The canvass of 1884 presents a very different spectacle. No man in either of the great parties seemed to be so clearly indicated by popular will as to be regarded as the candidate of the people, and in the uncertainty prevailing in regard to the expediency of putting forward one in preference to another, each party deferred the time of holding its convention.

The earlier months of the year accordingly passed in uneventful quiet; trade and industry pursued their usual course, undisturbed by the appeals of noisy politicians, such as too frequently draw away the worker from his legitimate avocations.

The lines separating the two great parties, the Republican and Democratic, were no longer sharply drawn. There is no longer any great national question separating them; neither party was willing to take sides either for Free Trade or for Protection, which is really the only question in which there is great division of opinion, and a different policy advocated. Both parties would rather trifle with the subject than meet it boldly.

In both parties, too, there is strong discontent against party rule, and in both, differences are bitter and violent. The question with the conventions was to present candidates who would unite the conflicting elements and draw out the great impulsive body of voters, the men who take no active part in politics, who often do not vote at all, but whose votes, decided upon at a late day, often turn the scale, and defeat all calculations.

When, in June, the delegates of the Republican party from every State and Territory met in the Exposition Building at Chicago, the four strong candidates before the body were soon recognized in Arthur, Blaine, Logan and Edmunds.

Mr. Arthur had filled the Presidential chair in a manner to command general respect. He was personally popular, and would undoubtedly draw much of the independent vote. It was soon evident, however, that he had not a majority, and was not even the leading candidate. When the Convention was called to order, by Chairman Henderson, to proceed to the all-important balloting, the votes showed that James G. Blaine, of Maine, led all other names. He received on the first ballot 334 votes, Arthur, 278; Edmunds, 93; Logan, 631. On the second ballot Blaine's vote rose to 349, on the third to 375, exceeding that for Arthur by one more than a hundred. Minor candidates were then dropped, and their adherents cast their votes for Blaine, who received 544 votes. The result was welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm.

Senator John A. Logan, of Illinois, was then nominated by acclamation for the office of Vice-President. President Arthur at once telegraphed his congratula

James Gillespie Blaine thus presented by the Republican party to the American people as its candidate for the Presidency, is of the old Irish Presbyterian stock of Pennsylvania; he was born in Union Township, Washington County, where his ancestors were pioneers. The stone house where his grand father, Colonel Ephraim Blaine, of Pennsylvania, lived, still stands, as well as the church where he worshiped. Colonel Blaine served during the war; and, during the terrible Winter at Valley Forge, as Commissary, labored with all zeal and no little ability to obtain supplies for the starving army. His son married a Miss Gillespie, a Catholic lady, and late in life embraced her faith, and lies beside her under the shadow of the more modern Catholic Church. James G. Blaine, adhering to the faith of his family, entered Washington College at the age of thirteen, and was soon prominent as a scholar, a leader in athletic sports, popular with his classmates, and with all the collegians. He was neat in person, frank, generous, sympathetic, ready in debate, and constantly selected as umpire. After being graduated in 1847, he became professor at Blue Licks Springs, Kentucky, in a Western military institute established there.

After a few years spent here, he returned to his own State and began the study of the law. On his marriage with Miss Stanwood, a lady whose acquaintance he had formed in Kentucky, he was persuaded by her to make Maine, her native State, his home. In 1853 he took up his residence in Augusta, and has dwelt there constantly since. He soon was proprietor and editor of the Kennebec Journal, an organ of the Whig party, and acquired great political influence, which he increased while editor of the Portland Daily Advertiser.

He was active in organizing the Republican party in Maine, and in 1858 was elected to the Lower House of the Legislature, where he, after two years, presided as Speaker; fitting himself by parliamentary knowledge and discipline for a higher senate.

In 1862 the Kennebec district chose Mr. Blaine as its Representative in Congress. He was there recognized as an able and industrious man, and was very soon placed on the Post Office and Military Committees, and on the Committees on Appropriations and on Rules.

When he spoke, he handled his subject with such ability and such evidence of close and careful study, that he was heard with attention, and his speeches were often scattered broadcast over the country.

To his constituents his course was so thoroughly ac ceptable that he was constantly elected by them as long as he continued to be a candidate. He rose so rapidly in favor in the House of Representatives that he was by large majorities chosen Speaker of the Forty-first, Fortysecond and Forty-third Congresses. "In that position his quickness of perception, decision of manner, thorough knowledge of parliamentary law and usages, and impartial and judicial mind, added to his clear voice and impressive presence, made him a truly great presiding officer."

