Congress and the meeting 
 never took place. It cannot be doubted that the pro 
 posed Congress would have had a most important 
 effect, not only in promoting the ends of peace, but in 
 stimulating American trade with the Spanish-American 
 States. It was a brilliant conception a most useful 
 project. 
 
 THE PRESERVATION OF PEACE. 
 
 Mr. Elaine has described the Congress as an im 
 portant and impressive step on the part of the United 
 States toward closer relationship with our continental 
 ^neighbors. In no event could harm have resulted in 
 the assembling of the Peace Congress. Failure was 
 *next to impossible. Success might be regarded as 
 certain. 
 
 The subject to be discussed was peace, and how it 
 -.can be permanently preserved in North and South 
 
 17 
 
268 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 America. The labors of the Congress would have 
 probably ended in a well-digested system of arbitration, 
 under which all troubles between American States 
 could be quickly, effectually and satisfactorily adjusted. 
 Such a consummation would have been worth a great 
 struggle and a great sacrifice. It could have been 
 reached without any struggle and would have involved 
 no sacrifice. It was within our grasp. It was ours 
 for the asking. It would have been a signal victory 
 of philanthropy over the selfishnes s of human ambi 
 tion ; a complete triumph of Christian principles as 
 applied to the affairs of Nations. It would have 
 reflected enduring honor on our new country, and 
 would have imparted a new spirit and a new brother 
 hood to all America. 
 
 Nor would its influence beyond the sea have been 
 small. The example of seventeen independent Na 
 tions solemnly agreeing to abolish the arbitrament of 
 the sword, and to settle every dispute by peaceful 
 methods of adjudication, would have exerted an influ 
 ence to the utmost confines of civilization, and upon 
 the generations of men yet to come. 
 
 MR. BLAINE S STATEMENT. 
 
 Shortly after Mr. Elaine retired from the Cabinet, 
 and after President Arthur had modified the foreign 
 policy laid down by his predecessor, he wrote the fol 
 lowing letter to a paper in Chicago, in explanation of 
 his position. 
 
 As there is a desire to re-read it, the entire letter 
 is given : 
 
feLAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 259 
 
 AUGUSTA, MAINE, Sept. ist, 1882. 
 
 The foreign policy of President Garfield s adminis 
 tration had two principal objects in view : First, to 
 bring about peace, and prevent future wars in North 
 and South America ; second, to cultivate such friendly 
 commercial relations with all American countries as 
 would lead to a large increase in the export trade of 
 the United States, by supplying those fabrics in which 
 we are abundantly able to compete with the manufac 
 turing nations of Europe. 
 
 To attain the second object the first must be ac 
 complished. It would be idle to attempt the develop 
 ment and enlargement of our trade with the countries 
 of North and South America if that trade were liable 
 at any unforeseen moment to be violently interrupted 
 by such wars as that which for three years has en 
 grossed and almost engulfed Chili, Peru, and Bolivia ; 
 as that which was barely averted by the friendly of 
 fices of the United States between Chili and the Ar 
 gentine Republic ; as that which has been postponed 
 by the same good offices, but not decisively aban 
 doned, between Mexico and Guatemala ; as that which 
 is threatened between Brazil and Uruguay ; as that 
 which is even now foreshadowed between Brazil and 
 the Argentine States. 
 
 THE WAR SPIRIT. 
 
 Peace is essential to commerce, is the very life of 
 honest trade, is the solid basis of international pros 
 perity ; and yet there is no part of the world where a 
 resort to arms is so prompt as in the Spanish-American 
 
260 LIFE OP HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Republics. Those Republics have grown out of the 
 old Colonial divisions, formed from capricious grants 
 to favorites by Royal charter, and their boundaries are 
 in many cases not clearly defined, and consequently 
 afford the basis of continual disputes, breaking forth 
 too often in open war. To induce the Spanish-Ameri 
 can States to adopt some peaceful mode of adjusting 
 their frequently recurring contentions was regarded 
 by the late President as one of the most honorable 
 and useful ends to which the diplomacy of the United 
 States could contribute useful especially to those 
 States by securing permanent peace within all their 
 borders, and useful to our own country by affording 
 a coveted opportunity for extending its commerce and 
 securing enlarged fields for our products and manu 
 factures. 
 
 THE MOTIVE FOR CALLING A PEACE CONGRESS. 
 
 Instead of friendly intervention here and there, 
 patching up a treaty between two countries to-day, 
 securing a truce between two others to-morrow, it was 
 apparent to the President that a more comprehensive 
 plan should be adopted if war was to cease in the 
 Western Hemisphere. It was evident that certain 
 European Powers had in the past been interested in 
 promoting strife between the Spanish American coun. 
 tries, and might be so interested in the future, while the 
 interest of the United States was wholly and always 
 on the side of peace with all our American neighbors, 
 and peace between them all. 
 
 It was therefore the President s belief that mere in- 
 
ELAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 261 
 
 cidental and partial adjustments failed to attain the 
 desired end, and that a common agreement of peace, 
 permanent in its character and continental in its extent, 
 
 THOMAS L. JAMES. 
 
 should, if possible, be secured. To effect this end it 
 had been resolved, before the fatal shot of July 2, to 
 invite all the independent governments of North and 
 South America to meet in a Peace Congress at Wash- 
 
262 LIFE @F HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 ington. The date to be assigned was the I5th of 
 March, 1882, and the invitations would have been is 
 sued directly after the New England tour, which the 
 President was not permitted to make. Nearly six. 
 months later, on November 22, President Garfield s 
 successor issued the invitations for the Peace Congress 
 in the same spirit and scope and with the same limita 
 tions and restrictions that had been originally de 
 signed. 
 
 SOUTH AMERICA APPROVES. 
 
 As soon as the project was understood in South 
 America it received a most cordial approval, and some 
 of the countries, not following the leisurely routine of 
 diplomatic correspondence, made haste to accept the 
 invitation. There can be no doubt that within a brief 
 period all the nations invited would have formally sig 
 nified their readiness to attend the Congress ; but in 
 six weeks after the invitations had gone to the several 
 countries, President Arthur caused them to be recalled, 
 or at least suspended. 
 
 The subject was afterward referred to Congress in a 
 special message, in which the President ably vin 
 dicated his constitutional right to assemble the Peace 
 Congress, but expressed a desire that the legislative 
 department of the Government should give an opinion 
 upon the expediency of the step before the Congress 
 should be allowed to convene. 
 
 Meanwhile the nations that received the invitations 
 were in an embarrassing situation ; for after they were 
 asked by th President to come, they found that the 
 
BLAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 263 
 
 matter had been reconsidered and referred to another 
 department of the Government. This change was 
 universally accepted as a practical though indirect 
 abandonment of the project, for it was not from the 
 first probable that Congress would take any action 
 whatever upon the subject. 
 
 THE PROJECT DEFEATED. 
 
 The good will and welcome of the invitation would 
 be destroyed by a long debate in the Senate and 
 House, in which the question would necessarily become 
 intermixed with personal and party politics, and the 
 project would be ultimately wrecked from the same 
 cause and by the same process that destroyed the use 
 fulness of the Panama Congress more than fifty years 
 ago, when Mr. Clay was Secretary of State. The time 
 for Congressional action would have been after the 
 Peace Conference had closed its labors. 
 
 The conference could not agree upon anything that 
 would be binding upon the United States, unless as 
 sented to as a treaty by the Senate, or enacted into a 
 law by both branches. The assembling of the Peace 
 Conference, as President Arthur so well demonstrated 
 was not in derogation of any right or prerogative of 
 the Senate or House. The money necessary for the 
 expenses of the conference which would not have ex- 
 ceeded $10,000 could not, with reason or propriety, 
 have been refused by Congress. If it had been re 
 fused, patriotism and philanthropy would have promptly 
 supplied it. 
 
264 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 THE NECESSITY OF FRIENDLY INTERVENTION. 
 
 The Spanish American States are in special need of 
 the help which the Peace Congress would afford them. 
 They require external pressure to keep them from 
 war. When at war they require external pressure to 
 bring them to peace. Their outbreaks are not only 
 frequent, but are sanguinary and sometimes cruel. 
 The inhabitants of those countries are a brave people, 
 belonging to a race that have always been brave, 
 descended of men that have always been proud. They 
 are of hot temper, quick to take affront, ready to 
 avenge a wrong, whether real or fancied. They are 
 at the same time generous and chivalrous, and though 
 tending for years to past estrangement and alienation 
 from us, they would promptly respond to any advance 
 made by the Great Republic of the North, as they 
 have for two generations termed our Government. 
 
 o 
 
 The moral influence upon the Spanish American 
 people of such an international assembly as the Peace 
 Congress, called by the invitation and meeting under 
 the auspices of the United States, would have proved 
 beneficent and far-reaching. It would have raised the 
 standard of their civilization. It would have turned 
 their attention to the things of peace; and the con 
 tinent, whose undeveloped wealth amazed Humboldt, 
 might have had a new life given to it, a new and 
 splendid career opened to its inhabitants. 
 
 Such friendly interventions as the proposed Peace 
 Congress, and as the attempt to restore peace between 
 Chili and Peru, fell within the line of both duty and 
 
ELAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 265 
 
 interest on the part of the United States* Nations 
 like individuals often require the aid of a common 
 friend to restore relations of amity. Peru and Chili 
 are in deplorable need of a wise and powerful media 
 tor. Though exhausted by war, they are unable to 
 make peace, and, unless they shall be aided by the in 
 tervention of a friend, political anarchy and social dis 
 order will come to the conquered, and evil scarcely less 
 serious to the conqueror. Our own Government can 
 not take the ground that it will not offer friendly in 
 tervention to settle troubles between American coun 
 tries, unless at the sSame time it freely concedes to 
 European governments the right of such intervention, 
 and thus consents to a practical destruction of the 
 Monroe doctrine and an unlimited increase of Euro 
 pean and monarchical influence on this continent. 
 
 MEDIATION DEMANDED. 
 
 The late special envoy to Peru and Chili, Mr.Trescot, 
 gives it as his deliberate and published conclusion that 
 if the instructions under which he set out upon his 
 mission had not been revoked, peace between those 
 angry belligerents would have been established as the 
 result of his labors necessarily to the great benefit 
 of the United States, If our Government does not 
 resume its efforts to secure peace in South America, 
 some European government will be forced to perform 
 that friendly office. 
 
 The United States cannot play between nations the 
 part of the dog in the manger. We must perform the 
 duty of humane intervention ourselves, or give way 
 
269 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 to foreign governments that are willing to accept the 
 responsibility of the great trust and secure the 
 enhanced influence and numberless advantages result 
 ing from such a philanthropic and beneficent course. 
 
 ITS COMMERCIAL VALUE. 
 
 A most significant and important result would have 
 followed the assembling of the Peace Congress. A 
 friendship and an intimacy would have been estab 
 lished between the States of North and South Amer 
 ica, which would have demanded and enforced a closer 
 commercial connection. A movement in the near 
 future, as the legitimate outgrowth of assured peace, 
 would in all probability have been a great commercial 
 conference at the city of Mexico or Rio Janeiro, whose 
 deliberations would be directed to a better system of 
 trade on the two continents. 
 
 To such a conference the Dominion of Canada 
 could properly be asked to send representatives, as 
 that government is allowed by Great Britain a very 
 large liberty in regulating its commercial relations. In 
 the Peace Congress, to be composed of independent 
 governments, the Dominion could not have taken any 
 part, and was consequently not invited. From this 
 trade conference of the two continents the United 
 States could hardly have failed to gain great advan 
 tages. At present the commercial relations of this 
 country with the Spanish American countries, both 
 continental and insular, are unsatisfactory and unprof 
 itable indeed, those relations are absolutely oppres 
 sive to the financial interests of the Government and 
 
BLAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 267 
 
 people of the United States. In our current ex 
 changes it requires about $120,000,000 to pay the 
 balances which Spanish America brings against us 
 every year. 
 
 This amount is 50 per cent, more than the average 
 annual product of the gold and silver mines of the 
 United States during the past five years. This vast 
 sum does not of course go to Spanish America in 
 coin, but it goes across the ocean in coin or its equiv 
 alent, to pay European countries for manufactured 
 articles which they furnish to Spanish America a 
 large proportion of which should be furnished by the 
 manufacturers of the United States. 
 
 THE TARIFF AND SOUTH AMERICAN TRADE. 
 
 At this point of the argument the free trader ap 
 pears and declares that our protective tariff destroys 
 our power of competition with European countries, 
 and that if we will abolish protection, we shall soon 
 have South American trade. The answer is not suffi 
 cient, for to-day there are many articles which we can 
 send to South America, and sell as cheaply as Euro 
 pean manufacturers can furnish them. It is idle, of 
 course, to make this statement to the genuine apostle 
 of free trade and the implacable enemy of protection, 
 for the great postulate of his argument, the foundation 
 of his creed, is that nothing can be made as cheaply in 
 America as in Europe. 
 
 Nevertheless facts are stubborn, and the hard figures 
 of arithmetic cannot be satisfactorily answered by airy 
 figures of speech. The truth remains that the coarser 
 
268 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 descriptions of cottons and cotton prints, boots and 
 shoes, ordinary household furniture, harness for draft 
 animals, agricultural implements of all kinds, doors, 
 sashes and blinds, locks, bolts and hinges, silverware, 
 plated ware, wooden ware, ordinary paper and paper- 
 hangings, common vehicles, ordinary window-glass and 
 glassware, rubber goods, coal oils, lard oils, kerosenes, 
 white lead, lead pipe, and articles in which lead is a 
 chief component, can be, and are produced as cheaply 
 in the United States as in any other part of the 
 world. 
 
 The list of such articles might be lengthened by the 
 addition of those classed as " notions ; " but enough 
 only are given to show that this country would, with 
 proper commercial arrangements, export much more 
 largely than it now does to Spanish America. 
 
 BRITISH MONOPOLY. 
 
 In the trade relations of the world, it does not follow 
 that mere ability to produce as cheaply as another 
 nation insures a division of an established market, or, 
 indeed, any participation in it. France manufactures 
 many articles as cheaply as England some articles at 
 even less cost. Portugal lies nearer to France than to 
 England, and the expense of transporting the French 
 fabric to the Portuguese market is therefore less than 
 the transportation of English fabric. 
 
 And yet Great Britain has almost a monopoly in 
 the trade of Portugal. The same condition applies, 
 though in a less degree, in the trade of Turkey, Syria 
 and Egypt, which England holds to a much greater 
 
BLAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE, 269 
 
 extent than any of the other European nations that 
 are able to produce the same fabric as cheaply. 
 
 If it be said in answer, that England has special 
 trade-relations by treaty with Portugal and special 
 obligations binding the other countries, the ready 
 answer is, that she has no more favorable position 
 with regard to those countries than can be readily 
 and easily acquired by the United States with respect 
 to all the countries of America. That end will be 
 reached whenever the United States desires it, and 
 wills it, and is ready to take the steps necessary to 
 secure it. 
 
 THE OMINOUS ADVERSE BALANCE. 
 
 At present the trade with Spanish America runs so 
 strongly in channels adverse to us, that, besides our 
 inability to furnish manufactured articles, we do not 
 get the profit on our own raw products that are 
 shipped there. Our petroleum reaches most of the 
 Spanish-American ports after twice crossing the At 
 lantic, paying often a better profit to the European 
 middle man, who handles it, than it does to the pro 
 ducer of the oil in the northwestern counties of Penn 
 sylvania. Flour and pork from the West reach Cuba 
 by way of Spain, and though we buy and consume 
 ninety per cent, of the total products of Cuba, almost 
 that proportion of her purchases are made in Europe 
 made, of course, with money furnished directly from 
 our pockets. 
 
 As our exports to Spanish America grow less, as 
 European imports constantly grow large, the balance 
 
270 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 against us will show an annual increase, and will con 
 tinue to exhaust our supply of the precious metals. 
 We are increasing our imports from South America, 
 and the millions we annually pay for coffee, wool, hides, 
 guano, cinchona, caoutchouc, cabinet woods, dye woods 
 and other articles, go for the ultimate benefit of Euro 
 pean manufacturers who take the gold from us and 
 send their fabrics to Spanish America. 
 
 If we could send our fabrics, our gold would stay at 
 home and our general prosperity would be sensibly 
 increased. But so long as we repel Spanish America, 
 so long as we leave her to cultivate intimate relations 
 with Europe alone, so long our trade relations will 
 remain unsatisfactory and even embarrassing. Those 
 countries sell to us very heavy. They buy from us 
 lightly. 
 
 OUR EXPORTS. 
 
 And the amount they bring us in debt each year is 
 larger than the heaviest aggregate balance of trade 
 we ever have against us in the worst of times. The 
 average balance against us in the whole world in the 
 five most adverse years we ever experienced, was 
 about one hundred millions of dollars. This plainly 
 shows that in our European exchanges there is always 
 a balance in our favor and that our chief deficiency 
 arises from our mal-adjusted commercial relations 
 with Spanish America. 
 
 It follows that if our Spanish America trade were 
 placed on a better and more equitable foundation, >t 
 
272 LIFE OF SON. JAMES G. ELAINE, 
 
 would be almost impossible even in years most unfa 
 vorable to us, to bring us in debt to the world. 
 
 With such heavy purchases as we are compelled to 
 make from Spanish America, it could hardly be ex 
 pected that we should be able to adjust the entire 
 account by exports. But the balance against us of 
 one hundred and twenty millions in gold coin is far 
 too large, and in time of stringency is a standing 
 menace of final disaster. It should not be forgotten 
 that every million dollars of products or fabrics that 
 we sell in Spanish America is a million dollars in gold 
 saved to our own country. The immediate profit is 
 to the producer and exporter, but the entire country 
 realizes a gain in the ease and affluence of the money 
 market which is insured by keeping our gold at home 
 The question involved is so large, the object to be 
 achieved is so great, that no effort on the part of the 
 Government to accomplish it could be too earnest or 
 too long continued. 
 
 COMPACT OF NATIONS. 
 
 It is only claimed for the Peace Congress, designed 
 under the administration of Garfield, that it was an 
 important and impressive step on the part of the 
 United States toward closer relationship with our con 
 tinental neighbors. The present tendency in those 
 countries is toward Europe, and it is a lamentable fact 
 that their people are not so near to us in feeling as 
 they were sixty years ago when they threw off the yoke 
 of Spanish tyranny. 
 
 We were then a weak republic of ten millions, but 
 
ELAINE AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 273 
 
 we did not hesitate to recognize the independence of 
 the new governments, even at the risk of war with 
 Spain. Our foreign policy at that time was specially 
 designed to extend our influence in the Western 
 Hemisphere, and the statesmen of that era the era 
 of DeWitt Clinton and the younger Adams, of Clay 
 and of Crawford, of Webster and Calhoun, of Van 
 Buren and Benton, of Jackson and of Edward Living 
 ston were always courageous in the inspiring meas 
 ures which they advocated for the expansion of our 
 commercial dominion. 
 
 THE PERIL TO BE AVOIDED BY THE UNION. 
 
 Three-score years have passed. The power of the 
 Republic in many directions has grown beyond all 
 anticipation, but we have relatively lost ground in 
 some great fields of enterprise. We have added 
 thousands of miles to our ocean front, but our com 
 merce has fallen off, and from ardent friendship with 
 Spanish America we have drifted into indifference if 
 not into coldness. It is but one step further to reach 
 a condition of positive unfriendliness, which may end 
 in what would be equivalent to a commercial alliance 
 against us. Already one of the most dangerous of 
 movements that of a European guarantee and guar 
 dianship of the Interoceanic Canal is suggested and 
 urged upon the Great Foreign Powers by representa 
 tives of a South American country. If these tenden 
 cies are to be averted, if Spanish-American friendship 
 is to be regained, if the commercial empire that legiti 
 mately belongs to us is to be ours, we must not be 
 
 18 
 
274 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 idle and witness its transfer to others. If we would 
 reconquer it, a greaj: first step is to be taken. It is 
 the first step that costs. It is also the first step that 
 counts. Can there be suggested a wiser step than 
 the Peace Congress of the two Americas, that was 
 devised under Garfield, and had the weight of his 
 great name ? 
 
 A SPECTACLE MORALLY SUBLIME. 
 
 In no event could harm have resulted in the assem 
 bling of the Peace Congress ; failure was next to im 
 possible. Success might be regarded as certain. The 
 subject to be discussed was peace, and how it can be 
 permanently preserved in North and South America. 
 The labors of the Congress would have probably 
 ended in a well-digested system of arbitration, under 
 which all troubles between American States could be 
 quickly, effectually and satisfactorily adjusted. Such 
 a consummation would have been worth a great 
 struggle and a great sacrifice. It could have been 
 reached without any struggle and would have in 
 volved no sacrifice. It was within our grasp. It was 
 ours for the asking. 
 
 It would have been a signal victory of philanthropy 
 over the selfishness of human ambition ; a complete 
 triumph of Christian principles as applied to the af 
 fairs of Nations. It would have reflected enduring 
 honor on our new country, and would have imparted 
 a new spirit and a new brotherhood to all America. 
 Nor would its influence beyond the sea have been 
 small. The example of seventeen independent Na- 
 
(275) 
 
276 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 tions solemnly agreeing to abolish the arbitrament of 
 the sword, and to settle every dispute by peaceful 
 methods of abjudication, would have exerted an in 
 fluence to the utmost confines of civilization, and 
 upon generations of men yet to come. 
 
 JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 But whatever might have been the ultimate result 
 of his foreign policy, and whatever he might have ac 
 complished to render the administration to which he 
 was attached popular and prosperous, was prevented 
 by the assassination of the President, just four months 
 from the day of his inauguration. His policy had 
 been formulated and its details duly specified, and no 
 cloubt the President and his first officer were antici 
 pating additional prosperity for the people. 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 On the bright Saturday morning of July 2d, the 
 President prepared to leave the National Capital for 
 New York, and thence to New England to join in the 
 reunion of his classmates at the Commencement of 
 Williams College. Secretary Elaine accompanied him 
 to the station and observed the almost boyish delight 
 with which he anticipated this meeting with his fellow- 
 students of former days. Passing into the station 
 through the ladies waiting-room, they were about to 
 pass to the train, when that fiend in human form, 
 Guiteau, fired the fatal shot which finally after weeks 
 and months of suffering, and during which not only 
 our nation but the world, watched in spirit, by his bed- 
 
(277) 
 
278 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 side, ended in his death. The people of the country 
 will not forget the noble devotion shown by Mr. Elaine 
 to his dying superior officer how he watched at his 
 bedside, and amidst his and his Nation s sorrows dis 
 charged all the responsible duties of his position. 
 
 GARFIELD S DEATH. 
 
 On September 6 the President was removed from 
 Washington to Elberon, whither he was followed the 
 same day by Mr. Elaine and the rest of the Cabinet. 
 The apparent improvement in the President s condition 
 warranted the belief that he would continue to gain, 
 and Mr. Elaine went for a short rest to his home in 
 Augusta. He was on his way back to Elberon on 
 the nineteenth day of September when the fatal mo 
 ment came and reached there the next morning. It 
 is the universal testimony of press and people that, 
 during the weary weeks which intervened between 
 the Pj^sident s injury and death, Mr. Elaine s every 
 action and constant demeanor were absolutely fault 
 less. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 Eulogy of James A. Garfield. 
 
 ON the twenty-seventh day of February, 1882, an 
 eulogy was delivered before both Houses of Congress, 
 by the Hon. James G. Elaine, Secretary of State 
 during the administration of Mr. Garfield, on the 
 murdered President. The scene at the Capitol was 
 a very impressive one, and will linger long in the 
 memory of those who witnessed it. The bright morn 
 ing sunshine brought forth thousands, who flocked 
 Capitolward long before the hour announced for the 
 opening of the doors. There were a number of Con 
 gressmen early on the ground, actively engaged in plac 
 ing their ladies and other friends. At half-past 10 the 
 galleries were literally packed, and those who came 
 afterwards had to be content with occasional unsatis 
 factory glimpses through the open doors. It appeared 
 that the seating capacity had been greatly over-esti 
 mated. Notwithstanding the reiterated announcements 
 of the press that none without tickets would be ad 
 mitted to the Capitol buildings, there were hundreds 
 there merely to be turned away. 
 
 The scene within was inspiriting, yet of a sombre 
 tinge. Four-fifths of the immense audience were ladies 
 and these were mostly dressed in black or sober colors. 
 Only here and there a flower on a bonnet, a single 
 ribbon or bow at a feminine throat made an obtrusive 
 show of color. This universal black made the thou 
 sands of white faces stand out in bold relief with an 
 effect which was startling. The array of fur-lined 
 circulars and other wraps that were hung over the 
 cornice and dangled in front, contrary to the rules of 
 
 279 
 
280 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 the House, made a ludicrous picture. In the Diplo* 
 matic gallery, clad in purple and black velvets and 
 other rich but sober fabrics, was a distinguished assem 
 blage of ladies. The Countess Lewenhaupt, wife of 
 the Swedish Minister; Mrs. and Miss Preston, wife 
 and daughter of the Haytian Minister; Viscountess 
 Das Nogueiros, wife of the Minister from Portugal 
 Senora Don Francisco Barca, Spain ; Senor Dom Simon 
 Camacho, Venezuela, and others, were specially notable. 
 In the President s gallery sat Mrs. Elaine, the wife of 
 the distinguished orator of ,the day and the cynosure 
 of all eyes. She had scarcely got seated when a page 
 entered and presented her with a bouquet of beautiful 
 flowers. Mrs. Elaine was attired in rich black velvet 
 and circular lined with leopard skin, which was allowed 
 to fall over the gallery rail. She was accompanied by 
 Mrs. Matthews and Miss Dodge and Mrs. Justice Field. 
 Mrs. David Dudley Field, Mrs. Eradley, Mrs. Brewster, 
 Mrs. Frelinghuysen and Mrs. G. W. Curtis were near 
 her. While these galleries were being filled the Marine 
 Band, stationed in the lobby back of the Speaker s 
 desk, poured forth the sweetest airs, the partial con 
 cealment giving the music the charm of coming from 
 some vast music box. 
 
 On the floor about half the members of the House 
 haql gathered by eleven o clock. Most of them ap 
 peared to be contemplating the great painting of Gar- 
 field that hung above the Speaker s chair, while the 
 rest ogled the ladies in the galleries and joined in con 
 versation. A loud buzz of subdued voices from two or 
 three thousand persons filled the chamber. Three 
 figures occupied conspicuous places on the front seats 
 and these were the venerable figure of Washington s 
 great man, W. W. Corcoran, the lean figure of Cyrus 
 W. Field and the shrivelled-up figure of the historian, 
 George Bancroft. They came in early and sat there 
 
282 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 alone. Immediately back of them, on both sides the 
 main aisle, the desks had been removed and the vacant 
 chairs awaited the arrival of the Senators and other 
 dignitaries. The General of the Army came in first 
 by the main door and he and stubby Phil Sheridan 
 made a funny pair to come down the aisle together. 
 They were followed by the princely General Hancock, 
 "The Superb," and Generals Howard and Meigs. All 
 were in full uniform. They attracted a storm of eyes 
 and were made the immediate focus of a thousand 
 opera-glasses. Not very long, however, for that body 
 which always claims priority in attractiveness very soon 
 entered from the Speaker s lobby. The full diplomatic 
 corps, in all its royal splendor of gold lace and its 
 courtly decorations, filed in and took the second row 
 of seats in the semicircle. The foreign gentlemen 
 always form a picturesque group, but never so much as 
 when clustered together among thousands of people in 
 solemn conventional black. The red fez and gold em 
 broidery of the Turks were in curious contrast with 
 the loose, plain purple robes of the Chinese. The 
 representatives of the Japanese Government appeared 
 in American full dress, swallow-tails, white ties and 
 gloves, like the ordinary American gentleman and 
 ordinary American waiter. The members of the Diplo 
 matic Corps wore the regulation costumes of their 
 respective countries and were marshaled by Mr, Allen, 
 the Hawaiian Minister, who is now known as the dean 
 since the departure of Sir Edward Thornton. While 
 everybody was picking out the prettiest uniform in 
 came Doctor Bliss, walking down the main aisle alone, 
 his presence recalling the painful cause of this august 
 gathering. The doctor seemed conscious of the general 
 curiosity and hastily passed down and slipped into a 
 side seat just back of the Diplomatic Corps. Shortly 
 afterward Judge Cox, Judge llagner, Judge Wiley 
 
ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 283 
 
 Marshal Henry came in and sat near him. Before in 
 terest had ceased in these reminders of Garfield and 
 his assassin Admiral Porter and Rear Admirals Rogers 
 and Worden were escorted to corresponding seats on 
 the opposite side, sitting immediately behind the great 
 generals. They were also resplendent in the showy 
 uniform of the American navy that is to be. 
 
 When the House was called to order at noon the 
 seats set aside for the Senate, Cabinet and others were 
 still vacant, though every other seat was occupied, and 
 the space outside the rail was crowded with ex-Con 
 gressmen and the lesser dignitaries. The House Clerk, 
 however, had scarcely read the resolutions which ap 
 pointed the occasion before the Senate was announced. 
 President Davis waddled upon the stand and reached 
 out for the gavel in his business-like way, the House 
 remaining standing until the Senators were seated. 
 The Supreme Court, in full black robes, quickly fol 
 lowed the Senate, and then the President and his 
 Cabinet were announced. The President came in 
 leaning on the arm of Senator Sherman, who was, 
 with McKinley, of the House, acting for the joint 
 committee. The announcement of the President of 
 the United States was greeted by general applause. 
 He was seated at the corner of the aisle on the first 
 row of seats to the Speaker s right and next to Cyrus 
 W. Field. Arthur didn t seem to know just what to 
 do with his hat for half a second. Field offered to 
 take it, but the President finally found relief in placing 
 it under his seat. Frelinghuysen sat opposite the 
 President across the aisle, next him Secretary Folger, 
 who sat bolt upright in his straight-backed chair, and 
 next sat Secretary Robert Lincoln, who rested on the 
 email of his back in a very ungraceful but comfortable 
 way, while beyond Lincoln were Attorney-General 
 Brewster, Hunt, Postmaster-General Howe and Secre- 
 
284 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 tary Kickwood. The President wore a Prince Albert 
 coat, with a low-cut rolling collar, a high vest, showing 
 only his black scarf, surmounted by a black pin. His 
 gloves were black, undressed kid and his shoes were 
 topped by black cloth gaiters. Attorney-General 
 Brewster wore a bright blue scarf and carried a crush 
 hat. Secretary Kirkwood also carried a crush hat, 
 known in Iowa as f a slouch, the only slouch visible in 
 the Cabinet. 
 
 Soon after the President was seated and last of all 
 came James G. Elaine, the orator of the day. The 
 announcement of his name was followed by a storm of 
 applause which, by the side of that which greeted the 
 President, seemed like a whirlwind of enthusiasm. 
 Blaine came down the aisle escorted on either side by 
 Senator Sherman and Representative McKinley. He 
 was followed by William E. Chandler, Ernmons Blaine 
 and the ex-Premier s private secretary, who bore in his 
 right hand a huge white envelope containing the great 
 address. Mr. Elaine advanced to the rostrum, where 
 he was warmly greeted by Vice-President Davis, and 
 then took his seat at the middle of the Clerk s desk. 
 On the left of the orator sat Representative McKinley 
 and Clerk McPherson, representing the authority and 
 dignity of the House of Representatives. On the right 
 sat Senator Sherman and Secretary Shober, represent 
 ing the authority and dignity of the Senate. On the 
 desk in front of the orator was a glass of water, on his 
 left a silver pitcher and a brace of gold-lined goblets 
 The address w r as preceded by a brief prayer from 
 Chaplain Power, nearly everybody on the floor rising 
 to their feet and this example being followed to some 
 extent in the galleries. When Mr. Elaine began, the 
 vast assemblage was almost deathly quiet, for th<s 
 speaker s voice was low and not very clear. As he got 
 warmed up, however, in reciting the military and civic 
 
ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 285 
 
 honors of his late beloved chief his voice came out, 
 round and full, with its old power, The attention of 
 the audience was captured at the start. Nobody got 
 up, nobody wearied, nobody did aught but listen to 
 catch the orator s every word. 
 
 When Mr. Elaine reached that portion of his speech 
 in which he alluded to the causes which led to the 
 shooting of Garfield there was a visible straining to 
 catch the full import of his words. It was a very 
 delicate subject and the orator, with rare tact and 
 judgment, trod daintily on the ground. It was notice 
 able that at this point the President leaned slightly 
 forward, shifted his feet about and fumbled his watch- 
 chain and his glasses in an abstracted way, fully bound 
 up in his intent-ness on the language of the orator. 
 The intensity of feeling in the entire audience was un 
 consciously illustrated in the long breath of relief that 
 swept over the human sea when Mr. Elaine turned 
 from the subject to treat of the religious character of 
 the illustrious deceased. Every one straightened up 
 and looked at his neighbor, as much as to say: "Well, 
 I m glad that is over." 
 
 At the close, instead of the brilliant rhetoric of the 
 plumed knight, -as nearly everybody had anticipated, 
 there was the simplest and most -touching appeal for 
 human sympathy for the poor sufferer by the sea. 
 The speaker s eyes were suffused with tears as he 
 recited the simple story. In fact he almost broke 
 down. The sympathetic eyes of President Arthur 
 filled, his mouth twitched, and he thought it not un 
 manly to dash away a tear with a sweep of his hand. 
 There were a good many other eyes wet in that vast 
 audience and many women in the galleries sobbed 
 outright. When the final sentence was spoken and 
 the orator sat down, round after round of applause 
 burst forth. 
 
^86 BLAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 THE EULOOY IN FULL. 
 
 Ex-Secretary Elaine s Eloquent and Dignified Tribute to the Memory of hia 
 
 Dead Chief. 
 
 MR, PRESIDENT: For the second time in this genera 
 tion the great departments of the Government of the 
 United States are assembled in the Hall of Represent 
 atives to do honor to the memory of a murdered 
 President. Lincoln fell at the close of a mighty strug 
 gle in which the passions of men had been deeply 
 stirred. The tragical termination of his great life 
 added but another to the lengthened succession of 
 horrors which had marked so many lintels with the 
 blood of the first born. Garfield was slain in a day of 
 peace, when brother had been reconciled to brother 
 and when anger and hate had been banished from the 
 land. "Whoever shall hereafter draw the portrait of 
 murder, if he will show it as it has been exhibited 
 where such example was last to have been looked for, 
 let him not give it the grim visage of Moloch, the 
 brow knitted by revenge, the face black with settled 
 hate. Let him draw, rather, a decorous, smooth-faced, 
 bloodless demon; not so much an example of human 
 nature in its depravity and in its paroxysms of crime 
 as an infernal being, a fiend in the ordinary display 
 and development of his character." 
 
 From the landing, of the Pilgrims at Plymouth till 
 the uprising against Charles First about twenty thou 
 sand emigrants came from old England to New Eng 
 land. As they came in pursuit of intellectual freedom 
 and ecclesiastical independence rather than for worldly 
 honor and profit, the emigration naturally ceased when 
 (/he contest for religious liberty began in earnest at 
 home. The man who struck his most effective blow 
 for freedom of conscience by sailing for the Colonies in 
 1620 would have been accounted a deserter to leave 
 
ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 287 
 
 after 1640. The opportunity had then come on the 
 soil of England for that great contest which established 
 the authority of Parliament, gave religious freedom to 
 the people, sent Charles to the block and committed 
 to the hands of Oliver Cromwell the supreme executive 
 authority of England. The English emigration was 
 never renewed, and from these twenty thousand men, 
 with a small emigration from Scotland and from 
 France, are descended the vast numbers who have 
 New England blood in their"veins. 
 
 In 1685 the revocation of the edict of Nantes by 
 Louis XIV. scattered to other countries four hundred 
 thousand Protestants, who were among the most in 
 telligent and enterprising of French subjects mer 
 chants of capital, skilled manufacturers and handi 
 craftsmen, superior at the time to all others in 
 Europe. A considerable number of these Huguenot 
 French came to America; a few landed in New Eng 
 land and became honorably prominent in its history. 
 Their names have in large part become anglicized or 
 have disappeared, but their blood is traceable in many 
 of the most reputable families, arid their fame is 
 perpetuated in honorable memorials and useful 
 institutions. 
 
 From these two sources, the English Puritan and 
 the French Huguenot, came the late President his 
 father, Abram Garfield, being descended from the one, 
 and his mother, Eliza Ballou, from the other. 
 
 It was good stock on both sides none better, none 
 braver, none truer. There was in it an inheritance of 
 courage, of manliness, of imperishable love of liberty, 
 of undying adherence to principle. Garfield was 
 proud of his blood ; and, with as much satisfaction as 
 if he were a British nobleman reading his stately 
 ancestral record in Burke s Peerage, he spoke of him 
 self as ninth in descent from those who would rot 
 
288 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 endure the oppression of the Stuarts and, seventh in 
 descent from the brave French Protestants who refused 
 to submit to tyranny even from the Grand Monarque. 
 
 General Garfield delighted to dwell on these traits, 
 and during his only visit to England he busied him 
 self in discovering every trace of his forefathers in 
 parish registries and on ancient army rolls. Sitting 
 with a friend in the gallery of the House <)f Commons 
 one night after a long day s labor in this field of 
 research, he said, with evident elation, that in every 
 war in which for three centuries patriots of English 
 blood had struck sturdy blows for constitutional 
 government and human liberty his family had been 
 represented. They were at Marston Moor, at Naseby 
 and at Preston ; they were at Bunker Hill, at Saratoga 
 and at Monmouth, and in his own person had battled 
 for the same great cause in the war which preserved 
 the Union of the States. 
 
 Losing his father before he was two years old, the 
 early life of Garfield was one of privation, but its 
 poverty has been made indelicately and unjustly prom 
 inent. Thousands of readers have imagined him as 
 the ragged, starving child whose reality too often greets 
 the eye in the squalid sections of our large cities. 
 General Garfield s infarcy and youth had none of 
 their destitution, none of their pitiful features appeal 
 ing to the tender heart and to the open hand of 
 charity. He was a poor boy in the same sense in 
 which Henry Clay was a poor boy ; in which Andrew 
 Jackson was a poor boy ; in which Daniel Webster 
 was a poor boy ; in the sense in which a large majority 
 of the eminent men of America in all generations have 
 been poor boys. Before a great multitude of men, in a 
 public speech, Mr. Webster bore this testimony : 
 
 " It did not happen to me to be born in a log cabin, 
 but my elder brothers and sisters were born in a log 
 
290 BLAINE S EULOGY OF GAKFIELD. 
 
 cabin raised amid the snow drifts of New Hampshire, 
 at a period so early that when the smoke rose first 
 from its rude chimney and curled over the frozen 
 hills there was no similar evidence of a white man s 
 habitation between it and the settlements on the 
 rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to 
 it an annual visit. I carry my children to it to teach 
 them the hardships endured by the generations which 
 have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender 
 recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections and 
 the touching narratives and incidents which mingle 
 with all I know of this primitive family abode." 
 
 With the requisite change of scene the same words 
 would aptly portray the early days of Garfield. The 
 poverty of the frontier, where all are engaged in a 
 common struggle and where a common sympathy and 
 hearty co-operation lighten the burdens of each, is a 
 very different poverty different in kind, different in 
 influence and effect from that conscious and humili 
 ating indigence which is every day forced to contrast 
 itself with neighboring wealth, on which it feels a 
 sense of grinding dependence. The poverty of the 
 frontier is indeed no poverty. It is but the beginning 
 of wealth, and has the boundless possibilities of the 
 future always opening before it. No man ever grew 
 up in the agricultural regions of the West, where a 
 house-raising, or even a corn-husking, is a matter of 
 common interest and helpfulness, with any other feel 
 ing than that of broad-minded, generous independence. 
 This honorable independence marked the youth of 
 Garfield as it marks the youth of millions of the best 
 blood and brain now training for the future citizenship 
 and future government of the Kepublic. Garfield was 
 born heir to land, to the title of freeholder which has 
 been the patent and passport of self-respect with the 
 Anglo-Saxon race ever Jince Hengist and Horsa landed 
 
ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 29 * 
 
 on the shores of England. His adventure on the 
 canal an alternative between that and the deck of a 
 Lake Erie schooner was a farmer boy s device for 
 earning money, just as the New England lad begins a 
 possibly great career by sailing before the mast on a 
 coasting vessel or on a merchantman bound to the 
 farther India or to the China Seas. 
 
 No manly man feels anything of shame in looking 
 back to early struggles with adverse circumstances, 
 and no man feels a worthier pride than when he has 
 conquered the obstacles to his progress. But no one 
 of noble mould desires to be looked upon as having 
 occupied a menial position, as having been repressed 
 by a feeling of inferiority, or as having suffered the 
 evils of poverty until relief was found at the hand of 
 charity. General Garfield s youth presented no hard- 
 ships which family love and family energy did not 
 overcome, subjected him to no privations which he 
 did not cheerfully accept, and left no memories save 
 those which were recalled with delight and transmitted 
 with profit and with pride. 
 
 Garfield s early opportunities for securing a** educa 
 tion were extremely limited, and yet were sufficient to 
 develop in him an intense desire to learn. He could 
 read at three years of age, and each winter he had the 
 advantage of the district school. He read all the 
 books to be found within the circle of his acquaintance; 
 some of them he got by heart. While yet in child- 
 hood he was a constant student of the Bible and be 
 came familiar with its literature. The dignity and 
 earnestness of his speech in his maturer life gave evi 
 dence of this early training. At eighteen years of age 
 he was able to teach school, and thenceforward his 
 ambition was to obtain a college education. To this 
 end he bent all .his efforts, vorkmg in the harvest field, 
 *t the carpenter s tanch, and, in the winter seasou. 
 
292 BLAINES ECJLOGY OF GARFJELD. 
 
 ieaching the common schools of the neighborhood. 
 While thus laboriously occupied he found time to 
 prosecute his studies, and was so successful that at 
 twenty-two years of age he was able to enter the junior 
 class at Williams College, then under the presidency 
 of the venerable and honored Mark Hopkins, who, in 
 the fullness of his powers, survives the eminent pupil 
 lo whom he was of inestimable service. 
 
 The history of Garfield s life to this period presents 
 no novel features. He had undoubtedly shown perse 
 verance, self-reliance, self-sacrifice and ambition 
 qualities which, be it said for the honor of our country, 
 are everywhere to be found among the young men of 
 America. But from his graduation at Williams onward 
 to the hour of his tragical death Garfield s career was 
 eminent and exceptional. Slowly working through 
 his educational period, receiving his diploma when 
 twenty-four years of age, he seemed at one bound to 
 spring into conspicuous and brilliant success. Within 
 six years he was successively president of a college, 
 State Senator of Ohio, Major General in the Army of 
 the United States and Representative-elect to the 
 National Congress. A combination of honors so varied, 
 so elevated, within a period so brief and to a man so 
 young, is without precedent or parallel in the history 
 of the country. 
 
 Garfield s army life was begun with no other military 
 knowledge than such as he had hastily gained from 
 books in the few months preceding his march to the 
 field. Stepping from civil life to the head of a regi 
 ment, the first order he received when ready to cross 
 the Ohio was to assume command of a brigade and to 
 operate as an independent force in Eastern Kentucky. 
 His immediate duty was to check the advance of 
 Humphrey Marshall, who was marching down the Big 
 Sandy with the intention of occupying in connection 
 
ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELR 293 
 
 with other Confederate forces the entire territory of 
 Kentucky and of precipitating the State into secession. 
 This was at the close of the year 1861. Seldom, if 
 ever, has a young college professor been thrown into a 
 more embarrassing and discouraging position. He 
 knew just enough of military science, as he expressed 
 it himself, to measure the extent of his ignorance, and 
 with a handful of men he was marching in rough win 
 ter weather into a strange country among a hostile 
 population to confront a largely superior force under 
 the command of a distinguished graduate of West 
 Point, who had seen active and important service in 
 two preceding wars. 
 
 The result of the campaign is matter of history. 
 The skill, the endurance, the extraordinary energy 
 shown by Garfield, the courage he imparted to his 
 men, raw and untried as himself, the measures he 
 adopted to increase his force and to create in the 
 enemy s mind exaggerated estimates of his numbers, 
 bore perfect fruit in the routing of Marshall, the capture 
 of his camp, the dispersion of his force and the eman 
 cipation of an important territory from the control of 
 the rebellion. Coming at the close of a long series of 
 disasters to the Union arms, Garfield s victory had an 
 unusual and extraneous importance and in the popular 
 judgment elevated the young commander to the rank 
 of a military hero. With less than two thousand men 
 in his entire command, with a mobilized force of only 
 eleven hundred, without cannon, he had met an army 
 of five thousand and defeated them driving Marshall s 
 forces successively from two strongholds of their own 
 selection, fortified with abundant artillery. Major 
 General Buell, commanding the Department of the 
 Ohio, an experienced and able soldier of the regular 
 army, published an order of thanks and congratulation 
 on the brilliant result of the Big Sandy campaign, 
 
294 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 which would have turned the head of a less cool and 
 sensible man than Garfield. Buell declared that his 
 services had called into action the highest qualities of 
 a soldier, and President Lincoln supplemented these 
 words of praise by the more substantial reward of a 
 brigadier general s commission, to bear date from the 
 day of his decisive victory over Marshall. 
 
 The subsequent military career of Garfield fully sus 
 tained its brilliant beginning. With his new commis 
 sion he was assigned to the command of a brigade in 
 the Army of the Ohio, and took part in the second and 
 decisive day s fight in the great battle of Shiloh. The 
 remainder of the year 1862 was not especially eventful 
 to Garfield, as it was not to the armies with which he 
 was serving. His practical sense was called into exer 
 cise in completing the task, assigned him by General 
 Buell, of reconstructing bridges and re-establishing 
 lines of railway communication for the army. His 
 occupation in this useful but not brilliant field was 
 varied by service on courts-martial of importance, in 
 which department of duty he won a valuable reputa 
 tion, attracting the notice and securing the approval 
 of the able and eminent Judge Advocate General of 
 the Army. That of itself was warrant to honorable 
 fame; for among the great men who in those trying 
 days gave themselves, with entire devotion, to the ser 
 vice of their country, one who brought to that service 
 the ripest learning, the most fervid eloquence, the most 
 varied attainments, who labored with modesty and 
 shunned applause, who in the day of triumph sat re 
 served and silent and grateful as Francis Deak in the 
 hour of Hungary s deliverance was Joseph Holt, of 
 Kentucky, who in his honorable retirement enjoys the 
 respect and veneration of all who love the Union of 
 the States. 
 
 Early in 1863 Garfield was assigned to the highly 
 

 BLAINES EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 295 
 
 important and responsible post of chief of staff to 
 General Kosecrans, then at the head of the Army of 
 the Cumberland. Perhaps in a great military cam 
 paign no subordinate officer requires sounder judgment 
 and quicker knowledge of men than the chief of staff 
 to the commanding general. An indiscreet man in 
 such a position can sow more discord, breed more 
 jealousy and disseminate more strife than any other 
 officer in the entire organization. When General Gar- 
 field assumed his new duties he found various troubles 
 already well developed and seriously affecting the valufc 
 and efficiency of the Army of the Cumberland. The 
 energy, the impartiality and the tact with which he 
 sought to allay these dissensions and to discharge the 
 duties of his new and trying position will always re 
 main one of the most striking proofs of his great ver 
 satility. His military duties closed on the memorable 
 field of Chickamauga, a field which, however disastrous 
 to the Union arms, gave to him the occasion of winning 
 imperishable laurels. The very rare distinction was 
 accorded him of a great promotion for his bravery on 
 a field that was lost. President Lincoln appointed him 
 a major-general in the army of the United States for 
 gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chicka- 
 mauga. 
 
 The Army of the Cumberland was reorganized under 
 the command of General Thomas, who promptly of 
 fered Garfield one of its divisions. He was extremely 
 desirous to accept the position, but was embarrassed by 
 the fact that he had a year before been elected to Con 
 gress and the time when he must take his seat was 
 drawing near. He preferred to remain in the military 
 service and had within his own breast the largest con 
 fidence of success in the wider field which his new 
 rank opened to him. Balancing the arguments on the 
 one side and the other, anxious to determine what was 
 
296 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 for the best, desirous above all things to do his patriotic 
 duty, he was decisively influenced by the advice of 
 President Lincoln and Secretary Stariton, both of whom 
 assured him that he could at that time be of especial 
 value in the House of Representatives. He resigned 
 his commission of major-general on the 5th day of 
 December, 1863, and took his seat in the House of 
 Representatives on the 7th. He had served two years 
 and four months in the army and had just completed 
 his thirty-second year. 
 
 The Thirty-eighth Congress is pre-eminently entitled 
 in history to the designation of the War Congress. It 
 was elected while the war was flagrant and every 
 member was chosen upon the issues involved in the 
 continuance of the struggle. The Thirty-seventh Con 
 gress had, indeed, legislated to a large extent on war 
 measures, but it was chosen before any one believed 
 that secession of the States would be actually at 
 tempted. The magnitude of the work which fell upon 
 its successor was unprecedented, both in respect to the 
 vast sums of money raised for the support of the army 
 and navy, and of the new and extraordinary powers of 
 legislation which it was forced to exercise. Only 
 twenty-four States were represented, and one hundred 
 and eighty-two members were upon its roll. Among 
 these were many distinguished party leaders on both 
 sides, veterans in the public service, with established 
 reputations for ability and with that skill which comes 
 only from parliamentary experience. Into this as 
 semblage of men Garfield entered without special prep 
 aration, and it might almost be said unexpectedly. The 
 question of taking command of a division of troops un 
 der General Thomas or taking his seat in Congress was 
 kept open till the last moment so late, indeed, that the 
 resignation of his military commission and his appear 
 ance in the House were almost contemporaneous. He 
 
ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 297 
 
 wora the uniform of a major-general of the United 
 States Army on Saturday, and on Monday, in civilian s 
 dress, he answered to the roll-call as a Representative 
 in Congress from the State of Ohio. 
 
 He was especially fortunate in the constituency which 
 elected him. Descended almost entirely from New 
 England stock, the men of the Ashtabula district were 
 intensely radical on all questions relating to human 
 rights. Well educated, thrifty, thoroughly intelligent 
 in affairs, acutely discerning of character, not quick to 
 bestow confidence and slow to withdraw it, they were 
 at once the most helpful and most exacting of sup 
 porters. Their tenacious trust in men in whom they 
 have once confided is illustrated by the unparalleled 
 fact that Elisha Whittlesey, Joshua R. Giddings and 
 James A. Garfield represented the district for fifty-four 
 years. 
 
 There is no test of a man s ability in any depart 
 ment of public life more severe than service in the 
 House of Representatives ; there is no place where so 
 little deference is paid to reputation previously ac 
 quired, or to eminence won outside ; no place where so 
 little consideration is shown to the feelings or the fail 
 ures of beginners. What a man gains in the House he 
 gains by sheer force of his own character, and if he 
 loses and falls back, he must expect no mercy and will 
 receive no sympathy. It is a field in which the sur 
 vival of the strongest is the recognized rule, and where 
 no pretence can deceive and no glamour can mislead. 
 The real man is discovered, his worth is impartially 
 weighed, his rank is irreversibly decreed. 
 
 With possibly a single exception, Garfield was the 
 youngest member in the House when he entered and 
 was but seven years from his college graduation. But 
 he had not been in his seat sixty days before his abil 
 ity was recognized and his place conceded. He stepped 
 
298 BLAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 to the front with the confidence of one who belonged 
 there. The House was crowded with strong men of 
 both parties ; nineteen of them have since been trans 
 ferred to the Senate and many of them have served 
 with distinction in the Gubernatorial chairs of their re 
 spective States and on foreign missions of great conse 
 quence; but among them all none grew so rapidly, 
 none so firmly, as Garfield. As is said by Trevelyan 
 of his parliamentary hero, Garfield succeeded " because 
 all the world in concert could not have kept him in thv. 
 background, and because when once in the front he 
 played his part with a prompt intrepidity arid a com 
 manding ease that were but the outward symptoms c of 
 the immense reserves of energy on which it was in his 
 power to draw." Indeed, the apparently reserved force 
 which Garfield possessed was one of his great charac 
 teristics. He never did so well but that it seemed he 
 could easily have done better. He never expended so 
 much strength but that he seemed to be holding addi 
 tional power at oall. This is one of the happiest and 
 rarest distinctions of an effective debater, and often 
 counts for as much in persuading an assembly as the 
 eloquent and elaborate argument. 
 
 The great measure of Garfield s fame was filled by 
 his service in the House of Representatives. His mil 
 itary life, illustrated by honorable performance and 
 rich in promise, was, as he himself felt, prematurely 
 terminated and necessarily incomplete. Speculation as 
 to what he might have done in a field where the great 
 prizes are so few cannot be profitable. It is sufficient 
 to say that as a soldier he did his duty bravely ; he did 
 it intelligently ; he won an enviable fame, and he re 
 tired from the service without blot or breath against 
 him. As a lawyer, though admirably equipped for the 
 profession, he can scarcely be said to have entered on 
 ita practice, The few efforts he made at the bar 
 
BLAINES EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 299 
 
 vere distinguished by the same high order of talent 
 yhich he exhibited on every field where he was put to 
 lie test, and if a man may be accepted as a competent 
 judge of his own capacities and adaptations, the law 
 >vas the profession to which Garfield should have de 
 moted himself. But fate ordained otherwise, and his 
 Deputation in history will rest largely upon his service 
 n the House of Representatives. That service was 
 3xceptionally long. He was nine times consecutively 
 ihosen to the House, an honor enjoyed by not more 
 than six other Representatives of the more than five 
 thousand who have been elected from the organization 
 3f the government to this hour. 
 
 As a parliamentary orator, as a debater on an issue 
 squarely joined, where the position had been chosen 
 and the ground laid out, Garfield must be assigned a 
 very high rank. More, perhaps, than any man with 
 whom he was associated in public life, he gave careful 
 and systematic study to public questions, and he came 
 to every discussion in which he took part with elabor 
 ate and complete preparation. He was a steady and 
 indefatigable worker. Those who imagine that talent 
 or genius can supply the place or achieve the results 
 of labor will find no encouragement in Garfield s life. 
 In preliminary work he was apt, rapid and skilful. He 
 possessed in a high degree the power of readily absorb 
 ing ideas and facts, and, like Dr. Johnson, had the art 
 of getting from a book all that was of value in it by a 
 reading apparently so quick and cursory that it seemed 
 like a mere glance at the table of contents. He was a pre 
 eminently fair and candid man in debate, took no petty 
 advantage, stooped to no unworthy methods, avoided 
 personal allusions, rarely appealed to prejudice, did not 
 seek to inflame passion. He had a quicker eye for the 
 strong point of his adversary than for his weak point, 
 and on his own side he so marshaled his weighty argu- 
 
*300 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 ments as to make his hearers forget any possible lack 
 in the complete strength of his position. He had a 
 habit of stating his opponent s side with such amplitude 
 of fairness and such liberality of concession that his 
 followers often complained that he was giving his case 
 away. But never in his prolonged participation in the 
 proceedings of the House did he give his case away or 
 fail in the judgment of competent and impartial listen 
 ers to gain the mastery. 
 
 These characteristics, which marked Garfield as a 
 great debater, did not, however, make him a great par 
 liamentary leader. A parliamentary leader, as that 
 term is understood wherever free representative gov 
 ernment exists, is necessarily and very strictly the or 
 gan of his party. An ardent American defined the 
 instinctive warmth of patriotism when he offered the 
 toast : " Our country, always right, but right or wrong, 
 our country." The parliamentary leader who has a 
 body of followers that will do and dare and die for the 
 cause is one who believes his party always right, but 
 right or wrong, is for his party. No more important 
 or exacting duty devolves upon him than the selection 
 of the field and the time for contest. He must know 
 not merely how to strike, but where to strike and when 
 to strike. He often skilfully avoids the strength of his 
 opponent s position, and scatters confusion in his ranks 
 by attacking an exposed point when really the right 
 eousness of the cause and the strength of logical in- 
 trenchment are against him. He conquers often both 
 against the right and the heavy battalions ; as when 
 young Charles Fox, in the days of his toryism, carried 
 the House of Commons against justice, against its im 
 memorial rights, against his own convictions, if indeed 
 at that period Fox had convictions, and, in the interest 
 of a corrupt administration, in obedience to a tyrannical 
 sovereign, drove Wilkes from the seat to which 
 
BLAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIEIJX 301 
 
 electors of Middlesex had chosen him, and installed 
 Luttrell in defiance, not merely of law, but of public 
 decency. For an achievement of that kind Garfield 
 was disqualified disqualified by the texture of his 
 mind, by the honesty of his heart, by his conscience, 
 and by every instinct and aspiration of his nature. 
 
