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Republican Party

AND
ITS LEADERS
A HISTORY OF THE PARTY FROM ITS BEGINNING TO
THE PRESENT TIME.
MEN AND MEASURES THAT HAVE CONTROLLED
- ZTAZAF COUAV ZAZ V’S ZDAFST/AVY.
LIVES OF HARRISON AND REID.
BY ſº.
T H O M A S W . KN O X,
Author of “Lives of Blaine and Logan,” “Life of Henry Ward Beecher,”
“A’obert Fulton and Steam Navigation,” “A)ecisive Battles Since.
Waterloo,” “ The Boy Travelers ” (thirteen volumes), “The
Poung AWimrod's " (two volumes), etc., etc., etc.
PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH ELEGANT WOOD ENGRAVINGs.
NEW YORK : -
P. F. COLLIER, PUBLISHER.
1892.
(Copyright, 1892)

INTRODUCTORY. 15
the wages paid to labor in manufactures has increased $50,000,ooo
a year in that time.
All this magnificent and unparalleled success and prosperity which
our nation has achieved and enjoyed since 1861 has been largely, if
not wholly, due to our splendid system of protection to home in-
dustries, by means of which we have established the grandest and
most valuable home market the world has ever known, and which
consumes from ninety-two to ninety-five per cent of all our produc-
tions of all kinds; and the Republican party has been, first, last, and
all the time, the earnest supporter of this system.
“The Grand Old Party,” which the Republicans proudly, and the
Democrats sneeringly, call it, has been the unflinching advocate of
Civil Service Reform, the system which sets aside the Democratic
theory of treating public offices as the prizes of the victors in an
election, regardless of the ability of the incumbents, and distributes
them according to merit. Elsewhere in this volume the subject will
be considered at length, and it is ‘needless, therefore, to further discuss
it here. *
On the temperance question and the suppression of the drink evil
the Republican party has always been on the side of those who seek
to redeem the country from the alcoholic curse. The Rum power .
works and votes on the side of the Democracy, and has done so
since the beginning of the country's history; all that has been
accomplished in the way of restricting intemperance has been done
by the opponents of the Democratic party. To the Republicans must
be credited the prohibitory and high-license laws that have been passed
in several of the States, and wherever these laws have been over-
thrown, the overthrow has been accomplished by Democratic votes.
The Prohibition party, drawn almost wholly from the Republican
ranks, has labored with honest' but mistaken zeal to accomplish what
its name implies; but the practical result of its work has been to
| 6 INTRODUCTORY. .
strengthen the Rum power by" giving victory to the Democracy
through the division of the Republicans. If there had been no di-
vision of the Republican vote in 1884, Mr. Cleveland would have
been defeated, and the evils which followed the Democratic triumph
would have been arrested. -
Much more might be said in this introduction of the work of
the Republican party, but we anticipate the impatience of the reader,
and pause, that he may proceed at once to the study of its his-
tory, its struggles and its triumphs since the memorable days of its
origin.

C O N T E N T S.
PUBLISHER's PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
INTRODUCTORY º $ g º º o g ; : & ſº - dº. # tº º º * ſ 9
I.
Origin of the Republican Party—Thomas Jefferson an original Republican—Rise and Disappear- .
ance of Jefferson's Party—Convention at Jackson, Mich., in 1854–First National Con-
vention in 1856—Movements for the Abolition of Slavery—The Abolition Party from
1840 to 1856—Consolidation with the Republicans—John Charles Fremont—His History
and Achievements—Result of the Election—Republican Platform of 1856—How the
Party has adhered to its original Principles—Address of the Republican Association
after the Election . . . ſº e * # ſº t; ſº * ſº a º g º . 33
II.
Congress and the Slavery Question—Memorial for the Abolition of Slavery in the District
of Columbia—Democratic Attempts to avoid the Subject—The Whig Party's Decline
and Fall—Its last Platform—The American Party and its Objects—Laws against Natu-
ralization of Foreigners—History of the Dred Scott Case–Effect of the Dred Scott De-
cision on the Whig Party—Platform of the American Party—Attempts at fusion of the
Fremont and Fillmore Forces—Speech of Hon. Kenneth Raynor—Joshua R. Giddings . 45
III.
Events following the Campaign of 1856—Republican Losses in the State Votes in 1857—The
Causes thereof—Dissolution of the American Party—Republican Gains in 1858–Causes
which led to the War—Aggressive Action of the Slave Power—President Buchanan's
Position—The Struggle in Kansas and Nebraska—The Lecompton Constitution—Laws
passed by the Territorial Legislature of New Mexico—Debates in the United States Sen-
ate and Position of the Parties—Abraham Lincoln and W. H. Seward—“The Impending
Crisis”—Action of the Charleston, Baltimore, and Richmond Conventions—The Constitu-
tional Union Party. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
i. (ii)
CONTENTS.
•j
|
|
*
IV.
Republican Convention of 1860—Its Meeting at Chicago—The Platform—Its Position relative
to Protection to American Industry—Declarations regarding Slavery in the Territories
—The Kansas-Nebraska Bill—Naturalization of Foreigners—River and Harbor Improve-
ments—Balloting and its Results—Abraham Lincoln chosen Candidate for the Presi-
dency—Hannibal Hamlin for Vice-President—Biographical Sketches of the Candidates
V.
Result of the Election of 1860–New Jersey the only Northern Democratic State—Elation of
Southern Politicians over the Election of Lincoln—Their Plans for Secession—Threat of
Henry A. Wise in 1856—Convention of Southern Governors—Action of South Carolina—
Ordinance of Secession—Hasty Action of the Legislature—Terrorism throughout the
South—Persecution of Union Men—Promises of Senator Clingman and their Perform-
ance—Secession in the other States of the South—Organization of the Confederacy—
Action of President Buchanan and his Cabinet—Cabinet Officers aiding the Secession
Movement—Inauguration of President Lincoln—The Attack on Fort Sumter—Action of
the Northern and Southern People—Enthusiasm for War on both Sides . e d
VI.
Statistics of the War—Number of Men engaged–Graduates of the Military Academy at the
outbreak of the War—What became of them—Preponderance of regular Officers from
the South—Southern Officers who remained Loyal—Number of Battles and other Actions
in the Civil War—Comparison with previous Wars—Casualties on both Sides—Gettysburg
the greatest Battle—Lincoln's Speech at Gettysburg—Biographical Sketches of General
Grant and General Lee—The Navy during the War—How it was built up—Blockade of
the Coast—Destruction of the Navy Yard at Norfolk—Fight between the Monitor and
Merrimac . g g g & e e e º e e gº te o º º
VII.
Conventions of 1864—Radical Convention at Cleveland and its Platform—Nomination of Jonn
C. Fremont and John Cochrane—Their subsequent Withdrawal—Union (Republican)
Convention at Baltimore—Platform of Principles—Lincoln nominated to succeed him-
self—Andrew Johnson nominated for Vice-President—Sketch of his Life—Reverses to the
Union Cause in the latter part of 1864—Democratic Convention at Chicago—“The War
a Failure"—A lugubrious Platform—Secession Influences at the Convention—McClellan
and Pendleton . tº © º g e e g g tº g g g g gº
VIII.
End of the War—Act of Congress Abolishing Slavery—What should be done with the lately
Rebellious States ?–Plans for Reconstruction—Difficulties of the Situation—Assassination
of President Lincoln—Particulars of the Event—General Gloom throughout the Coun-
try-Johnson becomes President—His Views as to the Treatment of the Rebels—His first
Month in Office—Reconstruction Measures in Louisiana and Arkansas—“Ten per cent
Governments”—Action of Congress regarding the Reconstructed States—Johnson's
74
85
97
... 109
- CONTENTS. 19
Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon—The Exemptions—Reconstruction Conventions
and their Action—Action of the Legislatures of the lately Rebel States—Arrogance of
the Southern Leaders—Alarm in Congress and through the North . & e o . 122
IX.
Progress of Reconstruction—Alarm of Loyal Peqple of the North—Analysis of the Action of
the Legislatures in the Reconstructed States—Northern Democrats and their Sympathy
with the Rebels—Anomalous Condition of the Negro–Varying Views as to his Status
—Demand that he should have the Right of Suffrage—Legislation Ignoring Rights of
Colored Men—Laws passed in Alabama and Florida—Treatment of “Vagrants”—Poverty
a Crime—Intent of the Southern Laws—Action in Congress—Message of President John-
son—Joint Committee on Reconstruction—Bill Establishing Civil Rights—The Freedmen's
Bureau—Conflict between President and Congress—Tenure-of-Office Act—Impeachment
Trial and its Result s • . . g e e g te & e & g e e . 140
X.
Reconstruction continued—Bill offered by Thaddeus Stevens—Its Provisions and the Policy
it offered—Arguments for and against it—Blaine's Amendment—The South divided into
Military Districts—Military Rule to be established and the Civil Authority set aside—
Conditions under which the Military Rule would be withdrawn—The Bill passed by the
House–Amendments offered in the Senate—Danger of the Failure of the Bill—Con-
ference Committee's Action—The President vetoes the Bill—His Objections to it—Bill
passed over the Veto—“Carpet-Bag" Rule in the South—John A. Logan on Self-Govern-
ment in Louisiana . • • º tº tº e * e g e º e g e . 159
XI.
The Country's Finances—Financial Burden at the close of the War—Different Views of the
proper Management of the Public Debt—Debts of England, France and other Countries
—“A National Debt a National Blessing ”—Popular Desire for prompt Payment of the
Debt—Methods of raising Money by “War Taxes”—Stamps on Checks, Proprietary
Articles and Merchandise—Secretary McCulloch's Plans for Paying the Debt—First
Action of Congress for Funding the Debt—Tax upon State Bank Circulation and its
Advantages—Trick of a Western Lawyer—Reduction of Internal Revenue—Purchase of
Alaska—Democratic Convention of 1868–The Platform and Candidates—R pti
of Specie Payments—Present Financial Situation . & e º e e • e . 176
XII.
Issues of the Democratic Party in 1868–Overthrowing Reconstruction—Repudiation of Finan-
cial Obligations—Position of the Republican Party—Universal Suffrage and Maintenance
of the Public Faith—General Grant nominated by Acclamation—Schuyler Colfax for
Vice-President—Democratic Strength developed in the Campaign—President Grant's
Inaugural Address—Progress of Reconstruction and Conduct of the Southern Leaders—
Anomalous Position of Georgia—White Leagues and Ku-Klux Clans—Their Acts of
20 cowTENTS.
Violence—Military Rule in the South—Peculiarity of the Election of 1872—Horace
Greeley Supported by Democrats and Liberal Republicans—Close of the Campaign—
Defeat and Death of Greeley—Sketch of his Life . º & gº gº º gº gº . 195
XIII.
Grant's second Inaugural—Unexpected Sensitiveness to Criticism displayed—Condition of the
South—Quiet restored—Effort to remove folitical Disabilities—Defeated by Democratic
Votes—Exception of Jefferson Davis and the Reasons for it—Convention of 1876—The
Platform—Principles supported by the Republicans—The Candidates and the Votes in
their Behalf–Rutherford B. Hayes Nominated—The October Elections—Close Vote
in November—States and Votes in Dispute—Settlement of the Trouble—Democratic
Threats—The Electoral Commission—Inauguration of President Hayes—Civil Service
Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
XIV.
The Civil Service—A Republican Measure and opposed continuously by the Democracy—First
Civil Service Case in the History of the Country—Thomas Jefferson and the Collector s
of the Port of New Haven—Jefferson's Remarks on the Subject—Views of Eminent
Writers—Faults of the Old System—Appointment of the Civil Service Commission—.
Opposition of Certain Politicians in the Republican Party—Rules regarding Applicants
for Appointment or Pr 4-3 Tº inations, and how Conducted—Rules regarding
Women—British Civil Service—Its Popularity in Great Britain . . . . . . . 227
• XV.
Protection to American Industries–Attitudes of the two great Parties on the Question—The
Republican the Party of Protection—Democracy and Free Trade—Tariff Laws from 1783 .
to 1861—First Period of Free Trade—Consequences to the Country—First Protection
Period—Views of our first five Presidents on the Advantages of Protection—War of
1812 and its Effect—Second Free Trade Period and its disastrous Effect—Opinions of
eminent Writers—Depression and Ruin everywhere—A Return to Protection—1824 to
1832—Prosperity again—How the Repeal of Protective Tariffs was brought about—
Third Protection Period—Views of General Jackson—Another Experience of Free Trade
—Accidents that favored the Free Traders in the late “Forties” and early “Fifties”—
Panic of 1857 and its Causes . . e e g • • e e * g & 238
XVI.
Prosperity of the Country from 1861 to 1865 not wholly due to Protection—Vast Expenses on
Account of the War—Efforts of Great Britain to destroy Industries of other Countries—
Opium Trade in China—How England built up her Industries by rigid Protection—Cause
of her Change of Policy—Hon. Thomas H. Dudley and Hon. James G. Blaine on this
Subject—British Statistics of Trade and Manufactures—Comparative Growth of Manu-
factures in England and the United States—Quotations from British Authorities—
Value of Home Markets—How the Farmer's Prosperity is assured—Growth of the
CONTENTS.
Country under Protection—Comparative Cost of . Living in England and the United
States—Cleveland's Theory “the Tariff is a Tax”—Reciprocity and its Results—“Why I
am a Protectionist” e º e & º tº gº g o tº g e tº e e
XVII.
Chinese Immigration—Bill to restrict it in Hayes's Administration—Discussion and Result—
President Hayes's Veto and Reasons therefor—Subsequent Legislation on the Chinese
Question—Restriction of Immigration from Europe—Views of prominent Politicians—Cam-
paign of 1880—Movement to nominate General Grant for a third Term—Popular Opposi-
tion—General Grant's Action—Technicalities of the Situation—Grant's Nomination for a
third Term advocated by Roscoe Conkling—304 Votes for Grant—Long Balloting—Gen.
Garfield nominated—Platform of 1880–Action of the Democrats—General Hancock nomi-
nated—First appearance of “The Solid South *—Assassination of President Garfield—
President Arthur—Events during his Administration . g g o o e e e
XVIII.
Our Foreign Relations conduct of Great Britain during our Civil War—Indecent Haste in
the Recognition of the Confederates as Belligerents—Violation of Promises to the
American Minister—How the Alabama was allowed to Escape—Connivance of the
British Officials with the Confederate Agents—Facilities denied to Union Wessels in
British Ports but granted to Confederate ones—Debate in Parliament—Why England
feared to recognize the Confederacy—Position of other European Powers—Speech of
Gladstone—The Shenandoah recruiting her Crew in Melbourne—Secret and Confidential
Instructions to the Colonial Authorities—The Geneva Conference—Rejection of Claims
for Indirect Losses—Settlement by Arbitration—Later Difficulties with Foreign Govern-
ments—The Samoan Trouble—Embroilment with Chili and near approach to War—
Lynching of Italians in New Orleans—The Behring Sea Controversy. g © g ſº
XIX.
Republican Convention of 1884—Preliminary Caucussing and Canvassing—The Candidates for
the Nomination—Blaine the general Favorite—How the Balloting went on—Withdrawal
of Gen. Logan and Nomination of Blaine—Wild Enthusiasm—The Platform—How a
straight-out Plank on Protection was obtained—Principles of the Party on the great
Questions of the Day—Mormonism and its Condemnation—Honest Ballot demanded—
Pension Legislation—Action of the Democratic Convention—Grover Cleveland nomi-
nated—Characteristics of the Campaign—“Rum, Romanism and Rebellion ”—Cleveland
Elected by Burchard's Bungling . e e e g º º te o
XX.
Republican Convention of 1888—Liberal Supply of Candidates and their Names—The first
Ballot—John Sherman in the Lead—Judge Gresham Prominent—Gen. Harrison fifth on
the List—Chosen on the eighth Ballot—Levi P. Morton for Vice-President—The Plat-
•form—Free Suffrage demanded—Protection to American Industries—Demand for Reduc-
tion of Internal Revenue—Chinese and Foreign Contract Labor—Opposition to Land
22 CONTENTS.
Grants—Declaration for Bi-Metallism—Army, Navy, and Fortifications—Monroe Doctrine
and Civil Service Reform—Democratic Candidates and the Principles they upheld—Sum-
mary of the Work of Harrison's Administration—Finances in splendid Condition—The
New Navy—Growth of the Post-Office & ge º g e e g g e g . 314
XXI.
The Conventions of 1892—Movements for the Nomination of President Harrison to succeed
himself—Blaine again in the Field—“Dark Horses” in Prospect—McKinley, Alger,
Depew, and others—Republican Convention at Minneapolis—Proceedings at the Open-
ing—Gov. McKinley as permanent Chairman—His Speech on the Situation—The Plat-
form and its Principles—Mrs. J. Ellen Foster and her Speech—Call of the Roll of
States—Senator Wolcott of Colorado nominates Blaine–Hon. R. W. Thompson nomi-
nates Harrison—Their nominating Speeches—Mrs. Carson Lake and what she did—
Chauncey M. Depew's Speech seconding Harrison's Nomination—Harrison chosen on the
first Ballot—The Nomination made Unanimous—Gen. Horace Porter names Whitelaw
Reid for second Place on the Ticket—The Nomination Unanimous—The Democratic
Platform and Candidate—The People's Party and the Prohibitionists—Gen. A. B. Nettleton
on the Third Party Question te tº 8 e tº tº . . . e g . , 327
XXII.
Leaders of the Republican Party in the Fifty-second Congress—Biographical Sketches—Vice-
President Morton—John" Beard Allen—William B. Allison—Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich—
Shelby M. Cullom—James Donald Cameron—Lyman A. Casey—William Eaton Chandler
—Joseph A. Dolph—Henry L. Dawes—William P. Frye-Anthony Higgins—George Frisby
Boar—Joseph A. Hawley–Eugene Hale—Frank Hiscock—John P. Jones—Justin Smith
Morrell—Charles F. Manderson—John H. Mitchell—James McMillan—Thomas Platt—
Algernon S. Paddock—Matthew Stanley Quay—John Sherman—Leland Stanford—Wat-
son C. Squire—William Morris Stewart—Philetus Sawyer—Wilbur F. Sanders—Francis
B. Stockbridge—Henry M. Teller—Edward Oliver Wolcott—James F. Wilson—William
Drew Washburn—James G. Atkinson—Charles Addison Boutelle—Nelson Dingley, Jr.—
Henry Cabot Lodge—Thomas Brackett Reed . . . . . . . . . . 853
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR 1892.
LIFE OF BIFNJAMIN HARRISON.
I.
Ancestry—Birth—Religious Training—Early Tutors—Juvenile Impressions—Farmers' College–
Miami University—The Presbyterian Church—Becomes Engaged—Graduates—His Com-
mencement Oration—L. W. Ross's Remini s—Studies Law in Cincinnati-Marriage—
Moves to Indianapolis—Birth of Russell Harrison—Appointed Clerk of the United States
District Court t & & e tº ſº tº o g e e g e e e te e 373
CONTENTS.
*}{4
II.
Harrison as a Lawyer—Indianapolis Bar—First Important Case—An Old-time Court-room—
A Legislative Investigation—Wallace & Harrison—Fishback & Harrison—Reporter of the
Supreme Court—Fishback, Porter & Harrison–Fishback, Porter, Harrison & Hines—
Harrison, Miller & Elam—Legal Methods—The Sons of Liberty Case—The Lieutenant-
Governor's Case . e tº e . . º g e - © * te g e e to
III.
Harrison enters Politics—His debut on the Stump—The Fremont Campaign—Recognized as
an Orator—The Lincoln Campaign—Reporter for the Supreme Court—The State Can-
vass—Debate with Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks—Meets Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees—A.
Great Triumph—Enlists e . . te º © e & © e * e g g
IV.
Harrison's Career as a Soldier—Lincoln's Call for Troops—Gov. Morton—Recruiting—Com-
missioned as a Colonel—Studying Tactics—Bowling Green—Rebuilds a Bridge–Running
a Locomotive—First Engagement—Commands a Division—Scottsville—Gallatin—Protect-
ing the Road to Nashville—Lavergne—Murfreesboro’—Resaca—Close Fighting—“Little
Ben "-Cassville—New Hope Church—Officiating as a Surgeon—Chief of Brigade—Gilgal
Church—Kenesaw—Peach Tree Creek—Gen. Hooker's Eulogy—Brevet Major-General—
The Old Mill—A Desperate Encounter—Special Duty—With Sherman—Special Duty in
Indiana–Chattanooga—Brigadier-General . e g & &
V.
Harrison Resumes Civil Life—Urged for Governor in 1875–Declines—Orth Nominated but
* . withdraws—Harrison Nominated without his Knowledge—He complies with the Popular
Wish—Colonel Morgan's Prophetic Suggestion—The Canvass—Barnum's Hordes defeat
him—Speech at Danville—Counsel for the Government—The Railroad Strike—His Sym-
pathy for the Laboring Man—Speech at Richmond, Ind.—The Mississippi River Commission
—Entertains President Hayes & tº te g tº e g wº g e e 3.
VI.
Harrison a Delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1880—Urged to be a Candidate—Favors
Garfield—Elected United States Senator—Garfield wants to make him Secretary of
State—Declines—Garfield's Comment—The Chinese Question—Speech at Indianapolis—
The Pension Claims—Soldiers must be Remembered and their Services Rewarded—Civil
Service—Prohibition—Great Campaign Speech in Iowa–The Tariff—Free Trade as regards
the Laboring Man—In full Sympathy with the Laboring Man . e ge &
VII.
Address to his Colored Fellow Townsmen—Civil Rights—Changes wrought by the War—Dele-
gate-at-Large to the Chicago Convention in 1884 – Gives a Hearty Support to Blaine
—Ratification Meeting at Indianapolis—Speech on Blaine—The Isthmus Canal—Foreign
Policy—The Navy—Ratio between Gold and Silver—Speech at Danville, Ind.—Trusts
381
887
. 408
and Combines—Subsidies for American Steamships e º tº g & & * , 425
. 396
24 COWTENTS.
VIII.
Address at Home on the Labor Question—Protection of American Labor—Republican Con-
sideration of the Tariff—Pensions—Cleveland's Extraordinary Exercise of the Veto
Power—Speech on the Soldiers' Vote—Record in the Senate on the Labor Question—The
Knights of Labor—Testimonial from the Knights of Labor—A Patriotic Response . . 434
IX.
Harrison's Career in the U. S. Senate—1881 to 1887–Good Work as Chairman of the Com-
mittee on Territories—The Admission of the Dakotas—Statesmanlike Speech in his
Seat—The Tenure-of-Office Act—Position of the Democratic Party—The Civil Service
Commission—An able Review—Sea-coast Defenses—A Good Record—Care in Official
Work e = & tº e s & º • . . . º º te g - g e . 443
X.
Harrison resumes Practice in Indianapolis—His Position at the Bar—Speech on Ireland and
Irishmen—Speech at Danville on the Franchise in the South—The Country and the
Soldiers—The Irish Liberation—Speech at Indianapolis—Cheap Prices—Living Wages
and Fair Prices—Reducing the Revenue—A Navy needed—Work for the Republican
Party. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
XI.
Speech at Detroit, February 22, 1888–Banquet of the Michigan Club—Significance of the
Flag—Principles of our Government—What is expected of the South—The Colored
Republican Vote in the South—Suffrage always a Momentous Question—Crimes against
the Ballot • • e e g e e e e i e e • • e g . 461
XII.
Speech at Chicago, March 20, 1888–Banquet at the Marquette Club—The Growth of the
Republican Party—Young Men in the Party—Republican Administration—Record of the
Party—Foreign Governments During the War—Elections in Southern States—Disfran-
chisement—Political Chicanery—Cleveland's Policy—Progressive Policy of the Repub-
lican Party . * , º . . . e g te g e g g g s º tº . 469
XIII.
Not permitted to remain long out of Public Service—Elected President in 1888—Character-
istic Administration—Speech on the Chilian Trouble—At the Centennial Celebration
in New York—Eulogy of Washington–Eulogy of Garfield—Tours West, South and
East—Renominated at Minneapolis–Speeches of Gov. McKinley and the President—
Address at Rochester, July 4, 1892—Address to the National Education Association at
Saratoga, July 11, 1892 . e e e e g tº & º tº te e g . . 478
XIV. -
President Harrison's Inaugural Address—Constitutional Requirement on Taking Oath—Wash-
ington's Inauguration—The Territory of Dakota—Sovereignty to the General Govern-
ment—Sectional Element eliminated from the Tariff Question—Paralysis of Slavery—
CONTENTS.
25
Special Executive Policy for any Section not Advisable—Obligations of Corporations
—Naturalization Laws — No Interference with European Affairs — Our Interests Exclu-
sively American—Appointments—A Treasury Surplus a Serious Evil—Encourage Ameri-
can Steamship Lines—Election Laws—The Future Promising
XV.
President Harrison’s Western Tour, October, 1890—Speeches—Clifton Forge, Va.-Lawrence-
Presi
burg, Ind.—North Vernon—Seymour—Shoals—Sullivan—Terre Haute—Danville, Ill.
Champaign — Peoria — Galesburg — Reunion First Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth
Army Corps—Ottumwa, Iowa–St. Joseph, Mo.—Atchison, Kansas–Topeka–Norton-
ville—Valley Falls—Lawrence—Kansas City, Mo.—St. Louis—Anderson, Ind.—Muncie,
Ind.—Winchester—Union City–De Graff, Ohio–Bellefontaine—Crestline—Mansfield—
Wooster—Massillon—Canton—Alliance - ë
XVI.
dent Harrison's Trip across the Continent in April and May, 1891—S l- Roanoke,
E"
Va.-Knoxville, Tenn.—Atlanta, Ga.—Birmingham, Ala.—Little Rock, Ark–Galveston,
Texas—Deming, New Mex.—Tucson, Arizona—Los Angeles and San Francisco, Cal.—Salem
and Portland, Ore.—Tacoma, Wash.-Boise City, Idaho-Salt Lake City, Utah—Denver,
Col.—Omaha, Neb.—Springfield, Ill—Indianapolis, Ind—Harrisburg, Pa. . g
LIFE OF WHITELAW REID.
*-- a--mº
I.
Ancestry and Birth—Scotch Descent—Teaches School—Enters Journalism—An Original Re-
publican—Stump Speaking—An Active Politician–Tour Through the Northwest—Cin-
cinnati — War Correspondent — “Agate”–With Rosecrans — Librarian of Congress—
Authorship—A Cotton Planter—Joins the Tribune Staff - . ſº
II.
, 492
g 503
. 531
g ſº gº . 561
Leader Writing on the Tribune—Managing Editor—Editor-in-Chief—Acquires Control of the
great “Leading American Newspaper’—Reminiscences of a Secretary—Firmness of Char-
acter—Methods of Management—Knowledge of Men—Theory of Editorship—Estimate of
Greeley–Tireless Industry . e e & & e e e e ſº e * g . 566
III.
Consecrated to the Tribune—In Control—The new Building—President of the Lotos Club—
Union League—Declines proffered Political Appointments—Regent of the University of
New York—Active in Charities—Authorship—Marriage—City Residence—Ophir Farm
. 572
26 COWTEAWTS.
IV.
• Urged for Governor and United States Senator—Accepts Appointment of Minister to France
——His brilliant Administration—Secures the repeal of the Law prohibiting Importation
of American Meats—Reciprocity and Extradition Treaties—Copyright—Repeal of Duty on
Works of Art—Banquet from American Residents—Eulogized—A Felicitous Speech . 576
V.
Tined by the Ohio Society—Speech--Pleasant Reminiscences—Ohio's great Men—Dined by
the Lotos Club—Speech—At Home again—New York and Paris compared—The Pan-
American Congress—Retrospective . g e © º º g e e gº e . 581
…”
VI.
Banquet of the Chamber of Commerce—Speech—His Administration—Kindness of the Press—
The Paris Legation—Lord Salisbury—Diplomatic Experience—Work Accomplished—A
Complete Commercial Treaty—Products of France—Growing Trade—New York to be
the Commercial Center of the World . g e e e e © e e e . 589
VII.
Last Republican State Convention—Elected Permanent Chairman—Speech—Republican Success
Inevitable—A glorious Record–Benefits of Republican Administration—The Vote in 1876—
Democratic Management—Organization Essential for Victory—Principles Epitomized—No
Apologies, no Explanations . . . . . tº e . . . . . . . . 596
VIII.
The Notification Committee—Visit to Reid at Ophir Farm—Remarks by Chairman Durbin–
Speech of U. S. Senator Dubois—Reid's Speech—Unparalleled Prosperity Reigns—Surprised
that Morton was not renominated—Every Augury of Success—Social Reunion . e . 601
IX.
The Great Ratification Meeting at Carnegie Music Hall—Reid's Speech—New York must
be Carried—Speech at Rye, N. Y. — The National Birthday — The Flag a Banner of
Beauty and Glory—Remarks at the Christian Endeavor Convention—Modern Fortifica-
tions, the Schoolhouse and the Church . o & e e o e (s g tº . 606
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
MEMBERS OF THE U. S. SENATE.
ALLEN, JOHN B., Washington .* e g & e p * *
ALLISON, WILLIAM B., Iowa . ©
CAMERON, JAMES DON, Pennsylvania. . º “ - e e tº
CASEY, LYMAN R., North Dakota . © e © •
CULLOM, SHELBY M., Illinois . tº e & & ©
DAVIS, CUSHMAN K., Minnesota . -
DAWES, HENRY L., Massachusetts. e © e
DOLPH, JOSEPH N., Oregon
Eva RTS, WILLIAM M., New York . © ©
, FARWELL, CHARLES B., Illinois
FRYE, WILLIAM P., Maine . e º § tº o g e'
HALE, EUGENE, Maine . e e & e e g c ſº
HAWLEY, JOSEPH R., Connecticut . © tº g e e &
HIGGINS, ANTHONY, Delaware .
HISCOCK, FRANK, New York . e G e e g wº
HoAR, GEORGE F., Massachusetts. © e © ſº e e
INGALLS, JOHN JAMES, Kansas © g & g e e
JONES, JOHN P., Nevada . e e e tº & e e
MCMILLAN, JAMES, Michigan . e º º e te tº e
MANDERSON, CHARLEs F., Nebraska . te e • •
MITCHELL, John H., Oregon . e e e tº g e g g
1MOODY, GIDEON C., South Dakota . e ge ſº º iº e º
PADDOCK, ALGERNON S., Nebraska.
PLATT, ORVILLE H., Connecticut
205
91
193
177
8?
145
12?
189
51
83
115
111
79
55
119
101
173
131
157
28 * LIST OF II, I, USTRATIONS.
PLUMB, PRESTON B., Kansas
QUAY, MATTHEw S., Pennsylvania. .
SANDERS, WILBUR F., Montana
SAwYER, PHILETUS, Wisconsin
SHERMAN, John, Ohio
SPOONER, JoHN C., Wisconsin . .
SQUIRE, WATSON C., Washington ..
STANFORD, LELAND, California.
STEwART, WILLIAM M., Nevada,
STOCKBRIDGE, FRANCIS B., Michigan
TELLER, HENRY M., Colorado .
WASHBURN, WILLIAM. D., Minnesota
WILSON, JAMES F., Iowa .
WOLCOTT, EDWARD O., Colorado
MEMBERS OF THE U. S. HOUSE
ALLEN, EDWARD P., Michigan.
ARNOLD, WARREN, O., Rhode Island
ATKINSON, JAMES E., Pennsylvania.
BAYNE, THOMAS M., Pennsylvania .
BELDEN, JAMES J., New York .
BELKNAP, CHARLES E., Michigan
BREWER, MARK S., Michigan
BROWNE, T. H. B., Virginia
BROWNE, THOMAS M., Indiana .
BUCHANAN, JAMES, New Jersey
BUTTERWORTH, BENJAMIN, Ohio
CASWELL, LUCIEN B., Wisconsin .
ÇULBERTSON, W. C., Pennsylvania .
CHEADLE, JOSEPH B., Indiana .
CHEATHAM, H. P., North Carolina .
DALZELL, JOHN, Pennsylvania .
DE LANO, MILTON, New York . s
217
181
tº te º t sº . 221
213
59
e g g tº e , 137
REPRESENTATIVES.
* te ſº tº tº . 401
e e tº g e g 445
tº s ſº tº ſº g © 341
459
259
393
39'?
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
29
DINGLEY, NELSON, JR., Maine.
DUNNELL, MARK H., Minnesota
EwART, HAMILTON G., North Carolina .
FARQUHAR, JOHN M., New York
ELOOD, THOMAS S., New York
FRANK, N., Missouri.
GIFFORD, South Dakota.
GROUT, WILLIAM W., Vermont
HARMER, ALFRED C., Pennsylvania
HERMANN, BINGER, Oregon
HITT, ROBERT R., Illinois.
HOUK, LEONIDAS C., Tennessee .
KENNEDY, ROBERT P., Ohio
KETCHAM, JoHN H., New York . º tº g &
KERR, DANIEL, Iowa tº • S. . e e e e
LA FOLLETTE, ROBERT M., Wisconsin
LAIDLAw, WILLIAM G., New York • •
LANSING, FREDERICK, New York
LODGE, HENRY CABOT, Massachusetts
McCoMAs, Louis E., Maryland
McCORMICK, HENRY C., Pennsylvania
MILLIKEN, SETH. L., Maine
O’DONNELL, JAMES, Michigan .
PETERs, SAMUEL R., Kansas
PUGSLEY, JACOB J., Ohio e e * o
SAwYER, John G., New York.
SPOONER, HENRY J., Rhode Island .
STEwART, JoBN W., Vermont -
STIVERS, M. D., New York
STRUBLE, ISAAC S., Iowa .
SWENEY, J. H., Iowa
TAYLOR, ABNER, Illinois .
THOMAS, ORMSBY B., Wisconsin
TownsPND, CHARLES C., Pennsylvania
WADE, WILLIAM H., Missouri.
WILLIAMS, ELIHU S., Ohio
291
405
305
325
329
333
431
283
30 . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
MISCELLANEOUS.
..BEECHER, REV. HENRY WARD.
BLAINE, JAMES G., Ex-Secretary of State
BUTTERFIELD, MAJOR-GENERAL DANIEL. e tº e º tº
CARTER, THOMAS H., Chairman of the Republican National Committee
CoNGER, E. H., Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil
DEPEw, CHAUNCEY M. *
FREMONT, GENERAL JOHN CHARLES te * e e s e
FULLER, MELVILLE W., Chief-Justice of the United States Supreme Court
GETTysBURG, FIELD or, twenty-five years after
GREELEY, HORACE G g e e
GRUBB, GENERAL E. BURD, Minister to Spain
LINCOLN, PRESIDENT, ASSASSINATION OF
McKINLEY, WILLIAM, JR., Governor of Ohio.
MERRIMAC AND MONITOR, GREAT DUEL BETWEEN THE
MoRTON, LEVI P., Vice-President "e tº
REPRESENTATIVES, Hous E OF, THE UNITED STATES
SENATE CHAMBER, THE UNITED STATES .
SHERMAN, GENERAL TECUMSEH
SUPREME Court of THE UNITED STATEs.
TRACY, GENERAL BENJAMIN F., Secretary of the Navy
U. S. NAVY, NEW CRUISERS AND IRONCLAD DEFENSE SHIPs of THE
WINDOM, WILLIAM, Secretary of the Treasury
39
209
225
372
413
229
35
427
135
43
269
319
265
123
47
355
33?
169
421
287
149
233
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
A N D | T S L E A D E R S.
THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS
I.
Origin of the Republican Party—Thomas Jefferson an original Republican—Rise and Disappearance
of Jefferson's Party—Convention at Jackson, Mich., in 1854—First National Convention in
1856–Movements for the Abolition of Slavery—The Abolition Party from 1840 to 1856–
Consolidation with the “Republicans—John Charles Fremont—His History and Achievements
—Result of the Election—Republican Platform of 1856—How the Party has adhered to its
original Principles—Address of the Republican Association after the Election.
* = . KäHILE the foundation of the Republican party dates from a State
i Convention held at Jackson, Mich., July 6, 1854, its birth may
be traced back to the Anti-Federalists and Thomas Jefferson,
who, to an extent, was more the father of Republicanism than of
Democracy—the vaunt of the leaders of the latter party to the
contrary notwithstanding. The convention at Jackson assembled in response to
a call signed by more than ten thousand men who were opposed to the extension
of slavery and advocated the development of American institutions. The name
of Republican was revived and adopted as expressive of the fundamental idea,
and recognized at the first National Convention at Philadelphia in 1856.
The origin of the fundamental principles of the Republican party by Thomas
Jefferson, generally proclaimed the “Father of Democracy,” dates back to 1788,
when the Federalists were in political supremacy. President Washington and such
eminent patriots as Hamilton, Jay, and Adams were enthusiastic Federalists,
believing that the views of the English statesmen regarding the policy of the
then raging French revolution were better than those entertained by Thomas Jef-
ferson, who had recently returned from France to take his seat in the Cabinet.
Jefferson was strongly imbued during his 'sojourn in France with the spirit of
Republicanism, and consequently in strong sympathy with the revolution there.
Under the circumstances he was opposed to the Federalists, believing that their
3 4 (33)

34 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
sympathy with England boded no future good for this country, and he founded a
party which was first known as the Anti-Federalists but subsequently as the Re-
publicans or Democrats, though the political writers of the day frequently char-
acterized the two parties as the “British party’’ or the “French party.” -
Under the party call of “Republican" the Jefferson party triumphed in the
presidential election in 1800, when he was elected, and after a career of defeat
for twenty years (with the re-election in 1820 of Monroe) the Federal party
disintegrated, and the contest was between the Whig and the Democrat, which
had gradually absorbed the name Republican until it was revived for another
party advocating human suffrage in the convention at Jackson in 1854. •As in
the War of 1812, so in the War for the Union in 1860, the Republican party
was essentially American, and so it is to-day, the same spirit of American inde-
pendence and prosperity animating its leaders then as now.
So pronounced was the spirit of disunion in 1850 in the Southern States that .
Calhoun's adherents in the Senate established in Washington a newspaper
called The Southern Press, agitating the slavery question. They also boldly
advocated the advantages of the disintegration of the Union. They urged the
formation of a confederacy of Southern States to be known as the “ United States .
South.” Simultaneously newspapers were circulated in the Southern States advo-
cating the same object ; and the intent of all was to create a violent feeling
tending to disunion. Tennessee, South Carolina and Mississippi were the most
forward in the agitation, and they held a convention in Nashville at which
representatives to the proposed Southern Congress were elected. But Georgia
refused to be misled by interested and, selfish agitators, and her declination to
have any share in the Congress, threw such a chill over the agitators’ ardor
that the spark was quenched. However, the fire had been started, and only
needed fanning. -
The first decided movement looking to the abolition of slavery occurred in 1840,
when the Abolitionist party began to show their hand by nominating a candidate
for President. The support given to the ticket was meager; but during the four
years ensuing the party grew in power to such an extent that their nominee,
James G. Birney of Michigan, secured over 60,000 votes. Their activity was
maintained, and in 1848, when Martin Van Buren ran for President on the
Democratic ticket, he was opposed by the Abolitionist candidate, Gerritt Smith,
who secured close on 300,000 votes. During the next four years they lost ground,
as was shown by the vote polled by John P. Hale, which was something over
*
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
GEN. JOHN CHARLES FREMONT.

sº
wº
36 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
150,000. A new departure was necessary, and when 1856 came round they had
joined hands with a new party, called the Republican party, organized during the
interval.
The nominee of the combined parties was John C. Fremont. But the time was
not yet ripe. They made a splendid showing, however, securing 1,341,812 votes
out of a total of 4,053,928—its candidates receiving 114 votes out of 296, in the
electoral college ; securing majorities in all the free States, except Illinois, Indiana,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and California. -
The Democrats were the successful party in the campaign, and on the 4th of
March, 1857, their candidate, James Buchanan, was installed as President until
March 4, 1861. There had been great excitement during the campaign, but it
Subsided as soon as the result of the election was known.
John Charles Fremont was born at Savannah, Ga., Jan. 21, 1813. His father
was a French gentleman who had located at Norfolk, Va., and married a local
lady, Anne Beverly Whiting. The father, who was a teacher of his native lan-
guage, died in 1818, and the widow, with three children, moved from Savannah
—whither they had come from Norfolk—to Charleston, S. C., in order that her
son might attend the college there. John Charles Fremont entered the Junior
class of Charleston College in 1828. He was an apt scholar, particularly in
mathematics, and finally became instructor in that branch in the United States
navy. He was thus engaged from 1833 to 1835, when his roving disposition
was gratified by a commission to survey for a railroad between Charleston and
Cincinnati, and in 1837 of the Cherokee country, he having been appointed
second lieutenant of Topographical Engineers.
Fremont’s exploration of this vast wilderness made him well-known, and
engrafted the spirit of adventure that led him to subsequently undertake his
great trans-continental survey, and earning him the sobriquet in the election
contest of the “Pathfinder; ” the story of which, covering many years of his
active life, is a fascinating romance of adventure and scientific achievement, to
which, however, it is not necessary to further refer in this connection, excepting
to say that during the period he married Jennie Benton, the daughter of Gen.
Thomas Benton of Missouri. Taking a leading part in the conquest of California,
he was honored by being appointed as its military governor. He was elected one
of its first United States Senators when California became a State, taking his
seat Sept. 10, 1850, having drawn the short term, which gave him only three
weeks in that body when the Senate adjourned. He was a candidate for re-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 37
election in 1851, but his party had been defeated, and he consequently did not
receive a re-election to the Senate. -
Because of his great achievements as the ‘‘pathfinder ’’ in his just-completed
trans-continental survey, his valor as a soldier in the struggle on the Pacific
Coast with the Mexicans, his open and able advocacy as a statesman of the
thought promulgated by the convention of Republicans held at Jackson, Mich.,
in 1854, Fremont was chosen as the standard-bearer of the modern Republican
party at the first National Convention held at Philadelphia, June 17, 1856. He
was unanimously nominated on the first formal ballot. He was also subsequently
nominated for President by the National American Convention at New York,
where he was then residing. His opponent on the Democratic ticket was James
Buchanan. Buchanan was elected, the ballot of the electors being 174 for
Buchanan from 19 States, 114 for Fremont from 11 States, 8 for Fillmore from
Maryland, while the popular vote was—Buchanan 1,838,000, Fremont 1,341,000,
Fillmore 874,000. e
In 1858 Fremont resumed his residence in California. He was in
Europe when the Civil War broke out, but received the appointment of a
major-general of the regular army and assigned to the command of the
, Western Department, with headquarters at St. Louis. . He had a varied record
in the Civil War which cannot be more than glanced at in its political aspect
in this connection. Soon after assuming command in St. Louis, Gen. Fremont,
proclaimed martial law in the State and made many arrests, and subsequently he
assumed the government of the State, declaring emancipation of the slaves of
those fighting against the Union. President Lincoln endorsed his course in a
letter to him, excepting his emancipation proclamation, which he requested him to
rescind. Fremont refusing to do so, the President annulled it in a public order.
In consequence of this course, and his life-long service, Fremont was again
called by a convention of Republicans, held at Cleveland, Ohio, May 31, 1864, to
be their standard-bearer. He was induced, however, to withdraw by a committee
of prominent Republicans, who recognized the fact that he could not win but
might jeopardize the re-election of Lincoln, who had been elected by the Re-
publican party in 1860. From the close of the war till his death at New York
a few years since, Fremont was chiefly engaged in railway enterprises, excepting
three years as Governor of Arizona (1878 to 1881). He wrote several books of his
explorations. He will ever occupy a prominent place in American political and
military history, not only as the first candidate for President of the modern Re-
38 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
publican party, but as the great trans-continental explorer, and a brave soldier
and patriot, whose greatest mistake was in ever consenting to accept the nomina-
tion for President from a convention composed of those who like himself were dis-
satisfied with the administration of Lincoln because of personal differences, when
his re-election might have been defeated while his own could not with his opposi-
tion have been accomplished. -
It is often asserted by the opponents of the Republican party that it has
departed from its original principles. The platform adopted by the Convention of
1856 is a sufficient refutation of this assertion. Here it is:
“This convention of delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call addressed to
the people of the United States, without regard to past political differences or
divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy
of the present administration, to the extension of slavery into free territory; in
favor of admitting Kansas as a free State, of restoring the action of the Federal
government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson ; and who purpose to
unite in presenting candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President, do
resolve as follows: -
“ Resolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Dec-
laration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Constitution, is essential to
the preservation of our Republican institutions, and that the Federal Constitution,
the rights of the States, and the union of the States, shall be preserved.
“ Resolved, That with our republican fathers we hold it to be a self-evident
truth that all men are endowed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness, and that the primary object and ulterior design of our
Federal government were, to secure these rights to all persons within its exclusive
jurisdiction ; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in
all our national territory, ordained that no person should be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain
this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it for the purpose
of establishing slavery in any Territory of the United States, by positive legislation,
prohibiting its existence or extension therein. That we deny the authority of
Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, of any individual or association of individuals,
to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the "United States, while the
present Constitution shall be maintained. -
“ Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over
the Territories of the United States for their government, and that in the exercise
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 39
of this power it is both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit
in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism—polygamy and slavery.
“Resolved, That while the Constitution of the United States was ordained
and established, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty, and contains ample provisions for the protec-
tion of the life, liberty, and property of every citizen, the dearest constitutional
REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER.
rights of the people of Kansas have been fraudulently and violently taken from
them ; their territory has been invaded by an armed force; spurious and pretended
legislative, judicial, and executive officers have been set over them, by whose
usurped authority, sustained by the military power of the government, tyrannical
and unconstitutional laws have been enacted and enforced ; the rights of the
people to keep and bear arms have been infringed; test oaths of an extraordinary
and entangling nature have been imposed, as a condition of exercising the right

40 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S.
of Suffrage and holding office; the right of an accused person to a speedy and
public trial by an impartial jury has been denied ; the right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches
and seizures, has been violated ; they have been deprived of life, liberty, and
property without due process of law; that the freedom of speech and of the press
has been abridged ; the right to choose their representatives has been made of
no effect; murders, robberies, and arsons have been instigated or encouraged, and
the offenders have been allowed to go unpunished ; that all these things have
been done with the knowledge, sanction, and procurement of the present national
administration ; and that for this high crime against the Constitution, the Union,
and humanity, we arraign the administration, the President, his advisers, agents,
supporters, apologists, and accessories, either before or after the facts, before
the country and before the world ; and that it is our fixed purpose to bring the
actual perpetrators of these atrocious outrages, and their accomplices, to a sure
and condign punishment hereafter.
“Resolved, That Kansas should be immediately admitted as a State of the
TJnion with her present free constitution, as at once the most effectual way of
securing to her citizens the enjoyment of the rights and privileges to which they
are entitled, and of ending the civil strife now raging in her territory.
“Resolved, That the highwayman’s plea that “might makes right,’ em-
bodied in the Ostend circular, was in every respect unworthy of American diplom-
acy, and would bring shame and dishonor upon any government or people that
gave it their sanction. .
“ Resolved, That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, by the most central and
practicable route, is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole country,
and that the Federal government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in
its construction, and, as an auxiliary thereto, the immediate construction of an
emigrant route on the line of the railroad.
“Resolved, That appropriations of Congress for the improvement of rivers
and harbors of a national character, required for the accommodation and security
of our existing commerce, are authorized by the Constitution, and justified by the
obligation of government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
“Resolved, That we invite the affiliation and co-operation of the men of all
parties, however differing from us in other respects, in support of the principles
herein declared ; and believing that the spirit of our institutions, as well as the
Constitution of our country, guarantees liberty of conscience and equality of
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 41
rights among citizens, we oppose all proscriptive legislation affecting their
security.” t
After the election the following address was issued :-
“Republican Association of Washington.
“Address to the Republicans of the United States.
- “WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 1856.
“The Presidential contest is over, and at last we have some materials to
enable us to form a judgment of the results. -
- “Seldom have two parties emerged from a conflict with less of joy in the
victors, more of hope in the vanquished. The pro-slavery party has elected its
Presidential candidate, only, however, by the votes of a minority, and that of
such a character as to stamp the victory as the offspring of sectionalism and
temporary causes. The Republicans, wherever able to present clearly to the
public the real issue of the canvass—slavery restriction or slavery extension—
have carried the people with them by unprecedented majorities; almost breaking
up in Some States the organization of their adversaries. A sudden gathering
together of the people, alarmed at the inroads of the slave power, rather than a
well organized party, with but a few months to attend to the complicated details
of party warfare; obstructed by a secret order, which had pre-occupied the field,
and obtained a strong hold of the national and religious prejudices of the masses;
opposed to an old party, commencing the canvass with the united support of a
powerful section, hardened by long party drill, accustomed to victory, wielding
the whole power of the Federal administration—a party which only four years
ago carried all but four of the States, and a majority of the popular vote—still,
under all these adverse circumstances, they have triumphed in eleven, if not
twelve of the free States, pre-eminent for enterprise and general intelligence, and
containing one half of the whole population of the country; given to their Presi-
dential candidate nearly three times as many electoral votes as were cast by the
Whig party in 1852; and this day control the governments of fourteen of the
most powerful States of the Union.
“Well may our adversaries tremble in the hour of their victory. ‘The
Democratic and Black Republican parties,” they say, “are nearly balanced in
regard to power. The former was victorious in the recent struggle, but success
was hardly won, with the aid of important accidental advantages. The latter has
42 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
abated nothing of its zeal, and has suffered no pause in its preparations for
another battle.’ p
“With such numerical force, such zeal, intelligence, and harmony in counsel;
with So many great States, and more than a million voters rallied to their stand-
ard by the efforts of a few months, why may not the Republicans confidently
expect a victory in the next contest ?
“The necessity for their organization still exists in all its force. Mr. Buchanan
has always proved true to the demands of his party. He fully accepted the Cin-
cinnati platform, and pledged himself to its policy—a policy of filibustering abroad,
propagandism at home. Prominent and controlling among his supporters are men
committed, by word and deed, to that policy; and what is there in his character,
his antecedents, the nature of his Northern support, to authorize the expectation
that he will disregard their will 2 Nothing will be so likely to restrain him and
counteract their extreme measures as a vigorous and growing Republican organ-
ization, as nothing would be more necessary to save the cause of freedom and the
Union, should he, as we have every reason to believe, continue the pro-slavery
policy of the present incumbent. Let us beware of folding our arms, and waiting
to see what he will do. We know the ambition, the necessities, the schemes of
the slave power. Its policy of extension and aggrandizement and universal em-
pire, is the law of its being, not an accident—is settled, not fluctuating. Covert
or open, moderate or extreme, according to circumstances, it never changes in
spirit or aim. With Mr. Buchanan, the elect of a party controlled by this policy,
administering the government, the safety of the country, and of free institutions
must rest in the organization of the Republican party.
“What, then, is the duty before us? Organization, vigilance, action ; action
on the rostrum, through the press, at the ballot-box; in State, county, city, .
and town elections; everywhere, at all times; in every election, making Repub-
licanism, or loyalty to the policy and principles it advocates, the sole political
test. No primary or municipal election should be suffered to go by default. The
party that would succeed nationally must triumph in States—triumph in the
State elections must be prepared by municipal success. -
“Next to the remaining power in the States already under their control,
let the Republicans devote themselves to the work of disseminating their prin-
ciples, and initiating the true course of political action in the States which have
decided the election against them. This time we have failed, for reasons nearly
all of which may be removed by proper effort. Many thousand honest, but not
THE REPUBLICAW PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 43
well-informed voters, who supported Mr. Buchanan under the delusive impression
that he would favor the cause of free Kansas, will soon learn their mistake, and
be anxious to correct it. The timid policy of the Republicans in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and Indiana, in postponing their independent action, and tempor-
izing with a party got up for purposes not harmonizing with their own, and
the conduct of Mr. Fillmore’s friends in either voting for Mr. Buchanan, or divid-
ing the opposition by a separate ticket, can hardly be repeated again. The true
HORACE GREELEY.
course of the Republicans is to organize promptly, boldly, and honestly upon
their own principles, so clearly set forth in the Philadelphia platform, and, avoid-
ing coalitions with other parties, appeal directly to the masses of all parties to
ignore all organizations and issues which would divert the public mind from the
one danger that now threatens the honor and interests of the country, and the
subtlety of the Union—slavery propagandism allied with disunionism.
“Let us not forget that it is not the want of generous sentiment, but of
sufficient information, that prevents the American people from being united in

44 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEALDERS.
action against the aggressive policy of the slave power. Were these simple
questions submitted to-day to the people of the United States:—Are you in
favor of the extension of slavery P Are you in favor of such extension by the
aid or connivance of the Federal government P And could they be permitted to
record their votes in response, without embarrassment, without constraint of any
kind, nineteen-twentieths of the people of the free States, and perhaps more than
half of the people of the slave States, would return a decided negative to both.
“Let us have faith in the people. , Let us believe, that at heart they are
hostile to the extension of slavery, desirous that the Territories of the Union be
consecrated to free labor and free institutions; and that they require only en-
lightenment as to the most effectual means of securing this end to convert their
cherished sentiment into a fixed principle of action. .
“The times are, pregnant with warning. That a disunion party exists in
the South no longer admits of a doubt. It accepts the election of Mr. Buchanan
as affording time and means to consolidate its strength and mature its plans,
which comprehend not only the enslavement of Kansas, and the recognition of
slavery in all territory of the United States, but the conversion of the lower half
of California into a slave State, the organization of a new slavery territory in the
Gadsden Purchase, the future annexation of Nicaragua and subjugation of Central
America, and the acquisition of Cuba; and, as the free States are not expected
to submit to all this, ultimate dismemberment of the Union, and the formation
of a great slaveholding confederacy, with foreign alliances with Brazil and
Russia. It may assume at first a moderate tone, to prevent the sudden aliena.
tion of its Northern allies; it may delay the development of its plot, as it did
under the Pierce administration; but the repeal of the Missouri Compromise Carſle
at last, and so will come upon the country inevitably the final acts of the dark
conspiracy. When that hour shall come, then will the honest Democrats of the
free States be driven into our ranks, and the men of the slave States who prefer
the republic of Washington, Adams and Jefferson—a republic of law, order and
liberty—to an oligarchy of slaveholders and slavery propagandists, governed by
Wise, Atchison, Soulé, and Walker, founded in fraud and violence and seeking
aggrandizement by the spoliation of nations, will bid Godspeed to the labors of
the Republican party to preserve liberty and the Union, one and inseparable,
perpetual and all powerful.
“WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 27, 1856.”
II.
Congress and the Slavery Question—Memorial for the Abolition of Slavery in the District of
Columbia–Democratic Attempts to avoid the Subject—The Whig Party's Decline and Fall
—Its last Platform—The American Party and its Objects—Laws against Naturalization of
Foreigners—History of the Dred Scott Case–Effect of the Dred Scott Decision on the Whig
Party—Platform of the American Party—Attempts at fusion of the Fremont and Fillmore
Forces—Speech of Hon. Kenneth Raynor—Joshua R. Giddings.
HE question of the abolition of slavery had been before the
| Senate and House of Representatives as far back as 1836.
Petitions and memorials had been presented resulting in .
protracted discussions. The following year a Vermont
Representative presented two petitions asking for the aboli-
tion of slavery in the District of Columbia. The excitement
was intense, and the friends of the memorials contrived to
have a decision held over till the following day. The decision was one that for
four years effectually killed all such petitions, for a resolution was passed that
all petitions praying for the abolition of slavery should be tabled. Coming along
to 1840, we find the House getting so tired of these tactics that they passed an
amendment to the Rules providing—“That no petition, memorial or resolution,
or other paper, praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia,
or any State or Territory, or the slave trade between the States or Territories
of the United States in which it now exists, shall be received by this House, or
entertained in any way whatever.”
The tide began to turn towards the close of 1844, when the amendment was
rescinded on motion of J. Quincy Adams. An ineffectual attempt was later
made to again put it in force, and in 1850 the efforts of the Abolitionists
culminated in a law abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, although in

(45)
46 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
the early part of the year both the House and the Senate had refused to re-
ceive two petitions presented by citizens of Pennsylvania and Delaware which
characterized slavery as contrary to Divine law; as out of harmony with
republican principles; that it was antagonistic to the good of the country at
large, and more particularly to the Union.
The career of the Whig party wound up with the nomination of Winfield
Scott for President in 1852. The principal plank in their platform was for a
tariff to be levied only on imports, and not to be raised by direct taxation, thus
protecting American industries. The Abolition party simply stood out for what .
their title implied : the abolition of slavery. They were also called Independent
Democrats. But the former is the name by which they were best known.
Neither party succeeded in beating the Democratic nominee, Franklin Pierce of
New Hampshire, who polled a popular vote in excess by nearly sixty thousand
of the combined vote given to the Whig and Abolition parties, and by an ex-
cess of 212 electoral votes.
The earliest existence of political parties in this country goes back to the
establishment of the Federal government, when the . Federalists and Democratic-
Republicans (or Democrats, as they were more briefly called) came into being.
The Federalists represented the native Americans, while the Democrats numbered
among their ranks the naturalized foreigners. . It was made up of natives Of
England, Ireland and Scotland. For years the bone of contention naturally W2,S
the laws relating to aliens. In 1790 a law was passed requiring only two years’
residence to entitle an alien to citizenship. Later on the time was extended to
five years. In 1798 the Federalists took advantage of the feeling against France
then running so high and had the requisite time extended to fourteen years. In
1802, under Jefferson’s Democratic administration, the time was reduced to five
years. The Democratic party consequently grew, and principally in New York
City, where so many foreigners landed, never getting any further. -
The Federalists roused themselves to a keen sense of the situation, for every
day saw them crowded out. Then was originated and organized the party later
known as “Know-Nothings.” Sometimes up and sometimes down it led a career
full of vicissitudes. It started in 1805 as the Native American party, but suffered
a heavy blow in its failure to elect its nominee for mayor of New York City in
1837. In 1844 it came to light again, and to some effect, for it elected its candi-
date for mayor. Success encouraged New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and they
wheeled into line. There were serious riots in Philadelphia, the opposing parties
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 47
being on the one hand the Democrats, in combination with the Irish and Roman
Catholic elements, and the new party’s adherents on the other. The Whigs felt
LEVI P. MORTON OF NEW YORK, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
AND PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE.
tempted to join issues with the Natives; but it only hurt them, for the vote was
split up and the regular Democrats slipped in. From 1845 onward the party lost
its hold, and a few years later almost entirely disappeared.

48 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
The agitation of the public mind in 1852 on the slavery question brought
forward the Nativists again, though in a different form. The Hon. A. H. H. Stuart
of Virginia in writing of them said: “The vital principle of the American party
is Americanism, developing itself in a deep-rooted attachment to our own country—
its Constitution, its union and its laws; to American men, and American measures,
and American interests; or, in other words, a fervent patriotism, which, rejecting
the transcendental philanthropy of Abolitionists, and that kindred batch of wild
enthusiasts who would seek to embroil us with foreign countries in righting the
wrongs of Ireland, or Hungary, or Cuba, would guard with vestal vigilance
American institutions and American interests against the baneful effects of
foreign influence.”
The party concealed its power and extent under the shield of a secret society
provided with meeting-rooms, signs, tokens, passwords, and grips. There were
several degrees in which to be initiated, and it was only . on reaching a higher
degree after the member had been weighed in the balance and not found wanting
that he was instructed in the real name and objects of the order which he had
joined. Members being interrogated as to the order answered, “I don’t know.”
” naturally
They became recognized as a party, and the name “Know-Nothing
suggested itself, and so they were dubbed. Its raison d’etre was the crusade
against the unrestricted immigration and the naturalization of the immigrants;
the rapidly spreading influence and power of the Roman Catholic Church; and
the liberal awarding of offices to naturalized foreigners. “Americans must rule
America,” was their keynote, and George Washington’s memorable order, “Put
none but Americans on guard to-night,” was adopted as their watchword. The
society grew and prospered. It became a factor whose silent influence was felt
in every election. There was no fuss, no noise. Machines were powerless, and .
for a time they held the balance of power.
In 1854, when the newly-organized Republican party came into existence,
there was a split in the Whig party, caused by the slavery question in connection
with the formation of Kansas and Nebraska, into Territories. Attempts being
made to make slavery illegal in the two Territories, it was resolved in the Senate
that : “It is the true intent and meaning (of the laws in force) not to legislate
slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the
people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in
their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.”
About this time occurred the celebrated Dred Scott case. Dred Scott was a
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 49
negro slave owned by a certain Dr. Emerson, a resident of the State of Illinois.
Emerson took him and his family to Missouri and there sold them to John F. A.
Sanford. Under an Act of Congress then in force, slavery was prohibited in the
Territory of upper Louisiana, which had been acquired from France, and out of
which the Territory of Missouri had been formed. Under this act Dred Scott
claimed his freedom, but in the Circuit Court of the United States for the district
of Missouri a decision was rendered against Scott, whereupon the case was car-
ried to the Supreme Court of the United States. So much was involved that
considerable excitement prevailed. After much elaborate and clever debate the
decision of the Court was that as the Constitution granted to Congress the power
“to make all needful rules and regulations concerning the territory and other
property belonging to the United States,” and that as the laws clearly and un-
ambiguously regarded slaves as the property of their owners, and guaranteed
protection to such owners in the retention and care of such property, it was the
Court’s opinion that the transfer of Dred Scott and his family to Missouri in no-
wise canceled Dr. Emerson’s right and title, nor his privileges as to disposing of
Scott and his family as he would of any other property.
These slavery discussions began to rupture the Whig party. Those bitterly
and fiercely opposed to slavery joined the ranks of the Republican party, while
those feeling either in favor of it or lukewarm on the subject joined the “Know-
Nothing ” party, who were not troubling themselves about slaves, the burning
question of naturalizing foreigners and the spread of the power of the Roman
Catholic Church alone occupying their attention. The heavy depletion in the
ranks of the Whig party caused it to lose its identity, and the opposing parties
were the Republicans, the Democrats, and the Nativists.
In 1855 the latter party showed their strength by electing the Governors and
Legislatures of New York, Connecticut, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
New Hampshire, and Rentucky. They were partly victorious in Texas and Mary-
land, and made a good showing in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia.
The Nativists got matters in train for a great struggle in 1856. Their plat-
form was formulated at a session held in Philadelphia early in the year. It was
as follows: -
1st. An humble acknowledgment to the Supreme Being for his protecting
care vouchsafed to our fathers in their successful Revolutionary struggle, and
hitherto manifested to us, their descendants, in the preservation of the liberties,
the mºvemence and the union of these States.
50 - THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
2d. The perpetuation of the Federal Union, as the palladium of our civil and
religious liberties and the only sure bulwark of American independence.
3d. Americans must rule America, and to this end native-born citizens should
be selected for all State, Federal, and municipal offices or government employ-
ment in preference to all others; nevertheless,
4th. Persons born of American parents residing temporarily abroad should be
entitled to all the rights of native-born citizens; but, -
5th. No person shall be selected for political station (whether of native or
foreign birth) who recognizes any allegiance or obligation of any description to
any foreign prince, potentate, or power, or who refuses to recognize the Federal
and State Constitutions (each within its sphere) as paramount to all other laws
as rules of political action.
6th. The unqualified recognition and maintenance of the reserved rights of
the several States, and the cultivation of harmony and fraternal good-will between
the citizens of the several States, and to this end, non-interference by Congress
with questions appertaining solely to the individual States, and non-intervention
by each State with the affairs of any other State.
7th. The recognition of the right of the native-born and naturalized citizens
of the United States, permanently residing in any Territory thereof, to frame
their constitution and laws, and to regulate their domestic and social affairs,
in their own mode, subject only to the provisions of the Federal Constitution,
with the privilege of admission into the Union whenever they have the requisite
population for one representative in Congress. Provided always, that none but
those who are citizens of the United States, under the Constitution and laws
thereof, and who have a fixed residence in any such Territory, ought to participate
in the formation of the Constitution, or in the enactment of laws for said Territory
or State.
8th. An enforcement of the principle that no State or Territory ought to
admit others than citizens of the United States to the right of suffrage or of
holding political office. - -
9th. A change in the laws of naturalization, making a continued residence of
twenty-one years, of all not hereinbefore provided for, an indispensable requisite
for citizenship hereafter, and excluding all paupers and persons convicted of crime
from entering this country; but no interference with the vested rights of foreigners.
10th. Opposition to any union between Church and State ; no interference with
religious faith or worship, and no test oaths for office.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 51
11th. Free and thorough investigation into any and all alleged abuses of
public functionaries, and a strict economy in public expenditures.
12th. The maintenance and enforcement of all laws constitutionally enacted,
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SENATOR WILLIAM M. EVARTS, NEW YORK.
until said laws shall be repealed, or shall be declared null and void by competent
judicial authority.
With this platform to stand on the party’s convention was held in February.
There were 227 delegates present, every State being represented except Georgia,

52 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
Maine, South Carolina and Vermont. Millard Fillmore was nominated for Presi-
dent and A. J. Donelson for Vice-President.
In May the Democratic Convention was held in Cincinnati. Their platform
contained several planks not touched at all by the Nativists; viz., that under the
Constitution the general government had no power to carry out internal improve-
ments; and that Congress had no power to charter national banks. The issues
raised by the American party were covered by these planks: that the tariff should
be scaled so as to cover only the necessary expenses of government and providing
for the payment of the national debt ; that a clear understanding should be had
as to the powers conferred on the Federal government by the Constitution; and
that the people of each State and Territory have the exclusive right to settle
the question of slavery for themselves. They boldly proclaimed their opposition
to the revived American party. James Buchanan was nominated for President
and John C. Breckinridge for Vice-President.
In June the new Republican party held their first convention, adopted a plat-
form, and named candidates, as already described. The Whig party held off until
September, when they met at Baltimore. There was practically nothing new for
them to stand on, so they adopted the Nativist platform in its entirety and gave
to it and Fillmore what was left of their influence. In November the different
parties met at the polls. The Democrats were victorious. The Whigs, as a party,
now disappeared from national politics. The American party struggled along until
the next campaign, when their support was so slender they lost all desire and am-
bition to keep up the fight and gave up the ghost. -
An effort was made to secure a fusion between the Fremont and Fillmore
forces in 1856. The relations of the parties at the time are well indicated by the
following speech of Hon. Kenneth Raynor of North Carolina, on the first of
November of that year :
“My brother Americans, do you intend to let these mischief-makers put you
and me together by the ears P [Many voices; ‘no, no.’] Then let us beat
James Buchanan for the Presidency. [“We will—we will,’ and great applause.]
He is the representative of slavery agitation; he is the representative of dis-
cord between sections; he is the man whom Northern and Southern agitators
have agreed to present as their candidate. If he be elected now, and the diffi-
culties in Kansas be healed, at the end of four years they will spring upon you
another question of slavery agitation. It will be the taking of Cuba from
Spain, or cutting off another slice from Mexico for the purpose of embroiling the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 53
North against the South ; and then, if I shall resist that agitation, I shall be
called an Abolitionist, again.
“My countrymen, God forbid that I should attempt to dictate to you or
even advise you. I am not competent to do so. I know that divisions exist
among you, while I feel also confident that the same purpose animates all your
hearts. Do not suppose for one moment that I am the representative of any
clique or faction.
“ Unfortunately, I find that our friends here are in the same condition in
which the Jews were, when besieged by the Roman general, Titus. While the
battering-rams of the Romans were beating down their walls, and the firebrand
of the heathen was consuming their temple, the historian tells us that that
great people were engaged in intestine commotions, some advocating the claims
of one, and some of another, to the high priesthood of that nation; and instead
of the Romans devouring them, they devoured each other. God forbid that my
brother Americans should devour each other, at a time when every heart and
every hand should be enlisted in the same cause, of overthrowing the common
enemy of us all.
“Who is that common enemy P [Voices, ‘The Democratic party,’le Yes,
that party have reviled us, abused us, persecuted us, and all only because we
are determined to adhere to the Constitution of our country. Give Buchanan a
lease of power for four years, and we must toil through persecution, submit to
degradation, or cause the streets of our cities to run blood. But we will sub-
mit to degradation provided we can see the end of our troubles. We are will-
ing to go through a pilgrimage, not only of four years, but of ten, or twenty,
or forty years, provided we can have an assurance that at last we shall reach
the top of Pisgah, and see the promised land which our children are to inherit.
God has not given to us poor frail mortals the power, at all times, of control-
ling events. When we cannot control events, should we not, where no sacrifice
of honor is involved, pursue the policy of Lysander, and where the lion’s skin is
too short, eke it out with the fox's [applause]—not where principle is involved—
not where a surrender of our devotion to our country is at stake. No ; never,
never !
“I know nothing of your straight-out ticket ; I know nothing of your
Union ticket ; I know nothing of Fremont. I do know something of Fillmore;
but I would not give my Americanism, and the hopes which I cherish of seeing
54 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEA DERS.
Americanism installed as the policy of this nation, for all the Fillmores, or
Fremonts, or Buchanans, that ever lived on the face of the earth.
“ St. Paul says: “If it offends my brother, I will eat no meat ; ” and if it
offends my brother here, I will not open my mouth. Nobody can suspect me.
[Voices: “ certainly not.’] Then I say, can’t you combine the vote of this State,
and beat Buchanan P [This question was responded to in the affirmative, with
the greatest enthusiasm. Repeated cheers were proposed for the straight ticket,
but the responding voices were by no means numerous, and were mingled with
hisses. Such was the excitement, that for some minutes the speaker was obliged
to pause. He finally raised his voice above the subsiding storm, and said:—
“Come, my friends, we are all brothers; we are all seeking the same end. Our
object is the same. We are all struggling to reach the same haven of safety.
The only difference of opinion is as to the proper means by which to accomplish
our common end. Will not Americans learn prudence from the past? Misfortune
should have taught us charity for each other. We have passed through the ordeal
of persecution together; we have been subjected to the same difficulties, and the
same oppression; we have been baptized (I may say) in the same stream of ca-
lumny. Then, in the name of God—in the name of our common country—in the
Ila, Iſle 9t Americanism—in the name of American nationality—in the name of re-
ligious freedom—in the name of the Union, I beseech you to learn charity for the
difference of opinion which prevails among you. Let brethren forbear with
brethren. Let us recollect that it is not by vituperation, by the censure of our
brethren, that we can ever accomplish this great end of conquering a common
enemy. My friends, how long are we to suffer P. How long will it be before we
shall learn that it is only by a union of counsels, a concentration of energy, a com-
bination of purpose, that we can destroy the common enemy of every conservative
man. [Great applause.] -
“I shall not attempt to advise you, for I am not competent to do it. You have
information which I do not possess. You know all the undercurrents of opinion
which prevail here in your community, with which I am - unacquainted; but will
you allow an humble man to express his opinion to brethren whom he loves
May I do it I am a Fillmore man—nothing but a Fillmore man, and if I re-
sided here, I would vote no ticket which had not the name of Millard Fillmore at
its head, and I would advise no Fillmore man to vote a ticket with Fremont’s
name on it ; but I would vote for that ticket which would make my voice tell at
the polls.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADE/PS. 55
“Now let us look at this thing practically. In reading history I have always
admired the character of Oliver Cromwell. What was the great motive by which
he was actuated in overthrowing the house of Stuart P. It was unfailing devotion
SENATOR FRANK HISCOCK, NEW YORK.
to principle. His motto was, “Put your trust in God, and keep your powder
dry.” I admire the devotion to principle in every man who says that he does not
intend to vote any but the straight ticket, for it shows that Americanism has

56 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
such a lodgment in his heart that he cannot bear even seemingly to compromise
it. That is ‘putting your trust in God”; but, my friends, is it ‘keeping your
powder dry ' ' The enemy may steal into the camp while you are asleep, and
may pour water upon your cartridges, so that when the day of battle shall come,
you may shoot, but you will kill nobody. I want the vote of every American,
on Tuesday next, to tell. Would to God that you could give the twenty-seven
electoral votes of Pennsylvania to Fillmore. Then vote the straight ticket, if that
will give him the twenty-seven votes. But suppose it will not (and I am afraid
it will not), then the question is, had you better give Buchanan the twenty-seven
votes, or give Fillmore eight, ten, twelve, or twenty, as the case may be. I go
for beating Buchanan. 3.
“Gentlemen, you do not know what we Americans suffer at the South. I am
abused and reviled for standing up in defense of you. When I hear the whole
North denounced as a set of Abolitionists, whose purpose it is to interfere with
the peculiar institutions of the South, I brand such charges as slanders on the
Northern people. I tell them that the great mass of the Northern people are
sound on this question; that they are opposed to slavery, as I should be if I were
a Northern man; but that I do not believe that the great mass of the Northern
people have any idea of interfering with the constitutional rights of the people of
the South. I know that such men as Garrison and Forney have. I know that
Garrison believes the Constitution to be a “ league with hell,” and would there-
fore destroy it if he could ; and I know that Forney loves office so well, that
even at the risk of snapping the Union, he will keep alive slavery agita-
tion. But Garrison does not represent New England, and Forney does not
represent you.
“As much as I have been reviled for standing by you, I am so anxious to have
Buchanan beaten, that were I residing here, if I could not give Fillmore the whole.
twenty-seven votes, I would give him all I could, by giving him the number to
which he might be entitled by the numerical proportion of the votes at the ballot-
box. Yet, if there is a brother American here who feels in his ‘heart of hearts,’
that by voting that Union ticket he would compromise his Americanism, I say
to such an one, * do not vote that ticket.” At the same time, candor compels
me to say, that I differ in opinion with him. If I believed that that ticket was
a fusion, or that it called upon any Fillmore man to vote for Fremont, I would
advise no one to vote it. I would not vote a ticket that had on it the name of
Fremont ; but I would vote a ticket with Fillmore’s name upon it, and which
º
TEHE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 57
would give him (if not the twenty-seven electoral votes) seven, or ten, or twenty,
just as the numerical proportion of the votes might decide.
“I appeal to every conservative, Union-loving man in this nation, who is dis-
posed to give to the South all the constitutional privileges to which she is
entitled, and who wishes to rebuke the Democratic party for the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise, and for keeping up the eternal agitation of slavery. I
appeal to you as a Southern man—as a slaveholder. I do not ask you to be pro-
slavery men, to be the advocates of slavery, when I say to you that we, your
brethren of the South, expect you to preserve our constitutional rights—and, God -
knows, we ask nothing more—against fanatics, either north or south. Will
you do it 2 -
“My friends, the election is fast approaching. There is but little time for
deliberation left. Is there no way by which the votes of the anti-Buchanan
party can be concentrated on the same ticket P I would shed tears of blood—
God knows I would—if I could be instrumental in prevailing on all true Americans
to combine. I cannot tell you how to combine; but is it, yet too late 2 If it is
too late to do it throughout the State, cannot you in Philadelphia do it? The
Presidential election may depend upon the State of Pennsylvania, and the State
of Pennsylvania may depend upon the city of Philadelphia. On the vote of the
city of Philadelphia may depend not only our own rights, but the rights of our
children and our children's children. I appeal to my brother Americans, for I
have no right to appeal to anybody else ; I cannot address the Fremont party,
for I have no affiliation with them; I cannot address the Buchanan party, for my
object is to destroy them, if possible. To my American brethren, then, I appeal,
for God’s sake, do not let the sun rise upon that wrath, which I see divides you.
Your object is the same—to rescue your common country. .
“Let me advise you who know nothing of your divisions—who belong neither
to one clique or the other. I say with the deepest sincerity that I think all par-
ties ought to have concentrated upon the Fillmore ticket. Mr. Fillmore is a
Northern man. Your Southern brethren were willing to support him. He had
guided the ship of state safely through the storm, and it was but reasonable to
suppose that in time of difficulty he would again be found the same good pilot.
But if we cannot get all others to unite on Mr. Fillmore, each of us must inquire,
* What is my duty P If the mountain will not come to Mahomet, shall not
Mahomet go to the mountain; and if he will not go to the mountain, in heaven’s
name, shall he not go half way P’
58 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
“I am fighting for the victory which we may obtain in this contest. And what
an issue is now pending ! We read in the Iliad how, for ten long years, a great
people of antiquity were engaged in the siege of Troy. What was the stake for
which they contended ? It was nothing more than a beautiful woman, who had
been ravished by a sprig of the royal line of Troy. What is the stake for which
we contend ? It is constitutional liberty—the right of the American people to
govern their own country—the right of every citizen to worship God according
to the dictates of his conscience. The great issue is, whether the American flag
shall still wave in glory when we shall have gone to our graves, or whether it
shall be trailed in dishonor—whether the ‘blackness of darkness,” which would
follow the dissolution of this Union, shall cover the land.
“I do not tell you how to combine: but I urge you to resort to that mode
(if there is such a mode possible), by which you can get together—by which
your votes can be made effectual at the polls—by which Millard Fillmore can
go before the House of Representatives with the strong moral power which a
large electoral vote will give him.
- “That is the way in which we must view the question as practical men. Yet
so different are the conditions of our nature, so different the sentiments which
actuate us, that I will not be guilty of such presumption as to tell any man what
particular course he should take. You know my opinions; if they are worth any-
thing, receive them into your hearts, simply as the sentiments of a brother
American ; if they are worth nothing, let them pass as the idle wind.
“In conclusion I will only say that whether we be defeated or whether we
be victorious, the only reward I ask for in the labor in which I am engaged is,
that you may recollect me as one who had at heart only the welfare of his
country, and who endeavored to promote it by appealing to the associations of
the past, and all the hopes of the future.” -
Mr. Raynor was a strong believer in the right of free speech, which was not
in accord with the views of many of his fellow members of Congress from the
Southern States. The recently published biography of Joshua R. Giddings, one
of the earliest advocates in Congress and out of it of the abolition of slavery,
shows how free speech was abridged in that body, and how on several occasions
there was a close approach to bloodshed. The author of the biography gives the
following account of a scene in the House in 1845 when Giddings was making 3,
speech bearing on the question of the restriction and abolition of slavery :—
“Giddings continued his remarks, when Mr. Dawson of Louisiana, who had
THE REPUB L 10AN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 59
assaulted him on a previous occasion, came across the hall within a few yards
of him, and placing his hand in his pocket, said, ‘I’ll shoot him, by God I’ll
shoot him,” at the same time taking care to cock his pistol so as to have the click
SENATOR LELAND STANFORD, CALIFORNIA.
heard by those around him. Mr. Causin, a Whig from Maryland, instantly took
his position in front of Giddings and directly between him and Dawson, folding
his arms across his breast, with his right hand apparently resting upon the handle
of his weapon, while Mr. Slidell of Louisiana, and Mr. Stiles of Georgia, with two

60 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
other Democratic members, at the same moment took their positions near Dawson.
At the same time Kenneth Raynor, a North Carolina. Whig, fully armed, took
his place on the left of Giddings, while Mr. Hudson of Massachusetts placed
himself on his right, and Mr. Foot of Vermont at the entrance of the aisle.
With armed foes in front and friends on either hand Giddings continued his
remarks; but the slaveholders in front began to realize the awkwardness of
their position and quietly returned to their seats except Dawson, who remained
until Giddings closed his speech, with Causin firmly facing him. Giddings in his
‘History of the Rebellion ’ says that this was the last effort made to silence a
member of the House by threats of personal violence during his service in
Congress.”
III.
Events following the Campaign of 1856—Republican Losses in the State Votes in 1857—The Causes
thereof—Dissolution of the American Party—Republican Gains in 1858–Causes which led
to the War—Aggressive Action of the Slave Power—President’ Buchanan's Position—The
Struggle in Kansas and Nebraska—The Lecompton Constitution—Laws passed by the Terri-
torial Legislature of New Mexico—Debates in the United States Senate and Position of the.
Parties—Abraham Lincoln and W. H. Seward—“The Impending Crisis”—Action of the
Charleston, Baltimore, and Richmond Conventions—The Constitutional Union Party.
the campaign of 1856, and they settled down to the work of
building themselves up throughout the country; but the State
elections of the following year were a sore blow to their hopes.
tººl A startling diminution in their majorities faced them all along
the line. They carried the New England States as before, but the majorities
were cut in half. In Ohio their candidate Chase was re-elected, but by a
majority of 1481 against Fremont's 16,623. Randall was elected in Wiscon-
sin. by less than 120, while the vote on the Presidential, ticket the year before
gave a majority of 13,247. In New York State the loss was more disas-
trous still, Fremont’s plurality of eighty thousand changing to a Democratic
plurality of eighteen thousand. This particular loss was largely owing to the
breaking up of the American party, which was strong in New York State. They
dropped into the Democratic ranks, and gave that party a considerable augmenta-
tion in ſts numbers and influence. -
The reason for the heavy general and enthusiastic vote given to the party
the previous year in the Presidential contest lay in the fact of Fremont's personal
influence and popularity. His adventurous career, his comparative youth, and
his manly courage in facing calmly and dispassionately the storm of vituperation
' and all the indecent and personal abuse born of an election fight, won him the
º º (61)

62 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
regard and admiration of the more youthful element of the country. An assault
committed upon Senator Sumner, a Republican, by Senator Brooks, a Democrat,
also won much sympathy for the new party. In the following year these favoring
elements had disappeared, hence the loss of votes. But quite unexpectedly President
Buchanan made a bad political break which helped the Republican party as
perhaps nothing else could have done. Although the Democrats in 1856 plainly
and distinctly stated their belief that Congress had no power to interfere with
slavery in the States and Territories, the people of which have the exclusive
right and power to settle that question for themselves, the government attempted
to force upon Kansas the Lecompton Constitution, which provided that “the
rights of property in slaves now in the Territory shall in no manner be interfered
with.” The immediate result of this repudiation of their own platform was seen
in the elections of 1858. The Republicans maintained their hold with increased
majorities on every State they had carried the previous year. Pennsylvania gave
them a majority of 26,000 for the first time; they won New Jersey and Minnesota,
and Ohio went 20,000 against the 16,623 that were won by Fremont’s popularity.
In Illinois Douglas and Lincoln ran for Senator. Douglas occupied a peculiar
position. He had become an Anti-Lecompton Democrat. He favored the govern-
ment, but not in this particular matter. Although it was understood that his re-
election was distasteful to Buchanan, he was re-elected by the vote of 54 of the
101 members of the Legislature. The contest brought forth many very decided
speeches regarding the slave question. Abraham Lincoln at Springfield, Ill., said:
“If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could
better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year
since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of put- e
ting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agita-
tion has not only not ceased but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will
not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. ‘A house divided
against, itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot permanently en-
dure half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do
not expect the house to fall—but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It
will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will
arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in
the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction ; or its advocates will
push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as
new—North as well as South.” Referring to the so-called popular sovereignty
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. - 63
professions of the government, and speaking of the necessity of endorsing the
ideas expressed in the Nebraska-Kansas bill, he said: “This necessity has been
provided for in the notable argument of squatter sovereignty,” otherwise called
SENATOR HENRY M. TELLER, COLORADO.
“sacred right of self-government ’; which latter phrase, though expressive of
the only rightful basis of any government, was so perverted, in this attempted
use of it, as to amount to just this: that, if any one man choose to enslave
another, no third man shall be allowed to object.”

64 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
*
A few months later Gov. Seward at Rochester, N. Y., said: “These antago-
nistic systems are continually coming into closer contact, and collision results.
Shall I tell you what this collision means ? They who think that it is accidental,
unnecessary, the work of interested or fanatical agitators, and, therefore, ephemeral,
mistake the case altogether. It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and
enduring forces; and it means that the United States must and will, sooner or
later, become either entirely a slave holding nation or entirely a free labor nation.
Either the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina and the sugar plantations of
Louisiana will ultimately be tilled by free labor, and Charleston and New Orleans
become marts for legitimate merchandise alone, or else the rye fields and wheat
fields of Massachusetts and New York must again be surrendered by their farmers
to slave culture and to the production of slaves, and Boston and New York become
once more markets for trade in the bodies and souls of men. It is the failure to
apprehend this great truth that induces so many unsuccessful attempts at final
compromise between the slave and free States; and it is the existence of this
great fact that renders all such pretended compromises, when made, vain and
ephemeral.” - -
Matters went along much in this way during 1859. New Mexico, though not by
any means a slave Territory, urged by Federal officers, who in turn were worked by
Washington influence, came out strongly on the slavery side. Although but little
work was done or could be done by negroes in New Mexico, its healthy climate
and plentiful supply "of food made it a good breeding farm for slave owners. The
following sections from the Act passed by the Territorial Legislature are quoted
as being indicative of just how far the slavery party wished to go.
“SEC. 10. Any person may lawfully take up or apprehend any slave who shall
have run away or be absenting himself from the custody or service of his master
or owner, and may lawfully use or employ such force as may be necessary to take
up or apprehend such slave; and such person, upon the delivery of such slave to
his master or owner, or at such place as his master or owner may designate,
shall be entitled to demand or recover by suit any reward which may have been
offered for the apprehension or delivery of such slave, and, if no reward have
been offered, then such person so apprehending such slave shall, upon the delivery
of such slave to his master or owner, or to the sheriff of the county in which
such slave was apprehended, be entitled to demand and recover from such owner
or master the sum of twenty dollars besides ten cents for each mile of travel to
and from the place where such apprehension was made.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 65
“SEC. 11. If any sheriff of any county within this Territory shall fail or refuse
to receive with proper care any runaway slave so offered to him for safe-keeping,
by such person apprehending the same, or his agent, such sheriff shall, upon
conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not less than five hundred dollars to the
use of the Territory, shall further be liable to the owner of such slave for his
value, recoverable by civil suit, and shall be ineligible for re-election to the said
Office.
“SEC. 20. Any slave who shall conduct himself disorderly in a public place,
or shall give insolent language or signs to any free white person, may be
arrested and taken by such person before a justice of the peace, who, upon trial
and conviction in a summary manner, shall cause his constable to give such slave
any number of stripes upon his or her bare back, not exceeding thirty-nine.
“SEC. 21. When any slave shall be convicted of any crime or misdemeanor
for which the penalty assigned by law is in whole or in part the fine of a sum
of money, the court passing sentence on him may in its discretion substitute for
such fine corporal punishment or branding or stripes.
“SEC. 26. No slave shall be permitted to go from the premises of his
owner or master after sunset and before sunrise without a written pass specify-
ing the particular place or places to which such slave is permitted to go, and
any white person is authorized to take any slave, who upon demand shall not
exhibit such pass, before any justice of the peace, who, upon summary, investiga-
tion, shall cause such slave to be whipped with not more than thirty-nine stripes
upon his or her bare back, and to be' committed to the jail or custody of a
proper officer, to be released the next day on demand and payment of costs by
the owner or master.
Punishments were provided for in the following section :
“SEC. .4. No court of this Territory shall have jurisdiction nor shall take
cognizance of any cause for the correction that masters may give their servants
for neglect of their duty as servants, for they are considered as domestic
servants to their masters, and they should correct their neglect and faults as
soldiers are punished by their chiefs, without the intervention of the civil author-
ity by reason of the salary they enjoy ; an equal right should be granted those
persons who pay their money to be served in the protection of their property :
provided that such punishment shall not be inflicted in a cruel manner with clubs
or stripes.” - • ‘ # - -
And now we come to those events that led directly to the great civil war
5
66 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
which shook the country. On December 5, 1859, the Thirty-sixth Congress
assembled at Washington. The Senate possessed a Democratic majority, but the
Republicans had a strong vote in the House. Their numbers had slowly increased.
The first business done was the election of Speaker. There were several candi-
dates, but the interest centered on the Democratic and Republican candidates.
The former, with the exception of some thirteen malcontents, threw all their . .
weight to Thomas S. Bocock of Virginia. The Republicans divided their strength
between John Sherman of Ohio and Galusha A. Grow of Pennsylvania. The
Americans and Anti-Lecompton Democrats also had their candidates, but their
supporters were few. When the ballot was declared the vote stood : for Bocock
86 ; for Sherman 66, and for Grow 43. The horizon looked dark for the Demo-
crats, when Burnett of Kentucky moved that the House adjourn till the following
day. The motion was lost by 130 to 100. The clouds grew darker when Clark
of Missouri jumped into the breach amid a storm of objections and interruptions
with this resolution:
“Whereas, Certain members of this House now in nomination for Speaker
did endorse and recommend the book hereinafter mentioned:
“Resolved, That the doctrines and sentiments of a certain book called ‘The
Impending Crisis of the South—How to Meet it,” purporting to have been written
by one Hinton R. Helper, are insurrectionary and hostile to the domestic peace
and tranquillity of the country, and that no member of this House who has
endorsed and recommended it, or the compend from it, is fit to be Speaker of
this House.”
The book referred to had been written by a young North Carolinian who had
gone to California and experienced “a change of heart.” Having been through
the Northern States and mingled with Northerners his views as to slavery,
bred in the bone, had materially changed. He developed into a strong anti-
slavery advocate. His book was an earnest appeal to the lower class whites of
the South on behalf of the negro slaves. The Republicans heartily endorsed and
recommended it, a large number of their Representatives in the preceding Congress
having gone so far as to personally endorse Helper’s circular advertising his
book. Many of these were among the voters for Speaker.
Clark felt he had a useful weapon in his hands, and he used it freely. He
enlarged upon the contents of the book, contorted its expressions and magnified
sparks into flames. The Republicans bowed to the storm. They claimed that
they were, when they endorsed the objectionable book, ignorant of its contents,
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 67
and they repudiated their endorsement. Clark’s point was won. The House
adjourned without a second ballot. Next morning Clark held the attention of the
House. He repeated his tactics of the previous day. Again he enlarged upon
the insurrectionary spirit of Helper's book. He was followed by Gilmer of North
SENATOR EDWARD O. WOLCOTT, COLORADO.
Carolina. A substitute to the resolution was moved by him condemning all
attempts at renewed slavery agitation. Washburne of Illinois moved to table
the entire matter. His motion was lost by a tie vote.
On the third day of the session a second ballot was held, when the vote stood :

68 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADER.S.
Sherman 107; Bocock 88; Gilmer 22; scattering 14. The Helper discussion was
continued, interspersed with ballots; Sherman getting 112 votes at one time, lack-
ing only four of the necessary 116. And so it went on for eight weeks, when he
retired from the race. Pennington of New Jersey took his place, and Smith of the
American or Nativist party, a strong slavery man, took Bocock’s place. A ballot,
was had—the fortieth—and the rivals stood: Pennington 115; Smith 113; with six
scattering votes. On the forty-fourth ballot Smith was withdrawn and the Demo-
crats put up J. A. McClernand. On the ballot Pennington got 117 votes and
McClernand 85, the other 31 going to Gilmer and others. As Pennington needed
but one more vote, Davis of Maryland, an American, threw his ballot for him and
the Republicans were at last victorious.
, Slavery agitation was also going on in the Senate, Mason of Virginia starting
a discussion of the John Brown affair at Harper’s Ferry. Jefferson Davis sub-
mitted a set of resolutions which kept debate lively during the entire session.
One of the series, number 4, was the groundwork of all the others. It was as
follows: - -
“Resolved, That neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature, whether by
direct legislation or legislation of an indirect and unfriendly nature, possesses the
power to annul or impair the constitutional right of any citizen of the United
States to take his slave property into the common Territories, but it is the duty
of the Federal government there to afford for that as for other species of prop-
erty the needful protection; and if experience should at any time prove that the
judiciary does not possess power to insure adequate protection it will then become
the duty of Congress to supply such deficiency.”
This was afterwards modified so as to read:
“Resolved, That neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature, whether by
direct legislation or legislation of an indirect and unfriendly character, possesses
power to annul or impair the constitutional right of any citizen of the United
States to take his slave property into the common Territories, and there hold and
enjoy the same while the Territorial condition remains.”
The entire series was the production of a Democratic caucus, and was
designed as a death blow at those who nominally were Democrats, but really
were inimical to their party by reason of their opposition to the Lecompton
Constitution. Douglas of Illinois was the bull’s-eye of the target. The first of
the Series was: s - -
“1. Resolved,. That in the adoption of the Federal Constitution the States
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 69
adopting the same acted severally as free and independent sovereignties, dele-
gating a portion of their powers to be exerciséd by the Federal government for
the increased security of each against dangers, domestic as well as foreign, and
that any intermeddling by one or more States, or by a combination of their citizens,
with the domestic institutions of the others on any pretext whatever, political,
moral, or religious, with a view to their disturbance or subversion, is in violation
of the Constitution, insulting to the States so interfered with, endangers their
domestic peace and tranquillity—objects for which the Constitution was formed—
and by necessary consequence tends to weaken and destroy the Union itself.”
The resolution was carried by 36 to 19. The second of the series was :
“2. Resolved, That negro slavery, as it exists in fifteen States of this
Union, composes an important portion of their domestic institutions inherited
from their ancestors and existing at the adoption of the Constitution, by which
it is recognized as constituting an important element in the apportionment of
powers among the States, and that no change of opinion or feeling on the part
of the non-slaveholding States of the Union in relation to this institution can
justify them or their citizens in open or covert attacks thereon with a view to its
overthrow ; and that all such attacks are in manifest violation of the mutual and
solemn pledge to protect and defend each other given by the States respectively,
on entering into the constitutional compact which formed the Union, and are a
manifest breach of faith and a violation of the most solemn obligations.”
The vote was the same as on number 1, excepting that the Republicans added
one to their 19, Trumbull of Illinois having taken his seat after the first vote.
Harlan of Iowa, moved an addition to the resolution which was rejected by 36 to
20. It was as follows: -
“But the free discussion of the morality and expediency of slavery should
never be interfered with by the laws of any State or of the United States, and
the freedom of speech and of the press on this and every other subject of domestic
or national policy should be maintained inviolate in all the States.”
Then followed the adoption by 36 to 18 of number 3, which was: -
“3. Resolved, That the union of these States rests on the equality of rights
and privileges among its members; and that it is especially the duty of the Senate
which represents the States in their sovereign capacity to resist all attempts to
discriminate either in relation to persons or property in the Territories, which are
the common possessions of the United States, so as to give advantages to the
citizens of one State which are not equally assured to those of every other State.”
3.
70 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
Then came the principal resolution of the set, a resolution directly in variance
with the Democrats previous promises, an utter and absolute repudiation of that
plank in their platform which guaranteed complete liberty to every State and
Territory in the matter of slavery. It was passed by 35 to 21, every Democratic
Senator present but Pugh of Ohio voting for it. As modified it is as follows:
“4. Resolved, That neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature, whether
by direct legislation or legislation of an indirect and unfriendly character, pos-
sesses power to annul or impair the constitutional right of any citizen of the
United States to take his slave property into the common Territories and there
hold and enjoy the same while the territorial condition remains.”
Jefferson Davis and his caucus branded the entire body as unfaithful to the
Constitution. - -
On April 23, 1860, the Democratic National Convention assembled at Charles-
ton, S. C. Storm clouds had been drifting across the horizon for some time past.
New York State had chosen two separate delegations, one being chosen at
Syracuse and another by districts. One favored Douglas of Illinois for President
as being opposed to the general slave principles of the Democratic party. The
other opposed him just on these grounds, being desirous of conciliating the
Southerners. Illinois adopted a similar proceeding. At Charleston the contests
were decided in favor of the regularly chosen delegates. On the fifth day of
the convention a majority of the Committee on Platform reported; the following
resolution being the central and most important plank:
“Resolved, That the platform adopted at Cincinnati be affirmed, with the
following resolutions: . . - .
“That the National Democracy of the United States hold these cardinal
principles on the subject of slavery in the Territories: First, that Congress has
no power to abolish slavery in the Territories; Second, that the Territorial Legis-
lature has no power to abolish slavery in the Territories nor to prohibit the intro-
duction of slaves therein, nor any power to destroy or impair the right of prop-
erty in slaves by any legislation whatever.” - •
Henry B. Payne of Ohio, for the minority, submitted a platform differing
materially on the slavery questions, the main points of which were, that the gov-
ernment of a Territory organized by an Act of Congress is provisional and tem-
porary, and during its existence all citizens of the United States have an equal
right to settle with their property in the Territory without their rights, either
of person or of property, being impaired by Congressional or Territorial legisla-
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 71
tion; that it is the duty of the Federal government to protect the rights of per-
sons and property in the Territories; that, when a Territory gains the requisite
population entitling it to Statehood it should be admitted into the Federal Union
whether it prohibits or recognizes slavery ; and that the enactments of State Leg-
SENATOR ORVILLE H. PLATT, CONNECTICUT.
islatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law are hostile,
unconstitutional, and revolutionary.
Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts desired the Convention to leave all
this matter alone and to simply re-affirm the Cincinnati platform. McAvery,

72 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
speaking for the slave States, stated their position and opinions very plainly and
explicitly. He demanded a bold, square stand. He wanted no doubtful or shaky
platform. He argued that the proposition of the minority to leave all disputes
to the Supreme Court, and to submit to its decision, as unnecessary, because all
law-abiding States would submit to such decision in any case. He claimed that
it was not a judicial question at all. The debate was continued until the 30th,
when a vote was taken on Butler’s motion. It was defeated by 198 to 105. The
minority report was then taken up, and, with some slight modifications, was
adopted by 165 to 138. And then began the protests. The Alabama delegates,
as instructed by their State, withdrew from the Convention. Then the entire
Mississippi delegation withdrew. All the Louisiana delegates except two followed
them, and next in order were the thirteen from South Carolina, followed by the
five Florida delegates. Then came Texas; then three of the Arkansas men, the
remainder hesitating because they deemed the stability of the Union in danger
from these withdrawals. The last secession of the day was that of two of the
Georgia delegation. Next morning another twenty-four withdrew, followed by the
remainder of the Arkansas delegation. Then the two remaining Louisiana dele-
gates joined the seceders. The withdrawals being completed, a ballot was had
for Tresident, and nine names were submitted. The vote being taken, Stephen
A. Douglas of Illinois headed the list with 1453 votes. On the second ballot he
gained 1+, and steadily gained until the thirty-sixth, when he lost one. He
reached the winning vote on the fifty-seventh ballot. The Convention adjourned
on May 3d to re-assemble at Baltimore on June 18th, with a recommendation to
the withdrawing States to have their delegates' places filled by that day.
The seceders assembled at St. Andrew's Hall, with Bayard of Delaware in
the chair, and adopted the majority report which had been rejected by the
regular Convention. They adjourned to meet at Richmond on the second Monday
in June.
On June 18 the Convention reassembled at Baltimore as arranged. Exam-
ining the credentials of delegates from some of the Southern States resulted in
gains for Douglas, whereupon Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland,
California, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri withdrew, some few of the delegates
still remaining. Gen. Cushing resigned as chairman, and Gen. Butler announced
the determination of a majority of the Massachusetts delegates to withdraw. The
vote for President was proceeded with, and Stephen A. Douglas was, as before,
chosen as Democratic nominee. Fitzpatrick of Alabama was selected for Vice-
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 73
President ; but two days later he declined, and Johnson of Georgia was selected-
in his place. Then a resolution was added to the platform embodying the scheme
of submitting the Territorial slave question to the Supreme Court.
The seceder’s Convention was, as arranged, held at Richmond on June 11,
adjourning to Baltimore, and finally meeting there on June 28. Avery’s plat-
form was unanimously adopted, and John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky was nomi-
nated for President, with Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice-President.
The American party, now called the Constitutional Union, met at Baltimore
on May 19. They nominated John Bell of Tennessee and Edward Everett of
Massachusetts for President and Vice-President. Their platform was made up
of a single plank: “The faithful observance of the . Constitution as framed.”
IV.
Republican Convention of 1860—Its Meeting at Chicago–The Platform—Its Position relative to
Protection to American Industry—Declarations regarding Slavery in the Territories—The
Ransas-Nebraska Bill—Naturalization of Foreigners—River and Harbor Improvements—
Balloting and its Results—Abraham Lincoln chosen Candidate for the Presidency—Hanni-
bal Hamlin for Vice-President—Biographical Sketches of the Candidates.
HE Republican Convention met at Chicago on May 16.
The free States were well. represented and some of
the slave States. Their platform was ready in two
days, and was immediately and unanimously adopted.
It was as follows:
** 1. That the history of the nation during the last,
four years has fully established the propriety and neces-
sity of the organization and perpetuation of the Republi-
can party; and that the causes which called it into
existence are permanent in their nature and now more than ever before demand
its peaceable and constitutional triumph. -
“2. That the maintenance of the principle promulgated in the Declaration
of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution, ‘That all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to
secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed,’ is essential to the preservation of
our republican institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the Rights of the
States, and the Union of the States must and shall be preserved. -
** 3. That to the union of the States this nation owes its unprecedented
increase in population, its surprising development of material resources, its rapid
(74)

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 75
augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home and its honor abroad; and we
hold in abhorrence all schemes for its disunion, come from whatever source they
may. And we congratulate the country that no Republican member of Congress
has uttered or countenanced the threats of disunion so often made by Democratic
SENATOR JOSEPH R. HAWLEY, CONNECTICUT.
members without rebuke and with applause from their political associates. And
We denounce those threats of disunion, in case of a popular overthrow of their
ascendency, as denying the vital principles of a free government and as an avowal
of contemplated 'treason which it is the imperative duty of an indignant people
Sternly to rebuke and forever silence.

76 THE REPUBLICAN - PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and espe-
cially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions,
according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power
on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends; and we
denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Terri-
tory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. -
“5. That the present Democratic administration has far exceeded our worst
apprehensions in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a sectional in-
terest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Le-
compton Constitution upon the protesting people of Kansas; in construing the
personal relation between master and servant to involve an unqualified property
in persons; in its attempted enforcement everywhere on land and sea, through
the intervention of Congress and of the Federal courts, of the extreme preten-
sions of a purely local interest, and its general and unvarying abuse of the power
intrusted to it by a confiding people. -
“6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extravagance which
pervades every department of the Federal government ; that a return to rigid
economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of
the public treasury by favored partisans; while the recent startling developments
of frauds and corruptions at the Federal metropolis show that an entire change
of administration is imperatively demanded.
** 7. That the new dogma that the Constitution of its own force carries
slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States is a dangerous
political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself,
with contemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent ; is
revolutionary in its tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony of the
country. .. - - - - • *
“8. That the normal condition of all the Territories of the United States
is that of freedom. That, as our republican fathers, when they had abolished
slavery in all our national territory, ordained that ‘ no person should be deprived
of life, liberty or property without due process of law,’ it becomes our duty by .
legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the
Constitution against all attempts to violate it ; and we deny the authority of
Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal exist-
ence to slavery in any Territory of the United States.
“9. That we brand the recent re-opening of the African slave trade under
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 77
the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime
against humanity and a burning shame to our country and age ; and we call upon
Congress to take prompt and efficient measures for the total and final Suppression
of that execrable traffic.
“10. That in the recent vetoes by their Federal governors of the acts of the
Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska prohibiting slavery in those Territories
we find a practical illustration of the boasted Democratic principle of non-inter-
vention and popular sovereignty embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and a
demonstration of the deception and fraud involved therein.
“11. That Kansas should of right be immediately admitted as a State under
the constitution recently formed and adopted by the House of Representatives.
“12. That while providing revenue for the support of the general govern-
ment by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these
imposts as to encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole
country : and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to
the working men liberal wages; to agriculture, remunerating prices; to mechanics
and manufacturers, an adequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise;
and to the nation, commercial prosperity and independence.
** 13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the
public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of the homestead
policy which regards the settlers as paupers or suppliants for public bounty;
and we demand the passage by Congress of the complete and satisfactory
homestead measure which has already passed the House.
“14. That the Republican party is opposed to any change in our naturaliza-
tion laws or any State legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto
accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in
favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citi-
zens, whether native or naturalized, both at home or abroad.
“15. That appropriations by Congress for river and harbor improvements
of a national character required for the accommodation and security of an exist-
ing commerce are authorized by the Constitution and justified by the obligations
of government to protect the lives and properties of its citizens. •
“16. That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean is imperatively demanded by the
interests of the whole country; that the Federal government ought to render im-
mediate and efficient aid in its construction; and that as preliminary thereto a
daily overland mail should be promptly established.
'8 THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AWD ITS LEA DERS.
“17. Finally, having thus set forth our distinctive principles and views, we
invite the co-operation of all citizens, however differing on other questions, who
substantially agree with us in their affirmance and support.”
The Convention having decided to nominate a candidate for President by a .
majority vote the ballot was proceeded with. The principal candidates were Wil-
liam H. Seward of New York and Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. On the first bal-
lot Seward got 1734 votes and Lincoln 102. On the second ballot the respective
votes were 1844 and 181. On the third Lincoln reached 2314 against Seward’s 180.
Lincoln only needing two and a half votes, Ohio, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri
and others wholly or partly changed their votes until Lincoln had 354 out of 466
votes. On motion of Wm. M. Evarts of New York, the nomination was made
unanimous. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was nominated for Vice-President. On
motion of Giddings of Ohio it was— -
‘‘ Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with those men who have been
driven, some from their native States, and others from the States of their adop-
tion, and are now exiled from their homes on account of their opinions; and we
Hold the Democratic party responsible for the gross violations of that clause of
the Constitution which declares that citizens of each State shall be entitled to all
the privileges and immunities of citizens of the sexeral States.”
The president, George Ashmun of Massachusetts, closed the Convention with
an encouraging and enthusing speech which was followed by nine rousing cheers
for the Republican ticket. The campaign began immediately and was vigorously
pushed. The candidates elicited enthusiasm throughout the entire North, and
though their biographies have been many times written, a brief summary of them
is necessary for the completeness of this narrative.
Abraham Lincoln I A name that will be cherished and revered as long as the
English language is spoken. A great humanitarian and patriot who was a rough
diamond, but all the more valuable because he was a rough diamond. “Take him
for all in all, we shall ne'er look upon his like again.” The world produces but
one such type. He can be compared with no model. If he had never done any-
thing else than have given utterance to the Christ-like words “With malice tow-
ard none, with charity for all,” he would be remembered. In consequence of the
national prominence his debates on popular suffrage and States rights with Stephen
A. Douglas on the hustings in Illinois and elsewhere had brought him, Lincoln
was the inevitable or natural choice of the second National Republican Conven-
tion, held at Chicago, June 16, 1860, as its candidate for President, as he repre-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 79
sented the vitalizing idea of the modern and growing party ; although, compared
with his only competitor, Gov. William H. Seward, who, though an able states-
man, was too much of a politician for the active and determined reformers who
SENATOR ANTHONY HIGGINS, DELAWARE.
constituted the young party of progress, he was little known except to political
students, being called by the Democratic press “a backwoods rail-splitter.”
Born February 12, 1809, in the wilderness of Kentucky, of poor and humble
parents who had moved there from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and who

80 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
in 1809 went to live in the wilds of Indiana, his youthful experience was that of
the country boy accustomed to make himself generally useful about home and
farm, and he had received only one year’s primitive schooling when in his
nineteenth year he went out into the world with his mother’s blessing to earn his
own living as a hand on a flat-boat running to New Orleans, La. In 1830 the
family moved to Macon County, Illinois, and Abraham helped his father build
his new home—a plain log cabin, constructed with the only tools they had, a
Saw, an ax, and a draw-knife.
After two years of roughing it as a farm-hand, a flat-boatman, and a store-
keeper, young Lincoln in 1832 raised a company in his neighborhood and won
such distinction in the Black Hawk campaign that on his return at the close of
the war to Sangamon County he was nominated a candidate for the State Legis-
lature, but was defeated. President Jackson appointed him postmaster for New
Salem, and some of his most amusing stories in after life were of this period of
his career when his hat was his post-office. It is recorded that at this period
his ruling characteristic was his famous habit of story telling, that often so
annoyed those who did not understand and appreciate his greatness. He was a
close student now of every book that he could come across, and especially of
Burns and Shakespeare, and rapidly enlarged his thought and knowledge.
Elected to the State Legislature in 1834, he attracted so much attention by his
speeches that he was advised to study law by Mr. Stuart of Springfield, to which
place he walked from Salem to borrow his books. He studied law in his friend's
office, and was soon in good practice. Re-elected in 1836, Lincoln had already
attained a reputation as a lawyer and politician that extended throughout the
State. It was during several successive terms in the Legislature that Lincoln
met young Stephen A. Douglas; ...that he settled in Springfield and became a
partner of his patron Major Stuart, and married Miss Mary Todd.
In 1846 Lincoln was elected to Congress from the Sangamon district, Douglas,
singularly enough, also being a member of the same Congress from an adjacent
district. Here again the two party leaders were pitted, and the debates com-
menced which were destined to make Lincoln President—as they were naturally
arrayed against each other in discussing the Wilmot Proviso, the Missouri Com-
promise, the Lecompton Constitution, and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill—and which
have become historic, especially those on the hustings in subsequent campaigns,
after Lincoln had served his term.
Lincoln was active in the organization of the Republican party in Illinois. He
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADER.S. 81
was a candidate at the first Convention at Philadelphia in 1856 for Vice-President,
but Drayton was chosen to be Gen. Fremont’s running mate. He led the ticket
and the party to victory, however, in 1860, after he had extended his reputation
by a tour of the Eastern States.
The political situation at this time was the most momentous in our history
as a nation. The Civil War was brewing. There were three tickets in the field,
respectively headed by Lincoln (Republican), Douglas (Democratic), and Bell
(National Union). From this period on to the mournful moment when he was
assassinated, at Ford’s Theater, Washington, D.C., April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes
Booth, while witnessing a performance of “Our American Cousin,” Lincoln’s
career was in the eyes of the world, and he was probably one of the most tried
and misunderstood and successful men who have filled pages in the world’s
history. Re-elected in 1864 without opposition, the Civil War kindled with his first
inauguration was closed in his second term, and the great problem of recon-
struction, which he was so well calculated to formulate, was agitating the public
mind when the assassin’s bullet removed him.
His address at Gettysburg has already become a model for schoolboys.
It was in his address on the occasion of his second inauguration that he
uttered the words, “With malice toward none, with charity for all,” which
have become a synonymn for his name. The war still existed, and, alluding to
the armies of the North and South, he said : “ Both read the same Bible, and
pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem
strange that any men should ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread
from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not, that we may not be
judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been
answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world
because of offenses For it must needs be that offenses come ; but woe to that
man by whom the offense cometh !” If we shall suppose that American slavery
is one of those offenses, which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but
which, having continued through the appointed time, He now wills to remove, -
and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to
those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from
those divine attributes which believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may
soon pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by
the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and
6
82 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn
by the Sword—as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said :
‘The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” With malice
toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to
see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in ; to bind up the
nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his
widow and orphans; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a last-
ing peace among ourselves and with all nations.” His famous Emancipation
Proclamation, which is a model of concise simplicity, concludes with this sen-
tence : “And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice warranted
by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of
mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.”
Hannibal Hamlin was placed second on the ticket nominated by the Repub-
lican Convention at Chicago in 1860 because he was considered the best Eastern
man in thorough accord with Lincoln’s ideas at that time, that the extension
of slavery could be prevented while the institution would not be interfered with
or destroyed in the Southern States, by whose constitutions it was allowed. Un-
til the organization of the Republican party in 1856 Hamlin was a Democrat,
and regarded as one of the ablest exponents of its principles in the North.
Born at Paris, Oxford Co., Maine, August 27, 1809, his youth was passed at
work on his father’s farm there, because, although prepared for college, he could
not be spared from home in consequence of his father’s death. Attaining his
majority he learned printing and supported himself by this trade while he studied
law, being admitted to the bar in 1833. He practiced his profession at Hamp-
den, Penobscot County, until 1848, when he was elected to the United States
Senate to fill the unexpired term of John Fairchild, deceased. From 1836 to 1840
he was a member of the Legislature (Speaker of the Lower House the three last
years), and again in 1847. He was the first to introduce in the Harrison cam-
paign in 1840 the system of discussion on the hustings with antagonists, he
being a candidate for Congress. Defeated this campaign he was successful in
1842, and again in 1844. Re-elected to the United States Senate in 1851 he
attracted national attention and took the first steps toward leaving his party
by boldly offering in this session the Wilmot Proviso, when in consequence of
the absence of its author it would have been lost had he not done so. Ham-
lin boldly advocated the famous measure and secured its passage by a vote of
115 to 106. The Wilmot Proviso, which ultimately became the basis of the or-
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 83
ganization of the Republican party in 1856, was an amendment to a bill em-
powering the President of the United States to expend $3,000,000 in negotiating
for a peace with Mexico. David Wilmot, a member from Pennsylvania, added
SENATOR CHARLES B. FARWELL, ILLINOIS.
an amendment, as follows:—“That, as an express and fundamental condition to
the acquisition of any territory from the republic of Mexico by the United
States, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should ever exist in any part
of said territory.” The members of the recently organized Republican party in


84 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
Maine made Hamlin their first candidate for Governor in 1857 and elected him ;
but he served only a few weeks, as he was again chosen Senator, officiating until
he assumed office as Vice-President in 1861. He was an able and esteemed
coadjutor of Lincoln’s, though in the election of 1864 Andrew Johnson was sub-
stituted for him on the national ticket. The ensuing year he filled the position
of collector of the port of Boston. He was again in the United States Senate
from 1869 to 1881. For a number of years he was regent of the Smithsonian
Institute, and dean most of the period. He was our Minister to Spain in 1881
and ’82. He died in Maine several years ago. A peculiarity of his was that
he never wore an overcoat, but would go out in the coldest weather without
any additional clothing.
V.
Result of the Election of 1860–New Jersey the only Northern Democratic State—Elation of South-
ern Politicians over the Election of Lincoln—Their Plans for Secession—Threat of Henry A.
Wise in 1856—Convention of Southern Governors—Action of South Carolina—Ordinance of
Secession—Hasty Action of the Legislature—Terrorism throughout the South—Persecution
of Union Men—Promises of Senator Clingman and their Performance—Secession in the
other States of the South—Organization of the Confederacy—Action of President Buchanan
and his Cabinet—Cabinet Officers aiding the Secession Movement—Inauguration of Presi-
dent Lincoln—The Attack on Fort Sumter—Action of the Northern and Southern People—'
Enthusiasm for War on both Sides.
1HE election of 1860 took place on the sixth of November. By
Vº the next morning it was known throughout the whole coun-
try. that Abraham Lincoln had been elected to the office of
President, having more than a majority of the whole number *
of electors. Every one of the free States, with the ex-
ception of New Jersey, had chosen the entire electoral ticket
for Lincoln and Hamlin. The same ticket would have carried New Jersey, had
it not been for the refusal of some of the T)ouglas men to support the fusion
ticket, so that four Lincoln electors would have slipped in over the two Bell and
the two Breckinridge electors. The result was that the Lincoln electors were
defeated by less than five thousand majority. California and Oregon were not
heard from on that day, but it was found that outside of those States Lin-
coln had one hundred and eighty electoral votes, while all the others had one
hundred and twenty-three. It was found, however, that while Lincoln had a
majority of the electoral votes, and was therefore clearly chosen to office, the
combined opposition against him had 979,163 votes more than the Republican
ticket. The cry was immediately raised by his opponents that he would be an
usurper in office if he ventured to take the presidential chair, because he had not
received a majority of the votes cast at the election. These conspirators seemed
to have overlooked the fact that Buchanan and Taylor were both elected in the

(85)
86 THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS.
same way, and no voice had been raised to declare that they were usurpers.
It was immediately announced by the same conspirators that the principles of
the Republican platform, the well-known history and antecedents of Lincoln, and
the fanatical character of those who supported him, would lead him to make a
vigorous war upon the system of slavery and the rights of all the slave States.
The most absurd reports were put in circulation; one being to the effect that
as soon as Lincoln was installed in office all the slaves in the Southern States
would be declared free, and in less than a week after the President’s inaugura-
tion slavery would cease to exist, at least so far as it was in the power of the
general government to bring it to an end.
Instead of creating great gloom in the Southern States, the election of
Lincoln was treated as a cause for rejoicing, particularly among the politicians.
They had been for some years preparing for secession, as has already been
'shown, and the election of Lincoln was taken as the signal for rebellion. As far
back as 1856 Governor Wise of Virginia had called a convention of Southern
governors at Raleigh, N. C. The assemblage was kept secret at the time it
was held—about a month before the election of that year; afterward Governor
Wise openly announced that if Fremont had been elected he (Wise) would have
assembled an army of twenty thousand men and marched upon Washington, so
as to take possession of the capital and all its belongings, in order to prevent, by
force of arms, the inauguration of Fremont as President. An assemblage of the
same sort was held at the residence of Senator Hammond in South Carolina
on Oct. 25, 1860. At this meeting it was resolved, unanimously, that in the event
of Lincoln’s election South Carolina would secede from the Union at once.
Meetings of the same sort were held almost at the same time, or immediately
afterward, in five or six of the other slave States. There was great activity
among the politicians of the South during the month preceding Lincoln's elec-
tion, as the reports from the Northern States showed that Democratic defeat
was almost a certainty, and preparations were made in various ways for disunion
in case of the triumph of the Republicans.
TJsually the Legislature of South Carolina does not meet until the last
Monday of November, but the Governor of the State found an excuse for calling
the Legislature together on Monday, Nov. 5, the day preceding the presidential
election. W. D. Porter of Charleston was chosen president of the State Senate.
When he took the chair he made a strong speech in favor of secession, in the
course of which he said: “We are all agreed as to our wrongs. Let us sac-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. S7
rifice all differences of opinion as to the time and the mode of remedy upon the
altar of patriotism, and for the sake of the great cause. In our unanimity
will be our strength, physical and moral. No human power can withstand or
break down a united people, standing on their own Soil and defending their
SENATOR SHELBY M. CULLOM, ILLINOIS,
homes and firesides. May we be so united, and may the great Governor of
Men and Nations inspire our hearts with courage and inform our understandings
With wisdom, and lead us in the way of honor and safety.” In his message
to both houses of the Legislature the Governor recommended that, in the event

88 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LAWADEES.
of Lincoln’s election, a convention of the people of South Carolina should be
called immediately to consider and determine for themselves the mode and
measure of redress. He declared that it was his opinion that the only alternative
left was the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union; he believed
that the indications from most of the Southern States justified the conclusion
that the secession of South Carolina would be immediately followed by that of
the entire South ; they had long desired the co-operation of the other slave-
holding States, and he thought the moment was near at hand when their hopes
would be realized ; they had already decided that the State had the power to
secede from the Union, and there was nothing in the powers of the general gov-
ernment to prevent it. At the same session of the Legislature all the leading
politicians connected with it expressed the belief that it was their duty to
leave the Union at once, in case of the triumph of the Republicans on the
following day.
When the news came as to the result of the election, the rejoicing was
universal. Men shook hands and congratulated each other that, at last, the
moment they had looked for and prayed for had arrived. They believed that
the last obstacle to Southern independence had been swept away, and there was
no longer anything to interfere with carrying out their wishes. The secession of -
South Carolina would overcome the apathy and timidity of some of the other
States, and to this end it was decided to send delegations to the various State
authorities to urge immediate action. Stimulated and encouraged in this way,
the Legislature proceeded at once in the work of secession. On the second
day of the session Robert Barnwell Rhett offered resolutions calling for the
election of delegates to such a convention on the 22d of November, with
instructions to meet at the State capitol on the 17th of December. These
resolutions were offered in the Lower House, and on the same day similar
resolutions were offered in the State Senate. Several speeches were made in
both houses, all favoring the movement and none opposing it, with the single
exception of a member, who, while not opposing secession, asked that they
should delay action until they could consult with the other slave States and
make some arrangement for simultaneous action. In the course of his speech
he said: “Lincoln’s election is taken as an occasion for action, but with us
it is not the only cause for action. We have delayed for the last ten years
for nothing but co-operation. I think it the best and wisest policy to remain -
in the Union with our Southern sisters, in order to arrange the time when
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADER.S. 89
and the manner how of going out, and nothing else.” Another member,
replying to this speech, said that South Carolina had tried co-operation, but
had exhausted that policy. “If we wait for co-operation, slavery and State
rights will be abandoned, State sovereignty and the cause of the South lost
forever, and we would be subjected to a dominion the parallel to which was
that of the poor Indian under the British East India Company.” When they
had pledged themselves to take the State out of the Union, and placed it on
record, then he was willing to send a commissioner to Georgia or any other
Southern State, to announce their determination and submit the question whether
they would join or not. “We have it from high authority that a representative
of one of the imperial powers of Europe, in view of the prospective separation of
one or more of the Southern states from the present confederacy, has made
propositions, in advance, for the establishment of such relations between it and
the government about to be established in this State as will insure to that power
such a supply of cotton for the future as their increased demand for that article
will require. This information is perfectly authentic.”
One can readily see from the foregoing that foreign countries were already
in treaty with the conspirators, with the object of breaking up the Union and at
the same time of obtaining advantages from its overthrow.
Throughout the Southern States immediately after the election a general sys-
tem of terrorism seems to have been organized and put into operation at once, in
order to destroy all indications of loyalty to the goverhment. It was openly
promised by Senator Clingman of North Carolina, that Union men should be
silenced by the swift attention of vigilance committees. This threat was speedily
carried out. If a man manifested loyalty toward the Union, or doubted the
propriety or the right of secession, the vigilance committee made an early call
upon him; he had the choice of the bullet or the rope on the one hand, or
a change of his views on the other. Thousands of men were driven into the
forest and into exile, their houses were burned, their families were imprisoned,
and every effort was made to compel the Southern people to be entirely of one
mind—and that mind in favor of secession. Of course, the newspapers—most
of them willingly, but some unwillingly—advocated secession, and they were
joined in the same work by nearly all the occupants of the pulpit. An editor
or a preacher who did not take part in the general movement for disunion was
looked upon as an enemy of the South and driven from the country, and was,
in some instances, fortunate to escape with his life.
90 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS.
The Convention of South Carolina assembled at Columbia on December 17th,
as previously arranged, but owing to an epidemic of small-pox in that city they
adjourned to Charleston. On December 20th they adopted an ordinance of seces-
sion, and that same evening it was signed in the great hall of the South Carolina
Institute by one hundred and seventy of the members, in the presence of the
Governor and his council, the members of the Legislature, and a great assemblage
of the citizens, who crowded every corner of the hall. The ordinance of secession
reads as follows:—
“We, the people of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and
ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance adopted by us
in convention on the 23d day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States was
ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of the State
ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and the Union
now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the
United States of America, is hereby dissolved.” -
The action of the Convention of South Carolina was speedily followed in eleven
other States of the South. On the fourth of February, 1861, the delegates ap-
pointed by the secession conventions in six of these States met at Montgomery,
Ala., and formed a league, with the title of “Confederate States of America.”
They adopted a provisional Constitution, elected Jefferson Davis provisional Presi-
dent, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia Vice-President. No ordinance of
secession was ever submitted to the people of any of the States, the whole move-
ment for secession taking place among the conspirators or politicians who organ-
ized it. They immediately began to seize the forts, ships, arsenals, custom houses,
and other public property of the general government, and raising armies for its
overthrow. - -
While this was going on at the South, Congress had assembled on the 3d of
December, 1860; and in both Houses the conspirators for secession were outspoken
in the expression of their views. The President had issued a message which was
exceedingly weak, and on the very points where positive conviction and courage
should have been indicated he made a display of timidity and indecision. It was
probably the weakest message ever issued by a President of the United States.
Here and there through the message were certain patriotic sentiments, which
offended the Southern conspirators and gave them opportunity for pushing their
measures; but there was far more in the message to alarm the people of the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 91
North. The message declared, substantially, that the President had no constitu-
tional power to employ the army and navy for the preservation of the Union; and
from that time on, as long as his official term lasted, President Buchanan sat still
SENATOR WILLIAM B. ALLISON, IOWA.
and looked on while the conspirators were carrying out their plans for establishing
an independent government of their own.
Even before they had organized their government at Montgomery they seized
public property and fired upon the national flag, and after their plans were fairly
completed, and they had rejected every peaceful proposition that could be made

92 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
consistent with the dignity and safety of the government, they retired from Con-
gress, making the open avowal of their intentions. The President seemed to be
completely under their control, fascinated, as it were, as the bird is said to be
fascinated by the serpent. *
As every reader of history is aware, Charleston, S. C., was the hotbed of
secession. The fortifications of the harbor were in command of Major Anderson,
a loyal soldier, who had under him a garrison of less than one hundred men. It
was apparent to him that the Southern conspirators intended to seize the fortifi-
cations, and he repeatedly urged the government to strengthen the garrison to
such an extent that it would be able to resist any attack that might be made
upon it. Anderson with his garrison was in Fort Moultrie, and when he became
aware of the intention of the conspirators to seize the forts, he moved his garri-
son to Fort Sumter, which was much stronger than Moultrie and capable of
making a protracted resistance, even with the small force for its defense. The
Secretary of War, who was one of the conspirators, rebuked Major Anderson for
his action, but throughout the North, his movement was highly commended. The
news of the occupation of . Fort Sumter came almost simultaneously with the
announcement of a great robbery of Indian Trust bonds in the Department of the
Interior, in which the Secretary of War was concerned. This led to a very stormy
meeting of the Cabinet, when the conspirators found that although President
Buchanan was exceedingly timid, he was not willing to follow them into the ways
of open secession. Floyd, the Secretary of War, fled at once from office, and was
succeeded by Joseph Holt, a loyal Northerner. The Cabinet was immediately
reconstructed, and for a time the conspiracy was partially held in check. As the
fourth of March approached, it was learned that a conspiracy had been formed for
the assassination of Lincoln on his way to the capital. The plans for the assas-
sination were defeated by the President passing through Baltimore at night,
earlier than was expected, and arriving safely in the capital. He was inaugu-
rated on the fourth of March, and in the expectation of violence on the part of
the secessionists, General Scott had a strong military force at hand. It is pro-
verbial that riots rarely take place when they are expected, and in this instance,
full military preparations having been made, no trouble occurred. -
After the oath of office had been administered, Lincoln read his inaugu-
ral address. In it he expressed the most kindly feelings efor every part of the
country, and announced his determination to administer the government impar-
tially for the protection of every interest and every citizen. He also announced
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 93
his determination to protect the public property, enforce the laws, and repossess
whatever had been seized by the insurgents. On the next day the Senate con-
firmed the President’s Cabinet nominations, and the first Republican administra-
tion of the United States began a most memorable career.
The Cabinet chosen by Lincoln was as follows:—William H. Seward of
New York, Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Secretary of the
Treasury; Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles of
Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb Smith of Indiana, Secretary of the
Interior; Montgomery Blair of Maryland, Postmaster-General ; Edward Bates of
Missouri, Attorney-General. It will be seen by a careful examination of this list
that Lincoln had assembled around him all the elements of the new party, so
that every part and section of the country, and every shade of opinion, could
be fairly represented. Two of the members of the Cabinet were from slave-
holding States, though not themselves slave-holders. It has been said that
Lincoln desired to select at least one member of his Cabinet from the ex-
treme Southern States, but as all the politicians and statesmen of that
part of the land were involved in secession, or were unwilling to take any
part under a Republican President, it was impossible for him to carry out this
intention, and, at the same time, secure a man of ability suitable for a Cabinet
positibn. -
The Cabinet immediately entered upon its duties—the first of which was to
ascertain the condition of the country and its ability to cope with the rebellion
which was evidently close at hand. The public credit had been seriously injured
by the action of Cobb, the outgoing Secretary of the Treasury; but that difficulty
had been covered by the action of the loyal men in Congress. Very little was to
be expected from the army and navy. The standing army of the country then
consisted of sixteen thousand men, who were principally on the Indian frontiers,
in scattered detachments, and already sixteen forts had been seized by the
insurgents, together with arsenals, in the Southern States. In these arsenals
Floyd, the former Secretary of War, had caused great quantities of arms and
ammunition to be stored, so that they would be ready for the rebellion when-
ever it should take place. The navy, small as it was, had been scattered to
the uttermost parts of the earth. There were only forty-two vessels in com-
mission, and the only one then available for the defense of the entire Atlantic
coast was the Brooklyn, of twenty-five guns, and a single store-ship. Many
naval officers, Southerners by birth, had resigned and were ready to join in the
94 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
rebellion, and altogether the prospects of successfully meeting the insurrection
by force of arms were gloomy indeed.
All this time the active movements for the prosecution of the insurrection
were going on at the South. As early as the second week of January, when a
government steamer, the Star of the West, attempted to enter Charleston
Harbor, carrying supplies to Major Anderson, she was fired upon by the
insurgents and forced to return to sea. -
After the formation of the Confederate government, General Beauregard was
put in command of the insurgents at Charleston. IEarly in April the govern-
ment informed the authorities of South Carolina that supplies would be sent to
Major Anderson, who was in great need of them; whereupon the Confederate
authorities ordered General Beauregard to demand the surrender of Fort
Sumter. The demand was made; whereupon Major Anderson agreed to evacuate
the fort within five days, unless, in the meantime, he received relief from his
government. It was decided to fire the Southern heart by refusing to wait for
this peaceful solution of the difficulty, but to open fire on Fort Sumter at once.
In compliance with this decision, and by direction of his superiors, Beauregard
opened fire on Fort Sumter on the morning of April 12. The attack was made
with thirty heavy guns and mortars, backed by thousands of armed men. The
defenders of Fort Sumter were less than one hundred; but they fought bravely,
under the hope that they might be relieved by a naval expedition which was
known to be on its way. The naval expedition was delayed by a heavy storm
and did not arrive in time to raise the siege. Provisions were exhausted ; the .
shells of the insurgents set the wooden buildings in the interior of the fort on
fire, and the greater part of the gunpowder had to be thrown into the sea in
Order to avoid a terrible explosion. Finding that no aid was coming, and see-
ing that the walls would not long be able to resist the bombardment, Major
Anderson agreed to evacuate the fort. He retired on Sunday, the 14th of April,
to the government vessels outside the harbor. He carried with him the flag
which had floated over the walls—and, precisely four years afterwards, on the 14th
of April, 1865, he carried it back again and hoisted it once more above the fort,
which was now little more than a heap of ruins.
This was the commencement of the Civil War of 1861.
Not only did the bombardment of Fort Sumter fire the Southern heart, but
it fired the Northern heart as well. The assault upon the fort and flag acted
like an electric shock throughout the loyal North. In every part of the land re-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 95
cruiting offices were opened; movements began for the organization of troops
to respond to the call of the President for seventy-five thousand men for three
months to suppress the rebellion. The same call was sent to the governors of
the seceded States, but it was received with the utmost derision. According to
SENATOR JAMES F. WILSON, IOW.A.
the history of the times, when the proclamation was read before Jefferson Davis
and his fellow-conspirators at Montgomery, they were moved to derisive laughter.
One writer, speaking of the effect of the firing upon Sumter and the proclamation
of the President, says as follows: “In the free labor States there was a wonder-

96 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
*
ful uprising of the people. Nothing like it in sublimity of aspect has been seen
on the earth since Peter the Hermit and Pope Urban II. filled all Christian
Europe with religious zeal and sent armed hosts with the cry of ‘God wills it !
God wills it !” to rescue the sepulcher of Jesus from the hands of the invader.
The Republic was to be rescued from the hands of the assassin. Men, women
and children felt the enthusiasm alike, and, as if by preconcerted arrangement,
the national flag was everywhere displayed, even from the spires of churches and
cathedrals; in cities, in villages, at wayside inns, all over the country it was un-
furled from lofty poles, in the presence of large assemblies of people, who were
addressed frequently by some of the most eminent orators in the land. It adorned
the halls of justice and the sanctuaries of religion, and the red, white and blue—
the colors of the flag—in combination, became ornaments of women and tokens
of the loyalty of men.” - iſ:
In the Southern States at the same time the uprising was of similar char-
acter. Perhaps it may not have been altogether" as enthusiastic in some quarters,
but it was certainly a marvelous expression of unanimity of sentiment. The
Southern States flew to arms, in defense of what they believed to be their rights,
with the same vigor and the same earnestness that had been manifested by the
people of the North in their determination to stand by and support the Union;
and within one week from the date of the firing upon Sumter, the Civil War
was fully under way.
It is unnecessary to write here, other than in a brief summary, the account
of the war for the preservation of the Union, of which so many histories, great
and small, have been published. A list of the men who became famous during
the war would occupy many pages. The courage and devotion displayed by
both Northern and Southern men were of the highest character. Early during
the war there was much derision on the part of the South as to the fighting
abilities of the North, and the taunts that were thrown Were given back with
interest. After the first few battles had been fought nothing more was heard of
this derision of opponents. Men in arms learned to respect the fighting qualities
of those on the other side, and long before the first year of the war was over no
Southern man in the possession of his faculties was heard to remark that “one
Southerner could whip five Northerners ”; nor was any Northern man liable to
give vent to the expression that a similar superiority prevailed on his side of
the line.
VI.
Statistics of the War—Number of Men engaged–Graduates of the Military Academy at the out-
break of the War—What became of them—Preponderance of regular Officers from the South
—Southern Officers who remained Loyal—Number of Battles and other Actions in the
Civil War—Comparison with previous Wars—Casualties on both Sides—Gettysburg the
greatest Battle—Lincoln's Speech at Gettysburg—Biographical Sketches of General Grant
and General Lee—The Navy during the War—How it was built up—Blockade of the Coast—
Destruction of the Navy Yard at Norfolk—Fight between the Monitor and Merrimac.
HROUGH figures furnished by Lieutenant W. R. Hamilton of
the D. S. Army, we are enabled to present the follow-
ing interesting statistics regarding this great war, in which
nearly three and a half million men were engaged during
the period of its progress. At the time the war broke out,
in June, 1861, there had been 1966 graduates of the Military
Academy, of which there were 1249 surviving at this time.
Of this number 428 had retired from military life and adopted civil occupations,
and 821 adopted military service. Of the 428 who had gone into civil life 292.
fought on the Union side and 99 in the Confederate ranks. Of the remaining 37
the records do not show what became of them. Of the 821 who took up military
occupations, 627 showed their sympathy for the Union by enlisting on that side,
184 joined the Confederacy, and ten thought discretion the better part of valor
by not fighting at all. The 99 who joined the Confederacy were evidently
swayed by local pride and impulses, for all of them except one were Southerners,
either by nativity, adoption, or business and social affiliations. 162 of 350 gradu-
ates born in or appointed by Southern States preserved their loyalty to the
Union. The proof of the military training and proclivities of the graduates was
evidenced by the fact that one fifth surrendered their lives on the field, while
fifty per cent of them were wounded more or less severely.
In the course of the war there were 107 pitched battles, 102 combats, and 362
7 - (97)

98 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LAEA.D.E.B.S.
minor contests. In interesting comparison with these figures may be quoted sta-
tistics as to the war of 1812–15 with Great Britain, in which there were 10 battles,
8 combats and 52 lesser engagements. While in the Mexican war of 1846–48
there were 11 battles and 35 contests of one kind and another. The Civil War,
with its fratricidal hatred and its fearful sacrifice of life and commercial interests,
seems to have cured the Americans of any fancy for dragging their coats behind
them for some one to tread on ; for although there have been since the War of
Independence, from which time the military history of the country dates, 912 gar-
risoned forts, military posts and arsenals, there are now only less than 150 such
stations. Much of the work of the army outside of foreign and internecine engage-
ments, has been in the suppression of Indian revolts, in which there have been in
the last eighty years 640 contests morè or less important. The most costly in life
and expense of these was the Florida Indian War, in which forty thousand United
States troops were engaged. -
The following interesting table gives a summary of the number of men in
the Union Army engaged in the Civil War furnished by each State and Terri-
tory during the five years of the strife. Some of the men being furnished for
three and six months and other short terms, the total of each complement has
also been calculated on a full term of three years.

