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How these gentlemen were elected in the November of that year, and how they were defrauded by a shameless conspiracy upon the part of the Republican leaders and the majority of the American voters robbed of their choice for president and vice-president is familiar to all.

Eight years have passed and again Governor Hendricks is called to bear his part in the campaign, the great issue of which is whether honesty or dishonesty shall prevail in the administration of the affairs of government, and Mr. Hendricks bears aloft the banner upon which is inscribed the word honesty.

Record of Blaine.

For the office of President of the United States the Republican party has placed in nomination James G. Blaine, "a candidate," declared by a convention of Republicans to be "an unfit leader, shown by his own words and his acknowledged acts, which are of official record, to be unworthy of respect and confidence; who has traded upon his official trust for his pecuniary gain; a representative of men, methods and conduct which the public conscience condemns, and which illustrate the very evils honest men would reform."

These grave charges, deliberately made against the Republican candidate for President by Republicans, deserve the serious consideration of all men who have the welfare of the country at heart; and to the end that an impartial investigation of Mr. Blaine's fitness or unfitness for the high trust to which he aspires may be had, a brief review is here given of Mr. Blaine's public life in Washington.

Is He Honest ?

The first requisite for a candidate for office, according to the Jeffersonian standard, is honesty. Against Mr. Blaine the charge specifically made, and by Republicans, is, that he has traded upon his official trust for his pecuniary gain. The proof is of record, and was furnished by Mr. Blaine himself in what are known as the Mulligan letters.

The Mulligan Letters.

The story of the Mulligan letters is briefly told. They were letters written by Mr. Blaine to Mr. Fisher concerning land grant railroad stocks and bonds, and they were held, with Fisher's consent, by his bookkeeper, James Mulligan. In the spring of 1876 unpleasant rumors of Mr. Blaine's connection with certain railroad transactions were in circulation, and became at last so pressing that he thought it necessary to meet them by a personal explanation in the House of Representatives.

He made this explanation April 24. He stated in explicit terms that a charge against him had been made to this effect: "that a certain draft was negotiated at the house of Morton, Bliss & Co., in 1871, through Thomas A. Scott, then President of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, for the sum of $64,000, and that $75,000 of bonds of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Company were pledged as collateral; that the Union Pacific Company paid the draft and took up the collateral; that the cash proceeds of it went to me, and that I had furnished or sold or in some way conveyed or transferred to Thomas A. Scott these Little Rock and Fort Smith bonds which had been used as collateral; that the bonds had in reality belonged to me or some friend or constituent of mine for whom I vas acting." Mr. Blaine then proceeded to deny this charge absolutely and entirely, declaring it to be " without one particle of foundation in fact, and without a cittle of evidence to substantiate it.' In support of his denial he read letters from Thomas A. Scott and from Sidney Dillon, who succeeded Mr. Scott as President of

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the Union Pacific Railroad. He admitted, however, that he had been the owner of bonds in the Little Rock and Fort Smith road in 1869, but declared that he had paid the full market price for them, and that he had lost over $20,000 by the transaction. He said further that "as to the question of the propriety involved in a member of Congress holding an investment of this kind, it must be remembered that the lands were granted to the State of Arkansas and not to the railroad company, and that the company derived its life, franchise, and value wholly from the State." And later he repeated that "the Little Rock road derived all it had from the State of Arkansas and not from the Congress." He denied once more the charge against him by declaring that "the story of my receiving $64,000 or any other sum of money, or other thing of value, from the Union Pacific Railroad Company, directly or indirectly, or in any form, for myself or for another, is absolutely disproved by the most conclusive testimony"; and closed by saying, "I have never done anything in my public career for which I could be put to the faintest blush in any presence, or for which I cannot answer to my constituents, my conscience, and the great Searcher of hearts."

April 24, 1876, Cong. Record, 1st Sess., 44th Cong., Vol. 4, pt. 3, p. 2724.

Investigating the Matter.

On May 2, 1876, Mr. Tarbox introduced the following resolution which was agreed to:

Whereas, It is publicly alleged, and not denied by the officers of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, that that corporation did in the year 1871 or 1872 become the owner of certain bonds of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Company, for which bonds the said Union Pacific Railroad Company paid a consideration largely in excess of their actual or market value, and that the board of directors of said Union Pacific Railroad Company, though urged, have neglected to investigate said transaction; therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Committee on Judiciary be instructed to inquire if any such transaction took place, and, if so, what were the circumstances and inducements thereto, from what person or persons said bonds were obtained and upon what consideration, and whether the transaction was from corrupt design or in furtherance of any corrupt object; and that the Committee have power to send for persons and papers.

44th Cong., 1st Sess., H. R. misc. doc. 176, pt. 1, p. 2.

Blaine Makes a Personal Explanation.

Messrs. Hunton, Ashe and Lawrence were appointed a sub-committee of the Committee on Judiciary to conduct the investigation called for by this resolution and one previously adopted directing an inquiry into the management of all the railroads that had been aided by Congress, during the progress of which Mr. Blaine rose to a personal explanation, June 5, 1876, in the course of which he read the following letters:

I.

[Private and personal.]

