cast into the opposite scale all the bayonets and cannon, not only of France and England, but of Europe entire, how would it kick the beam against the simple solid weight of the two hundred and fifty, or three hundred millions-and American millions-destined to gather beneath the flutter of the stripes and stars, in the fast hastening year of the Lord 1945! BLAIR, OF THE GLOBE. With a fine mezzotint Portrait. MR BLAIR's name has been so long identified with that of the journal which, under his editorship, for fourteen years played so important a part in the politics of this country, that they can scarcely yet be dissociated, notwithstanding the rule of law that death dissolves partnership. He still occurs to the mind as "Blair of the Globe," even though the Globe has passed out of existence, and the editor has turned his pen into a plough-share, his scissors into a pruning-hook, and his double cylinder Napier into a big wheel, revolving to the tinkling persuasion of a "Silver Spring." Blair of the Globe he is still, and Blair of the Globe he will remain to the end of the chapter, even though the place that once knew him knows him no more, and the famous "fiscal partner" -like Othello's, his occupation gone has taken of late to making mysterious speeches, and burying them deep in the bowels of the earth. And we know of no portrait among the Democratic celebrities of the day, which the main bulk of our readers will see with greater satisfaction in the Democratic Review, than that of" Blair of the Globe." So long at the head of the political newspaper press of our party-and in that capacity, honorably distinguished by some of the most valuable characteristics of the political editor-this is a mark of our respect peculiarly due to him on his withdrawal from the press and from public affairs; and peculiarly acceptable to the countless numbers of friends, whose regrets and best wishes accompany him in his retirement. The accompanying engraving is from an admirable painting recently executed by Sully for Mr. Blair's children, finely copied in mezzotint by Sartain. We abstain from adding any biographical memoir, having determined to abandon, for the future, our past practice in that respect, in regard to living characters. It is time enough to write out men's lives when they have themselves fully acted them out. There seems to be a natural fitness and correspondence in the termination of Mr. Blair's editorial career, about simultaneously with General Jackson's departure from the stage of public affairs, and of life. It is only a matter of regret that it had not followed, instead of preceding, the latter event; since it is well known that it was an occasion of deep chagrin to the last days of the good and great old man, that it had become necessary to discontinue the Globe. Originally established under his auspices, and because he felt the necessity, to his administration, of the existence, at Washington, of a paper fully in possession of his confidence, and directed by that incorruptible and indomitable honesty, which he knew to characterize Mr. Blair, it became, in the course of the fierce political conflicts that ensued, thoroughly imbued with his spirit, and identified with what we may call his political system. There was probably no man, among all whom circumstances placed around General Jackson, deeper in his confidence, higher in his respect, nearer to his heart, than Mr. Blair. This relation took its rise in the earlier period of the memorable contest with the Bank of the United States, when the Editor's unflinching fearlessness, and uncompro mising boldness and openness, at a time when corruption did not shrink from entering the very doors of Cabinet Councils, and when the timidity of even well-meaning weakness left the old Chief but few around him to be trusted for effective support and sympathy, proved well those qualities most needed. by him at that time, and most congenial with his own spirit and character at all times. Undiminished, unaffected by any subsequent occurrence, the relation of confidential friendship then commenced, went on strengthening in intimacy and affection to the very last. Mr. Blair continued to the last the friend with whom the old General most frequently and most fully corresponded; and the active industry of his pen, kept up even when the effort was extremely laborious and exhausting, is attested by reams of letters proving the unwearied warmth of his patriotic interest in the course of public affairs, in their bearing upon the welfare of his country and the continued ascendency of his principles. As a specimen of his autograph, which will at this time be deeply interesting to our readers, and as at the same time precious testimony from the concluding hours of his life, we have requested permission to engrave its concluding paragraph, which is subjoined to this article. The following incident, which has been communicated to us by a friend of Mr. Blair, is a curious piece of political history in more points than one. It is certainly a singular proof of the unblushing impudence with which the Bank of the United States undertook to "buy up men and presses like cattle in the market," and of the rampant