The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-08-06
could not be nominated. His friends were
willing theoretically to take any course 10
beat Blaine, but practically they were not

"AilpS 10 10 anything AZ all. They lnces
sanity demanded impossible conditienl
btfoIa they would part with their imprac.
ticable candidate. II they had bean On.
ga0ed by Mr. Blaine 70 insure his nomins.
t!on by n tsnctiul antagonisn, they could
not have played the game for him to win
stronger than they did. They would not
consent TO tho policy Of accepting President
Arthur-oh dear no. WhyP Arthur had
been politician and WA highly practical
that is, active and efficient, betore he be.
came President. Hs wonld not do, ho-
cause those dreadful New York local poll.
ticians we're old friends oi his. OF course
be had done well as President, and ear.
prised his friends and enemies alike, but
in the thin air Of high politics 1t 10 q sin.
There was John Sherman, nAn whose
public services had bspn Of enormous
value. and whose thorough equipment ior
the Presidency WEB known to all and the
admirasion OF the judicious. Our exalted
friends said they would 20 Tor him, but
then he had not votes enough to sut their
refined, epicurean tastes; or. rather, his
State was not B)lid for him. That trouble.
some universal popularity oil Blaine hnd
appeared even in Ohio. and prevented
Sherman, strong ss he was, from possess.
ing his own State "a unit. The Indepen-
dents couldn't think Of going Tor man
who did not have solid State. This was
the practical eesence Of Independence.
G!nerAl Hawley was good msn-a
soldier and statesman-a' Senator and Ia.
borer i9r The Party--and hSd the indispen-
sihle qualification that Sherman lacked, a
solid state. He was ready 10 supply the
aentimentalists with solids. Bat Hawley
wouldn't dc; be wss New England man,
and 1t couldn't be thought oil to drop can.
didate from the State of Vermont and 10
no iurther than Connecticut 10 find one.
Senator Harrison ia man with happy
ma!nation OF rare qualities and an ad.
mirable record as a colder and in the
Senate, but the Independents thought,
perhaps, that he had too many distiugulsh
ed ancestors. At any rate, they ntver said
Harrison once. The fact is, they never
said anything to any body that amounted
10 anything, General Sherman was aug.
gestad BY others, and could have been put
In nomination with hall a dean solid
States and brasa band, and he had the
reputation Of dwelling in an atmosphere
apart from the politicians, aud It wgs be-
lisved that il he were Fr .sident he would
'oe reformer in reality and give US
wholesome revolutionary air OF 0ra.zy re-
genersiioa. II was plain that the G Ganeral
would represent the policy OF turning and
overturaipg. and that ought to suit an In
dependent wearing out the muscles OF bis
stomach painting Tor chang; but then it
was remembered that the great General
was James G. Blaine's personal friend, and
that with the General Is PRECEDENT there
WAS liability that James G. Blaine would
resume in the State Department aud get up
40 American policy too strong Tor the con.
tinentai moasbacks. - N
b. rLAIED OUT THEIR ROLE.
Our independents played out their own
great rele-that ih, they did nothing be-
yord voting. like children, according to
their untutcred tT.ctions and ignorant
preiudicea, until the G,rong msn YVES nomi-
mated, and then they began, sccordiDg to
their feeblsness, to kick and to weep, and
they are still kicking and weeping, and
the more they kick the more they cry,
oho oaooiu 70 ouiy bUEIoxlul over tQe1r
aad situation. But there is q greater ques.
ton than any personal one before the peo.
pie OF the United S ates, and il is, whether
wo shall continue Republican adminis:ra.
ton Of the general government, or try the
experiment OF democratic adminlstrs-
tion, with the understanding that the
election Of President of that political
will mean a Congress Of the
same color.
The question is even bigger than that.
Ii We eiec. Blaine President We may be
sure that iour years Of Buch On adninis!ra-
tion as be would give would strengthen
the Republicans 30 that they could win the
next time without serious contest, and
admit hall d,z-n new Northern Sta,eo,
putting out OF tue way tho stumbling block
Of the Solid South. go that it should no
more forever be National embarrassment
and menace. And We may rely upon it, If
We put the Democratic party In power, |
that it will hold the tort for twenty years
at least. This years Presidential election
is at the forks oi the roads in Ameriusn his.
tory, and 1t meRps Republican or Demo,
cratic administration, as the country e,es
this time, for quarter Of a century, unless
the continent il to be shaken and rent
again by como jncslculabe conYulsion.