. The biography and public services of Hon James G. Blaine : giving a full account of twenty years in the national capital . nsas were at their height, and a state of almost civil warexisted. The excesses to which the controversy between theopponents and advocates of the extension of slavery filled everyjournal, and the assault of Brooks on Sumner had filled alllovers of free thought and free speech with the bitterest abhor-rence of the party that had such champions. The DemocraticConvention met June 2,1856, and nominated James Buchananas its candidate for the Presidency; Fremont being nominat
. The biography and public services of Hon James G. Blaine : giving a full account of twenty years in the national capital . nsas were at their height, and a state of almost civil warexisted. The excesses to which the controversy between theopponents and advocates of the extension of slavery filled everyjournal, and the assault of Brooks on Sumner had filled alllovers of free thought and free speech with the bitterest abhor-rence of the party that had such champions. The DemocraticConvention met June 2,1856, and nominated James Buchananas its candidate for the Presidency; Fremont being nominatedby the Kepublicans. In the previous year Blaine had beensecretary of the State Convention ; he was now sent as one ofthe delegates of Maine to the Kepublican Convention, inPhiladelphia. He cast his vote for Fremont. On his returnto Augusta, a Ratification Meeting was held, and he wascalled on to address the audience. Pressed to speak, he atfirst refused, but afterward consented. Standing before thelarge audience he made a poor beginning, but soon enteredinto the spirit of the hour, and so clear, forcible, and convin-. BLAINE IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 63 cing was his speech that from that moment he was considerednot only an able writer, but one of the most effective platformspeakers in the party. Throughout the campaign he spoke inmany places, and his reputation soon extended beyond hissection. Henceforth he was looked on as a man who would and again his friends urged him to accept a nominationas candidate for the lower house of the State Legislature, andnothing but unwearied persistence induced him to accept itin 1858. The timidness that had characterized his appear-ance in public two years before, still haunted him, and duringthe canvass the speeches he made were few and brief. It isstrange to read that an orator so ready in debate, so preparedfor every emergency, so capable of swaying all hearers, eitherin the halls of the Legislature or on the stump, should have
Size: 1345px × 1858px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectblainej, bookyear1884