 The three most distinguished parliamentary leaders 
 hitherto developed in this country are Mr. Clay, Mr. 
 Douglas and Mr. Thaddeus Stevens. Each was a man 
 of consummate ability, of great earnestness, of intense 
 personality, differing widely each from the. others, and 
 yet with a single trait in common the power to com 
 mand. In the give and take of daily discussion; in 
 the art of controlling and consolidating reluctant and 
 refractory followers; in the skill to overcome all forms 
 of opposition and to meet with competency and courage 
 the varying phases of unlooked-for assault or unsus 
 pected defection, it would be difficult to rank with these 
 a fourth name in all our Congressional history. But 
 of these Mr. Clay was the greatest. It would, perhaps, 
 be impossible to find in the parliamentary annals of the 
 world a parallel to Mr. Clay in 1841, when at sixty- 
 four years of age he took the control of the Whig party 
 from the President who had received their suffrages, 
 against the power of Webster in the Cabinet, against 
 the eloquence of Choate in the Senate, against the 
 herculean efforts of Caleb dishing and Henry A. Wise 
 in the House. In unshared leadership, in the pride 
 and plenitude of power, he hurled against John Tyler 
 with deepest scorn the mass of that conquering column 
 which had swept over the land in 1840 and drove his 
 administration to seek shelter behind the lines of his 
 political foes. Mr. Douglas achieved a victory scarcely 
 less wonderful when, in 1854, against the secret desires 
 of a strong administration, against the wise counsel of 
 Hie older chiefs, against the conservative instincts and 
 
302 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 even the moral sense of the country, he forced a reluc 
 tant Congress into a repeal of the Missouri compromise. 
 Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, in his contests from 1865 to 
 1868, actually advanced his parliamentary leadership 
 until Congress tied the hands of the President and 
 governed the country by its own will, leaving only 
 perfunctory duties to be discharged by the Executive. 
 With two hundred millions of patronage in his hands 
 at the opening of the contest, aided by the active force 
 of Seward in the Cabinet and the moral power of 
 Chase on the bench, Andrew Johnson could not com 
 mand the support of one-third in either house against 
 the Parliamentary uprising of which Thaddeus Stevens 
 was the animating spirit and the unquestioned leader. 
 
 From these three great men Garfield differed radi 
 cally, differed in the quality. of his mind, in tempera 
 ment, in the form and phase of ambition. He could 
 not do what they did, but he could do what they could 
 not, and in the breadth of his Congressional work he 
 left that which will longer exert a potential influence 
 among men, and which, measured by the severe test of 
 posthumous criticism, will secure a more enduring and 
 more enviable fame. 
 
 Those unfamiliar with Garfield s industry and igno 
 rant of the details of his work may in some degree 
 measure them by the annals of Congress. No one of 
 the generation of public men to which he belonged has 
 contributed so much that will be valuable for future 
 reference. His speeches are numerous, many of them 
 brilliant, all of them well studied, carefully phrased 
 and exhaustive of the subject under consideration. 
 Collected from the scattered pages of ninety royal 
 octavo volumes of the Congressional Record they would 
 present an invaluable compendium of the political 
 history of the most important era through which the 
 national government has ever passed. When the his- 
 
BLAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 303 
 
 tory of this period shall be impartially written, when 
 war legislation, measures of reconstruction, protection 
 of human rights, amendments to the Constitution, 
 maintenance of public credit, steps toward specie re 
 sumption, true theories of revenue may be reviewed, 
 unsurrounded by prejudice and disconnected from par- 
 tisanism, the speeches of Garfield will be estimated at 
 their true value, and will be found to comprise a vast 
 magazine of fact and argument, of clear analysis and 
 sound conclusion. Indeed, if no other authority were 
 accessible, his speeches in the House of Representatives 
 from December, 1863, to June, 1880, would give a 
 well-connected history and complete defense of the im 
 portant legislation of the seventeen eventful years that 
 constitute his parliamentary life. Far beyond that, 
 his speeches would be found to forecast many great 
 measures, yet to be completed measures which he 
 knew were beyond the public opinion of the hour, but 
 which he confidently believed would secure popular 
 approval within the period of his own lifetime and by 
 the aid of his own efforts. 
 
 Differing, as Garfield does, from the brilliant parlia 
 mentary leaders, it is not easy to find his counterpart 
 anywhere in the record of American public life. He 
 perhaps more clearly resembles Mr. Seward in his 
 supreme faith in the all-conquering power of a principle. 
 He had the love of learning and the patient industry 
 of investigation to which John Quincy Adams owes his 
 prominence and his Presidency. He had some of those 
 ponderous elements of mind which distinguished Mr. 
 Webster and which, indeed, in all our public life have 
 left the great Massachusetts Senator without an intel 
 lectual peer. 
 
 In English parliamentary history, as in our own, the 
 leaders in the House of Commons . present points of 
 essential difference from Garfield. But some of-hia 
 
304 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 methods recall the best features in the strong, inde 
 pendent course of Sir Robert Peel, and striking re 
 semblances are discernible .in that most promising of 
 modern Conservatives, who died too early for his coun 
 try and his fame, the Lord George Bentinck. He had 
 all of Burke s love for the sublime and the beautiful, 
 with possibly something of his superabundance, and 
 in his faith and his magnanimity, in his power of state 
 ment, in his subtle analysis, in his faultless logic, in his 
 love of literature, in his wealth and world of illustra 
 tion, one is reminded of that great English statesman 
 of to-day, who, confronted with obstacles that would 
 daunt any but the dauntless, reviled by those whom he 
 would relieve as bitterly as by those whose supposed 
 rights he is forced to invade, still labors with serene 
 courage for the amelioration of Ireland and for the 
 honor of the English name. 
 
 Garfield s nomination to the Presidency, while not 
 predicted or anticipated, was not a surprise to the 
 country. His prominence in Congress, his solid quali 
 ties, his wide reputation, strengthened by his then 
 recent election as Senator from Ohio, kept him in the 
 public eye as a man occupying the very highest rank 
 among those entitled to be called statesmen. It was 
 not mere chance that brought him this high honor. 
 "We must," says Mr. Emerson, "reckon success a con 
 stitutional trait. If Eric is in robust health and has 
 slept well and is at the top of his condition and thirty 
 years old at his departure from Greenland he will steer 
 west and his ships will reach New Foundland. But 
 take Eric out and put in a stronger and bolder man and 
 the ships will sail six hundred, one thousand, fifteen 
 hundred miles farther and reach Labrador and New 
 England. There is no chance in results." 
 
 As a candidate Garfield steadily grew in popular 
 favor. He was met with a storm of detraction at the 
 
BLAINE S EULOGY OF G^RTIELD. 305 
 
 very hour of his nomination, and it continued with in 
 creasing volume and momentum until the close of his 
 victorious campaign : 
 
 No might nor greatness in mortality 
 Can censure scape ; back-wounding calumny 
 The whitest virtue strikes. What kings so strong 
 Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue. 
 
 Under it all he was calm and strong and confident ; 
 never lost his self-possession, did no unwise act, spoke 
 no hasty or ill-considered word. Indeed nothing in his 
 whole life is more remarkable or more creditable than 
 his bearing through those five full months of vitupera 
 tion a prolonged agony of trial to a sensitive man, a 
 constant and cruel draft upon the powers of moral en 
 durance. The great mass of these unjust imputations 
 passed unnoticed and, with the general debris of the 
 campaign, fell into oblivion. But in a few instances 
 the iron entered his soul and he died with the injury 
 unforgotten if not un forgiven. 
 
 One aspect of Garfield s candidacy was unprecedented. 
 Never before, in the history of partisan contests in this 
 country, had a successful Presidential candidate spoken 
 freely on passing events and current issues. To at 
 tempt anything of the kind seemed novel, rash and 
 even desperate. The older class of voters recalled the 
 unfortunate Alabama letter, in which Mr. Clay was 
 supposed to have signed his political death warrant. 
 They remembered also the hot-tempered effusion by 
 which General Scott lost a large share of his popularity 
 before his nomination, and the unfortunate speeches 
 which rapidly consumed the remainder. The younger 
 voters had seen Mr. Greeley in a series of vigorous and 
 original addresses, preparing the pathway for his own 
 defeat. Unmindful of these warnings, unheeding the 
 advice of friends, Garfield spoke to large crowds as he 
 
$06 feLAINE*S EULOGY OF GARFIEL&. 
 
 journeyed to and from New York in August, to a great 
 multitude in that city, to delegations and deputations 
 of every kind that called at Mentor during the sum 
 mer and autumn. With innumerable critics, watch 
 ful and eager to catch a phrase that might be turned 
 into odium or ridicule, or a sentence that might be 
 distorted to his own or his party s injury, Garfield did 
 not trip or halt in any one of his seventy speeches. 
 This seems all the more remarkable when it is re 
 membered that he did not write what he said, and 
 yet spoke with such logical consecutiveness of thought 
 and such admirable precision of phrase as to defy the 
 accident of misreport and the malignity of misrepre 
 sentation. 
 
 In the beginning of his Presidential life, Garfield s 
 experience did not yield him pleasure or satisfaction. 
 The duties that engross so large a portion of the Presi 
 dent s time were distasteful to him, and were unfavor 
 ably contrasted with his legislative work. " I have 
 been dealing all these years with ideas," he impatiently 
 exclaimed one day, " and here I am dealing only with 
 persons. I have been heretofore treating of the funda 
 mental principles of government, and here I am con 
 sidering all day whether A or B shall be appointed to 
 this or that office." He was earnestly seeking some 
 practical way of correcting the evils arising from the 
 distribution of overgrown and unwieldy patronage 
 evils always appreciated and often discussed by him, 
 but whose magnitude had been more deeply impressed 
 upon his mind since his accession to the Presidency. 
 Had he lived, a comprehensive improvement in the 
 mode of appointment and in the tenure of office would 
 have been proposed by him, and with the aid of Con 
 gress no doubt perfected. 
 
 But while many of the Executive duties were not 
 grateful to him, he was assiduous and conscientious in 
 

 BLAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 307 
 
 their discharge. From the very outset he exhibited 
 administrative talent of a high order. He grasped the 
 helm of office with the hand of a master. In this re 
 spect, indeed, he constantly surprised many who were 
 most intimately associated with him in the govern 
 ment, and especially those who had feared that he 
 might be lacking in the executive faculty. His dispo 
 sition of business was orderly ana rapid. His power 
 of analysis and his skill in classification enabled him 
 to dispatch a vast mass of detail with singular 
 promptness and ease. His Cabinet meetings were ad 
 mirably conducted. His clear presentation of official 
 subjects, his well-considered suggestion of topics on 
 which discussion was invited, his quick decision when 
 all had been heard, combined to show a thoroughness 
 of mental training as rare as his natural ability and his 
 facile adaptation to a new and enlarged field of labor. 
 
 With perfect comprehension of all the inheritances 
 of the war, with a cool calculation of the obstacles in 
 his way, impelled always by a generous enthusiasm, 
 Garfield conceived that much might be done by his 
 administration towards restoring harmony between the 
 different sections of the Union. He was anxious to go 
 South and speak to the people. As early as April he 
 had ineffectually endeavored to arrange for a trip to 
 Nashville, whither he had been cordially invited, and 
 he was again disappointed a few weeks later to find 
 that he could not go to South Carolina to attend the 
 centennial celebration of the victory of the Cowpens. 
 But for the autumn he definitely counted on being- 
 present at three memorable assemblies in the South - 
 the celebration at Yorktown, the opening of the Cotton 
 Exposition at Atlanta, and the meeting of the Army 
 of the Cumberland at Chattanooga. He was already 
 turning over in his mind his address for each occasion, 
 and the three taken together, he said to a friend, gave 
 
ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 him the exact scope and verge which he needed. At 
 Yorktown he would have before him the associations 
 of a hundred years that bound the South and the 
 North in the sacred memory of a common danger and 
 a common victory. At Atlanta he would present the 
 material interests and the industrial development 
 which appealed to the thrift and independence of every 
 household, and which should unite the two sections by 
 the instinct of self-interest and self-defense. At Chat 
 tanooga he would revive memories of the war only to 
 show that after all its disaster and all its suffering the 
 country was stronger and greater, the Union rendered 
 indissoluble, and the future, through the agony and 
 blood of one generation, made brighter and better for 
 all. 
 
 Garfield s ambition for the success of his administra 
 tion was high. With strong caution and conservatism 
 in his nature, he was in no danger of attempting rash 
 experiments or of resorting to the empiricism of states 
 manship. But he believed that renewed and closer at 
 tention should be given to questions affecting the ma 
 terial interests and commercial prospects of fifty 
 millions of people. He believed that our continental 
 relations, .extensive and undeveloped as they are, in 
 volved responsibility, and could be cultivated into 
 profitable friendship or be abandoned to harmful indif 
 ference or lasting enmity. He believed with equal 
 confidence that an essential forerunner to a new era of 
 national progress must be a feeling of contentment in 
 every section of the Union, and a generous belief that 
 the benefits and burdens of government would be com 
 mon to all. Himself a conspicuous illustration of what 
 ability and ambition may do under republican institu 
 tions, he loved his country with a passion of patriotic 
 devotion, and every waking thought was given to her 
 advancement. He was an American in all his aspira- 
 
BLAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 309 
 
 tions, and he looked to the destiny and influence of the 
 United States with the philosophic composure of Jeffer 
 son and the demonstrative confidence of John Adams. 
 
 The political events which disturbed the President s 
 serenity for many weeks before that fateful day in July 
 form an important chapter in his career, and, in his 
 own judgment, involved questions of principle and of 
 right which are vitally essential to the constitutional 
 administration of the Federal Government. It would 
 be out of place here and now to speak the language of 
 controversy ; but the events referred to, however they 
 may continue to be source of contention with others, 
 have become, so far as Garfield is concerned, as much 
 a matter of history as his heroism at Chickamauga or 
 his illustrious service in the House. Detail is not 
 needful, and personal antagonism shall not be rekindled 
 by any word uttered to-day. The motives of those op 
 posing him are not to be here adversely interpreted nor 
 their course harshly characterized. But of the dead 
 President this is to be said, and said because his own 
 speech is forever silenced, and he can be no more 
 heard except through the fidelity and the love of survi 
 ving friends : From the beginning to the end of the con 
 troversy he so much deplored, the President was never 
 for one moment actuated by any motive of gain to him 
 self or of loss to others. Least of all men did he har 
 bor revenge, rarely did he even show resentment, and 
 malice was not in his nature. He was congenially 
 employed only in the exchange of good offices and the 
 doing of kindly deeds. 
 
 There was not an hour, from the beginning of the 
 trouble till the fatal shot entered his body, when the 
 President would not gladly, for the sake of restoring 
 harmony, have retraced any step he had taken if such 
 retracing had merely involved consequences personal to 
 .himself. The pride of consistency or any supposed 
 
310 ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 sense of humiliation that might result from surrender 
 ing his position had not a feather s weight with him. 
 No man was ever less subject to such influences from 
 within or from without. But after most anxious de 
 liberation and the coolest survey of all the circum 
 stances, he solemnly believed that the true preroga 
 tives of the Executive were involved in the issue which 
 had been raised, and that he would be unfaithful to his 
 supreme obligation if he failed to maintain, in all their 
 vigor, the constitutional rights and dignities of his 
 great office. He believed this in all the convictions of 
 conscience when in sound and vigorous health, and he 
 believed it in his suffering and prostration in the last 
 conscious thought which his wearied mind bestowed on 
 r he transitory struggles of life. 
 
 More than this need not be said. Less than this 
 could not be said. Justice to the dead, the highest ob 
 ligation that devolves upon the living, demands the 
 declaration that in all the bearings of the subject, 
 actual or possible, the President was content in his 
 mind, justified in his conscience, immovable in his con 
 clusions. 
 
 The religious element in Garfield s character was 
 deep and earnest. In his early youth he espoused the 
 faith of the Disciples, a sect of that great Baptist Com 
 munion which in different ecclesiastical establishments 
 is so numerous and so influential throughout all parts 
 of the United States. But the broadening tendency 
 of his mind and his active spirit of inquiry were early 
 apparent and carried him beyond the dogmas of sect 
 and the restraints of association. In selecting a college 
 in which to continue his education, he rejected Beth 
 any, though presided over by Alexander Campbell, the 
 greatest preacher of his church. His reasons were 
 characteristic : first, that Bethany leaned too heavily 
 toward slavery ; and, second, that being himself a Dis- 
 
ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 31 ^ 
 
 ciple and the son of Disciple parents, he had little ac 
 quaintance with people of other beliefs, and he thought 
 it would make him more liberal, quoting his own 
 words, both in his religious and general views, to go 
 into a new circle and be under new influences. 
 
 The liberal tendency which he anticipated as the 
 result of wider culture was fully realized. He was 
 emancipated from mere sectarian belief, and with eager 
 interest pushed his investigations in the direction of 
 modern progressive thought. He followed with quick 
 ening step in the paths of exploration and speculation 
 so fearlessly trodden by Darwin, by Huxley, by 
 Tyndall and by other living scientists of the radical 
 and advanced type. His own church, binding its dis 
 ciples by no formulated creed, but accepting the Old 
 and New Testaments as the word of God with unbiased 
 liberality of private interpretation, favored, if it did 
 not stimulate, the spirit of investigation. Its mem 
 bers profess with sincerity, and profess only to be of 
 one mind and one faith with those who immediately 
 followed the Master, and who were first called Chris 
 tians at Antioch. 
 
 But however high Garfield reasoned of " fixed fate, 
 free-will, foreknowledge absolute," he was never separ 
 ated from the Church of the Disciples in his affections 
 and in his associations. For him it held the ark of the 
 covenant. To him it was the gate of heaven. The 
 world of religious belief is full of solecisms and contra 
 dictions. A philosophic observer declares that men by 
 the thousand will die in defence of a creed whose doc 
 trines they do not comprehend, and whose tenets they 
 habitually violate. It is equally true that men by the 
 thousand will cling to church organizations with in 
 stinctive and undying fidelity when their belief in ma- 
 turer years is radically different from that which in 
 spired them as neophytes. 
 
312 BLAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 But after this range of speculation and this latitude 
 of doubt, Garfield came back always with freshness and 
 delight to the simpler instincts of religious faith, which, 
 earliest implanted, longest survive. Nc many weeks 
 before his assassination, walking on the banks of the 
 Potomac with a friend, and conversing on those topics 
 of personal religion concerning which noble natures 
 have an unconquerable reserve, he said that he found 
 the Lord s Prayer and the simple petitions learned in 
 infancy infinitely restful to him, not merely in their 
 stated repetition, but in their casual and frequent re 
 call as he went about the daily duties of life. Certain 
 texts of Scripture had a very strong hold on his mem 
 ory and his heart. He heard, while in Edinburgh 
 some years ago, an eminent Scotch preacher who pre 
 faced his sermon with reading the eighth chapter of the 
 Epistle to the Romans, which book had been the sub 
 ject of careful study with Garfield during all his re 
 ligious life. He was greatly impressed by the elocution 
 of the preacher, and declared that it had imparted a 
 new and deeper meaning to the majestic utterances of 
 St. Paul. He referred often in after years to that 
 memorable service, and dwelt with exaltation of feel 
 ing upon the radiant promise and the assured hope 
 with which the great Apostle of the Gentiles was 
 "persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor 
 principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
 . things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of 
 God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 The crowning characteristic of General Garfield s re 
 ligious opinions, as, indeed, of all his opinions, was his 
 liberality. In all things he had charity. Tolerance 
 was of his nature. He respected in others the qualities 
 which he possessed himself sincerity of conviction and 
 frankness of expression. With him the inquiry was 
 
ELAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 313 
 
 not so much what a man believes, but does he believe 
 it? The lines of his friendship and his confidence en 
 circled men of every creed and men of no creed, and to 
 the end of his life on his ever-lengthening list of friends 
 were to be found the names of a pious Catholic priest 
 and of an honest-minded and generous-hearted free 
 thinker. 
 
 On the morning of Saturday, July second, the Pres 
 ident was a contented and happy man not in an ordi 
 nary degree, but joyfully, almost boyishly happy. On 
 his way to the railroad station, to which he drove 
 slowly, in conscious enjoyment of the beautiful morn 
 ing, with an unwonted sense of leisure and a keen an 
 ticipation of pleasure, his talk was all in the grateful 
 and gratulatory vein. He felt that after four months 
 of trial his administration was strong in its grasp of af 
 fairs, strong in popular favor and destined to grow 
 stronger ; that grave difficulties confronting him at his 
 inauguration had been safely passed ; that trouble lay 
 behind him, and not before him ; that he was soon to 
 meet the wife whom he loved, now recovering from an 
 illness which had but lately disquieted and at times 
 almost unnerved him; that he was going to his alma 
 mater to renew the most cherished associations of his 
 young manhood, and to exchange greetings with those 
 whose deepening interest had followed every step of his 
 upward progress from the day he entered upon his col 
 lege course until he had attained the loftiest elevation 
 in the gift of his countrymen. 
 
 Surely, if happiness can ever come from the honors 
 or triumphs of this world, on that quiet July morning 
 James A. Garfield may well have been a happy man. 
 No foreboding of evil haunted him; no slightest pre 
 monition of danger clouded his sky. His terrible fate 
 was upon him in an instant. One moment he stood 
 erect, strong, confident in the years stretching peace- 
 
314 BLAINE S EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 
 
 fully out before him. The next he lay wounded, 
 bleeding, helpless, doomed to weary weeks of torture, 
 to silence and the grave. 
 
 Great in life, he was surpassjngly great in death. 
 For no cause, in the very frenzy of wantonness and 
 wickedness, by the red hand of murder, he was thrust 
 from the full tide of this world s interest, from its 
 hopes, its aspirations, its victories, into the visible 
 presence of death and he did not quail. Not alone 
 for the one short moment in which, stunned and dazed, 
 he could give up life, hardly aware of its relinquish- 
 ment, but through days of deadly languor, through 
 weeks of agony, that was not less agony because si 
 lently borne, with clear sight and calm courage he 
 looked into his open grave. What blight and ruin 
 met his anguished eyes whose lips may tell what 
 brilliant, broken plans, what baffled, high ambitions, 
 what sundering of strong, warm manhood s friendships, 
 what bitter rending of sweet household ties ! Behind 
 him a proud, expectant nation, a great host of sustain 
 ing friends, a cherished and happy mother, wearing the 
 full, rich honors of her early toil and tears ; the wife of 
 his youth, whose whole life lay in his; the little boys 
 not yet emerged from childhood s day of frolic; the 
 fair, young daughter ; the sturdy sons just springing 
 into closest companionship, claiming every day and 
 every day rewarding a father s love and care ; and in 
 his heart the eager, rejoicing power to meet all de 
 mands. Before him, desolation and great darkness! 
 And his soul was not shaken. His countrymen were 
 thrilled with instant, profound and universal sympathy. 
 Masterful in his mortal weakness, he became the centre 
 of a nation s love, enshrined in the prayers of a world. 
 But all the love and all the sympathy could not share 
 with him his suffering. He trod the wine-press alone. 
 With unfaltering front he faced death. With unfail- 
 
BLAINES EULOGY OF GARFIELD. 315 
 
 ing tenderness he took leave of life. Above the de 
 moniac hiss of the assassin s bullet he heard the voice 
 of God. With simple resignation he bowed to the 
 Divine decree. 
 
 As the end drew near, his early craving for the sea 
 returned. The stately mansion of power had been to 
 him the wearisome hospital of pain, and he begged to 
 be taken from its prison walls, from its oppressive, 
 stifling air, from its homelessness and its hopelessness. 
 Gently, silently, the love of a great people bore the 
 pale sufferer to the longed-for healing of the sea, to live 
 or to die, as God should will, within sight of its 
 heaving billows, within sound of its manifold voices. 
 With wan, fevered face tenderly lifted to the cooling 
 breeze, he looked out wistfully upon the ocean s 
 changing wonders ; on its far sails, whitening in the 
 morning light ; on its restless waves, rolling shoreward 
 to break and die beneath the noonday sun ; on the red 
 clouds of evening, arching low to the horizon ; on the 
 serene and shining pathway of the stars. Let us think 
 that his dying eyes read a mystic meaning which only 
 the rapt and parting soul may know. Let us believe 
 that in the silence of the receding world he heard the 
 great waves breaking on a further shore, and felt al 
 ready upon his wasted brow the breath of the eternal 
 toorning. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 National Convention of 1884 at Chicago, 
 
 A CLOUDLESS sky, bright sunlight, and a breeze 
 from the lake, welcomed the delegates to the first 
 day s session of the national convention. Before 
 eight o clock the hotel lobbies were crowded to 
 suffocation, and guests had to wait for places at the 
 breakfast tables. An hour before noon, the time 
 set for the meeting of the convention, the sidewalks 
 leading to the Exposition Building were crowded, 
 bands of music played, peddlers of Blaine, Arthur, 
 and Logan badges hawked their wares, and occa 
 sionally an enthusiastic friend of one of the can 
 didates addressed on the street corners a throng of 
 curious idlers. 
 
 The Exposition Building, in which the conven 
 tion was held, fronts on Michigan avenue. In its 
 rear are the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad, built upon the shores of the lake. The 
 building itself resembles more than anything else 
 a huge machine-shop without smokepipes. There 
 is a central building, two long glass-roofed exten 
 sions running North and South, and two huge 
 wings, each fronting on the avenue. The building 
 is of brick, painted a sombre, green color, which 
 the storms of five years have turned mouldy. 
 
 316 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 317 
 
 Over the main entrance was hung a long linen 
 banner, upon which, painted in blue letters, edged 
 with red, were the words, " Kepublican National 
 Convention." A profusion of big flags decorated 
 the gabled archway of the main hall, streamers 
 and small banners floated from the poles along the 
 roof, and heavy silk flags crackled in the wind 
 from the main staff" on the central dome of the 
 building and its projecting wings. 
 
 At half-past eleven o clock, the pedestrians on 
 Adams street were halted by a procession marching 
 down to the Exposition Building. An excellent 
 band played a lively march and it was followed by 
 the Young Men s Republican Club. Every mem 
 ber was attired in a light spring suit of clothes, a 
 high white hat and a fancy cane. The club marched 
 with the regularity and precision of veterans. The 
 ladies smiled as the handsome fellows passed by, 
 and they passed into the building with an evident 
 determination to howl the loudest for their favorite 
 candidate. 
 
 The different delegations straggled into the hall 
 between eleven and twelve o clock. Some marched 
 in together; others straggled along by twos and 
 threes, keeping the ushers busy to find them 
 places. An enterprising manufacturer of patent 
 medicine had chartered a brass band and a huge 
 stage, on the sides of which were posters calling at 
 tention to the stuff and had stationed the dodger 
 at the main approach to the building, where it at- 
 
TftE CONVENfiOtf OF 1884. 319 
 
 tracted the attention of every passer. The ap 
 proaches to the main floor and the different galler 
 ies were indicated by signs, so that there was no 
 delay in seating the holders of tickets. Helmeted 
 policemen and doorkeepers decorated with blue 
 badges guarded the approaches and rigidly excluded 
 every intruder. 
 
 The huge, unwieldy machine for grinding out 
 presidential candidates settled to its work with a 
 buzz of talk and handshaking. 
 
 The distant band hummed rather than played 
 airs from " Patience," and at last Chairman Sabin, 
 with his broad, sallow face and curving moustache, 
 stepped forward and put his hand on the starting 
 bar, picking up a little mallet, sadly out of place in 
 a situation which needed a beetle to deal a con 
 trolling blow. A slim clergyman, with a white 
 hand and a small moustache, made an eloquent 
 prayer, which drew subdued applause from people 
 who mistook the peroration not unnaturally for a 
 speech, and the big, broad-shouldered Kansan Mar 
 tin, who acts as Secretary of the National Commit 
 tee, read an inaudible call. 
 
 A little stir, a sort of dressing of ranks and Sa- 
 bin s speech ended with the nomination for tempo 
 rary chairman of Powell Clayton, a tall, sallow, 
 round-headed, crop-haired Arkansan, with an 
 empty sleeve and the expression of a Southwest- 
 erner. Lodge, of Massachusetts, a crisp-haired, 
 brown-bearded young fellow, climbs a chair in the 
 
320 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 Massachusetts delegation and puts up John R. 
 Lynch. One great yell goes up the shrill cry of 
 Southern delegates as a dozen negroes jumped in 
 their seats, camp-meeting fashion. A sturdy, stocky 
 side-whiskered drover-like looking man, Butcher, 
 of New York, seconds the nomination, meeting the 
 Edmunds move half way with an Arthur welcome. 
 Gravity follows in every Elaine State, while the 
 Arthur States bubble and boil ovsr into the aisle. 
 Frank Hatton, slim and earnest, watches the bat 
 tle on one side, and Sharpe, with his bulldog face, 
 fairly looks ple.asant. Chris Magee, a tall, fine- 
 looking man, seeks a side aisle, while his alternate 
 slips into his seat, and Tom Cooper looks anxiously 
 from a high stage seat. 
 
 Speech-making begins; George William Curtis 
 on one side, suave, courtly, with a voice of wonder 
 fully sympathetic quality and face all soft serenity, 
 speaks, his voice rising and falling from one tremb 
 ling cadence to another, and Stewart on the other 
 side, with sharp, strident voice and clear, dark face, 
 and features with a straight, strong profile, puts 
 the Elaine side in a great stir and swing and 
 rustle. 
 
 There are other speeches. Carr, of Illinois, a 
 big, round fellow, with a crackling, explosive voice, 
 rides the buzz triumphantly. Roosevelt s boyish 
 effort is drowned in it. Hoar, a big, broad-chested 
 swimmer in this sea of manifold sound, breasts its 
 current for a few moments and, after a running 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 321 
 
 wrangle over the method of voting, the slow roll is 
 called. It takes two hours, man after man, lean 
 ing against the reading desk and shouting his share 
 of 820 names into space, wearies of the work. 
 
 By relays it goes on. A name is called ; up rises 
 a distant man, and shouts the syllabic reply, 
 Powell Clayton or John R. Lynch. The tally goes 
 on. The cheering is short and small. The inter 
 est lies below the names. Illinois starts off for 
 Clayton and when the votes change to Lynch a 
 ghout goes up. Connecticut shrewdly divides. Mc- 
 Kinley leads off in Ohio, with a big purple badge 
 on his breast. New Jersey runs by commentless, 
 but in New York every vote is watched until the 
 full Elaine strength is registered of twenty-nine. 
 
 In Pennsylvania McManes leads off for Lynch. 
 Grow raises his gray head to vote, arid Stewart 
 steps forward with hat and note-book tally in his 
 hand, as the roll runs through Republican districts 
 which vote for Clayton. Once there is a cheer over 
 Tom Platt, and when Virginia is reached and a 
 thin, weazened, long-haired figure, Mahone, rises, 
 the cheering rises and falls like the pulse of a 
 storm. The vote is known before it is announced, 
 and a tall Mississippian jumps in a chair and 
 waves the square yard of blue silk on which the 
 State is marked. 
 
 Yell, cheer and shout, hand-clapping and stamp 
 ing, and at last John R. Lynch, a mulatto of the 
 agile, facile type of ability in many directions, 
 21 
 
322 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 takes the gavel of a National Convention in his 
 hand. The rest is routine, and after an empty 
 stump-speech, the great barrel of a hall empties, 
 and surmise and speculation over the vote of 431 
 for Lynch and 387 for Clayton spreads over the 
 town. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN DETAIL. 
 
 The full proceedings of this most important con 
 vention in detail will be found below. On the 
 first day of the session, Tuesday, June 3d, the con 
 vention was called to order at 12.25 by United 
 States Senator Sabin, of Minnesota, as follows : 
 
 Gentlemen of the Eighth Republican National 
 Convention : The hour having arrived appointed 
 for the meeting of this convention, it will now be 
 opened with prayer by Rev. Frank Bristol, of 
 Chicago. 
 
 The prayer was then offered by Mr. Bristol as 
 follows : 
 
 " God of our fathers, we adore and worship Thee, 
 and to Thee, by whose grace and providence we 
 are what we are, as a nation, we would lift our 
 hearts in rendering thanksgiving and everlasting 
 prayer. 
 
 " We thank Thee for our glorious national heri 
 tage, for this magnificent land of wealthy hills and 
 fertile plains, and for the laws and institutions 
 which make it a land of progress and liberty. 
 
 " We thank Thee for our Christian sires, lovers 
 of freedom and of God, men of conscience and in 
 tegrity, whose names have jewelled history, and 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 323 
 
 the memory of whose deeds is an inspiration to 
 heroism and patriotic pride. 
 
 " We thank Thee for Plymouth Rock, for York- 
 town, for Appomattox, footsteps to mark the pro 
 gress of righteousness and the higher law. 
 
 " We thank Thee for the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence, the Constitution of the United States, 
 the Emancipation Proclamation, our blood-bought 
 charter of freedom. 
 
 " We thank Thee for the Republican party and 
 for its splendid history, and its still more splendid 
 possibilities. And now, as this great convention 
 enters on a work which will involve the most pre 
 cious interests of millions of people, and, in a large 
 sense, the interests of free institutions, we devoutly 
 and most earnestly supplicate the blessing of Al 
 mighty God. Bless the members of this body, the 
 homes, the States, the parts of the nation which 
 they represent. May the ambition of patriotism, 
 the wisdom of statesmanship and the righteousness 
 of Christian consciousness possess every breast and 
 control every action. And may the result of this 
 convention be in harmony with the will of God 
 concerning us, and be received with joy by the 
 people of the whole land. And grant, Almighty 
 God, that the coming political campaign may be 
 conducted with that intelligence, patriotism and 
 dignity of temper that becomes a great and intelli 
 gent people. Continue Thy mercies to us. Bless 
 our country with peace, prosperity and universal 
 enlightenment. May we never deny the faith of 
 our fathers. May we never cease to be a temper 
 ate, a free, an industrious, a Sabbath-keeping, a 
 God-fearing and a Christian people, blessed with 
 the righteousness which exalteth a nation. Amen. 
 
324 THE CONVENTION OF 1884, 
 
 The Chair The Secretary of the National Com 
 mittee will now read the call for the convention. 
 
 The secretary then read the call. 
 
 When he had finished Mr. Sabin addressed the 
 convention as follows : 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Convention : On behalf of the 
 National Republican Committee, permit me to 
 welcome you to Chicago. As chairman of that 
 committee it is both my duty and pleasure to call 
 you to order as a National Republican Convention. 
 This city, already known as the City of Conven 
 tions, is among the most cherished of all the spots 
 of our country sacred to the memories of a Re 
 publican. It is the birth-place of Republican vic 
 tory, On these fields of labor gathered the early 
 fathers of our political faith and planned the great 
 battle for the preservation of the Union. [Ap 
 plause.] 
 
 " Here they chose that immortal chief that led 
 us on to victory Abraham Lincoln. [Applause.] 
 Here were gathered in counsel those men who 
 secured the fruits of that long trouble by elevating 
 to the first place in the nation the foremost chief 
 tain of that great contest General Grant. [Loud 
 applause.] Here was afterwards witnessed that 
 signal triumph, which anticipated the wish of the 
 nation, by nominating, as color-bearer of the party, 
 that honored soldier, that shining citizen, that 
 representative American James A. Garfield. 
 [Loud applause.] Every deliberation of Republi 
 can forces on this historic ground has been followed 
 by signal victory, and every convention on this 
 spot has carried forward our T; " of battle until to- 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 325 
 
 day our forces overlook every position of the 
 enemy. 
 
 " Indeed, so secure now is the integrity of the 
 Union, so firmly imbedded in the Constitution and 
 laws of the land are the safeguards of individual 
 liberty, so fairly and fully achieved, that, by gen 
 eral consent, the time has now arrived for the new 
 disposition of party forces in contemplation of new 
 lines of operation. Having compassed the defeat 
 of our opponents on all former occasions, the party 
 is about to set its house in order, and take counsel 
 as to the direction and the management of its 
 future course. 
 
 " In the comparative lull of party strife, which 
 distinguishes the present condition of national 
 politics, there is discernible an increasing disposi 
 tion to look after the men who are to execute, and 
 ihe methods that are to guide them in the execu 
 tion of the powers committed to them for the man 
 agement of the affairs of the Republic. As a result 
 of the rule adopted in the last National Republican 
 Convention, this convention finds itself constituted 
 of a large majority of gentlemen who have been 
 clothed with the delegated powers of the conven 
 tion in their several congressional districts. On 
 this consideration may be grounded a hope that 
 the voice of the people [applause] will, beyond 
 recent precedent, be felt in moulding the work you 
 are assembled to perform, so that its results may 
 be such as to win the unhesitating and undivided 
 support of every lover of those principles by which 
 the party has heretofore triumphed and yet will 
 triumph. [Applause.] 
 
 When we consider the memories of the past so 
 intimately connected with this city, and even with 
 
326 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 this edifice, which the people ef Chicago have so 
 generously placed at your disposal ; when we re 
 flect upon the deep-seated concern among all people 
 in the result of your deliberations, and the various 
 incentives to the abandonment of personal ambi 
 tions in the interest of the party welfare, you can 
 not wonder that the Committee, and beyond it the 
 great Republican masses, extend you a most hearty 
 welcome to this scene of labor, in the constant hope 
 that your efforts will result in such an exposition 
 of Republican doctrine and disclose such a just 
 appreciation of Republican men in the choice of 
 your nominees as to rejoice the hearts of your con 
 stituents and keep victory on the side of your 
 ever victorious banner. In conclusion, at the re 
 quest of the National Republican Convention, I 
 have to propose to you as temporary chairman of 
 this Convention the Hon. Powell Clayton, of Ar 
 kansas. [Loud applause.] 
 
 The remaining preliminaries were such as must 
 always be arranged in a National Convention. A 
 temporary organization was effected, the creden 
 tials of delegates from the various States and 
 Territories were examined, committees were ap 
 pointed, incidentally speeches were made, the 
 leading spirits of the Convention began to get their 
 work in, the favorites were received with applause 
 when they made their appearance, and through it 
 all the buzz of electioneering for the different 
 candidates went on. There was suppressed excite 
 ment which was only waiting its opportunity to 
 break out and go crazy over some " favorite son." 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 327 
 
 The first day was consumed in getting the huge 
 body into shape and readiness for the serious busi 
 ness on hand. The Convention comprised a fine 
 body of men men who were intelligent, quick 
 of apprehension, evidently bent on business, earnest 
 in spirit and able as statesmen and as political 
 leaders. 
 
 The feature of the second day of the Convention 
 was the enthusiasm over Elaine, during which an 
 unprecedented scene was witnessed. When the 
 committee on permanent organization was ready 
 to report, Smalls, the colored delegate from South 
 Carolina, and one or two others, questioned the 
 propriety of making the permanent organization 
 before the credentials committee had reported as 
 to the title of contested delegates, but these few 
 objectors were quietly overruled, as they were in 
 1880, and the chairman of the committee, George 
 Williams, of Indiana, presented the report. 
 
 It advised the election of ex-Senator John B. 
 Henderson, of Missouri, as permanent chairman 
 of the Convention, together with a long list of vice- 
 presidents and secretaries, too numerous even to be 
 read to the Convention. There were not half a 
 dozen dissenting votes to the adoption of the 
 committee report. Some of the Elaine leaders had 
 been advised to oppose the election of Henderson 
 by moving to substitute Galusha A. Grow, of 
 Pennsylvania, but this they refused to do. Sev 
 eral days ago one of the most prominent of the 
 
328 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 Elaine managers publicly avowed that the election 
 of General Henderson as permanent president of 
 the Convention would be acceptable, and soon 
 afterward General Henderson publicly declared 
 that he would not present President Arthur s name 
 to the Convention. 
 
 Knowing General Henderson s choice to be An 
 thur, the Elaine managers were perfectly willing 
 to give him a solid vote for permanent chairman. 
 As soon as the election was announced, Mr. Lynch 
 appointed Mr. Grow, Mr. Hoar, of Massachusetts, 
 and Mr. Williams, of Indiana, a committee to 
 escort Mr. Henderson to the chair. The temporary 
 chairman then placed his soft black felt hat on the 
 desk before him, stuffed a few pamphlets in his 
 pocket, and prepared to vacate a seat to which for 
 the first time in the history of the party a man of 
 his color has been elected. 
 
 Loud cheering greeted Henderson as, flanked 
 on either side by this distinguished escort, he 
 ascended the platform and advanced to the desk. 
 The presiding officer of the Convention is a tall, 
 slender, well-proportioned man, who does not look 
 to be over forty-five years of age, but is consider 
 ably older. He has regular features, blue eyes, 
 thin, brown hair, a bald spot on the back of his 
 skull, carefully-trimmed brown chin- whiskers, and, 
 with gold-bowed glasses astride his nose, looks the 
 picture of an active, prosperous lawyer. 
 
 From the outside pocket of Mr. Henderson s 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 329 
 
 coat protruded the end of a package of manuscript 
 containing his address to the Convention, He laid 
 this paper on the desk and took the handle of the 
 new gavel, trimmed with ribbons, in his hand, and 
 sharply rapped the body to silence. A bustling 
 usher advanced and pinned a huge white silk, gold* 
 tasseled badge upon the lapel of Mr. Henderson s 
 coat, and, with a prefatory cough, he began to 
 read his speech. 
 
 The Convention listened quietly until the Chair 
 man, with questionable taste, called attention to 
 some of the more prominent men upon whom it 
 could fitly bestow the honor of the nomination. 
 Without mentioning names, Mr. Henderson, in 
 unmistakable terms, brought out singly the differ 
 ent candidates who are most prominently dis 
 cussed. First on his list was Arthur, and, as he 
 complimented the Administration, a cheer, loud, 
 brief, and by no means enthusiastic, was given by 
 the President s followers. 
 
 His next reference was to Vermont s candidate, 
 and the few Edmunds men in the hall made all f 
 the noise they could. The reference to John 
 Sherman brought forth shrieks of delight from 
 half the Ohio delegation and a few men in the 
 galleries. Logan was next on the list, and he 
 received the loudest and heartiest applause of any 
 of the gentlemen before mentioned. His friends 
 in the Convention and among the spectators they 
 were numerous shouted at the top of their lungs 
 for the Senator from Illinois. 
 
330 THE CONVENTION OF 1884, 
 
 Almost before the echo of the last cheer had 
 died away the Chairman said : " Maine has her 
 honored favorite, whose splendid abilities and per 
 sonal qualities have endeared him to the hearts of 
 his friends, and the brilliancy of whose genius 
 challenges the admiration of all." 
 
 Before the words were fairly out of the Chair 
 man s mouth the Pennsylvaniaris on the front row 
 began to cheer. The faint opening applause ex 
 tended and swelled until, from the rear of the 
 stage to the end of the hall, a hoarse reverberating 
 roar arose and echoed from end to end of the 
 building and outside, until the noise was audible 
 above the bustle of street traffic two blocks away. 
 
 The first wild burst of enthusiasm only added 
 fuel to the flame, and a second great, spontaneous, 
 full-hearted cheer rose from the floor to the rafters 
 and fairly shook the structure. Then followed a 
 scene seldom witnessed in any public body, and 
 never equalled in National Conventions of late 
 years. The delegates, alternates and spectators 
 rose to their feet as by a common impulse, and 
 testified their admiration of the people s candidate, 
 Cheers, shouts, sharp screams and animated howl 
 ings broke upon the Convention with appalling 
 force. 
 
 Men tossed their hats in the air, waved pocket- 
 handkerchiefs, shook their canes, mounted chairs, 
 leaped- back and forth in the aisles, and acted like 
 madmen, The New York delegation, excepting a 
 

 THE CONVENTION OF 1884, 
 
 few Edmunds men, was on its feet, screaming as 
 loudly as the Pennsylvanians, while Ohio and Illi 
 nois contributed liberally to the racket. 
 
 The tremendous burst of enthusiasm carried 
 away the colored brethren, and they screamed 
 with true Methodistic camp-meeting fervor. Ex 
 hausted at last, the noise abated only to be again 
 renewed with fresh force. Four times the Con 
 vention rose to its feet, and four times did the vast 
 assemblage exhaust itself in noise. A little knot 
 of New England people only kept their seats, and 
 were not budged by the excitement. 
 
 The display of public sentiment in Elaine s 
 behalf was not unexpected, but it overwhelmed 
 those gentlemen who, for three days past, had been 
 forking by hook or crook to defeat the peopled 
 choice. It revealed to them, as by the flash of an 
 electric light, the vast and irresistible force demand 
 ing his nomination for the Presidency. It showed 
 them the weakness of their own cause in a manner 
 not susceptible of argument, and threw a wet 
 blanket upon their burning hopes of bringing forth 
 the dark horse winner. At last the excitement 
 abated, and the president readjusted his glasses, 
 preparatory to resuming his speech. He had 
 hardly opened his mouth when a voice high up in 
 the gallery over the stage in a shrill tone ex 
 claimed " Hit em agin ! " and for the last time a 
 wild roar of applause went through the vast hall. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 Enthusiasm for the Plumed Knight. 
 
 THE third day of the Convention was of much 
 more importance than the preceding, and two 
 sessions were held. In the morning legislation for 
 the party was discussed and adopted and the 
 national platform was agreed upon. 
 
 The proposition of a minority of the Committee 
 on Rules, changing the basis of representation in 
 the National Convention from the present electoral 
 system to that of the voting strength of the party 
 on an apportionment, after each presidential elec 
 tion, commended itself to the conservative senti 
 ment of the Convention, but it had the misfortune 
 to be considered before the nominations were made. 
 The consequence was that it was unmercifully 
 handled. The Southern delegate resented it with 
 some heat as an attempt to curtail his rights, and 
 at this particular time the friends of no candidate 
 were desirous of treading on the toes of the Southern 
 delegate. 
 
 Martin I. Townsend, representing Arthur, and 
 Judge West, of Ohio, representing Elaine, came to 
 his rescue. Everybody seemed to have something 
 to say against the proposition, and even Massa- 
 
THE CONTENTION OF 1884. 333 
 
 chusetts, where it originated, finally put forward 
 General Long with a motion to bury it in the Na 
 tional Committee room. Decent burial, however, 
 was considered too decent for it with the South 
 erners holding the balance of power between candi 
 dates, and so it was ignominiously voted down. 
 
 The report of the Committee on Resolutions 
 caused no debate. Everybody was equally sur 
 prised at its length and breadth and thickness. 
 " Very strong and very Blainey," was one comment, 
 and Murat Halstead said Elaine s tracks ran all 
 over it like the track of a buzz saw. 
 
 The call of States for the appointment of mem 
 bers of the National Committee brought the Con 
 vention to the dinner recess. These appointments 
 were not so easily made as heretofore, for the rea 
 son that a rule passed in the morning disqualified 
 for membership the office-holding class, of which 
 the committee has been heretofore in the main 
 composed. 
 
 In view of the confusion caused by this new deal 
 a good many States were not prepared, and begged 
 to be excused when their names were called. It 
 was a little disappointing that the Convention did 
 not begin the work of nomination before dinner ; 
 but neither side seemed quite ready, and so there 
 was a skip of the whole afternoon in fixing the 
 hour of recess. 
 
 The few hours of delay seemed to feed instead 
 of wasting the enthusiasm of the Blaine columns. 
 
334 THE CONTENTION OF 1884. 
 
 Their headquarters were in the possession of & 
 shouting mob. In the rotunda, on another floor of 
 the hotel, a glee club, hired by the Arthur man 
 agers at $50 a day to go around and sing popular 
 songs with the name of the President ingeniously 
 interwoven therein, tried to make a diversion, but 
 without avail. The audience good-naturedly ap 
 plauded the singing, but filled every pause with 
 three cheers for Elaine. 
 
 The climax of excitement seemed reached when 
 a band came marching into the hotel playing, 
 " Rally around the flag, boys," and followed by an 
 impromptu procession of about 1,000 men, bearing 
 aloft a portrait of Elaine, wearing Elaine badges 
 and hoarse with Elaine cheers. 
 
 The crowd turned in behind and, marching out 
 of the hotel, moved in a body, with continual rein 
 forcements, towards the Convention hall, and when 
 it arrived there it was almost a mob. It was 
 through this phalanx of Elaine s followers and in 
 this Elaine atmosphere that the exercises of the 
 evening began. 
 
 The scene at the night session was one of the 
 most impressive ever known in American political 
 history, and is thus described by an eye witness in 
 a peculiarly graphic manner: 
 
 "A thousand gleaming gas-lights, 10,000 eager 
 faces, long rows of brilliant banners and waving 
 flags, and the flashing coats-of-arms of the States 
 formed a dazzling picture in Exposition Hall to* 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 335 
 
 night. The business of the evening was the nomi 
 nation of candidates for President, and the session, 
 while lacking the excitement of balloting for choice, 
 was the most entertaining of the Convention. 
 
 "Long before the delegates took their seats 
 every chair allotted to spectators was filled. The 
 handsome toilettes of the ladies formed a rich back 
 ground to the dark outline of the men. Two 
 banks of humanity, one piled up to the roof in the 
 rear of the stage, and the other heaped in ascend 
 ing tiers to a height of fifty feet at the rear of the 
 hall, faced each other. On the two raised plat 
 forms stretching the whole length of the vast audi 
 torium on either side were packed like sandwiches 
 rows of favored spectators. First come first served 
 is the rule in the management of the Convention, 
 and this rule applies to the seats improperly sup 
 posed to have been reserved for the press as well 
 as those assigned to the public. 
 
 " Outside the building, at the hour of meeting, 
 fully 5,000 people stood patiently in line waiting 
 an opportunity to enter. Stupid doorkeepers, in 
 solent watchmen and consequential ushers did all 
 in their power to annoy and harass the people. 
 Half an hour before the Convention met, the dele 
 gates began to enter the hall, the band played with 
 renewed vigor, and the peddlers of fans did a lively 
 business. 
 
 " The atmosphere of the hall was hot and op 
 pressive. Hardly a breath of air passed through 
 the open window in the roof, and the heat of the 
 gas and the warmth of the crowd raised the tem 
 perature to an uncomfortable degree. As one 
 after another of the most prominent delegates 
 entered they were faintly cheered by their friends 
 
336 THE CONVENTION OP 1884. 
 
 in the audience, but there was none of the hotly 
 expressed admiration for individuals that was a 
 marked feature of the Convention of 1880. 
 
 "As a matter of fact there has been but little 
 marked personal leadership on the floor of the 
 Convention for any of the candidates, and the local 
 favorites are not numerous. Mr. Hoar is almost 
 certain to receive a tender welcome. He is re 
 membered as the presiding officer of the Conven 
 tion four years ago. Chairman Henderson, Secre 
 tary McPherson, young Roosevelt and Lodge, 
 ex-Congressman Lynch, Galusha A. Grow, George 
 William Curtis, Senator Mahone and General Carr, 
 of Illinois, are among the best known men in the 
 hall. 
 
 " The most striking feature at night is the faces 
 of the people. The gas-lights are so arranged that 
 they seem to throw a peculiar ghastly pallor upon 
 the countenances of those beneath, making them 
 appear almost waxen in color. This array of up 
 turned, animated faces, seen from the stage eleva 
 tion, possesses a fascination for the on-looker that 
 rivals the interest felt in the proceedings. 
 
 "At 7.30 o clock the gavel of Chairman Hender 
 son fell sharply upon the desk, and instantly a 
 hush fell upon the great assembly. Hardly had 
 the echo of the hammer died away when the sharp 
 voice of Mr. Dutcher, of New York, was heard 
 moving the adoption of a resolution to issue 500 
 additional tickets of admission to the already over 
 crowded hall. The resolution was adopted. Bayne, 
 of Pennsylvania, moved that the call of the mem 
 bers of the National Committee, announced this 
 afternoon, be reread, but his request was greeted 
 with hisses. 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 337 
 
 i( There seemed to be a suspicion that Colonel 
 Bayne desired delay, and there was loud applause 
 as Augustus Brandegee stepped from a seat in the 
 rear of the chairman and advanced to the front of 
 the stage, Connecticut being first in the list of 
 States called for the nomination of candidates. 
 Brandegee presented the name of General Hawley. 
 A thick, broad-shouldered, heavy-set man, under 
 medium size, somewhat resembling Secretary 
 Bristow in personal appearance, his face adorned 
 with a heavy, short-cropped, gray moustache and 
 a tuft of gray whiskers, is Brandegee. He is not 
 an accomplished orator, but an excellent rough- 
 and-ready talker. 
 
 " The nomination of General Logan was seconded 
 by General Prentiss, of Missouri, a venerable, gray- 
 haired, gray-bearded man, somewhat resembling in 
 appearance a Methodist parson, and in the tremb 
 ling tones of his voice the oratory of a Baptist 
 class-leader. Mr. Prentiss made a speech of such 
 length that the impatient Convention cheered and 
 hissed him down. Indiana was called next, but 
 did not, as was expected, present the name of Har 
 rison. Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, were 
 slowly called by the Clerk, with no response. 
 
 " * Maine, he shouted, and sank back into his 
 seat, knowing .full well the response that would 
 follow. There was an instant, clear, loud, wild 
 burst of applause that seemed to come from the 
 throat of every man in the hall. To describe, in 
 its fullness of enthusiasm, in its spontaneity of 
 sentiment, in its fervor of devotion, the scene that 
 followed a scene such as was never before wit 
 nessed in a National Convention is well-nigh 
 impossible. 
 22 
 
338 Tfifc CONVENTION or 1884. 
 
 " First came the cheer rattling through the hall 
 like a volley of infantry; then deepening, as it 
 grew in force, like the roar of cannon, an 4 swelling 
 as it progressed like the crash of a thunderbolt 
 across the skies. From the stage to the end of the 
 hall, a distance of the eighth of a mile, the cheer 
 ing, rolling in dense waves of sound, hoarse and 
 shrill, sharp and clear, commingling in a wild 
 tumult of applause, which, in the minds of all who 
 heard it, and of those who witnessed the great 
 scene, meant the nomination of James G. Elaine. 
 
 " With common impulse the audience, delegates 
 and spectators, jumped to their feet. Staid old 
 politicians on the platform, venerable senators and 
 representatives, long tried in Congress ; new dele 
 gates, who were never before in a National Con 
 vention, were drawn into the whirlpool of excite 
 ment as straws are sucked into the eddies of a 
 river. Every delegate, save a bare patch here and 
 there on the floor, where the friends of Arthur and 
 of Edmunds sat, mounted his chair and took part 
 in the demonstration. 
 
 " Looking over the human sea from the stage to 
 the balconies, there was a surging mob of men and 
 women waving hats, umbrellas, parasols and flags. 
 Against the dark background a thousand white 
 handkerchiefs swung over the heads of the excited 
 audience, dotted the hall with specks of white, like 
 the caps of the breakers on a stormy sea. Men put 
 their hats on the tops of canes and waved them high 
 over their heads. Women tore their bright fichus 
 and laces from around their snowy necks, and lean 
 ing far forward over the galleries, franticly swung 
 them to and fro to give emphasis to their shrill 
 screams of joy. 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 339 
 
 " From outside the glass windows under the 
 dome of the hall, where an adventurous crowd of 
 men and boys had gathered to witness the pro 
 ceedings, loud cat-calls and screams were heard 
 above the roar beneath. Men hung dangerously 
 over the front of the galleries and waved the ends 
 of banners that had been fastened there as decora 
 tions to the hall. 
 
 "The Arthur delegates from New York and the 
 Edmunds delegates, who had at first refused to 
 leave their seats, were compelled by natural im 
 pulse and curiosity to mount their chairs, and soon 
 many a well-known anti-Blaine delegate was seen 
 waving his hat and cheering as loudly as any sup 
 porter of the Plumed Knight. 
 
 " When, tired with cheering and lung-exhausted, 
 the din ceased in one part of the hall, it would be 
 taken up in another part, and the tumult renewed. 
 Senator Warner Miller, usually impressive and 
 never flustered, advanced from a seat in the rear 
 of the chairman to the front of the stage, and, 
 waving his arms wildly over his head, shouted his 
 loudest, and then, as if realizing the undignified char 
 acter of his deportment, beckoned a messenger and 
 directed him to hurry Judge West to the platform. 
 
 " Mr. Henderson vainly pounded his gavel for 
 order. Its dull beats upon the hollow desk were 
 no more audible to the wild crowd in the hall 
 than were the strains of the band in the rear to 
 the cheering spectators on the platform. The ap 
 plause echoed blocks away along the streets lead 
 ing to the Exposition Building, and the engineers 
 of the locomotives on the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad, in the rear of the hall, added to the din 
 fay loud shrieks from the whistles of their engines. 
 
340 THE CONTENTION OF 1884. 
 
 At last, exhausted, the tumult ceased, not on the 
 instant, but by degrees, fitful cheers being given 
 long after Judge West reached the platform and 
 was escorted to his seat. 
 
 " The man selected to present Blame s name to 
 the Convention is blind. He was helped to the 
 platform by two sturdy young men, who carefully 
 guarded his progress up the steep steps and along 
 the tortuous aisles to the seat provided for him on 
 the left of the presiding officer s chair. 
 
