Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-09-25
BLAINE'S TWENTY YEARS IN
CONGRESS-;
Some Criticisms on the Authorship Of the
Maine Statesman.

Some Criticisms on the Authorship of the
Maine Statesman.
To the Editor Of the Register:
A combination of fortuitous circumstan-
ces has served to give Mr.. JAS. G. BLAINE
a distinctive prominence among the public
men of this era.
Such q combination could have formulat-
ed itself in no other country but America;
under no other government than that of
the United States. and in no other age than
that embracing our civil war with its con-
comitant and resulting incidents.
For several years, bold, dashing and
popular leader in the House of Representa-
tives, Mr.. BLAINE upon promotion to the
United States Senate, became sort of butt
and laughing stock among such men as
Edmunds, Bayard, Conkling and the like.
Reckless self-assertion and arrogant die
tion, rather than the graces of oratory,
made him from the start q favorite with
the more radical of his party. Possessed
of but few classical attainments and with
out q scintilla of cultured refinement, his
mind was stored with an anomalous mix
ture of rubbish and valuables; while his
command of language was such rs TO make
him very effective, if not an eloquent
speaker in the histories.
To-day with all the vanity of Tom Ben
tor, he lacks the latter's vigorous common
sense to make that vanity becoming. At
any period, from the Presidency of George
Washington down to the commencement
of the war between the states, Mr. Blaine
would have cut but a sorryifigure in Con-
greSs. And it may not be out of bounds
to add that even now, when the thunders
of war have died away and peace-loving
reason, assumed her rule, he could by no
means rs member of the Lower House Of
Congress, WELD the influence that he form
erly did.
Like Miribeau, he is n gorgeous mush-
room of revolution and agitation, that
must naturally wilt and shrivel under the
warmth of Peace's returning sun.
In many respects Mr.. Blaine's public
career has been brilliant But when we
take the pains to analyze the substantial
fruits of that career, we are mt a loss to de-
termine whether or no he is fairly en-
titled to he assigned place among the
prominent statesmen of the country.
OF all of the curious things of this mans
curious life, not the least curious is his
late attempt ut authorship. The first vol!
ume of his
"TwENTY YEARS IN CONGRESS-"
though falling far short Of general expec
tations and full of the most common
place platitudes, nevertheless, had much
in it to excite curiosity ~ to what was
TO follow. We have now the second vol
ume. The sad fate of the Life of Caesar"
by Napoleon III, ought TO have warned
the statesman of Maine that, in these
times, when the average man reads and
judges for himself, a book, however preten-
tious in title or distinguished in author
ship, must stand or fall on its own intrin-
sic merits.
Judging from the volume before as by
the standard it is not too much TO say,
that il il literary failure. Dull in do
tails, monotOnous in arrangement, bitterly
partisan i'll opinion, il is utterly worthless
rs n book for future reference except 80 far
rs it quotes from the Congressional Record,
For example, the author furnishes one
sided and glaringly partisan history Of the
Electoral Count Of 1876. With more cum
ming design than adroit execution, he Ia
bOrs TO conceal the historical fact that the
Republican managers were gravely charged
ut the time with well organized conspi
racy to change with the aid Of the local
returning boards, the popular result in the
States of Louisiana and Florida; and yet, |
in the same connection, gives undue and
almost indecent prominence 10 every SLAM
der and rumor that tended in any way TO
effect the integrity of the Democratic man
ayers.
Again, in furnisbinga pen sketch, Of
Hon. Bayard, Of Delaware, the author H.
lustrates his utter incapacity to do justice
to a political antagonist, greater and no.
bier than himself.
Take it rs a whole, Mr.. Blaine's "Twen-
ty years Of Congress" is an egregions fail
ure, falling even Tar short Of what the
reading world had right TO anticipate
from the evidences furnished by the First
Volume. The dignity and attempted i'm
partiality, characteristic Of the First Vol
ume are not discernible in the Second.
As an author, Mr.. Blaine is certainly
not success. READER.