CLAYTON, IND., SEPTEMBER 13.Reunion of the Seventieth Indiana Regiment.General Harrison, accompanied by Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. McKee, on September 13 attended the fourteenth reunion of the Seventieth Indiana Regimental Association at Clayton village, Hendricks County.The Seventieth Regiment was recruited from the counties of Hendricks, Johnson and Marion. Of the one hundred and fifty-nine regiments sent to the front by Indiana, but few, if any, achieved a more honorable and distinguished record. It was the first regiment to report for duty under President Lincoln's call of July, '62, and was recruited in less than a month by Second Lieutenant Benjamin Harrison.After the regiment had been recruited Lieutenant Harrison was elected Captain of Company A, and when the regiment was organized, August 7, 1862, Captain Harrison was commissioned its colonel. It left Indianapolis for the front August 13, 1862, and returned thirty-four months later, with a loss of 189 men. It participated in eleven engagements, including Resaca, Kenesaw, Marietta, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Savannah and Bentonville. The regiment was a part of Sherman's army, and was attached to the First Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth Corps. For several years past General Harrison has been successively chosen President of the Regimental Association.Several hundred veterans, with their families, accompanied the General from Indianapolis, and were greeted at Clayton by five thousand people. Three hundred veterans of the Seventieth saluted their Colonel as he walkedto the front and, assuming command, led the column to a neighboring grove, where the exercises of the day were held. It was the largest reunion in the history of the Association. Among the prominent non-resident members in attendance were Lieutenant-Colonel James Burghs, of Topeka; Capt. Wm. M. Meredith, Chicago (he was captain of Company E, the color company of the regiment); Captain Tansey, now Judge, of Winfield, Kansas; Captain Willis Record, of Nebraska; Lieutenant Hardenbrook and Private Snow, of Kansas, and Cyrus Butterfield, of Minneapolis. The orator of the day was Comrade J. M. Brown.General Harrison, as President of the Association, presided. The proceedings were opened with prayer by Comrade J. H. Meteer, followed by an address of welcome by Miss Mary L. Mitchell, daughter of Captain W. C. Mitchell, who directed her closing remarks to General Harrison.With great earnestness the General replied as follows:Miss Mitchell—I feel quite incompetent to discharge the duty that now devolves upon me—that of making suitable response to the touching, cordial and sympathetic words which you have addressed to us. We thank you and the good citizens of Clayton, for whom you have spoken, that you have opened your hearts so fully to us to-day. I am sure we have never assembled under circumstances more attractive than those that now surround us. The mellow sunshine of this autumn-time that falls upon us, the balmy air which moves the leaves of those shadowing trees, the sweet calm and spell of nature that is over everything, makes the day one of those that may be described in the language of the old poet as"A bridal of the earth and sky."Your hospitable welcome makes us feel at home, and in behalf of this large representation of our regiment, possibly the largest that has assembled since the close of the war, gathered not only from these adjacent counties, but from distant homes beyond the Mississippi and the Missouri, I give you to-day in return our most hearty thanks for your great kindness.The autumn-time is a fit time for our gathering, for our spring-time is gone. It was in the spring-time of our lives that we heardour country's call. Full of vigor and youth and patriotism, we responded to it. The exhaustion of march and camp and battle, and the civil strife of the years that have passed since the close of the war, have left their marks upon us, and, as we gather from year to year, we notice the signs of advancing age, and the roster of our dead is lengthened. We are reminded by the minutes of our last meeting, that have been read, of the presence at our last reunion of that faithful and beloved officer who went out from this county, Major Reagan. With a prophetic instinct of what was before him, he told us then that it was probably the last time that he should gather with us. God has verified the thought that was in his mind, and that simple, true-hearted, brave comrade has been enrolled with the larger company. We are glad to-day to be together, yet our gladness is sobered. As I look into those familiar faces I notice a deep sense of satisfaction, but I have not failed to observe that there are tears in many eyes. We are not moved to tears by any sense of regret that we gave some service to our country and to its flag, but only by the sense that we