Number of Rºß º, Number of Rºß *.
STATES AND TERRITORIES. en Three years ||STATES AND TERRITORIES. Three Years”
Furnished. Standing. Furnished. Standing.
2,556 1,611 ||New York . . 448,850 392,270
A. g 8,289 7,836 ||North Carolin 3,156 3,156
California. . . 15,725 15,725 ||Ohio tº ſº 313,180 240,514
Colorado . 4,903 3,697 ||Oregon e 5 1,773
Connecticut. 55,864 50,623 ||Pennsylvania . 337,936 265,517
Delaware. 12,284 10,322 ||Rhode Island 23,236 17,866
Florida . 1,29 1,290 ||South Carolina. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Georgia. . . . . . . . ...; ..., , ; Tennessee 31,092 26,394
Illinois. . . . 259,092 214,133 ||Texas . 1,965 1,632
Indiana 196,363 153,576 ||Vermont . 33,288 29,068
Iowa . 76,242 68,630 ||Virginia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kansas 20,149 18,706 ||West Virginia . 32,068 27,714
Kentucky 75,760 70,832 ||Wisconsin 91,327 79,260
Louisiana e 5,224 4,654 ||Dakota. . . . . . 206 206
Maine . . . . . . 70,107 56,776 ||District of Columbia . 16,534 1,506
Maryland . . . . . 46,638 41,275 |Indian Territory . 3,530 3,530
Massachusetts . tº 146,730 124,104 || Montana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
|Michigan. g 87,364 80.111 ||New Mexico . 6,561 4,432
Minnesota tº e 24,020 19,693 ||Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mississippi . . . . 545 545 ||Washington. 964 964
Missouri . . . . . 109,111 86,530 ||U. S. Army •s a I e g º e g e º is a º
Nebraska . . . . . . 3,157 2,175 ||U. S. Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nevada. . . . . . 1,080 1,080 ||U. S. Colored Troops 93,441 91,789
New Hampshire . . 33,937 30,849 •
New Jersey . 76,814 57,908 Total . . 2,778,304 2,326,168
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
99
*
The following figures, furnished by the Adjutant-General’s office, are interest-
ing as showing the magnitude of the war.
Died of wounds and disease—Union
& & & & & & & 6
Deserted—Union
& £ Confederate .
& £ Confederate e tº e g e
Union men captured by the Confederates
Confederate men captured by the Unionists .
Paroled on the field—Union . •
& 6 é & & & £ &
Confederate . . .
Died while prisoners—Union .
£ & 6 & & £
Confederate .
242,732
133,821
199,105
104,428
212,608
476,169
16,431
248,599
30,156
30,152
The total loss of life from various causes incidental to the war was over
500,000.
t.
From “Regimental Losses in the American Civil War,” by William F.
Fox, Lieut.-Col. U. S. Volunteers, we select the following figures showing the loss
in the more important engagements:

Date. Battle. Rilled. Wounded.*| Missing. Aggregate,
July 1–3, 1863 . .|Gettysburg . 3,070 14,497 || 5,434 || 23,001
May 8–18, 1864. .|Spottsylvania 2,725 13,413 || 2,258 18,399
May 5–7, 1864 . . . . . ..[Wilderness 2,246 12,037 3,383 17,666
September 17, 1862 . . . ...Antietam + . . . . . . 2,108 9,549 753 | 12,410
May 1–3, 1863 . . . . .|Chancellorsville . . . 1,606 9,762 5,919 17,287
September 19–20, 1863 . ..]Chickamauga tº g 1,656 9,749 || 4,774 16,179
June 1–4, 1864 . . . . ..[Cold Harbor. 1,844 9,077 1,816 12,737
December 11–14, 1862 .|Fredericksburg. 1,284 9,600 1,769 12,653
August 28–30, 1862 . Manassas f . . 1,747 8,452 4,263 14,462
April 6–7, 1862. . ..[Shiloh . e 1,754 8,408 || 2,885 | 13,047
December 31, 1862 .Stone's River § . . . 1,730 7,802 3,717 13,249
June 15–19, 1864 . ..] Petersburg (assault). 1,688 8,513 1,185 11,386
. * Wounded in, these and the following returns includes mortally wounded.
+ Not including South Mountain or Crampton's Gap.
Including Chantilly, Rappahannock, Bristol Station and Bull Run Bridge.
Including Knob Gap and losses on January 1 and 2, 1863.
The heaviest Confederate losses were:
Captured
Date. Battle. Rilled. | Wounded. and Aggregate.
- Missing.
July 21, 1861 . . . .|Bull Run (first Manassas) . 387 1,582 | 13 1,982
February 14–16, 1861. .|Fort Donelson, Tenn. . . 466 1,534 || 13,829 15,829
April 6–7, 1862 . . . g .|Shiloh, Tenn. tº 1,723. 8,012 959 || 10,694
June 25–July 1, 1862 . . . . . Seven Days,’ Va. . 3,478 | 16,261 875 | 20,614
August 21–September 2, 1862. . [Second Manassas . 1,481 7,627 89. 9,197
September 12–20, 1862 . . . .[Antietam. tº gº 1,886 9,348 1,367 12,601
December 13, 1862 ..Fredericksburg . . . 596 4,068 651 5,315
December 31, 1862 .|Stones River, Tenn. . 1,294 7,945 1,027 10,266
May 1–4, 1863 .|Chancellorsville . 1,665 9,081 2,018 12,764
July 1–3, 1863 . . . . .|Gettysburg . 2,592 12,706 5,150 20,448
September 19–20, 1863 . ..Chickamauga . 2,268 || 13,613 | 1,090 16,971

i
§
:
d
;
i
;
100 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
;
The greatest battle of the war was Gettysburg, and the bloodiest was
Antietam. The largest fighting force gathered together at one time by the
TJnionists was at the Wilderness, and by the Confederates in the Seven Days’
Fight.
In this connection the following extract from President Lincoln's famous
speech at Gettysburg will be read with interest: -
“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent
a new Nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men
are created equal.
“Now, we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that Nation, or
any Nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a
great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that
field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that
Nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
“But, in a large sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot
hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little
note, nor long remember what we SAY here, but it can never forget what they
DID here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished
work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather
for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave
the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain ; that this Nation, under God, shall have a new
birth of freedom ; and that government of the people, by the people, and for
the people shall not perish from this earth.”
Ulysses S. Grant, who fills many pages of history as the successful general
who conquered the Southern forces under Gen. Lee and as twice President of the
|United States, passed a very uneventful life until he emerged from self-sought
retirement at Galena to take a captaincy of volunteers on the bursting out of
the Rebellion, since which time he has been and will continue to be one of the
foremost men of the world.
Born April 27, 1832, at Point Pleasant, a hamlet on the Ohio River, his family
soon afterward removed to Georgetown, Brown Co., Ohio. After a common-
school education at home, he entered West Point in 1839. Graduating in June,
1843, he was assigned as lieutenant of infantry to a distant military post in the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 101
Territory of Missouri, where he remained until sent with his regiment in 1845 to
Corpus Christi. He served all through the war in Mexico, receiving his first pro-
motion at Molino del Rey, where he was made first lieutenant. He was breveted
SENATOR JOHN JAMES ING ALLS, KANSAS.
Captain at Chapultepec. Returning after the campaign, he was assigned to Fort
Dallas, Oregon, but soon after resigned his commission.
Marrying, he settled on a small farm near St. Louis, Missouri, subse-
quently engaging in tanning with his brother at Galena, Illinois. Then the
War broke out. When the news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Galena.

102 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS.
he said to his brother: “Uncle Sam has educated me for the army; though
I have served him through one war, I do not feel that I have yet repaid
the debt. I am still ready to discharge my obligation. I shall therefore
buckle on my sword, and see Uncle Sam through this war too.” He recruited
a company of volunteers, conducted them to the capital of the State, Spring-
field, and tendered his services to Governor Yates, who employed him as an
aid in the organization of the volunteer forces, soon making him colonel of
the 21st regiment of Illinois volunteers. The regiment was ordered to a point
on the Mississippi River to protect the Hannibal and Hudson Railroad.
His ability as a soldier being recognized, he was promoted to the rank of
brigadier-general, and assigned command at Cairo. From this period on, it
may be said, until he conquered the Confederate army under Lee, his rise was
rapid. Volumes have been written about his brilliant military achievements,
and it is not the scope of the present writer to deal with this epoch of his
career, but merely to consider him from a political standpoint, as the twice
successful candidate for President of the Republican party.
Although until the development of the Rebellion he had been a Democrat, it
was but proper and natural that the Republican Convention which met at
Chicago, May 21, 1868, should nominate him as their standard-bearer, the noble
sentiments that had imbued him in the surrender of Lee, when he so magnani-
mously voluntarily allowed the rebel officers to retain their side-arms, horses, and
baggage, had almost made him the idol of the country at large. The nomination
was unanimous. In accepting the nomination he uttered the phrase, “Let us
have peace,” which has become as famous as his declaration that he would fight
the battle out in Virginia, when victory was by no means certain, if it took all
summer. He wrote : “If elected to the office of President of the United States, it
will be my endeavor to administer, all the laws in good faith, with economy, and
with the view of giving peace, quiet, and protection everywhere. In times like
the present it is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay down a policy
to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an administration of four years. New
political issues, not foreseen, are constantly arising ; and a purely administrative
officer should always be left free to execute the will of the people. I always have
respected that will, and always shall. Peace, and universal prosperity, its sequence,
with economy of administration, will lighten the burden of taxation, while it con-
stantly reduces the national debt. Let us have peace.”
Gen. Grant’s election was almost as unanimous as his nomination. Governor
/* &
**
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 103
Horatio Seymour of New York was his Democratic opponent. Grant received
214 electoral votes, Seymour 80, the popular vote being 3,016,353 for him, while
Seymour only polled 2,906,631. In the settlement of Southern reorganization,
President Grant was inspired by the same humane spirit that characterized him in
his treatment of Lee and his officers when they surrendered. He evinced a
judicious statesmanship characteristic of the soldier who respected his enemy.
He received the nomination to succeed himself from the Republican Convention
which met at Philadelphia, June 5, 1872, when he again received the unanimous
vote. His second term witnessed the restoration of prosperity over a united
country. There was a strong movement to renominate him for a third term,
but Gen. Garfield was nominated and elected.
Soon after retiring to private life he made a tour of the old world, being
received everywhere with royal honors. Another movement was made in 1880 to
nominate him again, but never organized. He engaged in the Panama Canal
and various railroad enterprises, finally locating in New York City, and becom-
ing a member of a broking firm. He died at Mount McGregor, New York, in
1885, and his tomb on the Riverside Drive, in New York City, when finally com-
pleted, will be one of the finest mausoleums in the world.
Gen. Robert E. Lee will always rank as an able soldier and high-toned
Christian gentleman, who according to his creed believed his duty to be to his
State rather than to his country, and with the courage of his convictions all must
admire his sincerity, patriotism and chivalry. He was born at Stratford, West-
moreland Co., Va., June 19, 1807. His father was Henry Lee, distinguished in
the Revolution as “Legion Harry.” It was natural that the son should seek a
military career, and Robert Edmond was sent to the Military Academy at West
Point, graduating second in his class in 1829. From this period until his seces.
sion in 1861, he was in the service of the United States. He entered the Engi-
neers Corps and attained the rank of captain in 1838. ' He was the chief-engineer
of Gen. Wood’s brigade in the Mexican War, in which he earned three brevets—
major, lieut.-colonel and colonel. He was in charge of the Military Academy
at West Point from 1852 to 1855. He was colonel of cavalry when he renounced
his allegiance to the stars and stripes. His military exploits during the war as
the Southern commander will always challenge admiration, and he had no warmer
friend and admirer than his conqueror, Gen. Grant. He died at Lexington, Va.,
Oct. 12, 1870, being in charge at the time of the Academy there—a magnificent
institution.
104 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
Early in March, 1861, when the people of the North and South began to talk
of war, the navy, from a military aspect, was in wretched condition. There were
really only two vessels that could be at all depended upon for effective service at
the time. They were the Brooklyn, carrying twenty-five guns, and the Relief,
a commissary ship with only two guns. The total armament under control of
the government was ninety vessels supposed to carry 2415 guns. Of these vessels
only forty-two were in service, while twenty-eight were docked and in such condi-
tion that an interval of several months must elapse before they could be put in
shape for efficient service. Nearly all of those in commission were in distant seas
and ports and could not be very conveniently called upon. Another difficulty was
that many of the officers and men were Southerners, and many more were not in
sympathy with the Lincoln administration. Sixty officers resigned and left the ser-
vice to cast their lot with the Confederacy. And when there is taken into con-
sideration the fact that of the two vessels already mentioned, the Brooklyn and
the Relief, the former was too deep to enter the harbor of Charleston, and
that the Relief had been ordered with supplies to the African squadron, it may be
truly said that the navy department was absolutely without a single war vessel
that could be depended upon for any and all contingencies.
New life and vigor were requisite. On March 4, Secretary Toucey stepped
out and Gideon Welles took his place. In four months a remarkable change took
place. Forty-three armed vessels, thoroughly equipped, were not only ready but
actively engaged in blockading Southern ports and in defending the Atlantic
coast of the Eastern loyal States, while before the year closed 137 vessels had
been purchased and equipped for military service. Volunteers were called for to
man them, and such calls were so quickly met that no vessel awaited a crew
more than a few days. Over 250 officers had resigned during the progress of
these changes, but the loss was but little felt, their places being filled with slight
difficulty. The force was divided into two squadrons, one designated as the Atlan-
tic, consisting of twenty-two vessels and 3300 men under the command of flag-
officer S. H. Stringham, and the other known as the Gulf squadron under the
leadership of flag-officer W. Mervine. It comprised twenty-one vessels and 3500
Iſlen. -
In the early part of the war the service rendered by the navy was one
almost entirely prompted by a sense of patriotism. The work required of the
Union’s sailor defenders involved them in but few battles, their operations being
principally in conjunction with the land forces. Along the coast they were en-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 105
gaged in blockading harbors and ports, and in bombarding the defenses thrown
up by the Confederates. The latter at no time were in control of any naval
strength to speak of. They had to depend upon gunboats, rams, and a few small
vessels working for the cause indirectly by hampering Union commerce, and by
SENATOR PRESTON B. PLUMB, KANSAS.
feathering their own nests by engaging in a guerilla and piratical warfare, not
being very particular as to whether the American flag was flying or not.
In the beginning of the conflict the Federal Navy Department was severely
handicapped by the destruction of the naval station at Gosport, opposite Norfolk,

106 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
Va. Here was centered the most effective force then in control of the depart-
ment. In its shops and storehouses were machinery and tools for building fully
equipped war vessels. There was an immense magazine of weapons and ammu-
nition, comprising two thousand heavy cannon, of which a number were new
Dahlgren guns. In all there was some ten million dollars’ worth of property
within its square mile of territory. On the river were several war vessels afloat,
among them the since famous Merrimac, the Plymouth, the Dolphin, and the
Germantown. -
A fear of arousing the Virginians had prevented the government taking any
precautionary steps to protect this valuable and useful property. And even
when Secretary Welles was getting his new navy under way the Lincoln Cabinet
went very slowly about securing it from seizure and appropriation by the se-
ceders. Commodore McCauley in April received instructions to “put the ship-
ping and public property in condition to be moved and placed beyond danger
should it become necessary,” but the power was restricted by an order “to take
no steps that would give needless alarm.” While this timorous policy was fol-
lowed, the Confederates decided to act aggressively, this equipment being,
through their necessities, of incalculable value to them. During the night of
April 16 two eighty-ton boats were sunk in the river below Norfolk, with the
object of shutting in the war vessels they coveted. The government dare not
hold back any longer; they must follow the Southern lead. Captain Hiram
Paulding was sent to McCauley with positive orders to arm the Merrimac, to
put the Germantown in such condition that she could be taken out of harm’s
way, and to also remove the other vessels. All the most useful and valuable
arms, ammunition and stores were to be carried on board, and he was given
4. authority to defend the property placed in his charge, “at any hazard, repelling,
by force if necessary, any and all attempts to seize it, whether by mob violence,
organized effort, or any assumed authority.”
Captain Paulding completed his mission by placing the Cumberland, fully
manned and armed, in a position to command the Navy Yard. But McCauley, de-
ceived by the protestations of those of his officers who were, from native or sympa-
thetic tendencies, of rebel inclinations, shut his eyes to the dangers surrounding him,
and neglected to follow the orders sent him. The men who had sworn to stand
by him deserted and joined the enemy, leaving behind them the leaven of insur-
rection to work among their subordinates. General Taliaferro of the Southern
army arrived on the scene with a body of riflemen equipped with fourteen heavy
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 107.
guns and an ample supply of ammunition. McCauley lost his head and ordered
the scuttling of the vessels intrusted to him. With the exception of the Cumber-
land, in which he wished to “run away and live to fight another day,” the
vessels were scuttled. Paulding was again sent to Gosport to endeavor to undo
this terrible blunder, but he did not arrive in time to save the vessels. Mean-
while the Southern forces in the vicinity of Norfolk had increased. Paulding
only had 450 men with him. An engagement with the land forces would be
disastrous.
Acting with promptness and determination, he resolved that if the Union
could not have their property the Confederacy should not have it. The Merrimac
and Plymouth were already under water. The other vessels were slowly sinking.
His men fired them and they were utterly destroyed. The torch was applied to
everything inflammable in the yards, the guns Spiked and the trunnions beaten
off with sledge hammers. But the work of destruction was not as complete as
supposed, and the Southern forces saved a vast quantity of material. Many of the
guns hurriedly and imperfectly spiked were repaired and did their part later in
thinning the Union ranks. The Merrimac and Plymouth were raised, and so
strengthened and built up that they became an important factor in the Con-
federate resources.
The Merrimac was renamed the Virginia and put in command of Captain
Buchanan, an experienced sailor and one of those who had deserted the Union
flag. In March, 1862, Buchanan took up a position at the mouth of the James
River and destroyed the Congress and Cumberland. The unequal fight was to
be continued next day. But during the night, silently as falls the snow, appeared
on the scene the Monitor. When the morning light revealed her position, no
alarm struck the hearts of the Confederates. In their eyes it was but a “cheese-
box on a raft ‘’—as they derisively termed it.
In appearance it was an oblong raft with a turret in the center. It had been
built at Greenpoint, L. I., near New York, by Captain Ericsson, who died but a
short time ago. It was 124 feet long and thirty-four feet wide at its center.
The tower, cased with heavy iron, was ten feet high and twenty feet in diameter.
In it were mounted two 11-inch Dahlgren guns. The draft was very light, the
vessel’s hull being but eight and a half feet deep. On the lower hull rested
another, five feet high, which projected over the first a uniform three feet and
seven inches, except at the ends, where the projection was twenty-five feet, so as
to protect the rudder, anchor, and propeller. Thirty inches of oak, covered with
108 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
six inches of iron, protected the exposed portions from the enemy’s battery. '
The lower hull was inclined toward the bottom, on an angle of about ten degrees.
She arrived at Hampton Roads during the night of March 9, under the
command of Lieutenant John L. Worden. In the morning the Merrimac came
down from Norfolk. The Minnesota opened fire on her, and the Monitor shot
out and ranged up alongside of the dreaded enemy. One of the Dahlgren guns
rang out ; the tower revolved and the other thundered. The Merrimac’s
guns belched forth a storm of shot, and so the contest continued at close
quarters for some time, without much damage to either, the one being too high
in the water and the other too low to seriously injure each other. Captain
Buchanan concluded that the Monitor could not prevent his attack on the
Minnesota, and opened fire on that vessel. Again the Monitor rushed in, and
engaged the Merrimac in such a severe contest that she was forced to flee
before her terrible guns. Lieutenant Worden was badly injured by shock from
the repeated concussion, the Merrimac having thrown against the sides of the
little vessel volley after volley weighing hundreds of pounds at short range. -
The Monitor’s success encouraged the construction of this class of armored
vessels, and many of them were in service during tho war. One of the famous
vessels in use in the conflict was the New Ironsides, built at Philadelphia. The
wooden hull was covered with four-inch iron plates, and her guns weighed 284,000
lbs. Stationed near Philadelphia at the close of the war, she was accidentally
set on fire and burned to the water's edge.
VII.
Conventions of 1864—Radical Convention at Cleveland and its Platform—Nomination of John C.
Fremont and John Cochrane—Their subsequent Withdrawal—Union (Republican) Conven-
tion at Baltimore—Platform of Principles—Lincoln nominated to succeed himself—Andrew
Johnson nominated for Vice-President—Sketch of his Life—Reverses to the Union Cause in
the latter part of 1864—Democratic Convention at Chicago—“The War a Failure"—A
lugubrious Platform—Secession influences at the Convention—McClellan and Pendleton.
HE first of the conventions of 1864 to meet was the Radical, so
named because of the call they made, which was “To the radi-
cal men of the nation.” They met at Cleveland on May 31st.
There was a great deal of talk. Candidates for President and
Vice-President were nominated. They were John C. Fremont
and John Cochrane; but later they withdrew. The platform
adopted may be here quoted, as it shows the views of some 350 men active in poli-
tics at that time, although but few of them were regularly appointed delegates.
The planks were :
1st. That the Federal Union should be preserved.
2d. That the Constitution and laws of the United States must be observed
and obeyed.
3d. That the Rebellion must be suppressed by force of arms and without
compromise.
4th. That the rights of free speech, free press and the habeas corpus be held
inviolate, save in districts where martial law has been established.
5th. That the Rebellion has destroyed slavery, and the Federal Constitution
should be amended to prohibit its re-establishment and to secure to all men abso-
lute equality before the law.
6th. That integrity and economy are demanded at all times in the adminis-
tration of the government; and that in time of war the want of them is criminal.

(109)
110 THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
7th. That the right of asylum, except for crime and subject to law, is a recog-
nized principle of American liberty; that any violation of it cannot be overlooked
and must not go unrebuked.
8th. That the national policy known as the “ Monroe Doctrine ** has become
a recognized principle ; and that the establishment of an anti-Republican govern-
ment on this continent by any foreign power cannot be tolerated.
9th. That the gratitude and support of the nation are due to the faithful
soldiers and the earnest leaders of the Union Army and Navy for their heroic
achievements and deathless valor in defense of our imperiled country and civil
liberty.
10th. That the one-term policy for the Presidency adopted by the people
is strengthened by the force of the existing crisis and should be maintained by
Constitutional amendment.
11th. That the Constitution should be so amended that the President and
Vice-President shall be elected by a direct vote of the people.
12th. That the question of the reconstruction of the rebellious States belongs
to the people through their representatives in Congress and not to the Executive.
13th. That the confiscation of the lands of the rebels and their distribution
among the Soldiers and actual settlers is a measure of justice. * *
The next convention to assemble was that of the Union party. They met at
Baltimore on June 7th. On the report of the Committee on Credentials the
5 5
delegates from South Carolina, the “Conservative Unionists from Missouri,
the Territorial delegates, those from the District of Columbia, from Virginia,
Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida and Arkansas should not be allowed to vote; but
the Convention decided on passing Ténnessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Nebraska,
Colorado, and Nevada. The committee’s report as to the exclusion from the
balloting of Virginia, Florida and the remaining Territories was adopted. The
platform was as follows:
“ Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain,
against all their enemies, the integrity of the Union and the paramount authority
of the Constitution and laws of the United States; and that, laying aside all
differences of political opinions, we pledge ourselves, as Union men, animated by
a common sentiment and aiming at a common object, to do everything in our
power to aid the government in quelling, by force of arms, the rebellion now
raging against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment due to their crimes
the rebels and traitors arrayed against it. -
THE REPUBLICAW PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 1 11
“ Resolved, That we approve the determination of the government of the
United States not to compromise with rebels, nor to offer them any terms of
peace, except such as may be based upon an “unconditional surrender of their
hostility and a return to their allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the
SENATOR EUGENE HALE, MAINE.
United States; and that we call upon the government to maintain this position,
and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor to the complete suppression
of the Rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing patriotism, the heroic
Valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to the country and its
free institutions.

112 THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
“ Resolved; That as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength
of this Rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hostile to the
principles of republican government, justice and the national safety demand its
utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic ; and that we uphold
and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the government, in its own -
defense, has aimed a death-blow at the gigantic evil. We are in favor, further-
more, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people in
conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the exist-
ence of slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the United States.
“Resolved, That the thanks of the American people are due to the soldiers
and sailors of the army and navy, who have periled their lives in defense of
their country and in vindication of the honor of its flag ; that the nation owes
to them some permanent recognition of their patriotism and their valor, and
ample and permanent provision for those of their survivors who have received
disabling and honorable wounds in the service of the country; and that the -
memories of those who have fallen in its defense shall be held in grateful and
everlasting remembrance. -
“Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical wisdom, the unselfish
patriotism, and the unswerving fidelity to the Constitution and the principles
of American liberty with which Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circum-
stances of unparalleled difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the pres-
idential office ; that we approve and indorse, as demanded by the emergency and
essential to the preservation of the nation, and as within the provisions of the
Constitution, the measures and acts which he has adopted to defend the nation
against its open and secret foes; that we approve, especially, the Proclamation
of Emancipation, and the employment, as Union soldiers, of men heretofore . held
in slavery; and that we have full confidence in his determination to carry these,
and all other constitutional measures essential to the Salvation of the country,
into full and complete effect.
** Resolved, that we deem it essential to the general welfare that harmony
should prevail in the national councils, and we regard as worthy of public confi-
dence and official trust those only who cordially indorse the principles proclaimed
in these resolutions, and which should characterize the administration of the
government. v.
“ Resolved, That the government owes to all men employed in its armies,
without regard to distinction of color, the full protection of the laws of war; and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 113
A
that any violation of these laws, or of the usages of civilized nations in the time
of war, by the rebels now in arms, should be made the subject of prompt and
full redress.
“Resolved, That foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much
to the wealth, development of resources, and increase of power to this nation—
the asylum of the oppressed of all nations—should be fostered and encouraged by
a. iberal and just policy. -
“Resolved, That we are in favor of the speedy construction of the railroad
to the Pacific coast. -
“Resolved, That the national faith, pledged for the redemption of the public
debt, must be kept inviolate ; and that, for this purpose, we recommend economy
and rigid responsibility in the public expenditures and a vigorous and just system
of taxation; and that it is the duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit,
and promote the use of the national currency.
“Resolved, That we approve the position taken by the government, that the
people of the United States can never regard with indifference the attempt of
any European power to overthrow by force, or to supplant by fraud, the in-
stitutions of any republican government on the Western continent, and that they
will view with extreme jealousy, as menacing to the peace and, independence of
this, our country, the efforts of any such power to obtain new footholds for
monarchical governments, sustained by a foreign military force, in near proximity
to the United States.” - -
There were only two candidates for President, Abraham Lincoln and
General Grant. As the Missouri delegates were the only ones who voted for
Grant, the nomination of Lincoln was made unanimous. The most important
candidates for Vice-President were Andrew Johnson, Daniel S. Dickinson, and
Hannibal Hamlin. The ballot was respectively: 200, 108, and 150. The
announcement was followed by a change of votes that gave Johnson 494 and
the others only 26. Johnson was nominated. In his letter of acceptance later
he expressed very clearly his views' and those of the War Democrats on the
slavery question. In it he said: “It is in vain to attempt to reconstruct the
Union with the distracting element of slavery in it. Experience has demon-
strated its incompatibility with free and republican governments, and it would
be unwise and unjust longer to continue it as one of the institutions of the
country. While it remained subordinate to the Constitution and laws of the
United States, I yielded to it my support ; but when it became rebellious, and
114 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
attempted to rise above the government, and control its action, I threw my
humble influence against; it.” *
Andrew Johnson, it is claimed by several political writers, and prominently
the Hon, A. K. McClure of Philadelphia, was proposed by Lincoln himself as can-
didate for Vice-President on the ticket with him in 1864, in recognition of his posi-
tion as a Southern Unionist and the service he would be in the reconstruction that
would ensue on the close of the war. By the death of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson
became the seventeenth President. The Impeachment Trial will render Johnson’s
administration famous in our political annals for all time. Born December 29,
1808, at Raleigh, N. C., his youth was passed in poverty and struggle, with none
of the advantages and enjoyments of most boys. He apprenticed himself to a
tailor. He could neither read nor write when, in 1826, at Greenville, East Ten-
messee, he married a young woman who proceeded to educate him by reading to
him while he plied the needle on his bench. In 1828 he was elected alderman, and
in 1830 mayor, on the Democratic ticket. In 1835 he was elected to the Legisla-
ture, and in 1841 to the State Senate, having achieved considerable reputation as
a stump speaker in the Harrison and Van Buren campaign in 1840. For ten
years from 1843 he was a member of Congress and made his mark in that body
as a ready debater. In 1853 he was elected Governor of his State, and re-elected
in 1855. In 1857 he was sent to the U. S. Senate, becoming recognized as one of
the leading Democrats, While not believing in slavery as an institution, he did
not recognize the right of Congress to legislate upon the question. He opposed
secession and espoused the Union cause. 'He was the first to be called a War
Democrat. *
In 1862, when Tennessee was reclaimed from the Southern army, President
Lincoln, with the approval of the Senate, appointed Johnson military governor of
the State. His administration was most vigorous. Soon after assuming office he
issued a proclamation, as follows: “I, Andrew Johnson, do hereby proclaim, that
in every instance in which a Union man is arrested and maltreated by marauding
bands, five or more rebels, from the most prominent in the neighborhood, shall be
arrested, imprisoned, and otherwise dealt with as the nature of the case may
require ; and further, in all cases where the property of citizens loyal to the
government of the United States is taken or destroyed, full and ample remunera-
tion shall be made to them out of the property of such rebels in the vicinity as
have sympathized with and given aid, comfort, information or encouragement to
the parties committing such depredation.” He was still Governor of the State
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 115
when placed on the national ticket by the Convention at Baltimore, June 6, 1864.
He was inaugurated Vice-President, March 4, 1865. On the 15th of April ensu-
ing, the office of President devolved upon him by Lincoln's death, and as the
official notification ran, “the emergency of the government demanded that he
SENATOR WILLIAM P. FRYE, MAINE.
should immediately qualify according to the requirements of the Constitution.”
A few hours after the death of President Lincoln the oath of office was admin-
istered to Johnson by Chief-Justice Chase in the former’s private apartments in
Willard’s Hotel.

116 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
*
Johnson opposed the terms of reconstruction of the Southern States advo-
cated by Congress, and his impeachment by the latter body forms one of the
, most, interesting chapters of political history in the world. The trial continued
for three months, resulting in acquittal by a close vote. He served out his term
of office, almost ignored by Congress. Retiring to his home in Greenville, he
was sent to Congress in 1875, but served only a few months when, while en route
to visit his daughter in Tennessee, he was stricken to death with paralysis. His
services to the country as a War Democrat in urging Tennessee in the Union can-
not be too highly estimated, and probably if Lincoln had lived to arrange on his
broad, humane basis the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion, Johnson
would have proved the valuable ally that that astute patriot sought to find,
in selecting him as his mate on the ticket in 1864.
It will be seen from the accounts of the proceedings of the Radical and
Union conventions that an impression prevailed that the war would be termi-
nated before the close of the year. Atlanta and Richmond would not hold out
much longer, and their fall meant the fall of the Confederacy. But within a
short time a series of unfortunate events disturbed their equanimity. Grant’s
attack on Cold Harbor was a costly and demoralizing failure. The opportunity
to seize Petersburg was lost ; Hunter failed to capture Lynchburg; the army
of Tennessee was repulsed at Kenesaw; Early defeated Wallace at the Mono-
cacy and raided even the suburbs of Baltimore ; Chambersburg was burnt, and
valuable lives were lost through the blundering over the Petersburg nine ex-
plosion. These and other discouraging events took all the sunshine out of the
sky. Added to all this was the widespread publication of an alleged proclama-
tion by President Lincoln admitting the failure of Grant’s advance on Rich-
mond, and calling for more food for powder.
The effect of this was bad, and following right upon it was the resignation of
Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury. Through the storms of the past,
few years he had steered the financial bark. He had, at times almost over-
whelmed by the mountainous waves of disaster and depression, stood at the
wheel with undaunted courage when others hardly dared appear above the deck.
When, on the installation of Lincoln, he had accepted the Treasury portfolio the
condition of affairs, was fearful. The revenue did not provide for the necessary
running expenses of the government, much less for those incidental to a costly
war. In 1869, before he assumed office, ten millions had been called for. The
demand was met with less than three-quarters of the amount. He made up the
*
\
§
THE REPUBLICAN-PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 117
deficit by selling one-year Treasury notes at a discount of from six to twelve per
cent. But his courage at last gave way and made room for another pilot. He
was succeeded by General Dix, who raised an inconsiderable amount by dis-
counting twenty-year government bonds at an average of 9% per cent.
|Under such circumstances the Union government began a war in the course
of which a military footing of a million men had to be maintained, together
with an enormously expensive navy. Soldiers had to be equipped with modern -
and costly weapons and accouterments, armies had to be transported over a
vast expanse of territory, and all against the sentiment of the civilized world,
in the face of an opinion of other nations that the United States, was engaged
in what appeared to them a school-boy quarrel. In comparison with the appal-
ling expense there were no funds in the country to meet it. The average human
brain can scarcely realize just what is meant by an expenditure of four thousand
million dollars, but some idea can be formed by a study of the following table,
which exhibits the rapid increase of the national debt during the war. And this
table tells nothing of the expenditures outside of loans made to the government.
1860—June 30—total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $64,769,703
1861– “ . “ “. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,867,828
1862— ‘‘ ‘ ‘ & 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514,211,371
1863— “... “ “ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,097,274,860
1864— “ “ “ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,740,036,689
1865–Mar. 31— “ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,423,437,001
1866–Jan. 1—less cash on hand . . ." . . . . . . . . . 2,749,491,745
And it must be borne in mind that in addition to the cost of the war to
the Union there must be added the contributions of the Confederates on their
side. Their absorption of all available moneys and properties of enthusiastic
Southerners beggared the Confederate States, while much of the worthless paper
floated when all other resources failed can be purchased now at a discount of
993 per cent. . . . - * q
The war had scarcely begun when the Northern banks suspended specie
payment, followed soon after by the Treasury. When the war closed there was
in circulation over four hundred million dollars of unsecured negotiable paper.
The immediate result of the suspension of specie payment was a natural depre-
ciation of the value of paper money. Gold was purchased in January, 1862, at
a premium of from one to five per cent with such paper. In June it soared
to nine and a half, and in July to twenty and a half. And so on, month
after month, till in August, 1864, it reached its highest point, which was one
hundred and sixty-four. * * . • * ~ * * * 4 & sº ..., -
118 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S DEADERS.
:
:º
i
;
.
The following table shows the fluctuation in specie values:

1863 1864
Highest. Lowest. Highest. Lowest.
January . . . . . 160 1334 1593 1513
February . . . . . 1724 1524 160} 1573
March . . . . . . 171 1394 170 1593
April . . . . . . 15.9% 146 189 164
May . . . . . . . 156 143% 195 1674
June . . . . . . . 1494 140+ 252 167
July . . . . . . . 145} 133} 290 229
August . . . . . . 128} 122} 261 231
September . . . . 142} 127# 254% 185
October . . . . . 1564 142% 222+ 180
November . . . . . 154} 143} 260 2094.
December . . . . . 153 1463 243% 211
On August 29, 1864, the Democratic National Convention, which was to have
been held July 4, assembled at Chicago. Gov. Horatio Seymour of New York
was chosen to preside. In addition to the regularly constituted delegates the
city was crowded with hot-headed speakers from Western States opposed to the
war. The administration’s enemies were augmented by members of the “Order
of American Knights,” the “Sons of Liberty,” and demagogues from anywhere
and everywhere. Clergymen who should have been comforting and consoling the
wounded and dying were raving and ranting wherever they could draw an
audience, and there was no difficulty in securing one. Instead of endeavoring to
hold up the hands of those exhausting life, health, brains and muscle to preserve
the Union, they inflamed the populace. This is a sample of the soothing speeches
made by an ex-clergyman of New Jersey, C. C. Burr: “We had no right to
burn their wheat fields; steal their pianos, spoons, or jewelry. Lincoln had
stolen a good many thousand negroes; but for every negro he had thus stolen
he had stolen ten thousand spoons. It had been said that if the South would
lay down their arms they would be received back into the Union. The South
could not honorably lay down her arms, for she was fighting for her honor.
Two millions of men had been sent down to the slaughter-pens of the South,
and the army of Lincoln could not again be filled, either by enlistment or
conscription. If he ever uttered a prayer it was that no one of the States of
the Union should be conquered and subjugated.”
An Iowa clergyman of the name of Dean said: “For over three years Lincoln
had been calling for men and they had been given. But with all the vast armies
placed at his command he had failed ! failed !! FAILED !!! FAILED !!! ! Such,
a failure had never been known. Such destruction of human life had never been
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 119
seen since the destruction of Sennacherib by the breath of the Almighty. And
still the monster usurper wanted more men for his slaughter-pens.
- - -
Ever since the usurper, traitor and tyrant had occupied the Presidential chair
SENATOR GEORGE F. HOAR, MASSACHUSETTS.
the Republican party had shouted ‘War to the knife and the knife to the hilt l’
Blood had flowed in torrents; and yet the thirst of the old monster was not
quenched. His cry was for more blood.”
Judge Miller of Ohio forcibly if not elegantly said: “There is no real dif-

120 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
&
ference between a War Democrat and an Abolitionist. They are links of one
sausage made out of the same dog.” - -
The flames were fed by agitators from Canada, members of the American
Enights, who had hatched a conspiracy to set free all the rebel prisoners in
Camp Douglas, of whom there were some 8,000. Through the treachery of
some of their people the plot was laid bare, and Colonel Sweet, the commandant
of the camp, frustrated their designs.
The platform adopted by the Convention was as follows:
“IResolved, That in the future, as in the past, we will adhere with unswerv-
ing fidelity to the Union under the Constitution, as the only solid foundation of
our strength, Security, and happiness as a people, and as a frame-work of gov-
ernment equally conducive to the welfare and prosperity of all the States, both
Northern and Southern. - -
“ Resolved, That this Convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the
American people, that after four years of failure to restore the Union by the ex-
periment of war, during which, under the pretense of a military necessity of a
war power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disre-
garded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down,
and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity,
liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessa-
tion of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of all the States, or other
peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be
restored on the basis of the federal union of all the States.
“Resolved, That the direct interference of the military authority of the
TJnited States in the recent elections held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and
Delaware, was a shameful violation of the Constitution; and the repetition of such
acts in the approaching election will be held as revolutionary, and resisted with
all the means and power under our control. s
“ Resolved, That the aim and object of the Democratic party is to preserve the
Federal Union and the rights of the States unimpaired; and they hereby declare
that they consider the administrative usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous
powers not granted by the Constitution, the subversion of the civil by the mili-
tary law in States not in insurrection, the arbitrary military arrest, imprisonment,
trial and sentence of American citizens in States where civil law exists in full
force, the suppression of freedom of speech and of the press, the denial of the
right of asylum, the open and avowed disregard of State rights, the employment
*
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 121
of unusual test-oaths, and the interference with and denial of the people to bear
arms, as calculated to prevent the restoration of the Union and the perpetuation
of the government deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed.
“Resolved, That the sympathy of the Democratic party is heartily and ear-
nestly extended to the soldiers of our army and the sailors of our navy, who are
and have been in the field and on the sea under the flag of their country; and,
in the event of our attaining power, they will receive all the care and protec-
tion, regard and kindness, that the brave soldiers of the Republic have so nobly
earned.” - - - - -
The balloting for nominee for President being proceeded with, McClellan
secured, after several ballots, 202% votes against 23% for. Seymour. This result,
being announced, his nomination was made unanimous. " . . . . . . . . .
George H. Pendleton of Ohio, after some contest, was nominated for Vice-
President, in deference to the demands of the “Peace” party. ,
When the particulars of the convention were read next morning. Democrats
generally saw “the writing on the wall,” doubting Republicans no longer
doubted, the faithful cried, “The battle is already won.” The Democratic Con-
vention had dug its party’s grave, and their opponents began to prepare for the
funeral.
VIII.
End of the War—Act of Congress Abolishing Slavery—What should be done with the lately Re-
bellious States ?–Plans for Reconstruction—Difficulties of the Situation—Assassination of
President Lincoln—Particulars of the Event—General Gloom throughout the Country—
Johnson becomes President—His Views as to the treatment of the Rebels—His first Month
in Office—Reconstruction Measures in Louisiana and Arkansas—“Ten per cent Govern-
ments’—Action of Congress regarding the Reconstructed States—Johnson's Proclamation
of Amnesty and Pardon—The Exemptions—Reconstruction Conventions and their Action—
Action of the Legislatures of the lately Rebel States—Arrogance of the Southern Leaders—
Alarm in Congress and through the North. - -
: ITH the fall of Richmond and the surrender of the Confederate
* forces the war was brought to an end. The President visited
Richmond, and then returned to Washington to take the first .
steps for the reconstruction of the Southern States that had
recently been in rebellion.
At President Lincoln's suggestion Congress had passed an Act recommending
to the States an amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery. The passage
of this amendment and its adoption by three-fourths of the States settled forever
the question as to the validity of the Proclamation of Emancipation. All through
the war the question had constantly arisen as to what would be done with the
States in rebellion as soon as the war was ended. There had never been a
similar state of affairs in any part of the world. In all the countries of the
Old World, any civil war that occurred came to an end with the conquering of
the rebellious party, or by its victory as, in every instance, there was but a
single government with a central power. But the case of the United States was
far different. The rights of the States had been matters of jealous consideration
ever since the formation of the Union, the general government dealing only with
those matters that affected the Union, while all local affairs—such as laws for
the collection of debts, rights of property in real estate, transfers thereof, mar-

(122)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 123

124 . THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AWD IT'S LAEA DERS.
riage, divorce, and social and domestic relations of every kind, including” the
policing of towns and cities, the suppression of local disorder—had been con-
trolled by the States themselves; the general government was only to be called
upon in case the States were powerless to suppress disorders. Consequently, the
relations which the States lately in rebellion should bear to the government, at
the end of the war was a ‘very knotty question for consideration. Lincoln was
giving the problem careful consideration, and had already taken steps toward
reconstruction, when he was struck down by the bullet of an assassin.
On the 14th of April, 1865, the manager of Ford’s Theater invited the Presi-
dent and General, Grant—who was then in Washington—to occupy a box that
evening, to witness the performance of “Our American Cousin.” The playbills were
issued announcing that both would be present. General Grant. was unable to
remain, he having been called from the city by military business. President Lin-
coln felt, at first, that he would be unable to go; but rather than disappoint the
audience he, through his kindness of heart, consented to visit the theater. He
was not there at the beginning of the play, arriving with his wife a little before
nine o’clock. As they entered the box which had been reserved for them, they
Sought to avoid observation, but the whole audience rose to its feet and greeted
them with the most unbounded enthusiasm. While the President was listening
to the play, and, apparently, deeply interested in it, a pistol shot was heard in the
box; the President's head sank forward, and a moment later a man Sprang from
the front of the box to the Stage, and, as he reached the latter, waved his hand
aloft and in a tragic voice exclaimed: Sic Semper tyrannis.
The assassin, as everybody knows, was an actor named John Wilkes Booth.
He had worked his way through the crowd in the rear of the dress circle, and
reached the door of the box where the President sat, so that he had an oppor-
tunity to discharge a pistol within a few inches of Lincoln's head. The bullet
lodged in the brain, and from that moment Lincoln lost all consciousness, not ut-
tering a word or sound until the time of his death, at twenty minutes past seven
the next morning. From the theater his bleeding and unconscious form was car-
ried to a private house on the other side of the street. Word was hastily sent to
the members of his Cabinet and to other leading men in the city, and in less than
an hour they were assembled at his bedside. Stanton, Welles, Sumner, McCul-
lough were there; Senator Sumner holding for some time the hand of the Presi-
dent and weeping with an emotion that he was unable to control. The others
who were present had their eyes filled with tears, and not often is the spectacle
| THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 125.
witnessed of so many strong men in middle or advanced life, in a single group,
bathed in sorrow. *
It turned out that there was a widespread conspiracy for the removal by.
death of all the leading men connected with the management of the country; the
President, Vice-President, General Grant, nearly all the members of the Cabinet,
were included in the intended victims of the conspiracy. While Booth was.
making his way through the crowd in the theater to assassinate the President,
another assassin entered the room where Secretary Seward was lying ill, his
jaw having been broken and other injuries sustained in a fall from his carriage.
The assassin reached the door of Seward’s room under pretense that he was
sent there by the physician to bring medicine. Frederick Seward, the son of
the Secretary, endeavored to prevent his entrance to the room and was knocked
down with the butt of a pistol. Springing upon the bed, the assassin plunged
his dagger into the neck and throat of Seward, and the wounded man rolled
from his bed upon the floor. The attendant seized the assassin’s arm and was
himself wounded by the latter in his attempt to escape. He managed to get,
loose and, in his retreat to the street, stabbed no fewer than five persons on his
way. The others who had been marked for assassination managed in one way
and another to escape.
Seward was suffering so severely from his injuries received at the fall from
the carriage, that he was not informed of the death of the President, it being
deemed perilous to tell him of that melancholy event. On Sunday morning, at
his request, his bed was wheeled around so that he could see the tops of the
trees in the Park, on which his room fronted. The War Department building
was in sight from his window, and as soon as he caught sight of it he observed
that the flag was at half-mast. He looked for a moment, then sighed and said :
“The President is dead.” His attendant was greatly embarrassed, as he had
been strictly warned not to tell Seward anything about what had occurred,
and, in his embarrassment, he stammered an inaudible reply. Seward then said:
“If the President had been alive, he would have been the first to call upon me.
after my accident ; he has not been here, and he has not sent to ask how I am,
and there is the flag at half-mast. I know he is dead.”
There was universal grief throughout the entire North, as the news was
flashed by telegraph from one end of the country to the other. The whole nation
went into mourning. On the streets of the great cities strong men, to whom
the President was personally unknown, shook hands in silence; while in many
126 THE REPUBLICA.W. PARTY AND ITS LEA DERS.
instances tears coursed down their cheeks. Thousands upon thousands hesitated
to speak one to another, lest they should be overcome by their feelings and “weep
like women.” Funeral bells were tolled ; throughout city and country flags were
placed at half-mast, buildings were draped in black, and groups gathered on
every corner in sadness and silence; business in many localities was suspended,
and all places of amusement were closed for days and days together.
While there was no proof that the leaders of the Rebellion had instigated the
assassination, it was felt that the assassination was the natural outgrowth of
the Rebellion, and the men concerned in the conspiracy had been impelled to it
as a last act of desperation. Among the most sincere mourners of the Presi-
dent were the colored people throughout the North and South. They had come
to know Lincoln as their friend—the friend of their race, the author of the proc-
lamation which had taken them out of bondage—and among all assemblages of
the colored people, North and South, there was the most outspoken expression
of grief, accompanied, in most instances, by floods of tears. .
A few days after the assassination, the funeral of the President took place
in Washington, and then the body was carried on a special funeral train to its
final resting place, in Springfield, Ill. It may be said that this funeral train
was fifteen hundred miles long. At every station on the line of the railroad
groups were gathered as mourners; bands of music played the requiem for the
dead, and bells were tolled ; all the insignia of grief were displayed; and as the
train slowly rolled along, thousands and thousands of heads were uncovered. On
the morning of the 3d of May the train reached Springfield, where the final fu-
neral services were held. In his funeral address on this occasion, Bishop Simp-
son, who was a personal friend of the President, quoted from one of Lincoln’s
speeches in 1859 the following sentence, referring to the slave power: “Broken
by it. I too may be. Bow to it. I never will. The probability that we may fail in
the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause which I deem
to be just and honest. It shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me
elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of the Almighty
Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country deserted by all the
world besides, and I standing up boldly and alone and hurling defiance at her
victorious oppressors. Here, without contemplating consequences, before High
Fieaven and in the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause,
as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty, and my love.”
Three hours after the death of President Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, who had
THE REPUBLICAW PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 127
been elected Vice-President, was sworn into office as the President of the United
States. Johnson was the only one of the twenty-two Senators from the eleven
States that composed the Confederacy who honorably adhered to his oath to
support the Constitution of the United States. He was the only one who did
SENATOR HENRY L. DAWES, MASSACHUSETTS.
not lend aid and comfort to the enemies of the country. He remained in his
seat, manifesting an unswerving loyalty, until March, 1862, when he resigned, upon
the urgent request of Lincoln, in order to take the post of military governor
of Tennessee—a post of danger and requiring a display of excellent judgment.

128 • THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
He filled this position admirably, and secured such general popularity throughout
the Northern States as to lead to his nomination on the ticket with Lincoln at
the Baltimore Convention.
. There was a general feeling throughout the North when Johnson was raised
to the office of President that he would fill the place satisfactorily ; at the same
time there was a fear on the part of many thinking people that his abilities
would not be equal to the emergency. Had Lincoln lived, there is little doubt
that Johnson would have been of great assistance to him in carrying out his
plans, but when thrown entirely on his own resources it was but natural that
many friends of the nation should have fears for the future. Lincoln had admin-
istered affairs so ably during the four years of his administration that any
policy which he had announced for the management of the lately rebellious
States would have been accepted by the great majority of the people ; but the
same confidence could not exist regarding Johnson, for the very plain reason
that he was without experience. So there was a period of anxious waiting until
the first measures of reconstruction should be taken. It was known to several
men of prominence that on the morning of April 10th, when Johnson arrived
from Fortress Monroe and found Washington in a blaze of excitement over the
surrender of Lee’s army at Appomatox, he hurried to the White House and
protested most earnestly to Lincoln against the liberal terms which General
Grant had accorded to General Lee ; he claimed that General Lee should not
have been permitted to surrender in the manner that he did, but that the
entire Confederate forces should have been held as prisoners of war and General
Lee placed under guard and imprisoned until instructions could have been received
from the government at Washington. Johnson, at that time, believed in the
most rigid treatment of those lately in rebellion, and this spirit seems to have
been manifested in the following declaration from his first public address:
“As to an indication of any policy which may be pursued by me in the con-
duct of the government, I have to say that that must be left for development a.S.
the administration progresses. The message or the declaration must be made by
the acts, as they transpire. The only assurance I can now give of the future is by
reference to the past.”
An unpleasant effect was produced everywhere throughout the North by this
speech. It was regarded as evasive in character, and there was a remarkable
absence of any reference to Lincoln, either as to his work as President or to the
manner of his death. The only allusion that was made in any way to the death
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 129
of the late President was in the words: “I am almost overwhelmed by the
announcement of the sad event which has so recently occurred.” He spoke not
more than five minutes, and it was observed that the pronouns “ I” and “me”
occurred at least twenty times. One of the Senators who was present on this
occasion wittily remarked : “Johnson seems willing to share the glory of his
achievements with his Creator, but utterly forgets that Lincoln had any share of
credit in the suppression of the Rebellion.”
Delegations of citizens from Illinois, Pennsylvania, and other States called
upon the President in the next few days, but in reply to their addresses he did
not give any clear idea of the policy he intended to pursue. He continued his
public receptions and speeches for nearly a month after his accession, until many
of his friends thought he had talked altogether too much. He had taken no
action, but had endeavored to impress the country with a belief that his admin-
istration would be one of great vigor, and that he would deal very severely with
all those who had been concerned in the Rebellion. Those who thought that the
chief conspirators against the nation should be severely punished applauded these
sentiments very heartily, but those who were more in sympathy with Lincoln’s
well-known kindness of heart were greatly fearful of the consequences.
On the 10th of May the President issued a proclamation to the effect that
“armed resistance to the authority of the government in the insurrectionary
States may be regarded at an end.” Nothing was said in this proclamation of
the steps to be taken to restore the States to a form of government. It had
been Lincoln’s policy to re-establish civil government in all the Southern States,
whenever opposition had ceased. For example, at the end of the first year of
the war, when the city of New Orleans and the lower part of Louisiana had
come under the government control, Lincoln made an effort to establish a civil
government that should be loyal to the nation. The first step was taken by
the election, on the 3d of December, 1862, of two old citizens of Louisiana as
members of Congress. They were chosen at an election ordered by the military
governor of Louisiana, and their credentials bore his signature. Some doubt
arose as to the validity of this action, and its repetition for the ensuing Con-
gress was seriotisly opposed. Considerable trouble grew out of the reconstruc-
tion movements in Louisiana, which, on the whole, greatly disappointed the Presi-
dent, and in December, 1863, he sent to the Thirty-eighth Congress a definite plan
of reconstruction. He accompanied this message with a proclamation to the
effect that the “constitutional obligation to guarantee to every State in the
9
130 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LAEA.D.E.R.S.
TJnion a republican form of government and to protect the State in such cases,
is explicit and full.” In his proclamation the President announced that “to
all persons who have, directly or by implication, participated in the existing Re-
bellion, except as hereinafter excepted, a full pardon is hereby granted, with res-
toration of all rights of property except as to slaves, upon condition that such
person shall take and subscribe an oath and thenceforward maintain said oath
inviolate, to the following effect: to henceforth faithfully support and defend
the Constitution and the union of the States thereunder, and to abide by all
laws and proclamations made during the existing Rebellion having reference to
slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of the
Supreme Court.”
Lincoln was willing to intrust the establishment of a State government to
any population whose loyalty could be tested by taking the prescribed oath,
provided this population should be sufficiently numerous to cast a vote one-tenth
as large as the vote at the presidential election of 1860. He declared that any
government established on this basis should be recognized as the true govern-
ment of the State, and the State should receive the benefits of the constitutional
provision which declares that the United States shall guarantee to each State
a republican form of government. -
In January, 1864, a Free State Convention was held in New Orleans, which
accepted the emancipation policy of the President as the basis of its action.
An election was appointed for State officers, and the officers chosen at that
election were installed on the 4th of March. As soon as the news of the
establishment of this government reached the President, he issued an order
declaring that the Governor, Michael Hahn, was invested, until further orders,
with the powers exercised hitherto by the military governor of Louisiana. This
movement of reconstruction was followed by the assembling of a convention to
frame a constitution for Louisiana. It was held early in April, and one of its
chief acts was to incorporate an anti-slavery clause into the law of the State.
The Convention voted—seventy to sixteen—that slavery was forever abolished in
Louisiana. The constitution was adopted by the people in the following Sep-
tember, by a vote of 6836 against 1566. Louisiana, at the presidential elec-
tion of 1860, had cast less than sixty thousand votes, and, consequently, the
new State government met the conditions required by the President, because
the new constitution was adopted by an excess of one-tenth of the presidential
vote. Louisiana was, consequently, under a form of government perfectly in
º
THE J2EPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 131
accord with the Constitution, which made it a loyal State; but it was evident
that it could not sustain itself for a single hour, if the military support of
the government should be removed—and in this feature lay whatever weakness
there may have been in the President’s plan. Similar action was taken, in the
SENATOR, JAMES MCMILLAN, MICHIGAN.
early spring of 1864, in Arkansas. A loyal governor was chosen, together with
all the officers of a State government, and Senators and Representatives in
Congress were elected in the Customary Way.
In his policy of reconstruction, as announced in his proclamation hitherto

132 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
mentioned, Lincoln had taken care to say that the admission of members of
Congress elected under this plan of reconstruction would depend entirely upon
the Houses to which the were accredited. When the Senators from Arkan-
sas presented themselves at Washington, it was found that Congress did not
sympathize with the reconstruction scheme of Lincoln. The subject was held
under consideration for some time, the matter being referred to a committee,
which reported unfavorably to the admission of the Senators from Arkansas.
The Senate voted—twenty-seven to six—that the Rebellion was not so far sup-
pressed in Arkansas as to entitle that State to representation in Congress, and
therefore the two Senators were not entitled to admission. The same action was
taken in the House, and the Representatives were not admitted.
From this time on no attempts were made to reconstruct any of the re-
bellious States. In his Annual Message, in December, 1864, Lincoln made no
allusion to the matter, touching not at all upon the question of reconstruction.
He regretted sincerely the differences that had arisen between himself and
Congress, and was determined to leave the matter as far as possible in abeyance
until the end of the war. g -
Johnson continued to be military governor of Tennessee after his elec-
tion to the Vice-Presidency, and early in 1865 he determined to reorganize the
government of that State. He took the same steps that had been taken in
Louisiana and Arkansas, and organized a government which had been put in
operation before the death of Lincoln, though it did not receive the recogni-
tion of the general government in any specific manner. Congress was not in
session, and, therefore, the test of the validity of the government—that of send-
ing , Senators and Representatives to Congress—did not take place. There was
no interference with the local government exercising its powers, and the
matter does not seem to have been seriously brought under President Lincoln’s
attention. •
The first act of reconstruction under President Johnson was a proclamation
of amnesty and pardon to “all persons who have, directly or indirectly, par-
ticipated in the existing Rebellion, upon the condition that such persons shall
take and subscribe an oath, to be registered for permanent preservation,
solemnly declaring that henceforth they would faithfully support, protect, and
defend the Constitution of the United States and the union of the States there-
under,” and that they would also “abide by and faithfully support all laws
and proclamations which have been made during the existing Rebellion with
t
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S DEADERS. 133
reference to the emancipation of slaves.” This was the first official document
which was attested by Seward in his capacity of Secretary of State under
President Johnson. It must be borne in mind that until a very short time
previous to the 29th of May, Seward had been incapacitated from service by
reason of his wounds. Some of his biographers have said that he intended to
signalize his return to health and his resumption of official duty by public par-
ticipation in an act which he regarded as one of wisdom and mercy—an act
which was wise, because merciful. The proclamation of amnesty was not to
include everybody. At its end it excepted all diplomatic officers and foreign
agents of the Confederate government, all who left judicial stations under the
United States to aid the Rebellion, all the military and naval officers of the Con-
federacy above the rank of colonel in the army and lieutenant in the navy,
all who left seats in the Congress of the United States to join in the Bebellion,
all who resigned or tendered resignations in the army or navy of the United
States to avoid duty in resisting the Rebellion, all who had been engaged in
treating otherwise than as lawful prisoners of war persons found in the United
States service as officers, soldiers or seamen, all persons who had been or
were then absentees from the United States for the purpose of aiding the
Rebellion. There were several other classes named in the exceptions, So that,
substantially, the proclamation of amnesty may be said to have included
merely the rank and file of the people. The classes excepted were certainly
more numerous than those who were excluded from the benefits of the proc-
lamation of Lincoln in December, 1863. As Seward had approved both the
proclamations, it is natural to infer that the increased harshness of the later
one was due to the views of Johnson. * -
A proviso was inserted in the proclamation, that special application for pardon
might be made to the President by any person belonging to the excepted classes;
the idea being that the requirement of a special application would be a test of
the return or returning loyalty of the applicant. A circular was sent by Seward
along with the proclamation, explaining that the oath might be taken before any
commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval, in the service of the United States,
or before any civil or military officer of a loyal State or Territory, who, by the
laws thereof, might be qualified to administer oaths. In this way it was made
possible to reach the great mass of the people ; and every man who took the oath
was to be provided with a certified copy of it, which should be his evidence of res-"
toration to civil rights, while another copy should be deposited in the archives of
134 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
the government. On the same day, May 29, a proclamation was issued appoint-
ing Wm. W. Holden provisional governor of North Carolina, confiding to him the
work of reconstructing the civil government of that State. The proclamation
made it Governor Holden's duty, at the earliest practicable date, to arrange for
a convention, composed of men loyal to the United States, to amend the constitu-
tion of the State, and with authority to exercise, within the limits of that State,
all the powers necessary and proper to enable the loyal people of North Carolina.
to restore said State to its constitutional relations to the Federal government,
and to present such a republican form of State government as would entitle the
State to the guarantee of the United States therefor, and its people against inva-
Sion, insurrections and domestic violence. -- - -
It was specially provided that no person could be eligible as a delegate to
this convention unless he had taken the oath of allegiance then issued, and un-
less he also possessed the qualifications of a voter as defined under the laws of the
State before the ordinance of secession was passed. At the time of the reconstruc-
tion of Louisiana, Lincoln endeavored to try the experiment of Negro suffrage,
beginning with those who had served as soldiers or sailors in the Union army
or navy, and who could read and write; but President Johnson’s plan limited
the suffrage to white men by limiting the qualifications to those which existed
in North Carolina previous to the war. The military officers of North Carolina
were instructed to aid and assist in carrying the proclamation into effect, and
were specially directed to abstain from hindering, impeding or discouraging
the loyal people in any manner whatever from the organization of a State gov-
ernment, as authorized by the proclamation. The various heads of the execu-
tive department were directed to re-establish all the machinery of the national
government throughout the limits of the State. The Postmaster-General was
instructed to re-establish the post-offices and appoint postmasters. The United
States district judge was instructed to hold courts in North Carolina, and the
Attorney-General received orders to enforce the administration of justice within
said State in all matters within the cognizance and jurisdiction of the Federal
courts. The Secretary of the Treasury was instructed to nominate collectors
of customs, collectors and assessors of internal revenue, and whatever other
Treasury officials might be required under the existing laws. All of these
high officers were informed, through the proclamation, that preference would
be given to qualified loyal persons residing within the districts where their
respective duties were to be performed, but if suitable residents of the dis-
*
THE REPUBLICALW PARTY
135
AND ITS
LEADERS.

136 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
º:
tricts could not be found, then persons in other States or districts should be
appointed.
Two weeks later a similar proclamation was issued for the reconstruction of
Mississippi, and a provisional governor was appointed. Four days after this,
Georgia was reconstructed; and three days later, Alabama came under the same
regulation. On the 30th of June a provisional governor was appointed for South
Carolina; and on the 13th of July a provisional governor was appointed for
, Florida. The proclamation and instructions in all these States were the same
as those for North Carolina, with the simple exception of a change of name and
date. For the reconstruction of the other four States of the old Confederacy,
arrangements slightly differing from those already mentioned were made. These
States—Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee—were reorganized under Lin-
coln’s so-called Ten per cent Governments, their authority having been recog-
nized, at least locally, before the issuing of the North Carolina proclamation. The
fatal defect in Johnson's policy, from the point of view of many Northern people,
was that he had excluded the colored citizens from any part in the reorganiza-
tion of the government. As he had made the qualifications of a voter the same
as those that existed prior to secession, he had given the control of the work of
reconstruction to the white men only, and those of the class who were ready to
take the oath of allegiance to the government.
These men had the power to establish the organic law of the State, and in
making that law they could fix the basis of suffrage, with which the general
government would have no power to interfere. It was not to be presumed that
the white men who composed the convention and reorganized the government
would exclude from the rights of citizenship the classes which had been exempted.
from the President’s pardon. They had been the leaders and the men of promi-
nence throughout the South, and it was to be presumed that while differing in
opinion, perhaps only in degree, they would be on friendly terms with the organ-
izers of the government, and, to a large extent, would exercise an influence over
them. The result of the President’s scheme of reconstruction, unless Some of its
features were changed, would be to return the complete control of the States
lately in rebellion to the hands of those who had originally brought on the war.
It is difficult to understand how. Seward could have accepted such a scheme
as practicable or believed that it would be acceptable to the people of the North
in general. It seems that Johnson was the first to realize how completely the
colored men were excluded from all control in the reorganized States, and he
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 137
endeavored to repair his fault by addressing a letter to each one of the pro-
visional governors, recommending that the elective franchise should be given to
all persons of color who could read the Constitution of the United States and
write their names, and also to those who owned real estate valued at not less
-
SENATOR FRANCIS B. STOCKBRIDGE, MICHIGAN.
than $250 and paid taxes thereon. In writing to one of these governors, Johnson
said that his recommendations in regard to color suffrage could be adopted with
perfect safety, and that thereby the Southern States would be placed, with refer-
ence to free persons of color, upon the same basis with the free States. The

138 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
closing paragraph of the letter showed that Johnson was moved to this recom-
mendation more from a feeling of policy than from any belief’ in its inherent
justice. He wrote as follows: “I hope and trust that your Convention will do
this, and, as a consequence, the radicals who are wild upon Negro suffrage will
be completely foiled in their attempt to keep the Southern States from renewing
their relations to the Union by not accepting their Senators and Represent-
atives.”
The entire scheme of reconstruction was in full operation within three months
after the death of President Lincoln. It caused much excitement throughout.
the North and had a tendency to divide the Republican party. . Those who had
opposed Lincoln’s war policy were greatly encouraged by the reconstruction
plan; and it was very soon apparent that there would be unity of action between
those of the North who had been classed as “Copper-heads,” and those of the
South who had sought to destroy the country; together they would be able to
take complete control of the lately rebellious States, and it was no “forlorn
hope ’’ for them that they might soon be in control of the general government.
There was a general desire throughout the North for the restoration of the
Union. The desire was to give any reasonable terms to the lately rebellious
States; but it was coupled with the general belief that the indemnity for the past
should be accompanied with security for the future. As the President’s policy of
reconstruction was carefully considered, it was regarded as dangerous to the
future well-being of the government. It was hardly to be expected that the con-
quered people who had recently been supplicating for mercy would begin by
raising objections to the very liberal terms that were offered to them, and
demand absurd conditions which could not be reasonably granted. In many in-
stances, the generosity of the government was construed to arise from timidity,
and consequently, the arrogance of those lately in rebellion was developed to an
unusual extent. The President, in his proclamation for the appointment of pro-
visional governors, had assumed that the Rebellion in its revolutionary progress
had deprived the people of the revolting States of all civil government. His idea
was that a new government would be formed on the basis of the new order of
things; but in every State the Southern leaders proceeded to patch up their old
constitutions and adapt them, with very slight changes, to the principles of
reconstruction. The only amendments that they made were such as they believed
would enable them to be represented in the next Congress. They did not
even take the trouble to submit these changes to the popular vote, but as-
***
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 139
sumed that the conventions had the full power to make the changes, and acted
accordingly.
The elections were held and Representatives in Congress were chosen. The
elections proved to be nothing more than partisan assemblies under the direction
of the old leaders, and very much as the reconstruction conventions were in their
membership and organization. In some of the conventions members who had
been in the service of the Rebellion under the rank of brigadiers were in the
majority, and many of them wore the uniforms in which they had fought on the
field. In an investigation of the matter, a joint committee of Congress commented
rather severely upon this feature of the convention. “ Hardly is the war closed,”
are the words of the committee, “before the people of the insurrectionary States
come forward and haughtily claim, as a right, the privilege of participating at
once in that, government which they have for four years been fighting to over-
throw. Allowed and encouraged by the Executive to organize State governments,
they at once placed in power leading rebels, unrepentant and unpardoned, exclud-
ing with contempt those who had manifested an attachment to the Union and
preferring, in many instances, those who had rendered themselves peculiarly obnox-
ious. In the face of a law requiring an oath that would necessarily exclude all
such men from a Federal Convention, they have elected, with very few exceptions,
as Senators and Representatives in Congress, the very men who have actively par-
ticipated in the Rebellion, insultingly denouncing the law as unconstitutional.”
IX.
Progress of Reconstruction—Alarm of Loyal People of the North—Analysis of the action of
the Legislatures in the Reconstructed States—Northern Democrats and their Sympathy
with the Rebels—Anomalous Condition of the Negro–Varying Views as to his Status
—Demand that he should have the Right of Suffrage—Legislation ignoring Rights of
Colored Men—Laws passed in Alabama and Florida—Treatment of “Vagrants ”—Poverty
a Crime—Intent of the Southern Laws—Action in Congress—Message of President Johnson—
Joint Committee on Reconstruction — Bill Establishing Civil Rights—The Freedmen's
Bureau—Conflict between President and Congress—Tenure of Office Act—Impeachment
Trial and its Result.
LL the Legislatures of the temporarily reconstructed States
were in session before the end of the year 1865. Their
proceedings were such as to alarm the thinking people of the
country very much indeed. The action of the legislators, as
soon as they assembled, seemed to be dictated by a belief
that they were restored to their full rights and powers as
before the war, and possibly were in possession of greater powers than they ever
had before. They supposed from the tone of certain Democratic papers in the
North that the Northern people would submit to anything, and all that was
needed was for the South to go ahead and do just what it pleased. As they
had the support of President J ohnson, the leaders of the South believed that they
could carry through any design, establish any policy, and have things entirely
their own way. They did not hesitate in the least at insulting Northern sen-
timent, and in every course that they took no one seemed to care what was
thought about it outside of their own States. Some of them went so far as to
boast that whenever they could give special offense or bring special humiliation
to the North, which had lately been triumphant in the field of battle, they would
gladly do so. They were misled by the expressions of Democratic papers and
Democratic politicians in the North, just as they had been misled in the period
(140) • ,
wº

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 141
preceding the war. The same newspapers and the same politicians during 1860
and the years immediately preceding had assured the Southern people that
their efforts at secession would not be resisted by force. A great many
Northern Democrats had said that they would themselves take up arms and
SENATOR WILLIAM D. WASHBURN, MINNESOTA.
resist any Northern movement of a forcible character, and that if there should
be any war at all it would be in the Northern States rather than in the South.
It was a great astonishment to the Southern leaders, when the war did break
Out, that the Northern Democrats did not come to their relief. It is proper to

142 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
say that a very large number of the Democratic party of the North, as soon
as war actually broke out, did not hesitate to enroll themselves on the side of
the Union and become as zealous in defense of the country as the most earnest
Republican could possible have been. These men became known as War Dem-
ocrats, and many of them rendered most efficient service. They were roundly
abused by the men of the South, and not a few of them were openly accused of
being traitors to the Southern cause. At the beginning of the reconstruction
period, when the Democratic papers and speakers gave this fresh assurance to
the South—that they could do as they pleased—the Southern leaders seemed
to forget how they had been deceived in the period just before the war. They
were just as ready as ever to believe the assurances of their Northern allies,
and to act accordingly. ... •
A very awkward situation was presented by the condition of the Negro in
the Southern States. The Republicans of the North were much divided as to
the status he should have in the reconstruction. A minority of the Republicans
demanded that suffrage should be given to the Negroes who had been lately
emancipated. It was clear to be seen that they were hardly fitted, through
the ignorance in which they had been brought up. to be intrusted with the right
to vote. This minority was composed of very earnest men, of the same class
aS those who had originated the anti-slavery movement, and some of them were
the same men whose names had been prominent as leading Abolitionists, or,
where they were not outspoken Abolitionists, they were certainly in favor of the
restriction of slavery to the States where it existed. These men believed that
it would be impossible to preserve the rights of the emancipated Negroes unless
they were invested with the power to vote, and they openly declared that only a
very few years would elapse before the Negroes' would be again in a state of
slavery. Among the most earnest advocates of the right of suffrage for the
Southern Negro were Charles Sumner, Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison,
Joshua R. Giddings, and several others of the same type, who had been fore-
most in the anti-slavery movement. They were determined that the right of
suffrage should be accorded to the Negro ; that he should be made a citizen in
every respect and a man equal to those about him ; and they would listen to
nothing less than this. . -
But the peculiarity of the situation was that in several of . the Northern
States the Negro was excluded from the suffrage. In fact, a majority of the
loyal States gave the suffrage only to white men. It seemed therefore very
**
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 143
illogical to grant full suffrage in the States lately in. rebellion, where the Negro
was far more ignorant and unfitted for the exercise of the duties of a citizen
than he would be in the Northern States, where he was generally in possession
of a fair amount of education ; most of the northern Negroes were able at least
to read and write, which could be said of very few indeed of the Negroes of the
South. Furthermore, in the Southern States the Negro had never had the 'pro-
tection of the law of marriage. Marriages among the Negroes had been little
more than a farce, Negro weddings. occurring on the plantations being accom-
panied with no ceremony whatever, or simply by the appearance of the two con-
tracting parties before the overseer of the place, with the request that they should
be allowed to get married. Marriage was always encouraged among the Ne-
groes, as it was a direct means for an increase in the numbers, and, consequently,
of the value of the colored property of the owner. Furthermore, it was neces-
sary that the Negro should have the benefit of the laws that would protect
him in his rights of labor, so that he could collect whatever debts might be
due him, and purchase and hold real estate and other kinds of property in the
same way as his white neighbor. Again, it was necessary that some arrange-
ment should be made for the instruction of the colored people. Perhaps it
would not be feasible to send the adults to school, but certainly it was neces-
sary to provide for the education of colored children, so that the rising genera-
tion might possess the requisite intelligence for exercising the duties of citizen-
ship. There were many other requirements in considering the interest of the
black man of the South, but the three which have been mentioned were the
most essential, and unless provision were made for them it was felt that the
Negro would speedily be re-enslaved, or, if not so re-enslaved, he would be in a
worse condition than when he was cared for by a master.
Consequently, the proceedings of the newly-organized Legislatures in the
South were regarded with a great deal of anxiety. It was possible for them to
repair the blunders, at least in great dégree, that had been committed by the
reconstruction conventions in their hasty and unjustifiable action. A dishearten-
ing feature of the affair was that the membership of the Legislatures WàS COIſle-
posed almost entirely of men who had fought in the rebel armies and sought
the destruction of the Union. It was felt that if these men should act in a
spirit of moderation, and display a sentiment of justice toward the colored man, ,
all would be well; but there was great fear that the spirit of the reconstruction
conventions would be followed by the Legislatures. Had they taken the first-
144 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
. named course, very much of the evil which followed for a decade or more would
have been avoided.
All doubt was set at rest as soon as the Southern Legislatures assembled and
began their proceedings. Their treatment of the Negro was in accord with the
sentiment which had become a byword throughout the country—that the Negro
possessed no rights which a white man was bound to respect. The Southern
leaders were ready enough to accept the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery
throughout the States, because they readily saw that they could legislate in such
a way as to render the Negro as much a slave as he had ever been. One of their
first steps was to make serious crimes out of acts which would not be offenses at
all, if committed by a white man. The civil and criminal code treated the Negro
in a way vastly different from that in which the white man was treated. The
labor laws were different according to the color, and also the laws of vagrancy,
many of the provisions of the vagrant law applying only to the Negro and not
touching the white man at all. The liberty to hire himself out at a fair market
value was totally set aside by means of apprentice laws; many avenues of indus-
try, in which he might compete with the white man, were closed to him, and in
every way he was made to feel that his liberty was much more a mockery than a
reality. -
Let us consider some of the enactments that were made by these Legislatures
in the reconstructed and reconstructing States. In Alabama, “ stubborn or re-
fractory servants * and “servants who loiter away their time ’’ were declared
vagrants under the law. They could be brought before a justice of the peace
and fined fifty dollars, and if unable to pay they could be hired out at auction in
three days for the period of six months. The whole effect and intent of this en-
actment was to put the Negro in a condition of slavery for at least half a year;
and if this punishment were repeated twice in twelve months the man would be
at compulsory labor for the whole period and the wages received for his services
would go to the State, county or town, and not into the pocket of the unhappy
workingman. It was entirely feasible to arrest a whole population of Negroes,
say just at harvest time, when their labor was specially in demand, hire them
out to a planter and compel them to work under the lash, just as they had been
compelled to labor in the times before the war. There was even an advantage
in this over the condition of slavery as it formerly existed. In the old days, the
master had the care of the slave and looked after and provided for him when he
was ill; but under the present system, the Negro being free, the man who hired
THE REZ” UBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 145
his services would be under no obligation whatever to look out for the Negro's
health, but his whole interest was confined to getting as much labor as possible
out of the man in a given time, whatever might become of him afterwards. Fur-
SENATOR CUSHMAN K. DAVIS, MINNESOTA.
thermore, he would be able, by collusion with the officers of the law, to obtain
the labor of the man for the merest pittance, and as this pittance went into the
treasury of the town or county, it would be sufficient to pay all the taxes and
thus wholly relieve the white man from the burden of taxation.

10
146 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. -
The new law was made applicable to men or women of every age. For
minors, a system even more severe than the foregoing was adopted. It was
made the duty of all sheriffs, justices of the peace, and other civil officers of
the several counties, to report the names of all minors under the age of eighteen
years whose parents had not the means or who refused to support said minors;
and thereupon it was the duty of the court to apprentice said minor to some
suitable person on such terms as the court might direct. It is easy to see to
what such a provision would lead, especially when it was suggested, in a subse-
quent paragraph of the law, that if said minor was the child of a freed man, the
former owner of said minor should have the preference in securing the services
of the apprentice. The judge of probate was required to record the proceed-
ings and to receive for such record the sum of one dollar, to be , paid by the
master or mistress of the apprentice. Thus, it will be seen that the apprentice
was practically purchased and paid for, and legally became for a term of years
the property of the man or woman to whom he was apprenticed.
Other laws of the same character in Alabama, and in other States might
be quoted to show the spirit by which the new legislators were controlled.
Laws were enacted to empower the authorities of any town or city to cause
** all vagrants who had no fixed residence, or could give no good account of
themselves, or were loitering in or about tippling houses,” to give security for
their good behavior, and in case of inability to give such security they would
be put at labor for the term of not more than six calendar months; and the
authorities were empowered to appoint persons who should take charge of these
vagrants and see that they were kept properly employed at remunerative labor.
The intent of this law was to make it easy to apprehend any man or woman
who was poor, and secure compulsory labor, for which no compensation should be
given, for the period—as the law stated—of not more than six calendar months.
It is easy to see that when the six months were ended the man could be rear-
rested within an hour, or a minute, and set at work again for another period of
six calendar months. Thus the slavery of the colored man would be rendered as
nearly perpetual as it was possible for laws to make it. When these laws were
enacted, there was an abundance of labor in the market, and it was possible
to hire thousands of hands at twenty-five cents per day, with an allowance of
four pounds of bacon and a peck of cornmeal once a week. Certainly these
wages were low enough, and it is all the worse for the morals of the legislators
that they preferred to frame laws which should enable them to get labor for
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 147
*
nothing rather than to take it honestly at the low price named. It was evident
that the Negroes of the South were in a condition of the most extreme poverty
when they were willing to labor for such a low price, and this very poverty was
constituted a crime which would facilitate the practical enslavement of the colored
race. In the framing of these laws, the makers of them frequently used the
terms master, mistress, and servant, thus reviving the forms to which they had
been accustomed before the war. Care was taken not to mention specifically the
color of the people who were thus to be punished for the crime of poverty. No
mention of color was made in the laws affecting vagrants, but it was well known
and understood throughout the entire South that the laws were not to be applied,”
and certainly they were not applied, to white men.
In Florida, the laws were similar to those of Alabama, with the exception of
being more severe. In that State the vagrant could be hired out for twelve
months, and the money which the authorities received for his services—in case he
had no wife or children—was directed to be applied for the benefit of the orphans
and poor of the county. . The Negro, it seems, had been declared a vagrant
because he had no visible means of support. He was certainly entitled to be
treated as one of the poor of the county. But by the operation of the law, and
in its language, he was not at all classed among the “orphans and poor.”
Another law intended to apply directly to the colored man was one that estab-
lished a criminal court in each county, which could exercise jurisdiction in all
crimes except capital ones. It was vèry clear to perceive that the law was in-
tended for the punishment of Negroes, and the work of these courts was facilitated
by the enactment that “in the proceedings of said court no presentment, indict-
ment or written pleadings shall be required, but it shall be sufficient—to put the
party accused upon his or her trial—that the offense and facts are plainly set
forth, with reasonable certainty, in the warrant of arrest.” It was further pro-
vided that where any fines were imposed that the victim was unable to pay, “the
county commissioner may hire out, at public outcry, the said party to any person
who will take him or her for the shortest time and pay the fine imposed and the
cost of prosecution.” The county treasurer received the fines that were thus paid,
and they were used for the general purposes of the county. The practical result
was that the Negro was put in a state "of slavery and compelled to earn the
money to pay the public expenses of the county, and thus, as in the similar case
in Alabama, relieve his white neighbor from the burden of taxation.
We could go on at great length detailing the laws which were passed in the
148 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADER.S.
Southern States in the period just after the war, but the examples that have been
given will suffice. They were all of the same general character, so far as the
Negro is concerned. -
It was while the country was considering the unexpected and impudent action
of the Southern Legislatures that the Thirty-ninth Congress met, in December,
1865. The Senate and House each contained a large majority of Republicans.
Colfax was re-elected Speaker, and in his address on taking the chair he went
out of the usual course of simply thanking the members for his election and
assuring them of his impartiality, and added these words in regard to the con-
dition of the country: “ The duties of Congress are as obvious as the sun’s path-
way in the heavens. Its first and highest obligation is to guarantee to every State
a republican form of government, to establish the rebellious States anew on such
a basis of enduring justice as will guarantee all safeguards to the people and
protection to all men in their inalienable rights. In this great work the world
should witness the most inflexible fidelity, the most earnest devotion to the prin-
ciples of liberty and humanity, the truest patriotism and the wisest statesman-
ship.”
It was evident that the remarks of Colfax had reference to the action of
the Southern Legislatures, and the feeling of the members of the House W2,S SO
much in accord with him that he was several times interrupted by loud applause,
all coming from the Republican side. After the election of Speaker and the
subordinate officers were completed, Thaddeus Stevens, who was recognized as
the leader of the Republican side, offered a resolution for the appointment of a
joint committee of fifteen members, nine from the House and six from the Senate,
to inquire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called Confederate
States of America, and report whether they or any of them were entitled to be
represented in either House of Congress. His resolution further demanded that
until such report had been made and finally acted upon by Congress no member
should be received into either House from any of the so-called Confederate
States; and the resolution further directed that all papers relating to the repre-
sentation of said States should be referred to the committee without debate.
An objection was made to the introduction of the resolution ; whereupon Stev-
ens moved to suspend the rules, which was carried by a vote of 129 to 35. The
resolution was immediately adopted. A similar action was taken in the Senate,
Charles Summer leading with resolutions defining the duty of Congress in regard
to the condition of the rebel States and the guarantees which were due the
*
:
1. Gunboat–Petrel type.
2. Monitor–Amphitrite class.
3. Miantonomoh.
THE NEW CRUISERS AND IRONCLAID DEFENSE SHIPS OF
4. Ireconstructed Monitor. 7. Coast Defense Vessel–Armored.
5. Armored Cruiser “ Maine.” 8. Battle Ship “ Texas.”
6. Cruiser “Philadelphia.” 9. “Charleston.”
THE U.
12.
S. NAVY.
Gunhoat, “Yorktown.”
* Vesuvius.”
Monitor—Puritan type.
Torpedo Boat No. 1.

150 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
people of those States from the nation. The resolutions of Sumner made the
same conditions in regard to the acceptance of members from the States lately
in rebellion as those which had been passed by the House.
The first day of the session of both House and Senate was devoted to a con-
sideration of the state of affairs in the South, and not until the close of the pro-
ceedings did either body notify the President that it was organized and was
ready to receive his Annual Message. The message came the next day. It had.
been eagerly looked for by the whole country, and there were varying opinions
as to what it would be. There was general expectation, which turned out to
have been well founded, that the message would increase the ill feeling which
already existed between the President and the Republicans, who had elected him
to his high office, and it was felt that it would lead to an offer of support
from the Democrats, who, up that time, had been in greater or less opposition .
to him. The President was careful to exhibit a spirit of calmness a.º. dignity
in his message, and scrupulously avoided the use of any harsh terms which
might give serious offense. -
The moderation of the message was attributed to Seward, who had re-
mained in his position much against the wishes of many of his friends, and,
as has since been learned, much against his own inclination. In this instance,
he labored hard with the President to induce him to moderation, and it seems
that he had been quite successful in doing so. During his career in Congress he
had not been noted for a tendency to compromise, but in the present instance
his inclinations were all in that direction. His argument was to have each
party in the dispute give way a little, and, at all events, avoid the danger of a
disruption of the Republican party. In the message Johnson devoted consider-
able space to the consideration of the state of affairs in the South. According to
his view, there were only two ways of dealing with the insurrectionary States;
one, to bring them back into practical relations with the Union, and the other,
to hold them in military subjection. He inclined to the former rather than to
the latter method, pointing out the various objections which might be made
to military rule. He then explained what he had done in the way of appoint-
ing provisional governors and calling conventions, and putting the State
machinery in order generally; and sketched completely the course of events
from the time he was sworn into office until the date of the assembling of
Congress. He urged the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, in order that
the Negro should be put in a condition of freedom, and maintained that the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. - 151
general government should not interfere with the qualifications for suffrage in
each of the States. He passed over in complete silence the most important,
part of the subject, and that was, the proceedings and spirit of the Southern
Conventions and Legislatures. His friends, as well as his opponents, thought
he made a great mistake in so doing. Some argued that he considered the
action of the Conventions and Legislatures of so bad a character that it could
not possibly be excused, and therefore he would make no mention of it; and
- others argued that he considered it outside of the line of his observation—
something that he had nothing to do with—and therefore it should be left
out of his Annual Message to Congress. Either horn of the dilemma was one
which would meet with very serious objections.
The Joint Committee on Reconstruction was ordered, and immediately began
its work. Then, on the 18th of December, a debate on reconstruction began in
the House; and it was probably one of the longest debates ever known in the
history of Congress. It was opened by Stevens, in the most radical and
emphatic manner—as every one will understand who knew the character of
that eminent speaker. In the opening of his speech he referred to the fourth
article of the Constitution, which says that “ new States may be admitted
into the Congress of this nation.” “In my judgment,” said Stevens, “this is
the controlling provision in this case. Unless the law of nations is a dead
letter, the late war between the two acknowledged belligerents severed their
original contracts and broke all the ties that bound them together. The future
condition of the conquered power depends on the will of the conqueror. They
must come in as new States or remain as conquered provinces.”
Stevens had persistently maintained this theory from the very beginning of
the Rebellion, and he had never failed to put it forth whenever he had the op-
portunity to do so. Stevens proceeded to state in detail the effect which might
be produced by the manumission of the slaves upon the congressional represen-
tation under the Constitution. He showed that the South would be entitled to
eighty-three Representatives, if the Negroes were counted in the basis of repre-
sentation, while, if the Negroes were excluded, the South would have but forty-six
Representatives ; and he contended that as long as the Negroes were excluded
from the right of suffrage they should also be excluded from the basis of repre-
Sentation. His theory evidently was not to touch the question of suffrage by
any national interference, but to compel the South to grant the suffrage to the
Negro by excluding the entire colored population from the basis of representation
152 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
until the Southern States themselves should give the franchise to the Negro. In
the course of his speech he said: “We have turned, or are about to turn, loose
four million slaves, and without a hut to shelter them or a cent in their pockets.
The diabolical laws of slavery have prevented them from acquiring an education,
understanding the commonest laws of contract, or of managing the ordinary
business of life. This Congreš is bound to look after them until they can take
care of themselves. If we do not hedge them around with protecting laws,
if we leave them to the legislation of their old masters, we had better have
left them in bondage. Their condition will be worse than that of our pris-
oners at Andersonville. If we fail in this great duty now when we have the
power, we shall deserve to receive the execrations of history and of all future
ages.”
The debate on the question of reconstruction lasted, with various intervals,
throughout the session. In the Senate the same course was followed. Wilson
of Massachusetts offered, during the first week of the session, a bill for the pro-
tection of freedmen that was designed to overthrow the odious laws which many
of the Southern States had enacted to reduce the Negro to a condition of
slavery. Wilson’s bill provided that “all laws, statutes, acts, ordinances, rules
and regulations in any of the States lately in rebellion, whereby inequality of
civil rights and immunities among the inhabitants of said States is established,
by reason of differences of color, race or descent, are hereby declared null and
void.”
A long debate followed the offering of this bill, in which Wilson, . Reverdy
Johnson, and Charles Sumner took the most prominent part. The debate was
carried on in the Senate, as in the House, until the holiday adjournment, and
then taken up afterward. In the early part of the session many of the members
had cherished the hope ...that Congress might still be able to have some form of
co-operation with the President; but on the reassembling of Congress after the
holidays there was a general fear, even on the part of the most moderate of
men, that it was impossible for a common policy to be arranged between the
President and Congress. There was great danger that the Republican party,
which had carried the government successfully through the long and perilous
war, would be torn in pieces and completely wrecked by the differences of opinion
'between the people at the North. There was great temptation on the part of
some members of Congress to bring about a compromise, even though it should
involve a surrender of a great part of the congressional policy; but it is greatly
ał.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 153
to the credit of the Republican members that they stood firm in this important
crisis, remaining true to their principles and never swerving from what they
believed to be the line of duty.
During the session the President, at the request of the Senate, furnished
SENATOR WILBUR F. SANDERS, MONTANA.
information concerning the States lately in rebellion, in the shape of reports by
General Grant, who had lately made a tour through the country, and the Hon.
Carl Schurz. General Grant’s opinion was that the people of the South had
accepted the questions of slavery and the right of secession as having been

154 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LAEADER.S.
forever settled by the tribunal of arms; he believed that the decision was final,
and that there would be no further trouble with the South. But Schurz's report
was of an entirely different, and also of a much more elaborate character. His
conclusions were, that the loyalty of the masses and of most of the leaders in
the South simply consisted of submission to necessity ; he said that, except in a
few individual instances, he found an entire absence of that national spirit which
forms the basis of true loyalty and patriotism; he found that the emancipation
of the slaves was submitted to only so far as chattel slavery in the old form
could not be kept up, and although the freedman was no longer considered the
property of an individual master, he was considered the slave of society, and all
independent State legislation showed the tendency to make him such ; the ordi-
nances abolishing slavery, which were passed by the conventions under the press-
ure of circumstances, were naturally to be looked upon as bearing the stamp of
a new form of servitude. Carl Schurz went on in detail on the subject, and
when his report was laid before the Senate, at the urgent request of Sumner,
it only confirmed the Republican members in their views of the state of affairs
at the South. On these same points General Grant had not made any obser-
vations, or, at all events, had not contributed any opinion.
The first decided act of Congress touching the condition of the South was
in the bill to amend the bill passed in the previous session of Congress, estab-
lishing the Freedman’s Bureau. General Grant had recommended that it should
be placed under the control of a military officer and be managed by the military
authorities generally, in order that the Negroes should be protected in their
rights. The bill before the Senate provided for an extension of the powers of
the Freedmen’s Bureau. It was well understood to be not in accord with the
views of the President, and was warmly supported by the leading Republicans.
It was passed by the Senate, and immediately taken to the House, where it was
promptly passed and sent to the President. The President returned the bill with
his veto. -- - - -
Johnson found many technical objections to the bill, and, among other
things, stated that by the first section the Chinese of the Pacific States, Indians
subject to taxation, the people called Gypsies, as well as the entire race desig-
nated as black, were made citizens of the United States; he believed this was
contrary to the Constitution and laws of the States; and in other ways he found
sufficient excuse for his veto. The debate upon the President’s veto did not
last a great while, but it was very exciting. At the end of the debate the
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEAD FES. 155
vote was taken upon passing the bill Over the President’s veto, and it re-
sulted in thirty-three in favor of and fifteen against it. It immediately went to
the House, and came to a vote, after a very brief debate, on the 9th of April,
where it was passed, 122 to 41. Having received two-thirds of the votes of
each House, the Civil Rights Bill therefore became a law, the objection of
the President notwithstanding. This was the complete opening of the breach
between the President and Congress, which from that time it was impossible
to heal. º
The conflict between the President and Congress thus raised continued to
the end of Johnson's administration. We have not space at our command to
give its history, even in brief. All familiar with the story of those times will
remember the trial of President Johnson under impeachment for treason, the
Senate acting as the body of judges and the House acting as the prosecution.
The President had availed himself not only of all his constitutional powers,
but, as Congress declared, he usurped unconstitutional powers in endeavoring
to thwart the measures which that body had enacted for the preservation of
the country. In March, 1867, Congress passed a law, entitled “The Tenure of
Office Act,” by which it was provided that all civil officers duly qualified by ap-
pointment of the President, with advice and consent of the Senate, should be
entitled to hold such office until a successor should have been in like manner
appointed and qualified. The President, who was anxious to remove Stanton
from the office of Secretary of War and appoint to the place some one who
would be more in harmony with the views that he entertained, declared the
“Tenure of Office” law unconstitutional. He claimed that it was his right and
privilege to judge whether the laws enacted by Congress were constitutional or
not, and he had a right to refuse to carry them out, if he deemed that they
were unconstitutional. In other words, the issue arose as to whether the Presi-
dent had the right to annul such laws of the United States, as, in his judg-
ment, he deemed unconstitutional. The President defied the operations of the
“Tenure of Office Act,” and issued an order for the removal of Secretary
Stanton and appointing General Lorenzo Thomas in his place. Congress ad-
vised Secretary Stanton to refuse to give up the office; in the terse language
of the day, he was told to “ stick!” This action of the President brought
things into such shape that his impeachment was decided upon. Throughout
the Union there was a general sympathy with Congress; but at the same time
there was great reluctance to have the highest officer of the land put on trial
156 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
for one of the gravest of crimes. Those who had sympathized with the Re-
bellion applauded the President and urged him on to resistance; party feeling,
in every instance, ran very high, and had it not been that the nation had so
recently passed through a great war, there would have been serious danger of
a collision of arms.
The trial began on March 4, 1867. The managers of the impeachment, who
had been appointed by the House of Representatives, entered the Senate Cham-
ber followed by the members of the House, the Chief Justice of the United States
and the Senators forming the court and jury. The trial was a very tedious one
and lasted nearly three months. At length, a test article of the impeachment
was submitted to the court for its action. The views of most of the members
were known, but there was one member who was considered uncertain. When
the vote was taken the uncertain member voted in favor of the President ; thirty- -
five favored Johnson’s conviction and nineteen opposed it ; there was one lacking
of the necessary two-thirds. A change of a single vote would have carried the im-
peachment. - -
Many persons who, at that time, favored the impeachment, are now glad
that the result of the trial was a failure. The President remained in office for
the rest of his term, but was little regarded by Congress. It was thought at
one time that the Temocrats would nominate him for the presidency, but this
hope, which Johnson is said to have cherished, was dashed to the ground. He
continued his quarrel with Congress, but with very little effect, the dominant
party being able to pass over his veto any bills that he chose to reject. During
the latter part of his administration the aid and comfort which his course gave
to the South was very detrimental to the well-being of the colored population of
that region.
In September, 1866, there was a' large convention in Philadelphia of loyal
men from all the States which had been in rebellion. One of the speakers at
that meeting, while illustrating the manner in which the loyal blacks were
oppressed, though nominally free, said as follows: “The laws passed in some
of our States provided that all persons engaged in agricultural pursuits, as
laborers, shall be required, during the first ten days of the month of January of
each year, to make contracts for the ensuing year, and in case of failure such
laborer shall be arrested by the civil authorities and hired out ; and, however
much the laborer may be dissatisfied, he dare not leave, under the penalty of being
apprehended and forced to labor upon the public works without compensation
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 157
until he should consent to return to his employer. It is punished with fine and
imprisonment to entice or persuade away, feed, harbor or secrete any such
laborer. In this way they are compelled to contract within a limit of ten days,
SENATOR CHARLES F. MANDERSON, NEBRASKA.
punished by legal enslavement for violating a civil contract, and barred from
obtaining shelter, food or employment.” Governor Hamilton of Texas said that
he could testify, from his own personal knowledge, that in the single State of
Texas, during the preceding six months, more than one dozen colored men had

158 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. ,
been brutally and wantonly murdered simply because they were colored men
and loyalists, and that not one of their murderers had been arrested; that no
Union man dared to protect them, for he would be only exposing himself to the
same fate. Reports of outrages throughout the entire South were constantly
coming to the North, where they were published in the newspapers and were
made the subject of much discussion.
X.
Reconstruction continued—Bill offered by Thaddeus Stevens—Its Provisions and the Policy it
offered—Arguments for and against it—Blaine's Amendment—The South divided into Mil-
itary Districts—Military Rule to be established and the Civil Authority set aside—Condi-
tions under which the Military Rule would be withdrawn—The Bill passed by the House
—Amendments offered in the Senate—Danger of the failure of the Bill—Conference Com-
mittee's Action—The President vetoes the Bill—His Objections to it—Bill passed over the
Veto—“Carpet-Bag ’’ Rule in the South—John A. Logan on Self-Government in Louisiana.
& (Ch
-- y
sº §§ HE fight between Congress and the President went on. In
gress a
January, 1868, the House of Representatives declared that
*
2}º §
º Š
º
there was no valid government in the South, and the juris-
º, diction was transferred from President Johnson to General
Grant, as commander-in-chief of the army. In the previous
session of Congress there had been a long debate on the
state of affairs in the South, and on the 6th of February,
1867, Stevens, from the Committee on Reconstruction, reported a bill which re-
ceived various amendments and then became the leading measure of that session
of Congress. It began, as originally drawn, with a preamble declaring that
“ whereas the pretended State governments of the late so-called Confederate
States offered no adequate protection for life or property, but countenanced and
encouraged lawlessness and crime; and whereas it is necessary that peace and
good order should be enforced in said so-called Confederate States, and that
a loyal State government should be legally established; therefore be it enacted
that said so-called. Confederate States shall be divided into military districts and
made subject to the military authority of the United States, as hereinafter
described ; and for that purpose Virginia shall constitute the first district, North
Carolina and South Carolina, the second district, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida,
the third district, Mississippi and Arkansas the fourth district, and Missouri and
(159)
3






160 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
Texas the fifth district.” The general of the army was required, by the pro-
visions of this bill, to assign to the command of each of these districts an officer
of the rank of brigadier-general or major-general, and to give him a sufficient
force to enable him to perform his duties and enforce his authority within the
district to which he was assigned ; his duties were to protect life and property,
suppress insurrections, disorders and violence, punish all criminals and disturbers
of the public peace under military law, with the power to allow civil tribunals to
have jurisdiction and try the various offenders, and if, in the opinion of said
officer in charge of any district, the civil law was insufficient, he was authorized
to organize military commissions for that purpose. It was furthermore provided
that all legislative acts or judicial processes to prevent the proceedings of such
tribunals, and all interference by said “pretended State government with the
exercise of military authority under this Act, shall be void and of no effect.” It
was forbidden to the courts and judicial authorities of the United States to issue
writs of habeas corpus except under restrictions which would not interfere with
the military authority; in fact, they would be subordinate to rather than opposed
to it. It was guaranteed that all persons arrested should be tried promptly, and
that any cruel and unusual punishments should not be allowed, and the execution.
of any sentence could not be enforced until it received the approval of the officer
commanding the district. - -
Stevens made a long speech when he introduced the bill, and he made no
attempt to conceal the very positive character of its provisions. “It provides,”
said he, “that the ten disorganized States shall be divided into five military
districts; that the commander of the army shall take charge of them, through
his officers not below the rank of brigadier-general, who shall have the general
supervision of the peace, quiet, and protection of the people, loyal and disloyal,
who reside within those precincts, and that to do so he should use—as the law
of the nation may authorize him to do so—the legal tribunals, when he deems
them competent; but these tribunals are to be considered of no validity per se,
of no intrinsic force, of no force in consequence of their origin—the question being
wholly within the power of the conqueror, and to remain until that conqueror
shall permanently supply their place with something else. This is the whole bill.
It does not need much examination. One night’s rest after its reading is enough
to digest it.” -
Other members followed in support of the measure. Brandegee of Connecti-
cut was one of the most earnest in declaring that something must be done, and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 161
must be done quickly. He said: “Already fifteen hundred Union men have
been massacred in cold blood—more than the entire population of some of the
towns in my district—whose only crime has been loyalty to your flag. In all the
revolted States, on the testimony of some of your ablest generals, there is no
SENATOR ALGERNON S. PADDOCK, NEBRASKA.
Safety to the property or lives of loyal men. Is this what the loyal North has
been fighting for 2 Thousands of loyal, honored men driven like partridges over
the mountains ! Homeless, houseless, penniless to-day, they throng this capital,
-
they fill the hotels, they crowd the avenues, they gather in these ample corri-


11
I62 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
.*
dors, they look down from these galleries and with supplicating eye ask protec-
tion from the flag that hangs above the Speaker’s chair, which thus far has un-
furled its stripes but concealed the promise of its stars.”
There was some opposition to the bill, one of the principal opponents being
John A. Griswold, who became the Republican candidate for Governor of New
York in the following year. In the opening of his remarks he said: “We are
proceeding in the wrong direction. For more than two years we have been en-
deavoring to provide civil governments for that portion of our country, and yet,
by the provisions of this bill, we turn our backs on our policy of the last two
years, and, by a single stride, proceed to put all that portion of the country exclu-
sively under military control. For one, I prefer to stand by the overtures we have
made to these people as the condition of their again participating in the govern-
ment of the country. We have already placed before them conditions which the
civilized world has endorsed as liberal, magnanimous and just. I regret exceed-
ingly that those very liberal terms have not been accepted by the South, but I
prefer giving these people every opportunity to exhibit a spirit of obedience and
loyalty.”
James G. Blaine expressed his unwillingness to support any measure that
would place the South under military government unless it prescribed at the same
time the methods by which the inhabitants of any State might, by their own
action, restore civil government. To cover this point, he proposed that an amend-
ment should be made, declaring as follows: “When any one of the so-called
Confederate States shall have given its assent to the Fourteenth Amendment of .
the Constitution and conofrmed its constitution and laws thereto, in all respects,
and when it shall have provided by its constitution that the elective franchise shall
be enjoyed equally and impartially by all male citizens of the United States
twenty-one years of age and upwards, without regard to race, color or previous
condition of servitude, except such as may be disfranchised for participating in
the late Rebellion, and when such constitution shall have been submitted to the
voters of said State, as then defined, for ratification or rejection, and when the
constitution, if ratified by the popular vote, shall have been submitted to Congress
for examination and approval, said State shall, if its constitution be approved by
Congress, be declared entitled to representation in Congress, and Senators and
Representatives shall be admitted therefrom, on their taking the oath prescribed
by law; and then and thereafter the preceding sections of this bill shall be in-
operative in said State.”
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 163
In offering this amendment, Blaine remarked : “It happened, possibly by
mere accident, that I was the first member of the House who spoke in com-
mittee of the whole on the President’s Message, at the opening of this session.
I then said that I believed the true interpretation of the election of 1866 was
that, in addition to the proposed constitutional amendment, impartial suffrage
should be the basis of reconstruction. Why not declare it so P Why not, when
you send out these military police through the lately rebellious States, send with
it that impressive declaration ??’ Schenck of Ohio urged with great earnest-
ness that, before calling the previous question upon the bill, Stevens would allow
a vote upon the amendment offered by Blaine. Stevens would not consent ; where-
upon Blaine moved to refer the bill to the Judiciary Committee, with instructions
t;0 report back. His motion was defeated, and the bill" was then passed by a vote
of 109 to 55. From the House the bill went to the Senate, where an amendment
was offered almost in the same terms as that of Blaine; but after a little dis-
cussion it was withdrawn through fear that it might interfere with the passage
of the bill. Subsequently, another member of the Senate offered an amendment,
somewhat modified in terms, which was incorporated into the bill, and which was
then passed and sent back to the House.
After a long debate the Senate amendment was rejected, the result having
been brought about by a union of all the Democrats in the House with a small
minority of the Republicans. The session was drawing to a close and there was
great danger that, in consequence of the disagreement of the Republicans in the
House and Senate, no reconstruction bill would be passed. As this was to be
regarded at the time as a great calamity, wise counsels prevailed and the Senate
and House arranged to unite upon the measure by adding two amendments to
the bill as it came from the Senate. A proviso was added to the fifth section,
to the effect that no person excluded from the privilege of holding office by the .
proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States should be eligible as
a member of the convention to frame a constitution for any of said rebellious
States, nor should he vote for members of such convention. It was also agreed
that until the people of said rebel States should be admitted to representation
in the Congress of the United States, any civil government that might exist
therein should be but a provisional government and in all respects subject to
the paramount authority of the United States at any time to abolish or super-
sede it. “All persons shall be entitled to vote—and none others—who are en-
titled to vote under the fifth section of this Act, and no person shall be eligible
164 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
to any office under such provisional government who shall be disqualified from
holding office under the provisions of the third article of such constitutional
amendment.” -
Modified in this way, the bill passed both Senate and House by a strict
party vote. The bill went to the President on the 20th of IFebruary, leaving
only a small limit of time for passage over his veto, if, as everybody expected,
he would decline to sign it. On the 2d of March the President returned the
bill to the House, where it had originated, accompanying it with a long veto
message, in which he summed up a great many objections. His argument,
against putting the Confederate States under military government was quite
clearly stated. “This bill,” said he, “imposes martial law at once, and its
operation will begin as soon as the general and his troops can be put in place.
The dread alternative between its harsh rule and the compliance with the terms
of this measure is not suspended, nor are the people afforded any time for
further deliberation. The bill says: ‘Take martial law first, and then deliberate.”
And when they have done all that this measure requires them to do, other con-
ditions and contingencies, over which they have no control, yet remain to be
fulfilled before they can be relieved from martial law. Another Congress must
approve the constitution made in conformity with the law of this Congress, and
must declare these States entitled to representation in both branches. The whole
question thus remains open and unsettled and must again occupy the attention
of Congress, and in the meantime the agitation which now remains will continue
to disturb all portions of the people.”
The veto of the President reached the House in the afternoon of Saturday,
March 2. It was the last day permitted by the Constitution, and it was be-
lieved, in both House and Senate, that his motive for the postponement was
to give the opportunity for the Democrats in either branch of Congress to defeat
the bill by talking against time or by dilatory motions. Blaine prevented this
system of parliamentary delay by a motion that the rules be suspended and a
vote immediately taken on the question required by the Constitution, namely:
“Will the House, on reconsideration, agree to the passage of the bill, the
President’s objection to the contrary notwithstanding P” It was the decision of
the Speaker that this motion prevented all dilatory proceedings. There was
an appeal from the decision of the chair but it was supported by only five
members. Then the rules were suspended, and the House, by a vote of 135
to 48, passed the bill in spite of the President’s veto. It was immediately sent
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 165
to the Senate, which concurred in the action of the House by a vote of 38 to
10; and thus was passed the famous Reconstruction Law, which settled for a con-
siderable time the condition of the Southern States.
We have not sufficient space at our disposal to follow the entire history of
SENATOR WILLIAM M. STEWART, NEWADA.
reconstruction. The military government was established in the South ; the
Suffrage was extended to colored men as well as white who complied with the
conditions which had been made for suffrage; and before long there was in-
augurated the famous Carpet Bag rule, which gave great dissatisfaction all

166 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
through the South, and, to a considerable extent, throughout the North. If the
consequences could have been foreseen, it is probable that the form of govern-
ment established there would have been different from what it was. The mis-
fortune of the Republican party in the Carpet Bag period was that many
adventurers who had gone to the South with the object of making money—many
of them regardless of the ways in which that money was to be made—managed
to get into office by currying favor with the colored population, who were largely
in a majority over the whites. Some of the Southern governors and other office
holders during the Carpet Bag period were men of character, ability and sterling
honesty; but unhappily this cannot be said of all. The money of the States was
spent in some instances with great recklessness, and debts were created which
are still the subject of dispute. Some of the debts have been paid, while others
have been repudiated; and were the work to be done over again, it is certain
that it would be done very differently. In every instance, the effect of whatever
misrule there may have been was magnified a hundred times over by the
Northern and Southern opponents of the reconstruction measure. Throughout
the South there was great antagonism to the new rule, and as a result of it
White Leagues, and “ Ku-Klux Associations” were organized and many acts
of violence took place. Hundreds—yes, thousands—of men were murdered for
no other reason than that they were loyal to the government. The black men
were the great majority of the victims of these outrages; and any white man
who sympathized with the desire of the Negro for his freedom and for fair treat-
ment was sure to find his life in more or less peril. One after another men
of the Southern States complied with the conditions that had been set forth in
the reconstruction measure, and in June, 1868, a bill for readmitting North and
South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida and Alabama to representation in
Congress was passed by the Senate. -
In February, 1869, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed.
Other States not mentioned above were admitted to the Union. But the troubles
in the South were by no means brought to an end. They continued through the
first term and the second term of General Grant's administration, and in one
form or another they continue down to the present day. It is not always easy
to get at the exact facts in the case; but the reports constantly coming from the
South during the past twenty years of outrages upon Union men are so numer
ous that, even allowing that they have been greatly exaggerated, there is a
large basis of truth behind them. The last measure to secure the rights of the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 16?
colored people of the South is one that is still under discussion. It has been
brought before Congress, is favored by the great body of Republicans, and is
earnestly opposed by the great body of the Democracy. Its official title is the
Federal Elections Bill, but its opponents have been pleased to call it the Force
Bill. Its provisions will be considered elsewhere in this narrative.
A fair picture of the state of affairs in the South is set forth in the speech
of Gen. John A. Logan in Congress in 1875, when the subject of local self-
government in Louisiana was under consideration. In the course of his speech
Gen. Logan said: *
“I want to ask candid, honest, fair-minded men, after reading the report
of General Sheridan, showing the murder, not for gain, not for plunder, but for
political opinions in the last few years of thirty-fiye hundred persons in the
State of Louisiana, all of them Republicans, not one of them a Democrat—I
want to ask if they can stand here before this country and defend the Demo-
cratic party of Louisiana I put this question to them, for they have been
here for days crying against the wrongs upon the Democracy of Louisiana. I .
want any one of them to tell me if he is prepared to defend the Democracy of
Louisiana? What is your Democracy of Louisiana P You are excited, your
extreme wrath is aroused at General Sheridan because he called your White
Leagues down there * banditti.” I ask you if the murder of thirty-five hundred
men in a short time for political purposes by a band of men banded together
for the purpose of murder does not make them banditti, what does it make
them P Does it make them Democrats P It certainly does not make them
Republicans. Does it make them honest men It certainly does not. Does
it make them law-abiding men P. It certainly does not. Does it make them
peaceable citizens? It certainly does not. But what does it make them A
band of men banded together and perpetrating murder in their own State.
Webster says a bandit is ‘a lawless or desperate fellow ; a robber; a brigand,”
and ‘banditti’ are men banded together for plunder and murder; and what
are your White Leagues banded together for if the result proves that they are
banded together for murder for political purposes 2
“O, what a crime it was in Sheridan to say that these men were banditti I
He is a wretch. From the papers he ought to be hanged to a lamp-post ; from
the Senators he is not fit to breathe the free air of heaven or of this free
Republic; but your murderers of thirty-five hundred people for political offenses
are fit to breathe the air of this country and are defended on this floor to-day,
168 THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AWD IT'S LAEADERS.
e
and they are defended here by the Democratic party, and you cannot avoid or
escape the proposition. You have denounced Republicans for trying to keep the
peace in Louisiana ; you have denounced the administration for trying to sup-
press bloodshed in Louisiana; you have denounced all for the same purpose; but
not one word has fallen from the lips of a solitary Democratic Senator denounc-
ing these wholesale murders in Louisiana. You have said, ‘I am sorry these
things are done,’ but you have defended the White Leagues; you have defended
Penn ; you have defended rebellion ; and you stand here to-day the apologists of
murder, of rebellion, and of treason in that State.
“I want to ask the judgment of an honest country, I want to ask the
judgment of the moral sentiments of the law-abiding people of this grand and
glorious Republic to tell me whether men shall murder by the score, whether
men shall trample the law under foot, whether men shall force judges to resign,
whether men shall force prosecuting attorneys to resign, whether men shall take
five officers of a State out and hang or shoot them if they attempt to exercise
the functions of their office, whether men shall terrify the voters and office-
holders of a State, whether men shall undertake in violation of law to organize
a Legislature for revolutionary purpose, for the purpose of putting a governor
in possession and taking possession of the State and then ask the Democracy to
stand by them—I appeal to the honest judgment of the people of this land and
ask them to respond whether this was not an excusable case when this man
used the army to protect the life of that State and to preserve the peace of
that people P Sir, the man who will not use all the means in his power to pre-
serve the nationality, the integrity of this government, the integrity of a State
or the peace and happiness of a people, is not fit to govern, he is not fit to
hold position in this or any other civilized age.
“Does liberty mean wholesale slaughter P Does republican government mean
tyranny and oppression of its citizens P Does an intelligent and enlightened age
of civilization mean murder and pillage, bloodshed at the hands of Ku-Klux or
White Leagues or anybody else, and if any one attempts to put it down, attempts
to reorganize and produce order where chaos and confusion have reigned, they .
are to be denounced as tyrants, as oppressors, and as acting against republican
institutions? I say then the happy days of this Republic are gone. When we
fail to see that republicanism means nothing, that liberty means nothing but
the unrestrained license of the mobs to do as they please, then republican gov-
ernment is a failure. Liberty of the citizen means the right to exercise such
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
A WD ITS LEADERS.
169
GENERAL SHERMAN.
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170 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
rights as are prescribed within the limits of the law so that he does not in the
exercise of these rights infringe the rights of other citizens. But the definition
is not well made by our friends on the opposite side of this Chamber. Their
idea of liberty is license ; it is not liberty, but it is license. License to do what P
License to violate law, to trample constitutions under foot, to take life, to
take property, to use the bludgeon and the gun or anything else for the
purpose of giving themselves power. What statesman ever heard of that as a
definition of liberty P What man in a civilized age has ever heard of liberty
being the unrestrained license of the people to do as they please without any
restraint of law or of authority ? No man, no not one, until we found the Demo-
cratic party, would advocate this proposition and indorse and encourage this
kind of license in a free country P - * ."
“I have perhaps said more on this question of Louisiana than might have
been well for me to say on account of my strength, but what I have said about
it I have said because I honestly believed it. What I have said in reference to
it comes from an honest conviction in my mind and in my heart of what has
been done to suppress violence and wrong. But I have a few remarks in con-
clusion to submit now to my friends on the other side, in answer to what they
have said not by way of argument but by way of accusation. You say to us—
1 had it repeated to me this morning in private conversation— Withdraw
your troops from Louisiana and you will have peace.” Ah, I heard it said on
this floor once ‘Withdraw your troops from Louisiana and your State govern-
ment will not last a minute.’ I heard that said from the opposite side of the
Chamber, and now you say ‘Withdraw your troops from Louisiana and you will
have peace.” -
“I dislike to refer to things that are past and gone; I dislike to have my
mind called back to things of the past; but I well remember the voice in this
Chamber once that rang out and was heard throughout this land, “Withdraw
your troops from Fort Sumter if you want peace.’ 'I heard that said. Now it.
is “Withdraw your troops from Louisiana if you want peace.” Yes, I say, with-
draw your troops from Louisiana if you want a revolution, and that is what is,
meant. But, sir, we are told, and doubtless it is believed by the Senators who
tell us so, who denounce the Republican party, that it is tyrannical, oppressive,
and outrageous. They have argued themselves into the idea that they are pa-
triots, pure and undefiled. They have argued themselves into the idea that the
Democratic party never did any wrong. They have been out of power so long-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 171
that they have convinced themselves that if they only had control of this coun-
try for a short time, what a glorious country they would make it. They had
control for nearly forty long years, and while they were the agents of this country
—I appeal to history to bear me out—they made the government a bankrupt,
with rebellion and treason in the land, and were then sympathizing with it,
wherever it existed. That is the condition in which they left the country when
they had it in their possession and within their control. But they say the Re-
publican party is a tyrant; that it is oppressive. As I have said, I wish to make
a few suggestions to my friends in answer to this accusation — oppressive to
whom P - --yº
“They say to the South, that the Republican party has tyrannized over the
South. Let me ask you how has it tyrannized over the South P Without speak-
ing of our troubles and trials through which we passed, I will say this : at the
end of a rebellion that scourged this land, that drenched it with blood, that
devastated a portion of it, left us in debt and almost bankrupt, what did the
Republican party do? Instead of leaving these our friends and citizens to-day in
a territorial condition where we might exercise jurisdiction over them for the next
coming twenty years, where we might have deprived them of the rights of mem-
bers on this floor, what did we do P. We reorganized them into States, admitted
them back into the Union, and through the clemency of the Republican party we
admitted Representatives on this floor who had thundered against the gates of
liberty for four bloody years. Is that the tyranny and oppression of which you
complain at the hands of the Republican party P Is that a part of our oppres-
sion against you Southern people P -
“Let us go a little further. When the armed Democracy, for that is what
they were, laid down their arms in the Southern States, after disputing the right
of freedom and liberty in this land for four years, how did the Republican party
show itself in its acts of tyranny and oppression toward you ? You appealed to
them for clemency. Did you get it 2 Not a man was punished for his treason.
Not a man ever knocked at the doors of a Republican Congress for a pardon who
did not get it. Not a man ever petitioned the generosity of the Republican
party to be excused for his crimes who was not excused. Was that oppression
upon the part of the Republicans in this land 2 Is that a part of the oppression
of which you accuse us 2
“Let us look a little further. We find to-day twenty-seven Democratic Rep-
resentatives in the other branch of Congress who took arms in their hands and
172 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
tried to destroy this government holding commissions there by the clemency of
the Republican party. We find in this Chamber by the clemency of the Repub-
lican party three Senators who held such commissions. Is that tyranny ; is that
oppression; is that the outrage of this Republican party on you Southern peo-
ple P Sir, when Jeff Davis, the head of the great Rebellion, who roams the land
'free as air, North, South, East, and West, makes Democratic speeches wherever
invited, and the Vice-President of the Southern Rebellion holds his seat in the
other House of Congress, are we to be told that we are tyrants, and oppressing
the Southern people P These things may sound a little harsh, but it is time to
tell the truth in this country. The time has come to talk facts. The time has
come when cowards should hide, and honest men should come to the front and
tell you plain, honest truths. You of the South talk to us about oppressing you.
You drenched your land in blood, caused weeping throughout this vast domain,
covered the land in weeds of mourning both North and South, widowed thou-
sands and orphaned many, made the pension-roll as long as an army-list, made
the debt that grinds the poor of this land—for all these things you have been
pardoned, and yet you talk to us about oppression. So much for the oppression
Qf the Republican party of your patriotic souls and selves. Next comes the
President of the United States. He is a tyrant, too. He is an oppressor
still, in conjunction with the Republican party. oppressor of what P : Who has
he oppressed of your Southern people, and when, and where? When your Ku-
Rlux, banded together for murder and plunder in the Southern States, were con-
victed by their own confession, your own representatives pleaded to the Presi-
dent, and said : ‘Give them pardon, and it will reconcile many of the Southern
people.” The President pardoned them; pardoned them of their murder, of their
plunder, of their piracy on land; and for this I suppose he is a tyrant.
“More than that, sir, this tyrant in the White House has done more for you
Southern people than you ought to have asked him to do. He has had confl-
dence in you until you betrayed that confidence. He has not only pardoned the
offenses of the South, pardoned the criminals of the Democratic party, but he
has placed in high official position in this Union some of the leading men who
fought in the Rebellion. He has put in his Cabinet one of your men; he has
made governors of Territories of some of your leading men who fought in the
Bebellion; he has sent on foreign missions abroad some of your men who warred
against this country; he has placed others in the Departments; and has tried to
reconcile you in every way on earth, by appealing to your people, by recogniz-
\. *
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 173.
ing them and forgiving them for their offenses, and for these acts of generosity,
for these acts of kindness, he is arraigned to-day as a Caesar, as a tyrant,
as an oppressor.
“Such kindness in return as the President has received from these people will
t
-
SENATOR JOHN P. JONES, NEWADA,
mark itself in the history of generosity. O, but say they, Grant wants to:
oppress the White Leagues in Louisiana; therefore he is an oppressor. Yes,
Grant does desire that these men should quit their everyday chivalric Sports.
of gunning upon Negroes and Republicans. He asks kindly that you stop it.