 " Judge West seems to be nearing the goal of 
 three-score and ten. His silver gray hair was 
 smoothly brushed away from a noble forehead. 
 Time had implanted deep wrinkles and furrows 
 around the sharp features of an intelligent face. 
 White chin whiskers and a white, close-cut mous 
 tache hid his mouth and resolute square-cut chin. 
 A prominent nose and bushy eyebrows give charac 
 ter if they do not add beauty to his countenance. 
 Dressed plainly in black, wearing no ornament save 
 a blue Blaine badge on the lapel of his coat and 
 a small watch-chain, the old man leaned back in 
 his arm-chair and faced the surging mob, as, though 
 blind, he felt himself its master. 
 
 " For the last time the applause rolled through 
 the hall and ended in a wild roar as the Ohio 
 orator rose to his feet and, lifting his right hand 
 above his head, by gesture compelled silence. Ten 
 minutes of uproar and storm were followed by still 
 ness in which a whisper could be heard as the first 
 clear, distinct, sharp tones of the speaker rolled 
 through the building. The clean cut sentences, 
 brilliant delivery and confident manner of the 
 speaker captivated the crowd. They were in 
 sympathy with him from the start, and he retained 
 his grasp upon their feelings to the finish* 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 341 
 
 "Aft he made point after point in the opening 
 of his speech, roar after roar of applause echoed 
 through the hall. < Shall the Republican party 
 triumph again ? exclaimed the orator, after allud 
 ing to its victories in the past. Yes, with James 
 G. Elaine/ yelled one of the delegates in the front 
 row, and the audience again leaped forward and 
 gave a tremendous cheer. 
 
 " Who shall be our candidate ? shouted Judge 
 West as leaning back in the chair from which he 
 delivered the greatest part of his speech, he brought 
 a big palm leaf fan high above his head and seem 
 ingly awaited a reply. Elaine ! Elaine ! Elaine ! 
 was the stentorian reply, and another burst of ap 
 plause put a temporary end to Judge West s speech. 
 
 " The bold orator in a single sentence denounced 
 the candidacy of Arthur, characterizing him as 
 the candidate of Wall Street and the bankers, and 
 he predicted if nominated that the resurrection 
 ists could not fathom the depth of his grave next 
 November. 
 
 "At last the supreme moment came. When 
 Judge West formally put Elaine in nomination a 
 scene followed of a description never equalled and 
 utterly indescribable. Compared to the first out 
 burst, the second ovation to Elaine was as the full 
 burst of a storm after the grumblings of early 
 thunder have passed. 
 
 " The audience rose to its feet, impelled by an 
 irresistible impulse to testify their admiration for the 
 great Republican candidate. Grave men acted as 
 though mad. Newspapers were torn into bits, and 
 scattered high in the air, active boys clambered along 
 the high rafters over the hall and, detaching the 
 flags, passed them down to men in the front row of 
 
342 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 the galleries, who waved them frantically over the 
 heads of those below, and the bands three times es 
 sayed to drown the sioise by playing their loudest 
 air. 
 
 " It was futile. Men drew off their coats and 
 shook them in the air. Umbrellas were hoisted 
 and waved over the heads of their owners. Again 
 handkerchiefs were brought forth, and swung to 
 and fro like snowflakes in a hurricane. Those too 
 tired to shout gave shrill whistles, and pande 
 monium universal and all-pervading seemed to 
 have broken forth. 
 
 " The most delightful picture of the evening, 
 and one observed by few, occurred on the stage 
 when Mr. Elkins, Elaine s life-long friend and 
 chief manager, and Senator Tom Cooper, of Penn 
 sylvania, embraced, each trying to out-tire the 
 other in their mutual contributions to the common 
 din. The California delegation, which has done 
 some of Elaine s best work here, was on its feet, 
 cheering as loudly as Rocky Mountain throats 
 could swell. Congressman Tom Bayne, of Penn 
 sylvania, another of the Elaine managers, formed 
 one of the loudest crowds of shouters. 
 
 " George William Curtis sat in his seat at the 
 head of the New York delegation, blushing and 
 paling by turns, astounded by the demonstration 
 and unable to quell it. A faint smile overspread 
 his genial countenance as the uproar continued, 
 but it was not a smile of satisfaction. Young 
 Roosevelt, of New York, and Lodge, of Massa 
 chusetts, sat in their places uneasy and disconso 
 late. Not so Senator Hoar. The excitement was 
 too much for him, and he mounted his chair, sand 
 looked over the thousands of people who were 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 343 
 
 shouting and screaming like madmen. The ne 
 groes from the S6uth joined in the furore, and 
 were the noisiest of the delegates. 
 
 " When at last there seemed a prospect that the 
 cheering would end, some enthusiastic friend of 
 Elaine brought into the hall, before the Chairman s 
 desk, a huge American flag, and placed upon the 
 top of the staff a helmet of flowers, surmounted by 
 a long white plume, the helmet of Navarre. Again 
 did the audience cheer, until it seemed as though 
 the throats of men would burst. The flag and 
 helmet were raised to the stage, and again a 
 deeper, longer, louder cheer arose. Ladies took 
 flowers from their belts and threw them in the air. 
 The atmosphere was fanned by the waving of in 
 numerable banners. 
 
 " The decorations were stripped from the wall 
 by the excited audience, and shook madly in the 
 air. Full fifteen minutes were consumed in this 
 unprecedented demonstration. 
 
 " James G. Blaine," closed Judge West, and 
 another great roar went up like the noise of many 
 waters, sweeping the great waves of sound around 
 the hall ; and the crowd without, by this time 
 aware of what was under way, answered in a 
 muffled roar, which echoed within. The old man 
 ceased, with the echo of his eloquence still filling 
 all the air, ten thousand people swaying like reeds 
 in the wind under his voice, and feebly groped to 
 leave the platform. A friend was at his side in 
 an instant, and Edward McPherson laid about the 
 old man s shoulders his long blue, old-fashioned 
 clonk, and, drawing it closer to him, its folds fall 
 ing straight, the speaker took a seat behind. By 
 contrast with the wild tempest of sound just before. 
 
344 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 the rustling movement and stir and talk which fill 
 this great house of sounds with perpetual mur 
 murs, seemed silence itself as Governor Davis, of 
 Minnesota, a full, round man with a bulging frock- 
 coat, strong face and a black moustache, arose. 
 For once and for the first time in the three times 
 in which James G. Elaine has been put before a 
 National Convention in nomination the work has 
 been well and skillfully planned, and performed as 
 well. The voice of Governor Davis is none of the 
 best by contrast with the resonant tones with 
 which Judge West had fille^ *he great house of 
 sounds. 
 
 "Governor Davis seemed feeble, but, catching 
 after a sentence or two the attention of the Con 
 vention, he recalled, in a few well-turned sentences, 
 the recent political past of James G. Blaine, which 
 had led him heartily to support after two conven 
 tions the candidates who had defeated him. In 
 five minutes he was done, but again, at every 
 reference, near or remote, to the great candidate 
 before the Convention, there came the old swelling 
 echo of sound. State followed State, and section 
 section in the presentation of Elaine s name. Cas- 
 sius M. Goodloe spoke next for the South and for 
 Kentucky. Himself built and raised after the 
 Kentucky model, large, tall, straight and shapely, 
 and with a voice like a trumpet, his say was short 
 and straight. He claimed for Southern Repub 
 licans the right and readiness to support the 
 Northern choice. 
 
 " There was a pause of an instant, that was 
 silence by the side of uproar, and Thomas C. Platt, 
 of New York, stood by the Chairman with his 
 short figure and sloping, smooth forehead. In ten 
 

 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 345 
 
 sentences he pledged New York, and, since he, 
 too, had the privilege to speak the name of Elaine 
 before the Convention, was rewarded with such a 
 burst of applause as few speakers gain in a lifetime, 
 applause which was cut and scarred by hisses from 
 the benches where the New York ; boys sat. He 
 closed, and Grow, with his courtly presence, 
 stepped on his chair, and in his turn pledged the 
 leading Republican State of the Union, Pennsyl 
 vania, in fluent, effective speech. 
 
 " It is one of the misfortunes of this great gather 
 ing that no man is fairly treated unless he drowns 
 all sound with a torrent of voice, and it was not 
 until Grow took the platform, and an Ohio dele 
 gate pleaded for fair play, that Grow was heard 
 through, and then another shout, a swaying tem^ 
 pest of hats and canes, and Elaine s welcome was 
 over. It had been of a character and volume, f 
 an intensity of enthusiasm which seemed there and 
 then to settle the nomination of Elaine and deter 
 mine the choice of the Convention by its own act. 
 
 "Arthur s welcome followed hard on in shout, 
 volume and enthusiasm, a worthy second. Ne 
 braska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey/ 
 the gray-coated secretary, in his colorless voice 
 was saying, as he read the list of States New 
 York. It was like match to powder, like the 
 flash and reflection of light from a turning mirror. 
 Up went half of the New York delegation with a 
 shout ; up went the Southern States by squads and 
 platoons ; up went the corporal s guard in Penn 
 sylvania, which latter furnished Arthur a second 
 abler far than his original nominator. 
 
 " The Convention was flooded again with sound 
 and uproar in such down-pour as only this human 
 
346 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 Niagara can match or equal. Delegates, alternates, 
 banks of spectators, galleries, the stage, were all 
 one wild Babel of yell, shout and cheers, one sway 
 ing mass of delirious men and women, one long, 
 broad sea of sound, which surged and swung from 
 wall to wall. 
 
 " It was less in volume than Elaine s welcome, 
 for through the din could be faintly heard the 
 band, which the earlier uproar had utterly drowned 
 and extinguished as the sea sucks up the rivers, 
 but next to that outburst stood this wild roar. Bit 
 by bit out of mere noise there came purpose and 
 plan. 
 
 " The welcome to Blaine had left the flags in the 
 galleries in the hands of his friends, and, after more 
 than one friendly battle for the standard, these 
 began to wave along all the front of the galleries. 
 Two flags were torn from the wall, found their way 
 to Texas and Tennessee, waved there and then 
 were passed to New York, where they were waved 
 for an instant over the delegation and then began 
 their inarch down the aisle. 
 
 "All this in a great roar, in which man could 
 shout to man ten feet off and be unheard. A 
 rugged-faced Western journalist put his hands to 
 his lips and sounded a Comanche whoop, and a 
 Western delegate re-echoed it, and this Wah, 
 wah, wah-o-o-o cut through the noise. Nothing 
 else did. Minute by minute the din grew ; minute 
 by minute through fifteen minutes this uproar 
 lasted. The human voice at its loud uttermost, 
 coats and hats in the air, umbrellas circling round 
 and round, handkerchiefs whitening the air." 
 

 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Blaine Nominated. 
 
 THE morning of June 6th, 1884, is probably one 
 of the most memorable in the history of political 
 conventions in the United States. Never was 
 there a more patriotic, enthusiastic mass of men 
 gathered together than there was in the Chicago 
 Exposition building on that day. The work wa, 
 over; all that remained was to have that work 
 tested. It was tested, and the voice of the people 
 was heeded. James G. Blaine, the Maine states 
 man, was nominated as the candidate of the Re- 
 publican masses. The scene in that great hall 
 was one that beggars description. A prominent 
 English journalist thus gives his impression of it : 
 
 " It has been my fortune to see some of the most 
 gorgeous and remarkable spectacles that have 
 taken place in the Old World during the last fif 
 teen years, but I have seen none more remarkable 
 than the Republican Convention whicK has just 
 closed in the nomination of James G. Blaine for 
 President of the United States. Three successive 
 viceroys and governors-general I have seen arrive 
 in Bombay to rule the 250,000,000 of India in the 
 name of Queen Victoria. When Lord Mayo 
 
 847 
 
348 THE CONVENTION OF 1884 
 
 reached the western shore of India he was re 
 ceived by thousands of white and dark soldiers, a 
 crowd of gorgeous officials, salvos of artillery, and 
 plenty of flags flying, all a sad enough contrast 
 with the way in which, not long after his assassin 
 ation by a Mohammedan convict in the Andaman 
 Islands, his body was borne on board a British 
 man-of-war in Bombay harbor, and carried back 
 to England. 
 
 "I saw Lord Northbrook, the next viceroy, 
 travel in triumphal state through many of the 
 native states, where rajahs and maharajahs came 
 forth to do him homage with troops of elephants 
 covered with brocades of gold and silver, dancing 
 girls, whose lithe, dusky bodies shone in silks and 
 gems ; soidars, followed by their picturesque and 
 swarthy warriors, Raj poors, Mahrattas, Bengalese, 
 stalwart Sikhs and olive Madrasees. I have seen 
 Lord Lytton parading the length and breadth of 
 Hindostan, smoking innumerable cigarettes, and 
 behaving with the childish antics of an excited 
 Frenchman, amid surroundings of human and 
 architectural Oriental magnificence of the most 
 marvellous description. 
 
 " Beneath the scarred and battered walls of 
 Delhi I saw the Prince of Wales received by all 
 the chiefs of Northern India and the Punjaub, 
 -accompanied by five hundred splendidly bedizened 
 elephants, three thousand horses covered with 
 cloth of gold, and twenty thousand native and 
 European troops. I followed him into Cashmere* 
 where the Maharajah Runjeet received him in his 
 winter capital perched among the Himalayan 
 Mountains. Buddhist Llamas danced grotesque 
 dances disguised in the horns and hides of wild 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 349 
 
 beasts; dancing girls, the flash of whose black 
 eyes emulated the splendor of their jewels, and 
 with frontlets of golden coins that descended from 
 beneath abundant tresses of shining jet, clapped 
 their bangled hands and whirled their feet to the 
 music of lascivious dances; elephants, horses, and 
 yaks from Thibet swelled the procession that swept 
 up the hills in the purple light of a ruby and opal 
 sunset, and troops of soldiers arrayed in scarlet, 
 blue, and green, kept guard among the forests of 
 pines and rhododendrons. 
 
 " I have seen Victoria open her Parliament, the 
 marriage of not a few of her progeny, and the re 
 view of more than eighty thousand of her British 
 and Hindoo troops. I have seen her Majesty pro 
 claimed as Empress on the plains of Delhi, from a 
 splendid pavilion surrounded by the silken cano 
 pies of hundreds of princes and nobles, whose an 
 cestors were famous, splendid, and civilized, when 
 hers were wandering savages amid the forests of 
 Europe and Great Britain. Certainly all these 
 spectacles were gorgeous, worthy to leave an indel 
 ible impression upon the least susceptible of minds. 
 But, shall I tell you ? not one of them impressed 
 me nearly so much as the Convention which has 
 just culminated in the nomination of Blaine. 
 
 " What is the reason ? It is this. Many of the 
 scenes I have mentioned were more splendid, more 
 capable of pleasing the senses, but they were all 
 characterized by a certain want of soul, and had 
 none of that deep, powerful, electrifying enthusiasm 
 which I have just witnessed as the accompani 
 ments of a United States Republican nomination. 
 When I recall those marvellous bursts of cheering 
 which greeted the mere mention of the name of 
 
350 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 Blaine ; that frantic, long-continued shouting of a 
 vast and earnest multitude ; that wild hat-waving, 
 banner-waving, and handkerchief-waving; that 
 rolling thundering of the feet like the sonorous 
 boom of a ponderous surf upon a steep, oriental 
 shore ; that great hall radiant with the gaudy-col 
 ored symbols of federated States, that fluttered, 
 agitated by the mighty storm of applause, above 
 the heads of 10,000 soul-stirred men I am bound 
 to confess that I never saw such a scene, and do 
 not believe that such an one could be possible in 
 any country on earth where the people have not 
 their government in their own hands. 
 
 " The scene to me was like the embodied, tumul- 
 tuously earnest soul of a great free nation. The 
 millions of Hindostan, which England holds down 
 by the sword and the cannon, her subjects in Great 
 Britain may be pleased with a royal pageant at a 
 coronation or a wedding ; her colonies in Canada 
 may be tickled and delighted with the ceremonies 
 attending the arrival of a viceroy, thrust upon them 
 without their wishes being consulted ; but neither 
 in Hindostan, the British Isles, nor in her depend 
 encies can she ever hope to see such a gathering 
 under her constitution, for constitutional purposes, 
 as the Republicans of the United States have just 
 presented in Chicago. England or any other mo- 
 narchial nation on earth must be like Byron s cele 
 brated description of Greece ; it may be fair, but 
 you are bound to start because soul is absent. 
 
 "The intense enthusiasm of the Republican 
 Convention is, to my mind, a proof that no nation, 
 as a nation, can possess a heart so warm and strong, 
 a soul so earnest, determined and so grand, as ? 
 people who themselves possess the complete pow 
 
THE CONTENTION OP 1884. 351 
 
 era of their own government, and the election of 
 their own chief officers to carry on that govern 
 ment for the good of the citizens at home and 
 abroad. 
 
 <; I feel still the thrill of indescribable enthusi 
 astic tumult which swept James G. Elaine onwards 
 to the forefront of the nation, and it would have 
 been well for every monarch-ridden man in the 
 world if he, too, could have been present in the 
 Exposition Building to feel it, and ponder on its 
 lessons of the rights and glory of absolute freedom." 
 
 THE "PLUMED KNIGHT S" VICTORY. 
 
 It did not take later than the hour of meeting 
 for the anti-Elaine men to find out that the Elaine 
 managers had not fought off a ballot the night be 
 fore because they feared it. Another recess had 
 been spent in hopeless attempts to make a winning 
 combination, and morning found Arthur making 
 no headway, Edmunds supported by a forlorn 
 hope, Sherman surely shrinking, and nobody else 
 within the longest range of the nominating light 
 ning. The inevitable ballot was approached by the 
 Elaine men hopefully and by the ooposition sul 
 lenly. 
 
 It was a surprise in that it showed Elaine to 
 have a larger first ballot strength than his mana 
 gers had claimed, and Arthur less than anybody, 
 even the most enthusiastic of his opponents, had 
 suspected. The weakness of the administration 
 cause being thus exposed, the nomination of Blame 
 
352 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 might have been effected without further delay, 
 but the Convention resolved itself into a mob, and 
 the Edmunds and Arthur people made up in noise 
 what they lacked in numbers, so that it was really 
 economic of time to stick to the prearranged Elaine 
 schedule of four ballots. 
 
 The Convention was called to order at 11.19 A. M. 
 by Chairman Henderson, who said : 
 
 " The Convention this morning will be opened 
 by prayer by the Rev. Henry Martyn Scudder, of 
 Chicago." 
 
 Mr. Scudder, pastor of Plymouth Church, Chi 
 cago, offered the following prayer : 
 
 " Almighty and ever blessed God, we worship 
 Thee as the author of our being, as the creator of 
 our mortal bodies and of our immortal spirits, and 
 we adore Thee as the inexhaustible personal source 
 of all light and love and truth and liberty and 
 peace and gladness, and we do glorify Thee as 
 the Supreme Law-giver and as the only rightful 
 sovereign of all hearts and all consciences, and we 
 do thank Thee with reverence and gratitude for 
 the benignant providence which, from the very 
 beginning, has watched over our beloved country. 
 We thank Thee for its manifold deliverances in 
 times of national peril, for its grand victory over 
 slavery, for its symmetric development under Thy 
 protecting care, and for its present advancement 
 among the nations of the earth, and we do also 
 bless Thee for our just laws and liberal institutions, 
 for our civil and religious liberty, for our fertile 
 lands and abundant resources, for our great cities 
 and our happy homes. 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 353 
 
 " We bless Thee, Lord God of truth and grace, 
 for the great faith and for our Christian churches, 
 and for our educational privileges, and for the 
 privileges that Thou dost continually grant to our 
 people for their growth in the knowledge, virtue 
 and power that constitute genuine, rational hu 
 manity ; and we ask Thee to pronounce Thy bene 
 diction upon this Convention, and grant it to-day 
 Thy invaluable support, and that what is done 
 here may be done in righteousness and truth, and 
 in the spirit of patriotism ; and may every man in 
 this Convention be endowed with the true inspira 
 tion of loyalty and truth and fidelity to the highest 
 interests of our great Republic ; and now, finally, 
 Great and Holy God, we pray Thee that this Con 
 vention may be led with unanimity to select for 
 nomination to the Presidency of these United States 
 the right man, and when he is selected by this 
 Convention may he be elected by the American 
 people to the chief magistracy of this country, and 
 after he has been elected, if that be Thy will, 
 may his life be precious in Thy sight, and may he 
 be so endowed with every gift that he may give 
 the country an administration that shall be an 
 honor to this Convention, to the Republican party, 
 and the whole American people, and a lesson to 
 mankind ; an administration which shall be ac 
 ceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord of Hosts, Thou, 
 who art the Lord God, and we ask it in the name 
 of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen." 
 
 The Chair Gentlemen of the Convention, the 
 Secretary will call the roll of the States and Ter 
 ritories that have not yet given in the names of 
 23 
 
354 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 the members of the National Committee, and 
 which were passed yesterday. 
 
 A delegate from California I desire to offer a 
 resolution without comment. 
 
 Mr. Davis, of Illinois I demand the regular 
 order; I object to this resolution. 
 
 The Secretary then proceeded to call tbe roll of 
 the States for National Committeemen, as follows : 
 
 California, Horace Davis ; Colorado (a delegate 
 from Colorado : " Pass Colorado for the present ") ; 
 Florida (a delegate from Florida : " Pass Florida") ; 
 New Hampshire, Edwin H. Fallett; Tennessee, 
 W. D. Brownlow ; District of Columbia, Mr. Car 
 son : " We have not agreed yet, and I am satisfied 
 we will not agree." New Mexico, Colonel Wil 
 liam H. Ryners. 
 
 A delegate from California I desire to with 
 draw the resolution I had in mind. I do so at 
 the request of the members of my delegation. 
 
 The Chair Gentlemen of the Convention, there 
 is now nothing in order except to call the roll for 
 the nomination of a candidate for the Presidency. 
 
 Mr. Turner of Alabama Mr. President, is that 
 call of the roll for balloting ? 
 
 The Chair For balloting the nomination of 
 the candidate. 
 
 The Secretary then proceeded to call the roll of 
 States for the vote on a candidate for the Presi 
 dency, the first ballot resulting as follows : 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 355 
 
 THE FIRST BALLOT. 
 
 States. Total vote. Blaine. Arthur. Edmunds. Logan. Sher 
 
 man. 
 
 Alabama, 
 
 20 
 
 I 
 
 17 
 
 
 i 
 
 Arkansas, 
 
 14 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 California, 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Colorado, 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Connecticut,* 
 
 12 
 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Delaware, 
 
 * 6 
 
 5 
 
 i 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Florida, 
 
 8 
 
 i 
 
 7 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Georgia, 
 
 24 
 
 . . 
 
 24 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Illinois, 
 
 44 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 . . 
 
 40 
 
 Indiana, 
 
 3 , 
 
 18 
 
 9 
 
 I 
 
 . . 
 
 Iowa, 
 
 26 
 
 26 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Kansas,* 
 
 18 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 . . 
 
 i 
 
 Kentucky,-)- 
 
 26 
 
 5/^ 
 
 16 
 
 . . 
 
 2 ^i 
 
 Louisiana, 
 
 16 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 . . 
 
 3 
 
 Maine, 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 
 Maryland, 
 
 16 
 
 IO 
 
 6 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 28 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 . . 
 
 Michigan, 
 
 26 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 . . 
 
 Minnesota, 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 I 
 
 6 
 
 . . 
 
 Mississippi, 
 
 18 
 
 i 
 
 17 
 
 . . 
 
 . , 
 
 Missouri, 
 
 3 2 
 
 5 
 
 IO 
 
 6 
 
 it 
 
 Nebraska, . 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Nevada, 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 New Hampshire, 
 
 8 
 
 . . 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 . , 
 
 New Jersey, fj 
 
 18 
 
 9 
 
 . . 
 
 6 
 
 . . 
 
 New York,f 
 
 72 
 
 28 
 
 3 1 
 
 12 
 
 . . 
 
 North Carolina, 
 
 22 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 . . 
 
 1 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 4 6 
 
 21 
 
 
 . . 
 
 . , 
 
 Oregon, 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Pennsylvania, 
 
 60 
 
 47 
 
 ii 
 
 I 
 
 x 
 
 Rhode Island, 
 
 8 
 
 
 ^ . . 
 
 8 
 
 . . 
 
 South Carolina, 
 
 18 
 
 i 
 
 17 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Tennessee, 
 
 24 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 . . 
 
 i 
 
 Texas, 
 
 26 
 
 
 ii 
 
 . . 
 
 2 
 
 Vermont, 
 
 8 
 
 
 r. . 
 
 8 
 
 . . 
 
 Virginia, 
 
 24 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 . . 
 
 I 
 
 West Virginia, 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Wisconsin, 
 
 22 
 
 IO 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 . . 
 
 Arizona, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Dakota, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 . , 
 
 . m 
 
 Idaho, 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
356 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 States. Total vote. Elaine. Arthur. Edmunds. Logan. Sher- 
 
 in AII 
 
 Montana, 2 i . . i 
 
 New Mexico, 2 . . 2 
 
 Utah, 2 . . 2 . . 
 Washington, 2 2 
 
 Wyoming, 2 . . 2 
 
 District of Columbia, 2 i i 
 
 Totals, 820 334}^ 278 93 63^ 30 
 
 * Hawley, 12 and i. f Lincoln, i and 2. J W. T. Sher 
 man, 2. 
 
 During the roll-call there were numerous calls 
 for a poll of the delegates, which necessitated the 
 calling by the Secretary of the names of the in 
 dividual delegates in the States from which these 
 calls proceeded. This caused great delay in bal 
 loting. After the announcement of the vote by 
 the Secretary, the Chair said : 
 
 "A ballot for a candidate for the Presidency 
 having been had without securing a nomination, 
 according to the rules, the Convention will now 
 proceed to another vote. The Secretary \\ill call 
 the roll." 
 
 THE SECOND BALLOT. 
 
 The Secretary called the roll of States for the 
 second ballot, which resulted as follows : 
 
 States. Total vote. Elaine. Arthur. Edmunds. Logan. Sher 
 
 man. 
 
 Alabama, 20 2 17 . . i . . 
 
 Arkansas, 14 n 3 
 
 California, 16 16 
 
 Colorado, 6 6 
 
 Connecticut,* 12 
 
 Delaware, 6 5 i 
 
 Florida, 8 i 7 
 
 Georgia, 24 . . 24 
 
 Illinois, 44 3 i . . 40 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 357 
 
 States. Total vote. 
 
 Elaine. 
 
 Arthur. Edmunds. Logan. 
 
 Sher 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 man. 
 
 Indiana, 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 9 
 
 I . . 
 
 2 
 
 Iowa, 
 
 26 
 
 26 
 
 
 . . . 
 
 f t 
 
 Kansas,* 
 
 18 
 
 *3 
 
 2 
 
 . . 2 
 
 t . 
 
 Kentucky,! 
 
 26 
 
 5 
 
 17 
 
 . . 2 
 
 I 
 
 Louisiana, 
 
 16 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 Maine, 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 
 . 
 
 , . 
 
 Maryland, 
 
 16 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Massachusetts, 
 
 28 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 24 
 
 . . 
 
 Michigan,! 
 
 26 
 
 IS 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 . . 
 
 Minnesota, 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 i 
 
 6 
 
 . . 
 
 Mississippi, 
 
 18 
 
 i 
 
 17 
 
 . * 
 
 . . 
 
 Missouri, 
 
 32 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 5 8 
 
 I 
 
 Nebraska, 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 
 . . 
 
 Nevada, 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 . . 
 
 . 
 
 . . 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 8 
 
 . . 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 New Jersey,! 
 
 18 
 
 9 
 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 New York,f 
 
 72 
 
 28 
 
 3 1 
 
 12 
 
 . . 
 
 North Carolina, 
 
 22 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 I 
 
 t 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 4 6 
 
 2 3 
 
 . . 
 
 . 
 
 2 3 
 
 Oregon, 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 . . 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania, 
 
 60 
 
 47 
 
 ii 
 
 I I 
 
 . . 
 
 Rhode Island, 
 
 8 
 
 
 . . 
 
 8 
 
 m . 
 
 South Carolina, 
 
 18 
 
 i 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 . . 
 
 Tennessee, 
 
 24 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 i 
 
 . . 
 
 Texas, 
 
 26 
 
 
 ii 
 
 2 
 
 , % 
 
 Vermont, 
 
 8 
 
 . . 
 
 . 
 
 8 
 
 . . 
 
 Virginia, 
 
 24 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 I 
 
 . . 
 
 West Virginia, 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 . . 
 
 
 
 9 t 
 
 Wisconsin, 
 
 22 
 
 II 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 . . 
 
 Arizona, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 
 . . 
 
 Dakota, ^"^\ 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 m . 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 District of Columbia, 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 . . 
 
 Idaho, -, 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 2 
 
 . . . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Montana, 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 . . 
 
 i . . 
 
 . . 
 
 New Mexico, 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 2 
 
 . . . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Utah, 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 2 
 
 . . . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Washington, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 . . . 
 
 . . 
 
 Wyoming, 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Totals, 820 349 276 85 61 28 
 
 * Hawley, 12 and i. f Lincoln, i, 2 and i. JW. T- 
 Sherman, 2. 
 
358 
 
 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 When the announcement was made of the result 
 of the second ballot, owing to the gain shown by 
 the Elaine column, there was wild cheering, which 
 did not subside for several minutes. Upon the 
 partial subsidence of the noise, some delegates 
 shouted for the regular order. 
 
 The Chair No nomination having been made, 
 the Convention will now proceed to the third bal 
 lot, arid the Secretary will call the roll of States 
 and Territories. 
 
 THE THIRD BALLOT. 
 
 The Secretary called the roll for the third bal 
 lot, which resulted as follows : 
 
 States. 
 
 Alabama, 
 
 Arkansas, 
 
 California, 
 
 Colorado, 
 
 Connecticut,* 
 
 Delaware, 
 
 Florida, 
 
 Georgia, 
 
 Illinois, 
 
 Indiana, 
 
 Iowa, 
 
 Kansas,* 
 
 Kentucky,f 
 
 Louisiana, 
 
 Maine, 
 
 Maryland, 
 
 Massachusetts, 
 
 Michigan,! 
 
 Minnesota, 
 
 Mississippi, f 
 
 Missouri, 
 
 Total vote. Blaine. Arthur. Edmunds. Logan. 
 
 Sher 
 man. 
 
 20 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 
 i 
 
 14 
 
 II 
 
 3 
 
 
 . 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 
 
 12 
 
 . . 
 
 . f 
 
 
 . 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 i 
 
 
 . 
 
 8 
 
 i 
 
 7 
 
 
 . 
 
 24 
 
 . . 
 
 24 
 
 
 . 
 
 44 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 
 40 
 
 30 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 
 . 
 
 26 
 
 26 
 
 . . 
 
 
 . 
 
 18 
 
 15 
 
 . . 
 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 6 
 
 16 
 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 . . 
 
 
 . 
 
 16 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 
 . 
 
 28 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 I 
 
 26 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 
 18 
 
 i 
 
 16 
 
 
 . 
 
 32 
 
 12 
 
 ii 
 
 4 
 
 ! 4 
 

 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 359 
 
 States. 
 
 Total vote. Blaine. Arthur. Edmunds. Logan. Shr- 
 
 Nebraska, 
 
 10 
 
 IO 
 
 . . 
 
 Nevada, 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 New Hampshir 
 
 8 
 
 . . 
 
 5 
 
 New Jersey,f 
 
 18 
 
 II 
 
 i 
 
 New York, 
 
 72 
 
 28 
 
 32 ] 
 
 North Carolina, 
 
 22 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 4 6 
 
 2 S 
 
 . . 
 
 Oregon, 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania, 
 
 60 
 
 So 
 
 8 
 
 Rhode Island, 
 
 8 
 
 
 . . 
 
 South Carolina, 
 
 18 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 Tennessee, 
 
 24 
 
 7 
 
 17 
 
 Texas, 
 
 26 
 
 i4 
 
 ii 
 
 Vermont, 
 
 8 
 
 
 . . 
 
 Virginia, 
 
 24 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 West Virginia, 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 . . 
 
 Wisconsin,;); 
 
 22 
 
 II 
 
 10 
 
 Arizona, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 Dakota, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 . , 
 
 Idaho, 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 Montana, 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 .. 
 
 New Mexico, 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 2 
 
 Utah, 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 Washington, 
 
 -V 
 
 *T 
 
 } ^ 
 
 Wyoming, 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 Dist. of Columbia, 
 
 2 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 Totals, 820 375 274 69 53 25 
 
 *Hawley, 12 and i. f Lincoln, i, i and 6. JW. T. 
 Sherman, i and i. 
 
 While the roll was being called for the third 
 ballot the count in Kentucky and Massachusetts 
 was challenged, but upon dissatisfaction being ex 
 pressed each of the gentlemen challenging with 
 drew the challenge. When eighteen votes were 
 announced for James G. Blaine from the State of 
 Michigan there was tremendous cheering. When 
 Nebraska was reached Mr. Thurston arose and said: 
 
360 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman : Nebraska, with her fifty thou 
 sand Republicans " 
 
 Here again a profound hostility appeared to pre 
 vail among the audience against further oratory, 
 and it was manifested in the most vociferous man 
 ner. The Chairman finally succeeded in getting 
 order, and Mr. Thurston continued "casts ten 
 votes for James G. Elaine," and sat down amid 
 tremendous noise. 
 
 While the roll was proceeding and after the 
 State of Nevada had been called, delegates were 
 seen rushing through the aisles in various direc 
 tions. When North Carolina was reached there 
 was a great deal of uproar and the Chair said : 
 " The gentlemen in the aisles will please take their 
 seats and the Sergeant-at-Arms will please see that 
 they do so." An assistant Sergearit-at-Arms rushed 
 around at a terrific pace insisting with vehemence 
 that the order applied with peculiar force and 
 especially to the reporters. 
 
 When the result of the third ballot was an 
 nounced there was another scene of wild confusion 
 and cheering. When opportunity bfFered, Judge 
 Foraker, of Ohio, was recognized by the Chair. 
 
 Judge Foraker I move that we take a reces* 
 until half-past 7 o clock this evening. 
 
 Mr. Butcher, of New York I second the motion 
 for a recess. 
 
 On the question of adjournment there were many 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 361 
 
 delays, occasioned by the demand from certain of 
 the States for a polling of the vote. The result on 
 the vote was yeas, 364 ; nays, 450. This an 
 nouncement produced another season of wild cheer 
 ing, during which Mr. Foraker, of Ohio, again arose 
 in his seat. 
 
 Mr. Foraker, of Ohio I move that the rules of 
 this Convention be suspended, and that James G. 
 Elaine be nominated by acclamation. [Loud ap 
 plause and great confusion.] 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt, of New York It cannot be done. 
 [Loud cries of " Roll-call, roll-call," and continued 
 confusion.] 
 
 Mr. Winston, of North Carolina I move that 
 we proceed with the order of business proceed to 
 call the roll for another ballot. [Loud cries of 
 " Call the roll, call the roll," and great confusion.] 
 
 Mr. Houck, of Tennessee I desire to inquire 
 how Mr. Cassel, of Tennessee, is recorded? [Con 
 tinued confusion, and cries of " Too late, too late," 
 and Roll-call, roll-call."]^ 
 
 Mr. Foraker My motion is that the rules of 
 this Convention be suspended, and that James G. 
 Elaine be nominated by acclamation. [Loud and 
 long-continued cheers arid great confusion.] 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt, of New York I ask for roll-call. 
 
 Mr. Burrows, of Michigan I demand the regular 
 order and a call of the roll. [Loud cheers.] 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt, of New York On behalf of New 
 York I ask for a call of the roll. [Great confusion 
 
362 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 Mr. Burrows, of Michigan I demand a call of 
 the roll and I move that we proceed to ballot. 
 [Continued confusion and commotion in the 
 hall.] 
 
 Mr. Foraker, of Ohio In order that the time of 
 this Convention may be saved, at the request oi 
 several members, I withdraw the motion I made. 
 
 The Chairman directed the Clerk to call the rol 
 of States for the fourth ballot. 
 
 THE FOURTH BALLOT. 
 
 The Secretary called the roll of the States fc 
 the fourth and last ballot as follows : 
 
 States. Total vote. Elaine. Arthur. Edmunds. Logan. SI 
 
 Alabama, 20 8 12 
 
 Arkansas, 14 n 3 
 
 California, 16 16 
 
 Colorado, 6 6 
 
 Connecticut,* 12 . * 
 
 Delaware, 6 5 i 
 
 Florida, 8 3 5 ... 
 
 Georgia, 24 . . 24 
 
 Illinois, 44 34 3 
 
 Indiana, 30 30 
 
 Iowa, 26 24 2 
 
 Kansas, 18 18 
 
 Kentucky, f 26 9 15 
 
 Louisiana, 16 9 7 
 
 Maine, 12 12 
 
 Maryland, 16 15 i . . . 
 
 Massachusetts, 28 3 7 18 . 
 
 Michigan, 26 26 
 
 Minnesota, 14 14 
 
 Mississippi, 18 2 16 
 
 Missouri, 32 32 . . ... 
 
 Nebraska, 10 10 
 
 Nevada, 6 6 
 
 mar 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 States. Total vote. Blaini 
 
 New Hampshire, 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 New Jersey, 
 
 18 
 
 17 
 
 New York,*f 
 
 72 
 
 29 
 
 North Carolina,* 
 
 22 
 
 8 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 4 6 
 
 46 
 
 Oregon, 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 Pennsylvania, 
 
 60 
 
 51 
 
 Rhode Island, 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 South Carolina, 
 
 18 
 
 2 
 
 Tennessee, 
 
 24 
 
 II 
 
 Texas, 
 
 26 
 
 15 
 
 Vermont, 
 
 8 
 
 
 Virginia, 
 
 24 
 
 4 
 
 West Virginia, 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 Wisconsin, 
 
 22 
 
 22 
 
 Arizona, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Dakota, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 District of Columbia, 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 Idaho, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Montana, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 New Mexico, 
 
 2 
 
 . . 
 
 Utah, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Washington, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Wyoming, 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Arthur. Edmunds. Logan. 
 
 363 
 
 Sher 
 man 
 
 30 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 i 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 20 
 
 Totals, 820 541 207 41 7 
 
 * Hawley, 12, 2 and i. f Lincoln, i and i. 
 
 During the ballot, when the State of Arkansas 
 was called, Mr. Burrows, of Michigan, arose and 
 said : 
 
 " I rise to a question of order. It is utterly im 
 possible to hear a word unless order is restored. 
 Unless that order is restored I shall move that this 
 Convention adjourn to a hall by itself to finish 
 these proceedings." [Great applause, confusion 
 and laughter.] 
 
 The vote of Florida was polled on the fourth 
 
364 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 ballot. When the name of Joseph E. Lee, of 
 Florida, was called, he said : " The old guard dies, 
 but never surrenders Chester A. Arthur." [Ap 
 plause.] When Georgia was called, the chairman 
 of the delegation, Mr. Buck, said : " Before coming 
 into this Convention the delegation of Georgia 
 agreed to act as a unit. A majority of the dele 
 gation are still for Chester A. Arthur, and unless a 
 vote is called I shall announce twenty-four votes 
 for Arthur." [Loud applause and cries of " Good ! 
 good!"] 
 
 The Chair Is there any contest in Georgia? 
 [Loud cries of " No, no."] 
 
 The Chair Georgia then casts her twenty-four 
 votes for Chester A. Arthur. [Loud applause.] 
 
 When Illinois was called the chairman of the 
 delegation, Mr. S. M. Cullom, said : "I ask leave 
 of this Convention to read a dispatch which I re 
 ceived a few moments ago from General John A. 
 Logan, addressed to the Illinois delegation. [Loud 
 cries of " Regular order, regular order," " We 
 object," " Call the roll," and great confusion.] 
 
 Mr. Cullom To the Republicans [loud cries of 
 " Order ! Call the roll ! Regular order ! "] I am 
 directed by General Logan to read it to this Con- 
 vention, and shall send the dispatch to the desk to 
 be read. [Loud cries of u No ! no ! " and great 
 confusion.] 
 
 Mr. Burrows, of Michigan I make the point of 
 order that the reading of the dispatch is not in 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 365 
 
 order, and nothing but the announcement of the 
 vote is in order. [Loud applause.] 
 
 The Chair The Chair sustains the point of 
 order. [Loud applause.] 
 
 Mr. Cullom The Illinois delegation then with 
 draws the name of General Logan, and gives for 
 Elaine 34 votes, for Logan 7, and for Arthur 3. 
 [Loud applause and loud cheers.] 
 
 When the State of Ohio was called, Judge For- 
 aker arose and said : " For what I suppose to be 
 the best interests of this party, I presented the 
 name of John Sherman to this Convention. Also 
 supposing it to be for the best interests of the 
 party, we have until now favorably and most 
 cordially supported him. Now, also, in the in* 
 terests of the party, we withdraw him and cast for 
 James G. Elaine forty-six votes." [Tremendou 
 outburst of applause.] 
 
 The Secretary then announced the result of the 
 fourth ballot for President as follows : Whole 
 number of delegates, 820 ; whole number of votes 
 cast, 816 ; necessary to a choice, 411 ; of which 
 Robert T. Lincoln received 2, John A. Logan 7, 
 Joseph R. Hawley 15, George F. Edmunds 41, 
 Chester A. Arthur 207, and James G. Elaine 544. 
 
 The Secretary s announcement of the vote for 
 James G. Elaine got no further than the hundreds, 
 for his voice was lost in the whirlwind of ap 
 plause that followed the announcement of the fact 
 of Elaine s nomination, which had been a certainty 
 

 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 86? 
 
 ever since Shelby M. Cullom had tried to read hi? 
 telegram from John A. Logan. Every person in 
 the audience, delegates and visitors alike, rose to 
 their feet simultaneously, and all being Elaine men, 
 shouted and sang their delight at the success of 
 the man from Maine with demonstrations of joy 
 such as had not been seen before in the Convention. 
 It took nearly thirty minutes to get to business. 
 
 The Chair Gentlemen of the Convention [the 
 ushers making diligent efforts to restore quiet] s 
 Order ! [At this point the booming of the cannon 
 was heard, which caused renewed cheering. The 
 Convention at length becoming comparatively 
 quiet the Chairman resumed.] James G. Blaine, 
 of Maine, having received the votes of a majority 
 of all the delegates elected to the Convention 
 [the Chairman at this point finding himself unable 
 to make his voice heard in the confusion that pre 
 vailed handed the written announcement to the 
 Secretary, who read it as follows :] 
 
 James G. Blaine having received the votes of a 
 majority of all the delegates elected to this Con 
 vention, the question now before the Convention 
 is, shall the nomination of Mr. Blaine be made 
 unanimous. [Cries of " Yes."] On that motion 
 the Chair recognized Mr. Burleigh, of New York. 
 
 Mr. Burleigh having taken the platform, said : 
 
 Mr. President In behalf of the President of 
 the United States, and at his request, I move to 
 
368 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 make the nomination of James G. Elaine unam% 
 mous, and I promise for the friends of President 
 Arthur, who are always loyal at the polls, and for 
 Northern New York, 20,000 Republican majority, 
 and I promise you all that we will do all we can 
 for the ticket and for the nominee, and will show 
 you in November next that New York is a Repub 
 lican State. It elected James A. Garfield and it 
 will elect James G. Elaine, of Maine. [Applause.] 
 
 The Chair The gentleman from Minnesota has 
 the floor. 
 
 Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota, having the floor, said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman, four yours ago, in this very hall, 
 and as a delegate to the National Republican Con 
 vention, I was opposed to Chester A. Arthur and 
 to the elements with which he then associated. 
 Since then he has been called, under the most 
 trying circumstances, to fill the first place in the 
 gift of the people of this country. So well, so 
 nobly, so faithfully has he fulfilled this trust, and 
 so happily has he disappointed, not only those of 
 his opponents, but his friends, so fully has he filled 
 the position of the scholar and the gentleman, 
 that he is possessed of that great, good common 
 sense, which has made his administration a great 
 and pronounced success, that he has grown upon 
 me, until to-day I honor and revere Chester A. 
 Arthur. [Applause.] As a friend of his, I no less 
 honor and revere that prince of gentlemen, that 
 scholar, that gifted statesman, James G. Elaine, 
 whose nomination it affords me the greatest pleas 
 ure to second, with the prediction that his name 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 369 
 
 before the country in November will produce that 
 same spontaneous enthusiasm which will make him 
 President of the United States on the 4th of 
 March next. [Loud and prolonged applause. 
 Cries of Curtis.] 
 
 Mr. Plumb, of Kansas Mr. Chairman, this 
 Convention has discharged two of its most impor 
 tant trusts, and is now, notwithstanding the length 
 of time it has been in session and the exciting 
 scenes through which it has passed, in thorough 
 good humor, and I believe we are ready to go on 
 and conclude the business which brought us all 
 here. [No, no.] 
 
 Mr. Houck, of Nebraska There is a motion to 
 make the nomination unanimous. That is the 
 question before the Convention, and I call for the 
 regular order. 
 
 Mr. Plumb, of Kansas Before proceeding with 
 that I desire to respond to the sentiment which 
 pervades the entire Convention. I move that this 
 nomination be made unanimous, and I hope there 
 will not be a dissenting voice in all this vast as 
 semblage. 
 
 The Chair I have been requested to read to the 
 Convention the following telegraphic despatch : 
 
 The President has sent the following despatch 
 to Mr. Elaine : 
 
 THE HON. JAMES G. ELAINE, Augusta, Maine 
 As the candidate of the Republican party you will 
 have my earnest, cordial support. 
 24 
 
370 THE CONVENTION- OF 1884. 
 
 The Chair Shall the motion to make the nom 
 ination unanimous prevail ? All those in favor of 
 that will say aye [the tremendous shout of "aye" 
 sent up by the vast multitude clearly demonstrated 
 the fact that the nomination was made unani 
 mous.] 
 
 Mr Husted, of New York I move that this 
 Convention do now adjourn until eight o clock this 
 evening. The motion prevailed. 
 
 The Convention then adjourned until eight 
 o clock in the evening. 
 
 There was a very large attendance, as well of 
 delegates as of spectators, at the evening session. 
 The galleries were hardly less crowded than at any 
 of the preceding sessions ; but there was a marked 
 absence of any other feeling than one of simple 
 curiosity. It was 8.15 o clock when the Chair 
 man s gavel fell, calling the Convention to order. 
 
 The resolution limiting speeches of nomination 
 to ten minutes passed, and the clerk proceeded to 
 call the roll of States for nominations. No re 
 sponse was received until Illinois was reached, 
 when Senator Plumb, of Kansas, said that it was 
 but a matter of just recognition to the great body 
 of the soldiers of the war for the Union, that a 
 representative from their number should be placed 
 as the second name on the ticket. The Grand 
 Army of the Republic had enrolled more than 
 three-quarters of a million men who lately wore 
 the blue. In presenting a name from their ranks, 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 371 
 
 the Speaker would mention a man fitted in every 
 way for the first place ; a man who would add 
 strength to the ticket, and justify the hopes and 
 expectations of the party. That man was General 
 John A. Logan. The speaker did not present him 
 on behalf of Illinois, or of any other State, but of 
 the whole United States. He belonged no more 
 to Illinois than to Kansas, where 75,000 soldiers 
 would receive the news of his nomination with 
 shouts of gladness. The speaker was commis 
 sioned by the State of Kansas to make this nomi 
 nation. 
 
 The nomination was seconded by Judge Houck, 
 of Tennessee; Hon. J. M. Thurston, of Nebraska; 
 Senator Joseph W. Lee, of Pennsylvania; Con 
 gressman Horr ? of Michigan ; J~hn C. Dancy, col 
 ored, and delegates from Georgia and Kentucky. 
 
 A motion was made to nominate Logan by ac 
 clamation. This method was tried but did not 
 prove satisfactory, and, after several speeches were 
 made, Congressman Davis, of Illinois, demanded a 
 call of the roll on the nominations. This was 
 ordered. When New York was reached, George 
 William Curtis announced that his delegation was 
 not quite ready, and asked that time be given to 
 make the count. The request was granted, and 
 the call proceeded. 
 
 The roll being completed, New York was again 
 called, and Mr. Curtis announced the vote of that 
 State as one vote for Foraker, of Ohio ; six votes 
 
372 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 for Gresham, of Indiana, and sixty votes for 
 Logan. The vote was unanimous, with the ex 
 ception of these seven from New York, Logan s 
 total vote being 779. The nomination was then 
 made unanimous. 
 
 It would be impossible in the above detailed 
 description of the proceedings to tell of the tumul 
 tuous enthusiasm that prevailed from the time the 
 Convention began until its work was ended. 
 No better idea can be given than that of a gen 
 tleman who wrote the following letter to a friend. 
 The description is a most graphic one : 
 
 " James G. Blaine is nominated. 
 
 " Twice defeated for the nomination, once in 
 1876 by the jealousy of a part of New England 
 and the opposition of Ohio and the South and once 
 in 1880 by the machine, the choice of Republican 
 States and Republican voters has become at last 
 the choice of the Republican party. Yesterday 
 evening left without question or challenge the 
 position he occupied before the Convention. He 
 was the first choice of an overwhelming plurality. 
 He was the second choice of an equally over 
 whelming majority. No one candidate could equal 
 his strength on the first ballot and no combination 
 of candidates could equal the number of those who, 
 when their first choice was laid aside, preferred 
 James G. Blaine to any other man within the 
 party. 
 
 " These things were plain. They pointed to a 
 logical result, which accident might prevent or 
 intrigue defeat, but the course and outcome of the 
 
THE CONTENTION OF 1884, 373 
 
 day showed that neither could accomplish its pur 
 pose. He was nominated. The steady march of 
 Republican desires, begun long ago in village 
 primaries and the county caucus, had to-day its 
 long drawn triumph and crowning suffrage. Step 
 by step the work in the Convention went on. 
 
 " The roll-call for the first ballot is over at last. 
 Then clerks bend over the tally sheets, innumer 
 able pencils pass up and down, and, as Henderson 
 rises to give the result, there is a wild sway and 
 raid of telegraph boys about the correspondent s 
 desk. All over the land men are putting up before 
 listening thousands the tally: Elaine, 334 i; Ar 
 thur, 278; Edmunds, 93; Logan, 63i; John 
 Sherman, 30 ; Hawley, 13 ; Lincoln, 3 ; General 
 Sherman, 2. The first. ballot ends in a Elaine 
 storm checked as the second ballot opens. 
 
 "Changes begin. Arkansas adds three votes to 
 Elaine. A dozen States pass, and the vote stands 
 unchanged. The second ballot goes on and Elaine 
 is gaining. Every vote is watched with breathless 
 interest followed by tumults of applause. The 
 Elaine men feel that they are gaining ground. 
 The Arthur men know that they are losing. The 
 Edmunds men are disconsolate. The ballot ends, 
 and Elaine is further to the front. 
 
 " With Elaine at 349 and Arthur at 276, how 
 ever, the gap was widened past repair between the 
 candidates, and it was plain when order came 
 again, such order as this restless mob gives, that 
 the next ballot must make or mar all the plans of 
 the past or assure all the hopes of the future. 
 
 " In the midst of it, his lips vainly forming sen 
 tence after sentence, stands Foraker, slender, well- 
 built, his face shining with the effort and his voice 
 
374 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 carried away by the Elaine gale. Minute by 
 minute passes before a lull comes, and then it be 
 comes known, rather by men passing the word 
 along than by any hearing of his words, that he 
 moves a recess until 7.30. 
 
 "It was the last uncertain chance to defeat Blaine, 
 the bare possibility that five hours of cabal might 
 bring the candidate, in place of Blaine, whom five 
 months of popular agitation and discussion had not 
 evolved. 
 
 " Straightway Stewart, steadying himself, shouts 
 in the storm that breaks on Foraker s motion that 
 the opposing forces have passed the skirmish line 
 and the battle must join. For the first time in 
 the frequent popular calls for Blaine his cause has 
 had good management before the Convention. For 
 the first time it had now a leader in the Conven 
 tion. There is in the stress and storm of these 
 conflicts the shock, if not the danger, of battle, 
 and Stewart, by voice and manner, by look and 
 gesture, standing erect, his face aflame and his arm 
 extended, threw into his manner all that a leader 
 in the forefront needed. This may not be the 
 best way to decide momentous issues ; but, given 
 these conditions, by such leadership is victory won, 
 and won it was." 
 
 While these stirring scenes were being enacted 
 in Chicago, Mr. Blaine was at his home in Au 
 gusta, Maine, with his family. He heard the 
 news a very few moments after the fin at ballet 
 was taken. The now nominee of the Republican 
 party was quietly swinging in a hammock under 
 a spreading apple tree, and sitting round him were 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 375 
 
 Mrs. Elaine and two of her daughters, Miss Stan- 
 wood (Mrs. Blame s sister), Miss Dodge (" Gail 
 Hamilton"), Mr. and Mrs. Homan, Miss Manly 
 and Miss Johnson. 
 
 His demeanor of quiet composure was in nowise 
 disturbed from what it has been all through the 
 past week. 
 
 " I did not expect a definite result so soon," said 
 Mr. Elaine, addressing one of the group, " but the 
 anxiety in regard to the nomination question is 
 over at least." 
 
 NOMINATED BY THE POPULAR WILL. 
 
 To Mr. Sprague, editor of his home paper, who 
 at this moment put in his appearance, he said : 
 " Well, the biggest liar in the country cannot say I 
 schemed, or dictated, or traded, or had anything to 
 do with the nomination or Convention. I have 
 asked no delegate to vote for me; have written 
 to no man, not even to Mr. Manly or Mr. John A. 
 Stevens, or Mr. Bigelow, or my friend- Homan here. 
 To no one have I said one word in any way, 
 manner or shape that can in any way be construed 
 to be a bid or move toward this nomination." 
 
 At this instant the report of the old cannon on 
 the wharf at Hallowell, said to be one that was 
 used on the " Boxer" during her fight with the " En 
 terprise," gave the first boom for Elaine that was 
 sounded in the State of Maine. 
 
 " Isn t this glorious ! " cried Miss Dodge to some 
 
376 THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 ladies who had just driven up. The first congratu 
 latory despatch received by Mr. Elaine was from 
 General Collis, of New York, and was sent before 
 the final vote was taken. 
 
 SOUNDS OF REJOICING. 
 
 Mr. Elaine and his entire family seemed just as 
 quiet and unconcerned as ever; but as the crowd 
 of friends increased and the streets around began 
 to be crowded with village folks shouting their 
 huzzas and pushing to get the best view of the 
 happy party on the lawn, the children began to 
 show signs of excitement. Then Miss Dodgf 
 caught the sound of the church bells as they began 
 to ring, and this was followed by shrieks of steam 
 whistles from factories and steamers on the river. 
 The noise as it increased began to relax the severe 
 strain which the entire family held over their 
 feelings, and one by one they grew more animated, 
 a brighter light came to the eye, and the voices 
 were raised a little higher. 
 
 The air was filled with shouts of joy as the 
 throngs grew thicker on the streets. The bells 
 and guns from Hallowell and Gardiner, two and 
 six miles down the river, joined in the general din. 
 Newspaper correspondents began to make their 
 way along to the party on the lawn, and Mr. 
 Elaine himself began to show the effects of the 
 tremendous excitement as the crowd grew larger 
 and the noise increased in volume. It seemed as 
 
THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 377 
 
 though every workshop and store had emptied 
 itself into the streets, and everybody was excited 
 and jubilant. 
 
 The Democrats caught the excitement, and were 
 inclined to feel that the selection of an Augusta resi 
 dent was at least an honor to good citizens, and they 
 were willing to join in the glad celebration going on. 
 
 Congratulatory despatches kept coming in as fast 
 as the facilities of the telegraph office could receive 
 them. Extra operators and a large force of mes 
 sengers were put on. The local train from Gar 
 diner and Hallowell brought in all that could 
 stand upon it. The 8 o clock train also brought 
 crowds. At 8.30 a procession was formed in the 
 square down town. Headed by a brass band, they 
 marched over the city and to Mr. Elaine s house, 
 where they began the celebration that will be kept 
 " up the remainder of the campaign. 
 
 When the procession reached Mr. Blame s resi- 
 dence on Commercial street it halted, and the 
 spokesman of the party cried : " Three cheers for 
 the next President of the United States." A 
 storm of cheers followed. In response, Mr. Blaine 
 appeared at the doorway and surveyed the assem 
 bled multitude for a moment. All demonstration 
 was quickly hushed, and Mr. Blaine spoke as fol 
 lows : 
 
 " My friends and my neighbors I thank you 
 most sincerely for the honor of this call. There 
 is no spot in the world where good news comes to 
 
37S THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 
 
 me so gratefully as here at my own home, among 
 the people with whom I have been on terms of 
 friendship and intimacy for more than thirty years 
 people whom I know and who know me. 
 Thanking you again for the heartiness of the com 
 pliment, I bid you good-night." 
 