When the Democratic majority in the House in 1874 placed the Speakership in its hands, Mr. Blaine became the bold, brilliant, versatile leader of the opposition on the floor.

A vacancy in the Senate arose in 1876, when Senator Morrill, of Maine, accepted the Portfolio of the Treasury. To fill the vacancy in the Senate of the United States, the Governor of Maine selected Mr. Blaine for the unexpired term.

In the United States Senate, Mr. Blaine sustained the reputation he had won in the more popular chamber, and

the Legislature of Maine chose him at the next opportunity to continue to represent the State in the Upper House at Washington.

He has ever favored a clear, decisive policy. His voice was raised in favor of restricting Chinese emigration, against the Electoral Commission Bill, a sorry compromise, utterly distasteful to such a mind; and against the coinage of any dollar but an honest silver one.

Strong in debate, strong in popular appeal, an active worker, in cabinet and the field, with voice and pen, Mr. Blaine has been for many years one of the most prominent men of his party, a strong man with strong friends and bitter opponents.

In the Presidental canvass of 1876 his name was one of the most prominent before the Republican Convention, and he obtained 351 votes, lacking only 27 to secure the nomination. Four years later, in the Chicago Convention, he received 284 votes on the first ballot, and retained his strength during many succeeding trials.

When the election of General Garfield was assured, the President-elect invited Mr. Biaine to Washington, and made him the unexpected offer of the State Department

under the new administration.

Ambitious though he was, Mr. Blaine hesitated to accept the high position till he felt assured that it would be well regarded, and give strength to the new management of affairs, so imperatively demanded, by the country.

In the short administration of President Garfield, before he was stricken down by the assassin's bullet, Mr. Secretary Blaine had initiated a strong foreign policy for our Government, seeking to keep in American hands the control of the Interoceanic Ship Canal at Panama, and to create a union among the Spanish-American States, that would, under the influence of the United States, check civil and inter-state wars, and open the way for a new era of progress for those republics, which, since they threw off the Spanish yoke, have rarely enjoyed a five years' epoch of peace. His policy alarmed many, who beheld in it only certain war with England, and endless complications with our Latin neighbors.

It arrayed the timid against him, and at the present time imbues many minds with the idea that he is an unsafe man to be intrusted with the country's destinies. During the prolonged sufferings of President Garfield, the management of public affairs was virtually in the hands of the Secretary of State. On the accession of Mr. Arthur, Mr. Blaine remained for a time in the State Department, but as their views of public policy by no means coincided, Mr. Blaine retired.

His leisure has been devoted to the preparation of a work giving the political history of the country during the last quarter of a century.

In his letter accepting the nomination Mr. Blaine says, in regard to the tariff:

of the American laborer, besides involving the loss of vast amounts of American capital invested in manufacturing enterprises. The value of the present revenue system to the people of the United States is not a matter of theory, and I shall submit no argument to sustain it."

On the topic of our intercourse with other nations he says:

"Our foreign relations favor our domestic development. We are at peace with the world-at peace upon a sound basis, with no unsettled questions of sufficient magnitude to embarrass or distract us. Happily removed by our geographical position from participation or interest in those questions of dynasty or boundary which so frequently disturb the peace of Europe, we are left to cultivate friendly relations with all, and are free from possible entanglements in the quarrels of any. The United States has no cause and no desire to engage in conflict with any power on earth, and we may rest in assured confidence that no power desires to attack the United States.

"With the nations of the Western Hemisphere we should cultivate closer relations, and for our common prosperity and advancement we should invite them all to join with us in an agreement that, for the future, all international troubles in North or South America shall be adjusted by impartial arbitration, and not by arms. This project was part of the fixed policy of President Gar

fleld's administration, and it should, in my judgment, be renewed.

Our foreign policy should be an American policy in its broadest and most comprehensive sense- a policy of peace, of friendship, of commercial enlargement.

"The name of American, which belongs to us in our national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism. Citizenship of the republic must be the panoply and safeguard of him who wears it. The American citizen, rich or poor, native or naturalized, white or colored, must everywhere walk secure in his personal and civil rights. The republic should never accept a lesser duty, it can never assume a nobler one, than the protection of the humblest man who owes it loyalty-protection at home, and protection which shall follow him abroad into whatever land he may go upon a lawful errand."