are not all here to-day, and that all who are here will never gather again in a meeting like this. We rejoice that we were permitted to make some contribution to the glory and credit and perpetuity of the Nation we love. [Applause.]Comrades who served under other regimental flags and who have gathered here with us to-day, we do not boast of higher motives or greater service than yours. We welcome you to a participation in our reunion. We fully acknowledge that you had a full—possibly a fuller—share than we in the great achievements of the war. We claim only this for the Seventieth Indiana—that we went into the service with the full purpose to respond to every order [cries of "That's so!"], and that we never evaded a fight or turned our backs to the enemy. [Applause.] We are not here to exalt ourselves, but I cannot omit to say that a purer, truer self-consecration to the flag and country was never offered than by you and your dead comrades who, in 1862, mustered for the defence of the Union. [Applause.]It was not in the heyday of success, it was not under the impression that sixty days would end the war, that you were mustered. It was when the clouds hung low and disasters were thick. Buell was returning from the Tennessee, Kirby Smith coming through Cumberland Gap, and McClellan had been defeated on the Peninsula. It seemed as if the frown of God was on our cause. It was then, in that hour of stress, that you pledged your hearts and lives to the country [applause], in the sober realization that the war wasa desperate one, in which thousands were to die. We are glad that God has spared us to see the magnificent development and increase in strength and honor which has come to us as a Nation, and in the glory that has been woven into the flag we love. [Great applause.] We are glad that with most of us the struggle in life has not left us defeat, if it has not crowned us with the highest successes. We are veterans and yet citizens, pledged, each according to his own conscience and thought, to do that which will best promote the glory of our country and best conserve and set in our public measures those patriotic thoughts and purposes that took us into the war. [Applause.] It is my wish to-day that every relation I occupy to the public or to a political party might be absolutely forgotten [cries of "Good! good!"], and that I might for this day, among these comrades, be thought of only as a comrade—your old Colonel. [Great applause.]Nothing has given me more pleasure on this occasion than to notice, as I passed through your streets, so beautifully and so tastefully decorated, that the poles that have been reared by the great parties were intertwined [applause]—and now I remind myself that I am not the orator of this occasion [cries of "Go on!"], but its presiding officer. The right discharge of that duty forbids much talking.Comrades of the Seventieth Indiana, comrades of all these associated regiments, I am glad to meet you. Nothing shall sever that bond, I hope. Nothing that I shall ever say, nothing that I shall ever do, will weaken it. And now, if you will permit me again to acknowledge the generous hospitality of this community, and in your behalf to return them our most sincere thanks, I will close these remarks and proceed with the programme which has been provided.General Harrison was unanimously re-elected President of the Association, Colonel Samuel Merrill Vice-President, M. G. McLean Secretary, Major James L. Mitchell Treasurer.When the motion was put by one of the veterans on the adoption of the report re-electing General Harrison to the presidency of the Association, the veterans answered with a "Yea" that brought cheer upon cheer from the crowd.General Harrison, visibly affected, simply said: "I feel myself crowned again to-day by this evidence of comradeship of the old soldiers of the Seventieth Indiana." [Cheers.]On his return from Clayton, General Harrison was visited at his residence by fifty veterans of Potter Post, G. A. R., Sycamore, Ill.,en routehome from the Columbus encampment. They were introduced by General E. F. Dutton, colonel of the One Hundred and Fifth Illinois Infantry, and commander of the Second Brigade, Third Division of the Twentieth Army Corps.
Reunion of the Seventieth Indiana Regiment.
General Harrison, accompanied by Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. McKee, on September 13 attended the fourteenth reunion of the Seventieth Indiana Regimental Association at Clayton village, Hendricks County.
The Seventieth Regiment was recruited from the counties of Hendricks, Johnson and Marion. Of the one hundred and fifty-nine regiments sent to the front by Indiana, but few, if any, achieved a more honorable and distinguished record. It was the first regiment to report for duty under President Lincoln's call of July, '62, and was recruited in less than a month by Second Lieutenant Benjamin Harrison.
