The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1884-08-16

/ DcluS On ilo huCcS anu VI rum dho
suicide was s'mere fancy AS to the Con-
sulship, he admitted he had alluded to some
thing like that in jocular way. He disclaim-
ed meaning to say that Mr.. Mulligan falsi6ed;
mot at all" Mr.. Mulligan might have put
u wrong construction on what was said. But
as to the letters, Mr.. Blaine admitted that he
took them from MulligaR and kept them
against Mr.. Mulligan's remonstrance. Mr..
Blaine insisted that the letters; being his
''private correspondence were his property,
| in whatever way obtained, and he also re-
fused to give them up to the committee.
This is the story as it appears in the sworn
testimony; it shows conclusively that, what
ever his friends may now say, Mr.. Blaine
himself did not consider those letters at all
harmless. You will readily admit, it is a
sorry and humihating thing to see Mr.. Blaine,
the late Speaker of the National House of
Representatives, involved in a pointed issue
of veracity on sworn testimony between him
and Mr. Mulligan-Mr. Blaines own friend,
Mr.. Fisher, testifying that he had known Null
ligan intimately for many years, and that
''his character was the best, as good as, or
perhaps better than, that of any man he ever
knew;n and another one Of Mr.. Blaine s
friends, Mr.. Atkins, swearing that he had
never heard anything against Mr.. Mulligan's s
reputation, and that he had never doubted
anything Mr.. Mulhgan said-all of which you
can read at length in Miscellaneous Document
No. l76 of the House of Representatives,
Forty-fourth Congress, First Session. A sor-
ry story, / repeat; but the sorriest thing of
all was that Mr.. Blaine fatally discrsdit him
self by daring and obvious misstatements of
his own about ether points connected with
this affair, of which l shall speak later. At
any rate, it is not denied by anybody that Mr..
Blaine got possession of those letters and
kept them without authority, in violation of
| his promise to return them, and that he made
desperate struggle to conceal them. This,
| should think, is sufficient to show that Mr..
Blaine himself in conscience felt these letters
to be extremely grave things to him, and the
smiles of his friends are rather CHASTITY when
they now try to make light of them.
How, then, did the letters come out? Null
ligan's testimony, being telegraphed all over
| the country, created tremendous sensation.
There was a universal outcry. 1t became
clear to Mr.. Blaine that the further conceal
ment of these letters was impossible. 1t was
sure death. There was still a desperate
chance in apparent auda.ity. The highly ex-
citing scene is still remembered as he himself
read them to the House of Representatives.
But he who cody reads the printed proceed
! ings of that day will find some very curious
and characteristic things. Mr.. Blaine did not
permit the letters which he read to pass into
the hands of the officers of the House so that
their contents might have been verified. He
promptly put them into his own pocket again
and carried them away. And, secondly, in
reading them to the House he dexterously
mixed letters of different periods and about
different subjects together, so that no listener
could on the spot make head or tail to them.
Thus Mr.. Blaine could prevent tho House
from verifying the letters and from. at once
understanding their full import. But he could
not prevent the letters as actually read from
| being subsequently arranged according to dates
and subjects and compared with the testimo-
ny. Then their connection became clear, and
with it their meaning. What is that meaning?
What does it signify when Speaker of the
House Of Representatives writes to business
man that he (the Speaker) wants a profitable
interest in an enterprise the value of which
has been, and may again be, affected by acts
of the same legislative body over which that
| Speaker presides, and in which he exercises
great power; when that Speaker says he ''feels
that he shall not prove deadhead in the en-
terprise if he once embarks in it, and that
| he 1'sees various channels in which he knows
he can be useful" and when finally, the de-
sired profitable interest not being forthcom-
ing, he points to an exercise of his power as
| Speaker by which, even ''without knowing it,
he did great faver to the party from whom
! he asks InaL prOnIaDle luIereSt, InuS pOlnIlng
directly at the field upon which he can make
| himself most useful? What does this mean
! On its very face it means one of the highest
and most powerful officers in the Government
marketing his official power for private gain.
1t means official pO,oer ofering itself for pros
titlition to make money,
FEEBLE DEFENSE.
| say this is its meaning on the very face OF
! it. Still, let us carefully examine whether
that face may not possibly deceive us. For
explanation we naturally turn to Mr.. Blaine
himself and to his nearest friends. What have
they brought forth? Letus sec.
First, Mr.. Blaine, in a solemn statement in
the House of Representatives, said that the
Company derived its life, franchise, and
value wholly from the State,' and that ''the
Little Rock derived all that it had from the
State of Arkansas and not from Congress"
The obvious object of this statement was to
convey the impression that the House, over
which Mr.. Blaine presided as Speaker, had
no power over that land grant road or its in
terests and value, and that therefore his own
ing or his asking for an interest in that enter
prise while he was Speaker was an absolutely
harmless thing. | regret to say that this eX-
planation, coming from Mr.. Blaine, was al
| most as bad as the original ofense, for in
making it he deliberately said what he knew
not to be true. And this l affirm, not upon
the authority Of one of Mr.. Blaine'S enemies
and detraetors, but upon the authority of Mr..
Blaine himself Remember Mr.. Blaine S let
ter of Oct 4, 1869, to Mr.. Fisher ''It was
| on the last night of the session." he wrote,
"when the bill renewing the land grant to the
State of Arkansas for the Little Rock Road
was reached" This was the bill which he
informs Mr.. Fisher and Mr.. Caldwell would
have failed to pass but for his Speaker
Blaine 81 opportune Intervention. And Speak
er Blaine wants it understood that by inter-
vening he did Mr.. Caldwell "a great favor. -
Who was Mr.. Caldwell? Was he the State
of Arkansas? No; he was the builder of the
Little Rock Road. And it was he, the Little
Rock man, and not the State of Arkansas, to
whom Mr.. Blaine claims to have done that
favor. Mr.. Blaine knew, as every well-in-
formed man knows, that land grants for rail
roads, with some exceptions, were nominally
made to States but really with a specific road
in view, and that all legislation concerning
those land grant roads made to States for
railroad purposes always directly affected the
! interests of the roads Concerned. That he
knew this is clear from the language in his
own letters. 1t is therefore, repeat, not one
of Mr.. Blaine's enemies, but Mr.. Blaine him
self, who has proved out of his own mouth
that when he made this explanation in the
| House OF Representatives he knew 1t TO be
untrue.
The second point alleged by Mr.. Blaine in
his own defense is that he did not get any
favor from those railroad men that was not
open to anybody else; that is to say, properly
speaking, no real favor at all. He declared
solemnly before the House of Representatives
that he bought his little Rock bonds and stocks
sat precisely the same rates as others paid,r y
or, in the language of Mr.. Blaine's warmest
friend and spokesman, ''as they were ssld on
the Boston market to all applicants" Here
again Mr.. Blaine has to face his own tell-ta
letters What did that gush of gratitude mean
when he wrote to Mr.. Fisher: our offer to
admit me to participation in the new rail
road enterprise is in every respect as generous
as l could expect or desire;'' "of course am
moro than satisfied with the terms of the offer;
l think it most liberal proposition?" Did
it msan; "0h, Mr.. Fisher, how generous
you are in letting me have some bonds and
stocks 'at precisely the same rates as others
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