am gaining a little every day and that my physicians promise a complete cure. It will, however, be a good while yet before I shall be able to walk with any freedom. But my general health is unimpaired and I am in good spirits.
The Brazilian correspondence, which you were good enough to send me, I have read with much interest. Yes, Blaine appears there, in all his beautiful suggestiveness. Those who contributed to his defeat may indeed rest in the consciousness of having done their country a good turn. I do not know whether, as you say, I deserve a statue for my part in that business; but if I have never anything else for it than the insidious persecution which has since followed me from that quarter and the abuse I have received from both sides, I shall be satisfied with my lot, especially since it looks as if he were disposed of forever as a Presidential candidate, and then also as a power in politics. Of course, he will fight to the last, and I do not look upon his discomfiture as certain. But it grows more probable every day. If it is accomplished, we shall not see another notoriously corrupt man nominated for the Presidency in our day. It will clear the political atmosphere wonderfully, and I shall, after having taken an active part in eight Presidential campaigns, claim my discharge, to devote my leisure to my favorite literary work.
The paper about the land and labor party which you sent me is full of good sense. I think the labor organizations as they now are, at least the Knights of Labor, will break down before long, to rise up in a better form. But it is very probable that there will be a labor candidate for the Presidency in 1888, and that he will draw the principal part of his strength from the Democratic ranks, at least in the critical States, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. No coquetting with “Labor” as Gov-