 There was a happy gathering that night in the 
 Elaine mansion. Long after the rest of the family 
 had retired, Mr. and Mrs. Elaine sat up and talked 
 about the gratifying result of the Convention s 
 work. Mrs. Elaine was proud and happy ; proud 
 of her noble husband and his great abilities, and 
 happy because the people had rebuked treachery 
 and called him to be their standard-bearer to lead 
 them on to victory at the polls. Mr. Elaine showed 
 no excitement whatever. He was calm and col- 
 lected, and after talking for an hour or two, went 
 to bed arid slept as soundly as though he had not 
 passed through weeks of waiting for the people s 
 decision. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 Mr. Blaine Accepts the Nomination. 
 
 NEVER was a presidential nomination more sponta 
 neous than that which placed the banner of his great 
 party in the hands of the " Plumed Knight. * He had 1 
 received over 7,000 letters urging him to be a candi 
 date, but had not answered one. When the news 
 came from Chicago he received it with calm satisfac 
 tion, and said he received the nomination with greater 
 pleasure from the fact that it was entirely unsolicited. 
 
 His friends and neighbors soon crowded about him 
 to extend their congratulations. The telegraph wires 
 were burdened with messages of good-will. The first 
 came from President Arthur. In any other man the 
 generosity and promptness of the pledge might have 
 excited surprise; in Chester A. Arthur it was only 
 natural. 
 
 tff^^^r 
 
 To the Hon. James G. Blaine, Augusta, Maine : 
 
 As the candidate of the Republican party, you will 
 have my earnest and cordial support. 
 
 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 Another brought the benediction of a bereaved 
 home, and there came with it a voice from beyond the 
 grave. 
 
 (379) 
 
380 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 CLEVELAND, O., June 7. 
 To Hon. James G. Elaine: 
 
 Our household joins in one great thanksgiving. 
 From the quiet of our home we send our most earnest 
 wish that through the turbulent months to follow, and 
 in the day of victory, you may be guarded and kept. 
 
 LUCRETIA R. GARFIELD. 
 
 In Augusta the good news was hailed wrth great 
 rejoicing by the fellow-citizens of the honored candi 
 date. Bells were rung and cannon fired. Far into 
 the night the streets were thronged with people filling 
 the air with their lusty cheers for the " Man from 
 Maine." 
 
 Early in the evening a crowd gathered about Mr. 
 Elaine s house, and in response to the cheering, he 
 appeared at the door and briefly addressed them : 
 
 MY FRIENDS AND MY NEIGHBORS : I thank you most 
 sincerely for the honor of this call. There is no spot 
 in the world where good news comes to me so grate 
 fully as here at my own home ; among the people with 
 whom I have been on terms of friendship and intimacy 
 for more than thirty years, people whom I know and 
 who know me. Thanking you again for the heartiness 
 of the compliment, I bid you good-night. 
 
 INFORMED OF HIS NOMINATION. 
 
 The committee appointed to inform Mr. Elaine of 
 his nomination performed that duty at Augusta, June 
 21. The ceremony took place on the lawn near the 
 house. Representatives of every State and Territory 
 were there. Mr. Henderson, as chairman of the 
 
(381) 
 
382 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Committee and on behalf of the Convention, in a few 
 well-chosen words formally tendered to Mr. Elaine the 
 nomination of the Republican party for the Presidency 
 of the United States. During the address of the 
 chairman Mr. Blaine stood with folded arms, the central 
 figure of a, brilliant and picturesque group. And then 
 with a becoming recognition of the present honor and 
 the responsibility which was its price, and with a hope 
 ful look into the face of the future, which seemed in 
 the stillness of that perfect June day to whisper back 
 a glad " Hail and Welcome," he briefly responded, 
 accepting the nomination : 
 
 MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE NATIONAL 
 COMMITTEE : I receive not without deep sensibility your 
 official notice of the action of the National Conven 
 tion already brought to my knowledge through the 
 public press. I appreciate more profoundly than I 
 can express the honor which is implied in a nomina 
 tion for the Presidency by the Republican party of the 
 nation speaking through the authoritative voice of 
 duly accredited delegates. To be selected as a candi 
 date by such an assemblage from the list of eminent 
 statesmen whose names were presented, fills me with 
 embarrassment. I can only express my gratitude for 
 so signal an honor, and my earnest desire to prove 
 worthy of the great trust reposed in me. 
 
 In accepting the nomination, as I now do, I am im 
 pressed, I might almost say oppressed, with a sense of 
 the labor and responsibility which attach to my position. 
 The burden is lightened, however, by the hosts of 
 

 BLAINE ACCEPTS THE tfOMINATIOtf. 383 
 
 earnest men who support my candidacy, many of 
 whom add as does your honorable committee the 
 cheer of personal friendship to the pledge of political 
 fealty. 
 
 A more formal acceptance will naturally be ex 
 pected, and will in due season be communicated. It 
 may, however, not be inappropriate at this time to say 
 that I have already made careful study of the principles 
 announced by the National Convention, and that in 
 the whole and in detail they have my heartiest sympa 
 thy, and meet my unqualified approval. 
 
 Apart from your official errand, gentlemen, I am 
 extremely happy to welcome you all to my home. 
 With many of you I have already shared the duties of 
 public service, and have enjoyed the most cordial 
 friendship. I trust your journey from all parts of the 
 great Republic has been agreeable, and that during 
 your stay in Maine you will feel that you are not 
 among strangers, but with friends. Invoking the 
 blessing of God upon the great cause which we jointly 
 represent, let us turn to the future without fear and 
 with manly hearts. 
 
 LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 Having accepted the nomination informally, Mr. 
 Elaine afterward forwarded to the National Republk 
 can Committee the following letter in which his views 
 on public questions and the leading issues of the 
 campaign were clearly stated, and which was con 
 sidered to be an admirable presentation of the great 
 principles of the party: 
 
384 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 AUGUSTA, ME., July 15, 1884. 
 The Hon. John B. Henderson and Others of the 
 
 Committee, etc., etc. 
 
 Gentlemen: In accepting the nomination for the 
 Presidency tendered me by the National Republican 
 Convention, I beg to express a deep sense of the 
 honor which is conferred, and of the duty which is im 
 posed. I venture to 
 accompany the accept 
 ance with some obser 
 vations upon the ques 
 tions involved in the 
 contest q u e s t i o n s 
 whose settlement may 
 affect the future of the 
 Nation favorably or 
 unfavorably for a long 
 series of years. 
 
 In enumerating the 
 
 o 
 
 issues upon which the 
 Republican party ap 
 peals for popular sup 
 port, the Convention 
 has been singularly explicit and felicitous. It has 
 properly given the leading position to the industrial 
 interests of the country as affected by the tariff on im 
 ports. On that question the two political parties are 
 radically in conflict. Almost the first act of the Re 
 publicans, when they came into power in 1861, was the 
 establishment of the principle of protection to Amer- 
 
 GEORGE HOADLY. 
 
ELAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 385 
 
 ican laoor and to American capital. This principle the 
 Republican party has ever since steadily maintained, 
 while on the other hand the Democratic party in Con 
 gress has for fifty years persistently warred upon it. 
 Twice within that period our opponents have destroyed 
 tariffs arranged for protection, and since the close of 
 the Civil War, whenever they have controlled the 
 House of Representatives, hostile legislation has been 
 attempted never more conspicuously than in their 
 principal measure at the late session of Congress. 
 
 TARIFF REVISION. 
 
 Revenue laws are in their very nature subject to 
 frequent revision in order that they may be adapted 
 to changes and modifications of trade. The Republi- 
 .can party is not contending for the permanency of any 
 particular statute. The issue between the two parties 
 does not have reference to a specific law. It is far 
 broader and far deeper. It involves a principle of 
 wide application and beneficent influence, against a 
 theory which we believe to be unsound in conception 
 and inevitably hurtful in practice. 
 
 In the many tariff revisions which have been neces 
 sary for the past twenty-three years, or which may 
 hereafter become necessary, the Republican party has 
 maintained and will maintain the policy of protection 
 to American industry, while our opponents insist upon 
 a revision which practically destroys that policy. The 
 issue is thus distinct, well defined, and unavoidable. 
 
 The pending election may determine the fate of 
 protection for a generation. The overthrow of the 
 
386 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 policy means a large and permanent reduction in the 
 wages of the American laborer, besides involving the 
 loss of vast amounts of American capital invested in 
 manufacturing enterprises. The value of the present 
 revenue system to the people of the United States is 
 not a matter of theory, and I shall submit no argument 
 to sustain it. I only invite attention to certain facts 
 
 of official record 
 which seem to con 
 stitute a demonsfra- 
 tion. 
 
 HOW RICH IS OUR 
 NATION ? 
 
 In the census of 
 1850, an effort was 
 made for the first 
 time in our history to 
 obtain a valuation of 
 all the property in 
 the United States. 
 The attempt was in a 
 JOHN A. LOGAN. large degree unsuc 
 
 cessful. Partly from lack of time, partly from preju 
 dice among many who thought the inquiries fore 
 shadowed a new scheme of taxation, the returns were 
 incomplete and unsatisfactory. Little more was done 
 than to consolidate the local valuation used in the States 
 for purposes of assessment, and that differs widely 
 from a complete exhibit of all the property. 
 
 In the census of 1860, however, the work was done 
 
1LAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 387 
 
 with great thoroughness the distinction between 
 "assessed" value and "true "value being carefully 
 observed. The grand result was that the "true value" 
 of all the property in the States and Territories (ex 
 cluding slaves) amounted to fourteen thousand millions 
 of dollars ($14,000,000,000). This aggregate was the 
 net result of the labor and the savings of all the people 
 within the area of the United States, from the time the 
 first British colonists landed in 1 607, down to the year 
 1860. It represented the fruit of the toil of two hun 
 dred and fifty years. 
 
 VAST INCREASE OF WEALTH. 
 
 After 1860 the business of the country was encour 
 aged and developed by a protective tariff. At the end 
 of twenty years, the total property of the United States, 
 as returned by the census of 1880, amounted to the 
 enormous aggregate of forty-four thousand millions of 
 dollars ($44,000,000,000). This great result was at 
 tained, notwithstanding the fact that countless millions 
 had, in the interval, been wasted in the progress of a 
 bloody war. It thus appears, that while our population 
 between 1860 and 1880 increased sixty per cent, the 
 aggregate property increased two hundred and four 
 teen per cent., showing a vastly enhanced wealth per 
 capita among the people. Thirty thousand millions of 
 dollars ($30,000,000,000) had been added during these 
 twenty years to the permanent wealth of the Nation. 
 
 These results are regarded by the older nations of 
 the world as phenomenal. That our country should 
 surmount the peril and the cost of a gigantic war, and 
 
388 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE 
 
 for an entire period of twenty years make an average 
 gain to its wealth of $i 25,000,000 per month, surpasses 
 the experience of all other nations, ancient or modern. 
 Even the opponents of the present revenue system do 
 not pretend that in the whole history of civilization 
 any parallel can be found to the material progress of 
 the United States since the accession of the Republican 
 party to power. 
 
 MORAL PROGRESS. 
 
 The period between 1860 and to-day has not been 
 one of material prosperity only. At no time in the 
 history of the United States has there been such prog 
 ress in the moral and philanthropic field. Religious 
 and charitable institutions, schools, seminaries and 
 colleges have been founded and endowed far more 
 generously than at any previous time in our history. 
 Greater and more varied relief has been extended to 
 human suffering, and the entire progress of the country 
 in wealth has been accompanied and dignified by a 
 broadening and elevation of our National character as 
 a people. 
 
 Our opponents find fault that our revenue system 
 produces a surplus. But they should not forget that 
 the law has given a specific purpose to which all of the 
 surplus is profitably and honorably applied the re 
 duction of the public debt and the consequent relief 
 of the burden of taxation. No dollar has been wasted, 
 and the only extravagance with which the party stands 
 charged is the generous pensioning of soldiers, sailors, 
 and their families an extravagance which embodies 
 
BLAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 
 
 389 
 
 the highest form of justice in the recognition and 
 payment of a sacred debt. When reduction of taxa 
 tion is to be made, the Republican party can be 
 
 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 trusted to accomplish it in such a form as will most 
 effectively aid the industries of the Nation. 
 
 A RADICAL ERROR. 
 
 A frequent accusation by our opponents is that the 
 
390 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 foreign commerce of the country has steadily decayed 
 under the influence of the protective tariff. In this way 
 they seek to array the importing interests against the 
 Republican party. It is a common and yet radical 
 error to confound the commerce of the country with 
 its carrying trade an error often committed inno 
 cently and sometimes designedly but an error so 
 gross that it does not distinguish between the ship and 
 the cargo. Foreign commerce represents the exports 
 and imports of a country, regardless of the nationality 
 of the vessel that may carry the commodities of ex 
 change. Our carrying trade has, from some obvious 
 causes, suffered many discouragements since 1860, but 
 our foreign commerce has in the same period steadily 
 and prodigiously increased increased, indeed, at a 
 rate and to an amount which absolutely dwarf all pre 
 vious developments of our trade beyond the sea. 
 
 IMMENSE EXPORT TRADE. 
 
 From 1860 to the present time, the foreign com 
 merce of the United States (divided with approximate 
 equality between exports and imports) reached the 
 astounding aggregate of twenty-four thousand mil 
 lions of dollars ($24,000,000,000). The balance in 
 this vast commerce inclined in our favor, but it would 
 have been much larger if our trade with the countries 
 of America elsewhere referred to had been more 
 wisely adjusted. 
 
 It is difficult even to appreciate the magnitude of 
 our export trade since 1860, and we can gain a cor 
 rect conception of it only by comparison with preced- 
 
ELAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 391 
 
 ing results in the same field. The total exports from the 
 United States from the Declaration of Independence 
 in 1776 down to the day of Lincoln s election in 1860, 
 added to all that had previously been exported from 
 the American colonies from their original settlement, 
 amounted to less than nine thousand millions of 
 dollars ($9,000,000,000). On the other hand, our 
 exports from 1860 to the close of the last fiscal 
 year exceeded twelve thousand millions of dollars 
 ($12,000,000,000) the whole of it being the product 
 of American labor. Evidently a protective tariff has 
 not injured our export trade, when, under its influence, 
 we exported in twenty-four years 40 per cent more 
 than the total amount that had been exported in the 
 entire previous history of American commerce. All 
 the details when analyzed, correspond with this gigan 
 tic result. 
 
 THE FARMER LEADS. 
 
 The commercial cities of the Union never had such 
 growth as they have enjoyed since 1860. Our chief 
 emporium, the city of New York, with its dependen 
 cies, has, within that period, doubled her population 
 and increased her wealth fivefold. During the same 
 period, the imports and exports which have entered 
 and left her harbor are more than double, in bulk and 
 value, the whole amount imported and exported by 
 her between the settlement of the first Dutch colony 
 on the Island of Manhattan and the outbreak of the 
 Civil War in 1860. 
 
 The agricultural interest is by far the largest in the 
 
392 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Nation, and is entitled, in every adjustment of revenue 
 laws, to the first consideration. Any policy hostile to 
 the fullest development of agriculture in the United 
 States must be abandoned. Realizing this fact, the 
 opponents of the present system of revenue have 
 labored very earnestly to persuade the farmers of the 
 United States that they are robbed by a protective 
 tariff, and the effort is thus made to consolidate their 
 vast influence in favor of free trade. But, happily, 
 the farmers of America are intelligent, and cannot be 
 misled by sophistry when conclusive facts are before 
 them. They see plainly that, during the past twenty- 
 four years, wealth has not been acquired in one sec 
 tion or by one interest at the expense of another sec 
 tion or another interest. They see that the agricul 
 tural States have made even more rapid progress 
 than the manufacturing States. 
 
 AGRICULTURE PAYS. 
 
 The farmers see that in 1860 Massachusetts and 
 Illinois had about the same wealth between $800,- 
 000,000 and $900,000,000 each and that in 1880 
 Massachusetts had advanced to $2,600,000,000, while 
 Illinois had advanced to $3,200,000,000. They see 
 that New Jersey and Iowa were just equal in popula 
 tion in 1860, and that in twenty years the wealth of 
 New Jersey was increased by the sum of $850,000,000, 
 while the wealth of Iowa was increased by the sum of 
 $1,500,000,000. 
 
 They see that the nine leading agricultural States 
 of the West had grown so rapidly m prosperity that 
 
ELAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 393 
 
 the aggregate addition to their wealth since 1860 is 
 almost as great as the wealth of the entire country in 
 that year. They see that the South, which is almost 
 exclusively agricultural, has shared in the general 
 prosperity, and that, having recovered from the loss 
 and devastation of war, it has gained so rapidly that 
 its total wealth is at least the double of that which it 
 possessed in 1860, exclusive of slaves. 
 
 THE GREAT HOME MARKET. 
 
 In these extraordinary developments the farmers 
 see the helpful impulse of a home market, and they 
 see that the financial and revenue system, enacted 
 since the Republican party came into power, has es 
 tablished and constantly expanded the home market. 
 They see that even in the case of wheat, which is our 
 chief cereal export, they have sold, in the average of 
 the years since the close of the war, three bushels at 
 home to one they have sold abroad, and that in the 
 case of corn, the only other cereal which we export to 
 any extent, one hundred bushels have been used at 
 home to three and a half bushels exported. 
 
 In some years the disparity has been so great that 
 for every peck of corn exported one hundred bushels 
 have been consumed in the home market. The fan 
 mers see that, in the increasing competition from the 
 grain fields of Russia and from the distant plains of 
 India, the growth of the home market becomes daily 
 of greater concern to them, and that its impairment 
 would depreciate the value of every acre of tillable 
 land in the Union. 
 
394 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 INTERNAL FREE TRADE. 
 
 Such facts as these, touching the growth and con 
 sumption of cereals at home, give us some slight con 
 ception of the vastness of the internal commerce 
 of the United States. They suggest also, that in ad 
 dition to the advantages which the American people 
 enjoy from protection against foreign competition, they 
 enjoy the advantages of absolute free trade over a 
 larger area and with a greater population than any 
 other nation. The internal commerce of our thirty- 
 eight States and nine Territories is carried on without 
 let or hindrance, without tax, detention, or govern 
 mental interference of any kind whatever. It spreads 
 freely over an area of three and a half million square 
 miles almost equal in extent to the whole continent 
 of Europe. Its profits are enjoyed to-day by 56,000,- 
 ooo of American freemen and from this enjoyment no 
 monopoly is created. 
 
 DOMESTIC COMMERCE. 
 
 According to Alexander Hamilton, when he dis 
 cussed the same subject in 1 790, " the internal compe 
 tition which takes place does away with everything 
 like monopoly, and by degrees reduces the prices of 
 articles to the minimum of a reasonable profit on the 
 capital employed." It is impossible to point to a single 
 monopoly in the United States that has been created 
 or fostered by the industrial system which is upheld by 
 the Republican party. 
 
 Compared with our foreign commerce, these do 
 mestic exchanges are inconceivably great in amount 
 

 ELAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 395 
 
 requiring merely as one instrumentality as large a 
 mileage of railway as exists to-day in all the other 
 nations of the world combined. These internal ex 
 changes are estimated by the Statistical Bureau of the 
 Treasury Department to be annually twenty times as 
 great in amount as our foreign commerce. It is into 
 this vast field of home trade at once the creation and 
 the heritage of the American people that foreign 
 nations are striving by every device to enter. It is 
 into this field that the opponents of our present rev 
 enue system would freely admit the countries of 
 Europe countries into whose internal trade we could 
 not reciprocally enter, countries to which we should 
 be surrendering every advantage of trade ; from which 
 we should be gaining nothing in return. 
 
 LABOR AND CAPITAL. 
 
 A policy of this kind would be disastrous to the 
 echanics and workingmen of the United States. 
 Wages are unjustly reduced when an industrious man 
 is not able by his earnings to live in comfort, educate 
 his children, and lay by a sufficient amount for the ne 
 cessities of age. The reduction of wages inevitably 
 consequent upon throwing our home market open to 
 the world would deprive them of the power to do this. 
 It would prove a great calamity to our country. It 
 would produce a conflict between the poor and the 
 rich, and in the sorrowful degradation of labor would 
 plant the seeds of public danger. 
 
 The Republican party has steadily aimed to main 
 tain just relations between labor and capital, guarding 
 
396 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 with care the rights of each. A conflict between the 
 two has always led in the past and will always lead in 
 the future to the injury of both. Labor is indispen 
 sable to the creation and profitable use of capital, and 
 capital increases the efficiency and value of labor. 
 Whoever arrays the one against the other is an enemy 
 of both. That policy is wisest and best which har 
 monizes the two on the basis of absolute justice. The 
 Republican party has protected the free labor of 
 America so that its compensation is larger than is real 
 ized in any other country. It has guarded our people 
 against the unfair competition of contract labor from 
 China, and may be called upon to prohibit the growth 
 of a similar evil from Europe. It is obviously unfair 
 to permit capitalists to make contracts for cheap labor 
 in foreign countries to the hurt and disparagement of 
 the labor of American citizens. Such a policy (like that 
 which would leave the time and other conditions of home 
 labor exclusively in the control of the employer) is 
 injurious to all parties not the least so to the unhappy 
 persons who are made the subjects of the contract. 
 
 AN INTELLIGENT AND VIRTUOUS PEOPLE. 
 
 The institutions of the United States rest upon the 
 intelligence and virtue of all the people. Suffrage is 
 made universal as a just weapon of self-protection to 
 every citizen. It is not the interest of the Republic 
 that any economic system should be adopted which 
 involves the reduction of wages to the hard standard 
 prevailing elsewhere. The Republican party aims to 
 elevate and dignify labor not to degrade it. 
 
BLAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 397 
 
 As a substitute for the industrial system which, 
 under Republican administration, has developed such 
 extraordinary prosperity, our opponents offer a policy 
 which is but a series of experiments upon our system 
 of revenue a policy whose end must be harm to our 
 manufactures and greater harm to our labor. Experi 
 ment in the industrial and financial system is the 
 country s greatest dread, as stability is its greatest 
 boon. Even the uncertainty resulting from the recent 
 tariff agitation in Congress has hurtfully affected the 
 business of the entire country. 
 
 Who can measure the harm to our shops and our 
 homes, to our farms and our commerce, if the uncer 
 tainty of perpetual tariff agitation is to be inflicted 
 upon the country? We are in the midst of an abun 
 dant harvest ; we are on the eve of a revival of general 
 prosperity . Nothiag stands in our way but the dread 
 of a change in the industrial system which has wrought 
 such wonders in the last twenty years, and which, with 
 the power of increased capital, will work still greater 
 marvels of prosperity in the twenty years to come. 
 
 OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS. 
 
 Our foreign relations favor our domestic develop 
 ment. We are at peace with the world at peace upon 
 a sound basis, with no unsettled questions of sufficient 
 magnitude to embarrass or distract us. Happily re 
 moved by our geographical position from participation 
 or interest in those questions of dynasty or boundary 
 which so frequently disturb the peace of Europe, we 
 are left to cultivate friendly relations with all, and are 
 
 
398 LIFE OF HON, JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 free from possible entanglements in the quarrels of 
 any. The United States has no cause and no desire 
 to engage in conflict with any Power on earth, and we 
 may rest in assured confidence that no Power desires 
 to attack the United States. 
 
 With the nations of the Western Hemisphere we 
 should cultivate closer relations, and for our common 
 prosperity and advancement we should invite them all 
 to join with us in an agreement, that, for the future, 
 all international troubles in North or South America 
 shall be adjusted by impartial arbitration, and not by 
 arms. This project was part of the fixed policy of 
 President Garfield s administration, and it should, in 
 myjudgment, be renewed. Its accomplishment on this 
 continent would favorably affect the nations beyond 
 the sea, and thus powerfully contribute at no distant 
 day to the universal acceptance of the philanthropic 
 and Christian principle of arbitration. 
 
 NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD. 
 
 The effect even of suggesting it for the Spanish- 
 American States has been most happy, and has in 
 creased the confidence of those people in our friendly 
 disposition. It fell to my lot as Secretary of State, in 
 June, 1 88 1, to quiet apprehension in the Republic of 
 Mexico by giving the assurance, in an official despatch, 
 that " there is not the faintest desire in the United 
 States for territorial extension south of the Rio Grande. 
 The boundaries of the two Republics have been estab 
 lished in conformity with the best jurisdictional inter 
 ests of both. The line of demarcation is not merely 
 
com 
 
 BLAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 399 
 
 conventional. It is more. It separates a Spanish- 
 American people from a Saxon-American people. It 
 divides one great nation from another with distinct 
 and natural finality." 
 
 We seek the conquests of peace. We desire to 
 extend our commerce, and in an especial degree with 
 our friends and neighbors on this continent. We have 
 not improved our relations with Spanish-America as 
 wisely and persistently as we might have done. For 
 more than a generation the sympathy of those coun 
 tries has been allowed to drift away from us. 
 
 We should now make every effort to gain their 
 friendship. Our trade with them is already large. 
 During the last year our exchanges in the Western 
 Hemisphere amounted to $350,000,000 nearly one- 
 fourth of our entire foreign commerce. To those who 
 may be disposed to underrate the value of our trade 
 with the countries of North and South America, it may 
 be well to state that their population is nearly or quite 
 50,000,000, and that, in proportion to aggregate num 
 bers, we import nearly double as much from them as 
 we do from Europe. 
 
 UNSATISFACTORY TRADE. 
 
 But the result of the whole American trade is in a 
 high degree unsatisfactory. The imports during the 
 past year exceeded $225,000,000, while the exports 
 were less than $125,000,000 showing a balance 
 against us of more than $100,000,000. But the money 
 does not go to Spanish-America. We send large sums 
 to Europe in coin or its equivalent to pay European 
 
400 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 
 
 manufacturers for the goods which they send to Span 
 ish America. We are but paymasters far this enor 
 mous amount annually to European factors an 
 amount which is a serious draft, in every financial 
 depression, upon our resources of specie. 
 
 Cannot this condition of trade in great part be 
 changed? Cannot the market for our products be 
 greatly enlarged ? We have made a beginning in 
 our effort to improve our trade relations with Mexico, 
 and we should not be content until similar and mutually 
 advantageous arrangements have been successively 
 made with every nation of North and South America. 
 While the great Powers of Europe are steadily en 
 larging their colonial domination in Asia and Africa, 
 it is the especial province of this country to improve 
 and expand its trade with the nations of America. 
 No field promises so much. No field has been culti 
 vated so little. Our foreign policy should be an 
 American policy in its broadest and most compre 
 hensive sense a policy of peace, of friendship, of 
 commercial enlargement. 
 
 A PATRIOTIC NAME. 
 
 The name of America, which belongs to us in our 
 National capacity, must always exalt the just pride of 
 patriotism. Citizenship of the Republic must be the 
 panoply and safeguard of him who wears it. The 
 American citizen, rich or poor, native or naturalized, 
 white or colored, must everywhere walk secure in 
 hi s personal and civil rights. The Republic should 
 never accept a lesser duty, it can never assume a 
 
ELAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 401 
 
 nobler one, than the protection of the humblest man 
 who owes it loyalty protection at home, and protec 
 tion which shall follow him abroad into whatever 
 land he may go upon a lawful errand. 
 
 I recognize, not without regret, the necessity for 
 speaking of two sections of our common country. But 
 the regret diminishes when I see that the elements 
 which separated them are fast disappearing. Pre 
 judices have yielded and are yielding, while a growing 
 cordiality warms the Southern and the Northern heart 
 alike. Can any one doubt that between the sections 
 confidence and esteem are to-day more marked than 
 at any period in the sixty years preceding the election 
 of President Lincoln ? This is the result in part of 
 time, and in part of Republican principles applied 
 under the favorable condition of uniformity. 
 
 PEACE AND PROSPERITY. 
 
 It would be a great calamity to change these influ 
 ences under which Southern Commonwealths are 
 learning to vindicate civil rights, and adapting them 
 selves to the conditions of political tranquillity and 
 industrial progress. If there be occasional and 
 violent outbreaks in the South against this peaceful 
 progress, the public opinion of the country regards 
 them as exceptional, and hopefully trusts that each 
 will prove the last. 
 
 The South needs capital and occupation, not con 
 troversy. As much as any part of the North, the 
 South needs the full protection of the revenue laws 
 which the Republican party offers. Some of the 
 
 26 
 
402 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Southern States have already entered upon a career 
 of industrial development and prosperity. These, at 
 least, should not lend their electoral votes to destroy 
 their own future. 
 
 Any effort to unite the Southern States upon issues 
 that grow out of the memories of the war, will sum 
 mon the Northern States to combine in the assertion 
 of that Nationality which was their inspiration in the 
 civil struggle. And thus great energies which should 
 be united in a common industrial development will be 
 wasted in hurtful strife. The Democratic party shows 
 itself a foe to Southern prosperity by always invoking 
 and urging Southern political consolidation. Such a 
 policy quenches the rising instinct of patriotism in the 
 heart of the Southern youth ; it revives and stimulates 
 prejudice ; it substitutes the spirit of barbaric venge^ 
 ance for the love of peace, progress and harmony. 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 
 
 The general character of the Civil Service of the 
 United States, under all administrations, has been 
 honorable. In the one supreme test the collection 
 and disbursement of revenue the record of fidelity 
 has never been surpassed in any Nation. With the 
 almost fabulous sums which were received and paid 
 during the late war, scrupulous integrity was the pre 
 vailing rule. Indeed, throughout that trying period 
 it can be said, to the honor of the American name, 
 that unfaithfulness and dishonesty among civil officers 
 were as rare as misconduct and cowardice on the field 
 of battle. 
 
ELAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 403 
 
 The growth of the country has continually and ne 
 cessarily enlarged the Civil Service, until now it in- J 
 eludes a vast body of officers. Rules and methods of 
 appointment which prevailed when the number was 
 smaller, have been found insufficient and impracticable, 
 and earnest efforts have been made to separate the 
 great mass of ministerial officers from partisan influ 
 ence and personal control. Impartiality in the mode 
 of appointment to be based on qualification, and 
 security of tenure to be based on faithful discharge of 
 duty, are the two ends to be accomplished. The pub 
 lic business will be aided by separating the legislative 
 branch of the government from all control of appoint 
 ments, and the Executive Department will be relieved 
 by subjecting appointments to fixed rules, and thus 
 removing them from the caprice of favoritism. But 
 there should be right observance of the law which 
 gives, in all cases of equal competency, the preference 
 to the soldiers who risked their lives in defence of 
 the Union. 
 
 REMOVALS FROM OFFICE. 
 
 I entered Congress in 1863, and in a somewhat pro 
 longed service I never found it expedient to request 
 or recommend the removal of a civil officer, except in 
 four instances, and then for non-political reasons which 
 were instantly conclusive with the appointing power. 
 The officers in the district, appointed by Mr. Lincoln 
 in 1861 upon the recommendation of my predecessor, 
 served, as a rule, until death or resignation. I adopted 
 at the beginning of my service the test of competitive 
 
LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 examination for appointments to West Point, and 
 maintained it so long as I had the right by law to 
 nominate a cadet. In the case of many officers I found 
 that the present law, which arbitrarily limits the term 
 of the commission, offered a constant temptation to 
 changes for mere political reasons. I have publicly 
 expressed the belief that the essential modification of 
 that law would be in many respects advantageous. 
 
 " COMMERCIAL SENTINELS." 
 
 My observation in the Department of State con 
 firmed the conclusion of my legislative experience, 
 and impressed me with the conviction that the rule of 
 impartial appointment might with advantage be car 
 ried beyond any existing provision of the civil service 
 law. It should be applied to appointments in the con 
 sular service. Consuls should be commercial senti 
 nels encircling the globe with watchfulness for their 
 country s interests. Their intelligence and compe 
 tency become, therefore, matters of great public con 
 cern. No man should be appointed to an American 
 consulate who is not well instructed in the history and 
 resources of his own country, and in the requirements 
 and language of commerce in the country to which he 
 is sent. The same rule should be applied even more 
 rigidly to secretaries of legation in our diplomatic ser 
 vice. The people have the right to the most efficient 
 agents in the discharge of public business, and the ap 
 pointing power should regard this as the prior and 
 ulterior consideration. 
 
 Religious liberty is the right of every citizen of the 
 
BLAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 405 
 
 Republic. Congress is forbidden by the Constitution 
 to make any law " respecting the establishment of 
 religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." 
 For a century, under this guarantee. Protestant and 
 Catholic, Jew and Gentile, have worshiped God ac 
 cording to the dictates of conscience, But religious 
 liberty must not be perverted to the justification of 
 offences against the law. 
 
 TREASONABLE POLYGAMY. 
 
 A religious sect, strongly entrenched in one of the 
 Territories of the Union, and spreading rapidly into 
 four other Territories, claims the right to destroy the 
 great safeguard and muniment of social order, and to 
 practise as a religious privilege that which is a crime 
 punished with severe penalty in every State of the 
 Union. The sacredness and unity of the family must 
 be preserved as the foundation of all civil govern 
 ment, as the source of orderly administration, as the 
 surest guarantee of moral purity. 
 
 The claim of the Mormons that they are divinely 
 authorized to practise polygamy should no more be 
 admitted than the claim of certain heathen tribes, if 
 they should come among us, to continue the right of 
 human sacrifice. The law does not interfere with 
 what a man believes ; it takes cognizance only of 
 what he does. As citizens, the Mormons are entitled 
 to the same civil rights as others, and to these they 
 must be confined. Polygamy can never receive 
 National sanction or toleration by admitting the com 
 munity that upholds it as a State in the Union. Like 
 
406 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 others, the Mormons must learn that the liberty of the, 
 individual ceases where the rights of society begin. 
 
 The people of the United States, though often 
 urged and tempted, have never seriously contemplated 
 the recognition of any other money than gold and 
 silver and currency directly convertible into them. 
 They have not done so, they will not do so, under any 
 necessity less pressing than that of desperate war. 
 The one special requisite for the completion of our 
 monetary system is the fixing of the relative values of 
 silver and gold. 
 
 THE SILVER QUESTION. 
 
 The large use of silver as the money of account 
 among Asiatic nations, taken in connection with 
 the increasing commerce of the world, gives the 
 weightiest reasons for an international agreement in 
 the premises. Our Government should not cease to 
 urge this measure until a common standard of value 
 shall be reached and established a standard that 
 shall enable the United States to use the silver from 
 its mines as an auxiliary to gold in settling the 
 balances of commercial exchange. 
 
 The strength of the Republic is increased by the 
 multiplication of land-holders. Our laws should look 
 to the judicuios encouragement of actual settlers on 
 the public domain, which should henceforth be held as 
 a sacred trust for the benefit of those seeking homes. 
 The tendency to consolidate large tracts of land in 
 the ownership of individuals or corporations should, 
 with proper regard to vested rights, be discouraged. 
 
x-v 
 
 ELAINE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION. 407 
 
 One hundred thousand acres of land in the hands 
 of one man is far less profitable to the Nation in 
 every way than when its ownership is divided among 
 one thousand men. The evil of permitting large 
 tracts of the National domain to be consolidated and 
 controlled by the few against the many, is enhanced 
 when the persons controlling it are aliens. 
 
 DISPOSITION OF PUBLIC LANDS. 
 
 It is but fair that the public land should be disposed 
 of only to actual settlers, and to those who are 
 citizens of the Republic, or willing to become so. 
 Among our National interests, one languishes the 
 foreign carrying trade. It was very seriously crippled 
 in our Civil War, and another blow was given to it in 
 the general substitution of steam for sail in ocean 
 traffic. With a frontage on the two great oceans, 
 with a freightage larger than that of any other nation, 
 we have every inducement to restore our navigation. 
 Yet the Government has hitherto refused its help. A 
 small share of the encouragement given by the 
 Government to railways and to manufactures, and a 
 small share of the capital and the zeal given by our 
 citizens to those enterprises, would have carried our 
 ships to every sea and to every port. A law just en 
 acted removes some of the burdens upon our naviga 
 tion, and inspires hope that this great interest may at 
 last receive its due share of attention. All efforts in 
 this direction should receive encouragement. 
 
 o 
 
 This survey of our condition as a Nation reminds 
 us that material prosperity is but a mockery if it does 
 
408 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 not tend to preserve the liberty of the people. A free 
 ballot is the safeguard of Republican institutions, with 
 out which no national welfare is assured. A popular 
 election, honestly conducted, embodies the very ma 
 jesty of true government. Ten millions of voters 
 desire to take part in the pending contest. The 
 safety of the Republic rests upon the integrity of the 
 ballot, upon the security of suffrage to the citizens. 
 To deposit a fraudulent vote is no worse a crime 
 against constitutional liberty than to obstruct the de 
 posit of an honest vote. He who corrupts suffrage 
 strikes at the very root of free government. He is 
 the arch-enemy of the Republic. He forgets that in 
 trampling upon the rights of others he fatally imperils 
 his own rights. " It is a good land which the Lord 
 our God doth give us/ but we can maintain our heri 
 tage only by guarding with vigilance the source of 
 popular power. I am, with great respect, your obedi 
 ent servant, JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 The Great Campaign of 1884. 
 
 THE political battle which followed Mr. Elaine s 
 nomination for the Presidency at Chicago has never 
 been surpassed in this country for unscrupulous 
 means employed to defeat a popular candidate. The 
 bitterest assaults were made upon him, the most out 
 rageous falsehoods were circulated by his enemies, 
 and, as the time for the election drew near, it was 
 universally felt that the result was involved in grave 
 doubt. 
 
 A very large number of Republicans, headed by 
 several newspapers which had always heretofore fol 
 lowed the party dictates, bolted the nominations and 
 actively supported Mr. Cleveland, the Democratic 
 candidate. 
 
 All sorts of extraneous matters were dragged into 
 the party warfare, some of the assaults on the Repub 
 lican nominee being of a particularly aggravating 
 character. Most of these were allowed to pass by 
 unnoticed, but one of them was of such a nature that 
 Mr. Elaine brought a suit for libel against a news 
 paper in Indiana. After a year or two this case was 
 discontinued. 
 
410 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Feeling most acutely the hazardous situation in 
 which he was placed, Elaine went into the canvass 
 with even more than his ordinary energy. He trav 
 elled over Ohio, Indiana, New York, and some other 
 States, addressing large meetings and giving counsel 
 to his party leaders. In his speeches he made the 
 doctrine of protection the main issue, thus for the first 
 time in more than a third of a century bringing it to 
 the foremost place in a Presidential campaign. 
 
 GREETED WITH ENTHUSIASM. 
 
 Immense crowds at all points assembled to get a 
 sight of the " Plumed Knight " and hear his soul-stir 
 ring speeches. In public halls, in the open air, from 
 the steps of his railway train, his clarion voice thrilled 
 the multitudes and aroused them to unwonted enthu 
 siasm. His tour was a triumphal progress. Ever 
 ready to discuss the issues of the hour, quick in his 
 perceptions of the exigencies of the occasion, rising 
 always in princely fashion to the demands of the 
 moment, he pushed on his vigorous campaign, and 
 infused life and courage into the great party whose 
 standard had been placed in his hands. 
 
 The contest was drawing to a close, and a large 
 number of prominent citizens of the city of New York 
 felt that it would be a just tribute to Mr. Elaine s 
 devoted labors in the contest to offer him a public 
 banquet. The invitation was sent, and he replied 
 from Evansville, appointing Wednesday evening, 
 October SQth, as the date most convenient to him. 
 
 The company that gathered on that occasion was 
 

 THE CAMPAIGN OF 1884. 
 
 411 
 
 one of the most distinguished ever assembled in the 
 Metropolis. Hon. William M. Evarts presided, Mr. 
 Elaine sitting at his right hand, and Hon. L. P. Mor 
 ton, United States Minister to France, at his left. 
 Other guests at this table were Noah Davis, Presiding 
 Justice of the Supreme Court of New York ; ex-Gov 
 ernor Cornell, of New 
 York ; Governor Hoyt, 
 of Pennsylvania; Cyrus 
 W. Field, the construc 
 tor of the Atlantic ca- 
 b 1 e ; and Charles E. 
 Coon, Assistant Siecre- 
 tary of the Treasury. 
 At the other tables 
 were many of the most 
 eminent and respected 
 men of New York City, 
 representing all the 
 learned professions and 
 all branches of trade 
 and industry. Various 
 addresses were made, WILLIAM M. EVARTS. 
 
 but the chief interest of the evening centred upon that 
 of Mr. Elaine himself, which was as follows : 
 
 SPEECH AT THE BANQUET. 
 
 It is a great reversal of positions, Mr. President 
 (addressing Mr. Evarts), that makes me hear you 
 ascribe leadership to me. (Applause.) For it has 
 been my duty and my pleasure in these long years to 
 
412 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 follow you (applause and cheers) ; to learn from you 
 wisdom in public affairs, and join with my countrymen 
 in ascribing to you, not merely the great merit of 
 leadership in the noblest of professions, but to yield 
 our admiration for the singular success which has 
 given to you the opportunity to lead in the three most 
 important cases ever pleaded by a member of the 
 American bar. (Applause.) First, in resisting your 
 own party in what you deemed the impolicy, if not 
 the madness, of impeaching a President (cries of 
 " Good ! Good !" and cheers) ; second, in maintaining 
 before the greatest international tribunal that has ever 
 assembled in modern times the rights of your country 
 and obtaining redress for wrongs to her that grew out 
 of the Civil War (applause) ; and third, in perhaps 
 averting another civil war by pleading before an Elec 
 toral Commission a peaceful settlement of the angriest 
 political discussion that ever arose between the parties 
 in the United States. (Applause and cheers.) 
 
 I turn now from your President to thank you, mer 
 chants, professional men, leaders in the great and 
 complex society of New York to thank you for 
 receiving me, not merely at this festal board, but also 
 in that far more impressive reception which the close 
 of this rainy day witnesses in your broad and beauti 
 ful avenue. I could not, I am sure, by any possible 
 stretch of vanity take this large and generous demon 
 stration to myself. It is given to me only for the time 
 as the representative of the principles which you and 
 I hold in common, touching those great interests which 
 

 THE CAMPAIGN OF 1884. 413 
 
 underlie, as we believe, the prosperity of the Nation. 
 (Applause.) And it is fitting that the commercial 
 metropolis of the continent should lead ; it is fitting 
 that the financial centre of the continent should lead ; 
 it is fitting that this great city, second only in the 
 world, should give an expression to the continent of 
 its views and its judgment on the important questions 
 to be decided Tuesday next by the American people. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 And I venture not that I know it so well as you, 
 but that I am spokesman for the present I venture 
 to remind you, men of New York, with your wealth 
 and your just influence and your magnificent prestige, 
 that seventy per cent, of the entire property of this 
 city has been acquired since Abraham Lincoln was 
 inaugurated, the 4th of March, 1861. I should not 
 mention here a fact of percentage and of statistics if 
 it did not carry with it an argument and a moral. 
 The common apprehension in regard to New York is 
 that it is simply a great commercial city so great 
 that its exports and imports represent largely the 
 major part of all that is exported from or imported 
 into the United States. That we all know. 
 
 But we are often prone to forget that New York is 
 the largest manufacturing city in the world, with per 
 haps a single exception ; that of the $6,000,000,000 of 
 manufactures annually produced in the United States, 
 this great Empire State furnishes one-fifth $1,200,- 
 000,000 of which this great Empire City produces 
 $500,000,000. And from these facts comes that great 
 
414 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 sympathy, that identity of interest which has moved 
 the previously existing conflicts between what have 
 been known as the manufacturing and the commercial 
 interests, and has taught us that there can be no true 
 prosperity in the country unless the three great inter 
 ests comprehended by agriculture, manufactures, and 
 commerce are acting in harmony, the one with the 
 other, and joining together for a common end and for 
 the common good. (Cheers.) 
 
 It is usually thought that a change of Government 
 means but little ; that we come together with our votes 
 a given day and count them as the sun goes down, 
 and one party goes out and another comes in. Bui 
 gentlemen, it is worth while to remember that th< 
 United States is proceeding to-day upon a given bast! 
 of public policy I might say upon a given series ol 
 public policies. We have a great financial system ; 
 we have a great currency system ; we have an impor 
 tant National credit; we have a levying of duties, a* 
 has been so well described by your distinguish 
 President of the evening, so adjusted that the indui 
 tries of the country are fostered and encourage< 
 thereby ; we have three important constitution; 
 amendments that grew out of the war, upon whicl 
 at this hour and in the hours, and the days, and th< 
 weeks, and the years to follow, great issues hang ii 
 this country. 
 
 Are we if we should be invited to step down and 
 out and our opponents to step up and in (applause) 
 are we to understand that these policies are to be 
 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1884. 415 
 
 reversed ? (Cries of " Yes ! Yes ! ") Then if we are 
 to understand that they are to be reversed we should, 
 one and all, prepare for a grand disaster. (" Hear ! 
 Hear ! " and cheers.) For a single illustration, let me 
 recall to your minds that the repeal of ten lines in the 
 National Banking Act would restore to vitality and 
 vigor the old State-bank system from which we had 
 happily escaped, as we thought, for all the remainder 
 of our lives. (Applause.) 
 
 If these policies are to be reversed, you will have 
 to recast your accounts and review your ledgers and 
 prepare for a new, and I may say, a dangerous depar 
 ture ; and if these policies are not to be reversed, they 
 will certainly be better maintained by the great party 
 which originated them and has thus far sustained them 
 with vigor and success. (Applause.) 
 
 As I have already said, we speak of New York as 
 the great exporting and importing city, and from 
 that perhaps we often give an exaggerated importance, 
 relatively speaking, to our foreign trade, because this 
 magnificent metropolis never would have attained its 
 grandeur and its wealth upon the foreign trade alone. 
 We should never forget, important as that trade is, 
 representing the enormous sum of $1,500,000,000 an 
 nually, that it sinks into insignificance and is dwarfed 
 out of sight when we think of those vast domestic 
 exchanges of which New York is the admitted centre 
 and which annually exceed $2,000,000,000. (Applause.) 
 
 Our foreign trade naturally brings to our considers 
 tion the foreign relations of this country, so well de- 
 
416 LITE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 scribed by my distinguished friend as always simple 
 and sincere. It is the safeguard of Republics that 
 they are not adapted to war. (Cheers.) I mean ag 
 gressive war. (Cheers.) And it is the safeguard of 
 this Republic that in a defensive war we can defy the 
 world. (Loud cheering.) This Nation to-day is in 
 profound peace with the world. (Cheers.) But, in 
 my judgment, it has before it a great duty which will 
 not only make that profound peace permanent, but 
 shall set such an example as will absolutely abolish 
 war on this continent, and by a great example and a 
 lofty moral precedent shall ultimately abolish it in 
 other continents. (Great and long-continued cheering.) 
 I am justified in saying that every one of the seven 
 teen independent Powers of North and South America 
 is not only willing but ready is not only ready but 
 eager to enter into a solemn compact in a congress 
 that may be called in the name of peace to agree that 
 if, unhappily, differences shall arise as differences 
 will arise between men and nations they shall be 
 settled upon the peaceful and Christian basis of arbi 
 tration. (Great cheering.) 
 
 And, as I have often said before, I am glad to 
 repeat in this great centre of civilization and power 
 that in my judgment no National spectacle, no inter 
 national spectacle, no continental spectacle, could bd 
 more grand than that the Republics of the Western 
 World should meet together and solemnly agree thai 
 neither the soil of North nor that of South America 
 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1884. 417 
 
 shall be hereafter stained by brothers blood. (Pro 
 longed cheering.) 
 
 The Republican party, gentlemen, cannot be said 
 to be on trial. (Cheers.) To be on trial implies 
 something to be tried for. (" Right ! " " That s so ! " 
 and cheers.) The Republican party in its twenty- 
 three years of rulership has advanced the interests of 
 this country far beyond that of any of its predecessors 
 in power. It has elevated the standard of America 
 it has increased its wealth in a ratio never before 
 realized, and, I may add, never before dreamed of. 
 (Great cheering.) 
 
 Statistics, I know, are dry ; and I have dwelt so 
 much upon them in the last six weeks that they might 
 be supposed to be especially dry to me. And yet I 
 never can forget the eloquence of the figures which 
 tell us that the wealth of this great Empire State when 
 the Republican party took the reins of government 
 was estimated at $1,800,000,000, and that twenty 
 years afterward, under the influence of an industrial 
 and financial system for which that party is proudly 
 responsible (great applause), under the influence of 
 that industrial and financial system, the same tests 
 which gave you $1,800,000,000 of property in 1860 
 gave you $6,300,000,000 in 1880. (Loud and long 
 continued cheering.) There has never been in all the 
 history of financial progress there has never been in 
 all the history of the world any parallel to this ; and 
 I am sure, gentlemen, that the Republican party is not 
 arrogant nor over-confident when it claims to itself the 
 
 27 
 
418 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 credit of organizing and maintaining the industrial 
 system which gave to you and your associates in en 
 terprise the equal and just laws which enable you to 
 made this marvelous progress. (Great cheering.) 
 
 As I have said, that party is not on trial. If it has 
 made mistakes, they have been merged and forgotten 
 in the greater success which has corrected them. 
 (Cheers.) If it has had internal differences, they are 
 laid aside. (Cheers.) If it has had factional strife, I 
 am sure that has ceased. (Renewed cheering.) And 
 I am equally sure that, looking to the history of the 
 past and looking to that great future which we are 
 justified in prophesying, this Imperial State cannot 
 afford to reverse, and therefore will not reverse, those 
 great policies upon which it has grown and advanced 
 from glory to glory. (Enthusiastic cheering.) 
 
 I thank you, gentlemen ; I thank that larger number 
 with whom I have already had the pleasure of ex 
 changing greetings to-day, I thank the ministers, the 
 merchants, the lawyers, the professional men, the 
 mechanics, the laboring men of New York (applause), 
 for a cordial reception, an over-generous welcome, 
 which in all the mutations of my future life will be to 
 me among the proudest and most precious of my 
 memories. 
 
 THE FAMOUS BURCHARD INCIDENT. 
 
 The foregoing remarkable speech was made at the 
 banquet in the evening. At ten o clock in the morn 
 ing of that day a large number of clergymen of all de 
 nominations called on Mr. Blaine at the Fifth Avenue 
 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1884. 419 
 
 Hotel to present a series of resolutions and assure 
 him of their respect and loyalty. The clergymen 
 went into the main corridor of the hotel, and soon Mr. 
 Elaine appeared, accompanied by the committee of 
 clergymen who had been appointed to receive him, 
 several members of his family, and Hon. Levi. P 
 Morton. 
 
 Rev. S. D. Burchard, D. D., a well-known and hon 
 ored minister of the Presbyterian Church, was called 
 upon a few minutes before the appearance of Mr. 
 Elaine to deliver the address, the one who had been 
 chosen for this purpose being unexpectedly absent. 
 Dr. Burchard was a warm admirer of Mr. Blaine, and 
 those who knew him will acquit him of any but the 
 best of intentions in the part he acted on this now 
 celebrated occasion. His error was one of judgment, 
 and doubtless due to the fact that he was suddenly 
 called upon to deliver the address. He stepped to 
 the side of Mr. Blaine, and spoke as follows: 
 
 DR. BURCHARD S SPEECH. 
 
 " We are very happy to welcome you to this city. 
 You see here a representation of all denominations 
 of this city. You see the large number that are rep 
 resented. We are your friends, Mr. Blaine, and, not 
 withstanding all the calumnies that have been urged 
 in the papers against you, we stand by your side. 
 (Shouts of "Amen.") We expect to vote for you next 
 Tuesday. We have higher expectations, which are 
 that you will be the President of the United States, 
 and that you will do honor to your name, to the 
 
420 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 United States, and to the high office you will occupy. 
 
 We are Republicans, and don t propose to leave our 
 
 party and identify ourselves with the party whose 
 
 antecedents have been Rum, Romanism and Rebellion. 
 
 We are loyal to our flag. We are loyal to you." 
 The unfortunate expression, " Rum, Romanism and 
 
 Rebellion," -produced instantly a perceptible impres 
 sion on Mr. Elaine. 
 His expression was one 
 of surprise and pstinful 
 anxiety. His quick per 
 ception saw at once 
 that these words, ap 
 plied to his political 
 opponents, would be 
 resented by them, and 
 might alienate from 
 him many who had in 
 tended to break from 
 party lines, and give 
 him their support at 
 the polls. He made no 
 
 reference to them at 
 
 REV. s. D. BURCHARD t h e time, however, and 
 
 his reply to the cordial welcome of the clergymen was 
 
 one of his happiest efforts. 
 
 HE REFERS TO THE BURCHARD SPEECH. 
 
 On reaching New Haven, on November ist, Mr.. 
 Elaine made the following address referring to Dr. 
 Eurchard s expression : 
 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1884. 421 
 
 There has been placed in my hands since my arrival 
 in New x Haven an address from the clergymen of this 
 city expressing their respect and confidence, and, 
 through the person who delivered it, the assurance 
 that in matters of public right and in matters of public 
 participation under the laws and Constitution of the 
 United States they know no sect ; they know no Prot 
 estant, no Catholic, no Hebrew, but the equality of 
 all. (" Good,! " and cheers.) In the city of Hartford 
 I had a letter put into my hands asking me why I 
 charged the Democratic party with being inspired by 
 rum, Romanism and rebellion. (A^oice, "You never 
 said that") My answer, in the first place, is that they 
 put in my mouth an unfortunate expression of another 
 man ; and, in the next place, it gives me an opportu 
 nity to say, at the close of the campaign, that in public 
 speeches which I have made I have refrained carefully 
 and instinctively from making any disrespectful allu 
 sion to the Dembcratic party. 
 
 I .differ from that party profoundly on matters of 
 principle, but I have too much respect for the millions 
 of my countrymen whom it embraces to assail it with 
 epithets or abuse. (" Good ! Good ! " and cheers.) 
 In the next place, I am sure that I am the last man in 
 the United States who would make a disrespectful 
 allusion to another man s religion. The United States 
 guarantees freedom of religious opinion, and before 
 the law and under the Constitution the Protestant and 
 the Catholic and the Hebrew stand entitled to abso 
 lutely the same recognition and the same protection 
 
 - 
 
422 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 (loud cheering) ; and if disrespectful allusion is here 
 to be made against the religion of any man, as I have 
 said, I am the last man to make it ; though Protestant 
 by conviction and connected with a Protestant church, 
 I should esteem myself of all men the most degraded 
 if, under any pressure or under any temptation, I could 
 in any presence make a disrespectful allusion to that 
 ancient faith in which my mother lived and died. 
 (Enthusiastic and long-continued cheering.) 
 
 THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION. 
 
 Mr. Elaine returned to his home at Augusta, re 
 ceiving an imposing reception at Boston on the way. 
 The election occurred on November 4th. The result 
 turned upon the vote of New York State, and for some 
 days that was in doubt. After an inexplicable delay 
 on the part of the Democratic officers of election, a 
 delay during which grave suspicions arose that the 
 returns were being tampered with and falsified, it was 
 announced that Mr. Cleveland had carried the State 
 by a narrow margin of 1,047 v tes. 
 
 In the electoral college Mr. Elaine received 182 
 votes and Mr. Cleveland 219. Not only was Mr. 
 Elaine sorely disappointed at the result of the election, 
 but his party yielded to defeat with a sorrow that was 
 painfully evident. Millions of his countrymen had 
 hoped to see him elevated to the highest position in 
 the gift of the people. After the first shock of disap 
 pointment he returned to his literary pursuits, and 
 continued his work on his "Twenty Years of Con 
 gress," a masterpiece of political history which exhibits 
 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1884. 423 
 
 the fruits of his long experience in our national affairs, 
 his consummate analytical power, and his marvellous 
 intellectual ability. This work will stand as one of his 
 proudest monuments, and will be immortal in the 
 annals of the Republic. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 Again Secretary of State. 
 
 THE events in Mr. Elaine s later career, extending 
 through the closing years of his life, are prominent 
 and well marked. He lived in the eye of the public. 
 No other man in the nation was accorded so much 
 attention and comment in the public journals which 
 make it their business to record transactions of uni 
 versal interest. 
 
 The Washington correspondent of one of our lead 
 ing journals published the following reminiscences, 
 which properly form a part of the history of Mr. 
 Elaine in connection with the presidency and his 
 second appointment as Secretary of State : 
 
 In the spring of 1884, l n g before the two conven 
 tions had met, I called at Mr. Elaine s house for the 
 purpose of talking to him about the possible outcome 
 of the Republican Convention to be held at Chicago. 
 Mr. Elaine was then the leading candidate. General 
 Grant was in Washington. > It was just before the 
 Grant-Ward failure, and a number of enthusiastic 
 friends of General Grant thought that he might receive 
 the nomination. Mr. Elaine at that time showed 
 singular indifference. Delegation after delegation 
 (424) 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 425 
 
 came to see him at his house, but without eliciting any 
 response. No one who went to see him at that time 
 received the impression that he desired the nomination. 
 During the special call which I made for the purpose 
 of finding out impossible his personal views Mr. Elaine 
 said, "I am afraid I am going to be nominated." 
 This was such a peculiar expression that I asked Mr. 
 Elaine what he meant by it. He replied that the 
 drift was clearly going 
 his way, and that unless 
 he took active steps to 
 counteract it by an ab 
 solute refusal to permit 
 his name to be used he 
 would receive the nom 
 ination. 
 
