2005-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2005
BLAINE, James G. (1830-1893) One of the founding members of the Republican Party. Served in the House of Represenatives from 1863-1876. Speaker of the House 1869-1875. Served the U.S. Senate from 1876-1881. He lost the 1880 presidential nomination to Garfield, whom he served as secretary of state in 1881. Blaine stayed in Washington to write Twenty Years of Congress. The Republican presidential candidate in 1884, he lost to Grover Cleveland. Choosing not to run in 1888, he became President Benjamin Harrison's secretary of state (1889--92). Manuscript Letter Signed, "James G. Blaine" 1p. quarto, March 14, 1889, Department of State, addressed to George Wilson of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, and reads "In compliance with the request contained in your leter of the 11th instant, I take pleasure in sending herewith copies of the letters addressed to Captain Thomas Randall by Washington concerning the 'Presidents Barge'. These copies have been made from the contemporaneous record-books which form a part of the 'Washington Papers' in the National Archives." With the attached letters by Washington tied by fancy string. Total of 3 additional pages. Fine....plus; WAITE, Morrison (1816-1888) In 1871, with William M. Evarts and Caleb Cushing, he represented the United States as counsel before the "Alabama" Tribunal at Geneva, and in 1874 he presided over the Ohio constitutional convention. In the same year he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to succeed Judge Salmon P. Chase as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and he held this position until his death. Autograph Letter Signed, "M.R. Waite" 2p. octavo, October 27, 1887, Washington, D.C., declining an invitation to a Chamber of Commerce banquet. Fine....plus; BLAINE, James G. (1830-1893)Benjamin Harrison's Secretary of State. Manuscript Letter Signed, "James G. Blaine" 3p. quarto, February 16, 1892, Washington, Department of State, addressed to the President of the New York Chamber of Commerce, and reads in part: "…Our Minister at St. Petersburg requests the Department to give you the following confidential information concerning the distribution of the fund for the Russian famine sufferers: He has paid half the draft as instructed to the British American Church, five hundred pounds; to the Jewish Committee, three; two, to Tolstor. He awaits further instructions as to balance. The Red Cross Societ's operations are merging into those of the Emperor's Committee…latest reports from the famine districts show terrible distress…" Small pinholes, else VG....plus; Manuscript Letter Signed, "James G. Blaine" 2p. quarto, February 23, 1892, Washington, Department of State, addressed to a member of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, it reads in small part: "…In your letter…concerning the distribution of the fund for the Russian famine sufferers, you stat that it is to be paid in the following proportions: "One half to the Church - three fifths to the Jewish Society and two fifths to Count Tolstoi" It is presumed that you mean three tenths to the Jewish Society and two tenths to Count Tolstoi…" VG....plus; EVARTS, William (1818-1901). A New York attorney, Evarts first served as Andrew Johnson's Attorney General and later worked on the president's behalf during the impeachment proceedings of 1868. The high point of Evart's career came in 1877 when he was named Secretary of State by Rutherford B. Hayes. Manuscript Letter Signed, "Wm. M. Evarts" 2-1/2p. quarto, January 10, 1881, Department of State, addressed to the President of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, and reads in part: "…The recent proceedings had at Manila, Philippine Islands in relation to an American vessel, the 'Masonic' which put into port in distress, showed the severity of the Spanish customs laws in such cases, and the harshness of their interpretation in as much as the penalties decreed for so called 'irregularities' have been tantamount to the confiscation of the vessel, through the heavy towns occasioned to her owners. The subject of such rigourous enforcement of customs laws has long been, and still is, a matter of diplomatic correspondence with the Spanish government, but as yet without a satisfactory agreement…" He continues encouraging the Chamber to warn its members of the Spanish laws. Fine....plus; Manuscript Letter Signed, "Wm. M. Evarts" 4p. octavo, January 30, 1892, New York, addressed to the President of the Chamber of Commerce and reads in part: "…I have had the pleasure to receive your kind note…informing me that a movement for the relief of the sufferers by famine in Russia is to be inaugurated at a meeting of the Chamber of Comerce…The unbroken friendship between the Governments of Russia and the United States and the valuable service to us in the darkest hours of our Civil War from the attitude of Russia will I am sure call out a response in the distressful calamity which has befallen her people which will comfort with the abundance of our harvests and the wealth of our nation…" VG.....plus; Manuscript Letter Signed, "Wm. M. Evarts" 2p. octavo, February 9, 1892, in part: "…I am very sorry to be obliged to return the enclosed book sent to me as a member of the Committee on the Russian subscriptions but the impaired condition of my eyesight makes it quite impossible for me to undertake this service…" Fine....plus; Manuscript Letter Signed, "Wm. M. Evarts", 1-1/4p. quarto, October 13, 1880, Department of State, Washington, accepting the thanks of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, "in the matter of depredations 'on the commerce of the United States from the West Coast of South America'…" VG....plus; Autograph Letter Signed, "Wm. M. Evarts" 2p. octavo, April 21, 1877, on Department of State lettersheet, accepting an invitation to an Annual Banquet of the Chamber of Commerce. Fine....plus; Partially printed document, one page, 11 1/2" x 17 1/2", April 13, 1896, Washington, D.C. Signed in print by Richard Olney, U.S. Secretary of State, this certificate names one Charles Saeltzer as being a citizen of the United States and requests his free passage while abroad. With American eagle vignette and large red State Department seal. Folds and splits, else VG condition.
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