BLAINE, JAMES GILLESPIE (Jan. 31, I830 - Jan. 27, 1893), statesman, was born at West Brownsville,
Pa. He was the son of Maria Louise Gillespie and Ephraim Lyon Blaine, and fifth in descent from the first
James Blaine who emigrated from Londonderry in 1745. His paternal ancestors were for the most part
Scotch-Irish and Scotch Presbyterians. The Gillespies were Roman Catholics of Celtic Irish stock. In
America the Blaines settled about Lancaster and Carlisle, Pa., were active in business, and played a
prominent part in the Revolution. After the Revolution they crossed the Alleghenies and settled in the
vicinity of Pittsburgh. In 1842 Ephraim Blaine was elected prothonotary of Washington County and
thereupon moved to the county seat. At the age of thirteen James entered Washington College which his
father and many other relatives had attended. His age at graduation is an indication of the limited nature
of the college course. He secured, however, a sound grounding in the classics, in English, and in
mathematics. He began at once to teach in the Western Military Institute, at Georgetown, Ky. He did not
like the South, and was ambitious to study law. From 1852 to 1854 he taught in the Pennsylvania
Institute for the Blind, at Philadelphia, where he could study law at the same time.On June 30, 1850, he secretly married Harriet Stanwood, at that time teaching in Kentucky, but
belonging to an old Massachusetts family, one branch of which settled in 1822 at Augusta, Me. As the
legality of this marriage was in doubt, they were remarried on Mar. 29, 1851, at Pittsburgh, Pa. Through
this connection came, in 1854, an opportunity to enter journalism at Augusta. Through the financial
assistance of Mrs. Blaine's brothers he was able to purchase an interest in the Kennebec Journal. For
several years he also served on the editorial staff of the Portland Advertiser. Although he left journalism
in 1860, it was, aside from politics, his profession, and he may be said to have been the most prominent
of American statesmen to receive their training from that calling. He settled in Augusta, joined the
Congregational church, and from 1854 was identified with Maine, illustrating a migration unusual in
American history. Augusta remained his home, and here he raised a family of seven children, of whom
four survived him. Much of his time, however, was spent at Washington, and in his later years, his
summers at Bar Harbor.Blaine was of a stalwart, well-proportioned physique, with a large, fine head; distinctly a commanding
figure. His eyes were particularly brilliant; his voice effective and attractive. His manner had much of the
dignity of his generation of statesmen. Much more striking, however, was his magnetic quality, which
gave charm to his social intercourse, and which made his oratory perhaps the most thrilling of his day. It
was probably the exhaustion coming after demonstrations of such power, which caused his complaints of
ill health, which often puzzled his friends. Undoubtedly he had much of what is called temperament. It
followed that he was at his best with a crowd or audience. He was not a club man, and had more
followers than intimates.
His mental characteristics were decidedly those connected with mathematical talent. His speeches
were carefully prepared and contained much exact information. One of his greatest political assets was
his ability to remember names and faces. He was an expert in the interpretation of election returns. He
had in addition an intuitive talent for political leadership. It was this talent, combined with an imagination
which gained in power as he gained confidence in himself, which distinguished his foreign policy; but by
the time he put this forward, when fifty, he had, perhaps, lost his earlier zest for the exact study upon
which he based his domestic policies. His humor, which must have been native, was slow to develop and
was assiduously cultivated. Developed by the repartee of debate, it became one of his effective political
weapons.Blaine came to his leading political ideas by nature and by inheritance. His family were Whigs.
