The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-10-13
Blaine,s Letter to Garfield.

The following letter written by
james G. Blaine, to President Gar
field, accepting the invitation to be-
come Secretary of State is well worth
reading, and preserving as one of the
most unselfish epistles ever written by
one man to another:
WASHINGTON, December 20, 1881.
My Dear Garfield:
Your generous invitation to enter
your Cabinet as Secretary of State has
been under consideration for more
than three weeks. The thought had
really never occurred to my mind
until at our late conference you pres
ented it with such cogent argument
in its favor and with such warmth of
personal friendship in aid of your
kind offer.
know that an early answer Is des-
irable 1 have only waited long
enongh to consider the subject in all
its bearings and to make up my mind
definitely and conclusively. 1 now
say to you, in the same cordial spirit
in which you have invited me, that /
accept the position.
1t is no affection for me to add that
OF the promotion it gives me In the
public service, but because I think l
can be useful to the country and to
the party-useful to you as the res
ponsible leader of the party and the
great head of the government.
l am Influenced somewhat, perhaps,
by the shower oflettersI have received
urging me to accept-written to me in
consequence of the mere unauthorized
newspaper report that you had been
pleased to offer me the place. While
l have received these letters from all
sections of the Union, have been es-
| pecially pleased and even surprised at
| the cordial and widely-extended feel
| ing in my favor throughout New Eng.
| land, where l bad expected to encoun-
ter local jealousy and, perhaps, rival
aspiration.
In our new relation 1 shall give all
| that am and all that can hope to be
| freely and joyfully to your service.
You need no pledge of my loyalty i'm
| heart and in act. L should be false to
myself did not prove true both to the
great trust you cOnfide to me and to
your own personal and political for.
tunes in the present and in the future.
| Your Administration must be made
| brilliantly successful and strong in
the confidence and pride of the people
not at all directing its energies fol
reelection, and yet compelling that
result by the logic of events and 10y the
| imperious necessities of the situation.
To that most desirable consumna,
tion feel that, next to yourself, l can
possibly contribute as much influence
as any other one man. | say this not
from egotism or vain-glory, but merely
as "a deduction from plain analysis o
the political forces which have beeu Al
work in the country for five years
cantly shown in two great Nationa
| Conventions.
] accept it as one of the happies
circumstances connected with this af
fair that in allying my political for
tune with yours-or, rather. for the
time merging mine in yours-mS
heart goes with my head, and that
carry to you not only political sup
port but personal and devoted friend
ship. / can but regsrd 1t as somewha
remarkable that two men of the sam,
age, entering Congress at the SAM
time, influenced by the same aims
and cherishing the same ambition
should never, tor u single moment II
eighteen years of close Intimacy, hav,
had Misunderstanding or a cOolness
and that our friendship has steadii,
grown with. eur growth aud strength
ened with our strength.
1t is this fact which has led ME (,
the conclusion embodied in this letter
for however much, my dear Garfield
might admire you as u statesman,
would not enter your Cabinet If die
not believe In you as man and low,
you az q friend. Always faithful,
yours,
LANES O. RIkINE