Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-07-08

courtesy, and ability have been sccus-
toned to admire, goes 90 far ~ to Say edito.
rally that Mr.. Blaine was nominated by 1.-THE
Star Reuters of the West and the bummers
of the East" Il prints on its editorial page
Q correspondents bitter assault upon Blaine
and Logan, in which among other charges is
one that their nomination was sdictated by
mob" 1t says, sve wish most emphatically
to put ourselves by the side of gentlemen"
whose opinions it prints. one of whom de-
nounces Mr.. Blaine as a corrupt, dishonest
man." calls him ''dexterous demagogue.
and with valorous rhetoric proposes to set
''the foot Of his uttermost contempt upon the
moral imbecility" which will not aid in crush
ing him. We do not know which most to
wonder at-the sentiments thus expressed.
or the fact that we find them in a religious
and independent journal.
Again. find in Boston journal among
many letters, one from a loved friend, an
able Congregational minister, charging that
the nominations were made by 1.-THE ma
chine" and must therefore be defeated at
every hazard. Now when religious journals
and christian ministers are forward TO open
the campaign in this style, it certainly will
not be because of their restraining influence
if the campaign does not speedily degenerate
into one from which all ordinary decencies
of political discussions shall be absent.
The writer of this was not, but is now, 'a
Blaine man" He earnestly desired the NOM
ination of Hawley or Edmunds. But if his
preference was defeated by 1.-THE dictation of
a mob" then the nominations OF Lincoln in
1860, of Grant in 1868. and Garfield in 1880,
all Of which he witnessed, were each and all
dictated by mob. Mr. Blaine's nomination
was, believe, the first ever made by any
party through the votes os delegates all of
whom were chosen under the principle of
district representation, and who came direct
from the people. 1t was the nomination of a
man out of office for three years, of a man
who had been in public life for twenty years,
and whose record is as well known to the
honest and refractory people as to their
would-be- guides 1t was a nomination by
more than two-thirds majority of the dele
gates, and was no doubt desired and ratified
by three fourths of the republican voters of
the country. Indeed, never, probably, did a
nomination more fully voice the peoples de-
sire and hope. 1t does not accord with the
facts to say that it was the work of ''the
machine" Are the people then so destitute
Of good Judgment or of conscience, that they
desire "a corrupt. dishonest man. for their
PresldentI Either this is true, or else these ac-
cusers of Mr.. Blaine are mistaken. Perhaps
they are mistaken just az many good men were
who in 1850 thought Mr.. Lincoln backwoods
demagogue; who in 1864 thought him bad
man. whose defeat was necessary not only to
save the party" but even to save the coun-
try; and who in 1880 regarded Mr.. Garfield
as personally unworthy of the high office for
which he was nominated. One thing is GER
tain: that personal defamation is not a wise
mode Of warfare. And another thing which
is reasonably certain, is that no good man is
likely to be a very good President, if elected
by and dependent upon bad party, while
even bad man will be compelled to be a
tolerablv good President, if elected and re-
strained by, and held accountable by party
of noble traditions, and in the main good
prime iples.
All this is written, not so much to advocate
any mans candidacy as to protest against a
vituperative and slanderous campaign. This
whole section of country is full of original
Blaine men, among whom are men eminent
as Christian ministers. and many Christian
laymen; and it sayors neither of charity nor
of truth to intimate that they are lacking in
conscience" or in Intelligence" Speak to
the brethren down East, that they go slow.