Thomas Ewing of Ohio was a cousin of his mother. He was a great admirer of Henry Clay, on whose
famous Lexington speech of 1847 he took notes. To advocate measures of a nationalizing character
was, therefore, natural to him. His interest in the question of slavery was equally keen. In 1854, his first
year of editorship, he abandoned the name Whig, and was instrumental in causing those Maine voters,
who, under many political titles, were opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska bill, to adopt the new Western
cognomen of Republican; thus giving that name currency in the East. In 1856 he was a delegate to the
first national Republican convention, and one of its secretaries. He was, therefore, one of the genuine
founders of that party, which he expected to carry on Whig measures as well as to oppose slavery.While Maine was located so far to one side of the country as to miss that strategic importance of a
central position which has counted for so much in American politics, nevertheless Blaine found there two
advantages. The Maine elections were, during most of his career, held a month earlier than those
elsewhere, and were consequently watched eagerly all over the country. More important was the fact that
the number of men of exceptional ability in the politics of the state was particularly large. The editor of
the rival newspaper at Augusta was Melville W. Fuller, later chief justice of the United States. The
strength of the Maine politicians helped him not only by rivalry, but also by support. He was always
surrounded by a strong group of local supporters, such as William Pierce Frye, Thomas Brackett Reed,
and Nelson Dingley. The Maine habit of keeping such men long in office made them an increasingly
powerful group. In a new party young men have an exceptional opportunity. In 1859 he was made
chairman of the Republican state committee. He kept this post until 1881, and made himself the
accepted and acceptable dictator of his party in the state.In 1858 he was elected to the state legislature and was twice reelected. During the last two terms he was
Speaker of the House of Representatives. This success was won by his editorial skill and ability in
political management and in legislative business. It was not until 1860 that he began his career as a
public speaker. He entered Congress in 1863, serving in the national House of Representatives until July
10, 1876. In 1869 he was elected speaker, serving until the Democratic House of 1875 took office; after
which he became leader of the Republican opposition. On July 10, 1876, he became senator, holding
that office until Mar. 5, 1881.During these years Blaine rose to be a national figure. He exhibited an unusual level-headed-ness,
and changed his views less often than most men during the trying period of Civil War and
Reconstruction. These views were sufficiently direct and clearcut to arouse enthusiasm, but did not share
the radicalism and vindictiveness of the extremists. He was firmly a Lincoln man, although in 1860 most
of his Maine associates preferred Seward. Before he entered Congress he helped to win a victory in the
state election of 1863 on Lincoln's program of Unionism, dropping in that election the designation of
Republican, and doing much to organize the large Union majorities of that year, so necessary to offset
the Democratic gains of 1862.Early in the Reconstruction period he came out for negro suffrage, but accepted the lead of neither
Thaddeus Stevens nor Charles Sumner. Rather he began to make connections with certain Western
leaders, like Bingham and Garfield. He first attracted wide notice by joining with Bingham in adding as an
amendment to Stevens's bill for the military government of the South, a provision for reconstruction. This
amendment was characterized by the extreme Radicals as "making universal suffrage and universal
amnesty" the basis of reconstruction (J. F. Rhodes, History of the United States, 1906, VI, 19). After a
severe fight the amendment was attached to the bill, though its amnesty feature was modified.This was a notable victory for a youngster over the venerable Republican floor leader. Stevens's death
Blaine regarded as "an emancipation for the Republican party." Asked who could take his place, Blaine
replied, "There are three young men coming forward." He pointed to Allison of Iowa, Garfield of Ohio,
and, looking up into the dome of the Capitol, said, "I don't see the third" (G. F. Hoar, Autobiography,
1903, I, 239). He remained opposed to the extreme coercive measures of the Grant administration,
helping to defeat a new Force Bill. On the other hand, in 1875, when the Democrats had gained control
of the House, he opposed a general amnesty bill, making a violent attack on Jefferson Davis which left
no doubt of his genuine Unionism. On the whole he came well through this trying period with the
reputation of a liberal who could nevertheless he trusted even by the Grand Army.During these years he built up also a strong popularity in the West. His associates were Garfield and
Allison. He assisted in 1872 in a reduction of the tariff (Horace White, The Life of Lyman Trumbull, 1913,
pp.354-55). His position on the currency was that of a moderate, with tendencies toward sound money.
