Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-09-16
Is rhia Your hero I?

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Is This Your Hero?
We reproduce this morning more OF hr.
RLArSE's letters. They speak for them
selves. The World ssys Of them;
at Il with humiliation that we prlut this
morning the extraordinary correspondence,
now first given to the public, between Mr..
Blaine and Warren Fisher. The amazing
exhibit made by these letters OF sordid sub
seryiency and OF guilty implication on the
mart OF Speaker al the House OF h,pre,
septatiyes ia ono TO bring the blush OF
shame 10 every American, and no mere
partisan feeling can quite overcome tDe
sense OF national humiliation at tue dis-
honor TO the country.
"No one can read these letters OF Mr..
Blaine without arriving ut the conviction
,h,t The writer was using his position IN
the House of Representatives Tor me most
iyroble and selfish purposes. The internal
cyioonce of direct and systematic collision
ritb railroad iobbcrs and lobbyists - IN
mistakable. 1T will be In my power ut the
approacbiug session OF Congress- writes
MIR. Blaine 10 Mr.. Fisher with regard
70 the establishment OF bank at
Little Rock, sto cast an anchor 10
windwsrd In your behalf aud 1T viii be
10 some extent matter OF favoritisin as 10
who gets the banks The proof OF ma
humiliation Of railroad BINDS is specific and
minute. aud. what Is still worse, the evi-
dcpcc OF distress and fear growing out oil
the shameful association Is as plain as
words Of AFFECT acknowledgment can MAKE
IL. The personol hardships.' cries Mr.
blaine. OF this connection, tare to me Bit
ter and burning and Illuminating to The last
degree
.hrd we can readily believe It when we
find this speculative statesman acknOwledg-
inc. as he did on the 18th OF Jane, that he
WAS I'm sverv painful! and embarrassed
condition, growing out OF his connection
with the Fort Smith enterprise aud again
in November, writing, IL you knew all the
agonies have suffered In this matter you
would pity me, am sure"
The World adds that we are carried de-
gree further down, from speculative au-
dacity to personal humiliation, when we
find Mr.. FISHER writing to Mr.. BLAINE in
April, 1872, as follows:
81 have loaned yCu at v1riOuS times,
trhen you Uere comparatively poor, very
large sums Of money, and aeUer hare you
paid me one doildr from your olon pocket.
either principal or interest. L hare paid
S,ndrY amounts 10 others 10 lchOm you
pere INDEBTED. and these debts you haze
nlto,red 10 stand unpaid ike the notes
,ohich / hold. Ihdve placed you in posi-
t,onS whereby you haze received UerY large
sums OF money without one dollar OF eX.
pense to you. and you ought not 10 forget
the act on my part. OF all the parties
connected with the Little Rock and Fort
Smith railroad. no one has been so f0rtu-
nate as yourself in obtaining money out
of it,"
Uron this the World comments as fol-
lows:
"And vet, in the face OF this defiant
taunt and indignant reminder OF the prn-
cipa 10 ! is tool that owing to your p0lhl-
cal position you were able 10 work OF all
your bonds at a very high price, we find
this high-minded statesman, unmndful OF
the shame implied IN this letter, and only
anxious TO cover up his tracks. replying
to Fisher with Il cringing and pitiful appeal.
And what is that appeal! Simply that
Fisher will exonerate him; and TO do II. he
lBlaine) cnclOses the draft OF letter which
he wishes Fisher to write, and which will
stop all ISLANDERS before the Republican
Convention assemblies.
"Aud even here Mr.. Blaine takes one
more downward step, for after he received
the desired letter he interlines il with his
own hand TO make 1t stronger
ave place these documents bcfcFe the
intelligent reader in sorrow rather than in
triumph. They show, we think. conclu-
siycly anc without the shadow OF doubt,
that Jamts g. Blaine is unworthy the suf-
frages OF citizens who believe that the
highest Office in the gift Of the people
should not be given TO u man who j. by his
own admission the tool and contidant OF
iobbers; who prostitutes his position and
influence in the House Of Representatives
to lobbyists and Spectators; whose gull,
betrays itself in the painful cries for help,
and whose wretched seryiliiy to the men
who owned and used him make even those
men treat him with contempt.
Every line OF these letters should be
read carefully and thoughtfully. Mr.. Blaine
cannot complain II he Is judged by his own
self-madc record And having read them
this question remains for the people: Is it
not burning insult 10 their honor and In
telligence at this crisis OF official venality
aud almost universal fraud aud corruption,
when all issues sink into insigniiicanoc be-
side the crying necessity for reform. to see
this seli-cOnyicted political prostitute pre-
scented to the suffrGges OF great nation for
their highest hOner-the place once held by
| a WashiDgton?'