ing with those of Sherman, succeeded in nominating General
James A. Garfield. In the new administration Blaine became secretary of
state, but, owing to the assassination of President Garfield and the
reorganization of the cabinet by President Chester A. Arthur, he held
the office only until December 1881. His brief service was distinguished
by several notable steps. In order to promote the friendly understanding
and co-operation of the nations on the American continents he projected
a Pan-American congress, which, after being arranged for, was frustrated
by his retirement. He also sought to secure a modification of the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty, and in an extended correspondence with the
British government strongly asserted the policy of an exclusive American
control of any isthmian canal which might be built to connect the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

With undiminished hold on the imagination and devotion of his followers
he was nominated for president in 1884. After a heated canvass, in which
he made a series of brilliant speeches, he was beaten by a narrow margin
in New York. By many, including Blaine himself, the defeat was
attributed to the effect of a phrase, "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion,"
used by a clergyman, Rev. Samuel D. Burchard (1812-1891), on the 29th of
October 1884, in Blaine's presence, to characterize what, in his
opinion, the Democratic party stood for. The phrase was not Blaine's,
but his opponents made use of it to misrepresent his attitude toward the
Roman Catholics, large numbers of whom are supposed, in consequence, to
have withdrawn their support. Refusing to be a presidential candidate in
1888, he became secretary of state under President Harrison, and resumed
his work which had been interrupted nearly eight years before. The
Pan-American congress, then projected, now met in Washington, and
Blaine, as its master spirit, presided over and guided its deliberation
through its session of five months. Its most important conclusions were
for reciprocity in trade, a continental railway and compulsory
arbitration in international complications. Shaping the tariff
legislation for this policy, Blaine negotiated a large number of
reciprocity treaties which augmented the commerce of his country. He
upheld American rights in Samoa, pursued a vigorous diplomacy with Italy
over the lynching of eleven Italians, all except three of them American
naturalized citizens, in New Orleans on the 14th of May 1891, held a
f