ELAINE, JAMES G. 



79 



Ephraim Blaino of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was 

 Commissary - General of tho Revolutionary 

 army from 1778 till the close of the struggle 

 in 1788. Washington attributed the preserva- 

 tion of his troops from actual starvation dur- 

 ing that terrible winter at Valley Forge main- 

 1\ t<> the heroic and self-sacrificing efforts of 

 Colonel Blaine. Mr. Blaine's father, born and 

 reared in Carlisle, after an extended tour in 

 Europe, South America, and the West Indies, 

 returned and settled in Washington County 

 about 1818, becoming one of the largest landed 

 proprietors in western Pennsylvania. He took 

 special pains to give his son a thorough intel- 

 lectual training, but died before he was fully 

 grown. At the age of eleven he was sent to 

 school in Lancaster, Ohio, where he lived in 

 the family of his relative, the Hon. Thomas 

 Ewing, at that time Secretary of the Treasury. 

 He graduated from Washington College in 1847, 

 at the age of seventeen. Specially excelling in 

 mathematics and Latin, he shared the first 

 honor of his class with John O. Hervey, now 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction at Wheel- 

 ing, West Virginia. His college guardian was 

 his uncle, the Hon. John H. Ewing, then a Rep- 

 resentative in Congress from the Washington 

 district of Pennsylvania. After graduating, 

 Mr. Blaine taught for a while in Pennsylvania 

 and Kentucky, wrote for the press, and studied 

 law, but never practiced. He married Harriet 

 Stanwood, a teacher from Massachusetts. 



In 1853 he went to Maine, where he edited 

 the " Portland Advertiser " and the " Kenne- 

 bec Journal." lie was chosen a member of the 

 Maine Legislature in 1858, where he served 

 four years, the last two as Speaker of the 

 House. The late Governor Kent of Maine, 

 speaking of Mr. Blaine's record in that State, 

 says : " Almost from the day of his assuming 

 editorial charge of the ' Kennebec Journal,' 

 at the early age of twenty- three, Mr. Blaine 

 sprang into a position of great influence in the 

 politics and policy of Maine. At twenty-five 

 he was a leading power in the councils of the 

 Republican party, so recognized by Fessenden, 

 Hamlin, and the two Morrills, and others then 

 and still prominent in the State. Before he 

 was twenty-nine he was chosen chairman of 

 the Executive Committee of the Republican 

 organization in Maine a position he has held 

 ever since, and from which he has practically 

 shaped and directed every political campaign 

 in the State, always leading his party to bril- 

 liant victory." 



In 1862 Mr. Blaine was elected a Repre- 

 sentative to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and 

 served on the Committee on Post-Offices and 

 Post -Roads. Reglected to the Thirty-ninth 

 Congress, he served on the Committee on Mili- 

 tary Affairs, and the special Committee on the 

 Death of President Lincoln, and as chairman 

 of that on the War Debts of the Loyal States. 

 Reglected to the Fortieth Congress, he served 

 on the Committees on Appropriations and 

 Rules. Though entering very young, Mr, 



Blaine always commanded the attention of tho 

 House, and before he had been three years a 

 member ho ranked with the highest as a de- 

 bater. At the period of greatest anxiety and 

 depression in the war, he delivered a speech 

 on " The Ability of the American People to 

 suppress the Rebellion," which has been cited 

 for tho great attention and commendation it 

 received. While a member of the Post-Office 

 Committee he took an active part in securing 

 the system of postal cars now in general use. 

 Throughout the period of reconstruction ho 

 was active and energetic in influencing legisla- 

 tion, and was especially prominent in shaping 

 some of the most important features of the 

 fourteenth amendment, particularly that re- 

 lating to the basis of representation. The dis- 

 cussions on this great series of questions, in 

 which Mr. Blaine figured largely, are among 

 the most interesting and valuable in tLe his- 

 tory of the American Congress. 



He was reflected to the Forty-first Congress, 

 and made Speaker of the House of Representa- 

 tives, which position he also held during the 

 Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses. It 

 has been said that no man since Clay's speak- 

 ership presided with such an absolute knowl- 

 edge of the rules of the House, or with so great 

 a mastery in the rapid, intelligent, and faithful 

 discharge of business. His knowledge of par- 

 liamentary law was instinctive and complete, 

 and his administration of it so fair that both 

 sides of the House united at the close of each 

 Congress in cordial thanks for his impartiality. 

 Even more marked than his career as Speaker 

 was Mr. Blaine's course in the House when he 

 returned to the floor at the close of his speak- 

 ership. His speeches during the debates on 

 the proposition to remove the political disa- 

 bilities of Jefferson Davis added greatly to his 

 reputation as an orator and parliamentarian. 



In June, 1876, Mr. Blaine was appointed by 

 the Governor of Maine to fill the vacancy in 

 the Senate caused by the resignation of Lot M. 

 Morrill, appointed Secretary of the Treasury. 

 On the meeting of the Legislature in January, 

 1877, he was promptly chosen not only for the 

 remainder of the unexpired term, but for tho 

 full term ending March 4, 1883. In tho Senate 

 he has taken a prominent part in every impor- 

 tant debate. Always a strong party man, he 

 is now one of the recognized leaders on the 

 Republican side. 



Mr. Blaine is a man of good temper, with 

 a certain intellectual vehemence that might 

 sometimes be mistaken for anger, of strong 

 physique, with wonderful powers of endurance 

 and recuperation, and of great activity and in- 

 dustry. To these qualities, added to great per- 

 sonal magnetism and a remarkably tenacious 

 memory, he owes his success in public life. In 

 the recent political troubles in Maine his states- 

 manlike qualities proved sufficient for the 

 emergency, saved the State from threatened 

 violence, and carried the Republican party to 

 success. 



