The capricious malignity and brutal injustice of the Great Frederick might as well be cited against the acknowledged grandeur of his career, as an indictment be brought against Stanton's fame on his personal defects, glaring and even…
James Blaine
The Public Record
James Gillespie Blaine was an American statesman and Republican politician who represented Maine in the United States House of Representatives from 1863 to 1876, served as Speaker of the House from 1869 to 1875, and was a United States senator from 1876 to 1881. He served twice as Secretary of State, under presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur in 1881, and under Benjamin Harrison from 1889 to 1892. He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1876 and 1880, and received the nomination in 1884, narrowly losing the general election to Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland. Blaine was a prominent figure in the moderate faction of the Republican Party, known as the "Half-Breeds".
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But his weaknesses did not obscure the loftiness of his character.
He was ambitious to the point of uncontrollable greed for fame, and by this quality was subject to its counterpart of jealousy, and to an envy of the increasing reputation of others.
He had a quick insight into character, and at a glance could tell a man who would resist and resent from one who would silently submit.
He had none of that grace which turns an enemy to a friend by healing the wounds which have been unjustly inflicted.
Even when intellectually convinced of an error, he was reluctant to acknowledge it.
He was at all times and under all circumstances absolutely free from corruption, and was savagely hostile to every man in the military service who was even suspected of irregularity or wrong.
No Cabinet minister in our history has been so intemperately denounced, so extravagantly eulogized.
It was soon apparent that the need of relief was proportional to the magnitude of the struggle, and the Government prepared to respond with a munificence never paralleled.
We knew that a half- million citizens of the Republic had laid down their lives--three hundred thousand in defending the Union, two hundred thousand in attempting to destroy it.
No National emergency has ever been met with greater courage, promptness, or skill.
To admit that mistakes were made is only to say that the work was in human hands.
The growth of the great host, its equipment, its marshaling, its prodigious strength, are among the marvels and the glories of our history.
Could the Government have had the advantage of a small area for its military operations, its power to overcome the rebellion would have been greatly enhanced, and an army not exceeding half of that which was raised could have vindicated…
Their judgment was confirmed by that of the best military critics of Europe who looked pityingly upon the folly of the United States for undertaking a task which after years of suffering and great loss of life could end only in defeat…
Those who led in the secession movement relied confidently upon the impossibility of overcoming a population inhabiting so great an expanse of territory.
In the South nearly every white person capable of bearing arms rendered at one time or another service in the army.
The vote of 1864 was perhaps the most significant exhibition of patriotism made during the war, and had an extraordinary influence in discouraging those who were directing the fortunes of the Confederacy.
Lincoln was re-elected with an overwhelming expression of popular favor at the very time when he was directing the enforcement of the draft.
Conscription laws have been unpopular in all countries, and though resisted among us on one occasion with riot, they were upheld with strong courage by the mass of the loyal people.
Great as was the ardor among the loyal people at the beginning of the struggle, it was soon found, as it has always been found in other nations, that unaided patriotism could not supply the heavy demands constantly made to repair the waste…
These facts do not impeach the prowess of the Confederate soldiery, but they illustrate the task imposed on the Army of the Union and they suggest the vast difference in the responsibilities which the invading and the defensive forces were…
In a war purely defensive, as was that of the Confederacy, an army such as they raised and maintained can baffle the efforts of vastly superior numbers.
They fought with an absolute conviction, however erroneous, that their cause was just; and their arms were nerved by the feeling which their leaders had instilled deeply into their minds, that they were contending against an intolerable…
Never perhaps was an army organized with fighting qualities superior to those of the army put into the field by the Confederacy.
Politicians like James Blaine