After the regiment had been recruited Lieutenant Harrison was elected Captain of Company A, and when the regiment was organized, August 7, 1862, Captain Harrison was commissioned its colonel. It left Indianapolis for the front August 13, 1862, and returned thirty-four months later, with a loss of 189 men. It participated in eleven engagements, including Resaca, Kenesaw, Marietta, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Savannah and Bentonville. The regiment was a part of Sherman's army, and was attached to the First Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth Corps. For several years past General Harrison has been successively chosen President of the Regimental Association.
Several hundred veterans, with their families, accompanied the General from Indianapolis, and were greeted at Clayton by five thousand people. Three hundred veterans of the Seventieth saluted their Colonel as he walkedto the front and, assuming command, led the column to a neighboring grove, where the exercises of the day were held. It was the largest reunion in the history of the Association. Among the prominent non-resident members in attendance were Lieutenant-Colonel James Burghs, of Topeka; Capt. Wm. M. Meredith, Chicago (he was captain of Company E, the color company of the regiment); Captain Tansey, now Judge, of Winfield, Kansas; Captain Willis Record, of Nebraska; Lieutenant Hardenbrook and Private Snow, of Kansas, and Cyrus Butterfield, of Minneapolis. The orator of the day was Comrade J. M. Brown.
General Harrison, as President of the Association, presided. The proceedings were opened with prayer by Comrade J. H. Meteer, followed by an address of welcome by Miss Mary L. Mitchell, daughter of Captain W. C. Mitchell, who directed her closing remarks to General Harrison.
With great earnestness the General replied as follows:
Miss Mitchell—I feel quite incompetent to discharge the duty that now devolves upon me—that of making suitable response to the touching, cordial and sympathetic words which you have addressed to us. We thank you and the good citizens of Clayton, for whom you have spoken, that you have opened your hearts so fully to us to-day. I am sure we have never assembled under circumstances more attractive than those that now surround us. The mellow sunshine of this autumn-time that falls upon us, the balmy air which moves the leaves of those shadowing trees, the sweet calm and spell of nature that is over everything, makes the day one of those that may be described in the language of the old poet as"A bridal of the earth and sky."Your hospitable welcome makes us feel at home, and in behalf of this large representation of our regiment, possibly the largest that has assembled since the close of the war, gathered not only from these adjacent counties, but from distant homes beyond the Mississippi and the Missouri, I give you to-day in return our most hearty thanks for your great kindness.The autumn-time is a fit time for our gathering, for our spring-time is gone. It was in the spring-time of our lives that we heardour country's call. Full of vigor and youth and patriotism, we responded to it. The exhaustion of march and camp and battle, and the civil strife of the years that have passed since the close of the war, have left their marks upon us, and, as we gather from year to year, we notice the signs of advancing age, and the roster of our dead is lengthened. We are reminded by the minutes of our last meeting, that have been read, of the presence at our last reunion of that faithful and beloved officer who went out from this county, Major Reagan. With a prophetic instinct of what was before him, he told us then that it was probably the last time that he should gather with us. God has verified the thought that was in his mind, and that simple, true-hearted, brave comrade has been enrolled with the larger company. We are glad to-day to be together, yet our gladness is sobered. As I look into those familiar faces I notice a deep sense of satisfaction, but I have not failed to observe that there are tears in many eyes. We are not moved to tears by any sense of regret that we gave some service to our country and to its flag, but only by the sense that we are not all here to-day, and that all who are here will never gather again in a meeting like this. We rejoice that we were permitted to make some contribution to the glory and credit and perpetuity of the Nation we love. [Applause.]Comrades who served under other regimental flags and who have gathered here with us to-day, we do not boast of higher motives or greater service than yours. We welcome you to a participation in our reunion. We fully acknowledge that you had a full—possibly a fuller—share than we in the great achievements of the war. We claim only this for the Seventieth Indiana—that we went into the service with the full purpose to respond to every order [cries of "That's so!"], and that we never evaded a fight or turned our backs to the enemy. [Applause.] We are not here to exalt ourselves, but I cannot omit to say that a purer, truer