The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1908-11-05

providing for the investigation of an
alleged purchase of certain railroad
bonds by the Union Pacific company.
1t was evident that the investigation
was directed against Blaine At the
second or third meeting of the commit
tee many of Blaine 3 letters to Warren
Fisher, Jr., of Boston, were produced
by James Mulligan, who had collected
and indexed them very carefully.
Before they were read publicly
Blaine secured control of the letters,
which were supposed to show that the
charge against him was well grounded;
and on June 5, 1876, he made a dra-
matte defense in the House of Repre-
sentatives by reading some of the let
ters. His defense was satisfactory to
the Republicans of his own State. A
month later he was appointed by the
Governor of Maine as member of the
United States Senate, to fill the va
caney caused by the appointment of
Senator Lot Morrill, as Secretary of
the United States Treasury, and was
elected for full senatorial term in
1882.
In every attempt he made to secure
the presidential nomination, however,
the Mulligan letters were brought up
against him. They figured in the Repub-
lican national conventions of 1876, 1880
and 1884, in all Of which he was prom
inent candidate When he finally Sc
cured the nomination, in 1884, the Null
hgan letters would not down. They
caused the loss of thousands of Repub
lican and Independent votes. He might
have been elected, even with this loss,
but for the Burchard incident.
Blaine had strong hold on the Irish
vote, at that time, on account of his
speeches against the English govern
ment and for home rule In Ireland.
Many prominent Irish Democrats had
publicly announced that they would
vote for him. But they lost all their
enthusiasm for Blaine when they read
the reports of Rev. Dr. Bnrchard s ad
dress to Blaine at the Fifth Avenue
Hotel, in which he denounced the Dem
oeratic party as the party of Rum,
Romanism and Rebellion. DR. Burch
ard was at the head of a delegation Of
Protestant clergymen; and Blaine, in
his reply, did not rebuke him in anys
way for connecting rum and rebellion
with the Catholic church. He explain
ed afterward that he understood DIR.
Pnrchard to saw - Mormanism and
not .ROmanism - The explanation did
not help him. From that time on the
Democratic managers made the most Of
Burchard s break. and showed that
Blaine 5 mother was a Catholic, and
that his sister was a nun in a convent
in Pennsylvania. In those days race
and religious prejudices were stronger
than at present. and it was believed
that Blaine defeat was in some de-
gree due TO the Irish and Catholic vote
which turned against him in the last
days Of the campaign.
In 1883 two letters that were pro
duced at a critical stage Of the cam
paign had their effect. The Dudley
sh]ocks-0f-five'' letter 10 the county
cnairmen Of Indiana, directing them TO
'.take care Of the - hoateTs In that
State, was described in recent article
in the Evening Post, The other letter
used by the Republicans for campaign
nurU0oes was written by Lord Sack
vi West. then the English ambassador
at Washington. in reply 70 communl-
cation from q man named Murchison,
who wrote that he was an EngIlshman
by birth. but had become an American
citizen and desired the ambassador 5
advice as TO how lie should vote. The
in the letter, which was
usp5 as camraign material. advised the
man TO vote for Cleveland. as the Dem
oeratic tariff ideas were more akin 10
those Of England than the Republican
high protection policy or course. this
letter aroused the Irish race prejudice
in this country. and probably caused
the loss Of many votes 10 Cleveland
soon after the publication OF the letter
the am uhaSead0r was recalled.