The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-21

ten without copfous narration as - ~
least tao % these. the eldest E@T" 90
Lake Erie. and TIRE third Son- Matthew
e. the man who introduced japan -
civilization. The Rodger f2FnlIy ON
tributed az a~bundantly - the An1eri-
can navy as did the Perrys. 1nd tn
two are OF close kin
Commodore Matthew 6. Perry
wife WAS d SISTER OF John Slldeil. for
merry United States Senator fT9fn
Louisiana, Who with James u Ma
son, OF Virginia. was a C~onfeder.t-
Commissioner 10 the courts {" -
rope. They were taken from ne
British me-chantman Trent during
,he war OF lS6l-IS65. and but for rhe
GOODNESS and good sense Of Ahrahail
Lincoln. the episode would have pe"n
followed by war. when The this"I
states had on hand all the var n"
could stand. august Belmont Harrlet
q daughter Of Matthew G Perry an
OF that union Perry belmont was the
eldest chHl.
Perry Belmont was born December
%, 1851. He received his educatloh
at the best schools or ooth heHi-
spheres-Harvard. the University -
Berlin. and Columbia Law School. Hr
hoo the law for a profession, am
upon his admission TO the bar en.ered
the office OF the firm Of which william
Nj. E.varts was the head. His father
and Charles O'COnndr. the dean OF
American bar, we're intimate assoc
ates and personal and political friends,
but O'Connof had practically retired
from practice. and perhaps that -
why young Belmont was not assoclat-
ed with him. Ion form. az the
race folks say, Eyarts was our eEeateS'
lawyer. He appeared for Andy Jonn-
son Ia the impeachment proceedings.
He was chief counsel OF the United
States before the Geneva tribunai or
In prpatinna arbif -HriOn He was So
Nor counsel for Hayes before the cleo
toral tribunal. He was successful IN
all. it was in the office Of the nrm
headed by this great Jurist, whose ne
ambition il was TO be Chief Justice OF
the United States supreme Court. that
Perry Belmont was lifted for d pub
lie career.
In 1880 young Belmont was elect
ed to Congress from a Long Island
district. 1t is the general impression
that he was a Tammany man. Ihat
is an error. He first appeared II the
national councils in 1881, upon the as
sembling of the Forty-seventh Con
gress. Keifer was speaker n the
Republican majority YER: narrow. No
n dreamed that Perry Relmont's
name would be on every tongue be
fore the first session was completed,
but it was heralded from one end Of
the country to the other in the spring
Of 1882, when he had the temerity to
enter the lists against James @.
Blaine, then The idol of the Repubii-
can party and one of the very pow
erful individuals in public affairs in
the United States.
Mr.. Blaine became Secretary of
State In 1881 against the advice Of
his friends and contrary to his person
IL inclination. Nobody knew better
than he that his place was in the for
UNI rather than in the closet. He had
no training for the cabinet, least of all
the State Department, whose head IS
expected to write dispatches for the
criticism of every foreign office of the
old world. In the Senate or the lou
he was at home, ready for all corners
if not the ablest. certainly the most
dsshing and audacious debater of his
day. But Blaine was u~xorfus: that
accounts for his becoming the head of
t. cabinet. He could and would have
managed Garfield anyhow, from the
Senate Chamber as from the State De-
partment. In a little while Blaine fell
in love with his new job, and doubt
less had dreams of Richelieu, of
Chatham, of Bismarck. Maybe he
hoped to splinter a lance with that
greater Observation-Disclosures Dfsraeli.
Perry Belmont speaks, reads and
writes French like the most cultivated
Partisan, and one day Samue j. Ran
dali said to him that a Frenchman
was persistentIy after him about some
claim or other in connection with
Peru. and he asked Belmont to talk
with the man in his own tongue and
find out what it was. Belmont did
have the interview, and that is the be-
ginning of the story. Chile and Peru
were Just OUT of a war. in which Peru
was d~isastrously defeated. It was ii
good time to administer on her affairs,
and our government was sought to be
made a collecting agency for some
rather shady claims. Morton, Bliss e
were interested in it. and Nj.
had written a letter the i'm
port Of which was to force the collec-
ton. l wish 1 had the space to en-
ter into the particulars, though it *
a not very edifying chapter in our
history.
Belmont was on the Committee on
Foreign Affairs He cared nothing
about the claim. but he cared much
about the practice of making the
States a collecting agent for
all sorts of scampS and especially
scamps whose pretentions had
been ~repudiated by their own state
departments. Then. as now. in the
matter of campaign funds, Belmont
hoped TO cure the disease and disre-
gard the symptoms. He prepared a
resolution of inquiry, but Mr.. Kasson.
member of the committee
-ose at the same time, was recognized.
md offered a resolution practically
with Belrhont's. The inyes-
began. and the House Commit
tee on Foreign Affairs became the
center of the Capital. Belmont
had no disposition to assail Blaine,
and no Intention of doing so; but Mr..
Blaine voted himself and
2arae down on the committee in char
~Blainesque fashion. He was
mad and mad clear through. What
more. he was aStOnished and
-esolved to sweep Perry Belmont off
he political chess board.
The testimony of Mr.. Blaine con-
'umed many sittirgs of the commit
ee- and Belmont's examination Of
him was Just like Senator organ
Xa animation of G. +. HuntingtOn-
3elmont was resolved to have an an
'Wer and Blaine was determined not
o give an answer. There was a uuib-
Die about quotation marks. There
vas a question as to the integrity Of
our minister to Peru. and o great
other things: but Belmont chung
With bulldog ~tenacity to Blainc's let
Of instruction. and Blaine persist
ID in an attitude Of insolence that
grew into insult. This policy had
erved him we'll in a former investiga-
ion and he had LITTLE doubt that no