 He foresaw the whole 
 situation with remarka 
 ble clearness. He esti 
 mated very justly the 
 strength of the other 
 candidates. The reason 
 why he feared the nom 
 ination was his profound 
 belief that the Republi- BENJAMIN HARRISON. 
 
 can party could not win in the coming campaign. His 
 reasons for that were given with great exactness. 
 There was great distress throughout the country. 
 Times were hard and all the dissatisfaction that had 
 been accumulating during years of Republican admin- 
 
426 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 istration he believed would culminate in that year. 
 Nearly everything that he predicted at that time, even 
 to the character of the contests in the various States, 
 proved to be true. 
 
 WHY HE DECLINED TO RUN AGAIN. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s feelings even then made him shrink 
 from the possible dangers of the situation. For many 
 
 years he had a pro 
 found ambition to be 
 the President of the 
 United States. Yet in 
 every contest he had 
 encountered great trials 
 and even dangers. In 
 1876 the extraordinary 
 attack made upon him 
 in the House of Repre 
 sentatives came near 
 causing his death. The 
 sunstroke during the 
 Cincinnati Convention 
 was indirectly one of 
 the results of the enor- 
 LEVI P. MORTON. mou s strain he had 
 
 undergone prior to that time. His enemies then said 
 that the illness was a sham to create sympathy. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s personal pride was hurt by the result 
 of the campaign of 1884. He was deeply wounded 
 by the attitude of some of the Republican leaders. 
 He believed that if there had been perfect harmony 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 427 
 
 in the State of New York he could have been elected. 
 He felt that if the votes had been honestly counted 
 he would have been elected. The result of that elec 
 tion made him resolve that he would never go through 
 another campaign except under conditions, which, from 
 the nature of things, would be impossible. 
 
 What he dreaded more than anything else was that 
 he should be regarded as posing before the American 
 public as a perpetual candidate. He knew that if he 
 had remained in this country during the year preced 
 ing the campaign of 1888 his position would be mis 
 represented, and so he went to Europe in the early 
 summer of 1887 f r the so ^ e purpose of avoiding 
 every possible political complication. 
 
 Only on one condition would Mr. Elaine have 
 consented to again become a candidate. This was 
 divulged in a conversation I had with him in Paris, 
 just after he had written the letter of November, 1887, 
 to Mr. B. F. Jones, announcing that he would not be 
 a candidate under any circumstances. Mr. Elaine 
 said then, in the course of a private conversation, that 
 he had been elected to the proud position as the chief 
 of the Republican party by his nomination at Chicago 
 in 1884. That was a position which, after having led 
 his party to defeat, he could feel justified in retaining 
 only by the unanimous consent of every other possible 
 candidate. He said that he would have consented to 
 run again if no one of prominence in the party had 
 opposed his renomination. 
 
428 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 HIS PARIS LETTER. 
 
 But when he saw that candidate after candidate was 
 announced for the next Chicago Convention he re 
 solved to write the letter to Mr. Jones. This letter 
 was written without any second thought. It was an ir 
 revocable determination based upon a feeling of intense 
 personal pride. Only those who knew Mr. Elaine 
 well can appreciate how intense w r as this personal feel 
 ing. He felt that he could not be brought to occupy 
 a more undignified position after having been elected 
 leader than to be obliged to appear before the public 
 contesting with others for the right to hold the position 
 of leader. 
 
 After writing the Paris letter Mr. Elaine determined 
 to escape from all persecution, and to enjoy, if possible, 
 a visit to some of the more interesting parts of Europe 
 without having his footsteps dogged. He took great 
 care to disclose to no one his intention to leave, and 
 departed for Vienna. He went from Vienna on toBuda- 
 Pesth and remained there for some time, completely 
 eluding his pursuers. No representative of any 
 American newspaper crossed his path for several 
 weeks. Public attention was diverted to other chan 
 nels in America. The contentions of candidates oc 
 cupied the public mind. Mr. Elaine s withdrawal was 
 accepted as having been made in good faith. 
 
 So great, however, was the disappointment over his 
 withdrawal and so difficult did it become to concen 
 trate partisan enthusiasm upon any one of the numer- 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 429 
 
 ous Republican candidates that the thoughts of the 
 leaders began to turn again to Mr. Elaine. 
 
 The result was that Benjamin Harrison was nom- 
 inatedand subsequently elected President of the United 
 States. To make him President no one helped more 
 than Mr. Elaine. In his old time fashion he stumped 
 the country, delivering most brilliant and telling 
 speeches on the tariff, which was then the one great 
 point at issue. 
 
 AGAIN IN THE CABINET. 
 
 He was called by President Harrison to the position 
 of Secretary of State, which he filled with ability. 
 His policy was marked by the revival of his old project 
 of a Spanish-American Congress for the furtherance 
 of trade with the South and by the calling of an inter 
 national marine conference, which met in Washington 
 and formulated important rules for the protection of 
 life and safety of property at sea. Although a protec 
 tionist he did not hesitate to denounce some of the 
 provisions of the McKinley Tariff bill. 
 
 Mr. Elaine as Secretary of State initiated a spirited 
 foreign policy that was characterized by the vigor and 
 earnestness with which he upheld American interests. 
 What that policy was he described, as we have already 
 seen, in a letter published September i, 1882, in which 
 he said : 
 
 " The foreign policy of President Garfield s adminis 
 tration had two principal objects in view. First, to 
 bring about peace and prevent future wars in North 
 and South America ; second, to cultivate such friendly 
 
430 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 commercial relations with all American countries as 
 would lead to a large increase in the export trade of 
 the United States by supplying 1 those fabrics in which 
 we are abundantly able to compete with the manu 
 facturing nations of Europe." 
 
 Mr. Elaine projected an international peace congress 
 to be held at Washington for the furtherance of these 
 plans, which idea was not carried out owing to the 
 death of President Garfield, but which was revived 
 later on during the administration of President Harri 
 son. 
 
 In Mr. Elaine s " Twenty Years of Congress " he 
 further expounds his views upon the relations of 
 foreign countries to the United States in the following 
 paragraph : 
 
 OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS. 
 
 "This brief history of the spirit rather than the 
 events which characterized the foreign relations of the 
 United States during the Civil War has been under 
 taken with no desire to revive the feelings of burning 
 indignation which they provoked, or to prolong the 
 discussion of the angry questions to which they gave 
 rise. The relations of nations are not and should not 
 be governed by sentiment. The interest and ambition 
 of States, like those of men, will disturb the moral 
 sense and incline to one side or the other the strict 
 balance of impartial justice. New days bring new 
 issues, and old passions are unsafe counsellors. 
 Twenty years have gone by. England has paid the 
 cost of her mistake. The Republic of Mexico has 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 431 
 
 seen the fame and the fortunes of the emperors who 
 sought her conquest sink suddenly as into the pits 
 which they themselves had digged for their victims 
 and the Republic of the United States has come out 
 of her long and bitter struggle so strong that never 
 again will she afford the temptation of the opportunity 
 for unfriendly governments to strike at her national 
 life. Let the past be the past, but let it be the past 
 with all the instruction and warning of its experience. 
 " The future safety of these continents rests upon the 
 strength and maintenance of the Union ; for, had dis 
 solution been possible, events have shown with what 
 small regard the interests or the honor of either of the 
 belligerents would have been treated. It has been 
 taught to the smaller republics that if this strength be 
 shattered they will be the spoil of foreign arms and 
 the dependent provinces again of foreign monarchs. 
 When this contest was over the day of immaturity had 
 passed and the United States stood before the world 
 a great and permanent Power. That Power can 
 afford to bury all resentments. Tranquil at home, 
 developing its inexhaustible resources with a rapidity 
 and success unknown in history, bound in sincere 
 friendship and beyond the possibility of hostile rivalry 
 with other republics of the continent, standing mid 
 way between Asia and Europe, a power on the Pacific 
 as well as on the Atlantic, with no temptations to in 
 termeddle in the questions which disturb the Old 
 World, the Republic of the United States desires to 
 live in amicable relations with all peoples, demanding 
 
432 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 only the abstinence of foreign intervention in the 
 development of that policy which her political creed, 
 her territorial extent and the close and cordial neigh 
 borhood of kindred governments have made the 
 essential rule of her national life." 
 
 A FIRM BUT PACIFIC POLICY. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s policy was pacific, and was wholly in 
 
 accord with the Monroe 
 doctrine and the char 
 acteristic traditions of 
 American diplomacy. 
 President Garfield, in 
 his inaugural address, 
 had repeated the dec 
 laration of his prede 
 cessor that it was " the 
 right and duty of the 
 United States to assert 
 and maintain such super 
 vision andauthority over 1 
 any interoceanic canal 
 across the isthmus that 
 connects North and 
 JOHN w. FOSTER. Sout H America as will 
 
 protect our national interests." This policy, which 
 had received the direct approval of Congress, was 
 vigorously upheld by Secretary Elaine. The Colombian 
 Republic had proposed to the European Powers to 
 join in a guarantee of the neutrality of the proposed 
 Panama Canal. 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 433 
 
 One of President Garfield s first acts, under the ad 
 vice of Secretary Elaine, was to remind the European 
 governments of the exclusive rights which the United 
 States had secured with the country to be traversed 
 by the interoceanic waterway. These exclusive rights 
 rendered the prior guarantee of the United States 
 government indispensable, and the Powers were 
 informed that any foreign guarantee would be not only^ 
 an unnecessary but an unfriendly act. As the United 
 States had made in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850 
 a special agreement with Great Britain on this subject, 
 Secretary Elaine supplemented his memorandum to 
 the Powers by a formal proposal for the abrogation of 
 all provisions of that convention w r hich were not in 
 accord with the guarantees and privileges covenanted 
 for in the compact with the Colombian Republic. 
 
 AN IMPORTANT TREATY. 
 
 In this State paper, the most elaborate of the series, 
 receiving his signature as Secretary of State, Mr. 
 Elaine contended that the operation of the Clayton- 
 Bulwer treaty practically conceded to Great Britain 
 the control of any canal which might be constructed 
 on the Isthmus, as that Power was required by its 
 insular position and colonial possessions to maintain 
 a naval establishment with which the United States 
 could not compete. As the American government 
 had bound itself by its engagements in the Clayton- 
 Bulwer treaty not to fight in the Isthmus, nor to fortify 
 the mouths of any waterway that might be constructed, 
 Mr. Blaine argued that if any struggle for the control 
 
 28 
 
434 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 of the canal were to arise, England would hav^ an 
 advantage at the outset which would prove decisive. 
 " The treaty," he said, " commands this government 
 not to use a single regiment of troops to protect its 
 interests in connection with the interoceanic canal 
 but to surrender the transit to the guardianship and 
 control of the British navy." The logic of the paper 
 was unanswerable from an American point of view. 
 
 Mr. Elaine made strenuous exertions to bring about 
 the conclusion of an early peace between Chili and 
 Peru, and the influence of the government was brought 
 to bear upon victorious Chili in the interests of peace 
 and magnanimity. But owing to an unfortunate mis 
 apprehension of Mr. Elaine s instructions, the United 
 States Ministers did not promote the ends of peace. 
 Special envoys William H. Trescot and Walker 
 Blaine were accordingly sent to South America with 
 general instructions which should enable them to bring 
 the belligerent powers into friendly relations. After 
 they set out on their mission of peace Secretary Blaine 
 resigned and Mr. Frelinghuysen reversed the diplo 
 matic policy with such precipitate haste that the 
 envoys on arriving at their destination were informed 
 by the Chilian Minister of Foreign Affairs that their 
 instructions had been countermanded and that their 
 mission was an idle farce. By this extraordinary 
 reversal of diplomatic methods and purposes the influ 
 ence of the United States on the South American 
 coast was reduced to so low a point as to become 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 435 
 
 insignificant. Mr. Elaine s policy had been at once 
 strong and pacific. 
 
 ANXIOUS TO COMPLETE HIS WORK. 
 
 Mr. Blaine re-entered public life with distinct pur 
 poses in view. He wished to complete the work that 
 was interrupted in 1881 by the death of Garfield. More 
 intimate political and economic relations with the 
 nations of Central and South America had been his 
 dream for years, and he devoted the three years of 
 his Secretaryship of State to working for the good 
 of the three Americas and the United States in par 
 ticular. 
 
 So industriously did Mr. Blaine work that not a year 
 of President Harrison s administration had elapsed 
 before the Peace Congress, conceived by Mr. Blaine 
 just before his entrance to Garfield s cabinet, materi 
 alized. Representatives gathered in Washington from 
 eighteen different independent nations on this hemis 
 phere. Mr. Blaine was the presiding officer. There 
 were no immediate results. Noue were expected. But 
 the Congress soon bore fruit in that it opened the 
 way for the reciprocity treaties which were the strik 
 ing and brilliant creation of the Secretary of State. 
 
 HE CREATES RECIPROCITY. 
 
 When the McKinley bill was being considered by 
 the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Blaine urged 
 the incorporation of reciprocity clauses. He proposed 
 that the President should have power to open the ports 
 of the United States to any or all of the products of 
 the other American nations and colonies, whenever 
 
436 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 and for as long as they should admit to their ports, 
 duty free or at reduced rates, an equivalent amount 
 of the natural and manufactured products of the United 
 States. The suggestion was renewed in the Senate, 
 and it found more favor than it did before the Ways 
 
 and Means Committee 
 It was the most darinoj 
 proposition of recent 
 years. 
 
 An amendment to 
 the bill was finally 
 adopted. It was not 
 Mr. Elaine s sugges 
 tion, but it was directly 
 due to it. It provides 
 that certain articles 
 shall be placed upon 
 thefree list, but that 
 after a given time duty 
 should be reduced upon 
 goods imported from 
 WILLIAM MCKINLEY. countries that decided 
 
 to make equivalent concessions. Under the new law, 
 reciprocity treaties were made with Brazil and sev 
 eral other South American countries, beside Spain and 
 other European nations. The wisdom of Mr. Elaine s 
 proposition is shown by the fact that since the execu 
 tion of the first of these treaties of trade there has 
 been an extension of the foreign trade of the United 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 43? 
 
 States amounting to $75,000,000, while taxation has 
 been reduced to the extent of $80,000,000. 
 
 MUCH SKILLFUL DIPLOMACY. 
 
 To accomplish this great commercial coup was Mr. 
 Elaine s chief motive for entering the Cabinet, but his 
 administration of the other affairs of State have been 
 marked with singular success. There have been few 
 administrations in the country s history which have 
 had to face so many subtle international questions, 
 but the results reached were invariably to the credit 
 of the United States. 
 
 As Secretary of State in President Harrison s 
 Cabinet Mr. Elaine was able to take up again some 
 of the great policies which the assassination of Pres 
 ident Garfield and the political consequences of his 
 death had interrupted. Legislation having prepared 
 the way for a meeting of a Pan-American Congress 
 in October, 1889, Secretary Elaine made the opening 
 address of welcome and presided over the sessions, 
 which were prolonged for nearly five months. It was 
 he who had devised this project four years before, and 
 his was the master mind that directed the deliberations 
 of this impressive assembly, which brought about a 
 frank exchange of views on all questions relating to 
 the welfare of the American continent. 
 
 The most important results of this Congress were 
 the adoption of a report favoring the negotiation of 
 partial treaties of reciprocity, the authorization of 
 surveys for a railroad system on north and south lines, 
 
438 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 and the passage of a resolution in favor of compul 
 sory arbitration as an expedient for averting war. 
 
 BRILLIANT ACHIEVEMENTS. 
 
 Mr. Elaine acted promptly upon the advice of the 
 Pan-American Congress. As soon as the Tariff 
 act had been enacted with its reciprocity provisions 
 inserted at his suggestion, he negotiated a treaty with 
 Brazil highly favorable to the American export trade. 
 This was followed by the treaty with Spain in relation 
 to Cuba, by which nearly one-half the imported sugar 
 supply was regulated to mutual advantage. Subse 
 quently treaties were made with Germany, Austria- 
 Hungary, France, San Domingo, the five coffee Repub 
 lics of Central America, British Guiana and all the Brit 
 ish West Indies except the Bahamas. Experience has 
 fully vindicated Mr. Elaine s judgment of Reciprocity 
 as a great business policy for the United States, and 
 a British Prime Minister s direct tribute to its success 
 leaves nothing wanting to complete Mr. Elaine s 
 diplomatic reputation. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was called upon to deal with a large 
 number of complex questions during his second term 
 in the State Department. He upheld with inflexible 
 firmness American rights and the course of home rule 
 in Samoa, until a treaty of peace excluding the su 
 premacy of any foreign Government was negotiated. 
 With equal courage and splendid argumentative force 
 he resented the menaces of Italy after the lynchings 
 in New Orleans ; but as soon as this attitude of hostil 
 ity was disclaimed the State Department, acting upon 
 
(439) 
 
440 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 a sense of justice which had received instant expres 
 sion after the bloody work of the mob had been accom 
 plished, made reparation in the form of an indemnity. 
 
 EXTRADITION TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 With Great Britain a much-needed extradition 
 treaty was negotiated, by which Canada was closed as 
 a retreat for American embezzlers. At the same time 
 a resolute but not unconciliatory stand was taken with 
 reference to American rights in Behring Sea, which 
 showed the way to an adjustment of this controversy 
 by a tribunal which is about to assemble. 
 
 In the Chilian complications Mr. Blaine co-operated 
 with the President in upholding the dignity and honor 
 of the country under conditions of exceptional diffi 
 culty. An attitude of strict neutrality was maintained 
 during the civil war in that country. Political 
 refugees under the American flag were not abandoned 
 in their extremity; the Itata was pursued for violation 
 of port and neutrality laws, and the wanton conduct 
 of the police and public authorities of Valparaiso in 
 the assault upon the Baltimore s men was so resented 
 as to command universal respect and to procure from 
 Chili a reparation adequate to the offence. 
 
 During this brilliant administration of foreign affairs, 
 also, the unjust and grievous restrictions against the 
 importation of American pork into European countries 
 have been removed, to the great and doubtless per 
 manent advantage of American producers. Vigorous 
 as Mr. Elaine s controversial work was with Germany, 
 Italy, Great Britain and Chili, and determined as was 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 441 
 
 his defence of American rights in the Barrundia affair 
 and on all occasions, his chief glory is that of con 
 ducting the most successful business administration 
 of the State Department ever known, and of promot 
 ing the ends of peace by putting in operation as far 
 as possible the policy of arbitration. 
 
 LAST APPEARANCE IN THE SENATE. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s last appearance in a public capacity at 
 the Capitol was made before the Commerce Commit 
 tee of the Senate. His powers of mind and body had 
 been failing then, and the fact had been remarked by 
 some of his friends, but on this occasion he seemed to 
 feel the life and fire of youth, and his address to the 
 committee was characterized by the clearness of 
 thought, penetration, energy, and vigor of the Elaine 
 of old. 
 
 The subject before the committee was a bill to grant 
 a French company authority to lay a cable from the 
 United States to San Domingo. The Government of 
 Brazil had given to this company the monopoly of the 
 right to lay a cable through Brazilian territory to the 
 West Indies, where it was to connect with a cable 
 from France. Attached to the Brazilian grant was 
 a condition that the cable company should secure 
 cable connection with the United States, Brazil being 
 anxious to have direct communication with this coun 
 try. In order to comply with this condition a new and 
 auxiliary corporation to the original French company 
 was organized. It came to the Government of the 
 United States for permission to lay a cable from 
 
(442) 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 443 
 
 Charleston or Port Royal to San Domingo, where it 
 was to connect with the cable from Brazil. Mr. Elaine, 
 as Secretary of State, declined, in the name of the 
 President, to grant the privilege requested unless the 
 company would agree to waive its monopoly rights in 
 Brazil in favor of any American company which might 
 wish to lay a cable. 
 
 HE CARRIES HIS POINT. 
 
 The company claimed that it was impossible to agree 
 to such a thing; that it only wanted to lay a cable to 
 San Domingo and had no control over the other com- 
 
 C5 
 
 pany, whose line ran to Brazil. Mr. Blaine considered 
 this to be a subterfuge, and insisted that no cable 
 should be laid until the Brazilian Government should 
 grant permission to any cable company the same rights 
 as were accorded the French company. 
 
 An attempt was then made to get from Congress 
 what Mr. Blaine had denied, and a bill granting the 
 necessary permission to lay a cable in territory of the 
 United States was introduced. When the bill came 
 up for a hearing before the Committee on Commerce, 
 of which Senator Frye was chairman, Mr. Jeff Chand 
 ler appeared in behalf of the company. Mr. Blaine 
 replied and astonished the committee by the animation 
 he displayed. He carried his point, and by a unani 
 mous vote the committee coincided with the position 
 taken by Mr. Blaine. 
 
 HE LEAVES THE CABINET. 
 
 The term of President Harrison wore on, and again 
 a Republican National Convention approached. The 
 
444 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 name of Blaine was still one with which to conjure, 
 and the Secretary, though indifferent personally, was 
 put forward by several leaders of the party for the 
 nomination. ^^ 
 
 Led by advisers he resigned the Secretaryship of 
 State on Saturday, June 4, 1892. This action created 
 great excitement, for it put Mr. Blaine once no re in 
 the lists. Despite his resignation from Hal rison sS 
 Cabinet he declared repeatecITy that his name would 
 not go before the^eonvention. But the presentation 
 of Mr. Elaine s name and the nomination of Harrison 
 on the first ballot by a very decided majority are easily 
 recalled by all. Mr. Bteine s health would not permit 
 of his entering actively into* the campaign, but he 
 identified himself with the worlTin various ways, and 
 was always in sympathy with the younger and more 
 active of the party leaders. Mr. Blaine passed the 
 summer months at Bar Harbor, and after a few weeks 
 in his Augusta home in-the fall he returned with his 
 family to Washington for the winter, entering the 
 residence in which he died. 
 
 DEFEATED IN THE CONVENTION OF ^ 
 
 Chauncey M. Depew gave a detailed account of the 
 circumstances under which he took the leadership of 
 the Harrison forces and the opposition to James G. 
 Elaine s supporters at the Minneapolis convention of 
 June, 1892. At that time Mr. Depew only stated that 
 he was not in favor of Mr. Elaine s nomination because 
 Mr. Blaine "was not a candidate." He held that the 
 Blaine boomers had no right to use Mr. Elaine s name, 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 445 
 
 since he had so distinctly stated in his letter to Gen 
 eral Clarkson that he must be considered out of the 
 race. 
 
 But in spite of this many people have not been able 
 to understand how Mr. Depew could assume a position 
 seemingly of aggressive hostility to his old time-friend. 
 A reporter therefore called on Mr. Depew and asked 
 if he would not now 
 give an explanation. 
 Mr. Depew thought for 
 a moment, then leaned 
 back in his big office 
 chair, and said : 
 
 You ask me a ques 
 tion which has often 
 been put to me : How 
 could you as a Elaine 
 man of twenty-five 
 years, have so cordially 
 and strenuously sup 
 ported the nomination 
 of General Harrison 
 at Minneapolis? I pre 
 sume I have received JOHN WANAMAKER. 
 a bushel of letters on that subject, most of them very 
 abusive. They charge ingratitude, unfaithfulness and 
 similar crimes. I have been on terms of the closest 
 friendship with Mr. Elaine for a quarter of a century. 
 I had supported him without regard to personal conse 
 quence whenever he was a candidate, and had never 
 
 \ 
 
446 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 asked or expected any return from him. I believed in 
 the man, in his unequalled capacity for public affairs, 
 in his leadership, in his genius for things American, 
 and felt that his administration, if he should become 
 President, would be phenomenally beneficial to the 
 country, and brilliant. 
 
 During the dominance of Mr. Conkling in this 
 
 State, this persistent 
 and consistent support 
 of Mr. Elaine led to 
 very unpleasant conse 
 quences for me. Mr. 
 Conkling broke rela- 
 
 o 
 
 tions which had been 
 very cordial and inti 
 mate, and whenever I 
 appeared at State or 
 national conventions, it 
 was in the minority and 
 opposition. 
 
 ELAINE S POSITIVE 
 
 DECLINATION. 
 This enthusiasm and 
 THOMAS REED. support of Mr. Elaine 
 
 for the Chief Magistracy had in it no elemen>of opposi 
 tion or enmity to anybody else or to anybody else s 
 ambitions. It was simply a desire to have James G. 
 Elaine President of the United States. When Mr. 
 Elaine wrote his letter to General Clarkson I determined 
 to ascertain if that meant that he would not take the 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 447 
 
 nomination if tendered him. I sent the late General 
 Husted down to Washington on this mission. Mr. 
 Elaine said to the General : " Say to Chauncey Depew 
 for me that he is entitled, if any man is, to know ex 
 actly what my intentions are. I am not a candidate 
 and will not accept the nomination and he must, there 
 fore, act as he thinks best, without regard to me, in 
 selecting the candidate whom he will support. 
 
 I saw Mr. Elaine a few days before I went to the 
 convention, Mr. Depew continued, and I had a con 
 ference with him of an hour and a half. It was the 
 most delightful of all the many charming interviews I 
 have had with him. Our discussion was mainly of the 
 convention and the party. The talk about candidates 
 was particularly free, and Mr. Elaine was especially 
 clear in his discussion of the probabilities of success. 
 
 HE PREDICTED DEFEAT. 
 
 He said that no Republican who could be nominated 
 not even himself would be successful in the coming 
 canvass. He indicated the forces which had been ac 
 cumulating ever since the war for a chancre of the 
 
 o o 
 
 policy of the government, and he believed the time 
 had come when they would be too strong for the 
 Republican party. He said several times, " I see no 
 prospect of success in this canvass. The people are 
 determined to try another policy." 
 
 He was fully alive to and very emphatic on the 
 merits of the Republican policy and its benefits to the 
 country. But he was equally clear that all kinds of 
 elements antagonistic to each other were in unison 
 
448 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 for a trial of their theories of government, hoping that 
 in the common success to which they were pledged 
 each one would have an opportunity of having its 
 views tried in practical legislation. 
 
 HARRISON DESERVED WELL. 
 
 During the conversation he asked me whom I was 
 for and I told him I was for General Harrison. He 
 
 said that General Har 
 rison s administration 
 had deserved the sup 
 port of the country, but 
 that no President would 
 ever again be re-elected 
 to succeed himself. He 
 might after an interval 
 be re-elected. The chief 
 reason Mr. Elaine gave 
 was that the patronage 
 was so large that there 
 would be enough dis 
 appointed office-seekers 
 to defeat the re-election 
 of any President who 
 might be renominated. 
 
 As I was leaving I asked Mr. Elaine if in the con- 
 
 o 
 
 tingencies which always happen in a convention his 
 nomination seemed the only way out, would he accept 
 if nominated. He laughingly said, " I can t be elected," 
 but gave no other reason. I then said to him, " If you 
 have any other answer to give my address is the West 
 
 WHITELAW REID. 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 449 
 
 Hotel, Minneapolis," but at Minneapolis I heard noth 
 ing from him, directly or indirectly. 
 
 A member of the present House of Representa 
 tives, one of the most intimate friends of Mr. Elaine, 
 told me recently that he had in his pocket a letter 
 from Mr. Elaine to be read in case he was nominated, 
 positively declining the nomination. The friends of 
 Mr. Elaine who saw most of him and were nearest to 
 him and understood best his physical condition felt 
 what I am certain he believed, that the cares and 
 anxieties of the canvass would have killed him before 
 it was half over. 
 
 AT OPHIR FARM. 
 
 When he was at Mr. Whitelaw Reid s house, at 
 Ophir Farm, a few months ago, he requested me to 
 come up there because he said that he did. not want 
 to speak unless I would speak also. There were sur 
 rounding him there a company of men who had been 
 his devoted admirers and steadfast friends always. 
 His mind was as clear as ever, but the fatal weakness 
 which has just ended in his death was so apparent 
 that the meeting was a very sad one. Mr. Elaine 
 would not trust himself as in the old days he always 
 did to extemporaneous talk, but he read his speech 
 from type-written slips. 
 
 He bade us all individually an affectionate, rather 
 more than usually tender good-night, and went to bed 
 early. He was not up when we left in the morning 
 and none of us have ever seen him since. 
 
 There are no mourners for his death more sincere 
 
 29 
 
450 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 and no men who will cherish his memory more gen 
 erously and lovingly than his old-time friends who, at 
 Minneapolis, believed that he was not a candidate, 
 that he would not take the nomination if nominated, 
 and that it would kill him if he entered the canvass. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 Striking Characteristics of the Man. 
 
 MR. ELAINE S most marked characteristic was his 
 manliness. He was a noble specimen of American 
 independence, energy and virility. He was an unduly 
 grown man. He was constantly reproducing himself. 
 Mentally and physically he was a forced man, and his 
 years should have been eighty instead of but sixty- 
 two. His head was extremely narrow over the eyes, 
 and his brain seemed to be hung back of his ears. 
 This gave him a curious power for quick judgment 
 from facts real, or apparent, and forced him to quick 
 conclusions on every question. 
 
 The ease with which he met questions is due to this 
 fact. Persons not well acquainted with him looked 
 upon his quick judgment as surface capacity. He 
 was born with a woman s power of quick judgment, 
 which his experience increased and made almost in 
 fallible. In the last twenty years of his life he proba 
 bly did not read one book entirely through. He had 
 
 a habit of securing- the meat of a book with what 
 & 
 
 seemed hurried glances, but he was so familiar with 
 all topics that he could quickly pick the new from the 
 old, which made study easy to him. He was born a 
 
 (451) 
 
452 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 business Inan, but his virility and vigor, coupled with 
 the faculty of speech, made the excitement and flavor 
 of politics more acceptable than slow, plodding busi 
 ness. 
 
 He was a newsgatherer, a keen observer, and some 
 thing of a gossip. These combined to make him the 
 rarest of companions. His stock of anecdotes and 
 experiences illustrated his conversation, of which his 
 listeners never tired. 
 
 PEERLESS POLITICAL ORATOR. 
 
 On the stump he was unequalled. His ideas were 
 arrayed in picturesque language, which, coupled with 
 his logic and force of statement, carried conviction. 
 On the stump Mr. Elaine made votes, a thing few 
 orators do, and votes from the other side. As a 
 writer he has stood the test both in a literary and 
 historic sense. In literary work he never used 
 a stenographer, but sat bolt upright in a straight- 
 backed chair at a small table, writing rapidly, in one 
 of the best hands ever written by a public man. He 
 was untiring, and all his work showed thought. 
 
 While Mr. Elaine was thought by some to be spec 
 tacular and was accused of posing, the reverse is true. 
 He never tried for effects, and was impervious to pub 
 lic opinion when he knew that public opinion was 
 partisan or biased. His aim in life was to know the 
 American government, and in this he succeeded bet 
 ter, with, perhaps, the exception of General Eutler, 
 than any man of his time. There was nothing dra 
 matic in Mr. Elaine s nature ; there was in the effect 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN. 453 
 
 of his public acts at times, but never in his nature. 
 Had he been elevated to the Presidency in 1884 he 
 would have seriously disappointed the calamity shriek- 
 ers who poisoned the air with their howls against him. 
 His pride would have given him the best Cabinet 
 possible, and he would have said : " I think you are 
 best fitted for this position, and you for that ; " and 
 from the moment of his inauguration his administra 
 tion would have been conducted with vigor, firmness 
 and progress, and an eye to the good of the whole 
 people 
 
 INTENSELY AMERICAN. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s life, character, surroundings and habits 
 were intensely American. He considered the United 
 States a government the result of all the ages pre 
 ceding, and his hope was to see the whole Continent 
 governed under the same principles as the United 
 States. There was no evidence of smallness or 
 meanness in his character. His political opponents 
 and he always preferred a Democrat to an indepen 
 dent were his friends. He believed there was room 
 in this country for two parties, and they, being based 
 on ideas of perpetual liberty, it was immaterial, in the 
 sense of the country s security, which party prevailed. 
 He was a Whig and a Republican by choice. 
 
 His religion was as broad as his political principles. 
 He was almost puritanical in his faith, and walked 
 each day with the belief of certain reward or punish 
 ment after death. He was affectionate to all, and was 
 an especial favorite with children. When he rode 
 
454 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 through the streets of Augusta the little children came 
 running to the fences and gates with " Hello, Mr. 
 Elaine," and even the dogs of the little city all seemed 
 to know him, and would come out and wag their tails. 
 
 HIS DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 As to his domestic life, while there has been a mass 
 of false information and common assertion made, no 
 
 man ever walked out of 
 life purer in person or 
 with more love for his 
 family. All of his polit 
 ical reverses seemed to 
 soften him toward men, 
 and the excessive ami 
 ability of his character 
 prevented him from met 
 ing out the punishment 
 that the cut-throats that 
 dogged his steps de 
 served. He never used 
 profanity, he never drank 
 whisky, wine and very 
 seldom used tobacco, 
 and while never assert 
 ing it, he was a strict moralist. He knew every 
 public man s history, and, as for that, many private 
 ones, and he was a walking encyclopaedia of family 
 history. He was a little too fond of wealthy men, 
 but caring little for money himself, his business invest- 
 
 SHELBY M. CULLOM. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN. 455 
 
 ments were for the benefit of his family or friends, 
 with many aids to charity. 
 
 While Speaker of the House he was phenomenal 
 in the dispatch of business and his faculty of control. 
 This arose from his business qualifications. With all 
 his political activity and public usefulness he found 
 time to improve himself, and to look out for and care 
 for his friends, and to discharge the duties of an 
 American citizen. He was the most commanding 
 figure on the civil side of the events following the war 
 after Thaddeus Stevens, and he loses nothing by 
 comparison with any of the great civic characters of 
 America. 
 
 NOT TO BE JUDGED NOW. 
 
 No adequate judgment of this man can be formed 
 in the present century. His personal character, as 
 shown by the knowledge of his friends, his public 
 record, and the experience of his daily life will all 
 enter into a fair judgment as to his position as one of 
 America s leading men. The victim of heated partisan 
 onslaught, now is not the time nor in this century 
 to do justice to the most striking figure in the past 
 twenty-five years of the nation s history. 
 
 If any one wants proof of Mr. Elaine s greatness as 
 a leader, let him observe his course in Maine since 
 1863. Look at his position for all this time, as a 
 leader of his party in Maine, a State second to none 
 in culture and men of capacity and brains. His re 
 tention of the leadership is pretty good evidence of 
 his capacity and ability. His following in American 
 
456 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 politics was the most unique in American history. 
 Friends fell out, but the ranks were always filled, and 
 there were never vacancies. He held men with hooks 
 of steel. He was sometimes indifferent the result 
 of business or political duties but he never forgot a 
 name or a face. And he never forgot an injury. He 
 was as sensitive as a child at unjust criticism, but he 
 had the curious fault of forgiving his enemies without 
 being asked to. 
 
 BLAINE AT HIS BEST. 
 
 At the best period of his life, which was about 1876, 
 Mr. Elaine was close to six feet in height and weighed 
 190 pounds. He had large feet, large hands, brown 
 hair, blue-gray eyes, a very large nose, thick at the 
 end with open nostrils, a not too large mouth, droop 
 ing at one corner, a face long but square, a narrow 
 head with what might be called a high dome. He 
 wore a full beard and moustache. He was very quick 
 in talking and in his bodily movements. His manner 
 was quick and sharp and his voice was penetrating, 
 with a very peculiar cadence and easily heard by large 
 audiences. After 1876 his voice became rather thick, 
 but until his last illness it remained as distinct as a 
 bell. 
 
 He always dressed in black, wearing a Prince 
 Albert coat, and for many years a high silk hat. He 
 seldom, if ever, wore any jewelry. He may have had 
 a watch, but I never noticed it. His personal expenses 
 were nothing a day. He was very abstemious in 
 drinking, eating, and sleeping. He was a mass of 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN. 457 
 
 nervous energy, and politics was but an outlet and 
 served to preserve his health. 
 
 The highest earthly honors could not have compen 
 sated for the death of his children and friends. Sel 
 dom is it that any statesman of any country in the 
 decline of his life has met so hard a fate in the matter 
 .of grief as Mr. Elaine met. The sympathy of the 
 whole nation went to him during; his afflictions of the 
 
 o 
 
 last three years, but throughout all he bore it with the 
 patience and dignity of a good citizen and God-fearing 
 man. There is a difference between character and 
 reputation, and to the few who knew Mr. Elaine in 
 truth the estimation made of the man by his political 
 opponents reach the dignity of burlesque, and intensify 
 the love and affections of those who knew him. 
 
 HIS PART IN LEGISLATION. 
 
 The criticism has been made that Mr. Elaine, in his 
 congressional career, originated no particular laws. 
 This may be true in a measure, but as the leader of 
 his party in Congress no great party politics could 
 have succeeded without his aid or have become laws 
 without his consent. Essentially a man of acton, he 
 aided any and every wise measure proposed Ly mem 
 bers of his party. His plan of reciprocity embodied 
 in the McKinley bill, and after a fierce fight, was 
 essentially a further step growing out of a home policy 
 of protection, and was patent to him and believed by 
 him to be necessary to the future welfare of the 
 Republic. This opinion was the result of his many 
 years of experience in public life, and was another 
 
458 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLA1NE. 
 
 evidence of his landing on his feet whenever he jumped 
 in a political movement. 
 
 He was the best all-around politician in America. 
 He skimmed the newspapers each morning, and 
 watched the changes of public opinion with the eager 
 ness of a practiced editor. He was always abreast 
 of or slightly in advance of the foremost men of this 
 Republic. His motto was undying principle with 
 everlasting energy. Self-made, self-contained, self- 
 reliant, he stands out as the best product of American 
 manhood in the last three decades. In all political 
 moves he kept in close touch with his friends in every 
 part of the Republic. When interested, his influence 
 at once became apparent and felt. 
 
 UNDESERVED ABUSE. 
 
 In his relations with public men he was often the 
 subject of criticism and personal abuse, which was as 
 undeserved as it was ungenerous. In his long career 
 no individual act of meanness can be charged against 
 him. He was not as unique or as picturesque as 
 Butler, but he was infinitely more useful. He pos 
 sessed the least vanity of any public man in the United 
 States. Flattery was useless as an approach to his 
 favor, and when in conversation he would pump you 
 dry, getting the information he desired and filtering it 
 away in the storehouses of his brain and keeping it 
 for a wet day for use. His natural ability was devel 
 oped, educated, and completed by his contact with 
 men. Human life and nature was a book which he 
 easily read. He profited by experiences. He was 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN. 459 
 
 the most unsuspecting of men, and while you appar 
 ently received his confidence, he never told you half 
 he knew or felt. Reticent when necessary, he was 
 talkative to an extreme when in the society of pleas 
 ant companions, and no one else in a company desired 
 anybody to speak except Mr. Elaine ; not because it 
 was Elaine, but on account of the manner of the man 
 and the strength of his talk. 
 
 Brilliant is a commonplace word when applied to 
 his marvelous faculty of entertaining. He was espec 
 ially fond of young men, he was courteous to women, 
 he was deferential to old men. He was essentially a 
 kind-hearted and affectionate man. He was a unity 
 in which none of the parts were dwarfed. He was 
 great in all he did, in the manner of it, doing of it, and 
 its results. 
 
 HOW NEW ENGLAND VIEWED HIM. 
 
 It is a curious feature of politics that with the ex 
 ception of Maine he was weak politically in New Eng 
 land. This was probably due largely to the fact that 
 New England is tenacious of birthright, and he was an 
 emigrant to New England. And yet, with the excep 
 tion of Daniel Webster, no man in New England ever 
 equaled him in ability, and in his morals, public and 
 private life, he represented New England s moral sen 
 timent better than any man of his day But he had 
 to battle in his political ambitions with the puritanism 
 of New England, except Maine. The great heart of 
 the loyal American people reached out to and loved 
 and believed in him. Elaine s magnetism was noth- 
 
460 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 ing but the realization of manhood. Bismarck in 
 Germany, Gladstone in England, Elaine in America, 
 the world s three greatest civic men of the last quarter- 
 century. 
 
 HIS FRIENDSHIP FOR RANDALL. 
 
 A warm and lasting friendship sprang up between 
 Mr. Elaine and the late Speaker Samuel J. Randall 
 
 which was 
 never broken. 
 He made the 
 great Pennsyl 
 vania Demo 
 crat his ally in 
 his uneven 
 fight against 
 the Force bill, 
 and in many 
 other ways 
 demonstrated 
 his confidence 
 in him. In his 
 library, hang 
 ing almost 
 directly over 
 JOHN G. CARLISLE. the desk upon 
 
 which he worked in Augusta, was a full bust picture 
 of the late Mr. Randall. He observed a friend look 
 ing at it intently and said, pointing to it: "There is 
 one of the truest and most forceful Americans who 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN. 461 
 
 has ever lived. He is a man to be relied upon in any 
 emergency." 
 
 The compact between himself and the man he was 
 eulogizing which defeated the Force bill made Grant s 
 administration Elaine s enemy. From that hour the 
 whole power of the Federal Government was turned 
 against him. To revive the animosities of former 
 years his old combatant, Senator Conkling, was chosen 
 by the Grant forces as its candidate, and thus the bit 
 ter fight went on. 
 
 His famous tilt with Ben Butler in 1871 is often re 
 called by old Congressmen. The Massachusetts states 
 man hit him some pretty hard blows with words while 
 criticising him for being the author of the resolution 
 for investigating the illegal outrages in the South. 
 Blaine left the chair, and in defending himself made it 
 exceedingly interesting for the hero of Fort Fisher. 
 
 HIS FAME AS A DEBATER. 
 
 It was not until 1874, however, that Mr. Blaine 
 shone at his best as a debater. The Democrats con 
 trolled the House, and the Maine statesman was the 
 leader of the minority. It was a stormy session, and 
 Ben Hill, of Georgia ; Blackburn, of Kentucky, and 
 other Southern orators took the criticism of Mr. 
 Blaine into their own hands, and some of the most 
 acrimonious and brilliant discussions ever heard in 
 Congress took place between the "Plumed Knight" 
 and the men who were resisting the reconstruction 
 measures of the day. It was during this time that 
 Mr. Blackburn used the famous sentence in bolstering 
 
462 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 up Northern Democrats, which has been so often re 
 peated : " He who dallies is a dastard, and he who 
 doubts is damned." 
 
 While the discussion on the general amnesty bill 
 was going on to remove the political disabilities of the 
 participants in the rebellion Elaine moved to amend 
 by making an exception of Jefferson Davis. Hill s 
 retort was exceedingly severe, and Mr. Elaine s re 
 marks in reply were equally incisive. He cited a 
 resolution, introduced by Hill in the Confederate 
 Senate, providing that every Union soldier found on 
 Confederate soil should be presumed to come with in 
 tent to incite insurrection and should suffer the death 
 penalty. 
 
 SOME BITTER DISCUSSION. 
 
 This was the firebrand which started a new burning, 
 and the discussion upon the pending legislation was 
 intensely bitter and at times so intense that it seemed 
 as though personal encounters could hardly be averted. 
 They could not have been, had not the afflictions of 
 war softened the angry tempest over sectional ques 
 tions which was aroused by this debate. A spirit was 
 manifest that could not have been quelled before the 
 sword had done its work and taught its useful lessons. 
 It is a study worthy of the effort of the present gen 
 eration to go back to the records of that era and read 
 them carefully. They are among the most conspicu 
 ous examples of what years may bring to a nation that 
 can be found in the annals of any land. They are 
 doubly interesting now, because on the highest fence 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN. 463 
 
 corner of the close of that debate will be found the 
 cross roads where Republican Presidential aspirants 
 parted in a hunt for the White House. 
 
 There were plenty of dogs and guns on all sides. 
 Mr. Elaine s signboard was the biggest of them all, 
 and the hand pointing for him in the direction of the 
 Presidency seemed steadier than any of the others. 
 It was the first real opportunity that he had had to 
 assert and announce himself as the Republican Ajax 
 defying the political lightning. The figure was heroic, 
 the attitude good, and the feet well set on the pedes 
 tal which this- controversy built. All the years behind 
 this hour for him had simply been preparation for the 
 announcement. Here it was, and the uneven fight 
 began. 
 
 HAILED AS A CHIEF. 
 
 It was less than two years from this leaving behind 
 all the customs and by-play of preparation for the 
 national crown before he was to face all comers on 
 the open field. The months after the notable contro 
 versy between Mr. Hill, of Georgia, and Blackburn, 
 of Kentucky s were to Mr. Elaine full of the fervor of 
 adulation by those who hailed him with the same spirit 
 that had greeted " Harry of the West " years before. 
 Then he became the target of ambitious rivals in his 
 own party, but the legitimate prey of the Democracy, 
 who desired a less popular candidate to meet in battle, 
 where all the chances were against them. Games 
 were put up to disconcert him by all the antagonistic 
 elements, and not even Henry Clay faced more for- 
 
464 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 midable intrigues and bitter opposition than "Elaine 
 of Maine," as he was now familiarly called. He was 
 constantly in the spur of the onset on the floor of the 
 House and in manoeuvres of inside manipulation. In 
 private, surrounded with the comfort and eulogy of a 
 vast majority of his party, he made a picture that can 
 never be forgotten for its finish. 
 
 A GREAT LEADER. 
 
 Perhaps no man ever so completely dominated the 
 rank and file of a great political organization as did 
 Mr. Elaine during the two years after the finger-board 
 from a political discussion pointed him toward the 
 White House. The shifts and hustles in General 
 Grant s administration during the last two years of its 
 existence were many. The effort to break it down 
 and destroy its influence in pending issues were ne.xt 
 to irresistible. The Mugwump tender to the Democ 
 racy which made itself felt in the nomination of Hor 
 ace Greeley gathered rather than lost force by the 
 fact that the Democracy would not tolerate the ambi 
 tions of the great editor. This was a subtle rather 
 than a manly force, and in its hummings about lit upon 
 Secretary Bristow as its candidate. This gentleman 
 had been brought from Kentucky by General Grant, 
 from a district attorney s office, and put into the 
 Treasu ry Department. The whiskey ring trials offered 
 a perch for his Presidential aspirations, and the virtu 
 ous element of the Republican party made use of him 
 as a fence against Mr. Elaine. 
 
. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN. 465 
 
 A STAR OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE. 
 
 It is said that on November 8, 1572, the astronomer 
 1 ycho Brahe saw a star in the constellation of Cassio 
 peia break into sudden splendor, a splendor so bril 
 liant that it could be seen even at noonday. The 
 observer watched the unusual spectacle night after 
 night, arid found to his dismay that its brilliancy was 
 gradually diminishing. For many months this light 
 in the northern sky burned more and more dimly, 
 until at last it went out altogether. A star had become 
 extinct. 
 
 James G. Elaine had sturdy friends and unrelenting 
 enemies, but friends and enemies alike agree that he 
 occupied a conspicuous position in the constellation 
 of American statesmen. History will vindicate his 
 right to that most honorable distinction, for it would 
 be impossible to recite the events which threw this 
 nation into chaos in the earlier sixties, or to name the 
 men who moulded public opinion during the five years 
 when the country summoned a super-human courage 
 and rebuilt the Union on the graves of a million 
 heroes, or to review the slow processes which, like a 
 hot fire, have since welded the States into a harmo 
 nious whole, without referring to James G. Elaine as 
 one of the foremost in the group of giants whose work 
 is recorded in that strange chapter of our history. 
 
 It would be futile to place his character in the even 
 balances, for his life and methods so frequently ran 
 counter to the judgment of many, and he so often 
 interfered with their prejudices, that to be justly criti- 
 
 30 
 
466 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 cal or wholly impartial is not possible. That task, 
 which will not prove an ungrateful one, we may safely 
 leave to the new generation. We are all agreed, 
 however, in this that by Mr. Elaine s death a bril 
 liant star in our political firmament, whose fading 
 flames were watched from every hilltop and valley of 
 the land, became extinct. 
 
 A TYPICAL AMERICAN. 
 
 And this also we may 
 venture upon without 
 being accused of reck- 
 1 e s s n e s s that Mr. 
 Elaine was a typical 
 American. With no 
 unusual advantages in 
 his youth, but with that 
 lofty aspiration which 
 our free institutions 
 cherish, he used the 
 opportunities of his day 
 to such good purpose 
 that fame as well as 
 wealth crowned his per- 
 
 sistent efforts. He was 
 
 j. j. INGALLS. a c lose student of 
 
 human nature, was gifted with intuitions as quick as 
 the lightning s flash, saw an advantage as soon as it 
 rose to the surface, detected the weak point in the 
 attack of an enemy, won in debate by ridicule as well 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN. 467 
 
 as logic, was master of himself at all times, and thus 
 generally master of the situation. 
 
 The eminence he reached was the reward of con 
 tinuous toil. His career was made up of shocks, 
 cataclysms, anxieties and ambitions. So freely did he 
 spend himself, however, that he has been a sufferer 
 from physical ailments during his last ten years, and 
 when death besieged him at sixty-three, when he 
 should have been on the hither side of his prime, he 
 surrendered the citadel and fell prisoner to fate. 
 Perhaps no man of our time has done harder work, or 
 done it with more intensity of feeling. 
 
 We may furthermore venture upon this that Mr. 
 Elaine in all the policies of his public life created 
 unbounded enthusiasm. If he was hated by some, 
 even hatred admitted his sovereignty over the multi 
 tude. He had a burning eloquence which swayed his 
 audience as the whirlwind the field of grain, and not 
 the common people merely, but his peers in the House 
 of Representatives and the Senate. He has more 
 than once killed a foe with an epigram, an(? his sarcasm 
 in debate was like a succession of relenfle.ss thunder 
 bolts. 
 
 HIS MATCHLESS TRIUMPHS. 
 
 The golden period of his life was passed in Con 
 gress. He was there his best, his largest self. As 
 Speaker of the House he was admirably equipped, 
 and by his tact and diplomacy, as well as by his cour 
 age, he earned the laurel. In the old reconstruction 
 days he was not as hot headed as many of his party, 
 
468 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 and threw his influence in the direction of a quick 
 reconciliation of our sectional difficulties. 
 
 The Presidency was denied him, but he could well 
 afford to forego that triumph in the consciousness of 
 so many others. The leader of his party during the 
 stormiest period of the Republic, he enjoyed honors 
 enough to satisfy all reasonable hopes, and now that 
 he has gone it will not be easy to find another with 
 such versatility of gifts and such widespread influence. 
 He has passed into history; he has begun the journey 
 to that bourne from which no traveller returns. Like 
 the star which Tycho Brahe saw in the heavens, the 
 fires- of his great career have gone out. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 James G. Elaine. 
 
 His Place in Modern Politics His Leadership and Char 
 acterAn Estimate by John Russell Young-* 
 
 death of Elaine comes as an incident rather 
 than an event. It has been expected for a long time. 
 Hour by hour the flame of life was known to be flick 
 ering to the end. Unlike Hayes and Butler, Bishop 
 Brooks and Judge Lamar, who, as it were, bear him 
 company to the eternities, he was denied the grace 
 of a sudden death. For days he had been uncon 
 scious, or at least spoke no word. To him long 
 watching hours were appointed, even as to his beloved 
 friend Garfield. He was to die on the theatre of his 
 fame. That was fitting. Around him were the re 
 membrances of great men who had ruled the republic. 
 His deathbed was within the shadow of the White 
 House. Every association recalled ambition, elo 
 quence, statesmanship and endeavor. He was a young 
 man. In the course of nature many years were due 
 him. England is ruled by a statemsan old enough 
 to be his father, and those who loved and followed 
 Elaine had reason to anticipate another generation of 
 his leadership. 
 
 Elaine was among the last of that group of briJ- 
 
 (469) 
 
470 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 liant young men who, coming at the close of the war, 
 were in their intellectual achievements to be regarded 
 as its fruit and flower. In times of "stress, as in se 
 cession days, history teaches us that youth finds oppor 
 tunity. The young men of France governed the Rev 
 olution the young men of the Colonies achieved 
 independence. The statesmen contemporary of Mr. 
 Elaine were a memorable company. Conkling, Mor 
 ton, Allison, Garfield, Marshall Jewell, Harrison, Ar 
 thur, Edmunds, Windom, and Wilson of Iowa, were 
 among the number. 
 
 The legislation after the war shows character and 
 power. They had the intrepidity, perhaps the thought 
 lessness of youth, or they would never have dared 
 impeachment. With the exception of Garfield, with 
 his old head on young shoulders, they believed in that 
 experiment. Elaine, as I remember, formally ex 
 pressed in his memoirs a regret for his precipitancy. 
 Impeachment we must regard as a war system the 
 consequences of war. A party governed by young 
 men was the party to make it come true. 
 
 COMES TO THE FRONT. 
 
 Elaine soon became the unquestioned leader of the 
 Republican party. His rival for a time was the late 
 Mr. Colfax, who was, however, to go down under dis 
 tressing circumstances. Since the time of Henry Clay 
 no young men held, at so early an age, a party lead 
 ership. By the ordinary progress of events Elaine 
 should have gained the Presidency. But at the oirtset 
 of his career he came in collision with the military 
 
HIS LEADERSHIP. 471 
 
 prestige of Grant. History shows how this antago 
 nism affected his fortunes, but it would be an interest 
 ing study to weigh its effects upon the country. If 
 Elaine had been in hearty accord with Grant recon 
 struction would have assumed a new phase, and we 
 might not now be mourning the ravished electoral 
 votes which established Southern supremacy. Elaine 
 instinctively, as became a man of peace, shrank from 
 the military methods. He probably felt in his heart 
 toward Grant as the English statesmen did to Marl- 
 borough and Wellington a conviction that a military 
 career was incompatible with statesmanship. At all 
 events the silent antagonism between the civilian and 
 the soldier prevented reconstruction and destroyed 
 Elaine s hopes for the Presidency. 
 
 The strength of Elaine s leadership lay in his com 
 mon sense. He was learned in the occult, capricious 
 laws of human nature. He knew that two and two 
 make four, and that even the strongest minds will 
 have a craving for cakes and ale. He believed in the 
 nation s growth. Independent and at times lawless 
 in his convictions in his political methods, without fear 
 or regrets, his heart went out to the newer States. 
 The loyal support ever given to Elaine by the great 
 Western Commonwealths was because he was in sym 
 pathy with the builders of empires. His own modest 
 life of adventure, the floating as a schoolmaster be 
 tween the States of Kentucky, Pennsylvania and 
 Maine, had given him an appreciation of the adven 
 turers who were pressing Republican domination to 
 
472 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. This 
 done, and the chain of States welded together, not 
 alone by the political tie of union, but by rail and 
 steam, and Elaine looked toward what the fancy of 
 Dickens calls " the golden South America." 
 
 ENTHUSIASTIC FOR RECIPROCITY. 
 
 Elaine had the imperial dream of reciprocity. There 
 were statesmen when Garfield came into power who 
 regretted that our American policy did not embrace 
 the Pacific. This had been the urgent wish of Grant, 
 which, in a measure, he had inherited from Burlin- 
 game. During the brief, tragic Garfield episode, and 
 subsequently under Harrison, this Asiatic policy was 
 pressed upon Elaine. It was pointed out that Amer 
 ican influence should dominate Asia as far as Singa 
 pore, that the great Asiatic nations were craving our 
 commercial alliance, that the growth and endurance 
 of the Pacific commonwealths were involved in a gen 
 erous policy toward Asia. Grant, like Burlingame, 
 had formed these conclusions by study of the East. 
 
 To Elaine, however, the East was little more than 
 a romance or a poem. He had neither seen nor felt 
 it. His conceptions of Chinese civilization were based 
 upon the police reports of San Francisco and the note 
 books of hurried travellers like the late Bayard Tay 
 lor. Lord John Russell said it took Parliament seven 
 years to pass a bill. Elaine believed that an adminis 
 tration could do but one thing in four years. To at 
 tempt two things meant a failure in both. " I mean," 
 he said to the writer two years ago, " to complete the 
 
HIS LEADERSHIP. 473 
 
 work of reciprocity, which will be as much as Harri 
 son can do. That done, we can think about Asia." 
 
 BROTHERHOOD OF NATIONS. 
 
 There were those of us who were impatient with 
 this resolution, but we must needs admire the splen 
 dor of the conception of reciprocity. A federation 
 of commonwealths over the whole American conti 
 nent ! What a superb way we opened to the twen 
 tieth century ! Why waste time picking up coral 
 islands in the Pacific or jabbering with African kings 
 over flannel and beads, when we had the roads to des 
 tiny spreading toward Greenland and Patagonia ! 
 Seward had made Alaska a pawn in the fascinating 
 game. Grant had tried San Domingo as a second 
 move, to be defeated by purblind jealousy. Elaine 
 would make a royal move and advance the queen be 
 yond the Andes and to the Amazon. 
 
