The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-12-19
What the Press OF the Country Think
of Blalne's Bid for the Presidency.

OF Bla1ne's Bid Tor the Eres1uency'
The long expected speech of Blaine, who
still hopes to occupy the White House, has
been delivered and here is the way in
which it has been received by the press Of
the country:
The much heralded speech of the emf
nent senator from Maine seems to have
made but feeble Impression; first, because
it was dull; second, because it was not
spoken, but read; third, because the sub
ject is too stale for anything new to be said
upon it, and fourth, because his fellow
senators regarded his speech as a bid for
the presidency, and few of them are dis.
posed to favor his aspiration y
Herald.
1t is conventional with senators to pre-.
tend to regard each other as seriously as
did the augurs ofold But when senator
talks such arrant and hypocritical humbug
as Mr.. Blaine, people who are not paid to
sit still and listen to him politely may be
pardoned if they feel moved to forgive even
the truly shocking way in which Senator
Conkling expressed his contempt for him
while he was speaking bis piece.-N y.
World
Thurman's picture Of Blaine with long
tail OF negroes, suggests what is really the
matter with the senator from Maine. He
is haunted by visions of Grant entering the
Republican convention in 1880 with just
such tail. 1t is the solid negro and not
the solid south that aflicts him.-St. Louis
Republican.
The outlook for Senator Blaine's assault
is not promising. 1t seems as If Mr..
Blaine is about to make a mistake
Louisville COurier-.JourndI.
In weakness and puerility we doubt il
there can be found for it any parallel iu
the history of partisan and sectional con-
troversy since the close of the war
Rochester Union.
Blaine great speech is nothing more
than an i'll natured protest because the
people of the south, white and black, did
not vote the way he desired them to.
That's all Harrisburg pa Patriot.
There are also a good many thinking
people throughout the country who would
oppose the revival of sectional auimosites,
and who would be likely to switch off from
any party that favored it, Washington
Star.
Mr.. Blaine makes his political tables of
the south out of the census only, He
counts all the blacks as republicans His
method is as superficial as that he pursued
IN the MulIigan correspondence Albany
Argus.
With reasoning that is absurd and fig
ures that are worthless, Mr.. Blaine reaches
a conclusion that is atrocious. Ifhe means
anything he means to rob the southern
negroes of the privilege of the suffrage, -
Utica Observer.
The entertainment furnished was a per-
Torrance far below Mr. Blaine's usual
efforts. 1t was as deficient in every ele-
ment of craftsmanship as it was faulty in
its reasoning and vicious il its conclusions.
- Washington Post.
Nothing would suit Mr.. Blaine less than
that the democratic party of the country
should have the power to put an end at
once to all race conflicts at the south, for
IN that case the power would certainly be
used Buffalo Courier.
1t has no practical bearing if it does not
raise the question OF negro disfranchise-
ment lt IS too soon to consider that
question. The country has commenced
the experiment of negro citizenship, and
the experiment must be faithfully tried -
PHILADELPHIA Record.
While all sincerity of purpose may be
accorded Mr.. Blaine, and he deserve due
credit tor the dispassionate presentation of
his views, 1t Is not 10 be denied that bis
premises are woetully uusound and that
therefore his conclusions are faulty
Philadelphia Times.
How many Northern citizens will be
further deluded into joining MIR. Blaine
and his little journalistic clique in swelling
the war cries and making them the re-
publican gospel Of the year of grace 1880
remains 10 be seen. We fancy the number
will be limited. The fact is that the best
OF tales grow trifle state after nineteen
years Of telling. Syracuse Herald.
ln the speech under consideration Mr.
Blaine singles out South Carolina as the
special object OF attack, for no other rea-
son than because she was the last soutb.
ern state to free herself from the tolls of
radicalism, which for years and wears
threatened to destroy the south by rob-
oery, thlevery, and every species OF vii.
lainy.- Sdvannah Necs.
Mr.. Blaine's speech is the inauguration
.. pew crusade against the south which
MI. Blaine doubtless hopes will end in his
own inauguration as President. The war
mas begun sooner than we expected. hnt
IL has begun. The south viii resist ~