Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/267

Rh Representatives. They told him very pointedly that Mr. Blaine, as Speaker, had done him a great favor—although he had done it “without knowing it,” and in a correct way—but a favor which was of great value to the company. And it was certainly not the fault of Mr. Blaine's letters if Mr. Caldwell did not understand that a Speaker of the House, who could do such favors “with out knowing it,” might do equal and still greater favors while knowing it; and that, therefore, Mr. Blaine, as Speaker, had more various channels in which to make himself useful, and to prove a live-head in this land-grant railroad enterprise, than a mere railroad builder or a mere Wall Street financier. And writing two letters on the same subject on one day, Mr. Blaine showed himself dreadfully in earnest in pounding clear notions of the Speaker's opportunities for usefulness into Mr. Caldwell's head, in order to induce that gentleman to give at last to Speaker Blaine that interest in the railroad enterprise which the Speaker insisted upon having.

Mr. Blaine's friends dislike greatly to be brought face to face with these letters. They cannot deny their genuineness and they cannot explain them away. Some of them content themselves with the general remark that after all they were such as the Speaker of the House would have no reason to be ashamed of. And then they at once change the subject and speak of the tariff. The fact is that Mr. Blaine did see reason for being extremely anxious that they should not become known. He certainly did not consider them innocent. But they did become known in a very peculiar way. Mr. James Mulligan, who had been the bookkeeper of Mr. Fisher, having been summoned to testify before the investigating committee, brought those letters among others with him to Washington. This he did with Mr. Fisher's consent. As soon as Mr. Blaine heard of the letters he called upon