Morning journal and courier., 1884-09-30

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 ! John W. Bristol, D. E. Lord
 1 2. Il <; Nott samuel Lloyd, I Louis Steinert, Fred. 4. BettS,
 ! John Donovan. John Fitzgerald, Frederick Hipelius.
 l The meeting was called to order by Judge ] L. F. Deming, who read the list of officers of
 the meeting and introduced the president, ' Hon. F. D. Sloat. MT. Sloat spoke briefly, 1 alluding to the records of the two parties and the positions taken by the two leading par | ties or. the tariff question. He introduced ! the Hon. Henry B. Harrison as a man who | always dared to utter his convictions with 1 the courage of a Spartan, and who volun- tarily went forth and jeopardized his life in behalf of his country-the pride of the l commonwealth, the next Governor of Con ! necticut, Hon. Henry B. Harrison.
 Immense applause greeted MT. Harrison as | he stepped forward and in graceful words 1 acknowledged the fine reception given him.
 ''It is my duty tonight to speak to you on some of the duties of the hour, and I speak
 to you a plain man addressing another An attack of unparalleled fury has been made upon the Republican candidate for the presidency. We cannot ignore it. It has ! brought about crisis in politics. It has { made two-fold impressions; one on the l minds of some Republicans opposed to Mir. | Blaine, the other of another character on the 1 Democrats, as the Maine election shows We know many of such Republicans in our town They are honorable and are entitled to re- 1 spect, and if separated from us for the pres ent are still our friends. They are men who do their own thinking. trust that they will receive my remarks in the candid spirit
 in which they are made. admit with them that no corrupt man should be elected Presi- dent of the United States. If I believed as they believe, God forbid that I should up hold MT. Blaine. They are not the makers of the attacks which Mr. Blaine's enemies have made. I do not suppose that any re- marks from me at this late hour will have much effect, but there must be among them many who are willing to reconsider the opin- ion they have formed.
 "The main charge against MT. Blaine is that he is a corrupt man, capable of using his office for corrupt purposes. Who are his chief accusers? Chief among them is Carl Schurz. He is man of remarkable intel feet. What he cannot say against MT. Blaine cannot be as well said, and therefore propose to meet the attack as it comes from him. What is MT. Schurz's record? He has joined both parties twice, and the same tongue which defamed one of the greatest of American soldiers now pours forth torrents Of abuse upon one of the greatest of Ameri- can statesmen. But let us be patient with MT. Schurz. He will come around all right.
 "Mr. Schurz refers to certain expression used by MT. Blaine in one of the so-called Mulhgan letters, and to a certain ruling of Mir. Blaine on previous occasion and says the expressions mean official power prosti- tuted to corrupt uses. interpret the ex- pressions differently. Give MT. Blaine fair chance. MT. Blaine had been offered an in terest in a certain railroad operation which was perfectly legitimate one. He wrote a letter accepting the proposition and said
 T do not feel that I shall prove deadhead in the enterprise if I shall embark in it. Carl Schurz says it is an offer to do some cor rupt thing. What right has any man to import an evil purpose into that remark? Let me illustrate. Here is the treasurer of Yale who has an offer to engage in some private business. He accepts the offer and says he will not be deadhead in the enter prise. He writes this and I get the letter What right have to say that he means to say that he is prepared to commit fraud? Such an interpretation is dishonorable to the man who makes it. It is not decent measure of justice. MT. Blaine did make himself useful, but not in an exercise of official power He sold securities, offered
 
 for the railroad company, but that was not an exercise of official power. His offer proved true. But he did not do any act of official power in aid of that enterprise.
 A, certain reference to a ruling MT. Blaine had made on railroad bill is also alluded to by Mr Schurz. Mr~Blaine made ruling on point of order. He did his duty He had no interest in the measure nor had his friends Mir. Blaine refers to the ruling in two of his letters. Mir. Schurz says this was official power offering itself for prostitution for private gain. Was there any offer about it? No man has right to say that Mir. Blaine by referring to righteous measure made an in timation that he was ready to do an un- righteous thing.
 But there are other Mulligan letters. have read them through again and again and have failed to find any offer or intimation of offer to use official power for 8 corrupt end There is not suggestion of an idea of using his official power for any purpose whatever, good, bad or indifferent. I make this state ment deliberately and after having read the letters with care.
 q propose now to advance to the very center of the position of Mir. Schurz and see whether there is any strength to it. I sup pose to bring to your attention a set of facts which are opposed to the accusation. l think I can prove that the accusation is wholly untrue In this line of attack which l ! friend of MT. Blaine. propose to call upon the responsible authors of the accusation, l Carl Schurz chief among them.
 'tMr. Blaine was in Congress IS years, 6 | of them as speaker of the House, a very ac- tive man always. There were corrupt meas ures pending before Congress Swarms of | lobbyists infested both houses of Congress. l During those IS years there was | not hour that MT. Blaine, l if he had been capable of doing wrong, | would have done SO. He made record dur | ing those years. It is safe to presume that Mir. Schurz has carefully examined that rec, ord. Everything has been investigated. During those eighteen years he gave hun dreds of votes. All along that period no one charged that Mir. Blaine ever voted for bad measure or against a good one. Carl Schurz and his confederates tacitly confess that MT. Blaine always voted right. Why, MT. Schurz, did you express that fact inyour speech in Brooklyn? During those eighteen years MT. Blaine made a great many speeches. No one has ever charged that in that time MT. Blaine ever spoke against good bill or in favor of 9 bad one. His enemies tacitly admit this by suppressing the fact. James G. Blaine was skillful parliamentarian. Everyone znows that bills may be defeated or put through by parliamentary tactics, and no
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