self-consecration to the flag and country was never offered than by you and your dead comrades who, in 1862, mustered for the defence of the Union. [Applause.]It was not in the heyday of success, it was not under the impression that sixty days would end the war, that you were mustered. It was when the clouds hung low and disasters were thick. Buell was returning from the Tennessee, Kirby Smith coming through Cumberland Gap, and McClellan had been defeated on the Peninsula. It seemed as if the frown of God was on our cause. It was then, in that hour of stress, that you pledged your hearts and lives to the country [applause], in the sober realization that the war wasa desperate one, in which thousands were to die. We are glad that God has spared us to see the magnificent development and increase in strength and honor which has come to us as a Nation, and in the glory that has been woven into the flag we love. [Great applause.] We are glad that with most of us the struggle in life has not left us defeat, if it has not crowned us with the highest successes. We are veterans and yet citizens, pledged, each according to his own conscience and thought, to do that which will best promote the glory of our country and best conserve and set in our public measures those patriotic thoughts and purposes that took us into the war. [Applause.] It is my wish to-day that every relation I occupy to the public or to a political party might be absolutely forgotten [cries of "Good! good!"], and that I might for this day, among these comrades, be thought of only as a comrade—your old Colonel. [Great applause.]Nothing has given me more pleasure on this occasion than to notice, as I passed through your streets, so beautifully and so tastefully decorated, that the poles that have been reared by the great parties were intertwined [applause]—and now I remind myself that I am not the orator of this occasion [cries of "Go on!"], but its presiding officer. The right discharge of that duty forbids much talking.Comrades of the Seventieth Indiana, comrades of all these associated regiments, I am glad to meet you. Nothing shall sever that bond, I hope. Nothing that I shall ever say, nothing that I shall ever do, will weaken it. And now, if you will permit me again to acknowledge the generous hospitality of this community, and in your behalf to return them our most sincere thanks, I will close these remarks and proceed with the programme which has been provided.
Miss Mitchell—I feel quite incompetent to discharge the duty that now devolves upon me—that of making suitable response to the touching, cordial and sympathetic words which you have addressed to us. We thank you and the good citizens of Clayton, for whom you have spoken, that you have opened your hearts so fully to us to-day. I am sure we have never assembled under circumstances more attractive than those that now surround us. The mellow sunshine of this autumn-time that falls upon us, the balmy air which moves the leaves of those shadowing trees, the sweet calm and spell of nature that is over everything, makes the day one of those that may be described in the language of the old poet as
"A bridal of the earth and sky."
Your hospitable welcome makes us feel at home, and in behalf of this large representation of our regiment, possibly the largest that has assembled since the close of the war, gathered not only from these adjacent counties, but from distant homes beyond the Mississippi and the Missouri, I give you to-day in return our most hearty thanks for your great kindness.
The autumn-time is a fit time for our gathering, for our spring-time is gone. It was in the spring-time of our lives that we heardour country's call. Full of vigor and youth and patriotism, we responded to it. The exhaustion of march and camp and battle, and the civil strife of the years that have passed since the close of the war, have left their marks upon us, and, as we gather from year to year, we notice the signs of advancing age, and the roster of our dead is lengthened. We are reminded by the minutes of our last meeting, that have been read, of the presence at our last reunion of that faithful and beloved officer who went out from this county, Major Reagan. With a prophetic instinct of what was before him, he told us then that it was probably the last time that he should gather with us. God has verified the thought that was in his mind, and that simple, true-hearted, brave comrade has been enrolled with the larger company. We are glad to-day to be together, yet our gladness is sobered. As I look into those familiar faces I notice a deep sense of satisfaction, but I have not failed to observe that there are tears in many eyes. We are not moved to tears by any sense of regret that we gave some service to our country and to its flag, but only by the sense that we are not all here to-day, and that all who are here will never gather again in a meeting like this. We rejoice that we were permitted to make some contribution to the glory and credit and perpetuity of the Nation we love. [Applause.]
