of the Republican organization in Maine—­a position he has held ever since, and from which he has practically shaped and directed every political campaign in the State, always leading his party to brilliant victory.  Had Mr. Blaine been New-England born, he would probably not have received such rapid advancement at so early an age, even with the same ability he possessed.  But there was a sort of Western dash about him that took with us Down-Easters; an expression of frankness, candor, and confidence, that gave him from the start a very strong and permanent hold on our people, and, as the foundation of all, a pure character and a masterly ability equal to all demands made upon him.”

Mr. Blaine’s early political addresses, and especially the ability which he displayed in them as a debater, won him great local reputation, and, during the Fremont campaign, he achieved a distinction as a speaker which insured him a seat in the Legislature, in 1858, though he was not yet thirty years of age and had been but five years in his adopted State.  The ability which he displayed as a legislator was so marked that his constituents returned him four years in succession, and the Legislature, recognizing his talents, elected him speaker in 1860 and 1861, a rare honor for so young a man.  As a presiding officer he displayed those fine qualifications which afterward made him one of the most brilliant of the long line of able men who have occupied the speaker’s chair in the National House of Representatives.

By this time Mr. Blaine had become a professional politician.  In other words he had given up all other occupations and made politics his sole employment.  This is a fact worthy of serious consideration, for few men in this country have avowedly chosen politics as a calling and succeeded in it as James G. Blaine has succeeded.  Most of our statesmen, like Webster and Lincoln, have been eminent lawyers.  Blaine studied law thoroughly, but never applied for admission at the bar.  Some, like Greeley, have been eminent journalists.  Blaine made journalism merely a means to an end, discarding it as soon as it had served his purpose.  Blaine has made a systematic and thorough study of politics and political affairs.  Constitutional history and international law he made it his business to master.  Above all, he has studied men, has learned by careful observation how to handle, to mould, to use his fellow-beings.  No man in America to-day is more learned in everything pertaining to the science of statesmanship than James G. Blaine.  It is the fashion in this country to decry professional politicians, to uphold the doctrine that the office should seek the man and not the man the office.  Yet there can be no more honorable profession than the service of one’s country, and surely no man should be blamed for fitting himself for that service as thoroughly and as carefully as for any other profession.