Blaine's friends clung all the closer to him
from a belief that he was the object of unjust and malignant
slander.
I did not think it, under the circumstances, wise to nominate
Mr. Blaine, either in 1876 or later. I believed then, and
now believe, that he would have been an admirable President
of the United States. But I did not think it wise to put
at the head of a movement for reform and for purity of administration,
a man whose supporters must defend him against such charges,
and who must admit that he had most unwisely of his own accord
put himself into a position where such charges were not only
possible, but plausible. But I was exceedingly anxious that
a candidate should be found who would be not only agreeable
to Mr. Blaine and his supporters, but whom, if possible, they
should have a large influence in selecting.
Such a candidate, it was hoped, might be found in Mr. Bristow.
He was a great favorite in his own State. He was a man of
spotless integrity and great ability. He had been a Union
soldier. He was from Kentucky, and his selection as a candidate
would remove the charge of sectionalism from the Republican
Party, and tend to give it strength with the white people
of the South.
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