He was regarded as loyal to the principles and practices of his party, but was not an extremist. As
important as the friendships which he made was one lasting enmity. This was with the brilliant
representative from New York, Roscoe Conkling. In April 1866 they became engaged in a violent
personal encounter, when Blaine was presenting a report from the committee on military affairs. Words
ran very high, and Blaine accused Conkling of editing his remarks for the Congressional Globe in a way
to place Blaine's rejoinders in a false light. This break was never healed. Conkling became one of the
leading supporters of Grant, and Blaine became the head of opposition within the party. Gradually there
formed two Republican factions, the Stalwarts, or Grant men, and the Half-Breeds, among whom Blaine
was most conspicuous-a rivalry kept before the country by the wit of Conkling and the dramatic instinct of
Blaine. The probable retirement of Gen. Grant from the presidency in 1876 left the field open to many
candidates. Circumstances seemed to have made Blaine the leading candidate for the Republican
nomination when a dramatic episode occurred which probably barred the door of the presidency to him
forever, as the cry of "Bargain and Corruption" had barred it to his hero Clay. The Democratic committee
investigating the charges of railroad graft brought charges of corruption against Blaine. The proof of their
truth or falsity was supposed to rest in a collection known as the "Mulligan Letters." These letters Blaine
secured. He refused to hand them over to the committee of "southern brigadiers," but he himself read
from them to the House in a brilliant and dramatic speech.The facts seem to be that a decision of Speaker Blaine saved a land grant for the Little Rock and Fort
Smith Railroad in 1869. Blaine, thereupon, on the basis of this favor, asked the favor of the railroad
managers. He received the privilege of selling bonds on a commission that was secret and certainly
generous. He claimed that he lost money on the transaction, as the bonds fell, and he felt under
obligation to reimburse his friends. This loyalty to his friends and disregard for the public interest was
characteristic of the time. The fact that he conferred the favor before, and not after, receiving the return
favor, differentiated him from many public men. It was, nevertheless, true that Blaine became wealthy
without visible means of income, and that he resisted all attempts "to expose his private business." His
standards were not below those of many public men of his time, but they rendered him anathema to
those who were endeavoring to raise the public standards, particularly to the group headed by Carl
Schurz, whose independence of party rendered them so powerful in politics from 1868 to 1895. (The best
statement of the charges against Blaine is in Carl Schurz, Speeches, Correspondence, and Political
Papers, 1913, IV, 23~48; the most considered historical judgment is F. L. Paxson, Recent History of the
United States, 1921, pp. 9~i.)It was under such circumstances that Blaine was first a candidate for the presidency. As always with
him the striking accidental combined with the well-earned weight of facts to influence the result. Five
days before the convention he was prostrated by the heat of Washington, and the uncertainty of his
recovery became a factor in the voting. His name was presented by Robert G. Ingersoll in a speech
which has generally been considered the most brilliant nomination in the history of our conventions, and
which designated Blaine as the "Plumed Knight," a title which always clung to him. In this convention he
had the strongest initial vote, 285, to 125 for his nearest rival, Oliver P. Morton of Indiana who was
among those favored by Grant. In addition the anti-Grant forces were in a majority in the whole
convention. It was felt, however, that the feeling of the administration against Blaine was so strong that
the support of powerful men would be lacking in the campaign should he be nominated, and that the
Schurz group would turn to the Democrats. The vote of Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio, grew
steadily, and when New York transferred its vote from Conkling to Hayes, Blaine telegraphed Hayes his
congratulations, although Hayes was not nominated until the seventh ballot. It was by such impulsive and
generous gestures that Blaine won the widespread affection which was his great political asset.During the Hayes administration Blaine, now senator from Maine, was preparing for the next
campaign. He supported the administration against the attacks of Conkling, their brilliant exchanges
keeping both constantly in the public eye. It was a contest for tactical advantage but Blaine strengthened
his reputation for moderation and for consideration of the West.President Hayes was not a candidate for renomination. The Stalwarts concentrated their attention
upon again nominating Grant himself, securing a solid block of over three hundred delegates who never
wavered. Blaine was again the leading candidate in opposition, with an initial 284 delegates. The others
were divided among other Half-Breed leaders, the most important being Senator John Sherman of Ohio
and Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont. Again Conkling's extreme bitterness against Blaine was
feared as a factor in the subsequent campaign, and on the thirty-sixth ballot, Gen. James A. Garfield, a
friend of Blaine, was nominated. Again Blaine took the result with good nature and worked in the closest
intimacy with Garfield in the subsequent campaign. To assuage the disgruntled Stalwarts, Chester A.
