43rd Congress and informed him that I desired to have
a few minutes' private audience with him whenever it would be convenient
for him to see me. He requested me to come to the Speaker's room
immediately after the adjournment of the House that afternoon.

When I entered the room Mr. Blaine was alone. I took a seat only a few
feet from him. I informed him of the great disappointment and intense
dissatisfaction which his action had caused in defeating what was not
only regarded as a party measure, but which was believed by the
Republicans to be of vital importance from a party point of view, to say
nothing of its equity and justice. I remarked that for him to array
himself in opposition to the great majority of his own party
associates,--and to throw the weight of his great influence against such
an important party measure as the Federal Elections Bill was believed to
be,--he must have had some motive, some justifiable grounds of which the
public was ignorant, but about which I believed it was fair to himself
and just to his own friends and party associates, that he give some
explanation.

"As a southern Republican member of the House, and as one that is not
hostile or particularly unfriendly to you," I said, "I feel that I have
a right to make this request of you."

At first he gave me a look of surprise, and for several seconds he
remained silent. Then, straightening himself up in his chair, he
answered:

"I am glad, Mr. Lynch, that you have made this request of me, since I am
satisfied you are not actuated by any unfriendly motive in doing so. I
shall, therefore, give a frank answer to your question. In my judgment,
if that bill had become a law the defeat of the Republican party
throughout the country would have been a foregone conclusion. We could
not have saved the South even if the bill had passed, but its passage
would have lost us the North; indeed, I could not have carried even my
own State of Maine, if that bill had passed. In my opinion, it was
better to lose the South and save the North, than to try through such
legislation to save the South, and thus lose both North and South. I
believed that if we saved the North we could then look after the South.
If the Southern Democrats are foolish enough to bring about a Solid
South the result will be a Solid North against a Solid South; and in
that case the Republicans would have nothing to fear. You now have my
reasons, frankly and candidly given, for the action