An Oratorical Gem

Mr. President and gentlemen of the ponventkra: It is the peouliarity o republican national eonventious thai some of thiem has a dlstinct and intiersting hitetory. We are here to meet oorodLt tona and solve problema whdch make thia gat nering no exception to the rule, but substantially a mew departure. Tlvat there should 8tronig oomrictions and earnest expreseions as to preferemces and policies ie ch!aractTitic of the right of indi, vidual judgment --hjlch is the fundemental principal oí republicanism. Thierf have beon occasions -vhen the resjult waa so sure that the delegates could freely indulge in the charming privilege of favoritism aud of friendship. But the situatiom which novf confronta us demanda tlie exerciae oí dispassiomate judgment and our best t'hought and experience. We cannot venture upon uncertam ground or encounter obetacles placed in the pathway of success by ouraelvea. The democrat party is mow ditvided, but tli hope of the posseasion of power once more will make it in the final battle more aggressive, determined aind un-sorupulous tlian ever. It startwlth fifteeai states secure without an effort, by promesses which are a travestry upan popular goverament and) U co'iitinuad long enougli, will paralyze iiastHutions founded upon populair suffrage. It haa wim four more atateö iin a íair figM, states which mi the vocabulary of politics are denomiaiat-ed doubtful. Tlwe republicaiï party must appeal to thie eonscienca aind tíhe judgnient oí tlie . individual wter in every state in the unión. Thia te in accordanee with the principies upan wluiíca it was founded and the objects íoc whlch vt contends. I It has accepted thiia iasue be-jre and foug-hit it out wirth am extraordinary eoatinuence oí succesa. "The coilLtiitm8 oí republican victory from 1860 to 1880 were createJ by Ahrab'ajn Lincoln and Ulytes S. Grant. Tbey were that the saved republic síhiould be ruin by its aaviorts. tJhe emancilpation oí the Blaves, the recoflBtructian of the states, the recptioa oí those who had lought to deetroy the republic back into the fol-d. winihiout penaltie or punih-, ments, and to au equal share with thowe who had fought ajid saved the inatkxn, in the lemn obligations and inestimable privileges of American cit, izenship. They were the embodimeni' into the constitution of the principies for whiteh 2,000,000 of men had fought and 500,000 had died. They were the restoration. of public credit; the reeumption, ol specie payments and the prospercwis condvtton of solvont business. For twenty-iive years there were names with which to conjure, aaid eventos freshi in the public mimd, which were eloquent with pop ular entlhusiasm. It needed little else than a recital of the glorkras story of its héroes, and a statement of the achievenieaits of the republican'party, to retain the oonfidence of the people. But for the desire for a change which is charaeteristic of free governonents, the re carne a reversaL there carne a check to the progress oi the republLcan party, and four years of democrat administration. Those four years largely relegated ta the realm oi hietory, past issues and brought us face to face with what dieni'ocracy, ita professions and its practices mean to-dsy. The great oames which have adorned the rolla oí republrca-n etatesmam and soldiers are still potent and popular. The great measures of the republicam party art till the best part of the hietory oi the century. The unequaled and unexampled story oí republLcanism in its progreta aind m it achievements BtaindB umique in tlue record oi parties ta governmente whidi are free. But we lrve isa practical times, faclng practical tesu8, which alfect the business, the wagpes, the laborer and the proeperity of to-day. The campaign wil] be won or loet, not upon the bad record o James K. Polk, or Frankliu I'iie-roe, or oí Jamee Buchanan, not upoa the good record of Lincoln, or of Graat, or of Arthur, or of Haye. or oí earfteld. "It'will be won or lost on the policy, fóreign and doniestic, the industrial measurea and the administrative acts ol the admiatotratian of Benjamiu HarriKom. Whoever receives the nom inatiion oi this convention will rua upon. the judgment oí the people, as to whether they have been more prosperous and moore happy, whether tht country ha been in a better condkion at home and stood more honorably abroad