Arthur of New York was nominated for the vice-presidency.Garfield appointed Blaine as secretary of state and the administration might almost be called that of
Garfield-Blaine. Among its lesser political measures were a series of appointments which violently
angered the Stalwarts. After Garfield was shot and died, and Arthur, the friend of Conkling, succeeded,
Blaine's influence in the administration was gone, and he tendered his resignation, Sept. 22, 1881. At the
request of President Arthur, however, he continued to serve as secretary until Dec. 19, 1881.The division in the Republican party still remained, but on the whole the Half-Breeds gained. However
much Blaine was a politician, it seems to be the fact that from 1876 he was the choice of the majority, or
of the largest faction of Republicans, who believed that he had been kept from nomination by political
expedients and who felt that his time had now come. Remaining in Washington, he wrote the first part of
his Twenty Years of Congress (Volume I published 1884) and articles setting forth his position. He was
also in daily touch with his political associates. As the presidential year approached President Arthur
received the support of the Stalwarts for renomination, but that faction was steadily losing power. In the
convention of 1884 Blaine was nominated for the presidency on the first ballot, and Gen. John A. Logan
of Illinois was chosen as candidate for vice-president.His Democratic opponent was Grover Cleveland, who as governor of New York had attracted the favor of
those particularly interested in certain reforms, as that of the civil service. This fact, combined with the
suspicion clinging to Blaine as a result of the affair of the Mulligan Letters, caused the group led by Carl
Schurz, which had up to this time cooperated with the Republicans, to shift to the support of Cleveland.
Their numbers were not large and some associated with them, as Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot
Lodge, refused to change. Nevertheless they were men of prominence and their desertion weakened the
Republican hope of success. Popularly they were designated as Mugwumps.The foreign policy which Blaine had developed while secretary of state, moreover, seems to have
caused more apprehension than enthusiasm. His tilts with Great Britain, however, were popular with the
Irish-Americans, and it was hoped that he could divide that vote. At the very end of the campaign, in a
speech at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York, a supporter of Blaine, the Rev. S. D. Burchard [q.v.],
referred to him as fighting the Democratic party as "the party whose antecedents are. rum, Romanism,
and rebellion." This expression, coming too late to be explained away, undoubtedly alienated many Irish
Catholics, and in view of the closeness of the vote in New York, the key state, where a change of 600
votes would have turned the election, may well have meant the defeat of Blaine. He lost Connecticut,
New York, New Jersey, and Indiana, and the election.Blaine now resumed the writing of his Twenty Years in Congress, publishing the second volume in
1886. In the following year he published a collection of his speeches with the title Political Discussions:
Legislative, Diplomatic, and Popular. He still remained the most powerful Republican, and expectation
was general that he would be nominated again in 1888. Before the convention he went for a long trip to
Europe. On Jan. 25, 1888, he wrote home from Florence stating that he was not a candidate, and that he
could not accept unless he were to be chosen by an unanimity which was impossible. This decision was
confirmed by other letters, and finally convinced his friends, although votes were still cast for him in the
convention. He was, however, though still away, a powerful factor, and was instrumental, if not the chief
influence; in causing the selection of Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, as candidate.It was taken for granted, upon the election of Harrison, that the chief post in the cabinet would be
offered to Blaine. The offer was made and accepted and Blaine entered upon the most fruitful part of his
career. These were, however, unhappy years for Blaine. In 1890 he lost two children. His relations with
the President became strained, and his health was not good. As the presidential year approached, again
he announced that he would not be a candidate, which left the President the leading aspirant, but not a
popular one. When the convention met, the President had almost, but not quite, a majority of pledged
delegates. On June 4, three days before the convention, Blaine resigned in a curt letter. and his
resignation was as curtly accepted. Such. action can hardly be interpreted otherwise than that Blaine
hoped for a miracle, for a demonstration of that enthusiasm which he still in-spired so convincing as to
sweep the convention off its feet. He received 182 % votes, but Harrison was nominated on the first
ballot. With that generosity which always characterized him Blaine returned to Washington, was
reconciled with the President, and took what little part in the campaign his health allowed. His health
however, rapidly declined, and on Jan. 27, 1893 at the age of sixty-two, he died. In spite of this early
death, Blaine seemed to have well rounded out a career. New times were calling for men of different
training. He impresses one, moreover, as having lived at the height of his powers in the years between
1865 and 1885, and to have died an old man.The permanent influence of Blaine on American life has been through his foreign policy. On Mar. 7,
