Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-02-17
Blaine Declines (?).
HIS REASONS ARE "ENI7RELY
PERSONAL"

HE SAYS HE TOLD THE CHAIRMAN OF
THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN COMMIT
TEE OF HIS INTENTION A YEAR AGO
HIS ROSE CoLoRED PICTURE OF THE
REPUBLICAN PROSPECTS HE ADAM.
DONs-W WHAT THE sTALWARTs AND
MUGWUMPS SAY-yIRGINIA REPUBLI-
CAN VIEWS OF IT.
&C., &C., sc.
the Pittsburg Commercials Gazette pub
lished the following Monday: Mr.. B. F.
Jones, chairman of the National Republi-
can Committee. has received letter from
Mr.. Blaine declining to allow his name to
be presented to the National Republican
Dental nomination. Mr., Jones, when
asked whether Mr.. Blaine's declination
would prevent his friends from nominal
ing him anyhow, said:
las | am chairman of the National
Committee I do not think 1T would be
proper for me to have anything to say on
that subject
s'Do you think Mr.. Blaine would accept
the nomination if rendered to him?
II have no authority to speak for Mr..
Blaine, and have no conjectures to offer
on the subject. The letter speaks for
itself, and l must decline to be interview
ed on this question"
The following is MI. Blaine's letter in
full:
'tF1oRENoE, ITALY, Jan. 25, 1888.
"B. f. Jones, Esq.,. Chairman of the Repu5H-
can National Committee:
''Sir,-I wish through you to state to the
members of the Republican party that my
name will not be presented to the National
Convention called to assemble in Chicago in
June next for the nomination of candidates
for President and Vice-President of the Uni
ted States 1 am constrained to this decision
by considerations entirely personal to myself,
of which you we're advised more than year
ago. But I cannot make the announcement
without giving expression to my deep sense
of gratitude to the many thousands of my
countrymen who have sustained me SO long
and SO cordially that their feeling has seemed
to go beyond the ordinary political adherence
of fellow-partisans and to partake somewhat
of the nature Of personal attachment For
this most generous loyalty of friendship I can
make no adequate return, but I shall carry
the memory of it while life lasts. Nor can I
refrain from congratulating the Republican
party upon the cheering prospects which dis
tnguish the opening of the national contest
of 1888 as compared with that of 1884. In
1882 the Republican party throughout the
Union met with a disastrous defeat. Ten
States that had supported Garfield and Arthur
in the election of 1880 were carried by the
Democrats either by majorities OF pluralIties.
The Republican less in the northern elections,
compared with the preceding national cleo
ton, exceeded half million votes, and the
electoral votes of the Union, divided on the
basis of the result of 1882, gave to the Demo-
Gratis over three hundred electors out of a total
of 40I. There was a partial reaction in favor
of the Republicans in the election of 1853,
but the Democrats still held possession of
seven northern States and on the basis of the
years contest could show more than 100 ma
jority, in the electoral colleges of the whole
country. But against the Encouragement
naturally following the adverse elections of
these two years the spirit of the Republican
party in the national contest of 1884 rose
high, and the Republican masses entered into
the campaign with such energy that the final
result depended on the vote of single State,
and that State was carried by the Democratic
party by plurality so small that it represen-
ted less than one eleventh of per cent. of
the entire vote. The change of single vote
in every 1000 of the total poll would have CIV
en- the State to the Republicans, though only
two years before the Democratic plurality ex-
ceedel 1872, 600.
."Ihe elections of 1886 and Ss7 have DEM
onstrated growing strength in the Republican
ranks. Seldom in our political history has
party defeated in a national election rallied
Immediately with such vigor as have the Re-
publicans since 1884. No comparison is pos
sible between the spirit of the party in 1S62-'63
and its spirit in 1SS6-'S7. The two periods
present simply contrast the one of general
depression, the other of enthusiastic revival.
Should the party gain in the results of 1888
over those of 1S86-'87 in anything like the
proportion of the gain of 1884 over 1882 'S3 it
would secure one OF the most remarkable vic
tories of its entire existence But victory
does not depend on so large ratio of increase;
the party has only to maintain relatively its
prestige of 18S6-'S7 to give to its national can
didate every northern State but one with
far better prospect of carrying that one than
it has had for the past six years. Another
feature of the political situation should in
spire Re ublicans with irresistible strength.
The present national Administration was cleo
ted with, if not upon, the repeated assertions
of its leading supporters in every protection
State that no issue on the tariff was involved
However earnestly Republicans urged that
question as the one of controlling Importance
in the campaign, they were met by the Demo-
ocratic leaders and journals with persistent