 As I have said, it was an imperial dream, recalling 
 what Henry Clay believed possible as an outcome of 
 his Panama Congress. With what success it is too 
 soon to say. It may be the unfinished window in the 
 tower as we read in the "Arabian Nights." Even as 
 these high purposes came within his reach, when at 
 last standing as it were on the steps of the throne he 
 was enabled to mould the throne s decrees, there came 
 upon him, as upon no public man in my time, the 
 inscrutable hand of God. His children were to die. 
 Disease was to strike him even unto death. Every 
 promise, joy and hope was to sink into cloud and 
 night. No sadder mystery in the, ways of God as we 
 
474 LIFE OP HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 see them among man than this of Elaine. And I can 
 well believe that out of it all there came at times the 
 feeling that death was a benediction, and that in the 
 end alone was peace. 
 
 A KING AMONG MEN. 
 
 It will be difficult to assign Elaine a place in our 
 history. This, however, is the work of another gener 
 ation. I knew him for many years on terms of intimacy, 
 more especially while he was a member of the House 
 and before political differences brought rifts into the 
 party. I have worked with him for hours in Wash 
 ington, and had his companionship at my fireside. 
 I found him always an original, sincere, intrepid man, 
 amiable, sympathetic, with a Napoleonic instinct for 
 the kernel of a subject. In a flippant way he has been 
 called " magnetic." This meaningless word seems 
 especially so when applied to Elaine. He had that 
 perfect courtesy which is shown in absolute respect 
 for the feelings of those around him. Sovereign or 
 serf had equal kindness at his hands. He had no fear, 
 no resentments, and friends were often impatient at 
 his forgiveness of enemies. 
 
 It is difficult also to estimate his intellectual standard. 
 He was not a supreme orator like Conkling. He 
 wanted Morton s lucidity of expression. He was not 
 learned in the books like Garfield. He had not 
 enjoyed the legal training of Edmunds. He missed 
 the cogent, rifle ball aptness of Harrison as a speaker. 
 But he had a quality in which he surpassed any man 
 of his time. It is hard to describe it, but I presume 
 

 HIS LEADERSHIP. 475 
 
 it should be called the genius of leadership. He 
 would be a brave man or one with a gnarled, rugged 
 nature, who could come within the gleam of that 
 magnificent eye, or under the spell of that persuasive 
 voice and not be prone to follow. And in this leader 
 ship was the arrogance of genius. Elaine, like Grant, 
 never called a council of war to fight his political 
 battles. It was go and he goeth, or come and he 
 cometh, to his followers, as I have heard many an 
 eminent statesman say when speaking of service with 
 the "Plumed Knight" of Maine. 
 
 LIKELY TO BE UNDERRATED. 
 
 In the way of mere achievements, that is to say, 
 speeches, legislation or the development of high 
 policies, the life of Elaine may be regarded as a 
 disappointment. Critics may ask us to study him as 
 we do some of those stupendous ruins which show 
 what it was in the mind of man to attempt, but not in 
 the heart of man to do. He will be called a Coleridge 
 among statesmen his life strewn with the wrecks of 
 magnificent opportunities. This, however, would be 
 an unfair criticism. Elaine dies in what would be the 
 youth of a public man. The time to do his work was 
 denied him. He had more sorrows than are common. 
 He had battles to fight such as devolved upon no 
 American statesman. There was the mighty personal 
 ity of Grant, the haughty personality of Conkling, the 
 majestic personality of Edmunds. There was the 
 uncompromising hostility of the critical conservative 
 Republicanism theorists and dreamers, especially of 
 
476 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 the New England school. There was the South. 
 Alone he fought them, and in every battle he was 
 triumphant. No political antagonist ever beat him 
 down. 
 
 My heart was not with him in some of these con 
 tests, but I never ceased to admire the fertility of his 
 genius, his courage and his will. He was ever a 
 knight in the terror of his blows, in the swift amplitude 
 of his forgiveness. I think of it all now that he lies 
 in his coffin, and, recalling of Elaine so many years of 
 admiration and friendship, his loyalty to his party, his 
 chivalry to woman, his gentleness to children, his 
 haughty Americanism and supreme power of intellect 
 which made him almost an object of worship to so 
 many millions of his countrymen, give him my sorrow 
 ing farewell. A great man has gone and a nation 
 mourns an untimely fate. 
 

 CHAPTER XXII. 
 Blaine as a Man Among Other Men. 
 
 THE eminent journalist, E. J. Gibson, who was inti 
 mately acquainted with Mr. Blaine, furnishes the fol 
 lowing interesting sketch : 
 
 Although Mr. Blaine was so highly regarded because 
 of his rare ability and brilliant attainments, yet his so- 
 called magnetic manner gave him much of his popu 
 larity. He rarely forgot a face or name, and he had 
 the faculty of giving every person with whom he came 
 in contact the impression that he was really glad to 
 see him, something which can be said of very few men 
 in public life. My own experience with Mr. Blaine 
 was probably similar to that of a multitude of others. 
 When a reporter on a New York newspaper, doing 
 some campaign work in Philadelphia, I happened to 
 be in the city on the afternoon that Mr. Blaine was to 
 deliver a campaign address in the Academy of Music 
 in the Fall of 1878. Wishing to meet him personally 
 I sent up my card to him at the Continental Hotel. I 
 was invited up at once, and much to my surprise was 
 taken into his room, where many of the leading Re 
 publicans of the city were gathered, and taking me by 
 the arm Mr. Blaine introduced me to every man pres 
 ent. I had never been treated so well by a public 
 
 (477) 
 
478 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 man, and I certainly went away entertaining a feeling 
 of the highest regard personally for Mr. Elaine. 
 
 Some years afterward when he was nominated for 
 President, I went to Maine to represent the same 
 newspaper and remained with Mr. Elaine during the 
 entire campaign. I then had an opportunity to be 
 come thoroughly well acquainted with him, and this 
 acquaintance was renewed by a similar experience for 
 six weeks during the State campaign in Maine in 
 1886, and afterward in Washington. During a good 
 deal of the time I was in Maine and in the country in 
 1884 I traveled with Mr. Elaine alone and we went 
 into every nook and corner of Maine that could be 
 reached by railroad. 
 
 HE KNEW ALMOST EVERYBODY. 
 
 We never entered a town that Mr. Elaine did not 
 recognize apparently the majority of the inhabitants. 
 He seemed to know everybody in the State, and he 
 never went into a town or city elsewhere in the 
 country, within my knowledge, without meeting some 
 one that he knew, so extensive was his acquaintance. 
 
 I never knew but one other man who had a like 
 faculty of remembering persons whom he had met 
 before, and that was Vice-President Hamlin, of the 
 same State. Mr. Hamlin accompanied us on a trip 
 at one time to Presque Isle, a village in the extreme 
 northeastern part of Maine. The Vice-President had 
 not been in the same town for seventeen years, but 
 when he got off from the train he shook hands with 
 three persons whom he had met in the same place on 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN. 479 
 
 his visit there seventeen years before and called each 
 one by name, although he had never seen them but 
 once. Mr. Elaine at the same time recognized per 
 sonally a large number of the citizens whom he had 
 met only once, and that a good many years before. 
 
 At a reception given by Governor Smith at his 
 house in New Hampshire, I stood a few feet away 
 from Mr. Elaine and heard him personally greet by 
 name 200 or 300 persons, many of whom he had 
 never met but once. One man, after shaking hands 
 with Mr. Elaine, remarked : " I suppose you do not 
 remember me, Mr. Elaine, as it is twelve years ago 
 since I saw you." Mr. Elaine quickly replied: " Oh, 
 yes, I remember you" well. You were at Mr. Blank s 
 house when I was there in 1872." I afterward asked 
 Mr. Elaine in regard to that particular person and he 
 said that he met him at a reception in another city 
 twelve years before, which illustrates his wonderful 
 memory of faces. 
 
 QUICK TO SEE A POINT. 
 
 One of the most notable things in regard to Mr. 
 Blaine s skill as a party leader was his alertness in 
 seizing upon a position on difficult or exciting public 
 questions that would be likely to receive the support 
 of his party and to be popular in the country. A mis 
 take by an opponent would be seen by Mr. Elaine 
 almost immediately, and he was not slow to take ad 
 vantage of it. Perhaps this could not be illustrated 
 better than in his celebrated statement on the tariff 
 question sent from Europe in reply to Mr. Cleveland s 
 
480 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 message in 1887. Mr. Elaine gave the keynote of 
 the campaign to his party in that message. 
 
 In the hundreds of speeches which I have heard 
 him deliver he always made an effort to bring out one 
 central point that would fix the attention of his 
 hearers. He did not like to deliver long speeches. 
 He preferred, as he told me himself, to handle one 
 topic in such a way as to make an impression and 
 leave to others the work of entertaining the audience. 
 For that purpose he generally took with him a speaker 
 who could put an audience in good humor, and Mr, 
 Elaine would confine himself to one or two of the cen 
 tral issues of the campaign. Many of his speeche 
 were delivered with a view of reaching the entir 
 country, rather than the audience to which he wa 
 speaking. He had a clear voice and a direct, simp 
 manner of stating questions that always made it eas 
 for the people to understand him. 
 
 Mr. Elaine rarely wrote out a speech. I remembe 
 only one speech in the campaign of 1884 that he wrot 
 out in advance, and then he had been grossly misre; 
 resented, and he desired to put himself right in sue 
 a way that there would be no excuse for continuin 
 the misstatements. The speech I refer to was deln 
 ered in the State Fair grounds at Manchester, Ne 
 Hampshire, and I held the manuscript in my hanc 
 while Mr. Elaine spoke, and I found that he did n< 
 deviate hardly a word from what he had writte 
 although he did not write the speech more than a 
 hour before it was delivered, and had had no oppo 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN. 481 
 
 tunity to do more than read it after he had completed 
 the manuscripts. 
 
 HIS LITERARY STYLE. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s literary style has been criticised by 
 some of the men who posed as critics on such mat 
 ters, but most of the people generally will agree with 
 Senator Hoar in the statement that the dead leader 
 had " a marvelous literary instinct." His style was 
 free from exaggeration and excess, and the little poses 
 of phrase so often affected by writers. Mr. Elaine 
 was a splendid Latin student, and yet none would 
 ever be aware of the fact so far as the use of Latin 
 phrases in his speeches and writings are concerned. 
 
 I asked him once if he thought it was worth while 
 for a boy to spend his time learning the dead languages. 
 He replied that he did not think that Greek was of 
 any particular advantage, excepting to men who in 
 tended to pursue a literary life or special callings that 
 would make researches into the works of ancient au 
 thors necessary. But he said that Latin, in his opinion, 
 was decidedly necessary in the formation of a correct 
 English style, and he added that whatever there was 
 of good in his style he attributed to his study of Latin. 
 As to modern languages, he thought them an advan 
 tage in some cases, but to the great majority of men 
 he thought the time might be more advantageously 
 employed than in studying modern languages, outside 
 of the English. In the case of his own sons, however, 
 he said that he had Walker and Emmons both learn 
 
 French and German, and had given them an opportu- 
 31 
 
482 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 nity to perfect themselves in the languages by study 
 abroad. 
 
 HIS EULOGY ON GARFIELD. 
 
 Senator Hoar in speaking of Mr. Elaine s literary 
 works, says that his eulogy on Garfield has always 
 seemed to him (Mr. Hoar) one of the most exquisite 
 productions of the class to which it belonged. This 
 recalls to mind the fact that Mr. Elaine in giving me a 
 bound copy of that eulogy, with an autograph inscrip 
 tion in it, remarked that he took as much pride in that 
 address as in anything he had ever delivered or 
 written. 
 
 The death of Garfield was a great blow to Mr. 
 Elaine. He told me that had Garfield lived he had no 
 doubt before the end of his term that the Republican 
 party would be thoroughly united, and the animosity 
 that had grown out of the effort to renominate Gen 
 eral Grant fora third term would have died out under 
 the kindly influences of Garfield s administration. Al 
 though Mr. Elaine is everywhere known for his aggres 
 siveness in politics, yet he was in no sense a vindictive 
 man, and was personally anxious to live on terms of 
 peace and good-will with everybody. He was anxious 
 to be reconciled to Conkling, and the fact that they 
 never were reconciled was not Mr. Elaine s fault, as I 
 know of my own personal knowledge. 
 
 WOULD HAVE SOLIDIFIED THE PARTY. 
 
 Although the nomination of Judge Robertson for 
 Collector of New York by Garfield was ascribed to 
 Elaine, there is good reasons for saying that Elaine 
 

 A MAN AMONG MEN. 483 
 
 did not dictate it. But even had he done so, there was 
 no good reason forConkling pursuing the course that 
 he did in the matter. Judge Robertson was quoted 
 in a recent interview as saying that General Arthur 
 made a great mistake when he did not keep Mr. 
 Elaine in his Cabinet, as it would have solidified the 
 party and insured President Arthur s renomination. 
 
 That recalls a remark that Mr. Elaine made to me 
 in discussing the same subject. He said that he did 
 not care to remain in President Arthur s Cabinet, but 
 that he would have done so if it had been insisted 
 upon, and he thought that President Arthur had an op 
 portunity to unite the party and to bring about an era 
 of good feeling, such as would not be likely to occur 
 again in a long time. President Arthur took the other 
 course and made the great mistake of going to Albany 
 to try and re-elect Mr. Conkling, and as Judge Rob 
 ertson says, "President Arthur got no thanks for it." 
 
 During the campaign of 1884 efforts were made by 
 mutual friends to bring Mr. Conkling and Mr. Biaine 
 together, and also to bring Mr. Arthur to New York 
 to preside at a meeting where Mr. Elaine was presid 
 ing. But so far as Mr. Conkling and Mr. Arthur were 
 concerned, the efforts were a failure. Although Mr. 
 Arthur was spending a short vacation at the residence 
 of Mr. Frelinghuysen, in New Jersey, only a short 
 distance from New York, yet he refused to attend the 
 meeting, and I know that Mr. Elaine "felt hurt as a 
 result of that failure. 
 
484 LIFE OP HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 A good deal has been written and said about Mr. 
 Elaine s return to New York after his visit to the 
 West in the campaign of 1884, and in regard to the 
 dinner he attended gotten up by the late Cyrus W. 
 Field, and the consequent Burchard incident which 
 would not have happened if Mr. Elaine had carried 
 out his original intentions of not returning to New 
 York city. 
 
 THAT FATAL NEW YORK DINNER. 
 
 I discussed that matter at a good deal of length 
 with Mr. Elaine two years afterward, and he told me 
 then, as he told me at the time, that he did not want 
 to return to New York city, and was persuaded against 
 his will to do so. He said that he could not refuse to 
 attend the dinner given by Cyrus W. Field without 
 offending some of the prominent managers in his can 
 vass. Mr. Field had been very active in assisting in 
 the work of the campaign, and, as a result, Mr. Elaine 
 allowed himself to be persuaded by ex-Senator Platt 
 and others to return to New York, which unquestion 
 ably caused him the loss of the Presidency. 
 
 As to the Burchard incident, I was present in the 
 hotel at the time the speech was delivered. I did not 
 myself notice Mr. Burchard make the remark that 
 was attributed to him. But a few minutes later 
 ex-Collector Murphy, of New York, who is himself a 
 Roman Catholic, came to me in the corridor of the 
 hotel and remarked that if something was not done 
 right away to offset what Burchard had said in his 
 speech that it would do great harm, because the Demo- 
 

 A MAN AMONG MEN. 485 
 
 cratic newspaper correspondents, who were there 
 within a few feet of us at that moment, were preparing 
 to make the most of it. 
 
 MR. ELAINE S UNCONCERN. 
 
 I immediately went up to Mr. Elaine s room to see 
 him about it, and found that he was not aware that 
 anything of the kind had been said. But he remarked 
 that an attempt to correct an alleged statement of that 
 kind might do as much harm as good, as it would 
 offend the Protestants, particularly those of the bigoted 
 kind. He did not seem to think that the matter was 
 of any particular importance. 
 
 Two hours later when I had learned that the Demo 
 crats were preparing to circulate this " Rum, Roman 
 ism, and Rebellion " alleged statement of Dr. Burch- 
 ard, in the form of handbills and in other ways, I again 
 saw Mr. Blaine about the matter, but found that he 
 was not much concerned. It was not until late in the 
 next day that his friends persuaded him to make the 
 statement that he did in regard to the matter. Many 
 persons have blamed Mr. Blaine for not replying to 
 Dr. Burchard at the time the remark was made, but 
 there is no doubt that he never heard the remark if it 
 was ever made, and although I was listening to the 
 speech, though not with much care, I did not hear it. 
 With Mr. Blaine s extraordinary alertness and skill in 
 making use of any incident of that kind if he had heard 
 it, he would undoubtedly have been prompt to reply. 
 A good many persons have undertaken to ridicule state 
 ments to the effect that Mr. Blaine was defeated for 
 
486 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 the Presidency by the use Democrats made of that 
 alleged remark on the part of Dr. Burchard. I have 
 good reason for saying that it is capable of proof that 
 enough votes were changed in that way to account 
 for his defeat in New York. 
 
 MANY VOTES CHANGED. 
 
 Handbills were circulated at every Catholic Church 
 in New York on the following Sunday, headed, "See 
 what Elaine says," and then the remark was ascribed 
 to Mr. Elaine himself. A handbill of that kind was 
 delivered at nearly every house in Brooklyn, and, 
 among others, at my own. Some time after the elec 
 tion a considerable number of men were placed at my 
 disposal, and I was charged with the duty of investi 
 gating to see if I could ascertain whether or not any 
 votes actually had been changed as a result of the use 
 the Democrats made of that alleged remark of Dr. 
 Burchard. I found a number of men who were willing 
 to acknowledge that they changed their votes on that 
 account. One of these was the president of a large 
 Catholic educational institution in the upper part of 
 New York city. He told me that he intended to vote 
 for Mr. Elaine, but he- changed his mind and voted for 
 Mr. Cleveland, because the Catholic Church had been 
 insulted in Mr. Elaine s presence and he had not 
 resented it. 
 
 Passing a certain jewelry store the same day I met 
 an ex-State Senator who lived in Flushing who told 
 me of several persons who had similarly been influ 
 enced. He went with me into the jewelry store, and 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN. 487 
 
 the proprietor told us of a German shoemaker in the 
 basement of the building who had been influenced in 
 the same way. I saw that shoemaker, and he said 
 that he had changed his vote on that account, and 
 gave the names of several of his friends who had done 
 the same thing. I found a Catholic priest in West- 
 chester county who had advised the members of his 
 flock to vote against Mr. Elaine as the only way of 
 repelling the insult that had been offered to the church. 
 Pursuing the matter further, I gathered a large 
 number of names of persons who were willing to 
 acknowledge that they had been influenced in the same 
 way. Patrick Ford showed me hundreds of letters 
 from different parts of the State telling of votes that 
 had been changed in that way, and he expressed the 
 opinion that thousands of votes had been lost to Elaine 
 on account of the Eurchard incident. As Mr. Cleve 
 land only had 1047 plurality in New York a change 
 of 550 votes would have elected Mr. Elaine. I have 
 never had any doubt in my own mind after that inves 
 tigation that he would have been elected had he not 
 returned to New York, after his trip from the West, 
 contrary to his own judgment. 
 
 DID NOT SEEK THE NOMINATION. 
 
 Mr. Elaine told me in August of 1884 that he had 
 not sought the nomination for President that year, and 
 he seemed to think that it was not a good year for a 
 Republican to run in. He told me in 1886 that he did 
 not believe that any Republican could be elected in 
 1888, but after Mr. Cleveland s celebrated tariff mes- 
 
488 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 sage Mr. Elaine changed his mind and he did think 
 there was a good opportunity then for the Republicans 
 to elect their candidate. He had said before that he 
 would not be a candidate. But when it became evi 
 dent that the campaign was to turn on the tariff, and 
 Mr. Elaine had in letters from Europe expressed the 
 opinion that a Republican would be elected, his friends 
 made an effort to get him to consent to accept the nom 
 ination. His health was not good, however, and he 
 was depressed in spirits at that time. Still Mr. 
 Boutelle and others who were concerned in that effort 
 believe that he would have accepted had he been nom 
 inated. 
 
 Mr. Boutelle holds to the opinion that if it had not 
 been for telegrams sent from Chicago to Mr. Blaine 
 by a United States Senator and some others supposed 
 to be close in his confidence that Mr. Blaine would 
 have been nominated and elected. But in view of his 
 health during the past four years, and the organic 
 disease with which he was suffering, everybody must 
 now concede that it would have shortened his life had 
 he been made President. 
 
 Mr. Blaine was very tenacious of life, and I never 
 traveled with a man who was more concerned about 
 his safety on railroads. He was extremely nervous, 
 and if anything happened in the way of a slight acci 
 dent to a train it upset him at once. He was very fond 
 of company, and always liked to have some one to talk 
 to, and when left to himself was very apt to be moody 
 and melancholy. He may have had some premonition 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN. 489 
 
 of his organic trouble, but it was very evident to any 
 person brought much in contact with him that good 
 company and cheerful surroundings were necessary to 
 his health. 
 
 There was a vein of something approaching super 
 stition in him which has always made me wonder that 
 he consented to move into the old Seward mansion, 
 considering the mishaps that have befallen its former 
 occupants. 
 
 When Mr. Elaine went out of the Cabinet at the 
 death of Garfield his physicians told him that it would 
 be necessary for him to take up some work that would 
 keep his mind occupied, and that was how he came to 
 undertake the work of writing a history of his " Twenty 
 Years in Congress." It was a kind of work that was 
 congenial to him, and no man in the country was prob 
 ably so well fitted to perform it. His acquaintance 
 with the political history of the country and his knowl 
 edge of public men and events were second to that of 
 no other man. He devoted a great deal of time to 
 that work, and told me that it gave him more satisfac 
 tion than anything that he had ever done. But it is not 
 at all improbable that it did much to shorten his life. 
 
 DID NOT CHERISH ENMITY. 
 
 Mr. Elaine did not cherish enmity. He was very 
 sensitive to criticism which reflected on his honor as a 
 man. In the campaign of 1884 ex-Secretary Bayard, 
 who was associated with Mr. Elaine in business enter 
 prises, and for whom Mr. Elaine had high regard, de 
 livered a speech in Brooklyn in which he attacked Mr. 
 
490 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Elaine s character personally on account of the Mul 
 ligan letters. When I read the speech the next day I 
 spoke to Mr. Elaine about it. He had not seen it and 
 said he could hardly believe that Mr. Bayard would do 
 a thing of that kind, and requested me to point out 
 the part of the speech to which I referred. I got the 
 paper and showed it to him. He read it, dropped the 
 paper on the floor and sat looking out of the window 
 in a most dejected manner for at least fifteen minutes, 
 evidently feeling deeply hurt. 
 
 Some years later, when Mr. Elaine was Secretary 
 of State, I chanced to be passing down the corridor of 
 the Department just as Mr. Bayard stepped out of the 
 elevator into which Mr. Elaine was about to enter. 
 " Hello, Tom, how are you ? " was Mr. Elaine s hearty 
 greeting, which was met with a similarly friendly re 
 sponse on the part of Mr. Bayard, and the two locked 
 arms and walked off together. Remembering the 
 incident in regard to the speech some years before, I 
 was strikingly impressed with the fact that Mr. Elaine 
 was a very forgiving man. That was evident also in 
 the impartial, not to say charitable manner, in which 
 he spoke of his worst opponents in this " Twenty 
 Years of Congress." 
 
 While Mr. Elaine had a good business faculty, he 
 was very careless of details in money matters. I re 
 call a curious incident in that respect. One time 
 while on his way to a town in the extreme northeast 
 ern part of Maine to deliver a speech, to reach which 
 it was necessary to make a long detour by rail 
 

 A MAN AMONG MEN. 491 
 
 through New Brunswick, some ill-informed friends 
 advised him to break the journey by stopping all night 
 at a little village not far from the New Brunswick 
 frontier. My own experience with village inns led me 
 to endeavor to persuade Mr. Blaine against making 
 the stop. But he thought his friends must know the 
 place well, or they would not have advised him ; and 
 so we started together from Augusta in the afternoon 
 and reached the place where we were to stop over 
 night about 10 o clock. 
 
 It was very dark, and there was no conveyance at 
 the station ; and we had to get a man with a lantern 
 to pilot us to the inn, about a quarter of a mile off. 
 When we got there we found a regular old-fashioned 
 country inn. As there was to be a circus in town 
 next day, all the rooms were engaged, which was a 
 sorry outlook for Mr. Blaine and myself. But the 
 proprietor said that he would have a couple of rooms 
 fixed up, and so we sat down to wait. It seems that 
 he routed out a couple of his guests, and made them 
 get out of the rooms so that we could have them. 
 
 When we finally got to our rooms Mr. Blaine came 
 into mine just as I was making a tour of inspection to 
 ascertain the number of bed-fellows I would have. I 
 found the bed was well peopled in its way, and Mr. 
 Blaine was horrified. I then went with him to his 
 room, and while we were not able to discover any 
 like inhabitants, there were suspicious evidences of 
 them about. Mr. Blaine insisted on my remaining 
 
492 
 
 LIFE OP HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 with him in his room, and we did not enjoy what might 
 be called a tranquil night s rest. 
 
 When we came to settle up in the morning I found 
 that Mr. Elaine had come away from home, expecting 
 to be gone some days, without having thought to 
 bring with him any money, which illustrates his dis 
 regard of details. 
 
 But in his larger business transactions he was very 
 successful. His first entry into the newspaper busi 
 ness in Maine brought him a profit, so he told me, of 
 $18,000. He got the money all in cash and took it 
 home and put it out on the table and showed it to his 
 wife, with the proud satisfaction of saying that it all 
 belonged to them. That was the first money that h< 
 ever got together as a surplus, and he managed t< 
 invest it to good account. He lost money in some of 
 his enterprises, but as a rule they were successful, and 
 it will be no surprise if his estate foots up in the 
 neighborhood of a million. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Home Life and Personal Traits. 
 
 No more fascinating spot exists in Washington 
 to the average sightseer than the late home of Sec 
 retary Elaine. Mr. Elaine had had several homes in 
 Washington a modest three-story residence on Fif 
 teenth street ; the towering mansion on Dupont circle ; 
 an elegant house on Lafayette square ; and the big, 
 rambling structure which decorative art had trans 
 formed into a most luxurious residence. 
 
 No. 1 7 Madison place boasts of a career as diver 
 sified as that of a modern politician. It has been in 
 turn dwelling house, boarding house, government 
 office and twice the home of the premier of the ad 
 ministration. The third floor under the slanting roof 
 sheltered a Chief Executive of the nation, President 
 Polk having lived there for the four months of the 
 White House repairs. In Secretary Seward s occu 
 pancy it was the social headquarters of the wealth and 
 distinction of the day. On the memorable night of his 
 attempted assassination a scene of horror was enacted 
 under its roof, the memory of which seems as fresh as 
 if it were an incident of yesterday. After years of 
 
 (493) 
 
494 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 service as a government office the house was finally 
 vacated and leased by Secretary Elaine. 
 
 He made it one of the cosiest of homes not 
 spacious enough for large entertainments, but just the 
 thing for the conveniences and smaller hospitalities 
 
 SECfxiLTARY ELAINE S DINING-ROOM. 
 
 that Mrs. Elaine had contemplated. It has a cheerful 
 look at night, with the light streaming from every 
 window, and particularly from the kitchen and the 
 servants quarters, which, after the style of the old 
 days, stretch out in a long L at the back. 
 

 HOME LIFE. 495 
 
 INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 On one side of the hall is a small parlor, decorated 
 in white and gold, where Mr. Elaine saw his callers. 
 It is furnished in antique mahogany in a comfortable 
 and pleasing style. The family are welcomed there, 
 and occasionally breakfast is served there, so that the 
 room does not at all take on the look of a regular 
 workshop. The dining-room is on the other side of 
 the hall, facing the street, and is rather small, since 
 the table will only accommodate eighteen persons. It 
 is furnished in antique oak, and is bright and cheerful, 
 in keeping with all the rest of the house. Upstairs 
 the drawing-room occupies the entire width of the 
 house. It is light and delicate in coloring, and pale 
 olive, with a touch of crimson, as the predominating 
 tint. Adjoining on one side was Mr. and Mrs. 
 Elaine s bedroom, and opposite, at the other side of 
 the hall, is the library. 
 
 The library is the favorite sitting-room of the house 
 hold. Their intimate friends join them there, and in 
 the late afternoon the young ladies are sure to be 
 found there with such of their friends who drop in. 
 They keep up the English custom of offering a cup of 
 tea and a sweet bite to those who come in. After 
 dinner Mr. Elaine always joined his family, and the 
 group about that library table was generally one of 
 unusual distinction. The room has a good north 
 light. It is finished in mahogany. The walls are 
 lined with low bookshelves, there are several splendid 
 canvases, in nearly every corner are writing tables 
 
496 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 and desks, piles of books are on tables and mantels, 
 and there is always an air lingering of the rrTental and 
 social relaxation that the room witnesses. 
 
 COLONIAL TASTES. 
 
 The furniture throughout the house is in harmony 
 with the colonial style predominating in its architec 
 ture. Much of it was brought from the Blaines 
 Augusta home, but most of it was selected by Mrs. 
 Elaine in New York. There are many fine pictures 
 on the walls, a few that they bought during their last 
 trip to Europe, and many old engravings and prints 
 that are familiar to all who remember the look of the 
 Augusta home. 
 
 It was considered rather an unusual thing for Sec 
 retary Elaine to take up his home in a house tainted 
 by the history of an attempted murder, and people 
 with a superstitious turn of mind indulged in many re 
 marks when, to let more light and sun into the house, 
 Mr. Elaine had four windows cut into the south wall. 
 
 The Elaine home in Augusta is not extravagantly 
 furnished. It is simply comfortable and artistic. The 
 house and inclosed grounds are richly shaded with 
 apple trees, and all the surroundings are after the 
 neat but plain New England style. The summer 
 residence at Bar Harbor is quite a pretentious cottage. 
 It is called the " Stanwood," for the family name of 
 Mrs. Elaine. Mr. Elaine never gave up his home nor 
 his home life in Maine, but for nearly thirty years he 
 maintained a home in Washington. A few years after 
 first entering Washington, he purchased the residence 
 

 HOME LIFE. 497 
 
 at 821 West Fifteenth Street, where he lived while in 
 Washington for about ten years. Early in the seven 
 ties he had built a fine new residence in Dupont Circle. 
 The death of Garfield changing his plans, he leased 
 this house, and returned to Maine. 
 
 THE SEWARD HOUSE. 
 
 About the beginning of President Harrison s Ad 
 ministration, after he had begun his duties as Secre 
 tary of State, Mr. Elaine purchased his late home, 
 which has always been known as the Seward House, 
 described above. -The old place had been unoccupied 
 for some time, and was in a dilapidated condition. 
 Mr. Elaine gave it a thorough overhauling, and, with 
 out destroying the quaint features of the old-fashioned 
 architecture, he changed it into an elegant home, with 
 modern equipments and facilities. 
 
 The house has some very gloomy associations. Its 
 first occupant was Secretary Spencer, whose son, a 
 young lieutenant in the navy, was hanged at sea early 
 in the forties for an alleged attempt at mutiny. Dur 
 ing Buchanan s Administration the Washington Club 
 occupied it, and it was from it that Philip Barton Key 
 walked out into the sunny street just before he was 
 shot and killed by General Daniel E. Sickles. 
 
 Secretary Seward was the next to occupy it. And 
 on April 14, 1865, Louis Payne forced his way into 
 one of its chambers where the Secretary was lying ill 
 and stabbed him nearly to death. For four years after 
 this the War Department kept a patrol there day and 
 night and this did not add to the reputation of the house. 
 
 32 
 
498 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 After Secretary Seward, Secretary Belknap was the 
 tenant and he had hardly got his household settled 
 when his wife died very unexpectedly. He soon re 
 moved and after this the house remained unoccupied 
 until 1889, when Mr. Elaine established himself and 
 family in it. Within two years and a half Mr. and 
 
 ELAINE S FAVORITE SEAT AT HIS BAR HARBOR VILLA. 
 
 Mrs. Elaine lost their three eldest children and the 
 Secretary himself died in the house. Gloomy tradi 
 tions have hung over the house for a half century, and 
 the latest death within its walls will not tend to dispel 
 them. 
 
 LIFE AT BAR HARBOR. 
 
 During the summer Mr. Elaine lived on his porch at 
 
HOME LIFE. 499 
 
 Bar Harbor, Maine, a great deal of the time and 
 seemed to enjoy immensely having his grandchildren 
 about him to talk with. This Bar Harbor cottage is 
 a large building and is chiefly remarkable for its great 
 veranda, which completely encircles the house. A 
 beautiful view can be had from its porches, on which 
 the family almost lived in the summer time. It is 
 about twenty feet wide where it overlooks Mount 
 Desert Bay. 
 
 Mr. Blaine was very fond of Bar Harbor, and occa 
 sionally, when in a reminiscent mood, would tell his 
 visitors of the time when he might have bought the 
 whole island for $500. Mr. Blaine said that when he 
 was in the Maine Legislature he had for a seat mate 
 Old Man Rodick, the original settler and proprietor 
 of rhe island. This was in 1856. The two men be 
 came well acquainted, and one summer Rodick asked 
 Mr. Blaine up to his home. Rodick lived alone on 
 the island. Mr. Blaine went there and admired the 
 place greatly, whereupon Rodick offered to sell it to 
 him for $500. 
 
 HIS SOCIAL QUALITIES. 
 
 Personally Mr. Blaine was a delightful man ; whether 
 at his home or at his. position of duty his caller was 
 always received with dignified courtesy and consider 
 ation, and it was a charming trait of his that all those 
 with whom he came in contact were made to feel that 
 he always felt in them and their affairs the interest of 
 a friend. Thousands recall brief association with him 
 with delight, and many are the stories that can be told 
 
500 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 of Mr. Elaine s remarkable memory of faces and 
 names. 
 
 High as his position in Washington became, Mr. 
 Elaine always kept in close touch with all his old 
 friends in Augusta and throughout Maine, and always 
 on his visits to the State upon which he cast so much 
 honor, his hand was ready and willing to grasp the 
 hands of all those whom he met. His home was al 
 ways open to all the citizens of Augusta. He was 
 idolized by the Republicans of his State and admired 
 and often voted for by the men of other parties. In 
 his life as a citizen there was never the slightest osten- 
 
 o 
 
 tation, no display of money, no assumption of social 
 supremacy. 
 
 When Mr. Elaine returned home from a season in 
 Washington with his family to Augusta, he and his 
 entered into the life of the little city as heartily as did 
 any of the inhabitants. Mr. Elaine was often on the 
 street and he seldom rode. Mrs. Elaine was promi 
 nent in church work and mingled freely among many 
 friends, while the sons and daughters did not hold 
 themselves off from the other youth of the city, but 
 enjoyed what they enjoyed. 
 
 FAVORITE IN SOCIETY. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was exceedingly popular in society, and 
 his fame reached across the Atlantic. The London 
 World published a sketch of him immediately after 
 his appointment as Secretary of State in the Garfield 
 Cabinet, part of which is worthy of reproduction in 
 this notice. After describing his political career and 
 

 HOME LIFE. 501 
 
 paying a just tribute to his statesmanlike attributes, 
 the article thus depicts his daily life at Washington 
 during the session of Congress : " Mr. Secretary 
 Elaine s house is incontestably the most popular in 
 Washington. On Wednesday afternoon, the day in 
 Washington when during the session the wives of 
 Cabinet Ministers and those of foreign ambassadors 
 Deceive, there is no house in the American capital so 
 crowded. Whatever the weather, however thin the 
 attendance in other drawing rooms, there is always a 
 throng at Mr. Elaine s. Nor is this due to the im 
 portance of his present position as Secretary of State. 
 It was the same when he was in Congress, whether as 
 member or Speaker of the House. It was the same 
 when he was in the Senate. It would be the same if 
 Mr. Elaine were not in politics. People go there be 
 cause they like Mr. Elaine and all his family, which 
 consists of his intellectual and ladylike wife, a kins 
 woman of brilliant reputation in American letters who 
 uses the nom de plume of * Gail Hamilton, and six fine 
 and promising children. 
 
 "In the examination of the drawing rooms at Mr. 
 Elaine s we find among other valuable possessions 
 one very interesting picture a large canvas by Sir 
 Peter Lely, representing Charles II. and his Court. It 
 is signed with the date 1658. It was painted by Sir 
 Peter for Lord Baltimore and was bought by Mr. 
 Elaine for a sum of comparative unimportance at the 
 sale of the Calvert estate, Riverdale, Md., some few 
 years ago. There is not an art gallery in Europe, 
 
502 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 public or private, which would not be enriched by this 
 large historical picture, full of portraits and executed 
 in Lely s most delicate and yet most animated style. 
 
 " Near at hand on a pedestal stands a fine life-size 
 bust of Mr. Elaine, as good a likeness of the states 
 man as could perhaps be obtained in this form of a 
 man, the charm of whose features lies principally in) 
 their mobility and ever changing play. Portraits of 
 men of letters abound here. Thackeray, Dickens, 
 Disraeli, Washington Irving, Hawthorne and many 
 others gaze down from the walls, principally in the 
 last of the suite of drawing rooms the one in which 
 the Premier sits of a morning before going to the De 
 partment of State, examining such letters as impera 
 tively demand his attention at home. Routine cor 
 respondence was carried on by secretaries in a vast 
 room at the top of the house, and was an enormous 
 and never ceasing task." 
 
 HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 
 
 As to personal appearance, there is one adjective 
 which best describes Mr. Elaine. He was command 
 ing, not only in stature, but particularly so in features, 
 up to the close of his life. Mr. Elaine was a splendid 
 type of manhood. Straight as a Maine pine, broad- 
 shouldered and stout, yet as light of step as an athlete, 
 he was a man who would compel attention, even from 
 the few who might not recognize him. He had a full, 
 high forehead, large, keen, observant eyes, of a liquid 
 magnetism, a nose aquiline and slightly prominent, 
 and of the sort to emphasize the strength of character 
 
HOME LIFE. 503 
 
 of its owner. His short, cropped beard, which half 
 concealed the lower portion of his face, gave him a 
 semi-military air. 
 
 In speech, Mr. Elaine was rapid, but distinct in 
 utterance and clear cut in expression. It was his 
 masterly arrangement of the facts and his grasp of the 
 logic of the situation, rather than eloquence, that made 
 what he said so effective. He was never superfluous. 
 He seldom sought occasion to speak, and almost 
 always spoke extemporaneously, his wonderful knowl 
 edge of the minutest portions of the country s political 
 history and his retentive memory making prepared 
 efforts quite unnecessary, save on most important oc 
 casions. The greatest oration of his life was undoubt 
 edly his eulogy of Garfield. There are few more 
 eloquent or beautiful tributes in print in the English 
 language. 
 
 SOME OF HIS HABITS. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was always a hard personal worker. 
 This may be illustrated by the fact that in the corre 
 spondence with the authorities of Italy in reference to 
 the New Orleans affair, he wrote all the letters himself, 
 not even using an amanuensis. The cares of his high 
 position ever rested lightly on him, and it was not un 
 til domestic sorrows came crowding in upon him thick 
 and fast that Mr. Elaine began to need the services 
 of physicians, and that the country became fearful for 
 his health. 
 
 A gentleman who was intimately acquainted with 
 Mr. Elaine said that, in his opinion, Mr. Elaine broke 
 
504 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 lftHES 
 
 WSfRUCTlON OF THE BLlNB 
 
 himself down by intemperate work and irregular hab 
 its of eating. Mr. Elaine was a high-pressure worker. 
 Whenever he became deeply interested in a subject, Mr. 
 Elaine would shut himself up in his room, would not 
 allow himself to be disturbed, and would not eat, sleep, 
 
 or rest until he had 
 finished his task. He 
 seemed to have 
 adopted the motto 
 which the great elec 
 trician, Edison, who 
 works in much the 
 same way, gave to a 
 youth, " Don t look 
 at the clock." 
 
 An example of Mr. 
 Elaine s habit of con 
 tinued, uninterrupted 
 labor was furnished 
 in the early part of 
 the Behring Sea cor 
 respondence. He 
 became intensely 
 absorbed in carrying 
 on this correspond- 
 
 BLAINE S CHAIR IN THE BLIND 
 ASYLUM. 
 
 ence with Great Britain, and would retire to his room 
 where he worked with law books, diplomatic corrsepond- 
 ence, and papers piled high around him. He would 
 start in after breakfast, and sometimes would work on 
 steadily, without rest or food, until nine or ten o clock 
 
HOME LIFE. 
 
 505 
 
 at night. Then he would be too fatigued to eat, and 
 the next morning would make up for it. These fits 
 of labor would use him up for a week. 
 
 He was not a large eater, but he was very irregular 
 in his eating. Apparently he had no marked fond 
 ness for any kind of food. He did not care for fancy 
 dishes, and when traveling seldom consulted the menu, 
 but told the waiter to 
 bring him a good meal. 
 He liked plain, old-fash 
 ioned cooking. When 
 ever he did taste any 
 thing which greatly 
 pleased him it was hard 
 to get him to quit, and 
 he would continue to 
 eat, despite his watchful 
 wife s admonitions. In 
 former years he was 
 fond of horseback riding 
 
 o 
 
 and took considerable 
 exercise, but afterward 
 he showed much disinclination to bodily exertion. 
 
 DELIGHTFUL MANNERS. 
 
 The personality of James G. Blaine was peculiar to 
 an extent which distinguished him from the vast 
 majority of politicians. He was a man with remark 
 ably charming manners, an easy and agreeable dis 
 position, and a refinement and cultivation far above 
 the average. It is said that no man could meet him 
 
 ELAINE S FAVORITE READING- 
 CHAIR. 
 
506 LIFE OF ITON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 without being fascinated by him, and he had a recol 
 lection for names and faces which has become pro 
 verbial. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was a man with what Chesterfield would 
 have called "a distinguished manner;" not that he 
 was ceremonial or pompous, but he possessed that 
 grace and smoothness which is generally supposed to 
 bespeak a lofty and cultivated mind. No one could 
 meet him without knowing instinctively that he was a 
 man, not only of thought, but of reading. The char 
 acteristic of his mind was that he looked at every sub 
 ject from the very broadest standpoint. On all 
 subjects of a political, economic, or historical nature 
 he was accustomed to generalize about the great 
 results before coming down to the minute details, and 
 it was this which fitted him for leadership. 
 
 IDOL OF THE RURAL POPULATION. 
 
 Energetic and active, he was possessed of a restless 
 nature which inspired life in every enterprise which 
 he undertook. The enthusiasm and devotion which 
 he inspired among his followers was a phenomenon 
 without a parallel in American politics. It was a sin 
 gular fact that this" feeling of enthusiasm for Mr. 
 Blai ;e was strongest among that section of the people 
 to which we have been taught to look for the truest 
 
 o 
 
 exemplars of the homely and uncorrupted virtues of 
 American citizenship. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was emphatically the candidate of the 
 rural voters, in contrast to the people of the great 
 cities. The most earnest opponents of machine poli- 
 
HOME LIFE. 507 
 
 tics had been the most zealous in laboring for his 
 advancement. Fifty years ago this rural popularity 
 would have been enough to insure his election by a 
 large majority. But in the last half century the per 
 centage of the civic element in the United States has 
 increased so rapidly that a candidate now has to sat 
 isfy another class of voters. 
 
 A MAN OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 While thoroughly conversant with the abstract prin 
 ciples of political economy, Mr. Elaine was essentially 
 a man of the people, fond of human society and com 
 panionship and wide in his feelings and sympathies. 
 From early childhood he had been accustomed to 
 popularity among his acquaintances. When he entered 
 Congress without much reputation his magnetism at 
 once made itself felt in that political clearing-house, 
 and he easily became the most popular member of 
 that body. Mr. Elaine was always generous in his 
 sympathies, and he overflowed with animal spirits, 
 which made him the life of every assemblage. In the 
 society of the capital he was equally at home and 
 universally run after. 
 
 At first it was thought that this ease and grace of. 
 mind and body were all that made up his political 
 capital, but that idea was quickly dispelled when he 
 began to display capacities for leadership. The Elaine, 
 however, of 1892 was far different from the Elaine who 
 came to Congress as a simple Maine journalist and 
 ex-State legislator. He was constantly improving 
 through observation, reading, and experience, and 
 
508 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 drawing much that was helpful from those with whom 
 he came in contact. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s range of knowledge extended far 
 beyond the domain of politics. He was fond of poetr) 
 and works of fiction, laid down a novel to pick up a 
 descriptive sketch of a remote period, and was inter- 
 ested in music and painting. 
 
 HIS HIGH TEMPER. 
 
 It has been said that the principal characteristics of 
 Mr. Elaine s intellectual make-up were those which he 
 derived from his Celtic ancestry. He was highly 
 developed on the side of his imagination and sympa 
 thies, and possessed a nimbleness and facility of mind 
 that was rare. These were joined to fascinating per 
 sonal qualities that would distinguish any man from 
 his fellows. 
 
 Mr. Elaine occasionally lost his temper. He would 
 get very angry now and then without warning, but 
 this as quickly subsided and he would resume his 
 cheerful, social manner. He had the quality of humor 
 which is conspicuous by its absence in many another 
 American statesman. Mr. Elaine never was dull. 
 Mere association with him lifted people out of their 
 commonplace lives and excited heroic emotions. He 
 could, it seemed, instill life into the deadest subjects, 
 and even the most stupid men felt the intoxication of 
 his presence. 
 
 It has been said that Mr. Elaine was so far superior 
 to the general average in this country that he could 
 not logically claim an office like the Presidency, which 
 
HOME LIFE. 509 
 
 is supposed to be representative of the American 
 people. Intellectually he was the superior of most 
 of the Presidents. Mr. Elaine had many of the quali 
 ties of Garfield, and the two were in long and intimate 
 association before the latter was nominated. He dif 
 fered in almost every respect from Roscoe Conkling-. 
 
 Henry Clay is believed at Washington to have been 
 the only man in American history peculiar for the 
 qualities which distinguished Elaine, but it is likewise 
 believed that Elaine was the greater of the two in the 
 possession and exercise of these qualities. The careers 
 of the two men show many singular parallels. 
 
 HIS PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 
 
 The great charm of this man lay in what has been 
 so often called his personal magnetism. Great orator, 
 debater, statesman as he was, he would never have 
 numbered his friends by the million had these been 
 his only striking qualities. What made him really 
 great was the strong power which he possessed over 
 men, both as masses and individuals. As an orator 
 he stood in* the first rank. In his speeches action 
 played a leading part. He rarely stood in front of 
 his desk, but was wont to move out into the aisle, and 
 often advanced toward his opponent with uplifted 
 menacing finger. Wit and sarcasm were favorite 
 weapons with him, and his sallies were invariably 
 greeted with hearty laughter. There was common 
 sense in all his utterances and snap in his mode of 
 expression. During the winter of 1875-76 he had 
 many bouts with political opponents, and not only did 
 
BLAINE AND GRANT STARTING FOR A WALK, 
 
HOME LIFE. 511 
 
 he hold his own most gallantly, but he also won ap 
 plause from unprejudiced audiences and adverse 
 majorities. To account for such influence all that 
 can be said is that quickness and personal magnetism 
 constituted the quintessence of the powerful impres 
 sion produced by his speeches. 
 
 Great, too, was his power of ridicule, as the few who 
 ventured to expose themselves to his withering 
 sarcasm learned to their cost. How many apt nick 
 names he invented for his political opponents ! Early 
 in his career, incensed at Conkling s over-bearing 
 manner and excessive pomposity, he applied to him 
 the epithet of " Turkey gobbler." Soon afterward 
 Senator Conkling was asked if he would never forgive 
 Elaine. " Never," he replied, " so long as memory 
 finds a place in this distracted brain of mine ! " Cox, 
 of New York, owed to Elaine his sobriquets of " Sun 
 set" and " Dewdrop," and Elaine has also been charged 
 with describing Butler, of Massachusetts, as "a lamen 
 tably successful cross between a fox and a hog ! " 
 
 HE WAS A MILLIONAIRE. 
 
 As to Mr. Elaine s wealth, it is not easy to form 
 an approximately exact estimate. He was among the 
 list of millionaires. His holdings of coal lands in 
 Western Pennsylvania, which he inherited from his 
 father, are very large and have been very profitable. 
 He was associated with a number of men of wealth 
 in various enterprises, and his sagacity and business 
 foresight kept him from wasting much money on 
 brilliant but illusory speculative projects. He was 
 
512 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINK. 
 
 interested with Secretary Elkins years ago in a silver 
 mine, out of which he made considerable money. He 
 owned valuable real estate in Washington. 
 
 Mr. Blaine bought his Dupont Circle property, nqw 
 almost in the heart of the fashionable Northwest, when 
 Stewart Castle, which is across the way, was thought 
 to be out in the suburbs. The grounds and the house 
 cost him approximately $85,000. Two or three years 
 ago he sold a number of the lots in the rear of his 
 house for $75,000. The house and the remaining 
 ground is valued by competent judges at $150,000. 
 Mr. Leiter, Mr. Elaine s tenant, originally paid $12,- 
 ooo a year rent, which has been reduced to $8,000 in 
 consideration of Mr. Leiter making certain repairs 
 necessary after the fire, which came near consuming 
 it. The house on Lafayette square he at first rented 
 for three years, with an option of purchasing for $65,- 
 ooo. He took advantage of the option and bought 
 the property after six months residence. 
 
 OTHER PROPERTIES. 
 
 He also owned some valuable ground on P street 
 and a considerable area of ground of a less well- 
 established but increasing value on what is known as 
 Meridian Hill. This property is just beyond the old 
 city limits and overlooks the town. Mr. Blaine bought 
 it very cheap, paying in the neighborhood of ten cents 
 a foot. A boom in it a few years ago makes it salable 
 now at from fifty cents to $i per square foot, and 
 some of the choicest lots are held at $1.50. Mr. 
 Blaine also owned residence property in Augusta and 
 
HOME LIFE. 
 
 513 
 
 Bar Harbor, Me. He was associated with Mr. C. P. 
 Huntington and President Ingalls, of the Chesapeake 
 and Ohio Railroad Company, in the ownership of 
 lands along the line of that road. He was also one 
 of the directors in the West Virginia Central Railroad 
 Company, in which ex-Senator Davis, Secretary 
 Elkins, ex-Secretary Bayard and others are interested. 
 Charming as Mr. Blaine was in ordinary social inter 
 course, it was in the 
 family circle that he 
 was seen at the best. 
 No man in public life 
 was more fortunate in 
 his domestic relations. 
 He was the companion 
 and confidant of his 
 children, and they feared 
 him no more than they 
 feared one of their own 
 number. Mrs. Blaine 
 was a model wife and 
 mother, and more is 
 due to her strong judgment, quick perception and 
 heroic courage than the world will ever know. 
 
 HIS VISIT TO HIS OLD HOME. 
 
 Many years, nearly two score, after Mr. Blaine s 
 father had removed from West Brownsville to Wash 
 ington, Mr. Blaine returned to the place of his birth. 
 He had left it when a boy of 12. He returned gray- 
 haired and full of honors, accompanied by his sons 
 33 
 
 MISS HATFIE BLAINE. 
 
514 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Emmons and James, and Stephen B. Elkins. The 
 party passed the day in going about the little town 
 and made a long stay in the quiet, quaint ce metery in 
 which lie Mr. Elaine s parents. 
 
 While Mr. Elaine s visit to his birthplace was the 
 most dramatic event of the day, it was preceded and 
 followed by others of almost equal interest. He and 
 Mr. Elkins took a long walk before breakfast down 
 the eastern river bank, and after breakfast a long line 
 of people filed into the hotel to shake hands. Among 
 them was an aid man with tangled white beard reach- 
 
 o 
 
 ing nearly to his waist. He grasped Mr. Elaine s 
 hand, saying: " Don t you know me?" Mr. Elaine 
 gazed straight into his eyes for nearly a minute. 
 
 Don t you remember John Harb " the old man 
 began, when Mr. Elaine exclaimed: "John Harbison 
 of course I remember you and your partner John 
 Paul. I remember, too, how good the grapes were in 
 your back yard and how I used to climb the fence to 
 get them." 
 
 A wrinkled old Irishman with weazened face rushed 
 up exclaiming, " Me God ! Misther Elaine, but it s 
 moighty glad I am to see you." 
 
 "How are you, Johnny Malone?" was the quick 
 reply. Johnny was a farm hand who worked over the 
 whole region when Elaine was a boy. Then an aged 
 and very black negress pressed up and seized Mr. 
 Elaine s hand in both hers. The tears poured over 
 her cheeks and she sobbed violently. 
 
 "Why, Aunt Hetty!" Mr, Elaine exclaimed, and 
 
HOME LIFE. 515 
 
 calmed her agitation. Henrietta Harbison worked in 
 Neil Gillespie s family when a little wench, and she 
 cooked the dinner that President-elect Harrison ate 
 when journeying to take his inauguration. Mr. Elaine 
 slipped a yellow coin into the old woman s hand as she 
 turned to go, exclaiming: "God bless you; may you 
 have health and happiness in this world and a home 
 in Heaven hereafter." 
 
 AN INSTANCE OF HIS MEMORY. 
 
 Another man, who was a playmate of Mr. Blaine in 
 his early boyhood, now a Western Pennsylvania mer 
 chant, speaking of Elaine s remembrance of his early 
 friends, tells this story: "Many years after our early 
 boyhood days I occasionally saw in print some remark 
 of Congressman Blaine, of Maine, that had so much 
 the ring of my old schoolmate that I thought there 
 must be some relationship. I knew Blaine was smart 
 enough to be a Congressman, but you know a boy 
 will never be more than a boy to one who has not 
 seen him in years. One day, however, I read a speech 
 containing some of my old schoolmate s pet expres 
 sions. Then I sat down and wrote a letter, telling 
 who I was and asking if he was really my old com 
 panion. 
 
 " Only a few days afterward I received a long letter 
 from Mr. Blaine, written from the Senate Chamber, 
 expressing the greatest satisfaction at hearing from 
 me and recalling acquaintances and happenings of 
 thirty yeajs ago. A year or two later he came to 
 Ohio to speak and I, being near Massillon, went over 
 
516 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 there to hear him. I got there late. Jim was already 
 on the platform, with a crowd of prominent men 
 around him, waiting for the time to begin. The sight 
 of him made me forget my age for a moment and his 
 too. I was a boy again, and stretching my arms over 
 the crowd I tapped him on the head with my cane. 
 
 " He looked around and caught my eye. He hadn t 
 seen me in over thirty years, mind you, when we were 
 both beardless boys, but it wasn t half a minute be 
 fore he had broken loose from the political big bugs 
 who were talking to him, elbowed his way through 
 the crowd and had both my hands in his. His hand 
 had a powerful grip, too. We exchanged notes for a 
 few minutes, when the committee called him to come 
 to the front. Confound it ! says he, it s always the 
 way ; now I must be Mr. Elaine again, I suppose. 
 
 A STORY BY BOUTELLE. 
 
 Mr. Elaine always had the admiration and hearty 
 co-operation of his colleagues. Congressman Boutelle, 
 a day or two since, told the following story as illus 
 trating Elaine s subtlety in matters of State : " Mr. 
 Elaine s versatility is wonderful. I remember in the 
 administration of Governor Garcelon, when the Dem 
 ocrats were trying to vote the State from us, and 
 when Maine was in fever heat and civil war seemed 
 impending, Mr. Elaine was the chairman of the State 
 Committee, and had charge of the Republican fight. 
 We had been endeavoring to get the Governor to 
 submit the questions at issue to the Supreme Court, 
 but had not succeeded. 
 
HOME LIFE. 
 
 517 
 
 "Mr. Elaine led the fighting; was aggressive and 
 unyielding, and of course nothing that he could say 
 would be listened to by the other side. Presently 
 there appeared a letter to the Governor, signed by 
 Lot M. Morrill, who was known otherwise as a peace- 
 loving, conservative Republican, asking the Governor 
 
 to lay before the 
 
 Supreme Court the 
 questions at issue. The 
 letter was mild in tone, 
 frank and fair in its 
 expressions, and adroitly 
 put upon the Democrats 
 the onus of refusing to 
 submit the dispute to 
 arbitration. 
 
 " Public sentiment at 
 once changed. The 
 Governor was obliged to 
 submit the matter, and 
 the decision was in favor 
 of the Republicans. 
 For years Mr. Morrill MRS * G - BLAINE J R - 
 
 received the praise of hundreds of men, not only 
 in Maine, but throughout the United States, for his 
 wisdom and tact. 
 
 " Mr. Elaine wrote that letter. Mr. Morrill simply 
 copied it and signed his name." 
 
