The herald., 1893-01-28
A GREAT AMERICAN GONE.

After very long and painful illness
which distressed the whole country a
well as wrung the hearts of his own i'm
mediate family, James G. Blaine die
yesterday morning. The only allevis
tion his family and friends will have I,
moderate their poignant grief is that th,
issue of his illness had been long fore
seen, and death came as release to his
pain-wracked frame. Since 1887 the
dead statesman had been in decline
whose gravity no one appreciated more
intelligently than himself. In 1888 hs
would have been chosen as the Republi-
can candidate for president if he b d not
himself forbade the nomination and
directed it to Harrison, Many of his
friends were deeply sorrowful over his per.
emptory declination, but the result has
shown how perfectly he had gauged his
own condition. Notwithstanding an oc-
casional flash Of his old genius and bril-
hancy, during the last two years of Mr..
Blaine's life he was practically incspac-
1tated for any sustained intellectual
effort. This fact was we'll known about
Washington. On at least three occa-
nions be fell in dead faint in the White
House, and his sudden death would have
surprised no one.
1t was this fact, and this fact alone,
which prevented Blaine's nomination
for president in 1892. No one man. nor
no dozen men, in the Republican party.
could have beaten the alert and dashing
Blaine of old for the nomination at
Minneapolis. The leaders of the party
knew his condition, and they failed to
nominate him not because they loved
Blaine less but their party more. He
was, besides. in no sense candidate.
He loudly and repeatedly declaroa sL.s
he was not and would not be candi-
date. Politicians who pretended to be
his friends, like M. S. Quay, Thomas G.
Platt and General Clarkson, juggled
with his name for the purpose of defeat
|. ing Harrison. They were unprincipled
enough to seek to use him as stalking
horse. Meanwhile Blaine, in o half
comatose state, and weary OF repeated
declinations, and determined to- be tri-
to the contest. Such men as s. B.
Elkins and Dick Kerens, who had BEEN
his staunch friends and partizans for
years, knowing his condition, applied
themselves to practical politics, and
.renominated Harrison, which seemed,
under the circumstances, the best thing
to do.
The country will not willingly part
with James G. Blaine. His is by far
the most brilliant name which has
been contributed to the neurological
rolls during the past two or three years,
at least on the American continent. For
thirty years he has been an influential,
nnd for most of that time command
ing, figure in the United States. His
individuality was an entirely captivat-
ing one. Generous and magnetic, men
had no time to bestow any enduring at
tention upon his shortcomings. He
possessed the supreme affection of his
party. The only parallel to his absolute
ascendancy in that remarkable organi-
xation was afforded by Henry
Clay's relations with the Wing
party. There was no man who
could kindle the enthusiasm of his fell
low partizans like Blaine. The cheers
which he evoked were louder, wilder
and spread ovsr greater surface than
could be evoked by any other man in
any party during the past dozen years
or go. He was thus greatly liked be-
: Gauge he was an unusually likeable man
A union of good heart and gracious
temperament enabled him to make
friends. Wien James G.. Blaine was
speaker OF the house of representatives
and cav an old hayseed in an alterca
tion with the doorkeeper of that body,
II there was nothing important on the
tapis, he would beckon to a member tc
come to the chair, and 60 dowr
and take his country cousin by
the hand and show him around tht
capitol. There was nothing forced
in this, nor was he doing it for effect
OF course it is possible that he knew i
would not diminish his popularity, but
If he had been merely calculating man
he would not have produced upon Agri
cola the effect intended. Clay could anc
often did those kind of things, Webster
and Calhoun never, and yet both the
latter were kind hearted men, but they
lacked the spcntaneity OF the men from
Kentucky and Maine. No doubt suct
natural amiability had great influence
in cementing his popularity. The coun
tryman thus honored was never tired ol
talking about it to his neighbors and
friends.
OF pronounced nervous-motivs tenn
permanent, in his heyday Blaine ha'
always at command great intellectua
vivacity, which made his conversation
charming and his public efforts elec