under these last iour years oi Harrison aind republiiean administration, ttian durimg the preceeding iour years ai Clevela'ad aud democrat overnment. Xot Bince Tluomas Jefferson has any a-dministration been called npoii to'iace and solve so many or huj1v dffiiicult probloms a.s those which have been exiigent in out conditions. No admtofctration since thie organizatïan of tlue government has ever met diffkiulties better or mtore to the at? satteiaction of the American peoplo. Cliiit ha been tanght that no matter how .small the antagonist, no communíty can with safety insult the1 flag or murder American sailors. Gerniany and England have learned in Ëünoa that the Umírt-ed States has become crae oí the powers of the world a.nd no matter h'ow miKhty the adrersary, at éVety sacrifiéte Ameritan hoaior will be maiutained. The Bering Sea questiön which was the insurmouintable obstacle in the diplomacy of Cleveland and of Bayard, has been settled upon a basis which sustains the American position until arbitration shall have determined our right. I The dollar of the couintry has been placed and kept on the standard of commercial natiioji8 and a conventiion lua-s been afreed upon witli foreiigm governments whivh, by making bi metallism the policy of all nationa may successfully solve all our fiinancial problema The tariíf, tinkered with a;nd trliled with to the sei-ious dieturbfunce of trade and disaster to buBtoess staoe the days of Washington, has been courageonsly embodied imto a code which ha prescrved the principie of tlue prwtection of American industries. To it has boen added a' bcneficent policy, supplemented by Len eiicial treaties, aaxd wise diplomaey, whteh has opemed to our farmers and mannfaot u-rere thie markets of other oountries. Thie navy has been builded upon linies which will propect Americaja citizens and American interests and the American tflag all over the ■world. The public debt has been. reduced, the maturing born-ds have been paid oíf. Th puiblic credit has beeu maimtained. Th burdens of taxatioa have been lightened. Two hundred millions af currency have been added to the people's motney without the distnrba.nce oí the exchanses. TJnexampled prosperity ltas croviied wtae la-n-s atnd theiir wise administration. The maiin questkm which divides iia is to -tt-hiom does the credit oi all tliis belang. Orators may stand iipon thia platioa-m more able amd more eloquent titan I, wbo will paint in more hrilliamt colora, but they caniiot pu6 in more earnest thouglit the affectioa and admilration af republicana for our distioguished secretary of state. Í yield to :nio repirblican, no matter froiu what state he haite, tn admiration and respect for Joho Sherman, fos Govermor McKinley, for Thomas B. Reed, for Iowa's gi-eat son, íor the favorirtes oí Illinois, Wisconsin and Michiiga.il, but when I ain told the crediit fpr the brilliant diplpniacy of this administration belongs exclusively to the secretary of state, for the aümiaiistTation of its finances to the secretary of the treasury, for the constructiom af ite öhips to the secretary of the aavM, for the irntrodoietion of American pork In Europe to the secretary oï agricultura for the settlementf, so far aa ie seittled, of the currency question to Senator John Sherman, for the formation of the tariff laws to Govenoor McKinley, for the remoral of the rest riet lome placed by forelgn. natilons upon the introdution of Amerieaai pork to onr mlnisterg at Parte acid Berlim, I am tempted to serionsly iniquire, who, during the lastf fouT yean has been president of the United States anyhorv? Caesar, vhea tie wrote those commentariee, which were the history of the couquests of Europe under lvis leadership, modestly took the positron of Aeneas when he &aid, they ape the narratiive of events - the whiole of whifcli I saw, amd the pa-t of whicli I was. "Genieral Tlionias, as the rook ol OliicaJca-mauga, occupiies a place ia our history wiith Leónidas among tht' Greelis, except that he succeeded. whiere Leoaiiidas faüed. The fight oí Jae Etooker above tlue clouds was tlj poetry oí battle. Thie resistless rusll of Sheridaji and nis steed doivn the sialley af t'hie 'ShenandloiaJi, i the epic oí looir civia war. Thie ïnarch of Sherman froim Atlanta, t"a th'e sea is the supreme triumplv oí gallantry and strategy. It detracts nothimg from the spleoi'dor or