Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-02-09
sLAINE.s POLITICAL RECORD.

II
The Passing Of the COLOSSUS Of tho re
publican Party.
It is certain that the people will gen
orally recognize that in the death d
James G. Blaine they have lost the besl
public man the republican party eve1
gave them. Lincoln only excepted
SIT is not always the very best meu
who are the very best in their relations
to the people," said the late s. s. Cox.
and though the truth OF the assertion is
in one sense open to serious question,
it is unquestionably true in another.
With all his weaknesses; with the love
of money, the unbridled desire of ac.
QUESTION that so degraded the charac-
| ter of Grant, Blaine had redeeming vir-
tues that made it possible for him to
render the country greater service than
any republican has rendered it since
the accession of Andrew johnson.
| At time when the radicalism of the
| sans-cullottes of the French reign OF
terror was the dominating jntiuence at
| Washington Blaine showed a real pa
| triotism that is the best feature of his
career. When Ben Butler, as the
| Marat of the Jacoblns, was leading
them on to complete the utter spolia-
| ton of the south by making it perma-
| nently a subject territory, it was
| Blaine who saved his party from
| this great crime and his country from
| this browning misfortune. And again
| when Harrison and Lodge attempted
to carry out what Butler had failed in
it was Blaine who again threw his in
| huence against it and defeated it. In
/ a time when sectionalism made any
| measure of tyranny seem justitiable to
majority of the republican party
Blaine was one of the very few leaders
of the party who showed that he had
any feeling of patriotism for the old
| union as it existed in the days when all
just government was supposed to de-
pend on the consent of the governed.
The faults in Blaine's character may
be briefly disposed OF. He became
prominent in his party Mt time when
its public men were engaged in desper-
ate attempts to get rich as fast as pos
sible without being at all particular
about the means. There were notab BILE
exceptions to this rule, but unfortu-
nately Blaine was not one of them.
He gave way to the influences that SUR
rounded him, and the very best that
can be said of him in this respect is
that his desire for sudden wealth made
him the victim of knaves who used him
as long as they could, and when they
could do so no longer disgraced him.
Had he been as much of a scoundrel as
were many of the men associated with
him at Washington this could not have
happened. He could have avoided ex-
posture and used the rascals around
him instead of allowing them to use
him.. Undoubtedly Blaine expected to
do this, but he did not know himself or
he would never have attempted it. He
never lost his conscience or his sense
of shame, while the men who fastened
themselves upon him have repeatedly
shown in their treatment of him and
in their general conduct that they had
neither shame nor conscience.
GAS public man Blaine was distinct
~ and confessedly an imitator of
Henry Clay. He hoped to revive
Clay's policies, to identify himself with
them, and through them to succeed
where Clay had failed. But Clay's
failure was his failure also. Had
Blaine been a radical he might have
been president, but he could not have
been genuine radical, no matter how
hard he had tried Like every other
prominent man in the republican
party, he was often compelled to make
radical profes sions, but he never
seemed able to successfully initiate Sc
robustness in them except in his own
personal disappointment. His defeat
for the presidency did make him fierce
ly radical for time, but he could not |
remain So and in little while he was |
as willing to make compromises as ever.
In this he was more like Clay than he |
ever was in his most carefully studied |
imitations-as in his imitation of /
Clay's tariff policy, for instance. 1t
was only in this that Blaine showed
sectionalist. Clay with his /
tariff hoped to build up industries !
the country. Any tariff of
Blaine's making would have been a
tariff for New England at the expense
of the rest of the country.
Bnt for Blaine's patriotism his party |
might have deliberately forced re-
newal of civil war. He was aw are of
the dangers inherent in the radicalism
of his associates and he shaped his own
course so as to avoid them and to save
the country from them. For this the
country owes him much. Had he been
elected president he would have done
nothing to disturb the people of any
section. He would have done his best
to reunite the people of all sections,
and he would have shown what was, in
its way, certainly sincere patriotism.
But he would almost certainly have
forced foreign war, bringing with it
new misfortunes that no craftsmanship
can foresee-that no craftsmanship
ought to risk where the risk is to be
avoided.
Intellectually Mr.. Blaine was no
1oubt the superior of any republican
now alive. In intellect, compared to
such small brigadiers as are the pres
mt leaders of the party, he was as
Pelion to a wart. He foresaw the evils
hey were bringing on the party and
attempted to change the party course,
put the brigadiers were too much for
him.
AS politician Blaine was essential
Y civilian. he had no use for
straps in government. He be-
ieved in the possibilities of self gov
by the people without the
of a military caste of any ,
.ind as part of the controlling inf1u-
nee of the government. This, which !
nay have been more an instinct or a !
ceiling than belief with him, had no ,
title to do with defeating him for the
Had he been brigadier ,
ike Harrison he might have been ,