1881, he first entered upon his duties as secretary of state. This position in American government has
taken on a double significance; the secretary is, under the president, the leader of the administration, and
is also the foreign minister. The general expectation was that in an unusual degree Blaine would
emphasize the political aspects of the office. Intimate friend of the President, he was in the public eye a
more considerable figure. This political reputation. moreover, had been built up on the basis of his
leadership in domestic problems. It was not. therefore, supposed that he would do more than follow the
routine policies of the country, perhaps with some tincture of his customary dash.It is too little to say that this expectation was shattered. From the time he took office, Blaine made
foreign affairs his leading interest. He made them the outstanding point in the appeal to the people for
the presidency to which he constantly aspired. Nor does this seem to have been merely an intellectually
contrived project for political advancement. Almost alone among the public men of his period, he saw in
American foreign relations not merely a series of episodes. to be dealt with according to the fixed rules of
the Monroe Doctrine and of international law, but a general situation calling for a constructive policy, to
be adjusted to changing conditions. His rising interest in diplomatic problems may well have been due to
native instinct. He had the qualities of a diplomat, and his personal conduct of such affairs was his
strongest asset; though his personal feeling was perhaps too strong, as is evinced by his refusal while in
London to meet Lord Salisbury, because of their acrimonious exchanges.Blaine's generation in the United States was almost totally without the basic training for diplomatic
thought or practice. It was the nadir of American diplomacy. This defect Blaine at fifty was not prepared
to make good by study. His years of strenuous application had passed. He remained, therefore,
lamentably ignorant of international law and of diplomatic history. In addition his major interest in politics
often caused him to be careless in the selection of his agents in critical situations. These defects
seriously affected his reputation. That they marred his success is more doubtful; he was a forerunner of
American world interests, and so far in advance of the public that even perfect achievement would
scarcely have won popular support in his time.Blaine's first term as secretary lasted only from Mar. 7, 1881, to Dec. 19, 1881. On Mar. 7, 1889,
however, he again entered the office, serving until June 4, 1892. In the interval, neither the Republican
administration of President Arthur and Secretary Frelinghuysen, nor the Democratic administration of
President Cleveland and Secretary Bayard, was in harmony with his views. Blaine, however, during this
period, made his chief residence in Washington, with summers at Bar Harbor, and one visit to Europe.
He was always in the closest touch with his group of Republican leaders in Congress, and his influence
was very powerful. He remained thus constantly a force in determining United States policy, and this
period of his life is distinctly a unit.There were several closely interknit problems to which he devoted his attention. Ever since the Civil
War the relations between the Latin-American countries and Great Britain had been growing more
intimate at the expense of the United States. This was due in large measure to the supplanting of the
latter's merchant marine by the British. Furthermore the competition of South American nations,
particularly of Argentina, was encroaching upon the command of the European food trade by the United
States, at the same time that the latter's manufactures, which were Blaine's chief concern, were reaching
the point where foreign markets were deemed necessary. Lastly, the question of an inter-oceanic canal
had assumed a new importance in the light of the successful forcing of the isthmus of Suez.From these factors Blaine evolved a policy well coordinated and appealing. In form, this was much
influenced by his admiration for Henry Clay. Like Clay he was not satisfied with the negative features of
the Monroe Doctrine. He would unite the nations of America into a real system, with the United States as
"elder sister." He would maintain peace among them by the use of the good offices of the United States
and by arbitration. For constructive purposes he would call them all in joint conference to plan measures
of mutual advantage. He would rally them to an extension of Clay's American system, "America for the
Americans." That this policy might bring some occasion for dispute with Great Britain was politically an
advantage, for any baiting of the British lion was pleasing to the Irish vote which was large and
strategically placed. The traditional division of the world into two hemispheres, set forth in the Monroe
Doctrine, would be maintained.When Blaine took office in 1881 a concession for the building of a canal across the isthmus of
Panama had already been obtained from the Republic of Colombia by a French company headed by the
famous De Lesseps, the constructor of that at Suez. Both Secretary Evarts and President Hayes of the
preceding administration had strongly taken a stand refusing to join in an international guarantee of the
neutrality of such a canal, and insisting that such a canal must be built under the auspices and sole
protection of the United States and the country through which it was constructed. Blaine promptly
endorsed this policy, sending instructions to the American ministers in Europe, that the "guarantee given