174 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEA.D.E.B.S.
.
He says to you, ‘That is all I want you to do;' and you say that you
are desirous that they shall quit it. You have but to say it and they will
quit it. It is because you have never said it that they have not quit it. It
is in the power of the Democratic party to-day but to speak in tones of majesty,
of honor, and justice in favor of human life, and your Ku-Klux and murderers
will stop. But you do not do it ; and that is the reason they do not stop.
In States where it has been done they have stopped. But it will not do to
oppress those people; it will not do to make them submit and subject
them to the law ; it will not do to stop these gentlemen in their daily
sports and in their lively recreations. They are White Leagues; they are banded
together as gentlemen ; they are of Southern blood ; they are of old Southern
stock; they are the chivalry of days gone by ; they are knights of the bloody
shield; and the shield must not be taken from them. Sirs, their shield will
be taken from them ; this country will be aroused to its danger; this country
will be aroused to do justice to its citizens; and when it does, the perpetrators
of crime may fear and tremble. Tyranny and oppression | A people who without
one word of opposition allows men who have been the enemies of a government
to come into these legislative halls and make laws for that government to be
told that they are oppressors is a monstrosity in declamation and assertion.
Who ever heard of such a thing before ? Who ever believed that such men
could make such charges? Yet we are tyrants' º
“The reading of the title of that bill from the House only reminds me of
more acts of tyranny and oppression of the Republican party, and there is a
continuation of the same great offenses constantly going on in this Chamber.
But some may say “It is strange to see Logan defending the President of the
United States.” It is not strange to me. I can disagree with the President
when I think he is wrong ; and I do not blame him for disagreeing with me;
but when these attacks are made, coming from where they do, I am ready to
stand from the rising sun in the morning to the setting sun in the evening to
defend every act of his in connection with this matter before us.
‘‘I may have disagreed with President Grant in many things; but I was
calling attention to the men who have been accusing him here, on this floor,
OIl the stump, and in the other House; the kind of men who do it, the manner
of its doing, the sharpness of the shafts that are sent at him, the poisonous |barbs
that, they bear with them, and from these men who, at his hands, have received
more clemency than any men ever received at the hands of any President or
*** gº
alsº
THE REPUBLICAW PARTY AWD ITS LEADEES. - 175
any man who governed a country. Why, sir, I will appeal to the soldiers of the
rebel army to testify in behalf of what I say in defense of President Grant—
the honorable men who fough; against the country, if there was honor in doing
it. What will be their testimony P It will be that he captured your armed
Democracy of the South, he treated them kindly, turned them loose, with their
horses, with their wagons, with their provisions; treated them as men, and not
as pirates. Grant built no prison-pens for the Southern soldiers; Grant pro-
vided no starvation for Southern men ; Grant provived no ‘dead lines’ upon
which to shoot Southern soldiers if they crossed them; Grant provided no out-
rageous punishment against these people that now call him a tyrant. Generous
to a fault in all his actions toward the men who were fighting his country and
destroying the Constitution, that man to-day is denounced as a very Caesar !
XI.
The Country's Finances—Financial Burden at the close of the War—Different Views of the proper
Management of the Public Debt—Debts of England, France and other Countries—“A Na-
tional Debt a National Blessing ”—Popular Desire for prompt Payment of the Debt—Methods.
of raising Money by “War Taxes”—Stamps on Checks, Proprietary Articles and Merchandise.
—Secretary McCulloch's Plans for Paying the Debt—First Action of Congress for Funding-
the Debt — Tax upon State Bank Circulation and its Advantages —Trick of a Western
Lawyer—Reduction of Internal Revenue — Purchase of Alaska—Democratic Convention of
1868—The Platform and Candidat * "º ption of Specie Payments—Present Financial
Situation. & - •
*HE close of the war found the country resting under an enormous.
financial burden. The question of the reconstruction of the
States lately in rebellion was to many people no less difficult.
a problem than the question of the finances. The history of
other nations showed that they had made great expenditures.
for war purposes at different times, and had generally left these
debts to be paid by posterity. For example, the great national debt of En-
gland, incurred in her numerous wars in the last two centuries, is so large that,
there is no probability that it will ever be paid, and there has not in many years.
been any thought on the part of Englishmen that it would be paid. It remains.
a convenient form for the investment of funds; the interest is always promptly
paid, and it has been and is seriously argued that a national debt is an element.
of strength. The phrase “A national debt is a national blessing ” is one that is.
pretty well known throughout the United States. In the same way, France has
an enormous public debt, and through all the changes that have come over that
country, through all the transformations from republic to monarchy, and from
monarchy to republic again, there has never been any thought on the part of any
honest Frenchman of repudiating the national debt. It remains a most conven-
ient form for the investment of private funds, in the same way that the debt of
England is a convenient means for the subjects of the United Kingdom.
(176) .

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 177
ſ
As we had no national debt of any consequence at the beginning of the
war, the question speedily arose as to how the debt incurred by the war should
be met; the general feeling of the American people being that it must be
paid off. The intention took shape at the very outset of providing not only
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SENATOR LYMAN R. CASEY, NORTH DAKOTA.
for the interest of the debt, but to begin its payment immediately and to
arrange that it should be paid off as rapidly as possible. One of the per-
plexities connected with this question arose from the condition of the States
lately in Rebellion. It was admitted on all sides that in order to pay the
debt, fºre must be a system of taxation that would bring a revenue far be-
o

178 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
yond the needs of the government for its daily and yearly expenses. Now,
should the Southern States be required, in the condition of poverty in which
they found themselves at the close of the war, to pay their share of the
debt, which had been incurred in bringing them into submission ? Some finan-
ciers argued that the burden should be heavier upon the South than upon the
North, for the reason that the debt had been created through the action of the
Southern States. Then another question arose : Should Congress levy the taxes
in such way as to pay the debt in a few years, or allow it to run over a
period of many years ? A further question arose as to whether the debt
should be paid in coin, where not expressly stipulated, or be paid in the cur-
rency of the day. It will be remembered that after the close of the war the
paper currency of the country was at a large discount, and the bonds had in
many instances been sold for less than their face value. In this depreciated
currency, some people—those who had no bonds in their possession—believed
that the debt should be paid in greenbacks; all those who held bonds believed
that they should be paid in coin, and this view was supported by a very large
number of people who were not themselves holders of any part of , the
national debt, but believed that the honor of the nation was pledged to the
honest payment of the debt in coin. - - -
Various measures had been adopted during the war for raising a revenue
for the government ; some of them bearing very lightly upon the people, while
others had a certain odious character about them and were not favorably received.
Of the former class may be mentioned the Stamp Tax, by which stamps were
placed upon all checks, drafts, notes or certificates of indebtedness in any form,
upon all legal documents, upon packages of merchandise of various kinds, the
stamp in nearly every instance being of so slight a value that the burden was
not felt. The very best of these was probably the stamp upon bank checks,
which nobody felt, which no one complained of ; but the daily transactions in the
passage of checks from one to another proved to be of enormous aggregate value.
A less popular form of taxation was the Personal Income Tax, which required
every citizen to state his income, and if it exceeded a certain figure annually he
was required to pay a tax upon its excess. This law led to a great deal of
dishonesty, and probably caused more acts of perjury than any single law of the
|United States that was ever enacted. Some amusing features of this law were
narrated at the time, and may be of interest here. A story is told of a young
man in a Western city who was paying attention to the daughter of a wealthy
**
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 179
\
man. When the time came for declaring his annual income, the young man, who
really had no resources, borrowed a hundred dollars from his mother, went to
the collector of his district, and swore that his personal income was fifty thousand
dollars a year, promptly paying with the borrowed hundred dollars the tax
thereon. The names of all persons in that city with large incomes were published
day by day in the newspapers. On the day of the publication of this young
man's name as the recipient of a steady income of fifty thousand dollars per year
he proposed for the hand of the young lady to whom he was showing his
attentions. The lady referred the matter to her father, and, as the father had
been a careful reader of the newspapers, he promptly accepted the enterprising
youth for the position of son-in-law. -
It would require many pages to give the list of the internal taxes, which
covered many articles of industry; but the burdens were borne, during the
period of the war, with very general cheerfulness, as it was felt that the con-
tributions made in this way from the internal taxes were necessary for the sup-
port of the government. A few weeks before the surrender of General Lee the
internal taxes were increased, and the tariff on imported goods was altered so
as to correspond to the increase of the taxes, and a large loan was called for.
The loans which the government had called for during the war were generally
taken with promptness; sometimes they dragged a little, but as a general thing
they were subscribed for with great readiness by the financiers of the country
and by the people at large. - {
At the meeting of the Thirty-ninth Congress, in December, 1865, the pre-
mium on gold was about 148. There were more than $450,000,000 of legal tender
notes and fractional currency in circulation, not including the notes bearing
seven and three-tenths per cent interest, which amounted to $830,000,000. Then
there was a large amount of compound interest notes, payable three years from
date, certificates of indebtedness, and a temporary loan which was practically
payable on demand, but which had been allowed to run beyond its time; so
that altogether the obligations of the country, floating and pressing, amounted
to more than $1,600,000,000. The total national debt in currency, notes and bonds
of various kinds on New Year’s Day, 1866, was $2,739,491,745 and in order to
sustain the national credit, it was required to put the $1,600,000,000 of floating
obligations on such a basis that the government would have time and oppor-
tunity for their ultimate redemption.
In his Message, at the opening of Congress, President Johnson had referred
180 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY A. WD ITS LEADERS.
A.
to the national debt. The terms in which he spoke of it showed that he did not
regard it as a national blessing, but as a very serious burden upon the country,
which should be discharged as soon as possible. This was the feeling all through
the land, although here and there arguments were sometimes offered for creating -
a permanent national debt after the fashion of England, France and other
European countries; but this view was not generally sustained. In fact, the
reduction of the national debt had already begun. The highest point of the debt
was attained in August, 1865. McCulloch, then Secretary of the Treasury, esti-
mated that for the fiscal year ending June, 1867, there would be an excess of
revenue over expenses of about $111,000,000, and he thought that the whole debt
of the country could be liquidated in thirty years. His plan was to take from
the compound interest notes their legal tender quality, from the date of their
maturity, and to retire them and the plain legal tenders by means of six per
cent bonds. He thought that the whole national debt could be funded at five per
cent, while the average of the annual interest at that time was a little more
than six and one-half per cent. The principal feature of his policy was the im-
mediate and serious contraction of the currency. He argued very earnestly and
ably in support of his policy, but it was not generally accepted either by Con-
gress or the country at large as entirely advisable. He was so strong in his
belief in the efficacy of the measure, that he pressed his plans forward as far
as the laws would permit him to do so, and he kept on reducing the volume
of paper that was in circulation so that he made a very material reduction of
the legal tenders. He was generally favored by the financiers of the Eastern
States, but in the West his plans were opposed, as it was thought that the in-
crease of business through the country would very soon bring it up to the volume
of currency then prevailing. It was argued that the heavy taxes then enforced
could not be met at all, owing to the scarcity of money, if the contraction was
continued. The opinions in this direction were so very earnest that in April,
1866, an Act was passed applying to the subject. Alley of Massachusetts of
fered a resolution supporting the views of the Secretary of the Treasury in refer-
ence to the necessity for contracting the currency, and it was carried without
debate by a very large majority. Then other bills and resolutions were offered
on the subject, the question of finance was very earnestly debated, and finally
the subject was disposed of in a bill presented by Morrill, which contained a
proviso that the “Secretary of the Treasury shall not retire more than ten
millions of legal tender notes in the first six months after the passage of the
**
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 1S1
Act, and not more than $4,000,000 a month afterwards, and shall make a report
to Congress of his action under this provision.”
This measure was generally concurred in and passed both Houses of Congress,
receiving the President’s signature on the 12th of April, 1866. The discussion of
SENATOR JOHN SHERMAN, OHIO.
this measure shows the feeling that prevailed not only in Congress but through
the country in general. There was a universal desire to return to specie pay-
ments as soon as possible, while at the same time the legal tender notes were
regarded with great favor, and the public was largely inclined to retain them as

182 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
a permanent currency. The argument in favor of contraction was very forcibly
presented, but at the same time there was the possibility of going too fast ; and
this was conceded by the financiers in all parts of the country and of all shades
of opinion.
The point on which the public in general seemed to be most seriously affected
was that of intrusting unrestricted power to any official. McCulloch was looked
upon as a very able Secretary of the Treasury, but at the same time it was not
'considered wise to give him or any one else unrestricted power in regard to the
retirement of the legal tender notes and the consequent contraction of the cur-
rency. The sale and the direct exchange of bonds was heartily approved, and
no one objected to funding the interest-bearing notes and bonds of every kind
that were already out ; but those which bore no interest were in such high favor
that it was very generally deemed inexpedient to disturb them.
One of the wisest measures in regard to the currency was that which was
very early adopted, of taxing State bank circulation in such a way as to drive it
out of existence. Gray-haired readers of this volume will probably remember the
confusion in which everybody was placed in the period before the war, when the
only paper currency was that which was put out by the banks chartered by States.
There were many banks whose circulation was worthless, and every man was
liable at any time to find on his hands five, or ten, or twenty-dollar bills that
were of no value whatever. Merchants of every kind were required to keep at
their elbows a bank note detective, and any bill that was at all strange which
was offered to them was carefully scrutinized, and the detector was examined to
make sure that the obligation was all right. In many instances currency circu-
lated only in the States where it was issued, or a short distance over the border.
A man traveling from Boston to Chicago was required to change his currency
three or four times on his journey. Money current in Boston was not current in
New York, except that of a few of the best known bankers ; and the same could
be said of New York money, when one passed beyond the boundaries of that State.
As it is to-day, and as it was after the national currency was established, we
have and had over all parts of the country a common circulation, and the green-
z back is readily taken everywhere. The State banks were made the basis of a
great deal of wild speculation, and it, often happened that dishonest men would
manage to secure the charter of a bank, put a quantity of paper in circulation,
scatter it as far as possible, and then suddenly fail. There was little or no redress
to be had, as the deposits with the State authorities were very often far less
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 183
than the amount of money in circulation. In many of the States all the bank
notes were at a discount, greater or less, and it sometimes happened that there was
a varying discount, from day to day or from week to week, so that one could not
tell for twenty-four hours the exact value of any bank note in his possession.
In this connection, we may be permitted to tell a story of a shrewd trick of
a lawyer in one of the Western States to get off a client who had been charged
with stealing a twenty-dollar bill. By the law of the State, theft of property of
the value of twenty dollars and upwards was grand larceny ; under twenty
dollars it was petty larceny. The theft of the bank note was proven beyond a
- doubt, and according to the technical terms of the law the prisoner was guilty
of grand larceny, but the lawyer strove to have his case made petty larceny on
the ground that there was a discount of one-fourth of one per cent on the value
of the bill. The judge did not allow the plea, briefly declaring that when the
prisoner at the bar stole that bank note he stole it at par, and therefore he was
guilty of grand larceny and not of petty larceny. -
At the same session of Congress, considerable attention was given to the
revenue laws. The Ways and Means Committee reported to the House that
internal taxes might be materially reduced. The system of internal revenue, to
which reference has already been made, yielded three hundred and ten millions of
dollars for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1866. Congress proceeded to make
reductions in the taxes on some hundreds of articles of manufacture, on the gross
receipts of corporations of several kinds, on savings banks, and there was also a
reduction in the income tax. The total reductions of that year were estimated at
seventy-five millions. But there was an increase proposed for raw cotton which
would be not far from twenty-five millions. The bill led to a great deal of
discussion in both Houses, and, at its end, was perfected by a conference
committee, who reduced the total internal revenue to about 265 millions annually.
Even then Congress was not satisfied with the large reduction it had made at its
first session, and therefore, at its second session, it took up the subject again.
There was a reduction of about thirty-six millions, of which twenty millions were
taken from the income tax, three millions from leather, four millions from
clothing, and the rest from various industries. These were a part of what had
been known as war taxes, and it was agreed on all hands that as fast as
possible everything of that sort should be removed ; and without going into
details, we may say that step by step the war taxes were taken away until all
of them ceased to exist long ago.
184 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS, LEADERS.
The premium on gold steadily went down as time wore on. There were
fluctuations; for example, in January, 1867, it ranged between thirty-two and
thirty-seven ; in November of the same year it ranged between thirty-seven and
forty-eight. It was charged by many that the premium had been brought about
by the action of speculators, who were endeavoring to enforce upon Congress the
policy of contraction; opposed to this was the view that the reduction of the
volume of paper had not reduced the premiums on gold; it had only had the
effect to depress business enterprises, and therefore had put the gold market under
the control of speculators. The operations of the gold speculators were often of
the most ruinous character, and culminated two years later in the famous Black
Friday, which will ever be historic with the Stock Exchange of New York.
The contraction of the currency was found to be so injurious to business
matters in general that during the second session of the Fortieth Congress, in
December, 1867, a bill was passed by which the further reduction of the currency
by retiring and canceling United States notes was prohibited. It met with such
general approval that it was passed by a vote of 127 to 32. The measure was de-
bated for some time in the Senate, but was passed with some slight changes, and
after being referred to a conference committee and again passed, was sent to the
President, who did not give his signature; but the bill became a law in spite
of him. * g -
During the four years following the war the national debt was reduced by
nearly three millions, and at the same time the revenue of the government was
reduced to the amount of about one hundred and forty millions per annum, by
the removal of a great number of internal taxes. During this same time more
than thirty-five millions was paid from the United States Treasury toward , the
construction of the Pacific Railroad, which had been determined on some years
before as a great public necessity, and was in receipt of a large subsidy from
the government. During the same period Alaska was purchased from Russia at
a cost of $7,000,000; and this too was drawn from the Treasury of the country
without any effect upon the circulation.
It is proper to remark, in this connection, that from the time of the pur-
chase of Louisiana, near the beginning of the century, down to the acquisition
of Alaska, all the additions to the United States territory had been in the
slavery interest. Louisiana, as it stretched across the entire country from North
to South, was of benefit to both sections, but a greater advantage was given
to the slaveholding parts of the country than to the non-slaveholding portions.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 185
The purchase of Florida and the annexation of Texas, the territory that came
to the United States from the war with Mexico, was nearly all in the interest
of the slaveholding region. California became a free State, but this was owing
SENATOR JOHN H. MITCHELL, oREGON.
more to its geographical position than to any other cause. An effort was made
on the part of the slaveholding interest to create a slave State out of Cali-
fornia, but happily it did not succeed. The Democratic party generally opposed
the acquisition of the territory to the north of the western part of the United
-

186 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
States—the tract known as British Columbia—for the reason that it would add
strength to the North, and consequently, be detrimental to Southern interests.
We will not pretend to say the purchase of Alaska was a measure that
could in no wise benefit the slaveholding interest, and as slavery had ceased to
exist several years before the purchase was made, there was no reason why
it should be seriously opposed. The territory is a large one, and its purchase
is generally conceded to have been dictated by good judgment. It contains an
area of somewhat more than half a million square miles; it is 1100 miles long,
counting from its most easterly to its most westerly boundary, and its width in
the broadest part is about 800 miles; it extends nearly to the seventy-second
degree of north latitude, and for more than a thousand miles it fronts upon
the Arctic Ocean. The group of Aleutian Islands was included in the purchase,
and this chain of islands extends nearly two-thirds of the way across the
Northern Pacific, the most westerly of the islands being about six hundred miles
from the coast of Kamtchatka. Vast quantities of timber are to be found in
Alaska, and wherever serious search has been made for minerals, there have
been very satisfactory results. The mineral resources remain to be developed.
as well as the fisheries, which are every year becoming more and more impor-
tant. The fur seal islands have afforded a large revenue to the government
and have been the cause of considerable diplomatic difficulty with Great Britain,
to which further allusion will be made elsewhere. -
Session after session of Congress was devoted, in part, to the consideration
of the financial problems of the country, the Republican leaders always keeping
in view the necessity of a reduction of the taxes, and, at the same time, of a
reduction of the national debt. At the first Democratic National Convention
held after the war, in July, 1868, the first prominent movement was made in the
direction of paying the national debt in paper money. At the opening of the
Convention, August Belmont made a fiery speech, in which the Republican party
was arraigned for a vast series of crimes which many people asserted existed
only in the exuberant imagination of the speaker. Some of his assertions seem
to refute themselves in the very circumstances that surrounded them. For in-
stance, among the crimes that he charged to the Republican party may be men-
tioned the following : - “ Austria did not dare to fasten upon vanquished Hungary,
nor Russia to impose on conquered Poland, the ruthless tyranny now inflicted by
Congress on the Southern States. Military satraps are now invested with dicta-
torial power, overriding the functions of the Congress and assuming the functions
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 187
of the civil authorities; and now this same party which has brought all these
evils upon the country comes again before the American people, asking for their
suffrages—and whom has it chosen for its candidate P The general commanding
the armies of the United States l Can there be any doubt as to the designs of
the radicals if they should be able to keep their hold on the reins of government P
They intend congressional usurpation of all the branches and factions of the
government, to be enforced by the bayonet of a military despotism.” It did not
seem to occur to Belmont, and to those who composed his large audience, that if
he had uttered similar words in Austria or Russia regarding the governments of
those countries he would have been arrested and sent to prison before his speech
was terminated. He was loudly applauded by the convention which had assembled
for the purpose of putting a Democratic nominee for the presidency before the
public. - * - -
The Convention included a considerable number of men who had been prom-
inent in the rebel armies or leaders in the politics of the South during the period
of the insurrection. There were also many prominent Northern Democrats, some
of whom had been in full sympathy with the war for suppressing the Rebellion,
while others had shown a considerable sympathy on the other side of the dispute.
When it came to the construction of the platform, there was a vigorous
demand embodied in that important document that the Southern States should
be immediately restored to their rights under the Constitution and be allowed to
govern themselves in their own way; secondly, it was demanded that there
should be amnesty for all past political offenses, and that the States should be
allowed to regulate the elective franchise for themselves; a third section of the
platform contained the demand that immediately. attracted general attention
throughout the financial world. The section reads as follows: “We demand
the payment of all the public debt of the United States as rapidly as practicable ;
all money drawn from the people by taxation—except so much as is requisite for
the necessities of the government, economically administered, being annually
applied to such payment ; and where the obligations of the government do not
expressly state on their face, or the law under which they were issued does .
not provide, that they shall be paid in coin, they ought in right and in justice
to be paid in the lawful money of the United States.” The demand was further
rounded out in a later section, which required one currency for the government
and the people, the laborer and the officeholder, the pensioner and the soldier,
the producer and the bondholder. Coupled with this demand for the payment
188 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
$
of the bonds in paper was a decided movement for the nomination of George H.
Pendleton of Ohio for the presidency.
Pendleton had been one of the foremost advocates of the greenback theory,
and he had gathered about him a party of considerable importance in the State
of Ohio, which was distinctly and emphatically advocating the payment of the
debt and of all obligations of the country in greenbacks. The same party de-
manded a practically unlimited issue of paper money, so that there should be
an abundance of currency for all purposes ; and this theory had gained supporters
among a considerable number of respectable men—though the great body of its
supporters were of those who had no bonds whatever in their possession.
Another vital principle in the Democratic platform of 1868 had reference to
the policy and acts of reconstruction. The Democrats claimed that the States
lately in rebellion had the right to control the suffrage in any manner that they
chose, and they denied that the fact of their having been in rebellion would
forfeit any of the rights which they held previous to the war. Their demand
was that the States should be restored to exactly the condition that they occupied
before Sumter was fired upon. They reaffirmed this principle, with the declara-
tion that any attempt of Congress, on any pretext whatever, to deprive any State
of its right or interfere with its exercise is a flagrant usurpation of power which
cannot find any warrant in the Constitution. Elsewhere in the platform it was
declared that “we regard the reconstruction acts of Congress as usurpations,
unconstitutional, revolutionary and void.” This plank of the platform, as was
afterwards ascertained, was inserted at the request and through the influence of
General Wade Hampton of South Carolina, who had been one of the prominent
combatants during the war. In a speech to his friends at Charleston, a fort-
night after the adjournment of the Convention, General Hampton said that the
Democratic leaders in the North had promised to give the South everything it
could desire, though they had besought him not to load the platform down too
heavily with policies that would make their fight a difficult one in the North.
He said the Northern leaders had told him that if they could once regain the
power, they would do their utmost to relieve the Southern States and restore the
Union and the Constitution as it existed before the war.
The Convention did not nominate Pendleton, as that gentleman and his friends
had expected, owing to one of those complications which it is hardly necessary
to recount at present. The nomination fell to Horatio Seymour of New York,
who had been recognized as a very respectable Democrat and a mild type of
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 189
those who had not been active in supporting the war for the Union. General
Frank Blair of Missouri, who had been a gallant leader during the war on the
Union side, was nominated for the vice-presidency ; and thus it was thought
that the ticket would have great weight among the Northern people.
SENATOR JOSEPH N. DOLPH, OREGON.
The position of the Democrats, through their platform, insured their defeat
almost from the very start, and when the election came off, of the thirty-four
States that voted Seymour carried only eight. General Grant, the Republican

190 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
candidate, had a clear majority, on the popular vote, of more than 300,000. He
had two hundred and fourteen of the electors against eighty secured by Seymour.
Of course this victory, being so decisive, was of great encouragement to the Re-
publican party to continue in the way it had marked out, so far as the finances
of the country were concerned, and also in the policy of its dealings with the
Southern States. For the present, we will consider the financial affairs.
The reduction of the taxes and the diminution of the debt continued at vary-
ing rates of speed, according as Congress, in each session, decided upon the .
course to follow. In President Grant's first administration, the first bill to which
he appended his signature was an act to strengthen the public credit, which he
signed on the 19th of March, fifteen days after taking the oath of office. This
act pledged the government to pay in coin, or its equivalent, all obligations,
notes, and bonds, except those in which the law which authorized the issue
stipulated that payment might be made in lawful money—lawful money being
taken to mean the currency of the country at the time the bond or other obli-
gation fell due. The object of this bill was to offset the harm that had
been done by the movements of the Democratic party in the preceding presi-
dential election, for paying all debts in paper except where coin was distinctly
specified. It will be seen that the two parties were in exact opposition to each
other, and that the same financial platform was followed by both, with an
exact reversal of terms. The Democrats believed that all government obliga-
tions could be paid in paper unless payment in coin had been expressly stipu-
lated, while the Republicans believed that all payments should be made in coin
unless lawful money had been expressly stipulated in the act by which the
obligation was created. During the Forty-first Congress this was the line that
was drawn between the two parties, and when the act was reported by General
Schenck and was brought up for passage, the vote upon it was ninety-eight to
forty-seven. Not a single Democract voted on the affirmative side, and a few
Republicans, who were led by General Butler, voted in the negative.
In 1870 a refunding bill was passed, in consequence of recommendations
from the Secretary of the Treasury, and was modified in the following year
by the passage of another act, which allowed the payment of interest quar-
terly, and increased the amount of bonds bearing five per cent interest. The
two laws for the purpose of refunding authorized the issue of eighteen hundred
millions of bonds, some at five per cent, some at four and a half per cent, and
some at four per cent; the Fives redeemable after ten years, and the Fours
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 191
after thirty years. At the same time there was a reduction of the revenue
which was estimated at about $80,000,000 annually; $50,000,000 being upon the
internal taxes and $30,000,000 upon the duties on tea, coffee, sugar and sundry
articles of iron and steel. There was a feeling among many members of Con-
gress that the reduction of revenue was proceeding too rapidly, but it was not
easy to oppose the movement among the people for relieving the burdens of
war. The pressure was so great that not a few members of Congress yielded to
it with considerable apprehension.
- Other measures for the reduction of taxation and debt were carried in 1872, -
and the predictions of some of the more timid statesmen and politicians were
verified by the great financial panic of 1873. The exact cause of this it is
difficult to give, "because of the great variety of opinions that prevailed con-
cerning it. - ſº
There was a remarkable division of opinion among the Senators and Repre-
sentatives in Congress, which was indicated by the bills which were offered and
the amendments proposed from time to time, and also in the discussion over
the President’s Message. The first pronounced action on the subject was taken
in the Senate, where a currency bill was introduced. The first section of the
bill fixed the maximum limit of United States notes at three hundred and
eighty-two millions, and this limit was raised to four hundred millions, on motion
of a member from Iowa. ... The bill, after a considerable discussion and some
amendment, went to the House, where there was much opposition to some of
its details; but the troubles were smoothed over by a conference committee
of the two Houses, and the bill became a law under the general provisions
that had been made in the Senate. At the same session of Congress, in 1874,
the question of returning to specie payments was taken up with more earnest-
ness than ever before. President Grant and Secretary Bristow had earnestly
recommended that a decisive step should be taken.
A long discussion took place, and about the middle of December Senator Sher-
man reported the bill to the Senate, which was pressed to an immediate vote and
carried by thirty-two to fourteen. No Democratic Senator supported the bill, and
it was opposed by only two Republicans. The bill then went to the House, but it
was not considered until January, 1875, when it was passed by a vote of 125 to
106, the Democrats being unanimously against it and supported by about twenty
Republicans. The bill provided that specie payments should be resumed on the
first of January, 1879. General Grant said, while the bill was pending, that the
192 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“ way to resumption was to resume,” a terse sentence which had great weight
in securing the passage of the measure and in convincing the country of its
practicability. -
Of the Republicans who opposed the bill in Congress there were two classes
—some of whom thought that it was unwise to fix an exact date for the resump-
tion of specie payment, although they were just as heartily in favor of resumption
as any of their colleagues; but others believed that the measure did not provide
for the resumption of specie payment soon enough, and that the means to be
taken to that end were not sufficiently earnest. Leaving aside these exceptions,
the Resumption Act was a Republican measure throughout and opposed by the
Democratic party. When President Grant approved the Act, he sent a special
message to the Senate and recommended an increase of revenue and the redemp-
tion of legal tender notes in coin reckoned at a premium of ten per cent in the ,
lbeginning and gradually lowering until the date fixed for the resumption; he
also recommended that mints should be established in some of the Western
cities, in order to save the expense of transporting all bullion to Philadel-
phia, where the United States mint was located. Congress proceeded to in-
crease the revenue, but it did not act upon the other recommendations of the
President. • *
Well, the preparation for resumption went on. . During the four years
between the passage of the Act and the date fixed, there was considerable ap-
prehension among certain financiers as to the effect upon trade and the straits
in which the government might be placed when the time came for resumption.
But the real fact of the case was that there was no trouble whatever. The banks
and the national offices everywhere began on the first of January, 1879, the pay-
ment of coin wherever it was demanded. It is an old story, that of the man who
wanted his money from the bank in case the bank did not have it, but as long
as they had it he did not want it at all. It was so with the public of the
United States generally. When they found that the coin was ready for them,
there was no run whatever upon the banks or upon the national treasury,
and the resumption of specie payments was accompanied with far less excite-
ment than had been feared by many people, and expected and hoped for by its
enemies. -
To sum up the financial situation of the country at the present time, as
compared with the date when the national debt was at its highest, we may say
briefly as follows. There has been a reduction, so that the debt is to-day a little
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 193
more than half of its figure at the highest point; in round numbers, the obli-
gations of the United States, as previously stated, were more than $2,700,000,000;
to-day they are not far from $1,500,000,000. Business has its ups and downs, as
SENATOR JAMES DON CAMERON, PENNSYLVANIA.
it always has had and always will have, but since the panic of 1873 there has
been no financial revulsion to equal it, and the quantity of currency in circula-
tion is, in general terms, equal to all the necessities of the country. Taxation has
been reduced to the point that most of the so-called war taxes have been

13
194 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
swept away, the principal ones remaining being that upon whisky and on other
spirituous liquors; and this tax is seriously denounced, for practical reasons, by a
large proportion of the Democratic party. Any measure that would secure to
them cheaper whisky would, no doubt, be hailed with delight; but as long as the
Republican management of the finances continues there is little likelihood that
they will be relieved from this spirituous burden.
g
|
XII.
- - - * | ... " * = } - - * - - * s
Issues of the Democratic Party in 1868–Overthrowing Reconstruction—Repudiation of Financial
Obligations—Position of the Republican Party—Universal Suffrage and Maintenance of
the Public Faith—General Grant Nominated by Acclamation—Schuyler Colfax for Vice-
President—Democratic Strength developed in the Campaign—President Grant's Inaugural
Address—Progress of Reconstruction and Conduct of the Southern Leaders—Anomalous
Position of Georgia—White Leagues and Ku-Klux Clans—Their Acts of Violence—Military
Rule in the South—Peculiarity of the Election of 1872–Horace Greeley Supported by
Democrats and Liberal Republicans—Close of the Campaign—Defeat and Death of Greeley
—Sketch of his Life. -
2) LLUSION has been made in the preceding chapter to the action
of the Democratic National Convention of 1868 and the nomi-
nations made by it. By its platform and partly through its
candidates the Democratic party determined to go to the
polls on the two issues of overthrowing the reconstruction
system in the Southern States and paying the debt of the
United States in paper currency. The other questions in their platform gradu-
ally dropped out, and all the discussion of the canvass was directed to these
two leading propositions. The Republican party, on the other hand, made a
very strong nomination, by selecting General Grant as its candidate—the selec-
tion having been practically determined upon for months before the Convention
was held. The nomination was made in response to a general public sentiment.
Some of the politicians were opposed to the selection of a man whose record
was almost entirely military, but they found themselves in such a small minority
that. they abandoned the attempt. Many of the prominent leaders of the Re-
publican party were present at the Convention, which occupied only two days.
altogether for its session. - - - *s g
The platform, which was adopted after very little discussion, contained two
essential principles which overshadowed all others—equal suffrage for all citizens,
of whatever color or race, and the maintenance of the public faith in observing
* Af . (195)

I96 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
the financial obligations of the government. The Convention congratulated the
country on the restoration of a majority of the Confederate States to their places
in the Union and the assured restoration of the rest in a short time. President
Johnson was severely arraigned for his conduct in office, and this arraignment
met with the hearty indorsement of Republicans all through the country.
The issues between the parties were clearly stated and left no room for
doubt. -
When the business regarding the platform was completed, General Grant
was nominated for the presidency by General John A. Logan, in a speech of
distinctive vigor and eloquence. When the roll was called, the entire Convention
indorsed the nomination, without a single vote in opposition. . The wildest enthu-
siasm was displayed in the Convention, as the vote went on, and it was echoed
by the enthusiasm with which the nomination was received throughout the country.
There was considerable competition for the nomination for the Vice-Presidency,
there being three candidates in the field, with others of lesser note. The three
who occupied the most prominent place were Wade of Ohio, Fenton of New York,
and Schuyler Colfax of Indiana. On the first ballot Wade was first in the vot-
ing ; and on the second ballot his number was increased considerably; on the
third and fourth ballots all the smaller names were withdrawn. Then, by the
combination of votes on the part of the withdrawn candidates, and the falling off
from Wade and Fenton, the fifth ballot gave 541 for Colfax, 38 for Wade, and 69
for Fenton. The nomination was immediately made unanimous, and when the
Convention adjourned there was a general belief throughout the country that
the ticket bearing the names of Grant and Colfax would be victorious in the
CanWaySS, - -- -
General Grant was promptly notified officially and formally of his nomination.
In less than a week his letter of acceptance was published, and in it was that
memorable phrase, which will always be linked with his name, “Let us have
peace.” * *
When the campaign was fairly under way, the Democrats developed a greater
strength than had been anticipated, and although the Republican ticket was vic-
torious the battle was more earnest than had been expected on the part of many
of the political leaders. The victory was an overwhelming one for the Repub-
lican party and its candidates, but it was a surprise to many Republicans that
General Grant was defeated in the State of New York by ten thousand votes,
and that New Jersey should also take a place in the Democratic column. Cali-
***
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 197
I
fornia and Oregon had been counted upon as sure Republican States, but the
majority in California was only 514, while Oregon, to the surprise and astonish-
ment of nearly every Republican, gave her vote for the Democratic ticket. The
SENATOR MATTHEW S. QUAY, PENNSYLVANIA.
city and county of Philadelphia had been looked upon as certainly Republican,
but they gave a majority of nearly two hundred to the Democrats. If Seymour
had received the total vote of the States of the solid South—which had not
then been solidified to that degree that they have in later days—he would have

198 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
had a majority over General Grant in the Electoral College, and would have
become the President of the United States in March, 1869. . -
The result of the Republican victory in this campaign was the decision that
the Constitution should be amended so as to provide for impartial suffrage
throughout the country. This had been overlooked or omitted in the platform of
the party during the campaign, and there was a widespread belief that it had
been seriously detrimental to the success of the party. Various propositions were
made in both Houses of Congress, and, as every one knows, in due course of
time the amendment was passed and ratified by the States, so that it became
a part of the law of the land. . *
The inauguration of General Grant as President of the United States took
place on the 4th of March, 1869, and there was a grand display of popular en-
thusiasm over the event. It was a delight to the Republicans to be rid at
last of the annoyances of their relations with President Johnson, and it is highly
probable that the Democrats were equally glad to be rid of an alliance with a
man who had so long been their enemy and through whose relations they had
profited very little. . - * ~, ... *
A notable instance of the inauguaration was that the usual etiquette was not
carried out by the incoming and outgoing. Presidents accompanying each other
from the White House to the Capitol. There have been very few exceptions to
this custom. John Adams was so annoyed by, the circumstances of his defeat
for re-election that he left Washington and would not stay to see his successor,
Jefferson, installed into office; and there was such a bitter personal quarrel
between General Jackson and John Quincy Adams that they were not on speak-
ing terms, and, consequently, a ride in a carriage through the length of the
nation's capital would not be an agreeable excursion. General Grant had such a
personal dislike to President Johnson, in consequence of the latter's effort to place
him in a false position concerning the removal of Stanton, that he refused to
recognize him officially in any way, and declined to drive with him in the same
Carriage. ? - -
In accordance with his custom, a notable feature of his inauguration address
was its brevity. Substantially, he said: “I have taken the oath of office without
mental reservation, and with the determination to do, to the best of my ability, ,
all that it requires of me. The responsibilities of the position I feel, but I accept
them without fear. The office has come to me unsought. I commence its duties
untrammeled; I bring to it a conscientious desire and determination to fill it to
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S DEADERS. 199
the best of my ability, and to the satisfaction of the people.” He announced that
he should have upon all subjects a policy to recommend, but none to enforce
against the will of the people. “Laws,” he said, “are to goverp all alike—those
opposed as well as those who favor them. I know of no method to secure the
repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.” Upon
the question of sustaining the public credit he was emphatically outspoken.
“Let it be understood,” said he, “that no repudiator of one cent of our
public debt will be trusted in public place, and it will go far to strengthen
our public credit, which ought to be the best in the world.” He said that the
question of suffrage was one likely to continue to agitate the people, and it
seemed to him very desirable that that question should be settled, and he enter-
tained the hope and expressed the desire that it might be, by the ratification of
the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. - * *
It is probable that no President elected by the people, with the possible excep-
tion of General Taylor, ever entered the presidential chair with so little experi-
ence in civil matters. Washington and Jackson had both occupied civil positions,
although their military careers were, in the popular eye, their chief recommenda-
tions for office. President Taylor and General Grant resembled each other in the
fact that both had been soldiers. Both had reputations as being gallant execu-
tive officers, and consequently neither of them was distrusted on account of his
inexperience in civil affairs. & - -
We have not space at our command to follow the history of General Grant’s
administration during the four years of his first term as President, but that his-
tory is before the country and is well known to the Republican party at large.
The most difficult problem with which the President and Congress had to
contend was the question of reconstruction in the Southern States. The recon-
struction measures had all been perfected before General Grant's term began,
but the acts of the States themselves necessary to the completion of these meas-
ures had not all been completed. By the spring of 1870, the three Southern
States which had not been admitted to representation, and took no part in the
national election, had fully complied with all the requirements and were admitted.
to the same privileges that had been granted to the other States of the South.
The case of the State of Georgia, whose reconstruction was supposed to have -
been already completed, was taken up for consideration, and gave considerable
trouble. The Senators and Representatives from Georgia were refused admis-
sion when they presented themselves at Washington, and their credentials were
200 THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS.
referred to the Committee on Elections in their respective Houses. It seems that
the Legislature, after complying with every condition of reconstruction, had coolly
decided that colored men, while they might vote, should not be permitted to serve
as legislators or to hold any office in the State; they were therefore driven out of
the Legislature, and white men who, under the Fourteenth Amendment, were not
eligible to hold office, were kept in their places. Then the Fifteenth Amendment
was rejected by the Legislature, which consisted entirely of white men, the great
majority of whom were ex-rebels. -
Congress enacted a law requiring Georgia to ratify the Fifteenth Amend-
ment before her Senators and Representatives could be seated ; and also declared
that the exclusion of persons from the Legislature upon the grounds of race, color,
or previous condition of servitude, would be illegal and revolutionary, and was pro-
hibited. Consequently, a call was issued by the Governor of Georgia for the re-
assembling of the Legislature ; the colored members were restored to their seats,
and the Fifteenth Amendment was duly ratified. There was considerable oppo-
sition in Congress to the passage of this bill, but it was powerless to prevent its
adoption, and as soon as it was complied with the final act for the re-admission
of Georgia to representation in Congress was duly passed.
Step by step, as the reconstruction of each State was completed, the military
government was withdrawn from it. It had given much greater satisfaction than
had generally been expected. Many of the Southern people who were, at first,
indignant at the presence of soldiers in their part of the country in time of peace,
were very soon quite contented with the fair and just administration which was
enforced by the commanding generals. Many of the best thinking men of the
South would have been glad to continue the military rule until the passions
which the war had engendered had been cooled' and the relations of the two
races had become so fairly adjusted that the danger of conflict between them
would have been removed. But it was not feasible to continue the military gov-
ornment after the constitutional requirements had been met, and the States were
therefore allowed to take care of themselves. *-
The theory by which the States were reconstructed was that they would be
obedient to the Constitution and laws of the land. Congress had proceeded upon
the basis of faith in Republican government, which Lincoln had expressed in very
terse and forcible language: “A government of the people, by the people, for the
people.” g -
There was great rejoicing generally when the work of reconstruction was
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 201
completed, but it is an unhappy circumstance that this rejoicing did not last a
long time. It was very speedily discovered that the great mass of the men
who had taken part in the Rebellion—in fact, the great mass of the white popula-
tion of the South—had really no intention of acting in good faith by the legis-
SENATOR GIDEON C. MOODY, SOUTH DAKOTA.
lation in Congress and the constitutional amendments. The white people of the
South generally seemed to have felt that they were justified in opposing and de-
stroying the governments which had grown up under the reconstruction laws;
they considered the re-admission of the States as the beginning of the period in

202 - THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
which they would be able to do just what they pleased. They had the inherent
right, under the constitutional limitations, of repealing the laws of their States
and changing them in any way that suited their purposes, and they simply ac-
quiesced in a compliance with the reconstruction acts until they could get the
power in their own hands. They were determined that the Negro should have
no voice in their local governments, and that he should have no influence in any
legislation whatever, and if he were permitted to vote at all it would only be in a
very small minority, where he could do no harm. It became necessary to return
some of the military forces of the South, and this gave great offense to the
Southern leaders and to their friends in the North. * *
It was perfectly well understood, and openly so, in the North, but less openly
in the South, that the suffrage to the colored man should be removed just as
soon as the national control of the country was taken away. White leagues
and Ku-Klux clans were formed during the first two years of General Grant’s
administration, and the whole South became a scene of violent outrages. The
object of these outrages was to terrify the Negroes, if they offered any resistance
to the purposes of the white men. The members of these clans and organizations
did not hesitate to violate any law in the prosecution of their objects; they rode
through the country by night as well as by day; they were disguised with masks
and strange-looking robes, and they whipped, maimed, and not infrequently
murdered the victims of their anger. Any white men who ventured to say a
word in defense of the colored men were liable to the same treatment. It was
very difficult to ascertain who were the members of the clans, as they nearly
always went in disguise, and, in addition to the fact of their disguise, they
were protected partly by the public sentiment of the white population around
them and partly by the fear which was instilled in the minds of all those who
might be witnesses against them lest they should lose their lives in consequence
s of giving testimony. The portion of the white population that did not join in
their outrages was generally on their side, as they were told that the pur-
pose was to prevent the supremacy of the Negro in the South.
General Grant issued a proclamation to the people of the South, in which
he called attention to the outrages, and said that he should not hesitate to
exhaust whatever powers had been invested in him or might be vested in him
whenever and wherever it should be necessary to do so; Congress had given
him the power to suspend, the writ of Habeas Corpus; when it was impossible
to restore peace and good order without such suspension. In due time the Ku-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 203
Rlux clans were broken up through the strong arm of the military power, but
their dissolution by no means brought the race troubles to an end. The diffi-
culties continued in one form and another until the white men had triumphed
and established what they claimed was a white man’s government. The laws
were so framed in many of the States that they practically amounted to a
disfranchisement of the colored population, and whenever any defect was found
in the working of the laws to that end, it was speedily corrected at a sub-
sequent session of the Legislature. So persistent has been the action of the
solid South in this direction, during all , the years that have elapsed since the
Rebellion until the present time, as to call the attention of the North to the
flagrant Outrages that have been perpetrated, and to elicit an expression of
opinion in favor of honest elections for which the Republican party has always
stood firm. In these latter days there has been presented in Congress the bill
known as the Federal Elections Bill, which provides for the control. on the part
of officers of the United States at elections in any of the States wherever mem-
bers of Congress are to be chosen. This is the measure which is so bitterly
denounced by the Democratic party as the Force Bill. Volumes of wrath
have been uttered against it, and the most bitter denunciations are daily heard
on the part of the political leaders of the South and their friends and support-
ers in the North, . In a nut-shell, the whole measure amounts to this: Shall
there be an honest ballot and an honest count, or shall one portion of the
population of any State be allowed to rule over another portion by force
or fraud P - -
In the presidential election of 1872 the Republican party re-nominated Gen-
eral Grant for the high office of President, and placed on the ticket as , the
candidate for Vice-President the honorable Henry Wilson of Massachusetts.
The following was the platform on which the candidates stood and with which
the Republican party went to the country in full confidence of success.
“The Republican party of the United States, assembled in national convention
in the city of Philadelphia, on the 5th and 6th days of - June, 1872, again declares
its faith, appeals to its history, and announces its position upon the questions
before the country;
“1. During eleven years of supremacy it has accepted, with grand courage,
the solemn duties of the time. It suppressed a gigantic rebellion, emancipated
four millions of slaves, decreed the equal citizenship of all, and established uni-
versal suffrage. Exhibiting unparalleled magnanimity, it criminally punished no
204 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
.*
man for political offenses, and warmly welcomed all who proved their loyalty by
obeying the laws and dealing justly with their neighbors. It has steadily de-
creased, with firm hand, the resultant disorders of a great war, and initiated a
wise and humane policy toward the Indians. The Pacific Railroad and similar
vast enterprises have been generously aided and successfully conducted, the public
lands freely given to actual settlers, immigration protected and encouraged, and
a full acknowledgment of the ‘naturalized citizen’s rights secured from European
powers. A uniform national currency has been provided, repudiation frowned
down, the national credit sustained under the most extraordinary burdens, and
new bonds negotiated at lower rates. The revenues have been carefully collected
and honestly applied. Despite annual large reductions of the rates of taxation,
the public debt has been reduced during General Grant’s presidency at the rate
of a hundred millions a year, great financial crises have been avoided, and peace
and plenty prevail throughout the land. Menacing foreign difficulties have been
peacefully and honorably compromised, and the honor and power of the nation
kept in high respect throughout the world. This glorious record of the past is
the party’s best pledge for the future. We believe the people will not intrust the
government to any party or combination of men composed chiefly of those who
have resisted every step of this beneficent progress. p
“2. The recent amendments to the National Constitution should be cordially
sustained because they are right, not merely tolerated because they are law, and
should be carried out according to their spirit by appropriate legislation, the
enforcement of which can safely be intrusted only to the party that secured
those amendments. -
“3. Complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civil, politi-
cal, and public rights should be established and effectually maintained throughout
the Union by efficient and appropriate State and Federal legislation. Neither the
law nor its administration should admit any discrimination in respect to citizens
by reason of race, creed, color, or previous condition of servitude.
“4. The national government should seek to maintain honorable peace with
all nations, protecting its citizens everywhere, and sympathizing with all peoples
who strive for greater liberty.
“5. Any system of civil service under which the subordinate positions of the
government are considered rewards for mere party zeal is fatally demoralizing ;
and we, therefore, favor a reform of the system, by laws which shall abolish
the evils of patronage, and make honesty, efficiency, and fidelity the essential
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 205
qualifications for public positions, without practically creating a life tenure of
office.
“ 6. We are opposed to further grants of the public lands to corporations
SENATOR JOHN B. ALLEN, WASHINGTON.
and monopolies, and demand that the national domain be set apart for free homes
for the people.
“ 7. The annual revenue, after paying current expenditures, pensions, and the
interest on the public debt, should furnish a moderate balance for the reduction of
the principal; and that revenue, except so much as may be derived from a tax

206 ..ºf THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
upon tobacco and liquors, should be raised by duties upon importations, the
details of which should be so adjusted as to aid in securing remunerative wages
to labor, and promote the industries, prosperity, and growth of the whole
country. -
“8. We hold in undying honor the soldiers and sailors whose valor saved
the Union. Their pensions are a sacréd debt of the nation, and the widows and
orphans of those who died for their country are entitled to the care of a generous
and grateful people. We favor such additional legislation as will extend the
bounty of the government to all our soldiers and - sailors who were honorably
discharged, and who in the line of duty became disabled, without regard to the
length of service or the cause of such discharge. -
“9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers concerning
allegiance—‘ Once a subject always a subject ’—having at last, through the efforts
of the Republican party, been abandoned, and the American idea of the indi-
vidual’s right to transfer allegiance having been accepted by European nations,
it is the duty of . our government to guard with jealous care the rights of
adopted citizens against the assumption of unauthorized claims by their former
governments, and we urge continued careful encouragement and protection of
voluntary immigration. * - *
“10. The franking privilege ought to be abolished, and a way prepared for
a speedy reduction in the rates of postage. º
“11. Among the questions which press for attention is that which concerns
the relations of capital and labor; and the Republican party recognizes the duty
of so shaping legislation as to secure full protection and the amplest field for
capital, and for labor, the creator of capital, the largest opportunities and a just
share of the mutual profits of these two great servants of civilization.
“12. We hold that Congress and the President - have only fulfilled an im-
perative duty in their measures for the suppression of violence and treasonable
organizations in certain lately rebellious regions, ..and for the protection of the
ballot-box; and, therefore, they are entitled to the thanks of the nation.
“.13. We denounce repudiation of the public debt, in any form or disguise,
as a national crime. We witness with pride the reduction of the principal of
the debt, and of the rates of interest upon the balance, and confidently expect
that our excellent national currency will be perfected by a speedy resumption Of
specié payment. - - - - --
** 14. The Republican party is mindful of its obligations to the loyal women
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD . ITS EAEA DEPS. 207
of America for their noble devotion to the cause of freedom. Their admission to
wider fields of usefulness is viewed with satisfaction; and the honest demand
of any class of citizens for additional rights should be treated with respectful
consideration. * -
“15. We heartily approve the action of Congress in extending amnesty to
those lately in rebellion, and rejoice in the growth of peace and fraternal feeling
throughout the land. . t * . . . - * *
“ 16. The Republican party proposes to respect the rights reserved by the
people to themselves as carefully as the powers delegated by them to the
States and to the Federal government. lt disapproves of the resort to unconsti-
tutional laws for the purpose of removing evils, by interference with rights not
surrendered by the people to either the State or National government.
“ 17. It is the duty of the general government to adopt such measures as
may tend to encourage and restore American commerce and ship-building.
** 18. We believe that the modest patriotism, the earnest purpose, the sound
judgment, the practical wisdom, the incorruptible integrity, and the illustrious
services of Ulysses S. Grant have commended him to the heart of the American
people; and with him at our head, we start to-day upon a new march to victory.
“19. Henry Wilson, nominated for the Vice-Presidency, known to the whole
land from the early days of the great struggle for liberty as an indefatigable
laborer in all campaigns, an incorruptible legislator and representative man of
American institutions, is worthy to associate with our great leader and share the
honors which we pledge, our best efforts to bestow upon them.” -
The campaign of 1872 presented some curious features. There had been a
formidable split in the Republican party, growing out of certain troubles in
the State of Missouri, which led to what was known as the Liberal Republican
movement. Missouri—a border State—did not secede from the Union during
the war, but many thousands of her citizens had gone into the rebel army.
In order to prevent these men from returning and taking part in the control
of affairs, the State enacted an amendment disqualifying ex-rebels from exercis-
ing the rights of citizenship. After the war, during the early seventies, the
demand had been made that those disabilities should be removed. The Repub-
licans had control of the Legislature, and there was a division of opinion "upon
this question. The minority of the Republicans, who called themselves Liberals,
united with the Democráts and succeeded in passing amendments which removed
the disqualifications, and , also, at the same time and during the same movement,
y
208 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LAEA.D.E.R.S.
elected Gratz Brown governor. There was a sort of fusion between the Liberal
Republicans and the Democrats, and by means of this fusion the State went
from Republican into Democratic control. The same question did not arise
elsewhere, but there were considerable differences in the Republican party as to
the way in which the South had been treated; many of them demanded that
there should be universal amnesty and universal suffrage; the military rule of
General Grant was harshly criticised, and there was also the criticism that the
power of the administration had been used for personal and family purposes;
and the removal of certain men from office and the appointment of others had
given dissatisfaction, as such things always do, so that there was a fair nucleus
for the forming of the opposition party. There was also a quarrel, and a very
severe one, growing out of personal enmities between Fenton and Conkling,
both prominent political leaders of the Republicans in the State of New York,
and this quarrel had assumed very serious proportions in the State Convention
of 1870. Consequently, altogether there was sufficient material to lead to a
National Convention of Liberal Republicans, which was held at Cincinnati in
May, 1872, the call being sent out by the Liberal State Convention of Missouri.
The men composing the Convention claimed to be Republicans, and in the
platform which they drew up they set forth the Republican idea throughout,
recognizing the equality of all men before the law, and the duty of equal and
exact justice, pledging fidelity to the Union, to emancipation, to enfranchisement,
and opposition to any reopening of the questions settled by the new amend-
finents to the Constitution, demanding the immediate and absolute removal of
all disabilities imposed on account of the Rebellion, declaring that local self-
government, with impartial suffrage, would guard the rights of all citizens more
securely than any centralized power, insisting upon the supremacy of the civil
over the military authorities, and placing great stress upon the abuse of the
civil service and upon the necessity of reform, declaring that no President
ought to be a candidate for re-election, and denouncing repudiation, the passing
of land grants, and demanding speedy return to specie payment.
There was no quarrel among, the Liberals on the points just mentioned, but
there was a serious difficulty from the fact that the Convention was composed of
Free Traders and Protectionists. The Western Representatives who had come
to the Convention were emphatically Free Traders, particularly those from Mis-
souri, from which State the call had been issued ; but those from the East, who
were headed by Horace Greeley of New York, were believers in the very pro-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 209
JAMES G. BLAINE, EX-SECRETARY OF STATE.

14
210 THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
nounced protective views entertained by that gentleman. He was prominent in
the Liberal Convention, but however prominent he might have been, it was clearly
understood that he would never set aside his protective views in favor of any
movement, however much he might consider it desirable. There was a very pre-
sistent effort on the part of the Free Traders to sustain their views, and an
equally determined effort by Greeley and his friends to sustain theirs. Finally,
Greeley proposed a compromise, suggesting that they should acknowledge their
differences to be irreconcilable and waive the question of tariff altogether. A
writer on the subject says: “ The only agreement that they reached was an
agreement to disagree.” -
After the platform came the candidates; and on the sixth ballot Greeley was
so far in the lead that the supporters of the other candidates made a rapid
change to him, and he was declared the nominee. Governor Gratz Brown of
Missouri was made the nominee for the Vice-Presidency, and the work of the
Liberal Republican Convention was at an end. &
It was a remarkable spectacle, that a convention in which there was a clear
majority of Free Traders nominated a Protectionist as their candidate. Not more
remarkable was the spectacle, a short time after, when the Democratic Conven-
tion determined upon the policy of supporting as their candidate one who had
been a most bitter enemy of slavery during all his life, and who had done heroic
work in his efforts toward destroying it. * #
The Democratic party decided to unite with the Liberal Republicans, adopt
their platform and their candidates. Thus was afforded the remarkable spectacle
of the Southern States, who had lately emerged from a war in which the prac-
tical object for which they fought was the preservation of slavery, standing for
and voting for a pronounced Abolitionist from the days when the Abolition
party first came into existence. -
The feeling of revolt in the Republican party, and the general friendship for
Greeley, coupled with the universal faith in his sterling honesty, would probably
have carried him to the presidential chair, had the election taken place within a
few weeks after the nomination. The contest has been compared to the famous
Log Cabin canvass of 1840, in which Van Buren said that it would be “either a
farce or a tornado.” But not long after the nomination there was a reaction,
when it, was realized by the public generally that the election of Greeley would
be accompanied by the return of the Democratic party to power; the Southern
brigadiers would again be in the saddle; while they could hope for no co-opera-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 211
tion on the part of the man whom they placed in the presidential chair, their
success in the election would go a long way toward their obtaining control of
Congress, and this of itself would be regarded as a calamity.
The September and October elections were anxiously looked for. They re-
sulted in giving heavy majorities in the States where they were held, and by
the time the last of the State elections had been held it was evident that
Greeley was doomed to defeat. When the general election came off, it was
found that General Grant had made a most sweeping victory; his majorities in
most of the States were unprecedented. One of the saddest things was the
death of Greeley not long after ‘the election. During the last days of the
canvass he was called to the bedside of his wife, who was stricken with a
mortal illness, and her funeral took place the day before the election. This
domestic calamity, coupled with his political defeat and the tremendous strain
through which he had passed, with all the care and labor, broke his consti-
tution, and he speedily succumbed. He died within a month following the
election, and his death silenced all controversies over. the campaign in which he
had been so signally defeated.
Horace Greeley—requiescat ºn pace /—could have wished for no more en-
during epitaph than that of “Founder of the Tribune,” that great organ of the
Republican party; and the mistake of his life, which resulted in his death, was
his acceptance of the nomination for President in 1868 from the Mugwump
Liberal Republican party, against Gen. Grant, after his magnificent record as
an old line Whig, and one of the original Republicans. Greeley has been charged
with allowing his vanity to control him in accepting this nomination, but his
intimate friends know that he was actuated by a sincere belief that the system
of our government would be endangered by the one-man tendency that vitalized
the Republican party in its adhering to Gen. Grant, who, deserving of the
highest honor as a reward for his services as a soldier, had received it from -
his party. -
Born at Amherst, N. H., Feb. 3, 1811, of parents in humble circumstances,
Horace Greeley’s youth and early life was a struggle. While a small boy he de-
clared it his intention of learning the trade of a compositor, and, after receiving
a slight common-School education, was apprenticed to a local printer at the early
age of eleven. He was rejected on account of his age, but three years later
was accepted at an office in East Poultney, Vt. Finally drifting to New York
—literally walking here from the interior of Pennsylvannia via Buffalo, with his
Amº"
212 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
bundle and stick in hand—he obtained employment in the offices of the Evening
Post, Commercial Advertiser, and Spirit of the Times. Having saved seventy-
five dollars, he and a chum, George Story, established a partnership and started,
in 1833, a morning penny paper, the Morning Post, which, the first penny paper
in this city, failed after a publication for three weeks.
Greeley and Story continued in business, however, as job printers, and did
fairly well, having the printing of the Bank Note Reporter and the Constitu-
tionalist, the senior meanwhile actively contributing to the press. Story dying,
his brother-in-law, Jonas Winchester, succeeded him in the firm, which in 1834
started a paper called the New Yorker, Greeley being the editor. James Gordon
Bennett proposed to Greeley that they should start the Herald together; but the
latter suggested a partner (who was accepted), and devoted himself to the New
Yorker, which under his editorship became a power, while not making, but, on
the contrary, losing money for its publishers.
Greeley’s articles attracted the attention of Thurlow Weed and William H.
Seward, and they gave him the editorship, in 1838, of a Whig campaign paper
entitled The Jeffersonian. In the presidential canvass of 1840, Greeley & Co.
published simultaneously in this city and Albany a campaign paper, entitled the
Log Cabin, which was illustrated and attracted much attention, and brought
Greeley into wide political prominence.
After the campaign the Log Cabin was continued as a family and lit-
erary weekly for some months. On April 3, 1841, Greeley announced that
“on Saturday, April 10th instant, the subscriber will publish the first num-
ber of a new morning journal of politics, literature and general intelligence.”
That paper was the now world-wide Tribune, generally recognized as the
“ leading American newspaper.” From this acorn has grown the great Tribune,
which still proudly proclaims the legend that it was “ Founded by Horace
Greeley.” -
For a long time the success of the Tribune was by no means assured; indeed
Greeley himself has, with a characteristic candor, stated that the first copy was
“with difficulty given away; ” but it progressed, and finally the New Yorker
and the Log Cabin were merged into the Weekly Tribune, which, still published,
probably exercises more influence over the thought of the farmer class than
any other paper published. The history of the Tribune would fill several volumes,
and is largely a part of the political history of the Whig and of the Republican
party. It has always been the organ of progress and advanced *hought, and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 213
the champion of the weak and oppressed. Greeley for a long time found his
salary inadequate and delivered lectures.
In 1848 Greeley was elected to Congress to fill out an unexpired term of three
months; but in this short time distinguished himself by reforming the mileage
SENATOR WATSON C. SQUIRE, WASHINGTON.
abuse and introducing the first Homestead bill. In 1861 he was an unsuccessful
candidate for the United States Senate. He was a presidential elector in 1864.
He was in 1867 again an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate.
In this year he was a delegate-at-large to the convention for revising the State

214 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
Constitution, but soon resigned the position. In 1869 he was on the State
ticket for Comptroller, when it was foreseen that there was . no chance for the
party. In 1870 he ran for Congress, and, though defeated, ran ahead of his
ticket.
The same kindly spirit that prompted him to fill out Charles G. Halpin’s
term in a municipal office and give the salary to his widow and orphans
inspired him to go bail for Jefferson Davis. His defeat for the Presidency was
a great disappointment to him, and his friends all admit that he died of a
broken heart. He died in New York City, Nov. 29, 1872. He placed his
mantle as editor of the Tribune on a young journalist he had called to his
side—Whitelaw Reid—and the Tribune lives a monument to his energy,
patience, forbearance, genius, patriotism, and humanity.
XIII.
Grant's second Inaugural—Unexpected Sensitiveness to Criticism displayed—Condition of the
South—Quiet restored—Effort to remove Political Disabilities—Defeated by Democratic
Votes—Exception of Jefferson Davis and the Reasons for it—Convention of 1876—The
Platform—Principles supported by the Republicans—The Candidates and the Votes in
their Behalf–Rutherford B. Hayes Nominated—The October Elections—Close Vote in
November—States and Votes in Dispute—Settlement of the Trouble—Democratic Threats
—The Electoral Commission—Inauguration of President Hayes—Civil Service Reform.
the opening of his second administration General Grant, for
the first time, gave expression to his personal feelings in regard
to what he considered abuse and falsehood on the part of his
political opponents. He said he had looked forward with the
| greatest anxiety for release from responsibilities which at times
were almost overwhelming, and from which he had scarcely had a respite since
the eventful firing on Fort Sumter down to that time. “My services,” he
said, “were then tendered and accepted under the first call for troops growing
out of the event. I did not ask for place or position, and was entirely without
influence or the acquaintance of persons of influence, but was resolved to per-
form my part in a struggle threatening the very existence of the nation. I
performed a conscientious duty without asking promotion or command, and
without a revengeful feeling toward any section or individual. Notwithstanding
this, throughout the war, and from my candidacy for the presidential office, in
1868, to the close of the last presidential campaign, I have been the subject
of abuse and slander scarcely ever equaled in political history, which to-day I
feel I can afford to disregard in view of your verdict, which I gratefully accept
as my vindication.”
Some surprise and some amusement was created—especially in political
circles—at General Grant’s manifestation of sensitiveness regarding what his

(215)
216 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
opponents might say. He did not seem to be aware that every incumbent of
an office—no matter how low or how exalted it may be—is compelled to face
more or less of personal abuse and misrepresentation, and may sometimes won-
der why he is allowed to live. In the light of history, it can be seen that the
abuse showered upon nearly every President who had preceded General Grant
was as great as, and, in most instances, greater than, he had received. This
was particularly the case with Jefferson in 1800, and in later years with Adams,
Jackson, and also with the great candidate who suffered defeat, Henry Clay.
The assertions against these men were far more severe and far more reckless
than any which had been made against General Grant. The probability is that
his military education and life in the army had not fitted him for a political
career, and the fact that he was sensitive in regard to abuse, and showed his
sensitiveness, was a practical illustration of his inexperience in civil affairs. But
it was his unusually good fortune that during his lifetime many of those who
had abused him came to eulogize him warmly, and virtually retracted all the
slanders which they had put forth against him during his campaigns for the
Presidency. …’ -
His second administration was less disturbed than the first by the question
of reconstruction, as the Southern States were all nominally in a condition of
peace, and the military forces in the South had been withdrawn.
The President’s Annual Message, at the end of his first year, contained no
reference to the condition of the South. The Ku-Klux clans and other organiza-
tions had ceased their outrages, through the vigilant prosecution of the United
States courts, and as the Centennial year approached, it was hoped that every
State of the Republic would be in the enjoyment of material prosperity and fairly
enforcing the laws of the land.
During the session of Congress, in the winter of 1875, an effort was made to
remove the political disabilities from every person in the country. A resolution
was offered in Congress to that effect, with the exception of a very few persons.
Blaine moved to amend the resolution by excepting Jefferson Davis from the bene-
fits of the bill; the reason assigned for excepting him was not that he had been
a rebel, but because, while President of the Confederacy, he had permitted ex-
traordinary cruelties to be inflicted upon prisoners of war. It was claimed that
he was legally and morally responsible, that he did not prevent the horrors of
Andersonville when he had the power to do so. The bill required a two-thirds
vote, and it failed of passage. The Republicans asked for a vote upon Jefferson
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 217
Davis alone, and that was refused by the opposition; if he alone had been ex-
empted from the operation of the bill it would have been passed beyond question.
It has been remarked in regard to that question, that if Davis thought he was
SENATOR PHILETUS SAWYER, WISCONSIN.
ungenerously treated by the Republicans, he must have found ample compensa-
tion in the conduct of the Southern and Northern Democrats, who kept seven
hundred prominent supporters of the Rebellion under disability for the simple and
only reason that he should not share in the clemency.

218 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
In 1876 there was a change from the ordinary practice of the Republican
party. From 1860 down to that time the presidential nominations had been prac-
tically determined upon before the meeting of the Convention ; but this was not
the case in the Convention of the Centennial year. No candidate had been selected
in advance, and when the National Convention assembled it was practically and
really for the purpose of making a choice and not for carrying out the popular
will. There was much difference between the leaders of the Republicans, and it
was altogether impossible for any one to predict, with any sort of certainty, the
name of the nominee. Senator Morton of Indiana, Senator Conkling of New York,
Bristow of Kentucky, and General Hayes of Ohio were prominent candidates.
There were also General Hartranſt of Pennsylvania, and Blaine of Maine. Each
of these men had an active support, and before the assembling of the Convention
in formal proceedings there was a canvass among the friends of the various can-
didates.
The currency question was the great political issue of the time. Con-
gress had passed the act providing for a return to specie payments in 1879.
There were differences of opinion as to the wisdom of designating the time and
making the preparations for resumption. Great skill was necessary in drawing
the platform, and the work was intrusted to a sub-committee, consisting of men
who were all experienced in the work. The platform which they reported was a
clear and emphatic statement of all the issues before the country. It read as
follows:– -
“When, in the economy of Providence, this land was to be purged of human
slavery, and when the strength of the government of the people, by the people,
and for the people, was to be demonstrated, the Republican party came into
power. Its deeds have passed into history, and we look back to them with pride.
Incited by their memories to high aims for the good of our country and man-
kind, and looking to the future with unfaltering courage, hope, and purpose,
we, the representatives of the party, in national Convention assembled, make
the following declaration of principles:
“1. The United States of America is a nation, not a league. By the com-
bined workings of the National and State governments, under their respective
constitutions, the rights of every citizen are secured, at home - and abroad, and
the common welfare promoted.
“2. The Republican party has preserved these governments to the hundredth
anniversary of the nation’s birth, and they are now embodiments of the great
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 219
truths spoken at its cradle—“That all men are created equal; that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that for the attainment of these ends
governments have been instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed.” Until these truths are cheerfully obeyed, or, if
need be, vigorously enforced, the work of the Republican party is unfinished.
“3. The permanent pacification of the Southern section of the Union, and the
complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their rights, is
a duty to which the Republican party stands sacredly pledged. The power to
provide for the enforcement of the principles embodied in the recent constitutional
amendments is vested, by those amendments, in the Congress of the United
States; and we declare it to be the solemn obligation of the legislative and exec-
utive departments of the government to put into immediate and vigorous exercise
all their constitutional powers for removing any just causes of discontent on the
part of any class, and for securing to every American citizen complete liberty
and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political, and public rights. To
this end we imperatively demand a Congress and a Chief Executive whose cour-
age and fidelity to these duties shall not falter until these results are placed
beyond dispute or recall.
“4. In the first act of Congress signed by President Grant, the national
government assumed to remove any doubt of its purpose to discharge all just
obligations to the public creditors, and * solemnly pledged its faith to make pro-
vision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States
notes in coin.” Commercial prosperity, public morals, and national credit de-
mand that this promise be fulfilled by a continuous and steady progress to specie
payment.
“5. Under the Constitution, the President and heads of departments are to
make nominations for office, the Senate is to advise and consent to appointments,
and the House of Representatives is to accuse and prosecute faithless officers.
The best interest of the public service demand that these distinctions be re-
spected ; that Senators and Representatives who may be judges and accusers
should not dictate appointments to office. The invariablé rule in appointments
should have reference to the honesty, fidelity, and capacity of the appointees,
giving to the party in power those places where harmony and vigor of adminis-
tration require its policy to be represented, but permitting all others to be filled
by persons selected with sole reference to the efficiency of the public service, .
220 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
and the right of all citizens to share in the honor of rendering faithful service to
the country. • .
“6. We rejoice in the quickened conscience of the people concerning political
affairs, and will hold all public officers to a rigid responsibility, and engage that
the prosecution and punishment of all who betray official trusts shall be swift,
thorough, and unsparing.
“7. The public school system of the several States is the bulwark of the
American Republic; and, with a view to its security and permanence, we recom-
mend an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, forbidding the
application of any public funds or property for the benefit of any schools or in-
stitutions under sectarian control.
“8. The revenue necessary for current expenditures, and the obligations of
the public debt, must be largely derived from duties upon importations, which,
so far as possible, should be adjusted to promote the interests of American labor
and advance the prosperity of the whole country.
“9. We reaffirm our opposition to further grants of the public lands to cor-
porations and monopolies, and demand that the national domain be devoted to
free homes for the people.
“10. It is the imperative duty of the government so to modify existing
treaties with European governments, that the same protection shall be afforded
to the adopted American citizen that is given to the native-born; and that all
necessary laws should be passed to protect emigrants in the absence of power
in the States for that purpose. f :
“11. It is the immediate duty of Congress to fully investigate the effect of the
immigration and importation of Mongolians upon the moral and material interests
of the country.
“12. The Republican party recognizes, with approval, the substantial advances
recently made toward the establishment of equal rights for women by the many
important amendments effected by Republican Legislatures in the laws which con-
cern the personal and property relations of wives, mothers, and widows, and by
the appointment and election of women to the superintendence of education, chari-
ties, and other public "trusts. The honest demands of this class of citizens for
additional rights, privileges, and immunities, should be treated with respectful
consideration. - -
“13. The Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the Terri-
tories of the United States for their government; and in the exercise of this
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 221
power it is the right and duty of Congress to prohibit and extirpate, in the Terri-
tories, that relic of barbarism—polygamy ; and we demand such legislation as shall
secure this end and the Supremacy of American institutions in all the Territories.
“ 14. The pledges which the nation has given to her soldiers and sailors must
SENATOR JOHN C. SPOONER, WISCONSIN.
be fulfilled, and a grateful people will always hold those who imperiled their lives
for the country’s preservation in the kindest remembrance.
“15. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feeling and tendencies. We, there-
fore, note with deep solicitude that the Democratic party counts, as its chief hope

222 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
of success, upon the electoral vote of a united South, secured through the efforts
of those who were recently arrayed against the nation ; and we invoke the earnest
attention of the country to the grave truth that a success thus achieved would
re-open sectional strife, and imperil national honor and human rights.
“16. We charge the Democratic party with being the same in character and
spirit as when it sympathized with treason; with making its control of the House
of Representatives the triumph and opportunity of the nation’s recent foes; with
re-asserting and applauding, in the national capital, the sentiments of unrepent-
ant rebellion; with sending Union soldiers to the rear, and promoting Confederate
soldiers to the front ; with deliberately proposing to repudiate the plighted faith
of the government; with being equally false and imbecile upon the overshadowing
financial questions; with thwarting the ends of justice by its partisan mismanage-
ment and obstruction of investigation; with proving itself, through the period
of its ascendency in the Lower House of Congress, utterly incompetent to ad-
minister the government ; and we warn the country against trusting a party
thus alike unworthy, recreant, and incapable.
“17. The national administration merits commendation for its honorable work
in the management of domestic and foreign affairs, and President Grant deserves
the continued hearty gratitude of the American people for his patriotism and his
eminent services in war and in peace.
“18. We present, as our candidates for President and Vice-President of the
United States, two distinguished statesmen, of eminent ability and character, and
conspicuously fitted for those high offices, and we confidently appeal to the Ameri-
can people to intrust the administration of their public affairs to Rutherford B.
Hayes and William A. Wheeler.” -
The platform was adopted on the second day of the Convention, and then
the names of the various candidates were brought before the Convention and
supported in speeches more or less eloquent. On the third day the Convention
proceeded to the first ballot. Blaine led with 285 votes; Senator Morton was next
with 124. On the second ballot there were slight changes; and the third and
fourth ballots showed no material alteration in the state of affairs. General
Hayes was nominated on the seventh ballot, Blaine being his leading competitor.
The ballot at its conclusion stood : Hayes, 384; Blaine, 351; with 21 for Bristow.
The supporters of Bristow preferred General Hayes, and the nomination was
speedily made unanimous. William A. Wheeler of New York was nominated
for the Vice-Presidency, and the Convention adjourned.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 223
Rutherford Birchard Hayes, born at Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822, of
Scotch ancestry, the family having originally settled in Vermont. Entering
Renyon College in 1838 he graduated in 1842. He prepared himself for the Law
School at Cambridge, Mass., by reading in the office of Thomas Sparrow of
Columbus. He graduated from the Law School in 1845 and began practice
first at Marietta and subsequently at Fremont, Ohio. In 1849 he moved to Cin-
cinnati and became one of the leaders of its bar. He was nominated as a Whig
to the office of City Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1856, but declined
the nomination. In 1858 he was elected by the City Council to the office of City
Solicitor for an unexpired term. * In 1861 he and some friends organized a com-
pany and enlisted for three months. Subsequently he tendered his services to
Gov. Dennison. His bosom friend, the Hon. Stanley Matthews, volunteered at
the same time, wishing to be with him, and though tendered higher positions by
Gov. Dennison they accepted those of (Matthews) lieutenant-colonel and (Hayes)
major of the 23d Ohio Volunteers, the colonel being W. S. Rosecrans. He being
promoted to a brigadier-general, the command was given to Colonel Scammon,
also a graduate of West Point. The regiment was sent into West Virginia, and
Hayes, who soon rose to colonel, served all through the campaign in that State,
coming out breveted as brigadier-general for his services.
While still in the service he was nominated by the Republican party—with
which he had been identified since 1861—for Congress from the Second District
of Ohio. Elected, he declined to take his seat until the fall of Richmond, nor
did he. Renominated and elected in 1866, he was chosen Governor of the State
in 1867, being re-elected in 1869. In 1872 he was defeated for Congress, but in
1875 he was again chosen Governor. In 1876 he received the nomination from
the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati, Samuel J. Tilden of New
York being his opponent on the Democratic side. A contest arose over the
result of the elections in South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida, and the con-
troversy was transferred to Congress, which consisted of a Republican Senate
and a Democratic House of Representatives. A partisan course was pursued
by the two branches, and the controversy was finally referred to a commission
for investigation and decision. The commission decided finally in favor of Gen.
Hayes, whose administration was careful and judicious, no question of great mag-
nitude coming up during his term, and it may be said that his record as a soldier
was more brilliant than as a statesman, though his unobtrusive consistency and
unswerving patriotism as a statesman will always be recognized.
224 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
At the opening of the canvass there was little excitement, but it increased
as time went on. The Democrats had put in nomination as their candidate the
Hon. Samuel J. Tilden of New York, while Hendricks of Indiana was named
as the candidate for Vice-President. The Democratic platform consisted of the
usual denunciation of everything that the Republicans had done or that Demo-
cratic imagination could conjure up that they were supposed to have done, and
toward the latter part of the canvass it was evident that the vote would be very
close. There was no decisive indication through the September and the October
elections; the decisive States, Ohio and Indiana, going, the one Republican and
the other Democratic. The South had promised that it would be solid for Tilden,
but the morning after the election it was found that the Democratic hopes had
not been realized. It was announced that the Republicans had been victorious in
South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida ; and this gave 185 votes for Rutherford
B. Hayes—the exact number required for his election.
The Democrats and the Republicans both claimed the election in those three
States. The leaders of both sides were very positive in their conclusions, and
the masses of the two parties were consequently under great excitement; there
were a great many threats among parties and papers and individuals as to
what would be done in case either Hayes or Tilden were “counted out.” A
sensible step toward subduing the excitement was taken, by a proposal that
each party should send several prominent men to the States in dispute, in order
to see that a fair count was made. This proposal was accepted, and each party
sent its representatives to the capitals of the three States in dispute. There was
fear of violence at some points in the South, and military forces were sent there
to preserve order. When the local canvassing boards met in the three disputed
States the result of the contest gave the electoral votes to Hayes and Wheeler ;
and at the meeting of the electors on the sixth day of December, when they all
met in the several States, the official count showed 185 electors for Hayes and
184 for Tilden. - :;
Many threats were made on the part of the Democrats that Hayes should
never be inaugurated ; some went so far as to propose that one hundred
thousand armed Democrats should March to Washington and take possession
of the government in the name of Tilden. There was great possibility of
serious trouble, and in order to avoid it President Grant strengthened the
military forces in and around Washington, simply with the intention of pre-
venting or suppressing disturbance ; but many of the Democrats asserted that
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 225
it was with the intention of installing Hayes by the aid of the United States
army. It was clear to be seen, by every honest and unprejudiced man, that
the intention was simply to preserve order and to see that the dispute as to
the election of the President was settled according to law. The dispute ran
so high that it became necessary to appoint an electoral commission to deter-
mine the question. This was brought about through the Electoral Bill, which
was passed by Congress; the commission consisting of the Justices of the
Supreme Court. The Electoral Commission decided in favor of the Republican
MAJOR-GENERAL DANIEL BUTTERFIELD.
electors in the disputed States, and they similarly decided in a dispute that
Was raised concerning a technical disability in one of the electors in Oregon.
The result was that the Republicans were confirmed in their claim of 185
electors, and Hayes was declared to be the legally elected President of the
United States.
Never since the outbreak of the Civil War has there been so near an
approach to actual hostilities in the capital of the United States and in other
parts of the country as there was during the trouble over the election of


15
226 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS DEADERS.
1876. The state of affairs had this peculiarity—that every Republican could
honestly and candidly believe that his candidates were elected, while, at the
same time, every Democrat could as honestly and as candidly believe that the
Republicans had been defeated. o
President Hayes was duly inaugurated, and, as a matter of precaution, the
oath of office was administered to him on the preceding day, as it was thought
wise and prudent that he should be ready to act as President of the United
States if anything should be required for the public safety before noon of the
day of inauguration.
As in the second administration of General Grant, less attention was given
to the state of affairs in the South than to the question of finance, which had
become a matter of great prominence.
The reform of the civil service, which had received considerable public at-
tention during the administration of President Grant, was further advanced
under President Hayes. We have treated more fully of this subject in the
following chapter. A member of Congress of that time has seriously said
that “no reform in the civil service will be valuable that does not release
members of Congress from the care and the embarrassment of appointments,
and no boon so great could be conferred upon Senators and Representatives as
to relieve them from the worry, the annoyance and the responsibility which time
and habit have fixed upon them in connection with the dispensing of patronage
—all which belongs, under the Constitution, to the Executive. On the other
hand, the evil of which an earlier President spoke—the employment of patronage
by the Executive to influence legislation—is far the greatest abuse to which the
civil service has ever been perverted. To separate the two great departments
of the government, to keep each within its own sphere will be of immeasurable
advantage and will enhance the character and dignity of both. Non-political
service will be obtained, when Congress will be left to its legitimate functions,
when Presidents will not interfere with the use of patronage, and when the re-
sponsibility of appointment will rest solely in the department to which the organic
law of the Republic assigns it.” g
XIV.
The Civil Service—A Republican Measure and opposed continuously by the Democracy—First
Civil Service Case in the History of the Country—Thomas Jefferson and the Collector of
the Port of New Haven—Jefferson's Remarks on the Subject—Views of Eminent Writers—
Faults of the Old System—Appointment of the Civil Service Commission—Opposition of
Certain Politicians in the Republican Party—Rules regarding Applicants for Appointment
or Promotion—Examinations, and how Conducted—Rules regarding Women—British Civil
Service—Its Popularity in Great Britain.
SYSTEM which owes its existence to the Republican party is that
of the Civil Service. It has been distinctly a Republican measure,
and all laws passed in its behalf and all the rules that have been
formulated for its management have been of Republican origin
and secured by Republican votes. w
The first civil service question that was ever raised in the history of the
country dates back to the time when Thomas Jefferson was President. In June
of 1801 Jefferson removed a Federalist from the collectorship of the port of
New Haven and appointed a Republican to the place. There was remonstrance
on the part of the citizens, who said that Goodrich, the former incumbent, was
in every way satisfactory to men of all parties, and that his successor was
seventy-eight years of age and quite unfitted to perform the duties of the office.
Jefferson replied to this remonstrance and showed that he was largely in sym-
pathy with the principle of civil service, although the rules that had been fol-
lowed by the administrations up to that time did not maintain in office any
persons not connected with the dominant party. He said, in closing, that he
should return with joy to that state of things when the only questions con- -
cerning a candidate should be : is he honest ? is he capable P is he faithful to
the Constitution? Consequently, we may consider that Jefferson was a friend
of civil service, which is not generally the case with those who are pleased to
consider themselves followers of Jeffersonian democracy.

(227)
228 THE REPUBLIOA. W. PARTY AND IT'S LAEADERS.
The civil service that has been inaugurated since the Republican party
came into power in the management of the government has required a great,
deal of study, and it is proper to say that it has been opposed by many poli-
ticians in the Republican party as well as by nearly everybody in the Demo-
cratic party. At present it gives employment to not far from 130,000 persons
of both sexes; some of these are laborers, and others who are engaged only
for short terms, and some are connected with the Departments in minor capaci-
ties. The object of the civil service is to give the offices to those applicants
who are best qualified for them, and where there are two or more applicants
for one office, to select the most capable.
The object of the Civil Service Act, as its title declares, is “to regulate and
improve the civil service of the United States.” It provides for the appointment
of three commissioners, a chief examiner, a secretary, and other employees, and
makes it the commission’s duty to aid the President by preparing suitable rules,
whenever he requests them, for carrying the Civil Service Act into effect; it
requires them to make regulations for the examinations provided for candidates,
and to control these examinations from beginning to end, and to keep the rec-
ords carefully; it is also the duty of the commission to investigate and report,
upon all matters relating to the enforcement of the rules and regulations of
the service. Any person who wishes to communicate with the Civil Service
Commission has simply to address it at the capital of the country.
The service which is classified under this Act, and to which the law and
the rules apply, embraces the Executive Department at Washington, the
Department of Labor and the Civil Service Commission, the customs districts,
wherever they have fifty or more employees, post-offices wherever there are
fifty or more employees, and the Railway Mail Service. Of the customs dis-
tricts coming under the civil service rules there are eleven; and there are nearly
fifty post-offices which come under the classification.
The Classified Departmental Service embraces all places in the Depart-
ments at Washington, with the exception of messengers, workmen, watchmen
and laborers, but does not include any person designated as a skilled laborer
or workman ; no person, so employed, can without examination under the rules
be assigned to clerical duty; and also excepting those appointed by the Presi-
dent by and with the consent and advice of the Senate. The Classified Cus-
toms Service embraces the customs districts where the officials are fifty or
more, including all places whose salaries amount to $900 a year, and all those
*
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
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230 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
where the salary is higher than that rate where the appointee is not subject
to confirmation by the Senate. The Classified Postal Service embraces the
post-offices where there are fifty or more employees, and it includes everybody
above the grade of laborer.
General examinations are given to all applicants, and for places in the
Classified Service, where additional qualifications are needed of a technical
character, an arrangement is made for special examinations. In the Depart-
mental Service the examinations are held for the State Department, the Pen-
sion, Patent and Signal offices, together with the Geological and Coast Surveys
and some other departments.
One of the rules of the service is that applicants for examination must
be citizens of the United States and of the proper age for holding office.
Persons habitually using intoxicating liquors cannot be appointed to office under
the rules. No discrimination is allowed on account of sex, color, or political
or religious opinions. The limitations of age : For the Departmental Service,
not under twenty-one years; in the Customs Service, not under twenty-one
years, except clerks or messengers, who must not be under twenty years; in
the Postal Service, not under eighteen years, except messengers, stampers and
other minor assistants, who must not be under sixteen or over forty-five
years, and carriers, who must not be under twenty-one or over forty ; and in
the Railway Mail Service, not under eighteen or over thirty-five years. The
limitations of age are not applicable to any person honorably discharged from
the military or naval service of the United States by reason of disability Or
wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty, such persons receiving the
preference in appointments when other conditions are equal.
Every applicant for office and desiring examination under the Civil Service
rules must first file an application blank. The blank for the departmental or rail-
way mail service should be requested directly of the Civil Service Commission at
Washington; for the blanks for the customs or postal service request must be
made in writing, by the applicant, and the request must be addressed to the cus-
toms or postal board of commissioners, at the office where the applicant is seek-
ing service. These papers must be returned to the office from which they were
sent. - -
The applicants to enter the services designated are examined as to their rela-
tive capacity and fitness. The clerk examination is used only in the customs and
departmental Services, for clerkships of $1,000 and upwards, requiring no peculiar
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 231
information or skill. By the rules of the service it is limited to the following sub-
jects: first, orthography, penmanship and copying ; second, arithmetic—fundamen-
tal rules— fractions and percentage ; third, interest, discount, and elements of
bookkeeping and accounts; fourth, elements of the English language, letter writ-
ing, and the proper construction of sentences; fifth, elements of geography, history
and government of the United States. For places in which a lower degree of
education would suffice—as for employees in post-offices and those below the grade
of clerks in customs houses and in the departments at Washington, the examina-
tion is limited to less than these five subjects, omitting the third and parts of
the fourth and fifth subjects—and this is known as the copyists’ examination.
No one is certified for appointment whose standing, upon a just grading, in the
clerk or copying examination, is less than seventy per cent of complete pro-
ficiency, except that applicants claiming military or naval preference can be
admitted with a percentage of sixty-five. -
The Civil Service law also prescribes competitive examinations to test the
fitness of persons in the service for promotion therein. Those who pass an exam-
ination generally for entrance into the service or for promotion are graded and
registered. The commission gives each person examined a certificate, stating
whether he passed or failed to pass. After candidates have been examined and
have succeeded in passing the examination, they are placed on a waiting list,
and receive appointments in the order in which vacancies occur. When there is
a vacancy to be filled, the appointing officer applies to the commission or proper
examining board, and it reports to him the names of the three persons graded
highest on the proper register of those in his branch of the service, and remain-
ing eligible, and from the said three a selection must be made. Every appoint-
ment is made for a probationary period of six months; at the end of that time,
if the capacity and conduct of the person have been found satisfactory, the ap-
pointment is made permanent. -
Of course, there are opportunities for favoritism in the civil service, and there
has been much complaint at various times of cases wherein favoritism is notori-
ous ; but as long as human nature remains what it now is, and what it has always
been since the beginning of the world, the civil service will be found to answer
very generally the expectations of those who secured its establishment. It is
certainly, as every sensible man or woman will concede, far better than no civil
service. The Democratic principle enunciated by President Jackson, that “to
the victors belong the spoils,” is certainly a most pernicious one ; it has been
232 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LAADERS.
practiced by all parties since Jackson’s time, and had been practiced before it—
civil service has not succeeded in removing it altogether from the practices of the
Republican party since the time it came into power, and never will be able to
remove it entirely ; but it has certainly been of very great use to the country,
and has vastly improved the character of the service.
There are exemptions from the examinations ; among which may be named
the following : confidential clerks of heads of departments or offices; cashiers of
collectors and postmasters; superintendents of money-order divisions in post-
offices; custodians of money, for whose fidelity another person is under bond;
disbursing officers who give bonds; persons in the secret service; deputy collec-
tors and superintendents and chiefs of divisions or bureaus, together with several
others. -
It is probable that if all the politicians of either party could have their way,
civil service would be swept out of existence as speedily as possible; but parties
and leaders are compelled to acquiesce in the open competitive system, because
the people approve it and have shown that they approve it by their action at the
ballot box. They approve it because it gives them a common right, of which
they had been deprived by the privileged class of officeholders that existed previ-
ous to the enactment of the Civil Service law, and still exist in no small number.
Everybody could see the evils of the old system, and the efficacy of the civil
service rules, wherever they have been applied, is acknowledged by every one
who is without party prejudice. It is in full accord with the cardinal principles
under which our Republic was formed, and it goes a long way in justifying and
utilizing the opportunities which are offered of an elementary education in our
common schools. For all the ordinary positions in the government service, com-
mon school education is sufficient for a place.
There have been many differences of opinion among those who have heartily
advocated the civil service system. For instance, there is great difference of
opinion as to the propriety of placing any restrictions upon the head officer in
the matter of promotions; it is argued that the superior officer should not be
restricted in any way in making promotions, and that the application of the
civil service rules is injurious to the efficiency of his subordinates. The argu-
ment is that he is in the best position to know the capacity and character of
his subordinates, and that his tendency will be to advance the most efficient. It
is also argued that the most efficient clerk in a department may not be the one
that will pass the best examination; on the other hand, it is contended that the
*
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 233
application of the rules of civil service to promotions in office prevent a great
many abuses that would otherwise occur, and the agencies of political influence
and personal Solicitation would not be exerted as often under a system of com-
petitive examinations as they would be if the promotion depended upon the head
of the department.
In their first annual report the Commissioners under the civil service devoted
considerable space to the discussion of this question, but they did not declare any
THE LATE WILLIAM WINDOM, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
final conclusion upon it. They remarked that “the difference between the value
of competitive examinations for admission and promotion is plain enough. The
applicant for original entrance to the service is a stranger to the head of the
office and ignorant of its duties; but those who seek promotion are well known
to the head of the bureau or office; they have served under his own eyes; no
One knows as well as he their capacity or the qualifications needed in the vacant
place; they are seeking places of authority, where discretion, a sense of justice,
facility in arranging and dispatching business, capacity for discipline and com-

234 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
mand, are not only the most essential qualifications, but are the most difficult
of all to be tested by examinations.”
Several of the States have followed the example of the general government
by establishing a competitive system, wherever it was possible, and the first
municipality to adopt the reform was the city of Brooklyn. Almost her entire
service was placed on the footing of civil service examination. New York City
has also applied it in many of its departments; and those who at first opposed
it, outside of any political motives, have been astonished at its success. But in
New York, as everywhere else, it meets with the opposition of local politicians,
who would very much prefer to have things go in the old way and let the offices
be given out through political influence. It is proper to say that a great pro-
portion of the offices in New York are still under the old system, and there is
little likelihood that they will be placed under the new.
on this subject an eminent student of political economy says as follows:
“When there is reached that complete establishment, which some of us will live
to see, of open competition for all offices not essentially political in the United
States, and in their various communities, the secondary results of the reform
will doubtless be far greater than the primary results. Official places will come
to be more scientifically classed and their duties better divided from the general
results necessary to the arrangement of competitions ; the compensation of
officers doing the same work will not, as now, capriciously vary in different de-
partments within the same State; the temptation will disappear to unnecessarily
employ new subordinates and to treat those already employed with undue indul-
gence ; the principles of executives to economy of administration will become
keener ; an official prestige and a higher standard of efficiency among public
servants themselves will arise. On the other hand, a wise jealousy on the part
of the people will be better directed towards public officers, as public servants
who have no other right to their places than in the faithful doing of their -
duties.”
Among the most earnest advocates of the civil service system are, and
should be, the women of the United States, for the reason that the doors are
opened to them for occupation and support where they were hitherto excluded
—in, great part, at least—for the reason that they were not voters. The law
says: “Women may, in the discretion of the head of any department, be ap-
pointed to any of the clerkships therein authorized by law, upon the same
requisites and conditions and with the same compensations as are prescribed
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 235
for men.” Formerly, those who had the dispensing of patronage were obliged
to distribute the spoils among the voters who had supported them at the
polls, and all feminine applicants were crowded aside by the henchmen and
heelers of the politicians who had controlled votes. For many of the duties of
the departments women are better qualified than men; for example, in the
currency bureau in the Treasury Department at Washington, their ability at
counting and sorting money made them superior to men—the deftness of their
fingers was something to which the masculine finger could rarely attain ; and
CONGRESSMAN LANSING, NEW YORK.
the Civil Service Commissioners, in their first annual report, said: “Only under
free open competitive examinations have the worthiest women opportunities and
protection which arise from character and capacity to win precedence.”
The same testimony is given by the British Civil Service Commissioners.
They said: “We have taken evidence regarding the employment of female clerks.
The experience of the post-office, as will be seen from the evidence, shows that
Women are well qualified for clerk work and are satisfied with a lower rate of
pay than is expected by men similarly employed. We therefore see no reason

236 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
why the employment of female clerks should not be extended to other depart-
ments, where the circumstances will admit of it.”
While the Republican party has been decidedly unwilling to copy from the
example of Great Britain its system of tariff and to remove all protection to
American industries, it has been and is willing to copy from that country the
reformations which have been adopted in the civil service since it first began,
in 1853. That was the year when the first earnest step was taken to relieve the
service from the parliamentary politicians who had always controlled it. A step
had been made in this direction as early as 1820, when the patronage of promo-
tion in the customs service was surrendered by the head of the Treasury, in favor
of promotions for merit; and the results aided very materially the cause of
reform by enhancing the efficiency of that branch of the service that it was no
longer possible for politicians to prevent.
The question of better administration methods is an old measure of exec-
utive policy, and it became such before 1853. The competitive system was
inaugurated in 1855. It was recommended by a Parliamentary Committee,
which set forth, among the principal objects in view, the following : “First, to
provide, by a proper system of examinations, for the supplying the public service
with a thoroughly efficient class of men ; second, to encourage industry and
foster merit by teaching all public servants to look forward for promotion,
according to their deserts, and to expect the highest prices in the service if
they can qualify themselves; third, to mitigate the evils which result from the
fragmentary character of the service, and to introduce into it some elements
of unity by placing the first appointments on a uniform footing, opening the
way to the promotion of public officers to staff appointments in other depart-
ments than their own, and introducing into the lower ranks a body of men—
the supplementary clerks—whose service shall be made available at any time in
any office whatever.” A Royal Commission, in 1874, was instructed to report
upon the system as it then existed, and this commission proposed an arrange-
ment of the clerks in two classes, to be known as the Lower and Upper Divis-
ions, with a yearly increase of pay for faithful services. The results of the
plan, after its adoption, were so completely satisfactory that our Civil Service
Commission has followed it in many of its features, while formulating the rules
for this country.
The rules governing" our service are modified from time to time, and every
Thigh officeholder has been fairly conscientious in seeing that there was a strict
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 237°
adhesion in all the departments to the rules. It has been charged at times.
that the laws have not been strictly complied with, in the matter of aSSessments,
for political purposes, on subordinates in the various departments, and in certain
other ways there has been a laxity in the rigid enforcement of the rules; but,
whatever faults it may contain, the civil Service system is a monument to the
desire of the Republican party to establish an honest and national system of
service in all branches of the government, from one end of the country to the
other.
XV.
Protection to American Industries—Attitudes of the two great Parties on the Question—The Re-
publican the Party of Protection—Democracy and Free Trade—Tariff Laws from 1783 to
1861—First Period of Free Trade—Consequences to the Country—First Protection Period—
Views of our first five Presidents on the advantages of Protection—War of 1812 and its Effect—
Second Free Trade Period and its disastrous Effect—Opinions of eminent Writers—Depression
and Ruin everywhere—A return to Protection—1824 to 1832—Prosperity again—How the
Repeal of Protective Tariffs was brought about—Third Protection Period—Views of General
Jackson—Another experience of Free Trade–Accidents that favored the Free Traders in the
late “Forties” and early “Fifties”—Panic of 1857 and its Causes.*
HROUGH all its history the Republican party has been the
friend of the American workingman, whatever might be the
industry in which he was engaged. The farmer, the artisan,
º
flºº
ſ º
:
Tº -
the laborer in shop or factory, all have been the objects of its
ſº
solicitude, and to this end the Republican party has boldly
proclaimed its adhesion to the principle of protection to
American industries. In the first year of its control of national legislation it.
enacted the Morrill tariff, which was called by the name of the framer of the bill,
just as in later times the McKinley tariff bears the name of its originator. From
time to time the Morrill tariff was revised according to the needs of the day,
the revision being always made on the lines of protection and by its friends the
Republicans. . That the country has prospered under protection is patent to every-
body who compares its present condition with that of thirty years ago. The
extent of its prosperity has been briefly set forth in the introductory chapter,
and it is now proposed to treat the subject at greater length. In this connec-
tion a history of the country under its various tariffs will be of great interest
to the reader.
º
* For much of the material in this and the following chapter acknowledgment is due to the
American Protective Tariff League, by the courtesy of Wilbur F. Wakeman, Esq., secretary.

(238)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 239
-
In the period previous to the formation of the Constitution each State had
the right to regulate its own trade, and each imposed upon foreign products,
and upon the products of other States, such duties as it deemed best. Each
strove to secure trade for itself, without regard to the interests of any other
State. Jealousy of each other seems to have been the underlying motive of
their unfortunate actions. Pennsylvania established a duty of two and one-half
per cent, but even this was an ineffectual remedy ; for New Jersey opened a
free port at Burlington, where the Pennsylvania merchants entered their goods,
CONGRESSMAN KETCHAM, NEW YORK.
and took them clandestinely across the river to Pennsylvania without paying any
duty.
New Jersey voted to allow Congress to impose a general tariff, while New
York, on account of her situation relative to Connecticut and New Jersey, and
the advantages this situation gave her in the matter of importations, refused
to do so. New Jersey, thereupon, withdrew her consent, and, in order to annoy
New York, established a free port at Paulus Hook, opposite New York City,
and New York merchants repeated the tactics of Philadelphia, and got their
goods free of duty.

240 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
Alexander Hamilton urged upon the States the necessity of stopping this
suicidal policy and of vesting Congress with full power to regulate trade, and
he contrasted the “prospect of a number of petty States, jarring, jealous and
perverse, fluctuating and unhappy at home, and weak by their dissensions in
the eyes of other nations,” with a ‘‘ noble and magnificent perspective of a Great
Republic ;” but it was years before he and others could persuade the States to
do this. As just stated, Congress had no power in itself to lay duties or to
regulate trade, and as the States would not agree upon a uniform rate of duty,
each sought its own advantage at the expense of its neighbors, and, as a
necessary consequence, the country at large fell an easy prey to foreign nations,
which lost no time in passing such laws as they judged most likely to destroy
our commerce and extend their own.
Previous to the Revolutionary War, England had treated the Colonies with
the greatest severity by forbidding them to establish manufacturing industries
of certain kinds, or to ship any manufactured products to England or other
countries. In 1699 Parliament decreed that “ after the 1st day of December,
1699, no wool, yarn, cloth or woolen manufactures of the English Plantations in
America shall be shipped from any of said Plantations, or otherwise laden, in
order to be transported thence to any place whatsoever, under a penalty of
forfeiting both ship and cargo, and £500 ($2,500) for each offense.”
In 1732 Parliament prohibited the exportation of hats from province to prov-
ince, and limited the number of apprentices to be taken by hatters. In 1750, the
erection of any mill or engine for splitting or rolling iron was prohibited under a
penalty of $1,000 for each offense; but pig-iron could be exported to England,
duty free, in order that it might be manufactured there and returned to the
Colonies. Later, Lord Chatham declared that he would not permit the Colonists
to make even a hob-nail or a horse-shoe for themselves, and his views were sub-
sequently carried into effect by the absolute prohibition in 1765 of the export of
artisans; in 1781, of woolen machinery ; in 1782, of cotton machinery and
artificers in cotton; in 1785 (when the States most needed them), of iron, and
steel-making machinery, and workmen in those departments of trade ; and in
1799, by the prohibition of the export of colliers, lest other countries should ac-
quire the art of mining coal. England’s object was to keep the Colonists all
farmers, so as to supply her home people, engaged mostly, in manufacturing,
with food and raw materials, and to compel the Colonists to take from her in
return her manufactured products; also to pay profit both ways; in other words,
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 241
to compel them to sell to England all they had to sell—their agricultural sur-
plus—and to buy from her all they were obliged to purchase—all manufactured
articles of any importance. This process was pleasing and remunerative to
British manufacturers and capitalists; but it kept the Colonists poor, and almost
ruined them. For, as has been shown, they were forbidden to manufacture any-
thing themselves, and they were never able to raise an agricultural surplus suffi-
cient to pay for what they had to import.
Is it any wonder that our forefathers rebelled P And not satisfied with these
measures to prevent and repress all manufacturing enterprises in the States, she
also attempted to destroy all our commerce by enforcing most barbarously their
iniquitous laws with respect to navigation. By the Navigation Act Great
Britain decreed that “No goods or commodities whatever, of the growth, pro-
duction or manufacture of Europe, Africa, or America, shall be imported into
England or Ireland, or into any of the Plantations (American Colonies) except
in ships belonging to English subjects, of which the master and the greater num-
ber of the crew shall also be English.” Our trade with her West Indian
Colonies was prohibited ; and, by the enforcement of these navigation acts, our
commerce was nearly destroyed. As we had no tariff, foreign vessels and goods
were freely admitted into our States; while our vessels and goods were burdened
with heavy rates and duties in foreign ports. It thus happened that the prices
of goods imported and the prices of our exports were subject to the will of for-
eigners. They demanded their own prices for their imports, and we had to pay
them ; and they offered us their own prices for our goods, and we had to take
them ; for, being without a national tariff, we were absolutely at their mercy.
In the comparative condition of the United States and Great Britain, after
the close of the Revolutionary War, not a hatter, a boot or shoemaker, a saddler,
or a brass-founder here could carry on his business, except in the coarsest and
most ordinary production, under the pressure of this foreign dictation. Thus was
presented the extraordinary and calamitous spectacle of a successful Revolution
wholly failing of its ultimate object. The people of America had gone to war not
for names, but for things; to redress their own grievances, to improve their
own condition, and to throw off the burden which the colonial system had laid on
their industry. To attain these objects they had endured incredible hardships,
and borne and suffered almost beyond the measure of humanity.
Daniel Webster, in a speech on the 8th of July, 1833, affirmed the truth of
the foregoing statements when he said: “From the close of the War of the
16
242 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
Revolution, there came a period of depression and distress, on the Atlantic coast,
such as the people had hardly felt during the sharpest crisis of the war itself.
Ship-owners, ship-builders, mechanics, artisans, all were destitute of employment,
and some of them destitute of bread. British ships came freely, and British ships
came plentifully; while to American ships and American products there was
neither protection on the one side, nor the equivalent of reciprocal free trade on
the other. The cheaper labor of England supplied the inhabitants of the Atlantic
shores with everything. Ready-made clothes, among the rest, from the crown
of the head to the soles of the feet, were for sale in every city. All these things
came free from any general system of imposts. Some of the States attempted
to establish their own partial systems, but they failed.” -
George Bancroft, on page 432, Vol. I., “Hist. Const.,’’ paints the picture of
this period (1785) even a darker shade when he says: &
“It is certain that the English have the trade of these States almost wholly
in their hands; whereby their influence must increase; and a constantly increas-
ing scarcity of money begins to be felt, since no ship sails hence to England
without large sums of money on board, especially the English packet-boats,
which monthly take with them between forty and fifty thousand pounds sterling.”
Again on page 439 we find this: -
“The scarcity of money makes the produce of the country cheap, to the
disappointment of the farmers and the discouragement of husbandry. Thus, the
two classes, merchants and farmers, that divide nearly all America, are discon-
tented and distressed.”
It has always been the leading object of Great Britain to manufacture for
the world, to monopolize the bulk of reproductive power, and, if possible, to keep
all other countries in a state of industrial vassalage, by means of her great
capital, her cheap labor, her skill and her mercantile marine. Her policy has
been, and is, to force all other countries to compete in her home markets for the
sale of their raw materials. Why? To enable her to fix the price of what she
buys. It has also been, and is, her policy to force all other nations to compete
in her home markets for the purchase of her finished products. Why? To
enable her to fix the price of what she sells. Of course, that is business; and if
England can enforce such policies, she will, indeed, become the mistress of the
world. This policy she enforced upon us under the Confederacy. In proof that
this selfish policy has prevailed in England many of her ablest public men might
be quoted. Years ago, Lord Goderich publicly declared in the English Parlia-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S DEAD EP.S. 243
ment: “Other nations know that what we English mean by free trade is nothing
more or less than by means of the great advantages we enjoy to get the mo-
nopoly of all the markets of other nations for our manufactures; and to prevent
them (the foreign nations) one and all from ever becoming manufacturing
nations.”
David Syme, another prominent English Free Trader and member of Par-
liament openly said: “In any quarter of the globe, where competition shows
itself as likely to interfere with English monopoly, immediately the capital of
CONGRESSMAN FARQUHAR, NEW YORK.
her manufacturers is massed in that particular quarter; and goods are exported
there in large quantities, and sold at such prices that outside competition is
effectually counted out. English manufacturers have been known to export goods
to a distant market and sell them under cost for years, with a view of getting
the market into their own hands again, and keep that foreign market, and step
in for the whole when prices revive.”
The results of such a policy were that, from 1783 to 1789, as there was
no tariff to prevent, foreign nations literally poured in upon us their products

244 THE REPUBLIOA W PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
of every kind and description, in such quantities, and at such prices, that our
people could not compete with them. Our domestic industries were suspended.
The weaver, the shoemaker, the hatter, the saddler, the rope-maker, and many
others, were reduced to bankruptcy; our markets were glutted with foreign
products; prices fell; our manufacturers, generally, were ruined ; our laborers
beggared; our artisans without employment ; our merchants insolvent, and our
farmers necessarily followed all these classes into the vortex of general financial
destruction.
Referring to the condition of the country at that time one writer says:
“Depreciation seized upon every species of property. Legal pressure to enforce
payment of debts caused alarming sacrifices of both personal and real estate ;
spread distress far and wide among the masses of the people ; aroused in the
hearts of the sufferers the bitterest feelings against lawyers, the courts and the
whole creditor class; led to a popular clamor for stay-laws and various other
radical measures of supposed relief, and finally filled the whole land with excite-
ment, apprehension and sense of weakness and a tendency to despair of the
Republic. Inability to pay even necessary taxes became general, and often these
could be collected only by levy and sale of the homestead.”
“Hildreth’s History,” at page 465–68, Vol. III., speaking of this period, says:
“The large importation of foreign goods, subject to little or no duty, and sold
at peace prices, was proving ruinous to all those domestic manufactures and
mechanical employments which the non-consumption agreements and the war had
created and fostered. Immediately after the peace, the country had been flooded
with imported goods, and debts had been unwarily contracted, for which there
was no means to pay.” --
Our imports from Great Britain alone were $30,000,000 in 1784–85, while our
exports to her were only $9,000,000—a frightful balance on the wrong side.
They drained us of our last dollar and left us, for a circulating medium, only
orders on State tax-collectors and depreciated certificates of State and Federal
debt, themselves worthless. The distress became universal and calamitous. In
Massachusetts fully one-third of the population joined in Shay’s Rebellion on
account of the abject poverty and distress of the people, and nothing less than
military force was able to repress all these lawless demonstrations and revolts.
Among the causes that led to Shay’s Rebellion Hildreth mentions: “the want
of a certain and remunerative market for the produce of the farmer, and the
depression of domestic manufactures by competition from abroad.” The French
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 245
minister at that period, after relating the foregoing disturbances, adds: “It
must be agreed that these insurrections are, in a great part, due to the scarcity
of specie.”". In Connecticut more than five hundred farms were offered for sale
for arrears of taxes which the owners were too poor to pay; and in Penn-
sylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina matters were scarcely any better.
There was no market for real estate, and debtors, who were compelled to sell
their lands, were ruined, without paying one-fourth of the demands against
them. Men universally distrusted each other. The bonds of men whose com-
petency should have been unquestioned could not be negotiated, except at a
discount of thirty, forty, or even fifty per cent.
Free trade was the cause of all these evils, the same free trade that the
Democratic party by its platform of 1892 desires to establish in the country once
more. British policy is the same to-day that it was a century ago, to control
the markets of the world for her manufactured goods, and destroy the manu-
facturing industries of the United States and all other lands. Ere the formation
of the Constitution and the establishment of a central government, the protection
of American industries was the leading motive, just as to-day it is the leading
principle, of the Republican party.
The tariff question was the very first subject discussed by the First Con-
gress; and for more than one hundred years has been the one subject that has
never been finally settled. Nullification, Secession, Finance, Slavery, and Re-
construction have had their times of fierce discussion, and have all been settled,
but the tariff was never a more vital question than it is to-day. A large
majority of that First Congress were farmers ; they saw the necessity of en-
couraging and protecting manufactures, in order that they might be free from
Servile and dangerous dependence upon foreign nations for the arms, implements
of farming, and other machinery needed for their own safety, protection, and
independence. -
It is thus seen that the doctrine of protection to home manufactures—to home
products, was coeval with our national organization. It had its enemies even
then ; and then, as now, the most conspicuous were either Englishmen or men
imbued with English ideas; but all of the leading men ; the men whose actions
and legislation made the Revolution a success; the men who formulated our
Constitution, and secured its adoption by the several States—all voted for the
Protective Tariff Bill, and rejoiced greatly when it became a law. This law re-
mained on the statute books from 1789 to 1816, and during that period the coun-
246 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
*t
try had five Presidents, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe.
Their opinions upon the benefits of protection demand a respectful hearing.
Washington, in his first Annual Message, speaking of our nation as “a free
’ said : “ Their safety and interest require that they promote such manu-
people,’
factures as tend to render them independent of others for essentials, particularly
military supplies.” In his seventh Annual Message he shows that “our agri-
culture, commerce and manufactures prosper beyond example (under the tariff
of 1789). Every part of the Union displays indications of rapid and various im-
provement, and with burdens so light as scarcely to be perceived. Is it too much
to say that our country exhibits a spectacle of national happiness never surpassed,
if ever before equaled ?” Adams, our second President, in his last Annual Mes-
sage, congratulated the country upon the great prosperity then existing, and
added : “I observe, with much satisfaction, that the product of the revenue
during the present year has been more considerable than during any former
period. This result affords conclusive evidence of the great resources of the
country, and of the wisdom and efficiency of the measures which have been
adopted by Congress, for the protection of commerce and preservation of the
public credit.” Jefferson, our third President, often referred to as the Founder
of the Democratic party, in his second Annual Message, in enumerating the land-
marks by which we are to guide ourselves in all our proceedings, mentions the
following as one of the most prominent : “To protect the manufactures adapted
to our circumstances.”
Our protective system, under the Tariff Act of 1789, had produced results
far greater and more satisfactory than had been anticipated ; and in 1806 Jeffer-
son found that there was likely to be a considerable surplus after paying all the
public debt called for by our contracts; and in his sixth Annual Message he thus
presents his views to the country as to the best method of disposing of that sur-
plus : “Shall we,” he asks, “suppress the imposts (duties) and give that ad-
vantage to foreign over our domestic manufactures On a few articles of more
general and necessary use the suppression, in due season, will doubtless be right ;
but the great mass of the articles on which imposts are laid are foreign luxuries,
purchased by those only who are rich enough to afford themselves the use of
them.”
Again he wrote : “The general inquiry now is, shall we make our own
comforts, or go without them at the will of a foreign nation ? He, therefore,
who is now against domestic manufactures, must be for reducing us either to
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 247
a dependence upon that nation, or to be clothed in skins and live like beasts
in caves and dens. I am proud to say I am not one of these. Experience
has taught me that manufactures are now as necessary to our independence as
to our comforts.
“The prohibiting duties we lay on all articles of foreign manufacture, which
prudence requires us to establish at home, with the patriotic determination of
every good citizen to use no foreign article which can be made within ourselves,
CONGRESSMAN LAIDLAW, NEW YORK.
Without regard to difference of price, secures us against a relapse into foreign
dependency.”
In his letter to Humphrey, 1809, he wrote: “My own idea is that we should
encourage home manufactures to the extent of our own consumption of every-
thing of which we raise the raw materials.”
In 1817, after the close of the second war with Great Britain, in accepting
an election to membership in a “Society for the Encouragement of Domestic
Manufactures,” Jefferson wrote: “The history of the last twenty years has
been a significant lesson for us all to depend for necessaries on ourselves alone;

248 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADER.S. .
and I hope twenty years more will place the American hemisphere under a sys-
tem of its own, essentially peaceable and industrious and not needing to extract
its comforts out of the eternal fires raging in the old world.”
- Madison, our fourth President, recognized as “the Father of the Constitu-
tion,” in a Special Message to Congress, May 23, 1809, said: “It will be worthy
of the just and provident care of Congress to make such further alterations
in the laws as will more especially protect and foster the several branches of
manufacture which have been recently instituted or extended by the laudable
exertions of our citizens.”
Again, in a Special Message, Feb. 20, 1815, Madison said: “ But there is no
subject that can enter with greater force and merit into the deliberations of
Congress than a consideration of the means to preserve and promote the manu-
factures which have sprung into existence and obtained an unparalleled maturity
throughout the United States during the period of the European wars. This
source of national independence and wealth I anxiously recommend, therefore, to
the prompt and constant guardianship of Congress.”
Monroe, our fifth President, in his inaugural said: “Our manufactures will
likewise require the systematic and fostering care of the government. Possess-
ing, as we do, all the raw materials, the fruit of our own soil and industry, we
ought not to depend, in the degree we have done, on supplies from other coun-
tries. Equally important is it to provide at home a market for our raw ma-
terials, as by extending the competition it will enhance the price and protect the
cultivator against the casualties incident to foreign markets.”
In his seventh Annual Message he says: “ Having formerly communicated
my views to Congress respecting the encouragement, which ought to be given to
our manufactures, and the principle on which it should be founded, I have only
to add that those views remain unchanged. I recommend" a review of the tariff
for the purpose of affording such additional protection to those articles which we
are prepared to manufacture, or which are more immediately connected with the
defense and independence of the country.” *
Here are the views of five men whose names have been historic as the
Presidents of the United States in the first years of the Republic. One and all
favored protection to American industries, and no one more so than Thomas
Jefferson. It would seem that “Jeffersonian Democracy'” in this last decade of
the century is vastly at variance with the principles of the great statesman
whose name it bears. If this were an age of miracles we might expect the dead
• THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LAADERS. 249
President to rise in his grave and rebuke the politicians of the present day who
are linking his name to views the reverse of those he entertained when he was
the head of the nation.
Our industries prospered during all the protection period down to 1816.
During the war of 1812 tariffs were doubled in order to pay the expenses of the
war, with the understanding that they should be restored to the old rates as
soon as peace was declared. The tariff act of 1816 lowered the duties so much
that British manufacturers were able to throw large quantities of goods upon
us at such low prices as to kill off many of our industries. Their warehouses
were full to bursting with unsold productions of various kinds, for which they
were very anxious, but unable, to find a market. The Americans, compelled to
rely upon themselves for their supplies during the war, had established success-
fully a large number of home industries, and were, by this means, able to a
great degree to supply their own market. & -
In this dilemma, England saw that she must act promptly and crush out
these young American industries, or her American market would be forever
lost, and her manufacturing industries permanently crippled. So she resolved
to flood this country with her goods then on hand, many of which were old and
out of fashion, far below cost. It was a matter of so much importance that
it was discussed in Parliament, and Mr. (afterward Lord) Brougham declared
in the House of Commons in 1816: “It is well worth while to incur a loss
upon the first exportation, in order, by the glut, to stifle in the cradle those
infant manufactures in the United States which the war has forced into
existence.” -
This policy was decided upon, and Great Britain poured her fabrics and ac-
cumulated stocks of goods into our markets in an overwhelming torrent and far
below cost. The tariff of 1816 was intended as a barrier against this inundation,
and under ordinary circumstances would have proved such. But it was a matter
of life or death with the English manufacturers, and so they continued to pour
in their goods upon us at prices far lower than we could make them. The
foreign goods imported at this period were more than twice the quantity that
could be consumed. Niles, in his history, says: “It is notorious that great
sums of money were expended by the British to destroy our flocks of sheep,
that they might thereby ruin our manufactories. They bought up and imme-
diately slaughtered great numbers of sheep; they bought our best machinery
and sent it off to England, and hired our best mechanics and most skillful
250 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S.,
workmen to go to England, simply to get them out of this country, and so
hinder and destroy our existing and prospective manufactures.” y
Great depression in all branches of business at once followed. Bankruptcy
soon became general, and financial ruin was everywhere present. It could not
be otherwise. Carey, Greeley, Clay, Benton, and others show that this was one
of the most distressful periods of our national existence. Benton says: “There was
no price for property ; no sales except those of the sheriff and the marshal; no
purchasers at execution sales except the creditor, or some hoarder of money; no
employment for industry; no demand for labor; no sale for the products of the
farm ; no sound of the hammer, except that of the auctioneer knocking down
property. Distress was the universal cry of the people ; relief, the universal
demand, was thundered at the doors of all Legislatures, State and Federal.”
IHorace Greeley says of this period: “At the close of the second war with
England, Peace found this country dotted with furnaces and factories which had
sprung up under the precarious shelter of embargo and war. These not yet
firmly established found themselves suddenly exposed to a relentless and deter-
mined foreign competition. Great Britain poured her fabrics, far below cost,
upon our markets in a perfect deluge. Our manufactures went down like grass
before the mower, and our agriculture and the wages of labor speedily followed.
Financial prostration was general, and the presence of debt was universal. In
New England, fully one-fourth of the property went through the sheriff’s mill, and
the prostration was scarcely less general elsewhere. In Kentucky the presence
of debt was simply intolerable. In New York, the leading merchants, in 1817,
united in a memorial to Congress to save our commerce as well as our manu-
factures from utter ruin, by increasing the tariff duties.” Henry Clay declared
that the average depression in the value of property, under that state of things,
was not less than fifty per cent. - -
Eight years were enough to convince the people that the country was being
ruined by free trade, and in 1824 Congress enacted a protective tariff law, which
was far in advance of that of 1789, as it gave more real protection to American
industry. It was passed in response to a general demand of the country; and
upon the urgent recommendation of President Monroe to give “additional pro-
tection to those articles which we are prepared to manufacture,” etc. Every-
body, except a few Free Traders, had become disgusted with a tariff that was
nominally “moderately protective,” while, in fact, it afforded no real protection ;
and the Congress of that year was largely in favor of a strong protective tariff,
THE JP EPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 251
in fact as well as in name. The advocates of this Tariff Act insisted upon its
passage, in order to give to the country that strength and power which arise from
possessing within itself the means of defense, and to rescue it from the dangers
and disgrace of habitual dependence upon foreign nations for the common daily
necessaries of life. The enemies of the bill were no less determined in their
opposition. No denunciation of it could be too severe ; no prophecy of evil to
come from it could be too doleful. Soon after the tariff bill of 1824 was re-
ported, the New York Evening Post, now as then, one of the ablest and most
CONGRESSMAN HARMER, PENNSYLVANIA.
uncompromising advocates of free trade, said, editorially : “Pass the tariff as
reported by the committee and you palsy the nation. Pass it, and where will you
any longer find occupants for your costly piles of stores and dwelling-houses 2
Pass it, and who will be exempt from its grinding operations 2 The poorer classes,
especially, must feel its effect in paying an additional price for every article of
clothing they and their families wear, and every mouthful they eat or drink, save
cold water; and to that will they ere long be reduced.”
Major McKinley, commenting on this, says: “None of these awful prophecies

252 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
were fulfilled ; none of these dire results ensued. The nation was not palsied, but
quickened into new life. The merchants did not move out of their costly piles of
stores and dwelling-houses, they remained only to require larger and finer and
more costly ones; the poorer classes were not driven to cold water as their only
food and diet, but their labor was in greater demand and their wages advanced
in price. The entire country under the tariff moved on to higher triumphs in
industrial progress, and to a higher and better destiny for all of its people.”
One of its strongest advocates and supporters was Andrew Jackson, then
United States Senator, and now the patron saint of the Democratic party. This
is what he thought of protection in 1824: ‘‘ Providence,” said he, “has filled
our mountains and our plains with minerals—with lead, iron and copper—and
given us a climate and soil for the growing of hemp and wool. These being
the greatest materials of our national defense, they ought to have extended to
them adequate and fair protection, that our manufacturers and laborers may
be placed in a fair competition with those of Europe; and that we may have
within our country a supply of those leading and important articles so essential
in war. We have been too long subject to the policy of British merchants. It
is time we should become a little more Americanized ; and, instead of feeding
the paupers and laborers of England, feed our own ; or else, in a short time, by
continuing our present policy (that under tariff of 1816) we shall all be rendered
paupers ourselves. It is my opinion, therefore, that a careful and judicious tariff
is much wanted.” - -
The bill was passed, and again, and at once, an era of great financial pros-
perity set in. So marked and helpful was the improvement that in 1828 the
duties were raised still higher; and yet business improved ; new industries were
started, and prosperity gladdened the people.
President Andrew Jackson said in his Annual Message, in December, 1832,
concerning the results and benefits of eight years of protection : “Our country
presents, on every side, marks of prosperity and happiness, unequaled, perhaps,
in any other portion of the world.”
But in the very next year after Jackson made the foregoing utterance the
Free Traders again obtained possession of Congress, through a compromise with
Southern Nullifiers, and the duties were reduced so low as to remove all prac-
tical protection to American industries. Manufacturing and trade declined in
consequence ; financial depression followed; assignments and bankruptcies resulted
everywhere ; manufacturers suspended operations, and business grew worse and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 253
worse till the culmination was reached in the financial crash of 1837, one of the
most appalling and disastrous financial revulsions ever known. Property of every
description was parted with at prices that were astounding, and as for the
currency, there was scarcely any at all. Colton says in his “Life of Henry
Clay ”: “In some parts of Pennsylvania, the people were obliged to divide bank
notes into halves, quarters, eighths, and so on, and agree from necessity to use
them as money. In Ohio, with all her abundance, it was hard to get money to
pay taxes. The sheriff of Muskingum County, as, stated by the Guernsey Times,
in the summer of 1842, sold at auction one four-horse wagon at $5.50; ten
hogs at 64 cents each ; two horses (said to be worth $50 to $75 each) at $2
each; two cows at $1 each; a barrel of sugar at $1.50, and a store of goods
at that rate. In Pike County, Mo., as stated by the Hannibal Journal, the
sheriff sold three horses at $1.50 each; one large ox at 12% cents; five cows,
two steers and one calf, the lot at $3.25; twenty sheep at 13% cents each ;
twenty-four hogs, the lot at 25 cents; one eight-day clock at $2.50; lot of to-
bacco, seven or eight hogsheads, at $5; three stacks of hay, each at 25 cents,
and one stack of fodder at 25 cents.”
This state of affairs continued till 1842, when the Protectionists again ob-
tained control of Congress, but only for four years. The third protection period
in the country’s career lasted from 1842 till 1846. Carey, in his history of those
days, says: “Labor was everywhere in demand. Planters had 'large crops, and
the domestic market was growing with a rapidity that promised better prices.
The produce of the farm was in demand and prices had risen. The consumption
Of coal, iron, wool and cotton and woolen cloth was immense and rapidly in-
creasing, while prices were falling because of the rapidly improving character
of the machinery of production. Production of every kind was immense, and
commerce, internal and external, was growing with unexampled rapidity. Ship-
ping was in demand, and its quantity was being augmented at a rate never
before known. Roads and canals were productive. Corporations had been re-
suscitated, and States had recommended payment, and the credit of the Union
was so high that the same persons who had vilified the people and the govern-
ment of the Union—under the compromise tariff of 1833—were now anxious to
secure their custom on almost any terms.”
So very positive and decided was the improvement that President Polk,
Democrat and Free Trader, in his Annual Message of December, 1846, was con-
strained to say : “Labor in all its branches is receiving an ample reward; while
254 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEAD ERS.
education, science and the arts are rapidly enlarging the means of social happi-
ness. The progress of our country in her career of greatness, not only in the
vast extension of her territorial limits, and in the rapid increase of our popula-
tion, but in resources and wealth, and in the happy condition of our people, is
without an example in the history of nations.”
With the election of Polk as President in 1844 the Free Traders were once
more in power and a low tariff took the place of the protection one that pre-
ceded it. The Southern Democrats were all-powerful in Congress and they were
persistent in their demand for free trade. Fortune favored the Democracy at
this period, or rather it was partly fortune and partly misfortune. Shortly
after the passage of the low tariff act of 1846 the Mexican war broke out and
caused an outlay on the part of government that put $100,000,000 in circulation.
Then came the Irish famine in 1847, causing a great demand for breadstuffs; the
European revolutions of 1848, with a similar result ; the discovery of gold in
California in 1848–9, and shortly afterward the Crimean war.
These events caused an immense demand upon our country, particularly for
our agricultural products; gave us increased prices for them, and brought large
sums of money from those countries to pay for them ; ahd, of course, this money
was widely distributed, and tended to make the times apparently prosperous.
But when their influence was gone, depression followed and brought about the
great financial crash of 1857, just as the panic of 1837 had been brought about
through the repeal of the protective tariff in 1832. In 1857, the Democrats,
urged on by the South and by their natural tendency to free trade, as repeatedly
shown in their national platforms, again reduced the duties, already too low,
to the lowest rates we have ever had since the adoption of the Constitution ;
and again financial revolution, appalling in its widespread severity and distress,
involved the nation and for more than four years tortured and impoverished our
people, and exhausted our resources. . -
Both of these latter tariffs (1846 and 1857) were intended as tariffs for
revenue only. From 1847 to 1857 the expenditures of the government exceeded
its revenues by $21,790,909, and the public debt increased in the same period
$13,149,629. Yet, notwithstanding these facts, the Act of 1857 kept in force the
principles of that of 1846, and reduced the duties upon all articles that involved
the doctrine of protection. From this time to 1861, when a protective tariff was
enacted by the Republicans, the public debt increased nearly $46,000,000, and the
expenditures exceeded the receipts by $77,234,116 in the same time.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 255
James Buchanan, the last Democratic President before the Rebellion, in his
Annual Message, said officially of that distressful free trade period : “With
unsurpassed plenty in all the productions and all the elements of natural wealth,
our manufacturers have suspended ; our public works are retarded; our private
enterprises of different kinds are abandoned ; and thousands of useful laborers
are thrown out of employment and reduced to want. We have possessed all the
CONGRESSMAN BAYNE, PENNSYLVANIA.
elements of material wealth in rich abundance, and yet, notwithstanding all
these advantages, our country, in its monetary interests, is in a deplorable
condition.”
The fourth free trade period came to an end in 1861, when the Republicans
enacted the Morrill tariff and the country found itself once more under the
System of protection to American industry.