extremes to which corruption then dared to go, that a Cabinet minister could be made the medium of a bribe offered to an important editor : "One of the officers of the late Bank of the United States offered to pay to Mr. Blair soon after he came here, whatever he would charge for publishing in the Globe some report, prepared by the president of that institution. Mr. Blair refused any compensation for publishing the official paper. It was, however, inserted in the Globe as a public document, and the officer of the Bank was given to understand, in writing, that no pecuniary gratuity would ever be received from the institution. On another occasion, a friend of the bank-since famous as one of its instruments-left with a member of General Jackson's cabinet a check for a considerable sum, to be given to Mr. Blair, merely as an expression of the respect he entertained for his labors as an editor, and to assist them. This check was ten dered to Mr. Blair by the member of the cabinet, and repulsed, with an expression which cost the latter some mortification. Mr. Blair continued his attacks on the bank; the consequence of which was seen some time afterwards, in the conduct of a portion of the cabinet towards him. He was approached by them through the medium of a personal friend, and told that his course in the Globe gave much dissatisfaction to a portion of the cabinet; that it would keep the administration in a minority in Congress, although a majority of members might be elected as Jackson men, and render the President's labors for the good of the country ineffectual, and desired that he (Mr. B.) should relinquish to a friend in whom he had confidence his editorial position, and take an office. Mr. Blair declined the office; but promptly said he would give up his place if General Jackson wished it. He went to General Jackson, and stated to him what had occurred, supposing the communication to him had not been made entirely without his sanction; and was prepared to take his leave. General Jackson said to Mr. Blair, I approve of your course, will stand by you, ANDREW JACKSON if nobody else does; and if nobody else will;' and from that day to the day of his death he did stand by him through good and through evil report. I believe General Jackson esteemed Mr. Blair as highly as he did any man living, and I am sure that Mr. Blair loved-I think I may use that word-General Jackson more than he did any other person except his wife and children." To Mr. Van Buren's administration the Globe maintained a relation of uninterrupted confidence and powerful support. A still severer battle had to be fought, against the now combined forces of the corporate paper-money power, than that which before had been waged with only a portion of them. The triumphs which in 1838 and 1839 so splendidly redeemed the universal disasters of 1837, the bank suspension year, were the fruit of one of the most close, vigorous, and fierce struggles of parties in the general public debate of the Press, that the country has ever witnessed. In this contest, the Globe thundered daily in the van, and admirably performed the duty of its position of heading the press of its party. The following letter from Mr. Van Buren, though not designed for publication, appeared in the concluding number of the Globe, having been received on that day, by Mr. Rives. It is too honorable a testimonial of Mr. Van Buren's appreciation of Mr. Blair's character and services, to justify our omitting it here: "LINDENWALD, April 24, 1845. "MY DEAR SIR: I thank you very kindly for your noble and manly letter upon the subject of the transfer of the Globe establishment, and repeat with pleasure what I have already said to Mr. Blair, that I approve of your course throughout. "In laying out of view your own opinions, in respect either to the necessity or expediency of the sacrifice you were called upon to make, and in regulating your conduct in the matter altogether by the wishes of those whom the democracy of the nation have placed in power, you acted with great propriety. If anything could have added to your credit in the transaction it is to be found in the liberal spirit by which it was characterized. You did not haggle for high prices, or indulge in censures of the conduct of those whose views you were about to promote, as is too often the case on the part of those who are called upon to postpone their own for the supposed interests of their party; but you evinced throughout an earnest and obviously sincere desire to carry the arrangement into effect upon terms and in a spirit which would be most likely to enable your highly esteemed successor to sustain himself in an undertaking confessedly not free from hazard. In all this Mr. Blair and yourself have acted in perfect consistency with your past characters, and have shown to all-what has long been known to me-your devotion to the democratic cause was not assumed for the occasion, but real, and of a nature which made you always ready to postpone your interests to that of your party, regarding the latter as second only to those of your country. For all this you will, in time, receive from the democracy of the nation the credit to which you are so well entitled. "Your