Comrades who served under other regimental flags and who have gathered here with us to-day, we do not boast of higher motives or greater service than yours. We welcome you to a participation in our reunion. We fully acknowledge that you had a full—possibly a fuller—share than we in the great achievements of the war. We claim only this for the Seventieth Indiana—that we went into the service with the full purpose to respond to every order [cries of "That's so!"], and that we never evaded a fight or turned our backs to the enemy. [Applause.] We are not here to exalt ourselves, but I cannot omit to say that a purer, truer self-consecration to the flag and country was never offered than by you and your dead comrades who, in 1862, mustered for the defence of the Union. [Applause.]
It was not in the heyday of success, it was not under the impression that sixty days would end the war, that you were mustered. It was when the clouds hung low and disasters were thick. Buell was returning from the Tennessee, Kirby Smith coming through Cumberland Gap, and McClellan had been defeated on the Peninsula. It seemed as if the frown of God was on our cause. It was then, in that hour of stress, that you pledged your hearts and lives to the country [applause], in the sober realization that the war wasa desperate one, in which thousands were to die. We are glad that God has spared us to see the magnificent development and increase in strength and honor which has come to us as a Nation, and in the glory that has been woven into the flag we love. [Great applause.] We are glad that with most of us the struggle in life has not left us defeat, if it has not crowned us with the highest successes. We are veterans and yet citizens, pledged, each according to his own conscience and thought, to do that which will best promote the glory of our country and best conserve and set in our public measures those patriotic thoughts and purposes that took us into the war. [Applause.] It is my wish to-day that every relation I occupy to the public or to a political party might be absolutely forgotten [cries of "Good! good!"], and that I might for this day, among these comrades, be thought of only as a comrade—your old Colonel. [Great applause.]
Nothing has given me more pleasure on this occasion than to notice, as I passed through your streets, so beautifully and so tastefully decorated, that the poles that have been reared by the great parties were intertwined [applause]—and now I remind myself that I am not the orator of this occasion [cries of "Go on!"], but its presiding officer. The right discharge of that duty forbids much talking.
Comrades of the Seventieth Indiana, comrades of all these associated regiments, I am glad to meet you. Nothing shall sever that bond, I hope. Nothing that I shall ever say, nothing that I shall ever do, will weaken it. And now, if you will permit me again to acknowledge the generous hospitality of this community, and in your behalf to return them our most sincere thanks, I will close these remarks and proceed with the programme which has been provided.
General Harrison was unanimously re-elected President of the Association, Colonel Samuel Merrill Vice-President, M. G. McLean Secretary, Major James L. Mitchell Treasurer.
When the motion was put by one of the veterans on the adoption of the report re-electing General Harrison to the presidency of the Association, the veterans answered with a "Yea" that brought cheer upon cheer from the crowd.
General Harrison, visibly affected, simply said: "I feel myself crowned again to-day by this evidence of comradeship of the old soldiers of the Seventieth Indiana." [Cheers.]
On his return from Clayton, General Harrison was visited at his residence by fifty veterans of Potter Post, G. A. R., Sycamore, Ill.,en routehome from the Columbus encampment. They were introduced by General E. F. Dutton, colonel of the One Hundred and Fifth Illinois Infantry, and commander of the Second Brigade, Third Division of the Twentieth Army Corps.