by the United States of America does not require re-enforcement, or accession, or assent from any other
power." He stated that the passage of hostile troops through such a canal when either the United States
or Colombia was at war was "no more admissible than . . . over the railroad lines joining the Atlantic and
Pacific shores of the United States."This was in fact a change in policy on the part of the United States, which had until the time of Evarts
stood for an international control of such a canal. It was, in addition, in direct contravention of the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850 with Great Britain, which had agreed to a canal under a joint international
guarantee and had invited others to join in a guarantee of neutrality. On Nov. I, 1881, Blaine took up this
treaty. He argued that the treaty was void because of changed conditions, and contrary to the established
policy of the United States. A lively interchange of notes, however, between the governments of the
United States and Great Britain, failed to eliminate the treaty, nor was there any peaceful method of
voiding the Colombian concession to the French company. Blaine, therefore, used his influence to
promote the project of a United States canal through the nearby isthmus of Nicaragua. His canal policy
was continued by Frelinghuysen, but negotiations with Nicaragua were brought to an end by President
Cleveland, who reverted to the earlier United States policy, that such a canal "must be for the world
benefit, a trust for mankind, to be removed from chance of domination by any single power." This matter
continued as a subject of political and international controversy for twenty years. Ultimately the policy of
Blaine was accepted by the United States. The plan for a Nicaragua Canal was not dropped until
President Roosevelt succeeded in so modifying the Clayton-Bulwer treaty as to allow the canal at
Panama to become a United States property, fortified by the United States.A similar question confronted Blaine when he became secretary a second time, in 1889; that of the
protection of the seal herds which bred on the Pribilof Islands of Alaska. The question of their destruction
by Canadians and other deep-sea fishers had reached an acute stage under President Cleveland. Blaine
at once took the stand that Bering Sea was a closed sea and part of the territorial waters of the United
States. This position was historically unsound and was out of harmony with the previous policy of the
United States as it had been evolved in the case of the northeastern fisheries. He negotiated, however,
with the British minister in the United States, Sir Julian Pauncefote, a rather remarkable treaty by which
legal rights were submitted to arbitration, and, in case the United States were to lose, for a scientific
enquiry to be made to determine measures necessary to protect seal herds. Pending the arbitration they
were placed under the protection of a modus vivendi. The United States lost its case but Blaine had
raised the question of the protection of such animal life as migrates from country to country and uses the
high seas. Since his day much has been done in this direction, by treaties between various countries
interested.The main constructive portion of Blaine's foreign policy had to do with South America. This had been
foreshadowed before he became secretary by his support of subsidies to revive the United States's
shipping connections with that continent (Blaine, Political Discussions, pp. i8&~ 93). As secretary one of
his first acts was to stand between Latin-American countries and Europe. To prevent the seizure of
Venezuelan custom-houses by the French for payment of a claim, he urged Venezuela to pay through
the agent of the United States and threatened that should no payment be made within three months, the
United States would herself seize the custom-houses and collect the money. He protested June 25,
1881, in a letter to Lucius Fairchild, minister to Spain, against the proposal of Colombia and Costa Rica,
to submit a boundary dispute to Spain for arbitration. This was not a denial of right, but an expression of
his hope, that the United States might become sole arbitrator in such disputes (see C. R. Fish, American
Diplomacy, 1915, pp. 384-5).He devoted much attention to keeping the peace in America by active mediation. Convinced that
Guatemala was right in a dispute with Mexico, he wrote the latter: "This country will continue its policy of
peace even if it cannot have the great aid which the cooperation of Mexico would assure; and it will hope
at no distant day to see such concord and cooperation between all nations of America as will render war
impossible." His greatest interest was in the war actually in progress between Chile and Peru, over the
Tacna-Arica territory. His first agents to the two countries were diplomatically incompetent, but finally he
sent William H. Trescot of South Carolina, an accomplished diplomat. Trescot was to warn Chile against
an unwarrantable use of her victories, and to threaten her with intervention, not by the United States
alone but by joint action of the American powers (Ibid., p.386). Already Blaine was making preparations
to secure such American cooperation, by developing the idea of Pan-Americanism, which had been so
dead since Clay's fiasco with the Congress of Panama. On Nov. 29, 1881, he asked all the independent
nations of America to discuss arbitration, and inaugurate an era of good will. This invitation was
withdrawn when, after the assassination of Garfield, Blaine was succeeded by Frelinghuysen. In fact his