personal positions are, I am happy to believe, as favorable as you could desire. Thanks to your own prudence, and the favor of your political friends, for which no men have ever been more truly grateful, you are, though perhaps not rich, yet entirely free from pecuniary embarrassments; and the reputation you have acquired by your paper is sufficient to satisfy a reasonable ambition. The Globe has run its career at too critical a period in our political history-has borne the democratic flag too steadily in the face of assaults upon popular sovereignty, more violent and powerful than any which had ever preceded them in this or any other country, not to have made impressions upon our history and our institutions, which are destined to be remembered when those who witness its discontinuance shall be no more. The manner in which it demeaned itself through those perilous periods, and the repeated triumphs which crowned its labors, will, when the passions of the day have spent their force, be matters of just exultation to you and to your children. None have had better opportunities to witness, nor more interest in observing your course, than Gen. Jackson and myself; and I am very sure that I could not, if I were to attempt it, express myself more strongly in favor of the constancy, fidelity, and ability with which it was conducted, than he would sanction with his whole heart. He would, I have no doubt, readily admit that it would have been exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, for his administration to have sustained itself in its contest with the money power (a term as well understood as that of democrat, and much better than that of whig at the present day), if the corruptions which were in those days spread broadcast through the length and breadth of the land had been able to subvert the integrity of the Globe; and I am very certain that the one over which I had the honor to preside could never, in such an event, have succeeded in obtaining the institution of an independent treasury, without the establishment of which the advantages to be derived from the overthrow of the Bank of the United States will very soon prove to be wholly illusory. The Bank of the United States first, and afterwards those of the States, succeeded in obtaining majorities in both branches of the national legislature favorable to their views; but they could never move the Globe from the course which has since been so extensively sanctioned by the democracy of the nation. You gave to the country (and when I say you, I desire to be understood as alluding to Mr. Blair and yourself), at those momentous periods, the invaluable advantages of a press at the seat of the general government, not only devoted, root and branch, to the support of democratic principles, but independent in fact and in feeling, as well of bank influences, as of corrupting pecuniary influences of any description. The vital importance of such an establishment to the success of our cause is incapable of exaggeration. Experience will show, if an opportunity is ever afforded to test the opinion, that, without it, the principles of our party can never be upheld in their purity in the administration of the federal government. Administrations professedly their supporters may be formed, but they will prove to be but whited sepulchres, appearing beautiful outward, but within full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness-administrations which, instead of directing their best efforts to advance the welfare and promote the happiness of the toiling millions, will be ever ready to lend a favorable ear to the advancement of the selfish few. "That we may be saved from any such calamitous results by the patriotic labors of your safe and worthy successors, and the well-directed efforts of the present executive and his associates in the federal government, is, and shall continue to be, the fervent wish of "Your friend and ob't serv't., tender During the course of political strug gles so long and so severe-marked with sundry fluctuations in the relative positions of men and parties-any editor in Mr. Blair's situation must have made enemies neither few nor feeble. If General Jackson was a good lover, he was, also, it must be confessed, not a bad hater. Sympathizing in this, as in other respects (probably without effort), with the habit of mind and tone of language of his friend and political chief, Mr. Blair, in the Globe, was not remarkable for very delicacies of phrase towards political opponents, or those among professed friends in whose suspicious conduct he already snuffed afar the approaching treachery. The Globe was, therefore, frequently accused-nor wholly without justice of a degree of rough violence in denunciation, carrying boldness into imprudence, justice into vindictiveness. It is certain, however, that it rarely erred in its early judgment of character and tendencies; and if it ever occasionally misconstrued and wounded friends, it far oftener simply detected and drove over into a little earlier desertion those who already were, or were soon about to be, the worst of enemies to the integrity of the Democratic party and principles. Weighing the evil with the