Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1884 — MR. BLAINE’S CAREER. [ARTICLE]

MR. BLAINE’S CAREER.

Where Is There a Symptom of* Ills Dishonesty as a Public Man? of Hon. R. B. Harrison, of Connecticut.] The attack upon Mr. Blaine has made an impression among some Republicans, but the recent vindication which has come from Maine has also made an impression upon many ot our Democratic friends. There are others of our friends in this city who, although they believe not as we do, are worthy of our respect. I admit with them that no corrupt man ought to be elected President ot the United States. I admit with them that the right to bolt is also theirs. The gentlemen to whom I refer are not the originators of the assault upon Mr. Blaine. I shall allude to enemies of Mr. Blaine, but I shall not class these gentlemen among them. I do not flatter myself that anything! shall say at this late day will make any great difference with them, and yet there may be among these gentlemen of well poised and well-balanced opinions some who may be led to reconsider their determination. What has been charged against Mr. Blaine? He has beencharged with being a corrupt man. Chief among his accusers is a man of remarkable power, Carl Schurz. Mr. Schurz is vastly more effective than those surrounding him. What he has not said against Mr. Blaine cannot be said. Now, what kind of a man is Schurz? He is apt to believe one thing to-day and another thing to-morrow. He was once a Republican and defended that great soldier, Gen. Grant. Then he deserted to the enemy, to return again. He has now joined the Democratic party tor the second time. And the tongue which defamed one of the greatest soldiers of the age is now defaming one of the greatest statesmen of his time, James G. Blaine. But Mr. Schurz will come round all right, and will again ask tor admission to the Republican party. With regard to a certain ruling of Mr. Blaine, Mr. Schurz claims that it was a prostitution ot official power for the purpose of making money. Now, let us give Mr. Blaine that decent measure of justice which is due to every man when h'.s reputation is at stake. Mr. Blaine was offered an interest in a certain railroad, a legitimate transaction. Mr. Schurz refers to Mr. Blaine’s letter, in which the writer stated that he should not be a deadhead It) the . enterprise. What fight bad Mr. Schurz to charge evil motives to Mr. Blaine? What right has any one to say that when James G. Blaine says that he sees various channels in which he can be useful to the concern, he proposed to use his official patronage to further the enterprise?. Mr. Blaine also exerted himself to raise funds for the railroad comj-any. In this there was not an exercise of official power. He never attempted to use official power in behalf ot that enterprise. . There was no intimation that Mr. Blaine attempted any asststance to the bill. What right has anyone to sav that because Mr. Blaine maide a righteous decision at one time he undertook to do a righteous thing for an unrighteous purpose? No man of car dor can accept the interpretation that Mr. Schurz puts upon it. Well, there were a great many Mulii an letters. How many pt you have read those letters to see if Mr. Blaine sought to use his influence for an Im-

proper purpose? I have read and again, and I stand here and assert that tn all those letters there is not any offer made by Mr. Blaine to misuse his official power for any purpose. There is not in those letters any suggestion of using his otli ial power for any purpose at all, good, bad or indifferent I have thns far taken a defensive attitude concerning Mr. Blaine. I now i ropose to take the intensive. liiow propose to advance to the very center ot the citadel < f Mr. Sc'hurz. I propose to bring to your attention a s.t of facts which nre absolutely impossible to‘ contradict. If I can bn ak down Mr. Schurz's center, we need not be troubled about th—wings. In this line of attack I will not ask any testimony from Mr. Blaine or any friend ot Mr. Blaine. 1 propose to call upon the responsible authors of this accusation—chief among them Carl Schurz. Mr. Blaine was in Congress eighteen years, for six years as Speaker. There were during that period pending before Congress corrupt jneasnres of one kind or another. During those eightem years there was not an Hour when Mr. Blaine, had he be 11 inclined to do wron”, would not have been tqmp.ed to do Wrong. What was hisrecord during those eighteen years? Mr. Schurz-has examined that record. Everything that could be hunted up against Mr. Blaine has been ferreted out. During ad those eighteen years of Mr. Blaine's service in Congress he gave probably hundreds of vot s. Neither Carl 8- hurt nor anyone else has ever dared to charge that Mr. B aine ever once voted for a ba 1 measure, or against a good one. Mr. Schurz, in your great Brooklyn speech, why did you suppress this great fact? During those eighteen years Mr. Plaine made a good many speeches. No one has dared charge that, all those wears, he made a speech in favor of a bad measure, or against a good one. Why di 1 Mr. Schurz suppr< ss this fact? Mr. Blaine ytas a great parliamentarian. Carl Schurz has not ci.arged t hat Jam s G. Blain .i- ever made use of his parliamentary skill to help a bad ijieasure, or Jun t a good one. Mr. Blaine was Speaker of. the House for six yeafs. ’ Neither Carl Schnrz nor any other enemy of Mr. Blaine has ever charged that Mr. Blaine ever made a bad ruling. -They tacitly admit his rulings were -pure-and right. I say that, as strong as every one of these fact-i is when we are considering the public life of Mr. Blaine, their strenth as a wholejs increased by combination, and the result is itresistrble. The result is that the record of James G. Blaine is absolutely without spot, stain, blemish, or shadow. I «av, and 1 ask any candid man if it is not true, that I have met Mr. Schurz’s line of argnihent at the front, and the accusation is broken down. The smoke and the vile mist with which they have surlounded the true_Blaine disappears. And Mr. Blaine comes out in the light of the not nday sun, confronting his enemies with this brilliant record in his hands. And yet, as spotless as has been Mr. Bla'ne’s record, how awful has been tte attack upon him! He Is caricStfired and lampooned week after week by that Harper's 11 i ek:iy which caricatured Abraham. Lincoln as a-drunkard. Even the reputations of his wife and children have been attacked. AU other reforms should tern ot American politics;' Unless tin American people shall vindicate men of honor thus shamefully attacked, every man in public life will flee from positions of trust as from the, pestilence which walketh at noonday i—- --