 HIS DOMESTIC SORROWS. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Elaine had six children, three sons 
 
518 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 and three daughters. Two years and a half before 
 his death all his children were living. On Janu 
 ary 15, 1890, Walker, the eldest son, died in Wash 
 ington after a very brief illness. At the time he was 
 an Assistant Secretary of State, and a young man of 
 most brilliant promise. He had achieved distinction 
 by able service on several occasions. He was a grad 
 uate of Yale, and in many respects he was the proto 
 type of his father. He inherited the brow and eye 
 of his father, and resembled him closely mentally and 
 in his tastes and habits. He was very dear to his 
 father s heart, and his sudden death was the real 
 cause of the beginning of Mr. Elaine s collapse. 
 
 On February 2, less than a month after the death 
 of Walker, the eldest daughter ^died. She was Mrs. 
 John J. Coppinger, wife of a colonel in the army. On 
 June 1 8 of this year, very soon after the Minneapolis 
 Convention, Emmons Elaine, the second son, died, 
 and the fact that his death was superinduced by his 
 tremendous exertions to secure the nomination of his 
 father only served to increase the sorrow of his parents. 
 Emmons Elaine three years ago married Miss Anita 
 McCormick, whose fortune was $3,000,000, and his 
 life had been passed since leaving Harvard in the 
 affairs of Western railroads. 
 
 Bereavements so many and in such proximity served 
 to undermine the health of the rugged physique, and 
 to these sorrows was added another which, perhaps, 
 caused more grief than all the rest. The sensational 
 marriage and still more sensational married life of his 
 
HOME LIFE. 519 
 
 youngest son, James G. Elaine, Jr., in all the details, 
 are still fresh in the public mind. 
 
 In all these sorrows Mr. and Mrs. Elaine ever had 
 the sympathy of the whole people of the country. 
 Three children are living, Mrs. Walter Damrosch, 
 Miss Hattie Elaine, and James G. Elaine, Jr. The 
 unfortunate marriage of the latter, and the subse 
 quent separation of himself and wife, form a painful 
 chapter in the family history. Mr. Elaine wrote an 
 open letter which was intended to suppress public 
 gossip and justify himself and wife in the part they 
 acted in this unfortunate affair. 
 
 THE WASHINGTON HOME. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s house has one of the most beautiful 
 interiors in Washington. It was from the first a beau 
 tiful home, where sorrows, frequent and heavy though 
 they had been, never once shut out the sunlight; Mrs. 
 Elaine would have it so, and Mr. Elaine liked it. 
 While in deepest suffering for those who had been 
 taken away, the devoted wife and mother never ceased 
 to keep the home bright and beautiful for those who 
 were left. Crape was never on the door, and at no 
 time after the death of Walker, and two weeks later 
 the death of Alice, were the blinds closed against the 
 
 sunlight. 
 
 & i 
 
 The wedding of Margaret Elaine and Walter 
 Damrosch will long be remembered as the most 
 beautiful house wedding Washington had seen for 
 many a day. Mrs. Elaine was determined to cast no 
 shadow over her daughter s happiness. The windows 
 
520 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 were thrown open on that perfect May day, and th< 
 whole house seemed filled with sunshine, while the 
 outlook on Lafayette Square showed the first foliag< 
 and blossoms of spring. 
 
 The drawing-room is the whole width of the spaciou; 
 old-fashioned house, and is finished in white witl 
 delicate gold lines. The beautiful room was decke< 
 with roses, and beneath the portraits of her children, 
 Walker and Alice, Mrs. Elaine had set masses oi 
 violets. For the first time mother and daughters lai< 
 aside their black gowns. Before the bride and hei 
 sister appeared in their white gowns, Mrs. Blaim 
 came in to greet the wedding guests. All the morn 
 ing the suffering woman had been in the seclusion of 
 her own room, making the bravest struggle to lift 
 herself above and out of the grief which weighed sc 
 heavily upon her. 
 
 It was not strange that Mrs. Elaine s nearest friend* 
 doubted her stre ngth to endure the ordeal. But whei 
 she came to the drawing-room that morning there wa< 
 no sign of the struggle she had undergone. She ha< 
 laid off her black gown for one of soft gray satin an< 
 black lace, and with a gracious sweetness of mannei 
 none will ever forget, she welcomed the guests. M: 
 Biaine again put on her black gown, but their hom< 
 life went on with no outward sign of mourning. Until 
 Mr. Elaine s last illness their friends always foun< 
 them in the drawing-room in the late afternoon daily, 
 where, around a simple tea table, Mrs. Elaine and Mis* 
 Dodge were the cleverest talkers. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Reminiscences of the " Plumed Knight." 
 
 JAMES G. ELAINE was a country boy. He had the 
 pre-eminent advantages of fresh air ; of bare feet in 
 summer ; of sleeping in an old-time, healthy house ; 
 of working in the harvest fields ; and of throwing 
 snow-balls in winter. His early life was not artificial, 
 fashionable, " dudeish," and effeminate ; like the Titans 
 of old he husbanded strength by contact with mother- 
 earth. He was a manly boy. He did not grow in a 
 city back-yard ; he was an oak of the mountains. 
 
 He is remembered at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, 
 where he spent some part of his early life, and many 
 incidents are related by the residents of that locality 
 which show the character of the boy. What he was 
 then in the commendable qualities of his character he 
 was in after years, and his broad manhood was only 
 an enlargement of his boyhood, the mind mature, the 
 judgment formed, the conscience quickened, the mag 
 nificent faculties developed. 
 
 The interest which the old friends and neighbors 
 take in a lad they have known and the pride they feel 
 in his successes are pleasantly illustrated in the inci 
 dents narrated concerning Mr. Elaine s early life. 
 
 (521) 
 
522 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 A LEADER IN THE GAME. 
 
 " He was a master boy," says one old lady of 
 Brownsville, " to lead off. He would get together a 
 lot of youngsters and propose a frolic in the hills, a 
 game of hall, or a fishing jaunt, and all agreed to his 
 suggestion ind joined in whatever he proposed. 
 
 "It was enough to always insure the sport that 
 Jimmy Blainc had charge of the game or the frolic, for 
 it was understood he would not fail to do his part for 
 the general entertainment. He protected the younger 
 boys against the older, but taught them all to rely upon 
 themselves as much as possible. He was cheerful, 
 generous, and truthful, and always ready to do a good 
 turn for friend or neighbor. He came to our house 
 
 o 
 
 to borrow a net one morning, and father that s what 
 I called my husband cl dn t want to let it go. I ll 
 bring it back to-morrow, said Jimmy. It isn t bring 
 ing it back that I m talking about, but letting it go/ 
 said father. Jimmy thought a minute ; then he re 
 plied, You d better lend it to me than to somebody 
 that ll never bring it back. Father laughed, and then 
 I knew he would give in. Jimn?y got the net, and, of 
 course, returned it according to agreement. 
 
 " Once I got him to stand still long enough to an 
 swer a few questions. He was so full of life and fun 
 that it was hard work to keep hin\ quiet for any 
 length of time. I asked him some questions in his 
 tory, geography, and the catechism, and he answered 
 all correctly that is, if I knew the correct answers 
 and then I asked him what he expected to follow when 
 
REMINISCENCES OF THE PLUMED KNIGHT. 523 
 
 he grew up. Maybe I ll be a preacher or a steam 
 boat captain/ he replied, but I d rather be a member 
 of Congress. He hadn t forgotten this reply when 
 he was here a few years ago, and acknowledged that 
 he. had had his preference." 
 
 GENEROUS TO A FAULT. 
 
 Another aged dame remembered him as the most 
 charitable boy she ever knew. "Why, he would give 
 away his dinner rather than have any one else go 
 hungry. He gave his pennies and his fruit and his 
 candy to the children of poor parents, and did this 
 so often that it was talked about in the town. He 
 played jokes upon some of his mates, but only upon 
 his equals in strength and opportunity. He seemed 
 to despise everything in the way of a mean advan- 
 
 tage." 
 
 " When we were boys," said a bright-eyed old 
 gentleman, "down on Indian Hill farm, Jim Elaine was 
 a lively chap. He kept the whole township in arms. 
 Once I <rot even with him. I was down in the meadow 
 
 o 
 
 pitching hay. He knew that I was going to do that 
 job, and he went down there a day or two before and 
 fixed one of the haycocks so it could not be lifted. 
 He ran a long wire through it in such a way as to 
 hold it together, and then fastened it under the mid- 
 
 c> 
 
 die of the stack to a post which he had driven in the 
 ground. Some of the other boys knew about the 
 game, and they stood around looking kind of sneaking 
 and smiling a little. 
 
 " I tackled the doctored stack early in the day. I 
 
524 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 drove my fork into the top, and, spitting on my hands, 
 bore down upon it. It didn t budge. I tried it once 
 more, with a little extra strength, and broke the fork 
 clean off at. the handle. A boy sitting on a rail fence 
 snickered, and I knew something was up. A mo 
 ment s examination convinced me that the stack was 
 tied down, and just then the boy who had laughed 
 pointed in the direction of another stack not far 
 away. 
 
 " I felt in my bones that Jim Elaine was hiding there. 
 So I crawled up kind of easy, and finding him watch 
 ing the performance on his hands and knees, with 
 some of the grass thrown over him, I got behind him 
 and raised him one with my boot. I was mad, and I 
 put a good deal of heft into thai kick, for he shot out 
 of the stack head first, as if he had been fired from a 
 cannon. It humped him for a while, I tell you, and 
 there was a lively scattering among the rest of the 
 boys. 
 
 HOW HE TURNED THE TABLES. 
 
 " He was always great in learning some good piece 
 for speaking in school. It was nothing for him to get 
 it by heart, as the boys called it. He generally told 
 the boys what he was going to speak, so that none of 
 them would get the same ; but once a fellow, whose 
 name was Ames or Amos, pitched upon the same 
 piece that Jim had, just for a joke, and as his, name was 
 called first, he took all the wind out of Jim s sails by 
 pretty good speaking. Jim didn t appear to mind it 
 much, but the teacher remarked that they had better 
 
REMINISCENCES OF THE PLUMED KNIGHT. 525 
 
 have an understanding in future, and avoid repetition. 
 The time came pretty soon when they had a school 
 exhibition, and each one who took part had to write 
 his own piece. Elaine was given his choice between 
 the first and last speeches, and he chose the first. It 
 was grand. I don t think he has made a better one 
 since. 
 
 " When Ames s name was called he wasn t there, 
 Although a few minutes before he was seen in his seat. 
 
 o 
 
 4 Gone home, sick/ said one of the boys. It finally 
 leaked out that Ames lacked either the ability or the 
 disposition to write a piece for himself and had gone 
 to Elaine for help, and that Jim, not caring to keep all 
 the good things, and remembering Ames s favor on a 
 former occasion, had copied and given him most of his 
 own speech, and had only followed Ames s example 
 in using it first. Ames left the school and this part of 
 the country shortly afterward." 
 
 DAILY LIFE IN V/ASHINGTON. 
 
 From a distinguished correspondent who has 
 known Mr. Elaine intimately for many years, we 
 gather the following interesting details of his daily life 
 and habits : 
 
 At first he lived in Washington in a nomadic 
 way in hotels or boarding-houses, as do most Con^ 
 gressmen but when he was elected Speaker he 
 bought a house on Fifteenth Street, in the best quarter 
 of the town. Opposite lived Hamilton Fish, then 
 Secretary of State ; next door lived Fernando Wood ; 
 General Sherman s house was only a few doors dis- 
 
520 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 tant, and General Butler could be found just around 
 the corner. 
 
 Blame s house was thought a handsome one at that 
 time, but it was only a plain brick structure in a row, 
 and it cuts no sort of a figure in these days when big 
 mansions in the Queen Anne, Elizabethan, Norman, 
 and I know not how many other styles abound at the 
 capital. There were two big parlors on the first floor, 
 and back of them a sitting-room and dining-room, and 
 all four rooms connected by folding doors, so that the 
 crowds that used to surge in at the Speaker s official 
 receptions were measurably well accommodated. In 
 the belongings of this, his first Washington home, 
 Blaine showed a fondness for engravings, for substan 
 tial furniture, and for books. 
 
 WIT AND HUMOR. 
 
 He was much given to hospitality, and never ap 
 peared so happy as when entertaining a congenial 
 dinner party at his big round table. For his dinner- 
 table talks he had an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes 
 and witticisms. I never heard him tell the same story 
 twice. He did not resemble in the least the hand- 
 organ type of man who has only one little set of tunes. 
 No matter what the topic may be, he is sure to con 
 tribute to the conversation something particularly 
 bright and entertaining. 
 
 When not entertaining friends at his own house he 
 usually dined out. I remember to have warned him 
 once of the perils of the diner-out how an eminent 
 man had come to an untimely end by eating big din- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF THE PLUMED KNIGHT. 527 
 
 ners. He said he observed a strict rule at dinner 
 parties he took soup and roast beef, but no prepared 
 dishes ; no dessert, except a little ice cream. By 
 sticking closely to this dietary programme, he could 
 dine out every day in the week without injuring his 
 digestion. 
 
 In those days Blaine was not a great letter-writer, 
 either with his own hand or vicariously through that 
 of his secretary. He did not, like Garfield, reply to all 
 the letters he received. He was a great newspaper 
 reader, and always knew the attitude of every really 
 important journal in the country on the dominant 
 issues of the day. He knew the history of these 
 journals, too, and something of the men who made 
 them, and if there was any power behind the chairs 
 of their editors he was pretty sure to be informed 
 about it. 
 
 "WASN T QUITE SURE." 
 
 He was not accessible at all times and to all the 
 w r orld, as many men who cherish great political ambi 
 tion think it necessary to be. The impassable black 
 guardian of the hall door was never quite sure that 
 Mr. Blaine was in, but he would see. If the visitor 
 was not welcome he would manage to make him 
 believe that the Speaker had just gone out a few 
 minutes before. This colored person had a fine in 
 stinct for discerning the men whom his master would 
 probably wish to receive. They were shown into the 
 front parlor; others waited in the halL 
 
 In the Fifteenth Street house Blaine lived while in 
 
528 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Washington until after the death of Garfield. He had 
 previously begun to build a huge, expensive red-brick 
 pile out on the P Street Circle, deeming himself com 
 fortably rich at the time, and thinking the position of 
 
 ELAINE S WASHINGTON MANSION. 
 
 Secretary of State carried with it duties of enlarged 
 hospitality. The house was a mistake as he soon 
 found. He lived in it only about a year. As a private 
 citizen it was much too large for his needs ; besides, a 
 considerable share of his fortune melted away in the 
 
REMINISCENCES OF THE PLUMED KNIGHT. 529 
 
 great shrinkage in stocks, and he did not feel able to 
 support the expensive establishment which the house 
 demanded. He considered himself very fortunate to 
 be able to lease it for a sum which amounted to six 
 per cent, on its cost. 
 
 Then he condensed his household into a dwelling 
 of moderate capacity, facing on Lafayette Square. 
 From his front window he could see the White House 
 through the trees in the pretty park. Not many of 
 his own belongings came with this house save his 
 books and a few pictures. In it he did most of the 
 work on his " Twenty Years of Congress," living as 
 retired as his friends would let him, and getting his 
 exercise mainly from a daily morning walk to the 
 Capitol, whither he went to consult the books in the 
 Congressional Library. 
 
 THE OLD HOMESTEAD. 
 
 All this time his real home, if the attachments of 
 himself and the members of his family were consid 
 ered, was the large, old-fashioned, broad-fronted white 
 house, with its green blinds, its maples, and its grassy 
 yard, which stands on a quiet,, shady street near the 
 State Capitol, in Augusta, Me. This house typifies 
 the well-to-do phase of village life in New England, 
 as it expressed itself in architecture before the recent 
 mania for colors, angles, balconies, and fanciful forms 
 came in. It represents the plainness, solidity, and 
 conservatism of the last generation. 
 
 Mr. Elaine modified it very little, and not at all at 
 the expense of its sober, old-time appearance. He 
 34 
 
530 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 added two or three rooms in the rear one large 
 library, which was his work-room, and which during 
 the many hard fights he waged with the Democrats 
 when he was chairman of the State Republican Com 
 mittee used to be a rendezvous for his, lieutenants 
 from all parts of the State. In the course of two 
 Maine campaigns I saw a good deal of Mr. Elaine. 
 He was the busiest man in the State, hurrying from 
 county to county to address mass-meetings, writing 
 telegrams on ^the trains, getting a pocketful of dis 
 patches at every town, dictating letters at night to his 
 secretary, yet always cheerful and companionable, and 
 with a good joke or anecdote ready to enliven every 
 occasion. 
 
 A STILL HUNT. 
 
 He knew the whole State as well as his own door- 
 yard, and was acquainted with the leading men in 
 every town. He brought the canvass down to the 
 school districts. The hurrah work of processions, 
 banners, and big meetings he estimated at its propef 
 value, but he never depended on it to produce results. 
 The real business of. a campaign was to perfect local 
 organization, ascertain who were the doubtful voters, 
 and bring argument and personal influence to bear 
 upon them through the efforts of their Republican 
 neighbors. 
 
 Saturdays "we special correspondents used to man* 
 age to get back to Augusta if we could, to spend a 
 quiet Sunday afternoon with Elaine at his house. In 
 the evening some musical friends of the family would 
 
REMINISCENCES OF THE PLUMED KNIGHT. 
 
 usually come in, and we had a good time singing old- 
 fashioned Church tunes, for which Elaine had a fond 
 ness, and in which he would join with his children and 
 with all the members of the company who could make 
 any show of a voice. 
 
 HE STOOD CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE. 
 
 On the floor of the House, in the Speaker s chair, 
 again on the floor of the House, hence in the Senate, 
 and during political campaigns, on the stump in almost 
 every Northern State, Mr. Elaine was emphatically 
 with the people and of the people. His opinions on 
 all questions were pronounced, sometimes to aggres 
 siveness, and his worst enemy never accused him of 
 evading or avoiding any responsibility or the expres 
 sion of his conviction on any public issue. 
 
 " What great measure did Mr. Elaine ever origi 
 nate ? " asks the unfledged but omnipotent chamber 
 statesman, and might go on indefinitely asking what 
 great measure did Mr. Sherman, or Mr. Thurman ever 
 originate, or Mr. Edmunds, or Mr. Conkling, or Mr. 
 Webster, or Mr. Gallatin ? Such critics and such 
 criticisms are equally shallow. Great measures grow 
 in the minds of the people. Specie payment came 
 after long public discussion, and now Senators are 
 quarreling as to who it was that drafted the bill 
 passed in 1875. 
 
 So it is with all measures of great public moment. 
 They do not spring from the mind of one man sitting 
 behind his Congressional desk. The duty of the 
 statesman is to shape, mould, guide, direct in a Re- 
 
532 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 publican government. The creative power is in the 
 minds of many, and the cause of action is necessity. 
 The great lawyer does not create his case. He 
 argues it, develops it, applies principles to it. 
 
 A FAMOUS SPEECH. 
 
 To say that Mr. Elaine was a power in Congress is 
 simply to affirm history. Though entering very young, 
 he made his mark at once. At the period of darkest 
 depression in the war, when anxiety brooded every 
 where and boded everything, Mr. Elaine delivered a 
 speech on " The Ability of the American People to 
 Suppress the Rebellion," which has been cited for the 
 great attention and commendation it received. Its 
 value lay not alone in its timeliness, for after its first 
 wide circulation it was reprinted as a campaign docu 
 ment in the Presidential campaign of 1864. 
 
 It was the delivery of this speech, and some discus 
 sions which took place shortly after, that caused Thad- 
 deus Stevens to say that " Elaine of Maine has shown 
 as great aptitude and ability for the higher walks of 
 public life as any man that had come to Congress 
 during his period of service." 
 
 VALUABLE SERVICE. 
 
 During the first session of Mr. Elaine s service as 
 member of the Post Office Committee he took an ac 
 tive part in co-operation with the chairman, Hon. John 
 B. Alley, and the late James Brooks of New York, in 
 encouraging and securing the system of postal cars 
 now in universal use. Distribution on the cars had 
 not been attempted on any great scale, and the first 
 
REMINISCENCES OF THE PLUMED KNIGHT. 533 
 
 appropriations for the enlarged service were not 
 granted without opposition. 
 
 Following the war, and throughout the period of 
 reconstruction, Mr. Elaine was active, energetic, and 
 intelligent. He was especially prominent in shaping 
 some of the most important features of the Four 
 teenth Amendment, particularly that relating to the 
 basis of representation. The discussions on this 
 great series of questions, in which Elaine figured 
 largely, are among the most interesting and valuable 
 in the history of the American Congress. 
 
 OFF TO EUROPE. 
 
 Mr. Elaine became a leader in legislation as he be 
 came the leader of men generally, by virtue of his 
 comprehensiveness of mind, his quick perception of 
 objective points, and his devotion in advocating what 
 he felt was right and duty. 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Elaine sought a temporary relaxation 
 from official cares and labors, and for the first time 
 paid a short visit to Europe. While he was out of 
 the country the theory of paying the public debt in 
 greenbacks was started in Ohio by Mr. Pendleton, 
 and in Massachusetts by General Butler. Just after 
 his return in the autumn, at a special or adjourned 
 session of Congress in November, Mr. Elaine as 
 saulted the proposition in a speech of great research, 
 logic, and force. It thus happened that he was the 
 first man in either branch of Congress who spoke 
 against the financial heresy that in subsequent years 
 has engrossed so much of public attention. From 
 
534 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 chat time, both in Congress and before the people, 
 Mr. Elaine was indefatigable in bringing the public 
 opinion of the country to the right standard of finan 
 cial and national honor. 
 
 THE YOUNGEST SPEAKER. 
 
 Six years in Congress had made him so conspicuous,* 
 as a leader, and so noted as a parliamentarian, that he 
 was made Speaker of the House, a position that he 
 filled with marked ability for six years, when the 
 Democrats obtained control of that body. Mr. Elaine 
 was perhaps the youngest man who ever occupied the 
 Speaker s chair, being then 39 years of age. He pre 
 sided over some of the most important and exciting 
 sessions of the House, and by his just rulings, admir 
 able tact, and magnetic influence, he passed through 
 the long and trying period with the approbation of 
 both friend and foe. 
 
 A MEMORABLE EVENT. 
 
 Even more marked, at least in the popular eye, 
 than his career as Speaker, was Mr. Elaine s course 
 in the House when he returned to the floor at the 
 close of his Speakership. Few have forgotten the 
 sudden tilt by which, in a day, a victorious and exult 
 ant Democratic majority was changed into a surprised, 
 subdued, and saddened crowd, under Mr. Elaine s ag 
 gressive and unexpected tactics. 
 
 The debates of that memorable session on the prop 
 osition to remove the disabilities of Jefferson Davis 
 are still fresh in all minds, and more likely to be appre 
 ciated perhaps to-day than at any time within the last 
 
REMINISCENCES OF THE PLUMED KNIGHT. 535 
 
 three years. Mr. Elaine s speeches laid the founda 
 tion of success in the campaign of 1876, though he 
 was not selected as the standard-bearer. The excite 
 ment growing out of this exciting session with all its 
 attendant events brought Mr. Elaine more prominently 
 before the country than any other citizen. 
 
 His congressional career embraced the most trying 
 period of his country s history, the sombre years of the 
 rebellion, the reconstruction period, and the perilous 
 time when the election of President Hayes aroused an 
 apparently triumphant Democratic party almost to the 
 verge of madness. 
 
 A GREAT DEBATER. 
 
 A good example of Mr. Elaine s powers as a debater 
 is found in a speech delivered in the Senate, April 14, 
 1879, when an effort was made by the Democrats to 
 strike out the words from a section of the Revised 
 Statutes which provided for the use of soldiers to keep 
 peace at the polls. In reply to the charge that the 
 soldiers were used to intimidate Southern voters, 
 Mr. Elaine said : 
 
 "The entire South has 1,155 soldiers to intimidate, 
 overrun, oppress and destroy the liberties of 1 5,000,- 
 ooo people! In the Southern States there are 1,203 
 counties. If you distribute the soldiers, there is not 
 quite one for each county. If you distribute them 
 territorially, there is one for every seven hundred 
 square miles of territory, so that if you make a terri 
 torial distribution, I would remind the honorable Sena 
 tor from Delaware, if I saw him in his seat, that the 
 
536 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 quota for his State would be three. * One ragged 
 sergeant and two abreast/ as the old song has it. 
 That is the force ready to destroy the liberties of 
 Delaware." 
 
 He was a member of the Thirty-eighth, Thirty- 
 ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second, Forty-third, 
 and Forty-fourth Congresses, and became the acknowl 
 edged leader of the party in the House, and his 
 speeches during the period which he served in Con 
 gress are a glowing tribute to his ability, his acute 
 sagacity, his broad and sound statesmanship, and un 
 flinching patriotism. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 In the Valley of Death. 
 
 THE doubt in which the country was kept with re 
 gard to Mr. Elaine s physical condition by exagger 
 ated and conflicting reports was at last mournfully dis 
 pelled, and his fellow-citizens were aware that the 
 career of the most distinguished of our contemporary 
 statesmen was nearing its end. There was still some 
 difference of opinion as to the precise phase which the 
 illness from which he was suffering had reached, and 
 as to the imminence of its apprehended conse 
 quence. 
 
 There were those who said that a rally of some 
 thing more than a transient kind was not past hoping 
 for, while others insisted that the final issue had be 
 come a question of hours or at most of days. The 
 one point to which the American people paid attention 
 and attached importance was that Mr. Elaine was in 
 disputably stricken with a fatal sickness, from which 
 there was no hope of his recovery, and that while he 
 might linger for a greater or shorter length of time, 
 according to circumstances which could not be fore 
 seen, the death sentence had been pronounced. 
 
 It is not merely the lapse of time that measures life 
 
538 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 and consumes it, and at sixty-two Mr. Elaine had lived 
 as much as many a one twenty years his senior. Al 
 ways a man of correct and abstemious habits, and in 
 his later years, at least, solicitous for the preservation 
 of his health, the relatively early decay of his physical 
 powers was a striking instance of the sword wearing 
 out the scabbard. 
 
 A HARD WORKER. 
 
 He had all his life been a hard worker at the most 
 exhausting kind of toil, and to the demands made by 
 his brilliant and restless intellect upon a body never 
 more than ordinarily robust were added the exactions 
 of a singularly nervous and emotional temperament. 
 Happiness, with the peace of mind which it implies, 
 was the tonic which he needed, the elixir of life to 
 have prolonged his years. 
 
 If his ambitions could have been satisfied and his 
 affections spared, he would not in all human probabil 
 ity have been stricken in the very fulness of his man 
 hood ; but the medicine which alone might have saved 
 him he could not have, and the accumulation of sorrow, 
 anxiety and disappointment borejiim down. 
 
 On December 18, 1892, the announcement was 
 made that James G. Elaine s death at any hour would 
 be no surprise to those acquainted with his critical 
 condition. About the only assurance given by his 
 physician was that his immediate death was not ex 
 pected. The sick man had a sinking spell in the 
 morning, which was of a most alarming character, and 
 from which he rallied with the greatest difficulty. A 
 
IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 639 
 
 return of the prostration, it was feared, would find his 
 vitality too low for recovery. 
 
 THE TOTTERING OAK. 
 
 Mr. Elaine had not been a well man for more than 
 a year. When he returned from Bar Harbor about a 
 year before and took up his winter residence in Wash 
 ington, he showed a marked improvement over what 
 had been his condition when he left New York for 
 Bar Harbor in the previous June. He took up his 
 work in tbe State Department, but it was noticed that 
 his old time energy was lacking. He was not regular 
 in his attendance at the office. 
 
 The least inclement weather usually kept him from 
 going over to the Department, and he would transact 
 the routine business of his office, such as the signing 
 of his mail, at his residence. He would be troubled 
 very frequently with what was believed to be tempor 
 ary sick spells, which would last perhaps for a day and 
 sometimes for several days. He was in the hands of 
 a physician most of the time, and at no time within the 
 preceding twelve months could he have been con 
 sidered a thoroughly well man. 
 
 After resigning from the State Department he went 
 away and the rest and freedom seemed to benefit 
 him. 
 
 His appearance, however, when he returned to 
 Washington in the fall was not reassuring. His 
 trouble seemed to return with greater frequency until 
 he was practically confined to the house. A short 
 drive, a couple of weeks previous, was the last time 
 
540 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 he was outside of his house, and it was believed the 
 last time he was outside his chamber. 
 
 CONCEALMENT FINALLY ABANDONED. 
 
 It had been believed for more than a year by ob 
 servers that he suffered from some organic trouble. 
 The family and physicians would never admit it until 
 the above date, when the attending physician made the 
 statement that " evidences of local organic disease have 
 been manifested recently, and it is believed that his 
 present condition is due to this cause." There is 
 reason to believe that the family were aware of Mr. 
 Elaine s precarious condition, but, as in the case of 
 other great public men, there was a disposition to 
 conceal the exact state of the patient s health from 
 those outside the family circle. 
 
 A SYMPATHETIC CROWD. 
 
 The scenes about the Elaine mansion were sad, and, 
 at times, almost dramatic. The news of his sinking 
 spell in the morning soon spread on the streets and 
 about the hotels, and all day long groups of sym 
 pathetic and anxious watchers stood in the vicinity of 
 the " Red House," waiting for tidings from the sick 
 room. It was not surprising then that about 8 o clock 
 in the evening one of the local papers put out an 
 edition telling of the statesman s near approach to 
 death. Many on reading the extra hastened toward 
 Mr. Elaine s house. The crowd orathered to such an 
 
 o 
 
 extent that its presence was made known to the 
 inmates. 
 
 James G. Elaine, Jr., about half past 8, came out of 
 
IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 
 
 541 
 
 the front door, and hurriedly approaching a group 
 standing on the pavement, said with some emotion i 
 
 "What does this mean? What are you standing 
 about here for ? " 
 
 " Mr. Elaine," said one of those present, " we heard 
 and have read in an 
 evening paper that your 
 father was dying." 
 
 "That is untrue," 
 said young Mr. Elaine 
 excitedly. " My father 
 is very ill, but it is un 
 true that he is dying." 
 
 " We are very glad 
 to hear you say so," 
 answered the gentle 
 men, and the group dis 
 persed. 
 
 Approaching a news- 
 paper correspondent, 
 Mr. Elaine, somewhat 
 softened by the sympa 
 thetic tone of the gentlemen whom he had just ques 
 tioned, asked: "What has caused this excitement?" 
 
 He was told the news had spread over the city that 
 his father was critically ill, if not dying, and that such 
 a statement had been published in an extra edition of 
 an evening paper. He asked for and was handed a 
 copy. . He opened it and as the headline " Near 
 Death " caught his eye, he exclaimed : 
 
 WALKER ELAINE. 
 
642 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 "That is absolutely unjustifiable. No information 
 has been given from this house or by Mr. Elaine s 
 physicians that would warrant that line. Mr. Elaine 
 is very sick, but at no time have I said that he was 
 critically ill, and any publication to that effect is un 
 true. The physicians have just left and have assured 
 us that Mr. Elaine is better than he was this morning, 
 and is likely to pass a comfortable night." With this 
 he hurried into the house. 
 
 Two police officers quietly dispersed the crowd 
 from the immediate vicinity of the house, but late 
 into the night small groups of newspaper men and 
 others watched at a respectful distance. 
 
 THE LAMP FLICKERING. 
 
 The truth is that all day long the life of Mr. Elaine 
 hung trembling in the balance. For more than an 
 hour in the forenoon hope was abandoned and the 
 end was momentarily expected by physicians, family 
 and friends. All simulation was thrown aside in the 
 apparently imminent presence of death, and the 
 suppressed facts of his illness the long denied but 
 now admitted Bright s disease, the occasional intervals 
 of delirium, the long hours when he had lain incapable 
 of speech or motion, these and other distressing fea 
 tures of his illness all incidental to the one overpow 
 ering organic trouble, Bright s disease aggravated 
 as this had been by a cold contracted while impru 
 dently venturing out driving two weeks before, and 
 by malarial fever, and confronted by a constitution 
 
 
IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 
 
 543 
 
 impaired by nearly two years of continuous sickness 
 all these facts were now tacitly admitted. 
 
 The physicians declared that there had not been 
 any hemorrhages as had been asserted, but this was 
 almost the only alarming symptom which was denied. 
 The first crisis was reached between loand n o clock 
 this morning, when a 
 sinking spell set in, from 
 which the worst was 
 feared. His family were 
 called round the bed 
 side and his physicians 
 sent messenger after 
 messenger to the near 
 est drug store, with 
 prescriptions requiring 
 hasty attention. The 
 distinguished patient lay 
 unconscious and to all 
 appearances dying, until 
 shortly before i o clock, 
 when a slight rally set 
 in. His pulse, which WALTER j. DAMROSCH. 
 had almost ceased to beat, became again perceptible, 
 and partial consciousness was restored. The rally 
 continued during the day and into the night. 
 
 NO IMMEDIATE APPREHENSION. 
 
 While the improvement in Mr. Elaine s condition 
 was but slight and not sufficient to afford any great 
 amount of encouragement to his family and friendc, 
 
544 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 the reaction had seemed to modify the feeling of ap 
 prehension for the immediate future. James G. Elaine, 
 Jr., and Walter J. Damrosch, the ex-Secretary s son-in- 
 law, walked down the avenue in the evening. 
 
 All day representatives of the press patrolled Madi 
 son Place and carefully watched the old red mansion 
 which has become celebrated for its historical associa 
 tions, and the fatality with which misfortune has fol 
 lowed its occupants. From the Sickels-Keyes tragedy, 
 more than a third of a century ago, followed by the 
 attempted assassination of Secretary Seward, during 
 the last year of the civil war, down to the present 
 time, the pall of ill fate has hung over the mansion. 
 During the less than four years occupancy of this 
 house by the Elaine family, his daughter, the wife of 
 Colonel Coppinger ; Walker Elaine and Emmons 
 Elaine, the Secretary s promising sons, died. 
 
 VISITED BY PRESIDENT HARRISON. 
 
 President Harrison, accompanied by his private 
 secretary, Mr. E. J Hal ford, walked over from the 
 White House to the ex-Secretary s residence in the 
 evening, to personally inquire as to his condition, and 
 expressed relief and gratification at being informed 
 that there had been some abatement of the more 
 alarming symptoms. 
 
 From an intimate friend of the family it was learned 
 that it was only when Mr. Elaine was suddenly seized 
 with the sinking spell in the morning which threatened 
 for some minutes to terminate in heart failure, that 
 his family fully realized how near he was to death s 
 
IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 
 
 545 
 
 door. For a few seconds he seemed to be in extremis 
 and the watchers bent anxiously over him. The ema 
 ciated face of the dying statesman was white as marble 
 and his features sadly drawn. At times he scarcely 
 seemed to breathe, and at others gasped for breath. 
 The physicians who had been hastily summoned were 
 in the meantime not idle. They plied him with stimu 
 lative cordials, the trained nurses chafed his extremi 
 ties, and it was only after 
 working over the patient 
 for upward of thirty min 
 utes and the application 
 of every art known to 
 the medical profession 
 that Mr. Elaine slowly 
 revived. 
 
 MRS. ELAINE S WONDER 
 FUL WILL. 
 
 The family gathered 
 around the bedside were 
 all in tears, except Mrs. 
 Elaine. She maintained MRS. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 outward composure throughout the trying scene, and 
 calmly gave such directions to the attendants as were 
 necessary. Her will power, when in fact her heart 
 was breaking, is described as something pathetic and 
 marvelous. It has been her cheerfulness that has 
 soothed her husband s despondency. Mr. Elaine s 
 physical condition was such that he at times gave 
 away to despondency. While manifesting no fear 
 35 
 
546 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 of death, Mr. Elaine often said he did not want to 
 die. 
 
 Shortly after 1 1 o clock p. M. a closed carriage was 
 driven rapidly to the front of the Elaine mansion from 
 which alighted Miss Hatue Elaine, Miss Abigail Dodge 
 (Gail Hamilton) and Mrs. Damrosch. The ladies 
 were closely veiled and ran through the crowd of 
 correspondents and others gathered in front of the 
 house into the mansion, followed by James G. Elaine, 
 Jr., who had just returned from a few minutes walk. 
 Mr. Elaine, in response to an inquiry, said his father 
 was about the same. 
 
 DR. JOHNSTON DESCRIBES THE ATTACK. 
 
 At 9.30 o clock the next evening a reporter had an 
 interview with Mr. Elaine s attending physicians, Drs. 
 W. W. Johnston and Frank Hyatt. Speaking for 
 both of them, Dr. Johnston said : 
 
 u Elaine is distinctly better to-night than he was last 
 night, and much better than he was this morning." 
 
 "What was the nature of the attack to-day, 
 Doctor?" 
 
 "It was a failure of his heart to perform its func 
 tions satisfactorily." 
 
 " His trouble is not in his heart ? " was asked. 
 
 " No, it is not. But in the general weakness from 
 which he is suffering, all the organs are affected, and 
 the heart makes manifest the weakness of the whole 
 system. Elaine s condition has been such that when 
 he takes cold, as he did ten days or two weeks ago, 
 fever followed, causing a deterioration of the system. 
 
IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 
 
 547 
 
 
 MRS. WALTER DAMROSCH. 
 
 For some days prior to and including yesterday, how 
 ever, he was recovering from the effects of the cold 
 and fever, and last night he was entirely free from 
 fever, his pulse beating strongly and his condition 
 
548 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 quite gratifying. This morning, however, he had an 
 ill turn, his heart-beats became more indistinct and 
 irregular, and he was more languid and less observant. 
 However, he rallied from that condition, those symp 
 toms disappeared, he has taken nourishment during 
 the afternoon, and to-night, as I said, he is better and 
 brighter. His pulse is stronger and the reaction 
 quite marked.* 
 
 It was the general impression throughout the coun 
 try that Mr. Elaine was in his last sickness, and the 
 end was not far distant. For a long time alarming 
 reports concerning his impaired health had been cir 
 culated ; no one considered him a well man ; his her 
 culean labors had told heavily on his strong constitu 
 tion, and now the majestic tower was trembling and 
 giving ominous sign of its final downfall. 
 
 The intense sympathetic interest felt everywhere 
 :estified to the distinguished statesman s popularity. 
 In the House and Senate expressions of solicitude and 
 grief were heard on all sides. Democrats joined Re 
 publicans in their sympathy for the family and expres 
 sions of regret that the life of one of America s most 
 brilliant statesmen was evidently drawing to a close. 
 The chaplains of both branches referred feelingly to 
 the serious illness of Mr. Elaine in their morning 
 invocations. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 The Closing Scenes. 
 
 ON the morning of January 27, 1893, at eleven 
 o clock, James G. Elaine died. Gathered about his 
 bedside when death came were all those he loved 
 best. In thirty minutes from the time of the an 
 nouncement that the end had come the historic man 
 sion where he breathed his last became the one object 
 of special interest to the civilized world. The sad 
 news flew to the ends of the earth. 
 
 Mr. Elaine sank to his final rest like a tired child in 
 its mother s arms. In fact, the anxious watchers at 
 the bedside knew not when the end had come. 
 
 The first warning that the end was at hand came at 
 nine o clock in the morning, when Mr. Blame suffered 
 a totally unexpected relapse. Both of the physicians 
 who had been constantly in attendance upon him were 
 hastily summoned. Dr. Johnston was the first to 
 arrive, Dr. Hyatt following a few minutes later. They 
 did all that could be done for the dying man, but soon 
 realized that Mr. Elaine was beyond human aid. 
 
 It was at half-past ten that the family were sum 
 moned, and Dr. Johnston, as gently as he could, in- 
 formed them that the end was close at hand. 
 
 (549) 
 
550 
 
 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 Then the family entered the sick-chamber, and 
 waited for death to come, Mrs. Elaine had been 
 with the sufferer all the morning. Li fact, to her de 
 votion and constant attention was largely due Mr. 
 Elaine s great battle for life. When he died there 
 were present at his bedside his wife, his two daugh 
 ters, Mrs. Walter Damrosch and Miss Harriet Elaine ; 
 Mr. James G. Elaine, Jr. ; Mr. Walter Damrosch and 
 Miss Abigail Dodge. 
 
 WATCHED FOR DEATH 
 IN SILENCE. 
 
 From the time the 
 family gathered about 
 the bedside of the dying 
 statesman until his spirit 
 had departed no word 
 was spoken. Now and 
 then the doctors or the 
 professional nurse would 
 move about, seeking to 
 ease the sufferer as best 
 they could. 
 
 DR. JOHNSTON. 
 
 Mrs. Elaine sat by the head of the bed, holding one 
 wasted hand of the sufferer and smoothing back his 
 hair. His two daughters knelt at either side of the 
 bed, weeping silently, their heads buried in their hands. 
 
 That the end had been so long expected robbed it 
 of none of its horrors. During the last half hour of 
 Mr. Elaine s life it was simply a weary waiting for the 
 departing spirit to take its flight. 
 
CLOSING SCENES. 551 
 
 Dr. Johnston at eleven o clock felt the patient s 
 pulse, then bent down in the vain hope of hearing 
 some faint echo of life. Then he knew the end had 
 come. Without a word he placed the sufferer s hands 
 across his chest and, motioning to Dr. Hyatt, quietly 
 left the room. 
 
 A few moments later the physicians left the house. 
 Walking up to the newspaper men who were in wait 
 ing Dr. Johnston said : " Gentlemen, Mr. Elaine is 
 dead." 
 
 Mr. Elaine had been critically ill for weeks, and 
 there was no hope of his recovery. Notwithstanding 
 this fact the news of his death came suddenly and 
 almost unexpectedly. For several days he had been 
 somewhat better, and it was confidently expected that 
 he would live for many days. The return of pleasant 
 weather, it was thought by the physicians, would 
 materially aid Mr. Elaine. 
 
 FOR MANY YEARS AN INVALID. 
 
 Mr. Elaine had been in bad health since 1887. The 
 first serious symptoms were caused by what is tech 
 nically known as arterial fibrosis that is, a hardening 
 of the walls of the arteries. This, as time wore on, 
 developed into a form of Bright s disease. It also 
 impaired other organs, notably the heart and lungs. 
 
 The stroke of paralysis from which Mr. Elaine suf 
 fered while travelling in Milan, some years ago, was 
 directly traceable to this illness. No remedies 
 appeared to be of avail. The family became alarmed, 
 and consulted distinguished specialists. In no instance 
 
552 >(/ LIFE 1>F HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 was other than temporary relief afforded. The gen 
 eral system became impaired, and three years after 
 the first alarming indications Mr. Elaine became a 
 confirmed invalid. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s vitality was so great, his mind was so 
 active, and his spirit so high that the members of his 
 family hoped that death could be averted for many 
 years. This hopeful spirit was manifested all through 
 the time when Mr. Elaine succumbed to the slightest 
 shock. Cold settled in his throat and chest fre 
 quently, and on every occasion he was forced to either 
 take to his bed or suspend his daily pursuits. The 
 repetition of these attacks finally resulted in a species 
 of nervous depression, and towards the last Mr. Elaine 
 became a hypochondriac. 
 
 Despite this fear that every weak spell would be 
 his last, his spirit and ambition never left him. 
 
 A HARD FIGHT FOR LIFE. 
 
 His fight for life during the last six weeks was 
 regarded in local medical circles as one of the most 
 remarkable examples of physical endurance to be 
 found in the records of medical science. 
 
 All the doctors could do was to endeavor to keep 
 life in the frame as long as possible. Time and time 
 again death had appeared inevitable, but the use of 
 heroic remedies was, until the last, able to postpone 
 the inevitable end for a time. 
 
 The local physicians had been most constant in their 
 attendance at the bedside of the sick man. Profes 
 sional nurses and the members of the family had 
 
CLOSING SCENES. 
 
 553 
 
 exhausted every means at their command to ease the 
 weary hours. 
 
 Even at nine o clock in the morning a hope was 
 entertained that Mr. Elaine might be pulled through 
 this relapse. Nitro-glycerine was administered, but 
 not with the usual result of easing the pressure upon 
 the heart and restoring comparative calm to his throb 
 bing nerves. His pulse became intermittent. For a 
 time it would beat furiously, and then stop altogether 
 for several moments. 
 Then oedema of the 
 lungs set in. Mucous 
 secretions began to fill 
 the air spaces. The 
 breathing became la 
 bored and finally ster 
 torous. Mr. Elaine was 
 at this point unable to 
 move. He seemed con 
 scious that the end was 
 rapidly drawing near. 
 The expression of the REV - DR HAMLIN 
 
 face, the twitching of the facial muscles, yrre evidence 
 that he was conscious. The lamp of his life and 
 the light of his great intellect were extinguished 
 simultaneously. 
 
 MIND CLEAR TO THE LAST. 
 
 A remarkable feature of Mr. Elaine s entire illness 
 lies in the fact that his brain was at all times clear. 
 Physical exhaustion frequently intervened and reduced 
 
554 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 him to a semi-comatose condition, but at no time, it is 
 believed, did his brain wander. 
 
 In the latter stages of the illness with which Mr. 
 
 o 
 
 Elaine suffered softening of the brain is not an uncom 
 mon symptom. This case is said to be an exception. 
 To the last he retained his mental penetration. At 
 times he was keenly alive to his condition and sur 
 roundings and at other times dimly conscious, but no 
 mental delusions and no wanderings of the mind were 
 
 o 
 
 ever noticed. 
 
 The news of Mr. Elaine s death spread like wild 
 fire. Crowds gathered on the corner and visitors 
 flocked to the house. The Rev. Dr. Hamlin, who was 
 passing the house when the announcement of death 
 was made, at once entered and remained with the 
 family for some time. 
 
 PRESIDENT HARRISON INFORMED. 
 
 Word was sent to the President immediately after 
 the death, and at twenty-five minutes after eleven 
 President Harrison, accompanied by Private Secretary 
 Halford and Lieutenant Parker, walked over to the 
 Elaine mansion. The President showed marked signs 
 of grief. Postmaster-General Wanamaker followed 
 the President, and then the other members of the 
 Cabinet and many prominent people followed. 
 
 The President received warning of Mr. Elaine s 
 approaching end through a bulletin, which informed 
 him that Mr. Elaine could not live through the day. 
 He immediately had the substance of the despatch 
 telegraphed over the departmental wires to the vari- 
 
CLOSING SCENES. 555 
 
 ous Cabinet officers. It was a few minutes later only 
 that Mr. Montgomery, the operator at the White 
 House, received another message addressed to the 
 
 President. " Elaine is " is all he waited to hear, 
 
 and he started on a run for the room of Private Sec 
 retary Halford. The final word " dead " reached him 
 as he was in the hallway separating the telegraph 
 room from Mr. Halford s office. 
 
 The Cabinet was immediately notified, and came to 
 the Cabinet meeting at the usual hour fully prepared. 
 
 THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION. 
 
 The President at two o clock issued the following 
 proclamation : 
 
 " EXECUTIVE MANSION, 
 "WASHINGTON, January 27, 1893. 
 
 "It is my painful duty to announce to the people 
 of the United States the death of James Gillespie 
 Elaine, which occurred in this city to-day at eleven 
 o clock. 
 
 " For a full generation this eminent citizen has 
 occupied a conspicuous and influential position in the 
 nation. His first public service was in the Legislature 
 of his State. Afterward for fourteen years he was a 
 member of the National House of Representatives, 
 and was three times its chosen Speaker. In 1876 he 
 was elected to the Senate. He resigned his seat in 
 that body in 1881 to accept the position of Secretary 
 of State in the Cabinet of President Garfield. 
 
 " After the tragic death of his chief he resigned 
 from the Cabinet, and devoting himself to literary 
 work, gave to the public his Twenty Years of Con 
 gress, a most valuable and enduring contribution to 
 our political literature. 
 
556 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 In March, 1889, he again became Secretary of 
 State, and continued to exercise this office until June, 
 1892. 
 
 His devotion to the public interests, his marked 
 ability and his exalted patriotism have won for him 
 the gratitude and affection of his countrymen and the 
 admiration of the world. In the varied pursuits of 
 legislation, diplomacy and literature his genius has 
 added new lustre to American citizenship. 
 
 As a suitable expression of the national apprecia 
 tion of his great public services and of the general 
 sorrow caused by his death I direct that on the day of 
 his funeral all the departments of the executive branch 
 of the government at Washington be closed and that 
 on all public buildings throughout the United States 
 the national flag shall be displayed at half-staff, and 
 that for a period of thirty days the Department of 
 State be draped in mourning. 
 
 By order of the President. 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON, President. 
 
 JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State. 
 
 CONGRESS ADJOURNED. 
 
 As soon as the reading of the journal was ended in 
 the Senate the announcement of Mr. Elaine s death 
 was made by Mr. Hale, of Maine, who was for many 
 years one of the closest personal and political friends 
 of the dead statesman, and who said that the dread 
 event would carry sadness and mourning throughout 
 all the United States and would awaken interest and 
 sorrow wherever civilized men lived. 
 
 His remarks were followed by a motion by Mr. 
 Cockrell, of Missouri, that the Senate adjourn out of 
 
CLOSING SCENES. 557 
 
 respect to the memory of the deceased, and the mo 
 tion was declared carried. 
 
 The adjournment made the sixth interruption of 
 business in the Senate caused by death within the 
 few preceding weeks. 
 
 The death of ex-Speaker Elaine also brought the 
 business of the House to a sudden termination. A few 
 committee reports were made, including a bill to re 
 peal the federal election laws, and then, after brief and 
 affecting speeches by Mr. Milliken, who represents 
 Mr. Elaine s old district, and Holman, who served 
 many years with him in the House and who had 
 always been his personal friend, the House out of re 
 spect to the memory of the dead statesman adjourned. 
 
 SENATOR HALE S EULOGY. 
 
 In announcing Mr. Elaine s death to the Senate, 
 Mr. Hale delivered the following appreciative eulogy 
 upon the dead statesman : 
 
 " MR. PRESIDENT : We are again summoned into 
 the presence of death. A very great man has passed 
 from this earth. Mr. James G. Elaine died in his 
 house in this city at 1 1 o clock this morning. His 
 long illness had in some measure prepared us for 
 that, but the dread event will carry sadness and 
 mourning throughout all the United States and will 
 awaken interest and sorrow wherever civilized man 
 lives on the face of the globe. 
 
 " Mr. Elaine s career was so remarkable and his 
 public services were so great that in all histories which 
 may be written of his times he will stand as a central 
 
558 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 figure, not only as to his own country, but on policies 
 and subjects that affected other great nations. He 
 belonged, Mr. President, not to any one State but to 
 all the country, and Pennsylvania, which gave him 
 birthplace and nurtured him, and Maine, where he 
 made his home and where he became her first citizen 
 and which filled his lap with all the honors which she 
 could bestow, mourn him no more to-day than do the 
 dwellers by the shores of the great gulf and in the 
 cabins of the far Sierras. 
 
 11 This is no time nor place for me to speak in detail 
 of his distinguished public life. He was for years a 
 distinguished member on the floor of the House of 
 Representatives of the nation, and for six years pre 
 sided as its Speaker. His services in this chamber 
 covered years. He was twice Secretary of State and 
 was until of late a member of the present Adminis 
 tration. I do not think there is one Senator here who 
 would not deem it fitting, in view of these facts and of 
 the fact that he died where his last peaceful look from 
 his chamber window might embrace this Capitol, where 
 his voice had been so many times heard, that we make 
 a precedent at this time, and that, although Mr. Elaine 
 was at the time of his death a private citizen, this body 
 take immediate adjournment." 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE^ 
 
 When the House met the Chaplain referred to Mr. 
 Elaine in his prayer in these words: 
 
 " O eternal God, we stand before thee profoundly 
 moved as the news comes to the Capitol and flies 
 
CLOSING SCENES. 559 
 
 through the land thai a great man and a prince among 
 the people has ended his earthly career. Rich in the 
 manifold gifts with which thou hadst endowed him, 
 tireless in energy, devoting himself for a generation 
 to the service of the land, holding men to him by bonds 
 stronger than steel, winning for himself the hearty 
 affection and confidence of millions of his fellow-citi 
 zens and such a place as has rarely been held by any 
 man, he passes from us mourned, honored, loved 
 his memory a fragrance in this House and throughout 
 the Capitol and throughout the nation." 
 
 Congressman Milliken, of Maine, said : 
 
 MR. SPEAKER: It becomes my sad duty to an 
 nounce to this House the death of James G. Elaine. 
 Mr. Elaine was for fourteen years a prominent and 
 leading member of this House. For six years he was 
 the distinguished Speaker of the House. Every posi 
 tion he has held he has gilded with the light of genius, 
 and he has given to the public service for a genera 
 tion such devotion and such industry and such labor 
 as have brought him to his death to-day. I do not 
 doubt that every member of this House will be glad 
 to pay him a tribute of respect by an adjournment. 
 
 Mr. Holman, of Indiana, said : 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the deaths which have been announced 
 so recently of illustrious citizens may well bring to 
 our minds the prophetic words of the Hebrew King : 
 " How are the mighty fallen ! " The death of James 
 G. Elaine will profoundly impress the sensibilities of 
 the country. A great man is dead. He laid the 
 
560 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 foundation of his fame in this hall. Here were his 
 great and early triumphs. How often have we heard 
 in this hall the tones of his ringing eloquence ! Great in 
 statesmanship, known not only to our country but to 
 the statesmen of the civilized world, and not only great 
 in statesmanship, not only one of the illustrious char 
 acters which have illustrated the value of free institu 
 tions, but beyond that, he was great in the field of 
 literature. As the historian of the grandest epoch 
 in the history of the world he did his work well. 
 His history, covering a period of years, will go down to 
 posterity as one of. the brightest illustrations of the 
 time in which he lived and of the grand events of 
 which he was a part. It would seem, Mr. Speaker, 
 to be eminently proper and fitting that with the an 
 nouncement of his death here in this the theatre of 
 his great achievements, this House, out of respect to 
 his memory, should adjourn. I therefore move that 
 the House do now adjourn. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT WAS SHOCKED. 
 
 Within an hour of the announcement of Mr. Elaine s 
 death a newspaper correspondent found President 
 Harrison in his private office at the White House 
 with one or two members of his Cabinet. He ap 
 peared to be deeply moved. He said: 
 
 "I was greatly shocked to learn of Mr. Elaine s 
 death. The impression made upon me was no less 
 profound because of the fact that Mr. Elaine s illness 
 has for some time been believed to be fatal. The 
 physicians and relatives of Mr. Elaine abandoned hope 
 
CLOSING SCENES. 
 
 561 
 
 some time ago, but his death was none the less un 
 expected and a great shock to me. Before learning 
 the sad news I was preparing to call at-<he Blaine 
 residence. I at once paid a visit and left a message of 
 sympathy with James G. Blaine, Jr." 
 
 CLEVELAND S WORDS OF PRAISE. 
 
 The news of Mr. 
 Elaine s death did not 
 reach Mr. Cleveland 
 until the afternoon. He 
 was in his office in 
 New York at the time. 
 
 Although both oc 
 cupied so large a place 
 in the public life of this 
 country during the pre 
 ceding nine years, Mr. 
 Blaine and Mr. Cleve 
 land did not meet often. 
 They had headed oppos 
 ing tickets in a national 
 election long before they 
 met personally, and Mr. GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 Cleveland had been elected and inaugurated before 
 the opportunity arose for them to become acquainted. 
 Then very properly Mr. Blaine made the first call, 
 when, as Mr. Cleveland said, they had a very pleasant 
 interview. 
 
 It was suggested that these reminiscent facts would 
 be of unique and profound interest at this time. 
 
 36 
 
562 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland said : " The first time I ever saw Mr. 
 Elaine I had a very pleasant interview with him at the 
 White House, shortly after my inauguration as Presi 
 dent. While I have seen but very little of him since 
 that time, yet in a personal way, in common with all 
 other American citizens, I have not failed to admire 
 his traits, the breadth of his information and the alert 
 ness of his intellect. 
 
 "A figure like his," continued Mr. Cleveland, " which 
 has been so prominently before the people and which 
 they have so long seen in different lights, cannot fail 
 to be long remembered by those of the present 
 generation, and will certainly occupy a large place in 
 the history of the country. 
 
 " In common with all his countrymen," concluded 
 Mr. Cleveland, " I share the regret occasioned by the 
 death of a man such as Mr. Elaine, so well entitled to 
 be called an American statesman irrespective of differ- 
 ences in political beliefs or in opinions touching public 
 questions." 
 
 HOW DEATH CAME TO HIM. 
 
 Though forewarned repeatedly of the precarious 
 character of his health, Mr. Elaine exhibited little 
 depression or despondency during the last two or three 
 years of his life. In his own family circle, too, one 
 affliction came upon another, not fewer than four deaths 
 occurring between 1890 and 1892. Nevertheless, Mr. 
 Elaine kept up an appearance of cheerfulness and in 
 terest, and old friends found him genial and compan 
 ionable and as fertile and brilliant in conversation as 
 
CLOSING SCENES. 563 
 
 he had always been. As often as his health per 
 mitted he went out to dinners and other social ^ather- 
 
 o 
 
 ings, and he gave constant entertainments at home. 
 His fondness for society never failed, and even when, 
 confined to the house, he had given up the habit of 
 seeing people downstairs in the general reception- 
 rooms, he had many callers come up to the parlor on 
 the second floor of the refitted Seward house, and 
 there chatted with them for long periods with great 
 apparent pleasure. 
 