good, this fault, if fault it was, which latter years had greatly tempered down from that excess which alone constitutes the fault, will detract but little from the worth of those qualities and those eminent services which have secured to Mr. Blair the enviable reputation on which he has now retired from the political arena. The following notice of the discontinuance of the "Globe" which apPennsylpeared in the Philadelphia vanian," we know to have proceeded from the pen of a gentleman of high literary accomplishments, as well as professional and political position. It Though it had been generally known, for some weeks, that the transfer of the official gazette at Washington, to new hands, would probably take place, yet the formal announcement of that occurrence in the Globe of Monday evening was not received among the democrats of this city, and especially those who have years, without been actively engaged in the political struggles of the last fifteen giving rise to many interesting reflections, and vividly recalling, not merely the recollection of stirring events, but a strong sense of the obligations which the American Democracy recognize as due to the faithful and fearless press, which has sustained their principles and true measures through the administrations of Jackson, Van Buren and Tyler, equally while they were in the ascendant, as when they ceased to be for a time the ment. Of Francis P. Blair, it may be guiding motives of the executive governtruly said, that, as the editor of a leading party paper, at the seat of government (and if as such he had faults, they were certainly not numerous), he has achieved, in the midst of its excitements and its difficulties, a high and permanent reputation. He brought to his labors an acute, discriminating and practical mind; great exactness and extent of political information; a rapidity and promptness in the discussion of public questions, as they arose, which more than compensated for occasional and unavoidable roughness of composition: a wide knowledge of men; sound conceptions of democratic truth; and the warmest sentiments of patriotism, and of constant and honorable friendship. That he attacked fiercely, perhaps sometimes too fiercely, was often evident; that he defended firmly was always confessed; he vindicated at all hazards, ardently but conscientiously, the cause of truth and honesty; he tore the mask from political profligacy, heedless of the person by whom it was worn; the equanimity of his adversaries could not be maintained when touched by the pungency of his pen, but his associates felt safe the instant his shield was thrown before them. His courage knew no limits, his fidelity no shadow of turning, his integrity no taint of suspicion, his perseverance no pause. It is not our purpose to elaborate a picture; but these hints of his editorial character, drawn from observations made through a cotemporary career, may not be regarded by our readers as inappropriate to the occasion. "Mr. Blair has retired from the eminent position he held, in a manner at once dignified and frank. He admits his obligations to the democracy, the desire which actuates him to aid in preserving its union by the course he has taken, and his sense of the fitness of his successor for the post he has assumed. There is a manliness in his conduct that must secure to him the respect and good will of all, the consciousness of which we sincerely hope he may long live, in health and prosperity, to enjoy." It is needless to say that in his retirement (which was deemed necessary to the union and harmony of the party, to some portions of which the recollections of old animosities made Mr. Blair still an object of unforgotten dislike, if not of dread) he carried with him the highest degree of respect and regard of the President and the administration. Of this, the fact that the post of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain is known to have been tendered to him, and declined from unwillingness to abandon the long coveted enjoyments of his present country life, is sufficient evidence. Mr. Blair's pre sent residence is about five miles from Washington, in Maryland, at a farm known as the "Silver Spring," which it is his insatiable delight to adorn and improve. Here, realizing the often observed truth that the field and the garden afford the only retreat for the politician withdrawn from the toils and struggles of his arduous life, Mr. Blair is reported to have "become a boy again," and nothing short of an urgent necessity has power to induce him to leave it for even a day's return to the hot and dusty scenes of the political capital, where he has so long been a power in the state. No cause is likely ever again to bring him forward before the country as an active political writer; but General Jackson has be queathed to him, as his most trusted friend, all his confidential papers, with the duty of watching over his famestanding sentinel, as it were, beside his tomb. That he will remain there with faithful vigilance till his own last hour, the past affords an ample guaranty; and, within that period, wo betide the hapless libeller who may dare to ap proach with sacrilegious step that glorious grave! |