Year: 1868

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; We like this choice Of Blair--we apprc4
ciate the need of such choice. After
the selection Of Seymour, which may with
, out adjective violence be accepted in one
brief word as-good that of Blair fol-


lowed as naturally and with the same eff
II feet as the thunder after the lightning.


Seymour is keen, brilliant, far seeing.


comprehensive statesman, who will illu-


inmate the political heavens with light
more Prometheau and heaven derived,


than any that have shone over this people
since the fathers Of the Republic cast
down the tide of time that immortal radi.
lance, which to ell eyes softens the aspect


Of these bitter days. Wait and see how
even the great lights Of the republic in


earlier times will in the lofty splendor of


this majestic modern mind, who now, in


his own despite, has been swung aIoft


where, like the calcium, he will shine with
Iunrcmitting glory, and dazzle the eyes
Iof beholders, not only here but in other
lands. He is living principle that can
know no shadow ofturning---a soul in the
radiant sense-the perfectibilty of states
manship


And. with more satisfaction than toward
any other man that could have been chos>
en- by the chieftains Who met in conven-
tion at Tammany Hall, do we hail the
name Of Francis r. Blair, next in glory.
The inheritor Of traditions that belong TO
the blood royal Of Democracy, he has
proved himself worthy Of lineage, and
stood yesterday before the convention
to-day before the people-on his personal
claims alone, as hero Of the. great war,
and the champion Of greater peace
His platform, which he put together plank
by plank in his recent speech, when called
into the ring, is the exact summary all
the nations deeds, and the gospel-not
to speek irreverently-of the palpitating
heart of the crisis which now agitates,
and will soon congulse, the land Hur-
rah for Blair


Francis 2. Blair, Jr., was nursed in the
lap Of the most startling political epoch
that arose between the Revolution of 1776
and the civil war Of 1861 The greatest
era Of Republicanism, far transcending
that Of 1900, was the period when An
drew Jackson stood at bay amid convul~
sions that appalled, the stoutest hearts
when the fortunes of the United States
Bank were rapidly approaching the exi-
gency which always makes the despairing
effort for life religious right


In those days of trial and danger, agi-
tation follwed agitation, cOnvulsion follow
ed CONFUSION, and the old hero daily
awaited committees from the commercial
centres, armed by thousands, breathing
revolt and vengeance, and who were turn
en- back only by the force of his uncon-
querable will


The Bank was power in the land
1t was backed by the resolution and the
intelligence Of a great and patriotic party,
who believe that party interests could not
be harmonized with national government
without its agency. Brave men stood by
thousands in ranks and confronted the
great hero. Truly he was man of iron
nerve, and if one column went back,
Iswayed by the force of his invincible spirit,
another surged on to protest anew, and to
threaten instant revolutionif if the demands
of the people were not conceded, and the
bank released frem the grip of the great
man who never let 60 his hold upon the
throat of his enemy.


In the midst of this agitation, Blair
was rocked, at intervals of quiet, by the
old "Hero of two wars" and told by that
voice which yet charms us from the grave,
to love his country and hate her enemies.
He was the son of great man, whose
name he bears, and whose powerful brain
swayed the people through his journal, to
. degree unknown since and unexplained
before Francis P. Blair, the editor of
the Globe, and Thomas III. Benton, tie
Senator Of Missouri, were the right and
left bowers of the great President, who,
with sagacity which led him onward in
the right course when the sky was darkest,
and his 6rmest friends quailed-with
moral courage far beyond all the instincts
of fear-with an honesty of purpose that
scorned all caution and all concealment-
had been triumphant in every conflict,
civil and military, in which his fearless
and firm heart ever engaged.


In this school was reared the next Vice
President. Is it any wonder that he be-
came hero in the cause of the Union
when the war broke out? Is itany won
der that he was yesterday chosen as bear
er of that banner which is sacred to the
cause of the people, aud thousand times
hallowed by the glory and affection of the
immortal jackson?