 A journalist who called on Mr. Elaine on the Sun 
 day before he was taken with his last illness, found 
 him in the brightest spirits, and enjoyed a conversa 
 tion on current topics which must have lasted nearly 
 an hour. Though physically weak and noticeably pallid 
 from his long stay indoors, he showed no trace of 
 listlessness or depression. Seated in an easy-chair 
 near the fireplace in the drawing-room on the second 
 floor, he chatted about politics past and present with 
 all the interest and brilliancy of earlier days. His 
 manner was as cordial and spirited as ever, and though 
 disease had left its marks in the slowness of his ges 
 tures and the deliberation of his speech, his conversa 
 tion showed no perceptible abatement in range or force. 
 
 WORDS OF A DYING MAN. 
 
 The whole subject of his withdrawal from the Cab-, 
 met in June, 1892, was gone over in a frank and unre 
 served way, Elaine discussing that interesting and im 
 portant incident with as little show of feeling as if it 
 had happened twenty years ago. 
 
564 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 His own retirement from the Cabinet, he said, had 
 not been prompted by personal motives altogether ; 
 nor did he, as some false friends had asserted, cherish, 
 either at the time or afterward, any bitterness of feel 
 ing toward the President. He had not expected nor 
 desired a nomination from the Minneapolis convention, 
 and had stood ready to congratulate with all cordiality/ 
 the Republican nominees on their election. Elaine s 
 whole manner showed that he had suffered no shade 
 of disappointment or ill feeling to disturb the personal 
 tranquillity which he had sought to secure for the 
 closing days of his career by his definite retirement 
 from public life. 
 
 Too much value can scarcely be attached to these 
 frank expressions on the events and incidents of June, 
 the closing chapter of Mr. Elaine s long political career. 
 The conversation in which they were embodied was one 
 of the last of any length held by him ; for a few days 
 later he became seriously ill again and took to his bed, 
 from which he never rose. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Last Honors to the Dead Statesman. 
 
 THE funeral of James G. Elaine was a simple one, 
 and the invitations to attend it were based upon the 
 rules governing the invitations to public functions. 
 The President, the Cabinet, the Judges of the Supreme 
 Court, the Diplomatic Corps, the Senators and Rep 
 resentatives in Congress, were invited to the services 
 at the church, and seats were provided for them in 
 order of precedence. 
 
 A brief service at the house at Madison place pre 
 ceded the more formal ceremonies at the Church of 
 the Covenant. To this ceremony not more than one 
 hundred and fifty officials, associates of Mr. Elaine, 
 and friends of the family were invited. Among them 
 were the President, who came accompanied by Mrs. 
 McKee and his private secretary ; the Vice-President 
 and Mrs. Morton, with their daughter ; Speaker and 
 Mrs. Crisp, the Members of the Cabinet, with their 
 families ; Chief Justice Fuller and his wife, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, Mrs. John A. Logan, whose 
 husband was on the Republican ticket with Elaine in 
 1884; Mrs. Garfield, whose husband Mr, Elaine was 
 with when murdered by Guiteau ; General Alger, Mr. 
 
 (565) 
 
566 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 i 
 
 and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Mrs. Hitt, Miss 
 Macomb, Miss Loring, Senator and Mrs. Cameron 
 and Miss Cameron, Senator and Mrs. Chandler, Gen 
 eral and Mrs. Parke, Mrs. Eugene Hale, Mrs. T. S. 
 Hamlin, Mrs. Alexander Rodgers, Senator and Mrs. 
 Wolcott, Mr. and Mrs. John R. McLean, Mrs. John 
 Hay, Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Newlands, Mr. and Mrs. ( 
 Gordon Gumming, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Cabot Lodge, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Howland, Mr. and Mrs. Marcellus 
 Bailey, Mrs. Audenreid, Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Dunnell, 
 of Minnesota ; ex-Governor and Mrs. Perham, of 
 Maine; Sir Julian and Lady Paunceforte, Mr. A. C. 
 Tyler, Mrs. Francis B. Loring, Senators Gordon and 
 Voorhees, Representative Holman and J. T. Devine, 
 Mr. Elaine s stenographer in the preparation of his 
 Twenty Years of Congress ; " Representative Blount 
 and Mr. Charles Emory Smith, ex-Minister to Russia; 
 Representative and Mrs. Dingley, Representative 
 Milliken, Mrs. Frye, a Maine delegation of fourteen 
 headed by Governor Cleaves, and Mr. S. P. Fessenden, 
 of Connecticut ; Senator and Mrs. Manderson, Sena 
 tors Allison, McPherson, Sherman, Cockrell, Gorman, 
 Aldrich and Morrill; Senator and Miss Dawes, Senator 
 Hoar, Senator and Mrs. Washburn, Senator Ransom 
 and General Baird, Judge and Mrs. Wylie. 
 
 A SIMPLE CEREMONY. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s body lay in a large drawing-room one 
 flight above the street. The coffin of red cedar, cov 
 ered with black cloth and with a railing of silver run 
 ning all around it, rested upon floral pedestals, beneath 
 
LAST HONORS. 567 
 
 which was stretched a thick carpet of roses nine feet 
 long and four feet wide. The room was crowded with 
 wreaths and crosses of flowers, with palms, lilies and 
 huge masses of violets. The upper part of the coffin 
 was covered over with glass. The body was clothed 
 in black broadcloth, and the hands were folded across 
 the breast. 
 
 Those who had been invited began to gather at ten 
 o clock. A long row of carriages extended very soon 
 on either side of the door. A dozen policemen kept 
 the entrance clear. The crowd on the sidewalk facing 
 the house was quiet. It was not a large crowd. At 
 eleven o clock the President, who was one of the last 
 to arrive, entered the house. He glanced for a mo 
 ment at the thin, worn face in the coffin, and then took 
 the seat which had been reserved for him. Mrs. 
 Elaine entered immediately after, leaning upon the 
 arm of her son, followed by the other members of the 
 family. 
 
 THE PALLBEARERS. 
 
 The service which followed was very simple. The 
 Rev. Dr. Hamlin, of the Church of the Covenant, 
 prayed, standing beside the coffin. He asked God to 
 comfort and uphold those whom the dead man had 
 left behind him. The prayer was short. At its con 
 clusion Walter Damrosch, Mr. Elaine s son-in-law, 
 played a few chords upon the piano. 
 
 The undertaker s assistants hurriedly gathered up 
 as many as possible of the floral tributes and took 
 them in -a wagon to the church, while the coffin was 
 
568 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 carried downstairs to the hearse. The pallbearers 
 who accompanied it were Senators Hale and Frye, of 
 Maine; Senator Morgan, of Alabama; Representatives 
 Thomas B. Reed and Boutelle, of Maine ; Represent 
 ative Hitt, of Illinois, formerly Mr. Elaine s Assistant 
 Secretary of State ; Representative Bingham, of Penn 
 sylvania, the State in which Mr. Blaine was born ; 
 Gen. Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, Mr. Elaine s second 
 cousin ; and John Hay, formerly Assistant Secretary 
 of State. The pallbearers were all selected by Mrs. 
 Blaine, and acted at her request. 
 
 When the coffin was brought from the house the 
 crowd had increased. There were thousands of men 
 and women gathered about. All the men removed 
 their hats and stood in silence as the funeral proces 
 sion started for the Church of the Covenant near by. 
 
 DECORATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Meanwhile the officials and friends of the family 
 who, for lack of space, could not be invited to the cer 
 emony at the house, had gathered in the church. They 
 numbered 800, as representative a political gathering 
 probably as was ever brought together in this country. 
 Nearly every branch of the public service and all im 
 portant departments of official life in Washington were 
 represented. 
 
 The two middle rows of seats on either side of the 
 central aisle were roped off with ribbons of white satin. 
 Every attempt was made to prevent an air of gloom 
 surrounding the services. The badges of the ushers 
 were of white satin, the decorations of the altar were 
 
LAST HONORS. 569 
 
 brilliant with coloring white and red and violet. 
 There was not a partick of black in all the decoration 
 of the church. The seats fenced in with white satin 
 were reserved for the family and for those who had 
 been invited because of their official position. 
 
 The altar was a mass of flowers, and when the 
 wagon loads of roses, violets and lilies were brought 
 from the house it was almost impossible to find room 
 for them. Huge wreaths were hung upon the posts 
 of pews and piled upon the floor at the foot of the 
 altar. The floral carpet which Mrs. Ernmons Elaine 
 had sent was spread upon the floor before the altar, 
 and upon it were the supports for the coffin. 
 
 DISTINGUISHED PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 At the hour of twelve all those who had been in 
 vited had arrived and the church was filled. The gen 
 eral public was not admitted to any part of the cer 
 emony, and a number of policemen, with ropes 
 stretched around the church, kept the approaches 
 clear. The gathering in the church was impressive 
 and interesting. All the Judges of the Supreme 
 Court sat together in seats just back of those reserved 
 for the family, with the exception of Chief-Justice 
 Fuller, who attended the services at the house and 
 sat with the family. Justices Field and Gray arrived 
 first, and immediately behind them followed Justices 
 Blatchford, Brewer and Brown. They were a fine, 
 simple-looking lot of men, with solemn taces, wear 
 ing old-fashioned clothing and tight black gloves, very 
 American and very comforting to look at. 
 
570 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Back of them sat the strange assortment of men 
 who go to make up the Diplomatic Corps in this 
 country. There was Sir Julian Pauncefote, the Brit 
 ish Minister, who came in a stunning equipage with 
 English coachman and footman, each more than six 
 
 o 
 
 feet tall. A very dignified spectacle was Sir Julian, 
 solemnly doing honor to the man whose popularity 
 was largely built up on his disagreements with Great 
 Britain. Across the aisle sat Mr. Mavroyeni Bey, the 
 Turkish Minister. Mr. Tateno, the Japanese Minis 
 ter, sat next to Mr. Ye, the Corean Charge d Affaires. 
 Mr. Ye wore a black pointed cap. 
 
 OTHER DIPLOMATS PRESENT. 
 
 Prince Contacuzene, the Russian Minister, with his 
 secretary ; J. Mott Smith, the Hawaiian Minister ; Dr. 
 Holbein, the German Minister, with Baron Kettler, 
 also of his legation ; Senor Romero, of the Mexican 
 Legation; Count Sponneck, the Danish Minister; G. 
 De Weckherlin, the Minister from the Netherlands; 
 Mr. Claparede, the Swiss Minister ; Scnor Don Ho- 
 racio Guzman, the Nicaraguan Minister ; Senor Men- 
 donca, the Brazilian Minister; M. Patenotre, the 
 French Minister; Dr. Bustamente, the Venezuelan 
 Minister; Mr. Sousa Rosa, the Portuguese Minister; 
 Mr. Le Ghait, the Belgian Minister ; Mr. Grip, the 
 Swedish Minister; Baron Fava and Marquis Imperi- 
 ali, of the Italian Legation, and a lot of attaches, gor 
 geous in raiment and personal attraction, filled several 
 rows of seats. 
 
 Whoever has not been in Washington has no idea 
 
LAST HONORS. 571 
 
 of the fine sight which the Diplomatic Corps pre 
 sented. These distinguished diplomats travel all over 
 the world in the course of their interesting careers, 
 but they never go to a country where a man as great 
 in the eyes of his fellow-citizens as Mr. Elaine was is 
 laid to rest with as little fuss and feathers as they 
 witnessed that day. 
 
 The seats of the Senators and Representatives in 
 Congress were back of those occupied by the Diplo 
 matic Corps. They were filled by a crowd of men 
 well known to the country, and a few women. Among 
 them were Gov. Cleaves, of Maine, and a delegation 
 from that State ; ex-Senator Davis, of West Virginia ; 
 ex-Delegate Cannon, of Utah ; Mr. and Mrs. D. T. 
 McKee, Warner Miller, Dr. J. C Welling, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Roessle, and ex-Senator Eustis, of Louisiana. 
 
 Delegations from the Union League Clubs of New 
 York and Philadelphia and from a dozen other organ 
 izations throughout the country were also seated 
 within the white satin inclosure, as were also the heads 
 of the bureaus in the State Department. 
 
 THE PROCESSION ENTERS THE CHURCH. 
 
 The funeral procession from the house reached the 
 church at i 2 o clock. Dr. Teunis S. Hamlin, who but 
 a short time before led the service at the funeral of 
 Walker Elaine, walked slowly up the aisle at the head 
 of the procession, reading as he walked from the 
 burial service, beginning with the verse, " I am the 
 resurrection and the life." Slowly and solemnly he 
 repeated the words which emphasize the fact that am- 
 
572 LIFE OF HON JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 bition and hope of preferment all stop at the grave. 
 " We bring nothing into this world," he told his hear 
 ers ; "we can take nothing from it." This, of course, 
 was not taken in too harshly literal a sense by his 
 hearers, who knew that Mr. Blaine had taken with 
 him the one thing. which had made his life worth liv 
 ing the affection and admiration of millions of his 
 countrymen. 
 
 Behind Dr. Hamlin walked the honorary pall 
 bearers, with the big figure of " Tom " Reed towering 
 above all the others. He walked with his heavy head 
 bowed down. Eight undertakers assistants came 
 next, carrying the coffin, which was almost buried 
 from sight beneath a mound of flowers. 
 
 o 
 
 MRS. BLAINE WAS ABSENT. 
 
 Mrs. Blaine did not attend the services at the church. 
 Directly behind the coffin came her daughter, Mrs. 
 Damrosch, leaning upon the arm of her brother, James 
 G. Blaine no longer James G. Blaine, Jr. Miss 
 Harriet Blaine, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Blaine, and the 
 other members of the family followed. All the women 
 were heavily veiled. 
 
 Next came the President, with Mrs. McKee leaning 
 upon his arm. He was very pale, and his head 
 appeared to be sunk more deeply than* ever in the 
 collar of his heavy overcoat. He took seat in the 
 third row behind the honorary pall-bearers. 
 
 Fred Brown, Mr. Elaine s colored butler, rode on 
 the box of the carriage in which were Miss Hattie 
 Blaine and young James G. Blaine, and sat with the 
 
LAST HONORS. 573 
 
 family in the church. It is doubtful whether Mr. 
 Elaine had any more sincere mourner outside of his 
 immediate family than this faithful servant who sat 
 listening with appreciation to every word of comfort 
 and wiping his eyes at every allusion to his dead mas 
 ter s good qualities. 
 
 Miss Abigail Dodge (Gail Hamilton), Mr, Elaine s 
 cousin, entered the church and sat with the ladies of 
 Mr. Elaine s family, dressed like them in deep mourn 
 ing. 
 
 THE SERVICE. 
 
 When the congregation was seated Mr. Damrosch, 
 who had taken the place of the regular organist, played 
 for a short time, and then came the reading by Dr. 
 Hamlin of extracts from the Bible. Prayer followed. 
 The prayer was in the nature of a eulogy on the dead 
 man. It enumerated his great qualities as a patriot, 
 statesman, father, and husband, and condoled with the 
 people of the United States and the President, with 
 the State of Maine and State of Pennsylvania, and with 
 all of the commonwealths, upon the loss which they 
 had sustained. Here in full is the text of the prayer: 
 
 DR. HAMLIN S PRAYER. 
 
 "Thanks be unto thee, Almighty God, that we come 
 into the pr f ^nce of death with such words of triumph 
 as these. 
 
 " Thanks be unto thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, that 
 immortal life is no more a dim surmise, a probable 
 speculation, but an assured fact. 
 
 "Thanks be unto thee, O Holy Spirit of God, that 
 
574 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 thou hast revealed to the hearts and minds of men 
 these truthful verities upon which we rest when human 
 life passeth like a shadow, when our hopes are all 
 frustrated and our plans all put to naught in the pres 
 ence of the great destroyer. 
 
 "Thanks be unto God, the Father, and the Son, 
 and the Holy Spirit, for Christian triumph in the pres 
 ence of the open grave. 
 
 " We render thee in this sacred and solemn place 
 and presence, O God, our tribute of gratitude for that 
 thou didst make thy servant whose ashes we are now 
 committing to the resting place of all the living. We 
 thank thee for all that mental endowment with which 
 thou didst bless him, for all the fidelity in culture and 
 refinement in the pursuit of all that makes the human 
 mind clear and true and strong and mighty that marked 
 his life. 
 
 "We thank thee for his patriotism, his servce and 
 unchanging faith in the institutions of the h.nd he 
 loved. We thank thee for his services to his country 
 in clays and years of peril, through critical times 
 steadily holding to his confidence in the great princi 
 ples that underlie our institutions. We thank thee 
 for his faith in God, his faith in Jesus Christ, his 
 acceptance of Him as his personal Saviour and 
 Redeemer. We thank thee for his broid charity, his 
 kindness and sweetness of heart that impressed all 
 those that love man and serve God.- We thank thee 
 for his strong serenity under the great and crushing 
 bereavements that in these last years have fallen upon 
 
LAST HONORS. 575 
 
 him and upon his household. We thank thee for his 
 fortitude during all these weeks of waiting, for his 
 patience and his gentleness. We thank thee, Lord, 
 for all that our departed brother through thy grace 
 was as man and citizen, as patriot, as a servant of his 
 country, as husband and father in the beautiful life of 
 the home. 
 
 " And now we entreat thee, O God, that thy com 
 fort may come upon those that are most nearly 
 bereaved, that these members of his own household 
 and those of near kindred may be strong in faith, 
 trusting in God alone ; and while there flows to them 
 such a stream of sympathy from all parts of the land 
 and of the world, we pray thee that, receiving it with 
 gratitude, they may rest not in it, but in the priceless 
 sympathy of the Son of God. 
 
 " We entreat thee that they may be able to look, 
 not into the open grave, but into the open heavens ; 
 not at what they have lost, but at what the clear one 
 gone has left behind. And we entreat thee that the 
 fragrant and precious memories of this dear husband 
 and father, friend and kinsman, may be their solace 
 in these desolate and trying days. 
 
 "We ask thy blessing, O Lord, our God, upon the 
 Executive Department of the Government with which 
 thy servant was so intimately associated. We com 
 mend to thee the President of the United States, the 
 Vice-President and all the members of the Cabinet 
 with whom our departed brother labored. And we 
 entreat that upon them all in this sense of loss and 
 
576 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE- 
 
 this new admonition of their own mortality, there may 
 come a comforting consciousness and serene trust in 
 God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 44 We pray Thee, Our Father, for the Congress of 
 the United States, in whose councils for so long thy 
 servant participated, and with such influence for good. 
 We entreat thee that every member of Congress may 
 be impressed anew with the need of trust in God in 
 preparation for this event that cometh alike to all, and 
 that their work henceforth may be done under the 
 consciousness of their responsibility to God under the 
 power of an endless life. 
 
 " We ask thy blessing upon all our commonwealths. 
 We commend to thee especially the State in which 
 our brother was born and the State that adopted him 
 and that together rejoice to-day in his illustrious ser 
 vice ; and we pray thee that the Executives and leg 
 islators of all our commonwealths may be men of 
 God ; that they may trust and serve thee. 
 
 "We ask thy blessing, O Lord, upon all the people 
 of the land, upon the millions that with singular fidel 
 ity have loved him, whose voice so many of them have 
 heard, whose counsels so many of them have followed, 
 but who now rests speechless in death. We entreat 
 thee that his patriotism, his lofty purposes, his sincere 
 and constant love for the institutions of the land may 
 animate all the people and may be a blessed heritage 
 to every citizen of the republic. 
 
 " We commend to thee the nations of the earth all 
 those lands that have felt the touch of his hand in the 
 
LAST HONORS. 577 
 
 great relations of diplomacy, and we pray thee that 
 there may come to them all a more profound trust 
 in God, in the people, in the liberties wherewith God 
 is making people free, and in all those blessed gifts 
 that come from him to the nation that loves and 
 serves the Lord of hosts. 
 
 "And we ask thy blessing, O Lord, upon this 
 church. We thank thee that thy servant had part in 
 its very beginning ; that he did not despise the day 
 of small things. We thank thee that he loved and 
 aided it in its early days and its progress ; that he 
 worshipped here and sat at this communion table. 
 We pray thee that thou will grant to this church, as 
 thou taketh from it one and another, the consolation 
 of thy holy Spirit and thine abiding grace. 
 
 " And now, dear Lord, as we go hence and take our 
 place about the open grave and deposit there this sa 
 cred and precious dust, wilt thou go with us, and as 
 this family return to their desolate home wilt thou be 
 with them. Wilt thou make good the void that is in 
 their hearts ; may this many-times bereaved, this sorely 
 afflicted household have the abundant comfort and 
 strength and grace of Jesus Christ our Lord; 
 and we beseech thee, our Heavenly Father, that 
 throughout all the land and throughout all the world, 
 wherever the eyes and hearts of men are turning at 
 this hour towards this place, wherever any are send 
 ing to God the tributes of thanks for the services of 
 this life, wherever there is sorrow to-day, we entreat 
 thee that thy presence may soothe every sorrow, and 
 
 37 
 
578 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 that the hope of immortality may be inspired afresh 
 in every heart. 
 
 "Forgive our sins; receive us all into the number 
 of thy dear children ; help us to so live that we shall 
 be ready at any moment to hear thee say, 4 Son, 
 daughter, thy work on earth is finished ; come home ; * 
 and so to each at last may there open the doors of the 
 seat of God; and may we enter in to be forever 
 blessed." 
 
 At the end of this prayer the clergyman and con 
 gregation repeated the Lord s Prayer together and 
 the services at the church were ended. 
 
 TO THE GRAVE. 
 
 The flowers were removed from the altar and taken 
 to the cemetery. The mourners entered their car 
 riages and, following the hearse, began the procession 
 to the grave. About one hundred carriages, including 
 those of the Vice-President and members of the Cab 
 inet, were in line. Spectators were scattered on either 
 side of the way all along the route. 
 
 It was a clear day, with only a few clouds for the 
 sun to struggle with now and then. In the prosper 
 ous parts of the city men and women gathered at the 
 windows to see the procession go by. In the poorer 
 streets through which the funeral passed on the way 
 to Georgetown, mothers, black and white, brought 
 their children to the doors and offered them the fine 
 parade of carriages full of distinguished people as a 
 pleasing diversion in their quiet lives. 
 
 It was a long drive to the cemetery, going as the 
 
LAST HONORS. 
 
 579 
 
 funeral procession did at a slow walk. The hearse, 
 which had left the church at twelve forty-five p. M., 
 reached Oak Hill, the bury ing-ground, shortly after 
 two. The cemetery was crowded with men, women. 
 
 t \ _J>- pS*** 5 *! 
 
 OPEN GRAVE WHERE MR. ELAINE WAS BURIED. 
 
 and children who had gathered in the morning to look 
 at the open grave. With difficulty the funeral party 
 managed to clear a way through the curious crowd 
 from about the Elaine plot. The immediate relatives, 
 
580 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 intimate friends, and members of the Cabinet grouped 
 themselves about the grave. The ground was soft, 
 muddy, and partly covered with snow. The general 
 crowd of sightseers pressed about as closely as possi 
 ble, and ranged themselves on the slanting terraces 
 of graves that mark the hillside above the Elaine plot. 
 Beside the open grave there was a large mound of 
 fresh, red earth. Seven men, dressed in long blue 
 flannel blouses reaching below the knee and fastened 
 at the waist with big brass buckles, stood with long- 
 handled spades ready to pile in the dirt upon the 
 r.offin. 
 
 COMMITTED TO THE TOMB. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s body was committed to the earth with 
 a short prayer. It was lowered into the grave with 
 the flowers still lying upon the coffin-lid, and imme 
 diately the seven grave-diggers with long blouses fell 
 to piling in the earth. For a while the women of Mr. 
 Elaine s household stood sobbing as the work went 
 
 o 
 
 on. Before it had been finished they had been led away. 
 
 One after another the members of the Cabinet with 
 drew. Mr. Wanamaker remained later than any of 
 his associates, gazing sadly upon the work of the seven 
 men. Finally he too departed, leaving young James 
 G. Elaine alone with the crowd of curiosity seekers 
 beside his father s grave. He waited until the task 
 of filling the grave and sealing the brick vault had 
 been completed. Then he too went away. 
 
 For almost an hour the crowd surged about, worry 
 ing the policemen and grave-diggers with their 
 
LAST HONORS. 581 
 
 attempts to despoil the grave of its flowers. One 
 policeman should be commended for the manner in 
 which he enforced the law and administered reproof 
 simultaneously. Those he had to combat were women. 
 His unfailing and patient remonstrance was : " Ladies, 
 if you don t know better than to take flowers off the 
 grave I shall have to teach you." 
 
 WHERE MR. ELAINE LIES. 
 
 Beside the grave of Mr. Elaine are those of Emmons 
 Elaine and Mrs. Alice Elaine Coppinger. A white 
 marble cross marks Mrs. Coppinger s grave. There 
 is room perhaps for two more graves in the plot in 
 which Mr. Elaine lies buried There is no room for 
 anything more than a very simple headstone to mark 
 his resting-place. On Mr Elaine s right, as he lies in 
 his grave, is a headstone marked simply " Peter 
 Palmer," and on his left the grave of Stephen Glegg 
 Rowan, Vice-Admiral of the United States Navy, who 
 lies buried beside his wife. Not far from where Mr. 
 Elaine lies, in a more thickly settled point of the ceme 
 tery, is the grave of John Howard Payne, author of 
 " Home, Sweet Home." 
 
 MRS. ELAINE AT THE GRAVE. 
 
 At four o clock in the afternoon the crowds that had 
 filled the cemetery had dispersed. Only a few chil 
 dren ran about the muddy walks and played in the 
 half-melted snow of the graveyard. A woman, deeply 
 veiled, walked down the winding path to the grave 
 and leaned against the trunk of the dead tree. It 
 was Mrs. Elaine. 
 
582 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 At her feet were thousands upon thousands of roses, 
 violets and lilies, shutting out from sight the scar 
 which marked her husband s resting place in the earth. 
 All about were low mounds marking other graves, 
 some of children and some of old men. Many were 
 tramped down and disfigured by the thousands who 
 had struggled for a last look at her husband s coffin. 
 Behind her the sun was going down. Before her was 
 a deep ravine, a swollen brook rushing through it, 
 and beyond a gloomy series of red hills. Above the 
 hills she could see the white shaft of the Washington 
 Monument, the dome of the Capitol and the roof of 
 the State Department building, beyond which, but 
 visible, was the White House. Occasionally a few 
 children gathered about with their hands behind their 
 backs to contemplate the lady heavily veiled. They 
 were warned away by an old man in charge of the 
 cemetery gate, who had undertaken the task of pro 
 tecting the flowers on the grave until the gates should 
 close. 
 
 After almost an hour spent by the dead tree at the 
 head of the grave Mrs. Blaine was led away to a car 
 riage by her son. It was getting dark. The sun was 
 hidden from view behind the hill, and the grave, with 
 its burden of flowers, lay in the shadow. Two or 
 three policemen who had lingered about the gate 
 cleared the cemetery of the children and of the few 
 curious ones who remained. The iron gates were 
 closed, and Blaine was left alone to begin his long rest 
 beneath the sod. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 Friendly Tributes to the Great Leader. 
 
 THE universal regret occasioned by Mr. Elaine s 
 death, and the esteem in which he was held, were 
 voiced in many ways. The various State legislatures 
 that were in session adjourned, showing thereby 
 respect for his memory. Glowing eulogies filled the 
 columns of the press, and prominent men vied with 
 one another in speaking words of praise. Several 
 members of the Cabinet placed on record their high 
 appreciation of the man. 
 
 Said Secretary Noble : James G. Elaine died within 
 three days of the sixty-third anniversary of his birth 
 and little less than thirty years from the time he en 
 tered Congress, on the first Monday of December, 
 1863.. During this long and most eventful period he 
 held the attention and commanded the respect of his 
 countrymen to a most extraordinary degree more, I 
 think, than any other political leader save Lincoln or 
 Clay. Like Clay his followers were loving and en 
 thusiastic, and alike they achieved great success but 
 failed to reach the summit of their ambition the 
 Presidency. Elaine was highly intellectual and refined. 
 He had great mental discipline and vigor, with physi 
 cal strength and the courage of his convictions. His 
 
 (683) 
 
584 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 learning and experience gave him immense resources 
 of precedent and illustration, and no man was ever 
 more ready to see his opportunity or take advantage 
 of his opponent in debate. 
 
 The facility and variety of his attack and defense 
 were unsurpassed. He was distinguished as a Con 
 gressman, as a Senator, Cabinet Minister and political 
 leader, displaying great wisdom in counsel, and for 
 mulated the principles and issues of his party with 
 unerring accuracy. He had epitomized a great part 
 of his public career in his work, "Twenty Years in 
 Congress," and added to and perpetuated his fame by 
 the literary value of this narrative. I have heard 
 General Sherman, whose judgment in such matters 
 was acknowledged, say that Elaine s book was a great 
 work ; that he considered its lucid and incisive expres 
 sions and comprehensive and accurate statements gave 
 it rank with Macaulay s history. It is one of the most 
 valuable of books. Blaine was an American thor 
 oughly and invariably he loved our country and 
 institutions. His death will be greatly lamented, and 
 the whole nation will do his memory honor. His 
 critics will not be in this country. 
 
 THE IDOL OF HIS PARTY. 
 
 Secretary Elkins said : Mr. Blaine was a wonderful 
 1 man and wonderfully gifted. He was one of the 
 greatest statesmen and political leaders the country 
 has produced, and the most conspicuous leader of his 
 time. He was the idol of his party, the most loved 
 man in it. He had, more than any other political 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTES. 585 
 
 leader in this country, the most enthusiastic following 
 and best and most loyal friends. He inspired his 
 party more thoroughly than any other man in it. For 
 nearly twenty years he did more than any other leader 
 to shape its policy. His control over men, his power 
 to draw them to him and command their unselfish 
 support was beyond that of any other party leader in 
 the history of the country. 
 
 His loss will be widely felt and mourned, but his 
 life will be a continuing inspiration to his party. Mr. 
 Elaine, though thoroughly educated, full of culture and 
 accomplishments, never paraded his learning. He 
 was versatile, full of resources and more widely 
 informed than any man or statesman of his time. In 
 a certain sense, he was modest, seldom speaking of 
 himself, his position or commanding influence in his 
 party and in the country. He was broad, liberal and 
 just, always generous to an opponent; tender, gentle 
 and affectionate toward his friends. He sought the 
 Presidency in 76, after that seemingly abandoning all 
 hope of ever reaching that high place. In 84 he did 
 not seek the nomination, and in 88 steadfastly refused 
 to allow his name to go before the convention. 
 
 o 
 
 Of late years he was not only the central figure in 
 American politics, but at all social gatherings and 
 wherever he went. In and out of office he attracted 
 more attention and excited more enthusiasm than any 
 other citizen of the republic. Wherever he went peo 
 ple always eagerly turned to look at him, or stopped 
 to see him as he passed by. His claim to greatness 
 
586 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 will rest upon his literary work and his statesmanship. 
 Either would place him in the front rank of the great 
 est men of the republic. His "Twenty Years in Con 
 gress" will stand as an enduring monument, and 
 always mark him truly great. The strain put upon 
 him and the effort in writing his great work, I think, 
 had much to do in breaking down his health. The 
 production of such a work in so short a time ; so just 
 and discriminating ; so fair to contemporaries and to 
 all ; so thoroughly authentic and reliable, stands in the 
 history of literature unparalleled. 
 
 Without distinction of party, his death will be 
 mourned as a great loss to the country. Truly, a 
 great man has passed away, and a great light gone 
 out. 
 
 LOVE FOR PENNSYLVANIANS. 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker said: Eleven years 
 ago I made the acquaintance of Mr. Elaine, when at 
 his invitation I went to his house with his intimate 
 personal friend for consultation about accepting pub 
 lic office. The friendship then begun ripened in the 
 1884 campaign, and since 1887 has been more or less 
 intimate. His kindness and enthusiasm, that so 
 greatly attracted every one, were often manifested in 
 a special degree to Pennsylvanians, among whom he 
 was born. He liked to talk of people in Philadel 
 phia who lived at the time he was teacher and editor 
 there. I shall not soon forget the last hours spent 
 with him when he talked freely about his feelings and 
 his plans, about a week before he went upstairs for 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTES. . 587 
 
 the last time. Pennsylvania may well be proud of her 
 brilliant son, clever as Henry Clay and eloquent as 
 Daniel Webster. As an all-around statesman his 
 name will always be cherished with the ten greatest 
 Americans. 
 
 HIS STURDY AMERICANISM. 
 
 Secretary Rusk said : I first met Mr. Elaine in 1868, 
 I being then Bank Comptroller in Wisconsin, to which 
 State he came to make tariff speeches. He was then 
 one of the most forcible speakers in the Republican 
 party on this important question. The acquaintance 
 then formed with him has continued uninterruptedly 
 since, being welded by our closer personal and polit 
 ical relations during the Forty-second, Forty-third and 
 Forty-fourth Congresses, in which we were both mem 
 bers of the House of Representatives, he being 
 Speaker during the first two Congresses, a position 
 for which I warmly supported him. I have no hesita 
 tion in saying that in many respects Mr. Elaine out 
 ranked any of his contemporaries, and none has 
 wielded a greater influence in shaping the fortunes 
 of the Republican party. 
 
 One of the qualities I have always esteemed the 
 most highly in James G. Elaine was his sturdy, un 
 swerving Americanism. He will always be one of the 
 conspicuous figures in the political history of this 
 country. While serving with him in President Har 
 rison s Cabinet our relations were of the most cordial 
 and friendly character. For some time I noted ivith 
 deep regret that physically he was not as vigorous as 
 
588 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 in former years. His death, while not unexpected, 
 will be a great shock to the people of the whole na 
 tion, irrespective of their political sentiments. 
 
 HIS EXALTED PATRIOTISM. 
 
 Secretary of State Foster said : Other of his friends 
 are more competent to speak of Mr. Elaine s services 
 and genius in Congress, in politics and in literature. 
 ffn diplomacy his chief characteristic was his exalted 
 Americanism. He was a thorough believer in the 
 Monroe Doctrine, and the reciprocity policy which dis 
 tinguished the close of his public career was an out 
 growth of his convictions respecting that doctrine. 
 His diplomatic correspondence will rank among the 
 best of his political productions. His reputation 
 abroad will mainly rest upon his acts as Secretary of 
 State, and it is not an exaggeration to say that in the 
 past ten years at least, he has been the best known 
 American in foreign lands. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury Foster said : I first met 
 Mr. Elaine when he became a member of the Forty- 
 second Congress, and during his six years service as 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives. At that 
 time he was in full health and a magnificent speci 
 men, both physically and mentally, of mature man 
 hood. As Speaker, he was the absolute dictator of 
 the proceedings of the House, enjoying more fully the 
 respect and confidence of the members than, perhaps, 
 any other Speaker, with perhaps the exception of 
 Henry Clay, whose career Mr. Elaine s so much re 
 sembled. His career has been one of leadership, and 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTES. . 589 
 
 without doubt he possessed the confidence, respect 
 and affection of the vast majority of the American 
 people more than any man of his time. His fame is 
 world-wide. His personal popularity and his hold 
 upon the popular affection was not confined to his 
 own party. His death will be sincerely mourned. 
 
 COMPARED WITH WEBSTER AND CLAY. 
 
 Attorney-General Miller said : It is customary to 
 speak of one, who, being elected to the Vice-Presi 
 dency, becomes President, as an accidental President. 
 With reference to Mr. Elaine, it may be truly said 
 that his failure to be President was an accident. The 
 desire of an old gentleman to make a striking sentence 
 by alliteration defeated the worthy ambition of a life 
 time, and in no small degree changed the direction of 
 public affairs in the nation. In the whole history of 
 the country there has scarcely been a more striking 
 figure than Mr. Elaine, and no personality in the 
 country has been more strongly impressed upon his 
 contemporaries. 
 
 At the funeral of Daniel Webster one of his neigh 
 bors, who lived near Marshfield, looking on the face 
 of the dead statesman, said : " Daniel Webster, the 
 world will be lonesome without you." The same may 
 be said with propriety of James G. Elaine. Mr. 
 Elaine, with the possible exception of Henry Clay, was 
 the most brilliant statesman and political leader this 
 country has ever produced. An excellent judge of 
 character, he understood instinctively the strong and 
 weak points of those with whom he came in contact. 
 
590 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Full of human sympathy, he received all who ap 
 proached him with a kindness and affability that made 
 them at once his friends. He was a most accurate 
 judge of public sentiment and he knew, as few men 
 did, how to present a question of public policy so as 
 to appeal to the sympathy and win the support of the 
 people. He was a born leader of men and richly 
 , endowed by nature with all those qualities that make 
 a great statesman. 
 
 In the United States a thorough legal training is 
 almost indispensable to a great and diversified public 
 career. That without such training Mr. Elaine could 
 achieve success in the various positions he has been 
 called upon to fill is an additional evidence of his ex 
 traordinary natural powers. 
 
 ESTIMATE OF A SOUTHERNER. 
 
 Speaker Crisp said: The people of the South have 
 always entertained the kindliest feeling ior Mr. Elaine. 
 His part in the defeat of the first Force bill will never 
 be forgotten. It was within his power as Speaker at 
 the time that bill was under consideration to have 
 brought about its passage, but he resisted the strongest 
 kind of party pressure and absolutely refused to enter 
 tain the idea of a cloture rule. If such a rule had 
 been made it is probable that the bill would have been 
 passed. He rose above the partisan to the height of 
 a patriot. Mr. Elaine was a great man one of the 
 greatest this country has ever produced. 
 
 Hamilton Fish was Secretary of State when Mr. 
 Elaine was the Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTES. 591 
 
 tlves. His first expression on hearing of the great 
 statesman s death was: "A great man has gone." 
 Continuing, he said : " His death will be universally 
 regretted, and the unkind things that have been said 
 about him will be, I think, not repeated. He was an 
 affectionate man in his own family, and during the 
 eight years he lived near me I had an opportunity to 
 see what an interest he took in his family, and what 
 love and admiration he had for his children. But his 
 death will not only be mourned by his widow and 
 children. For months the whole country has been 
 watching at his bedside and the whole country will 
 mourn its loss. I cannot say too much of Mr. Elaine s 
 ability. Had he not been so great and brilliant he 
 might have been President. He was a great man 
 when he first entered upon a political career. He 
 became greater as years rolled by. He has been 
 Accused of sensational things, but when Secretary of 
 State under Harrison he did nothing of a rash or 
 sensational sort. Elaine was a man with a most remark 
 able memory and in debate he could quote figures for 
 hours without referring to notes. He was certainly 
 the greatest American of his time, and during the 
 latter years of his life the people had every confidence 
 in him, and they felt assured that if he ever had 
 reached the Presidential chair his administration would 
 have been conservative and prosperous. The nation 
 has lost its greatest citizen ; his unique place in history 
 will never be filled. 
 
692 LIFE Or HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 A REMARKABLE MAN. 
 
 William M. Evarts, ex-Secretary of State and ex- 
 Senator, was always a great admirer of Mr. Elaine s 
 abilities as a great statesman. 
 
 Mr. Evarts said : It is the close of a very eventful 
 political career. Mr. Elaine was one of the most bril 
 liant public men in the history of the country. Besides 
 his brilliant public career, he attracted about him more 
 personal admiration and applause than any man of 
 his time. His hold in a place of history and in the 
 affections of the people of the United States will live 
 long after his death. My acquaintance with Mr. 
 Blain-e was intimate and agreeable for many years, 
 and I followed with interest the career of the most 
 conspicuous personality in recent public life. Mr. 
 Elaine was an able presiding officer in the House, and 
 in the Senate he ably demonstrated his capacity and 
 ability readily to grasp the great questions of the day. 
 At one time there was no orator in America who was 
 more than his equal, and in debate he was an antag 
 onist worthy to meet. His memory was something 
 marvellous, and facts and figures, when necessary, 
 were always at his tongue s end. He had one great 
 ambition. He.had the right to it. There are others 
 who aspired to the Presidency, and were as capable 
 as Mr. Elaine of administering the affairs of the 
 highest office in the land, but, like Henry Clay, it was 
 destined that he should never reach the White House. 
 But his fame could not have been greater had he 
 reached the height of his ambition. His place in his- 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTES. 593 
 
 tory will always remain. More ample testimony as 
 to his brilliant and varied career, accomplishments and 
 services may well await a later day. 
 
 ELAINE S OWN STATE DOES HIM HONOR. 
 
 The following proclamation was issued from the 
 Executive Department on the death of James G. 
 Blaine. 
 
 STATE OF MAINE EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, 
 
 AUGUSTA, Jan. 27, 1893. 
 To THE PEOPLE OF MAINE : 
 
 The Governor announces with feelings of profound 
 sorrow that the Hon. James G. Blaine died in the city 
 of Washington this forenoon at the hour of 1 1 o clock. 
 
 His long, faithful and distinguished service to his 
 State and to the country is fully recognized and appre 
 ciated. His noble life was filled with usefulness. He 
 was highly honored while living, and his death is sin 
 cerely and deeply mourned by every household in the 
 land. In recognition of his most eminent career, and 
 as a manifestation of the high respect entertained for 
 his memory, the Governor directs that the national 
 flag be at once displayed at half-mast upon the public 
 buildings of the State, and during the funeral services 
 all the departments of the Executive branch of the 
 State government be closed. 
 
 HENRY B. CLEAVES, Governor, 
 
 The Legislature appointed a committee to attend 
 the funeral of Mr. Blaine, also one to draw up appro 
 priate resolutions, and then adjourned until Monday. 
 Memorial services were held by the Legislature on 
 33 
 
594 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 the day of the funeral. Governor Cleaves and Gen 
 eral Selden Connor, chief of staff, represented the 
 State at the funeral services. 
 
 GENERAL REGRET IN CHICAGO. 
 
 Although it had been known for weeks that Mr. 
 Blaine was hopelessly ill, the news of his death came 
 with something like a shock to the majority of the 
 people of Chicago. Everywhere there were heard 
 expressions of sorrow and regret that so able a 
 man had been taken from the service of his country. 
 Political differences were obliterated and Democrats 
 * and Republicans alike uttered tributes of respect for 
 thte dead statesman. The general expressions re 
 minded one of the scene in the last Democratic Na 
 tional Convention, when resolutions of sympathy with 
 Mr. Blaine on the death of his son, Emmons, were 
 passed, by a rising vote. Mr. Elaine s death was the 
 topic of conversation at the clubs, hotels, public offices, 
 Board of Trade, Stock Exchange, and all places where 
 men congregate. Mayor Washburne ordered the flag 
 on the City Hall to be lowered to half-mast, and 
 Marshal Hitchcock caused the Stars and Stripes 
 over the Federal Building also to be placed at half- 
 mast. 
 
 The Hon. Mackenzie Bowell, Minister of Trade and 
 Commerce, who frequently met Mr. Blaine during the 
 reciprocity negotiations at Washington, said that he 
 did not share in the belief prevalent that Mr. Blaine 
 was unfriendly toward Canada. From experience he 
 had learned to regard Mr. Blaine as an advanced and 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTES. 595 
 
 liberal-minded statesman, ever disposed to do justice 
 to every country. 
 
 KIND WORDS FROM ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 " I shall ever retain most kindly memories of this 
 great statesman, and his family have my profound 
 sympathy in this their hour of deepest sorrow." 
 These were the words with which Vice-President-elect 
 Stevenson closed a brief interview on the death of Mr. 
 Elaine. " Mr. Elaine was a great debater a man of 
 wonderful eloquence. Life, color, passion and per 
 sonality were all thrown into his address. He com 
 bined with his eloquence such a thorough knowledge, 
 of his subject and such a complete mastery of detail 
 that his argument seemed irresistible. 
 
 " He possessed to a large degree that magnetism 
 which appeals to friend and foe that something 
 which made men follow his leadership wherever he 
 led them. As a popular idol, as a great leader of his 
 party, no statesman in modern times had a more de 
 voted following, possibly none had engendered more 
 bitter opposition among sections of his own followers 
 than Mr. Elaine. Mr. Elaine had many warm personal 
 friends among Democrats." 
 
 TRIBUTE FROM CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW. 
 
 Mr. Depew gave the following highly appreciative 
 estimate of the dead statesman : 
 
 Elaine was easily the most interesting and con 
 spicuous figure in the United States. He held this 
 position and had this unique distinction for a longer 
 period than any other American statesman. He alone 
 
596 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 of our public men aroused the curiosity and fixed the 
 attention of Europe upon his opinions and purposes. 
 He was a factor of equal and commanding importance 
 in our affairs, whether in or out of office. He had a 
 following for a quarter of a century whose ardor and 
 enthusiasm neither time nor defeat could cool or 
 quench. It is rare that a party leader combines the 
 intelligence which secures the assent of his party and 
 the personal qualities which win the affections of his 
 partisans. The Scotch-Irish blood of Mr. Elaine hap 
 pily blended the clear, cold and keen intellect of the 
 one race and the susceptibility and impressionability 
 of the other. 
 
 The secret of his success is not difficult to find. He 
 was always in close touch with the people. This 
 ready sympathy with popular aspirations and quick 
 determination to meet them aroused the distrust of the 
 critic and the terror of the conservative. For that 
 reason he always had the opposition of Mug-wumps. 
 The rapidity with which he arrived at conclusions and 
 the certainty and suddenness with which he acted 
 upon them created among these classes distrust and 
 suspicion. They charged him with ulterior motives 
 and secret machinations. 
 
 But the real source of his power was his frankness 
 and transparent candor. The plain people of the 
 country did not misunderstand him. He was pecu 
 liarly the representative of American ideas. His ad 
 vanced position and aggressive attitude in our foreign 
 relations excited the liveliest apprehensions in Europe 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTES. 597 
 
 and hostility at home. His action on those questions 
 was the natural result of the intense pride and ambi 
 tion in the progress and power of the United States 
 . which were the moving influences of his life. 
 
 The American people, as a rule, look with great 
 doubt upon spectacular exhibitions by public men. If, 
 however, the dramatic surprise has in it the elements 
 of victory, then they are captured by the episode, as 
 they were by the fall of Vicksburg on the Fourth of 
 July, or Sherman s march to the sea. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s defiant attitude and daring counter- 
 assault upon his enemies in the midst of the canvass 
 ing for a Presidential nomination, when he rushed 
 down the aisle of the House of Representatives and 
 himself read and presented the letters which it was 
 charged would incriminate him, was one of the most 
 brilliant, daring and triumphant movements in par 
 liamentary history. It sent a thrill of pride through 
 the households of his friends, and of admiration 
 through those of his enemies, all over the land. 
 
 His sudden and angry attack upon the McKinley 
 bill before the committee which had it in charge, when 
 he smashed his hat upon the copy of the bill and 
 declared that there was nothing in it for the farmer, 
 led to the examination and revision which enabled that 
 bill to become a law. 
 
 HIS WONDERFUL MEMORY. 
 
 Senator Sawyer, of Wisconsin, tells the following as 
 to Mr. Elaine s wonderful memory for names and 
 faces : " In 1874," he said, " Mr. Elaine made a speech 
 
598 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 in Wisconsin and he stopped with me. While he was 
 there I gave a dinner in Mr. Elaine s honor, to which 
 I invited Mr. Meyer, of Fond-du-Lac. In 1891, more 
 than sixteen years afterward, Mr. Meyer came here 
 and I took him to call on Mr. Elaine. Before we got 
 there we met Mr. Elaine, and when within about forty 
 feet of him he walked quickly forward and without any 
 hesitation said : Mr. C. L. J. Meyer, how do you do ? 
 
 A gentleman of the party with Senator Sawyer, 
 said: "I was with Mr. Elaine when he visited Lan 
 caster, O., during a campaign. Mr. Elaine had lived 
 there, and he got a great reception. He remembered 
 all the old residents. Finally some one brought in a 
 man whom they said he would not remember. 
 
 " Mr. Elaine replied : Yes, I do, give me a little 
 time. Pretty soon he remarked to the man, I never 
 saw you but once, and then he told this story : 
 
 " * When I was a boy there was great excitement one 
 day because a convict had escaped from the Columbus 
 Penitentiary, and had been tracked into that neigh 
 borhood. Police arrested him, and I (Mr. Elaine) was 
 one of the crowd around. The man was taken to a 
 blacksmith shop and had fetters riveted on him by the 
 blacksmith. You (turning to the man) and I walked 
 home to Lancaster together after that. 
 
 THE SORROW OF DIPLOMATS. 
 
 The death of Mr. Elaine occasioned great regret 
 among the members of the diplomatic corps at the 
 Capital, with nearly all of whom his relations were 
 quite intimate. Baron Fava, the Italian Minister, dean 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTE. 599 
 
 of the corps, said : " Personally, the death of Mr. 
 Elaine is a great affliction. He was in office as Sec 
 retary of State when I reached Washington, nearly 
 thirteen years ago, and went with me to the President 
 when I presented my credentials. Since then our 
 relations have been very pleasant. The loss to the 
 country of one of its greatest men I can appreciate, 
 and I desire to express the sorrow, not only of myself, 
 but of all my associates in the Diplomatic College, at 
 the sad event which has so afflicted your country." 
 
 Mr. Le Ghait, the Belgian Minister, who was with 
 Baron Fava when the reporter saw him, gave his con 
 currence to the expressions of sorrow, and said that 
 the members of the diplomatic corps would desire to 
 manifest in the most pronounced manner their appre 
 ciation of the worth of the dead statesman, and would 
 take part as a body in his funeral if it were a public 
 ceremonial, as they understood it would be. 
 
 MESSAGES OF SYMPATHY. 
 
 It is impossible to estimate even approximately the 
 number of callers who left cards at the Blaine mansion 
 on the day of his death. Mr. Blaine was known the 
 world over and from every part of the globe mes 
 sages of sympathy and sorrow are coming. Here are 
 a few telegrams given out this evening : 
 
 President-elect Grover Cleveland. His brilliant 
 statesmanship will always be an inspiration to the 
 nation he has served so long and so well. Permit me 
 to extend my sympathy on the death of your distin 
 guished husband. 
 
600 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Gov. Roswell P. Flower, of New York.- My great 
 respect and admiration for your late husband prompts 
 me to send this word of sympathy in your bereave 
 ment. The country will mourn his loss as that of a 
 brilliant statesman and true friend. 
 
 Gov. Pattison, of Pennsylvania. The sad message 
 of the death of Mr. Elaine has just reached me. You 
 have my heartfelt sympathy. The people of his 
 native State were greatly devoted to him while 
 living and mourn with you his death. 
 
 Gov. Crounse, of Nebraska. The people of Ne 
 braska weep with you over the death of your distin 
 guished husband. The solace for our sorrow comes 
 from the brilliant inheritance he has bequeathed the 
 nation. 
 
 Gov. Cleaves, of Maine. Permit me to express to 
 you the great sorrow felt by the people of Maine at 
 the death of Mr. Elaine. You are assured of their 
 deepest sympathy and that the entire States mourns 
 with you. 
 
 Robert T. Lincoln, Minister to Great Britain. We 
 lose a dear friend and deeply sympathize with you 
 and your children in your great affliction. 
 
 Chief-Justice Melville W. Fuller. Accept my sincere 
 sympathy. 
 
 Gov. McKinley, of Ohio. Please receive our sincere 
 sympathy on the death of your noble husband. The 
 people of Ohio share in your great sorrow and lament 
 the death of an illustrious statesman. 
 
 Gen. R. A. Alger. The nation has lost its foremost 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTES. 601 
 
 and best beloved citizen, but the name of your hus 
 band and the love of all classes, parties and creeds 
 for him shall never die. 
 
 James S. Clarkson. We send you loving sympathy 
 from the sorrowing hearts of a household in which 
 love of Mr. Elaine has long been a sweet and sacred 
 thing. 
 
 J. B. Foraker. Mjrs. Foraker joins me in tender 
 ing sympathy. The death of Mr. Elaine is a national 
 loss that will be recognized and deplored by all Ameri 
 cans regardless of political differences. 
 
 Andrew Carnegie. The sad news is everywhere. 
 The whole city seems stricken with grief. We shall, 
 of course, return to pay our last tribute. 
 
 Gov. Boies, of Iowa. The whole nation mourns 
 the death of your gifted husband. Nowhere within 
 its borders is sorrow for him or sympathy for you 
 more sincere than among his multitude of friends in 
 Iowa. 
 
 COMMENTS BY NEWSPAPERS. 
 From the Inter-Ocean, Chicago 
 
 The death of James G. Elaine, though on account 
 of his long illness fully anticipated, will cause a spasm 
 of grief throughout the country. Anticipation of 
 death is not always the realization of that great change. 
 It is human never to be ready for the death of loved 
 ones, and it is only when the eternal harvester cuts 
 the cord and removes every shred that can sustain 
 hope that we realize that they are gone from us for 
 ever. And certainly Mr. Blaine was a man loved and 
 
LIFE OF HON. JAMES G, BLAINE. 
 
 cherished by the American people. He was one of 
 them, and they clung to him through good and evil 
 report with a tenacity that defied all efforts, both of 
 friends and foes. Other characters may have cast 
 grander shadows over the nation and impressed the 
 people with a sense of greater obligation for services 
 rendered, but no other excited their imaginations and 
 stirred their feelings to such an extent as did James 
 G. Blaine. 
 
 It must be said of Mr. Blaine as of all other great 
 political leaders, that he was not always wise nor was he 
 always just, but whom the people much love they forgive 
 much, and if they ever charged up any of these errors 
 of judgment or temper against Mr. Blaine, they wrote 
 them in the sand and the lines disappeared with the 
 waves of returning enthusiasm which invariably came 
 when he again spoke to them. Mr. Blaine was a man 
 of comprehensive information with a wonderful faculty 
 for placing that information interestingly and clearly 
 before others. He was bold yet diplomatic both in 
 action and speech. His state papers will take rank 
 with those of our greatest secretaries. There was a 
 directness and American ring about them that found 
 an echo in every American heart. 
 
 It is, however, as the political leader that Mr. Blaine 
 will live in history and in the memory of his country 
 men. As such he is not comparable with any of his 
 contemporaries, nor is it probable that his like will 
 again be seen in American politics for a long 
 time. 
 
FRIENDLY TRIBUTES. 603 
 
 From the Courier- Journal, Louisville. 
 
 Among the modern leaders of American party 
 politics James G. Elaine stood easily first. In the 
 power of drawing to himself the admiration of great 
 masses of the people, and of arousing the enthusiasm 
 of his followers, he had no equal in either political 
 camp. 
 
 A certain lack of prestige which marked his brief 
 service in the Senate may be traced directly to the 
 circumstance that he was not a trained lawyer. No 
 man has ever made a career in the Senate that grave 
 yard of Presidential hopes and coffin of slain ambi 
 tions who was not. But as a commoner upon the 
 floor of the national House of Representatives, Mr. 
 Elaine was a Titan. He was a Titan before the 
 people. He was a Titan among his political asso 
 ciates in the closet and at the round table where 
 party plans are laid and party plans decided. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s lot was cast in high party lines. In 
 political controversy he neither asked nor gave quarter. 
 But in his private intercourse he was altogether free 
 from political prejudices, unreserved and generous to 
 his adversaries, genial to all, and altogether delightful 
 as a companion. He was not so august as Clay nor 
 so unguarded as Douglas, but he will rank with those 
 for a party leader and be classed with them and com 
 pared to them by the biographers, for as political 
 chieftains and popular debaters the trio possessed 
 much in common. 
 
 Peace to the ashes of a noble adversary ! All 
 
G04 LIFE OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 honor to the name of a great American ! At last the 
 Plumed Knight has joined the knightly throng whom 
 the ages have assembled on the other side. 
 
 From the American, Baltimore. 
 
 Mr. Elaine was the foremost figure of his time in 
 American public life, and this was due to the extraor 
 dinary qualities of the man. His name came to be 
 reckoned among the half-dozen names which consti 
 tute the crowning galaxy of American statesmanship. 
 No man in American politics filled a broader space 
 for a longer period than Mr. Elaine, and the country 
 loses him while in the maturity of his splendid powers. 
 
 From the Constitution, Atlanta. 
 
 Mr. Elaine s death removes one of fhe most brilliant 
 and picturesque figures in modern politics. Com 
 paring him with Henry Clay as a partisan, Elaine 
 had a better hold on the public mind, though Clay was 
 a greater man as a statesman, while not cutting such 
 a figure in politics. The people, regardless of party, 
 instinctively knew that at his best Mr. Elaine was a 
 representative American, a man ardently in love with 
 his whole country and its institutions. 
 
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