whole Latin-American policy was promptly dropped. It did not, however, cease to be discussed. It was
attacked as partial and blustering and apt to bring hostility between Europe and America. Its errors of
detail were severely arraigned. It seems to have served Blaine little politically, as the country was un¬
interested in foreign affairs. Blaine defended his policy in magazine articles, and urged it through his
friends in Congress. In i888 Congress passed a bill calling a Pan-American congress, which President
Cleveland allowed to become a law without his signature (M. Romero, "The Pan-American Conference,"
North American Review, September, October, 1890). On Oct. 2, 1889, this Congress met at Washington,
with a long program including arbitration and the facilitating of commercial intercourse; but avoidance of
all exciting questions. While without power, it drew up, under the personal influence of Blaine, many
desirable recommendations, and in particular laid the foundation of the Bureau of American Republics at
Washington, which has proved a permanent contribution. The vitality of this cooperation was in Blaine's
mind to rest upon increased commercial intercourse, which he planned to promote by reciprocity treaties
authorized in 1884. The new McKinley tariff bill, then under discussion in Congress, put on the free list
most of the agricultural products of Latin America, thus depriving the United States of any quid pro quo in
bargaining. Blaine, on July 11, 1890, wrote Senator Frye of Maine: "There is not a section or a line in the
entire bill that will open the market for another bushel of (American) wheat or another barrel of pork." His
views received much support from the West, and were offered in an amendment, fixing a duty upon
sugar and such commodities, but allowing the President power to remove such duties in the case of "all
products of any nation of the American hemisphere upon which no export duties are imposed" in case
the agreed products of the United States should be admitted free of duty. This amendment was not
passed, but a "reciprocity" clause was introduced, which left the products in question on the free list, but
allowed the President to impose a tax in case the duties imposed by any nation on articles from the
United States appeared to him "unequal and unreasonable." This ignored Blaine's intention of specially
cementing relations with American powers; nevertheless he concluded under it a number of treaties,
which were in operation too short a time to demonstrate their possible effect.As had been customary since the days of Webster, Blaine considered the Hawaiian Islands as part of the
American hemisphere. He found them a kingdom closely bound to the United States by a reciprocity
treaty, but with a government which he believed was strongly susceptible to foreign influences, especially
that of Great Britain. In 1881 he wrote the American minister there that should the native population
continue to decline, the United States would be obliged to take over the islands. On becoming secretary
again in 1889, he sent as minister John L. Stevens, one of his closest friends and business associates.
On Feb. 8, 1892, Stevens wrote Blaine that "annexation must be the future remedy or else Great Britain
will be furnished with circumstances and opportunity to get a hold on these islands which will cause
future serious embarrassment to the United States." After Blaine's retirement a revolution broke out,
which was sympathetically supported by Minister Stevens and which could hardly have been beyond
Blaine's vision of the possible.While pursuing his policy of America for the Americans, Blaine did not stand apart from movements
to improve general international organization. He negotiated an important treaty on extradition with Great
Britain, joined in a general act for the suppression of the African slave trade, and made the United
States's first treaties on international copyright.Blaine is conspicuous as the only outstanding public figure between Seward and Hay who was really
interested in foreign affairs. His contributions, the Pan-American Union and reciprocity, are of less
importance than the fact that he attracted public attention to international problems, and in particular to
certain lines of policy relating to America, which were followed out by Roosevelt, and are still (1927)
developing.(Blaine was not careful of his correspondence letters of his, however, are found in the Lib. of Cong., in
the McCulloch, W. T. Sherman, Staunton, and Israel Wash-burn MSS. Aside from official records, the
chief source of information is his own Twenty Years of Congress, from Lincoln to Garfield (2 vols.,
1884-86),which stands high in character among works of its kind. He also published: Political
Discussions, Legislative, Diplomatic, and Popular (1856-86); an article on "The Foreign Policy of the
Garfield Administration," Chicago Weekly Magazine, Sept. i6, 1882, and many other articles and
editorials. Gail Hamilton, Biog. of Jas. G. Blaine (1895), p.722, gives an account of his ancestry and
intimate life. The biography by Edward Stanwood, Jas. Gillespie Blaine (1905) is the most complete ac¬
count of his political career. The Mulligan Letters are discussed by J. F. Rhodes, Hist. of the U. S., VII
(1906), 193-206, and by F. L. Paxson, Recent Hist. (1921), PP.90-91. In 1884 nearly a score of
campaign biographies were published, containing many extracts of speeches and letters; perhaps the
best is that of J. C. Ridpath, Life and work of Jas. G. Blaine (1893). Letters of Mrs. Jas. G. Blaine, ed. by
Harriet S. Blaine Beale, appeared in two volumes in 1908. See also Alice Felt Tyler, The Foreign Policy
of Jas. G. Blaine (1927).)