Evening journal., 1911-04-22
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Two Condolences That
Interested Blaine
By ~HOIIand."

James G. Blaine could sometimes
be prevailed upon at dinner party or
a private gathering TO speak of some
of the extraordinary condolences
which have occurred In our political
history. Hannibal Hamblin once told
me that Mr. Blaine, who, like many
men of great intellectual ability, had
streak Of superstition in his nature,
always believed that his own political
career, so far as the presidency was
concerned, would be found TO match
that of Henry Clay for Mr.. Blaine be-
lieved that he could be nominated
when he could not be elected, and
could not be nominated when his cleo
ton would be assured. Mr. Hamlin
pointed that Blaine failed Of the
nomination Of 1910 and again In 1S48,
when he could have been elected, and,
on the other had, Blaine was nominat-
ed in 1884, when oil the conditions
made for his defeat, and that was the
case with Clay in 1874
But the coincidence in his own case
was not the only one in which Mr.
Blaine was interested. Upon one oc-
casion when Mr.. Blaine was enter
tanning a few friends at his house in
Washington--it was the year before
his nomination for President, and at a
time when he was reviving the proof
sheets Of the first volume of his monu-
mental work, Twenty Years in Con-
] gress." the conversation turned to-
wards Mr.. Blaines favorite theme,
the political condolences of Ameri-
can history.
"I have always thought II to have
been the most extraordinary coinci-
dence In our history as a nation that
three of the ex-Presidents Of the
United States should have died upon
the Fourth of July, and another, Gar
field, should have been at deaths door
upon that day, to be snatched at the
last moment, and when apparently in
eXtremis, from DEATH said Mr.. Blaine.
THE three ex-Presidents were John
Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James
Monroe, and to me there seems to
have been something more than mere
chance that jefferson and Adams,
two Of the four statesmen Of the revo-
lutionary epoch who wrote the Dec
laration of Independence, should both
have died on the Fourth OF July ex-
actly fifty years from the date of the
signing of the declaration. And have
you ever taken thought that to them,
and TO Monroe, also. who died six years
after he retired from the Presidency,
the fourth day of July meant much
more than it means to us at this time?
Il very often find myself thinking
Of the career Of Monroe after he fin
ished his term as President" con-
tinued Mr. Blaine. 1T stands apart
from that of any other ex-President.
| have heard from some of those who
knew Monroe in those days Of his re-
tirement that he was in a serious pecu-
mary condition. He went to New York
to practice law, because he found 1t
absolutely necessary to gain an in
come He was neglected in New York
] have heard that he was dependent to
some extent for support on his SON
in-law: and that If he had not sold
| his library 10 Congress for. | think
about twenty thousand dollars this
great statesman woud have been en-
tirely dependent for his support on his
family.
another pathetic circumstance. and
one little known. believe, connected
with Monroe's last days has always at
| tracted me He was buried in a little
cemetery on Second Avenue, near
Stuyvesant Square. New York There
his body remained for twenty-seven
years. and It was forgotten by the peo-
pie that this great statesman was
buried IN an obscure cemetery In the
city which was really his temporary
home
81 have tried to find out who suggest
ed the removal of Monroe's body to his
native State, Virginia. think the sug-
gestion came from one or two gentle
men of New York city; I cannot find
any record that any one I'm Virginia
was the originator of the movement for
the taking OF the body of Monroe from
1 New York TO Richmond. But | remem-
Der we'll when that was done, and that
q New York regiment escorted the re-
mains to Richmond, where appropriate
and permanent sepulture of this great
President was made, and / am certain
that these facts are but little known
at this time by the American people '
Copyright, 1911. by F. j. Edwards. All
rights reserved,)
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