On the record
He had placed himself in a position from which he could not with grace retreat, and to go forward in which was still further to blight his hopes of promotion in his party.
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gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “He had placed himself in a position from which he could not with grace retreat, and to go forward in which was still…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine discusses the challenges faced by politicians who find themselves in difficult positions.
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All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve the peace, and not to plunge them into civil war.
You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.
Without the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command.
But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State Government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme.
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