Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/315

Rh by Mr. Mulligan before the Investigating Committee in Mr. Blaine's presence without a word of objection from him as to its correctness. And in the face of this contract, and of the fact that large quantities of Little Rock bonds went to Mr. Elaine, according to the memorandum, without any payment on his part, as a gratuity or commission for Little Rock securities passing to A. & P. Coburn and other parties from Mr. Fisher, Mr. Blaine had the hardihood to say that the “Little Rock Company never parted with a bond to any one except at the regular price fixed for their sale,” and that he himself “never had one except at the regular market price.” In both these cases Mr. Blaine evidently said what was not true; he knew it to be untrue when he said it, and he said it with the obvious intent to deceive the House of Representatives and the “44,000,000 of his countrymen” whom Mr. Blaine “took into his confidence.” How do you call this? I know how you would have called it before Mr. Blaine's nomination, but that nomination seems to have had a strangely confusing effect upon party men's notions as to public morals. To call it “brilliant audacity in the handling of truth,” may suit the vocabulary of the modern era better.

5. You say that I lay too much stress upon Mr. Blaine's energetic protest against “the prying into his private affairs”; that I forget the circumstances; that Mr. Blaine was then a candidate for the Presidency; that the inquiry was instituted by his Democratic opponents, etc. Do you mean to suggest that a public man in high station, whose official integrity is seriously questioned, should accept and facilitate investigation only by his party friends? You will certainly not deny that Mr. Blaine had strong friends upon that committee. But a public man of a high sense of honor, rather than submit to continued suspicion, will invite investigation by his opponents, not try to