The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-02-03

MARGARET BLAINE. WALKER BLAINE
JAMES G. BLAINE, JR. EMMONS BLAINE.
We thus have the remarkable spec
tacle of man who has been fUe times
consecutively before the national con-
ventions of his party, and always pre-
ferred by his party to any other COM
petitor whomsoever, and always greater
than his competitor, whoever that might
be-greater in the sense that he was bet
ter qualified for the presidency of the
United States than any who stood
against him-and yet but one time nomi-
mated and never elected! It is d repe.
tition of the irony Of fate.
We may here note the reactionary eff.
feet of this long continued, arduous and
unsuccessful struggle upon the great ac-
tor himself This effect has been that
which generally comes to great character
under such trials and abrasion of DIES.
tiny. 1t is the effect of discipline-the
improvement of human nature by the
hardships of experience, by sorrow and
by defeat. 1t were not far from true to
say that James G. Blaine has been more
improved in his moral and intellectual
nature and in his purposes and methods
and theories of craftsmanship by the va
rious hurts and disappointments of his
career than have any of his rivals by
their successes, however great.
Blaine's character has been lifted up
and perfected in remarkable degree.
and it is an astonishing fact that what
ever is true and lasting in his statesman
ship and the most of that which is beau
tiful in his personal life have come from
the hard discipline of the last fifteen
years. The fact is that Blaine in the
hour of the setting sun has not been far
from true greatness as it is measured by
historical standards. He has come to
this by tribulation rather than by glory.
His spirit has been moderated, chastened
and purified from dross by the buffetings
to which he has been exposed and by the
very ruin of his political fortunes.
Something of the same fact has been
seen in many great Americans. 1t was
seen pre-eminently in Lincoln, though
Lincoln was always great. 1t was see.
in Samuel j. Tilden. 1t was seen and
exemplifed most strikingly in that other
conspicuously successful American be-
fore whose stubborn front Blaine him
self quailed and went back in 1884.
In his last years the life of James c.
Blaine stood forth in striking outline
against the horizon He was always
sustained by a following which never
drew back or doubted. His magnetic
power and great personality prevailed to
the last. The excellence of method as
well as the sterling genius of the man
shone forth with unusual luster and
flashed fine light into every department
of his activity.
In the literary work to which he gave
himself at all times, according to oppor
tunity, but more particularly in the last
decade of his career, we discover an I'M
mistakable superiority. Many of our
public men have essayed something in
the way of permanent production. With
most it has ended with the trial. Poll
tics and literature are not bedfellows.
The one puts the other out. There is not
much concord between Belial and the
angel. In few great minds, however,
there has been union of the literary and
the political faculty, and this was pre-
eminently true of Blaine. The country
ought to have been more astonished than
it was at the excellence, the greatness of
his book. Twenty Years of Congress
is one of many such works; but taking
them all in all, from Benton's ''Thirty
Years View" to Sunset Cox's Three
Decades" Blaines work is distinctly and
emphatically the best
AS an author he is innocent of the
egotism of Benton. AS statesman he
shows himself to have been, with his pen
atleast, incapable of the partisanship and
passion of Cox. AS a matter of fact, there
is hardly more dispassionate or rational
work on the public history of our coun-
try than is the Twenty Years of Con-
gress." In no other part of his product
are Blaine's capacity and his better tenn
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 i'm
partial deductions which he has left on
record in his book
What has James G.. 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 liv-
Ing, inspiring force among the motives