BLAIRMORE 



763 



BLAKE 



twenty-eight votes. Charges of corrupt prac- 

 tices in securing legislation in favor of certain 

 railroad projects had been made against him 

 by his political opponents, and his defense was 

 not satisfactory to many of his own political 

 faith. Therefore he never again had the un- 

 divided support of the Republicans, and the 

 great ambition of his life was never realized. 



In 1877 Elaine entered the United States 

 Senate, where he zealously championed the 

 cause of protective tariff, and labored for the 

 advancement of American shipping and for 

 subsidies for American industries (see SUB- 

 SIDY). In the Republican convention of 1880 

 his friends fought for his nomination through 

 thirty-six ballots, finally giving their support to 

 the "dark horse" of the convention, James A. 

 Garfield. After the latter's inauguration Elaine 

 was appointed Secretary of State, but he held 

 office only eight months because of the death 

 of the President and the consequent reorganiza- 

 tion of the Cabinet by the new President, 

 Chester A. Arthur. 



After three years of retirement Elaine re- 

 turned to public life as the Republican candi- 

 date for the Presidency, but was defeated in 

 the election by Grover Cleveland, after a cam- 

 paign unequaled up to that time in bitterness 

 of personal attack. He thereupon devoted him- 

 self to literary work, publishing in 1886 the 

 second volume of his Twenty Years in Con- 

 gress, the first volume having appeared in 1884. 

 It is a valuable historical record. 



Refusing to permit his friends to press his 

 candidacy for the nomination of 1888, he en- 

 tered President Harrison's Cabinet as Secre- 

 tary of State in 1889 and served with distinc- 

 tion until his resignation in 1892. With his 

 administration of the State Department are 

 connected the treaty with Germany concerning 

 the Samoan Islands (see SAMOA) and the as- 

 sembling of the first Pan-American Congress 

 (which see). He also negotiated a large num- 

 ber of reciprocity treaties for the encourage- 

 ment of American commerce (see RECIPROCITY), 

 and vigorously upheld the dignity and honor 

 of his country in its foreign relations. A last 

 and unsuccessful attempt was made to secure 

 his nomination for the Presidency in the Re- 

 publican convention of 1892 which renominated 

 Harrison. Six months later he died. B.M.W. 



Consult Elaine's Twenty Years in Congress; 

 Peck's American Party Leaders. 



BLAIRMORE, a village in Alberta, on the 

 Crow's Nest River and the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway, thirteen miles east of Crow's Nest 



EDWARD BLAKE 



Pass and eighty-three miles west of Lethbridge. 

 Blairmore has a number of coal mines, and is 

 also the distributing point for the coal fields 

 of the region. Cement and brick clay are 

 found in the neighborhood, and bricks, lime 

 and lumber are shipped. The population in- 

 creased from 239 in 1901 to 1,137 in 1911, and 

 to about 1^00 in 1916. 



BLAKE, EDWARD (1833-1912), a Canadian 

 lawyer and statesman, for twenty years a mem- 

 ber of the Dominion House of Commons, one 

 of the foremost orators who ever addressed that 

 body, and predecessor of Sir Wilfrid Laurier as 

 leader of the Lib- 

 eral party. Blake 

 was born at Ade- 

 laide, Ontario, on 

 October 13, 1833, 

 but to the day of 

 his death he was 

 undeniably Irish. 

 His father had 

 emigrated from 

 County Galway 

 to Ontario in 

 1832, and the son 

 exactly sixty 

 years later reversed the process. After winning 

 fame in the Dominion he removed to Ireland 

 and was elected a member of the British Par- 

 liament, where he sat as an Irish Nationalist 

 until 1907. Failing health then led him to 

 resign and return to Canada, and the scene of 

 his early triumphs. 



After graduation from Upper Canada Col- 

 lege and the University of Toronto, he was 

 called to the bar in 1856, and in a few years 

 won a large practice. He was elected to the 

 first Dominion Parliament in 1867, and at the 

 same time sat in the Ontario legislature. He 

 led the Liberal opposition in the legislature 

 until 1871, when he was prime minister for a 

 few months. He declined the leadership of the 

 Liberals in Parliament, but in 1873 accepted a 

 ministership without portfolio in Alexander 

 Mackenzie's Cabinet. His health was uncertain 

 during the next few years, but he held the 

 portfolio of Minister of Justice from 1875 to 

 1877, long enough to take the chief part in 

 planning the organization of the Dominion Su- 

 preme Court. From 1880 to 1887 he was leader 

 of the Liberal Opposition in the Dominion 

 House of Commons. Though he resigned this 

 leadership in 1887 he still sat in the House until 

 1891, when he withdrew from Canadian public 

 life. 



