St. Paul daily globe., 1888-05-22
THE FLORENCE LETTER GOES.
Blaine Again Gives it Out That
He is Not q Candidate.


New YORK. May PA correspond
ent of the Press in Paris, cables that
paper as follows: The stories that have
been for some time in circulation on the
other side of the Atlantic that the init
mate friends of James G. Blaine, while
diScrediting any announcement that he
would accept the Republican nOmina-
ton if it were offered him, have never
theless been quietly working in almost
all the states to secure delegates for
him, after the first ballot, were all
cabled over here. The publication here
of the actual figures of the supposed
Blaine managers in New York city,
however, gives a new impetus to the
Blaine talk. 1t seemed from the figures
that Mr.. Blaine would have the largest
number of votes, something like $50 or
$40 on the first ballot, even before the
favorite sons had been deserted; that
ON the second, although comparatively
few delegates had been instructed for
himIwould go to $50, and that his nomina-
ton with the greatest enthusiasm, and
and yet the greatest calmneSS could not
be postponed beyond the third ballot.
The minute this news arrived, took
the most strenuous means to find out
what Mr.. Blaine's attitude ON the
moment is, and am happy to say, that
my efforts have been successful. Mr..
Blaine had not heard the full details of
the report published in New York, and
| was very glad to give them to him.
Naturally he was not displeased, but he
said without equivocation that his Flor
ence letter and his later interview,
which Mr.. Crawford secured for the
World represented
HIS PRESENT ATTITUDE
with complete truth. He felt sure, he
said, that after his letter stating that
his name would not go before the
Chicago convention had been published,
the many acknowledged leaders of the
Republican party, east and west, would
be actively pushed for the nomination,
and he was glad to see that they had
been put forward so honestly, and he
could not see why so many should as
sumo, even in the matters of the great
est importance to his own domestic and
personal interests, as we'll as to those of
his party, that it was impossible for him
to be honest. He did not want to be
candidate and he had reasons for not
wanting to be candidate which were
personal to himself, and which as they
could so readily imagine, he was under
no obligation to make known. The fact
was he had been through one terribly
hard fight; it had been a cruel strain
upon his family also, and while he
could never be accused of Willingly
shirking any of the duties eff leadership
which the Republican party had honored
him with, he yet felt that he had right
to draw out and leave the fight to other
hands, and especially since they were
plentiful and quite capable of winning
the victory for protection and other
good Republican ideas.
Hon. Stephen B. Elkins said last night
that there is no doubt whatever that
Mr.. Blaine will not change his deter
mination not to run for the presidency
unless persuaded to do so by the
unanimous voice of the national con-
vention. He disbelieved that Mr.. Blaine
would decide against the entire body of
Republican national delegates if they
voted to place him in nomination.