The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-06-06
Mr.. Blnine's Lettcrs-A Tumuituous
Day I'm Congress.

Mr.. Blaine did we'll to read in the House
yesterday the letters which have created such
a stir The desperate and discreditable
and his stubborn refusal TO surrender them
to the committee led the public to surmise
that their contents must be fatally
damaging 1t was safer for Mr.. Blaine
to face the reality than to suf-
fer under the license of conjecture
which was inevitable so long as the
letters were concealed. His frantic efforts
for suppression compelled the public to
form an unfavorable opinion, and it was
natural for Mr.. Blaine's rivals in his own
party, as we'll rs his enemies out OF 1t, to
imagine the worst. No conceivable con-
tents of the letters could have done him SO
much injury as the impression made by his
tricky attempts at concealment, which JUS
tilted the inference so widely drawn that he
would be disgraced and ruined by their
publication. His reading them in the
House relieves the anxiety of his friends,
and creates u reaction in his favor
by disclosing the actual nature of the cor
respondencc, which is not so fatal to his
reputation as his extraordinary conduct led
the country to suspect
Before examining the letters it may not be
out of place to consider the strange course
of Mr. Blaine when he learned that they
were in possession of Mulligan, and the
signs Of CONSERVATION he exhibited at tho
prospect of their publication. That part Of
his conduct betokened something very
different from conscious innocence. II he
could have prevailed on Mulligan to
make voluntary surrender Of the letters
and to suppress tho fact Of their existence he
would have buried them forever from the
public knowledge Finding this impossi-
BILE che burst not let them come to light
through the committee, but determined to
read them himself with extenuating CLOSES
and explanations to break their force. Had
they been submitted to tho committee the
letters would have been deliberately exam
ined, and obscure points in them would
have been cleared up by the tes-
timony of Mulligan, who had per-
feet knowledge OF the transactions. Mr..
Blaine did not think it safe to let the
investigation proceed in this regular course.
He dared not let the correspondence go
forth to the country without his exculpatory
CLOSES. This would be singular line of
conduct if pursued by man strong in the
sense of his own innocence. Such desperate
efforts ut concealment rs we're made by Mr..
Blaine are condemned by his own statements
in his first personal explanation in the House
on the oath of April. He said, on that occa-
sion, with great emphasis :-"My whole con-
nection with the road has been as open
as the day. If there had been any
thing to conceal about it l should
never have touched it. Wherever conceal-
ment is desirable avoidance is advisable; and
l do not know any better test to apply to the
honor and fairness of business transaction"
Mr. Blaine has not thought it safe to apply
this 'test Of honor and fairness" to his own
transactions. He has given incontestable
proofs that "concealment is desirable" in
relation to things he has done, and the pub
lie will accept his correct inference that in
those things which shun the light ''avoid-
ance was advisable" This sound maxim of
with witnesses and suppress evidence relat-
ing to his railroad transactions.
The attempt of Mr. Blaine to rouse party
feeling in his favor by ascribing these inves-
tigations to democratic hostility growing
out of his speech on the amnesty question
is artful but sophistical. 1t is in conflict
with facts and with his own statements in
the personal explanation he made in the
House on the oath of April, when he assigned
republican origin to the assaults
on his character. He then said -
s.Emissaries Of SANDER have visited
the editorial rooms of leading republic
can newspapers from Boston to Omaha, and
whispered of revelations to come that were
too terrible even to be spoken of in loud
tones" Most certainly it was not democrats
that went to republican papers with these
damaging stories about Mr.. Blaine The
meeting of editors in Cincinnati, several
months ago. to consult about these stories,
was a meeting of republican editors. Mr..
Harrison, who was the author Of the first re-
port, is a republican, who derived his inn
pressions from Mr.. Rollins another republic
can. Mr.. Atkins. who published, week or two
since a private letter of Mr.. Blaine, relating
to railroad transaction, is a republican,
and Mulligan, who brought these letters to
Washington, of which Mr.. Blaine got posses
sion by FORGETTING his word, is also a repub-
lican. In tho face of these notorious facts it
will not strengthen public confidence in Mr..
Blaine's fairness and sincerity to see him
ascribe these assaults on his character to
democratic malice. His own letters, which
have put him on the defensive, are not of
democratic origin, nor were they brought to
the public knowledge by democratic malig-
nifty. Neither Atkins nor Mulligan acted by
democratic inspiration. Mr.. Blaine's at
tempt to prop up his falling reputation by
appeals to party feeling, instead of meeting