XVI.
Prosperity of the Country from 1861 to 1865 not wholly due to Protection—Vast Expenses on
- Account of the War—Efforts of Great Britain to destroy Industries of Other Countries—
Opium Trade in China—How England built up her Industries by rigid Protection—Cause
of her Change of Policy—Hon. Thomas H. Dudley and Hon. James G. Blaine on this
Subject—British Statistics of Trade and Manufactures—Comparative Growth of Manufact-
ures in England and the United States—Quotations from British Authorities—Value of
Home Markets—How the Farmer's Prosperity is assured—Growth of the Country under
Protection—Comparative Cost of Living in England and the United States—Cleveland's
Theory “the Tariff is a Tax”—Reciprocity and its Results—“Why I am a Protectionist.”
2. T would not be fair to attribute to protection alone the prosperity
of the country in the four years following the enactment of the
Morrill tariff in 1861. The demand for maintaining and supplying
our armies in the field was very great. Immense quantities of
food were required for the men under arms, and corresponding
amounts of forage for horses, and these requirements gave a great
impetus to agriculture. Arms, equipments, clothing, cannon, wagons and many
other things were needed, and these needs caused the establishment of new fac-
tories, foundries, and workshops, or the restarting of old ones that had come to
grief under the free trade policy that prevailed previous to the war. Had we
been living under a low tariff, or no tariff at all, during the war period there
would have been just as much industrial prosperity as there was under the high
tariff, provided of course the government credit could have been maintained.
But all this would have come to an end with the cessation of hostilities and the
disbanding of the armies. But our splendid tariff of 1861, and the amendments
thereto in connection with these things, gave our farmers and manufacturers an
assurance of enduring prosperity after the close of the war; provided employ-
ment for all who wanted it ; furnished us with an unequaled and remunerative
home market, and made it possible for the country to carry on and close the

(256)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 257
war, and safe for our own people to undertake such expensive works without
fear of ruinous competition from similar productions and manufactures in foreign
lands. Indeed, it is now admitted by every intelligent person, except Free
Traders, that without that high tariff we never could have raised the means to
conquer the Rebellion ; and also, that we never could have established perma-
nently those magnificent industries which have made us so strong, so wealthy,
and so prosperous. Is it strange that the Free Traders of the South and of
England hate and condemn a protective tariff P -
Allusion was made in the preceding chapter to the efforts which Great
Britain has made at various times to crush the industries of other countries in
order to preserve or increase her own market. Her policy has been as con-
sistent as it has been persistent ; it is the British theory that British trade
must prosper whatever may be the consequences to other people. To this end
she made war upon China to compel that country to admit the opium which
was annually destroying many thousands of lives. Opium was the chief source
of revenue in British India, and unless it could find a market there would be
a financial crash in Hindostan; hence the drug was forced down the unwilling
throats of the Chinese at the point of the bayonet and the muzzle of the
cannon. In the same spirit England has bullied, bribed or cajoled the rest of the
world to follow her policy of free trade, well knowing that with the general
adoption of such a policy she would have great advantages.
For a long period England devoted herself to building up her industries by
one of the most rigid systems of protection that was ever known. In some
instances she not only prohibited importation, but prohibited the export of
machinery under a penalty and passed laws to prevent the emigration of her
expert or skilled labor. She carried protection so far that in some instances it
was made a punishable offense even to sell or use commodities manufactured
abroad. She maintained this system down to about 1840, when she had brought
it to such a state of perfection that she could compete safely with the rest of
the world, and then she adopted the new policy of free trade. She was like the
pugilist who secludes himself from the rest of mankind to go through a process
of “training ” that will develop his muscle to its fullest capacity and enable him
to compete with fair prospects of success with any other devotee of the noble
art of manly disfiguration. When his training is complete he emerges from
his seclusion, issues his challenge to a contest for the champion’s belt, assumes
a fighting attitude, and defiantly says, “Come on, all you fellers l’’
17
258 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEAD ERS.
In 1846 she repealed her Corn Laws and adopted the other system, a tariff
for revenue, or, as she calls ft, free trade. Some other nations of Europe for a
time followed England in her system of free trade, but these nations have all
abandoned it and returned to the protective system ; so that to-day there is no
free trade civilized government in the world except England. England as a
free trade country thus stands alone. Even the English colonies, which she has
planted from time to time in different parts of the globe, have all adopted the
protective system. New South Wales in Australia had the policy of free trade
for a long time, . but finding herself falling behind the other colonies of the
antipodes in prosperity she has recently (1891 and 1892) adopted a protective
tariff. Some of the British colonies have established tariffs of such a high
character that they are almost prohibitory, and are worse, from the Free Trader’s
point of view, than our much-despised McKinley Bill.
If free trade is such a blessing as our Democratic friends claim it is,
England should be the most prosperous country in the world and her working-
men the best paid, best fed, and happiest. On this subject let us listen to Hon.
Thomas H. Dudley, formerly United States Consul at Liverpool, who has carefully
studied the merits and demerits of England’s tariff policy.
“By the official statistics as published by the English Parliament in the year
1874, the acreage of wheat in Great Britain was 3,630,300 acres; in 1890 the
acerage in wheat had declined or shrunk to 2,386,336 acres, being a loss of 1,243,-
964 acres, more than one-third in the seventeen years. Wheat is regarded as
the standard crop, and is, therefore, taken as the representative agricultural
product.
“The acreage in permanent pasturage in 1874 was 13,178,012 acres; in 1890
the permanent pasture lands had increased to 16,017,492 acres, an increase of
2,839,480 acres in permanent pasture over cultivated land. To this extent had
agriculture declined. The average harvest in Great Britain is only about 70,000,-
000 bushels of wheat per year, less than two bushels per capita. In the United
States in 1891 the yield was over nine bushels per capita.
“The population of the United Kingdom in 1881 was 34,848,842; in 1891 it
was 37,740,283, the increase being 8.2 per cent, the smallest percentage of increase
for the last thirty years, while in the United States from 1880 to 1890 the in-
crease in population was about 25 per cent. The population of Liverpool, one of
the chief commercial cities of England, in 1881 was 552,508; in 1891 it was 517,951,
being a loss in population during the ten years of over 34,000 people.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEAD ERS. 259
“From 1876 to 1890, the last fifteen years, the balance of trade in her deal-
ings with other nations was $7,773,432,432 against England. That is to say, in
her dealings with other nations England has paid for what she has bought from
them $7,773,432,432 more than she has sold to them. During the same period–
the last fifteen years—the balance of trade in the dealings of the United States
with other nations has been $1,650,445,146 in our favor.
“General Booth; in his book, ‘Darkest England,’ recently published, says
one-tenth of the population of England are paupers.
-
CONGRESSMAN BUTTERWORTH, OHIO.
“The depression in the trade and industry in England was so great that in
1885 the government appointed a royal commission of twenty-three persons to
inquire into and report upon the extent, nature and probable causes of the de-
pression in the trade and the business of the country, and whether it could
be alleviated.
“The commission that was issued by the queen, among other things, states:
‘Whereas, we have deemed it expedient that a commission should forthwith issue
to inquire and report upon the extent, nature and probable causes of the depres-

260 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
sion now or recently prevailing in various branches of trade and industry, and
whether it can be alleviated by legislative or other measures,’ and then names
the commissioners to make the investigation.
“This commission, after taking more than a year to investigate, and after
the examination of many witnesses and making a most thorough and exhaustive
inquiry and examination into the matters referred to them, made their final
report to the government of England on the twenty-first day of December, 1886.
The report of the minority is dated December 22, 1886. While the commis-
sioners differ upon many subjects as to the causes and the remedies to alleviate
the depression, all agree upon one question, to wit, the great depression then
existing in the trade and industry of the country. There is no question about
that ; it was too apparent to be denied and is admitted by all. But they differ
about the causes of the depression and the measures necessary to remove it and
revive trade and business. Among other suggestions made it is a little remarkable
that the minority in their report recommend as a measure of relief a protective
tariff. None of the recommendations of this commission were ever carried out,
and things continue to grow worse rather than better than they were when the
commissioners were appointed, and to-day one-fourth of the mills in England are
either closed or working on what they call ‘short time,” while the balance of
trade year by year and every year goes on increasing against them, until it has
run up, as has been stated, to the enormous sum of over $7,700,000,000 in the
last fifteen years, and the agricultural industry of the country has shrunk one-
third from what it was twenty years ago, and is now nearly ruined ; and
General Booth admits that one-tenth of their people are paupers. Such is the
picture that free trade England presents to-day.
“From English free trade, as thus exemplified in England, let us turn to
protection as it pictures itself in the United States. Our present protective sys-
tem, as has been stated, was established in 1861, and has been continued down
to the present time. For the first five years it had the war to contend with ;
indeed, the business of the country and all its trade and industries were affected
by the war for some years after the actual termination. But let us make the
comparison between free trade England and protective |United States without
taking into account the loss of property and the desolation and destruction oc-
casioned by the war, and see how the matter stands. The population of the
|United States in 1860 was 31,443,321 ; the United Kingdom in 1861 (the time for
taking the census) was 28,927,485, being a little over 2,500,000 less than ours
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 261
the previous year. In 1890 the census of the United States was 62,869,286, and
that in the United Kingdom in 1891 was 37,740,283. Ours was about double what
it was in 1860, being an increase of over 31,000,000, while theirs was only an
increase of 8,812,798 from 1861 to 1891. The percentage of increase of ours dur-
ing the last ten years, as has been stated, was about 25 per cent, and theirs
in the United Kingdom only 8.2 per cent. -
“In 1860 the wealth of the United States was estimated at about $16,000,-
000,000, and that of England at about $30,000,000,000, England then being
CONGRESSMAN KENNEDY, OHIO.
nearly double ours. In 1890 ours was computed to be over $60,000,000,000, and
England’s at about $40,000,000,000. Ours, the increase being over $40,000,000,000,
more than three times what it was in 1860, while England’s increase was only
about $10,000,000,000. During the last fifteen years the balance of trade in our
dealings with other nations, as has been stated, was in our favor $1,650,445,146,
While in England in her dealings with foreign nations the balance of trade has
been against her more than $7,773,000,000. In 1860 our commerce (imports and
exports) amounted to about $660,000,000; in 1890 it was over $1,750,000,000. Our

262 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
internal commerce at the present time is over $13,000,000,000 per year; nearly
equal to the external commerce of all Europe put together.
“The working people of the United States have deposited in the savings
institutions $1,528,445,506. In 1860, according to Mulhall, the English statistician,
the manufactured commodities in the United States amounted to $1,897,280,000,
and those of England to $2,792,680,000; the English being at that time over
$894,000,000 more than ours. In 1888 the same English authority gives OUII* Iſla, Ill-
factured commodities at $6,987,120,000, and England’s at only $3,968,800,000, thus
making ours $3,000,000,000 more than theirs, and showing the United States to
be the largest manufacturing country in the world—larger than England and
IFrance both put together. The Western Union Telegraph Company in 1866 had
75,686 miles of telegraph wire in operation in the United States; in 1890 it had
678,997 miles of wire. In 1860 there were 30,626 miles of railroad in operation in
the United States; at the present time there are over 170,000 miles in operation
—enough to wrap around the earth at the equator seven times, and more than
there are in all Europe put together. This is the picture the United States
presents. - &
“You have the two pictures before you—England under a tariff for revenue
only, and the United States under the protective system. Which do you choose P
The leaders of the Democratic party seem to have espoused the cause of the
English, and want us to adopt the English system—a system which has been
repudiated by every civilized nation in the world, and even by every colony that
England has set up. The Republican party advocates the American system of
protection. The question for our people to decide is, which they will take : The
English, which has brought depression and ruin upon the industries of that coun-
try, or the American, which has made us the most prosperous and the most
powerful nation in the world P Shall we adhere to our own or give it up and
take the English P”
The Hon. James G. Blaine says on this subject : “I)uring the last thirty
years of her protective system, and especially during the twenty years from
1826 to 1846, Great Britain increased her material wealth beyond all precedent
in the commercial history of the world. Her development of steam power
gave to every British workman the arms of Briareus, and the inventive power
of her mechanicians increased the amount, the variety, and the value of her
fabrics beyond all anticipation. Every year of that period witnessed the ad-
dition of millions upon millions of sterling to the reserve capital of the king-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. - 263
dom; every year witnessed a great addition to the effective machinery whose
aggregate power was already the wonder of the world. The onward march of her
manufacturing industries, the steady and rapid development of her mercantile
marine, absorbed the matchless enterprise and energy of the kingdom. Finally,
with a vast capital accumulated, with a low rate of interest established, and with
a manufacturing power unequaled, the British merchants were ready to underbid
all rivals in seeking for the trade of the world.”
An argument that is often made in favor of free trade in the United States
is that we cannot expect other countries to buy our products when we refuse to
import theirs, or hinder the importation by a high tariff. The answer to this
is that there is no sentiment in trade ; people will buy goods wherever they
can buy them to the best advantage, whether they can sell their wares in the
same market or not. If the argument of “goods for goods” had any basis to
rest on, England would buy none of our wheat, flour, cheese, butter, pork, or
beef, because we refuse to open our markets to her products. But, in point of
fact, she buys enormously of us, and will continue to do so as long as she can
buy of us on better terms than elsewhere. If the “goods for goods '' theory
amounted to anything, England would buy from no other country more than
she sells to it ; but, in point of fact, there is a heavy balance of trade against
her amounting to $660,000,000 a year, as shown by the following table taken
from the report of a royal commission to Parliament to show the annual sales
by Great Britain and to her from 1880 to 1884 inclusive, in her trade with the
leading nations of the world :

ANNUALLY ANNUALLY BALANCE
BOUGHT FROM SOLD TO AGAINST
GREAT BRITAIN. GREAT BRITAIN. GREAT BRITAIN.
|Russia. . . . . . . . $30,000,000 $90,000,000 $60,000,000
Germany . . . . . . 90,000,000 125,000,000 35,000,000
|Holland . . . . . . 45,000,000 125,000,000 80,000,000
France . . . . . . . 85,000,000 195,000,000 110,000,000
United States . . . . 140,000,000 485,000,000 345,000,000
China. . . . . . . . 25,000,000 55,000,000 30,000,000
The commander of an army in time of war would be worse than foolish if he
should ascertain what his enemy wanted him to do and then proceed to do it. Com-
merce, trade, and industry, as between nations, are a warfare in which no blood
is shed, but they are the fields for the display of strategy no less than is the field
of bostilities between armies. We all know that England is our commercial ad-
versary, and we all know, too, that she desires us to remove our protective tariffs
264 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
sº
and open our markets to her products. For that reason, if for no other, we
should retain our tariffs and let the Briton take care of himself.
When, in 1884, the Democrats had obtained control of the House, under the
lead of Morrison of Illinois they made a persistent and determined effort to pass
a bill, making a horizontal reduction, as it was called, of about twenty per cent
on nearly all duties alike. On reaching a vote, it failed to pass by four votes and
great was the sorrow and lamentation among Frce Traders here and in England.
The London Daily Telegraph, a leading British paper, regretting the failure of
the Morrison Bill, said : “A Bill to establish in America what the English call
free trade had just been defeated by the narrow majority of four. That meas-
ure was of enormous importance for English manufacturers, as it would have
enabled them to export goods to the United States without, the crushing duty
now imposed. The fate of the Bill was watched with intense interest by English-
men. Had it passed, it would have been worth $500,000,000 per annum to Brit-
ish manufacturers.”
The people of England are opposed to our system and have manifested their
opposition and displeasure to it in many ways, more especially to the McKinley
Bill. They are anxious for us to give up protection and adopt their system, a
tariff for revenue only. They want us to do this so as to enable them to manu-
facture for us all the commodities we require, and which we now make for our-
selves, and give the work to the people of England. The effect of this would be
to give the English all the profits we now earn and all the wages which we now
pay to our own people. They are determined if possible to force us to adopt their
system. Their writers and papers are hard at work; among other things they
have established the Cobden Club to educate our people by the publication of
books, pamphlets, etc., and the distribution of free trade medals in our colleges.
The leaders of the Democratic party seem to have joined hands with the
English, and are doing what they can to aid them in breaking down our pro-
tective system. They appear to be more anxious to help the English than to
help our own people, and are willing to adopt the English system—a tariff for
revenue only—even if it does transfer our manufacturing industries to England
and take the work from our own people and give it to the British.
Will any farmer who reads this page say which he would prefer in his
neighborhood, ten other farms or a factory employing a hundred or five hundred
people P Will any man, whatever be his occupation, say whether he would
desire that all the people within a mile or five miles of him should be engaged in
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 265
the same line of work as his own or some other ? The answer in every case is
obvious. Now, with free trade the farmer would be surrounded by farmers and
the vast majority of all those engaged in other industries would be compelled
to become farmers, as their own occupations would be destroyed. Protection
GOVERNOR M*KINLEY OF OHIO.
has created a home market for ninety-five per cent of our manufacturing and
agricultural products, and therein lies a principle of vast importance. Benjamin
Franklin, one of our greatest statesmen in Revolutionary times, wrote: “Every
manufacture encouraged in our own country makes a home market and saves so

266 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
much money to the country that must otherwise be exported. In England it is
well known that whenever a manufactory is established which employs a number
of hands it raises the value of the land in the neighboring country all around it,
partly by the greater demand near at hand for the products of the land and
partly by the increase of money drawn by the manufactures to that place. It
seems, therefore, to the interest of all our farmers and owners of land to en-
courage home manufactures in preference to foreign ones imported from different
countries.” This lucid statement of Dr. Franklin is the very essential element of
American protection.
In a country like ours, possessing such a diversity of materials, and such
an abundance of mechanical power, it should be, and is, the great object of a
protective tariff to create and sustain a variety of manufacturing industries. For
whenever a manufacturing town or center is created we have established at
the same time a center of consumption for agricultural products ; and the neigh-
boring farmers are the first to profit by the enterprise, as shown by Dr.
Franklin. •
Now if, instead of one, we have hundreds and thousands of these great
centers of manufacture and consumption, as the fact is, it follows absolutely
that the advantage to the neighboring farmer, and no less to the home manu-
facturer, is multiplied proportionally. Each of these classes becomes a helper
and an assistant to the other. As a rule, each can sell at his own door to the
other whatever he produces, and both are thereby saved the frequent losses and
heavy expenses necessitated by long transportation. And thus, under the
beneficent workings of a protective tariff, we have created a home market the
like of which was never seen in any other country.
Our Commissioner of Agriculture reported in 1881 that the value of our
annual agricultural and mechanical productions amounts to about $15,000,000,000,
and the census of 1890 shows a much larger aggregate than that of 1880. The
Custom House books show that of all this enormous aggregate we now export
not over five per cent, while fully ninety-five per cent is consumed by our home
market.
On this subject Major McKinley, the author of the much-abused McKinley
Bill, says: “The home market, created by increased manufactories, encouraged
by a protective tariff, has changed the condition of the agriculturists of the
country to their advantage and profit. This system has given to the farmers
of this country, whether they grow cotton or corn, wheat or wool, the best
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 267
domestic market anywhere offered ; has given to our people a diversity of em-
ployments, to our industries wider range, and to our labor better wages, than
can be found elsewhere. Aside from the men who labor in shop or mine, no
class of our citizens to-day are so deeply interested in the maintenance of a
protective system as the farmers. They sell ninety-five per cent of all their
products at home, and every mile of transportation saved is money earned.
There is no portion of our people, except labor, which would be so seriously
affected in income and profits, from the policy of free trade, as the farmers. The
recent census shows the remarkable growth of agriculture in the last ten years
under protection. • *
“In one department, that of truck-farming, the progress was almost phe-
nomenal. Upward of $100,000,000 are invested in this industry, the annual
products reaching a value of $76,517,155 on the farms, after paying freights and
commissions. There are employed in this industry 216,765 men, 9254 women,
and 14,874 children, aided by 75,866 horses and mules, and $8,791,207 worth of
implements. This vast industry could not be possible except with a home mar-
ket. The products are perishable; would not stand long shipments; must be con-
sumed when ripe, and are of little value except to home consumers. Nothing
could be so disastrous to the American farmer as the surrender of the home
market for the foreign. The value of every farm is increased by its nearness
to a manufacturing center, which is a home consumer. The farmer wants more
mouths to feed, more men who do not produce from the soil, but who earn
money in the shop, and he wants them as near his field of production as he
can get them. The closer you can bring the field of production to the field
of consumption, the better it will be for the producer and the consumer ; and
that is exactly what, under protection, our home market is now doing. Ask the
farmer whether he would rather have another farm or a factory beside him,
and he will take the factory.” Ö
Prior to the passage of the McKinley Act there was no duty on eggs, and
the importations from Canada and other countries were enormous, greatly to the
injury of the American farmer. In April, 1890, we imported 450,000 dozen, valued
at $47,786, or 10:6 cents a dozen. In April, 1891, after six months of the Mc-
Kinley tariff, we imported about 25,000, valued at $2,070, or 83 cents a dozen.
It will thus be seen that with a duty of 5 cents a dozen, the country paid 2:3
cents a dozen less than when they were free of duty, while the American farmer
found a market for 425,000 dozens of eggs in one month, or 5,000,000 dozens a
268 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
year more than he did under free trade in eggs. Should the farmer complain
or be glad P
The greatest argument, however, in favor of protection, and its proudest
monument, is the present condition of the country and the progress it has made
under thirty years of uninterrupted protection. The United States, during the
last fifty years, and more especially the last thirty years, has enjoyed a degree
of progress and development that has not been surpassed in the history of all
civilization. During ...this time railroads have increased from 3,000 to 170,000
miles, and $11,000,000,000 are now invested in agriculture. The people own be-
tween four and five million farms. The land under cultivation now amounts to
300,000,000 acres. Within the last thirty years the corn production has increased
from 500,000,000 to 2,000,000,000, and wheat from 100,000,000 to 500,000,000
bushels. The oat crop reached, in 1889, 750,000,000 bushels, and the cotton crop
amounted to 7,000,000 bales. In thirty years we have received from other coun-
tries, and given homes, employment and occupation to over 11,000,000 of immi-
grants. The United States stands the greatest agricultural country in the world,
or that ever was, producing 30 per cent of the food of the world and fixing
the price of food products in the best markets of the world. Railroad rates in
twenty years have been reduced 50 per cent. We have twenty-two States with
more than a million of population, and three cities with more than a million
each, while Europe, with more than a thousand years of civilization and prog-
ress, can boast of only three cities with over a million. In the last decade
one city of the Union has increased over 118 per cent in population. In the
last ten years, under protection, State debts have decreased about $10,000,000,
and the United States has reduced its debt about $1,000,000,000, while the debts
of European countries have been constantly increasing.
*Under thirty years of protection the United States has been able not only
to build up and establish vast manufacturing industries, so that our people can
now compete in’ selling many manufactured articles with European countries,
but during this time there has been a gradual reduction in the price of articles
to her own citizens. Manufacturing establishments have increased until they
now number 300,000. Our exports were never so great as they are to-day. The
working people of the United States have now on deposit in savings institu-
tions and building associations about $6,000,000,000. This is more than the sav-
ings of all the wage-earners in Europe. Our operatives deposit $7 to the
English operatives’ $1. On a basis of 65,000,000 of population, the public debt
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 269
per capita of the United States is about $25; this is less than any other of
the leading nations of the world. Englishmen are buying largely of our pro-
tected industries. The Republican party claims that all these magnificent results
are due to the fostering care of protection to American industries. If, however,
GENERAL E. BURD GRUBB, MINISTER TO SPAIN.
this claim should not be well founded, can it be possible that a country could
prosper as this country has prospered under twenty-nine years of protection, if
the people are oppressed with the burdens of taxation, and protection is a
System of robbery to build up one interest against another ? If the tariff
is nothing more nor less than robbery, as claimed by the Democratic party,

270 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
and is oppressive, onerous and exacting, how can they reconcile the progress of
the country with high protection ?
It is often argued by the Free Traders that while the American workman
may receive higher wages than the English one he really gains nothing, be-
cause the cost of living is so much greater in the United States than in
England. A careful comparison of the prices current in England and the United
States for those articles used in respectable families shows that one dollar will
buy more tea, coffee, lamp-oil, flour, meat, butter, bread, sugar, potatoes and
soap in the United States than it will in England ; and as much sheeting,
shirting, calico, boots and shoes here as there. A pair of boots here worth $3
can be paid for by one day’s work; in England they also cost $3, but the
Englishman gets but half as much wages and must work two days for his
boots. A large proportion of the flour, beef, pork, bacon, cheese, etc., used in
England is imported from the United States. Is it possible that Englishmen
can come here and buy these things, pay the freight and other expenses of
transportation to England, and then sell them at lower prices than we can buy
them at home *
The comments of the Inter-Ocean upon the foregoing facts are pertinent
and worth repeating : “Our free trade friends are invited to answer these state-
ments of fact. They are not requested to say that ‘ the best thought of the
country tends toward free trade,” or that “all the scholarship and argument are
on the side of free trade.” They are requested to explain to the workmen of
America why they should desire a free trade policy so long as a protectionist
policy is enabling them to buy more tea, coffee, lamp-oil, flour, meat, butter,
bread, sugar, potatoes and soap, and as much of sheeting, shirting, calico, boots,
shoes and clothing with one day’s wages in America, as can be bought with two
days’ wages in England, the country which has made the largest and most suc-
cessful experiment in free trade.” -
The great English statistician, Mulhall, shows that the total living expenses,
including food, clothing, rent, taxes and sundries, average in Great Britain and
Ireland 41*1 cents per day, while in the United States the same daily living
expenses are only 31.4 cents, or one-third greater in Great Britain than in
the United States. .
In the famous free trade message of Cleveland in 1887 it was asserted that
the tariff “is a tax that raises the price to consumers of all articles imported by
the amount of the duty.” Cleveland would do well to ponder upon the philos-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 271
ophy of Josh Billings which declares “it is better to know a little and know it
right than know a good deal that ain’t so.” A few illustrations will show that
the last Democratic President was troubled with “ain’t so” knowledge. For
example, in 1870 the price of steel rails in England was $107 per tom ; and Con-
gress placed a duty of $28 a ton on imported rails. Will any Free Trader produce
a single instance, since 1871, in which the consumer has paid $107 plus $28 equal
$135 for a ton of steel rails 2 This should be so, if his theory be true. On the
contrary, under protection their price has declined to $30 per ton, or even less.
The tariff duty on imported calico is 100 per cent, the English price is from 5 to
7 cents per yard. If the free trade theory is correct, the price of American calico
of same quality should be from 10 to 14 cents per yard ; but as a matter of fact
it is only 5 to 7 cents per yard, sometimes less. In 1882 our manufacture of steel
nails was too small to be mentioned ; the duty was one cent a pound, and the
price of steel nails was 8 1-3 cents a pounds. They were imported, as our steel
nail-makers could not compete with English cheap labor with the duty at 1
cent a pound. In 1883. the duty on steel nails was raised to 4 cents a pound.
According to Cleveland the price then should have been 8 1-3 plus 3, the increase
in duty, equal to 11 1-3 cents a pound ; but in 1885, under two years of protec-
tive tariff, we produced 200,000 kegs of steel nails, and in 1890, 3,900,000 kegs ;
and the prices have declined from 8 1-3 cents in 1882 to less than 2 cents in 1891.
Many examples of the same sort could be cited, but the foregoing must suf-
fice. Nearly all the argument in favor of free trade for the United States has
no better foundation. Free trade advocates have an abundance of theories to
which the Protectionists oppose ‘‘ Cold facts.” -
When theories fail, not a few Free Traders depend upon downright lying to
accomplish their object. This was the case with the McKinley tariff, which is held
up as a measure of iniquity that has raised the price of everything to the Ameri-
can consumer. The McKinley Bill has
Increased the duties on about . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 articles
Reduced the duties on about . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 articles
And left it unchanged on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 articles
Increased our foreign commerce (in 11 months) . . . . . . . $74,768,639
Increased our free imports . . (“ “ “ ) . . . . . . . $112,013,081
Made the percentage of free imports, of all our imports . . . . . . 55.75
Increased free imports over the last tariff, per cent . . . . . . . . 22.48
Reduced the duties per capita from $3.80 to $3.07.
Reduced the total revenue (“tariff taxes”) in 12 months. . . . $41,396,425
Increased the cost of no necessity of life and reduced the cost of many ;
stimulated business, and thereby tended to make people busier and
earnings surer, if not larger.
27.2 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
In brief, the McKinley Bill proclaims and upholds the principle of protection
to American industries, and affords ample protection to American capital and
American labor. It forbids the United States government from importing articles
for its own use free of duty, and also forbids the importation of any foreign goods
that bear an American trade-mark. The importation of all foreign goods made
by convict labor is strictly prohibited. The friends of free trade have persistently
declared that if we could only have free raw materials from abroad for manu-
facturing purposes, we could increase our exports many millions, and soon take
the markets of the world. The McKinley Bill provides that, whenever any raw
materials shall be imported for manufacture and export, 99 per cent of the duty
shall be refunded, when so exported; and Free Traders now have full permission
to take the markets of the world. It restores the protective features of the law
of 1867 on wool and its manufactures, so that the sheep and wool industry will
again flourish. Tt adds materially to the duties on agricultural products, and so
protects our farmers from the cheap labor of Canada and other countries. It
lays a duty on imported linen products that will encourage the erection of many
large plants for the manufacture of linens in our own country, and will, at the
same time, add a new and valuable product to the farmers’ list, in the raising of
flax. It also lays a heavy duty on imported tin, so that the tin manufacture
shall be developed in this country.
A very important feature of the McKinley tariff is the provision for reci-
procity with foreign countries, a system of “fair trade ’’ to the advantage of
both parties to the agreement. The third section of the bill provides that with
a view to secure reciprocal trade with countries producing the following articles,
and for this purpose, on and after the 1st day of July, 1892, whenever and so
often as the President shall be satisfied that the government of any country
producing and exporting sugars, molasses, coffee, tea and hides, raw and cured,
or any of such articles, imposes duties or other exactions upon the agricultural
or other products of the United States, which in view of the free introduction
of such sugars, molasses, coffee, tea and hides into the United States he may
deem reciprocally unequal and unreasonable, he shall have the power and it shall
be his duty to suspend by proclamation to that effect the provisions of this act
relative to the free introduction of such sugars, molasses, coffee, tea and hides,
the production of such country, for such time as he shall deem just ; and in such
case and during such suspension duties shall be levied, collected and paid thereon
as follows: Sugars from one to two cents per pound, according to quality;
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 273
molasses, four cents per gallon ; coffee, three cents; tea, ten cents, and hides,
one and one-half cents per pound.
The articles named are such as cannot be produced economically in this
country; but they are universally regarded as necessaries by our people, and are
therefore placed upon the free list. Our production of wheat and corn has be-
come enormous and is rapidly increasing ; and hitherto we have found a ready
market in Europe for our surplus of these cereals.
Germany and Austria have made reciprocal treaties with the United States,
hºa
# => Wºº-
==\ -
CONGRESSMAN LODGE, MASSACHUSETTS,
under the provisions of the McKinley Bill, whereby our agricultural products are
admitted at lower duties than formerly in return for lower duties upon some of
their products. Commercial negotiations have been made with Brazil, Guate-
mala, Honduras, and the West India Islands, with Spain (for Cuba), and with
other Central and South American countries. Trade with all the countries which
have made reciprocal arrangements with us has largely increased, and gives
promise of much greater increase in the future. Negotiations are progressing
With other countries, and reciprocity, which Free Traders are denouncing as a

18
274 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
humbug, is increasing in popularity. It is the fairest kind of trade, as it enables
countries whose products are dissimilar to exchange their goods on terms of
advantage to both. European merchants and manufacturers do not like our
reciprocity, as it enables us to place our products in the markets of Central and
South America at a duty considerably lower than is charged on similar articles
of European origin.
The reciprocity agreement with Spain as to Cuba went into effect, so far as
the duty on wheat flour was concerned, on Jan. 1, 1892. In May the exports of
wheat flour to Cuba from the United States amounted to 39,361 barrels, valued
at $197,992, as compared with 4076 barrels, valued at $20,217, in May, 1891.
The exports of wheat flour from the United States to Cuba during five months
ended May 31, under the reciprocity agreement, amounted to 245,401 barrels,
valued at $1,208,250, as compared with 34,453 barrels, valued at $174,499, in the
corresponding period of 1891, before the reciprocity agreement was made.
In the four months ended May 31 Germany received from the United States
9,371,645 bushels of corn, valued at $4,796,770, as compared with 600,295 bushels,
valued at $393,372, in the corresponding four months of 1891. In the four months
ended May 31 Germany received from the United States 2,100,636 bushels of
wheat, of a total value of $2,201,930, as compared with 139,588 bushels, of the
total value of $155,950, in the corresponding period of last year. In the same
period the United States exported to Germany 21,541 barrels of wheat flour,
valued at $105,506, as compared with 1680 barrels, valued at $9,583, during the
corresponding period of 1891.
It appears, therefore, that the exports of the three articles of breadstuffs
mentioned, in four months, under the reciprocity agreement, amounted to $7,104,-
106, as compared with $558,900 in the corresponding four months of 1891, when
no such agreement was in force. -
Again, under the reciprocity agreement with Germany, butter and oleo-
margarine from the United States are admitted at reduced rates of duty. In
May, 1892, Germany received from the United States 2,074,709 pounds of butter
and oleomargarine, of total value of $207,502; in May, 1891, Germany received
782,329 pounds, valued at $78,685. In the four months ended May 31, 1892,
the exports of butter and oleomargarine from the United States to Germany
amounted to 6,328,098 pounds, of the total value of $630,738, as compared with
3,067,857 pounds, valued at $301,543, in the corresponding period of 1891.
Prof. Harriman, the author of an interesting and forcible pamphlet entitled
1 * ,
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 275
“American Tariffs from Plymouth Rock to McKinley,” from which we have
quoted freely, gives as follows the reasons why he is a Protectionist :
“First. Because, having tried free trade, or a free trade tariff, four times
since 1783, it (free trade) has never once failed to cause excessive imports and
decreased exports; heavy loss of specie, suspension of our manufactories, low
wages and enforced idleness of our laborers, general inability to pay our debts,
widespread bankruptcies, universal distress, and financial ruin.
“Second. Because, having also tried protection four times since 1783, it has
never Once failed to cause increasing demand for labor ; high wages for our
workmen and lower prices for their family and household necessities; general
and growing agricultural prosperity, varied and multiplied industries, strong
development of our educational and benevolent institutions, and an increase of
national wealth unprecedented in the history of any other nation.
“Third. Because, the foregoing results in each case having been uniform,
unfailing, and invariable, I am compelled to believe that the said evil results
are inherent in the free trade system; and that the said good results are no
less inherent in the protective system.
“Fourth. Because, these things being so, I must prefer that system, that
brings universal prosperity, rather than the one that causes general and unavoid-
able adversity.”
To these might be added another reason : Because our manufacturing rival,
England, wants us to throw off our duties, admit her goods, and see our indus-
tries destroyed by her cheap labor. That many a Free Trader is thoroughly
American at heart there is no doubt, but how a patriotic American can be
anything else than a Protectionist the writer of these lines cannot understand.
B. F. Jones of Pittsburgh says: “I am a Protectionist because our country
has prospered with protection and languished without it. Because revenue can
more easily, more surely and with less objection be raised by judicious protective
tariff laws than otherwise. Because protection diversifies employment and largely
relieves wage earners from foreign competition, thereby enabling them to be
liberal consumers as well as producers. Because, as has been demonstrated, the
effect of protection is the cheapening of products. Because defense against in-
jurious importations is as necessary and justifiable as is an army and navy. Be-
cause the theory of free trade between nations is as fallacious, impracticable and
utterly absurd as is that of free love between families.”
J. P.. Dolliver, United States Congressman from Iowa, says: “I believe in
276 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
the doctrine of protection because the facts of our national experience thoroughly
exemplify its truth. No great American statesmen, except the half-forgotten
leaders of the Slave Power, have disowned the protective system. The Im-
porters' Trust and the Slave Trust have been alone in their hostility to that
system, each for obvious reasons peculiar to itself. If the doctrine of protection
is not true, our people have blindly followed a blind leadership. If the policy of
protection is not wise, it indicates that the human race, outside of England, has
not sense enough to take care of itself. I will not thus disparage the average
common sense of our own country, nor thus discredit the average common sense
of mankind.”
XVII.
Chinese Immigration—Bill to restrict it in Hayes's Administration—Discussion and Result—Presi-
dent Hayes's Veto and Reasons therefor—Subsequent Legislation on the Chinese Question—
Restriction of Immigration from Europe—Views of prominent Politicians—Campaign of 1880–
Movement to nominate General Grant for a third Term—Popular Opposition—General Grant's
Action—Technicalities of the Situation—Grant's Nomination for a third Term advocated by
Roscoe Conkling—304 Votes for Grant—Long Balloting—Gen. Garfield nominated—Platform
of 1880—Action of the Democrats—General Hancock nominated—First appearance of “The
Solid South *—Assassination of President Garfield—President Arthur—Events during his
Administration.
URING the latter part of President Hayes's administration a
bill was presented in Congress for the restriction of the immi-
gration of the Chinese. It was referred to the Committee on
Immigration and Labor, and when reported back to the House
was briefly discussed and passed by a vote of 155 to 72. It
was debated more extensively in the Senate, where it passed by a vote of 39 to
27. The chief feature of the bill was a provision which prohibited any vessel
from bringing more that fifteen Chinese passengers to any port of the United
States, except in case the vessel was driven to seek a harbor from distress. The
bill further demanded that the President should give notice to the Emperor of
China of the abrogation of Articles 5th and 6th of the Burlinghame Treaty of
1868. A considerable share of the debate touched on this feature of the bill, it
being contended on one side that the treaty contained no provisions for its
amendment or termination, and therefore either party had a right to terminate
it any moment ; while to this view was opposed the contention that a fair notice
with sufficient time for negotiation should be given to the Chinese government.
The arguments against the immigration of the Chinese were pressed with
great earnestness : that they caused a cheapening of the labor market ; that
they did not come here to remain as citizens; that they mixed as little as possible
- (277)

278 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
in the life of the people of the United States, and adhered with great pertinacity
to all their home customs, ways of life, religion, dress or anything else ; they
could live upon much less than would support a white man, and, consequently,
they were willing to work for lower wages than any of their white competitors.
Of course, the bill was in the interest of the labor element, and there was very
little division upon party lines.
After the passage of the bill it was returned by the President, who vetoed
it on the ground that it abrogated the Burlinghame Treaty without notice ; but
he did not press in his veto any points as to the effects of Chinese labor upon
America. He had no doubt that Congress would supersede the terms of the
treaty, but thought it was not judicious to disturb our relations with China in
that very summary manner. Since that time a much more severe restriction
upon the importation of Chinese has been passed, and the question of reducing
and restricting immigration from Europe has been under serious consideration. A
prominent politician, while talking upon this subject, said: “I think the leaders of
the two parties will very soon agree upon a system of suppression or restriction
of the immigration from Europe. Formerly, the Democratic party was able to
control the Irish immigrants, and therefore was favorable to immigration; the
Republican party was able to control the great bulk of the Germans, and there.
fore favored immigration from Germany. Now there are very few Irish and
very few German immigrants coming here. The class that we are getting—Hun-
garians, Poles and Italians—are under the control of no party, and it is about time
that we should put an end to the whole business.” Measures have been discussed,
and at the time of writing it is said that a bill is in course of preparation which
will make a very severe restriction upon the number of immigrants coming to this
country from whatever section of the globe. England and several countries of
Europe have been for years pouring upon our soil their paupers and criminals,
and it is high time that a stop should be made to the whole business. The first
steps have been made in the laws which are now in force, but there are many
loopholes in the latter, and much more severe measures are requisite than those
at present in force. *
As the time approached for the Convention of 1880, there was a renewal of
the talk of a third term for General Grant. During the latter portion of his
second term there had been considerable talk about his election for a third term ;
many of his friends were zealous in the belief that he could and should be elected,
and some of them boldly stated that he should not only have a third term, but
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 279
a fourth and a fifth term—in fact as many terms as would be necessary to round
out what had been a very useful life. But General Grant did not approve the
movement and put an end to it by Writing a letter, in which he announced that
he was not a candidate, nor would he be one under any circumstances.
Several State Conventions passed resolutions declaring that as a matter of
principle, and following the custom which was established in the days of Washing-
ton, the presidential office should be limited to two terms for one individual.
The revival of the subject at the approach of the election of 1880 was discussed
CONGRESSMAN SPOONER. RHODE ISLAND.
With considerable earnestness, the ground being taken that as there had been an
interregnum from 1876 to 1880, through the election of President Hayes, it
Would not be, technically, a President succeeding himself.
During the latter part of President Hayes's term, General Grant made a
tour around the world, and in all the foreign countries that he visited he re-
ceived a great many tributes of respect from their rulers. It was remarked of
him at the time, and has since been remarked, that “ probably General Grant
has seen more men than any other individual that ever lived in the history of

280 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
the world; ” and this is probably the case, as he had seen vast reviews of
armies in his own country, great parades and great assemblages of people, and
had also seen many reviews of military and many great assemblages of people
in other lands. The remark offers considerable food for thought, and is com-
mended to the attention of the reader.
Some of the leading men of the Republican party formed a movement to
nominate General Grant for the Presidency in 1880; but they found that pub-
lic opinion was not favorable to it. However great might be the affection and
esteem of the people for the successful commander of the armies that suppressed
the Rebellion, there was a very positive feeling everywhere against a third term.
There was nothing personal about it, and particularly so, as the country had been
for four years under another President and all the quarrels and bickerings that
came from the Presidency of General Grant had ceased altogether. There was
no written law of the land that the presidential office should be limited to two
terms, but there was the unwritten law—and it may be set down as an axiom,
that unwritten laws are sometimes even stronger than those that appear on
the statute book. Before the Republican Convention met in June it was well
understood, through the action of the State Conventions and through the discus-
sions in the press, that the third term question would be practically out of the
case. The State Conventions of New York and Pennsylvania were called very
early, and the action therein showed that there would be serious opposition to
the measure. -
When the Republican Convention met, those in favor of the nomination of
General Grant were under the leadership of Conkling. There was no special
leadership on the part of the anti-Grant delegates, and they were divided as to
their views in regard to the selection of a nominee ; but their cause was a com-
mon one, and as if by common consent they gathered around General Garfield
and uniformly recognized him as their leader. . There was a good deal of wrang-
ling and display of bad blood at the beginning of the Convention, and, in fact,
all through it. The question as to whether the States should vote as a unit or
each delegate should vote as he pleased caused a great deal of discussion and a
very great display of parliamentary tactics. The presentation of candidates did
not take place until the evening of the fourth day. The first name put in nom-
ination was that of Blaine, who was nominated by Joy of Michigan, seconded by
Pixley of California and Frye of Maine. General Garfield put John Sherman
in nomination ; the name of Senator Edmunds was proposed by Billings of Ver-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 281
mont; and two or three other candidates were proposed. On Monday, the fifth
day of the Convention, the voting began. The first ballot gave to the three
leading candidates—Grant, Blaine, and Sherman—the following votes respectively:
304; 284; 93. Twenty-seven ballots were taken on that day, and then the Con-
vention adjourned. Balloting continued on Tuesday, and on the thirty-fourth
ballot, Wisconsin broke the deadlock by casting sixteen votes for General Gar-
field. The vote was increased on the next ballot, and on the thirty-sixth the
delegations which had been voting for Blaine and Sherman changed to Garfield.
This was the turning-point of the battle, which was very brief after that. When
the vote was counted, it gave—Garfield, 399 votes; Grant, 306; and small votes to
three others. Conkling immediately moved to make the nomination unanimous,
which was done at once. General Chester A. Arthur was nominated on the first
ballot as the candidate for the Vice-Presidency, and soon after the Convention
adjourned. The following is the platform on which these two candidates went
before the people. -
“The Republican party, in National Convention assembled, at the end of
twenty years since the Federal government was first committed to its charge,
submits to the people of the United States its brief report of its administration :
“It suppressed a rebellion which had armed nearly a million of men to sub-
vert the national authority. It reconstructed the union of the States with free-
dom, instead of slavery, as its corner-stone. It transformed four million of hu-
man beings from the likeness of things to the rank of citizens. It relieved
Congress from the infamous work of hunting fugitive slaves, and charged it to
see that slavery does not exist. -
“It has raised the value of our paper currency from thirty-eight per cent to
the par of gold. It has restored, upon a solid basis, payment in coin for all the
national obligations, and has given us a currency absolutely good and equal in
every part of our extended country. It has lifted the credit of the nation from
the point where six per cent bonds sold at eighty-six to that where four per
cent bonds are eagerly sought at a premium.
“ Under its administration railways have increased from 31,000 miles in 1860
to more than 82,000 miles in 1879.
“Our foreign trade has increased from $700,000,000 to $1,500,000,000 in the
same time ; and our exports, which were $20,000,000 less than our imports in
1860, were $264,000,000 more than our imports in 1879.
“Without resorting to loans, it has, since the war closed, defrayed the ordi-
*
282 THE REPUBLIOAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
nary expenses of government, beside the accruing interest on the public debt,
and disbursed annually over $30,000,000 for soldiers’ pensions. It has paid $888,-
000,000 of the public debt, and, by refunding the balance at lower rates, has
reduced the annual interest charge from nearly $151,000,000 to less than
$89,000,000.
“All the industries of the country have revived, labor is in demand; wages
have increased, and throughout the entire country there is evidence of a coming
prosperity greater than we have ever enjoyed.
“ Upon this record the Republican party asks for the continued confidence
and support of the people; and this Convention submits for their approval the
following statement of the principles and purposes which will continue to guide
and inspire its efforts:
“1. We affirm that the work of the last twenty years has been such as to
commend itself to the favor of the nation, and that the fruits of the costly
victories which we have achieved, through immense difficulties, should be pre-
served ; that the peace regained should be cherished ; that the dissevered Union,
now happily restored, should be perpetuated, and that the liberties secured to
this generation should be transmitted, undiminished, to future generations; that
the order established and the credit acquired should never be impaired; that
the pensions promised should be paid ; that the debt so much reduced should be
extinguished by the full payment of every dollar thereof; that the reviving indus-
tries should be further promoted; and that the commerce, already so great,
should be steadily encouraged.
“2. The Constitution of the United States is a supreme law, and not a
mere contract; out of confederate States it made a sovereign nation. Some
powers are denied to the nation, while others are denied to the States; but the
boundary between the powers delegated and those reserved is to be determined
by the national and not by the State tribunals.
“3. The work of popular education is one left to the care of the several
States, but it is the duty of the national government to aid that work to the
extent of its constitutional ability. The intelligence of the nation is but the
aggregate of the intelligence in the several States; and the destiny of the nation
must be guided, not by the genius of any one State, but by the average genius
of all.
“4. The Constitution wisely forbids Congress to make any law respecting
an establishment of religion; but it is idle to hope that the nation can be
THE JP EPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 2S3
protected against the influences of sectarianism while each State is exposed to
its domination. We, therefore, recommend that the Constitution be so amended
as to lay the same prohibition upon the Legislature of each State, to forbid the
appropriation of public funds to the support of sectarian schools.
“ 5. We reaffirm the belief, avowed in 1876, that the duties levied for the
purpose of revenue should so discriminate as to favor American labor; that no
further grant of the public domain should be made to any railway or other
corporation; that slavery having perished in the States, its twin barbarity—
CONGRESSMAN WADE, MISSOUIt I.
polygamy—must die in the Territories; that everywhere the protection accorded
to citizens of American birth must be secured to citizens by American adop-
tion. That we esteem it the duty of Congress to develop and improve our
Water-courses and harbors, but insist that further subsidies to private persons
or corporations must cease. That the obligations of the Republic to the men
who preserved its integrity in the day of battle are undiminished by the lapse
of fifteen years since their final victory—to do them perpetual honor is, and
shall forever be, the grateful privilege and sacred duty of the American people.

284 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“6. Since the authority to regulate immigration and intercourse between the
United States and foreign nations rests with the Congress of the United States
and its treaty-making powers, the Republican party, regarding the unrestricted
immigration of the Chinese as an evil of great magnitude, invoke the exercise
of that power to restrain and limit that immigration by the enactment of such
just, humane, and reasonable provisions as will produce that result.
“ 7. That the purity and patriotism which characterized the early career of
Rutherford B. Hayes in peace and war, and which guided the thoughts of our
immediate predecessors to select him for a presidential candidate, have contin-
ued to inspire him in his career as Chief Executive, and that history will accord
to his administration the honors which are due to an efficient, just, and cour-
teous discharge of the public business, and will honor his interposition between
the people and proposed partisan laws.
“ 8. We charge upon the Democratic party the habitual sacrifice of patriot-
ism and justice to a supreme and insatiable lust for office and patronage. That
to obtain possession of the National and State governments, and the control of
place and position, they have obstructed all efforts to promote the purity and to
conserve the freedom of suffrage ; have devised fraudulent certifications and re-
turns; have labored to unseat lawfully-elected members of Congress, to secure,
at all hazards, the vote of a majority of the States in the House of Representa-
tives; have endeavored to occupy, by force and fraud, the places of trust given
to others by the people of Maine, and rescued by the courageous action of
Maine’s patriotic sons; have, by methods vicious in principle and tyrannical in
practice, attached partisan legislation to appropriation bills, upon whose passage
the very movements of government depend; have crushed the rights of the in-
dividual ; have advocated the principle and sought the favor of rebellion against
the nation, and have endeavored to obliterate the sacred memories of the war,
and to overcome its inestimably valuable results of nationality, personal freedom,
and individual equality. Equal, steady, and complete enforcement of the laws,
and protection of all our citizens in the enjoyment of all privileges and immuni-
ties guaranteed by the Constitution, are the first duties of the nation. The
danger of a solid South can only be averted by the faithful performance of every
promise which the nation made to the citizen. The execution of the laws, and
the punishment of all those who violate them, are the only safe methods by
which an enduring peace can be secured, and genuine prosperity established
throughout the South. Whatever promises the nation makes, the nation must
• THE REPUBLICAW PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS. 285
*
perform ; and the nation cannot with safety relegate this duty to the States.
The solid South must be divided by the peaceful agencies of the ballot, and all
opinions must there find free expression; and to this end honest voters must be
protected against terrorism, violence, or fraud. And we affirm it to be the duty
and the purpose of the Republican party to use all legitimate means to restore
all the States of this Union to the most perfect harmony which may be practi-
cable ; and we submit to the practical, sensible people of the United States to say
whether it would not be dangerous to the dearest interests of our country, at
this time, to surrender the administration of the national government to a party
which seeks to overthrow the existing policy, under which we are so prosperous,
and thus bring distrust and confusion where there is now order, confidence, and
hope. . .
“9. The Republican party, adhering to a principle affirmed by its last
National Convention, of respect for the constitutional rule covering appointments
to office, adopts the declaration of President Hayes, that the reform of the
civil service should be thorough, radical, and complete. To this end it demands
the co-operation of the legislative with the executive department of the govern-
ment, and that Congress shall So legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper
practical tests, shall admit to the public service; and that the power of removal
for cause, with due responsibility for the good conduct of subordinates, shall
accompany the power of appointment.” -
The Democratic Convention followed shortly after, putting General W. S.
Hancock in nomination for the first place on the ticket, and Wm. H. English
of Indiana for the second place. The platform, had for its salient feature a
declaration in behalf of a tariff for revenue only. It was loud in its denuncia-
tion of the alleged election fraud of 1876, by which Tilden was defeated, and it
made a demand for honest money either of coin or of paper convertible into
coin, and gave an emphatic pledge against permitting Chinese immigration.
General Hancock’s nomination was greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm all
through the country. He was a soldier with unblemished record, who had
attained considerable honor in the Mexican war, and much higher honor during
the war for the Union. He was regarded as a man of sterling honesty, and
his war record drew to his support all those Democrats who had favored the
suppression of the Rebellion and not a few more or less discontented mem-
bers of the Republican party. Two or three months before the election there
was a pretty fair probability — certainly, a strong possibility — that General
286 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
Hancock would be the successful candidate. The September and October elections
did not turn out very well for the Republicans, some of the States that were
confidently considered in the Republican column going to the Democrats, OT
remaining Republican by very close majorities. This election was the first one
in which the Solid South appeared as a factor—as it has appeared in all presi-
dential elections ever since. The leading Democrats in the Southern States had
steadily kept this object in view, and, for the first time, it was accomplished
in 1880. The suppression of the colored vote in the South by means already
described had worked out the result, which has been very satisfactory to the
Democracy in every way, as it gives them an absolute count of eleven States
to start with in every presidential election, about which they need give them-
selves no trouble. -
As every one is aware, the term of General Garfield was very brief. In less
than four months from the day of his inauguration he was struck down by the
bullet of an assassin, and after lingering for some weeks he died at Elberon,
New Jersey, from the effects of the wound.
Gen. Garfield will always be remembered as “The Martyr President,” because
of his lamentable death in consequence of the shot of the assassin Guileau. Like
his predecessor, he owed his nomination for President by the Republican Conven-
tion in 1880 to his availability by reason of his military record, as since the war
the party has ever been prone to honor its soldiers on every occasion of political
preferment. Born in Orange, Ohio, November 19, 1831, his boyhood was passed in
poverty and struggle, his mother having been left a widow. He worked for a
time on his uncle's canal boat. He managed, with his savings and aid from
relatives, to go to Hiram College and to graduate from Williams College. Leav-
ing college he became a teacher at Hiram, and also occasionally preached, while
he studied law. Taking an active part in political debate, he was elected in 1859
to the State Senate. Admitted to the bar in 1860, he became locally prominent
as a lawyer as well as a politician. He was one of the first to offer his services
to Gov. Dennison in 1861. He was appointed an aid to Gov. Dennison, to assist
in the organizing of troops, and subsequently received the assignment of colonel
of the 42d Ohio regiment. He did active duty in the southwest, receiving a
commission as a brigadier-general for his gallantry at the battle of Prestonburg.
He was a good soldier. He rendered good service in the court of inquiry into
the cases of Gen. McDowell and Gen. Fitz-John Porter.
In 1862, while at home ill in bed, he was tendered the nomination for Congress
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS
LEADERS.
287
È
~，
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
№
È
·
§§
§§
GENERAL BENJAMIN F. TRACY, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.

288 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LAEADERS.
*
from his district, so long represented by the great anti-slavery champion, Joshua
R. Giddings. He would not accept the nomination until he could confer with Presi-
dent Lincoln, who, in view of his precarious health at the time, and his patriotic
political views, urged him to comply with the wishes of his friends and retire
from the army. He returned to service, however, until required to take his seat,
and had succeeded Rosecrans in the command of the army at Chattanooga, when
called away by his congressional duties. He represented the district in Congress
until elected in 1880 to the United States Senate. He went as a delegate to the
Republican National Convention at Chicago as an avowed champion of Senator
John Sherman for President. To his own surprise, in the contest between the
friends of Grant and Blaine, the Convention finally united on the soldier-states-
man. He was inaugurated March 4, 1881. The painful tragedy of his shooting
by the insane and disappointed office-seeker, Guiteau, on the morning of July 2,
1881, in the Baltimore station in Washington, as he was leaving for New York,
need not be further alluded to here, nor his subsequent death at Long Branch in
consequence of the wound. •
General Arthur immediately succeeded General Garfield and became Presi-
dent, and the machinery of government went on without any serious hindrance.
President Arthur’s administration was not marked by any events of importance.
In September, 1881, the Centenary of the Surrender of Yorktown was celebrated.
Later, Blaine sent a letter to the European Powers, asserting the Treaty of 1846
respecting neutrality in Panama, arguing that it was sufficient for the proper
government of the country and protesting against any foreign interference. In
the following year the Anti-Polygamy Bill was passed, which specially provided
for the government of the Mormon country. General Grant was placed on the
retired list in the same year. At the session of Congress in December, 1882, the
President commented upon the financial prosperity of the country, and recom-
mended a reduction of taxation and the tariff; his recommendation was followed,
at least in part. The Civil Service Reform Bill was adopted by the Senate on
the 27th of December, 1882, and by the House of Representatives on the 4th of
January following. The question of the succession of the Presidency received
consideration, from the fact that the death of General Garfield had brought it
pointedly before the American people. Early in 1884, the famous iron-clad oath
was abolished, and all those who had hitherto come under its provisions were
restored to the full rights of citizenship.
As 1884 approached there was naturally much discussion as to the nomi-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 289
nees for the Presidency. President Arthur was talked of in many quarters,
but he did not indicate any overweening desire for a re-election, although
it is very positively believed that he would not have refused it. He must
have been more than mortal not to have desired a renomination—but he did
not, as some other Presidents have done, make any serious use of his official
position to Secure it.
XVIII.
Our Foreign Relations—Conduct of Great Britain during our Civil War—Indecent Haste in the
Recognition of the Confederates as Belligerents—Violation of Promises to the American
Minister—How the Alabama was allowed to Escape—Connivance of the British Officials
with the Confederate Agents—Facilities Denied to Union Vessels in British Ports but
Granted to Confederate ones—Debate in Parliament—Why England Feared to Recognize
the Confederacy—Position of other European Powers—Speech of Gladstone—The Shenandoah
Recruiting her Crew in Melbourne—Secret and Confidential Instructions to the Colonial
Authorities—The Geneva Conference—Rejection of Claims for Indirect Losses—Settlement
by Arbitration—Later Difficulties with Foreign Governments—The Samoan Trouble—
Embroilment with Chili and near approach to War—Lynching of Italians in New Orleans
—The Behring Sea Controversy.
URING the early part of the Civil War the loyal people of the
United States had great reason to cherish an angry feeling
toward the government and many of the people of Great Britain.
Indications were numerous that the British government desired the
destruction of the Union, and were conniving at it in every way in
which connivance was safe, and were giving aid and comfort to the rebels in
arms. The proofs in this direction would fill volumes, and we can only refer
to them in brief.
When Lincoln entered upon the duties of his office, on the 4th of March,
1861, he found the army of the United States scattered and disintegrated, the
navy in distant quarters of the globe, the Treasury bankrupt, the credit of
the government seriously injured, and the public service demoralized. It was
evident that the British Minister at Washington was aware of these facts,
and, no doubt, he informed his government of the state of affairs. Lincoln
took an early opportunity to inform the British government of what the
United States intended to do. Four days after his inauguration he instructed
Dallas, then Minister of the United States at London, to communicate the in-
augural address to the British Foreign Ministry, and to assure them that the

(290)
THE J2EPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 291
President had full confidence in the speedy restoration of the harmony and
unity of the government. He was further told that the United States had
had too many assurances and manifestations of the friendship and goodwill of
the people of Great Britain to have any fear that the British government
would interfere in an unfriendly way with the domestic concerns of the United
States.
In carrying out these instructions, Dallas pressed upon Lord Russell the
importance of England and France abstaining, at least for a considerable time,
CONGRESSMAN DINGLEY, MAINE.
from doing what, by encouraging groundless hopes on the part of the Southern
people, would widen a breach still thought capable of being closed. Lord Russell
replied that the coming of Adams, Dallas’s successor, would doubtless be regarded
as the appropriate and natural occasion for finally discussing and determining
the question. Lincoln had appointed Adams as the new Minister to England,
and he sailed as soon as his instructions could be prepared, and was to proceed
to London as speedily as possible. Although the British government had
promised to abstain from any act in the aid of the Rebellion until the arrival

292 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
of Adams and the delivery of his dispatches, it proceeded to recognize the Con-
federates as belligerents, and to give notice of such recognition before the
arrival of Adams on British soil. This fact was clearly established by the date
of the proclamation of the recognition of belligerency and the date of the arrival
in Liverpool of the steamer which carried Adams.
Following this recognition of belligerency, the Confederate government was
allowed to fit out cruisers in British ports, and every facility was given to them
by the British government. The history of the Alabama is too well known to
require repetition. Rebel cruisers were built in English shipyards and manned
by English sailors—at least, in great part ; the officers were mostly from the
Confederacy, having been sent out to England for that purpose; but this was by
no means always the case, many of the petty and subordinate officers being
Englishmen who had never visited the United States, except, possibly, in their
capacity of mariners. In fact, the conduct of Great Britain throughout the war
was unfriendly and offensive, and in every way violated the honorable duty of
a neutral. It was a pretended neutrality and not a real one, and in every
instance where the law could be strained in any way, it was strained in the
direction of the Confederacy, but made as rigid as possible when applied to the
government of the United States. For example, it several times happened in
English ports that Confederate cruisers received supplies and munitions of war
without any inconvenience, the government officials discreetly turning their backs
while those supplies and munitions were placed on board of the vessels; but
whenever a Union ship entered a British port the greatest vigilance was exer-
cised, and our ships were, in many instances, not even allowed to take on board
supplies of fresh meat and vegetables for the use of the officers, or salted
provisions for the crew. And in the final struggle of the Alabama and the
kearsage, when the stars and stripes were triumphant over the stars and bars,
and the Confederate vessel was sunk in the English Channel, her guns were
manned by gunners lent from her majesty’s training ship, Eaccellent, then lying
in Portsmouth Harbor. -
The American public had followed very closely the conduct of England
throughout the war. They did not study with minute care the principles of
international law, nor demonstrate, by quotations from ancient authorities, that
the government of Great Britain had not performed her duty as a neutral
toward the United States government. They knew, and knew positively, alS
facts had been demonstrated from time to time, that the course of England’s
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 293
government and England’s aristocracy had been invariably against them, and’
they waited very impatiently for the officers of their own government to call
our “neutral ” enemy to account.
During one of the debates in Parliament concerning the Civil War one of
the speakers said : “ The whole proceedings in this American war are a blot
upon human nature; and when I am told that I should have sympathy for the
Northern States of America, I turn in absolute disgust from their hypocrisy.
If there is a sink of political iniquity it is at Washington. They are base; they
are cowardly; they are cruel.” This speech was made in the presence of mem-
bers of the British ministry. Lord Palmerston, the Premier, followed the speaker
on the floor and called him. his “honorable and learned friend,” nor did he make
any rebuke or objection to the words that had been used. Instead of doing so,
he accused the American government of secretly obtaining recruits in Ireland,
by inducing Irishmen to emigrate as laborers, and then to enlist in the service
of the government.
A Confederate loan was openly floated in Great Britain, and the subscribers
to this loan were among the most conspicuous members of the aristocracy.
There is or can be little doubt that England would have openly espoused and
supported the cause of the Confederacy, if she had not feared a general European
war in consequence. Russia was at that time friendly to us and manifested
her friendliness in, very outspoken terms. Russia and England were not at all
amiable, as the memories of the Crimean war a few years earlier were still fresh
in mind. Germany was more favorable to us than hostile; she did not take
much interest in the contest either way, but she certainly did not wish our de-
struction and rather than witness it would have been likely to interpose some
portion, at least, of her power. As France was hostile to Germany she
naturally took the side of England, so that intervention by England and France
in our civil war was much talked of, and might have been brought about, had
there not been a fear that it would lead to the dethronement of Napoleon III.,
who was then in power—which would leave France helpless, and England would
then find herself contending alone with the great forces which Russia could bring
into the field. -
The question of recognizing the Confederacy went before Parliament, but
was withdrawn after some discussion, by request of Gladstone, who was then
Chancellor of the Exchequer. He assured the House that the main result of
the American contest was not, humanly speaking, in any degree doubtful; he
294 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
thought there never was a war of a more destructive, more deplorable, more
hopeless character. He said: “Gentlemen, I believe the restoration of the
American Union by force is not attainable ; I believe the opinion of this country
is unanimous on this subject. It is not therefore from indifference, it is not
from any belief that this war is waged for any adequate or worthy object on the
part of the North, that I would venture to deprecate in the strongest terms the
adoption of the motion of the honorable and learned gentleman.” The “honor-
able and learned gentleman º' had just made a motion for the recognition of
the Southern Confederacy as an independent nation, and Gladstone’s argument
was to the effect that the Confederacy would succeed, and was sure to succeed
without the intervention of any foreign nation, and therefore it was not neces-
sary for England to take any part in the struggle.
During the progress of the war our representatives abroad were instructed
to obtain all possible proof of every step taken on British soil or in British
waters concerning the violations of neutrality by Great Britain, and to carefully
file away the evidence for future use. It was very clear that Lincoln and the
officers of his cabinet had an abiding faith in the triumph of the Union cause,
and while we could not stop to settle the account with England at that time,
an accounting would be called for whenever circumstances made it convenient.
So our representatives devoted themselves with all possible diligence to the
obtaining of evidence relative to the construction and fitting out of cruisers,
and slowly but surely a vast amount of evidence showing the violations of neu-
tral duties was piled up. Some of the evidence obtained we will glance at just
a moment.
It was shown that in the case of the escape of the Alabama the proofs
that she was intended to prey upon American commerce were laid before the
British government by the American Minister, and the law officers of the
Crown—after carefully considering the matter—decided that the Alabama should
be detained. This decision was made on the evening of a certain Friday, but it
was not made public until the following Monday, neither was it communicated
to the American Minister until the last-named day; but on Saturday morning
a telegram was sent from London to Liverpool to the captain of the Alabama,
telling him that the law officers of the Crown had decided that the vessel must
be detained, and advising him to get to sea as speedily as possible ; consequently
he went out with it on a so-called trial trip. It is needless t& say that he did
not return ; the guns, stores and other materials for equipping the ship were
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 295
sent out to Madeira in a transport, and, after their transference to the Alabama,
she hoisted the Confederate flag.
The Sea King, otherwise called the Shenandoah, made a long tour of the
world, winding up with the destruction of whalers in the Arctic Ocean and adja-
cent waters after the war had ended and her captain had been so informed.
During the course of her journey she went into Melbourne, where she was allowed
to take on stores and coal, and to enlist men to fill up her crew ; the recruiting
was done quite openly, and after the Shenandoah had obtained all the men she
CONGRESSMAN BELDEN, NEW YORK.
wanted, orders were issued that she should not be allowed to recruit any further.
When she arrived at Melbourne, one of the members of the Legislature asked if
her majesty’s proclamation had not been violated by the enlistment of men and
the receipt of the stores and supplies; the member who made the inquiry called
attention to the news of the departure of the Sea King from London, for the
purpose of being converted into a cruiser, and he showed that the Sea King and
the Shenandoah were the same vessel. The House was opposed to him, and he
was called to order ; the Chief Secretary replied, not so much calling in question

296 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
the identity of the Sea Kºng with the Shenandoah as doubting the propriety of
accepting the fact on the evidence quoted by the former speaker, and he added
that “in dealing with this vessel we have not only to consider the terms of the
proclamation referred to, but also the confidential instructions from the Home
Government.” Thus it will be seen that, in addition to the public instructions
which were made known to the world, there were private and confidential—per-
haps conflicting—instructions on the same subject. The character of these pri-
vate instructions has never been made known, but it is easy to understand
what they were. Numerous acts of this kind might be cited to show the justifi-
cation of the American people in feeling very sore toward Great Britain at the
time of our Civil War.
When the Rebellion was at an end and the cause of the Union was fully
established, the British government suddenly ceased the consideration of the
condition of the United States, and when inquiry was made of Lord Palmerston
relative to the arrest of Jefferson Davis, he replied very abruptly that it was
not the intention of the government in any respect to interfere with the internal
affairs of the United States. He seemed to forget that during the four years
of the war, when there was a possibility that the Confederacy would be estab-
lished, the British Parliament and the whole British Government day by day
devoted a considerable share of its attention to the condition of the government,
and seemed to feel that it was empowered to regulate our affairs much more
than we ourselves had been empowered to regulate them, by means of our
Constitution and laws.
A few months after the war closed, two of the noble British earls, Russell
and Derby, gave some very kind advice in regard to the conduct of the Ameri-
can government toward the people lately in rebellion. Earl Russell thought
that it was most desirable that there should be no appearance of passion on
the part of those who had the guidance of affairs in the American Union ; and
Earl Derby thought that a triumphant government should seek not to exas-
perate the feelings of their former antagonists “which have been already em-
bittered, but should endeavor, by considerations of mercy, to re-cement a union
so nearly dissolved.” A commentator on this advice has remarked that it would
have had more weight and influence, if weight and influence had been needed,
if their own government, after every rebellion in Ireland or other part of its
dominions, had shown mercy and sought not to exasperate the feelings of those
in rebellion. Not a single man had been executed in the United States up to
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 297
that time for his share in the Rebellion, while every reader of history knows
that the suppression of every rebellion on British soil has been followed by the
free use of the hangman’s rope, and by imprisonment or transportation of the
men who had taken arms against what they deemed to be oppression.
The cruisers that were sent out from British ports and refitted therein from
time to time had caused great havoc in American commerce ; they had destroyed
or driven from our flag hundreds of ships, and whereas the American marine
had been one of the foremost in the world previous to the Civil War, it was
diminished to very small proportions, chiefly through the action of our so-called
and still stylled “brethren” of the same language on the other side of the
Water.
During all the progress of the war our government steadily protested against
the unlawful and unfriendly action of Great Britain, and immediately after the
return of peace, the proper steps were taken to obtain compensation. Adams
received his instructions from Secretary Seward to present the American case. A
request for the friendly arbitration of the Alabama claims was made, and was
met by a pointed refusal from Earl Russell, who declined on the part of the Brit-
ish government either to make compensation or reparation or refer the matter
to any foreign government that was friendly to both parties. The matter was
not allowed to drop here. Seward notified the British government that no
further effort would be made for arbitration, and he followed this information a
few months later by sending a list of individual claims based upon the destruc-
tion caused by the Alabama. •
The claims of the American government were rejected, and there the matter
rested for a time. The British people seemed generally to sustain the action of
the ministry, and shortly after Adams returned to the United States and was
followed by Reverdy Johnson as minister to England. There was a change in
the British ministry, which resulted in an agreement upon a treaty to settle the
question in dispute between the two countries; out of this agreement came the
Geneva Conference, which settled, to a certain extent, the difficulties between
the two countries. The Joint Commission to settle the matter signed a treaty
on the 8th of May, 1871, and the Commission met at Washington in the following
September, adjourning to Geneva, until 1872. The British and American cases
were presented to the Commission on the 20th of December.
The Americans presented a claim for indirect losses caused by the prolonga-
tion of the war through aid and comfort given to the Rebellion by Great Britain
298 THE REPUBLIOAAW PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
and its citizens, by the loss, by destruction of American ships, by transfer of
trade from American to British ships, increased rates of marine insurance and
other matters. There was much correspondence between the governments in
regard to these points, and it resulted in a supplementary treaty, by which both
nations agreed in future to abstain from claims for indirect losses. The British
government objected to certain modifications; there was further correspondence,
great excitement in Parliament, a proposed adjournment of the meeting of the
arbitration commission, differences about the mode of procedure—and Congress
adjourned on the 10th of June, 1872, leaving the affair unsettled.
The arbitration tribunal met at Geneva, and it was finally agreed to abandon
the claim for indirect losses; all the arbitrators agreed to award damages for
the injuries done by the Alabama, but the vote for the damages done by the
Florida and Shenandoah was not unanimous, as in the case of the Alabama.
The British member of the Commission refused to sign the judgment, and pub-
lished reasons therefor. The damages awarded were about three and a quarter
millions pounds sterling, and the money was promptly paid to the United States
—and thus ended in comparative harmony the trouble between Great Britain and
the United States over the damage done by the rebel cruisers that were fitted
out in British ports. But although it was accepted, and discussion has ceased
upon the subject, many people believed, and still believe, that the indirect claims
should have formed a part of the matter under consideration.
One is reminded, in this connection, of an incident in one of the States of the
Pacific Coast, where a band of rowdies, in the early history of that State, broke
into a room where an election was going on, destroyed the ballot box, and threw
the ballots upon the floor. When it came to an examination of the law on the
subject of the indictment of the offenders for interference with an election, it was
found that all the charge that could be made against them was the destruction
of one box made of pine and valued at not over fifty cents. The indirect damages,
through the action of Great Britain during our war, were vastly more than the
direct ones; had there been no British aid and comfort for the rebels, it is prob-
able that the war would have ended within two years instead of being prolonged
to four, and that a vast expenditure of money and a great loss of life would thereby
have been prevented.
At the outset of the work of the Geneva Conference it was well understood
that the whole British sentiment was opposed to paying the smallest fraction
of the American claim ; but the settlement was brought about, as many Ameri-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 299
cans to-day believe, more from a feeling on the part of England that if she should
ever become involved in war, the United States would follow the same precedents
of neutrality which the English government had set for it during the War of
the Rebellion, and by following those precedents, with a great number of swift
steamers at its command, it could sweep British commerce from the seas. Every
harbor of the United States would be a resort for piratical Alabamas, and they
could escape as easily as they had escaped from the harbors of England. The
people of the United States would be as ready to add to the distress and annoy-
CONGRESSMAN CHEADLE, INDIANA.
ances of the people of England as the latter had been to add to the distress and
annoyances of the people of the United States; and it was fair to presume that
the American government would be just as neglectful and just as conniving in
such a matter as the government of Great Britain had been when she allowed
the Alabama, Shenandoah, and other cruisers to escape.
The settlement of the claims against Great Britain growing out of our Civil
War constituted the most serious difficulties that have arisen with any foreign
power since the Republican party came into office in 1861. There have been some

300 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
minor differences with Spain, over the treatment of insurgents in Cuba ; there
have been some diplomatic notes exchanged with Great Britain in regard to the
fisheries, and with other countries of Europe in relation to minor matters; but
nothing has ever come so near to embroiling two nations in war as did the
great dispute in question. •
In the last four years there have been several diplomatic troubles with
foreign countries that required very careful handling. The first of these related
to the Samoan Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean. There had been a lively com-
petition between Germany and Great Britain to take possession of the islands of
the Samoan group, together with many other islands in the Pacific Ocean that
had not been appropriated by any strong government. The United States did not
trouble themselves particularly in regard to various small groups or separate
islands, but in Samoa, they considered that they had a right to say something,
because American citizens had commercial privileges there, which the Germans
and British were endeavoring to ignore. The matter was really a legacy from
the Cleveland administration to that of President Harrison, and nothing had been
accomplished by President Cleveland ; the matter was lagging in a very un-
satisfactory way when the change of government threw the affair into President
Harrison's hands. Immediately there were prompt measures taken and a firm
policy adopted, and the affair was brought to an end very quickly, and in a
way entirely honorable to the United States and satisfactory to all concerned.
Since the settlement of the Samoan trouble there has been no further difficulty
concerning our rights in that part of the world.
We had a nearer approach to actual hostilities in the affair with Chili,
largely caused by British influence in Valparaiso and the other Chilian cities. A
great many diplomatic notes were interchanged, of which it is impossible to
give even a summary; but the chief occasion of the difficulty seemed to be
that at the same time there were two governments in Chili, each of which
demanded recognition, and it was impossible for our government to recognize
any other than the one which was established at the capital of the country. As
soon as the revolutionary party had obtained complete control of the country,
it was recognized at once, and the troubles would then have come to an end,
had it not been for an unfortunate collision between the mob of Valparaiso
and some of our sailors, who had liberty on shore. Volumes have been pub-
lished on this subject, and there is a wide divergence of opinion; but it is
believed by the great majority of those who are not actually hostile to the pres-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 301
ent administration, and can never see anything good in its acts, that the
Chilian affair was happily and honorably terminated:
A very delicate question was opened by the lynching of some Italians at
New Orleans—a question which involved the relations of the States to the general
government and the responsibility of the general government to foreign countries.
for acts committed within the jurisdiction of the State courts. The outrageous
character of the performance at New Orleans was primarily acknowledged by
the President, and he plainly set forth the difficulties in the case. He could
have shielded himself under the restrictions which the Constitution has placed
upon the general government in its relations to the various States, but it is very
much to the honor and credit of the administration that it did not seek to hide
itself under technicalities. It is fair to assume that the action of the President,
was approved by every respectable citizen of the United States, whatever his
party affiliations, for the reason that it restored us to harmonious relations with
Italy and closed a breach which at one time threatened to become very wide and
end in actual war.
Our latest foreign trouble has been in regard to the sealing industry in
Behring Sea. On this subject there have been volumes of diplomatic corre-
spondence, and while no one thought that there would actually be war between
the two nations in regard to the catching of seals, there was a general feeling
throughout the country that our rights in that part of the world had been very
seriously and unjustly invaded by Great Britain—or rather, by Canada, which
has been the cause of the greater part of our difficulties with Great Britain in
the last sixty years; in fact, with the exception of the Civil War, she has been
practically the only cause. The Boundaries and the Fisheries, and, in these
later days, the sealing industry, have been constant sources of perplexity, and
it seems almost idle to hope that these troubles will ever come to an end. The
sealing industry was put in very great danger, and the loss to this country
amounted to millions of dollars by the conduct of Canada in the aid and comfort
which she gave to the poachers upon our domain. England seemed to have her
own way about it during the Cleveland administration, and it was by no means
easy for the administrations of President Harrison to bring the thing to anything
like a termination ; but it has finally agreed, in consequence of the vigorous dis-
patches that were sent to the British government, that the questions shall be
settled by arbitration, and in the meantime the slaughter of the seal herds shall
be stopped. The British desire was to continue the slaughter, pending the arbi-
302 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S DEAD ERS.
tration, which would have required from two to four years, and in the meantime
the herds of seals would have been wiped out of existence. The British con-
tention was that the case was analogous to a dispute over a field, whose crop
of hay might be gathered pending the arbitration, and in the following year
another crop could be taken ; the American contention was that the case
was analogous to that of a piece of woodland, where one of the parties
to the dispute was allowed to cut and carry away all the timber thereon
during the progress of the arbitration concerning it. It was argued that in case
the decision should be adverse to Great Britain she could laugh in her sleeve,
because, in the meantime, she had gathered to her own use all the profits of
the dispute. The American contention was sustained, and Englishmen and Ameri-
cans alike can rejoice that the dispute bids fair to come to an end.
XIX.
Republican Convention of 1884–Preliminary Caucussing and Canvassing—The Candidates for the
Nomination—Blaine the general Favorite—How the Balloting went on—Withdrawal of Gen.
Logan and Nomination of Blaine—Wild Enthusiasm—The Platform—How a straight-out
Plank on Protection was obtained—Principles of the Party on the great Questions of the
Day—Mormonism and its Condemnation—Honest Ballot demanded—Pension Legislation—
Action of the Democratic Convention—Grover Cleveland nominated—Characteristics of the
Campaign—“Rum, Romanism and Rebellion ”—Cleveland Elected by Burchard's Bungling.
HEN the Convention of 1884 met there was the usual lively pre-
liminary squabble among the delegates concerning candidates,
and much effort to secure support of delegates from the various
States. It was conceded that Blaine would lead on the first
ballot, but it was claimed on behalf of the other candidates that
it would be impossible for him to obtain a majority vote among the delegates.
The candidates that were put before the Convention were : Generals Hawley
and Logan, President Arthur, Senator Edmunds, and Blaine. The name of
every candidate was received with great enthusiasm by his friends, and in every
instance he was earnestly cheered by men who were not intending to vote for
him ; it was considered a proper mark of respect to cheer anybody and every-
body. When Maine was called there was a loud storm of applause ; hats and
handkerchiefs were waved; some of the delegates stood upon chairs and shouted
with all the power of their lungs, and not a few of the most excited spectators
and delegates opened umbrellas and swung them vigorously from side to side ;
the band struck up, but the voice of the multitude hushed its music, and for
fully fifteen minutes all decorum was lost and the chairman rapped in vain to
secure order. When silence was secured, the name of the candidate was men-
tioned, and there was renewed. cheering, followed by a pause, which give Judge
West, the nominating delegate, an opportunity to speak.

(303)
304 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
When the candidates had been named the Convention adjourned, and on the
following day the battle of the Convention was fought. Eight hundred and
eighteen votes were cast, making 410 necessary for a choice. Blaine received
334%; Arthur, 278; Edmunds, 93; and General Logan, 63%. The other votes
were too small to be worth consideration. On the second ballot Blaine had 349,
President Arthur, 276. The third ballot was: Blaine, 375; Arthur, 274. When
the Convention came to the fourth ballot, and the State of Illinois was called, the
chairman of the Illinois delegation, by request of General Logan, who had sent,
a telegram to that effect, changed the vote of that State to Blaine; this gave,
with the votes of the other States, 541 to Blaine, and therefore gave him the
nomination, which was made unanimous upon motion of one of the supporters of
President Arthur. There was the wildest enthusiasm in the Convention when
the vote was announced, and as the Convention adjourned and the delegates
returned to their homes, there was a unanimous determination to work for
and elect the nominee.
James G. Blaine, or, as he is generally characterized in conventions, “Blaine
of Maine,” will be known in history as one of those magnetic and brilliant,
statesmen who, notably like Henry Clay, fill the popular ideal of a President,
but who do not reach the goal of their ambition. Twice was he a candidate
before he received the nomination from his party only to be defeated by Grover
Cleveland, who was comparatively a baby in politics; and again he was a candi-
date at the last Convention. No other man in our time, save General Grant, has
been similarly honored. The history of Blaine is so closely identified with that of
the Republican party for the past twenty-five years that the two are almost
inseparable. Born at West Brownville, Washington Co., Pa., June 31, 1830, of
well-to-do parents, he received a good education, eminently qualifying him for his
subsequent career. Graduating from Washington College, a local institution, in
1847, he found employment as a teacher in the Western Military Institute, at
Blue Lick Springs, Ky., and met and married Miss Harriet Stanwood of Maine,
a teacher in the young ladies’ seminary in the adjacent town of Millersburg.
Returning home shortly afterward, he commenced studying law, but engaged
as a teacher in the Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind at Philadelphia. Here
he remained until 1854, when he removed to Augusta, Me., that his wife might be
near her own people. Purchasing an interest in the Kennebec Journal, he as-
sumed its editorial control, and claims that he found for the first time his
avocation—that of a political writer. He has declared to the present writer
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 305
that political history was more congenial to him than active politics, and that
the pleasantest part of his life has been the preparation of his great political
history of his time. Soon becoming a political power in the State, he identified
himself with the organization of the Republican party. He was sent a delegate
to the first National Convention in 1856, at Philadelphia, which nominated Gen.
Fremont, whom he enthusiastically admired, and made his debut as a political
speaker in that campaign.
In 1857 he was called to take the editorial management of a more in-
CONGRESSMAN EWART, NORTH CAROLINA.
fluential paper, the Portland Advertiser ; but, elected to the Legislature the
ensuing year, he vacated the sanctum and devoted himself to public life, or
perhaps to speak more to the point he was kept in harness by his party. He
became chairman of the Republican State Committee, and held the position for
twenty years. He was re-elected to the Legislature for four years, being the
Speaker the last two. He took an active part in preparing the public mind
for the Civil War, and ably supported the administration. He was elected
to Congress in 1862, and, re-elected seven consecutive terms, he occupied the

20
306 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
Speaker's chair from 1869, achieving a national reputation by his parliamen-
tary skill and statesmanlike views on the momentous issues of the day.
No question under discussion in all this time escaped Blaine’s attention,
and he consequently early came to be recognized not merely as one of the
leaders of the House but also of his party. In the reconstruction measures
that occupied so much attention in Congress from 1865 to 1869 he took an
active part. Indeed to him belongs the credit of the reconstruction measures
which restored the Southern States, lately in Rebellion, to the brotherhood of
the Union. After much legislation Thaddeus Stevens reported the reconstruc-
tion measure early in 1867; but Blaine opposed it, on the ground that it
really put the Southern States under a military government, and proposed an
amendment which provided that when any of the States assented to the
Fourteenth Amendment they should be entitled to representation. Blaine finally
carried his bill through both Houses.
Blaine was the first in Congress to oppose the payment of the national
debt in greenbacks. His discussion of the cases of the naturalized Irish-Ameri-
cans who had been arrested in England for treason brought about the treaty
of 1870, when the English government accepted his theory of equal protection
to adopted and native citizens by this government. He was really the first to
flaunt the “bloody shirt,” in his famous debate with Senator Hitt of Geor-
gia, anent the general amnesty bill, when he made an exception to Jefferson
Davis because of the atrocities at Andersonville. An attempt was made by his
political enemies to damage his reputation by charges that he had received
$64,000 from the Union Pacific Railroad, then seeking frequent legislation, for
unspecified services. The result of this was the episode of the Mulligan letters,
in which Blaine completely exonerated himself. He came within twenty-eight
votes on the seventh ballot of securing the nomination for President from the
Republican National Convention in 1876.
Gen. Morrill resigned his seat in the Senate to accept the portfolio of the
Secretary of the Treasury from President Hayes, and Blaine was chosen to fill
the unexpired term, being elected his own successor. While the dignity of the
Senate did not afford him as much scope as the more numerous and Republi-
can Lower House, Blaine sustained his reputation in the Upper House as a
parliamentary debater. He opposed the appointment of the Electoral Commission,
claiming that Congress had not the power to create that body. He opposed
the Bland Bill, offering an amendment providing that the dollar should contain
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 307
425 grains of silver. He advocated steamship subsidies to encourage Ameri-
can steamship lines, notably one to Brazil. He sustained the administration in
1879 in the conflict over the appropriation bills, though generally inclined to dis-
agree with President Hayes’s policy regarding the reconstruction measures. He
contended for the restriction of Chinese immigration.
He was again a candidate in the Convention in 1880, with General Grant,
when a dark horse, General Garfield, captured the prize. Although only Sec-
retary of State for four months, under Garfield, he initiated several important
movements, and especially the measures to establish trade with the South Ameri-
can countries, which finally resulted, on his again filling the office under Presi-
dent Harrison, in the now famous Pan-American Congress. He secured a modi-
fication of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. Retiring to private life, he devoted him-
self to the production of his great historical work, “Twenty Years in Congress,”
which occupied him until 1886. -
In 1884 he was a candidate again at the Republican National Convention, and
he received the nomination ; but he was defeated by Grover Cleveland, in conse-
quence, there is every reason to assume, of the famous Burchard episode. His
adherents, who probably will never desert him as long as he is eligible, again
made him a candidate in the National Convention of 1888, when President Harrison
bore Off the nomination, and again at the last Convention the two were also pitted
with the same result. Though he may never reach the White House, Blaine’s
ſame as one of its foremost leaders will always be revered by the Republican
party, and his speeches will for many a day furnish the key-notes for successive
campaigns.
The platform caused much discussion in the Committee on Resolutions, but
was adopted by the Convention without opposition. Some of the members of the
committee desired to dodge the question of the tariff and indulge in meaningless
platitudes concerning it ; but their opinions did not prevail, as the majority of the
committee believed in a positive statement of principles from which there could
be no escape. In this respect the platform is more pronounced than that of any
previous convention since the days of Lincoln and the memorable array of princi-
ples which gave him the Presidency. The following is the platform as offered by
the committee and adopted in the Convention : -
“ The Republicans of the United States, in National Convention assembled,
renew their allegiance to the principles upon which they have triumphed in six-
successive Presidential elections, and congratulate the American people on the
308 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
attainment of so many results in legislation and administration by which the
Republican party has, after saving the Union, done so much to render its in-
stitutions just, equal, beneficent, the safeguard of liberty, and the embodiment
of the best thought and highest purposes of our citizens.
“The Republican party has gained its strength by quick and faithful re-
sponse to the demands of the people for freedom and equality of all men ; for a
united nation assuring the rights of all citizens ; for the elevation of labor ; for
an honest currency ; for purity in legislation and for integrity and accountability
in all departments of the government. And it accepts anew the duty of leading
in the work of progress and reform.
“We lament the death of President Garfield, whose sound statesmanship,
long conspicuous in Congress, gave promise of a long and successful administra-
tion, a promise fully realized during the short period of his office as President
of the United States. His distinguished services in war and peace have endeared
him to the hearts of the American people. In the administration of President
Arthur we recognize a wise, conservative and patriotic policy, under which the
country has been blessed with remarkable prosperity; and we believe his eminent
services are entitled to and will receive the hearty approval of every citizen.
“It is the first duty of a good government to protect the rights and pro-
mote the interests of its own people. The largest diversity of industry is the
most productive of general prosperity and of the comfort and independence of
the people. We, therefore, demand that the imposition of duties on foreign
imports should be made not for revenue only, but that in raising the requisite
revenues for the governmeut such duty shall be so levied as to afford security
to our diversified industries and protection to the rights and wages of the laborer,
to the end that intelligent and active labor as well as capital may have its just
reward, and the laboring man his full share in the national prosperity. Against
the so-called economic system of the Democratic party, which would degrade
our labor to the foreign standard, we enter our most earnest protests. The
Democratic party has failed completely to relieve the people of the burden of
unnecessary taxation by a wise reduction of the surplus. The Republican party
pledges itself to correct the irregularities of the tariff and to reduce the surplus,
not by the vicious and discriminating process of horizontal reduction, but by
such methods as will relieve the tax-payer without injuring the laborer or the
great productive interests of the country.
“We recognize the importance of sheep-husbandry in the United States, the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 309
serious depression which it is now experiencing and the danger threatening its
future prosperity; and we, therefore, respect the demands of the representatives
of this important agricultural interest for a re-adjustment of duties upon for-
eign wool in order that such industry shall have full and adequate protection.
“We have always recommended the best money known to the civilized
world, and we urge that efforts should be made to unite all commercial nations
I
i.
º
º \\
CONGRESSMAN M*COMAS, MARYLAND.
in the establishment of an international standard which shall fix for all the rel-
ative value of gold and silver coinage.
“The regulation of commerce with foreign nations and between the States is
one of the most important prerogatives of the general government, and the Re-
publican party distinctly announces its purpose to support such legislation as will
fully and efficiently carry out the constitutional power of Congress over inter-
State commerce.
“The principle of the public regulation of railway corporations is a wise and
Salutary one for the protection of all classes of the people, and we favor legisla-

310 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
tion that shall prevent unjust discrimination and excessive charges for transpor-
tation and that shall secure to the people and the railways alike the fair and
equal protection of the laws.
“We favor the establishment of a National Bureau of Labor ; the enforce-
ment of the Eight-hour law ; a wise and judicious system of general education
by adequate appropriation from the national revenues whenever the same is
needed. We believe that everywhere the protection of a citizen of American
birth must be secured to citizens of American adoption, and we favor the settle-
ment of national differences by international arbitration.
“The Republican party having its birth in a hatred of slave labor, and a
desire that all men may be truly free and equal, is unalterably opposed to plac-
ing our working men in competition with any form of servile labor, whether at
home or abroad. In this spirit we denounce the importation of contract labor
as an offense against the spirit of American institutions, and we pledge our-
selves to sustain the present law restricting Chinese immigration and to provide
such further legislation as is necessary to carry out its purposes.
‘‘ Reform of the civil service, auspiciously begun under the Republican ad-
ministration, should be completed by the further extension of the reform system
already established by law to all the grades of the service to which it is applica-
ble. The spirit and purpose of the reform should be observed in all executive
appointments, and all laws at variance with the objects of existing reform legis-
lation should be repealed, to the end that the dangers to free institutions which
lurk in the power of official patronage may be wisely and effectively avoided.
“The public lands are a heritage of the people of the United States and
should be reserved as far as possible for small holdings of actual settlers. We
are opposed to the acquisition of large tracts of these lands by corporations or
individuals, especially where such holdings are in the hands of non-resident aliens,
and we will endeavor to obtain such legislation as will tend to correct this evil.
“ We demand of Congress the speedy forfeiture of all land grants which have
lapsed by reason of non-compliance with acts of incorporation in all cases where
there has been no attempt in good faith to perform the conditions of such grants.
“The grateful thanks of the American people are due to the Union soldiers •
and sailors of the late war, and the Republican party stands pledged to suitable
pensions for all who were disabled and for the widows and orphans of those who
died in the war. The Republican party also pledges itself to the repeal of the
limitation contained in the Arrears Act of 1879, so that all invalid soldiers shall
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 3.11
share alike and their pensions begin with the date of disability and not with the
date of application.
“The Republican party favors a policy which shall keep us from entangling
alliances with foreign nations and which gives us the right to expect that foreign
nations shall refrain from meddling in American affairs; a policy which seeks
peace and trade with all powers, but especially with those of the Western
Hemisphere.
... We demand the restoration of our navy to its old-time strength and
CONGRESSMAN STIVERS, NEW YORK.
efficiency, that it may in any high sea protect the rights of American citizens
and the interests of American commerce. We call upon Congress to remove
the burdens under which American shipping has been depressed, so that it may
again be true that we have a commerce which leaves no sea unexplored and a
navy which takes no law from superior force.
“ Resolved, That the appointment by the President to offices in the Terri-
tories should be made from the boma fide citizens and residents of the Terri-
tories wherever they are to serve.

312 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
** Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to enact such laws as shall
promptly and effectually suppress the system of polygamy within our Territories
and divorce the political from the ecclesiastical power of the so-called Mormon
Church, and that the law so enacted should be rigidly enforced by the civil
authorities if possible and by the military if need be. -
“The people of the United States in their organized capacity constitute a
nation and not a mere confederation of States. The national government is
supreme within the sphere of its national duties, but the States have reserved
rights which should be faithfully maintained and which should be guarded with
jealous care so that the harmony of our system of government may be pre-
served and the Union kept inviolate.
“The perpetuity of our institutions rests upon the maintenance of a free bal-
lot, an honest count, and correct returns. We denounce the fraud and violence
practiced by the Democracy in Southern States, by which the will of the voter is
defeated, as dangerous to the preservation of free institutions; and we solemnly
arraign the Democratic party as being the guilty recipient of the fruits of such
fraud and violence.
“We extend to the Republicans of the South, regardless of their former party
affiliations, our cordial sympathy, and pledge to them our most earnest efforts .
to promote the passage of such legislation as will secure to every citizen, of what-
eVer’ race and color, the full and complete recognition, possession and exercise of
all civil and political rights.”
Grover Cleveland was the nominee of the Democrats, the platform on which
he stood being much the same as the previous platforms of his party.
The canvass was an exciting one, Blaine taking an active part in it and mak-
ing a great many speeches in different parts of the country. All was going well
until a very short time before the election, when the accidental opening of the
mouth of a clerical donkey in New York gave vent to the famous words, “Rum,
Romanism, and Rebellion,” which stampeded several thousands of citizens of
Irish descent, who had determined to vote for Blaine, but at the last moment
changed their minds and cast their votes for the Democratic nominee. A cele-
brated historian has said: “Arletta’s pretty feet twinkling in the brook made her -
the mother of William the Conqueror. Had she not thus fascinated Duke Robert
, the Liberal of Normandy, Harold would not have fallen at Hastings; there would
have been no Norman rule in England; no British Empire.” And later his-
torians may say: Had not the Rev. Dr. Burchard volunteered his ill-timed re-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERs. 313
mark, Grover Cleveland would not have been elected to the Presidency of the
United States in 1884; there would have been no Baby Ruth known to history,
and no Presidential Message solely devoted to the question of the tariff, and
denouncing it as a tax upon the consumer.
Of the presidential term of Grover Cleveland it is not our province to speak,
as this volume is devoted to the Republican party and its leaders, and he is
“ not in it.” So we will take a quick stride to the summer of 1888, when the
Republican Convention again assembled to put its candidate in nomination.
XX.
Republican Convention of 1888—Liberal Supply of Candidates and their Names—The First Ballot
—John Sherman in the Lead–Judge Gresham Prominent—Gen. Harrison Fifth on the List
—Chosen on the Eighth Ballot—Levi P. Morton for Vice-President—The Platform—Free
Suffrage Demanded—Protection to American Industries—Demand for Reduction of Internal
Revenue—Chinese and Foreign Contract Labor–Opposition to Land Grants—Declaration for
Bi-Metallism—Army, Navy, and Fortifications—Monroe Doctrine and Civil Service Reform—
Democratic Candidates and the Principles they upheld—Summary of the Work of Harrison's
Administration—Finances in splendid Condition—The New Navy—Growth of the Post-Office.
= | HE Republican Convention of 1888 assembled in Chicago on the 19th
day of June, and found very satisfactory accommodations in the
Exposition Building. Hon. John M. Thurston of Nebraska was
chosen to serve as temporary chairman, the permanent chairman
being Hon. M. M. Estey of California. Several candidates were
placed in nomination—in fåct, there seemed to be an unusual crop of men who
were willing to serve the country in the capacity of President, or whose friends
were willing that they should do so. The first ballot, which may be taken as
an informal one, will show the names of the candidates.
Russel A. Alger . . . . . . . . 84 || John J. Ingalls . . . . . . . . 25
William B. Allison . . . . . . . 72 || W. W. Phelps. . . . . . . . . 25
Chauncey M. Depew . . . . . . 99 || Jeremiah Rusk . . . . . . . . 25
Edwin Fitler . . . . . . . . . 24 John Sherman . . . . . . . . 225
Walter Q. Gresham . . . . . . . 111 || James G. Blaine . . . . . . . . 35
Benjamin Harrison . . . . . . . 83 || Robert Lincoln . . . . . . . . 3
Joseph R. Hawley . . . . . . . 13 | William McKinley, Jr. . . . . . 2
The fluctuations in the chances of the candidates, as the balloting went on,
were many and varied. At one time it looked very much like as though the
prize would be carried away by Senator Sherman ; at another, there was a
strong probability in favor of General Alger; at another, in favor of Chauncey
M. Depew. The name of Blaine was loudly cheered, as it has always been in
every Republican Convention for the last twenty years, and undoubtedly Blaine

(314)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 315
would have received the nomination, had it not been for his positive declination
given both by letter and by telegram. The general feeling in the Convention
was similar to that of the preceding Convention, and similar to that which
prevails to-day—that there is no man in the United States who has rendered
greater service to the Republican party than Blaine, and no man of all the long
list of illustrious statesmen and Orators in the Republican ranks who is more
deserving of the highest place in the power of the party to give. General
Harrison was nominated for the Presidency on the eighth ballot, and the Con-
CONGRESSMAN BROWNE, INDIANA.
Vention then proceeded to select a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. As the
Presidency had been given to a Western man, it was a foregone conclusion that
the Vice-Presidency should be given to New York ; whereupon the honorable
Levi P. Morton was chosen as the candidate. The platform on which the candi-
dates went before the country is as follows:
“The Republicans of the United States, assembled by their delegates in
National Convention, pause on the threshold of their proceedings to honor the
memory of their first great leader, the immortal champion of liberty and the

316 THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
rights of the people—Abraham Lincoln; and to cover also with wreaths of im-
perishable remembrance and gratitude the heroic names of our later leaders who
have more recently been called away from our councils—Grant, Garfield, Arthur,
Logan, Conkling. May their memories be faithfully cherished. We also recall
with our greetings, and with prayer for his recovery, the name of one of our
living heroes, whose memory will be treasured in the history both of Republicans
and of the Republic—the name of that noble soldier and favorite child of victory,
Philip H. Sheridan.
“In the spirit of those great leaders, and of our own devotion to human
liberty, and with that hostility to all forms of despotism and oppression which is
the fundamental idea of the Republican party, we send fraternal congratulation
to our fellow-Americans of Brazil upon their great act of emancipation, which
completed the abolition of slavery throughout the two American continents. We
earnestly hope that we may soon congratulate our fellow-citizens of Irish birth
upon the peaceful recovery of home rule for Ireland.
“We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the national Constitution, and to
the indissoluble union of the States; to the autonomy, reserved to the States
under the Constitution ; to the personal rights and liberties of citizens in all
the States and Territories in the Union, and especially to the supreme and sov-
ereign right of every lawful citizen, rich or poor, native or foreign born, white
or black, to cast one free ballot in public elections and to have that ballot duly
counted. We hold the free and honest popular ballot and the just and equal
representation of all the people to be the foundation of our republican gov-
ernment, and demand effective legislation to secure the integrity and purity of
elections, which are the fountains of all public authority. We charge that the
present administration and the Democratic majority in Congress owe their exist-
ence to the suppression of the ballot by a criminal nullification of the Constitu-
tion and laws of the United States.
“We are uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of protection;
we protest against its destruction as proposed by the President and his party.
They serve the interests of Europe; we will support the interests of America.
We accept the issue and confidently appeal to the people for their judgment.
The protective system must be maintained. Its abandonment has always been
followed by general disaster to all interests, except those of the usurer and the
sheriff. We denounce the Mills Bill as destructive to the general business, the
labor and the farming interests of the country, and we heartily indorse the con-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 317
sistent and patriotic action of the Republican Representatives in Congress in
opposing its passage.
“We condemn the proposition of the Democratic party to place wool on the
free list, and we insist that the duties thereon shall be adjusted and maintained
so as to furnish full and adequate protection to that industry.
“The Republican party would effect all needed reduction of the national
revenue by repealing the taxes upon tobacco, which are an annoyance and burden
to agriculture, and the tax upon spirits used in the arts and for mechanical pur-
poses, and by such revision of the tariff laws as will tend to check imports of
such articles as are produced by our people, the production of which gives em-
ployment to our labor, and release from import duties those articles of foreign
production (except luxuries) the like of which cannot be produced at home. If
there shall still remain a larger revenue than is requisite for the wants of the
government, we favor the entire repeal of internal taxes rather than the sur-
render of any part of our protectivé system, at the joint behests of the whisky
trusts and the agents of foreign manufactures.
“We declare our hostility to the introduction into this country of foreign
contract labor and of Chinese labor, alien to our civilization and our Constitution,
and we demand the rigid enforcement of the existing laws against it, and favor
such immediate legislation as will exclude such labor from our shores.
“We declare our opposition to all combinations of capital, organized in trusts
or otherwise, to control arbitrarily the condition of trade among our citizens; and
we recommend to Congress and the State Legislatures, in their respective juris-
dictions, such legislation as will prevent the execution of all schemes to oppress
the people by undue charges on their supplies, or by unjust rates for the trans-
portation of their products to market. We approve the legislation by Congress
to prevent alike unjust burdens and unfair discriminations between the States.
“We reaffirm the policy of appropriating the public lands of the United
States to be homesteads for American citizens and settlers, not aliens, which
the Republican party established in 1862, against the persistent opposition of the
Democrats in Congress, and which has brought our great Western domain into
such magnificent development. The restoration of unearned railroad land grants
to the public domain for the use of actual settlers, which was begun under the
administration of President Arthur, should be continued. We deny that the
Democratic party has ever restored one acre to the people, but declare that
by the joint action of the Republicans and Democrats about 50,000,000 of acres
318 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
of unearned lands originally granted for the construction of railroads have been
restored to the public domain, in pursuance of the conditions inserted by the
Republican party in the original grants. We charge the Democratic administra-
tion with failure to execute the laws securing to settlers title to their homesteads,
and with using appropriations made for that purpose to harass innocent settlers
with spies and prosecutions under the false pretense of exposing frauds and vindi-
cating the law.
“The government by Congress of the Territories is based upon necessity only,
to the end that they may become States in the Union ; therefore, whenever the
conditions of population, material resources, public intelligence and morality are
such as to insure a stable local government therein, the people of such Territories
should be permitted, as a right inherent in them, the right to form for them-
selves constitutions and State governments, and be admitted into the Union.
Pending the preparation for Statehood, all officers thereof should be selected from
the bona fide residents and citizens of the Territory wherein they are to serve.
“South Dakota should of right be immediately admitted as a State in the
Union, under the constitution framed and adopted by her people, and we heart-
ily indorse the action of the Republican Senate in twice passing bills for her
admission. The refusal of the Democratic House of Representatives, for partisan
purposes, to favorably consider these bills, is a willful violation of the sacred
American principle of local self-government, and merits the condemnation of all
just men. The pending bills in the Senate for acts to enable the people of
Washington, North Dakota and Montana Territories to form constitutions and
establish State governments should be passed without unnecessary delay. The
Republican party pledges itself to do all in its power to facilitate the admission
of the Territories of New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and Arizona to the enjoy-
ment of Self-government as States, such of them as are now qualified, as soon
as possible, and the others as soon as they may become so.
“The political power of the Mormon Church in the Territories as exercised
in the past is a menace to free institutions, a danger no longer to be suffered.
Therefore we pledge the Republican party to appropriate legislation asserting the
sovereignty of the nation in all Territories where the same is questioned, and in
furtherance of that end to place upon the statute books legislation stringent
enough to divorce the political from the ecclesiastical power, and thus stamp out
the attendant wickedness of polygamy. - -
“The Republican party is in favor of the use of both gold and silver as
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS
319
LEADERS.

