The Portland daily press., 1870-05-18
Did Speaker fIaiae Beiray sennisr
G t-

The Advertiser of Saturday comments at
considerable length upon the letter of Senator
Morrill, generating Speaker Blaine from the
charge of contributing to his defeat in the
Senatorial contest of 1869. The estimate" of
MIR. Morill's strength made by his friends Just
prior to the caucus as compared with the act
ual result is spread out in tabular FORM and
furnishes the basis of an argument of which
the following is summary Mr.. Morrill, ex
pected to receive, cas- per estimate 90 votes
As matter of fact he received "a votes The
larger part of this difference between tie
estimate" and the fact oet urred in Mr. Blaine S
district, consequently Mr.. Blaine betrayed Mr..
Morrill, for the purpose of improving his own
chances in 1871.
Now that is a very convenient way of dis
posing of the entire matter, and saves the
trouble of investigating several circumstances
which might in the minds of some persons
have q bearing upon the conclusion to be al
rived at. For instance, some people have
imagined that Mr.. Morrill's friends may have
been just little too sanguine in relation to
their count in Mr.. Blaine's district as we'll as
in other districts-that some who were report
ed at headqu ,rters as sure for Mr.. Morrill, were
enormously reported, and were in fact, ''orgi-
nal Hamlin men," and that Mr.. Morrill,, after
inspecting the returns showing III more than
half" favorable to him, might have placed
slightly too much confidence therein, and rest
ed a little too easy The Adcertiser says he
rested quite easy" The estimate of '17
more than half" was thought sufficient to war
rant him in thus taking his ease.
But Mr. Hamlin, who, according TO the
Advertiser claimed 80 votes, being "a more
than half, never rested quite easy" and as a
matter of fact, didn't "rest easy" at all, until
the result OF the balloting was announced.
lie acted throughout as though Estimates"
however iattering to look at were at hest
swain things for saiety''-as though some of
his enthusiastic friends might be mistaken and
that it was not utterly impossible for mem
Der supposed to be favorably disposed toward
him, to turn up at the critical moment, voting
for "the other man."
But it is easy to Jump at conclusions and the
Advertiser may be right. We take different
view of the matter altogether. We think Mr..
Morrill's strength was over estimated from the
beginning. We E,,o,c it was in certain quar-
tiers. We think his friends were too confident
and every body understands the resu 1t of that
The fact that no one Of Mr.. Hamlin's sup
porters so far as we know ever n,istrusted that
Mr.. Blaine was in any sense their ally-and
the additional fact that some can testify that
no man piled them with more adrot and pow
erful arguments for abandoning Mr.. Hamlin
than did Mr. Blaine, ought to be taken into
consideration in arriving at conclusion.
And now we have Senator Morril's letter,
clearly and emphatically giving his opinion
upon the matter; surely that ought to have
some weight. He was the party most deeply
interested and is and has been in a position
where he must have had opportunities equal at
least to any body else for arriving at Just
conclusion, and he unequivocally repels the
charge. Everybody who cares ANYTHING about
the matter at all, will Of course have an onin.
ion. With SO many reasons why Mr.. Morri,ps
defeat can be accounted for without resort;no
to the "treachery' theory, many people will be
slow to accept that as a solution of the contro-
versy, and finally settle upon one more in ae-
cordance with what appears to be the real facts
in the case.