The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-02-03
.IAMEs a1LLFsrIE nLAINr.

state the death of the great statesman,
and few words of tribute 10 his charac-
ter aud memory in our last issue. The
space needed to give an account of his
career is not at our command and the
dailies have, without exception, given
to our readers the details ere this, so we
content to copy from them some in
teresting particulars.
Death came without pain. Mr.. Blaine
was conscious to the last About his
bedside a. the monent of dissolution
were Mrs. Blaine, Mrs. Damrosch. Miss
Hattie Blaine, Mr. James G. Blaine, Jr.,
his sister-in-law, Miss Abigail Dodge, the
physicians, Drs. Hyatt and Johnston,
and the nurses.
Mr.. Blaine uttered no 'last words. :"
His passing away, however, while silent,
was conscious and was marked by final
scene which gave proof of his faith in
God and heaven. The scene was one to
which some great artist may at some flu
ture day give fitting expression. Sur
rounded by the members of his family
and his faithful physicians, Mr.. Blaine
lay inert, helpless and still. He knew
that death was at hand. All those about
his bedside had put aside the last hope.
The physicians had whispered the warn
ing that the fluttering heart could beat
for but few moments more. The dying
mans eyes seemed to be the only evil
dence of life remaining in the wasted
frame. The power of speech was gone,
The very shadow of death had cast its
gray pallor upon the recunbent figure.
But the eyes, staring with unnatural
brilliance, turned from one to another of
those about the room, and at last fixed
themselves upon the cOuntenance of his
wife. IN r.
For moment there was absolute ST.
fence. Then Mrs. Blaine, her eyes meet
ing the last, fixed gaze of her dying hus-
band, leaned over the bedside and whis-
pered the question: James, do you know
where Walker, Emmons and Alice are?'
There was Immediate response A new
light sprang into the almost sightless
eyes. Astremor ran through the wasted
form. f L two days the dying man had
not moveq of his own volihon one of his
limbs, but now the watchers eager gaze,
met a surprising and beautiful reward.
The right arm, after seconds struggle,
rose from the bed cover The white, al
most pulseless hand, closed itself, with
the long, bony indeq finger extended. 1t
pointed to heaven, and the eyes gave the
answered. his soul to the question: of his
wife. kEhus, with hand outstretched TO.
heageiE and with eyes fixed on those of
his Rite, James G. BlaiRe passed away.
The Tribune'S summary and eulogy is
a noble tribute to this, the greatest Amer
icdn, as follows: The greatest American
of recent times is numbered with the
historic dead of grateful Republic, So
electric was Mr. Blaine's vitality, SO com
manding figure has he been in public
life for thirty years, so symmetrical was
the, development of his intellectual
poSSers, and SO inexhaustible were the
resources of his craftsmanship, that it is
almost impossible to think of him as ly-
ing cold in death. To hundreds of thou
sands of Americans the melancholy It'd
ings of his last hours will come with
poignant sense ofpersoHal grief. We are
not speaking now Of>private friendships
formed during his busy life, but of the
influence which he eXerted ovar a host
of followers unknown to him, but brought
under the magic spell of his leadership
and political genius When Mr. Clay
died, there were hundreds of earnest men
like Horace Greeley who felt that they
could never again take interest in Amer
can politics.. Now that Mr.. Baine's ca
reer has ended, there are thousands of
Americans who will share this feeling.
The secret of Mr.. Blaine's influence
over men was revealed by Mr.. Disraeli
in sentence from "Coningsby," written
when the future Prime Minister was only
known as an aspiring and cynical novel
list: "A leader who can inspire enthusi-
asm, he commands the world Divine
faculty. Rare and incompatible lniti-'
legew 1t was Disraeli's destiny to be-
come great leader and to hold his party
together in defeat and in victory without
exciting enthusiasm or inspiring popu-
lar confidence, while hi lifelong rival,
inferior as a political tactician, was to
succeed always in touching mems hearts
and stirring the pulses of his followers.
Mr.. Blame, like Mr.. Gladstone, has had
the incompatible gift of inspiring en-
thusiasm. No other American since
Lincoln has commanded in equ meas
ure the love, confidence and loyal devo-
ton of great political party. Lord
Beaconsfield, masterful as was his genius
and brilliant as were his successes in
European diplomacy, could never over
come prejudice among his own people
against him as statesman whose in
stincts and methods were essentially un-
English. He remained always an In
scrutable figure at Westminster, dis trust
ed as an alien in his ideas and policies
an Eastern necromancer in prosaic Brit
ain. Mr.. Blaine was loved, trusted and
followed because in feeling, conviction
and instinct he was known to be an
American among Americans. "".
Mr.. Blaine, like Mr. Gladstone and
every other aggressive political leader of
pre-eminent abilities, had bitter enemies,
and they exhausted the resources of
defamation in vehement and cynical hos
tility; but they never ventured to call in
question the genuineness of his Ameri-
canism. That was something that passed.
even in the most heated canvass, without
challenge. 1t was an Americanism
that smacked of the soil. 1t was SO
broad that it covered the resources and
interests Of the Nation from ocean to
ocean, and it rose SO high above the
levels of ordinary public thought as to
command future vistas of continental
prestige and influence, wherein the Amer
lean people would direct the commercial
exchanges of two bemispheres and in
spiTe races of alien blood with the genius
of free institutions aBd pacific progress.