The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-05-03
Senator Frye's Eulogy Of the Late
James G. Blaine.
THE MEMORIAL MEETING UNDER
BOSTON'S AUSPICES.

Dead Statesman's Personal Qualities
as Described by His Eulogist.
Boston, May 2.-Music Hall was COM
fortably filed tonight upon the occasion
of the eulogy of the late James G.
Blaine, delivered by Hon. William P.
Frye, United States Senator from Maine,
the meeting being under the auspices of
the city. Alderman Thomas W. Flood
presided, and the following programme
was carried out:
Opening Anthem-aGod , q ASrahan =. :.
Prayer Rev. Edward B. Webb % Of Veil Wellesley sstsy
Poem-Composed and read by Henry Austin
Quartette Farewell
..................M Mendelssohn Quartette
Eulogy William P. Frye
Selcction-"Come to Me-"
Double Quartette
Benediction. .......................D .Dr. Webb
The eulogy was fine effort. and the
audience was kept in perfect sympathy
with the speaker thoughout. His de-
scriptions of the conventions of 1876 and
1880, and his conversation with Mr..
Blaine previous to the last convention
when he absolutely declined to be can
larly dramatic.
Passages from the Eulogy.
In the course of his remarks, Mr.. Frye
said:
In 1892 the desire to nominate Mr.
Blaine seemed to have intensified, and
all over the North the demand for him
as standard bearer was louder than ever
before. States that had been against
him wheeled into line, and it was entire
ly apparent that he could be nominated
by acclamation, and in all probability
triumphantly elected. But Mr.. Blaine,
in letter to Mr.. Clarkson, in the month
of February, declined peremptorily to be
regarded as a candidate. That this was
his deliberate, well considered determi-
nation, there is not in my mind shadow
of a doubt. From that time forward he
was literally besieged by prominent men
all over the country, demanding that he
should withdraw the declination, and
permit his name to go before the conven-
ton. His old friends, who had stood by
him from the beginning, saw here an OPP
portunity to crown their efforts with
victory, and never were they more earn
est, vigorous and forceful in their at
tempts to change the mind of their chief
than now.
The enemies of President Harrison
admirable as his administration of af-
fairs had been, he had made some; very
prominent men in the councils of the
party, too-seized upon this as the only
opportunity to defeat him. So men who
had never been counted as friends of
Mr.. Blaine joined with his tried and
true followers, and sought as earnestly,
as vigorously, as persistently as they to
overcome his self-expressed determine
ton. They gave him no rest, no peace.
The most powerful argument used with
him was that he owed it as his duty to
the Republican party; that the only hope
OF victory in the campaign was in having
him as the standard bearer; that with
him success was absolutely certain,
without him defeat equally sure.
His name was presented to the con-
| vention, whether with his assent or not
is not for me to say: do not know. I
do know that two months before that
convention, on Sunday afternoon,
When Mr.. Blaine Was Sick.
I spent a pleasant and agreeable two
hours at his bedside. They were hours
which I now recall with delight; his
mind had it's full vigor; his eye was un-
dimmed; his talk delightful. I told him
that he was to be listener for a while
and allow me to be the talker; that had
come as an envoy from the people; that
| was profundly satisfied of two things
Vrst, that he could be nominated by ac-
clamation in the approaching conven-
ton; second, that he could be elected. 1
told him that then he could withdraw
his letter of Feb. 9th honorably, that a
month later he could not; that I thought
his friends who had stood by him through
all these years were entitled to take ad-
vantage of this splendid opportunity and
realize their hopes.
He replied to me that he had given the
subject probably more consideration than
any or all of his friends; that he knew
himself and his physical condition better
than they; that any participation on his
part in a political campaign would kill
him before the contest was over; that if,
as suggested, he should remove himself
from its excltements, he could not live
and perform the duties of the President
OF the United States three months. He
said that his course was marked out.
and that nothing on earth could lead
him to deviate from it; that when the
weather became warm enough for resi-
dence at Bar Harbor he should resign
his Office as secretary OF state, go to that
summer home, and never more have any,
thing whatever to do with politi-
cal Office; that he would devote the re-
mainder of his life to his family and to
himself, and try to experience little of
the rest so beautifully portrayed in Cice-
ro's DE Senectute." That such was his
deliberate purpose I have not shadow
OF doubt 1t is possible, indeed proba-
ble-because in that convention were
some devoted friends of Mr.. Blaine, who
had been so for years, who would not
otherwise have been there advocating
his mountaineering, overcome by the
persistence of those seeking to secure
the use of his name in the Convection by
appeals to his duty to his party and his
country, a reluctant consent or assent
may have been obtained. lido, however,
know this, that he never expected to re,
ceive the nomination, and that he did
not himself personally desire it.
In journalism, in politics, in Congress
and in diplomacy he was pre-eminent.
winning the highest possible encomiums
from friend and foe alike in each, Said
Abraham Lincoln in 1853, after one OF
Mr.. Blaine's incisive speeches:
Vo-..,.