The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1893-02-02

per shown to SO great advantage. The
time comes when, all current sentiment
dying away, the great secretary shall be
known to his countrymen by the calm
statement of fact and the cogent and inn
partial deductions which he has left on
record in his book.
What has James q. Blaine contributed
to his age and country? Has he really ac-
complished anything? Has he left per-
manent impress? Has he transmitted
from himself to his times and to after
times something that shall survive and
flourish, giving its leaf and fruitage in
the Twentieth century? These questions
must bring with their answers the true
estimate of Blaine's life and work. IF
he has done nothing, let him pass. IF he
has left no impress, let the grave close
and the grass grow; for the morrow, in
that event, will be even as today.
Blaine has contributed something to
his age and country. He has been hv-
ing. inspiring force among the motives
of American patriotism. Let us concede
to him sincerity, and in SO doing dis
cover the essential patriotism of his ma
ture. 1t would be difficult to find in his
whole life aught that was inconsistent
with this Interpretation of his character
His public career of more than thirty
years, ever widening and deepening in
the channels of national life, has been an
example of patriotic devotion to Ameri-
can institutions. The very vices of his
statesmanship-if such there behave
had like root and vitality. If he fought
off the Chinese it was because he was
blinded with his passionate American
ism. The great idea with Blaine seems
to have been the establishment of COM
plete republican autonomy in this ma
ton He desired the individuality and
glory of America. He was seriously in
spired with the sight of his country's
flag. Nor may we well, now that this
remarkable career is ended, speak lightly
of that fervid, unwavering passion which
Blaine ever displayed at the very men,
ton of his country's name.
1t is well that such an example should
have been set in high place of our ma
tional life. The young men of our coun
try have seen it from affair, and in pro-
portion as they have imbibed from this
fountain they are better and truer than
if they had drunk from the cold and drib-
bling waterspouts of the caucus Let us
hope AMI believe that the living part of
Blaine IS entered into union with the
soul of his country, and that the Ameri-
can nation will feel through several ages
the warmth of his surviving blood and
genius.
In the next place Blaine has demon
strated that q man can be great without
success. This proposition has strange
sound in American ears. It is against
the teaching of the schools Our doc
trine is that only the man who is elected
is anything; the other is nothing Blaine
has shown that the man who is not
elected is greater than the other. AS a
matter of fact, few examples in the his
tory of the world have been more inspir-
iting than that of Blaine in the last
period of his life Note the esteem in
which he is held by his countrymen
Mark well his reputation in foreign
lands. In England. in France. in Ger
many, Italy. Russia, to the ends of civ
ilization, it was Blaine who was known
and honored After Grant he is the only
recent American who has been thus dis
tinguished with cosmopolitan fame. Let
him be known as the great secretary
and honored as the man who survived
and hourished and won the esteem of the
world without the occupancy Of the
White House.
Blaine was civilian. Though he had
the instincts of battle, it was the battle
of mind, the contention of thought. in
which he delighted. Though he was an
intense patriot, it is doubtful whether he
had pleasure in the struggle Of the bat
tlefield and the clamor of arms. Though
his activities belonged to the age which
was shaken by the greatest war Of mod
ern times, he participated in it only to
the extent of considering its sequences
and deducing from it its best results for
his country.
Blaine was not only American; he was
pan-American. Nothing less than all
Americanism could satisfy him or even
appease his purpose and ambition. He
was also pan-republican. His congress
of American republics. if not brilliant
success, was at least reputable. The
project issued from his fecundity and
was his 1t was the potential beginning
of an American state system which might
stand in likeness and counterpoise of
that European state system which has
been the wool of political history since
the treaty of Westphalia. Blaine would
unity the policies and methods Of the
American republics, and they should all
flourish because the great republic -four
ishes and is in the lead More practical
still was the movement for intercontinen-
talrailways. Hudson's bay and Argentina
should shake hands. Chicago and Buenos
Ayres should greet Boston should re-
ceive by rail from the Grand Chaco. The
bull hides of the pampas should be hung
up green in the tanneries of Buffalo, and
the Fuegians should wear new prints
from the mills of Providence The
scheme was like the man 1t pleased his
genius, and by and by it shall be trans
muted from imagination and vision into
reality.
Blaine is gone. No more shall this
striking figure attract the gaze of two
hemispheres But his memory shall sur
vive long, and his influence will stream
out far into the coming century In the
shadows of the last hours we have SIN
cere grief for his going Would that he
might have lived longeri There are
tears of true affection at the open door of
his tomb
Blaine outlived nearly all of his great
contemporaries He saw every Union
general of the first rank and every Con
federate general of the first rank with
the single exception of Longstreet 60
down to the grave He survived nearly
all of his competitors in civil life. Sher
sSsEak>s :
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