Author : Thomas V. Cooper
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781330574133
Total Pages : 518 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (741 download)
Book Synopsis Campaign of 84 (Classic Reprint) by : Thomas V. Cooper
Download or read book Campaign of 84 (Classic Reprint) written by Thomas V. Cooper and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-02 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Campaign of 84 Hon. James G. Blaine, the Republican nominee for President of the United States, is so well and favorably known to the people of the country, that he needs no introduction to his fellow-citizens. During his eventful life he has taken such a prominent part, and has been such a conspicuous figure in the history of the country as to bring him into every community and every household. Revolutions, exciting events, questions of municipal, state and national importance, bring men to the surface and place them for the time prominently before the people; but when quiet is restored, when the issues have been decided and passed into history, a great majority of the prominent figures sink to the level from which they arose, and are almost forgotten. Men elevated to political prominence and power, wielding the patronage and distributing the favors of official position, are followed by the public eye, heralded by the public press, cajoled and flattered by the myriads of sycophants who bask in the sunshine of power and exist on the gifts of patronage. They are exalted by their office unto greatness, and their names are sounded in the ears of the world through the trumpet of praise until they appear to have attained the summit of human ambition. But when they are stripped of their official position, when they cease to perform in their official role, when they are succeeded by others, and retire to the shades of private life, their followers leave them, their satellites revolve around another centre, and they find that it was the position and not the man that people worshipped, and flattered, and they realize that couplet of Pope: "Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, May stop a hole to keep the wind away." Yet while this may be termed the "common lot" of those who are placed in high positions by their countrymen, yet there are exceptions to the rule. Where honor, love, confidence and fame follow men, and continue as abiding when devoid of power and patronage as when they were at the summit of political power, it shows the worth of the man. "The survival of the fittest" holds true even on the camping ground of honor and fame. How many are unable to name the succession of Presidents and Vice-Presidents. How few can name the cabinets of distinguished men from Washington to Arthur. What a small percentage of the Continental Congress has lived in names familiar to the present generation. It is a very severe, but an excellent test of innate greatness, worth, ability and character, as it separates the man from the office, and gives him to posterity stripped of all extraneous trappings. The man survives as a man; he lives on his intrinsic value, or becomes lost for the want of it. Judged by this standard, James G. Blaine is, in the true sense of the word, a great man. His brilliant intellect and inspiring genius are as fully recognized by the people of the nation as his services as statesman and legislator have been acknowledged. In all the positions he has held, from his first office to that of Prime Minister of the Government, he has been an honor to the position, and hence when he left them he retained that nobility of self which kept him prominent and potential. James G. Blaine has passed through more crucial tests than perhaps any other public man living. His acknowledged intellectuality, his brilliant and magnetic style, his forensic power, and his native genius all tend to place him on so high a pinnacle that no man, unless he be great, can sustain himself in all. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com"