320 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
money and condemns the policy of the Democratic administration in its efforts
to demonetize silver. -
“We demand the reduction of letter postage to one cent per ounce.
“In a republic like ours, where the citizen is the sovereign and the official
the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is
important that the sovereign—the people—should possess intelligence. The free
school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us a free nation;
therefore the State or Nation, or both combined, should support free institutions
of learning sufficient to afford to every cliild growing up in the land the opportu-
'nity of a good common-school education. -
“We earnestly recommend that prompt action be taken by Congress in the
enactment of such legislation as will best secure the rehabilitation of our Ameri-
can merchant marine, and we protest against the passage by Congress of a free
ship bill, as calculated to work injustice to labor by lessening the wages of those
engaged in preparing materials as well as those directly employed in our ship-
yards. We demand appropriations for the early rebuilding of our navy; for the
construction of coast fortifications and modern ordnance and other approved
modern means of defense for the protection of our defenseless harbors and
cities; for the payment of just pensions to our soldiers; for the necessary works
of national importance in the improvement of harbors and the channels of
internal, coastwise and foreign commerce ; for the encouragement of the ship-
ping interests of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific States, as well as for the
payment of the maturing public debt. This policy will give employment to
our labor, activity to our various industries, increase the security of our coun-
try, promote trade, open new and direct markets for our produce and cheapen
the cost of transportation. We affirm this to be far better for our country
than the Democratic policy of loaning the government’s money without interest
to “pet banks.” - -
“The conduct of foreign affairs by the present administration has been
distinguished by its inefficiency and its cowardice. Having withdrawn from
the Senate all pending treaties effected by Republican administrations for the
removal of foreign burdens and restrictions upon our commerce and for its
extension into better markets, it has neither effected nor proposed any others in
their stead. Professing adherence to the Monroe Doctrine, it has seen with idle
complacency the extension of foreign influence in Central America and of foreign
trade everywhere among our neighbors. It has refused to charter, sanction, or
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 321
encourage any American organization for constructing the Nicaragua, Canal,
a work of vital importance to the maintenance of the Monroe Doctrine, and of
our national influence in Central and South America ; and necessary for the
development of trade with our Pacific territory, with South America, and with
the islands and further coasts of the Pacific Ocean.
“We arraign the present Democratic administration for its weak and un-
patriotic treatment of the fisheries question, and its pusillanimous surrender of
the essential privileges to which our fishing vessels are entitled in Canadian ports
under the treaty of 1818, the reciprocal maritime legislation of 1830 and the com-
ity of nations, and which . Canadian fishing vessels receive in the ports of the
United States. We condemn the policy of the present administration and the
Democratic majority in Congress toward our fisheries as unfriendly and conspicu-
ously unpatriotic, and as tending to destroy a valuable national industry and an
indispensable resource of defense against a foreign enemy, -
“The name of American applies alike to all citizens of the Republic and
imposes upon all alike the same obligation of obedience to the laws. At the
same time that citizenship is and must be the panoply and safeguard of him who
wears it, and protect him, whether high or low, rich or poor, in all his civil
rights. It should and must afford him protection at home, and follow and pro-
tect him abroad in whatever land he may be on a lawful errand.
“The men who abandoned the Republican party in 1884 and continue to ad-
here to the Democratic party have deserted not only the cause of honest gov-
ernment, of sound finance, of freedom, of purity of the ballot, but especially have
deserted the cause of reform in the civil service. We will not fail to keep
our pledges because they have broken theirs, or because their Čandidate
has broken his. We therefore repeat our declaration of 1884, to wit :
* The reform of the civil service auspiciously begun under the Republi-
can administration should be completed by the further extension of the
reform system already established by law to all the grades of the service to
which it is applicable. The spirit and purpose of the reform should be ob-
served in all Executive appointments, and all laws at variance with the object
of existing reform legislation should be repealed, to the end that the dangers to
free institutions which lurk in the power of official patronage may be wisely and
effectually avoided.”
“The gratitude of the nation to the defenders of the Union cannot be measured
by laws. The legislation of Congress should conform to the pledge made by a
*
21
322 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
loyal people, and be so enlarged and extended as to provide against the possi-
bility that any man who honorably wore the Federal uniform should become the
inmate of an almshouse, or dependent upon private charity. In the presence of
an overflowing Treasury it would be a public scandal to do less for those whose
valorous service preserved the government. We denounce the hostile spirit of
President Cleveland in his numerous vetoes of measures for pension relief, and the
action of the Democratic House of Representatives in refusing even a consideration
of general pension legislation.
“In support of the principles herewith enunciated, we invite the co-operation
of patriotic men of all parties, and especially of all workingmen, whose prosperity
is seriously threatened by the free trade policy of the present administration.”
The Democrats put Grover Cleveland in nomination for re-election, the Free
Traders supporting him warmly on account of his Annual Message to Congress in
the previous December having been devoted to their pet theory to the exclusion of
every other subject. The campaign was essentially one of education, as the fight
was based wholly on the question of protection or free trade, and each party
strove with great earnestness to convince the voter that he should follow its
advice and attach himself to its side. Never before in the history of the country
have the voters received more instruction regarding the economy of nations and
the ways of national prosperity than they received in the three months preceding
the election of 1888. The appeal to intelligence resulted, as everybody knows,
in the triumph of the Republicans, and was followed, in due course of time, by the
inauguration of Benjamin Harrison as President of the United States.
That his administration has been a good one, all his friends claim and many
of his opponents readily admit. It has been characterized by dignity, by a
conscientious regard for the welfare of the whole country and its material inter-
ests, and the upholding of the national honor in our relations with other gov-
ernments. Elsewhere reference has been made to the foreign relations of the
United States during the present administration, and it is unnecessary to refer
more extensively to the subject. On the question of finances, the administration
has every reason to be proud of its work. Upon the first of March, 1889, the
debt of the United States bearing interest amounted in round figures to $844,-
000,000 of four and four and one-half. per cent bonds. During the first sixteen
months of the administration the cash balances in the Treasury were so man-
aged that Secretary Windom purchased more than $130,000,000 of these bonds,
and all that remained have been funded to bear interest at two per cent, which
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 323
is the lowest rate of interest with any nation of the globe. The public debt
has been reduced during the last three years about $260,000,000, the Saving by
such reduction being altogether more than $50,000,000. On the first of March,
1889, the annual interest charge was thirty-four and a half millions of dollars;
on the first of June, 1892, it was less than twenty-three millions, showing a
reduction of more than one-third. The amount of money in circulation has been
brought up to sixteen thousand and odd millions of dollars, which is an increase
of about $216,000,000. The average increase in circulation, per head of popu-
CONGRESSMAN KERR, IOWA.
lation of the United States, is about $1.75, while in the last three years of
Cleveland’s administration the increase of circulation was $84,000,000, showing
a very much smaller proportion of increase when applied to the population.
Our exports of merchandise during the last three years have averaged annually
more than $907,000,000; during the corresponding three years of the preceding
administration the exports made an annual average of about $700,000,000. In
the same time, that is, in the last three years, the imports of the United States
amounted to $2,440,000,000 as against $2,130,000,000 in the corresponding period

324 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
of the Cleveland regime. The excess of exports over imports in the Cleveland
term was about $29,000,000 ; the similar excess during the Harrison term, three
years in each case, is $281,000,000; the total foreign trade, exports and imports
counted together, for the three years ending March 31, 1889, was $4,289,000,000;
during the last three years it was $5,161,000,000, showing an excess in favor
of the Republican years of $871,000,000. In the last twelve months of the Cleve-
land administration there were free imports into the United States amounting
to $254,000,000, or thirty-four per cent of the total imports for that year; in
the corresponding twelve months ending March 31, 1892, there were $461,000,000
of free imports, and they constituted fifty-five per cent of the total imports. The
increase in free imports consists mainly of articles that enter into the daily use
of the people, such as tea, sugar, coffee and similar things.
To the Harrison administration must be credited the admission of six new
States into the Union, giving six additional stars to our flag.
Great improvements have been made in the Indian service; nearly 80,000
Indians have been naturalized and received allotments of land, and nearly 36,000
square miles have been acquired for homestead settlements. The Indian service
has been greatly improved, and the appointees in that department have been
brought under the civil service rules. Schools have been extended among the
Indians, and the attendance in them has materially increased.
A great work has been done in the Pension Office, and it has been subjected
to very severe criticism. The Pension Law of 1890, which has been very severely
criticised, declares in brief that whenever an ex-soldier or sailor is unable to sup-
port himself, by reason of disability not arising from faults of his own conduct,
he shall be entitled to a pension ranging from six to twelve dollars a month,
without regard to his rank. Under this law, no able-bodied man receives a pen-
sion, and at the same time provision is made that no disabled man shall be with-
out a means of relief. Twenty-five years ago the pensions amounted to about
$21,000,000 annually, and at the same time the interest on the public debt was
$144,000,000; at present the pension list requires about $140,000,000 from the
Treasury annually, while interest on the public debt is about $23,000,000; conse-
quently, there has been little change in the twenty-five years as to the burden
of the war, it being very nearly the same in 1892 that it was in 1867; in the one
case the great bulk being interest on the debt, while in the other the great bulk
is the pension list.
The new navy, about which so much has been said of late, is fairly to be
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 325
credited to the Republican party, as the construction of it was ordered by a Re-
publican Congress in 1883. The navy began with four new ships; the Cleveland
administration continued the work, and constructed sixteen new vessels with an
aggregate of nearly 50,000 tons; the present administration has been construct-
ing a total of thirty-six new vessels, with the aggregate of 122,000 tons, and it
is also reconstructing the old monitors, or such of them as are considered avail-
able, so that it may be fairly stated that there has been a total under con-
struction during this administration of forty-one vessels. Nineteen have been
CONGRESSMAN SWENEY, IOW.A.
constructed entirely during this administration, and twenty-four are under con-
Struction ; sixteen have been finished and commissioned, and ten have been
launched and are in process of completion ; three types of ships have been pro-
vided—battleships, the armored cruiser, and the swift protected cruiser. The effi-
ciency of the new navy was well shown in the very quick preparations that were
made for possible hostilities with Chili. In an incredible space of time a fleet
ship was sent out, and our ships appeared in Valparaiso harbor with such prompt-
ness that if any of the Chilian authorities had contemplated a declaration of war
*

326 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
against the United States, on account of the feebleness of its marine, they were
induced to take a second thought upon the subject.
At the beginning of the present administration there were 87.34 money-
order offices in the country; there are now more than 12,000 of these offices,
showing an increase of very nearly one-third. Experiments have been made in
the matter of free delivery in the country districts, and with considerable success;
the free-delivery offices in two years have been increased from 154 to 519. The
gross revenues of the Postal Department have increased nearly $5,000,000 annually
under the present administration, but it is proper to say that the expenses have
increased in the same ratio. The Post-Office every year requires an appropria-
tion from the government to carry on its work, as it has required an appropria-
tion for the same purpose almost every year since the Republic began its
existence. The schedules of the mails have been increased during this adminis-
tration ; the number of post-offices is several thousands more than it was when
President Harrison was inaugurated, and a new feature has been adopted for
the distribution of foreign mails on board ship, so that there will be no de-
lay over their distribution when they arrive in port. Negotiations are now under
way for the establishing of pneumatic tubes or some other rapid system of trans-
portation in all the large cities, so that the mails can reach their destination
much more rapidly than at present.
XXI.
The Conventions of 1892—Movements for the Nomination of President Harrison to succeed him
self—Blaine again in the Field—“Dark Horses” in Prospect—McKinley, Alger, Depew,
and others—Republican Convention at Minneapolis–Proceedings at the Opening—Gov.
McKinley as permanent Chairman—His Speech on the Situation—The Platform and its
Principles—Mrs. J. Ellen Foster and her Speech—Call of the Roll of States—Senator
Wolcott of Colorado nominates Blaine–Hon. R. W. Thompson nominates Harrison—Their
nominating Speeches—Mrs. Carson Lake and what she did—Chauncey M. Depew's Speech
seconding Harrison's Nomination—Harrison chosen on the first Ballot—The Nomination
made Unanimous—Gen. Horace Porter names Whitelaw Reid for second Place on the Ticket
—The Nomination Unanimous—The Democratic Platform' and Candidate—The People's Party
and the Prohibitionists—Gen. A. B. Nettleton on the Third Party Question.
HERE was every reason to believe that President Harrison would
be renominated by the tenth Republican Convention, convened
at Minneapolis, Minn. ; though there was at the outset such
a demonstration for Blaine that there was a possibility that
a dark horse introduced to prevent a conflict between the
forces of the two great leaders might carry off the prize, and
McKinley, Alger and Depew were mentioned.
The eloquent Governor of Ohio, Major McKinley, earned the gratitude of his
party by his great Protective Tariff Bill. It is a little singular that a lawyer
from an interior town should be the father of a protective tariff that one would
think the sea-coast or mercantile representatives would naturally make a study
of ; yet it was left to him to formulate the great work. Gov. McKinley, how-
ever, was an advocate of President Harrison’s nomination, and was content with
the honor of chairman of the Convention. -
McKinley is noted for his alleged, likeness to Napoleon the Great, and for
the glossiness of his hat. He is a tall-built, broad-shouldered, dark-haired man
of clean-shaven face and engaging manners, who dresses well and is so conserv-
. (327)

328 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LEADEES.
ative and dignified that the many lobbyists of the Capitol give him a wide
berth. Politically he is the embodiment of the protective tariff idea, this side
of the tariff question having been his study for years. He is a hard and con-
scientious worker, and prepares his speeches with grgat care, and is disastrously
well posted on the subjects on which he speaks; for the idea, never occurs to
him to speechify on any topic which he does not understand from every point of
view. He can state a point as clearly as any man in Congress. He can also
hold his tongue. Besides being the leading Republican debater in the House,
Major McKinley was chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, the most
important of the House committees. Withal he is only eight and forty, having
been born at Niles, Ohio, February 26, 1844. He enlisted in the United States
army in May, 1861, as a private soldier in the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, and received his first promotion in the services of the Republic on the
battle-field of Antietam, nine and twenty years ago, being made a second
lieutenant for gallantry and good conduct. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes com-
manded the regiment. Major McKinley was engaged in practicing law when
first elected to Congress in 1876. He continued a member of the House by
successive re-elections up to 1889, with the exception of the last term of the
Forty-eighth Congress—1884–85—when he was thrown out on a contest by his
Democratic opponent. Yet, withal, though he has been a Congressman for
thirteen years, he is still a poor man, and correspondingly popular on both
sides of the House, the admiration expressed for his ability being profound and
wide. There are, indeed, few public men who have won greater respect and
esteem. His wife's long illness and the devotion he has shown to her has
made him many warm friends aside from politics. Defeated for re-election to
Congress in 1889, in consequence of the redistricting of the State, he was
elected Governor in 1891.
Governor Alger, besides being a progressive Republican, is nationally popular
as the former commander of the Grand Army, but he boldly announced that he
would not be a candidate against Blaine, and would only accept the second place
on the ticket if that statesman had the first. He was Governor of his State,
Michigan, from 1885 to 1887. Born at Lafayette, Medina Co., Ohio, February 7,
1836, he was left an orphan in his eleventh year, and supported himself at farm
labor until eighteen years of age. Attending evening school, he was able to take
charge of a school himself while studying law. He was admitted to the bar in
1859 and began to practice in Cleveland, when ill health compelled him to seek a
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS, 329
change, and he removed to Grand Rapids, Mich., and engaged in the lumber
business. As soon as the war broke out he accepted a captaincy in the 2d
Michigan Cavalry, of which Philip H. Sheridan was at one time colonel. Alger
was wounded and captured at Booneville, Miss., in July, 1862, but escaped the
same day. He was soon after made lieutenant-colonel of the 6th Michigan
Cavalry. In February, 1863, he was made colonel of the 5th Michigan Cavalry.
His command engaged in the battle of Gettysburg, and he was personally men-
tioned by General Custer, the regiment being the first to enter the town. While
łłłłłłłłłł
CONGRESSMAN TAYLOR, ILLINOIS.
pursuing the enemy, he was wounded at Boonesborough, Md., July 8th. He
captured a large force of the rebels at Trevellian Station while serving with
Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. On June 11, 1865, he was breveted briga-
dier-general and major-general of volunteers. After the war he returned to his
business as a lumber dealer at Grand Rapids, Mich. One of the longest in the
business, he has acquired a great fortune in lumbering, and is a philanthropist in
his charities, especially to the unfortunate men in the Grand Army of the Republic.
Chauncey M. Depew’s speeches have made him a national reputation, and

330 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
if he had encouraged the movement he could easily have found a numerous fol-
lowing in the Convention. From first to last, however, he was for Harrison, and
it is said was the first to suggest the popularly acceptable Minister to France,
and the able editor of the Tribune, Whitelaw Reid, for the second place. Tepew,
born at Peekskill, N. Y., April 23, 1834, on the old family homestead, graduated
from the law school at Yale in 1856, and commenced practice in this city. He
took an active part in the canvass for Lincoln in 1860, and was sent to the
Assembly in 1862–63. He was elected Secretary of State in 1863, and offered a
re-nomination in 1865, but declined the honor. He was then Minister to Japan for
a short while. He ran for Lieutenant-Governor on the Republican ticket in 1872,
but was defeated. When Senator Platt resigned his seat in the U. S. Senate,
in the famous Conkling-Hayes imbroglio, Depew was a candidate for eighty-two
days, when he retired in favor of his competitor, Warner Miller. Since 1866 he
has been prominently connected with the Vanderbilt system of railroads, and his
onerous duties prevent his taking an active part in politics. He has been Presi-
dent of the Union League Club of New York for several years, and is a natural-
born orator.
Robert Todd Lincoln, who loomed up as a candidate in the Conventions of
1884 and 1888, is" revered in the Republican party as the son of his father as well
as for the ability he has displayed in his recognition of the party's principles.
Born at Springfield, Ill., Aug. 1, 1843, he passed through Exeter Academy and
Harvard College. In 1864 he entered the Harvard Law School, but resigned to
enter the army, being assigned a captaincy on Gen. Grant’s staff. He served
throughout the campaign in Virginia. Resuming the study of law, he was
admitted to the bar of Illinios, and practiced in Chicago until 1881, taking a
vacation in 1872 to visit Europe. In 1881 President Garfield made him Secretary
of War, and at President Arthur’s request he retained the portfolio. In 1889
President Harrison appointed him Minister to Great Britain, where he remains.
The Convention assembled at Minneapolis, June 7th, 1892. Hon. John A.
Clarkson, chairman of the National Republican Committee, called the meeting to
order, and the Rev. William Bush, chancellor of the University of Dakota, of
Mitchell, S. D., offered a prayer, after which M. H. De Young of California
read the call for the Convention, when the presiding officer nominated, under
instruction of the National Committee, for temporary chairman, J. Sloat Fassett
- of New York.
Fassett, on taking the chair, made a speech which was warmly applauded at
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 331
various points, and at its conclusion the Convention proceeded to call the roll of
States and adjust differences between contesting delegations. This business, to-
gether with short speeches from Senator Ingalls, Congressman Reed and other del-
egates, consumed the rest of the first day’s session. At the opening of the second
day’s session Bishop Whipple of Minnesota offered prayer. A delegate from Ne-
braska presented a historic gavel for the use of the chairman, and then the Com-
mittee on Permanent Organization recommended for permanent chairman the Hon.
William McKinley of Ohio. The committee further recommended for permanent
secretary Charles W. Johnson of Minnesota ; and the recommendation of the
committee further was that the temporary working force of secretaries, reading
clerks and assistants’ secretaries be the same permanent officers of the Conven-
tion. This was agreed to by a unanimous vote, and Gov. McKinley was escorted
to the chair. On taking his place as presiding officer he was loudly cheered, and,
after thanking the Convention for the honor conferred upon him, he spoke as
follows:
“Republican conventions mean something. They have always meant some-
thing. Republican conventions say what they mean, and mean what they say.
They declare principles and policies and purposes, and when intrusted with power
execute and enforce them. The first National Convention of the Republican party
was held thirty-six years ago in the city of Philadelphia. The platform of that
great Convention reads to-day more like inspiration than the affirmation of a
political party. Every provision of that great instrument made by the fathers
of our party is on the public statutes of our country to-day. Every one of them
has been embodied into public law; and that cannot be said of the platform of
any other political organization in this or any other country of the world.
Whenever there is anything to be done in this country and by this country and
for this country, the Republican party is called upon to do it. There is one thing
that can be said about our organization that cannot be said of any other. It
can look backward without shame or humiliation and it can look forward with
cheer and exultation. That cannot be said of any political organization other
than ours in the United States.
“Thus, gentlemen of the Convention, we are here to-day to make a
platform, and a ticket that will commend themselves to the conscience and
intelligence and judgment of the American people; and we will do it. What-
ever is done by this Convention either as to platform or as to ticket will
receive the approval of the American people in November of this year. We
332 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY A WD IT'S LAWADERS.
have already heard some of the notes of victory, for this is a Republican year.
Rhode Island has spoken. Only yesterday Oregon spoke, electing three Repre-
sentatives—three Republican Representatives to the Congress of the United
States; and when we get through with this Convention its conclusions will be the
law of Republican action, as they will be the assurance of Republican victory.
“We are for a protective tariff and for reciprocity. We propose to take no
backward step upon either one of these great Republican principles. We stand
for a protective tariff because it represents the American home, the American
fireside, the American family, the American girl, the American boy, and the
highest possibilities of American citizenship. We propose to raise our money for
public expenses by taxing the products of other nations rather than by taxing
the products of our own. The Democratic party believe in direct taxation, that
is in taxing ourselves, but we do not believe in that principle so long as we can
find anybody else to tax.
“Our protective tariff not only does everything which a revenue tariff is
doing, raising all needed revenues, but a protective tariff does more. A protec-
tive tariff encourages and stimulates American industries and gives the widest
possibilities to American genius and American effort. Does anybody know what
tariff reform is 2 And that is to be the platform of our political opponents
this year. What does it mean P You may study President Cleveland’s ut-
terances from the first one he made in New York, when he said he did not
know anything about the tariff, until his last one in Rhode Island, and you
come away ignorant and uninformed as to what tariff reform means. Since the
war there have been three tariff reform bills proposed by Democratic leaders,
none of them alike, neither of them with the same free list, neither of them
with the same tariff list, neither of them with the same rates of duty, but all
made by the Democratic party upon the same principle to symbolize and rep-
resent tariff reform. You may go to Mills, you may go to Springer, and you
will find that they differ totally; but you may go to the House of Representa-
tives at Washington, which was elected distinctly upon what they call a tariff
reform issue, with two-thirds majority in the House, and what do you find P
They pass three bills.
“Let me name them : First, free tinplate, leaving sheet steel, from which it
is made, tariffed. That is, the finished product free and the raw material bear.
ing a duty. Second, free wool to the manufacturer and tariffed cloth to the
customer. Third, free cotton ties to the cotton States and tariffed hoop iron to
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 333
all the rest of the States, That is their idea of tariff reform. Gentlemen of the
Convention, how do you like it *
“This contest that we enter upon is for the maintenance of protection and
reciprocity, and I want to say here that there is not a line in that tariff bill that
is not American ; there is not a passage that is not patriotic ; there is not a
page that does not represent true Americanism and the highest possibilities of
American citizenship. -
“We are to declare ourselves upon other questions here to-day. We are to
CONGRESSMAN THOMAS, WISCONSIN.
declare ourselves on other questions of a free ballot and a fair count. No plat-
form should ever be made that does not reiterate that great constitutional
guarantee; no Republican speech should ever be made that does not insist firmly
and resolutely that that great constitutional guarantee shall be a living birth-
right, not a cold formality of the constitutional enactment, but a living thing
which the poorest and humblest may confidently enjoy and which the richest
and most powerful dare not deny.”
Then the Convention proceeded to adopt rules for its government and to call

334 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
the roll of States to name the members of the new National Committee; then
it adjourned till the next day, when the questions between the rival delegations
were settled and the following platform was adopted :
“The representatives of the Republicans of the United States, assembled in
general Convention on the shores of the Mississippi River, the everlasting bond of
an indestructible Republic, whose most glorious chapter of history is the record
of the Republican party, congratulate their countrymen on the majestic march
of the nation under the banners inscribed with the principles of our platform of
1888, vindicated by victory at the polls and prosperity in our fields, workshops
and mines, and make the following declaration of principles:
“We reaffirm the American doctrine of protection. We call attention to its
growth abroad. We maintain that the prosperous condition of our country is
largely due to the wise revenue legislation of the Republican Congress.
“We believe that all articles which cannot be produced in the United States,
except luxuries, should be admitted free of duty, and that on all imports coming
into competition with the products of American labor there should be levied duties
equal to the difference between wages abroad and at home.
“We assert that the prices of manufactured articles of general consumption
have been reduced under the operation of the Tariff act of 1890.
‘‘We denounce the efforts of the Democratic majority of the House of
Representatives to destroy our tariff laws piecemeal, às is manifested by their
attacks upon wool, lead, and lead ores, the chief products of a number of States,
and we ask the people for their judgment thereon.
“We point to the success of the Republican policy of reciprocity, under
which our export trade has vastly increased, and new and enlarged markets
have been opened for the products of our farms and workshops.
“We remind the people of the bitter opposition of the Democratic party to
this practical business measure, and claim that, executed by a Republican admin-
istration, our present laws will eventually give us control of the trade of the
world.
“The American people, from tradition and interest, favor bi-metallism, and
the Republican party demands the use of both gold and silver as standard money,
with such restrictions and under such provisions, to be determined by legislation,
as will secure the maintenance of the parity of values of the two metals, so
that the purchasing and debt-paying power of the dollar, whether of silver,
gold, or paper, shall be at all times equal. The interests of the producers of
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 335
the country, its farmers and its workingmen, demand that every dollar, paper
or coin, issued by the government, shall be as good as any other.
“We commend the wise and patriotic steps already taken by our govern-
ment to secure an international conference to adopt such measures as will insure
a parity of value between gold and silver for use as money throughout the
world.
“We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be allowed to
cast one free and unrestricted ballot in all public elections, and that such ballot
shall be counted and returned as cast ; that such laws shall be enacted and
enforced as will secure to every citizen, be he rich or poor, native or foreign
born, white or black, this sovereign right guaranteed by the Constitution.
“The free and honest popular ballot, the just and equal representation of
all the people, as well as their just and equal protection under the laws, are the
foundation of our republican institutions, and the party will never relax its efforts
until the integrity of the ballot and the purity of elections shall be fully guaran-
teed and protected in every State.
“We denounce the continued inhuman outrages perpetrated upon American
citizens for political reasons in certain Southern States of the Union.
“We favor the extension of our foreign commerce, the restoration of our
mercantile marine by home-built ships, and the creation of a navy for the protec-
tion of our national interests and the honor of our flag ; the maintenance of the
most friendly relations with all foreign powers, entangling alliances with none,
and the protection of the rights of our fishermen.
“We reaffirm our approval of the Monroe Doctrine, and believe in the achieve-
ment of the manifest destiny of the Republic in its broadest sense.
“We favor the enactment of more stringent laws and regulations for the
restriction of criminal, pauper, and contract immigration.
“We favor efficient legislation by Congress to protect the life and limbs of
employees of transportation companies engaged in carrying on inter-State com.
merce, and recommend legislation by the respective States that will protect em-
ployees engaged in State commerce, in mining and manufacturing.
“The Republican party has always been the champion of the oppressed, and
recognizes the dignity of manhood, irrespective of faith, color, or nationality; it
sympathizes with the cause of Home Rule in Ireland, and protests against the
persecution of the Jews in Russia.
“The ultimate reliance of free popular government is the intelligence of the
336 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
people and the maintenance of freedom among men. We therefore declare anew
our devotion to liberty of thought and conscience, of speech and press, and ap-
prove all agencies and instrumentalities which contribute to the education of the
children of the land; but, while insisting upon the fullest measure of religious
liberty, we are opposed to any union of Church and State.
“We reaffirm our opposition, declared in the Republican platform of 1888, to
all combinations of capital organized in trusts or otherwise, to control arbitra-
rily the condition of trade among our citizens. We heartily indorse the action
already taken upon this subject, and ask for such further legislation as may be
required to remedy any defects in existing laws and to render their enforcement
more complete and effective. --> -
“We approve the policy of extending to towns, villages and rural commu-
nities the advantages of the free delivery service now enjoyed by the larger
cities of the country, and reaffirm the declaration contained in the Republican
platform of 1888, pledging the reduction of letter postage to one cent, at the
earliest possible moment consistent with the maintenance of the Post-Office De-
partment, and the highest class of postal service.
“We commend the spirit and evidence of reform in the civil service, and
the wise and consistent enforcement by the Republican party of the laws regulat-
ing the same. --
“The construction of the Nicaragua Canal is of the highest importance to
the American people, both as a measure of national defense and to build up and
maintain American commerce, and it should be controlled by the United States
government.
“We favor the admission of the remaining Territories at the earliest
practicable date, having due regard to the interests of the people of the Territo-
ries and of the United States. All the Federal officers appointed for the Terri-
tories should be selected from bona fide residents thereof, and the right of
self-government should be accorded as far as practicable.
“We favor cession, subject to the Homestead laws, of the arid public lands
to the States and Territories in which they lie, under such congressional re-
strictions as to disposition, reclamation and occupancy by settlers as will secure
the maximum benefits to the people.
“The World’s Columbian Exposition is a great national undertaking, and
Congress should promptly enact such reasonable legislation in aid thereof as will
insure a discharge of the expenses and obligations incident thereto, and the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS
LEADERS.
337
THE UNITED STATES
SENATE CH
AMBER,

338 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
attainment of results commensurate with the dignity and progress of the
nation.
“In temperance we sympathize with all wise and legitimate efforts to lessen
and prevent the evils of intemperance and promote morality.
“Ever mindful of the services and sacrifices of the men who saved the life
of the nation, we pledge anew to the veteran soldiers of the Republic a watchful
care and recognition of their just claims upon a grateful people.
“We commend the able, patriotic and thoroughly American administration
of President Harrison. Under it the country has enjoyed remarkable prosperity,
and the dignity and honor of the nation, at home and abroad, have been faith-
fully maintained, and we offer the record of pledges kept as a guarantee of
faithful performance in the future.”
On the fourth day the proceedings began with the report of the Committee
on Credentials, and then Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, chairman of the Woman’s
Republican Association, was warmly received and made a short address, which
closed as follows:
“The Republican party is nothing if not progressive. It is a party of
action ; its breath is progress; its speech is the language of the world ; its
dialect is the rhetoric of the home, the farm, the shop. Its shibboleth might
be written on the white walls of any church. It holds within its ranks the
armies of all reform ; its constituencies are the living, moving, vital elements
of American life. Why should not women rally to the support of such a
party P Gentlemen, we have come ; we are yours for service. May God keep
us all wise and true, and strong and brave.”
The Convention then proceeded to the call of States for nominations for
the Presidency. When Colorado was reached Senator Wolcott rose and was
recognized by the chair; as soon as silence was secured he spoke as follows:
“Our candidate has never been President of the United States. He will
be. But if he has not yet occupied that office, he has by his devotion to the
party made Republican Presidents possible, and he has enriched and guided two
administrations with his sagacity and statesmanship. We are honored and
respected abroad. We owe it to his statecraft. We are gathering the Re-
publics of all America together in bonds of closest friendship. It is because
he devised the plan and has shaped the policy. We are protecting our own
people on the farm and in the workshop, and by wise concessions are inducing
the nations of the world to open their gates to our products. His far-seeing
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 339
and discriminating vision saw the possibilities of reciprocity, and induced us to
foster it. There is no public measure since the days of Reconstruction which
hastened the advancement of our country with which he is not identified, and
when the history of this generation of our Republic shall be written, his name
will stand foremost among its statesmen. No official title or station can add to
or detract from the luster of his fame, but we may at least let history record
that such as we had to give we gave with loyal and loving hearts.
“And so, we turn, in the hour when victory is at hand, to the intrepid leader
who shaped for his party the policy which has lifted it above the danger of
further defeat. To those of us who belong to the younger element of the party,
who are content to follow and not to lead, but who only ask to bear their share
of the burden and heat of the day, he stands as our ideal, our inspiration. His
name is engraved in all our hearts in loving letters that can never fade. Brave,
true-hearted and great, there is no true Republican who will but follow when he
leads, and with loving faith and trust that a kind Providence may long spare
him to a people whose grateful homage he has earned, and whose affectionate
devotion he possesses, we pledge our unfaltering and loyal support to James G.
Blaine.”
When the mention of the name of the Maine statesman was first made one
great universal howl went up from the audience, and was taken up by a large
number of the delegates, New York particularly being very effusive. The demon-
stration lasted about sixty seconds. Again, when the speaker closed, the followers
of the “ Plumed Knight º’ gave a spontaneous burst of applause, which lasted,
however, only a few moments, but was renewed by a long drawn out calliope howl
from the man of lungs in the lower corner of the hall, which was answered by
cries of “Blaine, Blaine, Blaine.”
Upon the call of the State of Indiana, the venerable but vigorous ex-Secre-
tary of the Navy, R. W. Thompson, arose amid hearty applause, as it was known
that he was to place in nomination the name of President Harrison.
“I do not intend to make a speech. I propose to make a nomination for the
Presidency which shall strike a chord of sympathy in every Republican heart.
I propose to nominate for the Presidency a man who does not seek elevation by
detraction of any other great Republican in the Republican party. I do not
propose, however, to present the history of his life before this Convention, be-
cause that will be done in words of burning and breathing eloquence which cannot
be surpassed in this or any other country in the world. Therefore, with these
340 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
simple words of praise, I nominate to this Convention for the Presidency of the
United States the warrior-statesman, Benjamin Harrison of Indiana.”
When Thompson closed an avalanche of enthusiastic applause and cheer-
ing broke forth in the Convention, and for two minutes and fifteen seconds about
one-half of the Convention gave itself up to the inspiration of the name of
Harrison. Of course Indiana was on its feet, throwing its arms wildly and
gesticulating with handkerchiefs and other articles of apparel, and the Harrison
States rapidly followed its example. -
Upon the subsidence of the ebullition the secretary proceeded with the call.
When Minnesota was reached W. H. Eustis spoke of the glorious past of the
Republican party. Said he .
“In the great commercial conflict now dawning on the world our country
is to the front, while our great rival, in the language of her leader, is without
armor and without arms. Who in this great battle is best equipped to be our
leader? All honor to him whose name is a synonym for honest money. Un-
stinted praise to the President who has sustained the flag and upheld the rights
of American citizens on land and sea. All honor and love to you, sir [Chairman
McKinley], who is like a rock against the flood tide of free trade, and who has
lifted the shield of protection above the wages of the worker. All honor and
cheers for the gallant soldier from Michigan whose great record the people will
not suffer Democracy to tarnish. We honor and love all these none the less
because there is one leader whom we honor and love more. He has toiled for
the party during all its history. He has toiled for the party to the honor of the
party and the glory of the Republic. In every quadrennial contest in the history
of the party, his plume has been in the front of the fight. He never for
a moment has faltered in his earnest allegiance and Support of the party and
its nominee. He is an intense Republican as he is intensely American. The linked
hemisphere attests the breadth and scope of his statesmanship. Every issue upon
which we must win is personified in his name. 'Tis for thee, my country ; ’tis for
thee, my country, and my countrymen, that Minnesota, with loyal and patriotic
purpose, takes the hand of every sister State and seconds the nomination of
James G. Blaine.”
At the close of the eloquent speech of Eustis there was prolonged ap-
plause, which subsided, however, in a few minutes, and the business of the
Convention was about to proceed when Mrs. Carson Lake of New York, who was
seated in the rear of the platform with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Emory Smith of
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 341
Philadelphia; Mrs. R. G. Hitt, wife of Congressman Hitt of Illinois; Miss
Phelps, daughter of William Walter Phelps; Lucy Corkhill, granddaughter of
Justice Miller, arose in their places and innocently waved small silk flags. Mrs.
Lake led the Salute with a white parasol, which she gracefully waved to the tune
of James G. Blaine. It had a magic effect upon the vast multitude, and seemed
to electrify the concourse of people. T. B. Reed of Maine, who sat with the ladies,
was brought to his feet, Judge and Mrs. Thurston of Omaha, who occupied
seats on the opposite side of the hall, led the enthusiasm in the graceful flourish
CONGRESSMAN ATKINSON, PENNSYLVANIA.
of white umbrellas, bearing the inscription “James G. Blaine.” Enthusiastic
delegates grabbed their umbrellas and hoisted them aloft bearing hats, twisted
handkerchiefs, and American flags. From some secret place numerous umbrellas,
Some parti-color, some white, others brown, green and red, and a few old-timers
which appeared to have come down from the log cabin and entered the cam-
paign, were produced and frantically waved.
Thomas B. Reed, after a few moments of ordinary applause, seized an Ameri-
can flag from the hands of an enthusiastic Blainite at his side and helped to

342 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
the full extent of his brawny arm to swell the demonstration for his neighbor
in Maine.
McKinley sat quietly through it all, pensively resting his chin on the end
of the gavel handle. Some one suggested twenty minutes of confusion had gone
by when McKinley rapped for order, but succeeded only in increasing the tur-
moil. When twenty-seven minutes had been used up with noise and confusion,
Chairman McKinley finally succeeded in quieting the Convention.
When New York was called, Chauncey M. Depew advanced to the platform
amid great cheering. It was understood that Depew was to second the re-
nomination of President Harrison, and the Harrison men saluted him with
vociferous yells and other demonstrations of approval. When quiet was restored
Depew proceeded as follows:
“It is the peculiarity of Republican National Conventions that each one of
them has a distinct and interesting history. We are here to meet conditions and
solve problems which make this gathering not only an exception to the rule but
substantially a new departure. That there should be strong convictions and their
earnest expression as to preferences and politics is characteristic of the right
of individual judgment, which is the fundamental principle of Republicanism.
There have been occasions when the result was so sure that the delegates
could freely indulge in the charming privilege of favoritism and of friendship.
But the situation which now confronts us demands the exercise of dispassionate
judgment and our best thought and experience. We cannot venture on un-
certain ground or encounter obstacles placed in the pathway of success by
ourselves. The Democratic party is now divided, but the hope of the possession
of power once more will make it in the final battle more aggressive, determined,
and unscrupulous than ever. It starts with fifteen States secure, without an
effort, by processes which are a travesty upon popular government, and, if
continued long enough, will paralyze institutions founded upon popular suffrage.
It has to win four more States in a fair fight, States which in the vocabulary of
politics are denominated doubtful.
“The Republican party must appeal to the conscience and the judgment of
the individual voter in every State in the Union. This is in accordance with the
principles upon which it was founded, and the objects for which it contends. It
has accepted this issue before and fought it out with an extraordinary continu-
ance of success. The conditions of Republican victory from 1860 to 1880 were
created by Abraham Lincoln and U. S. Grant. They were created that the
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 343
saved Republic should be run by its saviors—the emancipation of the slaves; the
reconstruction of the States; the reception of those who had fought to destroy
the Republic back into the fold, without penalties or punishments, and to an
equal share with those who had fought and saved the nation in the solemn
obligation and inestimable privilege of American citizenship. They were the em-
bodiment into the Constitution of the principles for which two millions of men
had fought and a half million had died. They were the restoration of public
credit, the resumption of specie payments, and the prosperous condition of
solvent business for twenty-five years. They were names with which to conjure
and events fresh in the public mind which were eloquent with popular enthu-
siasm. It needed little else than a recital of the glorious story of its heroes and
statement of the achievements of the Republican party to retain the confidence
of the people.
“ Not since Thomas Jefferson has any administration been called upon to
face and solve so many or such difficult problems as those which have been exi-
gent in our conditions. No administration since the organization of the govern-
ment has ever met difficulties better or more to the satisfaction of the American
people. Chili has been taught that, no matter how small the antagonist, no
community can with safety insult the flag or murder American sailors. Germany
and England have learned in Samoa that the United States has become one of
the powers of the world, and no matter how mighty the adversary, at every
sacrifice American honor will be maintained. The Behring Sea question, which
was the insurmountable obstacle in the diplomacy of Cleveland and of Bayard,
has been settled upon a basis which sustains the American position until arbitra-
tion shall have determined our right. The dollar of the country has been placed
and kept on the standard of commercial nations, and a convention has been
agreed upon with foreign governments which, by making bi-metallism the policy
of all nations, may successfully solve all our financial problems. The tariff, tink-
ered with and trifled with to the serious disturbance of trade and disaster to bus-
iness since the days of Washington, has been courageously embodied into a code
which has preserved the principle of the protection of American industries. To it
has been added a beneficent policy, supplemented by beneficial treaties and wise
diplomacy, which has opened to our farmers and manufacturers the markets of
other countries. The navy has been builded upon lines which will protect Ameri-
can citizens and American interests and the American flag all over the world.
The public debt has been reduced, the maturing bonds have been paid off,
344 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
The public credit has been maintained. The burdens of taxation have been
lightened. Two hundred millions of currency have been added to the people’s
money without disturbance of the exchanges. Unexampled prosperity has crowned
wise laws and their wise administration.”
Dr. Depew continued at considerable length, and was listened to with close
attention. In conclusion he said: “By the grand record of a wise and popular
administration, by the strength gained in frequent contact of the people in
wonderfully versatile and felicitous speech, by the claims of a pure life in public
and in the simplicity of a typical American home—I nominate Benjamin Har-
rison.’’
Depew’s words: “In the name of the purest of representatives, in the name of
the simplicity of a typical American home, I second the nomination of Benjamin
Harrison,” seemed to electrify the vast multitude, who shook the great building
with applause and cheers. A portrait of President Harrison which was carried
on to the platform was greeted with thunders of applause, which continued for
five minutes. When the Marquette Club of Chicago marched down the center
aisle bearing aloft the James G. Blaine banner and placed it alongside that of
the President on the platform, the cheering continued for two minutes more, and
then the portrait of President Harrison was carried down the center aisle and
held aloft over the Indiana delegation. Deafening applause greeted this ma-
neuver. A man at the extreme right of the audience lifted aloft a life-sized
photograph of McKinley, and the friends and admirers of the popular chairman
shouted a yell of their own. McKinley, upon catching sight of his portrait, shook
his gavel in a menacing way at the enthusiastic bearer of the same. After the
tumult had continued for nineteen minutes the chairman endeavored to restore
order, but the effort was futile, and again the wave of sound broke forth in cheer
upon cheer, and the vast hall refused to be still. This continued for about two
minutes longer, when the chairman, by vigorously plying his gavel, finally suc-
ceeded in restoring order. The clerk proceeded to call North Carolina, when
Warner Miller sprang to his feet and said: “Mr. Chairman, New York is yet to
be heard from.”
Warner Miller stepped upon the platform, and when quiet was restored he
seconded the nomination of Blaine in a speech of great eloquence. The chair-
man of the North Carolina delegation seconded the nomination of President Har-
rison, and the chairman of the Tennessee delegation seconded that of Blaine.
Senator Spooner of Wisconsin pronounced the preference of the Republicans of
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 345
that State for Harrison, while Wyoming spoke for Blaine. The call of the
States was then completed, and no other nominations were made.
When the roll call of States was called there was great excitement as State
after State named its choice. By the time Texas was reached there was a clear
majority for the renomination of President Harrison to succeed himself, where-
upon the call was suspended on motion of Governor McKinley, who yielded the
chair temporarily to Col. E. F. Shepard of New York, and the nomination of
President Harrison was made unanimous amid tremendous cheering.
CONGRESSMAN STRUBLE, IOWA.
The Convention then adjourned till evening, when Gen. Horace Porter of
New York named Hon. Whitelaw Reid for the Vice-Presidency in the following
Speech :
“I rise on behalf of the New York delegation to commend to you the dis-
tinguished gentleman whose name has just been pronounced as a candidate for
the Vice-Presidency by the chairman of that delegation. This gentleman, by his
private work and public services, has well commended himself not only to the
people of the Empire State, but the people of all States throughout the Union.

346 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“His name and character and services will give an assurance that he will
carry out the policy of the party; that he will stand strong in the affections
of his fellow-citizens; that he will command the unqualified respect of all the
civilized globe. He is prominently to-day New York’s favorite. In our side of
politics we have not been so prolific in favorite sons as the Democracy. New
York has given birth to two favorite sons. There we have twins, but, unlike
other twins, even the parents who begot them cannot trace any marked resem-
blance between them.
“Mr. Reid began his career and continued his service in the broad and
instructive field of American journalism. He became the legitimate and worthy
successor to that great creator of modern journalism, Horace Greeley. So broad
was Mr. Reid's views, so thoroughly was he informed in everything pertain-
ing to the country’s success, that the people demanded and in recognition of
their wish the appointing powers selected him as Minister to France with a very
important crisis in the diplomatic relations of the two countries. We were glad
to see him serve as Minister from the oldest Republic of the New World to
the newest Republic of the Old World.
“Scarcely was he installed in office when there fell upon him for solution the
most complicated, the most intricate questions that had ever arisen in diplomacy
between the two countries. That he solved them successfully and met them
boldly is a matter of inexpressible pride to every one who honors the American
flag. In the exhibits at the French Exposition he brought order out of chaos.
He negotiated a most important extradition treaty. He succeeded in securing
France as the first nation to accept our nation’s invitation to the International
Columbian Fair. He negotiated there an important reciprocity treaty, and last
he achieved his greatest triumph in that warfare of intellectual giants in securing
the repeal of the prohibitory duties put upon American pork. He showed himself
the master of modern diplomacy. Throughout these complicated transactions, he
retained the absolute confidence of his own government and secured the respect,
of the French government to which he was accredited. His duty was done, he
resigned the office, which he never sought, and made manifect his feelings that
the post of honor is the private station. When he returned to our shores, all
the honors in the land were heaped upon him. He was made an honorary mem-
ber of the Chamber of Commerce and of many important societies. He was
everywhere given banquets in his honor.
“His name is one which stands without reproach. There is no blot on his
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 347
escutcheon. He has not had to learn that reproach is a concomitant to great-
ness. He is an eminently practical man. He has always tried to perform, not
what he knows, but what he can do. He has been a loyal party man. He has
always placed loyalty to party next only to loyalty to his nation. He believes
as you, Mr. Chairman, and as every delegate, I think, on this floor, in the neces-
sity of party; believes that the end of party is the origin of faction; the abandon-
ment of party is the beginning of anarchy. It is said that Mr. Reid has had diffi-
culties with the Typographical Union. That has all been amicably settled. We
have that statement from the president of that organization, who was here
present to-day, and has placed it in writing. Give us Reid and his name and
his services will do more than those of any other in assisting in the campaign
there. Give us him and we will give you a victory next November.”
A speech seconding the nomination was made by Governor Bulkeley of Con-
necticut, who pledged the support of that State to Harrison and Reid. The name
of Hon. Thomas B. Reed of Maine was then presented, but soon withdrawn, when
the nomination of Whitelaw Reid was made unanimous and the Convention ad-
journed sine die.
The Democratic National Convention was held at Chicago a fortnight later
than the Republican one at Minneapolis. The principal features of the Demo-
cratic platform are the planks relating to the tariff and to the repeal of the
tax on the issues of State banks. The latter is denounced by a great many
Democrats in all lines of business on the ground that it would return us to
the old condition of confusion in the days before the War, and which has been
touched upon in a previous chapter. On this subject a prominent banker of
New York says as follows:
“It cannot be conceived how any one desirous of the nation’s welfare can
believe in a return to the days of wildcat banking and the suffering which that
system entailed on the people. It is not understood by the younger generation,
who now use money that does not change in value and that is worth exactly, as
much in the morning as it was the night before ; but forty years ago a five-
dollar bill would lose its value in twelve hours, and the poor man who held it
bore the loss. Business of all kinds was unsettled, there was a discount on every
exchange to be lost to the holder of notes on far-away banks, and no bill was at
par in New York. Banks failed regularly and the deepest dejection prevailed.
“It is to a condition of this kind that the repeal of the State tax would
reduce us. An era of wild speculation would set in and trade would not be
348 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
safe. The currency of to-day could not be more secure and strong or give
greater protection to the people. On no grounds can the attempt of the
Democratic party to pull down our solid government financial structure be ex-
cused, and on the contrary there is not a light in which that eighth section can
be looked at except it appears unpatriotic, financially unwise and even vicious.”
About the only people who are likely to favor this measure are those who,
when State banks were allowed to make bank notes, used to go away out in
the country to some hardly accessible town, start up a bank, make bills, get
them in circulation, and then fail, leaving the loss to be borne by the poor
people who might hold them and have no redress.
Another banker says: “If there is any one feature of the National Bank
Act which has proven a blessing to the people generally, particularly the poor
and the ignorant classes, it has been that section which has wiped out all State
issues and given a national bank system.
“There is one side of the question which the public does not seem to under-
stand. It applies to State as well as it applies to the national currency. Some
think that the banks and bankers oppose the repeal because they anticipate los-
ing money by it, but that is a great mistake. In the old days of State currency
there were several prominent banks in this city which had an uncurrent money
department out of which they made more than they did in any other department,
and if people think that banks oppose this idea, as they are opposing the free
coinage of silver, because they can make money out of it, it is because they do
not understand banking. The banks lose no money, and on the contrary make
twice as much, for they fix their own rate of discount when you have currency
that does not go between the different States, and it comes from the traveling
public.”
On the subject of the tariff the lines between the contending parties are
clearly drawn, and it is on the tariff issue that the battle will be fought. The
Republican platform is plain and outspoken for protection to American industry,
first, last, and all the time, while the Democrats discard protection altogether
and carry the banner of free trade above their heads. Read the tariff plank of
the Republican platform, and then read the following, which was adopted by the
Democratic Convention after considerable debate : t
“We declare it to be a fundamental principle of the Democratic party that
the Federal government has no constitutional power to enforce and collect tariff
duties except for the purpose of revenue only.”
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 349.
Compare the foregoing with article 1, section 8, clause 1 of the Permanent,
Constitution of the Confederate States, adopted when in rebellion on March 11,
1861, which was as follows:
“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties and excises
for revenue only, necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common defense,
and carry on the government of the Confederate States; but no bounties shall
be granted from the Treasury : nor shall any duties or taxes on importations
from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry.”
CONGRESSMAN FRANK, MISSOURI.
It would seem as though the Confederate brigadiers were once more in the
Saddle, or at any rate had a hand in the construction of the Democratic plat-
form of 1892.
There was an active contest over the nominees who should bear the Demo-
cratic standard, the foremost being David B. Hill and Grover Cleveland, both
of New York. The former sought the nomination chiefly on his merits as a
“ vote getter,” as exemplified in his successful theft of the Legislature of the
State of New York in the previous December. His merits were acknowledged,

350 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LAEADERS.
and he was supported by a large body of men whose scruples on the score of
honesty are not of the highest order, while Cleveland’s cause was espoused by
the better class of the Democracy. Through shrewd management the latter
triumphed, and the nomination went to Cleveland, many of the delegates from
other States than New York believing that it was desirable to make as respect-
able a presentation as possible.
The Farmer’s Alliance or People’s party has formed a platform and nomi-
nated a ticket, with no expectation of success, but with the belief that it may be
able to draw enough votes from the two great parties to hold the balance of
power. The Prohibition party has also built a platform and placed candidates
upon it ; it draws its support almost wholly from the Republican party, which
has from its beginning been the opponent of the “rum interest,” the latter
being the unswerving ally of the Democracy.
The Prohibition party had its beginning as a national factor in 1880, when
its total vote amounted to 96.5; in the following years there was a widespread
tendency on the part of many earnest temperance men in the Republican party
to leave its standard, at least temporarily, and wage special but futile warfare
against intemperance and its aggressions. The Prohibition party brought its
vote to 150,626 in 1884, and to nearly a third of a million in the several States
in 1886.
Among the first to recognize the strength of this movement was General
A. B. Nettleton of Minnesota, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Pres-
ident Harrison, and Acting Secretary in the absence of Secretary Windom
during portions of the autumn of 1890, when the Treasury’s prompt and effective
action averted a destructive monetary panic throughout the country, and again
during the interregnum which followed the sudden death of Secretary Windom
early in 1891, when for a considerable time Gen. Nettleton sat in the cabinet of
President Harrison. He has been a Republican since the origin of the party,
casting his first ballot for Abraham Lincoln. He early signalized his hatred of
slavery and his love of fair play by joining, while a college lad at Oberlin, in
resisting the worst features of the odious Fugitive Slave Law, and aiding in the
rescue of the slave John Price in the celebrated “Oberlin-Wellington Rescue
Case.”
Gen. Nettleton joined for a time in the Prohibition movement, but he was
not slow to perceive its real causes and the useless mischief it portended. He
believed and declared that whatever can be done at all by political party action
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 351
in the United States to promote any great moral reform can best be done by,
or within the lines of, the Republican party—and this while keeping the
friends of good government and pure laws united in the one organization, for
much needed work in other fields and in behalf of other causes equally valu-
able. Quite as much in the interest of genuine progress for the cause of temper-
ance as for the safety of the Republican party, he joined others West and East
in organizing and pushing to a vigorous growth and effective work, the Anti-
Saloon Republican movement, whose first National Conference was held in Chicago
CONGRESSMAN LA FOLLETTE, WISCONSIN.
in 1886. It was of the address sent out by this conference, and which was penned
by Gen. Nettleton, that Hon. William Windom, himself a leader in the move-
ment, said: “I would rather have written that document than be President
of the United States.”
Under his active leadership Minnesota in 1887 placed on her statute books one
of the most comprehensive and effective series of temperance laws ever enacted,
including the present law, levying on saloons a high restrictive tax of $500 and
$1,000 each, according to the population of the place. The same body of legisla-

352 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
tion made permanent in the city of Minneapolis the now well-known “patrol-
limit ’’ system, whereby all public drinking places are excluded from the residence
sections of the city and confined to a few streets in the business center of the
town. In this manner seven-eighths of the area of Minneapolis, with its 200,000
population, is wholly free from saloons.
In several State and National elections the Democratic committees have en-
couraged the Prohibitionists to put candidates in the field and have supplied the
money needed for the Prohibition campaign. The Democratic managers fully
realized that the Prohibitionists drew ninety-nine hundredths of their strength
from the Republicans, and by thus encouraging the third party they would help
their own cause. Other men of intelligence in the Prohibition ranks have become
convinced, as was Gen. Nettleton, that a vote for Prohibition is practically a
vote for the Democracy, and without changing in the least their views on the
subject of temperance they have returned to their former places in the Republi-
can party and are working earnestly for its success.
XXII.
Leaders of the Republican Party in the Fifty-second Congress—Biographical Sketches—Vice-Presi- ,
dent Morton—John Beard Allen—William B. Allison—Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich—Shelby M.
Cullom—James Donald Cameron—Lyman A. Casey—William Eaton Chandler—Joseph A.
Dolph—Henry L. Dawes—William P. Frye-Anthony Higgins—George Frisby Hoar—Joseph
A. Hawley–Eugene Hale–Frank Hiscock—John P. Jones—Justin Smith Morrell—Charles
F. Manderson—John H. Mitchell—James McMillan—Thomas Platt—Algernon S. Paddock
—Matthew Stanley Quay—John Sherman—Leland Stanford—Watson C. Squire—William
Morris Stewart—Philetus Sawyer—Wilbur F. Sanders—Francis B. Stockbridge—EHenry M.
Teller—Edward Oliver Wolcott—James F. Wilson—William Drew Washburn—James G.
Atkinson—Charles Addison Boutelle—Nelson Dingley, Jr.—Henry Cabot Lodge—Thomas
Brackett Reed.
EVI P. MORTON, of New York, Vice-President of the United
States, and presiding officer of the Senate, was born in Shore-
ham, Vt., May 16, 1824. He is a prominent banker, establish-
ing in 1863 the banking firms of Morton, Bliss & Co., in
New York, and Morton, Rose & Co., London. The latter were
the fiscal agents of this government from 1873 to 1884, and
both houses have always been active in governmental bond negotiations. In
1878 he was honorary commissioner to the Paris Exposition. He was elected
to Congress in 1878, and re-elected in 1880. President Garfield made him Min-
ister to France, and he filled the position from 1881 to 1885. The restriction
on the importation of American pork at that time was removed through his
efforts. &
SENATOR JOHN BEARD ALLEN, of Washington, was born at Crawfordsville,
Montgomery Co., Ind., May 18, 1845, and was educated in Wabash College,
Crawfordsville. He was a private soldier in the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth
Regiment of Indiana Volunteers during the war, after which he removed with
his father’s family to Rochester, Minn., where he read law, and was admitted
23 (353)

354 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
to practice. In 1870 he removed to Washington Territory and entered upon the
practice of his profession. He was appointed United States Attorney for Wash-
ington Territory, April, 1875, by President Grant, and continued in that office
until July, 1885; was reporter of the Supreme Court of Washington Territory
from 1878 to 1885; was elected to the Fifty-first Congress from the Territory of
Washington, and was elected to the United States Senate under the provisions
of the Act of Congress admitting Washington Territory into the Union. •
SENATOR WILLIAM B. ALLISON, of Iowa, is one of the most active men in -
the party. He has been in politics since 1860, when he was a delegate to the
Chicago Convention. In 1861 he was appointed on the Governor’s staff and
devoted his attention to recruiting. In 1862 he was elected to Congress and
re-elected for three consecutive terms. In 1873 he was elected to the United
States Senate, and has been re-elected continuously. His term expires in 1897.
SENATOR NELSON WILMARTH ALDRICH, of Rhode Island, was born at Fos-
ter, R. I., November 6, 1841. He received an academic education, and in 1871
became President of the Providence Common Council, an office which he held
until 1873. Two years later he was elected a member of the Rhode Island
General Assembly, serving as Speaker of the House of Representatives during
the session of 1876. He was subsequently elected to the House of Representa-
tives of the Forty-sixth Congress, and was re-elected to the Forty-seventh Con-
gress; was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Ambrose E. Burnside,
in 1881, and was re-elected in 1888. t -
SENATOR SHELBY M. CULLOM, of Illinois, was born in Wayne Co., Ky., No-
vember 22, 1820. His family removed to Illinois when he was but one year old.
He received an academic and university education ; went to Springfield in the
fall of 1853 to study law, and has since resided there ; immediately upon
receiving license to practice was elected city attorney ; continued to practice
law until he took his seat in the House of Representatives in 1865; was a presi-
dential elector in 1856 on the Fillmore ticket ; was elected a member of the
House of Representatives of the Illinois Legislature in 1856, '60, '72, and ’74, and
was elected Speaker in 1861 and in 1873. He was elected a Representative
from Illinois in the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, serving
from 1865 to 1871; was a delegate to the National Republican Convention at
Philadelphia in 1872, being chairman of the Illinois delegation, and placed Gen-
eral Grant in nomination ; was a delegate to the National Republican Conven-
tion in 1884, and chairman of the Illinois delegation; was elected Governor of
º
THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
º

356 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. A.VD IT'S LEADEIRS.
Illinois in 1876, and succeeded himself in 1880, serving from 1877 until 1883,
when he resigned, having been elected to the Senate to succeed David Davis.
He was re-elected in 1888.
SENATOR JAMES DONALD CAMERON, of Pennsylvania, commonly known as Don
Cameron, was born at Middletown, Dauphin Co., Pa., in 1833, and after gradu-
ating from Princeton College, in 1852, engaged in mercantile pursuits and entered
the Middletown Bank, now the National Bank of Middletown, as a clerk; in due
course he became cashier, and eventually rose to be its president, which position
he still occupies. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention at
Chicago in 1868, and at Cincinnati in 1876; and in the latter year was appointed
Secretary of War by Grant, which office he held until the following March. He
was chairman of the Republican National Committee and a delegate to the Re-
publican National Convention at Chicago in 1880; and was elected a United
States Senator, to fill the vacancy caused" by the resignation of his father, in
1877, and was re-elected in 1879; and again in 1885.
SENATOR LYMAN R. CASEY, of North Dakota, is a New Yorker by birth,
having been born in York, Livingston Co., in 1837; when young removed with
his parents to Ypsilanti, Mich.; was prepared for Ann Arbor University, but
never entered, because of ill-health ; he was in the hardware business for many
years, and after he retired from it went to Europe and traveled and studied for
five years; settled in Dakota in 1882; is secretary and general manager of the
Casey-Carrington Land Company, which owns over 100,000 acres in James River
Valley, with a capital of $500,000, and has at this time 5,000 acres under cul-
tivation; but never held any public office, except that of Commissioner of Foster
County, until he was elected to the United States Senate, November 21, 1889,
under the provisions of the acts of Congress admitting North Dakota and
other States into the Union.
SENATOR WILLIAM EATON CHANDLER, of New Hampshire, has been prominent
in the Republican party since early manhood. Born at Concord, N. H., Oct.
28, 1835, he graduated at the Harvard Law School in 1855. He was admitted
to the bar in Concord in 1856. In 1859 he was appointed reporter of the Su-
preme Court, and began to take an interest in politics, being appointed secretary
of the State Committee, and subsequently chairman. In 1862 he was elected to
the State Legislature, Lower House, and in 1863–64 was its Speaker. In 1864
he was retained by the Navy Department as special counsel to prosecute the
frauds in the navy-yard at Philadelphia. In 1865 he became first solicitor and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD EI’S. 357
judge advocate-general of the Navy Department, later in the same year receiving
the appointment of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. In 1867 he retired and
resumed practice at home. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention
in 1878; a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868, when he
was chosen secretary of the National Committee, and held the position until
1876. In that year he attracted much attention by his advocacy of the claims
of the Hayes electors in Florida, though he subsequently violently opposed
Hayes's Southern policy. He was a delegate to the National Convention in
1880, and was a member of the National Committee the ensuing campaign. In
1881 he was named for . U. S. Solicitor-General, but the partisan vote in the
Senate defeated him. He was again in the State Legislature in 1881. He was
appointed Secretary of the Navy in 1882, elected to the Senate in 1887, and has
three years more to serve.
SENATOR JOSEPH N. DOLPH, of Oregon, was born at Dolphsburgh, in
Tompkins (now Schuyler) Co., N. Y., October 19, 1835, and received a common-
school education, and for a time attended the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at
Lima, N. Y. After arriving at the age of eighteen years, he taught school
a portion of each year while acquiring an education, and was admitted to the
bar in 1861. In 1862 he enlisted in Captain . M. Crawford’s company, known as
the Oregon Escort, raised under an act of Congress for the purpose of pro-
tecting the emigration of that year to the Pacific Coast against hostile Indians,
filling the position of orderly sergeant, and settled in Portland, Ore., in October,
1862, where he has since resided. In 1864 he was elected city attorney of the
city of Portland, and the same year was appointed by President Lincoln
District Attorney for the District of Oregon. He was a member of the State
Senate in 1866, '68, '72 and ’74; has been actively engaged since his removal
to Oregon in the practice of his profession, as well as in various business enter-
prises. He was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Lafayette Grover,
in 1883, and was re-elected in January, 1889.
SENATOR HENRY L. DAWEs, of Massachusetts, was born at Cummington,
Mass., October 30, 1816. Having left Yale he started out as a school teacher,
then became editor of the Greenfield Gazette and Adams Transcript ; and
later on studied and practiced law. He was a member of the House of
Representatives of Massachusetts in 1848, 1849 and 1852; and was a member
of the Senate of Massachusetts in 1850; he was also a member of the State
Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts in 1853; and was District Attorney
358 THE REI’UBLIOAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
for the Western District of Massachusetts from 1853 until 1857. In the latter
year he was elected to the House of Representatives, in which he sat uninter-
ruptedly for eighteen years, and in 1875 was elected a Senator, being chosen to
succeed to Charles Sumner’s seat in the Upper House, which he has ever
since occupied.
SENATOR NATHAN FELLOWS DIXON, of Rhode Island, may be said to own
his seat by heredity. His grandfather, Nathan Fellows Dixon I., was a Senator
in 1840, and his father, Nathan Fellows Dixon II., was a member of Congress
in 1849, and he himself served one term in the Lower House before he was
elected to the Senate in 1889. Nathan Fellows Dixon III. is a lawyer by pro-
fession, as his father and grandfather were before him, and he graduated at
Brown University, as all his ancestors did. Senator Dixon was born in the
district he represents in 1847, was prepared for college at Westerly, was elected
State Senator from the town of Westerly in 1885, and served as such until
1889, when he was elected to the Forty-eighth Congress, and in April, 1889,
to the Senate. -
SENATOR CUSHMAN KELLOGG DAVIs, of Minnesota, is a New Yorker by birth,
having been born at Henderson, Jefferson Co., June 16, 1838. He received a
common-school and collegiate education, graduating from the University of
Michigan in June, 1857. He was first lieutenant in the Twenty-eighth Wisconsin
Infantry, 1862–64; was a member of the Minnesota Legislature in 1867; was
United States District Attorney for Minnesota, 1868–73; was Governor of Min-
nesota, 1874–75; was elected to the United States Senate, to succeed Senator
McMillan, and took his seat March 4, 1887.
SENATOR WILLIAM P. FRYE, of Maine, was born at Lewiston, September 2,
1831; graduated at Bowdoin College,Maine, at the age of nineteen, and two years
later settled down to practice law. He was a member of the State Legislature
in 1861, 1862 and 1867; was mayor of the city of Lewiston in 1866 and 1867;
was Attorney-General of the State of Maine in 1867, 1868 and 1869; was elected
a member of the National Republican Executive Committee in 1872, re-elected in
1876, and re-elected in 1880. In the same year he was elected a trustee of Bow-
doin College, and received the degree of LL.D. from Bates College in July, 1881;
was a presidential elector in 1864; a delegate to the National Republican Con-
ventions in 1872, 1876 and 1880; and was elected chairman of the Republican
State Committee of Maine in place of James G. Blaine, in November, 1881. He
sat as a Representative in the Forty-second, Forty-third, Forty-fourth, Forty-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 359
fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses; and was elected to the United
States Senate to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of James G. Blaine,
appointed Secretary of State ; and was re-elected in 1883, and again in 1888.
SENATOR ANTHONY HIGGINs, of Delaware, was born in Red Lion Hundred,
New Castle Co., Del., October 1, 1840, and attended Newark Academy and Dela-
ware College, and graduated from Yale in 1861; studied law one year at the
Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1864; in September, 1864,
was appointed Deputy Attorney-General; was United States Attorney for Dela-
CONGRESSMAN PETERS, KANSAS.
ware from May, 1869, until 1876; was chairman of the Republican State Com-
mittee in 1868; received the votes of the Republican members of the Legislature
for the United States Senate in 1881; was Republican candidate for Congress in
1884, and was elected to the United States Senate, as a Republican, to succeed
Eli Saulsbury, Democrat, and took his seat March 4, 1889.
SENATOR GEORGE FRISBY HOAR, of Massachusetts, was born at Concord,
Mass., August 29, 1826. He studied in early youth at Concord Academy;
graduated at Harvard College in 1846; studied law, and graduated at the Dane

360 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS. LEADERS.
Law School, Harvard University; settled at Worcester, where he practiced; was
city solicitor in 1860; was president of the trustees of the City Library; was a
member of the State House of Representatives in 1852, and of the State Senate
in 1857; was elected a Representative to the Forty-first, Forty-second, Forty-
third, and Forty-fourth Congresses; declined a renomination for Representative in
the Forty-fifth Congress; was an overseer of Harvard College, 1874–80; was
chosen president of the Association of the Alumni of Harvard, but declined;
presided over the Massachusetts State Republican Conventions of 1871, 1877, 1882
and 1885; was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1876 at Cin-
cinnati, and of 1880, 1884 and 1888 at Chicago, presiding over the Convention of
1880; was chairman of the Massachusetts delegation in 1880, 1884 and 1888 ; was
one of the managers on the part of the House of Representatives of the Belknap
impeachment trial in 1876; was a member of the Electoral Commission in 1876,
and was regent of the Smithsonian Institution in 1880. He is vice-president of
the American Antiquarian Society, trustee of the Peabody Museum of Archae-
ology, trustee of Leicester Academy, a member of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, of the American Historical Society, and the Historic-Genealogical Society,
and has received the degree of Doctor of Laws from William and Mary, Amherst,
Yale and Harvard colleges. . He was elected to the Senate, in 1878, and was
re-elected in 1883 and 1889.
SENATOR JOSEPH Roswell. HAWLEY, of Connecticut, was born at Stewarts-
ville, N. C., October 21, 1826. He removed with his father when a child to
New York, graduated from Hamilton College in 1847, and three years later began
to practice law in Hartford, Conn., where he has since resided. In politics he
was a pronounced anti-slavery man, and was one of the organizers of the Repub-
lican party in Connecticut. In 1857 he retired from the law, and became editor
of the Hartford Evening Press, which, under his management, soon became
one of the leading Republican organs of the country. At the outbreak of the
Civil War, he entered the Union service with the rank of captain. He served
gallantly during the entire struggle, and was made brigadier-general in 1864,
and brevet major-general in 1865. After the war he returned to editorial work,
and became manager of the Hartford Courant, of which he is editor. He was
elected Governor of Connecticut in 1866, and was a delegate to the Free Soil
National Convention of 1852; was presidential elector in 1868, and president of
the Republican National Convention of 1868, and delegate to the Republican
National Conventions of 1872, '76 and ’80. He was chosen president of the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 361
United States Centennial Commission from its organization, in March, 1873, to
the completion of the work of the Centennial Exhibition. He is a member of
the Connecticut. Historical Society and a trustee of Hamilton College, and has
received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Hamilton College and Yale Univer-
sity. In November, 1872, he was elected a Representative in the Forty-second
Congress, was re-elected to the Forty-third Congress, and was elected to the
Forty-sixth Congress; was elected to the United States Senate, in 1881, and was
re-elected in 1887. -
SENATOR EUGENE HALE, of Maine, was born at Turner, Oxford Co., Me.,
June 9, 1836, and received an academic education. He was admitted to the g
bar in 1857, and was for nine successive years county attorney for Hancock
County. He was a member of the Legislature of Maine in 1867, '68, and '80;
was elected to the Forty-first, Forty-second, and Forty-third Congresses; was
appointed Postmaster-General by President Grant in 1874, but declined; was re-
elected to the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses. In 1876 he was again
offered a Cabinet appointment by President Hayes, but again refused. His con-
stitutents have since condoned this disappointing tenderness of conscience ; and
his colleagues at the bar are all delighted that it should have fallen to the lot
of some one other than themselves to prove the superiority of the profession
to the attractions of mere office. He was chairman of the Republican Con-
gressional Committee for the Forty-fifth Congress; received the degree of LL.D.
from Bates College and from Colby University; was a delegate to the Cin-
cinnati Convention in 1876 and the Chicago Conventions in 1868 and ’80; was
elected to the United States Senate to succeed Hannibal Hamlin, who declined
a re-election, 1881, and was re-elected in 1887.
SENATOR FRANK HISCOCK, of New York, always takes a prominent part in
the councils of the party (especially at the last Convention), and in New York
politics. He was born at Pompey, N. Y., Sept. 6, 1834, and after an academic
education was admitted to the bar in 1855. He was district attorney of Onon-
daga County from 1860 to 1863, and was a member of the Constitutional Conven-
tion in 1867. He was in Congress from 1879 to 1886, when he was elected to
the Senate. His term expires in 1893.
SENATOR John P. Jones, of Nevada, born in Herefordshire, England, in 1830,
though he came with his parents to this country when he was less than a year
old, settling in the northern part of Ohio, where he attended public school in
Cleveland for a few years. In the early part of the California excitement he
362 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
Went; to that State, and engaged in farming and mining in one of the inland
counties, which he subsequently represented in both houses of the State Assem-
bly. He transferred his attentions to Nevada in 1867, and since then he has been
entirely engaged in the development of the mineral resources of that State. He
was elected to the United States Senate in 1873, and was twice re-elected.
Senator Jones was one of the warmest friends of President Arthur.
SENATOR JUSTIN SMITH MORRILL, of Vermont, enjoys the distinction of being
the oldest man in the Senate, but in point of Senatorial life his late colleague,
Senator Edmunds, was his senior by one year. Senator Morrill was born at
Strafford, Vt., April 14, 1810, and received an academic education. He became
a merchant, and afterward engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was a Repre-
sentative in the Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-
eighth, and Thirty-ninth Congresses, and was elected to the United States Sen-
ate as a Union Republican, and was re-elected in 1872, 1878 and in 1884. Sena-
tor Morrill is an earnest scholar, and he writes entertainingly on any subject.
He is the author of a work entitled “ Self-Consciousness of Noted Persons,”
which consists of extracts from the writings and the sayings of men famous in
history, betraying their egotism. The National Library building, now in course
of construction, was one of his pet ideas.
SENATOR CHARLES F. MANDERSON, of Nebraska, was born in Philadelphia,
Pa., February 9, 1837, was educated in the schools of his native city; removed
to Canton, Ohio, in 1856, where he studied law, and was called to the bar in
1859; was elected city solicitor of that city in 1860, and in April, 1861, entered
the army as first lieutenant Company A, Nineteenth Regiment Ohio Infantry;
participated in the campaign under General McClellan in West Virginia in the
summer of 1861, and afterward in the campaigns of the Army of the Cumber-
land; rose through the grades of captain, major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel
of the Nineteenth Ohio Infantry, being in command of the regiment from the
date of the battle of Shiloh; on Sept. 2, 1864, at the battle of Lovejoy’s
Station, he was severely wounded, and, because of disability from such
wound, resigned in April, 1865; in March, 1865, he was breveted brigadier-
general of volunteers, United States Army, “for gallant, long - continued,
and meritorious service during the War of the Rebellion.” He continued
the practice of law at Canton, Ohio, being twice elected as district attorney,
until November, 1869, when he removed to Omaha, Neb., where he has since
resided and practiced law ; for six years he was city attorney at Omaha, and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 363
in 1871, and again in 1874, was elected by both political parties as a mem-
ber of the Constitutional Convention for those years; was elected to the United
States Senate, to succeed Alvin Saunders, and took his seat December 3, 1883,
and was re-elected in 1888.
SENATOR JOHN H. MITCHELL, of Oregon, was born in Washington Co., Pa.,
June 22, 1835. He received a public-school education and the instruction of a
private tutor; studied and practiced law ; while still young he removed to Cali-
fornia and practiced law, first in San Luis Obispo, and then in San Francisco;
CONGRESSMAN STEWART, VERMONT.
removed to Portland, Oregon, in 1860, and there continued his profession ;
was elected corporation attorney of Portland in 1861, and served one year; was
elected to the State Senate, in 1862, and served four years, the last two as
president of that body; was commissioned by the Governor of Oregon in 1865
lieutenant-colonel in the State militia ; was a candidate for United States Sena-
tor in 1866, and was defeated in the party caucus by one vote; in 1867 was
chosen Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in Willamette University, at Salem,
Ore., and served in that position nearly four years; was elected to the United

364 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
States Senate, September 28, 1872, and served from March 4, 1873, to March 3,
1879; received the caucus nomination of the Republican party for United States
Senator in 1882, receiving the votes of two-thirds of all the Republicans in the
Legislature on first ballot, but was finally, after a contest lasting until the close
of the session, defeated in joint session; was again elected to the United States
Senate November 19, 1885.
SENATOR JAMES McMILLAN, of Michigan, is in his fifty-fifth year, having
been born on May 12, 1838, at Hamilton, Ont. Here he was prepared for col-
lege, but preferring a business to a professional life, he removed, in 1855, to
Detroit, and became purchasing clerk in the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee
Railroad. Senator McMillan was in 1876 appointed a member of the Republican
State Central Committee, and on the death of Zachariah Chandler became its
chairman, to which position he was re-elected in 1886.
SENATOR ORVILLE H. PLATT, of Connecticut, was born at Washington, Conn.,
July 19, 1827; and after an academic education, studied law at Litchfield, and
was admitted to the bar in 1849, and has since practiced law at Meriden. He
was clerk of the State Senate of Connecticut in 1855 and 1856; Secretary of
State of Connecticut in 1857; a member of the State Senate in 1861 and 1862;
and a member of the State House of Representatives in 1864 and 1869, serving
the last year as Speaker. . He has been a member of the Upper House at
Washington for the last twelve years.
SENATOR ALGERNON S. PADDOCK, of Nebraska, was born at Glens Falls,
Warren Co., N. Y., November 9, 1830; received an academic education; studied
law ; removed to Nebraska in 1857 ; was appointed Territorial Secretary by
Abraham Lincoln in 1861, which office he held until the State was admitted into
the Union; performed the duties of Acting Governor a part of this time; was
elected to the United States Senate in 1875, holding that office for six years;
was appointed a member of the Utah Commission in June, 1882, by President
Arthur, on which he served until October 1, 1886, when he resigned ; was elected
to the United States Senate, and took his seat March 4, 1887.
SENATOR MATTHEW STANLEY QUAY, of Pennsylvania, was born in Dillsburgh,
York Co., Pa., September 30, 1833. He was prepared for college at Beaver and
Indiana Academies, graduated from Jefferson College in 1850, and admitted to
the bar in 1854. He was elected prothonotary of Beaver County in 1856, and
re-elected in 1859; and was successively a lieutenant in the 10th Pennsylvania
Reserves, colonel of the 134th Pennsylvania Volunteers, lieutenant-colonel and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 365
assistant commissary-general, military State agent at Washington, private secre-
tary to the Governor of Pennsylvania, major and chief of transportation and
telegraphs, and military secretary to the Governor of Pennsylvania, 1861–65. He
was a member of the Legislature, 1865–67; Secretary of Commonwealth, 1872–78;
recorder of the city of Philadelphia, and chairman of the Republican State Com-
mittee, 1878–79; Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1879–82; delegate-at-large to
the Republican National Conventions of 1872, '76 and ’80; was elected State
Treasurer in 1885; and in 1886 was elected to the United States Senate. He
was a delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention of 1888; was
elected a member of the Republican National Committee, and was chairman from -
1888 to 1892.
SENATOR JOHN SHERMAN, of Ohio, is one of the ablest thinkers in the Repub-
lican party, and repeatedly spoken of as a Presidential candidate. He was born
at Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823. His means did not permit of a college educa-
tion and he was employed as chief of section at Beverly in 1838–39, when he lost
his position because he was a. Whig. He studied law in his brother’s office and
was admitted to the bar in 1844, when he formed a partnership with him at
Mansfield. He was a delegate to the Whig Convention at Philadelphia in 1848,
and to the Baltimore Convention in 1852. In 1855 he was elected to Congress,
and since then he has been actively before the country, being identified with
almost every public question that has come up, especially the financial situation,
which he has made a study, especially since he was Secretary of the Treasury
under President Hayes, always favoring a sound basis. He was aid-de-camp
to Governor Pattison when elected to the Senate in 1861, to fill the seat resigned
by Salmon P. Chase, called to Lincoln's cabinet. He was re-elected to the Senate
in 1867 and again in 1873. In order that he might carry out his repealing and
resumption acts, President Hayes appointed him Secretary of the Treasury. He
was returned to the Senate in 1881, and re-elected in 1887.
SENATOR LELAND STANFORD, of California, is a New Yorker by birth, born
at Albany sixty-eight years ago. He received an academical education, and, after
three years’ study, was admitted to practice law in New York, but removed to
Port Washington, in the northern part of the State of Wisconsin, where he was
engaged in the practice of his profession for four years. A fire in the spring
of 1852 destroying his law library and other property, he went to California,
where he became associated in business with his brothers, three of whom had
preceded him to the Pacific Coast, and succeeded so well that, in 1861, he was
366 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
elected Governor of California, and served until 1863. As president of the Cen-
tral Pacific Railroad Company he superintended its construction over the mount-
ains, building 530 miles of it in 293 days.
SENATOR WATSON C. SQUIRE, of Washington, was born at Cape Vincent,
N. Y., in 1838, and was prepared for college in the seminaries at Fullen and
Vanfield, and graduated from the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn.,
in 1859; was principal of the Moravia Institute, at Moravia, N. Y.; enlisted in
Company F, Nineteenth New York Infantry, in 1861, for three months’ service;
was promoted to first lieutenant. After five months’ service he was mustered
out ; studied law and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Ohio in
June, 1862; raised a company of sharpshooters, of which he was commissioned
captain; was in the battles of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Nashville, Resaca and
other engagements; was promoted three times; was made Judge Advocate of
the District of Tennessee, with headquarters at Nashville. Subsequently he en-
gaged with the Remington Arms Company, and applied himself to the study of
breech-loading arms for thirteen years; became member of the company and
manager; represented that company in New York, and afterward visited the prin-
cipal countries of Europe, making contracts. In 1876 he purchased large interests
in Washington Territory, and became a citizen of Seattle in 1879, where he has
resided since ; was appointed Governor of the Territory of Washington July 2,
1884, and served three years; distinguished himself by his course as Executive
during the anti-Chinese riots, and contributed largely to the development of the
Territory and in bringing about Statehood ; was elected to the United States
Senate, November 21, 1889, under the provisions of the act of Congress admit-
ting Washington Territory and other States into the Union. He took his seat
December 2, 1889.
SENATOR WILLIAM MoRRIS STEwART, -of Nevada, was born in Wayne Co.,
N. Y., August 9, 1827; removed with his parents while a small child to Mesopo-
tamia Township, Trumbull Co., Ohio; attended Lyons Union School and Farm-
ington Academy ; was teacher of mathematics in the former school while yet
a pupil. With the little money thus earned and the assistance of James C.
Smith, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of New York, he entered Yale
College, remaining there till the winter of 1849–50, when, attracted by the gold
discoveries in California, he found his way thither, arriving at San Francisco in
May, 1850; he immediately engaged in mining with pick and shovel in Nevada
County, and in this way accumulated some money. In the spring of 1852 he
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 367
commenced the study of law, and in December following was appointed district
attorney, to which office he was elected at the general election of next year; in
1854 was appointed Attorney-General of California; in 1860 he moved to Virginia
City, Nev., where he was largely engaged in early mining litigation and in the
development of the Comstock Lode; was chosen a member of the Territorial
Council in 1861; in 1863 was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention :
was elected United States Senator in 1864, and re-elected in 1869. In 1875 he
CONGRESSMAN SAWYER, NEW YORK.
resumed the practice of law in Nevada, California, and the Pacific Coast gen-
erally, and was thus engaged when elected to the United States Senate in 1887.
SENATOR PHILETUs SAwYER, of Wisconsin, is in point of age and experience
the third oldest man in the Senate, Senators Morrill of Vermont, and Payne Of
Ohio, being his only elders in that body of “potent, grave and reverend seniors.”
It is nearly six years since he passed the proverbial age of three-score-and-ten,
but he is still as youthful in spirit as he was when he first went to Wisconsin
and engaged in the lumber business. This was in 1847. Ten years later he was
elected a member of the Legislature of Wisconsin and served until 1861. He was

368 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
4%
mayor of Oshkosh in 1863 and 1864; was a delegate to the National Republican
Convention at Baltimore in 1864, at Cincinnati in 1876, and at Chicago in 1880;
was a Representative in the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second, and
Forty-third Congresses; was elected to the United States Senate, to succeed
Angus Cameron, in 1881, and was re-elected in 1887.
SENATOR WILBUR F. SANDERs, of Montana, is a New Yorker by birth, hav-
ing been born in Leon, Cattaraugus Co., May 2, 1834. He was educated in the
common and high schools of his native State ; taught school in New York; re-
moved to Ohio in 1854, where he continued in that work'; studied law at Akron,
Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1856 ; recruited a company of infantry and
a battery in the summer of 1861, and in October following was commissioned a
first lieutenant in the Sixty-fourth Ohio, of which regiment he was made adju-
tant ; was acting assistant adjutant-general on the staff of General James W.
Forsyth ; assisted in 1862 in the construction of defenses along the railroads
south of Nashville, Ill health compelled his resignation, and he located in Idaho
(now Montana), where he has been engaged in the practice of law and interested
in mining and stock-raising ; was selected to prosecute robbers and murderers
before popular tribunals organized to maintain public order; was the Republican
candidate for delegate to Congress in 1864, '67, '80, and ’86; was delegate to the
Republican National Convention in 1868, '72, '76 and ’84; was a member of the
Legislative Assembly of Montana from 1872 till 1880, inclusive; was appointed
United States Attorney for Montana by President Grant, in 1872, but declined
the office ; was elected to the United States Senate, January 1, 1890, and took
his seat April 16, 1890.
SENATOR FRANCIS B. STOCKBRIDGE, of Michigan, was born in Bath, Me.,
April 9, 1826, and received a common-school education. He was a clerk in a
wholesale house in Boston from 1843 till 1847, when he went to Chicago, and
opened a lumber yard, being also interested in saw mills in Michigan. In
1851 he removed to Michigan, taking charge of his mills in Allegan County;
was elected to the Legislature in 1869, and to the Senate in 1871; was elected
to the United States Senate, to succeed Omar D. Conger, in 1887, so that his
term of office will expire in 1893.
SENATOR HENRY M. TELLER, of Colorado, was born in Alleghany Co., N. Y.,
May 23, 1830; he obtained a substantial education by teaching and attending
school alternately for some seven years. At twenty-five he began to study
law, and having graduated, proceeded, in 1858, to Illinois, where he commenced
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 369
practice. Three years later he removed to Colorado, and when, in December,
1876, the latter State was admitted to the Union, he was elected to look after
her interests in the United States Senate, and served until April 17, 1882, when
he became Secretary of the Interior under President Arthur. His appointment
came about in the following way : The President, who had been talking with
him anent Mr. Chaffee, whom Senator Teller was recommending for the position,
expressed his desire to appoint a Westerner. He described the sort of man
he wanted at length, declaring that he should have a knowledge of Indian
affairs and similar matters, and that he would also have to be a lawyer.
Senator Teller, meanwhile, was turning over in his mind what individual the -
President had in view, and was presently astonished to hear, after all the
qualifications were mentioned, that he-Teller—was the only man whom the
President knew would fill the bill. Teller at first declined to accept, but after
some days and at the urgent request of Mr. Chaffee, in whose behalf he had
come to Washington, he consented, and remained in office until March 3, 1885,
when he was again returned to the Senate.
SENATOR EDWARD OLIVER WOLCOTT, of Colorado, was born in Long Meadow,
Mass., March 26, 1848, and served for a few months as private in the 150th Regi-
ment of Ohio Volunteers, in 1864. Two years later he entered Yale College, but
did not graduate. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1871, and removed
to Colorado; was elected district attorney and a member of the State Senate
in the same year. In 1888 was elected to the United States Senate, to succeed
Thomas M. Bowen, and took his seat March 4, 1889. Senator Wolcott bears
the proud distinction of being the only man on the Republican side of the Senate
who served as a private in the war.
SENATOR JAMES F. WILSON, of Iowa, was born at Newark, Ohio, October 19,
1828. He early learned the trade of a harness-maker, and worked at it for
eight years, during which time he pursued his educational studies and acquired
a thorough education ; studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1851, and com-
menced the practice of his profession in his native town. He removed to Iowa
in 1853; was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of Iowa in 1856;
was a member of the State Legislature of Iowa in 1857, 1859 and 1861, serving
the last year as President of the Senate ; was elected a Representative in Con-
gress from Iowa, in 1861, for the unexpired term of General S. R. Curtis ; was
re-elected to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, serving
from December 2, 1861, to March 3, 1869; was a member of the Judiciary Com-
24
370 THE REPUBLICA.W. PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
mittee of the House during the entire period of his service, and was its chairman
during the last six years of his membership; was elected to the United States
Senate in 1883, and was re-elected in 1888.
SENATOR WILLIAM DREW WASHBURN, of Minnesota, was born at Livermore,
Androscoggin Co., Me., January 14, 1831. He was reared on a farm and attended
the common schools in the winter and worked on the farm in the summer until
twenty years of age. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1854; and after
studying law for two years at Orono, Me., removed to the West, locating in
Minneapolis in 1857. He was appointed Surveyor-General of Minnesota by Presi-
dent Lincoln in 1861, and held the office for four years; and has been actively
engaged in various manufacturing industries in the city of Minneapolis since that
time. He was elected to the Legislature in 1858 and 1871, and served for three
terms in the House of Representatives before he was transferred, in 1889, to the
Senate.
CONGRESSMAN JAMES E. ATKINSON, of the Eighteenth Pennsylvania District,
was born in Delaware Township, Juniata County, Penn., April 16, 1841; studied
medicine, and graduated at the Medical Department of the University of the
City of New York, March 4, 1861; entered the Medical Department, United
States Army, September 5, 1861 ; served as assistant surgeon of the First
Pennsylvania Reserve Cavalry and surgeon of the One Hundred and Eighty-
eighth Pennsylvania Infantry, and was mustered out in December, 1864 ; was
disabled while in the army, and, being unable to practice medicine, studied law ;
was admitted to the bar in September, 1870; was elected to the Forty-eighth
Congress, and re-elected up to the present time.
CONGRESSMAN CHARLEs ADDISON BOUTELLE, of Maine, was born at Damar-
iscotta, Lincoln Co., Me., February 9, 1839. He was educated in the public
schools at Brunswick, and at Yarmouth Academy, and early adopted the pro-
fession of his father, a shipmaster, and on return from a foreign voyage in the
spring of 1862 volunteered and was appointed acting master in the United
States Navy, in which capacity he served in the North and South Atlantic and
West Gulf squadrons ; was honorably discharged at his own request, January 14,
1866. He engaged in commercial business in New York; but subsequently re-
turned to his native State and was a district delegate to the National Republican
Convention in 1876; was delegate-at-large and chairman of Maine delegation in
the National Republican Convention of 1888; was unanimously nominated in 1880
as Republican candidate for Congress; was elected representative-at-large to the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 371
Forty-eighth Congress, was elected to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses,
and was re-elected to the Fifty-first Congress.
CONGRESSMAN NELSON DINGLEY, JR., of the Second Maine District, was born
in Durham, Androscoggin Co., Me., February 15, 1832; was a member of the
State House of Representatives in 1862, '63, '64, '65, '68 and '73; was Speaker
of the State House of Representatives in 1863 and '64; was Governor of Maine
in 1874 and '75; was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1876;
was elected to the Forty-seventh Congress in September, 1881, to fill the
vacancy caused by the election of Hon. William P. Frye to the United States
Senate; was re-elected a Representative at large to the Forty-eighth Congress,
and re-elected successively.
CoNGRESSMAN HENRY CABOT LODGE, of Massachusetts, was born in Boston,
Mass., on May 12, 1850; served two terms as a member of the House of Repre-
sentatives in the Massachusetts Legislature; was elected to the Fiftieth Con-
gress, and was re-elected to the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses. He
has written, among other works, a life of Alexander Hamilton.

372 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S.
CONGRESSMAN THOMAS BRACKETT REED, of Maine, attained great distinction as
Speaker of the House. Born at Portland, Me., Oct. 18, 1839; graduated at Bow-
doin, 1860, and prepared himself for the bar; but the war breaking out, he was
appointed acting assistant paymaster in the navy. Admitted to the bar in 1865,
he was elected to the Lower House in the Legislature in 1868–9, and to the State
Senate in 1870. He was Attorney-General, 1870–2, and solicitor for Portland,
1874–7. He was elected to Congress in 1876, and has been re-elected continuously.
HON. THOMAS H. CARTER, of Montana, the chairman of the Republican Na-
THOMAs H. CARTER, CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE.
tional Committee, was born at Junior Furnace, Scioto Co., Ohio, in 1854. The
family moved to Pana, Ill., in 1865. In 1875 he settled at Burlington, Ia. He was
admitted to the bar at Louisville, Ky., and from Iowa he went to Nebraska, sub-
sequently emigrating to Montana. He was a delegate from Montana to the first
session of the Forty-first Congress, and upon the admission of that Territory as a
State (Nov., 1889) became a Representative in the same Congress. He was defeated
for re-election in 1890. In March, 1891, he was appointed Commissioner of the Land
Office, and July 16, 1892, elected chairman of the Republican National Committee.

‘REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR 1892.
LIFE OF BENJ AMIN HARRISON.
I.
Ancestry — Birth — Religious Training — Early Tutors — Juvenile Impressions — Farmers’ College —
Miami University—The Presbyterian Church—Becomes Engaged—Graduates—His Commence-
ment Oration—L. W. Ross's Reminiscences—Studies Law in Cincinnati—Marriage—Moves to
Indianapolis—Birth of Russell Harrison—Appointed Clerk of the United States District Court.
RESIDENT HARRISON'S great-grandfather, Benjamin Har-
rison of Virginia, was one of the signers of the Declaration
of Independence, and was prominent in public affairs from
1764 until his death in 1791, being for four years a member
of Congress and three times Governor of Virginia. He
- entered upon his public career in 1764, soon after reaching
his majority, as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and he took an
active part in the pre-Revolutionary movements. General William Henry Har-
rison, his son, served his country almost continuously from 1791 to 1841, both
in military and civil places. He fought the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, was
a member of Congress, a United States Senator from Ohio, Minister to the Re-
public of Colombia, and for one month (March 4 to April 4, 1841, when he died)
President of the United States. His son, John Scott Harrison, who was a mem-
ber of Congress from 1853 to 1857, died on May 26, 1878, at his home near
North Bend, Ohio.
Benjamin Harrison, the second son of John Scott Harrison, was born on
August 20, 1833, at the home of his grandfather, at North Bend, Ohio, on the
bluffs overlooking the Ohio River, fifteen miles below Cincinnati. His early life
was passed in the usual occupations of a farmer's son—feeding the cattle and

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374 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
aiding in harvesting the crops. His early education was acquired in a log school-
house fronting on the Ohio River.
The religious training he received at this period from his mother has exerted
an influence over him ever since. He has never forgotten the faith of the effi-
cacy of prayer and her injunctions to offer prayer on bended knees might and
morning.
There were no schools in the primitive region of the log cabin his grand-
father erected, and subsequently deeded, with quite a considerable tract of land,
to his father, and, as was the custom in those days among the better class of
people, and especially in the South, a tutor was employed, who became a mem-
ber of the family for the time being. Little Ben’s first instruction was received
from Thomas Flynn; then he was taught by Miss Harriet Ruth, a niece of Rev.
Horace Bushnell of Cincinnati, who was succeeded by Joseph Porter of Massa-
chusetts, who turned him over to Mr. Skinner of Marshall, Pa.
When little Ben was in his seventh year his grandfather, William Henry
Harrison, was (1840) elected President of the United States by the Whigs, in the
famous Harrison-Tippecanoe-Log Cabin campaign. In their sequestered home
little was seen of the great popular demonstration made in this campaign, which
has been celebrated in story and song as the first people’s movement, and little
Ben’s juvenile mind was not impressed by the stirring scenes of the mass meet-
ings in the villages, when the miniature log cabin was paraded and all joined in
the choruses of the songs deriding the aristocratic Democrats and extolling the
patriotic and hard-working Whigs; though he remembers the mournful circum-
stance that his grandfather never returned home, dying in the White House a
few weeks after his inauguration. His body was placed in a vault at the capital
until subsequently buried at North Bend.
When fourteen years old Benjamin was sent to Farmers’ College, on College
Hill, near Cincinnati, where he remained for two years, and where one of his
classmates was Murat Halstead. The year after he left school he lost his
mother—a loss that affected the impressible nature of the young man for a
long time. In the fall of 1850 he became a student at Miami University,
Oxford, Ohio. He entered as a member of the junior class, and in June, 1852,
he was graduated fourth in a class of sixteen. At the university with young
Harrison were the Hon. Milton Sayler of Cincinnati, who took first honors;
Professor David Swing of Chicago, who ranked second; the Rev. Dr. James
Drooks of St. Louis; the late Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, and the Hon. W.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 375
P. Fishback; but not all of them were classmates. Professor Swing says that
President Harrison, while at Miami College, though very young, was a studious
scholar, and early gave evidence of being foremost in whatever he might under-
take. He there acquired the habits of study and mental discipline which have
characterized him through life, enabling him to grapple with any subject on
short notice, to concentrate his intellectual forces and give his mental energies
that sort of direct and effective operation that indicates the trained and dis-
CONGRESSMAN BROWNE, VIRGINIA.
ciplined mind. During the first year of his term at the university he joined the
Presbyterian Church, in which he has been a worshiper ever since.
At the foot of the hill crowned by the university nestled the female
seminary presided over by the Rev. Dr. John W. Scott, who had a daughter,
Caroline Lavinia Scott, with whom naturally enough young Ben Harrison fell in
love. Although he was only eighteen years of age, and with no prospects to
speak of beyond his own exertions, the young couple became engaged. He
graduated fourth in his class on June 24, 1852, when he delivered an oration
on “The Poor of England,” from which the following is an extract :

376 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
“Turn, now, and take a glance at modern England, the England of poor laws
and paupers. How fares it with the descendants of those noble sires? Do they
still preserve the lofty mien, the virtuous courage, the healthful abundance of
their ancestors P Can it be that the obsequious pauper, the sturdy beggar, is
indeed come of so proud a parentage P. Have the swelling tides engulfed this
manly race to give place to Eastern slaves? By what process of degeneration,
by what system of treachery, by what catalogue of wrongs has this sad change
been effected P. How has the individual been robbed of his energy, the social circle
of its virtue and purity ? The common answer is by poor laws.
“In the vastness of her commercial projects, the expansive generosity of her
foreign charity, and the extended field of her missionary efforts, the starving
destitution of eight millions of her own subjects is too much forgotten and over-
looked. Reversing the old maxim, she seems to think that charity begins abroad
and draws freely upon the public exchequer to relieve the miseries of the West
India slave, while thousands more miserable cry in vain for substantial relief
from the filthy lanes of her own metropolis. As the newspaper giver of the pres-
ent day bestows liberally to endow widows’ homes and orphan asylums while his
faithful house-dog is starving in his kennel, so the oil and wine which the British
Samaritan poured into the wounds and bruises of the West Indian slave were
the marrow and blood of his own children.
“Perhaps the whole annals of legislative history does not furnish us with a
system of laws so fully repudiated by all sound economy or one which so rudely
strikes at the foundation of all social prosperity as the poor laws of Great
Britain. Unwise in their conception, unhappy in their consequences, they are the
shame and curse of England.
“Disregarding the finer and fuller provisions of nature for the relief of the
destitute and unfortunate, they substitute instead the compulsory provisions of a
legalized benevolence. The charitable offering is snatched from the kind hand of
the benevolent giver, cast into the swelling poor fund and distributed by the
cold hand of a soulless official alike to the vicious and deserving. The donor is
deprived of his meed of praise, the recipient is precluded the exercise of gratitude.
“But not only do such provisions fail to relieve the wants of the poor by
sapping the life’s blood of individual energy and encouraging indolence and con-
sequent vice ; they increased the evil they were intended to alleviate and super-
sede the more efficacious relief of individual charity. The ever present con-
sciousness that, however great his improvidence and vice, he cannot be brought
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 377
to ultimate want, removes that stimulus to industry and economy which has in
the wise providence of God been provided to anticipate the evils of pauperism.
The shame which attaches itself to the trembling prayer for individual chari-
ties is lost in the demand upon the parish poor fund. . . . . . Can it be
possible that this is indeed the true character of those laws which her wisest
statesmen have not only sustained but made the subject of boastful reflection
upon other lands As well might the highway robber, after having stripped
the defenseless traveler of all that he possessed, return him a scanty covering
from the cold, and then boast of kindness, and call upon his shivering victim.
to acknowledge a debt of gratitude.
“‘Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey
When wealth accumulates and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,
A breath can make them and a breath has made,
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed can never be supplied.’”
A schoolmate of President Harrison, Lewis W. Ross, of Council Bluffs, Iowa,
writes as follows about his schooldays at Farmers’ and Miami Colleges:
“Forty years ago the writer met the subject of this paper in Farmers’
College ; a school of considerable merit, located on one of the hills overlooking
the city of Cincinnati. Dr. R. H. Bishop, formerly President of Miami Univer-
sity, was Professor of History and Political Economy. He was an extraordinary
teacher. He discipled his students to such an extent as to render it impossible
to either forget the man or his instruction. I also met Dr. O. W. Nixon of the
Inter-Ocean, Murat Halstead of the Commercial Gazette, Joseph M. Gregory,
a member of the Memphis bar, and many others who have attained to positions
of honor and trust.
“After two years of study at Farmers’ College, a large delegation, includ-
ing young Harrison and the writer, entered Miami University, located at Oxford,
Ohio. We enrolled in the junior class, with at least half of the sophomore year
to make up. This implied that we were required to do two and a half year’s
work within the space ºf two years, but it was accomplished, and all graduated—
a class of fifteen members, on June 24, 1852.
“This class varied in worldly wealth and available brains about as other
classes have done. David Swing of Chicago took second honors, and Milton
Saylor, now of New York City, took the first honors. Harrison, in class standing
378 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
and merit, ranked above the average. Swing was confessedly the best philolo-
gist in the class, and during the last year of the course displayed unusual ability.
Saylor was gifted in many ways, but lacked application. He has lived the life
of a “typical Democrat,” serving two terms in Congress. Harrison, as I remem-
ber, was an unpretentious but courageous student. He was respectable in
languages and the sciences, and excelled in political economy and history, the
former being largely due to the foundations laid under the instruction of Dr.
Bishop at Farmers’ College. Harrison had a good voice and a pure diction. He
talked easily and fluently. His manner was indicative of much earnestness of
character. He never seemed to regard life as a joke, nor the opportunities for
advancement as subjects for sport. During the four years that I was with him
he impressed me with the belief that he was ambitious. As a writer and speaker
he always did iis best. By this I mean that he, as a rule, made special prepara-
tion, giving as much time as possible to the matter in hand. The subject of his
graduating address was ‘The Poor of England,’ and his treatment of it showed
...that he had sounded both the depths and the causes of this poverty. He was a
protectionist at the age of nineteen. He is protectionist still. His whole career
has been illustrative of his desire to save his countrymen from the poverty which
oppresses ‘The Poor of England.”
“It is claimed by his enemies that Harrison is cold-hearted, that he culti-
vates but few friends. This is untrue. When a student he had his likes and
dislikes. He was not selfish, yet his love of self made him careful of his time
and of his reserve powers. Had he been of the rollicking habit of some of his
college acquaintances, he would long since have passed over with them. The
Sober truth is, that in good sense and manly conduct he was as a student with-
out just reproach. From aught that has come to my notice, in later years, I
infer that his entire career has been a living exemplification of the principles
which governed his student life. He was just then. He is just now. He was
industrious then. He is industrious now. He was ambitious then. He is am-
bitious still. His was and is a commendable ambition, worthy to be patterned
by the youth of the country. When in college he gained mental discipline and
a genuine love for history and political science. When in Judge Storer’s office
he read, with other texts, ‘Coke upon Littleton,” and so laid deep and solid
legal foundations. Thus furnished, his success was assured before entering upon
the duties of his profession. On all moral questions he has been fearless for the
right. At his country’s call he answered, proving his devotion and courage.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 379
Among lawyers of national reputation he ranks with the best. Among statesmen
he is accorded a high place. He is worthy of the cordial support of Republicans
everywhere for the exalted position to which he aspires.”
After graduating from Miami College, young Harrison went home for a
short sojourn and then to Cincinnati, having decided to study law. He found
a home with his married sister, Mrs. Dr. Eaton, and a friend in the Well-known
Judge Bellamy Storer, who was noted for his kindness and courtesy to strug-
gling young men. He studied law in the office of Storer & Gwynne for two
z:
CONGRESSMAN WILLIAMS, OHIO.
years. All the while he corresponded with his fiancée, who remained at Oxford
With her father, and, while still under his majority and before he had started
out for himself, he returned there and they were married, October 20, 1853.
After his marriage young Harrison and his bride resided for several months
in the family homestead at North Bend (where the original log cabin had been
transformed into a frame structure) until he had decided to emigrate to Indian-
apolis and practice law. A streak of good luck had befallen him in an inheri-
tance of $800. From an aunt he inherited a lot in Cincinnati, which he sold for

380 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
that sum, being enabled thereby to make a start in life in a strange city. At
first the young couple boarded at the local hotel, but he soon found a house
which he rented for $6 per month, and here, August 12, 1854, their first child,
Russell, was born. A friend, John H. Rea, clerk of the United States District
Court, gave him desk-room in his office in the State Bank Building, near the
Bates House; but for some months clients were scarce. Soon after he was
appointed, through John H. Robinson, crier of the Federal Court, the salary of
which in term time was $2.50 per day. This money that he received for services
as crier was the first that he earned. During the next few years the young law-
yer gradually obtained a firm professional foothold, becoming recognized as a
vigorous, painstaking attorney and an eloquent advocate. For many years Gen.
Harrison stood at the head of the bar, not only in his own State, but in the
Western country.
II.
Harrison as a Lawyer—Indianapolis Bar—First Important Case—An Old-time Court-room—A
Legislative Investigation—Wallace & Harrison—Fishback & Harrison—Reporter of the Su-
preme Court—Fishback, Porter & Harrison—Fishback, Porter, Harrison & Hines—Harrison,
Miller & Elam—Legal Methods—The Sons of Liberty Case—The Lieutenant-Governor's Case.
yeaT the time he entered the Indianapolis legal arena, there were in it
some of the most talented lawyers of the day. Among those
who had already made their mark were Simon Yondes, Lucien
Barbour, Ovid Butler, Oliver H. Smith, Calvin Fletcher, Hugh
O’Neal, John L. Ketcham, James Morrison, David Wallace,
David McDonald, Hiram Brown and William Quarles. Begin-
ning their career like Harrison were N. B. Taylor, Albert G. Porter, and John
Coburn. In those days the sharp and shrewd lawyer who wins his case on some
technicality, some point discovered in a dusty and forgotten volume, had no
place. Mere law machinery would not persuade a judge or a jury. Oratorical
ability was a requisite.
The lawyers already named possessed this requisite in an eminent degree,
and among these gladiators Harrison—like the Irishman, who, when asked if h;
could play the fiddle, said he did not know until he tried—found himself in igno-
rance as to whether he could cope with them in oratory or not. An opening
occurred, through his acquaintance with Jonathan W. Gordon, in 1854.
Gordon was at that time prosecuting attorney and commanded a high place
in popular favor. Harrison’s evident ability attracted his attention, and he re-
Solved to push him forward. A chance occurred in the giving of a lecture by
Horace Mann one evening. Gordon was anxious to hear him, but as prosecuting
attorney he had in hand a burglary case. The case was not until afternoon, and
he feared that he would be detained in the evening. He asked Harrison to take
his place, and the request was granted. The lawyers for the defense were Gov-

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382 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
ernor Wallace and Sims Colley. The evidence took up the afternoon and the
further hearing of the case was adjourned to evening. -
After supper every one interested assembled in the court house. Even at its
best it did not present a very brilliant appearance. In the dim light of a fall
evening it was mournful. In the rear of the room, and separated from the
officials by a rail running across, were a number of citizens. There were no elec-
tric lights, no patent-burner lamps, no gas—nothing but the old-fashioned tallow
candles. Two were set on the rudely-fashioned desk before which the judge sat.
At odd spots around the room several more threw their feeble glimmer OVer a,
small space. Gas and smoke from a broken stove make breathing and seeing
a matter of difficulty. Here and there the plaster had fallen from the walls, the
color of which was a nondescript brought about by years of smoke and dirt. A
broken window was patched with a newspaper. The falling leaves from the trees
in the yard blew dismally against the unbroken glass. Every now and then some
one inside the rail would inadvertently kick against a spittoon. On one corner of
the table provided for the lawyers and their assistants, one of them sat chewing
the stump of a cigar, ejaculating, every few minutes, “I object,” with a truly
Western drawl, some portions of the proceedings not suiting his ideas of law.
Under such discouraging surroundings Harrison rose to sum up for the
prosecution. In his hand he held a bundle of memoranda bearing upon the case.
He had carefully noted the evidence and got to his feet with that comfortable
feeling that he knew just exactly where he stood. Not a sound except the
liquid shots at the spittoons disturbed the room. He got fairly under way
when occasion for reference to his notes arose. But turn as he would the dim
light rendered them illegible. Many men under such circumstances would be
disconcerted and lose the thread of their argument, but it only served to rouse
him to a keen sense of his position. He flung his notes from him and broke
into a flow of speech that ended not until he was satisfied he had convicted
his man. The jury found the prisoner guilty, although the defense had an op-
portunity, as was customary in those times, to undo the effect of his attack.
Every one talked of his success and ability, and he became by this one effort
widely known and eagerly sought after as a brilliant and able young lawyer.
Shortly afterwards he was appointed by Governor Wright to conduct a legis-
lative investigation. He proved himself fully equal to the task.
While living in the small house on Vermont Street already referred to,
William Wallace offered him a partnership in his law business. The offer was
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S DEADERS. 383
gladly accepted, and soon afterward the firm of Wallace & Harrison com-
menced business on Washington Street. They succeeded fairly well, most of their
income coming from writing deeds, consultations, notarial work, services in
probate, and collections. They also secured not a little business in circuit court
and justice of the peace cases. Harrison attended sessions at Danville, and had
a number of clients in Hancock County. A few years later Wallace was elected
clerk of Marion County. The partnership between him and Harrison was
terminated and the firm changed to Fishback & Harrison. In 1862 this firm
CONGRESSMAN PUGSLEY, OHIO.
was dissolved in consequence of Harrison joining the army. From this time to
the close of the war he necessarily had nothing to do with law.
At the time he joined the army he was reporter of the Supreme Court, and
when he was mustered out he resumed this office, and later, at the request of
Fishback, his old partner, who had gone into partnership with Porter, he joined
that firm. He maintained his reputation as a tireless worker by carrying proof
of his reporter copy in his pocket to be corrected whenever a spare moment
offered, and even when he went to a place of amusement he had some work with

384 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
him to fill in odd minutes. Realizing that his living must be made from the
practice of law, he constantly aimed to make himself more perfect. He was
diligent and regular in his attendance at his office and in court.
In 1870 the firm of which he was partner became, through the retirement of
Fishback, Porter, Harrison & Hines. Governor Porter retiring later, W. H. H.
Miller joined the firm, and in 1883 John B. Elam took Hines’s place, the firm
then becoming Harrison, Miller & Elam.
Harrison has invariably been open and candid in the cases intrusted to him.
In no single instance has he ever resorted to trickery or subterfuge. He says
what he means, and in such emphatic and simple language that his auditors
thoroughly understand him. He exemplified these characteristics very clearly in
the trial of the promoters and officers of the order of American Knights or
Sons of Liberty, as they were called by some.
We have described already how they attempted to release the rebels in
Illinois. Their primary object was to "form Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri
and Kentucky into a separate Confederacy. They possessed all the machinery
of a secret order—obligation, initiation, grips, passwords and signs of recognition.
They claimed a membership of nearly half a million. It was essentially a
military order, deformed, physically afflicted or diseased persons being excluded.
Five of the Indiana members were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for
conspiracy against the government. But President Lincoln commuted their
sentences to life imprisonment.
The case was carried to the Supreme Court, and there the decision was
reversed, on the ground that a military court had no jurisdiction in Indiana,
which was not within the seat of war. The prisoners were released. One of
them, L. P. Milligan, sued General Hovey and twenty-two other officials for
damages on the claim that he had been lead-poisoned in the prison paint shop.
Harrison, by appointment of President Grant, appeared as an assistant on the
defense. He had pitted against him Gov. T. A. Hendricks, who was suspected of
being a Knight of Liberty himself. The defendants were all personal friends of
Harrison’s, and many of them had fought with him on the field of battle. Even
under such stirring circumstances his argument was cool, logical and convincing.
After several hours of an exhibition of good and sufficient reasons for arresting
these men and committing them to prison, he showed that Milligan, the plaintiff,
brought his troubles upon himself. g
Another celebrated case in which Harrison appeared was what was called
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 385
the “Lieutenant-Governor's Case.” A sketch of Harrison's career as a lawyer
would not be complete without a brief account of a case which brought forward,
in a brilliant speech, his intimate knowledge of constitutional law. He was
particularly interested in it, because on the decision rested the return of a
Republican or a Democrat from Indiana to the United States Senate, to succeed
himself, his term expiring in 1888.
In 1885 the Democrats elected their candidate, Voorhees, by a majority of
forty-six. They did not feel that they could again make sure of a majority,
-
CONGRESSMAN HITT, ILLINOIS.
and a re-apportionment of the State was therefore imperative. The first test
of their strength came in the election for Lieutenant-Governor. Robert S.
Robertson was the Republican candidate, and he won by a majority of 3323.
It became necessary to freeze out Robertson, and to accomplish this result
Lieutenant-Governor Manson was induced to resign, a revenue collectorship being
given him as an inducement. The scheme then was to claim the lieutenant-gov-
ernorship for Alonzo G. Smith, the pro tem. president of the preceding Senate,
who they contended was the next in line to fill the lieutenant-governor vacancy.

25
386 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS,
They figured that Smith could hold his own as President of the Senate, while
if the case was carried to the Supreme Court the Democratic judges would take
care of him there.
Success was achieved in the Senate vi et armis. Public opinion forced the
question into the courts. Judge Ayer of the Marion Circuit Court refused to
enjoin the Secretary of State from delivering the returns of the election to the
Speaker of the House. The Supreme Court was appealed to, but, to the aston-
ishment of the Democrats, the injunction was still refused.
Robertson was formally proclaimed Lieutenant-Governor. The issue then
became a personal one between Robertson and Smith, the former holding the
office de jure, and the latter de facto. The case again came before Judge Ayer,
and he issued an injunction against Robertson officiating as Lieutenant-Governor.
The injunction was carried to the Supreme Court. General Harrison appeared
for Robertson, in conjunction with his old partner, W. H. H. Miller, and with
Attorney-General Michner. David Turpie and Jason Brown appeared for Smith.
Harrison’s speech was a magnificent analysis of constitutional law bearing
upon the subject in hand. Suffice it to say that the decision of the Court, which
consisted of four Democrats and one Republican, was that the courts had no
jurisdiction over the office in question, and that the injunction had no foundation
in law. Judge Ayer’s decision was reversed. The result of this great trial
was undoubtedly due to the able exposition of the points involved by General
Harrison.
III.
Harrison enters Politics—His debut on the Stump—The Fremont Campaign—Recognized as an
Orator—The Lincoln Campaign—Reporter for the Supreme Court—The State Canvass—
Debate with Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks—Meets Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees—A Great
Triumph—Enlists.
ARRISON entered the political arena in 1855, when his law
partner, William Wallace, was a candidate for clerk of Marion
:
--
County, and he stumped the county for him. That he was
an attractive speaker may be inferred from the fact that in
2É
à
*º º the same year a friend of his, Mr. Campbell, ran for clerk in
Shelby County, and asked him to canvass for him.
In the Fremont campaign, in 1856, he identified himself with the new-born
Republican party as a local stump speaker. *
His means and opportunity, however, did not permit him to devote much
time or thought to political matters until the great Lincoln campaign in 1860 ;
but from that period, until his election to the highest office in the gift of the
American people, he was a conspicuous figure in every campaign in Indiana, and
on many occasions he appeared for his party in other States. It may be said
here that he is a forcible and eloquent speaker, and not the least of his accom-
plishments is that of an orator. He acquired the art of speaking in public dur-
ing the early days of his practice in Indianapolis. He is a fluent, earnest, and
eloquent speaker, convincing by his earnest manner and sincere voice. There are
few more effective political orators than he.
His circumstances had so far improved in 1859 that he thought himself able
to become a property owner, and purchased a house on New Jersey Street from
his friend, A. G. Porter, for $2,900, the payments to be in instalments as arranged.
He occupied this house until he moved into the more pretentious residence which
he still owns. In the new home, April 3, 1859, was born the second child, Mary
Scott Harrison (Mrs. McKee).












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388 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
In 1860 young Harrison received the nomination from the Republican Conven-
tion for Reporter of the Supreme Court, and the State Committee sent him on a
canvass with the late Miles Fletcher, who, like himself, was a candidate on the
ticket, running for the position of Superintendent of Public Instruction ; but he
alone was assigned to speak at Rockville, in Park County.
The gubernatorial contest between Colonel Henry S. Lane and Thomas A.
Hendricks was fierce and exciting. He reached the village in a buggy, there
being no railroad communication at the time, and did not know until his arrival
that Hendricks, who was a speaker of repute, would appear at a meeting at the
Court House at the same hour. He was informed by his host, General Steele,
that it had been suggested that he and Hendricks should hold a joint debate
on the questions of the day and the issues of the two parties which they rep
resented. -
“That is, of course, a very unfair proposal,” he is reported as saying.
“Mr. Hendricks is at the head of the Democratic ticket, while I am at the
tail of the Republican ticket. He is an experienced public debater, while I am
on my first trip.” .
He consented at length, observing : “Gentlemen, if we can’t get along with
this without showing the white feather, you just tell them we will consent to
a joint meeting.”
It was finally arranged that Hendricks, who was inclined to consider it
beneath his dignity and reputation to hold a joint debate with such an unknown
representative of his party, should address the crowd for two hours, when young
Harrison could deliver his speech.
The court house was densely crowded, the Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees being
conspicuous among the Democrats present. So little attention was paid to young
Harrison that it is related a seat was not provided for him, and he found one
on a desk, which was so high that his feet dangled in the air. Hendricks, not
giving a thought to the young Republican, who under the circumstances appeared
in rather a comical light, made one of his able speeches, evoking much applause
from the Democrats, who preponderated. in the assemblage.
When Hendricks had finished, and resumed his seat in the position of honor,
young Harrison arose to reply, without receiving anything of a welcome except
from a few recently-made acquaintances. It is related that he opened with a
complimentary allusion to Hendricks, and enunciated a proposition which in
previous campaigns the Democrats had admitted to be right, which so excited
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 389
Voorhees that he hastily arose and hotly denied the assertion. There was a
breathless pause, broken by young Harrison’s boldly saying :
“ Fellow citizens, the denial to which we have listened induces me to amend
my assertion. I now say that every Democrat approved the proposition except
Mr. Voorhees. He was then a Whig.”
This retort elicited such an outburst that young Harrison was encouraged
and with real eloquence proceeded to dissect Hendrick’s arguments with so much
CONGRESSMAN GIFFORD, SOUTH DAKOTA.
success with the audience that Voorhees felt it incumbent on himself to say
that he would reply to him in the evening. -
The reply by Voorhees, however, did not disturb the influence of young
Harrison’s speech, and he became in demand as a stump speaker. The chairman
of the meeting afterward said: “I have heard a good many political debates in
my day, but I have never heard a man skin an opponent as quickly as Ben
Harrison did Hendricks that day.”
Elected to the office he was running for by a majority of 9688, Harrison
attended to its duties until he could no longer restrain his patriotic spirit to

390 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
answer his country’s call for soldiers for the war for the preservation of the
Union. While still engaged on a volume of reports he was, July, 1862, com-
missioned by Governor Oliver P. Morton as second lieutenant, and raised
Company A of the 17th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He assigned the task of
completing the reports to two friends, John T. Dye and John Caven, when the
partisan question was agitated whether he had not relinquished his position as
reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court in accepting the military com-
mission. The result was the Democrats succeeded in electing the Hon. Michael
C. Kerr to succeed him. Kerr secured a mandate against the clerk of the
Democratic Supreme Court requiring him to deliver the records to him. The
Supreme Court decided that Harrison had relinquished the office and directed
that the records be delivered to Kerr, who had been properly elected. In 1864,
while in the field at Atlanta, Colonel Harrison was re-elected reporter by a
majority of 19,713; but, not willing to resign his commission in the army, he
reappointed Dye his deputy, and continued in the service. When he was mus-
tered out Colonel Harrison resumed his duties as reporter for the Court and
filled the position until 1868. In this year he took a very active part in the
presidential campaign, canvassing the State for General Grant, whom he en-
thusiastically admired, as also again in 1872, when the General was again a
candidate.
IV.
Harrison's Career as a Soldier—Lincoln's Call for Troops—Gov. Morton—Recruiting—Commissioned
as a Colonel—Studying Tactics—Bowling Green—Rebuilds a Bridge—Running a Loco-
motive—First Engagement—Commands a Division—Scottsville—Gallatin—Protecting the
Road to Nashville—Lavergne—Murfreesboro’—Resaca—Close Fighting—“Little Ben’—Cass-
ville—New Hope Church—Officiating as a Surgeon—Chief of Brigade—Gilgal Church—
Renesaw—Peach Tree Creek—Gen. Hooker's Eulogy—Brevet Major-General—The Old Mill
—A Desperate Encounter—Special Duty—With Sherman—Special Duty in Indiana–Chatta-
nooga—Brigadier-General.
º
all N 1862, while Harrison was reporter of the Supreme Court of Illinois,
s:
sº-3
President Lincoln issued another call for volunteers. Throughout
the country the response was not liberal. The enthusiasts, the un-
encumbered, the intensely patriotic had gone to the front. General
Buell was endeavoring to reach Chattanooga, Tenn., before General Bragg, but
in consequence of an error in calculation on the part of General Halleck,
commander-in-chief, he did not reach it. The way seemed clear for Bragg to
reach Indiana and Ohio with the army he was concentrating at Chattanooga.
One lost battle and he could cross the Ohio. The clouds looked very dark in-
deed, and Governor Morton felt intensely the responsibility of the situation.
Regiments must be raised, but success in raising them seemed remote.
Harrison had occasion to call upon him on business. In the course of conver-
sation, Governor Morton unburdened himself and lamented his inability to com-
ply with the President’s call. Much as Harrison had to tie him to home—a wife,
a baby, a comparatively easy life—he felt that duty to his country called him
away. He proffered his services. The Governor gladly agreed to give him
authority to raise a regiment, but refused to let him go with it. But such a pro-
ceeding was not in accordance with Harrison’s view of duty, and he replied that
where his men went he went ; what was good or right for them was good and
right for him. The Governor, appreciating his feelings, said he could command

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392 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
the regiment, but Harrison had not sufficient confidence in his ability as a tacti.
cian to undertake such a responsibility.
Without deciding that he would not accept it, Harrison left the State House,
went into the first hat store he passed and purchased a soldier’s cap. In a few
moments more his office was converted into a recruiting station. Ere long he got
his men together and they went into camp. He employed a drill-master at his
own expense. The men were posted in military discipline and maneuvers, and
when the ranks were full he received his commission as colonel from Governor
Morton.
General Bragg was hurrying along to Louisville, so Colonel Harrison and
his 70th Regiment Indiana Volunteers started off to Bowling Green, Ky. While
stationed there a body of the Confederates had taken Russellville. Harrison
received orders to rout them out. The regiment boarded a train and set out
to their first encounter. On their way they reached a bridge which had been
destroyed by the rebels. Some of the Union men having been railroad men
repaired the bridge and the party proceeded on its way. Colonel Harrison was
on the locomotive and conducted the journey personally. The surprise to the
Confederates was complete. Forty were killed, while only one Unionist fell.
Ten prisoners were captured and all the horses and arms. With these, the
result of his maiden effort, he returned to Bowling Green. - -
From command of this regiment he was promoted to the command of a
brigade, which consisted of the 70th Regiment, which he had organized, the 102d,
105th and 129th Illinois, and the 79th Ohio. From Bowling Green the brigade
went to Scottsville, Ky., and later to Gallatin, Tenn., from which point he con-
ducted the protection of the road to Nashville. Then there were four months in
camp which he used to good advantage by drilling the officers and men, not
forgetting to educate himself in military matters. From Gallatin they went
to Lavergne, and later to Murfreesboro, where the brigade became a part of
General Granger’s Reserve Corps.
On May 14 Sherman’s plans for forcing a fight at Resaca were matured.
It fell to the lot of Harrison’s brigade to force their way through a lot of
underbrush, down a hill, across a valley, and up another hill where the enemy
were lodged. In face of a heavy fire the men ran forward, Harrison being
among the first to cross the parapet. Fighting at very close range ensued, the
gunners using their rammers and the attackers their clubbed muskets. Officers
shot at each other, almost across a handkerchief, as one might say, with their
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 393
pistols. The fight was brief; the hill was captured. But in a moment more
their shouts of victory were drowned by the thunder of a cross-fire from the
enemy. Still they hung on to the captured guns. Bayonets were unfixed and
they settled down to a return fire.
Matters were going well when a false order to retreat was given. The party
was at once divided, some remaining While others retreated to the foot of the hill.
Those who remained retained their hold until night time, when orders were given
to bring away the guns.
CONGRESSMAN CASWELL, WISCONSIN. -
Prior to the battle of Resaca, the brigade having been enlarged, General
Ward was placed in command. During the battle he was wounded and Colonel
Harrison assumed the command as next in line. On this occasion he was christ-
ened “Little Ben '' by his soldiers, by which he is known even now in veteran
circles. Three days later he participated in the capture of Cassville by Colonel
Coburn.
From now on in the progress south he was engaged in a continual series of
encounters with the enemy. At the battle of New Hope Church, which he re-

394 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
garded then and does now as one of the heaviest he was in, he showed a con-
sideration for his men which proved that any coldness of heart of which he has
been charged was and is only superficial. A cold and drenching rain contributed
to make everybody intensely uncomfortable. The men had to stand behind the
breastworks in deep pools of water. Harrison was ‘‘ one of them,” and when
during the night, after the firing had ceased, he found his surgeons had been sep-
arated from the command, he took off his coat, turned up his shirt sleeves, and
tended their wounds compassionately and skillfully himself.
On May 29, he became chief of the First Brigade through the promotion of
General Ward to the command of the division. He held this position to the
close of the war.
His next share of hard fighting came at the battle of Gilgal Church. The
brigade fought the enemy against a line of breastworks until their ammunition
gave out, when Coburn relieved them.
After this came the great fight at Kenesaw and the battle of Peach Tree
Creek, on the close of which Hooker, who was major-general commanding,
said to him : “By God, I’ll make you a brigadier-general for this fight !” and
in a letter by him to Secretary of War E. M. Stanton, he said: “My atten-
tion was first attracted to this young officer by the superior excellence of his
brigade in discipline and instruction, the result of his labor, skill and devotion.
It gives me great pleasure to commend him favorably to the Honor-
able Secretary, with the assurance that his preferment will be a just recognition
of his services and martial accomplishments.”
Near the creek was a little stream which provided power for an old mill.
On a bluff covered with corn rested Harrison’s brigade, some cooking and some
sleeping. One of the soldiers was picking blackberries, when he ran up to the
creek and reported that the whole rebel army was on the advance. Ward had
orders from Hooker to remain in the bottom, but he gave Coburn and Harrison
permission to advance to the ridge above. The fate of the Army of the Cum-
berland depended upon stopping the advance of the enemy. Through a terrific
fire, and with the men dropping on all sides, he forged ahead. As at Resaca, it
turned into a clubbed-musket fight. How those fellows did fight ! Then Coburn
brought his men up, followed by Ward, who acted on his own judgment and
Coburn’s advice not to follow Hooker’s orders to stay below. For a time it
seemed that they must submit to the attacking force, but just at a critical mo-
ment Harrison darted into the thickest of the fight, calling on his men to follow
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 395
him. They fought with renewed vigor. The enemy wavered before them, the
hesitation ran along the whole line, and the enemy were finally beaten back.
In September, when Sherman took Atlanta, Harrison, after being two years
on continuous service, received Sherman's orders to return for special duty to
Indiana. He found on arrival there that his success in recruiting the 70th
Indiana had brought upon him the task of canvassing the entire State for
recruits. In this work he was engaged until November, when he again started
for the South on hearing that Sherman had completed arrangements for a new
campaign. He got as far as Dalton, Ga., where he was blocked by torn-up
railroads. He was ordered to report to General Craft at Chattanooga. Doing
so, he was placed in command of a cut-off portion of the 20th Army Corps, and
later was given a brigade. A story of his good-heartedness is told by Richard
M. Smock of Indianapolis, which happened during the winter. The weather
was intensely cold and the ground frozen over. Pickets died at their posts in
very many cases. Smock was on picket when Harrison came along with a can
of hot coffee, which he was serving out to the men to help to keep the life in
them. He had got out of bed in the middle of the night and made the coffee
himself. In March, 1865, he was promoted to brigadier-general by brevet.
His commission states that it was given “for ability and manifest energy and
gallantry in command of the brigade.” It is signed by Abraham Lincoln, and
countersigned by E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
Gen. Harrison was present when Gen. Johnston surrendered to Gen. Sher-
man, at Durham’s Station, N. C., April 26, 1865, and led his brigade in the
grand review at Washington, when the soldiers passed through returning to
their homes and civil life.
V.
Harrison Resumes Civil Life—Urged for Governor in 1875–Declines—Orth Nominated but with-
draws—Harrison Nominated without his Knowledge—He complies with the Popular Wish—
Colonel Morgan's Prophetic Suggestion—The Canvass—Barnum's Hordes defeat him—Speech
at Danville—Counsel for the Government—The Railroad Strike—His Sympathy for the
Laboring Man—Speech at Richmond, Ind.—The Mississippi River Commission—Entertains
President Hayes.
N ENERAL HARRISON, on returning home, resumed his duties as
º reporter of the Supreme Court, and on the expiration of his
term devoted himself to his profession, always speaking in the
campaigns and taking an active interest in local and State
- politics, but never seeking an office himself.
In 1875 General Harrison was urged by many friends to become the can-
didate in the ensuing election for Governor, but he declined in the following
letter :
“HoNORABLE L. M. CAMPBELL, DANVILLE, IND.
“My Dear Sir :-Your letter of the 25th ultimo has remained unanswered
until now for want of earlier leisure. After a careful consideration of the matter
in every view in which it has presented itself, I have arrived at this conclusion,
viz. : To decline to allow my name to go before the Convention in connection
with the nomination for Governor. In announcing this conclusion, I have only
one regret, and that is the temporary disappointment of some very warm
personal friends, among the oldest and most partial of whom I reckon yourself.
To these, and to the somewhat wider circle of political friends who have with
great kindness urged me to be a candidate, I feel under a very real obligation.
Some of the reasons which have led me to this conclusion are already known to
you. I need only say here that my personal affairs are not in a situation to
make it wise for me to abandon the pursuit of my profession to engage in such a
canvass. You will not think that I am without a proper sense of public obli-

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THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 397
gation, or devoid of interest in the success of the Republican party. If any
should so think, the time I have given to the public service, and the humble part
I have taken in every political campaign since 1860, must witness for me. In
every important campaign which our State Convention will inaugurate, I hope to
have some part ; but you must allow me to follow, not to lead.
“It could hardly be possible that the party who has rejected the greatest
idea of our immortal declaration—the equality of all men before the law—and has
CONGRESSMAN CULBERTSON, PENNSYLVANIA.
denied the right to preserve by force the national unity, will, in this year of
great memories, be called to administer our national affairs.
“Please accept for yourself, and for all those who have united in your
request, my thanks and good wishes. Very sincerely yours,
“BENJAMIN HARRISON.
“INDIANAPOLIS, December 1, 1875.”
The Hon. Godlove S. Orth received and accepted the nomination, but sub-
Sequently withdrew from the canvass.
After the Convention in 1876 Gen. Harrison left for the north shore of Lake

398 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
Superior for recreation in trout-fishing, preparatory to the campaign. Returning
from the woods he learned at Mackinaw from a Chicago paper of Orth’s resigna-
tion, and en route home a dispatch reached him at Fort Wayne from the State
Committee that he had been chosen to be the candidate. At Muncie a delegation
awaited him and pressed him to accept the nomination. Arriving home, he was
publicly asked by the leading men of his party—his former partner, Governor
Porter, delivering an address to him on the door-steps of his house, embody-
ing the wishes of those present. Under the circumstances he did not feel that
he could be guided by his own wishes, but ought in duty bound to comply with
those of his party. He accepted the nomination and prepared for a vigorous
campaign, as his opponent, the Hon. James D. Williams, locally known as “Uncle
Jimmy Williams’” and as ‘‘Blue Jeans Williams,” a character in his way, was
the strongest man the Democrats could have nominated.
He commenced his campaign at Danville on August 18, 1876, and until the
election in October was en tour, part of the time in company with Senator Hale.
It is rélated that the demonstration at Rockville, where it will be remembered
he had had a famous encounter with Hendricks and Voorhees, was noteworthy be-
cause of a unique floral demonstration of a shower of flowers over him, as he
and Senator Hale passed underneath in an open carriage, from a little girl in
a basket suspended to a rope stretched across the street.
Apropos of this canvass the following letter from an old friend and army
associate, Col. Thomas J. Morgan, is interesting as it suggests his nomination
also for the Presidency.
“To the Editor of the Chicago Evening Journal : -
“General Benjamin Harrison, the Republican nominee for Governor of In-
diana, is an exceptionally good man. He is one of the ablest lawyers in the
State, a fine scholar, a gentleman of highly cultivated taste, a Christian and a
soldier. He is a grandson of ex-President William Henry Harrison. He entered
the army in August, 1862, as colonel of the Seventieth Indiana Volunteer In-
fantry, and by his high qualities won the respect of all who knew him, both his
superiors and subordinates. As an officer in his regiment I had an opportunity
of knowing him well. I came to have very high admiration for him, which
has been increased by my subsequent knowledge of him. He will make not
only a good Governor, but is admirably qualified to be President, a position to
which many of his friends hope he is destined.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 399
“It is very greatly to his credit that the people have so urgently thrust
upon him the leadership of the party at this time. He will bestow honor
upon the office. It is equally to the credit of the people that their minds
should turn so Spontaneously to such a leader, a man of integrity, whose name
is above reproach, and all of whose convictions and tastes lift him above the
class of place seekers and professional politicians. Such nominations serve to
redeem American politics and dignify political offices.
“T. J. MORGAN.
“CHICAGO, August 8, 1876.”
It was in this campaign that General Barnum, the chairman of the Demo-
cratic National Committee, imported hordes of vagabonds from Baltimore into
various districts of the State, in time for their registration, in droves like mules,
which they were satirically characterized. The increase of the Democratic vote
by this invasion, and the defection of some 13,000 Republican votes to the
Greenback candidate, defeated the Republican ticket, though General Harrison
led his associates by over 2000 votes.
At Danville, Ind., August 18, 1876, he spoke as follows on the value of a
stable currency : “A stable currency—one that has fixed value—that is worth
the same to-day and to-morrow—is the best currency for men in all conditions
of life, and is the only one with which men in all conditions will be satisfied : and
if there is any class of men in the world who have a deeper interest than others
in having currency which is the same from month to month and from year to
year, it is the poor men, the laboring men—the men who are most liable to be
deceived by those who have better opportunities of information in regard to
matters of finance. The man who sits on some financial eminence can see before-
hand the fluctuations in the money market and save himself from loss ; but the
man who cannot is the man down in the valley, to whom the information of
these changes—financial changes—comes tardily. When you have a fluctuating
currency, when it goes up labor is the last thing to feel the rise, and when it
goes down labor is the first thing to feel the depression. " Then, if there is one
class more than another that has a deep interest in a permanent, stable cur-
rency, it is the poor man, who has not the ability to watch its fluctuations
and arrange his finances with reference to them. Our greenback currency,
with this quality added to it, is a currency with which, I believe, the people
of this country will never consent to part.”
During the years 1877–78, General Harrison was engaged in aiding the
400 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
Federal government in prosecuting certain Democratic conspirators for importing
ballot-box stuffers into Southern Indiana, succeeding in convicting their leader,
who was sent to the penitentiary.
In 1877 the great railroad strike extended from the East to the West, and
Indianapolis, like other cities, was almost in a state of siege. Hon. John Caven,
the mayor, called a meeting of citizens and appointed a Committee of Safety, con-
sisting equally of Democrats and Republicans, while another committee of ten
was selected to confer with the strikers with a view of adjusting their differences
with the railroads by arbitration. General Harrison was appointed one of the
committee of ten. He made an eloquent address to the committee representing
the strikers, counseling law and order, confident that arbitration would eventually
settle all to their satisfaction. He was also made at a public meeting a member
of an executive committee, when Governor Williams issued a proclamation which
showed that the Executive realized the gravity of the situation, as the strike
meanwhile had extended throughout the State. At the same time Governor
Williams addressed the following official note to General Harrison :
“STATE OF INDIANA, EXECUTIVE DEPAPTMENT.
“INDIANAPOLIS, July 26, 1877.
“ DEAR SIR : I have to request that you will assume command of all the
military forces organized and to be organized at the capital for the preser-
vation of order and the protection of life and property during the existing
emergency. -
“JAMES D. WILLIAMS, Governor.
“To GEN, BENJAMIN HARRISON.”
General Harrison, however, had enrolled as captain of a military company
that had been organized pursuant to suggestions from the Committee of Safety
for the preservation of life and property in case mob-rule should prevail, and he
declined the commission tendered him by Governor Williams, and suggested that
General Daniel Macauley be appointed, and he was. Very soon he had several
militia companies ready for action in case of need, with a company of regulars
summoned by the Executive. The committee of citizens succeeded in getting the
strikers to submit to arbitration, and traffic was resumed, General Harrison
taking an active part in the movement. Judge Drummond, taking advantage of
the fact that several of the railroads were in the hands of the United States
courts as receivers, made some arrests of strikers under the plea of contempt of
court. General Harrison promptly volunteered his services and defended the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 401
prisoners. He claimed they were good citizens, that their claims for increase of
wages were just ; but while they had made a mistake in their way of proceeding
to right their wrongs, they should not under the circumstances be punished.
Judge Drummond accepted his plea and discharged the men from court. The
men visited General Harrison in a body and thanked him for espousing and
pleading their cause. From the first General Harrison counseled moderation and
discussion, remarking, “I don’t propose to go out and shoot my neighbors when
there is no necessity for it.”
CONGRESSMAN ALLEN, MICHIGAN.
In 1878 General Harrison was chosen chairman of the State Convention,
and in the ensuing campaign made several speeches. In discussing the issue
of finance and labor, and the attitude of the Republican party, he spoke as
follows at Richmond, Ind., August 9th :
“The financial question is unfortunately still in the arena of politics. It
will be a happy day for the country when we can be sure of one full year
unvexed by financial tinkering. The most serious drawback to a national cur-
rency is that, if disturbed by unwise legislation or threatened by the clamor of

26
402 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
demagogues, the mischief is as wide as the country. A certain and stable
standard by which values may be measured is the first necessity of commerce.
So long as possible legislation by the next Congress affecting the value of our
currency must be considered by every lender and borrower, by every buyer and
seller, we cannot look for settled times and old-fashioned prosperity. Commerce
hears the threats of the canvass, and contemplated enterprises are abandoned.
The capitalist hoards his money. The manufacturer limps along on half time.
The laborer suffers, and everybody stands in an attitude of waiting.
“Silver has been remonetized. Upon this question we had much heated con-
troversy. The West and South, without distinction of party, antagonized the
East, and won. The silver dollar of 412; grains—a full legal tender—is a hard
fact. Let the controversy end. . . . . Whatever our views on the question
were when it was an open question, in the interest of financial tranquillity let
us take the law as it is and say stare decisis.
“In what I have said thus far, I have been speaking to those who hold
that a specie basis for our currency is desirable. But we have a new candidate
for popular favor in what is called the ‘flat ' dollar. . . . . It (fiat dollar)
is not a greenback, unless light is darkness. I have always been an advocate
and friend of the greenback currency. As a soldier, I hailed it in common
with all my comrades as an ally of freedom, a friend of the flag, a re-enforce-
ment that made victory possible, and valor and daring fruitful. It had but one
infirmity—it was not a par dollar—it was depreciated. The promise it bore on
its face was not kept. From this infirmity every true friend of that currency
desired that it might be recovered. We differed as to what tonics should be
used, as to when the invalid should leave his couch. . . . . But let us trace a
little more particularly the differences between the ‘flat” dollar and the green-
back. The greenback, in common with every bank note any of you have ever
seen, contains a promise to pay dollars. It reads, the United States will pay to
bearer one dollar on demand. None of you would take bank paper or the paper
of an individual that did not contain a promise to pay. And its value is meas-
ured by your faith and your neighbor's faith that the promise will be kept.
The ‘fiat dollar is to contain no promise to pay, but in its stead we are to
have a ‘fiat or proclamation. It would run in its simplest form thus: ‘This
is a dollar,” or if that formula is too brief, some decoration might be added,
thus: “ Hail Columbia | This is a dollar,” or ‘E Pluribus Unum ! This is ten
dollars.” Or for the pious it might read ; : In God we trust to make this a
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 403
dollar,’ and the holder would mentally add : “For He only can.” For it is certain
that nothing short of the ‘fiat of Him who made the world from nothing can
make such a bit of 'paper worth one hundred cents. The greenback is a child
of promise. The ‘fiat would be a waif, a stray, a nobody’s child. But, say
these men who claim for our Congress creative power, we will pass a law
making these ‘fiat dollars legal tender for all debts, public and private. If
you did your law would need, as between individuals, the sanction of judicial
approval. If the courts held your legal tender fiat act unconstitutional, as they
certainly would, it would hardly pay the rag-picker to gather from the defrauded
poor your fiat dollars. . Congress has power by the Constitution to coin money,
but this is not coined. It has power to borrow money, but that implies a
promise to pay, while neither in the law creating it nor in the fiat paper itself
will you admit any promise to pay. . . . . But if, the legal tender qualities
could be given to this new species of money (the fiat dollar) that would not
make it a par dollar, or a dollar of any fixed value. It would enable every
corporation and manufacturing company in the land, every person employing
labor, to buy up this cheap money and pay it out at par to their employees, for
the last month’s wages. But when those laborers shall go to the merchant with
their cheap fiat money to buy bread or meat for their families—where is the law
that can force that merchant to give as much flour for a fiat dollar as for a
greenback or gold dollar? He will only give the value of the dollar offered, and
if that value is uncertain or fluctuating, he will probably give less than its
present value, out of a fear that it may further depreciate on his hands. Labor
is always sold on credit. Flour and meat and shoes may be, and are, to the
poor, sold for cash. But labor cannot be sold in that way. Labor is a matter
of hours, of days, of weeks; pay comes at the end of the day or week or month.
It has been estimated by competent persons that on any given day there are
owing $120,000,000 to laboring men and women for wages. Do these want to
be paid in ‘ cheap money ’? And yet that is the base use to which such money
is always first put. These wages have been earned on a gold basis. Working-
men and women, do you agree that wages shall be paid in cheap flat dollars?
I affirm it to be clear to any man who will think, that the money of the
laboring man ought to be real money—not spook money—not “materialized de-
mand,’ as one of the ablest advocates of flat money has described it, but a
promise that it will on demand materialize into shining gold and silver dollars.
The dollar he contracts for at the beginning of the month when his wages are
404 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
named ought to be the dollar he receives at the end of the month. Money
must be very cheap before it can be picked up in the streets, so cheap that it
will hardly be worth stooping for. Short of that you can get it only by giving
something for it, labor or property. If you get in exchange full value in cheap
money you have more nominal money, but are you any richer than if you had
got full value in good money P. The probability is that the next day you will
be poorer—for the tendency of cheap money is to cheapen.
“It is undoubtedly true that the legal tender quality and the quality of being
receivable for customs and internal taxes would give some value to anything,
however worthless in itself, but not a certain or fixed value. The quality of being
legal tender, aided by the promise on its face to pay, could not keep the green-
back at par. Nothing but convertibility into coin can do that for any paper
money. • g
“The Republican party has given to the laboring man a free homestead on
the public lands. It has emancipated four millions of laborers from slavery, and
brought by the same charter free labor itself to an honor it could not attain
while companioned with slavery. In our State platform several other reforms
within the scope of State legislation are proposed, to all of which I give my
hearty approval. Among them is a homestead law, which shall secure against
sale or execution for debt the home of the distressed debtor, $nd preserve to
his family a roof-tree when the storm of adversity breaks upon them. Another
direction in which practical relief may be given to large classes of laboring men
is in the laws securing and enforcing the prompt payment of wages. In the case
of debts owing by railroad corporations, the courts have, in the exercise of their
equity power, without legislation, given a preference over mortgage bonds to
labor claims accrued within six months before the appointment of a receiver.
The equity of a laborer where wages have been unjustly withheld for seven
months is certainly not weakened by his added month of waiting. There seems to
be no good reason why there should not be given, by proper legislation, to the
employees of all corporations and manufacturing companies, a first lien for wages
due. Such a law might not be operative to the full against existing mortgages,
but it would be as to all future liens. Holders of mortgage securities would then
have an interest to see that wages were paid, while they could protect them-
selves against the mismanagement of those who controlled the enterprise by
making the non-payment of these labor liens a cause of forfeiture in the mort-
gage, entitling the mortgagee to foreclose. If any railroad or other business
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 405
enterprise cannot earn enough to pay the labor that Operates it and the interest
on its bonds, no right-minded man can hesitate to say which ought to be paid
first. The men who have invested money in the enterprise, or loaned money on
its securities, ought to have the right to stop the business when net earnings
fail, but they cannot honestly appropriate the earnings of the engineer, or
brakeman or laborer. When a court, on the motion of the bondholders, seizes
a railroad and operates it by a receiver, the chancellor will yield nothing for
interest on the bonds till he has paid the men who operate the road. Why
CONGRESSMAN DUNNELL, MINNESOTA.
should there be another rule for a railroad president 2 But not only should
payment be made secure, but promptness should be enforced. Great wrong is
often done by delay though ultimate payment may be certain. The laborer
is forced to buy on credit at enhanced prices, or to sell his claim at a heavy
discount. This, I believe, could be remedied by legislation prohibiting, under
proper penalties, the diversion of earnings to other purposes until the labor roll
is receipted. To such reforms—and these specifications do not at all exhaust
the list—the Republican party is pledged. The practical knowledge the labor-

406 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
ing man has of the evils under which he suffers should be re-enforced by the
wisest thought of those who are learned in political economy and the law. Every
aid which public sentiment and the law can give—without trenching upon con-
stitutional restrictions or the rights of others—waits only for a kindly call. But
it will not answer to the summons of hate and violence. tº
“It seems to me, and to this I ask the serious thought of all classes, that
the pressing wants of the times are : First, that lawlessness, communism in all
its forms, threats, and class hatreds shall be put away forever. If the need of
this is more urgent to one class than another it is to the honest laboring man
who is out of work. Threats and fears can drive money out of active employ-
ment into double-barred safes and into four per cent bonds—only security and con-
fidence can call it back to its natural partnership and labor. Second, that we
put our currency on an honest basis—where those who buy and sell and those
who work know when they contract what the dollar of payment is to be. Third,
that we lift up our eyes toward the hills, and recognize the faint but sure signs
of morning.
“Nothing is more fatal to the interest of labor than anarchy. A condition of
society in which law is supreme is for the poor man the only tolerable one.
The law re-enforces his weakness and makes him the peer of the strongest. It
is his tower. If he forsakes or destroys it his folly or his fury delivers him a
prey to the strong. In this land of universal suffrage, if he will be wise and
moderate, no right legislation can tarry long. That which is just will not be
denied. But fury and threats and force will not persuade. They provoke their
like, and in this clash and strife all must suffer. One of the most distressing
and alarming features of our time is the growing hostility between capital and
labor. Those who should be friends have been drawing apart and glaring
fiercely at each other. There is no real or necessary antagonism. Capital and
labor must unite in every enterprise; the partnership ought to be a fair one,
and the partners friendly. The demagogue is a potent factor of evil in the
settlement of the labor question. His object is to use the laborer to advance
a political ambition. He flatters him with professions of ardent friendship ;
beguiles him into turning the stone for his ax grinding, and when the edge
is on sends him away without wages. If laboring men would appoint committees
to inquire into the personal history of these self-appointed champions they would
not unlikely find that the noisiest of them do not pay their tailor or shoe-
maker. Their mission is to array one class against another—to foment strife,
THE REPUBLIOAAW PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 407
and to live themselves without work. They talk largely of the producers, but
never produce anything themselves except a riot, and then they are not at the
front. Their doctrine is that every man who hires labor is an oppressor and
a tyrant. That the first duty of every man who works is to hate the man whe
gives him work. The fruit of this sort of teaching is unrest and fear. . . . .
The true workingmen should shake off these vipers into the fire; place them-
selves and all their protective organizations on the platform of the law, and
while demanding their legal rights to the full proclaim their equal deference
to the rights of others. From this platform their cry for help and sympathy
will find the public ear. Let them think and work toward specific and legiti-
mate reforms, for. within the limits of constitutional restriction there is no
legislation that will be denied them.”
In 1879 General Harrison was appointed by President Hayes on the “Missis-
sippi River Commission,” under an act of Congress authorizing him to select
a committee to investigate the subject of improving the river and reclaiming
the alluvial lands, and, with Captain Gads, also on the committee, devoted much
attention to the proposition. It may be mentioned in this connection that dur-
ing this year President Hayes and Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman,
en tour of the Western States, visited Indianapolis and were entertained in his
home by General Harrison.
VI.
Harrison a Delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1880—Urged to be a Candidate—Favors
Garfield—Elected United States Senator—Garfield wants to make him Secretary of State
—Declines—Garfield's Comment—The Chinese Question—Speech at Indianapolis—The Pen-
sion Claims—Soldiers must be Remembered and their Services Rewarded—Civil Service—
Prohibition — Great Campaign Speech in Iowa — The Tariff–Free Trade as regards the
Laboring Man—In full Sympathy with the Laboring Man.
... N 1880 General Harrison was a delegate to the National Conven-
2- -
tion at Chicago and chairman of the delegation from his State.
He was strongly urged by many friends, both at home and in
Chicago, to allow his name to be presented to the Convention, but
he refused, Garfield receiving the nomination largely through his
advocacy, though at the outset there was a strong demonstra-
tion for Blaine. - -
General Harrison took an active part in the campaign. He accompanied
General Garfield on a tour which included New York.
In January, 1881, General Harrison was elected to the United States Sen-
ate to succeed Joseph E. McDonald (Dem.). When the contest for the Senator-
ship opened late in December, 1880, there were three leading candidates besides
General Harrison. They were Will Cumback, Godlove S. Orth and Walter Q.
Gresham. Judge Gresham was the first to withdraw ; Orth virtually retired
soon after, but did not withdraw his name. On January 10, 1881, Cumback with-
drew from the canvass, having convinced himself that a majority of the Re-
publicans in the Legislature favored the nomination of General Harrison and
would vote for him in caucus. In announcing his decision to General Harrison
he wrote as follows: “Believing it possible for a disappointed candidate to ren-
der to a successful rival sincere and hearty congratulations, I know you will
accept mine.” General Harrison received the caucus nomination, and on Janu-

(408)
THE REPUBLICAN PART}^ A VD ITs LEADERS. 409
ary 18 he received the full Republican vote in each House of the Legislature.
The election was completed on the following day in the joint convention.
President-elect Garfield offered General Harrison a Cabinet portfolio, but that
gentleman declined “on the ground that he was quite unfamiliar with public
affairs at Washington, and that he had just been elected to the United States
Senate, which was a place where he could learn by listening before he was
compelled to incur responsibility.”
This provoked the comment from General Garfield that, “back in the
CONGRESSMAN GROUT, VERMONT.
days of Clay and Webster, no public man hesitated to leave the Senate or the
House for a seat in the Cabinet, but now it is the reverse. He feared the
change was attributable to the fact that the business of the government had
grown so much that Cabinet positions had become slavish offices.”
The question of Chinese immigration, which had been a subject of public agi-
tation, especially on the Pacific coast, since 1868, when Hon. Anson Burlingame
brought over his Chinese delegation, attracted attention of Congress soon after
Senator Harrison’s debut in the Senate, and he considered the measure care-

410 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
fully. He was opposed to the broad provisions for citizenship of the famous
Burlingame Treaty, which should be modified. A new treaty was proposed in
1881, Article 1 of which read : “Whenever, in the opinion of the government
of the United States, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States, or
their residence therein, affects or threatens to affect the interests of that country,
or to endanger the good order of the said country or any locality within the .
territory thereof, the government of China agrees that the government of the
United States may regulate, limit or suspend such coming or residence, but may
not absolutely prohibit it. The limitation shall be reasonable, and shall apply
only to Chinese who may go to the United States as laborers, other classes
not being included in the limitation.” Finally, the Chinese Restriction Act of
1882 (May 6) was passed, the first section of which suspended Chinese immi-
gration ninety days after date of its passage. Senator Harrison opposed the
bill, though he was absent (March 9th) at the final vote, on an investigating
committee at the Soldiers’ Home with Senator Houghton of South Carolina and
Senator Jewell of New Jersey. On April 5th he voted in the negative on
a motion to pass the bill over President Arthur’s veto, and engaged in the
debate that ensued. Senator Grover of Oregon contended that section 15 of
the Act included skilled artisans, against the wishes of the Chinese Commission-
ers. Whereupon, Senator Harrison said :
‘‘I only want to make a suggestion. In the treaty the word “laborers’ is
used. I take it that it is not in the power of Congress to enlarge the mean-
ing of the word. Whatever it meant in the treaty it would mean the same
thing as used in the law ; we cannot make it mean more than that. There-
fore why not let it stand in the law as in the treaty, and let the use of
that word include what it will P. It is possible that the Senator is right in
saying that the word may be construed differently ; but can we enlarge the
meaning of it as it is used in the treaty P He (Senator Grover) reads an
extract from a paper to the effect that the word “laborers,’ as used in the
treaty, or as used in the law, may be limited by a meaning applied to those
who are unskilled. If the courts should so decide, giving that meaning to the
word “laborers,’ as used in the treaty, would the Senator from Oregon be in
favor of going beyond what we are authorized to do by treaty?”
It may be here said that the objections of Senator Harrison to the clauses
of the bill indicated were substantially taken by a decision of the Supreme Court
of the United States as to the terms employed. In a motion to omit section
•
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 411
15 providing that the phraseology “Chinese laborer '’ should be construed to
include skilled as well as unskilled laborers, and Chinese could be employed as
miners, Senator Harrison voted affirmatively, and again, on Senator Edmunds’s
amendment providing that “nothing in the Act should be construed as changing
the naturalization laws as affecting the admission of Chinese to citizenship.”
At a later period (1886), when a subsequent Act became, until recently, the law,
Senator Harrison agreed with his brother members of the Committee on For-
eign Affairs, the bill having been prepared by Senator Fair of California.
Senator Harrison’s view was that the arguments of the people of the Pacific
coast most affected by the immigration should be respected.
On August 30, 1882, at Indianapolis, Senator Harrison delivered the following
speech to his townsmen :
• “ Hundreds of letters from Indiana soldiers, some from sick-beds, some writ-
ten in the shadow of the poor-house, full of the simple pathos of truth and suffer-
ing, have come to me since I have been in the Senate, and the appeal of each was,
* Can’t you hurry up the settlement of my pension claim P’ A Republican Con-
gress responded to that appeal. We doubled the force in the Pension Office—
eight hundred additional clerks there—and gave a corresponding increase in the
adjutant and surveyor-general’s office. If claims were to be settled faster, more
money would be needed this year to pay the claims allowed. Who shall call this
waste or extravagance P . . . .
“I have no disposition to review any unpleasant memories, but this resolu-
tion admonishes us, fellow-soldiers, that we must be on the alert, or some Demo-
cratic Convention will put Lee into Grant’s place and Stonewall Jackson into
Sheridam’s. God forbid that the soldiers of Indiana, of whatever political faith,
should ever allow any other test of friendship than that of sympathy and co-opera-
tion in the cause for which they fought. What personal sacrifice is there to any
of us in Congress when we vote pension money to the soldier P The man who lived
through the war of the Rebellion and did not make some sacrifice for the suc-
cess of the Union armies—who did not say one brave word or do one brave thing
when, with bare and bleeding breasts, our soldiers looked into the face of hell for
their country—can never be enshrined as the soldier’s friend. . . . .
“I want to assure you to-night that I am an advocate of Civil Service
Reform. My brief experience at Washington has led me often to utter the wish,
with an emphasis I do not often use, that I might be forever relieved of any con-
nection with the distribution of public patronage. I covet for myself the free and
412 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
unpurchased support of my fellow-citizens, and long to be able to give my time
and energy solely to the public affairs that legitimately relate to the honorable
trust which you have committed to me.
“I want to say this further: There may have been a time in the past
when the Republican party of Indiana had dalliance with the liquor interests;
but I beg to say to all who hear me to-day that when the platform of the last
State Convention was read and received with cheers by the great masses who
heard it, any dalliance between the Republican party and the liquor league
was severed once and forever. When the resolution fell from the lips of my
friend who sits yonder, Mr. Halford of the Journal, as chairman of the Committee
on Resolutions, a trumpet was sounded that will never call retreat. Why?
Simply for the reason I have already given ; the liquor league is an organiza-
tion framed to defy the law, and, therefore, we are. against it and it is against
us. And yet, notwithstanding this, and notwithstanding the fact that whenever
you open the robe in which the Democratic party masquerades, you see some
liquor league boodle sticking out, there are those who, like my friend, the
Methodist bishop South, have got ‘ past temperance,’ and are third-party men
who make the welkin ring with the cry, “Smash the Republican party.”
Well, that is not a cry likely to draw Republicans into your party. Before me
to-day is a great body of Republicans, young and old, full of pride in the old
party ; who believe that it has, under God, wrought out the best things that
were ever achieved by any political organization ; who believe that it has in it
yet high capacities, and who are not amiably disposed when anybody says,
* Smash the Republican party.” If you want to persuade us, you will have to
change that cry. And what next P Why do you want to smash the Republican
party P Does the shield it carries cover the liquor league 2 No, my countrymen;
now, henceforth, if not before, the shield it carries fronts the liquor league, and
the point of its spear is toward that enemy of law and order. Why is it that
we do not hear from our Prohibition friends the cry, “Smash the Democratic
party P’ Why is it, when the campaign is on, that the Democratic party
newspaper becomes at the same time a liquor league and a third-party organ ”
Simply because they hope thus to withdraw from the Republican party, by this
third-party movement, enough votes to continue the liquor league and the
Democratic party in power; they will have the spoils of office, and their shield
will faithfully cover these violators of the law. I have said before, and I say
now, that among this band of zealous third-party workers for prohibition there
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 413
are devoted, faithful, earnest men and women. But, my friends, is it not a
little hard, when the Republican party has sounded this note of defiance, and
boldly confronts this organized traffic that you affect so much to reprobate,
and the Democratic party allied with it, that we should hear the hoarse cry of
E. H. CONGER, U. S. ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO BRAZIL.
the liquor league in our front, ‘Smash the Republican party,’ and from the
rear should come also the piping cry of the third-party Prohibitionists, answer-
ing like an echo to the hoarse cry in our front, ‘Smash the Republican
party 2 ”
A voice—“They won’t smash it worth a cent.”

