St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-08-14

him great favor. Sincerely yours.
W. Fisher, Jr., Esq. No. "a India street, BIS on
On the same day he wrote second
letter to Mr.. Fisher, which read thus:
AUGUSTA. Oct. T. 1862
| My Dear Mr.. Fisher: Find i,c'osed contracts Of
parties named in my letter of yesterday. The re
naming contracts will be completed rapidly as
| circumstances VIII permit.
inclose you part of the Congressional Globe Of
April containing the point to which referred al
some length in my previous letter of to-day. You
will hnd II of interest 20 read il over and wha,
a narrow escape your bill made on that last night
of the SESSION. OF course, il nv plain duty to
make the ruling when the point was once raised
| II the Arkansas men had not, however, happened
to come to me when at their wits end and in de
spair, the bill would undoubtedly have been lost
at least postponed for year. I thought the point
would saferest both you and Caldwell though oe
curring before either OF you engaged in the enter
prise.
| 1 beg You to understand that 1 thoroughly ap
preeiate the courtesy with which you have treated
me in this railroad matter, but vOur conduct to
ward IN business matters has always been
marked - unbOunded liberality in past years and
ofSeoI &s have naturally come To expect the
SANE ~ y1n nov. You urge me to make mnch
as fsairiy can out of the arrangement into which
we have entered. 1t is natural that should do
my utmost TO this end l am bothered by only one
thing, and that is the indefinite arrangement with
Mr Caldwell. | am anNions to acquire the inter.
est he has promised me- but do not get defiuit c
understanding with him as L have with You.
shall be in Boston in few days, and shall then
with YOU. l am disposed to think that whatever
do with Mr.. Caldwell must really be done through
you Kind regards to Mrs Fisher
W. Fisher Jr.
Now, Mr.. Caldwell may have been
very slow of apprehension. But these
two letters flor they were evidently
addressed to him through Mr.. Fisher)
were certainly clear enough to remind
him that Blaine was something more
than mere railroad man or Wall
street financier; that, in fact, he was
speaker in the house of representa-
tives. They told him very pointedly
that Blaine, as speaker, had done him
Il great although he had done so
"without knowing him." and in Il cor
rect way-but favor which was of
great value to tie company. 1t was
certainly not the fault of Blaine's let
ters if Mr.. Caldwell did not under
stand that n speaker of the house, who
could do such favOrs "withOut know
ing it" might do equal and still greater
favOrs while knowing it; and that,
therefore, Mr.. Blaine, as speaker, had
more various channels in which to
make himself useful, and to prove live
head in this land grant railroad enter
prise, than Il mere railroad builder or
Wall street inancier. And writing
two letters on the same subject on one
day, Mr.. Blaine showed himself dread
fully in earnest in pounding clear
notions of the speakers opportunities
for usefulness into Mr.. Caldwells head,
i'm order to induce that gentleman to
give at last to Speaker Blaine that
interest in the railroad enterprise
which the speaker insisted upon hav-
ing.
Mr.. Blaine's friends dislike greatly
to be brought face to face with these
letters. They cannot deny their gen.
uineness, and they cannot explain
them away. Some of them content
themselves with the general remark
that. after all, they were such as the
speaker of the house would have no
,eosou TO be ashamed of. And then
they at once change the subject and
speak of the tariff. The fact is Blaine
did see reason for being extremely
anxious that they should not become
knowh. He certainly did not consider
them innocent. But they did become
known in very peculiar way. Mr.
James Mulligan, who had been the
ok-keeper of Mr.. Fisher, having
been summoned to testify before the
investigating committee, brought those
letters, among others, with him t.
Washington. This he did with Mr.
Fishers consent. As soon as Blaine
heard of the letters, he called upon Mr.
Muligan, and the meeting was ;
curious one. Mr.. Mulligan the mex
day described it to the committee an
der oath. He swore that Mr.. Blaine
had come to him and implored hin
most piteOusly to give him those let
ters-there were fifteen of them in al
that Mr.. Blaine almost went on hi
knees, saying that if the cOmmitte
should get hold of those papers, i
would ruin him and sink him forever
that Mr.. Blaine had talked even O
suicide, and made an appeal in behal
of his wife and six children, and tina
then he opened to him (Mulligan) tn
prospect of cOnsulship abroad tina
Mr. Blaine finally wanted ut least t.
look at the letters, which Mulligan di
permit him to do on condition that h
would return them; that Mr.. Blain
did return them, and then wanted t
look mt them again, and then refuse
to give them back, and against MI
Mulligan's protest kept them in hi
possession.
The next day Mr.. Blaine testitie
= that what Mr.. Mulligan had said abOu
his (Mr. Blaine's) being on his knee
and talking of ruin and suicide wa
"mere fancy" As to the cOnsulshiI
he admitted he had alluded to some
thing like that in jocular way. II
disclaimed meaning to say that NJ
Mulligan falsified "nOt at ALL" NJ
Mulligan might have put a wrong cor
struction on what was said. But as t
the letters, Mr.. Blaine admitted thi
, he took them from Mulligan and keI
,, them against Mulligan's remOnstranc'
= Mr.. Blaine insisted that the letters, bt
! ing his "private correspondence" wei
! his property, in whatever way oil
tained, and he also refused to Civ
them up to the committee.
= This is the story as it appears
the sworn testimony; it shows COZ
!, clusively that, whatever his frienC
may now say, Mr.. Blaine himself d
not consider those letters at all harm
less. YOu will readily admit, it is
: sorry and humiliating thing to see NJ
Blaine. the late speaker of the nation
house of representatives, involved
pointed issue of veracity on swOl
I testimony between him and Mr.. Mu
!. ligan-Mr. Blaine's own friend, NJ
Fisher, testifying that he had know
Mulligan intimately for many yeal
and that ''his character was the be:
70 as good as, or perhaps better tha
y that of any man he ever knew :" al
10 another one of Mr.. Blaine's friend
D. Mr.. Atkins, swearing that he had new
u heard anything against Mr.. Mulligi
4 said-all of which you can read
e; length in Miscellaneous Document \
u I76 of the house of representative
20 41th conoress first session sOr