Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1880-03-20
" Grant and Blaine"

Vi the various rumOrS and counter
rumors SO current now, the most absurd
| and Incredible was that which declared
that Mr.. Blaine would accept the Sec
ond place on the Republican ticket with
Grant. The report that Grant would
accept the place under Blaine would
| have been quite as possible; perhaps
much more SO. For, in case of his fail
ure to get a nomination or secure an
election, Grant would retire with what
ever prestige he has acquired and take
his place with other ex-Presidents
The retirement into the chair of the
Vice-President would certainly not be
any more of retirement than going
into business or spending his life in Dig
nlfied ease. Whatever strength Grant
may have as a Presidential candidate
would not be impaired by his occupying
the chair of the president for four
years. That is, he would be more
prominent at the end of four years
than he would be if he lived strictly
private life.
But to put Blaine into the retirement
of Vice-Presidency would be to destroy
lis availability as candidate hereafter.
He has invested all his capital in an ac-
tive, irrepressible, slashing, theatrical,
| public career. His reputation for brill
fancy rests mainly, if not wholly, upon
his aggressiveness, upon his skill as a
public speaker and debater, upon his
adroitness as a parliamentarian, and
upon his readiness and alertness on the
! floor of Congress. Those who Judge
him favorably by his Congressional
performances, would, probably, were
he ever made President, be greatly dis
appo inted in his administrative ability
His career and experience have not
been that of an administrator, and there
! is no reason to suppose that in the Ex-
ecutive chair he would excel, even if
he would equal, many other soberer
and less fiashy politician. Indeed, the
danger would be that he would, in
striving to maintain his reputation for
dash, imperil and break down his Ad-
ministration, and involve the country
in difficulties and perils.
! But SO far as his future is concern ed,
such a man might as well be put into
the famous crypt of the Capitol, or sent
home to Augusta for term of four
years, as to be set in the chair of the
Vice-President where he could "stir
up nobody, nor make it hot under
the old flag for single ' brigadier."
1t would close his political career.
People would forget there was such a
man, and they would see that, in spite
of his absence from the floor of Con-
gress, the world still moved and the
Government survived. The popularity
and enthusiasm which he has there
provoked would be sunk in the sea of
oblivion. He might as well throw his
private fortune into the Atlantic Ocean
as to leave the only arena in which he
has acquired distinction.
His denial of the report that he in
tended such an act of folly may be ac-
cepted as quite sincere. Instead of ac-
cepting such position as a compro-
mise he would probably reject it as an
insult. But even if he were to con-
sent, it is doubtful if the Republicans
would be willing to load down their
chances with a double weight. If
Grant shall be nominated, they will be
fettered with the prejudice against the
third term as well as the scandals of
| the first and the second. If Blaine is
nominated there are the record of the
Speakership, the Mulligan letters and
other episodes in Mr.. Blaine's eventful
life. But to put them together, to add
to the ball and chain of Blaine's scan
dals the handouts of Grants antece-
dents and third term ambition, with the
idea that party thus loaded can make
SOOu HSnU, is greater IOlly IMAM one
can reasonably expect them to be
guilty of. So that whatever else may
happen at Chicago, Grant and Blaine''
will not, in all human probability, be
the outcome of it. ssBlaine and Grant
is more likely, and that is not likely at
all. The Vice-Presidential candidate
on the ticket to be nominated there is,
perhaps, the darkest horse of the whole
stud. He is visible at present neither
in the stable nor in the pasture.-De
troit Free Press.