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 14.Alltrains arriving from the East this day brought large delegations of homeward-bound veterans from the Columbus, Ohio, encampment. The first to arrive was one hundred veterans of Ransom Post, St. Louis—General Sherman's Post—who were introduced by Col. Murphy. General Harrison, responding to their greeting, said:Comrades—I esteem it a pleasure to be able to associate with you by the use of that form of address. I know of no human organization that can give a better reason for its existence than the Grand Army of the Republic. [Cries of "Good!"] It needs no argument to justify it; it stands unassailable, and admits of no criticism from any quarter. Its members have rendered that service to their country in war, and they maintain now, in peace, that honorable, courageous citizenship that entitles them to every patriot's respect. I thank you for this visit, and will be glad if you will now allow me to welcome you to my home.In the afternoon the streets of Indianapolis were overflowing with marching veterans from Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Kansas, headed by the National Drum Corps of Minneapolis, and commanded by Department Commander Col. James A. Sexton, of Chicago, and a brilliant staff. The great column passed through the city out to the Harrison residence. Conspicuous at the head of the line marched the distinguished Governor of Wisconsin, General Jere M. Rusk, surrounded by his staff of seventeen crippled veterans, among whom were Capt. E. G. Fimme, Secretary of State of Wisconsin; Col. H. B. Harshaw, State Treasurer; C. E. Estabrook, Attorney-General; Philip Cheek, Insurance Commissioner; Col. H. P. Fischer, Maj. J. R. Curran, Maj. F. L. Phillips, Maj. F. H. Conse; Captains W. W. Jones, H. W. Lovejoy, and W. H. McFarland. Eighty members of the Woman's Relief Corps accompanied the veterans, and were given positions of honor at the reception. When General Harrison appeared he was tendered an ovation. Governor Rusk said: "Comrades—I consider it both an honor and a pleasure in introducing to you the President of the United States for the next eight years—General Benjamin Harrison." [Cheers.]General Harrison responded as follows:Governor Rusk, Comrades of the Grand Army, and Ladies—I did not suppose that the Constitution of our country would be subjected to so serious a fracture by the executive of one of our great States. [Laughter.] Four years is the constitutional term of the President. [Laughter.] I am glad to see you; I return your friendly greetings most heartily. Your association is a most worthy one. As I said to some comrades who visited me this morning, it has the best reason for its existence of any human organization that I know of. [Applause.] I am glad to know that your recent encampment at Columbus was so largely attended, and was in all its circumstances so magnificent a success. The National Encampment of the G. A. R. is an honor to any city. The proudest may well array itself in its best attire to welcome the Union veterans of the late war. In these magnificent gatherings, so impressive in numbers and so much more impressive in the associations they revive, there is a great teaching force. If it is worth while to build monuments to heroism and patriotic sacrifice that may stand as dumb yet eloquent instructors of the generation that is to come, so it is worth while that these survivors of the war assemble in their national encampments and march once more, unarmed, through the streets of our cities, whose peace and prosperity they have secured. [Applause.]Every man and every woman should do them honor. We have a body of citizen soldiers instructed in tactics and strategy and accustomed to the points of war that make this Nation very strong and formidable. I well remember that even in the second year of the war instructors in tactics were rare in our own camps. They are very numerous now. [Laughter.] Yet, while this Nation was never so strong in a great instructed, trained body of veteran soldiers, I think it was never more strongly smitten with the love of peace. The man that would rather fight than eat has not survived the last war. [Laughter.] He was laid away in an early grave or enrolled on the list of deserters. But he would be mistaken who supposes that all the hardships of the war—its cruel, hard memories—would begin to frighten those veterans from the front if the flag was again assailed or the national security or dignity imperilled. [Applause and cries of "You are right!"] The war was also an educator in political economy.These veterans, who saw how the poverty of the South in the development of her manufacturing interests paralyzed the skill of her soldiers and the generalship of her captains, have learned to esteem and value our diversified manufacturing interests. [Applause.] You know that woollen mills and flocks would have been more valuable to the Confederacy than battalions; that foundries and arsenals and skilled mechanical labor was the great lack of the Confederacy. You have learned that lesson so well that you will not wish our rescued country, by any fatal free-trade policy, to be brought to a like condition. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] And now, gentlemen, I had a stipulation that I was not to speak at all. [Laughter.] You will surely allow me now to stop this formal address, and to welcome my comrades to our home. [Applause.]
Alltrains arriving from the East this day brought large delegations of homeward-bound veterans from the Columbus, Ohio, encampment. The first to arrive was one hundred veterans of Ransom Post, St. Louis—General Sherman's Post—who were introduced by Col. Murphy. General Harrison, responding to their greeting, said:
Comrades—I esteem it a pleasure to be able to associate with you by the use of that form of address. I know of no human organization that can give a better reason for its existence than the Grand Army of the Republic. [Cries of "Good!"] It needs no argument to justify it; it stands unassailable, and admits of no criticism from any quarter. Its members have rendered that service to their country in war, and they maintain now, in peace, that honorable, courageous citizenship that entitles them to every patriot's respect. I thank you for this visit, and will be glad if you will now allow me to welcome you to my home.
