Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-06-09
Blaine.

days since he was under q cloud, in
consequence of the testimony of a
witness before one Of the investigat-
ing committees of the House, named
Mulligan, from Boston, who testified
to certain alleged transactions in rail
road stocks by the ex-Speaker, which
seemed to cast shadow upon his in
tegrity, and to reopen the charge that
the $4,000 of worthless railroad
bonds sold to the Union Pacific Rail
road Company were for his benefit.
Mulligan brought with him to Wash
ington a package Of Mr.. Blaine's
private letters, written to firm of
brokers, for whom Mulligan was
book-keeper. This correspondence
he intimated would, if disclosed, ruin
Mr.. Blaine and his prospects. The
latter called on Mulligan and secured
possession of this private correspond
ence. Mr.. Blaine protesting that
these letters contained nothing bear
ing upon the investigation, refused
to submit his private correspondence
to the inspection of the committee,
and was fortified in such refusal by
the counsel of jeremiah Black and
ex-senator Carpenter. The effect of
this refusal to produce the letters,
Notwithstanding his solemn assurance
that they related in no manner to the
pending inquiry, was to create sus-
picion in the public mind that they
might possibly contain something
that would criminate Mr.. Blaine, and
this feeling. was doing serious dam
age to him as an available candi-
date for the Presidency, when, on
Monday last, on the floor of the
House, he met the emergency in his
Enthusiastically brilliant and cour-
ageous manner, turning the battle
against his enemies and reviving the
dropping spirits of his friends. The
scene was one Of the most intensely
dramatic in the history of the House.
Taking the floor on question of
privilege, Mr.. Blame briefly reviewed
the history OF the investigation of the
Union Pacific and Fort Smith rail
rosd matters, and then, turning upon
the committee, in his impulsive style,
he charged that the investigation was
undertaken, not to get at the truth,
but to besmirch him. He arraigned
Proctor Knott, the Chairman of the
judiciary Committee, for having
selected the committee specially for
that purpose. He charged that to
this end two members from the South,
who had served in the rebel army,
were placed upon it, and adroitly al
luded to his speech in reply to the
rebel Hill last January, as the mov-
ing cause of the hostility to him.
Amid the mtensest excitement, Gre
ated by his aggressive words and
manner, Mr.. Blaine accused Knott of
having received, some days before,
cable dispatch from Josiah Caldwell,
in England, completely generating
him from the charges against him,
which, for partisan ends, he sup
pressed. Abiding to the private let
tiers he had reclaimed from Mulligan,
and the suspicious raised as to their
contents, Mr.. Blaine, in a dramatic
manner, holding the package of let
tiers aloft, invited "the confidence Of
100000 of people," and then pro-
cceded to read them. 1t Is hardly
necessary to say that they contained
nothing relating to the matters be-
fore the committee, much less impli-
eating Mr.. Blaine in anything dis
honorable, though they show him to
have been a pretty extensive operator
IN railroad stocks, some of which
afterward proved worthless.
The effect of Mr.. Blaine's impas-
stoned vindication OF himself and of
his impetuous arraignment of the
Democratic committee, although the
latter was not entirely just in all re-
spects, was to excite on the floor and
galleries the most marked demonstra-
tons of approval. Its effect upon
the popular mind will be all that was
anticipated. 1t will make Mr.. Blaine
more popular than ever, and go far
to make his nomination at Cincinnati
an assured fact. 1t is in all respects
a remarkable performance, and ex-
hiblts in a superlative degree the
wonderful fertility of resources, the
splendid dash and audacity, and the
perfect command of parliamentary
strategy which characterize the gen.
tleman from Maine.
BEN BUTLER thinks Tilden will be
nominated because he has money, and
Ben scouts the idea that campaign
can be conducted without much
money. He says Tilden has several
millions and no family. and asks why