Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1888 — TO BE OR NOT TO BE BLAINE. [ARTICLE]

TO BE OR NOT TO BE BLAINE.

He Refuse* to Make Hi* Flerence'|Deol»ration More Explicit—Belief That He. Will Run. ' ; New York, May 21.—A correspondent of the Press in Paris cables that paper as follows: “The stories that have been for some time in circulation on the other side of the Atlantic, that the intimate friends of James G. Blaine, while discrediting any announcement that he would accept the Republican nomination if it were offered him, have nevertheless been quietly working in almcst all the States to secure delegates for him after the first ballot, were all cabled over here. The publication here of the actual figures of the supposed Blaine managers in New York City, however, gives a new impetus to the Blaine talk. It seemed from the figures that Mr. Blaine would have the largeetnumber of votes—something like 360 or 370—0 n the first ballot, even before the favorite sons had been deserted; that on th« second, although comparatively few delegations had been instructed for him, he would go to 550, and that his nomination, wit h the greatest enthusiasm and yet the greatest calmness, cruld not be postponed beyond thethird ballot. Themoment this news arrived I took the most sirenuoua means to find ou f what Mr. Blaine’s attitude was, and I am happy to say that my efforts have been successful. Atli. xaIHIEC u&u HOL £l€*aiG 15“ t lull details of the reports published in New York, and I was very glad to give them to him. Naturally he was not displeased, but he saidwithout equivocation that

his Florentine letter and his later inter* view, which Mr. Crawford secured for the World, represented his present attitude with complete truth. He had felt sure, he said, that after nis letter stating that hi) name would not go before the Chicago Convention had been published, the many acknowledged leaders of the Republican party, East and West, would be actively pushed for the nomination, ! and he was glad to see that they had been put forward so honestly, and he could not see why so many should assume, even in the matters of the greatest importance to his own domestic and personal interests, as well as to those of his parcy, that it was impossible for him to be honest. He did not want to be a candidate, and he had reasons for not wanting to be a candidate which were personal to himself, and which, as they could so readily be imagined, he Was under no obligation to make known. The fact wes he had been through one terribly hard fight; it bad been a cruel strain upon his family also; and while he could never be accused of willfully shirking any of the duties of leadership which the Republican party bad honored him with, he yet felt that he bad a right to draw out and leave the fight to other lands, and espec'ally since they were plentiful and quite capable of winning the victory for protection and other good Republican ideas. All the vague and mirchievous statements about his movements and motives and health had been very annoying at first, and it would not be unreasonable to ask to be spared, but now they had become amusing rather than anything else. He thought it a good way for all of his friends to pass them over as so much twaidle. His health was not so good in all respects as be should like Io have it; very few men of sixty could sry anything different from that But he hoped to live many years yet He felt confident that he should greatly enjoy his trip through Scotland with the Carnegies, and he already anticipating its pleasures. “When I called Mr. Blaine’s attention to the reported feet that his friends in New York City, ex Senator Platt, Stephen B. Elkins, Editor Reid and others were quietly working for him, or at least were taking no pains to discourage those in New York State and elsewhere who were disposed to favor him from first to last at the convention, the Maine statesman said that he knew nothing about it. His letters from his friends in America were purely personal and familiar and did not relate to politics, for he, at his distance, could not talk about politics in reply. He did not believe though, that his friends'who knew him best, would do anything to show that they misunderstood his position or were willing to allow others to .mis-, understand it. The prospects of Republican success were to good for any loyal Republican leaders to fritter away the confidence of the party by any course that would be uncalled for as well aa dishonest “Mr. Blaine has grown gray since I last saw him, five months ago. As he himself says, a man can not help growing old after be is fifty-five. Bnt if he is a sick man, I am unable to discover it. Aside from a touch of the gout now and then, which very naturally has a tendency to make him unhappy and irritable for the moment, he is the same wholehearted, charming man. He is certainly enjoying himself Andrew Carnegie was seen by a reporter of the Press last evening, and he said that it was his opinion that Mr. Blaine would abideby his first statement to the public. “When he said 'I decline to run,’ he meant it. He said, ‘Let the army choose another leader for the next campaign.’ Il it will not and calls upon him, he cannot and will not decline to bead the Republican ticket to victory. Mr. Blaine is too honest a man to decline to serve bis country when duty calls him. If the Republican national delegate at Chicago choose James G. Blaine by a unanimous vote, he will undoubtedly consent to run. “Mrs. Blaine,” said Mr. Carnegie “cabled from Paris yesterday, stating that she has reconsidered her decision to come home. Herself and Mr. Blaine are both in excellent health.” Hon. Stephen B. Elkins said last night tbjt there is no doubt whatever that Mr. Blaine will not change his determination to run for the presidency unless persuaded to do so by the unanimous vcice of the National Convention. He disbelieved that 1 Ir. Blaine would decide against the entire body of Republican National Delegates if they voted to place him in nomination.