Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/204

 it involves the proposition of surrendering the control of the country to the Democracy, a party which has been on the wrong side of every important question settled in the most eventful period of American history, and which has to look back to the time of Jackson for its achievements, to the time of Jefferson for its virtues. The annals of human affairs show no instance of reformers relying for support of their measures upon an organization which has exhibited such extreme conservatism.

Even if it be true that Mr. Blaine has not been a pronounced advocate of "Civil Service Reform," that cause has, in our judgment, far more to hope from the Republican party, which has embodied the principle in its platform, than from the Democrats, who are avowedly hostile to it, who dismissed to private life its Democratic sponsor in the senate, and who are eagerly awaiting a distribution of partisan rewards. We believe, further, that it would be more reasonable to expect support for this measure from a man with the vigor and intelligence of Mr. Blaine, than from any nominee of the Democrats, who, if he should be elected and make an effort in its favor, would have the whole strength of his party used against him.

Nor would such an opposition be justified by the fact that charges are made against Mr. Blaine which those who make them say affect his personal integrity. That he must be defended, may, perhaps, be a good argument against a nomination, but it certainly has no relevancy at this time. If it should be once established that a man ought not to be elected to the presidency because accusations have been made against him, the ablest men would be always excluded. In the heat of contests these accusations spring up and luxuriate. They are like the parasitic plants that cover an oak, but live on air and need no roots. It should not be forgotten that these charges have been met by the State of Maine, which has since elected him to the Senate; by Garfield, who made him Secretary of State, and by the great party which has chosen him for the presidency. Every presumption is in favor of a man who has been so trusted, and to have weight, it is not enough that such charges should be made, they must be conclusively proven.

If the "Jingoism" of Mr. Blaine means no more than is asserted in the Pall Mall Gazette, which says: "But wherever he can he will oust us from the position we hold; wherever an opportunity offers he will use it to the uttermost to replace our influence and our trade by the influence and trade of the United States, and he will regard it as his chief object to promote a great American 190