Daily Kennebec journal., 1884-04-29


passed without objection" Mr.. Blaine added
| these significant words. .sAf that time had
nerer seen Mr. CaLdreil, 5an you can tell hira
that rsfhom knoring 1t did him great
faror. Ifhoughf the point would interest
both you and Mr.. CdLdnreu, though before
| either Of you Eere engaged IN the enterprtse
This seems, Mr.. Editor, to dispose of your
first charge. The bill was Just one. and MIR.
Biaine's friends had no interest in it when it
passed the House. Eighty days after the
House adjourned Mr.. Blaine asked his friends,
who had in the meantime taken hold of the
enterprise and had offered him some interest
to let him in as a partner They refused.
They did. however. sell him block of secu-
rites on the same terms they sold them to 9th
ers, and il proved an unfortunate purchase,
for ne sold them out among his friends, be-
Iieving them valuable and took them all back
when he found that they were worthless. The
4 letter of Mr.. Blaine, written months after.
contains his vindication, and so clearly that
Judge Black. after an investigation of the
whole subject, declared in his characteristic
style that Mr.. Blaine's letter proved that the
charge which you repeat against him ''wss
not only untrue, but impossible, and would
continue so to prove until the Gregorian cal
endar could be turned around and October
made to precede April in the stately procession
| of the year."
| Your second charge consists of two parts.
The first part is tina; Mr.. Blaine wrongfully
asserted that''The Little Rock and Fort Smith
Road derives its life and value and franchise
wholly from the State of Arkansas" whereas
the evidence subsequently taken discloses the
fact that the road d'.derived the value on which
these bonds were based from the act of Con.
gress of which Mr.. Blaine secured the pas
sage" 1t will be found that you have inaccu-
\ L. l. 81.
that you have put language into his mouth
which be never used. What Mr. Blaine did say
was.'The railroad company derived itslife. val
| ue, franchises from the State of Arkansas"
And Mr. Blaine stated the precise truth. What
are the facts? More than thirty years ago Con-
gress granted to the States Of Missouri an dAr-
kansas a certain quantity of public lands to
| aid in the construction of certain lines of
| railway The franchises that should be
granted to the companies that should build
the road were expressly left by Congress to
| the legislatures of the States. Mr.. Blaine
| spoke, therefore, with absolute precision of
language, az he usually does, when he stated
that ''the Little Rock Company derives its
life, value and franchises wholly from the
| State of Arkansas"-just the Illinois Cen
trail Railroad Company derives its life. value
and franchises from the State of Illinois,
though enriched by land grant from the
United States, just as the Little Rock road
was.
The second part of your second charge is
that Mr.. Blaine did not speak truthfully when
he asserted that he ''bought the bonds at pre-
| cisely the same rates as others paid" There
| is no evidence anywhere to sustain this
cusation. l have already said any person
| could negotiate for them on the one-for-three
basis just as Mr.. Blaine did. and many avail
Id 81. Nf tha pnrt
paid was not in the least affected by the fact
that Mr. Blaine had already arranged to sell
some of the securities afler~ard at higher
price than he paid for them. He did this
| with the determination. honOrably maintain
ed, that he would make good any loss which
might accrue. These sales did not change
the price to Fisher. and the proof that it did
not is found in the fact that Mr.. Blaine paid
it to him in full. You speak in connection
with this of Mr.. Blaine's being appointed an
agent to sell the bonds of the company. No
such appointment was ever made and no evil
dence suggested it Mr.. Blaine bought his
securities at given price and paid it for
them.
Your third formal charge relates to an al
legged connection Of Mr.. Blaine with share
| in the Northern Pacific enterprise. You
charge this IN the face of the fact that in Mr..
| Blaine's letter in which you find the subject
| referred to was his distinct asservatiOn that
he "could not himself touch the share"
Have you seen any evidence that he did? l
have not. The Northern Pacific Railroad
Company has been organized and reorganized
and recently reorganized a second time. Its
records of ownership and interest have pass
ed under the official inspection of at least a
hundred men, many of whom are political
enemies, and some of them are to my know
/ lol.~ nal &c D1..r
| there has never been a suggestion or hint
from any of these that in any form whatever
Mr.. Blaine had the remotest personal interest
in the Northern Pacific Company. If one of
| your associates has such evidence it is right
that he should produce it..
| Your fourth charge is that after Mr.. Blaine
got possession of the so-called Mulligan let
ters she subsequently read such of them as
he pleased to the House in aid of his vindca-
ton" The answer is that Malligan's memo
randum of the letters in which he had num-
bered and indexed each one of them was
produced, and number and index CORE
sponded exactly with the letters read. This
was fully demonstrated on the floor of the
House, and is part of its records.
You repeat the charge that Mr.. Blaine re-
ceived a certain sum from the Union Pacific
Railroad Company for seventy-five bonds of
the Little Rock road. You say this without
a particle of proof. You say it against the
sworn denial of Thomas A. Scott. who was
the party alleged to have made the negotia-
ton. You say it against the written denial
of Mr.. Sidney Dillon, president of the CON-
pany against the written denial of Z. H.
Rollins, treasurer of the company; against
the written denial of Morton. Bliss & Coz,
through whose banking house the transac-
ton was alleged to have been made. Against
this mountain of direct and positive testimo-
nv from every one who could by any posi-
bility have personal knowledge of the al
legged transaction you oppose nothing but
hearsay and suspicion as the ground of q Sc
rious charge against the character of a man
long eminent in public life. The courtesy
which admits me to your columns prevents
| my saying what think of your recklessness
in this matter.
Your fifth charge arraigns Mr. Blaine's
policy an executive officer. and your last
charge is that of packing conventions in his
favor. l do not desire to dwell upon either.
This is not the place to review his foreign pol
icy to which you refer, and l am content to
remark that however much some Eastern
journalists may criticise it. it is popular with a
large majority of the American people. uis
simply an American policy, looking to the ex-