Daily Kennebec journal., 1884-11-19
Mr.. Blaine's speech.
Friends and Neighbors !:

Friends and Neighbors
The national contest is over and by the
narrowest of margins we have lost. | thank
you for your call which if not one of joyou.
congratulation is one | am sure of confidence
and sangune hopes for the future. l thank
you for the public opportunity you give me
to express my sense of obligation not only tc
you but to all the republicans of Maine
They responded to my nomination with
genuine enthusiasm and ratified it bv superb
vote. count il as one of the honOrs and
qualifications of my public career that the
party in Maine after struggling hard
for the last six years and twice with
in that period losing the State. has come
back in this campaign to an old fashioned
twenty thousand plurality No other eApres
sion of public confidence and esteem could
equal that of the people among whom | have
lived for thirty years, and to whom | am
attached by all the ties that ennoble human
nature, and give JOY and dignity to
life. After Maine indeed, along with
Maine. my first thought is always
of PENNSYLVANIA. How can | fttinglv
express my thanks for that unparalleled ma
iority of more than eighty thousand votes-a
popular endorsement which has deeply
touched my heart and which has, if possible,
increased my affection for the grand old
commouw ealth-an affection which | inher-
tied from my ancestry and which | shall
transmit to my children.
But do not limit my thanks to the State
of my residence and the State Of my birth |
owe much to the true and jealous friends in
New England who stood so nobly by the re-
publican party and its candidates aud to the
eminent scholars and divines, who, stepping
aside from their ordinary vocations, made my
cause their cause, and to loyalty. to princi-
Pile, added the special compliment of staading
as my personal representatives 10
the struggle But the achievements for the
republican cause in the East are even
surpassed by the splendid victories in the
West In that magnificent Gordon of States
that stretches from the foot hills of the Alle-
shanies TO the Golden Gate of the Pacific
beginning with Ohio and ending with Cali
fornia, the republican banner was borne so lof-
tily that but single State failedto join in the
wide acclaim of triumph. Nor should | DO
Justice to my feelings if | failed to thank
the republicans of tile Empire State who en-
countered so many discoursgements and obsta-
cles, who fought against foes from within and
foes from without and who W aged so strong
a battle that a change of one vote In every
two thousand would have given us the
victory in the nation. Indeed a change
of little more than five thousand
votes would have transferred New
York, Indiana, New Jersey and Connecticut
to the republican standard, and have made
the North as solid as the South. My thanks
would still be incomplete if should fail to
recognize with special gratitude that great
body of working -men-both native and
foreign born-who gave me their earnest
support - breaking from old personal and
party ties and finding in the principles which
| represented in the canvass the safeguard
and protection of their own tireside interests.
The result of the election, my friends, will