All the light of any subject comes from the truth it holds within, and the man of mastery is the man of light and life and energy. It is unfilled capacity that makes of so many the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Unfed, untrained, and unworked minds have filled the world with wrecks.
Mr. Blaine is climbing the ladder now. Coming up out of the ranks, as some must come, with worth or worthlessness.
“Heaven is not reached by a single bound,
But we climb the ladder by which we rise.”
It was General Taylor’s great difficulty in Mexico to bring on a battle. This at times requires the ablest generalship; but this he finally succeeded in doing at Buena Vista, and so created the occasion of his greatest victory. This was a power in the tactics of Mr. Blaine. He was never afraid to attack, and never out of ammunition, however long the siege or strong the foe.
Soon after he entered the legislature Mr. Blaine encountered Ephraim K. Smart, one of the greatest men of his party, a man who had been in congress, and afterward was twice their candidate for governor. While in congress he had opposed the extension of slavery in Kansas, and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise which limited slavery to the Southern states; but now, during the Buchanan régime, when the party seemed hopelessly sold to slavery, he went back on his record, swore by the party, and stood by its record, regardless of his own.
Mr. Blaine was thoroughly posted, and when the time came turned it against him in debate. It was a time of danger at the nation’s capital; assaults were frequent, thrilling scenes were enacted everywhere. Each hour brought the country nearer the verge of war. Our man was fearless and he was strong,—strong in the right, strong in his knowledge of the situation, strong in the command of his powers; so with his ever aggressive spirit of true progress, he hurled his lance. With a merciless skill he unfolded the history of the man, with all of its inconsistencies, sophistry, and contradiction, and reaching the climax he held it up to view, and advancing towards him (his name was Ephraim), he said, with great dramatic power, “Ephraim is a cake unturned, and we propose to turn him.”
Imagine if you can the bewildered consternation of the man! It was one of Mr. Blaine’s first triumphs in the house, and a stride toward the speaker’s chair.
With this same spirit and power he did his work at Portland. His position afforded him the best opportunity for news of every sort, and his legislative work was largely in the line of his editorial, so that preparation for the one was fitness for the other. Yet life was full to the brim. He was a man of immense vitality, and is to-day, as almost daily intercourse with him can testify.
The first day of his duties in the legislature he is appointed chairman of a committee of five to inform the newly-elected governor, Lot M. Morrill, of his election. Thus he is recognized and honored as the chief one, worthy to represent the body in the presence of the governor.