The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-05-16
Mr.. Blaine and the Chicago
Convention.

Il
journals regarding Mr.. Blaine's posi-
ton, says: "It is, of course, possible
that Mr.. Blaine may yet reconsider the
double declination of his Florence
letter and his New York World inter-
view, but we are safe in saying that if
he does this he will announce his re-
consideration in the same manly way
that he announced his declinaton."
The New York Mail and Cypress, which
is understood to favor the candidacy of
Mr.. Depew, says:
Mr.. Blaine is entitled to be judged by his
past, and there has never been anything in
his record to indicate that he would be for
one moment party to any sort of "con-
spiracy" to obtain a nomination that was
sure to come to him. unless he took some
extraordinary measure to refuse it, for he
was the only republican leader who occu-
pied such position of unrvaled leader
ship and popularity in his party as to
render it proper to decline nomination in
advance. That compelled him to write the
will be supported by many delegates. How
many can hardly be estimated now, but
these delegates will be, first and foremost,
republicans, and will counsel calmly and
considerably with the friends of other
candidates who accepted the Florence letter
as effectually taking Mr.. Blaine out of the
field of choice. The final decision and
choice will be made after the most friendly
deliberations and the party interests will
control that choice and not heated personal
favoritisms. In this way only will the con-
vention's choice be that which will be
warmly ratified by all the Blaine republic
cans, Depew republicans, Sherman repub-
licans and all the rest of the republic
cans, all of whose votes may be needed and
whose hearty cooperation alone will insure
a republican congress as well as a republi-
can president.
The tone of these republican journals,
though they do not favor Mr.. Blaine's
nomination, is fair and indicates that
they do not anticipate that the conven-
ton will be stampeded " for any can
didate. They admit, however, the
possibility of contingency that might
compel Mr.. Blaine's nomination, and
if this occurs they believe that the con-
vention will have acted wisely for the
interests of the party. Senator Hale
of Maine says: Mr.. Blaine does not
expect to be the republican candidate.
He does expect that some other candi-
date will be nominated, and that can
didate will receive Mr.. Blaine's hearty,
sincere and active support" The SYRIA
cuse Journal, in giving the summary of
the preferences of republican editors in
the three states of New York, New
Jersey and Connecticut, says: Depew
and HarrisOn-or, as it seems quite
as evident, circumstances permitting,
Blaine and Harrison-is the ticket which
the overwhelming republican sentiment
of these states foreshadOws. When to
these are added the unmistakable
preferences of most of the other North
ern States, it seems quite probable that
one or the other of the tickets sug-
gested will be nominated"
In an interview reported in the New
York Sun, Whtelaw Reid of the Tribune,
in answer to the question whether Mr..
Blaine could be the republican nominee
"under any circumstances, said:
The party is engaged in considering the
names of other candidates who are offered
under the prevailing volunteer system and
the convention will do the same. If, after
full consideration, it fails to find any other
candidate about whose strength in the
doubtful states it feels an equal degree of
confidence, it may finally conclude, as Mr..
Lincoln did at the critical period of the war,
that the volunteer business is played out
and that a draft must be ordered. That
contingency may never occur-and at pres
ent it is certainly distant, but if it should
occur believe the service of the republic
can party at this time to be- in the highest
sense, the service of the country. and see no
reason why Mr.. Blaine, more than any
other citizen who has sought and received
honors from his party, could or should be
exempt from its draft. To refuse under
such circumstances would, in fact, seem not
unlike desertion in the face of the enemy
If the presidency is not an Office to be
sought, as some say, it is certainly not one
to be refused. | do not know anybody in
the United States big enough to undertake
to refuse the greatest Office on earth without
making himself ridiculous or worse.
This accurately represents the senti-
ment of the great mass of Mr.. Blaine's
active supporters. They are engaged
in no " conspiracy" to secure Mr.
Blaine's nomination. They want him
nominated because they believe he
would be the strongest candidate of the
party, but they trust the whole matter
to the cool and deliberate judgment Of
the national convention. If the con
vention does not regard the nomination
of Mr.. Blaine as the best thing for the
party we expect that the Blaine mer
will cordially acquiesce in its decision
hn 4.