haped by
the speaker. Then, to say that Blaine was one of our three ablest
speakers is to say a great deal, for a long line of very able men have
filled the speaker's chair. His quickness, his thorough knowledge of
parliamentary law and of the rules, his firmness, clear voice,
impressive manner, his ready comprehension of subjects and situations,
and his dash and brilliancy, really made him a great presiding officer.
He rose to a high place not only in the estimation of his Republican
friends, but also of his Democratic opponents, and he was re-elected to
the speakership in 1871 and again in 1873. In 1875, the Democratic
majority took control, and Mr. Blaine resumed his place on the floor to
win fresh laurels as a debater, and to discomfit the majority in many a
projected scheme which his quick eye detected and his ready words
exposed.

The governor of Maine, on the tenth of July, 1876, appointed Mr. Blaine
to the national Senate, in place of Mr. Morrill, who had resigned to
become secretary of the treasury. He was afterward elected for the
unexpired term and the full term following. On his appointment he wrote
to his constituents thus:--

Beginning with 1862, you have, by continuous elections, sent me as your
representative to the Congress of the United States. For such marked
confidence, I have endeavored to return the most zealous and devoted
service in my power, and it is certainly not without a feeling of pain
that I now surrender a trust by which I have always felt so signally
honored. It has been my boast, in public and in private, that no man on
the floor of Congress ever represented a constituency more distinguished
for intelligence, for patriotism, for public and personal virtue. The
cordial support you have so uniformly given me through these fourteen
eventful years is the chief honor of my life. In closing the intimate
relations I have so long held with the people of this district, it is
a great satisfaction to me to know that with returning health I shall
enter upon a field of duty in which I can still serve them in common
with the larger constituency of which they form a part.

While in the Senate Mr. Blaine advocated the Chinese immigration bill,
and opposed the electoral commission and Bland silver legislation. Here,
as throughout his political career, he was never on the fence on any
question. His position has always been clear and he has always taken
strong grounds.