and, in any conflict on the American continent, altogether irresistible," he is quick to add that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, by excluding land forces, surrenders the inter-oceanic canal "to the guardianship and control of the British navy."

Notwithstanding his remarkable command of legal questions, which enabled him so efficiently to fill the highest place in the national cabinet, yet Mr. Blaine is not a lawyer. Plain people who remember the superabundance of lawyers in public life will not be apt to regret this fact. He studied for the profession two years, but did not enter upon its practice. This was never made a reproach to him until he entered the Senate and encountered the many legal luminaries there. They seemed to think that he was ipso facto, as they would say, disbarred from discussing any legal point with them, and tried to dismiss his arguments with the sneer "if the Senator were a lawyer-but he is not," and so on. They soon found that the ex-journalist and schoolmaster had a firm hold on the very essence of the law, sound common sense, and this, with his accurate knowledge of facts often made havoc of their easy confidence in their professional acquirements. Finally, in the great debate on the distribution of the Geneva award, Mr. Blaine encountered the late Matthew Hale Carpenter, and the other giants of legal lore in the Senate, and fairly vanquished them all in a stand-up fight upon their own ground

and friendly intercourse with every government and people. This disposition is frankly avowed, and is, moreover, abundantly shown in the fact that our armaments by land and sea are kept within such limits as to afford no ground for distrust or suspicion of menace to other nations. The guarantee entered into by this government in 1846 was manifestly in the interest of peace, and the necessity imposed by circumstances upon the United States of America to watch over a highway between its two coasts was so imperative that the resultant guarantee was the simplest justice to the chief interests concerned. Any attempt to supersede that guarantee by an agreement between European powers, which maintain vast armies, and patrol the sea with immense fleets, and whose interest in the canal and its operation can never be so vital and supreme as ours, would partake of the nature of an alliance against the United States, and would be regarded by this government as an indication of unfriendly feeling. It would be but an inadequate response to the good will we bear them, and to our cheerful and constant recognition of their own rights of domestic policy, as well as those resulting from proximity or springing from neighborly interest."

And, in the ensuing letter, although he says: "The military power of the United States, as shown by the recent civil war, is without limit,

and, in any conflict on the American continent, altogether irresistible," he is quick to add that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, by excluding land forces, surrenders the inter-oceanic canal "to the guardianship and control of the British navy."

Notwithstanding his remarkable command of legal questions, which enabled him so efficiently to fill the highest place in the national cabinet, yet Mr. Blaine is not a lawyer. Plain people who remember the superabundance of lawyers in public life will not be apt to regret this fact. He studied for the profession two years, but did not enter upon its practice. This was never made a reproach to him until he entered the Senate and encountered the many legal luminaries there. They seemed to think that he was ipso facto, as they would say, disbarred from discussing any legal point with them, and tried to dismiss his arguments with the sneer "if the Senator were a lawyer-but he is not," and so on. They soon found that the ex-journalist and schoolmaster had a firm hold on the very essence of the law, sound common sense, and this, with his accurate knowledge of facts often made havoc of their easy confidence in their professional acquirements. Finally, in the great debate on the distribution of the Geneva award, Mr. Blaine encountered the late Matthew Hale Carpenter, and the other giants of legal lore in the Senate, and fairly vanquished them all in a stand-up fight upon their own ground

and with their own weapons. After this there was no attempt to designate him as a layman or an ignoramus and he was heard as respectfully and attentively as any lawyer among them.

Mr. Blaine could have become a notable jurist and advocate, and from his quick, impartial rulings as Speaker it is easy to see that he would have been eminent as a judge if his tastes had led him in that direction. All his powers found full scope, however, in the various spheres to which he was called, and in none more so than when Secretary of State under the trying ordeals through which he then passed. As Chief Magistrate of the nation, he would be altogether at home.

CHAPTER XI.

MR. BLAINE'S HOMES.

THERE is a natural curiosity to know about the houses and homes of eminent men, for the home is generally the outgrowth of the tastes, character and disposition of the individual, and speaks of him almost as unmistakably as the seashell speaks of the creature around which it grew.

In the city of Washington during over twenty years' service there, Mr. Blaine has most of the time lived in the manner sanctioned by the example of St. Paul, in Rome; but about five years ago, feeling able to indulge his tastes in that direction, he determined upon the erection of a dwelling which should suit his own ideas. With his usual prudence he chose a lot on the extreme verge of the West End, which did credit to his judgment as an investor. It was the former site of a brickyard, and forlorn-looking to the last degree, but Mr. Blaine saw that it was on high ground, that it commanded a fine prospect in every direction, that it fronted on what is now called Dupont Circle, which will soon be one of the finest parks in the city, and that it had a small