414 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S I, JºADEIPS.
Senator Harrison—“No, they won’t l Because, for one reason, the great
body of that great pioneer church of the West, that paved the way for civiliza-
tion and God in our woods, are unlike the bishop down South, and have not
‘got past temperance.” Now, what are we going to do about it? Well, let
us see. We said in our State platform that we were in favor of clothing local
communities with power to act upon this question. There I stand for one to-day.
I do not believe in State prohibition as the best method of dealing with this
question. If you do, there is no reason why we should part to-day. There is
good work that we can do together. The Republican party in the House of
Representatives, so far as it could, kept the pledge of the platform. If you had
helped us, my prohibition friends, to make the Senate Republican, that law
would have been on the statute book to-day. I believe it is true, and can be
demonstrated to be true, that if you had thrown your votes with us in the
last campaign such a result could have been accomplished. Is it not worth
while to work together ? I believe that much depends upon the wise and
thoughtful reconsideration of all these questions by the temperance people of
Indiana, and it they shall wisely think upon them and wisely give their vote
and influence to the party that has started boldly in the direction of temper-
ance reform, we shall certainly carry Indiana, next year, and greatly advance
the good cause of temperance reform.”
On October 22, 1883, Senator Harrison made a great speech on the tariff in
the canvass in Iowa, which was reported as follows by the Iowa State Register:
“The next national Democratic platform will not declare for a tariff for
revenue only. Indiana is not the only State where such a declaration would be
prejudicial to Democratic success. In the South, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama,
and Tennessee are already awakening to the benefits of diversified industries. No
longer content to raise cotton for Massachusetts, they are spinning it in sight of
the fields where it grew, and are successfully competing with the East in the
markets of the West. The vast beds of coal and iron in their mountains have
been opened. Alabama already has her Birmingham, and boasts of her ability
to make iron cheaper than Pennsylvania. The industrial question threatens to
dominate the race question, and that bodes no good to the Democratic party
in the South. The Western States are no longer purely agricultural States,
exchanging their wheat for New England goods. When the Cobden Club
makes its old appeal to the West in behalf of British goods, it does not speak as
formerly to a section having but one great industry. The furnace, the rolling-
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND IT'S LEAD ERS. 415
mill, the machine-shop, the woolen and cotton-mill have come West to grow up
with the country. In 1850 Ohio had only $29,000,000 invested in manufacturing ;
in 1880 she had $189,000,000. Then Indiana, had less than $8,000,000 ; in 1880
she had over $65,000,000. Then Illinois had $6,000,000; in 1880 she had over
$140,000,000. Iowa, then had $1,200,000 ; in 1880 she had $33,978,000. The
total value of the products of manufacture of these four States in 1850 was only
$101,000,000; for 1880 it was $982,207,000. The power of Cobden Club tracts
over the mind of a farmer diminishes in proportion to his nearness to a manu-
facturing center. For in that proportion he realizes the benefit of a home
market. One that not only takes the staple products of his farm, but its more
perishable products that cannot reach a distant market. Let us not forget that
the tariff question, as we have it in American politics, is not in its ultimate
statement a question as to what duty shall be levied on this or that article of
import. The broader question must be settled first whether we may and should
in fixing these duties so adjust them as to protect American industries. Whether
we should do that of a deliberate purpose, or should leave these industries to
the accidents or “incidents' of a tariff only designed for revenue. Mr. Voor-
hees is reported in the newspapers to have said that the tariff plank in the
Indiana State platform of last year declared ‘For a revenue tariff, with in-
cidental protection, designed to foster our industries.’ There is a vast deal of
undesigned incidental nonsense in such a declaration. A leading Democratic
paper aptly described this sort of thing As a tariff for revenue only, with a
protection attachment to catch votes.” The tariff plank in the Ohio plat-
form, which has been accepted in a good many other States as the correct
“form,” is only another example of a platform trick intended to conceal and
not to declare the purposes of the party. As I have said, it did not reach
Iowa in time, and you blundered into an honest expression of Democratic doc-
trine—‘ A tariff for revenue only.” The Democrats of Iowa have courage. I
think this virtue is the fruit of adversity. They have never found it necessary
to stop and consider whether this or that declaration of principle might lose
the State. It was lost before the platform was reported. You want a tariff
for revenue only. You would have Congress gradually but persistently reduce
duties till every vestige of protection to our home industries is eliminated. You
would give our persecuted industries no rest. The only concession you will make
to them is that they shall be led down an easy incline to death. You will advise
a slow poison. Your platform does not hold out any delusive hope of “incidental
416 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
protection.” It boldly says, we will have no regard whatever to the necessities
of any American industry or to the wages of the American laborer. Our sole
object will be revenue; and if we can get more revenue out of a given article
by making a rate that will close every American mill producing it, and give
OUII* entire market to the British manufacturer, that shall be the rate. This
doctrine takes no account of workmen and workwomen. If our mills are kept
running these must accept the lower wages of European operatives.
“I do not stop to furnish statistics of the comparative wages of labor here
and in Europe. They are abundant and well authenticated. I want no other
evidence that wages and all the other conditions of labor are better here than
in Europe than this : the laboring men and women of Europe are coming this
way, and they come to stay. Millions of earnings have gone back to the old
countries to pay the passage money of friends hither, but the steerage of the
returning vessel is empty. The Irishman, German, and Scotchman know a land
that has light and life in it for a laborer as well as the bird knows the land of
summer. I do not say that labor has its full reward here. I do not deny that
the avarice of the mill-owner too often clips the edge of comfort from the wages
of his operative. I regret that the legislator has so little power to soften the
rigors of avarice or to save the laborer from disastrous competition in the labor
market. But in spite of all this, I do affirm that, there is more comfort and
more hope for a laboring man or woman in this country than in any other.
“Will it help the laborer to bring our tariff duties to a revenue only ”
basis On which side is his interest ? Every honest and intelligent advocate
of free trade must admit that if we abandon our system of protective duties the
wages of labor must be reduced. The trade unions frequently concede a reduc-
tion of wages when the product of their labor declines in price. Now these tariff
reformers tell us that the price of all competing American products is enhanced
by the full amount of the duty laid on the foreign article. A reduction of duty
then involves a corresponding reduction of the price of the product of our mills.
The laborer in the mill must accept less wages. But it is said that the reduction
in wages, which some of these gentlemen state at twenty-five per cent, is to be
made up to the workmen by the cheaper rate at which he will obtain the neces-
saries of life. The loss of one-fourth of his wages is a very hard fact. The
laborer knows what extra pinching that means. The compensating advantage
held out to him in the way of a reduced cost of the necessaries of life is a school-
man's theory. The great bulk of his living, three-fifths, in fact—his meat, and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 417
bread, and house-rent—have no relation to tariff duties. The laborer is asked to
render at least one-fourth of his wages that he may possibly save two dollars
on his coat. A tariff for revenue only means less work and lower Wages. Let.
every workingman take that fact home with him. This is not only a question
for the worker in mills, but on the farm and on the street. One of the most
significant things said in the Senate during the debate on the tariff bill was this
by Senator Morgan of Alabama : “ There is Birmingham, which is growing up
in great prosperity ; but whether it is going to add a dollar to the wealth of
CONGRESSMAN FLOOD, NEW YORK.
Alabama is a problem. If Birmingham is to raise the price of farm labor all
over the State twenty-five cents a day, or something like that, the farmers will
have to give up cotton planting, and will have to stop, or else it will have to be
planted entirely on the hills by the few white people who are scattered among
them ; or, if Birmingham or any other industry in Alabama is to draw the
labor from the plantations, I do not see how we are to conduct our great agri-
cultural enterprises. I shall begin to believe after a while that it is more of a
curse than a blessing to have these great bestowments of coal and iron in the
bosom of our State.”

27
418 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“It will be noticed that this distinguished Senator doubts whether Bir-
mingham, the great center of the iron industry in his State, will be a benefit
to Alabama. The higher price paid for skilled labor there will have a tendency
to raise common labor—the black man in the cotton field may demand higher
wages for his day’s toil—and so the Senator fears that agriculture may suffer
from the proximity of these busy centers of the arts. It is a short-sighted
view. The manufacturing industries build up our cities, and the cities cannot
wall in the influences which enhance the value of property. They are not free
cities, but must pay tribute to the outlying fields and to the farmer who tills
them. -
“Every prosperous city in Iowa sends out from it an influence that en-
hances the value of the farm and the products of the farm. It brings to a
circle of these farms a market which may be reached by the wagon and delivers
the farmer from the tribute of the common carrier. We need not have any
fear that wages will anywhere be too high. We have a common interest that
a margin for comfort may be added to the necessaries of life. I am sure
that none of us are so anxious for cheap goods that we would be willing to
admit ‘ the spoils of the poor' into our houses. It seems strange that we
should find a party among us opposing the protective principle when even the
provinces of Great Britain are adopting it and finding increased prosperity.
“France and Germany still embody this idea in their legislation. There
may be fair ground for debate as to the rate which particular articles of im-
port should bear, or as to whether this or that article should not be on the
free list. Republicans differ upon such questions, but that our legislation should
discriminate in favor of our own country, her industries and laboring people,
ought not to be questioned. I shall not stop to tire you with statistics as to
the effect of tariff duties upon the cost of our domestic products. The pretext
that these are enhanced in price to the consumer by the amount of the tariff
duty laid upon similar products has been too often exposed. If you will take
any market report from one of your newspapers and examine the quotations on
any manufacture of cotton, woolen or iron and then look at the tariff duty
imposed on these articles you will expose for yourselves the falsity of this pre-
tense. The effect of American competition has almost invariably been to re-
duce prices. It is this competition only that emancipates us from the power
of the foreign manufacturer to dictate prices in our midst. Doubtless you are
unaware of the fearful burdens under which you rest until some Democratic
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 419
Orator explains them to you. Things seem to you to be cheap enough and
the exchanges which you are able to make of your labor for foreign products
seem to be made on favorable terms. Certainly they are more favorable than
they used to be. About a year ago I happened in one of our Indiana towns
and had the pleasure of conversing with one of the old citizens who had been a
clerk in a dry goods store in a very early day in the history of our State, when
the surplus product of our lands all went to the New Orleans market by flat-
boat. He told me that he recalled well the time when the first Lowell print
calicoes came to the store. Before that everything had been British or French.
He recalled the price at which these things were sold. Calico was thirty-seven
and a half cents per yard, and chickens were thirty-seven and a half cents per
dozen. It took eight dozen chickens to buy a calico dress, and the pattern was
scanter then than it is now. If we look at the price-list of steel rails or of
other manufactures of iron or of tile, or fabrics of woolen, one shall find that
we are able now to make exchanges of our farm products for these at more
satisfactory rates than formerly. But, some one says, I can buy the same article
of British manufacture cheaper abroad. Well, if that is true now, has the fact
that our American mills have occupied so largely our home market nothing to
do with it 2 Are you absolutely sure that the price would remain the same if
these mills were closed ? Are you sure it would not reach higher figures than
the price of our domestic products now P
“I have said that there was no unity of thought or purpose or principle in
the Democratic party on this question. There was no consistency of action on
the subject in Congress. With very few exceptions Democratic Senators voted
for high protective duties upon every article in the production of which their
several States were interested. I will prove this by the evidence of Democratic
Senators. On February 14th Senator Gorman of Maryland said: ‘There is not
a Democrat on this floor who has not voted for the highest possible protection
within the revenue standard for the interest of his State, and the lowest pos-
sible duty upon every article that his people consume and do not either raise
or manufacture.”
“What an interesting picture of Democrats by a Democrat—each voting high
protective duties upon articles of import that come into competition with prod.
ucts of his own State, and ‘the lowest possible duties upon all articles not
produced in his State. General Hancock was right. The tariff is a ‘local
question' to Democratic statesmen. In the same speech Senator Gorman further
- 420 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
says on the same subject : “The policy exists all the way through from Texas.
to Maine. You will find my friend from Texas voting for a duty upon cattle to
prevent them from coming in from Mexico in competition with the cattle of
Texas. He would not put them on the free list, the very staff of life. He
would not put on the free list wheat, corn or cattle, and my friend from
Alabama would join him in that vote. My distinguished friend from North
Carolina (Vance), who has fought nearly every section in this bill and has
become as near a Free Trader as any gentleman I ever listened to, is in favor
of taxing rice, and is, in favor of keeping a tax upon turpentine. He himself
proposed to take from the free list the wooden pipe the poor man smokes and
place it on the taxable list.’ Let me call another Democratic witness. On the
15th February Mr. Voorhees săid:
‘‘‘ Rice is a product of one or two States in this country. I am not unfavor-
able to any protection which the Senators from those States desire to have upon.
it. The value of rice imported into this country in the last year was $1,417,-
437.84. The duty collected on that rice was $1,581,338.05, being a larger amount,
of money paid for the privilege of importing rice into this country than the
value of the rice itself. Yet the gentlemen, with the exception of perhaps one
or two from the States that raise rice, have stood here for nearly one solid.
month arraigning every interest that was affected by the whole tariff bill from
one schedule to another from end to end. The rate of duty for the importation.
of rice is 11.1% per cent. Yet I have heard men talk here by the hour about.
glass, about iron, and about coal, as if the very horrors of the Inquisitton were:
upon them, and I find them meek and mild and gentle as sucking doves when
it comes to the question of duty on rice and glad to stay away from the de-
bate—glad to stay out of it—and do not say a single word. Glad to let others.
besides themselves settle the protection on their rice.”
“It only remains to add that sixteen Democratic Senators, out of twenty-six
voting, voted against a reduction of the duty on rice, and that Senator Vance.
was one of them. -
“And now let me give you a specimen of the views of two leading Demo-
crats of Indiana. In one of his last speeches in the Senate, February 15, 1881,
Joseph E. McDonald said: -
“‘The Democratic party has always taken this view of the powers of the
Federal government, and has opposed the so-called protection policy as unconsti-
tutional as well as unwise, and especially in its platform of 1876, ‘‘ demanded.
3.
|
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i
THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

422 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND IT'S LAWADERS.
that all custom house taxation should be only for revenue.” The reassertion of
this principle in the platform of 1880 it is true has been denounced in this
chamber as a “remarkable blunder,” and it has been charged here and else-
where that the assertion of it had caused the defeat of the Democratic party
in the last presidential election. . . . . Mr. President, the Democratic party
was not defeated because it advocated a constitutional tariff and opposed the
doctrine of protection, and I trust on this subject it will “take no step back-
ward.” ” .
“Mr. Voorhees, in his letter to Bayless Hanna, October 20, 1881, said :
“‘The platform of 1880 was a violent departure on the subject of the tariff
and has no precedent in the history of Democratic platforms adopted in National
Conventions. Have examined them all. The declaration of “a tariff for revenue
only ” was never before made in a National Democratic Convention, and is a
burlesque on common Sense. . . . .
“‘We lost Indiana in the last three weeks of the campaign of 1880 on the
absurd issue made by our platform on this subject.’
“And again in his debate with Senator Vance (Cong. Record, February 17,
1883, p. 17) he said: ‘I stand here declaring that I am a protectionist for every
interest which I am sent here by my constitutents to protect.”
“Now, my Democratic friends, is not somebody cheated when these two views
of the tariff are blended in one platform P Hendricks in his speech at Council
Bluffs read the Iowa and Ohio platforms of this year, and the Indiana platform
of last year, and said : ‘I have referred to the recent declarations of these States
as entitled to great weight and consideration. Their population aggregates more
than six million, and in the pursuit of agriculture and the mechanic arts their
production can hardly be enumerated. The Democracy of Virginia are in
harmony with these States.” Now, if the Virginia Democracy are in harmony
with these three platform declarations on the subject of the tariff, it must be
that the platforms are harmonious with each other. Hendricks meant to convey
that impression. And yet no one knows better than Hendricks that the Iowa
platform which declares for a ‘tariff for revenue only, by a gradual but per-
sistent reduction,” would have been impossible in Ohio and Indiana. He knew
that the Ohio platform which demands a tariff so adjusted as, among other
things, to encourage productive industries at home, and afford just compensation
to labor, is no more a ‘tariff for revenue only,’ than his talk was that of a
candid man. The Indiana platform of last year quite as distinctly admitted the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 423
idea that a tariff was not to be “for revenue only,” but was to be so adjusted as -
to ‘promote the industries of the country and the interests of labor.” When
Hendricks says these three platforms mean the same thing he delivers a heavy
blow at the intelligence of Voorhees, who says that the Iowa platform is an
absurdity, and that the Indiana platform is the work of his own hand. Voorhees
claims that the Indiana platform allows a Democrat to say, as he said in the
Senate, without inconsistency, ‘I am a protectionist for every interest that I am
sent here by my constituents to protect,” and to vote for the highest duties on
glass and rice. But Voorhoes is not for the ‘old ticket,” and this may account
for Hendricks’ indifference to his feelings.
“A great many leading Democrats talk about “incidental protection,” as if
that sort of protection was a very good thing. They are careful to say that
they would give our industries the full benefit of the beneficent accident.
“Now, if they really rejoice in this chance benefit, why not give the benefit
of a purpose—by design—and get some credit for good intentions P I can see no
reason in them unless it be held with McDonald, that it is unconstitutional to
consider the protective effects of a duty in advance, or that it is a good thing
but must come, like the whisky to Lincoln’s temperance man, ‘unbeknownst to
him.’ I would not have a tariff for revenue only—nor for protection only. I
would not have either the revenue or the protection “incidental.’”
On the subject of Civil Service Reform he said: “I want to assure you to-
night that I am an advocate of Civil Service Reform. My brief experience at
Washington has led me often to utter the wish, with an emphasis I do not often
use, that I might be forever relieved of any connection with the distribution of
public patronage. I covet for myself the free and unpurchased support of my
fellow-citizens, and long to be able to give my time and energy solely to the pub-
lic affairs that legitimately relate to the honorable trust which you have com-
mitted to me. It is easy for theorists to make suggestions upon this subject
which in their opinion would cure all existing evils. I assure you it is more diffi-
cult to frame a law that shall be safe and practical in its application. I know
that several Republican Senators gave much thought and study to this ques-
tion during the last session. I believe the next session will witness the enact-
ment of a law, which, if it does not consummate, will at least auspiciously begin
this reform. That there are sincere advocates of this reform in the Democratic
Jarty as in our own I do not deny. But that this reform would be introduced
by that party if they were to come now in the control of the Federal patronage,
424 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
I do not think any sensible man believes. In some of the States, and in the
Senate of the United States, the Democratic party to-day controls the patron-
age. Need I say that in the appointments made there we find no suggestion
of civil service reform. .
“No Democratic candidate for the Presidency could rally his party if he
were to proclaim as the rule of his administration that public office should not
be a reward of party zeal. The fate of this reform is in our hands. Democrats
have masqueraded as civil service reformers in their conventions, but they drop
the mask now that their hands are extended to clutch the booty. The only hope
for the permanency of this reform is that it shall in the future go under the
friendly hands and nurture of a Republican administration until it has become a
rooted and substantial thing. We may then expect that the Democratic party
will again praise its comeliness.” *
j
VII.
Address to his Colored Fellow Townsmen—Civil Rights—Changes wrought by the War—Delegate-
at-Large to the Chicago Convention in 1884 — Gives a Hearty Support to Blaine–Ratifi-
cation Meeting at Indianapolis—Speech on Blaine—The Isthmus Canal—Foreign Policy—
The Navy—Ratio between Gold and Silver—Speech at Danville, Ind.—Trusts and Combines
—Subsidies for American Steamships.
º: ENATOR HARRISON made it a rule never to neglect his
senatorial duties, and although at this time in great demand
as a speaker at political meetings was compelled to decline
many invitations from his party friends in all parts of the
country. He was always called upon to make a speech when-
ever he returned home, and many of his greatest speeches
were delivered to his fellow townsmen.
At a meeting of colored citizens at Indianapolis, October 23, 1883, convened
to protest against the Civil Rights Act, he spoke as follows on the subject :
“Mr. Chairman and fellow citizens, ladies and gentlemen : It has not been
true during all the period of my residence in Indiana that you have been my fel-
low citizens. It is true, however, to-night. When, in 1854, I came to Indiana.
to reside, the Constitution then in force in this State and the laws of the United
States, as explained in the Dred Scott decision, did not recognize you as citizens.
I stand to-night and look into the face of no man who is not my fellow citizen,
endowed under the law and the Constitution with every right that I possess. I
do not think there has been any revolution in history more notable or significant
than the revolution which has taken place in this country since 1860, as affecting
the status of the colored men and women of America. When we look back to
that time before the war we see 4,000,000 of Africans who were slaves—absolutely
deprived of all natural and political rights; in the eyes of the law mere things,
not differing in any essential, so far as the law describes them, from a horse or a
- (425)

426 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LAADERS.
mule-chattels, to be sold upon the auction block, to be transferred by bills of
sale, to be passed, by testamentary expressions of those who owned them, to the
children that came after them. I talked to one here to-night who has been the
subject of those bills of sale. That was the status of the colored men in the slave
States. What was it in many of the free States and here in Indiana P. We had
the old thirteenth article of our State Constitution, adopted in 1850, which abso-
lutely made it illegal for a colored man to come into Indiana, which made it
illegal for any man to hire a colored man who had come into the State, though
he might be starving, and have a willing head to work and earn the bread he
and his children needed, under the penalty of going to jail for hiring him. I
recollect when that was your status here in Indiana, and there were convictions
in this State against white men for hiring black men to work for them. What
was your status then with reference to our public schools P You know when your
children were first admitted to the schools. I doubt if there is a person here so
young that they do not recollect it. You have left the infants at home to-night
—the very young ones. What is your present relation to that great agency
which, more than State laws or constitutional laws, is to be the agency of the
elevation of the black race—the free schools P Why, all that is said in this letter
that has just been read from Austin H. Brown is true as to the present condition
of the schools in Indiana. You have magnificently constructed and equipped -
school-houses built out of the public taxes of the State of Indiana, in which your
children may from day to day acquire the elements of an education which shall
fit them for the right exercise of that citizenship with which they are now en-
dowed ; and in those schools you have colored men who, by their own intelligence
and industry, have made themselves fit to preside over them, and dispense the
discipline and instruction which pertains to them with a degree of skill and satis-
faction that is a credit to your race. I noticed to-day as I walked down from my
house in the morning young colored children, with their books under their arms,
going to the high school, entering there with the children of the white men, rich
and poor, of Indianapolis, upon equal terms, to acquire the higher branches of
education. When we recall the legal restraints which less than twenty-five years
ago were upon you, and the weight of prejudice which kept you down and sepa-
rated you from your white fellow citizens, we look with wonder upon the condition
of things to-day, and I am here to rejoice with you in it. There has never been
a proposition looking to the striking off of a shackle from the black man’s wrist,
or from his mind, or from his personal freedom, which has not received my hearty
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 427
indorsement and my personal help—not one. I am glad to know that you are
not wholly indebted to those distinguished pioneers, those intrepid men who faced
this wall of prejudice in your behalf for what has been achieved, but that you
yourselves have had an honorable part in breaking down those walls of opposi-
tion. It was most appropriate that the freedom of the blacks should not come
until the blood of the black man had been shed on the battle-field to procure it.
I have seen myself in the South a brigade of black men face the rebels. I have
CHIEF JUSTICE MELVILLE W. FULLER.
seen them turn up their dusky faces to the sun as their souls were freed by death
upon the battle-field in order that they might win freedom for their race.”
In June, 1884, Senator Harrison attended the Republican National Conven-
tion at Chicago, as a delegate-at-large, and was asked to enter the race, but
declined, and Hon. James G. Blaine received the nomination, the third occa-
Sion of his name coming before the National Convention.
- Speaking at a ratification meeting in advocacy of the Presidential nominee,
Blaine, at Indianapolis, Ind., June 7, 1884, Gen. Harrison said about contract
labor :

428 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“Mr. Blaine stands square with his party upon the proposition embodied in
our platform at Chicago, that we do not want in this country imported contract
labor. I believe in letting any man who wants to become a citizen come here,
if he comes of his own impulse. But I do not believe, nor does he believe, nor
does the Republican party believe, in imported gang labor. Contracts made in
foreign lands are made at foreign prices, and the competition is unfair. Labor
contracts should be individual. . .”
Referring to the ship canal across the Isthmus he said: “Mr. Blaine, in this
dispatch, boldly, yet without bluster, assumed the position for his government
that in the present conditon of this country, having States upon the Pacific,
Atlantic and Gulf States, we had a peculiar interest in any ship canal across the
Isthmus. He pointed out that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, by reason of the
greater naval strength of Great Britain, which our policy did not allow us to
compete with, surrendered the control of the canal practically to Great Britain
in case of war between the two nations, by refusing to us the benefit of our
greater strength upon the land. . . . . The narrow barrier which obstructs
the passage of ships from the Gulf to the Pacific Ocean will not much longer
force commerce around the Horn. When a canal is completed it will be practi-
cally a part of our coast line, and the control of it by any foreign power would
put us at tremendous disadvantage in time of war, by allowing the enemy to
mass her squadrons on either of our coasts at her pleasure. Only the law of
superior force could compel us to submit to this disadvantage. . . . . There
was a time in our history when we thought our public domain was inexhausti-
ble. There was a time when our Pacific slope lay represented by weeks of
travel from us, over sandy plains, in slow coaches. There was a sentiment that
we might well aid in the construction of some railroads to the coast. But that
work has been done, and we stand to-day in the defense of the principles enun-
ciated at Chicago, that the land not fairly earned by these companies should be
returned to the public domain, and that what is left of the public domain suit-
able for agricultural uses shall be saved for the actual settler, in Small tracts.
The public mind has been aroused by the fact that foreign capitalists, lords and
nobles of the old country, have come here and acquired vast tracts of our
domain ; public interest and indignation have been excited, and we have said it
must stop. I would not dispose of an acre of the public land otherwise than
under the homestead laws. -
“Some timid people fear that Mr. Blaine will involve the country in war.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADER.S. 429.
Some overcautious business men affect to believe that the even current of their
money-getting will be disturbed by the aggressive foreign policy which they sup-
pose he would inaugurate. My fellow citizens, no one has ever accused Mr. Blaine.
of being a fool. He has some ideas upon foreign affairs, and I am glad of it;
they are rare. He had begun to organize them into a system when he laid
down the portfolio of State. Now, what sort of a foreign policy did his dispatches.
foreshadow P One in which this country shall play the bully P" One in which
we shall, without cause, insult or deny just rights to any foreign government P
Not at all. Do we not all desire that we shall have a manly foreign policy—one
that shall not be characterized by such timidity as not to lift a manly protest.
when any wrong is done in any foreign country to the humblest American citi-
Zen 2 What was it Mr. Blaine proposed to do P Briefly and chiefly, he proposed to
call a congress for consultation as to the mutual interests of the nations of the
continent ; a meeting of our sister republics, not for the purpose of aggression.
Far from it. It was that we might exercise our friendly offices in the interests.
of peace and stable government among these people where government has been.
so unstable, where the existing regimes are so frequently overturned as to bring
prostration and desolation to all private enterprises. It was that we might,
extend a kindly hand to these people, to help them on to a higher civilization,
and that we might in return enjoy some of that great commerce which Great
Britain monopolizes to-day. We are living near these people ; they are striving
to imitate us in the experiment of free government, yet we are without access.
or influence. When a distinguished citizen of this State was, by President.
James A. Garfield, appointed charge d'affairs at Montevideo, in Uruguay, in
order to get to his post of duty he had to take a British steamer from New
York to Liverpool, and another British steamer from Liverpool to Montevideo.
Notwithstanding we are here on the same general coast, there was no direct.
communication between this country and that. It has been a standing shame.
that our relations to these South American governments have been such that,
neither we nor they have enjoyed any of the benefits of good neighborhood.
Mr. Blaine proposed to remedy this confessed omission in our foreign policy. A
congress of these nations was the leading feature of his brief administration
of the State Department. There was nothing to disturb business in that pol-
icy, but much promise of a new market for our surplus. Nobody wants war;
it is a last resort. But every self-respecting American does believe in maintain-
ing the proper dignity, honor, and influence of this great nation. .
430 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“My countrymen, I have digressed a little in this talk about Mr. Blaine’s
foreign policy. Neither he nor we propose any policy that shall imperil the
quiet of this country, unless, having exhausted every peaceful measure, there
should remain no other recourse but war. But when that issue comes, the
patriotic, brave hearts of his countrymen will respond that the dignity and the
honor of the country and the safety of her citizens must be maintained, even if
the money-getters suffer temporary interruption.
“I am in favor of putting upon the sea enough American ships, armed with
the most improved ordnance, to enforce the just rights of our people against
any foreign aggressor. It is a good thing in the interests of peace and com-
merce to show the flag of our navy in the ports where the flag of commerce is
unfurled. It opens the way to traffic and gives security to our citizens dwell-
ing in those remote lands.”
In a speech at Indianapolis, Aug. 23, 1884, he said on the subject of the
restoration of the navy : “Is it not humiliating beyond expression that a
prominent Democratic representative should declare the inability of the govern-
ment to obtain redress from an inferior power for outrages upon an Ameri-
can citizen, and that his party associates should at the same time be voting
to withhold the necessary appropriation to arm the four vessels we are build-
ing, and against adding another to their number 2 It is not proposed by
the Republican party to put afloat a navy which, assembled in one squadron,
could do successful battle with the fleets of some of the great European
powers, but we do propose, and such was the view of the Naval Advisory
Board, to build at once a sufficient number of fast-sailing steel cruisers to con-
stitute a bond for good behavior and fair treatment on the part of the other
maritime nations of the world, and to construct for coast and harbor defenses
such armored ships and torpedo boats as will protect our great commercial
cities on the seaboard. The occasional visit to foreign ports of a modern
and well-equipped ship, bearing the flag of our nation, challenges respect and
gives a sense of security to our citizens dwelling abroad.”
In 1885, General Harrison wrote as follows on the financial question : “I
have never believed that cheap money, in the sense of depreciated money,
was desirable. I have always thought and said that the interest of the labor-
ing and farming classes especially was in the line of stable, par currency.
The silver question may be presented in diverse forms. I am a bi-metallist
by strong convictions. I think silver should be preserved as a coin metal,
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 431
but it is very apparent that the present ratio between silver and gold is out
of joint, and that something ought to be done to correct the inequality.”
At Danville, Aug. 26, 1886, Senator Harrison spoke as follows:
“Now I do not propose here to discuss the tariff question. I believe the
principle of the protection of American industry is well established and well
defended by the principles of political economy and by the duties of patriotism.
There are one or two things that in some respects are working against it, and
one is this abominable and un-American system which is recently developed, called
CONGRESSMAN TOWNSEND, PENNSYLVANIA.
trusts—I do not refer to the gas trust at Indianapolis; that is firstrate; it is the
only trust of that sort that I know of that is really in the interests of the people
—but this sort of thing has come about : The men making steel rails form an as-
sociation, and they say, ‘We must not make too many steel rails, the price will
go down.” And so they say to a steel-mill over in St. Louis, ‘Now don’t you
make any rails this year at all; you let your fires go out ; you can discharge
all of your workmen, and we will pay you out of the pool enough to make
you a good dividend on your stock or your capital.’ And the mill shuts down,

432 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
turns out the workmen that should be there, and gets out of the pool a good
interest on its investment. We had a whisky pool—I don’t know that anybody
would object that they limit the production, but it will do just as well for illus-
tration. They work it the same way. They say to this distillery, ‘Your capac-
ity is a hundred barrels; you make fifty.’ And to another, “Your capacity is
two hundred ; you make a hundred.’ And to another, ‘Don’t you run at all, and
we will pay you.” And they pool it all up and fix prices this way. Now this
thing is running too far. It is un-American ; it is unpatriotic in my judgment,
and you will notice that those who are attacking our tariff system take their
position behind these facts and use them as the ground of their assault. We
must find some way to stop such combinations. There has recently been an
attempt in Pennsylvania, as reported, in the great anthracite coal regions upon
which the cities of Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and the people of the sea-
board depend, as well as of the West, for much of their winter fuel, to combine
together the railroad and mine-owners, and say: “We will only produce so much
coal, and we will force the price up.’ I believe these things should be made un-
lawful, prohibited and punished as conspiracies against the people. . . . .
“Well, again, I want to see enough revenue saved to help put some Amer-
ican steamship lines on the sea. Every important nation of the old world sub-
sidizes some of the great steamship lines that ply between its ports and the
ports of foreign countries, either directly or by liberal pay for carrying the
mail. Why, I saw to-day in the Journal that for years the Argentine Repub-
lic, in South America, has been offering out of its treasury an annual bonus of
$100,000 to any company that would establish a regular steamship line between
Buenos Ayres and New York City. That poor government has been willing
to do so much. It would develop for us a great trade and give an outlet, for
surplus manufactured products. Congress once placed in the control of the
Postmaster-General a large sum of money that might have been so spent, but
he refused to expend it ; and so we stand to-day. Separated by so much shorter
distance from these South American ports, our near neighbors, who ought to
buy our goods and send theirs here, are in fact by reason of these steamship
lines more near to England than to us, and she enjoys their trade. You all
know Bayless Hanna. Well, Bayless was chosen to represent us, I believe, at
the court of the Argentine Republic, the very nation I have been speaking of, and
he wanted to get there, and in order to get there—down our own coast—he had
to go to Liverpool to get a ship to carry him there. Is it not a shame that an
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 433
American ambassador cannot find an American ship out from any of our great
ports to these ports of the South American States, but must cross the ocean
eastward and put himself under the British flag in order to find the port where
he is to set up over his house the American flag P Now, before we reduce the
revenue too much, we want to get an administration that will respond to the
demand of the people and of Congress that American ships shall have suitable
encouragement to ply between these ports of South America and our own ports,
to develop the great trade that we ought to have with them.”
28
VIII.
Address at Home on the Labor Question—Protection of American Labor—Republican Consider-
ation of the Tariff—Pensions—Cleveland's Extraordinary Exercise of the Veto Power—
Speech on the Soldiers' Vote—Record in the Senate on the Labor Question—The Knights
of Labor—Testimonial from the Knights of Labor—A Patriotic Response. •
º Vºſſ Indianapolis he made the following speech, September 15, 1886:
º: .
W.
“I believe that a large majority of our people—not them-
selves wage-workers—sympathize with and will give their aid
to every reform calculated to make the burdens of labor
lighter and its rewards more adequate. These, added to the
vast army of wage-workers, can and will bring on in orderly procession those
well-digested reforms which experience and study have suggested, and will yet
suggest. A contented and thrifty working class is the surest evidence of na-
tional health and the best pledge of public security. The men who fought the
war for the Union were its working people. It was true of the army as of
the kingdom of heaven—not many rich. The reforms suggested have relation,
first, to the health and comfort of the workman. I believe the law should vig-
orously, and under severe penalties, compel all employers of labor to reduce the
risk to health and limb to the lowest practicable limit. Overcrowding, ill ven-
tilation, unhealthful surroundings, should be made unlawful and unprofitable.
The life of man or woman should not be woven into a fabric. Every appliance
for safety should be exacted. I believe that the wages of the laborer should be
given such preference as will secure him against loss. As long ago as 1878, in
a public speech, I said upon this subject : “If any railroad or other business
enterprise cannot earn enough to pay the labor that operates it and the interest
on its bonds, no right-minded man can hesitate to say which ought to be paid
first. The men who have invested money in the enterprise or loaned money on
its securities ought to have the right to stop the business when net earnings
(434)
\



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 435
fail, but they cannot fairly appropriate the earnings of the engineer, or brake-
man or laborer.’
“I believe the law should require the prompt payment of wages in money.
I believe that the number of working hours can, in most of our industries, be
reduced without a serious loss to production, and with great gain to the health,
comfort and contentment of our working classes. I advocated and voted for the
law of Congress prohibiting the importation of laborers under contracts made
abroad, and believe that such legislation is just and wise. But I cannot extend
NR
NS
- º
N
§§
s N
§§
N
CONGRESSMAN MILLIKEN, MAINE.
this discussion further. The recent State platform of our party, in its declara-
tions on this subject, meets my entire approval. The labor reform needs only to
trust, to reason and fair argument to secure success. Its two worst enemies are
anarchy and the demagogue. If it escapes these it will succeed. The masses of
our people are disposed to be kind, just and liberal—hospitable to reason and
reform. But the majority in favor of law and public order is overwhelming.
Nothing can succeed upon the line of lawlessness. It is the most hopeful sign
that attends this great movement that the great body of its promoters have

436 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
not failed to see this truth, and have united with their fellow citizens in de-
nouncing the fierce and destructive doctrines of the anarchist and his bloody work.
“The Republican party, on the other hand, holds to the doctrine that in
fixing tariff rates the effect of the rate proposed upon American industries and
upon the wages of American workmen should be carefully and kindly considered.
We do not think that the shutting up of shops or the extinguishment of indus-
tries is a pleasant work. We have not reached the plane of that cold philosophy
which refuses to recognize a closer relationship and a higher duty to the Ameri-
can workman and his family than to the English. The foundations of our
national security and life are not of stone—the good will and good conscience
of our voting population support the stately fabric. Contentment is a condition
of good will, and has an important relation to a good conscience. Good wages
promote contentment. The cry of the Free Trader is for a cheaper coat, an
English coat, and he does not seem to care that this involves a cheapening of
the men and women who spin, and weave, and cut, and stitch. He may even
deny this. But let one of these gentlemen whose lives have been So favored
that they have never had any ‘personal contact with business’ go into any great
manufacturing establishment and tell the grimy workmen that the product of
their work is to be reduced 25 per cent in the market. He will see that the
men who have had a very rough “personal contact with business’ at once under-
stand that the hope of better wages is gone, and that lower wages are im-
minent. It is no answer to say that the manufacturer ought to stand the
reduction himself. Perhaps in some cases he ought. In other cases he could
not without producing his goods at a loss. I may admit that selfishness is the
genius that presides in the mill office, but even this evil genius can be made to
serve the workman when the product of the mill is in demand at good prices. 1
do not say that our American workman gets all the benefit he ought to enjoy
from a protective tariff, but I do believe that his condition and that of his family
is vastly better than it would be under a free-trade or tariff-for-revenue-only
policy. It is noticeable that even the McDonald school of Democrats take great
comfort in what they call the ‘incidental protection,” which a tariff for revenue
will afford to our industries and to our workmen. They admit the benefit of
protection, but insist that it must be an accident. As I said once before, we,
on the other hand, prefer that the good shall be designed and so intelligent.
“Mr. Cleveland has one great eminence—I will not say fame—by his
extraordinary exercise of the veto power. He has vetoed more bills than all
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. AND ITS LEADERS. 437
of his predecessors, from Washington down. I must defer to another time
a discussion of this feature of his administration. But as we have been
challenged to examine his vetoes of private pension bills I will refer to one.
“Sally Ann Bradley was the widow of Thomas J. Bradley, who served as a
private in Company B, 24th Regiment Ohio Volunteers, from June 13, 1861, to
October 9, 1865. He was pensioned on account of a shell wound in the back,
received at Murfreesboro, Tenn., January 2, 1862, and died October 21, 1882.
The commissioner of pensions decided that his death was not entirely attributable
to his military service, and that his widow could not secure a pension under
existing law. She was seventy years of age, as helpless as an infant, without
means of support, or friends able to assist her. Four of her sons followed their
father to the war. Two of them were killed upon the battle-field, and the
other two returned, one with the loss of an eye, the other of an arm. The
bill gave her a widow’s pension, $12 a month. In his veto of this bill Mr.
Cleveland said : “No cause is given of the soldier’s death, but it is not claimed
that it resulted from his military service, her pension being asked for entirely
because of her needs and the faithful service of her husband and sons. This .
presents the question whether a gift, in such cases, is a proper disposition
of money appropriated for the purpose of paying pensions. The passage of
this law would, in my opinion, establish a precedent so far-reaching, and open
the door to such a vast multitude of claims not on principle within our present,
pension laws, that I am constrained to disapprove the bill under considera-
tion.”
“Does this case need any comment P Would the question have been raised
in any other mind, whether what the President is pleased to call a gift was
proper in such a case? A gift of $12 a month, and in exchange for what
What gift has she made to her country P. Two sons that she had nourished
at her breast lying in unknown graves upon distant battle-fields. Two more,
her only ones, came back from the war maimed in limb and crippled in their
ability to maintain the mother who bore them. A husband upon whom she had
leaned for support returned to her no longer the stalwart helper and defender
he had been and is called before her to the grave. She is alone. Cannot a
great, rich government like ours take care of this patriotic woman 2 Must
she go to the poor-house or die of want P May not a nation do out of its
great resources what an individual, not lost to a sense of justice, would do
under like circumstances 2
438 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“Our President seems to think that only a policeman’s club or a fire engine
stands related to the public safety and the substantial welfare of the people.
Those finer spiritual influences, patriotism, courage, heroism, he would probably
call sentimental and not substantial.
“Patriotism saved this country from a revolt that the policeman’s club
could not quell—it extinguished in blood a flame that water could - not quench
—and the nation can afford to honor it, and relieve the burdens it brought
upon its heroes and their families.”
Senator Harrison spoke as follows at Indianapolis, in October, 1886: “ Fellow
citizens : There are some things connected with this administration of special
interest to soldiers, and I will ask their attention while I state them. I know
the power of the soldier vote is diminishing ; the column is moving on, and
from its head the aged and infirm are dropping into the grave. I know there
are not so many Union soldiers to vote now as there were in 1865, and yet, my
comrades, there is still a large body of the surviving veterans of that war,
and if they are as faithful to themselves as they were to the country, they have
the power to rebuke those who now show a disposition to forget the liberal
promises with which they sent the boys to the field in 1861. Some of you went
out Democrats and came back Democrats. But politics cannot break the bond
of comradeship. I honor you as I honor any other soldier. I give you increased
honor, because in many cases you went to the war in spite of the beguilements of
those to whom you had been accustomed to look for political advise. What
liberal promises were made, my comrades, in 1861 and 1862 : Ah! when the
stress of war was on, when the old ship was in the storm, how profuse were
the promises made to the boys | Shall they be forgotten now P Shall our peo-
ple in these times, when increasing years and infirmities are bringing to many
of the old soldiers needs they never felt before, forget them P I pledge myself,
and I am sure I can pledge the Republican party, to be faithful, generous and
liberal to the soldiers that survive, to care for them and to honor them until
the last veteran sleeps his last sleep. . . . . But I now come to consider the
President’s attitude toward the soldier. President Cleveland will be known as
the great veto President. All of our President’s prior to President Cleveland
vetoed altogether 110 bills passed by Congress, and President Cleveland vetoed
in eight months’ session of the last Congress 114. He is four ahead of all his
predecessors l’’
In 1886 in his seat in the Senate Harrison’s record, notably in regard to the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 439
laboring classes, can best be given by quoting from the official record in the
matter of the Knights of Labor and the Chinese Immigration Bill.
March 8, 1886, Harrison said :
“‘I present a resolution adopted by the Fair-play Assembly of Knights of
Labor, of Goshen, Ind., not formally addressed to the Senate, but evidently in-
tended for its consideration, in relation to Chinese immigration and other bills
pending in Congress affecting the laboring classes. I ask that the paper be
received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.—[Rec., p. 2168.]
CONGRESSMAN HOUK, TENNESSEE.
“March 31, 1886.-Mr. Harrison presented a memorial of Knights of Labor
of Wabash, Ind., remonstrating against the passage of the free-ship bill, which
was referred to the Committee on Commerce.—[Rec., p. 2900.]
“April 1, 1886.-Mr. Harrison presented a memorial of Knights of Labor of
Andrews, Ind., remonstrating against the passage of the free-ship bill, which was
referred to the Committee on Commerce, and said: I present certain resolutions,
certified by the recording secretary and under the seal of the assembly of
Wabash Assembly, No. 2281, of the Knights of Labor, of Terre Haute, Ind.,

440 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
praying Congress to pass a law prohibiting aliens or their agents from securing
vast tracts of the public domain. I believe this subject is under consideration
by the Committee on Public Lands at this time, and I will ask the reference of
the resolutions to that committee.”
“Mr. Dolph.-A bill on the subject has been reported.
“Mr. Harrison.—I am advised by the Senator from Oregon that the bill has
been reported. I ask leave to say at this time that I know of few measures of
greater importance than this. I noticed recently in one of the Chicago papers
the results of some inquiry upon this subject, and it seemed to indicate that vast
tracts of our domain, not simply the public domain on the frontier, but in some
of our newer States, are passing into the hands of wealthy foreigners. It seems
that the land reforms in Ireland, and the movement in England in favor of the
reduction of large estates and the distribution of the lands among persons who
will cultivate them for their own use, are disturbing the investments of some
Englishmen, and that some of them are looking to this country for the acqui-
sition of vast tracts of land which may be held by them and let out to tenants,
out of the rents of which they may live abroad. I think this evil requires early
attention, and that Congress should, by law, restrain the acquisition of such
tracts of land by aliens. Our policy should be small farms, worked by the men
who own them. As the bill has been reported, I move that the resolutions lie
on the table.—[Rec., p. 2982.]
“April 6, 1886.-Mr. Harrison presented memorials of Knights of Labor, of
Elkhart, Jeffersonville, and Carbon, in the State of Indiana, remonstrating against
the passage of the free-ship bill, which were referred to the Committee on Com-
merce ; also a petition of Knights of Labor of Jeffersonville, Ind., praying that
liberal appropriations be made for works of internal improvement, and especially
for the construction of the Hennepin Canal, which was referred to the
Committee on Commerce; also a petition of Knights of Labor of Carbon, Ind.,
praying that liberal appropriations be made for public works, and especially for
the construction of a harbor of refuge at Sandy Bay, Rockport, Mass., which was
‘referred to the Committee on Commerce ; also presented a memorial of Knights
of Labor at Carbon, Ind.—[Rec., p. 3136.]
“ April 7, 1886.-Mr. Harrison presented memorials of Knights of Labor of
Frankfort and South Bend, in the State of Indiana, remonstrating against the
passage of the free-ship bill, which were referred to the Committee on Commerce.
—[Rec., p. 3175.] -
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 441
“ April 10, 1886.-Mr. Harrison presented a memorial of Knights of Labor
of Cardonia, Ind., remonstrating against the passage of the free-ship bill, which
was referred to the Committee on Commerce. He said : I present also the
petition of C. H. Buthenbender and ten other officers and members of the three
local assemblies of Knights of Labor at Fort Wayne, Ind., praying for the
speedy passage of the bill providing for the arbitration of all labor disputes.
The House bill on this subject, I understand, has been reported favorably by
our committee on education and labor and is now upon the calendar. The
petition will, therefore, under the rules, lie upon the table. .
“Mr. Cullom.—There is another bill on the same subject which was re-
ferred to the Select Committee on Inter-State Commerce, and has not yet been
reported; but probably the petition may as well lie on the table.
“Mr. Harrison.—As the petition relates especially to the House bill I have
referred to, I suggest that it lie upon the table. I do not desire to anticipate
the discussion of that measure, which will soon come before the Senate, but the
startling occurrences of which we have accounts from day to day in the news-
papers are turning the attention of all lovers of good order and of the pros-
perity of the country to the necessity of providing some method of harmonizing
the interests of the working classes and of the employers of labor. Arbitration
is the only method that seems to be open for the peaceful, and speedy, and
just settlement of such disputes. Arbitration, of course, must precede strikes.
It implies calmness, and that is not to be found when the contest is once in-
augurated and passions are aroused. I think so far as we can contribute by
any congressional legislation to securing the just settlement by arbitration
of all labor troubles we shall contribute greatly to the peace and happiness of
the country.—[Rec., p. 3349.]
“April 19, 1886.—Mr. Harrison presented a memorial of Knights of Labor
of Snoddy’s Mill, Ind., remonstrating against the passage of the free-ship bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce ; also a memorial of the
Knights of Labor of South Bend, Ind., remonstrating against the employment
of convict labor on public works; which was referred to the Committee on
Education and Labor.—[Rec., p. 3598.] &
“ April 21, 1886.—Mr. Harrison presented a memorial of Knights of Labor
of Elkhart, Ind., remonstrating against the passage of the free-ship bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Commerce : also presented a memorial of
Enights of Labor of Elkhart, Ind., remonstrating against the employment of
442 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
convict labor on public works; which was referred to the Committee on Educa-
tion and Labor.—[Rec., p. 3659.]
“ April 22, 1886.-Mr. Harrison presented a memorial of Knights of Labor
of Logansport, Ind., remonstrating against the passage of the free-ship bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce.—[Rec., p. 3713.]
“ April 30, 1886.—Mr. Harrison presented a memorial of Knights of Labor
of Indianapolis, Ind., remonstrating against the employment on public works of
prison-contract labor; which was referred to the Committee on Education and
Labor.—[Rec., p. 3999.]”
Senator Harrison availed himself of the opportunity in acknowledging the
receipt of the memorial from the Knights of Labor to declare that American
ships should be built by American labor, and subsequently voted for the bill,
which became a law, prohibiting importation of foreign labor under contracts
made abroad. .
IX.
Harrison's Career in the U. S. Senate—1881 to 1887–Good Work as Chairman of the Committee
on Territories—The Admission of the Dakotas—Statesmanlike Speech in his Seat—The
Tenure-of-Office Act—Position of the Democratic Party—The Civil Service Commission—
An Able Review—Sea-coast Defenses—A Good Record—Care in Official Work.
iſ ARRISON'S term in the United States Senate expired March
3, 1887. He accomplished much good work as chairman of
the Committee on Territories. He made himself master of the
territorial subject by visiting at this period all the distant
western territories, and secured the admission of the two
Dakotas to the roll of States.
The following is an extract from one of his speeches in the Senate on the
question of the admission of Dakota :
“Mr. President, I have never anywhere, or at any time, here or on the
hustings, had but one voice upon this subject, and that was, that the man who
in the hour of his country’s need had bravely gone to the rescue, had exposed
himself to shot and shell and saber stroke in defense of the flag, was en-
titled to choose his own politics, and, while I might object to his taste, I had
no criticisms for him.
“Sir, who introduced all these personalities P. Where has this tide of abuse
which has been heaped upon citizens of Dakota had its strength P. Not on this
side of the chamber. But Senators on that side of the chamber, from the very
beginning of this debate, have felt warranted in calling the men who had been
conspicuous in this movement for the formation of a new State conspirators,
ambitious and scheming politicians; and that course of vituperation has run
through the whole debate, on the part of gentlemen on the other side of the
chamber. What is the distinction between an ambitious politician and a states-

(443)
444 THE REPUBLICAW PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
man P Do all my friends on the other side of the chamber fall into the list of
statesmen P
“Have they no ambition ? I appeal to the Senators who have heard every
word I have spoken in this debate, from first to last, whether I have not
avoided, against strenuous temptation, the bringing into this debate of the pri-
vate characters of men whose names have been drawn in here by the Senator
from South Carolina, whose opposition to this bill has been so intense that I
never regarded him as within the reach of reason or logic. It has seemed to
me that nothing but Pasteur’s new treatment would do in his case.
“But, I was saying, another objection we met with, was that the people of
South Dakota did not want it ; and my friend from Missouri (Mr. Vest)—whose
absence to-day I much regret, not only because he is himself a sufferer, but
because it puts some limitation upon what I should otherwise say—the Senator
from Missouri at the last session had been so fortunate as to get two or three
letters from people living in South Dakota—two, I think, was the limit—one
from a gentleman by the name of Richmond, and another from a lady named
Marietta Bones, and in order to satisfy the Senate that the people of South
Dakota did not want to be admitted as a State he read these two formidable
letters.
“He pursues the same policy in the debate this session : gathering up a
few letters and pouring them in upon the Senate in order to give Senators
a correct idea of the popular sentiment in the Territory. Every one of these
people from whom the Senator reads letters has been counted once. I must
suppose that when the vote was taken they voted against the constitution ; and
if they did so, they are part of that number of 6,000 that is recorded against it.
Do Senators think that it strengthened their case to parade these individual
expressions again before the Senate P
‘‘I once heard a celebrated theatrical manager say that there was one thing
in the way of stage deception that the gallery gods would not stand, and that
was to have an army of supes come around the second time. When they recog-
nized the face of a fellow who had been on the stage once before, that business
had to be stopped. And yet, just that stage deception these gentlemen are
attempting to practice upon the Senate and the country. The persons in South
Dakota who oppose this constitution have been counted once, and that is enough.
We do not want this army of supes marched around again.
“So it is, Mr. President. The Senator from Alabama, who last season talked
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 445
so blandly and kindly about the admission of Dakota that he absolutely.per-
suaded me that I could count, if not upon his vote, at least upon his candid
and kind consideration of this bill, goes about looking up some question of per-
sonal disqualification in some member of the convention, and that, as I think,
upon insufficient information. Then the Senator does not like to adopt this
constitution, because he says we have to take with it the Senators who have
been elected by the Legislature which was convened under it. ‘We have to
take,” Mr. President ' What has the Senator, or any other Senator here, to do
CONGRESSMAN ARNOLD, RHODE ISLAND.
with the question as to who shall be the Senators from any State * We have
to take the Senator and his colleague, and we do it agreeably and without pro-
testation ; we have to take the Senater from Missouri and his colleague, and
why P. Because they have been chosen by the Legislatures of their respective
States. I cannot understand why we should not deal in the same way with
Dakota, when she shall be admitted. If these proceedings of Dakota have been
such that we can approve them, then I submit it is for no Senator to say
here that he objects to her demand because he has to take Senators whom
her people have chosen.

446 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“The Senator from South Carolina says that we did not encourage the
Republicans down there to come out and vote; that they needed encourage-
ment, and that the Senator from Illinois, and other leaders of the Republican
party, failed to go down and encourage them. Well, Mr. President, they are a
discouraged set, those Republicans in South Carolina. They have never had any
encouragement since 1876, and the only efficient encouragement, according to
their judgment, was the presence of some of the troops of the United States.
We cannot do that any more, and perhaps it never ought to have been done.
But this is aside from the question, altogether. The election in South Carolina
may be fair; everybody who wants to vote may have a chance to vote; all the
talk of intimidation may be absolutely false ; all the stories of bloodshed and
violence and red-shirted cavalry may all be imagination ; all the stories of
tissue ballots may be vain and fraudulent. For the purposes of this argu-
ment, I assume that they are, that there is nothing in them in the world ;
and yet I ask the Senator from South Carplina, if in a presidential election, if
in the election of a Legislature that is to choose Senators for this body, forty-
four per cent of the total vote in South Carolina is sufficiently expressive of
the popular will there to choose these officers, may it not be that upon the
mere question of voting on a constitution in Dakota, fifty-eight per cent is
enough P”
The following is an extract from one of Senator Harrison’s speeches in the
U. S. Senate on the Tenure-of-Office Act, and the position of the Democratic party
thereon :
“In the President’s recent message, speaking of the law of 1867, which
required the President to transmit his reasons for a suspension, he says in
substance : ‘If that law were in force I would obey it,” showing that he sub-
mits himself to the provisions of the tenure-of-office law, and does not challenge
its constitutionality. Under that law, I do not see how any man can doubt that,
in the case of a suspended officer, nominated in place of another whose removal
is proposed, the concurrence of the Senate is an essential, necessary, and effective
part of the act of removal. The officer is not removed until the Senate acts
in either case. He is an officer until, by the confirmation of his successor, we
change the office and place it in other hands, and that quite as strictly in law,
while he is suspended from the exercise of its functions, as while he is in their
actual discharge. The question is clearly one with which we have to do. We
are asked by the President to do an act which removes a man from office, and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 447
will any one insist that we are not entitled to all needful information ; that we
may not rightly consider that which is the constitutional and legal result of our
act ; that we must shut our eyes to the question whether there has been cause
for suspicion, whether the office has been mismanaged, whether the man who
previously held it has been recreant to official trust—that we must close our
eyes to all these questions, when his removal from office is that which we are
asked to consummate in the one case, the direct consequence of what we are
asked to do It has been said that the Tenure-of-Office Act has been out of use.
I shall not attempt to repeat the high-sounding terms in which the President
conveyed to us this information. I have been in this body five years, and I affirm
that the civil tenure-of-office law has never been out of use. I affirm, though
my colleague (Mr. Voorhees) declared the contrary yesterday, that a Republican
Senate under a Republican President put it to the very use to which we are
putting it now. I affirm that not once, but many times (and, if he will spur
his recollection, many of the instances will come to his own mind), has this
Same request for papers been made and complied with, and the Senate has
considered upon the papers the question of whether there was cause for removal.
I can call cases to mind when just such information, demanded by a Republican
Senate of a Republican President, influenced my action and vote upon nominations
that were proposed to us.
“It is not true, Mr. President. The fact is that the tenure-of-office law has
been enforced; it has been continually in mind in the administration of that
part of our duty connected with the confirmation of officers nominated by the
President.
“Many of them, as the Senator from Connecticut suggests, were affidavits
containing sworn charges that have been filed in the departments. Is there a
Democratic Senator here who will get up and confess that he filed any P Is there
one P Is it not true, my friends, that whenever this is suggested to you, you are
prompt to say: ‘I never went into the business; I would not be guilty of filing
such charges P’ Is not that true 2
“Is this the great issue upon which the Democracy is to be united P I affirm
that there is not a Democrat who hears me—a member of this body—who will
confess that he has become, or agreed that he is willing to become, a party to
this method of getting Democrats into office.
“It may be—though I would not impute such a motive to any Democratic
Senator—I have thought sometimes that there might be gentlemen, connected
448 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
with Congress possibly, or outside Democrats of influence, who had an interest in
helping to hold down the lid of the box in which these secrets are buried, because
if it were opened it would show that they had participated in this work.
“I think there must be in these files a great deal of matter of which the
President is ignorant, a great many confidential papers which he withholds from
us that he has never seen himself. I am bound to believe that is true, from the
knowledge I have of the contents of some of them, or I am compelled to believe
that he is utterly insincere in his public utterances as to his methods of admin-
istering the appointments to office.
“And now to turn from the grave to the gay. This non-partisan civil service
administration has turned Republicans out because they were on committees, or
published newspapers, or took some active part in campaigns. A friend of mine
sent me the other day this post-office heading : it is a little post-office in Greene
County, Indiana.
“Mr. Edmunds.—A Democratic post-office at the present time P
“Mr. Harrison.—I suppose so. He was appointed on July 20, 1885, and I be-
lieve no Republican has been appointed since that date. The printing is as follows:
“‘JAMES H. QUINLAN, P. M.
‘‘ ‘Post-office at Lyons, Greene County, Indiana.”
“On this side (exhibiting) is a picture of Cleveland and Hendricks, with the
words under it, “Our benefactors.’ I suppose the possessive pronoun refers to
the postmasters, and not to the public generally. Some Republican postmasters
were, I understand, convicted of Offensive partisanship, and turned out because,
during the last campaign, they had a picture of the late Honorable John A.
Logan, our candidate for the Vice-Presidency, displayed in the office. That was
thought to evince offensive partisanship, and without being allowed to prove
whether it was a likeness or not, they were turned out. There were some of
those campaign pictures of General Logan that I think a man might have raised
an issue on. But here a Democratic postmaster is not guilty of offensive parti-
sanship when he puts on a post-office letter-head the name of the Democratic
President and Vice-President with the legend, “Our benefactors.” The Post-
master-General’s head ought to have been on there, because that is a fourth-class
post-office.”
Speaking in the Senate on the Civil Service Commission, Senator Harrison
said :
-THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 449
“Mr. President : My colleague (Mr. Voorhees) mistakes the issue. The
issue is not whether it is an appropriate thing that there should be Demo-
crats in office or not. It is not whether, in the absence of law, it would be a
just subject of criticism if the Secretary of the Interior, or any other head of a
department here, appointed Democrats, or Democrats exclusively, if you please.
The question here is one of the administration of the law, and a law that had a
distinguished Democratic origin; though I am sorry to say it has never had
CONGRESSMAN BELKNAP, MICHIGAN.
much Democratic support, and the fact of originating it has been very creditable
to its originator. -
“The question here raised is as to the faithfulness of the administration of
the law ; and upon the facts I have before me, I do not intend to say that, on
the part of the commissioners who are here appealing to Congress for some addi-
tional clerical force, there has been a maladministration or a corrupt administra-
tion of it. The investigation to which reference has been made is not yet
concluded, and I am not one of those who rush into the discussion of a case
until the evidence is closed. It does not appear, however, according to the facts.

29
450 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
as stated by the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Ingalls), that somehow or other,
under the operations of this civil service law and the rules which have been made
for its enforcement, which have in most cases required that only the three or
four leading persons, the three or four highest upon the list, should be certified—
by some process or other, this has been accomplished in the Pension Office,
namely, that seventy-two out of seventy-seven men, who have been selected
under the law from lists furnished by the Civil Service Commission, have been
Democrats, and that the other five are found without any politics at all.
“That is true. That may be consistent with an impartial, non-partisan
administration of the Civil Service bureau. It may be so. We shall know more
about it when we get through with the investigation which has been inaugu-
rated on that subject. It is true, undoubtedly true, that prior to the passage
of the civil service law, both on the part of the Republicans and the Democrats,
when they were in power, the great bulk of the appointments were made of the
political faith of the person having the appointing power.
“I know nothing about that. I did not rise to enter any complaint, and
should not have said anything on such a subject, except for references that have
been made by other Senators.
“If the Civil Service Commission need these clerks, as the chairman of the
committee having that subject in charge assures us, P am willing to give them
to them ; and if it shall be found that the office is in some way administered so
as to give a partisan turn, so that while things are put promiscuously and fairly
into the mill, nothing but Democratic results come out—when we have ascer-
tained that fact, then it will be time enough, so far as I am concerned, to arraign
the commission, and to hold them to that just responsibility to which the country
will hold them, if it is found to be the result of any maladministration or fraud-
ulent administration of the law. . . . .
“I desire simply to say that it seems to me this commission should not be
composed of men who are supposed to represent interests. The words which I
move to strike out would imply that there was to be a railroad man on the com-
mission, perhaps a railroad president or officer, and that there was to be some one
representing the agriculturists, some one representing the manufacturing inter-
ests, and so on. If this commission is to accomplish the good which is expected
of it, it should not be made up of men who represent particular interests. We
should not have there some one who understands that he is the representative
\
of the railroad companies, and some one else that he is there as the representative
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 451
of shippers who desire lower rates. We shall have no wise consideration of
this question, and no useful recommendations, in my judgment, from such a
commission. I believe the President should be left free to choose men who will
represent the general interests of the whole country, rather than to choose men
who will stand for special interests. Therefore I move to strike out these
words.”
Speaking in the Senate on the subject of sea-coast defenses, Harrison said :
“There is another thing we want done. We want our sea-coast ports put
CONGRESSMAN M*CORMICK, PENNSYLVANIA.
in a position of defense, so that it will no longer be possible for some third-rate
power of South America to run an ironclad in and put our cities under con-
tribution. For the brutal treatment that was meted out to us by England,
when our hands were full by reason of the great civil conflict, we have accepted
a recompense in money; but no nation must repeat that experiment with our
patience. We must also save enough revenue to put on the sea a navy worthy
of this great nation, and capable of maintaining our old-time prestige on the
Ocean. We will no longer have our shame-faced naval officers creeping into

452 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
foreign ports in wooden hulks, the laughing stock of all who see them. Repub-
licans have been trying to do this for a good while, but while the Democrats
had control of the House of Representatives they refused te make the necessary
appropriations, because they said they could not trust a Republican Secretary
\ to spend them. Well, when they got a Secretary of their own the Republi-
cans were more magnanimous. We said he was not a whit better or a whit
homester than our man was, but we are American citizens; and we walked
grandly forward and gave them, to be expended in the construction of ships, all
the money that a parsimonious Democratic House would let us give them.”
His term of six years as Senator of the United States established General
Harrison’s reputation as a sound and enlightened statesman and a ready, finished
and powerful debater. The more his record in the Senate is studied, the clearer
appears his claim to a high place among lawmakers. His Dakota, report and
speeches, his speech on the Edmunds resolution concerning civil service reform,
his speech condemning the wholesale immigration of contract labor, and his
speeches against alien ownership of large tracts of the national domain indicate
the broad lines along which his activities manifested themselves. His record on
the Chinese question needs nothing more than this simple statement to show
the folly of those who once distrusted him on that score : When the first
Chinese bill was before the Senate he opposed certain features of it, because he
thought they were in conflict with the provisions of existing treaties; but he
moved to amend those portions of the bill so that they might be in accord
with his view of the treaties mentioned. Those who were in favor of the bill
steadily voted the amendments down, and in order to maintain his consistency
General Harrison was thus obliged to vote against the bill, which finally
passed over the President’s veto. When the next Chinese bill was before the
Senate, General Harrison was absent and did not get a chance to vote upon
it. When the next bill came before the Senate—the one commonly called the
Page bill—it was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, of which he
was then a member. That committee unanimously voted to report the bill
favorably, General Harrison voting with the other members of the committee.
When it came before the Senate it was passed, General Harrison voting for it.
Senator Fair said in the Senate that “this was by all means the best Chinese
bill which had been proposed,” and otherwise spoke in high terms of the bill.
Thus General Harrison was from first to last in favor of the principle under-
lying the Chinese legislation.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 453
One of General Harrison’s strongest titles to public respect and admiration
is found in the fact that when the inflation craze spread over the country and
swept from their moorings many who have since lived to regret their infatua-
tion he never wavered in his fidelity to the cause of honest money.
General Harrison’s term in the Senate expired March 4, 1887, and the Legis-
lature to choose his successor was to be elected in the fall of 1886. “The
history of that campaign,” said the Indianapolis Journal, at that time, “is
still fresh in the minds of the people. It was in a large degree General Har-
rison’s campaign. Though others were good seconds and able assistants, he was
foremost in the fight. When others wavered he advanced, when they lost heart
he expressed confidence. He was almost the only prominent Republican in
Indiana who felt confident of carrying the State, or who thought it worth while
even to attempt to carry the Legislature. This is no disparagement of other
Republican leaders, who did yeoman service in the campaign, but it is a fact.
The result attested General Harrison’s wisdom and his work. The Republicans
carried the State and came within a hair's-breadth of carrying the Legislature,
though the apportionment had been jerrymandered so as to give the Democrats
at least forty-six majority on joint ballot, and Senator Voorhees said he should
feel personally disgraced if that was not the result.”
It is related that on the last day of the session he repaired, as is customary,
to the Capitol, to sign such bills as met his sanction, and a Senator, who was
specially interested in a bill which, on careful investigation, General Harrison
concluded ought not to become a law, met him and urged him to sign it for his
sake. “My dear Senator,” he responded, “I would cut off my finger for your
sake, but I cannot sign that bill, for it is wrong.”
X.
Harrison resumes Practice in Indianapolis—His Position at the Bar—Speech on Ireland and Irish-
men—Speech at Danville on the Franchise in the South—The Country and the Soldiers—
The Irish Liberation—Speech at Indianapolis—Cheap Prices—Living Wages and Fair
Prices—Reducing the Revenue—A Navy needed—Work for the Republican Party.
ESUMING private life in Indianapolis in the latter part of March,
1887, General Harrison once more devoted himself characteristically
heart and soul to the laborious but congenial work of his profes-
sion. Of General Harrison as a lawyer in the full maturity of his
powers his old partner, the Hon. W. P. Fishback, has said: “He
possesses all the qualities of a great lawyer in rare combination. He prepares a
case with consummate skill ; his written pleadings are models of clearness and
brevity; he is peerless in Indiana as an examiner of witnesses ; he discusses a
legal question in a written brief or in oral argument with convincing logic, and as
an advocate it may be said of him that when he has finished an address to a jury
nothing remains to be said on that side of the case. I have often heard able
lawyers in Indiana, and elsewhere say that he was the hardest man to follow they
had ever met. No lawyer who ever met General Harrison in a legal encounter
has afterward placed a small estimate upon his ability.” -
April 8, 1887, General Harrison spoke at Indianapolis on the subject of Ireland
and Irishmen, as follows:
“It may be suggested that we are engaged to-night in an act that savors
somewhat of impertinence—that the question of the pending legislation relating
to Ireland, which is the subject of discussion in the British Parliament, is not
a proper subject of discussion in an American meeting. But the man who makes
that suggestion does not understand the scope and powers of an American town
meeting. We all understand that an American newspaper is free to discuss every

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THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S. 45.5
question. There is no limit upon its jurisdiction. Now, the American town
meeting has just as broad a jurisdiction. We have no official representations to
make to the British government. It can take notice or not of what we do and
say here, but all the same we will exercise the liberty of saying it. There was
a time when communication with Europe was so tardy and difficult that America
was separated in its sympathy ; but that time has passed. The electric current
has been put into service not only upon the land but under the seas. Nations
have by this rapid intercommunication been tied together. The bonds of Sym-
CONGRESSMAN DE LANO, NEW YORK.
pathy have been strengthened, mutual interests have been enlarged, and the time
will soon come when the whole earth will be one commonwealth in sympathy
and thought. Nothing involving the lives or liberties of men can happen now
anywhere in the world, whether in the frozen North or in South Africa, that
does not evoke interest and sympathy here. I am not here to discuss particular
measures of relief for Ireland. I am not here to suggest that legislation should
take this or that precise form, but all here will at least agree that it should be
progressive in the direction of a more liberal government for Ireland than she now
has. We are not here to suggest to Great Britain that she shall concede Irish

456 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
independence. The disintegration of nations is seldom by parliamentary enact-
ment. When that comes it comes as the fruit and result of successful revolu-
tion. We are here simply to say that, in our opinion as American citizens, what
Ireland needs is not coercion, is not the constable, is not the soldier with musket
and bayonet ; but liberal laws, tending to emancipate her people from the results
of long centuries of ill government, and that when this British Ministry starts in
the direction of coercion, and postpones suggestions for reform until a coercion bill
has been enacted, it is traveling in the wrong direction. It is not possible, in
this age of the world, to govern a people as numerous and inhabiting a country
of such extent as Ireland by coercion. The period in the world’s history when
men might be governed by force—their inclinations coerced, their aspirations for
participation in government suppressed—is passed away forever. More and more
the American idea that government rests upon the consent of the governed is
making its way in the world. If it be true that the British government finds
difficulty in Ireland in impaneling juries that will convict for offenses there against
the landlord, it is because it is deeply settled in the convictions of those people
that the laws are egregiously wrong in principle and hurtful in their application.
Such a conviction cannot be removed by coercion; by finding another jurisdiction.
and venue in which to try those offenses, and the government becomes a failure
when that becomes a necessity. We were not without experience in that in our
own country at the close of the war. I unite with you as an American citizen
in the expression of the hope that we shall soon witness the adoption of such
measures as will win the Irish heart and give to the helpless and poverty-
stricken in the land of their fathers contentment and prosperity.”
At Danville, Ind., November 26, 1887, General Harrison spoke as follows:
“There is not a man fit to transact the duties of the simplest vocation
from day to day that does not know that the Republican majorities in three
or four of the Southern States are suppressed, are not allowed to find expres-
sion at the ballot-box. I do not accept the explanation recently given by a
badly reconstructed Southern statesman in his speeches in Ohio. It has not been
received with confidence by the people of the North. He tried to make the Ohio
people believe that the reason the colored vote did not appear at their elections
for members of Congress, and for President, was on account of the fact that the
colored man did not take any interest in national elections, but, he said, when-
ever the ‘fence question ” comes up, then you have a full colored vote. The
colored people are interested in the fence question and they turn out ! My
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LAEA.D.E.R.S. 457
fellow citizens, that was a very grim joke. If there is any class of voters in
this country who do take an interest in national elections, who do take an
interest in the question of who shall be President, it is the freedmen of the
South and those colored men who have sought kindlier homes under more hopeful
auspices here in our own and other Northern States. There has not been written
in the history of any civilized nation a more abominable, cruel, bloody page than
that which describes the treatment of the poor blacks in the South, since those
States passed under Democratic control. Why are they not allowed to vote
Because they want to vote the Republican ticket. In the last presidential elec-
tion, and this one to come, our Democratic opponents count with absolute
certainty upon one hundred and fifty-three electoral votes from the South, when
there is no man, not a fool, who does not know that if every qualified elector in
those States was allowed to express himself, they would give their electoral vote
for the Republican nominee. -
“ Up here in the Northwest is a fair Territory, enormous in extent, the one-
half of it applying for admission to the Union as a State more than twice as
large as the State of Indiana, having a population of nearly a half million Of
souls at this time, kept out of the Union of States; was kept out in 1884, will
be kept out and not allowed to cast an electoral vote in 1888. Why? Simply
because a majority of the people in that Territory are Republicans. That, and
nothing more. For the whole period of my term in the Senate, as a member
of the Committee on Territories, I fought with such ability as I could, I pleaded
with such power as I could, with these Democratic Southern Senators and mem-
bers to allow these free people of Dakota, the common rights of American citizen-
ship. In 1884, to placate, if I could, their opposition to the admission of that
State, I put a clause in the bill that the constitutional convention should not
assemble until after the presidential election of that year. But now, four years
more have gone around ; again a President is to be elected, and still that young
State, peopled with the best blood of all the States, full of the veterans of the
late war, loyal to the government and the Constitution, ready to share the
perils and burdens of our national life, is being, will be, kept out of the Union,
will be denied any right to cast any electoral vote for President by the Demo-
cratic House of Representatives at Washington, solely because a majority of her
people hold the political sentiments which we hold.
“Some national questions of interest turn upon the coming election. Sol-
diers, I believe that the question whether your fame and honor shall be exalted
458 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
above the fame of those who fought against the flag, whether the rewards of
your services shall be just and liberal and the care of your disabled comrades
ungrudging and ample, depends upon the election of a Republican President in
1888. For the first time in the history of the American nation, we have had a
President, who, in dealing with the veto power, has used it not only to deny
relief, but to impeach the reputations of the men who made it possible for him
to be a President of the United States. The veto messages of Cleveland, sent
in during the last Congress, were, many of them, tipped with poisonous arrows.
He vetoed what is called the dependent pension bill. What is the principle of
it P I believe that the fiest bill introduced in Congress embodying the principles
Of that bill was introduced by me. It was prepared in view of the fact that
Congress was being overwhelmed with private pension bills for men now dis-
abled and unable to maintain themselves, who could not, by proof, connect their
disability with their army service. I said let us make the limitations of the
pension law wider, and instead of taking in these men one at a time, let us
take the whole class in at once—and hence this bill. Some men sneered at
it ; said I was simply trying a buncombe game with the soldiers. But, gentle-
men, the general principles of that bill have come to stay. It has, with slight
modifications, received now the vote, almost unanimous, of the Grand Army of
the . Republic. That will be laid before Congress at its approaching session.
What is the principle of it P Why, it is something like the old rule we had in
the army : as long as a man was able he marched and carried his own gun
and knapsack, but when he got hurt or sick, and fell out, we had an ambulance
to put him in ; and that is the principle embodied in this bill—that we, the
survivors of the late war, as long as God gives us strength and health, will
march in this column of civil life, making our own living and carrying our own
burden ; but here is a comrade falling by the way : sickness, casualty—not his
own fault—and he has to fall out ; we want the great national ambulance to take
him in. That was the idea of this bill. Is it not just 2 Is it not as much as
'the soldiers can now hope to secure ? Why, my countrymen, somebody must care
for these veterans who stood up amid shot and shell and saber stroke, but can-
not now trace their infirmities to the army by any satisfactory proof. They have
fought the battle of life manfully since. They are dependent on their work for a
living, and they cannot work. Somebody must take care of them ; the expense
cannot be avoided unless you kick the old veterans out and let them die on the
roadside. Somebody must care for them, and the simple question is, shall they be
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 459
cared for as paupers in the county poor-house, or shall the great nation they
served and saved care for them as soldiers ? I prefer the latter. I want the
generations coming on to know that it is safe to abandon civil pursuits, throw
wealth behind you and yourself into the bloody conflict for the nation's life:
that republics are grateful, and that its soldiers will be taken care of.”
At a reception at Indianapolis, December 5, 1887, to the Irish patriots,
Hons. Esmonde and O’Connor, Senator Harrison was called for, and rising, said :
“The hour is already so late that I will detain the audience but a mo-
CONGRESSMAN BUCHANAN, NEW JERSEY.
ment. I am glad to have the opportunity to hear the distinguished guests of
the evening; men who in the British Parliament stand for home rule in Ire-
land. They have given me much fuller information than I had before of the op-
pressive character of the coercion acts. I was glad also to learn that the Irish
people have shown such a steady and self-contained adherence to their rights,
and such steadfastness in the assertion of them by lawful methods. We know
that Irishmen have many a time in the struggle of their native land, and in
Our fight in America for constitutional government, thrown themselves upon the

460 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
*
bayonet of the enemies of liberty with reckless courage. It is gratifying to know
that they can also make a quiet but unyielding resistance to oppression by
parliamentary methods. I would rather be William O’Brien in Tullamore jail, a
martyr to free speech, than the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in Dublin Castle.”
At Indianapolis, on December 20, 1887, he addressed his fellow townsmen :
“I suspect I am a poor political economist. But when I hear men talking,
now, like ex-Senator McDonald, of the great benefit that is to come to our people
when Democrats revise the tariff, especially in the shape of a cheap coat, I fail
to find myself completely in sympathy with him. I think I saw the other day,
in one of the Indianapolis papers, a good overcoat advertised for $1.87, and it
must be a pretty mean man that wants to get one for a dollar. The simple fact
is, gentlemen, many things are made and sold now too cheap ; for I hold it to be
true that whenever the market price is so low that the man or the woman who
makes an article cannot get a fair living out of the making of it, it is too
low. . . . . As Fred Grant said, “A surplus is easier to handle than a de-
ficit '; but I do not deny that in connection with this surplus of about one hun-
dred millions a year there is danger; there are dangers of profligacy of expendi-
ture, and others, that require us to address ourselves promptly and intelligently
to the question of a reduction of our revenue. I have said before, as your resolu-
tions say, I would like to have that work done by Republicans, because I would
like to have it done with reference to some great questions connected with the
use of revenue about which I cannot trust my Democratic friends. I would like
to have our coast defenses made secure ; I would like to have our navy made
respectable, so that an American naval officer, as he trod the deck of the ship
bearing the starry banner at its head in any port throughout the world, and
looked about upon her equipment and ornament, might feel that she was a match
for the proudest ship that walked the sea under any other flag. I would like to
feel that no third-rate power, aye, no first-rate power, could sail into our de-
fenseless harbors and lay our great cities under tribute. I would like to feel that
the just claim of the survivors of the Union army of the war were made secure
and safe.”
XI.
Speech at Detroit, February 22, 1888–Banquet of the Michigan Club—Significance of the Flag—
Principles of our Government—What is expected of the South—The Colored Republican
Vote in the South—Suffrage always a Momentous Question—Crimes against the Ballot.
T the third annual banquet of the Michigan Club, of Detroit, Feb.
22, 1888, General Harrison delivered one of his most important.
speeches :
“Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Michigan Club : The
sentiment, which has been assigned me to-night—“Washington, the
Republican ; a free and equal ballot the only guarantee of the nation’s security
and perpetuity —is one that was supported with a boldness of utterance, with a
defiance that was unexcelled by any leader, by Zachariah Chandler always and
everywhere. As Republicans we are fortunate, as has been suggested, in the fact.
that there is nothing in the history of our party, nothing in the principles that,
we advocate, to make it impossible for us to gather and to celebrate the birthday
of any American who honored or defended his country. We could even unite with
our Democratic friends in celebrating the birthday of St. Jackson, because we
enter into fellowship with him when we read his story of how by proclamation he
put down nullification in South Carolina. We could meet with them to celebrate.
the birthday of Thomas Jefferson ; because there is no note in the immortal
Declaration or in the Constitution of our country that is out of harmony with
Republicanism. But our Democratic friends are under limitation. They have a
short calendar of saints, and they must omit from the history of those whose
names are on their calendar the best achievements of their lives. I do not know
what the party is preserved for. Its history reminds me of the bowlder in the
stream of progress, impeding and resisting its onward flow and moving only by
the force that it resists.

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462 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEAD ERS.
“I want to read a very brief extract from a most notable paper—one that
was to-day in the Senate at Washington read from the desk by its presiding
officer—the “Farewell Address of Washington ’; and while it is true that I can-
not quote or find in the writings of Washington anything specifically referring to
ballot-box fraud, to tissue ballots, to intimidation, to forged tally sheets, for
the reason that these things had not come in his day to disturb the administra-
tion of the government, yet in the comprehensiveness of the words he uttered,
like the comprehensive declarations of the Holy Book, we may find admonition
and guidance, and even with reference to a condition of things that his pure
mind could have never contemplated. Washington said : “Liberty is indeed little
less than a name where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises
of factions, to confine each member of society within the limits prescribed by the
law, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of per-
sons and property.” If I had read that to a Democratic meeting they would have
suspected that it was an extract from some Republican speech. My countrymen,
this government is that which I love to think of as my country ; for not acres,
or railroads, or farm products, or bulk meats, or Wall Street, or all combined,
are the country that I love. It is the institution, the form of government, the
frame of civil society, for which that flag stands, and which we love to-day. It
is what Mr. Lincoln so tersely, yet so felicitously, described as a government of
the people, by the people, and for the people ; a government of the people, be-
cause they instituted it—the Constitution reads, “We, the people, have or-
dained ; ' by the people, because it is in all its departments administered by
them ; for the people, because it states as its object of supreme attainment the
happiness, security and peace of the people that dwell under it.
“The bottom principle—sometimes it is called a corner-stone, sometimes the
foundation of our structure of government—is the principle of control by the
majority. It is more than the corner-stone or foundation. This structure is a
monolith, one from foundation to apex, and that monolith stands for and is
this principle of government by majorities, legally ascertained by constitutional
methods. Everything else about our government is appendage, it is ornamenta-
tion. This is the monolithic column that was reared by Washington and his
associates. For this the War of the Revolution was fought, for this and its more
perfect security the Constitution was formed ; for this the War of the Rebellion
was fought ; and when this principle perishes the structure which Washington
and his compatriots reared is dishonored in the dust. The equality of the ballot
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 463
demands that our apportionments in the States for legislative and congressional
purposes shall be so adjusted that there shall be equality in the influence and
the power of every elector, so that it shall not be true anywhere that one man
counts two or one and a half and Some other man counts only one half.
“But some one says that is fundamental. All men accept this truth. Not
quite. My countrymen, we are confronted by this condition of things in America
to-day ; a government by the majority, expressed by an equal and a free ballot,
is not only threatened, but it has been overturned. Why is it to-day that we
CONGRESSMAN O'DONNELL, MICHIGAN.
have legislation threatening the industries of this country Why is it that the
paralyzing shadow of free trade falls upon the manufactures and upon the homes
of our laboring classes 2 It is because the laboring vote in the Southern States
is suppressed. There would be no question about the security of these principles
so long established by law, so eloquently set forth by my friend from Connecticut,
but for the fact that the workingmen of the South have been deprived of their
influence in choosing representatives at Washington.
“But some timid soul is alarmed at the suggestion. He says we are en-

464 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
deavoring to rake over the coals of an extinct strife, to see if we may not find
some ember in which there is yet sufficient vitality to rekindle the strife. Some
man says you are actuated by unfriendly feelings toward the South, you want to
fight the war over again, you are flaunting the bloody shirt. My countrymen,
those epithets and that talk never have any terrors for me. I do not want to
fight the war over again, and I am sure no Northern soldier—and there must be
many here of those gallant Michigan regiments, some of which I had the pleas-
ure during the war of seeing in action—not one of these that wishes to renew
that strife or fight the war over again. Not one of this great assemblage of
Republicans who listen to me to-night wishes ill to the South. If it were left to
us here to-night the streams of her prosperity would be full. We would gladly
hear of her reviving and stimulated industry. We gladly hear of increasing
wealth in those States of the South. We wish them to share in the onward
and upward movement of a great people. It is not a question of the war, it is
not a question of the States between '61 and '65, at all, that I am talking about
to-night. It is what they have been since ’65. It is what they did in '84, when
a President was to be chosen for this country.
“Our controversy is not one of the past ; it is of the present. lt has rela-
tion to that which will be done next November, when our people are again called
to choose a President. What is it we ask * Simply that the South live up to
the terms of the surrender at Appomattox. When that great chieftain received
the surrender of the army of Northern Virginia, when those who had for four
years confronted us in battle stacked arms in total surrender, the terms were
simply these : ‘You shall go to your homes and shall be there unmolested so
long as you obey the laws in force where you reside.” That is the sum of our
demand. We ask nothing more of the South to-night than that they shall cease
to use this recovered citizenship which they had forfeited by rebellion to oppress
and disfranchise those who equally with themselves under the Constitution are
entitled to vote—that and nothing more.
“I do not need to enter into details. The truth to-day is that the colored
Republican vote of the South, and with it and by consequence the white Repub-
lican vote of the South, is deprived of all effective influence in the administration
of this government. The additional power given by the colored population of
the South in the Electoral College and in Congress was more than enough to
turn the last election for President, and more than enough to reverse—yes,
largely more than reverse—the present Democratic majority of the House of
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEAD ERS. 465
Representatives. Have we not the spirit to insist that everywhere north and
south in this country of ours no man shall be deprived of his ballot by reason
of his politics P. There is not in all this land a place where any rebel soldier is
subject to any restraint or is denied the fullest exercise of the elective franchise.
Shall we not insist that what is true of those who fought to destroy the country
shall be true of every man who fought for it, or loved it, like the black man
of the South did—that to belong to Abraham Lincoln’s party shall be respect-
able and reputable everywhere in America P
“But this is not simply a Southern question. It has come to be a national
question, for not only is the Republican vote suppressed in the South, but I ask
you to turn your eyes to as fair and prosperous a Territory as ever sat at the
door of the Federal Union asking admission to the sisterhood of the States. See
yonder in the northwest Dakota, the child of all these States, with 500,000 loyal,
intelligant, law-abiding, prosperous American citizens, robbed to-day of all par-
ticipation in the affairs of this nation. The hospitable door which has always
opened to Territories seeking admission is insolently closed in her face—and
why P Simply because the predominating sentiment in the Territory of Dakota.
is Republican—that and nothing more. And that is not all. This question of
a free, honest ballot has crossed the Ohio River. The overspill of these Southern
frauds has reached Ohio and Indiana and Illinois, indicating to my mind a
national conspiracy, having its center and most potent influence in the Southern
States, but reaching out into Ohio, Indiana and Illinois in its attempt by frauds
upon the ballot-box to possess the Senate of the United States. Go down to
Cincinnati in a recent election and look at the election returns, shamelessly,
scandalously manipulated to return members to the Senate and House of Ohio,
in order that that grand champion of Republican principles, John Sherman,
might be defeated. Go yonder with me to Chicago and look into those frauds
upon the ballot—devised, executed in furtherance of the same iniquitous scheme,
intended to defeat the re-election of that gallant soldier, that fearless defender
of Republican principles, John A. Logan of Illinois.
‘‘ And these people have even invaded Indiana. At the last election in my
own State, first by jerrymander, they disturbed and utterly destroyed the equality
of suffrage in that State ; it was so framed as to give the Democratic party
a majority of 50 on joint ballot ; and Indiana gave a Republican majority on
members of the Legislature of 10,000, and yet they claim to hold the Legislature.
And that is not all. Then, when jerrymander had failed, they introduced the
30
466 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEADER.S.
eraser to help it out ; scratched our tally-sheets, shamelessly transferred bal-
lots from Republican to Democratic candidates. How are we going to deal with
these fellows P What is the remedy ? As to the Southern aspect of this question,
I have first to suggest that it is in the power of the free people of the North,
those who love the Constitution and a free and equal ballot, those who, while
claiming this high privilege for themselves will deny it to no other man, to
welcome a President who shall not come into office, into the enjoyment of the
usufruct of these crimes, against the ballot ; that will be great gain. And then
we should aim to place in the Southern States, in every office exercising Federal
authority, men whose local influence will be against these frauds, instead of such
men as the district attorney appointed by Mr. Cleveland, who in this recent
outrage upon the ballot in Jackson, Miss., was found among the most active
conspirators, when, by public resolution of a Democratic committee, Republicans
of that city were warned away from the polls. Then again we shall keep our-
selves free from all partisanship if we lift our voice steadily and constantly in
protest against these offenses.
“There is vast power in a protest. Public opinion is the most potent mon-
arch this world knows to-day. Czars tremble in its presence ; and we may bring
to bear upon this question a public sentiment, by bold and fearless denunciation
of it, that will do a great deal toward correcting it. Why, my countrymen, we
meet now and then with these Irish-Americans and lift our voices in denunciations
of the wrongs which England is perpetrating upon Ireland. We do not elect any
members of Parliament, but the voice of free America protesting against these
centuries of wrongs has had a most potent influence in creating, stimulating and
sustaining the liberal policy of William E. Gladstone and his associates. Cannot
we do as much for oppressed Americans ? Can we not make our appeal to these
Irish-American citizens who appeal to us in behalf of their oppressed fellow
countrymen to rally with us in this crusade against election frauds and intimi-
dation in the country that they have made their own P
“There may be legislative remedies in sight when we can once again possess
both branches of the National Congress and have an Executive at Washington
who has not been created by these crimes against the ballot. Whatever they
are, we will seek them out and put them into force—not in a spirit of enmity
against the men who fought against us—forgetting the war, but only insisting
that now, nearly a quarter of a century after it is over, a free ballot shall not
be denied to Republicans in these States where rebels have been rehabilitated
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 467
with a full citizenship. Every question waits the settlement of this. The tariff
question would be settled already if the 1,000,000 of black laborers in the South
had their due representation in the House of Representatives.
“And my soldier friends, interested that liberal provisions should be made
for the care of the disabled soldier—are they willing that this question should
be settled without the presence in the House of Representatives of the power and
influence of those faithful black men in the South who were always their friends?
The Dependent Pension Bill would pass over the President's veto if these black
CONGRESSMAN HERMANN, OREGON.
friends of the Union soldier had their fair representation in Congress. It is the
dominant question at the foundation of our government, in its dominating in-
fluence embracing all others, because it involves the question of a free and fair
tribunal to which every question shall be submitted for arbitrament and final
determination. Therefore, I would here, as we shall in Indiana, lift up our
protest against these wrongs which are committed in the name of Democracy,
lift high our demand, and utter it with resolution, that it shall no longer be true
that anywhere in this country men are disfranchised for opinion’s sake.

468 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
“I believe there are indications that this power is taking hold of the North.
Self-respect calls upon us. Does some devotee at the shrine of Mammon say it
will disturb the public pulse ? TXO we hear from New York and her markets of
trade that it is a disturbing question and we must not broach it 2 I beg our
friends, and those who thus speak, to recollect that there is no peace, that there
can be no security for commerce, no security for the perpetuation of our govern-
ment, except by the establishment of justice the country over.”
XII.
Speech at Chicago, March 20, 1888—Banquet at the Marquette Club—The Growth of the Repub-
lican Party—Young Men in the Party—Republican Administration—Record of the Party—
Foreign Governments During the War—Elections in Southern States—Disfranchisement—
Political Chicanery—Cleveland's Policy—Progressive Policy of the Republican Party.
1888, Gen. Harrison delivered the following address:
“Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Marquette Club :
I am under an obligation that I shall not soon forget in
having been permitted by your courtesy to sit at your
table to-night and to listen to the eloquent words which
have fallen from the lips of those speakers who have preceded me. I count
it a privilege to spend an evening with so many young Republicans. There seems
to be a fitness in the association of young men with the Republican party. The
Republican party is a young party. I have not yet begun to call myself an old
man, and yet there is no older Republican in the United States than I am. My first
presidential vote was given for the first presidential candidate of the Republican
party, and I have supported with enthusiasm every successor of Fremont, including
that matchless statesman who claimed our suffrages in 1884. We cannot match
ages with the Democratic party any more than that party can match achieve-
ments with us. It has lived longer, but to less purpose. “Moss-backed ” cannot
be predicated of a Republican. Our Democratic friends have a monopoly of that
distinction, and it is one of the few distinguished monopolies that they enjoy;
and yet when I hear a Democrat boasting himself of the age of his party
I feel like reminding him that there are other organized evils in the world
older than the Democratic party. “The Republican party,’ the toast which you
have assigned to me to-night, seems to have a past, a present and a future

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470 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
tense to it. It suggests history, and yet history so recent that it is to many
here to-night a story of current events in which they have been participants.
The Republican party—the influences which called it together were eclectic in
their character. The men who formed it and organized it were picked men.
The first assembly that sounded in its camp was a call to sacrifice, and not
to spoils. It assembled about an altar to sacrifice, and in a temple beset with
enemies. It is the only political party organized in America that has its ‘Book
of Martyrs.” On the bloody fields of Kansas, Republicans died for their creed,
and since then we have put in that book the sacred memory of our immortal
leader who has been mentioned here to-night—Abraham Lincoln—who died for
his faith and devotion to the principles of human liberty and constitutional union.
And there have followed it a great army of men who have died by reason of
the fact that they adhered to the political creed that we loved. It is the only
party in this land which in the past has been proscribed and persecuted to
death for its allegiance to the principles of human liberty. After Lincoln had
triumphed in that great forum of debate in his contest with Douglas, the Re-
publican party carried that debate from the hustings to the battle-field and
forever established the doctrine that human liberty is of natural right and
universal. It clinched the matchless logic of Webster in his celebrated debate
against the right of secession by a demonstration of its inability.
“No party ever entered upon its administration of the affairs of this nation
under circumstances so beset with danger and difficulty as those which sur-
rounded the Republican party when it took up the reins of executive control.
In all other political contests those who had resisted the victorious party yielded
acquiescence at the polls, but the Republican party in its success was confronted
by armed resistance to national authority. The first acts of Republican admin-
istration were to assemble armies to maintain the authority of the nation
throughout the rebellious States. It organized armies, it fed them, and it fought
them through those years of war with an undying and persistent faith that
refused to be appalled by any dangers or discouraged by any difficulties. In
the darkest days of the rebellion the Republican party by faith saw Appo-
mattox through the smoke of Bull Run, and Raleigh through the mists of
Chickamauga ; and not only did it conduct this great Civil War to a victorious
end, not only did it restore the national authority and set up the flag on all
those places where it had been overthrown and that flag torn down, but it in the
act and as an incident in the restoration of national authority accomplished that
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS. 471
act which, if no other had been recorded in its history, would have given it im-
mortality. The emancipation of a race, brought about as an incident of war
under the proclamation of the first Republican President, has forever immortal-
ized the party that accomplished it.
“But not only were these dangers and difficulties and besetments and dis-
couragements of this long strife at home, but there was also a call for the highest
statesmanship in dealing with the foreign affairs of the government during that
period of war. England and France not only gave to the Confederacy belligerent
CONGRESSMAN DALZELL, PENNSYLVANIA.
rights, but threatened to extend recognition, and even armed intervention. There
was scarcely a higher achievement in the long history of brilliant statesmanship
which stands to the credit of our party than the matchless management of our
diplomatic relations during the period of our war; dignified, yet reserved, master-
ful, yet patient. Those enemies of republican liberty were held at bay until we
had accomplished perpetual peace at Appomattox. That grasping avarice which
has attempted to coin commercial advantages out of the distress of other
nations which has so often characterized English diplomacy naturally made the



4.2 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
government of England the ally of the Confederacy, that had prohibited protec-
tive duties in its constitution, and yet Geneva, followed Appomattox. A trinity
of effort was necessary to that consummation—war, finance and diplomacy;
Grant, Chase, Seward, and Lincoln over all, and each a victor in his own sphere.
When 500,000 veterans found themselves without any pressing engagement, and
Phil Sheridan sauntered down toward the borders of Mexico, French evacuation
was expedited, and when Gen. Grant advised the English government that our
claims for the depredations committed by those rebel cruisers that were Sent Out,
from British ports to prey upon our commerce must be paid, but that we were
not in a hurry about it—we could wait, but in the mean time interest would
accumulate—the Geneva arbitration was accepted and compensation made for
these unfriendly invasions of our rights. It became fashionable again at the
tables of the English nobility to speak of our common ancestry and our common
tongue. Then again France began to remind us of La Fayette and De Grasse.
Five hundred thousand veteran troops and an unemployed navy did more for us
than a common tongue and ancient friendships would do in the time of our dis-
tress. And we must not forget that it is often easier to assemble armies than
it is to assemble army revenues. Though no financial secretary ever had laid
upon him a heavier burden than was placed upon Salmon P. Chase to provide
the enormous expenditures which the maintenance of our army required, this
ceaseless, daily, gigantic drain upon the national Treasury called for the highest
statesmanship.
“And it was found, and our credit was not only maintained through the war,
but the debt that was accumulated, which our Democratic friends said could
never be paid, we at once began to discharge when the army was disbanded.
“And so it is that in this timely effort—consisting first in this appeal to the
courage and patriotism of the people of this country that responded to the call of
Lincoln and filled our armies with brave men that, under the leadership of Grant
and Sherman and Thomas, suppressed the Rebellion, and under the wise, mag-
nificent system of our revenue enabled us to defray our expenses, and under the
sagacious administration of our State Department held Europe at bay while we
were attending to the business at home. In these departments of administration
the Republican party has shown itself conspicuously able to deal with the great-
est questions that have ever been presented to American statesmanship for solu-
tion. We must not forget that in dealing with these questions we were met
continually by the protest and opposition of the Democratic party. The war
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 473
against the States was unconstitutional. There was no right to coerce sovereign
States. The war was a failure, and a dishonorable peace was demanded. The
legal tenders were illegal. The constitutional amendments were void. And so
through this whole brilliant history of achievement in this administration we were
followed by the Democratic statesman protesting against every step and throw-
ing every impediment in the way of national success until it seemed to be true
of many of their leaders that in their estimation nothing was lawful, nothing was
lovely, that did not conduce to the success of the Rebellion.
“Now, what conclusion shall we draw P Is there anything in this story, so
briefly and imperfectly told, to suggest any conclusion as to the inadequacy or
incompetency of the Republican party to deal with any question that is now pre-
sented for solution or that we may meet in the progress of this people’s history?
Why, countrymen, these problems in government were new. We took the ship
of state when there was treachery at the helm, when there was mutiny on the
deck, when the ship was among the rocks, and we put loyalty at the helm ; we
brought the deck into order and subjection. We have brought the ship into the
wide and open Sea of prosperity, and is it to be suggested that the party that
has accomplished these magnificent achievements cannot sail and manage the good
ship in the frequented roadways of ordinary commerce P What is there now
before us that presents itself for solution?
“What questions are we to grapple with ? What unfinished work remains
to be done P. It seems to me that the work that is unfinished is to make that
constitutional grant of citizenship, the franchise to the colored men of the South,
a practical and living reality. The condition of things is such in this country—
a government by constitutional majority—that whenever the people become con-
vinced that an administration or a law does not represent the will of the majority
of our qualified electors, then that administration ceases to challenge the respect
of our people and that law ceases to command their willing obedience. This is
a republican government, a government by majority, the majorities to be ascer-
tained by a fair count and each elector expressing his will at the ballot-box. I
know of no reason why any law should bind my conscience that does not have
this sanction behind it. I know of no reason why I should yield respect to any
executive officer whose title is not based upon a majority vote of the qualified
electors of this country. What is the condition of things in the Southern States
to-day ? -
“The Republican vote is absolutely suppressed. Elections in many of those
474 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
|
States have become a farce. In the last congressional election in the State of
Alabama there were several congressional districts where the entire vote for
members of Congress did not reach 2,000; whereas in most of the districts of
the North the vote cast at our congressional elections goes from 30,000 to 50,000.
I had occasion to say a day or two ago that in a single congressional district in
the State of Nebraska, there were more votes cast to elect one Congressman
than were cast in the State of Alabama at the same election to elect their whole
delegation. Out of what does this come 2 The suppression of the Republican
vote; the understanding among our Democratic friends that it is not necessary
that they should vote because their opponents are not allowed to vote. But some
one will suggest : ‘Is there a remedy for this?’ I do not know, my fellow citizens,
how far there is a legal remedy under our Constitution, but it does not seem to
me to be an adequate answer. It does not seem to me to be conclusive against
the agitation of the question even if we should be compelled to respond to the
arrogant question that is asked us: “What are you going to do about it P’ Even
if we should be compelled to answer: “We can do nothing but protest,” is it not
worth while here, and in relation to this American question, that we should at
least lift up our protest ; that we should at least denounce the wrong; that we
should at least deprive the perpetrators of it of what we used to call the
usufructs of the crime P If you cannot prevent a burglar from breaking into
your house you will do a great deal toward discouraging burglary if you pre-
vent him from carrying off anything, and so it seems to me that if we can, upon
this question, arouse the indignant protest of the North, and unite our efforts
in a determination that those who perpetrate these wrongs against popular
suffrage shall not by means of those wrongs seat a President in Washington
to secure the Federal patronage in a State, we shall have done much to bring
this wrong to an end. But at least while we are protesting by representatives
from our State Department at Washington against wrongs perpetrated in Russia
against the Jew, and in our popular assemblies here against the wrongs which
England has inflicted upon Ireland, shall we not at least in reference to this
gigantic and intolerable wrong in our own country, as a party, lift up a stalwart
and determined protest against it 2 -
“But some of these independent journalists, about which our friend MacMillan
talked, call this the ‘bloody shirt.” They say we are trying to revive the strife
of the war, to rake over, the extinct embers, to kindle the fire again. I want it
understood that for one I have no quarrel with the South for what took place
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 475
between 1861 and 1865. I am willing to forget that they were rebels, at least as
Soon as they are willing to forget it themselves, and that time does not seem to
have come yet to them. But our complaint is against what was done in 1884,
not against what was done during the war. Our complaint is against what will
be done this year, not what was done between 1861 and 1865. No bloody shirt
—though that cry never had any terrors for me. I believe we greatly under-
estimate the importance of bringing the issue to the front, and with that oft-time
Republican courage and outspoken fidelity to truth denouncing it the land over.
CONGRESSMAN CHEATHAM, NORTH CAROLINA.
If we cannot do anything else we can either make these people ashamed of this
outrage against the ballot or make the world ashamed of them.
“There is another question to which the Republican party has committed
itself, and on the line of which it has accomplished, as I believe, much for the
prosperity of this country. I believe the Republican party is pledged and
ought to be pledged to the doctrine of the protection of American industries
and American labor. I believe that in so far as our native inventive genius–
which seems to have no limit—our productive forces can supply the American

476 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
market, we ought to keep it for ourselves. And yet this new captain on the
bridge seems to congratulate himself on the fact that the voyage is still prosper-
ous notwithstanding the change of commanders; who seems to forget that the
reason that the voyage is still prosperous is because the course of the ship was
marked out before he went on the bridge and the rudder tied down. He has
attempted to take a new direction since he has been in command, with a view
of changing the sailing course of the old Craft, but it has seemed to me that he
has made the mistake of mistaking the flashlight of some British lighthouse for
the light of day. I do not intend here to-night in this presence to discuss this
tariff question in any detail. I only want to say that in the passage of what
is now so flippantly called the war tariff, to raise revenue to carry on the war
out of the protective duties which were then levied, there has come to this
country a prosperity and development which would have been impossible without
it, and that reversal of this policy now, at the suggestion of Mr. Cleveland,
according to the line of the blind statesman from Texas, would be to stay and
interrupt this march of prosperity on which we have entered. I am one of those
uninstructed political economists that have an impression that some things may
be too cheap; that I cannot find myself in full sympathy with this demand for
cheaper coats, which seems to me necessarily to involve a cheaper man and
woman under the coat. I believe it is. true to-day that we have many things in
this country that are too cheap, because whenever it is proved that the man or
woman who produces any article cannot get a decent living out of it, then it is
too cheap.
“But I have not intended to discuss in detail any of these questions with
which we have grappled, upon which we have proclaimed a policy, or which
we must meet in the near future. I am only here to-night briefly to sketch to
you the magnificent career of this party to which we give our allegiance—a
union of the States, restored, cemented, regenerated ; a Constitution cleansed
of its compromises with slavery and brought into harmony with the immortal
Declaration ; a race emancipated, given citizenship, and the ballot ; a national
credit preserved and elevated until it stands unequaled among the nations of the
world ; a currency more prized than the coin for which it may be exchanged ; a
story of prosperity more marvelous than was ever written by the historian
before. This is in brief outline the magnificent way in which the Republican
party has wrought. It stands to-day for a pure, equal, honest ballot the country
over. It stands to-day without prejudice or malice, the well-wisher of every State
THE REPUBLIOAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 477
in this Union ; disposed to fill all the streams of the South with prosperity,
and demanding only that the terms of the surrender at Appomattox shall be
complied with. When that magnificent act of clemency was witnessed, when
those sublime and gracious words were uttered by General Grant at Appomat-
tox, the country applauded. We said to those misguided men : “Go home '—in
the language of the parole—‘ and you shall be unmolested while you obey the
laws in force at the place where you reside.” We ask nothing more, but we
cannot quietly submit to the fact, while it is true everywhere in the United
States that the man who fought for years against his country is allowed the full,
free, unrestricted exercise of his new citizenship, when it shall not also be true
everywhere that every man who followed Lincoln in his political views, and every
soldier who fought to uphold the flag, shall in the same full, ample manner be
secured in his political rights.
“This disfranchisement question is hardly a Southern question in all strictness.
It has gone into Dakota, and the intelligent and loyal population of that Terri-
tory is deprived, was at the last election, and will be again, of any participation
in the decision of national questions solely because the prevailing sentiment of
Dakota is Republican. Not only that, but this disregard of purity and honesty in
our elections invaded Ohio in an attempt to seize the United States Senate by
cheating John Sherman, that gallant statesman, out of his seat in the Senate.
And it came here to Illinois, in an attempt also to defeat that man whom I
loved so much, John A. Logan, out of his seat in the United States Senate.
And it has come into our own State (Indiana) by tally-sheet frauds, committed
by individuals, it is true, but justified and defended by the Democratic party of
the State in an attempt to cheat us all out of our fair election majorities. It
was and is a question that lies over every other question, for every other question
must be submitted to this tribunal for decision, and if the tribunal is corrupted,
why shall we debate questions at all ? Who can doubt whether, in defeat or vic-
torious, in the future as in the past, taking high ground upon all these questions, V"
the same stirring cause that assembled our party in the beginning will yet be
found drawing like a great magnet the young and intelligent moral elements of
our country into the Republican organization ? Defeated once, we are ready for
this campaign which is impending, and I believe that the great party of 1860 is
gathering together for the coming election with a force and a zeal and a resolu-
tion that will inevitably carry it, under that standard-bearer who may be chosen
here in June, to victory in November.”
XIII.
Not permitted to remain long out of Public Service–Elected President in 1888—Characteristic
Administration—Speech on the Chilian Trouble—At the Centennial Celebration in New
York—Eulogy of Washington—Eulogy of Garfield—Tours West, South and East—Renom-
inated at Minneapolis—Speeches of Gov. McKinley and the President—Address at Rochester,
July 4, 1892—Address to the National Education Association at Saratoga, July 11, 1892.
ENATOR HARRISON was not permitted to remain long out of public
service after his term in the Senate. The Republican Convention of
1888 was approaching. His record in the Senate, and his now well-
earned national reputation as a soldier and statesman, and the fact
that he had modestly refused to allow his name to go before the pre-
vious Convention, naturally made him a candidate this time. It is related that
he was approached on the subject of pledging offices should he receive the
nomination, but his invariable answer was, “No ; I can make no promises;
I must be free.”
The Convention convened in the Exposition Building at Chicago, June 19,
1888. Senator Harrison was nominated on the eighth ballot, receiving 544 votes,
the nómination being made unanimous.
In a campaign speech at Indianapolis, shortly after his acceptance of the
nomination, he expressed his views on the reciprocity policy as follows:
“But we do not mean to be content with our own market. We should
seek to promote closer and more friendly commercial relations with the Central
and South American States. . . . . We do not desire to dominate these neigh-
boring governments; we do not desire to deal with them in any spirit of
aggression. We desire those friendly, political, mental and commercial relations
which shall promote their interests equally with ours. We should not longer
forego those commercial relations and advantages which our commercial rela-
tions suggest and make so desirable.”

