The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-07-22
THE DEATH OF GENERAL BLAIR

4
Francis P. Blair, jr, is dead. He has
been suffering from paralysis for three
wears, and recently the only intelligence
concerning him has been that he had re-
ceived benefit from the TRANSMISSION OF
blood, but was too far gone to survive.
Frank Blair-no one could know him
long without calling him Frank-will fill
considerable space in the history OF
his country. His first notable appear
ance in public was when elected men,
Der of Congress from st. Louis. He was
Free Soiler, and his distinction was
that of man from slave State who was
opposed to the naturalization of slavery.
AS Congressman he was success.
He was ready, afable, plucky and perse-
vering. He appeared in this city as
stump speaker in behalf of John A. Cur
ley, making several effective speeches in
the county. One Of the strong points of
his speeches was in showing how Mary
land and Missouri, the States with which
he was most acquainted, were managed
in the interest of the slaveholding mi
nority.
The assault that Frank Blair made
upon shareholders was not that slavery
was sin, and shareholders wicked, but
that slavery was a minority matter-a
monopoly-and that those in possession
of it Disseminated against all others
that the owners of black men and women
assumed the direction of white men who
did not hold property in man, and made
themselves caste. He said the young
white men of the country, not interested
in slave property, could not have fair
chance until the slave power was broken.
Frank Blair wandered long way from
his old Free Soil friends, but We are not
aware that he ever disowned these SEN
timents.
Opposition to slavery was for long
time associated, or assumed to be asocia-
ted, with extraordinary pretensions to
personal propriety. 1t seems at one time
to have been thought highly inconsistent
for an Abolition st to chew tobacco, play
cards, use profane language or drink
whisky; and one of the rough jokes on
Blair was that, after making slashing
speech on the edge of Kansas, during ex-
citing times in that State, company of
anti-slavery men of the good old sort,
seeking the orator of the occasion and
champion of freedom, after the meeting,
were obliged to enter bar-room to pay
their respects, and were there shocked
to see that the champion" partook of
strong refreshments and INDUCED in ex-
ira ordinary freedom Of speech.
In the Chicago Convention of 1860,
Frank Blair joined Horace Greeley in
urging the nomination of Edward Bates,
of Missouri. He said he thought the
time had come to give themoderate anti
slavery men "a living chance" He cor
daily a accepted and powerfully supported
the candidacy Of of Abraham Lincoln.
The first effective blow against the
rebels was struck by Frank Blair in St.
Louis, when he captured the "secesh" in
Camp Jackson. He entered the army
and was a good Division General, and as
brave a man as ever wore sword. His
personal courage was displayed on many
occasions, and was generally observed
and remarked in the bloody repulse that
followed Sher mans first attack upon
Vicksburg
Frank Blair was one of the men who
thought General Grant man of re-
markable capacity. He was in the habit
Of remarking that Grant was an under
rated man. He was quite emphatic about
the disposition of Democrats to make the
mistake of supposing Grant a small man
elevated by accidents He thought, Grant |
one of the maryels among men, and has
a thousand times made the prophecy |
that Grant would be President while he !
lived
The nomination of Mr.. Blair for the
Vice Presidency by the Democracy, in
1868, was, to HIM, an unmixed misfor- |
tune. The Brodhead letter, proposing |
resistance to the policy of reconstruc-
ton, gave him the nomination, second |
ed, as it was, by his relative, Gen. Pres
ton, of Kentucky, and by Wade Hamp-
ton, General Forrest, and other Confed- |
crate officers.
The last appearance of General Blair |
in public affairs was in the Cincinnati |
Convention of 1872 where he saw, from
a seat on tie platform, the success of the |
scheme of which he was one OF the con-
trivers-for the nomination of Greeley
and Brown. A few months afterward,
the shock tEat announced that his ner'
vuus system had been worn out, occurred,
and he has but fingered. III .s|HH
With all his faults, Frank Blair was a
generous and game man. genial, able,
alert, too fond of excitement, but not
afraid of labor; hasty il Judgment, per-
haps, but daring in execution, with the
courage of his opinions always. Never a
conservative in affairs or of himself, he
lavished his strength according to his
fancies, and, though comparatively
young man, his death was like that of
one who passes away in extreme old age.
= CincinndH Commercial