Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1884 — BLAINE WRITES A LETTER [ARTICLE]

BLAINE WRITES A LETTER

Explaining Why Two Marriage Ceremonies Were Performed. • —————— [New York telegram. J Hon. William Walter Phelps takes the responsibility of giving to the public the following private letter addressed to him nearly two weeks ago: „ _ „ Augusta, Me., Sept.«. My Dear Mr. Phelps: I have your favor of the 4th advising me that "the continuous inventlon and wide circulation of evil reports render it advisable (in your judgment) not to wait the slow process of the law, but to speak directly to the public in my own vindication.* In this opinion many others on whose judgment I rely concur. . I shrink instinctively from the suggestion, although I feel sure I could strengthen the confidence of all who feel friendly to me by bringing to view the simple thread of truth which is concealed In the endless tissues of falsehood. Yon can imagine hovtTnexpresßibly painful It must he to discuss one’s domestic life in the press, although I think with yon that under the circumstances I could count upon the generosity of the public to justify a statement which otherwise might seem objectionable. I can, in any event, safely commit the facts to you for personal communication to those who have taken so delicate and so considerate an interest in my affairs. The leisure hours of to-day, when onr campaign Is ended, and we wait only for the election, gives me the opportunity for this prompt reply and for the following essential details. At Georgetown, Ky., in the spring of 1848, when I was but 18 years of age. I first met the lady who for more than thirty-four years has been my wife. Onr acquaintance resulted at ihe end of six months in an engagement, which, without the prospect of speedy marriage, we naturally sought to keep to ourselves. Two years later, in the spring of 1850, when I was maturing plans to leave my profession in Kentucky and establish myself elsewhere, I was suddenly summoned to Pennsylvania by the death of my father. It being very doubtful if I could return to Kentucky, I was threatened with an Indefinite separation from her who possessed my entire devotion. My one wish was to secure her to myself by an Indissoluble tie against every possible contingency in life, and en the 30th day of June, 1850, just prior to my departure from Kentucky, we were, in the presence of chosen and trusted friends, united by what I knew was in my native State of Pennsylvania a perfectly legal form of marriage. On reaching home I found that my family, and especially my bereaved mother, strongly discountenanced my business plans as Involving too long a separation from home and kindred. I complied with her wish that I should resume, at least for a time, my occupation in Kentucky, whither I returned in the latter part of August. During the ensuing winter, induced by misgivings, which were increased by legal consultations, I became alarmed lest a doubt might be thrown upon the validity of our maixiage by reason of non-compliance with the law of the State where it had ocourred, for I had learned that the laws of Kentucy made a license certified by the Clerk of the County Court an indispensable requisite of a leral marriage. After much deliberation, »nd with an anxious desire to guard in the most effectual manner against any embarrassment resulting from onr position—for which I alone was responsible—we decided that the simplest and at the same time the surest way was to repair to Pennsylvania and have another marriage service performed. This was done in the presence of witnesses in the city of Pittsburgh, in the month of March, 1851, but was not otherwise made public, for obvious reasons. It was solemnized only to secure an indisputable validity—the first marriage being by myself and my wife always held sacred. At the mature age of 541 do not defend the wisdom or prudence of a secret marriage, suggested by the ardor and the Inexperience of youth; but its honor and its purity were inviolate, as I believe, in the sight of God, and can not be made to appear otherwise by the wicked devices of men. It brought to me a companionship which has been my chief happiness from boyhood’s years to this hour, and has crowned me with whatever success I have attained in life. My eldest child, a son, was born in his grandmother’s house on the 18th day of June, 1851, in the city of Augusta, Me., and died in her arms three years later. His ashes repose in the cemetery of his native city, beneath a stone which recorded his name and the limits of his inhocent life. That stone, which had stood for almost an entire generation, has been recently defaced by brutal and sacrilegious hands. As a candidate for the Presidency I knew that I should encounter many forms of calumny and personal defamation, but I confess that I did not expect to be called upon to defend the name of a beloved and honored wife, who is a mother aDd a grandmother; nor did I expect that the grave of my little child would be cruelly desecrated. Against such gross fegms of wrong the law gives no adequate redress, and I know that in the end my most effective appeal against the unspeakable outrages which I resist must be to the noble manhood and noble womanhood of America. Your friend very sincerely.

JAMES G. BLAINE.