National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-06-12
VIII


uuIlnb NHt Nttho Va ~ lANb'No9'
The mastery skin OF Mr.. Blaine as parlia-
mcntarian was exhibited at Its best in the
1libusterng tactics which delayed the passage
of the measure until too late for Its considera-
ton by the Senate. The excitement reached
its height when, on the night OF Saturday
Feb. %, the floor and galleries were packed,
and the corridors thronged with people who
yainly sought admission, upon the announce.
ment made by Mr.. Baino's newspaper organs
that he would take the floor and speak against
the bill. His failure to do 80 was keen dis
coaching him for the occasion, and who feared
his chance ior southern Democratic support
would b. pofilcd II he did not openly advocate
the cause 70 which he was rendering such Of
foctiyc but silent service.
THE sCuisN,
The schism in the party was similar TO that
produced by the alliance between Andrew
johnson and the Democracy. The political
South had again prevailed through the treach.
cry and imbecility which rotted into the Re
publican party. Us victory was the more dis.
dissolution OF the last Republican Congress.
Since the clock struck 10 on the 9TH of March,
has has never been in the hands OF the Republican
party. The Republicans gained bare major
lty In the lower house in the elections OF 1880,
the casting vote Of the Republican Vice Presi-
dent was lost by his accession to the presidency
before the Congress assembled.
GREAT BLANK IN BLAlNE'S HISTORY.
II is not strange thatthe man who betrayed
his party to lead In such diubl,ric should avoid
NIL mention Of 1t when writing the annals OF
those times. The reader Of Twenty Years of
% SSk IN TR Of n cP page SE
upon the force bill; or to any of the reports of
committees on southern outrages upon which
that measure was based. Nor Will any refer
ence there DO found TO the fierce debate upon
the action of the President in Louisiana alfnirs.
Mr.. Blaine even omits the important fact that
President Grant was vindlcated by both houses
of Congress, and he and his withdrawing COM
mittee rebuked, the House resolving, March /,
THAT William Pitt Kellogg be recognized as
the governor of the state of Louisiana until the
end of the term of Office fixed by the constitu.
ton of that state" and the Senate resolving,
March 49, that the action Of the President In
protecting the government in Louisiana, OF
which w. 7. kellogg Is the executive, and the
people Of that state against domestic violence,
and in enforcing laws Ct the United States in
As Mr.. Blaine found nothing worthy of no.
tice in all these great affairs OF state, the writer
of this review has deemed mention Of them
the severest comment he could make upon
their omission.
MR.. BLAINE SEEKING REINSTATEMENT.
The forty-fourth Congress assembled in De-
eem6er, 1876. BY majority Of eI It passed the
for the first time since 1857. To tho Senate the
ten states Of New York, Connecticut, Pennsyl
Tana lnTana %est n Vdg texas set fbIoTda
Gratis TO take the places OF ten Republicans
whose terms had expired. Thus had the party
been slaughtered in the house of Its friends.
Mr. Blaines history of that Congress is quite
condensed. II consists of reference to Andrew
Johnson's single speech in the Senate, q motion
by himself to exclude Jefferson Davis from the
benefit of an amnesty bill, and an account of
the electoral commission bill and the preslden.
tial count.
A Two-HoRsE ACT.
Mr.. Blnine's motion to except JEFF Davis
from the operation. og an amnesty bill was
v1ade sor the IIfpose o. Is,..T,ing him an oppor-
tunity to mako q speech for effect upon the
country. AS is often tho case with what he
does, ali grace that it might otherwise have
possessed was destroyed by q showing made
on the spot that he had previously favored an
opposite course. During the debate Mr.. Blaine
was forced TO admit that he had, at the pre-
ceding session, agreed In the committee on
rules to q bill Of uniuersdl amnesty neither
Mr.. Davis nor any other person being excepted
from its benefits; that he had agreed to It's be.
