The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1884-11-25
HLAINE's lNCEyDIAwv sPeECE
The Wickedest Utteramces Of His

Tho Wtckedest CtGeraMces Of His
| Life.
AUGUSTA, MAINE, November ls.-A
large number of devoted personal and DO
litical friends of Mr.. Blaine serenaded
him this evening as an expression of per-
sonal good will and admiration of his con-
duct of the National campaign. They
marched through the streets under the
marshalship of Colonel Frank Nye.
When they reached Blaine's house their
compliments and friendly regards were
expressed in a speech by Herbert M.
Heath, of the Kennebec bar. Blaine re-
sponded as follows, his speech being con-
tlnually interrupted by applause:
MR.. BLAINE's SPEECH.
| FRIENDS AND NEIGHBoRs-The Ma
tional contest is over and by the narrow
est of margins we have lost. l thank
you for your call, which, if not one of
| Joyous congratulations, is one, l am sure,
of confidence and of sanguine hope for
the future. / thank you for the public
opportunity You give me to express my
sense of obligation not only to you, but
to all the Republicans of Maine. They
responded to my nomination with genu-
inc enthusiasm and ratified it with a su.
Derb vote. l count it as one of the hon.
ors and qualifications of my public career
that the party in Maine, after struggling
hard for the last six years and twice
within that period losing the State, has
come back in this campaign to an old.
fashioned 10000 plurality. No other ex-
preston of popular confidence and esteem
whom | have lived for thirty years and
to whom | am attached by all the ties
that ennobles human nature and give 10Y
and dignity to life.
HIS GRATITUDE TO Pennsylvania.
After Maine, indeed along with Maine.
my first thought is always of Pennsylva-
mia. How can l tttingly express my
thanks for that unparalleled majority OF
more than O,OOO votes. They are an en-
dorsement which has deeply touched nv
heart, and which has, if possible, increased
my affection for that grand old Comm"n-
weath-an affection which l inherited
from my ancestry and which shall trans
NIT to my children.
But | do not limit my thanks to the
State of my residence and the State of my
birth. owe much to the true and zeal
Gus friends in New England who worked
so nobly for the Republican party and it's
candidates, and to the eminent scholars
and divines who, stepping aside from their
ordinary avocations, made my cause their
cause, and to loyalty to principle added
the special compliment of standing as my
personal representatives in the National
struggle.
But the achievements for the Republi-
can cause in the East are even surpassed
by the splendid victories in the West.
In that magnificent Gordon of States that
stretches from the foothills of the Allegha-
nies to the Golden Gate of the Pacific, be-
ginning with Ohio and ending with Cali
fornia, the Republican banner was borne
so lofty that but single State failed to
Join in the wide acclaim Of triumph. Nor
should do justice to my own feelings if
l failed to thank the Republicans of the
Empire State who encountered so many
discouragements and obstacles who
fought foes from within and foes from
without, and who waged so strong bat
tie that the change of one vote in every
two thousand would have given us vic
tory in the nation. Indeed, change of
little more than five thousand votes would
have transferred New York, Indiana, New
Jersey and Connecticut to the Republican
standard, and would have made the North
as solid as the South.
THANKING THE woRKINGMEN.
NV thanks would still be incomplete
if | should fail to recognize with special
gratitude that great body of workingmen,
both native and foreign born, who gave
me their earepst support, breaking from
old personal and party ties, and finding
in the principles which / represented in
the canvass the safeguard and protection
of their own 6reside interests. The result
of the election, my friends, will be re-
garded in the future, think, as extraor-
dinary. The Northern States, leaving
out the cities of New York and Brooklyn
from the count, sustained the Republican
cause by majority of more than 4OO, 900,
almost half a million, indeed, of the popu-
lar vote. The cities Of New York and
Brooklyn threw their great strength and
influence with the Solid South, and were
the decisive element which gave to that
section the control of the National Gov
ernment.
NATIONAL MISFORTUNE.
Speaking now, not at all as defeated
candidate, but as loyal and devoted
American, think the transfer of the po-
lltical power of the government to the
South is great national misfortune. 1t
is misfortune because it introduces an
element which cannot insure harmony
and prosperity to the people, because it
introduces into the republic the rule Of
the minority. The first instinct of an
American is equality-equality Of right,
equality of privilege, equality Of political
power, that equality which says to every
citizen, "Your vote is just as good, just
as potential as the vote of any other citi
zen."
That cannot be said to-day in the
United States. The course of affairs in
the South has crushed out the political
power of more than 100000 American
citizens, and has transferred 1t by vic
lence to others Forty-two Presidential
Electors are assigned to the South on ac-
count of the colored population. With
more than 100000 legal votes they
have been unable to choose a single
elector. Even in these States where they
have a majority of more than 1Oo,0oO
they are deprived of free suffrage and
| their rights as citizens are scornfullv trod-