Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-04-10
From the Lewiston Journal.

From the Lewiston Journal.
Mr.. BLAINE As Il STATESXAE.
The popular instinct, which is offer
quicker and sharper than the perception
of partisan leaders and pretentious publ
cists, keenly discerns the strong qualitle;
of Hon. JAMES G.. BLAINE as the Presi-
Dental candidate to lead the republican
party to victory in the approaching ma
tional contest. His clear comprehension
of the national duties and necessities, his
thorough appreciation of the vulnerable
points of the enemy, and the fearless di-
rectness with which he aims his blows,
have awakened the popular enthusiasm to
a degree that is disturbing the nerves OF
sleepy conservatives, and exciting the
fears of the Confederate politicians OF the
South, and their democratic allies of the
North. His rising popularity has SUBJ
stantial cause. which timid politicians do
not seem to comprehend.
A certain class of individuals, Of limited
numbers, while admitting that the popu-
lar tide is rising in his favor, try to break
the force of this fact by asserting that the
masses are not capable of correctly esti
mating him-that he is sagacious politi
clan, but not statesman.
Mems standard Of statesm anship varies
greatly according to temperament and
moral and political education. That OF
some persons, assuming to be judges, is
very peculiar. There have been English
men who have regarded Sir William Tenn
pie wiser statesman than Lord Chatham.
OF the former Macaulay remarks: 1--WE
must own that many statesmen who have
committed very great faults, appear to us
to be deserving more esteem than the
faultless Temple, For in truth his fault
lessness is chiefly to be ascrbed to the
dread of all responsibility. He never put
himself prominently before the public eye
except at conjunctures where he was al
most certain to gain and could not posi-
bly, lose"
But to all sensible minds the placid.
cautious. timid craftsmanship of Temple
seems diminutive in contrast to the bold
measures of cabinet and rugged aggres
sive parliamentary eloquence of Lord
Chatham. Not unfrequently in our polit-
ical history have these assumptions of su-
perior judgment been made by certain
professed teachers Of the people. When
Daniel Webster, with the massive force OF
his logic and eloquence, crushed into i'm
palpable dust the errors in political econ
omy and the heresies of Calhoun and
Hayne, he was declared to be no states
man, but merely disturbing agitator, a
New England politician not to be fol-
lowed.
When John Quincy Adams boldly de-
Tended the sacred rights of petition in the
National House OF Representatives. where
it had been repeatedly trampled beneath
the despotic heel of the Southern and
Northern democracy, he was declared TO
be merely noisy demagogue who was
reopening an Improbable question and ex-
citing unpleasantness among Southern
brethren to the general injury of the coun-
try. In the eyes of these good natured
quietists, Edward Everett. uttering his
polished. elaborate platitudes. which car
ried with them no lightnings of heated
indignation against national injustice. were
thought to be more statesmanlike than
the bold and scorching words of Charles
slavery, and the strong and fearless de-
nunciation OF Henry Wilson and Salmon
p. Chase against the fugitive slave law
The calm, noble declarations of "High-
err Law" by William II, Seward, were
regarded as conclusive evidence of his un-
fitness for whig leadership. while his bold
. lnouncement of the "Irrepressible con-
fiict between slavery and Freedom" and
its endorsement by Abraham Lincoln, in
the debate with Stephen A. Douglas,
showed these two republicans utterly DIES
titute of craftsmanship. Men unaccus-
toned to the stubborn work of genuine
public life, pronounced Willard Fillmore,
John Bell. Horatio Seymour and other
men of mere platitudes, the most pacific
and wise national leaders.
Standing now the most influential men,
Der member Of the republican party of the
Union. Mr.. Blaine holds leadership he
has fairly won after twenty yearSof man.
". vigorous effort, growing in wisdom
and strength with each succeeding year,
. ,usl 70 every occasion on which he is
called TO play part. Yet there are those
Who concede his popularity and the con-