ing presented by Hon, Horace Maynard as the
,nanimous report Of the committee, and that
II was so reported. long Record, vol. 4. part /,
page 32S) He tloundered about with charac'
ierislic activity when confronted by Mossrs.
committee) with these uncomfortable
truths, and made. a weak and futile
asreed 10 the uhSnmons report in favor Of the
bill, he chad a conversation with several gen.
tlemen on the floor in regard to the expedi.
vately requested Mr., Rainey, of South Carolina,
to offer an amendment to II. Having failed to
secure Mr.. Rnineys services In the matter, he
for not opposing the bill he had agreed TO sup.
port was that he was in the chair and could no,
object. Everybody knew that he lost no rights
left the chair and objected. But he had agreed
with Nessrs. Randall, Cox, Maynard, and Gar
field, in committee, to stand by the bill-Jef
Davis and all. IL was another OF his attempts
at riding two horsesgolng In opposite directions
and he came to the ground, ,.. ..-.-,
This little episode did not, however, restrain
Ia Inn al ng n n nd nrl
pared Mounting the Republican horse only
he proceeded to amble around the ring.
HE OPPOSES THE STARVATION OF UNION PRISON
ERs.
Mr.. Blaine's attack on Jefferson Davis was
an ad eaptansdum effort, intended g reach
which he had sold, bound hand and foot, and
delivered over to the eneyny, at the preceding
The horrors Of Andersonviile, 10 excite anew
the righteous wrath which they had Justly
aroused AZ the time, and, by thus changing the
issue, to avert the dangerous resentment he
knew that he had himself provoked. II was
as though PLATE had sought to turn the disci
pies away from the contemplation of his own
soldiers who had dipped the sponge in hyssop
and vinegar before placing II at the lips OF the
dying Christ. The cause for which the Union
prisoners at Andersonvlle had suffered was, as
Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg, that
government of the people, for the people, and
By me PSSSpMf Ps Roi baT Sn 5aS
the enemies Of that cause and Freedom lay
bleeding from the wounds he and they had in
flicted. He had engaged in this wretched bust
ness for no other object than TO crush Grant,
'The greatest soldier since the tho world
began"
His dramatic recital of the atrocities OF O
prison pen thirteen years before was no atone
ment, in the eyes of soldiers or civilians for
having been an accessory after the fact TO the
then recent mHssacres ut Vicksburg, ColfaX
Coushatta, and New Orleans, and an alder and
RbettOr of the revolution against impartial suf
tfage In the south.
WHAT HE MIGHT HAVE DONE.
He might have been better employed crying
out against the bloody execution Of the "Alis
sissippi plan" at the election of the preceding
10000 had been changed 70 pretended Demo
cratic majority OF about the same number. He
might have told the story OF the lawless expul
resignation extorted by threats of impeach,
ment and the penitentiary for imaginary of
lenses, lie might have denounced the methods
by which Alabama had been wrested from Re-
publican hands at the same election. In short,
he might have called upon the people to pre-
pare for new crusade against despotic power
and caste rule In free and democratic America.
The only true reason he could have given for
silence ut such time would have been that
he could not tell the truth. about southern
nfairs without eliminating himself
BOLD LEADER.
II was unfortunate for Mr. Blaine that, In q
House made Democratic largely through his
own influence, he was compelled 10 go back
thirteen. years for point of agreement be
tween himself and the Republicans around
him. And yet, so easily pleased-I might say
so easily gulled-were many of the best Repub-
llcans In the land, that they seemed to think
there could be no need OF better proof of deyo-
ton TO principle, than this bold l) declaration
in 1876 OF opposition to the starvation of prise
ners at Andersonyille In 1868.
shall not follow Mr.. Blaine through hi,
somewhat dry and common place account oil
the national conventions of 1876, the campaign
and the count. The only noticeable thing IN n
ali is his eulogy Of Samuel j. Tilden, which /,
sufficiently lattering aud we'll written to make
II worthy the editorial page OF the New Yorh
san,