(478)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 479
- l
President Harrison's administration has been characteristic of himself, so
strongly has he imbued his personality on the able cabinet he formed—consistent,
sincere, practical and patriotic. His foreign policy in the discussion with
Germany regarding the Samoan Islands; in the prompt action in the Chilian
matter; in the settlement of the Behring Sea question with Great Britain,
has been eminently patriotic and statesmanlike, calculated to maintain the credit
of the flag wherever it floats. He has kept a watchful eye over the Treasury—
where the annual expenditures amount to $500,000,000—and reduced the public
debt, while there has been a loss in the revenue by making sugar free. Under
his administration the Louisiana lottery has been denied the mails and its days
numbered, the Mafia imbroglio in New Orleans has been settled creditably to
the nation, and civil service has been advanced. The country has never been
stronger at home or abroad, and in the Navy Department as well as the Land
Office progress has been steadily made.
It is well to give in this connection his speech on the Chilian question when
the Minister from that country visited him :
“Mr. Minister : I am glad to receive from your hands the letters accrediting
you as the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the republic of
Chili to the United States. The presence of a representative of the government
of Chili at this capital will, I hope, tend to promote a good understanding between
the two governments and the early settlement, upon terms just and honorable to
both, of the diplomatic questions now somewhat urgently awaiting adjustment.
The government of the United States, as well as its people, particularly desire
and rejoice in the prosperity of all our neighbors in this hemisphere. Our diplo-
matic relations with them have always been and will continue to be free from
intermeddling with their internal affairs. Our people are too just to desire that
the commercial or political advantage of this government should be sought by
the promotion of disastrous dissensions in other countries. We hear with sorrow
every fresh tale of war or internal strife, and are always ready to give our
friendly offices to the promotion of peace. If these are not acceptable or do not
avail, it is our policy to preserve an honorable and strict neutrality, as was done
during the recent war in Chili. Tempting commercial and political advantages
may be offered for our aid or influence by one or the other of the two contending
parties, but this we have not deemed to be consistent with the obligations of in-
ternational honor and goodwill. This government was quite as determined in its
refusal to allow a war-vessel of the United States to carry to a neutral port,
480 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
where it could be made available for war purposes, the silver of Balmaceda, as it
was to give aid to the forces opposing him. The questions involved were Chilian
questions, and this government endeavored to observe those principles of non-
intervention upon which it had so strongly insisted when civil war disturbed our
own people. I cannot doubt that this policy will commend itself to those who
now administer the government of Chili; nor can I doubt that when excitement
has given place to calmness, when the truth is ascertained and the selfish and
designing perversions of recent incidents have been exposed, our respective govern-
ments will find a basis of increased mutual respect, confidence, and friendship.
“Mr. Minister, this government and our people rejoice that peace has been
restored in Chili, and that its government is the expression of the free choice of
its people. You may assure your honored President, who has been chosen under
circumstances which so strongly testify to his moderation and to the esteem in
which he is held by the people of all parties, that the government of the United
States entertains only good will for him and for the people of Chili, and cannot
doubt that the existing and all future differences between the two governments
will find an honorable adjustment.”
President Harrison participated in the great celebration at New York (April
30, 1889) of the one hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of George Wash-
ington as the first President. At St. Paul's Church he spoke as follows, Chaun-
cey M. Depew being the orator of the day :
“We have come into the serious, but always inspiring, presence of Wash-
ingſºn. He was the incarnation of duty, and he teaches us, to-day this great
lesson : That those who would associate their names with events that shall out-
live a century can only do so by high consecration to duty. Self-seeking has no
public observance or anniversary. The captain who gives to the sea his cargo
of goods, that he may give safety and deliverance to his imperiled fellow men
has fame; he who lands the cargo has only wages. Washington seemed to
come to the discharge of the duties of his high office impressed with a great
sense of his unfamiliarity with these new calls thrust upon him, modestly doubt-
ful of his own ability, but trusting implicitly in the sustaining helpfulness and
grace of that God who rules the world, presides in the councils of nations, and
is able to supply every human defect. We have made marvelous progress in
material things since then, but the stately and enduring shaft that we have
erected at the national capital at Washington symbolizes the fact that he is still
the First American Citizen.”
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 48T.
On May 30, 1890, on the occasion of the dedication of the mausoleum
erected at Cleveland to the memory of President Garfield, President Harrison
spoke as follows:
“This monument, so imposing and tasteful, fittingly typifies the grand and
symmetrical character of him in whose honor it has been builded. His was
‘the arduous greatness of things done.” No friendly hands constructed and
placed for his ambition a ladder upon which he might climb. His own brave
hands framed and nailed the cleats upon which he climbed to the heights of
public usefulness and fame. He never ceased to be student and instructor.
Turning from peaceful pursuits to army service, he quickly mastered tactics and
strategy, and in a brief army career taught some valuable lessons in military
science. Turning again from the field to the councils of State, he stood among
the great debaters that have made our national Congress illustrious. What he
might have been or done as President of the United States is chiefly left to
friendly augury, based upon a career that had no incident of failure or inadequacy.
The cruel circumstances attending his death had but one amelioration—that space
of life was given him to teach from his dying bed a great lesson of patience
and forbearance. His mortal part will find honorable rest here, but the lessons
of his life and death will continue to be instructive and inspiring incidents in
American history.”
In October and November, 1890, President Harrison, accompanied by Secre-
tary Tracy, Senator Grosvenor and others, made a tour of Iowa, Kansas, Mis-
Souri, and Indiana, delivering many speeches en route.
In April and May, 1891, accompanied by Mrs. Harrison, Postmaster-General
Wanamaker, Secretary Rusk, and others, he made a tour of the Southern
States, across Texas to the Pacific slope and northward on the Northern Pacific
Railroad, speaking at various points. In August of the same year he made an
extended trip through New England. -
The following is an extract from an address President Harrison made to the
Ecumenical Conference of the Methodist Church at Washington, D.C., Oct. 17,
1891 : -
“It is for a Christian sentiment, manifesting itself in a nation, to remove for-
ever such causes of dispute ; and then what remains will be the easy subject,
of adjustment by fair international arbitration. But I had not intended to enter
into a discussion of this great theme, for the setting forth of which you have
appointed those who have given it special attention. Let me, therefore, say
31
482 THE PEPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
simply this: that for myself—temporarily in a place of influence in this country
—and much more for the great body of its citizenship, I express the desire of
America for peace with the whole world. It would have been vain to Suggest
the pulling down of block-houses or family disarmament to the settlers on a
hostile Indian frontier. They would have told you rightly that the conditions
were not ripe. And so it may be and is probably true that a full application
of the principle is not presently possible, the devil still being unchanged.”
The committee appointed at the Convention in Minneapolis to officially notify
President Harrison of his renomination visited him at the White House at noon
on June 20.
Governor McKinley, the chairman, was accompanied by the following gentle-
men : Charles O. Harris, Alabama, ; Louis Altheimer, Arkansas ; C. A. Felton,
California ; Hosea Townsend, Colorado ; M. C. Buckley, Connecticut ; J. A.
Sparm, Florida ; C. C. Winbish, Georgia ; F. T. Dubois, Idaho ; James M.
Gilbert, Illinois ; J. B. Romen, Indiana ; C. W. Mullan, Iowa ; L. B. Tarlton,
Rentucky; Andrew Hero, Louisiana ; Alex. Shaw, Maryland ; William Cogswell,
Massachusetts; Dexter H. Ferry, Michigan ; Samuel Shell, Minnesota ; S. S.
Matthews, Mississippi; Charles C. Bell, Missouri; O. B. Bammond, Montana ;
Andrew Gleason, District of Columbia ; M. W. Stewart, Arizona ; Atlee Hart,
Nebraska ; Alex. Abert, New Jersey ; E. F. Shepard, New York ; Henry
Cheatham, North Carolina ; William H. Robinson, North Dakota ; J. B.
Foraker, Ohio ; Charles M. Donaldson, Oregon ; Alex. Furnham, Pennsylvania ;
J. W. Case, Rhode Island ; E. H. Deas, South Carolina ; E. F. Hoyt, Tennessee ;
Wilbur F. Crawford, Texas; William R. Page, Vermont ; Edgar Allen, Virginia ;
William Kirkman, Washington ; George M. Bowers, West Virginia ; Thomas M.
Blacklock, Wisconsin; Miguel A. Otero, New Mexico.
There were about two hundred guests assembled in the simply yet beauti-
fully decorated East Room of the White House, when the committee entered
and ranged themselves in a semicircle, Governor McKinley being the keystone
of the arch. A few moments later the President, leaning on the arm of Secre-
tary Foster, and followed by the other members of his Cabinet, entered, and
without any preliminaries Governor McKinley made his brief speech officially
informing the President of his nomination. It was as follows:
“President Harrison : This committee, representing every State and Territory
in the Union, are here to perform the trust committed to them by the National
Republican Convention, which convened at Minneapolis on June 7, 1892, of bring-
THE REPUBLICA.W. PARTY AWD IT'S LEADER.S. 483
ing you official notification of your nomination as the Republican candidate for
President of the United States.
“We need hardly assure you of the pleasure it gives us to convey this
message from the Republicans of the country to their chosen leader. Your
nomination was but the registering by the Convention of the will of the majority
of the Republicans of the United States, and has been received in every quarter
with profound satisfaction.
“In 1888 you were nominated, after a somewhat prolonged struggle, upon a
platform which declared with clearness the purposes and policies of the party if
intrusted with power, and upon that platform you were elected President. You
have had the good fortune to witness the execution of most of those purposes
and policies during the administration of which you have been the head, and in
which you have borne a most conspicuous part. If there has been failure to
embody into law any one of those purposes or policies, it has been no fault of
yours.
“Your administration has more than justified your nomination four years
ago, and the confidence of the people implied by your election. After one of the
most careful, successful and brilliant administrations in our history, you receive
a renomination, furnishing an approval of your work which must bring to you
the keenest gratification. To be nominated for a second term upon the merits of
his administration is the highest distinction which can come to an American
President. The difficult and embarrassing questions which confronted your ad-
ministration have been met with an ability, with a fidelity to duty and with a
lofty patriotism which fill the American heart with glowing pride. Your domestic
policy has been wise, broad and Statesmanlike ; your foreign policy firm, just and
truly American. Those have won the commendation of the thoughtful and con-
servative, and the confidence of your countrymen, irrespective of party, and will,
we believe, insure your triumphant election in November.
“We beg to hand to you the platform of principles unanimously adopted by
the Convention which placed you in nomination. It is an American document.
Protection, which shall serve the highest interests of American labor and Ameri-
can development ; reciprocity, which, while seeking the world’s markets for our
surplus products, shall not destroy American wages or surrender American
markets for products which can be made at home ; honest money, which shall
rightly measure the labor and exchanges of the people and cheat nobody;
honest elections, which are the true foundation of all public authority—these
484 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S DEADERS.
principles constitute for the most part the plaform—principles to which you have
already by word and deed given your earnest approval, and of which you stand
to-day the exponent and representative. Other matters treated of in the plat-
form will have your careful consideration.
“I am bidden by my associates, who come from every section of the nation,
to assure you of the cordial and hearty support of a harmonious and united
Republican party.
“In conclusion we desire to extend to you our personal congratulations,
and to express our gratification at the rare honor paid you by a renomina-
tion, with a firm faith that the destinies of this great people will be confided to
your care and keeping for another four years.”
Major McKinley’s address was delivered slowly, and at the beginning in such
a low tone that it was hardly audible, but the Governor’s voice strengthened as
he proceeded. The speech excited the enthusiasm of those present to a remark-
able degree, almost every sentence being received with hearty applause, and at
its close the demonstrations of approval were earnest and long continued.
The President, in accepting the nomination, said:
“Governor McKinley and Gentlemen of the Committee : When four years ago,
on the anniversary of the declaration of our national independence, a committee
designated by the Republican National Convention held in Chicago came to my
home in Indianapolis to notify me of my nomination for the Presidency, my
Sense of gratitude, great as it was, was forced into the far background by an
overwhelming sense of the responsibility of leadership in a civil contest that in-
volved so much to my country and to my fellow citizens. I could not hope
that much would be found when the record of a quiet life had been brought
under the strong light of public criticism to enthuse my party followers, or
upon which an assurance of adequacy for the highest civil affairs might be
rested. No one so much as I realized that the strength of the campaign must
be found in Republican principles; and my hope was that nothing in life or
word of mine might weaken the appeal of our American policies to the American
heart. That appeal did not fail. A Republican President and Vice-President
and a Republican Congress were chosen.
“The record has been made, and we are now to submit it to the judgment
of a patriotic people. Of my own relation to the great transactions in legisla-
tion and in administration which must be the basis of this judgment it does
not become me to speak.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 485
“I gratefully accept, sir, the assurance given by the Republican State Con-
ventions and by the National Convention, through you, that no charge of in-
adequacy or delinquency to principle has been lodged against the administration.
The faithful and highly successful work done by the able heads of the executive
departments, and by our representatives abroad, I desire most cordially to
acknowledge and commend. The work of the Fifty-first Congress, in which you,
sir, bore so conspicuous and useful a part, will strongly and most beneficially in-
fluence the national prosperity for generations to come.
“The general results of three years of Republican control have, I believe,
been highly beneficial to all classes of our people. The home market for farm
products has been retained and enlarged by the establishment of great manu-
facturing industries; while new markets abroad, of large and increasing value,
long obstinately closed to us, have been opened on favored terms to our meats
and breadstuffs, by the removal of unjust discriminating restrictions and by
numerous reciprocal trade agreements under section 3 of the McKinley Bill.
These acts of administration and legislation can now fortunately be judged by
their fruits. In 1890 it was a conflict of predictions; now our adversaries must
face trade statistics and prices current.
“But it is not appropriate that I should at this time discuss these public
questions. I hope before long to be able by letter to convey to you a more
formal acceptance of the nomination which the National Republican Convention
has tendered me, and to give briefly my reasons for adhering to the declara-
tion of principles adopted by the Convention, and which you have so admirably
Summarized. -
“Will you accept, sir, for yourself and your associates upon the committee,
and for the whole body of the great Convention whose delegates you are, my
profound thanks for this great honor P And will you, sir, allow me to express
my most sincere appreciation of the gracious and cordial terms in which you
have conveyed this message?”
The President’s speech was also received with enthusiasm, hearty applause
following every point. At its close the members of the committee pressed for-
ward and congratulated him on his nomination. Those not already known to him
were introduced by Governor McKinley. He shook hands cordially with each
member of the committee, aud when all had been received, invited them to
luncheon. As the party were about leaving the East Room, E. F. Shepard of
New York mounted a chair and proposed three cheers “for the President of the
486 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
United States.” They were given with a will, Shepard leading. He next pro-
posed three more for “Benjamin Harrison, who will be re-elected President by a
larger majority of votes than he received in 1888.” Again the applause rang out
and continued while the party proceeded to the state dining-room, the President
leading with Governor McKinley. Other invited guests to a considerable number
followed.
Among those present, in addition to the committeemen, were Justice and
Mrs. Harlan, Mrs. McKee, Mrs. Dimmick, Mrs. Parker, Senator Hawley, Senator
and Mrs. Platt, Senator and Mrs. McMillan, Senator and Mrs. Cullom, Senators
Proctor, Sawyer, Sherman and Aldrich, Miss Sherman, Representative Hitt, Repre-
sentative and Mrs. and Miss Dalzell, Representative and Mrs. Huff, Mrs. Logan,
Mrs. Noble, Miss Halstead, Mrs. Dunn, Mr. and Mrs. David R. McKee, Represen-
tative Curtis of New York; General and Mrs. Breckinridge, Miss Breckinridge,
Major and Mrs. Parker, Representative Burrows, Senator Hiscock, Senator and
Mrs. Manderson, Assistant Secretaries Spaulding, Nettleton and Crounse, Assistant
Postmaster-General Whitfield, Auditors Hart and Lynch, Mr. Leech, Director of
the Mint ; Commissioner Mason and others.
At the unveiling of the Soldier’s Monument at Rochester, N. Y., July 4, 1892,
President Harrison delivered the following address :
“Mr. Chairman, Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic and
Fellow Citizens: Every external condition and some internal conditions affect-
ing my strength admonish me that I should speak to you with great brev-
ity. I have enjoyed very greatly the great exercises which are now being
consummated in this beautiful city. You have met a great occasion
greatly. I have never seen anywhere a more magnificent expression of
patriotism than I have witnessed here. These streets upon which the
institutions of trade have been for a time covered with the starry banner;
this great marching column in which the veterans of the war march again to
the old music and follow with faithful hearts the old flag that they may do
honor to those brave comrades who were permitted, under God, to make a
supremer sacrifice than they to the flag we dearly love; these following com-
panies of the children of our public and parochial schools, these banners, the
music of drum and fife and bugle, the cheering multitude, the great, open-
hearted, loving expression which we saw as we moved along your streets, all
testify to the fact that our Constitution, our civic institutions, and that glorious
flag that symbolizes them are set upon a granite foundation in the people’s
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 487
hearts. As the old hymn says: “What can shake our sure repose P If we
should fail, comrades, to meet any occasion of peril which may be in the path-
way of this nation, it seems to me that the trundle beds of the country would
furnish its defenders. War is not attractive to our people. We have not many
of that class of men of whom we sometimes heard during the war who would
rather fight than eat. I had one of that class in my regiment, and he got into
the ditch the first serious engagement we became involved in. No, our people
are smitten with the love of peace. We had not before the Civil War so much
cultivated in the North as had our friends of the South the military spirit. We
were a peaceful people. They said, but they will say so no more, that we were
a craven set of peddlers.
“It took a great deal to separate the home-loving, peaceful people from their
homes, these farmers and artisans and clerks and professional men. It must be
a strong pull that could withdraw them from associations that So closely bound
their affections and their lives; but when the moment came, and dreaded war
was present, with what magnificent self-denial, with what alacrity every family
tie and every commercial interest were put beneath the supreme duty to save the
nation and redeem the flag from dishonor. Out of this war we have brought
a mutual respect that would not otherwise have been possible.
“Some of us fancied that the Southern people were given to vaporing—that
each one of them was equal to five Northern soldiers; but the South learned that
Paul Revere still rode the highways of Massachusetts and that the man of Con-
cord still plowed his fields. And we, on our part, learned that the spirit of the
cavalier which was found in the Southern army was combined with the reserve
and steadfastness of Cromwell’s Ironsides. ...”
“We have found a plane of mutual respect, and I am glad of it; and not
only this, but we have found a common country. I do not think, indeed I am
sure, that no war ever waged in history before our Civil War brought equal
blessings to the victor and to the vanquished. No companies of weary, sad-eyed
captains at the chariot-wheel adorned our triumph and return. We brought into
a full participation in the glories of a restored Union those who had mistakenly
sought to destroy it. It gladdens my heart now to believe that the love of the
old flag is so revived in these Southern hearts that they would vie with martial
ardor to be in front of the charge, if we should ever be called to meet a common
enemy. Glorious victory and God-given and God-blessed spear ! No yoke upon
the defeated except that yoke which we wore, comrades, when we resumed our
488 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS.
place as citizens—the obligation to obey the Constitution and all laws made in
pursuance of it, as the condition of peaceful citizenship.
“We are happy in our great national isolation ; happy, as your distinguished
orator has said, that we do not need to burden our people to maintain standing
armies, and do not live under a perpetual threat that the chariot-wheels of
war may roll through our peaceful villages. No nation in the world is able
to wage war on our soil with the United States; and when the generous
work upon which we have entered of building, equipping and manning a suit-
able navy is completed, no nation in the world will be hasty to engage us upon
the sea.”
President Harrison addressed the National Education Association at Saratoga,
July 11, as follows:
“Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : If it is ‘ more blessed to give than
to receive,” this is a blessed audience; for I do not know any class of our
people who give so largely in excess of their receipts as instructors of the
young, and especially female teachers. It gives me great pleasure to stand for
a few moments in your presence, and to receive this cordial expression of your
respect and interest. It is quite as appropriate, I think, that the President of
the United States should review the teachers of the land as that he should
review its army or its militia. For, after all, the strength and defense of
our institutions, not only in peace, but in war, are to be found in the young
of the land, who have received from the lips of patriotic teachers the story of
the sacrifice which our fathers made to establish our civil institutions, and
which their sons have repeated on hundreds of battlefields. The organized army
of the United States, if we include the militia of the States, is of insignificant
proportion when put in contrast with the armies of the other great powers of
the world. Our strength is not in these ; it is in that great reserve to be
found in the instructed young of our land, who come to its defense in time of
peril. It was not the brawlers, it was not the frequenters of the tavern, of
whom our army in the Civil War was made, or of whom our army must be
made if any great emergency of war again confronts us. -
“I recall a battle scene. The line was advancing against the intrenched
enemy; from behind strong parapets eight double-shotted guns hurled their mis-
siles of death into the advancing line ; there was a pause that threatened an
instant retreat, when a stripling soldier, a mother’s boy, stepped to the front,
with his cap in the air, and cheered the line on to victory. The instinct of
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 489
patriotism, or moral courage, was triumphant over mere physical daring in
that hour, and it always will be.
“It is not simply to give that power that comes from education, but to
give it safe direction, that schools are established. He is not a benefactor of
his race who develops undirected or misdirected power. Therefore we must insist
that in all our schools the morality of the Ten Commandments shall be in-
stilled ; that lessons of due subordination to authority shall be taught. The
family and the school are the beginning of the fundamental element of good
citizenship and obedience to law ; a respectful deference to public authority ;
a self-sacrificing purpose to stand by established and orderly administration
of the government. I rejoice in nothing more than in this movement, re-
cently so prominently developed, of placing the starry banner above every
School-house. -
“I have been charged with too sentimental an appreciation of the flag. I
will not enter upon any defense. God pity the American citizen who does not
love it, who does not see in it the story of our great free institutions and the
hope of the home as well as of the nation, and I think, notwithstanding perhaps
a little too much tendency to rote in our public schools, that it is still true that
our teachers, and especially the women, are not without sentiment.
‘‘I am not here to instruct this convention of instructors. As I have just
intimated, it has seemed to me that we are taking on in education some of the .
developments which characterize the mechanic arts. No workman produces a
finished product. He gives it a little touch and passes it on to some one else. I
sometimes regretfully recall the days when the teacher left his strong impress
upon the pupil by reason of long years of personal intercourse and instruction,
and universities where the professor knew the members of his class and could
detect the fraud when a dummy was substituted.
“Now we have the little one for a few months in the kindergarten ; then
pass him on to the primary, and the graded system catches him, much as a mov-
ing belt in a machine shop, and it carries him on until he is dumped from one of
these great universities as a ‘finished product.” Perhaps the work is so large
and the demand for economy so great that this system is inevitable. Perhaps
it throws the pupil somewhat more upon himself, and out of this there may
COIſle SOIſle advantage. But without discussing the relative merits of the old
way and the new, let us thank God that this great army of instructors, re-en-
forced by the great body of our citizens, is marching on to reach that great
490 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
result when there shall not be found an adult citizen of the United States who
is not possessed of an elementary education.
“There is a just mean I think—that between a system of intellectual com-
petition which destroys the body and a system of physical training that eliminates
the mind. Perhaps the stress is applied too early to our little ones. I throw
out this word of caution to our good lady friends here who have them in charge.
Some years ago I was passing down a street in Indianapolis from my residence
to my office, and on the way there was one of our public schools. The children
were just gathering in the morning. As I came near the corner, two sweet little
girls, evidently chums, approached from different directions and, meeting at the
crossing, soon had their heads close together, but not so close but that I caught
the conversation. One said to the other : * Oh, I had such an awful dream
last night.”
“Her sympathizing little fellow put her head still closer and said: ‘What
was it, P’
“‘Oh,” said the trembling little one, ‘I dreamed I did not pass.’
“It is safer to such little ones to dream, as in my careless country boyhood
I was wont to do, about bears.
“But I have already in this desultory way talked too long. [Cries of “Go
on,” “Go on 1 °] That is very kind. I see that motto everywhere about me. It
is inscribed over every door in that public institution where I live. There are
Some proverbs or sayings that we use without any adequate appreciation of what
they mean. I never knew what the old story of the last straw and the camel’s
back meant until I was called to exercise the office of President, and you will
never know until you have that experience.
“It gives me great pleasure to express a sincere personal interest in and to
commend, with whatever official sanction I can give to it, the great work in
which you are engaged. I sympathize with it, not only because I see in it the
safety of our country, but what is more perhaps, what is the same thing, the
safety of society. I sympathize with it and appreciate it because I love children.
If you did not understand me to present a plea of guilty to the suggestion of
Colonel Draper, I desire to do so now. I hope all of you may return to your
homes and work with a new sense of and interest in and consecration to it.
There is none other like it. It has the power of multiplication. It has an ele-
ment of life that no other work has. It is eternal. It has that communicating
touch of intelligence, morality and patriotism which runs from one to another,
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 491
and which goes in the elements of character which comes to it from the skies. If
not crowns of wealth, if not the luxury and ease of great fortune are yours,
yours will be a more enduring crown if it can be said of you that in every
touch upon the life of the young you have lifted it up. \
“That your meeting here in this delightful place may be accompanied by
every incident of pleasure and profit, and that you may find in it a fresh inspira-
tion and dedication to your work, is the wish I leave with you.”
XIV.
President Harrison's Inaugural Address—Constitutional Requirement on Taking Oath—Washing-
ton's Inauguration—The Territory of Dakota—Sovereignty to the General Government—
Sectional Element eliminated from the Tariff Question—Paralysis of Slavery—Special
Executive Policy for any Section not Advisable—Obligations of Corporations—Naturaliza-
tion Laws—No Interference with European Affairs—Our Interests Exclusively American—
Appointments—A Treasury Surplus a Serious Evil—Encourage American Steamship Lines
—Election Laws—The Future Promising.
e RESIDENT HARRISON'S inaugural address, delivered at Wash-
ington, D. C., March 4, 1889, was as follows:
“There is no constitutional or legal requirement that the
. President shall take the oath of office in the presence of
the people. But there is so manifest an appropriateness in
the public induction to office of the chief executive officer of
the nation that from the beginning of the government the people, to whose
Service the official oath consecrates the officer, have been called to witness the
solemn ceremonial. The oath taken in the presence of the people becomes a
mutual covenant ; the officer covenants to serve the whole body of the people by
a faithful execution of the laws, so that they may be the unfailing defense and
security of those who respect and observe them, and that neither wealth and
station nor the power of combinations shall be able to evade their just penalties
or to wrest them from a beneficent public purpose to serve the ends of cruelty
or selfishness. My promise is spoken ; yours unspoken, but not the less real
and solemn. The people of every State have here their representatives. Surely
I do not misinterpret the spirit of the occasion when I assume that the whole
body of the people covenant with me and with each other to-day to support
and defend the Constitution and the Union of the States, to yield willing obedi-
ence to all the laws and each to every other citizen his equal civil and political

(492)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 493
rights. Entering thus solemnly in covenant with each other, we may reverently
invoke and confidently expect the favor and help of Almighty God, that He
will give to me wisdom, strength, and fidelity, and to our people a spirit of
fraternity and a love of righteousness and peace.
“This occasion derives peculiar interest from the fact that the presidential
term which begins this day is the twenty-sixth under our Constitution. The
first inauguration of President Washington took place in New York, where Con-
gress was then sitting, on April 30, 1789, having been deferred by reason of
delays attending the organization of the Congress and the canvass of the
electoral vote. Our people have already worthily observed the centennials of the
Declaration of Independence, of the battle of Yorktown, and of the adoption
of the Constitution, and will shortly celebrate in New York the institution of
the second great department of our constitutional scheme of government. When
the centennial of the institution of the judicial department by the organization
of the Supreme Court shall have been suitably observed, as I trust it will be,
our nation will have fully entered its second century. *
‘‘I will not attempt to note the marvelous and, in great part, happy con-
trasts between our country as it steps over the threshold into its second cent-
ury of organized existence under the Constitution, and that weak but wisely
ordered young nation that looked undauntedly down the first century, when all
its years stretched out before it.
“Our people will not fail at this time to recall the incidents which accom-
panied the institution of government under the Constitution, or to find inspira-
tion and guidance in the teachings and example of Washington and his great
associates, and hope and courage in the contrast, which thirty-eight populous
and prosperous States offer to the thirteen States, weak in everything except
courage and the love of liberty, that then fringed our Atlantic seaboard.
“The Territory of Dakota has now a population greater than any of the
original States—except Virginia—and greater than the aggregate of five of the
smaller States in 1790. The center of population when our national capital was
located was east of Baltimore, and it was argued by many well-informed per-
sons that it would move eastward rather than westward. Yet in 1880 it was
found to be near Cincinnati, and the new census, about to be taken, will show
another stride to the westward. That which was the body has come to be only
the rich fringe of the nation’s robe. But our growth has not been limited
to territory, population, and aggregate wealth, marvelous as it has been in each
494 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEADERS.
of those directions. The masses of our people are better fed, clothed, and housed
than their fathers were. The facilities for popular education have been vastly
enlarged and more generally diffused. The virtues of courage and patriotism
have given recent proof of their continued presence and increasing power in
the hearts and over the lives of our people. The influences of religion have
been multiplied and strengthened. The sweet offices of charity have greatly
increased. The virtue of temperance is held in higher estimation. We have
not attained an ideal condition. Not all of our people are happy and pros-
perous ; not all of them are virtuous and law-abiding. But, on the whole, the
opportunities offered to the individual to secure the comforts of life are better
than are found elsewhere, and largely better than they were here one hundred
years ago.
“The surrender of a large measure of sovereignty to the general govern-
ment, effected by the adoption of the Constitution, was not accomplished until
the suggestions of reason were strongly re-enforced by the more imperative
voice of experience. The divergent interests of peace speedily demanded a
‘ more perfect union.” The merchant, the ship-master, and the manufacturer
discovered and disclosed to our statesmen and to the people that commercial
emancipation must be added to the political freedom which had been so bravely
won. The commercial policy of the mother country had not relaxed any of
its hard and oppressive features. To hold in check the development of our
commercial marine, to prevent or retard the establishment and growth of
manufactures in the States, and so to secure the American market for their
shops and the carrying trade for their ships, was the policy of European states-
men, and was pursued with the most selfish vigor. Petitions poured in upon
Congress urging the imposition of discriminating duties that should encourage
the production of needed things at home. The patriotism of the people, which
no longer found a field of exercise in war, was energetically directed to the
duty of equipping the young Republic for the defense of its independence by
making its people self-dependent. Societies for the promotion of home manu-
factures and for encouraging the use of domestics in the dress of the people
were organized in many of the States. The revival at the end of the century
of the same patriotic interest in the preservation and development of domestic
industries and the defense of our working people against injurious foreign com-
petition is an incident worthy of attention.
“It is not a departure but a return that we have witnessed. The protec-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEA DERS. 495
tive policy had then its opponents. The argument was made, as now, that its
benefits inured to particular classes or sections. If the question became in any
sense, or at any time, sectional, it was only because slavery existed in some of
the States. But for this there was no reason why the cotton-producing States
should not have lead or walked, abreast with the New England States in the pro-
duction of cotton fabrics. There was this reason only why the States that di-
vide with Pennsylvania the mineral treasures of the great southeastern and cen-
tral mountain ranges should have been so tardy in bringing to the smelting
furnace and the mill the coal and iron from their near opposing hillsides. Mill-
fires were lighted at the funeral pile of slavery. The emancipation proclama-
tion was heard in the depths of the earth as well as in the sky—men were
made free and material things became our better servants.
“The sectional element has happily been eliminated from the tariff discussion.
We have no longer States that are necessarily only planting States. None are
excluded from achieving that diversification of pursuit among the people which
brings wealth and contentment. The cotton plantation will not be less valuable
when the product is spun in the country town by operatives whose necessities
call for diversified crops and create a home demand for garden and agricultural
products. Every new mine, furnace, and factory is an extension of the productive
capacity of the State more real and valuable than added territory.
“Shall the prejudices and paralysis of slavery continue to hang upon the
skirts of progress P. How long will those who rejoice that slavery no longer
exists cherish or tolerate the incapacities it puts upon their communities P I look
hopefully to the continuance of our protective system and to the consequent
development of manufacturing and mining enterprises in the States hitherto wholly
given to agriculture as a potent influence in the perfect unification of our people.
The men who have invested their capital in these enterprises, the farmers who
have felt the benefit of their neighborhood, and the men who work in shop or
field will not fail to find and to defend a community of interest. Is it not
Quite possible that the farmers and the promoters of the great mining and manu-
facturing enterprises which have recently been established in the South may yet
find that the free ballot of the workingman, without distinction of race, is needed
for their defense as well as for his own I do not doubt that if these men
in the South who now accept the tariff views of Clay and the constitutional
expositions of Webster would courageously avow and defend their real convictions
they would not find it difficult, by friendly instruction and co-operation, to make
496 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
the black man their efficient and safe ally, not only in establishing correct prin-
ciples in our national administration, but in preserving for their local communi-
ties the benefits of social order and economical and honest government. At least
until the good offices of kindness and education have been fairly tried the con-
trary conclusion cannot be plausibly urged. -
“I have altogether rejected the suggestion of a special executive policy for
any section of our country. It is the duty of the executive to administer and
enforce in the methods and by the instrumentalities pointed out and provided
by the Constitution all the laws enacted by Congress. These laws are general,
and their administration should be uniform and equal. As a citizen may not
elect what laws he will obey, neither may the executive elect which he will en-
force. The duty to obey and execute embraces the Constitution in its entirety
and the whole code of laws enacted under it. The evil example of permitting
individuals, corporations, or communities to nullify the laws because they cross
some selfish or local interests or prejudices is full of danger, not only to the
nation at large, but much more to those who use this pernicious expedient to
escape their just obligations or to obtain an unjust advantage over others.
They will presently themselves be compelled to appeal to the law for protection,
and those who would use the law as a defense must not deny that use of it to
Others. -
“If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal obli-
gations and duties they would have less cause to complain of , the unlawful limi-
tations of their rights or of violent interference with their operations. The com-
munity that by concert, open or secret, among its citizens denies to a portion of
its members their plain rights under the law has severed the only safe bond of
social order and prosperity. The evil works, from a bad center, both ways. It
demoralizes those who practice it, and destroys the faith of those who suffer by
it in the efficiency of the law as a safe protector. The man in whose breast
that faith has been darkened is naturally the subject of dangerous and uncanny
suggestions. Those who use unlawful methods, if moved by no higher motive
than the selfishness that prompts them, may well stop and inquire what is to
be the end of this. An unlawful expedient cannot become a permanent condi-
tion of government. If the educated and influential classes in a community
either practice or connive at the systematic violation of laws that seem to them
to cross their convenience, what can they expect when the lesson that convenience
or a supposed class interest is a sufficient cause for lawlessness has been well
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 497
learned by the ignorant classes? A community where law is the rule of conduct,
and where courts, not mobs, execute its penalties, is the only attractive field for
business investments and honest labor.
“Our naturalization laws should be so amended as to make the inquiry
into the character and good disposition of persons applying for citizenship more
careful and searching. Our existing laws have been in their administration an
unimpressive and often an unintelligible form. We accept the man as a citizen
without any knowledge of his fitness, and he assumes the duties of citizenship
without any knowledge as to what they are. The privileges of American citizen-
ship are so great and its duties so grave that we may well insist upon a good
knowledge of every person applying for citizenship and a good knowledge by him
of our institutions. We should not cease to be hospitable to immigration, but
we should cease to be careless as to the character of it. There are men of
all races, even the best, whose coming is necessarily a burden upon our public
revenues or a threat to social order. These should be identified and excluded.
“We have happily maintained a policy of avoiding all interference with
European affairs. We have been only interested spectators of their contentions
in diplomacy and in war, ready to use our friendly offices to promote peace, but
never obtruding our advice and never attempting unfairly to coin the distresses
of other powers into commercial advantage to ourselves. We have a just right.
to expect that our European policy will be the American policy of European
Court.S.
“It is so manifestly incompatible with those precautions for our peace and
safety, which all the great powers habitually observe and enforce in matters
affecting them, that a shorter water-way between our Eastern and Western
seaboards should be dominated by any European government, that we may
confidently expect that such a purpose will not be entertained by any friendly
power. We shall in the future, as in the past, use every endeavor to maintain
and enlarge our friendly relations with all the great powers, but they will not
expect us to look kindly upon any project that would leave us subject to the
dangers of a hostile observation or environment.
“We have not sought to dominate or to absorb any of our weaker neighbors,
but rather to aid and encourage them to establish free and stable governments,
resting upon the consent of their own people. We have a clear right to expect,
therefore, that no European government will seek to establish colonial dependen-
cies upon the territory of these independent American States. That which a
32
498 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
sense of justice restrains us from seeking they may be reasonably expected will-
ingly to forego.
“It must not be assumed, however, that our interests are so exclusively
American that our entire inattention to any events that may transpire elsewhere
can be taken for granted. Our citizens domiciled for purposes of trade in all
countries and in many of the islands of the sea demand and will have our
adequate care in their personal and commercial rights. The necessities of our
navy require convenient coaling stations and dock and harbor privileges. These
and other trading privileges we will feel free to obtain only by means that do
not in any degree partake of coercion, however feeble the government from which
we ask such concessions. But having fairly obtained them by methods and for
purposes entirely consistent with the most friendly disposition toward all other
powers, our consent will be necessary to any modification or impairment of the
concession. - -
“We shall neither fail to respect the flag of any friendly nation or the just
rights of its citizens, nor to exact the like treatment for our own. Calmness,
justice, and consideration should characterize our diplomacy. The offices of an
intelligent diplomacy or of friendly arbitration, in proper cases, should be
adequate to the peaceful adjustment of all international difficulties. By such
methods we will make our contribution to the world’s peace, which no nation
values more highly, and avoid the opprobrium which must fall upon the nation
that ruthlessly breaks it.
“The duty devolved by law upon the President to nominate and, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint all public officers whose
appointment is not otherwise provided for in the Constitution or by act of
Congress has become very burdensome, and its wise and efficient discharge full
of difficulty. The civil list is so large that a personal knowledge of any large
number of the applicants is impossible. The President must rely upon the
representations of others, and these are often made inconsiderately and without
any just sense of responsibility.
“I have a right, I think, to insist that those who volunteer or are invited
to give advice as to appointments shall exercise consideration and fidelity. A
high sense of duty and an ambition to improve the service should characterize
all public officers. There are many ways in which the convenience and comfort
of those who have business with our public officers may be promoted by a
thoughtful and obliging officer, and I shall expect those whom I may appoint to
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 499
justify their selection by a conspicuous efficiency in the discharge of their duties.
Honorable party service will certainly not be esteemed by me a disqualification
for public office ; but it will in no case be allowed to serve as a shield for official
negligence, incompetency, or delinquency. It is entirely creditable to seek public
office by proper methods and with proper motives, and all applications will be
treated with consideration ; but I shall need, and the heads of departments will
need, time for inquiry and deliberation. Persistent importunity will not, there-
fore, be the best support of an application for office.
“Heads of departments, bureaus, and all other public officers having any
duty connected there with, will be expected to enforce the civil service law fully
and without evasion. Beyond this obvious duty I hope to do something more to
advance the reform of the civil service. The ideal, or even my own ideal, I shall
probably not attain. Retrospect will be a safer basis of judgment than promises.
We shall not, however, I am sure, be able to put our civil service upon a non-
partisan basis until we have secured an incumbency that fair minded men of the
opposition will approve for impartiality and integrity. As the number of such in
the civil list is increased removals from office will diminish.
“While a treasury surplus is not the greatest evil, it is a serious evil. Our
revenue should be ample to meet the ordinary annual demands upon our treasury,
with a sufficient margin for those extraordinary but scarcely less imperative de-
mands which arise now and then. Expenditure should always be made with econ-
omy, and only upon public necessity. Wastefulness, profligacy, or favoritism in
public expenditures is criminal, but there is nothing in the condition of our coun-
try or of our people to suggest that anything presently necessary to the public
prosperity, security, or honor should be unduly postponed. It will be the duty of
Congress wisely to forecast and estimate these extraordinary demands, and, having
added them to our ordinary expenditures, to so adjust our revenue laws that no
considerable annual surplus will remain. We will fortunately be able to apply to
the redemption of the public debt any small and unforeseen excess of revenue.
This is better than to reduce our income below our necessary expenditures with
the resulting choice between another change of our revenue laws and an increase
of the public debt. It is quite possible, I am sure, to effect the necessary reduc-
tion in our revenues without breaking down our protective tariff or seriously
injuring any domestic industry.
“The construction of a sufficient number of modern warships and of their
necessary armament should progress as rapidly as is consistent with care and
500 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
perfection in plans and workmanship. The spirit, courage, and skill of our naval
officers and seamen have many times in our history given to weak ships and
inefficient guns a rating greatly beyond that of the naval list. That they will
again. do so upon occasion I do not doubt ; but they ought not, by premeditation
or neglect, to be left to the risks and exigencies of an unequal combat.
“We should encourage the establishment of American steamship lines. The
exchanges of commerce demand stated, reliable, and rapid means of communica-
tion, and until these are provided the development of our trade with the States
lying south of us is impossible.
“Our pension law should give more adequate and discriminating relief to
the Union soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans. Such occasions
as this should remind us that we owe everything to their valor and sacrifice.
‘‘It is a subject of congratulation that there is a near prospect of the admis-
sion into the Union of the Dakotas and Montana and Washington Territories.
This act of justice has been unreasonably delayed in the case of some of them.
The people who have settled those Territories are intelligent, enterprising, and
patriotic, and the accession of these new States will add strength to the nation.
It is due to the settlers in the Territories who have availed themselves of the
invitations of our land laws to make homes upon the public domain that their
titles should be speedily adjusted and their honest entries confirmed by patent.
“It is very gratifying to observe the general interest now being manifested
in the reform of our election laws. Those who have been for years calling atten-
tion to the pressing necessity of throwing about the ballot-box and about the
elector further safeguards, in order that our elections might not only be free and
pure, but might clearly appear to be so, will welcome the accession of any who
did not so soon discover the need of reform. The national Congress has not as
yet taken control of elections in that case over which the Constitution gives it
jurisdiction, but has accepted and adopted the election laws of the several States,
provided penalties for their violation and a method of supervision. Only the ineffi-
ciency of the State laws or an unfair partisan administration of them could sug-
gest 3. departure from this policy. It was clearly, however, in the contemplation
of the framers of the Constitution that such an exigency might arise, and pro-
vision was wisely made for it. No power vested in Congress or in the Executive
to secure or perpetuate it should remain unused upon occasion.
“The people of all the congressional districts have an equal interest that the
election in each shall truly express the views and wishes of a majority of the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEAD ERS. 501
qualified electors residing within it. The results of such elections are not local,
and the insistence of electors residing in other districts that they shall be pure
and free does not savor at all of impertinence. If in any of the States the public
security is thought to be threatened by ignorance among the electors, the obvious
remedy is education. The sympathy and help of our people will not be withheld
from any community struggling with special embarrassments or difficulties con-
nected with the suffrage, if the remedies proposed proceed upon lawful lines and
are promoted by just and honorable methods. How shall those who practice elec-
tion frauds recover that respect for the sanctity of the ballot which is the first
condition and obligation of good citizenship P The man who has come to regard
the ballot-box as a juggler’s hat has renounced his allegiance.
“Let us exalt patriotism and moderate our party contentions. Let those
who would die for the flag on the field of battle give a better proof of their
patriotism and a higher glory to their country by promoting fraternity and
justice. A party success that is achieved by unfair methods or by practices
that partake of revolution is hurtful and evanescent, even from a party stand-
point. We should hold our differing opinions in mutual respect, and, having
submitted them to the arbitrament of the ballot, should accept an adverse judg-
ment with the same respect that we would have demanded of our opponents if
the decision had been in our favor.
“No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and love,
or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and so full of
generous suggestion to enterprise and labor. God has placed upon our head
a diadem, and has laid at our feet power and wealth beyond definition or cal-
culation. But we must not forget that we take these gifts upon the condition
that justice and mercy shall hold the reins of power, and that the upward
avenues of hope shall be free to all the people.
“I do not mistrust the future. Dangers have been in frequent ambush along
our path, but we have uncovered and vanquished them all. Passion has swept
some of our communities, but only to give us a new demonstration that the
great body of our people are stable, patriotic, and law-abiding. No political
party can long pursue advantage at the expense of public honor or by rude and
indecent methods, without protest and fatal disaffection in its own body. The
peaceful agencies of commerce are more fully revealing the necessary unity of
all our communities, and the increasing intercourse of our people is promoting
mutual respect. We shall find unalloyed pleasure in the revelation which our
502 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
next census will make of the Swift development of the great resources of some of
the States. Each State will bring its generous contribution to the great aggre-
gate of the nation’s increase. And when the harvest from the fields, the cattle
from the hills, and the ores of the earth shall have been weighed, counted, and
valued, we will turn from them all to crown with the highest honor the State
that has most promoted education, virtue, justice, and patriotism among the
people.”
XV.
President Harrison's Western Tour, October, 1890—Speeches—Clifton Forge, Va.-Lawrenceburg,
Ind.—North Vernon—Seymour—Shoals—Sullivan—Terre Haute—Danville, Ill.—Champaign
—Peoria—Galesburg—Reunion First Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth Army Corps—
Ottumwa, Iowa–St. Joseph, Mo.—Atchison, Kansas–Topeka–Nortonville—Valley Falls—
Lawrence—Kansas City, Mo.—St. Louis—Anderson, Ind.—Muncie, Ind.—Winchester—Union
City–De Graff, Ohio — Bellefontaine—Crestline — Mansfield—Wooster—Massillon—Canton—
Alliance.
RESIDENT HARRISON, accompanied by Secretary Tracy, Senator
Chas. H. Grosvenor, Private Secretary Halford, and others, left
Washington, Oct. 6, 1890, for a tour of Iowa, Ransas, Missouri and
Indiana, the principal object being to participate in the reunion
of the First Brigade, Twentieth Army Corps, at Galesburg, Ill.
At Clifton Forge, Va., Oct. 6, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Friends: I hope you will excuse me from making a speech. I have
traveled for the first time over the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and I have
noticed with great interest and pleasure the development which is being made
along the road of the mineral resources of the State of Virginia. What I have
seen moves me to offer my sincere congratulations on what you have already
accomplished, and what is surely in store for you if you but make use of your
resources and opportunities.” & -
At Lawrenceburg, Ind., Oct. 7, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Friends: I want to thank you very cordially for this greeting. All
the scenes about here are very familiar to me. This town of Lawrenceburg is
the first village of my childish recollections, and as I approached it this morning,
past the earliest home of my recollections, the home in which my childhood and
early manhood were spent, memories crowded in upon me that were very full of

(503)
504 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
interest, very full of pleasure, and yet full of sadness. They bring back to me
those who once made the old home very dear, the most precious spot on earth.
I have passed with bowed head the place where they rest. We are here in our
generation, with the work of those who have gone before us. Let us see, each
of us, that in the family, in the neighborhood, and in the State, we do at least
with equal courage, and grace, and kindness, the work which was so bravely,
kindly, and graciously done by those who filled our places fifty years ago. Now,
for I must hurry on, to these old friends, and to these new friends who have come
in since Lawrenceburg was familiar to me, I extend again my hearty thanks
for this welcome, and beg, in parting, to introduce the only member of my
Cabinet who accompanies me, General Tracy, Secretary of the Navy.”
At North Vernon, Ind., Oct. 7, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Friends : I am very glad to see you, and very much obliged to you
for your pleasurable greeting. It is always a pleasure to see my old Indiana
friends. We have had this morning a delightful ride across the southern part
of the State, one that has given me a great deal of refreshment and pleasure.
Let me again assure you that I am very much obliged to you for this evidence of
your friendship. I hope you will excuse me from further speech on this occasion.
It gives me pleasure now, my fellow citizens, to introduce to you General Tracy
of New York, the Secretary of the Navy, who accompanies me on this trip.”
At Seymour, Ind., Oct. 7, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Friends : I feel that I ought to thank you for your friendly greeting
this beautiful morning. It is a pleasure indeed to me to greet, so many of you.
Again I thank you for this welcome. A request has just been handed me that
I speak a few minutes to the school children here assembled. I scarcely know
what to say to them, except that I have a great interest in them, and the
country has a great interest in them. Those who, like myself, have passed the
meridian of life realize more than younger men that the places we now hold and
the responsibilities we now carry in society and in all social and business rela-
tions must devolve upon those who are now in the school. Our State has mag-
nificently provided for their education, so that none of them need be ignorant,
and I am sure that in these happy homes the fathers and mothers are not
neglecting their duties, but are instilling into these young minds morality and
respect for the law which must crown intelligence in order to make them.”
At Shoals, Ind., Oct. 7, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens : I am very glad to see you. My trip this morning
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 505
is more like a holiday than I have had for a long time. I am glad to see the
cordiality of your welcome. It makes me feel that I am still held somewhat
in the esteem of the people whose friendship I so very much covet and desire
to retain.”
At Sullivan, Ind., Oct. 7, President Harrison spoke as follows :
“My Friends : Some of you have requested that I would give you a little
talk. The range of things that I can say on an occasion like this is very limited,
but one thing, though it seems to involve repetition, I can say to you very
heartily and very sincerely : I am very glad to again look into the faces of my
Indiana friends. I trust I have friends that are not in Indiana, but my earliest
and my best are here. Again. I thank you.”
At Terre Haute, Ind., Oct. 7, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“Mr. Mayor, Fellow Citizens of Indiana, Ladies and Gentlemen : I very
heartily appreciate this large gathering assembled to greet me. I very heartily
appreciate the welcome which your kind and animated faces, as well as the
spoken words of the chief officer of your city, have extended to me. I have
known this pretty city for more than thirty years, and have watched its
progress and growth. It has always been , the home of some of my most
cherished personal friends, and I am glad to know that your city is in an in-
creasing degree prosperous, and your people contented and happy. I am glad
to know that the local industries which have been established in your midst
are to-day busy in producing their varied products, and that these find a
ready market at remunerative prices. I was told as we approached your city
that there was not an idle wheel in Terre Haute. It is very pleasant to know
that this prosperity is so generally shared by all our people. Hopefulness, and
cheer, and courage tend to bring and maintain good times.
“We differ widely in our views of public politics, but I trust every one of
us is devoted to the flag which represents the unity and power of our country
and to the best interests of the people, as we are given to see and understand
those interests. We are in the enjoyment of the most perfect system of
government that has ever been devised for the use of men. We are under
fewer restraints; the individual faculties and liberties have wider range here
than in any other land. Here a sky of hope is arched over the head of every
ambitious, industrious, and aspiring young man. There are no social con-
ditions; there are no unneeded legal restrictions. Let us continue to cherish
these institutions and to maintain them in their best development. Let us see
506 THE REPUBLIOAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
that as far as our influence can bring it to pass they are conducted for the
general good. -
“It gives me pleasure to bring into your city to-day one who is the suc-
cessor as the head of the Navy Department of that distinguished citizen of
Indiana who is especially revered and loved by all the people of Terre Haute,
but is also embraced in the wider love of all the citizens of Indiana—Col.
Richard W. Thompson. Let me present to you Gen. Benjamin F. Tracy of
New York, the Secretary of the Navy.”
At Danville, Ill., Oct. 7, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: I regret that the time of our arrival and the brief
time we can give you should make it so inconvenient for you who have
assembled here to greet us. Yet, though the darkness shuts out your faces, I
cannot omit to acknowledge with the most heartfelt gratitude the enthusiastic
greeting of this large assembly of my fellow citizens. It is quite worth while,
I think, for those who are charged with great public affairs now and then to turn
aside from the routine of official duties to look into the faces of the people. It is
well enough that all public officers should be reminded that under our republican
institutions the repository of all power, the originator of all policy, is the people
of the United States. I have had the pleasure of visiting this rich and pros-
perous section of your great State before, and am glad to notice that, if the last
year has not yielded an average return to your farms, already the promise of the
coming year is seen in your well-tilled fields. Let me thank you again and bid
you good-night.”
At Champaign, Ill., Oct. 7, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Good Friends: It is very evident that there is a large representation
here of the Greek societies. I thank you for this greeting. We are on our way
to Galesburg to unite with my old comrades in arms of the First Brigade, Third
Division, Twentieth Army Corps, in a reunion. I had not expected here, or at
any other intermediate point on the journey, to make addresses, but I cannot
fail to thank these young gentlemen from the University of Illinois for the inter-
est their presence gives to this meeting. Your professors, no doubt, give you all
needed admonition and advice, and you will, I am sure, thank me for not adding
to your burdens. Good-night.” .
At Peoria, Ill., Oct. 8, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: It is not possible that I should introduce this morning
any serious theme. I have greatly enjoyed this trip through my own State and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 507
yours, sisters in loyalty and sacrifice for the Union, sisters also in prosperity and
honor. 1 find myself simply saying thank you, but with an increasing sense of
the kindness of the people. If anything could add to the solemn sense of respon-
sibility which my official oath places upon me, it would be these evidences of
friendliness and confidence. The great mass of the people of this country are
loyal, loving, dutiful citizens, ready to support every faithful officer in the dis-
charge of his duties and to applaud every honest effort for their good. It is a
source of great strength to know this, and this morning, not less from this
bright Sunshine and this crisp Illinois air than from these kindly faces, I draw
an inspiration to do what I can, the very best I can, to promote the good of the
people of the United States. I go to-day to meet with some comrades of your
State who stood with me in the army of the great Union for the defense of the
flag. I beg now to thank these comrades of Peoria and this company of National
Guards and all these friends, and you, Mr. Mayor and gentlemen of the Reception
Committee, for this kindly greeting, and to say that I have great satisfaction
in knowing the people of this community are very prosperous. May that pros-
perity increase until every citizen, even the humblest, shares it. May peace,
social order, and the blessing of God abide in every house is my parting wish for
you.”
At Galesburg, Ill., Oct. 8, at a public reception, President Harrison spoke
as follows: - i -
“Mr. Mayor and Fellow Citizens : The magnitude of this vast assemblage
to-day fills me with surprise and with consternation, as I am called to make
this speech to you. I came here to meet with the survivors of my old brigade.
I came here with the expectation that the day would chiefly be spent in their
companionship and in the exchange of those cordial greetings which express the
fondness and love which we bear to each other; but to my surprise I have found
that here to-day the First Brigade, for the first time in its history, has been
captured. One or two of them I have been able to take by the hand, a few
more of them I have seen as they marched by the reviewing stand, but they
seemed to have been swallowed up in this vast concourse of their associate com-
rades and their fellow citizens of Illinois. I hope there may yet be a time dur-
ing the day when I shall be able to take each by the hand, and to assure them
that in the years of separation since muster-out day I have borne them all
sacredly in my affectionate remembrance. They were a body of representative
soldiers, coming from these great central States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,
§08 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
and as the borders of those States touch in friendly exchange, so the elbows of
these great heroes and patriots touched in the great struggle for the Union.
Who shall say who was chiefest ? Who shall assign honors where all were
brave P The distinction that Illinois may claim in connection with this organization
is that, given equal courage, fidelity, and loyalty to every man, Illinois furnished
three-fifths of the brigade. But possibly I should withhold here those sugges-
tions which come to me, and which will be more appropriate when I meet them
in a separate organization. -
“I have been greatly impressed with this assemblage to-day in this beauti-
ful city, in this rich and prosperous State. The thought had occurred to me,
and the more I thought of it the more sure I was of the conclusion, that
nowhere on the face of the earth except in the United States of America, under
no flag that kisses any breeze, could such an assemblage as this have been
gathered. Who are these ? Look into these faces; see the evidences of con-
tentment, thrift, prosperity and intelligence that we read in all these faces.
They have come by general summons from all these homes, of village, city
and farm, and here they are to-day the strength and rock of our security as
a nation; the people who furnished an invincible army when its flag was in
danger ; the people upon whose enlightened consciences and God-fearing hearts
this country may rest with unguarded hope. Where is the ultimate distribution
of governmental powers ? How can all the efforts of President, cabinet and
judges, and armies, even, serve to maintain this country, to continue it in its
great career of prosperity, if there were lacking this great law-abiding, liberty-
loving people by whom they are chosen to these important offices? It is the
great thought of our country that men shall be governed as little as possible,
but full liberty shall be given to individual effort, and that the restraints of
law shall be reserved for the turbulent and disorderly.
“What is it that makes our communities peaceful ? What is it that makes
these farm-houses safe P. It is not the policemen. It is not the soldiers. It is
this great and all-pervading American sentiment that exalts the law, that
stands with threatening warning to the law-breaker, and, above all, that
pervading thought that gives to every man what is his and claims only what
is our own. The war was only fought that the law might not lose its sanc-
tion and its sanctity. If we had suffered that loss, dismemberment would have
been a lesser one. But we taught those who resisted law and taught the
world that the great sentiment of loyalty to our written laws was so
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 509
strong in this country that no associations, combinations, or conspiracies
could overturn it. Our government will not fail to go on in this increased
career of development, in population, in wealth, in intelligence, in morality,
so long as we hold up everywhere in the local communities and in the nation
this great thought that every man shall keep the law which secures him in
his own rights, and shall not trample upon the rights of another. Let us
divide upon tariff and finance, but let there never be a division among the
American people upon this question, that nowhere shall the law be overturned
in the interests of anybody. If it fails of beneficent purpose, which should be
the object of all law, then let us modify it, but while it is a law let us insist
that it shall be obeyed. When we turn from that and allow any other standard
of living to be set up, where is your security, where is mine, when some one
else makes convenience more sacred, more powerful than the law of the land 2
‘‘I believe to-day that the great rock of our security is this deeply imbedded
thought in the American heart that does not, as in many of our Spanish-
American countries, give its devotion to the man, but to the law, the Consti-
tution, and to the flag. So that in that hour of gloom, when that richest
contribution of all gems that Illinois has ever set in our nation’s diadem,
Abraham Lincoln, and in that hour of the consummation of his work, dies by
the hand of the assassin, Garfield, who was to meet a like fate, might say to
the trembling and dismayed people : * Lincoln is dead, but the government at
Washington still lives.”
“My fellow citizens, to all those who, through your mayor, have extended
me their greeting, to all who are here assembled, I return my most sincere
thanks. I do not look upon such assemblages without profound emotion. They
touch me, and I believe they teach me, and I am sure that the lessons are
wholesome lessons. We have had here to-day this procession of veterans, aged
and feeble many of them. That is retrospective. That is part of the great
story of the past written in glorious letters on the firmament that is spread
above the world. And in these sweet children who have followed we read the
future. How sweet it was to see them bearing in their infant hands these same
banners that those veterans carried amid the shot and battle and dying of men l
I had occasion at the centennial celebration of the inauguration of Washington
in New York, being impressed by the great display of national colors, to make
a suggestion that the flag should be taken into the schoolhouses, and I am glad
to know that in that State there is daily a little drill of the children that pays
510 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
e
honor to the flag. But, my friends, the Constitution provides that I shall
annually give information to Congress of the state of the Union and make
such recommendations as I may think wise, and it has generally been understood,
I think, that this affirmative provision contains a negative and implies that the
President is to give no one except Congress any information as to the state of
the Union, and that he shall especially make no suggestions that can be in any
shape misconstrued.
“I confess that it would give me great pleasure, if the occasion were proper,
to give you some information as to the state of the Union as I see it, and to
make some suggestions as to what I think would be wise as affecting the state
of the Union. But I would not on an occasion like this, when I am greeted
here by friends, fellow citizens of all shades of thought in politics and in the
church, say a word that could mar the harmony of this great occasion. I trust
we are all met here together to-day as loyal-loving American citizens, and that
over all our divisions and differences there is this great arch of love and loyalty
binding us together.
“And now you will excuse me from further speech when I have said again
that I am profoundly grateful to the people of Galesburg and this vicinity, and
to these, my comrades in arms, who have so warmly opened their arms to wel-
come me to-day.”
President Harrison, as president of the First Brigade Association, made the
following address on the occasion of their reunion at Galesburg, Oct. 8:
“Comrades: The object of my visit to Galesburg was this meeting which we
are to have now. I should not, I think, have been persuaded to make this
trip except for the pleasure which I expected to find in meeting the men of the
old brigade, from most of whom I have been separated since the muster-out day.
We have had a great demonstration, one very full of interest, on the streets
and in the park, but I think we are drawn a little closer in this meeting and
understand each other a little better than in the larger assemblages of which
we have made a part. It is very pleasant for me to see so many here. I
cannot recall the names of all of you. Time has wrought its changes upon the
faces of us all. You recognize me because there were not so many colonels as
there were soldiers—fortunately, perhaps, for the country. I saw you as indi-
viduals in the brigade line when it was drawn up either for parade or battle.
It is quite natural, therefore, and I trust it will not be held against me, that
you should have a better recollection of my features than I can possibly have
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 511
of yours. And yet some of you I recall and all of you I love. When you
were associated in a brigade in 1862 we were all somewhat new to military
duties and life. The officers as well as the men had come together animated by
a common purpose from every pursuit in life. We were not so early in the
field as some of our comrades. We yield them the honor of longer service, but
I think . we may claim for ourselves that when our hands were lifted to take
the enlistment oath there was no inducement for any man to go into the army
under any expectation that he was entering on a holiday. In the early days
of the war men thought or hoped it would be brief. They did not measure its
extent or duration. They did not at all rightly estimate the awful sacrifices
that were to be made before peace with honor was assured.
“I well remember an incident of the early days of volunteering at Indian-
apolis, when the first companies in response to the first call of President Lincoln
came hurrying to the capital. Among the first to arrive was one from Lafayette,
under the command of Capt. Chris. Miller. They came in tumultuously and
enthusiastic for the fight. These companies were organized into regiments, which
one by one were sent into West Virginia or other fields of service. It happened
that the regiment to which my friend Miller was assigned was the last to
leave the State. I met him one day on the street, and a more mad and de-
spondent soldier I never saw. He was not absolutely choice in the use of his
language—all soldiers were not. I think the First Brigade was an exception.
He was swearing like a pirate over the disgrace that had befallen him and his
associates, growing out of the fact that he was absolutely certain that the war
would be over before they got into the field, and left in camp a stranded regi-
ment, having no part in putting down the Rebellion.
“Well, his day came presently, and he was ordered to West Virginia, and
among the first of those who, under the fire of the enemy at Rich Mountain,
received a bullet, through his body was Capt. Chris. Miller. When these regi-
ments of ours were enlisted we were not apprehensive that the war would be
over before we had an adequate share of it. We were pretty certain we would
all have enough before we were through. The clouds were dark in those days
of ’62. McClellan was shut up in the Peninsula, ; Buell was coming back from
Alabama, ; Kirby Smith was entering through Cumberland Gap, and everything
seemed to be discouraging. I think I may claim for these men of Illinois, and
these men of Indiana and of Ohio—if some of them are here to meet with us
to-day—that when they enlisted there was no other motive than pure, down-
512 THE REPUBLICAN PA/PTY AND ITS LEADERS.
right patriotism, and there was no misunderstanding of the serious import of the
work on which they entered.
“Those early days in which we were being transformed from civilians into
soldiers were full of trial and hardship. The officers were sometimes bumptious
and unduly severe—I am entering a plea in my own behalf now. The soldiers
had not yet got to understand why a camp guard should be established, why
they should not be at perfect liberty to go to town as they were when on the
farm and the day’s work was over. It was supposed that an army was com-
posed of so many men, but we had not learned at that time that it was abso-
lutely necessary that all those men should be at the same place at the same
time, and that they could not be scattered over the neighborhood. There were
a good many trials of that sort while the men were being made soldiers and the
officers were learning their duties, and to know the proper margin between the
due liberty of the individual and the necessary restraint of discipline. But those
days were passed soon, and they passed the sooner when the men went into
active duties. Camp duties were always irksome and troublesome, but when
they were changed for the active duties of the march and field there was less
need of restraint.
‘‘ I always noticed there was no great need of a camp guard after the boys
had marched twenty-five miles. They did not need so much watching at night.
Then the serious time came when sickness devastated us and disease swept its
dread swath, and that dreadful progress of making soldiers was passed through
when diseases which should have characterized childhood prostrated and destroyed
men. Then there came out of all this, after the sifting out of those who were
weak and incapable, of those who could not stand this acclimating process, that
body of tough, strong men, ready for the march and fight, that made up the
great armies which under Grant and Sherman and Sheridan carried the flag to
triumph.
“The survivors of some of them are here to-day, and whatever else has
come to us in life, whether honor or disappointment, I do not think there are
any of us—not me, I am sure—who would to-day exchange the satisfaction, the
heart comfort we have in having been a part of the great army that subdued
the Rebellion, that saved the country, the Constitution, and the flag. If I were
asked to exchange it for any honor that has come to me, I would lay down any
civil office rather than surrender the satisfaction I have in having been a
humble partaker with you in that great war. Who shall measure it 2 Well,
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 513
generations hence, when this country, which had 30,000,000, now 64,000,000, has
become 100,000,000, when these institutions of ours grow and develop and spread,
and homes in which happiness and comfort have their abiding-place, then we
may begin to realize, North and South, what this work was. We but imper-
fectly see it now, yet we have seen enough of the glory of the Lord to fill our
Souls full of a quiet enthusiasm.
“ Here we are pursuing our different works in life to-day just as when we
stood on picket or on guard, just as in the front rank of battle facing the foe—
trying to do our part for the country. I hope there is not a soldier here in
whom the love of the flag has died out. I believe there is not one in whose
heart it is not a growing passion. I think a great deal of the interest of the
flag we see among the children is because you have taught them what the flag
means. No one knows how beautiful it is when we see it displayed here on this
quiet October day, amid these quiet autumnal scenes, who has not seen it when
there was no other beautiful thing to look upon. And in those long, tiresome
marches, in those hours of smoke and battle and darkness, what was there that,
was beautiful except the starry banner that floated over us P
“Our country has grown and developed and increased in riches until it is
to-day marvelous among the nations of the earth, sweeping from Sea to sea,
embracing almost every climate, touching the tropics and the arctic, covering
every form of product of the soil, developing in skill in the mechanical arts,
developing, l trust and believe, not only in these material things which are
great, but not the greatest, but developing also in those qualities of mind and
heart, in morality, in the love of order, in sobriety, in respect for the law, in a
God-fearing disposition among the people, in love for our country, in all these
high and spiritual things. I believe the soldiers in their places have made a,
large contribution to all these things.
“The assembling of our great army was hardly so marvelous as its dis-
banding. In the olden time it was expected that a soldier would be a brawler
when the campaign was over. He was too often a disturber. Those habits of
violence which he had learned in the field followed him to his home. But how
different it was in this war of ours. The army sprang into life as if by magic,
on the call of the martyred President—Illinois’ greatest gift, as I have said, to
the nation. They fought through the war, and they came out of it without
demoralization. They returned to the very pursuits from which they had come.
It seemed to one that it was like the wrapping of snow which nature sometimes,
33
514 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
puts over the earth in the winter season to protect and keep warm the vegeta-
tion which is hidden under it, and which under the warm days of spring melts
and disappears, and settles into the earth to clothe it with verdure and beauty
and harvest.” -
At Ottumwa, Iowa, Oct. 9, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“Governor Boies and Fellow Citizens : I accept in the same cordial and
friendly spirit in which they have been offered these words of welcome spoken on
behalf of the good people of the great State of Iowa. It gives me pleasure in
this hasty journey to pause for a little time in the city of Ottumwa. I have had
especial pleasure in looking upon this structure and the exhibits which it con-
tains. It is itself a proof of the enterprise, skill, and artistic taste of the people
of this city of which they may justly be very proud. I look about it and see
that its adornment has been wrought with materials that are familiar and com-
mon, and that these have assumed, under the deft fingers and artistic thoughts
of your people, shapes of beauty that are marvelously attractive. If I should
attempt to interpret the lesson of this structure, I should say it was an illustra-
tion of how much that is artistic and graceful is to be found in the common
things of life; and if I should make an application of the lesson, it would be to
suggest that we might profitably carry into all our homes and into all neigh-
borly intercourse the same transforming spirit. The common things of this life,
touched by a loving spirit, may be made to glow and glisten. The common in-
tercourse of life, touched by friendliness and love, may be made to fill every
home and neighborhood with a brightness that jewels cannot shed. And it is
pleasant to think that in our American home-life we have reached this ideal in a
degree unexcelled elsewhere.
- “I believe that in the American home, whether in the city or on the farm,
the American father and the American mother in their relations to the children,
are kinder, more helpful, and benignant than any others, In those homes is the
strength of our institutions. Let these be corrupted and the government itself
has lost the stone of strength upon which it securely rests.”
“It is quite difficult, called upon as I am every day, and sometimes three or
four times a day, to make short addresses with the limitations that are upon me
as to the subjects upon which I may speak, to know what to say when I meet
my fellow citizens. I was glad to hear the Governor say that Iowa is prosper-
ous. We have here a witness that it is so. It offers also, I think, a solution
of the origin of that prosperity, and suggests how it may be increased and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 515
developed. We have in this structure a display of all the products of the
farm, and side by side with it a display of the mechanic arts. I think in this
combination, in this diversity of interest and pursuit, in this mutual and helpful
relation between the toilers of the soil and the workers in our shops, each con-
tributing to the common wealth and each giving to the other that which he
needs, we have that which has brought about the prosperity you now enjoy, and
which is to increase under the labors of your children to a degree that we have
not realized. The progress in the mechanical arts that men not older than I
have witnessed, the application of new agencies to the use of men within the
years of my own notice and recollection, read like a fairy tale. Let us not think
that we have reached the limits of this development. There are yet uses of the
agencies already known to be developed and applied. There are yet agencies
perhaps in the great storehouse of nature that have not been harnessed for the
use of man. The telegraph, the telephone, and the phonograph have all come
within the memory of many who stand about me to-day. The application of
steam to ocean travel is within the memory of many here. The development of
our railroad system has all come within your memory and mine. The railroad
was but a feeble agency in commerce when my early recollection begins ; and
much that a President can do to shape its policy. He is charged nnder the Con-
now this great State is covered with railroads like a network. Every farm is
within easy reach of a shipping station, and every man can speak to his neigh-
bor any day of the week, though that neighbor live on the opposite side of the
globe. Out of all this what is yet to come 2 Who can tell ? You are favored
here in having not only a surface soil that yields richly to the labor of the
farmer, but in also having hidden beneath that surface rich mines of coal
which are to be converted into power to propel the mills that will supply the
wants of your people.
“Now, my friends, thanking you for the kindness with which you have listened
to me, expressing again my appreciation of the taste and beauty of this great
structure in which we stand, and wishing for Iowa, and all its citizens the largest
increase of prosperity in material wealth, the most secure social order in all their
communities, and the crowning blessing of home happiness, I bid you good-by.”
At St. Joseph, Mo., Oct. 10, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens : If you are glad to see me at this hour in the morn-
ing, if you are so kind and demonstrative before breakfast, how great would
have been your welcome if I had come a little later in the day ?
516 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S.
“I beg to thank you, who at an inconvenient and early hour have turned
out to speak these words of welcome to us as we pass through your beautiful
city. Many years ago I read of St. Joseph. I know something of its history,
when, instead of being a large city, it was a place for outfitting those slow and
toilsome trains that bore the early pioneers toward California and the far West.
Those days are not to be forgotten. Those means of communication were slow,
but they bore men and women, full of courage and patriotism, to do for us on
the Pacific and in the great West the work of peaceful conquest that has added
greatly to the glory and prosperity of our country. And yet we congratulate
ourselves that the swifter means of communication have taken the place of
the old ; we congratulate ourselves that these conveniences, both of busi-
ness and social life, have come to crown our day. And yet in the midst of
them, enjoying the luxuries which modern civilization brings to our doors, let
us not lose from our households those plain and sturdy virtues which are essen-
tial to true American citizenship ; let us remember always that above all sur-
roundings, above all that is external, there is to be prized those solid and essen-
tial virtues that make home happy and that make our country great, and that
enable us in every time of trial and necessity to call out from among the people
some who are fit to lead our armies or to meet every emergency in the history of
the State. We are here as American citizens, not as partisans; we are here as
Comrades of the late war, or, if there are here those who under the other banner
fought for what seemed to them to be right, we are here to say one and all that
God knew what was best for this country when he cast the issue in favor of the
Union and the Constitution.”
“Now, again united under its ample guarantee of personal liberty and pub-
lic Security, united again under one flag, we have started forward, if we are
true to our obligations, upon a career of prosperity that would not otherwise
have been possible. Let us, therefore, in all kindliness and faithfulness, in de-
votion to the right, as God shall give us light to see it, go forward in the
discharge of our duties, setting above everything else the flag and the Consti-
tution on which all our rights and securities are based. Now, my comrades
of the Grand Army of the Republic and fellow citizens of Missouri, again I
thank you and bid you good-by.” -
At Atchison, Kan., Oct. 10, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens : I stand to-day for the first time upon the soil of
Kansas. I am glad to have been permitted to enter it by the vestibule of this
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 517
attractive city, the home of one of your most brilliant statesmen. I cannot
refrain from saying, God be thanked that freedom won its early battle in
Ransas. All this would have been otherwise impossible. You have a soil chris-
tened with the bloéd of men who died for liberty, and you have well maintained
the lessons they taught, living and dying. It was appropriate that the survi-
vors of the late war, men who came home crowned with the consummating vic- .
tory of liberty, should make the State of Kansas pre-eminently the soldier State
of the Union. Now, after telling you that I am very grateful for your friendly
greeting this morning, you will, I am sure, excuse me, in this tumult, from
attempting further speech. May every good attend you in your homes; may
the career of this great State be one of unceasing prosperity in things mate-
rial, and may your citizenship never forget that the spiritual things that take
hold of liberty and human rights are higher and better than all material things.”
At Topeka, Kan., Oct. 10, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: I am strongly tempted to omit even an attempt
to speak to you to-day; I think it would be better that I should go home and
write you an open letter. I have been most profoundly impressed with the
incidents which have attended this tremendous and, . I am told, unprecedented
gathering of the soldiers and citizens of the great State of Kansas. No one
can interpret in speech the lessons of this occasion. No power of description
is adequate to convey to those who have not looked upon it or into the spirit
and power of this meeting. This assembly is altogether too large to be greeted
individually—one cannot get his arms around it. And yet so kindly have you
received me that I would be glad if to each of you I could convey the sense
of gratitude and appreciation which is in my heart. There is nothing for any
of us to do but to open wide our hearts and let these elevating suggestions
take possession of them. I am sure there has been nothing here to-day that
does not point in the direction of a higher individual, social, State and National
life. Who can look upon this vast array of soldiers who fought to a victorious
consummation the war for the Union without bowing his head and his heart
in grateful reverence P Who can look upon these sons of veterans, springing
from a patriotic ancestry, full of the spirit of ’61, and coming into the vigor
and strength of manhood to take up the burdens that we must soon lay down,
and who, turning from these to the sweet-faced children whose hands are filled
with flowers and flags, can fail to feel those institutions of liberty are secure for
two generations at least I never knew until to-day the extent of the injury
518 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS.
which the State of Kansas had inflicted upon the State of Indiana—never until
I had looked upon that long line of Indiana soldiers that you plucked from us
when the war was over by the superior inducement which your fields and cities
offered to their ambitious toil. Indiana grieves for their loss, but rejoices in the
homes and prosperity they have found here. They are our proud contribution to
the great development which this State has made. They are our proud contri-
bution to that great national reputation which your State has established as the
friend as well as one of the bulwarks of liberty and law. It was not unnatural
that they, coming back from scenes where comrades had shed their blood for
liberty, should choose to find homes in a State that had the baptism of martyrs’
blood upon its infant brow. The future is safe if we are but true to ourselves,
true to these children whose instruction is committed to us. There is no other
foe that can at all obstruct or hinder our onward progress except treason in our
own midst — treachery to the great fundamental principle of our government,
which is obedience to the law. The law, the will of the majority expressed in
orderly, constitutional methods, is the only king to which we bow. But to him
all must bow. Let it be understood in all your communities that no selfish
interest of the individual, no class interests, however intrenched, shall be per-
mitted to assert their convenience against the law. This is good American
doctrine, and if it can be made to prevail in all the States of the Union until
every man, secure under the law in his own right, is compelled by the law to
yield to every other man his rights, nothing can shake our repose.
“Now, fellow citizens, you will excuse me from the attempt at further speech.
I beg you again to believe that I am grateful, so far as your presence here
has any personal reference to myself—grateful as a public efficer for this evi-
dence of your love and affection for the Constitution and the country which
we all love.
“There is some grumbling in Kansas, and I think it is because your ad-
vantages are too great. A single year of disappointment in agricultural returns
should not make you despair of the future or tempt you to unsafe expedients.
Life is made up of averages, and I think yours will show a good average. Let
us look forward with hope, with courage, fidelity, thrift, patience, good neigh-
borly hearts, and a patriotic love for the flag. Kansas and her people have an
assured and happy future.”
At Nortonville, Kan., Oct. 10, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: This brief stop forbids that I should say anything
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 519
more than thank you and to extend to you all my most friendly greeting. The
sky is overcast, but in this assemblage of your school children, with flags and
flowers, and in this gathering of the sturdy men who have made Kansas great,
among States, there are suggestions that spread a sky of beauty and hope above
our country and its destiny. It gives me great pleasure to make this first visit
to Kansas. It gives me great pleasure to see both at Atchison and here the
interest which the presence of these children shows you take in public education.
There are many here who in their early days experienced the hardships and
privations of pioneer life. The avenues of learning were shut against them, but
it is much to their credit that what they lacked in early life, the impediments
which have burdened their careers, they have bravely resolved shall not burden
their children. I thank you again for this pleasant reception, and I bid you good-
by, as we proceed on our journey.”
At Valley Falls, Kan., Oct. 10, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Friends : I thank you sincerely for this cordial reception. I will not
attempt any speech further than to say that this greeting puts me, if possible,
under still stronger obligations in every official duty that devolves upon me to
consult the interests of the people and do that which seems to be most promo-
tive of public good.”
At Lawrence, Kan., Oct. 10, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Friends: I am sure you are kind, and the greatest kindness you can
do me is not to ask me to attempt to speak again so recently after attempt-
ing at Topeka to talk to all the rest of the people in Kansas who are not here.
I supposed until the train pulled into this city that the entire citizenship of
the State was in the immense crowd congregated at Topeka to-day. My voice
was so strained in attempting to speak there that I will only say to you
that it gives me great pleasure to see you and to speak to you, even for a
moment, at this hospitable town. All the inspiration connected with the story
of the early history of Kansas clusters around the city of Lawrence. I am sure
you will find in that story inspiration' and suggestion that will keep the cause
of liberty ever near to your hearts.”
At Kansas City, Oct. 10, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: I will not attempt to say more than that I am
very grateful to you for your kindness, for this cordial, genuine Kansas City .
welcome. The arrangements which have been made, and which are intended to
give me an opportunity to meet Some of you personally, and the early hour
520 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
at which we are to take the train for St. Louis, make it inappropriate that
I should attempt to speak at any length. I thank you again for your kind-
ness, and will now submit myself to such arrangements as the committee have
made to spend the little time I have to spend with you.”
At St. Louis, Oct. 11, President Harrison spoke as follows:
‘‘ Governor Francis, Mr. Mayor, and Fellow Citizens : It is very grateful and
very healthful to be so cordially received by you this morning. The office which
I have been called upon to administer is very great in dignity, but it is very full
of care and heavy responsibility. The man who with conscientious regard and a
proper appreciation of the great trust seeks to administer it for the public good
will find himself daily beset with perplexities and doubts, and daily besieged by
those who differ with him as to the public administration. But it is a great com-
fort to know that we have an intelligent, thoughtful, and, at the same time, a
very kind people, who judge benevolently and kindly the acts of those public ser-
vants of whose good disposition to do right they are not left in doubt. And it is
very pleasant to know—and I do not need these eloquent words of assurance to
have already impressed upon me—the great lesson that there are more things in
which we agree and have common interests than in which we differ. But our
differences of opinion as to public administration are all brought together in a
genuine patriotism and love of country.
“It gives me pleasure to witness since my last visit to St. Louis evidence of
that steady and uninterrupted growth which this great commercial center has
made since its birth as an Indian trading-post on the Mississippi. No year has
been without its added evidences of progress, development, accumulation of
wealth, and increase in population. You have now passed any period of doubt
or uncertainty, and the career of St. Louis is assured. You have grown like the
Oak, annually adding a ring to the prosperity and wealth and commercial impor-
tance of your great city. You have struck the roots of your influence broad and
deep into the nourishing earth of this great fertile land in which you have lived;
and the branches—the high branches of your enterprise—are reaching toward the
sunlight that shines upon them. You are situated upon the Mississippi River,
giving you water communication with the sea, a communication which this
government has undertaken to improve and secure, and which I believe will be
made secure by appropriate legislation. Nor do I know any reason why these
great lines of railway stretching from St. Louis to the Southwest may not yet
touch great ports of commerce, deep harbors, until they shall become trunk lines.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 521
We have come to regard only these lines of railway communication to eastern sea-
boards as trunk lines. I do not know why. Indeed, I believe that in the future,
when we shall have seized again, as we will seize if we are true to ourselves, our
own fair part of commerce upon the sea, and when we shall have again our
appropriate share of South American trade, that these railroads from St. Louis,
touching deep harbors on the gulf, and communicating there with lines of steam-
ships, shall touch the ports of South America and bring their tribute to you.
You shall in all these things find a special interest, but an interest that will be
shared, as all great interests are, by the nation and people, of which you are a
loyal and enterprising part. And now, my friends, again let me thank you, and
all those who have spoken in your behalf, for these friendly words. These great
industries of commerce and manufactures here are entwined in friendly helpful-
ness. As they are diversified your prosperity is increased ; but under them all,
as the only secure rock upon which they can rest, is social order and obedience
to the law. Let it never be forgotten anywhere that commerce builds only
upon social order. Be watchful and careful of every instrumentality or sugges-
tion which puts itself against the law. Where the law is wrong make it right.
Let that be the one rule of conduct in the public relations of every American
citizen. And now, my friends, again let me say thank you and good-by.”
At Anderson, Ind., Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“I am here to-day, returning to my duties at Washington from a trip
taken to meet some of my old comrades during the war. There are some, here
this morning. I bid them. God-speed ; I give them a comrade’s greeting ; and
to you, my old-time friends, not in politics, but in that pride and association
which makes us all Indianians—we are all proud of our State and proud of our
communities—I desire to say that while I have friends elsewhere, these were my
‘earliest friends—friends of my boyhood almost, for I was scarcely more than a
boy when I became a citizen of this State, and I always turn to it with affection-
ate interest.” -
At Muncie, Ind., Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: I have known this beautiful city of yours and many
of the people of this prosperous county for more than thirty years. I have
known in a general way the development of your interests by almost yearly
visits to the city of Muncie, but it seems to me that in these two years I have
been out of the State you have made more progress than in any ten years when
I was in the State. I think it was in the year 1886, when I spent a night in
522 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
Muncie, that my attention was drawn by some of your citizens, as darkness
settled down, to a remarkable and what was then thought to be chiefly a curious
red glow in your horizon. It was, if I recollect aright, about the earliest
development of natural gas in Indiana, and the extent of this great field was
wholly unknown. How rapidly events have crowdéd each other since 1 You
have delved into the earth and have found the supply of this most adaptable and
extraordinary fuel inexhaustible ; and what has it done for you ? No longer
are you transporting coal from the distant mines to feed your furnaces. No
longer are you sending the choppers into the woods to cut your trees and haul
them in, that they may bring you winter heat and fuel. The factories have
been coming to you. This convenient heat and serviceable fuel is found in the
humblest home in Muncie. How it has added to your comfort only those who
have used it know. How much it has added to your prosperity and develop-
ment of manufactures here you have only begun to know.
“The sunlight will not more surely shed its beams on us this morning than
this great tide of prosperity which has set in through this gas belt in Indiana,
shall go on increasing until all these cities and towns within its radius are full of
busy men and humming machinery. What does all this mean? It means employ-
ment for men. It means happy and comfortable homes for an increasing popu-
lation. It means an increased home market for the products of your farm. It
means that the farmer will have a choice of crops, and will have consumers for
perishable products of his farm at his very door. It means, if you preserve the
order of your community, if this good county of Delaware continues to main-
tain its reputation as a law-abiding, liberty-loving, free-school-loving population,
that you shall have a prosperity—an increase of riches and of human comfort.
that we have scarcely conceived.
“And now, my friends, all over this, and above all this, and better than it.
all, let us keep in mind those higher things that make our country great. I do
not forget that your good county sent to the war of the Union, in the gallant.
regiments that went from this State, a multitude of brave men to stand by the
flag. Some of them are with you to-day. Now let that love of the flag be still
uppermost in your hearts. Nothing has pleased me more as I passed through
some of our Western States than to see that the school children everywhere had
the starry flag in their hands. Let it be so here and everywhere. Let them
learn to love it, to know its beauty, in order that when the time of peril comes
they may be ready to defend it. Now to these friends I am most grateful for
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 523
your appreciative kindness, and if I shall be able, in the discharge of high and
difficult duties, to maintain the respect and confidence of my fellow citizens of
Indiana, other things will take care of themselves.”
At Winchester, Ind., Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Friends: It gives me great pleasure to hear from the lips of your
honored fellow citizen, my old-time army comrade, these words of welcome,
spoken in your behalf. I thank you and him for his assurance that your assem-
bling here together is without regard to difference in belief, and as American
citizens having common interests and a common love for the flag and the Con-
stitution. Now, to these good people of Randolph County I render this morn-
ing my sincere thanks for their hearty and cordial welcome. No public servant,
in whatever station, can ever be indifferent to the good esteem of men and
women and children like these. You do not know how much these kindly faces,
these friendly Indiana greetings, help me in the discharge of duties that are not
always easy.
“I bid you good-by and God-speed. I do wish for Indiana and all her people
the greatest happiness that God can give.”
At Union City, Ind., Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
‘‘ Senator Shockney and Fellow Citizens: The conditions are not such here
that I can hope to make many of you hear the few words that it is possible for
me to speak to you. I have found myself in this tour through these Western
States, undertaken for the purpose of meeting some of my comrades of the late
war, who had invited me to be with them at their annual gatherings, repeating
the words “Thank you ? everywhere. I have felt how inadequate this word or any
other word was to express the sense of gratitude I should feel to these friendly
fellow citizens who everywhere greeted me with kind words and kinder faces. I
feel very grateful to see you, and to realize that if there are any fault-finders,
sometimes with reason, and sometimes without, that the great body of our people
are interested only in good government, in good administration, and that the
offices shall be filled by men who understand that they are the servants of the
people, and who serve them faithfully and well. If it were not so a President
would despair. Great as the government is, vast as is our civil list, it is wholly
inadequate to satisfy the reasonable demands of men, and so, from disappoint-
ment, reasonable or unreasonable, we turn with confidence and receive with en-
couragement these kindly greetings from the toilers of the country—the men and
women who only ask from the government that it shall protect them in their
524 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LAEA DERS.
lives, their property, and their homes; that it shall encourage education, provide
for these sweet young children, so that they shall have an easier road in life than
their fathers had, and that there shall be an absence of corrupt intent or act in
the administration of public business.
“And now, standing on the line which divides these two States, the one for
which I have the regard every man should feel for his birthplace, and the other
to which I owe everything I have received in civil life or public honor, I beg to
call your attention to the fact how little State lines have to do with American
life. Some of you pay your taxes on that side of the line, some on this, but in
your intercourse, business, and social ties you cross this line unknowingly. Above
both and greater than both—above the just pride which Ohioans have in that
noble State, and above the just pride which we have in Indiana—there floats this
banner that is the common banner of us all. We are one in citizenship ; we are
one in devotion to the government, which makes the existence of States possible
and their destruction impossible. And now, to these children, to my Grand Army
friends, and to these old citizens, many of whom I have met under other con-
ditions, I beg to say God bless you every one, and good-by.”
At De Graff, Ohio, Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Friends: I am very glad to see you all, and especially these dear young
children. I have been passing through a country glorious in the autumnal tints
which make a landscape that can be seen nowhere else in the world, and yet I
turn always from these decaying glories of nature with great delight to look into
the bright faces of these happy children, where I see a greater, because immortal,
glory. I thank them for their presence here this morning. I wish their lives
may be as sunny and bright through manhood and through womanhood, finding
happiness in usefulness. I wish I had time to shake hands with you all.”
At Bellefontaine, Ohio, Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: I wish all of you could have seen what I have seen
in this extended but hasty visit through some of the great States of the central
West ; the broader view which we get as we journey through this country of the
capabilities of its soil, of the beauties of its landscape, of the happiness of its
homes, but, above all, of the sturdy manhood of its people, can but be useful to
every public man and every patriot. No one can make such a journey as we
have and look into the faces of hundreds of thousands of his fellow citizens and
see how here in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri they are every-
where characterized by a sturdy independence and intelligent thoughtfulness and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 525,
manhood, and doubt the future of this country of which they are citizens. Noth-
ing can shake its repose as long as this great mass of people in these homes, on
these farms, in these shºps and city dwelling places are true to themselves and
to their children. Not every one can hope to reach the maximum of human
wealth or enjoyment, but nowhere else is there so general a diffusion of human
comfort and the conveniences of life as in this land of ours. You must not, then,
show unthankfulness to the framers of our great Constitution or to God by
indulging in gloomy forebodings or in unreasonable complaint. He has not prom-
ised that everywhere and every season the fields should give full returns. He
has promised that the food of man should not fail, and where else is famine
unknown P. Other countries have now and then appealed for philanthropic help
from abroad to feed their population, greater or less. The United States has
always a surplus after its people are fed, and for this we should be thankful. I
have been told everywhere that though crops in some respects and in some places.
have been short, the general prosperity is very great. Everywhere I have been
told that no wheel is idle, and that no hand is idle that seeks employment that
honest bread may come to his household. I believe that we are on an upward
grade of prosperity, if we will be brave and hopeful and true, that shall lead us.
perhaps to a development and an increase of wealth we have never before
attained. And now, my fellow citizens, thanking you for this friendly morning
greeting, I bid you good-by.”
At Crestline, Ohio, Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens : Already some seven or eight times this morning, begin-
ning before breakfast, I have been called upon to talk briefly to my fellow citi-
zens who have gathered at the various points where we made brief stops at their
request. The story I must tell you is the same old story I have been telling.
them—that I am very grateful for your friendly expressions and presence; very
grateful for the kindliness which speaks through those who address me, and for
the kindness which appears in all your faces. It is pleasant to know that as
against all enemies of our country we are one, that we have great pride,
just pride in our birthright as American citizens, just pride in the country
of our adoption as to those who have found a home here with us. It is the
people’s land more than any other country in the world. Mr. Lincoln felicitously
expressed it to be a ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
They originate it ; they perpetuate it. If it does not miss its purpose it is
administered for their good. And so to you upon whom the burden of citizen-
526 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
ship now rests, you who have the care of these homes and the responsibilities of
womanhood ; to these lads who will soon be citizens, and to these girls who are
coming on to womanhood, to all I express my thanks fºr your friendly greeting.
To every one of you I wish the most abundant success; that every home repre-
sented here may be a typical American home, in which morality and purity and
love sit as the crowning virtue and are household gods. Our country is prosper-
ous, though not all have attained this year the measure of success which they
had hoped for. If there was any shortness of crops anywhere, already the fields
are green with the promise of another year. Let our hearts be hopeful, let us
be faithful and true, and the future of our country and our own comfort are
assured.”
At Mansfield, Ohio, Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: We stop so frequently upon this journey, and our
time at each station is so brief, that I cannot hope to say anything that
would be interesting or instructive. I thank you most sincerely for these
friendly manifestations. I am glad to be permitted to stop at the home of your
distinguished Senator and my friend. I am sure, however you may differ from
him in political opinion, the people of Mansfield and of Ohio are proud of the
eminence which he has attained in the counsels of the nation and of the dis-
tinguished service he has been able to render to his country not only in Con-
gress but in the Treasury Department. He is twin in greatness with that
military brother who led some of you, as he did me, in some of the great
campaigns of the war, and they have together rendered conspicuous services to
this country, which we, as they, love with devoted affection. We have so
many common interests and so much genuine friendliness among the American
people that except in the very heat and ardor of a political campaign the
people are kind to each other, and we soon forget the rancor of these politi-
cal debates. We ought never to forget that we are American citizens; we
ought never to forget that we are put in charge of American interests, and
that it is our duty to defend them. Thanking you again for your presence .
and kindliness, I bid you good-by.”
At Wooster, Ohio, Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: If anything could relieve the sense of weariness
which is ordinarily incident to extended railroad travel, it would be the exceed-
ing kindness with which we have been everywhere received by our fellow
citizens, and to look upon an audience like that assembled here, composed in
* THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 527
part of venerable men who experienced the hardships of early life in Ohio, of
some of those venerable women who shared those labors and self-denials of early
life in the West, and in part of their sons, that gallant Second generation,
who, in the time of the nation’s peril in 1861, sprang to its defense and brought
the flag home in honor, and in part of these young men here undergoing that
discipline of mind which is to fit them for useful American citizenship, full of the
ambitions of early manhood, and, I trust, rooted in the principles of morality
and loyalty, and in part of these sweet-faced children, coming from your schools
and homes to brighten with their presence this graver assembly. Where else in
the world could such a gathering be assembled Where else so much social
order as here P The individual free to aspire and work, the community its own
police officer and guardian.
“We are here as American citizens, having, first, duties to our families,
then to our neighborhood—to the institutions and business with which we are
connected—but above all, and through and by all these duties, to our country
and to God, by whose beneficial guidance our government was founded, by
whose favor and protection it has been preserved. Friendly to all peoples of
the world, we will not thwart their course or provoke quarrels by unfriendly
acts, neither will we be forgetful of the fact that we are charged here first with
the conservation and promotion of American interests, and that our government
was founded for its own citizenship. But I cannot speak at further length. I
must hurry on to other places, where kind people are impatiently awaiting our
coming, and to duties which will be assumed and undertaken with more courage
since I have so often looked into the kind faces of the people whom I endeavor
to serve.”
At Massillon, Ohio, Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“Mr. Mayor and Fellow Citizens : The burden of obligation connected with
this visit is put upon me by the enthusiasm and magnitude of this welcome
which you have extended to me. It gives me pleasure to stop for a brief mo-
ment in a city widely celebrated for its industries, and among a people widely
celebrated for their virtues and intelligence. It was especially gratifying as we
passed, in your suburbs, one of these busy hives of industry, to see upon the
bank, waving with hearty cheers, the operatives in their work-day clothes. It
is of great interest to know that you have these diversified industries among you.
Your lot would be unhappy and not prosperous if you were all pursuing the same
calling, even if it were the calling to which I belong, the profession of the law.
528 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS.
“It is well that your interchanging industries and pursuits lean upon and
help each other, increasing and making possible indeed the great prosperity which
you enjoy. I hope it is true here that everybody is getting a fair return for
his labor. We cannot afford in America to have any discontented classes, and
if fair wages are paid for fair work we will have none. I am not one of those
who believe that cheapness is the highest good. I am not one of those who
believe that it can be to my interest, or to yours, to purchase in the market
anything below the price that pays to the men who make it fair living wages.
We should all ‘live and let live ’ in this country. Our strength, our promise for
the future, our security for social happiness are in the contentment of the great,
masses who toil. It is in kindly intercourse and relationship between capital and
labor, each having its appropriate increase, that we shall find the highest good,
the capitalist and employer everywhere extending to those who work for human
rights a kindly consideration with compensatory wages.”
At Canton, Ohio, Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: The inconvenience which you suffer to-day, and under
which I labor in attempting to speak to you, comes from the fact that there are
more of you here than can come within the range of my voice, but not more,
I assure you, my fellow citizens, than I can take and do take most hospitably
in my regard. It gives me great pleasure to stand here in the prosperous and
growing city of Canton. I am glad to be at the home of one with whom I have
been associated in congressional duties for a number of years, and who, in all
personal relations with me, as I believe in all personal relations with you, his
neighbors, has won my regard, as I am sure he has won yours; and without any
regard to what may be thought of the McKinley Bill, I am sure here to-day you
are all the good neighbors and friends of William McKinley. Kind-hearted and
generous as he seems to me, I am sure he has not failed in these social rela-
tions, whatever judgment you may have of his political opinions, in making the
masses of the people proud of him as their distinguished friend.
“You have here to-day the representatives of men from the shops, from
the railroads, from the stores, from the offices of your city. You are living
together in those helpful and interchanging relations which make American life
pleasant and which make American cities prosperous. The foundation of our
society is in the motto that every man shall have such wages as will enable
him to live decently and comfortably, and rear his children as helpful and safe
and useful American citizens. We all desire, I am sure—every kindly heart—
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 529
that all the relations between employers and workmen shall be friendly and
kind. I wish everywhere the associations were closer and employers more
thoughtful of those who work for them. I am sure there is one thing in
which we all agree, whatever our views may be on the tariff or finance, and
that is, there is no prosperity that in the wide, liberal sense does not embrace
within it every deserving and industrious man and woman in the community. We
are here all responsible citizens, and we should all be free from anything that
detracts from our liberties and independence, or that retards the development of
our intelligence, morality, and patriotism.
“I am glad here to speak to some, too, who were comrades in the great
struggle of the Civil War ; glad that there are here soldiers who had part in
that great success by which our institutions were preserved and the control and
sovereignty of the Constitution and law were forever established. To them, and
to all such friends, I extend to-day a hearty greeting, and would if I could
extend a comrade’s hand. And now, my friends, the heat of this day, the
exhaustion of a dozen speeches, made at intervals as we have come along,
render it impossible that I should speak to you longer. I beg to thank you
all for your presence. I beg to hope that, as American citizens, however we
differ about particular matters of legislation or administration, we are all
pledged, heart and soul, life and property, to the preservation of the Union and
to the honor of our glorious flag.”
At Alliance, Ohio, Oct. 13, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens : There is nothing in which the American people are
harder upon their public servants than in the insatiable demand they make for
public speech. I began talking before breakfast this morning, and have been
kept almost continuously at it through the day, with scarcely time for lunch ;
and yet, as long as the smallest residuum of strength or voice is left I cannot
fail to recognize these hearty greetings and to say some appreciative word in
return. I do very much thank you, and I do very deeply feel the cordial enthu-,
siasm with which you have received me. It is very pleasant to know that as
American citizens we love our government and its institutions, and are all ready
to pay appropriate respect to any public officer who endeavors in such light as
he has to do his public duty. This homage is not withheld by one’s political
opponents, and it is pleasant to know that in all things that affect the integrity
and honor and perpetuity of our government we rise above party ties and con-
siderations. The interests of this government are lodged with you. There is not
34
530 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
much that a President can do to shape its policy. He is charged under the Con-
stitution with the duty of making suggestions to Congress, but, after all, legisla-
tion originates with the Congress of the United States, and the policy of our laws
is directed by it. The President may veto, but he cannot frame a bill. There-
fore it is of great interest to you, and to all our people, that you should choose
such men to represent you in the Congress of the United States as will faith-
fully promote those policies to which you have given your intelligent adhesion.
This country of ours is secure, and social order is maintained, because the great
masses of our people live in contentment and some good measure of comfort.
God forbid that we should ever reach the condition which has been reached by
some other countries, where all that is before many of their population is the
question of bare subsistence, where it is simply ‘how shall I find bread for
to-day ?? No hope of accumulation ; no hope of comfort ; no hope of education,
or higher things for the children that are to come after them. God be blessed
that that is not our condition in America | Here is a chance to every man ; here
fair wages for fair work, with education for the masses, with no classes or dis-
tinctions to keep down the ambitious young. We have a happy lot. Let us not
grumble if now and then things are not prosperous as they might be. Let us
think of the average, and if this year’s crop is not as full as we could wish, we
have already in these green fields the promise of a better one to come. Let us
not doubt that we are now—as I have seen the evidence of it in a very extended
trip through the West—entering upon an up grade in all departments of business.
Everywhere I went, in the great city of St. Louis and the smaller manufacturing
towns through which we passed, there was one story to tell—and I have no
doubt it is true in your midst—every wheel is running and every hand is busy. I
believe the future is bright before us for increasingly better times for all, and as
it comes I hope it may be so generally diffused that its kindly touch may be felt
by every one who hears me, and that its beneficent help may come into every
... home.”
XVI.
President Harrison's Trip across the Continent in April and May, 1891—Speeches—Roanoke, Va.—
Enoxville, Tenn.—Atlanta, Ga.-Birmingham, Ala.—Little Rock, Ark.-Galveston, Texas–
Deming, New Mex.—Tucson, Arizona—Los Angeles and San Francisco, Cal.—Salem and Port-
land, Ore.—Tacoma, Wash.—Boise City, Idaho-Salt Lake City, Utah—Denver, Col.—Omaha,
Neb.-Springfield, Ill.—Indianapolis, Ind.—Harrisburg, Pa.
sº N April and May, 1891, President Harrison, accompanied by Mrs.
ſ
%
Fº
Harrison, Postmaster-General Wanamaker, Secretary Rusk, and
others, made a long tour across the continent, leaving Washington
-- April 14.
At Roanoke, Va., April 14, President Harrison spoke as follows:
& & My Fellow Citizens : I desire to thank you very sincerely for this friendly
greeting. The State of Virginia is entitled, I think, to high estimation among
the States for its great history—for the contribution it has made to the great
story of our common country. This fact you discovered, I think, long ago. For
personal reasons I have great affection for Virginia. It is the State of my
fathers. I am glad this morning to congratulate you upon the marvelous de-
velopment which has come, and the greater which is coming, to your common-
wealth.
“You not only have an illustrious story behind you, but before you prospects
of development in wealth and prosperity, in all that makes a great State, such
as never entered into the imagination of those who laid the foundation of the
commonwealth. You are arousing now to a realization of the benefits of diver-
sity of industries. &
“In the olden time Virginia was a plantation State. I hope she may never
cease to have large agricultural interests. It is the foundation of stable society,
but I rejoice with you that she has added to agriculture the mining of coal and
iron, and, bringing these from their beds, is producing all the products that
enter into the uses of life.




