The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-06-11
Accepting Mr.. Blaine Under Protest.

orpans should shout themselves hoarse.
They have won victory against very
yrest odds. IL Is also very natural that
the mti-BLAIN organs should be very
hitter and refuse to be comforted. Nothing
short Of such an outcome was to be ex-
pected from the phases OF the canvass
before the Chicago Convention met.
There never was more desperate light
within a party, and the majority oil
the Republican papers left themselves
very little room in which to tack.
In fact, some Of them seem to
forget that there was such thing
a. contingency. As consequence
neither the ultra BLAINE or the ultra anti
BLAISE papers afford the safest ground Tor
determining the measure Of Mr.. BLAINE's
hold upon the Republican party. IL is
true that the utterances OF both these
classes OF journals give evidences OF Mr..
BLAIyE's weakness-the one by desperate
efforts TO bolster him up, and the other by
rejecting disaffection that outside testl-
mony has proved TO be widespread-but
neither class has come back TO the dead
level Of calm reason. In previous issues
we have given the BLAINE and anti-BLA1NE,
the Democratic and the Independent, view
Of the situation. To-day we give the Con-
seryative-Republican view, the best expo
nent of which is the Philadelphia Evening
Telegraph.
On various occasions recently the DIS
patch has had TO commend the Iele-
qraph for its boldness, observation-disclosures,
and impartiality. There Is no dis
count on It's Republicanism, but even in
dealing with the South it has shown dis
position TO consider both sides OF every
question. We have found in 1t generally a
conscientious desire to get at the truth,
and the manliness to tell the truth as ii saw
Il without fear or favoritism. In the
fight for the nomination the Telegraph was
opposed to Mr.. BLAINE, and so expressed
Itself in no uncertain terms. Although 1t
never descended to vituperation, it spoke
out in meeting. Since his nomination,
however, il has decided to support him,
"because." it declares, "lt believes that
the continuance OF the Republican party in
the control Of the Federal Government is
essential to the continued prosperity OF the
country" and that "any candidate is Of
little consequence compared with the estab-
lished principles of the Republican party"
Yet it has nothing to take back. Before
announcing its determination to wheel into
line under the banner Of the nominee
Of the party" II demands to be heard, as
follows:
awe are not prepared to say that the
National Republican Convention, which
Yesterday nominated Mr.. Blaine, did not
by dong so represent the wishes OF the
majority OF the unthinking rank and file OF
the Republican party. Ii apparently did
so il the popular ebullitiOns OF feeling
which his name provoked among the vast
crowd Of people in the hall in which the
Convention met can be relied upon as ex-
pressive OF the general sentiment. But
while Mr.. Pickwick's ADVICE in connection
with crowds Is full OF expediency, we pre-
fer not to be guided by it. Mr.. Pickwick
said, avoid crowds But being asked
what should DO done il they could not
be avoided, he replied, 'Why, then, shout
with the largest The advice is full
OF worldly sort OF wisdom, but rs crowds
are generally apt to be wrong, to be con-
trolled by demagogues, or bv prejudice or
unreasoning and inconsiderate impulse,
IL NAV be the better, il not the more cum
ming, part to refuse to shout with even the
largest OF them. We must decline to shout
for MIR. Blaine, or TO do any other thing
which seems to us inconsistent with our
convictions concerning him. They are
unfayorable to him as q man and a candi-
date, and Trey are convictions and not
mere opinions, much less vicious preiu-
dices.' They are based uron charges, sup
ported by evidence largely supplied and
more largely confirmed by Mr.. Blaine him
self, and they have never been disproved
or explained away TO our satisfaction. TO
make a public man against whom charges,
most seriously affecting his personal
and official character, have been again and
again made, and virtually conceded by him.
self, the candidate OF great party for the
country's highest Office, is worse than
blunder-it is a grave offence against both
the country and the party. That was what
we tried to say with great clearness and
emphasis before Mr.. Blaine was nominated,
and we now say il again after he has been
nominated. We declined then to shout
with the large mob which demanded his
nomination, and we decline to do IT now.
We contended that, IN view OF the undis-
proved charges against Mr.. Blaine, to
nominate HIM would be an error and q
wrong-an error, because it would place
the Republican party In defensive posi-
ton in a campaign likely to be so closely
contested as TO render 1t essential that Its
position should be peculiarly aggressive
one; q wrong, because for great party to
bestow its highest honors upon the I'M
worthy and to deny them to the worthy,
was to condemn the one and extol the
other. We felt that TO warn the party
whose principles we profess our faith in
against the commission OF this error and
wrong was our plainest duty. We think
so still. The nomination OF Mr.. Blaine
yesterday, though evidently desired by the
popular mass, we contend was blundeI
and an offence committed against the coun'
try and the party.
This, we hold, affords better evidence o.
Mr.. BLAINE's weakness with the thinking
men than anything that has heretofore
been adduced from the Republican press
It accepts Mr.. BLAINE under protest
which, coming from such source, Is likel.
to prove more dangerous to him than out
and-out reputation Of him would hav,
been. Nor does the Telegraph mend mat
tiers when, further on, it says:
"The President Of the United State.
has nc policy OF bis own. He has his
policy made for him by the party which
invites him TO become its candidate for the
purpose Of enforcing Its principles. While
we should feel ii TO be our duty under Ger.
tain circumstances TO oppose the election OF
local candidate even as we opposed his
fha