the faine or the merits of thie deeds oí hia lieu.tena.nts to say that havimg selected them with marvelous eagacity and discretkm, Grant still remaiitted thte supreme eommandep oí the national ormj-. AH the proposed .acts al any admimfetratkra befo ré tthiey ure formulated, are passed upoa in cabiinet council, and thie measures amd suggestions of tibie ablest secreretaries would luave faiiled with a lesser presWieot; but for the great good oí the coiuotry and the benefit of the republican party, they have sueceeded because of the suggestive mind, the imdoinitabl comiraige, the intelligeot appreciatiioii oí situations anö tlie graiwl magnanimity oí Benjamin Harri8om. It ie au undisputed fací that durioig the lew months wheo boh the seoretary oí state and tht Hecretary oï the treasury were UI, the president personally aissumed the duti oí the state Department and o fhe toeaswy departjneat and both with equal succese. The secretar oif state in acceptioig his portfolio under Presidemt ttarfiield wrote: 'Youi admimistiration must be made brilliaaitly fniccessful waá strong in the oomfidence and pride oí the people, Mot at all averting Hs energiea for reelectiota and yet compellmg that re sult by the logic of evemts and by the üoperilous meceeeities oi tihe Bituation." Garfiield feil before the bullet of the aesaesiax and Mr. Blailne retlred to private liie. General Harrieon inviited hlim to take up that uniinished diplomatic career whtere ite thread aiiad been o tragically broken. He en tered ithe cabiinet. He resumed hi work and has won a higher place in our ihitetory. The prophecy he made for Garfield hos been sinperbly fulfilled by President Harrinoo. In the language of Mr. Blaine, 'The presildent has compelled a re-electkwi by tht logic of events and tiie toperious neceseities of the situation.' "The .mam who is nomiinated hert to-day, to -wia must c&rry a certain aiuonber of th'e doubtful States. Patrfck Hesnry, in the convention which startcd rolliiug the ball of the tnde pondence of the colonies from GreaÈ liritaiiu, said: 'I have but one lamp liy which my feet are guided, aind that ík the lamp of expertence. I knotw oiiiiü -ay of judgimg of the future but by the past.' Xeiv York was carrk'd on 1S80 by C.tMieral Garfield, and ia every important election sinco that tinne we hare done orar best. We have put fcxnvard out ablest. our most popular, our most brillcwit lea erg or gotvernor aind state officers to euifer constant defeat. The only lighti ■vhich Hluimiines with the sun of hope the dark record of tfcose twelve yeara ib fhe fact that in 1888 the state of New York was trm.mplvanitly earried by Pieetöemt Harrison. He carrieü it tlMix as a gallant soldier, a wlse senator, a etatsman ivho inspirej comfMence by hls public utterances in úaily peeoh from the commencemeiiü tf the cauvass to its close. He stili has all these claims, and in addition anx adminiistration beyond criticism and ritóh wLth the elemente of popularïty wit'h which to carry New York again. "Ameeetry helpa in the old world, and luamdiieape in the new. There ie a disttngulehed example of a scm overcomingthe liïnitatioms imposed by the pre-emtoeint Jame of hls father and hen rising above it, and that was ■wnn.'the younger Pirtt became greater th.n Chattam. Whth an ancestoi a sigmer of tlie declaratkm of indepndence and another who aved the northwest irom saTagry and gave it to civilizatiom and empire and who was aleo president oí the United States, a poor and unknown lawyer f Indiana hJas rfeen by nis unaided effort-s tKj guüh distmction as lawyer, orator, soldier, statsmain and president, ithiat he reflecte more credit upoa-hiiB ancestiors than they have devolved upwm hlim, and present-g to American, hitetoTy a parallel oi the yonmger Pirtt. By the record oí a wise and popular administration, by tfaie strenth gained in frequent contact wiith the people, in wonderfully versatile and felicitious speech by th claian of a puire liie in, public and in the .sknplicity of a typical American home, I nomínate Benjamin Harrison." TMb week the Courier gives its rea Ors the mastcrly speech oi Hoa. Chaun cey M. Depew, at the Mimneapolis convent ton, in placing President Harrisoa in nomination . It is a grand speech aad doubtless eonvinced many of tihie delégate that Iit was wisdoni to ireaiomimate the president. Read it ior it is a gem.