AUGUSTA, MAINE, August 31, 1872. MY DEAR MR. FISHER: I have been absent so much of late that I did not receive your last letter until it was several days old. When I last wrote you, I was expecting to be in Boston on a political conference about this time, but I found it impossible to be there, and it is now impossible for me to leave here until after our election, which occurs Monday week, the 9th. I will try to meet you at the Parker House on the 10th or 11th, availing myself of the first possible moment for that purpose.

I cannot, however, allow a remark in your letter to pass without comment. You say that you have been trying to get a settlement with me for fifteen months, you have been trying to induce me to comply with certain demands which you made upon me, without taking into account any claims I have of a counter kind.

This does not fill my idea of a settlement, for a settlement must include both sides.

No person could be more anxious for a settlement than I am, and if upon our next interview we cannot reach one, why then we try other means.

But my judgment is that I shall make you so liberal an offer of settlement that you cannot possibly refuse it.

As one of the elements which I wish to take into account is the note of $10,000 given you in 1863 for Spencer stock, I desire that you will furnish me with the items of interest on that note. My impression is that when that note was consolidated into the large note, which you still hold, that you did not charge me full interest, possibly omitting one or two years.

I will be obliged if you will give me information on this point, for I intend to submit to you a full and explicit basis of settlement, and in making it up it is necessary that I should have this information. Please send it as promptly as you may be able to give it to me.

In haste, very truly yours,

J. G. BLAINE.

WARREN FISHER, JR., Esq.

II.
[Personal.]

AUGUSTA, MAINE, August 9, 1872.

MY DEAR MR. FISHER: On my return home yesterday I found your favor of 6th from Stonington, asking for my notes, $6,000, on account. It seems to me that a partial settlement of our matter would only lead to future trouble, or at all events to a mere postponement of our present difficulties.

I deem it highly desirable that we should have a conclusive and comprehensive settlement, and I have been eager for that these many months.

The account which you stated June 20, 1872, does not correspond precisely with the reckoning I have made of the indebtedness on the note you hold. You credit me, April 26, 1869, with $12,500 dividend from Spencer Company; but there were two subsequent dividends, one of $3,750, the other of $5,800, of which no mention is made in your statement, though I received in June, 1870, your check for $2,700 or $2,800, which was a part of these dividends, I believe. I think my "cash memorandum" of June 25, 1869, for $2,500, with which you charge me, represented at the time a part of the dividends; but being debited with that, I am entitled to a credit of the dividend.

In other words, as I reckon it, there are dividends amounting to $9,550 due me, with interest since June, 1870, of which I have received only $2,700 or $2,800, entitling me thus to a credit of some $7,500.

Besides the cash memorandum January 9, 1864, $600, which with interest amounts to $904.10, was obviously included in the consolidated note which was given to represent all my indebtedness to you, and which you repeatedly assured me would be met and liquidated in good time by Spencer dividends.

You will thus see that we differ materially as to the figures. Of course each of us is aiming at precisely the facts of the case, and if I am wrong, please correct me. I am sure that you do not desire me to pay a dollar that is not due, and I am equally sure that I am more than ready to pay every cent that I owe you.

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The Little Rock matter is a perpetual and never-ending embarrassment to me. I am pressed daily almost to make final settlement with those who still hold the securities-a settlement I am not able to make until I receive the bonds due on your article of agreement with me. That is to me by far the most urgent and pressing of all the demands connected with our matters, and the one which I think, in all equity, should be first settled, or certainly settled as soon as any.

If the $6,000 cash is so important to you, I would be glad to assist in raising the same for you on your notes, using Little Rock bonds as collateral at same rate they are used in Boston, four for one. I think I could get the money here on four or six months on these terms. If I had the money myself, I would be glad to advance it to, but I am as dry as a contribution-box, borrowing, indeed, to defray my campaign expenses.

Very sincerely yours,

J. G. BLAINE.

WARKEN FISHER, JR., Esq., Boston.

III.

AUGUSTA, MAINE, July 3, 1872.

MY DEAR MR. FISHER: I was detained far beyond my expectations in New York and Pennsylvania, being there quite a week. I was in Boston on Monday en route home, but I was so prostrated by the heat that I had no strength or energy to call on you.

It seems to me, as I review and recall our several conferences, that we ought not to have any trouble in coming to an easy adjustment, as follows: First, I am ready to fulfill the memorandum held by you in regard to the Northern Pacific Railroad, as I always have been; second, you are ready to consider the landbonds in my possession as surrendered in payment of the debt to which they were originally held as collateral; third, I am ready to pay you the full amount of cash due you on memoranda held by you, provided you will pay me half the amount of bonds due me on memoranda held by me, the cash to be paid and the bonds to be delivered at the same time. As to further sale of the share in Northern Pacific Railroad, that could be determined afterward. I am ready to do all in my power to oblige you in the matter.

If we can adjust the first and second points herein referred to, the third might be left, if you desire it, to the future.

If this is not accept

Hitherto I have made all the propositions of settlement. able to you, please submit your views of a fair basis in writing.

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error of fact under which you are laboring in regard to my ability to comply with your request about the $10,000 letter of credit. I would gladly get it for you if I were able; but I have not the means. I have no power of getting a letter of credit from Jay Cooke except by paying the money for it, and the money I have not got, and have no means of getting it. You ask me to do therefore what is simply impossible. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to serve you if I were able; but my losses in the Fort Smith affair have entirely crippled me, and deranged all my finances. You would, I know, be utterly amazed if you could see the precise

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