Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1884-10-16
BLAINE And JOY.
Henry Ward Beecher Ex-
poses Blaine.

Offering to Fir COMMITTEES for
/ joy If He Would Buy Some
Deprecated BoAds at
Pas-A Corrupt Can
dfdate's OFFER.
The following letter has been given
out for publication by the Rev. Henry
Ward Beecner:
BRooKLYN, N. Y, Oct. 9, 1884
To General r. A. Alger Candidate for
The Guternatorsas Office in Michigan:
DEAR SIR-The publication of your
telegram to Mr.. James F. Joy, of De-
troit, but now in London, and his reply
1 compel me to publish the facts of an in
terview with him at his house at or about
September 80, 1877, in order to clear my
self OF the charge of bearing false witness
against him. | have, steadily refused to
give to the public press the story Of that
interview at the hospitable board of a
private house. But as the utterance of a
public man about public man l had a
right to mention it privately among nv
intimate friends. In what way the partial
and imperfect story OF that interview got
into the newspaper do not know. Ger
not with my knowledge or privity. Mis-
led by these reports you telegraphed to
Mr.. Joy in London:
DETROIT, Sept. 80, 1884
Joy, care Broacn, Shipley f Co., London;
Did Blaine offer to appoint committee to
suit you if you took Little Rock bonds off his
, hands! Henry Ward Beecher says you told
him Blaine did
ALGER.
Henry Ward Beecher said nothing of
the kind, as you shall soon see. 1t was
easy for Mr.. Joy to reply:
LONDON, Sept. 80, 1884.
r. A. AEger, Detroit, Mich.
Blame never made me any offer to appoint
committee to suit me in any manner or
form for any consideration Of any kind what
ever. J. r Joy
Please send to him the following mar
rative, and you may depend upon it Mr..
JOY will not contradict its substantial
accuracy, neither will any one of the sew
eral gentlemen who were at the table
with me, nor viii other witnesses, not a
few, deny that the same substantial
statements have been made by Mr.. Jov
to Others not infrequently.
Toward the close of the dinner. Sep
tember 20, 1877, political matters were
introduced, and, among other things.
Blaine's failure to receive the nomination
that went to Hayes. Mr.. Joy spoke
with contemptuous severity of Mr.. Blaine
and gave this statement:
When difficulty occurred in regard
to certain lands in the Southwest in which
was interested, a committee was about
to be appointed by Congress to examine
the matter, Blaine being speaker of the
house. Through friend | asked Mr..
Blaine to have one sound LAWYER ap-
pointed on that committee, | did not
care OF which party l simply wanted
sound lawyer. IE day or
two Mr.. Blaine sent me word through a
friend that he had certain deprecated
bonds, and that if / would enable him to
place them at par 4 conld have my COM
mittee as l wanted it. cannot forget
with what cutting scorn Mr.. Joy leaned
back In his chair and said That is the
man Blaine is, and he added, l refused
the offer, and rs the CO lrts soon settled
the matter no committee was appointed. y
At that time knew nothing Of the
lands in question, nor Of the bonds al
luded to. but l did understand fully Mr..
Joys opinion of James G. Blaine.
What changed Mr. Joy's notion and
led him to nominate Mr.. Blaine at the
Chicago convention of 1880 l do net
know. 1t can probably be found out by
inquiring Of the editors OF certain great
daily newspapers who hardly found
language bitter enough for years to in
weigh against Mr.. Blaine, and who now
cannot find language enough to pour
contempt upon the men who do not ap-
prove of placing Mr.. Blaine in the presi-
Dental chair.
shall not prolong this letter by mar
rating Mr.. Blaine's views of the matters
in an interview with me which took
place after my speech at Cooper Union
during the Garfield canvass. at his own
request, in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, I
can hardly believe that he has forgotten
that.
cannot but admit the indomitable
pluck with which Mr. Blaine is defend
ing himself against such a cloud Of
charges as was never made against any
other presidential candidate since the
government began. Yet cannot allow
myself to be misled by sympathy with
his undoubted kind -heartedness, courage
and audacity.
Unsound in statesmanlike judgment,
unscrupulous in political methods, dim
eyed in perceiving the distinction be-
tween truth and untruth, absorLingly
I ambitious, but shortsighted as tc the
methods of gratifying his ambition, but,
with genial social disposition and a
brilliant rhetorical capacity. Mr.. Blaine
makes an alluring candidate. but would
make a dangerous President
pray you to excuse my adding to the
cares of your canvass by a consideration
of these matters. 1t was. however, but
just to you to point out how misleading
was your telegram to Mr.. Joy, and how
irrelevant to the subject matter was his
reply. HENRY WARD BEEcHER.
This letter gives to the public an au-
thoritative statement concerning charge
against Mr.. Blaine to which reference
had occasionally been made in the press
before Blaine's nomination, and which
has been set forth at some length since
the beginning of the campaign in the
newspapers of Michigan and the East.
Mr.. James F. Joy, of Detroit, who is now
in Europe, has beer for many years one
of the leading railroad men of the West.
At the time of the National Republican
convention of 1876 he was one of the
most uncompromising of Blaine's OPP
ponents, but in the convention of 1880,
which he attended as delegate from
Michigan, he astonished many OF his
friends by placing Blaine in nomination.
Mr. joys speech was the first Of the
nominating addresses, and was in some
respects the poorest ~ shall
never cease to regret said he
at the beginning Of his remarks,
that circumstances have been such as
to impose the duty upon myself to make