St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-02-16
MR.. BLAINE
Declines to be a Candidate Before tn
Next Convention.


low his name to be presented to the
national republican convention as a
candidate for the presidential nomina-
ton. Mr.. Jones, when asked whether
Mr.. Blaine's declination would prevent
his friends from nominating him any
how, said:
GAS am chairman of the national
committee | do not think it would be
proper for me to have anything to say
on that subject"
ado you think Mr.. Blaine would &C.
cept the nomination if rendered him 2"
81 have no authority to speak for
Mr.. Blaine and have no cOnjectures to
offer on the subject. The letter speaks
for itself, and | must decline to be in
terviewed on this question"
The following is Mr.. Blaine's letter
in full:
FLORENCE, Italy, Jan. 25, 1888.
B. F. Jones, Esq, Chairman Of the Re
publican 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 as
semble in Chicago in June next for the
nomination of candidates for president
and vice president of the United States.
am constrained to this decision by
considerations entirely personal to my
self, of which you were advised more
than year ago. But l cannot make
the announcement without giving ex-
preston to my deep sense of gratitude
to the many thousands of my country
men who have sustained me so long
and so cordially that their feeling has
seemed to go beyond the ordinary po
litical adherence of fellow partisans
and to partake somewhat of the nature
of personal attachment For this most
generous loyalty of friendship | can
make no adequate return, but | shall
carry the memory of it while life lasts.
Nor can | refrain from congratulate
ing the republican party upon the
cheering prospects which distinguish
the opening of the national contest of
1888 as compared with that of 1884. In
1882 the republican party throughout
the Union met with disastrous defeat.
Ten states that had supported Garfield
and Arthur in the election of 1880 were
carried by the democrats either by
majOrities or pluralities. The republi-
can loss in the Northern elections COM
pared with the preceding national
election 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 300 electors out of a total of
4Ol. There was partial reaction in
favor of the republicans in the elections
of 1888, but the democrats still held
possession of seven Northern states,
and on the basis of the years contest
could show more than 100 majority in
the electoral colleges of the whole
country.
But against the discOuragement nat
urally following the adverse elections
of these two years the spirit of the re-
publican party in the national contest
of 1884 rose high, and the republican
masses entered into the campaign with
such energy that the final result de-
pended on the vote of a single state,
and that state was carried by the Dem
ocratic party by plurality so small
| that it represented less than one elev-
enth of one per cent. of the entire vote.
The change of single vote in every
1000 of the total poll would have given
the state to the republicans, though
only two years before the democratic
plurality exceeded 1872 900.
The elections of 1886 and 1887 have
demonstrated growing strength in the
republican ranks. Seldom in our po-
litical history has party, defeated
i'm national election, rallied immedi-
ately with such vigor as have the re-
publicans since 1884. No comparison
is possible between the spirit of the
party in 1928 and it's spirit in 1867.
The two periods present simply a
contrast-the one of general depression
the other of enthusiastic revival.
Should the party gain in the results of
| 1888 over those of 1867, in anything
like the proportion of the gain of 1884
over 1928, it would secure one of the
most remarkable victories of its entire
existence. But victory does not de-
pend on so large ratio of increase !;
the party has only to maintain rela
lively its prestige of 1867 to give to
it's national candidate every Northern
state but one, with a far better pros
poets of carrying that one than it has
had for the past six years.
Another feature of the political stu
alton should inspire republicans with
irresistible strength. The present
national administration was elected
with, if not upon, the repeated asser-
tions of it's leading supporters in every
protection state that no issue on the
tariff was involved. However earnest
ly republicans urged that question as
the one of controlling Importance in
the campaign, they were met by the
democratic leaders and journals with
persistent evasion, cOncealment and
| Il nj - nnt
has fortunately removed. The issue
which the republicans maintained and
tho democrats avoided in 1884 has
been prominently and specifically
brought forward by the democratic
president, and cannot be hidden out of
sight in 1888. The country is now in
the enjoyment of an industrial system
which in quarter of century has
assured a larger natural growth, a
more rapid accumulation and broader
distribution of wealth than were ever
before known to history. The Ameri-
can people will now be openly and
formally asked to decide whether this
system shall be recklessly abandoned
and a new trial be made of an old
experiment which has uniformly led to
national embarrassment and wide
spread individual distress. On the re-
suit of such an issue, fairly presented
to the popular judgment, there is no
room for doubt.
One thing only is necessary to assure
success-complete harmony and cordi-
al cooperation on the part of all re-
publicans-on the part both of those
who aspire to lead and of those who
are eager to follow. The duty is not
one merely of honorable devotion to