Pine to Potomac

by E. K. Cressey

A great year of destiny is before the nation; a mighty, conquering battle-year. Slavery refuses any concessions, and Liberty loves itself too well to be compromised. The great convention of Republicans in the old wigwam in Chicago is an event of so great importance that all minor events dwindle before it. James G. Blaine is there.

Excitement is at the highest pitch. The tone and temper of the North is felt and feared. The old Democratic party is shattered into fragments. It has several wings, but no body. The Union seems on the verge of dissolution. But strong men, tried and true, who cannot be brow-beaten and crushed; men who have not been deceived or intimidated, or despoiled of their convictions since the Whig party sold out to Slavery in 1852; men who have waited eighteen long, eventful years for the iron to get hot enough to strike, are there; there in their power; there, not to become demoralized, and drop their guns and run, but to stand firm and strong in a mighty phalanx, and do tremendous battle for tremendous right against tremendous wrong.

William H. Seward is the choice of men, but Abraham Lincoln is the choice of God. He has been fitting and training him for half a century, much as he trained Moses, the great leader and emancipator of his ancient people. They try in vain to elect their man. The way is hedged up; ballot after ballot is taken, but it cannot be done. Finally, the moment comes, and “honest old Abe” is crowned by the hand of a remarkable Providence, and God’s will is done.

Men shake their heads, but high yonder on his throne the King does his thinking. All is clear to him. Well-nigh a century of prayer is to be answered.

Mr. Blaine’s description of the sessions and impressions at Chicago, make the great, inspiring scenes live before the imagination, and show how his broad, eager mind took it all in.

Ten of the Maine delegation were for Seward, and six for Lincoln. A meeting was called, and an effort made by the Seward men to win the Lincoln delegates to their side. Wm. H. Evarts was then in his prime, and was called in to make the speech. He spoke for forty-five minutes, and his speech, it was said, was “a string of pearls.” Mr. Blaine stood just behind him, and though greatly delighted with the beauty and brilliancy of the address, remained a firm Lincoln man to the end.

He had no vote then, but he had a voice and a pen. From that time he was a great admirer and friend of Mr. Evarts. This convention greatly enlarged Mr. Blaine’s knowledge of men and acquaintance with them.

The party in the four years since Frémont and Dayton had been nominated at Philadelphia, under the goading provocations of Buchanan’s administration, the frequent exhibition of the horns and hoofs of Slavery, and the unwearied agitation in congress, and in every state, county, and town of the North, the East, and the West, had made a sturdy, constant, determined growth, a development of back-bone, and a kindling of nerve that imparted courage and sent joy to the heart.

It brought into the life of Mr. Blaine, more than ever, the life and grandeur, the power and greatness of the party to which he had wedded his destiny, giving his hand and his heart. He was in complete sympathy with every principle and every measure. No man living more fully, and clearly, and strongly, represents the ideas and purposes of the men then at the front,—the leading men to whom was entrusted the guidance and responsibility, for he himself was then at the front,—than does he.

He is, and has been, right through, the defender and conservator of all that was dear, and precious, and grand, then. Few men did more to help elect Mr. Lincoln, or to make his administration a power in the North. He was under fire constantly, but then he was firing constantly himself, and doing execution that told every hour for the nation’s good.