Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1884-09-18
CARL SEIZURE REPLIES TO HoAR.

OeQaLOr.-lH the newspapers 'unu
letter addressed by you to friend,
the principal object of which seems to
be to discredit some of the statements
made by me in speech recently de-
livered at Brooklyn. You will par
don me for pointing out to you some
serious mistakes into which your zeal
for your friend, Mr.. Blaine, seems to
have betrayed you. Among them the
following are the most important:
/. On June 20, 1869, Mr.. Blaine,
then Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentativss, wrote to Mr.. Fisher, thank
Ing him for having admitted him
Speaker Blaine) to participation in
"the new railroad enterprise, the Lit
tie Rock road, and expressing strong
desire to have Mr.. Caldwell also "dis-
pose of share of his interest to him
| Speaker Blaine), adding that he felt
he would mot prove dead head in
the enterprise, and saw various
channels in which he knew he could
make himself useful" Mr.. Caldwell
hesitated to comply with Speaker
Blaine's wish. Thereupon Mr.. Blaine,
three months afterward, on October
4th, wrote Mr. Fisher two letters in
which he related quite circumstanti-
ally how he Speaker BIaine) had,
without knowing it, and in a correct
way, done the Little Rock road and
Mr.. Caldwell a great favor by an ex-
ercise of his power as Speaker. At
the same time he reiterated his "anx-
ious" request for the share Of Mr..
Caldwell's interest in the enterprise
spoken of three months before, sug-
costing to Mr.. Fisher to tell Mr.. Cald-
well about the favor.
The question is what Speaker Blaine
meant when he said that he would not
be a dead head in the enterprise, and
that he saw various channels in which
he knew be- corfd make himself -use-
full; and also what the object was of
the letters of October 4th? You say
Speaker Blaine meant simply that he
was acquainted with many capitalists,
and had peculiar facilities for placing
bonds. Does it not occur to you that
if Mr.. Blaine had meant this it would
have been the most natural thing for
him to say so? But he did not sag
so. He did sag something else. l ex-
pressed the opinion that Speaker
Blaine meant to point to the exercise
of his official power as the channel of
his usefulness. l think this, for the
simple reason that this was the thing,
and the only thing, he did point at in
two letters written on one day, re-
questing that Mr.. Caldwell be told of
it, and at the same time repeating his
urgent demand for share in Mr..
Caldwell's interest. On which side
do we find the evidence, the only ev-
idence there is? On yours or on
mine?
2. You say this was, after all, a
very innocent matter, for "it is one of
the most gratifying things in life to a
man charged with legislative duties
to encounter person to whom he has
fairly rendered service, and to mem
ton it to him, and that it is the "acme
of uncharitableness" to see anything
wrong in it. Very well. Let me
adopt one of your illustrations You
meet an old soldier and say "My
old friend, | have worked to get you
your pension, and did get it for you.
1t has given me great pleasure" This
is Virtuors and pleasant. But how
would it be if you said my old
friend, | got your pension for you, and
now | want 20 per ct. of it ?" When
the Speaker says to railroad man
II rendered you and your road in a
perfectly proper way a great favor,
and am glad | did it. That is one
thing. But when the Speaker says to
a railroad man: II did you such and
such a service by the exercise Of my
power, and no,o It0art you 10 give me
a vatatoble interest IN yo,1r enterprise; |
know | am not going to be dead
head in it, and | see various channels
in which | can be useful'--is not that
quite another thing2 But that is Just
what Mr.. Blaine did.
8. You say it is not true that when
Mr.. Blaine read the Mulligan letters
in the House, the order in which he
read them tended to create the least
difficulty in understanding them.
What is the fact? He read those OF
October 4th first, and then one of
July End, and then the one Of June
10Th, which contained the dead
head" and the channels of useful
ness" thus just reversing the order Of
time and connection. Did he pnt the
cart before the horse to make the,
thing ineligible -?
a. You say that the charge Of
falsehood as to Mr.. Blaine's solemn
declaration before the House that the
Little Rock road derived all its value
from the State Of Arkansas, and not
from Connecticut, is unfounded. What
are the facts? That Mr. Blaine made
that statement with reference, to use
his own words, Ito the question Of
propriety involved in a member of
Congress holding an investment Of
this kind" you cannot deny. The
object of the statement confessedly
was to convey the impression that the
House, over which Speaker Blaine
presided, had no power over that land
grant road or its interests and values,
and that his owning or his asking for
an interest in it while he was Speaker
was q proper and harmless thing