Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1881 — GARFIELD AND BLAINE. [ARTICLE]

GARFIELD AND BLAINE.

The Secretary’s Letter Accepting the Tender of the Stale Department. The Philadelphia Press publishes the ’letter of Secretary Blaine accepting the tender of the State Department, made him by the late President Garfield. It is as follows: Washington, D. C., Dec. 20, 1880. Mr Dear Gauflkld : Your generous invitation to enter your Cabinet as Secretary of State has been under con Bileration for more than th-ee weeks. The thought had really never occurred to my mind tint it at our late conference you p' esented it with such cogent arguments ia .’8 favor, anl with such warmth of personal ,’ricndship in aid of your kind offer. I »u-w 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. 1 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 1 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 yon 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 me in consequence of the mere unauthorized newspaper report that you had been pleased to off, r me the pl icc. While I have received these letters from all sections of tho Union, I have been especially pleased and even sarpris< d at the cordial and widely-extended feeling in my favor throughout Now England, where I bad expec ed to encounter local jealousy, and, perhaps, a rival aspiration. In our new relation I shall give all that I am and all that I can hope to be freely and joyfully to your service. You need no pledge of my loyalty in heart and in act. I should be false to myself did I not prove true both to the great trust vou confide to me and to your own personal and political fortunes in present and in future. I’our administration must be made eminently successful and strong in the confidence and pride of the people, not at all directing its energies for re-election, and yet comoelling that result by the logic of events, and by the imperious necessities of the situation. To that most desirable consummation I feel that, next to yourself, I can possibly contribute as much influence as any other man. I say this, not from egotism or vain-glory, but merely as the deduction from a plain analysis ot 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 circumstances connected with this affair that, in allying my political for unes 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 support, but personal and political friendship. I can but regard it as somewhat remarkable that two men of tbo 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 oL.close intimacy have had a misunderstanding 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 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. BLAINE.