(531)
532 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“In this is the secret of that great growth illustrating what I see about
me here, and the promise of a future which none of us can fully realize. In all
of these things we have a common interest, and I beg to assure you that in
everything that tends to the social order of your people and the development
and increased prosperity of the State of Virginia i am in most hearty sympathy
with you all.” -
At Knoxville, Tenn., April 14, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens : It gives me pleasure to visit this historical city—a
city that has given to the country many men who have been eminent in its
councils and brought to the nation they served and to the people who called
them into the public service great honor. I am glad to visit East Tennessee,
the scene of that early immigration and of those early struggles of men who,
for vigor of intellect, strength of heart, and devotion to republican principles,
were among the most conspicuous of the early pioneers of the West and
Southwest. -
“I am glad to know that that deep devotion to the cause of the Union which
manifested itself in the early contributions of Tennessee to the armies that went
to the defense of the homes of the Northwest abides still in these valleys and
crowns with its glory and luster every hilltop of the Alleghanies. You are feel-
ing now a material development that is interesting and pleasing to all your
fellow citizens of the States. -
“I beg to say to you that whoever supposes that there is anywhere in the
Northern States any jealousy of this great material progress which the South is
making wholly misconceives the friendly heart of the people of the North. It is
my wish, as I am sure it is the wish of all with whom I associate in political
life, that the streams of prosperity in the South may run bank-full; that in
everything that promotes the prosperity of the State, the security and comfort
of the community, and the happiness of the individual home, your blessings may
be full and unstinted.
** We live in a government of law. The compact of our organization is that
a majority of our people, taking those methods which are prescribed by the
Constitution and law, shall determine our public policies and choose our rulers.
It is our solemn compact ; it cannot safely be broken. We may safely differ
about policies; we may safely divide upon the question as to what shall be the
law ; but when the law is once enacted no community can safely divide on the
question of implicit obedience to the law.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 533
“It is the one rule of conduct for us all. I may not choose as President
what laws I will enforce, and the citizen may not choose what laws he will obey.
Upon this broad principle our institutions rest. If we save it, all the agitations
and tumults of our campaigns, exciting though they may be, will be harmless
to move our government from its safe and abiding foundation.
“If we abandon it, all is gone. Therefore, my appeal everywhere is to hold
the law in veneration and reverence. We have no other king ; public officers
are your servants ; but in the august and majestic presence of the law we all
uncover and bow the knee.
“May every prosperity attend you. May this ground, made memorable by
one of the most gallant assaults and by one of the most successful defenses in
the story of the war, never again be stained by blood ; but may our people, in
one common love of one flag and one Constitution, in a common and pervading
fealty to the great principles of our government, go on to achieve material
wealth, and in social development, in intelligence, in piety, in everything that
makes a nation great and a people happy, secure all the Lord has in His mind
for a nation that He has so conspicuously blessed.”
At Atlanta, Ga., April 15, President Harrison visited the night school,
where the boys gave him an enthusiastic welcome and called for a speech. He
spoke as follows:
“I am glad to be with you to-night. Having but a few minutes to spare I
would offer a few words of encouragement to you. Most, if not all, of you are
here at night because your circumstances are such that the day must be given
to toil. The day is your earning period. The night must, therefore, be set apart
for study. I am glad to see that so many find it in your hearts to be here in
this school ; it is a very hopeful sign. I think it has in it the promise that you
will each become a useful citizen in this country. Pluck and energy are two
essential elements. A boy wants to be something. With pluck and energy suc-
cess is assured. There is a day of hope above every one of you.
“I bid you good cheer and would offer encouragement to every one of you,
and I know every one of you may be useful and honorable citizens in this com-
munity, whose officers have taken the interest to organize this school for your
benefit. I very sincerely and earnestly wish you God-speed. Stick to your
studies and don’t neglect to acquire a needful education, and you may one day
occupy the positions of honor which are held by those to-day in charge of the
affairs of your city.”
534 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEAD EPS.
At Birmingham, Ala., April 16, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“Governor Jones, Mr. Mayor, and Fellow Citizens: The noise of your in-
dustries will not stay itself, I fear, sufficiently to enable me to make myself
heard by many in this immense throng that has gathered to welcome us. I
judge from what we have seen as we neared your station that we have here at
Birmingham the largest and most enthusiastic concourse of people that has met
us since we left the national capital. For all this I am deeply grateful. The
rapidity with which we must pursue this journey will not allow us to look with
any detail into the great enterprises which cluster about your city; but if we
shall only have opportunity to see for a moment these friendly faces and listen
to these friendly words, we shall carry away that which will be invaluable,
and, I trust, by the friendly exchange of greetings, may leave something to you
that is worth cherishing.
“I have read of the marvelous development which, in the last few years,
has been stirring the solitude of these Southern mountains, and I remember
that not many years after the war, when I had resumed my law practice
at Indianapolis, I was visited by a gentleman, known, I expect, to all of
you, upon some professional business. He came to pursue a collection claim
against a citizen of Indiana ; but he seemed to be more interested in talk-
ing about Birmingham than anything else. That man was Colonel Powell, one
of the early promoters of your city. I listened to his story of the marvelous
wealth of iron and coal that was stored in this region ; of their nearness to each
other, and to the limestone necessary for smelting ; to his calculations as to
the cheapness with which iron could be produced here, and his glowing story of
the great city that was to be reared, with a good deal of incredulity. I thought
he was a visionary ; but I have regretted ever since that I did not ask him to
pay me my fee in town lots in Birmingham.
“My countrymen, we thought the war a great calamity, and so it was.
The destruction of life and of property was sad beyond expression ; and yet we
- can see now that God led us through that Red Sea to a development in material
prosperity and to a fraternity that was not otherwise possible. The industries
that have called to your midst so many toiling men are always and everywhere
the concomitants of freedom. Out of all this freedom from the incubus of slavery
the South has found a new industrial birth. Once almost wholly agricultural,
you are now not the less fruitful in crops, but you have added all this. You
have increased your production of cotton, and have added an increase in ten
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 535
years of nearly 300 per cent in the production of iron. You have produced three-
fourths of the cotton crop of the world, and it has brought you since the war
about $8,000,000,000 of money to enrich your people. But as yet you are spin-
ning in the South only 8 per cent of it. Why not, with the help we will give
you in New England and the North, spin it all P Why not establish here cotton
mills that shall send, not the crude agricultural product to other markets, but
the manufactured product P Why not, while supplying 65,000,000 of people,
reach Out and take a part we have not had in the commerce of the world P I
believe we are to see now a renaissance in American prosperity and in the up-
building again of our American merchant marine. I believe that these Southern
ports that so favorably look out with invitations to the States of Central and
South America shall yet see our fleets carrying the American flag and the prod-
ucts of Alabama to the markets of South America.
“In all this we are united ; we may differ as to method, but if you will per-
mit me I will give an illustration to show how we have been dealing with this
shipping question. I can remember when no wholesale merchant ever sent a drum-
mer into the field. He said to his customers, ‘Come to my store and buy ; ” but
competition increased and the enterprising merchant started out men to seek
customers; and so his fellow-merchant was put to the choice to put traveling
men into the field or to go out of business. It seems to me, whatever we may
think of the policy of aiding our steamship lines, that since every other great
nation does it, we must do it or stay out of business, for we have pretty much
gone out. I am glad to reciprocate with the very fullness of my heart every
fraternal expression that has fallen from the lips of these gentlemen who have
addressed me in your behalf.
“I have not been saved from mistakes; probably I shall not be. I am
sure of but one thing—I can declare that I have simply at heart the glory
of the American nation and the good of all its people. I thank these companies
of the State militia, one of whom I recognize as having done me the honor
to attend the inaugural ceremony, for their presence. They are deserving, Sir
[to the Governor], of your encouragement and that of the State of Alabama.
They are the reserve army of the United States. It is our policy not to have a
large regular army, but to have a trained militia that, in any exigency, will
step to the defense of the country ; and if that exigency shall ever arise—
which God forbid—I know that you would respond as quickly and readily as
any other State. ^
536 O THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“I am glad to know that in addition to all this business you are doing
you are also attending to education and to those things that conduce to social
order. The American home is the one thing we cannot afford to lose out of the
American life. As long as we have pure homes and God-fearing, order-loving
fathers and mothers to rear the children that are given to them, and to make
these homes the abodes of order, cleanliness, piety, and intelligence, the American
society and the American Union are safe.”
At Little Rock, Ark., April 17, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“Governor Eagle and Fellow Citizens: No voice is large enough to compass
this immense throng. But my heart is large enough to receive all the gladness
and joy of your great welcome here to-day. I thank you one and all for your
presence, for the kind words of greeting which have been spoken by your Gov-
ernor, and for these kind faces turned to me. In all this I see a great fraternity;
in all this I feel new impulses to a better discharge of every public and every
private duty. I cannot but feel that in consequence of this brief contact with
you ‘to-day I shall carry away a better knowledge of your State, its resources,
its capabilities, and of the generous warm-heartedness of its people. We have
a country whose greatness this meeting evidences, for there are here assembled
masses of independent men. The commonwealth rests upon the free suffrage
of its citizens and their devotion to the Constitution, and the flag is the bulwark
of its life. We have agreed, I am sure, that we will do no more fighting among
ourselves. I may say to you confidentially that Senator Jones and I agreed
several years ago, after observing together the rifle practice at Fort Snelling,
that shooting had been reduced to such accuracy that war was too dangerous for
either of us to engage in it. But, my friends, I cannot prolong this talk. Once
already to-day in the dampness of this atmosphere I have attempted to speak,
and therefore you will allow me to conclude by wishing for your State, for its
Governor and all its public officers, for all its citizens without exception, high or
humble, the blessing of social order, peace, and prosperity—the fruits of intelli-
gence and piety.”
At Galveston, Tex., April 18, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens : We close to-night a whole week of travel, a whole week
of hand-shaking, a whole week of talking. I have before me 10,000 miles of
hand-shaking and speaking, and I am not, by reason of what this week has
brought me, in voice to contend with the fine but rather strong Gulf breeze
which pours in upon us to-night ; and yet it comes to me laden with the fra-
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 537
$º
grance of your welcome. It comes with the softness, refreshment and grace which
have accompanied all my intercourse with the people of Texas.
“The magnificent and cordial demonstration which you have made in our
honor to-day will always remain a bright and pleasant picture in my memory.
I am glad to have been able to rest my eyes upon the city of Galveston. I
am glad to have been able to traverse this harbor and to look upon that work
which a liberal and united government has inaugurated for your benefit and for
the benefit of the Northwest. I have always believed that it was one of the
undisputed functions of the general government to make these great waterways
which penetrate our country and these harbors into which our shipping must
come to receive the tribute of rail and river safe and easy of access.
“This ministering care should extend to our whole country, and I am glad
that, adopting a policy with reference to the harbor work, here at least, which
I insisted upon in a public message, the appropriation has been made adequate
to a diligent and prompt completion of the work. In the past the government
has undertaken too many things at once, and its annual appropriations have
been so inadequate that the work of the engineers was much retarded and often
seriously damaged in the interval of waiting for fresh appropriations.
“It is a better policy, when a work has once been determined to be of
national significance, that the appropriation should be sufficient to bring it
speedily and without loss to a conclusion. I am glad that the scheme of the
engineer for giving deep water to Galveston is thus to be prosecuted.
“I have said some of our South Atlantic and Gulf ports occupy a most
favorable position for the new commerce toward which we are reaching out our
hands, and which is reaching out its hands to us. I am an economist in the
sense that I would not waste one dollar of public money; but I am not an
economist in the sense that I would leave incomplete or suffer to lag any great
work highly promotive of the true interests of our people.
“We are great enough and rich enough to reach forward to grander concep-
tions than have entered the minds of some of our statesmen in the past. If you
are content, I am not, that the nations of Europe shall absorb nearly the entire
commerce of these near sister republics that lie south of us. It is naturally in
large measure ours—ours by neighborhood, ours by nearness of access, ours by
that sympathy that binds a hemisphere without a king.
“The inauguration of the Three Americas Congress, or more properly the
American Conference, the happy conduct of that meeting, the wise and compre-
538 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
hensive measures which were suggested by it, with the fraternal and kindly -
spirit that was manifested by our southern neighbors, has stimulated a desire in
them and in our people for a larger intercourse of commerce and of friendship.
The provisions of the bill passed at the last session looking to a reciprocity of
trade not only met with my official approval when I signed the bill, but with my
zealous promotion before the bill was reported.
‘‘Its provision concerning reciprocity is that we have placed upon our free
list sugar, tea, coffee and hides, and have said to those nations from whom we
receive these great staples: Give us free access to your ports for an equivalent
amount of our produce in exchange, or we will reimpose duties upon the articles
named. The law leaves it wholly to the Executive to negotiate these arrange-
ments. It does not need that they shall take the form of a treaty.
“They need not be submitted for the concurrence of the Senate. lt only
needs that we, having made our offer, shall receive their offer in return ; and
when they shall have made up an acceptable schedule of articles produced by us
that shall have free access to their ports, a proclamation by the President
closes the whole business. Already one treaty with that youngest of the South
American republics, the great republic of Brazil, has been negotiated and pro-
claimed. I think, without disclosing an Executive secret, I may tell you that
the arrangement with Brazil is not likely to abide in lonesomeness much longer ;
that others are to follow, and that as a result of these trade arrangements the
products of the United States—our meats, our breadstuffs, and certain lines of
manufactured goods—are to find free or favored access to the ports of many
of these South and Central American States. All the States will share in these
benefits. We have had some analysis of the manifests of some of our steamers
now sailing to South American ports, and in a single steamer it was found that
twenty-five States contributed to the cargo.
“But we shall need something more. We shall need American steamships
to carry American goods to these ports. The last Congress passed a bill appro-
priating about $1,500,000, and authorized the Postmaster-General to contract
with steamship companies for a period not exceeding ten years for the carrying of
the United States mail. The foreign mail service is the only mail service out of
which the government has been making a net profit. We do not make a profit
out of our land service.
“There is an annual deficiency which my good friend the Postmaster-Gen-
eral has been trying very hard to reduce or wipe out. The theory of our mail
THE REPUBLICA.W. PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 539
service is that it is for the people ; that we are not to make a profit out of it ;
that we are to give them as cheap postage as is possible. We are, many of us,
looking forward to a time when we shall have one-cent postage in this country.
We have been so close and penurious in dealing with our ships in the carrying
of foreign mails that we have actually made revenues out of that business, not
having spent for it what we have received from it. Now we propose to change
that policy and to make more liberal contracts with American lines carrying
American mail.
“Some one may say we ought not to go into this business, that it is sub-
sidy. But, my friend, every other great nation of the world has been doing it
and is doing it to-day. Great Britain and France have built up their great
steamship lines by government aid, and it seems to me our attitude with refer-
ence to that is aptly portrayed by an illustration I mentioned the other day.
In olden times no wholesale merchant sent out traveling men to solicit cus-
tom, but he stood in his own store and waited for his customers. But
presently some enterprising merchant began to send out men with their sam-
ples to seek the trade, to save the country buyer the cost of the trip to New
York or Philadelphia, until finally that practice has become universal, and
these active, intelligent traveling men are scurrying this country over, pushing
and soliciting in their several lines of business. Now imagine some conservative
merchant in New York saying to himself: “All this is wrong; the trade ought
to come to me.” If he should refuse to adopt these modern methods what
would be the result 2. He must adopt the new methods or go out of business.
We have been refusing to adopt the universal method of our competitors in
commerce to stimulate their shipping interest and have gone out of the busi-
IleSS. Encouraged by what your spokesman has said to-night I venture to
declare that I am in favor of going into business again, and when it is re-estab-
lished I hope Galveston will be in the partnership.
“It has been the careful study of the Postmaster-General in preparing to
execute the law to which I have referred to see how much increase in routes
and ships we could secure by it. We have said to the few existing American
lines: You must not treat this appropriation as a plate of soup, to be divided
and consumed. You must give us new lines, new ships, increased trips, and new
ports of call. Already the steamship lines are looking over the routes to see
what they can do, with a view of increasing their tonnage and establishing new
lines.
540 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS.
“The Postmaster-General has invited the attention and suggestion of all the
boards of trade of all our seaboard cities. Undoubtedly you have received such
a letter. This appropriation is for one year; what the future is to be must
depend upon the deliberate judgment of the people. If during my term of office
they shall strike down a law that I believe to be beneficial or destroy its
energy by withholding appropriations, I shail bow to their will, but I shall feel
great disappointment if we do not make an era for the revival of American
commerce. I do much want that the time shall .come when our citizens living
in temporary exile in foreign ports shall now and then see steaming into these
distant ports a fine modern man-of-war, flying the United States flag, with the
best modern guns on her deck, and a brave American crew in her forecastle.
I want, also, that in these ports, so long unfamiliar with the American flag,
there shall again be found our steamships and our sailing vessels flying the flag
that we all love, and carrying from our shores the products that these men of
toil have brought to them to exchange for the products of other climes.
“I think we should add to all this, and happily it is likely to be accom-
plished by individual efforts, the early completion of the Nicaragua Canal. The
Pacific coast should no longer be found by sea only by the passage of the
Horn. The short route should be opened, and it will be, and then with this
wondrous stirring among the people of all our States, this awakening to new
business plans and more careful and economical work, there will come great
prosperity to all our people. Texas will spin more of the cotton that she raises.
“The great States of the South will be in discontent with the old condition
that made them simply agricultural States, and will rouse themselves to com-
pete with the older manufacturing States of the North and East. The vision I
have, all the thoughts I have of this matter embrace all the States and all my
countrymen. I do not think of it as a question of party; I think of it as a
great American question. By the invitation of the address which was made to
me I have freely spoken my mind to you on these topics. I hope I have done so
with no offense or impropriety.
‘‘I would not on an occasion so full of general good feeling as this obtrude
anything that should induce division or dissent. For all who do dissent I have
the most respectful tolerance. The views I hold are the result of some thought
and investigation, and as they are questions of public concern I confidently sub-
mit them to the arbitrament of brave and enlightened American suffrage.”
At Deming, New Mex., April 21, President Harrison spoke as follows:
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 541
“My Fellow Citizens : It gives me great pleasure to tarry for a moment here
and to receive out on these broad and Sandy plains the same evidence of friendli-
ness that has greeted me in the States. I feel great interest in your people, and
thinking that you have labored under a disadvantage by reason of the unsettled
state of your land titles—because no country can settle up and become populous
while the titles to its land remain insecure—it was my pleasure to urge upon
Congress, both in a general and special message, the establishment of a special
land court to settle this question once for all.
‘‘I am glad that the statute is now a law, and immediately upon my return
from this trip I expect to announce the judges of that court, and to set them
immediately to work upon these cases, so that you shall certainly, within two
years, have all these questions settled. I hope you will then see an increase of
population that has not as yet been possible, and which will tend to develop your
great mineral resources and open up your lands to settlement. Thanking you, on
behalf of our party, for this pleasant greeting, I bid you good-by.”
At Tucson, Arizona, April 21, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens : It is surprising as well as gratifying to see so many
friends assembled to greet us on our arrival at Tucson to-night. I beg to assure
you that the interests of the Territories are very close to my heart. By reason
of my service as chairman of the Territory Committee in the United States
Senate I was brought to study very closely the needs of the Territories. I have
had great pleasure issuing the proclamations admitting five Territories to the
sisterhood of States since I became President. I realize the condition of the
people of the Territory without having representation in Congress as one of dis-
advantage, and I am friendly to the suggestion that these Territories, as they
have sufficient population to sustain a State government and to secure suitable
administration of their own affairs, shall be received into the Union. It will be
gratifying to me if you shall come into that condition during the time that I
occupy the presidential chair.”
At Los Angeles, Cal., April 22, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“Mr. Mayor and Fellow Citizens : My stay among you will not be long
enough to form an individual judgment of the quality of your people, but it
has been long enough already to get a large idea of the number of them. I beg
of you to accept my sincere thanks for this magnificent demonstration of your
respect. I do not at all assume that these huzzas and streamers and banners
with which you have greeted me to-day are a tribute to me individually. I
*
542 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
receive them as a most assuring demonstration of the love of the people of Cali-
fornia for American institutions. And well are these institutions worthy of all
honor. The flag that you have displayed here to-day, the one flag, the banner
of the free and the symbol of the indissoluble union of the States, is worthy of
the affections of our people. Men have died for it on the field of battle; women
have consecrated it with their tears and prayers as they placed the standard in
the hands of brave men on the morning of battle. It is historically full of ten-
der interest and pride. It has a glorious story on the sea in those times when
the American navy maintained our prestige and successfully beat the navies of
our great antagonist.
“It has a proud record from the time of our great struggle for independence
down to the last sad conflict between our own citizens. We bless God to-day
that these brave men who, working out His purpose on the field of battle, made
it again the symbol of a united people. Our institutions, of which this flag is
an emblem, are free institutions. These men and women into whose faces I look
are free men and women. I do not honor you by my presence here to-day. I
hold my trust from you and you honor me in this reception. This magnificent
domain on the Pacific coast, seized for the Union by the energy and courage and
wise forethought of Fremont and his associates, is essential to our perfection.
Nothing more important in territorial extension, unless it be the purchase of the
Territory of Louisiana and the control of the Mississippi River, has ever occurred
in our national history. We touch two oceans, and on both we have built com-
monwealths and great cities, thus securing in that territory individuality and
association which give us an assurance of perpetual peace. No great conflict of
arms can ever take place on American soil if we are true to ourselves and have
forever determined that no civil conflict shall again rend our country.
“We are a peace-loving nation, and yet we cannot be sure that everybody
else will be peaceful, and therefore I am glad that by the general consent of our
people and by the liberal appropriations from Congress we are putting on the
sea some of the best vessels of their class afloat, and that we are now prepared
to put upon their decks as good guns as are made in the world ; and when we
have completed our programme, ship by ship, we will put in their forecastles as
brave Jack Tars as serve under any flag. The provident care of our government
should be given to your sea-coast defenses until all these great ports of the
Atlantic and Pacific are made safe.
“But, my countrymen, this audience overmatches a voice that has been in
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADER.S. 543
exercise from Roanoke, Va., to Los Angeles. I beg you, therefore, again to
receive my most hearty thanks and excuse me from further speech.”
At San Francisco, May 1, on returning, President Harrison spoke as follows
at the Chamber of Commerce reception :
“Mr. President and Gentlemen of these Assembled Societies: I have been
subjected during my stay in California in some respects to the same treatment
the policeman accords to the tramp—I have been kept moving on. You have
Substituted flowers and kindness for the policeman’s baton. And yet, notwith-
Standing all this, we come to you this morning not exhausted or used up, but
a little fatigued. Your cordial greetings are more exhilarating than your wine,
and perhaps safer for the constitution.
‘‘I am glad to stand in the presence of this assemblage of business men.
I have tried to make this a business administration. Of course we cannot wholly
separate politics from a national administration, but I have felt that every public
officer owed his best service to the people, without distinction of party; that
in administering official trusts we were in a very strict sense, not merely in a
figurative sense, your servants. It has been my desire that in every branch of
the public service there should be improvement. I have stimulated all the
Secretaries and have received stimulus from them in the endeavor, in all the
departments of the government that touch your business life, to give you as
perfect a service as possible. This we owe to you ; but if I were pursuing
party ends I should feel that I was by such methods establishing my party in
the confidence of the people. . .
“I feel that we have come to a point where American industries, American
commerce, and American influence are to be revived and extended. The
American sentiment and feeling was never more controlling than now ; and
I do not use that term in the narrow sense of native American, but to em-
brace all loyal citizens, whether native-born , or adopted, who have the love of
our flag in their hearts. I shall speak to-night, probably, at the banquet
of business men, and will not enter into any lengthy discussion here. Indeed,
I am so careful not to trespass upon any forbidden topic, that I may not in
the smallest degree offend those who have forgotten party politics in extending
this greeting to us, that I do not know how far I should talk upon these
public questions. But since your chairman has alluded to them, I can say I am
in hearty sympathy with the suggestions he has made. I believe there are
methods by which we shall put the American flag upon the Sea again. In
544 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD ERS.
speaking the other day I used an illustration which will perhaps be apt in this
company of merchants. You recall, all of you, certainly those of my age, the
time when no merchant sent out traveling men. He expected the buyer to
come to his store. Perhaps that was well enough ; but certain enterprising men
sought custom by putting traveling men with samples on the road. However
the conservative merchant regarded that innovation, he had but one choice—to
put traveling men on the road or go out of business. In this question of ship-
ping we are in a similar condition. The great commercial governments of the
world have stimulated their shipping interests by direct or indirect subsidies,
while we have been saying : ‘No, we prefer the old way.” We must advance
or—I will not say go out of business, for we have already gone out. I thank
you most cordially for your greeting, and bid you good-by.”
At Salem, Ore., President Harrison spoke as follows:
“Governor Pennoyer, Mr. Mayor and Fellow Citizens : It is very pleasant
to be assured by these kindly words which have been spoken by the Governor of
this State and by the chief officer of this municipality that we are welcome to
the State of Oregon and to the city of Salem. I find here, as I found elsewhere,
that these cordial words of welcome are repeated with increased emphasis by
the kindly faces of those who assemble to greet us. I am glad that here as
elsewhere we look into the faces of happy, prosperous, contented, liberty-loving,
patriotic American citizens. Our birthright, the wise anticipation of those who
framed our government, our national and constitutional organization, which has
repeated itself in all the States of the Union, this wholesome and just division of
power between the three great independent, co-ordinate branches of the govern-
ment—the executive, the legislative, and the judicial—has already demonstrated
that what seems to the nations of Europe to be a complicated and jangling
system produces in fact the most perfect harmony, and the most complete and
satisfactory organization for social order and for national strength.
“We stand here to-day in one of these halls set apart to the law-making
body of your State. Those who assemble here are chosen by your suffrages.
They come here as representatives to enact into laws those views of public
questions which have met the sanction of the majority of your people, expressed
in an orderly and honest way at the ballot-box. I hope it may be always found
to be true of Oregon that your legislative body is a representative body ; that
coming from the people, its service is consecrated to the people, and the purpose
of its creation is attained by giving to the well-ordered and well-disposed the
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 545
largest liberty, by curbing, by wholesome laws, the ill-disposed and the lawless,
and providing by economical methods for the public needs. The judiciary, that
comes next in our system, to interpret and apply the public statutes, has been in
our country a safe refuge for all who are oppressed. It is greatly to our credit
as a nation that with rare exceptions those who have worn the judicial ermine in
the highest tribunals of the country, and notably in the Supreme Court of the
United States, have continued to retain the confidence of the people of the whole
country. The duty of the Executive is to administer the law ; the military
power is lodged with him under constitutional limitations. He does not frame
statutes, though in most States, and under our national government, a veto
power is lodged in him with a view to secure reconsideration of any particular
Iſlēa,SU re.
“But a public executive officer has one plain duty ; it is to enforce the
law with kindness and forbearance, but with promptness and inexorable decision.
He may not choose what laws he will enforce any more than the citizen may
choose what laws he will obey. We have here but one king : it is the law,
passed by those constitutional methods which are necessary to make it binding
upon the people, and to that king all men must bow. It is my great pleasure.
to find so generally everywhere a disposition to obey the law. I have but one.
message for the North and for the South, for the East and the West, as I jour-
ney through this land. It is to hold up the law, and to say every where that,
every man owes allegiance to it, and that all law-breakers must be left to the de-
liberate and safe judgment of an established tribunal. You are justly proud of
your great State. Its capabilities are enormous; its adaptation to comfortable life
is peculiar and fine. The years will bring you increased population and increased
wealth. I hope they will bring with it, marching in this stately progress of
material things, those finer things—piety, pure homes, and orderly communities.
But above all this State pride, over all our rejoicings in the advantages which
are about us in our respective States, we look with greater pride to that great
arch of government that unites these States and makes of them all one great
Union. But, my fellow citizens, the difficulties that I see interposed between us
and the train which is scheduled to depart very soon, warn me to bring these
remarks to a speedy close. I beg again, most profoundly, to thank you for this
evidence of your respect, this evidence of your love for the institutions of our
common country.”
At Portland, Ore., May 5, President Harrison spoke as follows:
35
546 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEAD FRS.
“Mr. Mayor and Fellow Citizens: No more brilliant or inspiring scene than
this has been presented to our eyes in this wonderful series of receptions which
have been extended to us on our journey. You have been filled with regret
to-day that your weeping skies did not present to us the fair spectacle which
you had hoped ; and yet this very discouragement has but added to the glory
of this magnificent reception. To stand in the bright sunshine of a genial day
and to wave a welcome is not so strong a proof of the affectionate interest of
a people as you have given to-day standing in this down-pouring rain. In the
presence of a multitude like this, in a scene made brilliant by these decorations,
I stand inadequate to any suitable expression of the gratitude that fills my
heart. -
“I was quite inclined to stand by the superintendent of the census in the
count which he made of the States; but I am afraid if I had witnessed this
scene, pending your application for a recount, that it would have been granted.
I am sorry that it could not have been made as the people turned out to give
us this welcome ; I am sure no one would have been missed.
“This State is interesting in its history. The establishment of the authority
of the United States over this region was an important event in our national
history. The possession of the Columbia and of Puget Sound was essential to
the completeness and the roundness of our empire. We have here in this belt
of States, reaching from the Gulf of California to the Straits of Fuca, a mag
nificent possession which we could not have dispensed with at all. The remote-
ness of Oregon from the older settled States, the peril and privation which
attended the steps of the pioneer as he came hither, delayed the development
of this great country. You are now but beginning to realize the advantage of
closer and easier communications. You are but now beginning to receive from
an impartial and beneficent government that attention which you well deserve.
“That this river of yours should be made safe and deep, so that waiting
commerce may come without obstruction to your wharf, is to be desired. It
should receive those appropriations which are necessary to make the work ac-
complish the purpose in view. I believe that you may anticipate a largely in-
creased commerce. Looking out as you do toward the regions across the Pacific,
it would be but natural that this important center should draw from them and
exchange with them a great and increasing commerce. I am in entire sympathy
with the suggestion of the mayor that it is important that this commerce should
be carried in American ships. A few days ago, when I sailed in the harbor of
THE REPUBLICA. W. PARTY AND IT'S DEADERS. 547
San Francisco, I saw three great deep-water ships come into that port. One
carried the flag of Hawaii and two the English flag. None bore at the mast-
head the stars and stripes. I believe it is the duty of the national govern-
ment to take such steps as will restore the American merchant marine. Why
shall we not have our share in the great commerce of the world 2 I cannot
but believe—and such inspiring presences as this but kindle and confirm my
belief—that we are come to a time when this nation should look to the future
and step forward bravely and courageously in new lines of enterprise.
“The Nicaragua Canal should be completed. Our harbors should have
adequate defense. We should have upon the sea, a navy of first-class ships.
We are here in the most kindly relations to these South American and Cen-
tral American countries. We have been content that Europe should do the
commerce of these nations. We have not availed ourselves of the advantages
of neighborhood and of friendly kindred republican institutions to develop our
commerce with those people. We have, fortunately, as a result of the great
conference of American nations, set on foot measures that I confidently hope will
bring to us speedily our just share of this great commerce.
“I am glad to know that we are here to-night as American citizens, lovers
of the one flag and the one Constitution. Proud of Oregon I Yes, you may
well be proud of Oregon. But, my countrymen, above all, crowning all, greater
than all, is our American citizenship. What would one of these States be with-
out the other What is it that gives us prestige abroad and power at home
It is that we have formed a government of the people ; that we have one flag
and speak with one voice to all the nations of the earth. I hope that narrow
sentiment that regards the authority of the United States or its officers as
alien or strange has once and forever been extinguished in this land of ours.
My countrymen, I am profoundly grateful for this magnificent demonstration.
I accept it as a tribute to your institutions and to your country. No man is
worthy of it ; he can only return for it a fresh consecration of himself to the
duties of public office and private citizenship. Again I assure you that you
have given us to-day what is to my mind, under the conditions, taking into ac-
count the population of your city, the most splendid demonstration we have
seen on the whole journey.”
At Tacoma, Wash., May 6, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“My Fellow Citizens: I feel that it would be cruel to prolong this exposure
which you are enduring in the inclement weather of the day. I visited your city
548 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
and the region of Puget Sound six years ago. I found this country then enveloped
in smoke, so that these grand mountain-tops, of which mention has been made in
the address of welcome, were hidden from our view. I come again and the smoke
is replaced by fog, and we are still, I suppose, to take the existence of these
snow-clad peaks on faith. I don’t know but there is a benevolent provision for
your comfort in the fact that this magnificent scenery, this unmatched body of
water are frequently hidden from the eye of the traveler. If every one who
journeys hither could see it all everybody would want to live here, and there
wouldn’t be room. I congratulate you, citizens of Tacoma, upon the magnifi-
cent, almost magical, transformation which has been wrought here in these six
years since I first saw your city. It has been amazing ; it is a tribute to the
energy and the enterprise and courage of your people that will endure and
increase and attract in a yet r higher degree the attention of the whole country.
“A harbor like this, so safe and commodious and deep, upon Puget Sound,
should be made to bear a commerce that is but yet in its infancy. I would like
to see the prows of Some of these great steamship lines entering your ports and
carrying the American flag at the masthead. I believe we have come to the
time in our development as a people when we must step forward with bold prog-
ress, or we will lose the advantage we have already attained. We have within
ourselves the resources, and a market of which the world is envious. We have
been content, in the years gone by, to allow other nations to do the carrying
trade of the world. We have been content to see the markets of these American
republics lying south of us mastered and controlled by European nations. I think
the period of discontent with these things has now come to our people, and I
believe the time is auspicious for the enlargement of our commerce with these
friendly republics lying to the south of us. I believe the time is propitious for
re-establishing upon the sea the American merchant marine, that shall do its
share of the carrying trade of the world.”
“My friends, I desire to again express to you my regret that to give us
this magnificent welcome, under circumstances so inauspicious, you have been
exposed to so much wet. I especially regretted, as I passed those long lines
of dear school children, that they should have been exposed in order to do us
honor. I will not detain you longer. For your city, for this magnificent young
State that we have received into the great sisterhood of the Union, of which
you are a glorious part, we give our aspirations, our prayers, and our best
endeavors.”
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 549
At Boise City, Idaho, May 8, President Harrison said:
“My Friends: This is instructive and inspiring to us all as American citizens.
It is my great pleasure to stand for a little while this morning in the political
capitol of this fresh and new State. I had great satisfaction in taking an
official part in admitting Idaho to the Union of States. I believed that it was
possessed of a population and resources and capable of a development that
fairly entitled her to take her place among the States of the American Union.
You are starting now upon a career of development which I hope and be-
lieve will be uninterrupted. Your great mineral resources, now being rapidly
developed, have already brought you great wealth. Undoubtedly these are
to continue to be a source of enrichment and prosperity to your State,
but I do not forget that we must look at last for that paramount and
enduring prosperity and increase which our States should have to a develop-
ment of their agricultural resources. You will, of course, as you have done,
carefully guard and secure your political institutions. You will organize them
upon a basis of economy, and yet of liberal progress. You will take care that
only so much revenue is taken from the people as is necessary to the proper
public expenditure. t
“I am glad to see that this banner of liberty, this flag of our fathers,
this flag that these—my comrades here present—defended with honor and
brought home with victory from the bloody strife of the Civil War, is held in
honor and estimation among you. Every man should take off his hat when
the starry flag moves by. It symbolizes a free Republic ; it symbolizes a nation ;
not an aggregation of States, but one compact solid government in all its rela-
tions to the nations of the earth. Let us always hold it in honor. I am glad
to see that it floats not only over your political capitol, but over the school-
houses of your State ; the children should be taught in the primary schools to
know its story and to love it. To these young children, entering by the benefi-
cent and early provision of your State into the advantages of that great char-
acteristic American institution—the common school—I give my greeting this
morning. May every good attend them in life, and as the cares of life come
on to take the place of the joys of childhood, God grant that, instructed in mind
and heart in those things that are high and good, they may bear with honor
the responsibility which you will soon lay down.
“To these comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, survivors of the
great war, upon whom the years are making their impression, I do not doubt
550 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
that these who stand by me have borne an honorable part among your fellow
citizens in the development of the resources of this their adopted State. Not
long will we tarry ; but, my comrades, the story of what you have done is
undying, and I doubt not this morning that the satisfaction of having had some
small part in redeeming this nation and preserving its integrity will fill your
hearts with gladness, even under adverse conditions of life. A grateful nation
honors you. Every community should give you its respect, and I can only add
to-day a comrade’s greeting and a hearty God bless you all !”
At Salt Lake City, Utah, May 9, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“ Fellow Citizens: The scenes which have been presented to us in this politi-
cal and commercial metropolis of the Territory of Utah have been very full of
beauty and full of hope. I have not seen in all this long journey, accompanied
as it has been with every manifestation of welcome and crowned with flowers,
anything that touched my heart more than that beautiful picture on one of your
streets this morning when the children from the free public schools of Salt Lake
City, waving the one banner that we all love and singing an anthem of praise to
that beneficent Providence that led our worthy forefathers to land and has fol-
lowed the pathway of this nation with His beneficent care until this bright hour,
gave us their glad welcome.
“My service in public life has been such as to call my special attention to,
and to enlist my special interest in, the people of the Territories. It has been a
pleasant duty to welcome the Dakotas, Washington, Montana, Idaho, and Wyom-
ing into the great sisterhood of the States. I think it has not fallen to any
President of the United States to receive into the Union so large a number of
States. The conditions that surround you in this Territory are of the most hope- .
ful character. The diversity of your productions, your mines of gold and silver,
iron, lead and coal, placed in Such proximity as to make the work of mining
and reduction easy and economical ; your well-watered valley, capable, under the
skillful touch of the husbandman, of transformation from barren wastes into fruit-
ful fields—all these lying in easy reach and intercommunication, one with the
other, must make the elements of a great commercial and political community.
You do not need to doubt the future. You will step forward confidently and
progressively in the development of your great material wealth.
“The great characteristic of our American institutions—the compact of our
government—is that the will of the majority, expressed by legal methods at the
ballot-box, shall be the supreme law of all our community. To the Territories of
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 551
the United States a measure of local government has always been given, but the
supervisory control, the supreme legislative and executive power has been, con-
tinuously, as to the Territories, held and exercised by the general government at
Washington. The territorial state has always been regarded as a temporary one.
The general government has always looked forward to a division of its vast do-
main—first, the territory northwest of the Ohio, then the Louisiana purchase,
then these accessions upon the Pacific coast—into suitable séctions for the estab-
lishment of free and independent States. This great work of creating States
has gone forward from the Ohio to the Pacific, and now we may journey from
Maine to Puget Sound through established States. .
“The purity of the ballot-box, the wise provisions and careful guardianship
that shall always make the expression of the will of the people fair, pure and
true, is the essential thing in American life. We are a people organized upon
principles of liberty, but, my good countrymen, it is not license. It is liberty
within and under the law. I have no discord, as a public officer, with men of
any creed or politics if they will obey the law. My oath of office, my public
duty, requires me to be against those who violate the law.
“The foundation of American life is the American home. That which dis-
tinguishes us from other nations whose political experience and history have been
full of strife and discord is the American home, where one wife sits in single
uncrowned glory. And now, my countrymen, I beg to assure you that every
hope you have for safe running on these lines of free government, on these lines
of domestic and social order, I have. For every one of you I have the most
cordial greeting. God bless and keep you and guide you in the paths of social
purity, order, and peace, and make you one of the great communities of the
American Union.” J.
At Denver, Col., May 12, President Harrison spoke as follows:
“ Governor Routt, Mr. Mayor, Pioneers of Colorado, Comrades of the
Grand Army and Fellow Citizens : This scene is inspiring. This beautiful city,
the fame of which your journeying citizens have not failed to carry to the far
East, has become known to me as we can know by the hearing of the ear ; and
I am rejoiced to add to my pleasant impressions of Colorado, and of its com-
mercial and political capital, that which is in sight of the eye, which has but
deepened and enlarged the favorable impressions which I brought to your State.
It is a marvelous thing that all we see here is in a State whose existence dates
from the dawn of the second century of our national life. What a tremendous
552 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LAEA.D.E.B.S.
testimony to the organizing power and energy of the American people this great
State is l That these wastes, so unpromising to the eye in that early time, should
have been invaded by the restless energy of indomitable men ; that they should
have seen in visions that which was to follow their heroic labor for the develop-
ment of these hidden resources ; that no drought or drifting sand, no threat of
mountain nor of sky, could turn back these brave-hearted men who had set their
faces to pierce and uncover the hidden riches of these mountains. The pioneers
of Colorado are worthy of honor. Those who have entered into their labors,
who have come not toilsomely but on swift and easy wings into the heritage that
they have opened, should, always and everywhere, gratefully acknowledge the
services of those who made this easy pathway for their feet.
“Your State is blessed in the diversity of its resources. You do not depend
on any one of the great industries of civilized life. You have taken from your
mines immense stores of the precious metals, but when these are gone or their
supply is diminished you will turn your eyes toward those metals that we call
base, but that after all enter in so many ways into human life that they supply
more enduring and in the end more profitable industries. Your iron, and coal,
and lead, and building stone will be sources of income inexhaustible. These
valleys, touched by the magical power of irrigation, will yield to your popu-
dation abundant food, and you will yet have within yourselves that happy
commercial condition of a State producing and exchanging within its own
limits nearly all the necessaries of life. Transportation is always a burden.
The industrial condition is always best when the producers and the consumers
are near together.
‘‘ I am glad to know that you have not been so busy in delving into the
earth ; that you have not so turned your minds to the precious metal as to have
forgotten that there is a blue sky above you ; that there are aspirations, and
hopes, and glories that are greater than all material things. You have not
failed to make sure that the children, the blessed children of your homes, that
are now coming on, are made secure in the possession of a well-ordered and
of a well-endowed school system. What a testimony it is to the American
character that, however intense the push for the things of this life, however
eager the pursuit of gain, you can never assemble a community of two hundred
people that they do not begin to organize schools for the children. These common
schools are not simply nurseries of intellectual training ; they are nurseries of
citizenship.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 553
‘‘ It has been a most happy sight to see the same old banner that we bore
into the smoke of battle and carried over dying comrades to place it in triumph
on the ramparts of the enemy now in the hands of the children of Colorado.
Proof has been made a thousand times—proof will be made whenever the occasion
requires—that, as much as we pursue gain and personal ends, we have nothing—
property or life—that we do not freely lay down upon the altar of our country
for the general good. But, my fellow citizens, this assemblage is too vast, and
the demand upon my time for public speech has been too protracted, to enable
me to pursue these remarks further.
“Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, survivors of the great War”
whose success preserved all that our fathers had devised and established, whose
success brought back this flag in honor and established it again the undisputed
emblem of an indissoluble Union, God has bountifully lengthened out your days
that you might catch some glimpse of the glory that has come from the achieve-
ments in which you bore an honorable part. But only the vision of the prophet
reaching out over centuries to come can catch the full glory of what your deeds
have wrought. I give you to-day a most affectionate greeting ; I give you a
regretful good-by. May you hold in the community where you live that respect
and honor to which you are entitled. Let no Grand Army man ever dishonor
in civil life the noble record he made in war. May every blessing follow you,
and if it shall not be in God’s dispensation to give you riches, at least, com-
rades, you shall die with the glorious satisfaction of having contributed to the
greatest work that man ever wrought for humanity and good ; and, wrapped in
the flag you followed, your comrades will, one by one, see that in honored graves
your bodies rest until the resurrection, and that on each returning day of deco-
ration flowers are strewn upon your graves.
“Citizens of Denver, I cannot close without expressing the great satisfaction
and surprise with which I have witnessed this morning the magnificent commercial
developments which have been made here. These streets, these towering, sub-
stantial, and stately houses in which your commerce is transacted, place you in
the front rank of enterprise. I do not think any city so young can claim so high
a place. I thank you very sincerely for a demonstration which I cannot accept as
personal—all this is too great for any man—but as a spontaneous tribute to our
free institutions. I accept this as an evidence that in all essential things we are
one people. The fuller revelation of that fact to us all has been worth all the
labor and time we have mutually expended in this long journey. In all essential
554 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LEAD FRS.
things we are one ; we divide and strive and debate, but we are patriotic Ameri.
can citizens, having a love for the Constitution and the flag that brings us all at
last to submit our opinion to the lawfully expressed wish of the majority.
“And now again good-by. I shall leave behind me every good wish for your
prosperity, individually as a municipality and as a State.”
At Omaha, Neb., May 13, President Harrison spoke as follow; :
“Mr. Mayor and Fellow Citizens: I can accept without question and with very
deep gratitude these cordial words of welcome which you have spoken on behalf
of the people of this great city. Twice before it has been my pleasure to spend
a brief time in this great commercial metropolis of the great Valley of the
Missouri. I have had opportunity, therefore, to witness the rapid development
which your city has made. I recollect it as I saw it in 1881, and as I see it
to-day I feel that I need to be told where I am.
“ These magnificent structures dedicated to commerce, these magnificent
churches lifting their spires toward the heavens, these many school-houses con-
secrated to the training of those who shall presently stand in our places to be
responsible for these our public institutions, these great stock-yards, where the
meat product of the great meat-producing States of the Missouri Valley is pre-
pared for market, and, above all and crowning all, these thousands of happy,
comfortable homes which characterize and constitute your great city are a mar-
vel and tribute to the enterprise and power of development of the American
people, unsurpassed, I think, by any city in the United States.
“As I turn my face now toward Washington, as I hasten on to take up
public duties partially laid aside during this journey, I rejoice to receive here in
Omaha, that same kindly greeting with which we were welcomed as we journeyed
from Washington through the South to the Pacific. If anything were needed
to call for a perfect surrender of all personal thought in an absolute consecration
of public duty to the general good of all our people, I have found it in these
magnificent demonstrations. We shall always have parties—it is characteristic
of free people—we need to have party divisions, debate, and political contention ;
but it is pleasant to observe in all this journey we have taken how large a
stock of common patriotism we find in all the people.
“You have here in Nebraska, a State of magnificent capabilities. I have
seen the orange grove, and all those fruits which enrich and characterize the
State of California. I have seen Leadville, the summit city, these mining camps
upon the peaks where men are delving into the earth to bring out thc riches
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 555
stored there, but I return again to the land of the cornstalk with an affection
that I cannot describe.
“I am sure these friends who have delighted us with the visions of loveli-
ness and prosperity will excuse me if my birth and early training in Ohio and
Indiana lead me to the conclusion that the States that raise corn are the great-
est States in the world.
“We have a surplus production in these great valleys for which we must
seek foreign markets. It is pleasant to know that 90 per cent or more of our
agricultural productions are consumed by our own people. I do not know how
soon it may be that we shall cease to be dependent upon any foreign market
for our farm products. With the rapid development which is being made in
manufacturing pursuits, with the limitation which the rapid occupation of our
public domain now brings to our minds as to the increase of agriculture, it can-
not be a very distant day when the farmer shall realize the ideal condition and
find a market out of his own farm wagon for what he produces.
“It has been a source of constant thought and zealous effort on the part of
the administration at Washington to secure larger foreign markets for our farm
products. I rejoice that in the last two years some of those obstructions which
hindered the free access of our meat products to American markets have been
removed. I rejoice to know that we have now freer, larger access for our meats
to the markets of England and of Europe than we have had in many years. I
rejoice to know that this has brought better prices to the stock-raisers of these
great Western valleys. I believe, under the provision looking to reciprocal trade
in the law of the last Congress, that we shall open yet larger and nearer mar-
kets for the products of Nebraska farmers. So distant as you are from the At-
lantic Seaboard, it may have seemed to you that your interest in the revival of
our trade, in the re-establishment of an American merchant marine, was not
perceptible or direct.
“Not long since an inquiry was made as to the origin of the freight that
was carried by one of the Brazilian steamers from the port of New York, and
it was found that twenty-five States had made contribution to that cargo, and
among those States was the State of Nebraska. And so by such methods as we
can it is our purpose to enlarge our foreign markets for the surplus productions
of our great country. And we hope—and we think this hope fills the great West
as well as the East—that when this increased traffic and commerce is found
upon the sea it shall be carried in American bottoms.
556 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“A few days ago, sailing in the harbor of San Francisco, I saw three great
deep-water ships enter the Golden Gate. One carried the flag of Hawaii and
two the British flag, and at Portland they took the pains to tow up from the
lower harbor and to deck in bunting an American ship that was lying in the
harbor. It was a curious sight — one they thought important to exhibit to
strangers visiting that city. Why, my countrymen, I hope the day is not far
distant when the sight of great American ships flying the Stars and Stripes at
the fore will be familiar not only in our own ports, but in every busy mart of
Commerce the world around.
“This government of ours cannot do everything for everybody. The theory
of our government is large individual liberty. It is that we shall take out of
the way all legislative obstructions to the free and honest pursuit of all human
industries; that each individual shall in his own place have the best chance
possible to develop the highest prosperity for himself and his family.
“Some functions are lodged with our government. It must provide a cur-
rency for the use of our people, for I believe the time has gone by when we will
be content to return to the old system of an issue of money by State banks. But
I will not discuss such questions. I only desire to say this—which is common
ground upon which we can all stand—that whatever money the government
issues, paper or coin, must be good money.
“I have an idea that every dollar we issue should be as good as any dollar
we issue, for, my countrymen, whenever we have any money, paper or coin, the
first errand that dollar does is to pay some workingman for his daily toil. No
one so much as the laboring man and the farmer requires a full value dollar of
permanent value the year around.
“But, my countrymen, I had not intended to speak so long. I hope I have
not intruded upon any ground of division. I am talking, not as a partisan, but
as an American citizen, desiring by every method to enhance the prosperity of
all our people; to have this great government in all that it undertakes touch
with beneficence and equal hands the pursuits of the rich and of the poor. Noth-
ing has been so impressive in all this journey as the magnificent spirit of patriot-
ism which pervades our people. I have seen enough American flags to wrap the
world around. -
“The school children have waved it joyously to us, and many a time in some
lonesome country home on the bleak sand I have seen a man or woman or a
little boy come to the door of a cabin as we hurried by waving the starry banner
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADER.S. 557
in greeting to our train. I am sure, as your mayor has said, that this same
magnificent, patriotic, American spirit pervades you all here to-day.
“God bless you all; prosper you in every endeavor; give glory and increase
to your city, and settle all its institutions upon a secure basis of social order
and obedience to the law.”
At Springfield, Ill., May 14, at the tomb of Lincoln, President Harrison
spoke as follows:
“Governor Fifer and Fellow Citizens : During this extended journey, in the
course of which we have swept from the Atlantic coast to the Golden Gate,
and northward to the limits of our territory, we have stood in many spots Of
interest and looked upon scenes that were full of historical associations and of
national interest and inspiration. The interest of this journey culminates to-
day as we stand here for a few moments about the tomb of Lincoln. As I
passed through the Southern States and noticed those great centers of busy
industry which had been builded since the war, as I saw how the fires of furnaces
had been kindled where there was once a solitude, I could not then but think
and say that it was the hand that now lies beneath these stones that kindled
and inspired all that we beheld ; all these fires of industry were lighted at the
funeral pyre of slavery. The proclamation of Abraham Lincoln can be read
on all those mountain sides where free men are now bending their energies to
the development of States that had long been under the paralysis of human
slavery.
“I come to-day to this consecrated and sacred spot with a heart filled with
emotions of gratitude that that God who wisely turned toward our Eastern
shores a body of God-fearing and liberty-loving men to found this republic did
not fail to find for us in the hour of our extremity one who was competent to
lead the hearts and sympathies and hold up the courage of our people in the
time of our greatest national peril.
“The life of Abraham Lincoln teaches more useful lessons than any other
character in American history. Washington stands remote from us. We think
..of him as dignified and reserved, but we think of Lincoln as one whose tender
touch the children, the poor—all classes of our people—felt at their firesides and
loved. The love of our people is drawn to him because he had such a great
heart—such a human heart. The asperities and hardships of his early life did
not dull, but broadened and enlivened his sympathies. That sense of justice, that
love of human liberty which dominated all his life, is another characteristic that
558 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S.
our people will always love. You have here in keeping a most precious trust.
Toward this spot the feet of the reverent patriots of the years to come will bend
their way. As the story of Lincoln’s life is read his virtues will mold and in-
spire many lives.
“I have studied it and have been filled with wonder and admiration. His
life was an American product ; no other soil could have produced it. The great-
ness of it has not yet been fully discovered or measured. As the inner history
of the times in which he lived is written we find how his great mind turned
and moved, in time of peril and delicacy, the affairs of our country in their
home and foreign relations with that marvelous tact, with that never-failing
common-sense which characterized this man of the people. And that impressive
lesson we have here this morning. I see in the military uniform of our country,
Standing as guards about this tomb, the Sons of a race that had been con-
demned to slavery and was emancipated by his immortal proclamation. And
what an appropriate thing it is that these whose civil rights were curtailed
even in this State are now the trusted affectionate guards of the tomb in which
he sleeps
“We will all again and again read the story of Lincoln’s life, and will find
our hearts and minds enlarged, our loves and our charities broadened, and our
devotion to the Constitution, the flag, and the free government which he pre-
served to us intensified. And now, my friends, most cordially do I thank you
for these kind words of welcome. I shall go from this tomb impressed with new
thoughts as to the responsibilities of those who bear the responsibilities, though
in less troublous times, of that great man to whose memory my soul bows this
morning.” -
At Indianapolis, Ind., May 14, President Harrison spoke as follows :
“Governor Hovey, Mayor Sullivan and Friends : I do not think I can speak
much to-day. The strain of this long journey, the frequent calls that have been
made upon me to speak to my fellow citizens from Washington to the Golden
Gate, from the Golden Gate to the Straits of Fuca, and from the most north-
western portion of our territory here to my own home, has left me somewhat
exhausted in body and in mind, and has made my heart so open to these impres-
sions, as I greet my old home friends, that I cannot, I fear, command myself
sufficiently to speak to you at any length. Ours path has been attended by the
plaudits of multitudes ; our way has been strewn with flowers ; we have jour-
meyed through the orchards of California, laden with its golden fruit; we have
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 559
climbed to the summit of great mountains and have seen those rich mines from
which the precious metals are extracted ; we have dropped again suddenly into
fruitful valleys, and our pathway has been made glad by the cheerful and
friendly acclaim of our American fellow citizens without regard to any party
division ; but I beg to assure you that all the sweetness of the flowers that have
been showered upon us, that all the beauty of these almost tropical landscapes
upon which we have looked, that all the richness of these precious mines sink
into forgetfulness as I receive to-day this welcome from my old friends. My
manhood has known no other home but this. It was the scene of my early
struggles ; it has been the scene, and you have been the instruments and sup-
porters in every success I have achieved in life. I come to lay before you to-day
my thankful offering for your friendly helpfulness that was extended to me as a
boy, and that has been mine in all the years of our intercourse that have inter-
vened until this hour. I left you a little more than two years ago to take up
the work of the most responsible office in the world. I went to these untried
duties sustained by your helpful friendliness. I come to you again after these
two years of public office to confess many errors, but to say to you that I have
had but one thought in my mind. It was to use whatever influence had been
confided to me for the general good of all our people. Our stay to-day is so
brief that I must deny myself the pleasure I would have in taking these old
friends by the hand. God bless you all. I have not forgotten, I can never
forget, Indianapolis. I look forward to it, if my life shall be spared, as the city
in which I shall rest when the hard work of life is done. I rejoice in its increase,
in its development as a commercial center. I love its homes, its people ; and
now if you will pardon me the effort of further speech and believe me when I
say this is a most interesting and tender moment to me, allow me to say to you
for a time, God bless you every one and good-by.”
At Harrisburg, Pa., May 15, President Harrison closed his long series of
brilliant and interesting addresses in the following words:
“Governor Pattison and Fellow Citizens : I thank you for the courtesy of
this reception at the political center of the great State of Pennsylvania. I was
informed, a little while ago, by the Stenographer who had accompanied me on
this trip, that I had made 138 speeches, and when I saw the magnitude of my
offense against the American people I was in hopes I should be permitted to pass
through Harrisburg without adding anything to it. I will only express my thanks
and appreciation. No one needs to tell you anything about Pennsylvania or its
560 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEAD.E.R.S.
resources; indeed, my work was very much lightened on this journey, because I
found that all the people clear out to Puget Sound had already found out more
about their country than I could possibly tell them.
“It is a pleasant thing that we appreciate our surroundings. We love
our own home, our own neighborhood, our own State. It would be a sad thing
if it were not so. There is only just enough discontent to keep our people
moving a little. Now and then some boy gets restless in the homestead and
pushes out to the West ; the result is a thorough mingling of the people. I
do not know what would have become of Pennsylvania if some people from
other States had not come in and some of your people gone out. It is this
that makes the perfect unity of our country. It was delightful on our trip to
meet old faces from home. Though they had apparently been discontented
with Indiana and left it, they were willing to recall the fact, as I came near
to them, that they were Hoosiers. It was very pleasant, also, to see people as
they met the Postmaster-General put up their hands and say, ‘I am from the
old Keystone State.’ General Rusk was never out of sight of a Wisconsin man,
and of course the Ohio man was always there. Our journey has been accom-
panied with the labor of travel, but out of it all I think I have a higher
sense of the perfect unity of our people and of their enduring, all-pervad-
ing patriotism.”
LIFE OF WHITELAw REID.
Ancestry and Birth—Scotch Descent—Teaches School—Enters Journalism—An Original Repub-
lican—Stump Speaking—An Active Politician–Tour Through the Northwest—Cincinnati
—War Correspondent—“Agate”—With Rosecrans—Librarian of Congress—Authorship—A
Cotton Planter—Joins the Tribune Staff.
HITELAW REID was born in Xenia, Ohio, in October, 1837.
His father, Robert Charlton Reid, had married Marian White-
law Ronalds, a descendant in direct line from the Clan Ronald
of the Highlands of Scotland. His paternal grandfather,
also of Scotch blood, emigrated to this country toward the
close of the last century, and, as one of its earliest pioneers, settled in Ken-
tucky; but in 1800 he crossed the river and bargained for land upon the pres-
ent site of the city of Cincinnati. But he was a stern old Covenanter, and
found his conscience uneasy, owing to a condition of the sale which required him
to run a ferry every day of the week across the Ohio River. Sooner than vio-
late the Sabbath, he gave up his bargain, and removing to Greene County, he
became one of the earliest settlers in the township of Xenia. An uncle, Hugh
McMillan, D.D., a Scotch Covenanter and conscientious man, took the task upon
himself for fitting Whitelaw for college. Dr. McMillan was a trustee of Miami
University and principal of the old and long-noted Xenia Academy, which was
then reckoned by the officers of Miami the best preparatory school in the State.
As a teacher of classics and general instructor, Dr. McMillan had a fine repu-
tation. Under his instruction his nephew was so well drilled in Latin that at
the age of fifteen years he entered Miami as a sophomore, with a Latinist rank
36 - (561)

562 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
equal to that of scholars in the upper classes. This was in 1853, and in 1856
he was graduated with the scientific honors, the classical honors having by his
own request been yielded to a classmate. Just after graduation he was made
principal of the graded schools in South Charleston, Ohio, his immediate pupils
being generally older than himself. Here he taught French, Latin, and the
higher mathematics. During this period he repaid his father the expense of his
senior year in college, and, returning home at the age of twenty, he bought the
2Cenia News and for two years led the life of a country editor.
Directly after leaving college Reid had identified himself with the then new
Republican party and took the stump for John C. Fremont. He was a constant
reader of the New York Tribune, and his own paper, the News, edited with
vigor and such success as to double its circulation during his control of its
columns, was conducted by him, as much as possible, after the model of that
great humanitarian journalist he was destined to succeed. In 1860, notwithstand-
ing his personal admiration of Chase, he advocated the nomination of Lincoln,
the News being the first Western newspaper outside of Illinois to do so; and its
influence caused the election of a Lincoln delegate to the Republican Convention
from the Xenia district, thus strengthening the break in the Ohio column which
Governor Chase at the time so bitterly resented. After Lincoln’s famous speech
at the Cooper Institute in this city and his return to the West, Reid went to
Columbus to meet him, formed one of his escort to Xenia, and introduced him at
the railroad station to the citizens. Subsequently he entered ardently into the
business of the campaign, making speeches and acting as secretary of the
Greene County Republican Committee. His exertions were too much for his
health, and he was compelled to withdraw from the political arena and take a
vacation. He traveled through the Northwest, visiting the extreme headwaters
of the Mississippi and St. Louis Rivers; and returned across the site of the present
town of Duluth. He gave an account of his travels in a series of letters to the
Cincinnati Gazette, which attracted attention generally. The following winter he
spent in Columbus as a legislative correspondent on an engagement with the
Cincinnati Times. After a few weeks of his engagement with the Times had
elapsed he obtained an offer at a higher figure from the Cleveland Herald, to
be followed by a yet better offer from the Cincinnati Gazette. He undertook all
three engagements, and by them was put in receipt of a good income for a
journalist in those days, some $38 a week; but the task of writing daily three
letters, distinct in tone, upon the same dreary legislative themes, was a species of
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 563
drudgery which severely tried even his versatility and courage. Such discipline,
however, rendered his later journalistic labors comparatively light and attractive.
At the close of that session of the Ohio Legislature the Gazette offered him
the post of city editor, and this position, so full of varied training, he accepted
until, at the beginning of the Civil War, McClellan, then a captain in the
regular army and stationed at Cincinnati, was sent to West Virginia. With
this movement, Reid, by order of the Gazette Company, took the position of
its war correspondent. General Morris had command of the advance, and
Reid, as representative of the then foremost journal in Ohio, was assigned
to duty as volunteer aid-de-camp, with the rank of captain. As aid-de-camp
to General W. S. Rosecrans, in the operations in Western Virginia in 1861, he
won distinction as a soldier, and added to his journalistic reputation. He was
present at the battle of Shiloh, and his story of that bloody fight, so accurate
and picturesque it was, was woven into the warp and woof of the historians’
descriptions of that field in after and quieter years. Then over the signature
of “ Agate ’’ began a series of letters which attracted general attention and
largely increased the demand for the Gazette. After the West Virginia cam-
paign terminated in the victory over Garnet’s army and the death of General
Garnet himself at Carrick’s Ford, on Cheat River, Reid returned to the
Gazette office, and for a time wrote editorial leaders. He was sent back to
West Virginia, and given a position on the staff of General Rosecrans. He
served through the second campaign that terminated with the battles of Carnifex
Ferry and Gauley Bridge. These battles he wrote an account of, and then
returning to the Gazette office resumed his editorial duties and helped organize
the staff of correspondents the publishers of that journal had found it necessary
to employ. Fairly established as a journalist of much promise, only brief men-
tion can be made of the brilliant service which marked his subsequent career in
the West. In 1861–62 he went to Fort Donelson, recorded the Tennessee cam-
paign, arrived at Pittsburg Landing weeks in advance of the battle fought
there, and, leaving a sick bed, was the only correspondent who witnessed the
fight from its beginning to its close. It was his account of this battle, one of
the most important of the war, that stamped him as a newspaper correspondent
of the first class. Those ten columns of the Gazette were widely copied and
published in extras by St. Louis and Chicago papers, and their writer was com-
plimented by an advance in his already liberal salary.
At the siege of Corinth Reid was appointed chairman of a committee of
564 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
the correspondents to interview General Halleck upon the occasion of the latter’s
difficulty with “the gentlemen of the press,” which ended in their dignified with-
drawal from the military lines. • -
Reid went to Washington in the spring of 1862, where he was offered the
management of a leading St. Louis newspaper. On hearing of this offer the
proprietors of the Gazette offered to sell him a handsome interest in their
establishment at a fair price. This he accepted, and his share of the profits for
the first year amounted to two-thirds of the cost and laid the foundation of his
fortune. As the correspondent of the Gazette at the national capital he soon
distinguished himself and attracted by his literary and executive ability the
notice of Horace Greeley, who from that time became his highly appreciative
and unswerving friend. - 9
Soon after returning to the capital, Reid was honored with the election of
Librarian of the House of Congress, a position for which he was eminently
fitted, both by his executive ability. and his knowledge of literature, , and which
he occupied for three years. -
A visit to the South in 1865, as the companion of Chief-Justice Chase on
the trip made by the latter at the request of President Johnson, resulted in the
production of Reid’s first contribution to literature in the form of a book
entitled “After the War; a Southern Tour.” This book is a fair reflex of its
author’s independent and healthful mind and practical experience of men and
things, and an excellent record of the affairs of the South during the years
immediately following the war. During this tour the business of cotton-planting
appeared so remunerative that in partnership with General Francis J. Herron
Reid engaged in it in the spring of 1866; but when the crop looked most .
promising the army worm destroyed three-fourths of it. Even what remained,
however, prevented the loss of their investment and induced Reid to try his
fortune subsequently in the same business in Alabama, ; but after two years,
though not a loser, his gain was principally in business experience. During
these years, however, he was otherwise engaged than in growing cotton. His
“Ohio in the War,” two large volumes of more than a thousand pages each,
was produced during the years when cotton-planting was his ostensible busi-
ness. This work is a monument of industry and a model for every other
State work of the kind. Besides a history of the war from 1861 to 1865, it
contains biographies of all the distinguished generals. After the publication of
this work Reid, in 1868, resumed the duties of a leader-writer on the Gazette.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 565
On the impeachment of President Johnson he went to Washington and re-
ported carefully that transaction. That summer Greeley renewed an invitation,
two or three times made before, to Reid, to connect himself with the political
staff of the Tribune. Reid finally accepted, and took the post of leading editorial
writer.
In commenting on Reid's nomination, one of his associates on the Commer-
cial Gazette recently said in its columns :
“Whitelaw Reid is an Ohio man from the tips of his shoes to the crown
of his hat. He was born here, went to school here, and was graduated here.
His earliest journalistic training—for he was a journalist from his salad days
—was gained in the newspaper offices of this State, offices that have given to
American journalism and literature some of the greatest names in it. His
letters to his Cincinnati paper, printed over the signature “Agate,’ attracted
great attention. They were marked by evidences of a thorough knowledge of
the political and military conditions of the day, and characterized by a pun-
gent, graceful literary style that held the attention. Mr. Reid was an editorial
writer of force and judgment. His style was pungent and paragraphic, but his
pen was quite as much at home and at ease in the heat of editorial conflict that
required close thought, a broad information of history and men, and a capacity
for editorial controversial discussion.”
II.
Leader Writing on the Tribune—Managing Editor—Editor-in-Chief—Acquires Control of the great
“Leading American Newspaper’—Reminiscences of a Secretary—Firmness of Character—
Methods of Management—Knowledge of Men—Theory of Editorship—Estimate of Greeley—
Tireless Industry.
*HITELAW REID determined to devote all his energies and ability
i to the Tribune. Next to Horace Greeley himself he received
the largest Salary of any employee on the great journal. He
wrote many of the leaders throughout the campaign that ended
in the first election of Grant. Shortly afterward a difficulty be-
tween the managing editor and the publishers resulted in the withdrawal of the
former, and Reid was installed in the managing editor’s chair. In this ad-
vancement he retained the affection and unbounded confidence of his venerated
chief, who, since the withdrawal of Dana to make his venture in Chicago and
then to get the Sun, had not failed to observe the uncertainties and dangers
attending this most arduous of journalistic positions. By a bold expenditure in
1870 Reid surpassed all rivals at home and abroad in reports of the Franco-
Prussian war, and from that time, with full power to do so, gradually reorgan-
ized and strengthened the staff of the Tribune. -
After the nomination of Greeley for President in 1872. Reid was made edi-
tor-in-chief of the Tribune—an office accepted by him with genuine reluctance,
but with courage and determination. Untrammeled by tradition, he made the
Tribune the exponent of a broad and catholic Americanism. In this he failed
not to rally to his support scholarly and sagacious veterans of the Tribune
establishment. After the disastrous close of the campaign of 1872 that which
astonished friend and foe alike was the enormous amount of resources Reid’s
conduct had gained for him in the shape of capital freely and confidently placed
at his disposal. He was thus enabled to obtain entire control of the Tribune.
From that day to this Reid has occupied the editorial tripod of the Tribune,
and administered the affairs of that great paper with unparalleled ability both
(566) -


THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEA.D.E.I.S. 56?
as an executive and as a journalist. Under his guidance the Tribune quickly
recovered from the blow it met with in its editor's defeat for the Presidency and
his death soon afterward. Newspaper men alone can understand and appreciate
the superb work of Reid during those crucial years.
One of Reid’s secretaries furnishes the following interesting reminiscences
of his association with the Tribune :
“My personal knowledge of Mr. Reid was gained while serving as his private
secretary on the Tribune for something like eighteen months and for a con-
siderably longer period while I was connected with the paper in other capacities.
Next to his ability what most impressed me about Mr. Reid was his self-control.
I never knew him to lose his temper. That is a great deal to say, for no man
could be the active head of a great metropolitan daily without frequently getting
his temper sorely tried, notwithstanding the satisfaction he might find in contem-
plating a steady growth of advertising and an increasing circulation. As in the
best regulated families, so in the best organized newspapers things will sometimes
go wrong in the most provoking way. I never knew Mr. Reid to indulge in a
profane expression. I don’t think that anybody on the Tribune ever did hear
him swear. Old Tom Rooker has been there longer than anybody else, and he
has assured me that he has never heard him give vent to his feelings in that
way, although there have been occasions in the history of the Tribune when the
- Recording Angel would have blotted out the oath with a tear.
‘‘I may be mistaken, but I have never attributed this remarkable absti-
nence from all sulphurous expletives or explosive language of any sort to any deep-
rooted religious convictions concerning the heinousness of the offense involved in
giving way to ill temper. My theory upon the subject is that as a student of
human nature Mr. Reid long ago came to the conclusion that the man who was
ambitious to control other men should first learn to master himself. This is an
age of competition. Men of brains find equally brainy men to dispute with them
the path that leads to success. I have no doubt that at critical periods in his
career, when it was a question whether he or some other man should go ahead, it
has been this very quality of self-control which has turned the scales in his favor.
“I do not wish to convey the idea that Mr. Reid is or was a man of angelic
meekness of character—the sort of man who is regarded as “ soft ' while alive
and is credited with being a saint after death. That sort of man doesn't get to
the top in the newspaper business in these days. I have never known an editor
who would look well in a halo.
568 THE REPUBLIOA. W. PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
“When occasion requires it Mr. Reid can use words that cut like a knife.
The addition of ‘cursory observations would simply take the edge off them.
But it is very rarely that I have heard Mr. Reid rebuke his subordinates in
this way. They say that he used to do it oftener in the earlier days of the
Tribune, when he was fighting a very uphill battle with the paper and he had
to keep everybody upon it up to the top notch.
“I recollect hearing him say on one occasion to an editorial writer whose
style was somewhat verbose :
“‘Mr. —, you would greatly oblige me if you would write less and think
more.”
‘‘I am sure that man felt worse than . if he had been called a blanked
idiot or something of that sort. But he took the hint. Thereafter he did
think more and write less, and the readers of the Tribune were the gainers
thereby.
“Of all the men I have met I think that Mr. Reid is possessed of most
tact. It is his capacity to keep cool under all circumstances that enables him
to exercise this talent so effectively at times. In a friendly discussion he knows
how to carry his point without making the other side feel sore. That is an
art in which many public men are wofully deficient, and in consequence they
are continually making enemies without being aware of it. But they are apt
to find it out in their hour of Sorest need, and then great is their fall.
“Mr. Reid is generally credited, correctly, I think, with being a pretty
astute politician. It often happened that some of the heavy weights of the
party would seek him at his office to discuss means and methods. On these
occasions, no matter how excited and disputatious others might become, Mr. Reid
would always preserve his easy sangfroid, and interjecting the right word in
the right place would often succeed in getting his views adopted without appear-
ing to urge them, and those who yielded to his suggestions endured no feeling
of mortification or irritation. Mr. Reid is certainly an adept in the practice of
the sudwiter in modo so much commended by Chesterfield.
“With his subordinates on the Tribune Mr. Reid was always courteous, but
very rarely familiar. That was something he reserved for the social circle and
the club and his own fireside. One thing about Mr. Reid which all those who
came in contact with him on the Tribune greatly appreciated was his willingness
to listen to explanations when things didn’t exactly run smoothly, and to accept
them if well founded. He didn’t deliver snap judgments; he didn’t condemn
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 569
without a hearing. Even the office boy was allowed to present the best excuse
he could for himself when he mislaid things and caused trouble.
“Mr. Reid has been a very much caricatured man in his time. Undoubtedly
all manner of ridiculous distortions of his figure and physiognomy will appear
in this campaign. Caricaturists are generally good-natured fellows and cherish
Il O malice against any one, and doubtless it will be a source of genuine satis-
faction to those of them who will be called upon to exercise their art upon Mr.
Reid to be assured that he won’t mind it at all. He knows very well that no
man gets caricatured unless he amounts to something. Despite the fact that
he is of Scotch extraction, and therefore presumably born with a prejudice
against jokes, particularly those of which he is the butt, he can even appre-
ciate a caricature of himself when it is well done. In the Blaine campaign I
often saw him laugh heartily at some of Puck’s best cartoons in which he
himself was a conspicuous and ludicrous figure. He is not a man whom the
caricaturist can afford to ignore. He can’t be treated as Tom Nast treated
poor Gratz Brown, whom he recognized merely by tagging on a placard bear-
ing his name to Greeley’s coat tails. -
“Mr. Reid is not the sort of man who would be called thick-skinned.
But he has learned by experience that coarse vituperation and abuse do not
injure a man in public estimation to anything like the extent the authors of
it imagine ; that, in fact, so far as a man’s personal feelings are concerned,
it need not hurt him any more than he chooses to let it. He has been sub-
jected to a considerable amount of it at various times.
“As his secretary it was one of my. duties to lay before him any extended
personal references to him, attacks or criticisms in other newspapers. I remem-
ber on one occasion calling his attention to a long article in which he was
depicted as a regular dyed-in-the-wool sort of villain, such as always meets with
a horrible death in the last act of a Bowery melodrama.
“After glancing over it Mr. Reid remarked with a contemptuous smile : * That
sort of thing never hurts a man. It only inspires contempt for its author. The
man who writes that way throws a boomerang that will miss its mark and hit
himself.”
“For some years previous to his appointment as Minister to France, Mr.
Reid did very little editorial writing himself. In fact, he did very little writing
of any sort personally. The pen is too slow for a busy man to wield. It was,
and is still, his habit to dictate all his letters except those of a strictly private
570 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADER.S.
character. He dictates well, speaking with fluency and precision. He appre-
ciates the value of brevity in correspondence. He always aims to say what he
has to say in the fewest possible words. After dictating a letter he would
sometimes ask to have it read back to him to see if he couldn’t shorten it.
Most of the little editorial work he did he also dictated.
“Before he went abroad Mr. Reid and no one else ran the Tribune. He
exercised a general supervision over the business as well as the editorial depart-
ment. It was his habit to spend an hour in the counting-room every morning
before ascending to his editorial sanctum in the tall tower. Editors as a rule
are not good business men, but Mr. Reid, as I have said before, is an exception
to that rule, happily for himself, for I have no doubt that hour spent in the
counting-room every day proved a most profitable investment of time. And that
is one of the things which Mr. Reid thoroughly understands. He has done some
phenomenally hard work in his time. He can do it again if the necessity should
arise. But he is not the man to make of himself a slave to work when he can hire
others to do much of the work for him. That would be the sheerest kind of folly.
“He is possessed of executive talents of a high order. No man who isn’t
could run a big newspaper satisfactorily. His policy is to select for the heads
of departments the men who will best carry out his ideas and allow them pretty
full swing. He values money not for its own sake, but for the opportunities for
rare enjoyment and culture that it brings. That is shown by his style of living.
He knows how ‘to take it easy,” but at the same time he is constitutionally
incapable of being lazy.
“He is in no sense a narrow man. He has too much breadth of forehead
for that. Although a partisan, his natural habit of mind is to look on both
sides of a question. Although a Republican from conviction—for he was among
the first to advocate Lincoln’s nomination, and subsequently stumped Ohio for
him—I have no doubt that he could run a Democratic paper just as effectively
as he did the Tribune.
“It is much to be regretted that Mr. Reid has not written more for the
Tribune of late years. He is an exceedingly lucid and vigorous writer, apt in
illustration, forceful in expression and straightforward and direct in style. He
can jump on anything, figuratively speaking, about as hard as any man I know
of. Long before he joined the Tribune he made Horace Greeley his model. He
fully appreciated his worth and ability, as this passage, which I find in an ad-
dress that he once delivered, shows:
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 571
“ . Most true it is that the foremost editorial writer of our time has had
and is to have no successor. Horace Greeley stood alone, without a peer and
without a rival—not, perhaps, the ideal editor, but, fairly judged, the ablest
master of controversial English and the most successful popular educator the
journalism of the English-speaking world has yet developed.”
“I have said that Mr. Reid is an eminently practical man. He is also a
man of ideas. I wish that space permitted me to quote freely from an address
which he delivered before the editorial associations of New York and Ohio when
he was still the ‘boy editor,” as he used to be called. It contains some in-
teresting speculations concerning the tendencies of modern journalism. But one
or two passages must suffice :
“‘This then I conceive to be the next great revolution in journalism. We
shall not have cheaper newspapers. They are the cheapest thing sold now, con-
sidering the cost of making them. We shall not have continually growing sup-
plement upon supplement of advertising. Individual wants will seek mediums
more suitable. Only general wants will need the wider publicity of great jour-
nals, and these will be kept, by the increasing cost, within manageable compass.
We shall not have more news. The world is ransacked for it now. Earth, sea
and air carry to us from every capital, from every people, from every continent
and from every island. We shall not have bigger newspapers; they are bigger
now than a busy people can read. We shall have better newspapers—the story
better told, better brains employed in the telling, briefer papers, papers dealing
with the more important of current matters in such style and with such fasci-
nation that they will command the widest interest. There will be more care
and ability in selecting out of the myriad of things you might tell the things
that the better people want to be told, or ought to be told. There will be
greater skill in putting these things before, them in the most convenient and
attractive shape. Judgment in selecting the news, genius in telling it—that is
the goal for the highest journalistic effort of the future. In making a news-
paper, the heaviest item of expense used to be the white paper. Now it is the
news. By and by, let us hope, it will be the brains.”
“By the way, it was in this same address that he anticipated by many years
the injunction of another famous editor concerning advertisements. He did it in
this terse fashion :
“ Keep the advertising in the advertising columns.’”
III.
Consecrated to the Tribune—In Control—The new Building—President of the Lotos Club—Union
League—Declines proffered Political Appointments—Regent of the University of New York
—Active in Charities—Authorship—Marriage—City Residence—Ophir Farm.
#|HITELAW REID consecrated himself to the Tribune. His familiar
form, erect and distingué, with hair longer and curlier than lat-
terly, was a familiar sight on Broadway every morning shortly
before noon as he found needed outdoor exercise in Walking down
to his office.
As soon as he had become president of the Tribune Publishing Company,
and acquired a controlling number of its shares (through the kind assistance,
it is generally understood, of the Hon. William Walter Phelps), Reid projected
the present magnificent architectural pile known as the Tribune Building, one
of the finest on Printing House Square, the rentals from which, it is almost
Superfluous to add, yield a handsome profit on the investment and a large share
of the company’s income. -
In 1872 Reid was elected president of the Lotos Club, a well-known associa-
tion of journalists, artists, and actors, and held the position, with the exception
of a brief term filled by the late John Brougham, for fourteen years. In that
time he presided at all the banquets given by the club to many distinguished
men, including Stanley, Froude, Kingsley, De Lesseps, Irving, Bartholdi, Wilkie
Collins, and other foreign and home celebrities.
One of his first speeches in New York—for his abilities as an orator were
not then generally known—was the following welcome address to Henry M.
Stanley, at the Lotos Club, in 1872 : -
“Gentlemen of the Lotos : A club so largely composed of journalists and
of members of the kindred professions may be pardoned a special pride in the
pluckiest achievement that adorns the history of recent American journalism.

(572)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 573
As Col. Finlay Anderson, who was chief of the Herald bureau in London at the
time, has told you, we have the pleasure of meeting to-night the man that did it,
and of bidding him the most cordial and hearty of welcomes home again. He
has been gone from us since 1868. For two-thirds of the time he has been buried
in a region which is now absolutely the least known, the most mysterious, and
the most inaccessible land on the face of the habitable globe. He undertook
a task in which the Royal Geographical Society of London had failed ; in which
we may say the British government had failed. Of the difficulties, the dis-
couragements, the dangers there is no need to speak. He succeeded !
“Looking back now at what he braved and what he did, we may fairly Say
that for nerve, for pertinacity, for tact in avoiding obstacles or for courage in
overcoming them, the world will accord our young American newspaper corre-
spondent his well-earned place in the honored ranks of the African explorers. If
he had done this thing three thousand years ago, some old Greek might have
fancied the quest for Livingstone as worthy the loving treatment of poetry and
genius as the quest for a captured princess. If it had been his easier fortune to
do it to martial music, under the guns of two contending hosts and the eyes of
a continent, it might have been sung in the verses of the laureate or embalmed
in the more stately eulogium of a Kinglake. Or, if it failed, as everybody but its
spirited projector, the owner of the Herald, expected it would, some new Cer-
vantes, in treating of this new Quixotic adventure, might at least have paid
tribute to the courage and devotion to professional duty which our guest dis-
played. But it lacks all glamour of tradition, or romance, or poetry. It is the
plain, matter-of-fact work of a New York newspaper correspondent. He was
merely told to go to the heart of Africa and find a lost explorer whom the
power of the British government had failed to find.
“Everybody laughed when he started ; everybody laughed when he was re-
ferred to while he was gone. Now that he comes back crowned with the laurels
of the amplest success, if we do not make a romantic hero of him, let us at least
give him just honor for what he has done ; and award just recognition to that
splendid spirit in modern journalism which secures more unquestioning obedience,
more enthusiastic zeal, and greater success than cabinets and parliaments were
able to attain. It was an old Frenchman who said : ‘It is a great sign of me-
diocrity to praise always sparingly.” Whatever he may find his countrymen, our
guest will at least not find them a people of mediocrities. He will find them
everywhere, as he sees them here to-night, proud of his achievement, proud of
574 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD IT'S LAADERS.
the honor he has done his profession, and glad to bid him welcome home. Gen-
tlemen, I have the pleasure of presenting to you Mr. Henry M. Stanley.”
Reid’s public services as a journalist led his friends repeatedly to urge him
to enter other departments of public life. In 1878 he was prevailed upon to
accept the life regency of the University of New York. Honors thereafter came
thick and fast. President Hayes strenuously urged him to accept the post of
Minister to Germany, but Reid refused. President Garfield duplicated the tender
of that high honor, but Reid refused it, preferring the post of editor of the New
York Tribune.
Reid had joined the Union League Club of New York and been elected one
of its political committee, and he has always taken an active part in the po-
litical discussions there. He has been connected for some years with several
charitable institutions.
Notwithstanding his exacting duties as editor of the Tribune, Reid has
found time to lecture occasionally and publish several books: “The School of
Journalism '' (1871), “The Scholar in Politics” (1873), “Some Newspaper Ten-
dencies” (1879), and “Town-Hall Suggestions'' (1881).
In 1881 Reid married a daughter of D. O. Mills, and they have had two
children. In town they occupy the palatial mansion on Madison Avenue erected
and formerly occupied by Henry Villiard. Their country seat is called “Ophir
Farm,” and is thus described in Once a Week, June 25, 1892 :
“Over hill and dale, over the white Westchester turnpikes, over ground that
has been made historic by the deeds of Harvey Birch and the tales of Cooper,
caravans of visitors are now making pilgrimages to the home of Whitelaw Reid.
From Rye and from White Plains stations friends, reporters, brass bands and
campaign clubs have made Ophir Farm their Mecca ever since the Minneapolis
Convention presented Mr. Reid’s name as the candidate for the Vice-Presidency.
“The Ophir Farm of to-day is not the Ophir Farm with which Ben Holliday
astonished the natives of Westchester County twenty years ago. After he had
made his fortune in the hustling days of the West with his pony express and kin-
dred schemes, he bought this tract of about eight hundred acres, four miles from
White Plains and four and a half from Rye, and built himself a castle of the
good old kind, with tower and keep and all the appointments of a feudal estate.
His herd of buffalo and elk and the half-wild Indians which he brought with him
from the West are still remembered in White Plains, and many stories are still
told of ‘Patsy Injun,” the last of Ben Holliday’s tribe.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 575
“After Holliday's money had gone down into that hole in Wall Street,
John Roach bought the property, but misfortune also overtook him, and the
estate passed into the hands of Mr. Reid. He owned it for one year and came
home one hot day in July, 1888, to find the family on the lawn and the house
in flames. It was a stone house, but it burned like tinder and was almost com-
pletely destroyed. On the ruins of the old castle this new one has been reared.
• ‘The present mansion is a stately pile of granite quarried on the premises,
and has a beautiful outlook over a lawn that stretches for a quarter of a
mile to the woodlawns toward the Sound, and beyond that, over the leafy hills
and valleys, the glimmer of the water in the distance can be seen. The entrance
hall, seventy-two feet in length to the marble staircase at the rear, is of pink
Etawah marble, except a frieze of Venetian glass mosaic, three feet high,
which is the finest thing of its kind in the country. g
“The doors to the dining, drawing and reception-rooms are hung with
maroon satin. The dining-room is fifty feet long, with great windows fronting
the lawn. The red mahogany trimmings and deep tones of the embossed
leather hangings of the rooms make a magnificent picture.
“The drawing-room is on the right of the hall, and is finished in oak and
gilt. At the end of this room is the main library, fringed with bookcases and
containing a fireplace in red marble that is a monument of beauty and is the
especial pride of Mr. Reid. Adjoining it is Mr. Reid’s private writing-room, about
fifteen feet square and hung with leather. This room is entirely cut off from
the rest of the house and has a private entrance from the veranda. It is a
most beautiful room, with its views of lawn and woodland and its quiet sense
of seclusion. Upstairs are the family rooms, beautifully decorated in Louis
Quatorze and Venetian styles.
“It will be some time yet before Ophir Farm has taken on all the im-
provements contemplated by Mr. Reid. New barns, dairies, electric light sta-
tions and engine-houses are still to be built. The views from the broad and
cool veranda are beautiful and extensive. The entire house is fire-proof and
has cost in the neighborhood of a million dollars.”
IV.
Urged for Governor and United States Senator—Accepts Appointment of Minister to France--
His brilliant Administration—Secures the repeal of the Law prohibiting Importation of
American Meats—Reciprocity and Extradition Treaties—Copyright—Repeal of Duty on Works
of Art—Banquet from American Residents—Eulogized—A Felicitous Speech.
|FTER having been spoken of as a candidate for Governor of
this State and as a candidate for the United States Senate,
Reid was induced to reconsider his determination not to seek
for honor outside of the Tribune office, and in March, 1889,
he was prevailed upon to accept from President Harrison the
appointment of Minister to France, and thereupon resigned
the editorship of the Tribune. After securing the repeal of the French decree
prohibiting the importation of American meats, and negotiating reciprocity and
extradition treaties, he resigned office and came home in 1892.
Before his resignation was announced Reid made a hasty visit to this coun-
try and arranged his resignation with President Harrison, and the fact was
promulgated.
A farewell dinner was given to Minister Reid by the American residents
in Paris on March 24, 1892, which was numerously attended by many distin-
guished persons. We quote from an account of this interesting event :
“Mr. Harjes then requested Consul-General King to read the address. This
document, beautifully engrossed upon parchment, and signed by a score or more
of the leading American residents of Paris, runs as follows:
‘‘ ‘To His Excellency the Honorable Whitelaw Reid, Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, Paris.
** * Sir—We, the undersigned, your fellow citizens, desire to mark our warm
appreciation of the able, dignified, and successful manner in which you have ful-
filled the duties of your high office during the last three years. At the very
(576) .

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 57.7
commencement of your diplomatic functions you were confronted by innumera-
ble and intricate questions arising out of the opening of the French Exposition
of 1889, which, as well as the constant calls upon your time and patience, were
successfully met by the judgment, foresight, and courtesy which have invaria-
bly distinguished your official career. We have not forgotten, moreover, that
you secured from France the first official acceptance by any nation of our gov-
ernment’s invitation to the World’s Columbian Exposition.
“‘The intimate personal relations which you cultivated and maintained with
the different members of the government, and the esteem and respect in which
you are held in France, have largely contributed to the substantial completion
(as announced by the French Press and officials) of a new Extradition Treaty
more than doubling the number of extraditable crimes, and of a Commercial Con-
vention providing reciprocity for certain articles in return for the free admission
of hides, sugar, and coffee. Your fruitful labors for copyright, and for the repeal
of the duty on works of art, have likewise earned you the applause of your coun-
trymen ; and, as a crowning act of your career, the long negotiations for the
removal of the prohibition of American pork—a question of the first importance
to the United States—after unceasing efforts, extending over eleven years, have
been triumphantly closed through the vigor, tact, and wisdom of your exertions.
The thoughtful courtesies you have extended not only to those resident in the
capital but to Americans passing through Paris, as well as to the members of
the government and people of France—in which you have been so effectively
aided by your accomplished wife—have strengthened and confirmed the reputa-
tion of our country for kindly hospitality.
“‘In fact, it can be truthfully said that no American minister has more
faithfully and admirably administered his trust than yourself. In view, there-
fore, of the universal appreciation of your character and services, we have ven-
tured to tender you this farewell banquet, and we beg to express the hope that,
in returning to your native land with the added experience of well-spent years
abroad, you will find new fields of usefulness, the increasing regard of your coun-
trymen, and the enjoyment of every happiness.’
“Mr. Reid, who on rising was received with three cheers, with one added for
Mrs. Reid, said, amidst repeated applause :
“‘This too generous praise, and this whole imposing demonstration of good
will and kindly appreciation, command my most grateful thanks. And yet it
brings with it a certain species of discontent. I only wish I could persuade
37
578 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEAD FRS.
myself that I have done enough to deserve your high opinion. Evidently, it is
quite time for me to go. If I stayed, you might find me out, and might bring
down your flattering personal valuation even below my own more modest and
more accurate estimate. The pleasure given by this greeting is greatly enhanced
by the fact that it originates with my own countrymen. In like manner, the
regret caused by this parting is greatly diminished by the reflection that most
of us are likely to meet again—early, I hope, and often—in the best and fairest
land the Sun shines on, because it is our own.
“‘ As you have hinted, Mr. Chairman, the office I have held here has not
proved a sinecure. With the Paris Exposition at the beginning, and the Chicago
Exposition at the end; with the McKinley Bill and the New French Tariff; with
copyright and the duty on works of art; with pork, reciprocity, and extradition;
with the increasing intercourse between the two countries, and especially with the
throngs of our people constantly visiting Paris, there has not been much leisure.
The President and Mr. Blaine, in proposing the post, were kind enough to say
that, after over a quarter of a century’s hard work in Washington and New
York, it would be good for me to take a vacation. I have been here three
years, and am going back to New York now to get that vacation. There is
the true secret of my return. I am going home, not to seek office, but to resign
office. I have been told that the resignation of such a post is unusual, and
might even be construed as uncomplimentary. None of you, I am sure, will so
construe it. Certainly, I should be the most unappreciative and the most un-
grateful of men if I had not enjoyed my official residence here. There has been
everything to make it delightful and interesting, and nothing' disagreeable to
cloud the Parisian souvenirs which I, shall cherish while life lasts. The possibili-
ties of courtesy and goodwill have been exhausted in the treatment given me
from the moment of my arrival by the French government, by the City of Paris
(which early made me its guest at the Hôtel de Ville), by the people, and by the
Paris Press—French, English, and American—for whose unvarying and consider-
ate kindness I beg to tender now my best thanks.
“‘As for the great American colony of Paris, the greatest we have in any
foreign city, and for the crowds of Americans constantly here for brief visits,
what can I say ? Never could reception have been more cordial, or hospitality
more generous, or support more steady. I do not know who will be my suc-
cessor, but I am sure he will be worthy of the post ; and I can wish him at
the outset no greater happiness than that you may treat him as you have always
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 579
treated me. One might think that such a colony would be liable to dissensions
which might sometimes make the position of the minister embarrassing. If so, I
have not been able, in three years, to find it out. There has not been a ripple
that has come to the legation; and my own relations with the colony, with the
whole colony, from the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne and the Arc de Triomphe
to the Latin Quarter and the Boulevard Montparnasse, have been all along just
what you see them to-night. I rejoice that these relations, like this banquet,
have been without distinctions of party. My own politics have never been quite
kept secret, but they have been kept for use at home. We are all of one party
here, for we are all Americans; all in favor of our country, whichever party
governs it, against the world. -
“‘You have been good enough to refer in very flattering terms to some
things that have occupied the legation during the past three years. If there has
been any success, it is largely due to the clear, positive, and persistent policy of
your home administration, and to the generous support and confidence it has
given its representative. We must equally acknowledge the courteous and fair-
minded manner in which we have been met by the French authorities, and their
sincere desire to promote international friendship by practicing international jus-
tice. Both nations are quite likely, in matters of business, to look after their
OWI1 interests; but it is much that this should always be done in a broad spirit
of right, and even of liberality. Nor must I fail to add that whatever has gone
well in our work has also been largely due to the faithful and most intelligent
support I have uniformly received from the secretaries, Mr. Vignaud and Mr.
Jay ; from the attachés, Captain Borup and Lieutenant Ward; from Mr. Hall,
the counsel, and from the whole staff of the legation. I believe not an action
of theirs has ever needed to be reversed, and, to give but a single and slight
example, even during the period of greatest strictness on the Alsace-Lorraine
frontier not a single passport, out of the thousands issued, has ever involved us
in trouble. My friends, the civil service reformers at home have not always
considered me a very zealous supporter of their doctrine, but if they have any
better practice in non-partisan civil service reform than at the Paris legation,
we shall all be glad of the progress they have made.
& & • There is one consideration which, at the close of my official work, gives
me peculiar pleasure. If not always successful in getting from the French
government quite all I wanted, there is the greatest satisfaction in knowing that
protracted negotiations on material interests, keenly affecting large classes, and
580 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
dividing parties, have been conducted and ended without the slightest shade of
injury to the cordial relations which have existed between the two nations for
more than a century, and which, I sincerely trust, are to last forever. May we
not believe, indeed, that these relations have grown more intimate and more
mutually advantageous P And may we not, in fact, hope that next year they
are to receive a great development P Everything tends to show that France is
coming to Chicago—as France should come—on the front line, and with all her
banners flying. In the stirring language of her government, when proposing a
liberal appropriation for the Exposition, “France owes it to herself to carry,
wherever the progress of civilization asserts itself, the shining proofs of the activ-
ity and genius of her children. She occupies such a position that her presence is
necessary wherever the first rank is in dispute.” As I see here the grandchildren
of Lafayette and Rochambeau, and find gathered about your table the repre-
sentatives of what is to-day highest in French executive and parliamentary
authority, in diplomacy, in war, in commerce, in fine arts, in oratory, legisla-
tion and letters, I seem to see the approach of a time when we shall know
each other still better, and esteem each other still higher; a time when the
two great governments, bearing forward the torch of liberty which the great-
grandfathers of these men helped to light in America, and which, flashing back
across the Atlantic, revealed to us your own emancipation, shall lead not merely
the civilization of two continents, but the development of ordered liberty and the
progress of humanity throughout the world.
“‘My last word is to repeat, in behalf of our government and of all our
people, absolutely without distinction of parties and without exception, their
earnest desire for France, that the republic she has chosen and so long main-
tained may endure throughout the generations of men, and that it may ever
bring to her what it has brought to us—stability, prosperity, order and peace.’”
V.
Dined by the Ohio Society—Speech--Pleasant Reminiscences—Ohio's great Men—Dined by the
Lotos Club—Speech—At Home again—New York and Paris cómpared—The Pan-American
Congress—Retrospective.
=|HE Ohio Society of New York entertained Reid at dinner at Del-
monico’s, April 9, 1892, soon after his return from France. He
made the following speech on this occasion:
“Mr. Chairman: No greeting could touch me more pro-
foundly than this. No words could go straighter to my heart
than yours; and when I remember what honor your father brought our State,
and at what a price you yourself have served her and the nation, I am doubly
glad that, in the regretted absence of its president, it is by your voice the Ohio
Society receives me back. - -
“This is indeed an ideal welcome. It gives the first hand-grasp from the
metropolis which is our home and our pride; and at the same time it carries
me really home—to that fairest of lands that lies between the lakes and the
beautiful river—to the dear, gracious mother of us all. When she stretches out
her hand the joy of return is complete.
** No other applause can ever be so sweet to a man as that which comes
from those who have known him earliest and longest. Better, to many a tired
man of the world, the cheer of his native village than more stately honors from
the most powerful of communities. Believe me, Mr. Chairman, in retiring from
public office there can be no compliment more grateful than an assurance like
this with which you honor me to-night, that your old friends and neighbors
have not been ashamed of you.
“And next it is pleasant to be made to feel once more that those to whom
you were sent were not tired of you. Two weeks ago, at a banquet like this,
I had the honor to say good-by to the high members of the French govern-

(581)
582 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
ment, and to representative Frenchmen who were kind enough to say they were
sorry to have me go. To-night I find my friend, the Viscount d’Absac, repre-
senting the same government here, to add another grace to the warmth of
this most charming of greetings to a returning townsman. In the large ban-
queting hall of the Continental, in trying to express to the great American
colony and to the Frenchmen about me the conflicting emotions by which I
was possessed, I told the simple truth in saying that while I was eager, even
to homesickness, in my desire to get back to New York, I did not in the least
want to leave Paris. Who that has ever passed under the spell of the City
of Light—the one city of the world—can fail to understand or to sympathize
with the truly Irish perplexity? Who that has ever known France or the
Prench will not join with me in urging the duty, not merely of perpetual
friendship, but of the warmest appreciation for that fascinating and chivalric
people who have for many centuries commanded the admiration or the wonder
of the world, and who are now well entered on the second century of an
unbroken and most helpful friendship for us. I never met a Frenchman, from
the Elysee or the Faubourg St. Germain to the forests of Auvergne, who did
not, as soon as he found I was an American, receive me without question as a
friend; we shall see more of them here during the next year; and I hope every
American to whom the opportunity may come will exert himself to make them
feel as much at home among us as we have always made ourselves and been
made at home among them.
“Those of us who have entered the fifties have learned that there is no
great happiness in this world without attendant pain. To-night the joy of
coming back is marred by finding such gaps in your ranks. The numbers, to be
sure, are not diminshed ; but, ah what faces we miss. I cannot speak in the
Ohio Society after a three years’ absence without one word of tender and rever-
ential regard for the memory of your greatest member. Rough on the surface,
Sometimes, as a chestnut burr, but always sweet and tender inside as the nut ;
that is the man as one loves to recall him. We had occasionally the sharpest
differences of opinion, and yet, from my early manhood till he said good-by to
me on sailing, he had honored me with his friendship. Not a syllable do I care
to utter to-night of his public career. The world has long known that by heart.
I only wish, as I recall the kind parting and the kinder messages and letters .
sent over seas, and as I now note the vacant place, to pause before it for a
moment, and salute the mighty shade. What glories the future may have in
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEAD ERS. 583
store for the Ohio Society we know not, but the past, at least, is secure. We
have had William Tecumseh Sherman.
“We have had another, too, whose absence strikes sadly on a returning son
of the State. He had guided the finances of the country through a most critical
period—Ohio has had a specialty of great finance ministers, from Ewing and
Chase and Sherman to Foster. He had achieved a brilliant success. Windom
stood to the financial world as the champion of sound measures and as the
pledge of national solvency and faith and honor; and in that moment, in a
supreme effort, he fell. When in a foreign land I read the story, grief for the
great loss was almost swallowed up in pride for the splendid end this son of Ohio
had made. -
“There is no occasion to-night to call the roll of our Ohio worthies. We
have never been charged, even by our worst enemies, with ever neglecting the
duty to celebrate ourselves. But perhaps you will permit me a single reminiscence.
On one of the last occasions when I had the opportunity to act in the office
with which you honored me as Vice-President of the Ohio Society, I found an
occasion, in presenting to you a gentleman who had been recently dropped from
the Senate, and had thereupon described himself as a ‘dead statesman,” to point
out that, nevertheless, he had in him the material for an uncommonly live
President. Well, gentlemen, I haven’t yet seen the necessity of apologizing for
any mistake made in that prediction as to the future of that particular member
of this Society.
“Now it is said that the other party is looking about for a candidate. But
why should it have the slightest difficulty 2 Here is the first President of the
Ohio Society ready to its hand, statesman himself, and the son of a statesman ;
and although he has the proverbial shyness of both the politician and the law-
yer, I will undertake to be responsible that he will answer quite soon after his
name is called. And if, for any reason, that name of Ewing is not called, then
in the language of my friend, Mr. Bennett, I would like to know, ‘Why not
Calvin S. Brice P’ Two States claim him ; and he is bright enough for the
whole forty-four.
“ It has been sometimes said that there are two kinds of men in this
country ; those who were born in Ohio, and those who wish they had been. A
brilliant example of the latter class is with us to-night ; and very pleasant it is
for tired eyes to rest on the familiar features of this prince of orators and of
good fellows. His genius and versatility have accomplished wonders in the
584 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD IT'S LAWADERS.
way of acquiring nationalities ; but this is a shining height he has not reached.
He has, on a hundred occasions and to the entire satisfaction of thousands of
auditors, announced himself as a Duchman, a Puritan, a Huguenot, a Scotchman,
a native of Peekskill, and a bit of an Irishman. But he has missed the crown.
He was never born in Ohio—and now I am afraid he never will be.
“Nevertheless, the Ohio man continues to be prevalent. In the present
Cabinet, for example, out of the eight members, four of them are from Ohio–
and two of them are here to-night to explain the circumstance. When these
four Cabinet officers vote together, and the President joins with them, the rest
of the concern must feel lonely 1
“Mr. President, I forbear. The trend of feeling seems to be toward levity.
And yet nothing could be further from my purpose. I am most happy to find
myself so thoroughly at home—so completely surrounded by those I know the
best and prize the highest. I am most grateful for the care which has assembled
here so many whom it is a pride and a pleasure for me to meet again—Howells,
almost the oldest and certainly one of the dearest of my friends, with whom I
lived in the same house nearly a third of a century ago, when he paid his board
out of a salary of $15 a week, and I out of one a good deal less ; Ward, who
made statues in those days, while we made newspaper articles, and whose early
wares have lasted better ; the gentlemen of my own profession ; Mr. Childs,
who is the friend of all of us ; I see beside him in most amicable conversation a
man whose name is identified with the history of journalism in the United States
and peculiarly identified with two newspapers, one of which I have the honor to
control and the other of which is one of my most dangerous rivals. Colonel
McClure and Mr. McKelway, who lend to the wrong side such potent and per-
suasive pens ; my old master in the newspaper business, Mr. Richard Smith,
and my old opponent, Mr. Murat Halstead ; Mr. Gilder, who has made one of
the most successful magazines in the world ; the delegates of the club which for
fourteen years endured me as its president ; these representatives of the govern-
ment, national, State, and city ; and this whole brilliant and imposing assem-
blage. I am touched beyond words that you should have shown me this kindness
—I am happy to have escaped in apparent safety from public service and to be
received among you again; and I close as I began, with a heartfelt expression of
my profoundest and most grateful thanks.”
On Saturday, April 30, 1892, the Lotos Club entertained Reid, its former
President, at dinner. He spoke as follows:
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADER.S. 585
“It seems to me that, in days gone by, I have sometimes heard the Lotos
spoken of also as the club where they always entertain foreigners. I wish it
distinctly understood that this is no occasion of that sort. You are entertain-
ing no foreigner to-night.
“Furthermore, you are entertaining a man who feels uncommonly at home.
Several things have happened to inspire such a feeling. I have ridden uptown
hanging to a strap in a Sixth Avenue elevated, with the market basket of the
woman behind poking me in the ribs and the heels of the man in front repos-
ing on my toes. I have been invited to deliver a lecture, and I have had an
opportunity to make a political speech. My friend, the reporter, has inter-
viewed me, once or twice, I think ; and I have even been asked to write for
the newspapers. I hadn’t landed twenty-four hours till a subscription paper was
presented, inviting me to join my neighbors in raising a fund to hire a man
to sweep our street ; and in looking over my tax receipts I found that our
paternal city government had discharged its duty in presenting its own little
bills for not doing the same work. I have likewise enjoyed the privilege of
saving from the horrible torture of a lingering death by thirst several gentle-
men who had had nothing to eat for the past forty-eight hours, and had no
place to sleep that night. Their faces were familiar, but it struck me that
they had fattened a little on their misery during the past three years, and
that their fine complexions had an even ruddier glow than ever.
“All these, you will admit, are circumstances that ought to make almost
any old New Yorker feel at home again, no matter how long his absence.
“And then there are the same glorious sunshiny skies above us, and the
same electric air about us, whether in the atmosphere or in the people. There
is the same warm-hearted appreciation for any little public service one may have
been able to render, and the same truly American readiness to pardon mistakes
in recognition of an honest motive. There is the same open-handed hospitality
from all classes of a community that permits political differences to interfere
less with its social good will and genuine friendliness than any other on the face
of the globe.
“In this very club there are probably now, as there always were in the past,
more Democrats than Republicans. Political critics were accustomed sometimes
to point to that as a fair measure of my personal influence. It seemed to me a
fairer measure of that broad-minded tolerance which characterizes men of the
large world, and which lies at the very foundation of our democratic institutions,
586 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
a genuine belief in the maxim of the immortal Scotchman, that whatever the
difference in birth, or in fortune or in faith, “a man’s a man for a’ that.”
“There is one advantage of a long absence from home that furnishes a
certain satisfaction. You come back to your own country with fresh eyes. And
it is amazing what things you see, and how much better you see them. Never
did I realize so fully the beauties of our incomparable Central Park as when I
came to it, after a three years’ absence, fresh from the Bois de Boulogne. The
man is a public enemy who would deface or curtail it ; and I hope this club and
all men of good taste and good will in this whole community will support the
spirited young president of the Park Commission, and his colleagues, in their
resolute defense of it against every specious scheme of spoliation, from whatever
quarter it may come. -
“Then there is our architecture. We are apt, in a shamefaced way, to say,
* Well, New York must look rather crude, after the splendid architecture of the
great European capitals.” But the fresh eye tells a different story. It does not
deceive us by saying that we have here a Louvre or a Madeleine, or a Place de
la Concorde, or even a Hotel de Ville. But it does startle us with the revelation
of an unsuspected beauty in such a shabby old gem as the City Hall; it does
make an old newspaper man feel pretty well satisfied with Printing House
Square, to say nothing of Wall Street and Broadway; and it does show a variety
and a beauty of architectural effect uptown that begins to warrant us now in
being as proud of the exteriors of our houses as we long have been of their
interiors.
“And do you know that, to a man who has been haunting the old book-
shops on the Quai Voltaire and behind it, or the bric-a-brac shops beyond the
Place de la Republique, or the old site of the Bastille, or who has occasionally, on
nights of political excitement, explored the heights of Montmartre, or the by-
ways of the Faubourg St. Antoine, the streets of New York do not look as badly,
in many quarters at least, as he had expected. We have imitated Parisian
methods in asphalt to unexpected advantage. If now we could only import the
efficiency of the Parisian broom
“This morning I read in the newspapers that we were to have the pleasure
of the company here this evening of my distinguished successor near the govern-
ment of the French Republic. This afternoon he told me he had been summoned
to Boston. I should have been glad to extend to him here my congratulations
and best wishes.
\
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 587
“When I saw him last he was in the midst of his successful diplomatic work
in the fruitful Pan-American Congress. I wish him the same Success and the
same enjoyment in the brilliant capital for which he is now nominated. And I
take this opportunity to reassure him as to any fears concerning it which our
newspaper dispatches for the last few days may have aroused. He need have
no apprehensions that Paris will be blown up and scattered to the winds before
he gets there. It has been a long time building, and it will not be destroyed
in a hurry. Neither need he accept too literally the story that a few explosions
of blasting material have stampeded the Parisians. They have seen some serious
things in their day, and they are not easily stampeded. The city that went
through the Reign of Terror, that knew both the glory and the downfall of the
greatest soldier since Caesar, that endured the siege by the Germans, and its
own Commune, has learned several things from this varied experience—among
them, how to deal with lunatics and mobs. Personally, I should feel safer my-
self to-morrow in the company of my friend the Prefect of Police in Paris than
I should on one of the boats of my other friend, John H. Starin, on the next
Fourth of July picnic. Whatever happens to-morrow—and most likely it will be
nothing—Mr. Coolidge will find himself, when he presents his credentials, in what
will be still the gayest, the pleasantest, and the most beautiful city of the world,
and he will find there a welcome as cordial as the national friendship it repre-
SentS is old.
“It is a great pleasure in returning home after a long absence to find
that one’s place has been kept for him, that he has not been forgotten, and
that, while the procession has certainly moved on without him, it can still
give him room in its ranks. It is a peculiar pleasure to be received here. What
reminiscences do not the place and the surroundings call up ; what memories of
this hall, and of the older one in Irving Place, next door to the Academy of
Music, when life was young and joy was unconfined. There we greeted Canon
Ringsley and Lord Houghton and Rubinstein and the King of the Sandwich
Islands—but one of them left now, and he a sovereign in art. Here we
greeted Froude and Matthew Arnold and Henry Irving and Count de Lesseps,
and William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, and what a host beside.
And to name only three of our own people, can any one fail to remember with
a tender reverence our last dinners here to John Brougham, Lester Wallack
and John Gilbert P. Ah me—in spite of the Lotos Club, the world is grow-
ing old !
588 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS.
“I cannot thank you too much, Mr. President, or the club you so
worthily represent, for the kindness which has marked every detail of this
most gracious reception ; for the care with which you have gathered many old
friends to meet me, and for the effort to bring still others. Two of your let-
ters to-night, not to allude to many others, have touched me profoundly; the
most generous words of George William Curtis and Edmund Clarence Stedman.
“But I must bring this rambling talk to a close. I am not here to-
night to entertain, even if I could, but to be entertained. And besides, there
has been just a little too much of my voice heard in the land for the three
weeks or more I have been on American soil. I have no wish to wear out
my welcome, and I mean to stay here some time. Plainly the hour has struck
for a brilliant flash of silence from me. I thank you a thousand times for all
your good-will and your good opinions—would that I deserved them better.
I rejoice with you in the prosperity of the good old club, and I drink to the
good health, happiness and long life of its president and of all its members.”
VI.
Banquet of the Chamber of Commerce—Speech—His Administration—Kindness of the Press—
The Paris Legation—Lord Salisbury—Diplomatic Experience—Work Accomplished—A Com-
plete Commercial Treaty—Products of France—Growing Trade—New York to be the Com-
mercial Center of the World.
HE Chamber of Commerce entertained Reid at dinner at Del-
monico’s on April 16. Reid made the following speech on
this occasion :
“Mr. President : The approval of the New York Chamber
' of Commerce, given to a townsman returning from the ser-
vice of his country abroad, is a decoration. Your electing him
to the little group of your honorary members confers more than ribbons and
crosses and jeweled orders. No man knows better than your guest what and
how much it means; and if in a fortnight at home, renewed and persistent
kindnesses had not made him a very beggar for words, no man could more sin-
cerely or more gratefully thank you. Outside of politics and religion, to a New
Yorker little is left unsaid, when the Chamber of Commerce has spoken.
“In a letter of remarkable candor, which appeared the other day in the
morning journals, a distinguished citizen, who has held the highest office in the
gift of his countrymen, wrote with honest simplicity that he often feared he did
not deserve all the kind things said of him. Under favor of that example, I
may venture to say that I have often experienced the same feeling. I wish I
could believe that I deserve what you say ; but the met result of it all is, a
sense, not of increased importance, but of the increasing necessity for more
than my natural modesty.
“And yet there is one point, Mr. President, on which I accept very frankly
and very honestly all your eulogium. I have tried to do my full duty, to this
great city, and to the great country behind it, which I had the honor to repre-
sent near the government of our earliest European friend.

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590 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
“My difficulties there were largely lessened and my power for any useful
service increased from my having had the good fortune to be supported by my
countrymen without distinction of party. It is his high incentive to duty, and
indeed the inspiration of his office, that the American Minister represents no
party, however glorious its record, or however devoted his attachment to it ; but
that like Richelieu in the elder Bulwer’s play, with the receipt of his commission
there has entered his official veins the power, the dignity, the honor of the whole
sixty-five millions of people of the magnificent continent they inhabit and the
matchless history they inherit.
“It has been another comfort for your Minister in Paris during the past
three years to find himself still among his own countrymen. Naturally a Minister
from New York is ‘likely to see more friends and acquaintanaes in Paris than a
representative of any other locality. But the truth is that American friends so
surrounded and supported the Paris legation, from the first day of my incum-
bency to the last, that I was scarcely ever left reason to realizé that I was far
from City Hall Square or Fifth Avenue or Pennsylvania Avenue. -
“And now, Mr. President, I wish, if not to discharge, at least to acknowl-
edge my heaviest obligation. I wish to tender my best thanks to my own pro-
fession, the press, for the uniform and considerate kindness with which it has
treated me without distinction of parties and without exception. This was as it
ought to be, for a Minister in a foreign nation representing his whole country is
entitled to its whole support, or to immediate recall. But in my case there has
been a spontaneity about it and a generosity alike from old friends and old
enemies which touched me to the heart’s core. There has been in it too a spe-
cies of comradeship most grateful to a man who has held every place in the
ranks, from the lowest, and who prizes, above all other honors, the distinction
conferred by the goodwill and the esteem of his colleagues and rivals in his own
calling.
“If there has been any success at the Paris legation in the past three years
to warrant this great kindness of the press, and this distinguished honor your
chamber now bestows, it is due first of all to Benjamin Harrison and James G.
Blaine. They determined their policy, and stuck to it. They gave me their
instructions, and then gave me unquestioning confidence and support, and left me
a free hand. The man who, under those circumstances, cannot do good work, has
no good work in him.
“But with reference to any diplomatic success, I am reminded of what
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 591
seemed to me a very sagacious remark, made not long ago, by Lord Salisbury,
to the effect that, while it was desirable to carry your points in diplomacy as far
as possible, it was equally desirable not to brag about it afterward. The other
nation might thus be led to think it had conceded too much ; and so, in the end,
the brag might undo the diplomacy. The counsel is good for us now and always;
though in the present case there can be no such danger, since most of the agree-
ments have been confessedly in the common interest—as all of them were, in our
opinion—and since the only ones about which a difference of judgment as to actual
interest could exist were in the furtherance of an absolute justice, to our demand,
for which no adequate reason for refusal ever had been or ever could be given.
“ May I be pardoned for reading, as appropriate to this view of our diplom-
acy, the charming words in which the great French orator, Senator and
Academician, as well as newspaper writer, M. Jules Simon, closed his good-by
to me, three weeks ago, at a banquet in Paris.
‘‘ ‘When the vessel which carries you toward the New World shall quit the
coasts of France, I should like to be on the promontory of the most advanced of
these coasts, and would cry to you then in a last echo, from our land to yours,
Let us spread liberty with the light ; let us spread justice with liberty.”
“Well, gentlemen, your President has referred to what my friend, Mr.
Phelps, has grotesquely styled the passage of the American pig under the Arc
de Triomphe. He didn’t get in very quickly, and he didn’t get in very easily ;
but in the language which the West has made classic, he got there. The
absolute prohibition of American pork in France lasted eleven years. It was an
invidious discrimination, since it touched only the United States, and it was
defended and screened from the charge of distinct unfriendliness only on the
ground that the American product was dangerous to the public health. At
the same time, importations were permitted from other countries, in at least
one of which trichinosis was notoriously abundant and fatal. It must not be
forgotten that, from the long time prohibitien had lasted, as well as from
the charges on which it had been ordered, the great mass of the French people
honestly believed it to be needful; while there were three powerful classes abso-
lutely sure of it—the French pork-growers, the French pork-packers, and the
Protectionists; and they had overwhelming majorities in Parliament. Let me
say at once that the diplomatic contest was ended as soon as the case had been
fully presented. When the judgment of the French government was convinced
it was instantly ready to do right. What remained was a question of convinc-
592 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
ing the Chambers also, and of adjusting duties on the general scale then about
to be adopted in their new tariff. On that point, as you know, legislators on
both sides of the water are apt to have views of their own.
“ I had the pleasure of bringing home an extradition treaty completed in the
last week of my stay and signed on the day of my departure. It will be of
some interest to the merchants of New York, for it more than doubles the
number of extraditable crimes with France. And if the Senate should now
kindly take the same benevolent view of it with its authors and confirm it
promptly, it may have the effect of making the crimes which peculiarly harass
the merchant more rare among you, and Paris less attractive to any Americans
except the good ones.
“A limited commercial agreement which I had the pleasure of closing just
before my return, and in which the Chamber will take some interest, has not yet
been proclaimed by the President, since it needs first the assent of the French
Chambers. The Tariff Commission has reported, however, unanimously in its
favor, and the French Ministers seemed to have no doubt about its approval.
Here, coming under section 3 of the new Tariff bill, it requires no ratification by
the Senate. It gives us the French minimum tariff and the treatment of the
most favored nation, on an amount of our products equal to their exportations
to us of hides, skins, sugar and molasses. Unfortunately for us, neither France
nor her Colonies have sent us a great deal of these articles. Still, we are able to
secure in exchange reduced rates for some mine or ten millions of our exports ;
and for this we took care to select articles in which we already have some trade
established, and in which a duty discriminating in our favor should develop. We
have for France, and for Guadeloupe, Martinique, and her other colonies, the
whole range of common woods, lumber, clapboards and staves ; canned meats ;
fresh, dried and pressed fruits, and hops. These articles have been chosen, as
you will see, with a view of affecting large classes of small producers and large
sections of the country. We had some other beautiful selections made, but,
unfortunately, the trade in them was already so large that it more than filled
the bill.
“There is another matter on which we have had some talk, and on which
I hope for something definite by an early steamer. It is possible that this may
lead to a little more reciprocity that shall be mutually beneficial. I betray no
confidence, indeed, in saying that the thoughts of French statesmen, in and out
of the government, are turning in the present economical condition of their
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 593
f
country more and more toward some general reciprocal arrangement with the
United States. Some suggestions that came to me on this subject could not, -
perhaps, be properly detailed here; but there can be no harm, I think, in quoting
a remark made to me more than once by the president of the last Chamber
and the president now of the Chamber’s Tariff Commission, M. Meline, who is,
more than any one other, the author of the new tariff—the Major McKinley,
in fact, of France. Said he ‘ One of the first things I should favor, after
the workings of our tariff are known, would be a complete commercial treaty
with the United States.”
“This is a matter, however, in which the assent of the legislative bodies on
both sides the water would be required ; and when I recall the trials of pork,
and the entirely unsentimental view both countries take of trade problems, I
am not sure that the lot of the Minister who is fortunate enough to negotiate
that treaty will be an altogether happy one. e
“In any case, the trade situation of France for the next few years is sure
to be peculiar and most interesting. She is just entering upon an untried
economical regime. She has become overwhelmingly protectionist—no doubt in
part because of our example—and in one respect she is bettering our instruc-
tions with vengeance. We have generally reached our present high duties by
successive steps, often extending throughout a century. France has suddenly,
on dozens of important products, doubled, or trebled, even quadrupled, her late
duties, at a single blow. What is to be the effect upon her trade relations P
That is a problem on which it is not wise to dogmatize beforehand; but one
or two of its elements seem clear. In this sharp and sudden advance on her
old duties, France has gone on our road faster, if not farther than ourselves,
while she must remain under the influence of radically different conditions.
Practically speaking, the United States has no neighbors and no frontiers, while
it preserves within its own borders, from side to side of the continent and from
the lakes to the Gulf, the largest and most beneficent example of absolute
free trade the world can yet show. France has no continent for such a com-
merce, no room for four or five times her present population, no such undevel-
oped opportunities for mining, manufacturing, and trade. Now, hemmed in as
she is by Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium, and with but a
strip of water like Long Island Sound (though some travelers say a trifle more
turbulent) between her and Great Britain—whether thus situated France can
successfully adapt our practice to her conditions is a question which her states-
38
594 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
men are not sure of, and to which the leading journals of her capital would
generally at the present reply in the negative.
“In any case, we shall have plenty of trade with her, and I hope a
growing trade. There is every reason for it. Each country produces at the
best what the other wants. France must buy our raw materials and certain
of our manufactures. We must buy the finest and most artistic things in the
world, whatever they cost, and it is France that makes them. Who supposes
that you could stop American women from buying French gowns, fine silks,
ribbons and articles de Paris; or American men from buying French pictures
and bronzes and tapestries, Bordeaux and champagnes, even if a dozen McKin-
leys stood in the way ? We’ll grumble about the price, of course; why
shouldn’t we ; but we’ll buy all the same.
“And all the time till France loses her secret—the secret of doing the
finest things just a little better than anybody else in the world can do them.
We know the commercial value of it now ; some day, perhaps, we may learn
the secret for ourselves, but it will not be till we have learned another lesson—
to wit, that the diffusion of art is not merely a luxury but a commercial ne-
cessity, that free art is as vital as free air, and that the country which burdens
or which even doesn’t protect and encourage and diffuse art is hopelessly doomed
to remain Second-class all its years.
“We all believe that within this generation New York is to be the finan-
cial and possibly the commercial center of the world. With all my heart, I
hope so. But we must never make the stupid mistake of underrating Oll]?
rivals ; and it is perhaps needful also to guard against the natural tendency
of a young and prosperous community to overrate themselves. Whatever our
natural endowments, or whatever the genius of our people, we are always in .
danger whenever we shut our eyes to the experience of the world.
“Our friends, the French, are at this moment enormously prosperous—prob-
ably the most prosperous nation in Europe ; and with their prosperity the most
widely diffused. And yet, when I contrast the French condition with ours, when
I recall our own popular grievances—as to railroads, for example—and remember
that there is not in all France a train to be compared to those on which you
daily travel to Washington or to Chicago—that no money can there purchase
equal luxury, and that what you can purchase costs you double as much per mile
—or when I recall another of our grievances as to the cost of living, and refer-
ring to my cash-book am reminded that Paris, to a foreign Minister, at any rate,
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEADERS. 595
and I think to Americans generally, is as dear as New York, if not dearer, I
wonder if occasionally our national complaints may not spring less from the
acuteness of our sufferings than from the acuteness of our politics.
“We shall be on exhibition next year in Chicago, and here too. It may not
be a mistake to assume that among the other things the merchants of New York
will wish to show their foreign guests will be a dollar which, following the
thought of the President, is as good as any other dollar the country has issued,
clean streets, a navy no longer ridiculous, and a judiciary for which we have no
occasion to apologize. g
“The French are coming, not exactly in squadrons, perhaps, but in larger
numbers than they have ever traveled before. They are coming to a land in
which they believe their welcome is ready, and I am sure you will make it so.
They will teach this generation of Americans how in her sphere France still leads
the world. She will come to the nation she helped to create as our old ally; bet-
ter still, she will come as the great sister Republic. She will come, as I ventured
to predict in Paris, even before the action of the Chambers on the appropriation,
as France ought to come to America—on the front line, and with all her banners
flying. She will show what higher development the country has reached under
the Republic, and in the stirring language of her own Ministers, she will carry
to this new Western center, in which the progress of civilization now asserts
itself, the shining proofs of the activity and the genius of her children.
“Our hearts will go out to her, I am sure, as to none else. We hold in
high honor that upright and most successful statesman and that model citizen,
the President of the Republic, M. Carnot. We know how faithfully and how
ably the country is served under him by Ribot and De Freycinet, by Jules Roche,
by Tirard and Spuller, by Royer and Floquet, and their colleagues in the Minis-
try and in the Chambers ; and the earnest desire of our people, without dis-
tinction of parties and without dissent—I have said it as your Minister in
France, and I wish to say it as the guest of the Chamber of Commerce in New
York—the desire of our whole people is that under their wise guidance and that
of their successors, the Republic which has now become the strongest as it is the
oldest government France has had for a century, may endure throughout the
generations of men, and that it may mean always, as it means now, order and
prosperity for the French, and peace for Europe.”
VII.
Last Republican State Convention—Elected Permanent Chairman—Speech—Republican Success
Inevitable—A glorious Record—Benefits of Republican Administration—The Vote in 1876–
Democratic Management—Organization Essential for Victory—Principles Epitomized—No
Apologies, no Explanations.
| HE Republican State Convention convened at Albany, N. Y.,
April 28, 1892, elected Reid permanent chairman. He deliv-
ered the following speech on taking the chair :
“Gentlemen of the Convention : With all my heart I
thank you. Having resigned office abroad, I hold it a priv-
ilege to resume at once the duties of citizenship at home. To
come back to my old place in the Repúblican ranks has
been for many months the desire uppermost in my mind ; but to have one’s
return thus distinguished by your favor is an honor any man might envy.
“Thirty-six years ago, a boy fresh from college and not yet able to vote,
I made my first political speech, for Fremont and Dayton. From that day to
this I have never seen a time when the duty of Republican success seemed
clearer or its possibility more evident than now.
“New York Republicans turn naturally from yesterday’s celebration to to-
day’s duty. Inspired by the memories yesterday evoked, they will take order
that the Republic, saved by the hero whose birth we have just commemorated,
in conjunction with Lincoln and Sherman and Sheridan, with Seward and Chase
and Stanton, shall suffer no harm now at the hands of the antagonist they
have so often confronted. They have just seen what that antagonist’s triumph
means in this State, and they have no desire and no purpose to let such a
triumph extend to the nation.
“We are often reminded by our friends who generally agree with us in

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THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 597
principle more nearly than with any other party, but who as generally vote
against us in practice, in order to chasten us for our good, that a past record is
no title to present confidence. Perhaps not ; certainly not, if the record is all
there is. But if the record of the Republican party through the whole thirty-six
years of its glorious history is not a sufficient reason for trust in it now, it is at
least no controlling reason for distrust. Can any one say as much for the other
party P Let us not be unkind enough to go back too far. Let me merely ask if
its record last winter, either in Albany or in Washington, is a satisfactory
guarantee for the future. Are the farmers of New York, even the Democratic
farmers, anxious that another Legislature like this should have another chance
at their tax levy Are even the Democratic business men of New York anxious
that this Congress should have its way unopposed, about either free silver or
the tariff P Is there one of them who did not secretly give thanks, last winter,
that they had been beaten four years ago, and that there now sits on watch in
the White House the safe, honest, sturdy, great big ‘man under his grand-
father's hat?' Is there one who would not rejoice if this State of New York
were fortunate enough to have some one like him now in our Governor’s resi-
dence in Albany P -
“Our opponents do well to make the most of their last triumph, and to do
it at such railroad speed as the State Capitol has just been witnessing. They
may plan the capture of the next Legislature, as they organized the theft of
this one. They may renew and multiply their devices for binding hand and foot
the majority of the lawful voters of this State ; but it is still the majority, and
it cannot be permanently bound. The spring elections have given but the first
whisper of the coming storm. Nobody who knows our political history doubts
that, on critical occasions and with a fair count, New York is now, as it has
been from the beginning, essentially a Republican State. At the very outset it
gave Fremont a plurality of 80,000 votes over James Buchanan. In the nine
Presidential elections held since the organization of the Republican party, New
York has never been carried by the Democrats excepting when their party had
composed its internal dissensions and was absolutely united behind an exception-
ally strong and popular New York candidate ; just three times in thirty-six
years.
“Nor can it be said that the tendency shown by recent voters is more in
their favor. The biggest majority New York ever gave against a Republican
candidate for the Presidency was not the latest, but that of 32,000 in 1876, for
598 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
Samuel J. Tilden. The next in size was that of 10,000 for Horatio Seymour,
in 1868. The smallest was the last, in 1884, when the candidate who had been
swept into the Governor’s chair the year before, on the wave of a majority of
nearly 200,000, secured the electoral vote of the Empire State by a plurality Of
1,047 votes. Four years later we beat that same man before the people of New
York by 14,373 votes. They say he wants to try it again, if so, the fixed and
immutable laws of that old rule of arithmetical progression which we learned
in our school days show what he may look for the next time. Or perhaps he
would rather do it by the rule of three. The problem would be stated somehow
thus: If a first success by 200,000 gives in one year a second success by 1,047,
then a first defeat by 14,373 ought to give, in four years, a second defeat by
how much And if our friends the enemy have a liking for this sort of cal-
culation, there is another problem that might interest them still more. If these
things have been done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry P. If
this is what the State of New York did to Grover Cleveland, whom she re-
spects, what would she do to David B. Hill ? -
“As further materials for speculation upon the result this autumn, we might
take the returns from the spring election ; and might profitably consider the
political desperation of our opponents, which has led to a deliberate effort for
a partisan inspection of the election, to a partisan census, to the most debas-
ing surrender to the liquor interest the legislation of New York has shown,
to a new apportionment which beggars the dictionary—since ‘gerrymander ’ does
not describe it—and to a degradation of that old pride of the State, its Court
of Appeals, so shameless and so wanton as to provoke the united condemnation
of the preponderantly Democratic Bar Association of New York.
“Well, gentlemen, the stars in their courses have fought for us. Our op-
ponents have made our campaign. The man who could find it in his heart to
ask the Democrats to give us more help than they have given would be the
most unreasonable of mortals. We ask now but one thing, a right the denial
of which means revolution; we demand a fair, non-partisan count. This secured,
we can carry New York if we choose; and, with New York, we can carry
the nation. I do not say we cannot do it without New York; but I do say
that no prudent politician would make that sort of a calculation, or dream for
an instant of taking that sort of a risk. Well, shall we carry New York
“Only one thing is needed to do it ; simple, natural, and, as I believe at this
time, very easy. We must * get together.” As has so often been said, there are
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 599
enough Republicans in the State of New York for one successful Republican
party ; but there are not enough for two. You cannot have one to win the vic-
tory this year, and count that the other can take the victory next year. We
have occasionally been a balky team. One year the city would pull and the
country wouldn't: another year the country would pull and the city wouldn’t ;
and so it has sometimes happened that splendid popular leaders like Fassett have
fallen by the wayside when they ought to have been elected. Whenever we both
pulled, the load was moved ; and if ever, in the thirty-six years of our history,
we had an incentive to pull all together we certainly have one now. .
“This, then, seems to me the short and simple road to victory. Get
together And then let us follow the approved methods, dictated by the judg-
ment, the conscience and the history of our great party. Let us make our appeal
to the intelligence and the fair and manly instincts of the American voter. Let
us make it a speaking canvass, with our orators in every schoolhouse. Let us
make it a reading canvass, with Our documents and our newspapers whitening
the land. Let us make it a clean Ca,Il Va, SS. Avoiding mere abuse of our oppo-
nents, avoiding brag and bluster and paltry personalities, let us have a straight-
forward, decent, manly, red-hot fight, all together for our faith; and we shall win
now, as we always have won when we fought that way. Whatever happens here
or at Minneapolis, one thing I know, we shall go into this campaign with our
flag flying, on no still hunt for votes to be had by hiding our opinions, but with
our principles and the record of our party to the front, and with candidates
worthy of both. - -
“We are for honest money, and we mean to fight on that line to the end,
that, in the President’s illuminating phrase, any dollar issued by the govern-
ment shall be as good as any other it issues or ever did. We are for protection
to American industry and to the American workman; and the moment when
the whole world is recognizing the wisdom and the success of our policy is not
the moment when we are going to abandon it or to falter in its support. We
are for its latest embodiment, the McKinley tariff, which has disappointed its
friends almost as much as its enemies, so splendidly has it vindicated the wisdom
of the Congress which had the courage to pass it. We are for that wise and
fruitful system of reciprocity without injury to protection with which the name
of the great Secretary, the matchless Blaine, is forever identified. It comple-
ments our tariff and completes its work, extending our trade, opening new
markets, drawing specially to us the countries with which we can trade to the
600 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS. LEADERS.
greatest advantage, and sending its roots down to the very spring and Source
of national prosperity.
“One thing more, we stand by and defend and applaud the national ad-
ministration which has done these things. We made it, and we are proud of it.
It has been honest ; it has been able ; it has been clean and of good repute.
Four years ago we commended Benjamin Harrison and Levi P. Morton to the
people of this State for what we believed them to be, and what we thought they
would do. A little later we professed a similar faith when the President chose
from New York for his Cabinet Benjamin F. Tracy. We have no apologies
now to offer for these men, no explanation to give ; and we enter upon this
year’s contest with the record of what they have been and what they have
done as the inspiration of the successful canvass we mean to make.”
VIII.
The Notification Committee—Visit to Reid at Ophir Farm—Remarks by Chairman Durbin–
Speech of U. S. Senator Dubois—Reid's Speech—Unparalleled Prosperity Reigns—Surprised
that Morton was not renominated—Every Augury of Success—Social Reunion.
º HE committee which was appointed by the Republican Na-
tional Convention to officially inform Whitelaw Reid of
his nomination for Vice-President found him at his coun-
try-seat, Ophir Farm, Westchester County, on the 21st
of June.
The committee met in Parlor 1 of the Fifth Avenue
º §: Hotel, at 9:30 o’clock in the morning, to arrange for
the trip to Reid’s house. W. T. Durbin of Indiana, the chairman of the com-
mittee, called the meeting to order, and the secretary of the committee, General
Allan of Virginia, called the roll of members. There were some absentees, but
the following members answered to their names:
J. O. Beocraft, California; James P. Platt, Meriden, Conn.; J. F. Horr, Key
West, Fla.; C. C. Wichlish, Atlanta, Ga.; United States Senator Fred T. Dubois,
Idaho; Issac L. Ellwood, Dekalb, Ill. ; W. T. Durbin, Anderson, Ind. ; J. L. Car-
ney, Marshalltown, Iowa; Walter Clifford, Massachusetts; Fred E. Lee, Dowagiac,
Mich. ; Daniel Schell, Worthington, Minn.; C. C. Bell, Missouri; S. S. Matthews,
Mississippi; Joseph E. Black, Richmond, Mo.; C. M. Donaldson, Bakers City, Ore. ;
Thomas C. Walker, Virginia; General Edgar Allan, Richmond, Va.; George M.
Bowers, West Virginia, ; Frank S. Genung, Muscogee, I. T.; Thomas M. Black-
stock, Wisconsin; D. M. Terry, Michigan, and E. H. Ceas, South Carolina.
When the roll had been called, red, white and blue badges were distributed
among the delegates. Each badge had the familiar features of President Harrison
upon it. Some of the members of the delegation were not content with this out-
ward display of Republicanism alone, for they produced the badges which they
- (601)

602 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS.
had worn at the National Convention. Under the leadership of Chairman Durbin
and Senator Dubois the delegation marched in a body out of the Twenty-third
Street entrance of the hotel to the Madison Avenue surface cars at Twenty-third
Street and Fourth Avenue. As the delegation walked through the street it
received much attention from the people, many of whom raised their hats. Two
drawing-room cars had been provided for the delegates. They were attached to
the regular train on the New York and Harlem Railroad for White Plains, leav-
ing the Grand Central Station at 10:39 o'clock. Most of those in the party had
never been in New York State before, and after the tunnel had been passed and
the open country was reached much interest was shown in the scenery.
The train reached White Plains about 11.30 o’clock. Several hundred persons
were at the station to meet the committeemen, and they received an extremely
warm welcome. Ex-Judge Robertson of Katonah, and Edward B. Long, the
editor of the Westchester News, were at the head of the local committee ap-
pointed to receive the members of the committee. Carriages gayly decorated
with flags and bunting were in readiness, and they were soon rolling through
the shaded streets in the direction of Ophir Farm. In the village itself most of
the houses along the route were trimmed with flags and bunting, and in front
of one tall building hung large paintings of Harrison and Reid. The structure
itself was almost covered with bunting. The drive through the woods to the
farm, where Reid was awaiting the coming of his guests, was enjoyed by all. A
flag waved from the staff on the tower, and it could be seen for some time
before the house came into view.
As the head of the long line of carriages reached the house, the Portchester
band, which was stationed on the broad piazza, struck up a familiar air. Mr.
and Mrs. Reid and D. O. Mills were waiting at the entrance to the main hall,
and as each member of the party reached the door he received a cordial welcome.
Some of those present were old acquaintances of Reid, and they shook him
vigorously by the hand while offering their congratulations on his nomination.
Then Senator Dubois and the chairman of the committee, on each side of
Reid, entered the large reception room. They were followed by Mrs. Reid and
her father, Mr. Mills. Then came the rest of the members of the committee.
Chairman Durbin faced Reid and said:
“Mr. Reid : I have the honor to present the committee appointed by the
Republican National Convention to inform you of your nomination for the
second place upon the Republican National ticket. The duty is a pleasant and
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ITS LEADERS. 603
agreeable one. I now introduce to you United States Senator Fred T. Dubois of
Idaho.”
Senator Dubois is a handsome and dignified man. He speaks easily and
without apparent effort. He advanced a few steps toward Reid and said:
“Mr. Reid : The National Republican Convention recently held in Minne-
apolis selected a representative from each State and Territory from among its
delegates to notify you that the great . Republican party of the nation had
selected you as its candidate for Vice-President of the United States. Speaking
for them, it is now my pleasing duty to give you that formal notification.
“This honor, one of the highest which a free and - thoughtful people can
bestow, came to you unsought and with a unanimity rarely witnessed.
“Your constant, consistent and effective advocacy of Republican measures
for many years, and the honor and dignity with which you represented our
country abroad, have merited for you this distinction. -
“The American people appreciated the patient and skillful diplomacy by
which you opened the markets of France to the product of the American farmer.
The market is the ultimate object of all nations in modern politics, and your
success in that great field will command for you the hearty approval of the pro-
ducers of the United States.
“We believe that the people will sustain Republican principles, will indorse
the personality of our standard-bearers, and that the wisdom of our action at
Minneapolis will be fully demonstrated by your triumphant election at the polls
in November next.”
Every one listened attentively to the young Senator's speech, and they
applauded it with much earnestness and enthusiasm. Reid’s reply was as follows:
“Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : Your visit at my home and this formal
statement deepen on my mind the impression which the known act of the Con-
vention has already produced. The occasion is too great for the expression of
merely personal feelings. Even my natural and heartfelt sense of gratitude, for
the confidence shown and the high trust devolved, seems in this case too unim-
portant to those you represent for more than a word.
“The party which has guided this country on its path of unparalleled pros-
perity with but four years’ interval since 1860 gives official notice through its
duly authorized representatives, in forty-four independent States and five Terri-
tories, of its choice for the second office within the gift of sixty-five millions of
freemen, who cover a continent and are soon also to possess once more the seas.
604 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AWD ITS LEAD ERS.
A profound sense of responsibility and a most earnest desire to discharge the
trust you have reposed, to the satisfaction now of those you represent, and if
successful, for the best interests of the country afterward, are the overmastering
emotions of the hour.
“ Not having sought the great honor you confer, as you have justly stated,
I am the more prompt in saying that, as citizen and Republican, I shall not
shrink from the duty you impose. -
“There will be a more convenient opportunity for such expression of political
convictions as may be thought appropriate to the times and to the actual issues.
But having already carefully considered the statement of our party principles
put forth by your Convention, I may say at once that I accept and adopt them
in full. They are the principles and the party under the sway of which the coun-
try has attained its phenomenal growth and prosperity; under which the plain
people have ruled ; labor has been freed, honored and better rewarded than
elsewhere ; the largest example of equality before the law the world has yet
seen has been secured, and education, morality and the general welfare have been
promoted. To reject these principles and this party would be to indict the .
glorious history of the nation for almost the past third of a century.
“You find a natural leader in the eminent public servant, the substantial
results of whose wise and faithful administration furnish such inspiration for
the canvass. I had expected to find associated with him my distinguished friend
who now adorns the office of Vice-President. As the delegation of my State,
and with it the representatives of the party at large, have thought it politically
wise to adhere here to the doctrine of rotation in office, it gives me the right to
claim, not merely the earnest support of a united party, of which we are sure,
but the best counsel and the most watchful personal assistance of all its faithful
and experienced leaders without exception, to the end that this great common-
wealth may again throw its decisive vote, as it did four years ago, and indis-
putably can do again, on the Republican side.
“I cannot suppress on this occasion, in which he would have taken such a
cordial interest, one word of affectionate recollection for my friend in so many
Presidential campaigns, the great statesman whose present cruel bereavement,
following hard upon two similar blows, has touched the tenderest sympathy of
all, not merely of his political associates, but of both parties and of the whole
Country.
“My State, and, I think I may venture to add, my profession, will appreciate
THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS. 605
the manner in which this nomination has been made and announced—deriving
an added grace as it does from the unanimous vote, and from the character of
this body of representative men from every section of our country.
“The political sky is bright with promise. It seems a Republican year; and
invoking the favor of Almighty God upon a cause which we profoundly believe
just, we may courageously face the contest with the confident hope of victory at
the end.” -
Close attention was paid to the reply, and vigorous hand-clapping followed
each point in it. At its close some one proposed three cheers for Whitelaw Reid,
“ the next Vice-President of the United States.” They were given with a will ;
the band struck up “Hail to the Chief,” and the formal part of the presenta-
tion was over. Then introductions followed, and the members of the committee,
at Reid’s request, wrote their names in an album. An inspection of the house
and grounds followed.
C. C. Bell of Missouri went out into the grounds and gathered a bunch of
wheat, rye, clover and apples. Returning to the reception-room, he found Reid
and said to him :
“Mr. Reid, I always thought that your energies all tended in one direction,
the journalistic field, but I am glad to see that you are a successful farmer as
well. I propose three cheers for ‘Farmer Reid.” The cheers were given
heartily.
Luncheon followed, and a happy hour was spent at the table. Mrs. Reid pre-
sided, the Rev. Dr. Bushnell of Rye, who offered grace before the meal, and
Chairman Durbin sitting at each side of her. Whitelaw Reid and Senator
Dubois had seats at the other side of the table. Ex-Judge Robertson and
D. O. Mills sat next to each other. During the luncheon the band played popular
and patriotic airs. While the committeemen were waiting to return to the sta-
tion, photographers took pictures of them, with Mr. and Mrs. Reid sitting in
the center of the group, and of the newspaper men, with Reid also in this
group. From where the picture was taken the white spire of a Connecticut
church could be seen.
“This is a good omen,” said one delegate, “we are looking to Connecticut,
and we will carry it !”
Just before the visitors left the house three cheers were given, first for Mr.
Reid and then for Mrs. Reid, and the recipients of the compliment bowed their
acknowledgments.
IX.
The Great Ratification Meeting at Carnegie Music Hall—Reid's Speech—New York must be
Carried—Speech at Rye, N. Y. —The National Birthday—The Flag a Banner of Beauty and
Glory—Remarks at the Christian Endeavor Convention—Modern Fortifications, the School-
house and the Church.
T the ratification meeting held at Carnegie Hall, New York, June
21, when Major McKinley was the principal orator, Reid,
loudly called for, spoke as follows:
“Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : One word only is
in order from me, and that is a word of heartfelt and grate-
ful thanks to my townsmen, my friends and my neighbors, for
the most generous greeting which they have given to the unexpected nomination at
Minneapolis. Beyond that, nothing ; because you have had McKinley, and you are
to have Dalzell. Only let me venture, not in my capacity as a candidate, but in
my capacity as a New Yorker, and as a Republican since 1856, to be the exponent
of your voice—the voice I have heard in your cheers, and the thought I have
seen to-night in your eyes—to the gentlemen who are here your guests to-night.
They represent forty-four independent States in this magnificent Republic. They
represent five Territories and the District of Columbia; and to those representa-
tives of States and Territories I undertake to say, on behalf of this audience and
on behalf of the Republicans of New York, that it is your purpose, and is known
by you to be within your power, to do next November what you did four years
ago, and to do this without any reference whatever to what they may choose to
do to-morrow at Chicago.” - . .
At the 4th of July (1892) celebration at Rye, Reid accompanied his old
friend and associate, Murat Halstead, the orator of the Occasion, and in response
to a general demand spoke as follows:

(606)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND IT'S DEADERS. 607
*
“Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : Your greeting is more than kind.
I cannot sufficiently tell you how, after an absence of several years, it warms
the heart to find one’s friends and neighbors so ready to make him welcome.
Beyond this expression of grateful thanks you will expect no remarks from me.
The oratory for this patriotic occasion has already been provided. Besides, I am
here merely to share with you the pleasures of our home celebration, and I
fancy that I share with you, too, the sentiment that, after what we have list-
ened to, we can better honor the day further by looking about us to appreciate
and enjoy the magnificent heritage we have received. -
“It is a good sign that of late years these celebrations increase, that the
Eourth of July seems to be more and more honored. Happily the number is
rapidly diminishing of those who have sometimes seemed almost ashamed of en-
thusiasm for our country or of pride in our national birthday. There can never
be a time when it will not be well to honor the day which annually reminds us
that whatever our differences, however marked they may be, and however hon-
orable to each—as, for example, the political differences between your dis-
tinguished townsman, whº has just read to you the document of the day, and
myself—in spite of all such differences we are nevertheless one people, absolutely
united on the glorious Declaration of Independence and on the matchless Con-
stitution of these States, without distinction of party or section or race or con-
dition in life, from the Lakes to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to the Pacific—
that this whole good land of liberty is ours to enjoy, to love and to defend—
whatever party rules it.
“I have had the honor for some years to represent it abroad; and this
banner of beauty and of glory never so stirred the pulses elsewhere as it did on
that foreign soil, where it spoke of a united people, the fame of whose achieve-
ments fills the world ; a people second to none on the globe; too great to quarrel
and too strong to be quarreled with, giving to the world the example of the
largest individual liberty and the absolute equality of all before the law.
“The men who made this day forever memorable were men who planted
their fortifications on every hillside as they advanced to the conquest of the con-
tinent. You know, all the world knows, what these fortifications are—the school-
house and the church. Let us guard them as our fathers guarded them, and we
shall thus triumphantly carry on their work; bequeathing it in our turn, grand
and beneficent beyond their thought or ours, to the latest generations of men.”
Reid attended the second day of the Christian Endeavor Convention at Madi-
e
608 THE REPUBLICA W PARTY AND IT'S LEADERS.
son Square Garden, New York City, in July, 1892, and delivered the following
address:
“Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: This is a most inspiring sight to
which your committee has invited me. Such an organization as you are here
displaying, animated by such purposes, is an incalculable force for good not
merely in the thousands of individual communities which are here represented,
but in this metropolis honored by your presence and throughout the broad land.
You will expect no further remarks from me, and yet I cannot resist the tempta-
tion to thank you for the opportunity and for the privilege of witnessing this
magnificent spectacle and of seeing something of the enthusiasm which you
have brought into your great work, and of expressing my own sympathy, and
more, my admiration. Only one word more, and that a recollection of a Fourth
of July thought which may not seem inappropriate to you now. Our fathers,
who laid the foundation of the civil and religious liberty we enjoy, were men
who planted their fortifications on every hillside as they advanced to the con-
quest of the continent. You all know what these fortifications were—the school-
house and the church. Let us guard them as our fathers guarded them, and
we shall preserve the fair heritage we have received and transmit it in our turn,
grand and beneficent beyond their thought or ours, to the latest generations
of men.”
Regretting his inability, because of other engagements, to attend the Repub-
lican Editorial Association of Illinois, at Springfield, Ill., July 21, Reid wrote:
“Happily the circumstances of the case insure us a campaign free from
abuse and low personalities. It is to be pre-eminently a campaign of manly,
straightforward discussion on issues more clearly defined than ever. In that
discussion the Republican press should not only lead, but bear the chief re-
sponsibilities of all our campaign work. This is the mission of the whole Re-
publican press, country as well as city, local as well as national. Such is,
as I believe, and I hope, the view held by all our committees.”
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