His views on the Mormon question are decided:

"Religious liberty is the right of every citizen of the republic. Congress is forbidden by the Constitution to make any law "respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." For a century, under this guarantee, Protestant and Catholic, Jew and Gentile, have worshiped God according to the dictates of conscience. But religious liberty must not be perverted to the justification of offenses against the law. A religious sect, strongly intrenched in one of the Territories of the Union, and spreading rapidly into four other Territories, claims the right to destroy the great safeguard and muniment of social order, and to practice as a religious privilege that which is a crime punished with severe penalty in every State of the Union. The sacredness and unity of the family must be preserved as the foundation of all civil government, as the source of orderly administration, as the surest guarantee of moral purity.

"The claim of the Mormons that they are divinely authorized to practice polygamy should no more be admitted than the claim of certain heathen tribes, if they should come among us, to continue the right of human sacrifice. Ths law does not interfere with what a man believes; it takes cognizance only of what he does. As citizens, the Mormons are entitled to the same civil rights as others, and to these they must be confined. Polygamy can never receive national sanction or toleration by admitting the community that upholds it as a State in the Union. Like others, the Mormons must learn that the liberty of the individual ceases where the rights of society begin."

Mr. Blaine is now in his fifty-fifth year. Although above medium height, he is so compactly and powerfully built that he scarcely seems tall. His features are large and expressive; he is slightly bald, and his neatly trimmed beard is prematurely gray; his brows are lowering-his

On the floor of Congress he manifested marvelous power and nerve. His voice is rich and melodious; his delivery is fluent and vigorous; his gestures are full of grace and force; his self-possession is never lost. He has appeared on the stump in almost every Northern State, and is an exceedingly popular and effective campaign orator. His faculties have a keen edge; his memory

is remark

ably retent

ive; and his practical knowledge of men and

affairs has a

broad range. This comprehensive knowledge, broad rather than deep, is one of the secrets of his popularity. He knows men from one end of the country to the other, and he knows what they are thinking about. He has kept abreast with

Gen. John A. Logan, the Republican candidate for Vice-President, is, in the highest sense, a selfmade man. He was born near Murphysboro', Jackson County, Ill., February 9th, 1826. His father was a native of Ireland, and his mother, of Tennessee. He enjoyed slight educa tional advan tages, his father affording most of

For twenty years Mr. Blaine has owned a valuable coal tract of several hundred acres near Pittsburg. This yielded him a handsome income many years before he entered Congress, and the investment has been a profitable one during his public life. His business affairs have been managed with prudence and shrewdness, and he now has a handsome fortune. His home in Augusta, near the State House, is a plain two-story house. Several institutions in the State have received benefactions from him, and his charity and generosity are appreciated at home. In his own house he is a man of culture and refinement, a genial host, a courteous gentleman. No man in public life is more fortunate in his domestic relations. He is the companion and confidant of every one of his six children, and they fear him no more than they fear one of their own number. Mrs. Blaine is the model wife and mother, and more is due to her strong judgment, quick perception, and heroic courage, than the world will ever know.

The eldest son, Walter Blaine, is a graduate of Yale College and of the Law School of Columbia College. He is a member of the Bar of several States, and has been creditably engaged in public life in Washington. second son, Emmons

Blaine, is a graduate of Harvard College and the Cambridge Law School. The third is James G. Blaine, junior, a lad of fourteen. The three daughters are named Alice, Margaret and Harriet. The eldest was married more than a year ago to Brevet-colonel J. J. Coppinger, of the United States Army.

The

in the Mexican War. He enlisted as a private, became lieutenant, served as adjutant of his regiment, the First Illinois Infantry, and came out as quartermaster. Upon his return home he studied law, and in 1851 entered upon its practice. In the following year he was elected to the Illinois Legislature, and subsequently served as prosecuting attorney for the Third Judicial District of his State.

Mr. Logan was at this time a Democrat, and was chosen a Presidential Elector in the Buchanan campaign. Two years later he was sent to Congress, and was re-elected in 1860. In that year he was an ardent advocate of Stephen A. Douglas, but when trouble was threatened in the South he openly avowed his intention to see Mr. Lincoln inaugurated if elected, even if he was obliged to shoulder a musket and go to Washington. His military experience and patriotism sent the young Congressman into the army soon after the outbreak of the Civil War. He was at Washington, attending the special session of 1861, when, early in the Summer, a Michigan regiment came through on the way to the front. The ardent son of Illinois enlisted in its ranks as a private, and participated in the first battle of Bull Run. He was among the last to leave that field. He then hastened back to Illinois to raise a regiment of his own.