Comrades—I esteem it a pleasure to be able to associate with you by the use of that form of address. I know of no human organization that can give a better reason for its existence than the Grand Army of the Republic. [Cries of "Good!"] It needs no argument to justify it; it stands unassailable, and admits of no criticism from any quarter. Its members have rendered that service to their country in war, and they maintain now, in peace, that honorable, courageous citizenship that entitles them to every patriot's respect. I thank you for this visit, and will be glad if you will now allow me to welcome you to my home.
In the afternoon the streets of Indianapolis were overflowing with marching veterans from Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Kansas, headed by the National Drum Corps of Minneapolis, and commanded by Department Commander Col. James A. Sexton, of Chicago, and a brilliant staff. The great column passed through the city out to the Harrison residence. Conspicuous at the head of the line marched the distinguished Governor of Wisconsin, General Jere M. Rusk, surrounded by his staff of seventeen crippled veterans, among whom were Capt. E. G. Fimme, Secretary of State of Wisconsin; Col. H. B. Harshaw, State Treasurer; C. E. Estabrook, Attorney-General; Philip Cheek, Insurance Commissioner; Col. H. P. Fischer, Maj. J. R. Curran, Maj. F. L. Phillips, Maj. F. H. Conse; Captains W. W. Jones, H. W. Lovejoy, and W. H. McFarland. Eighty members of the Woman's Relief Corps accompanied the veterans, and were given positions of honor at the reception. When General Harrison appeared he was tendered an ovation. Governor Rusk said: "Comrades—I consider it both an honor and a pleasure in introducing to you the President of the United States for the next eight years—General Benjamin Harrison." [Cheers.]
General Harrison responded as follows:
Governor Rusk, Comrades of the Grand Army, and Ladies—I did not suppose that the Constitution of our country would be subjected to so serious a fracture by the executive of one of our great States. [Laughter.] Four years is the constitutional term of the President. [Laughter.] I am glad to see you; I return your friendly greetings most heartily. Your association is a most worthy one. As I said to some comrades who visited me this morning, it has the best reason for its existence of any human organization that I know of. [Applause.] I am glad to know that your recent encampment at Columbus was so largely attended, and was in all its circumstances so magnificent a success. The National Encampment of the G. A. R. is an honor to any city. The proudest may well array itself in its best attire to welcome the Union veterans of the late war. In these magnificent gatherings, so impressive in numbers and so much more impressive in the associations they revive, there is a great teaching force. If it is worth while to build monuments to heroism and patriotic sacrifice that may stand as dumb yet eloquent instructors of the generation that is to come, so it is worth while that these survivors of the war assemble in their national encampments and march once more, unarmed, through the streets of our cities, whose peace and prosperity they have secured. [Applause.]Every man and every woman should do them honor. We have a body of citizen soldiers instructed in tactics and strategy and accustomed to the points of war that make this Nation very strong and formidable. I well remember that even in the second year of the war instructors in tactics were rare in our own camps. They are very numerous now. [Laughter.] Yet, while this Nation was never so strong in a great instructed, trained body of veteran soldiers, I think it was never more strongly smitten with the love of peace. The man that would rather fight than eat has not survived the last war. [Laughter.] He was laid away in an early grave or enrolled on the list of deserters. But he would be mistaken who supposes that all the hardships of the war—its cruel, hard memories—would begin to frighten those veterans from the front if the flag was again assailed or the national security or dignity imperilled. [Applause and cries of "You are right!"] The war was also an educator in political economy.These veterans, who saw how the poverty of the South in the development of her manufacturing interests paralyzed the skill of her soldiers and the generalship of her captains, have learned to esteem and value our diversified manufacturing interests. [Applause.] You know that woollen mills and flocks would have been more valuable to the Confederacy than battalions; that foundries and arsenals and skilled mechanical labor was the great lack of the Confederacy. You have learned that lesson so well that you will not wish our rescued country, by any fatal free-trade policy, to be brought to a like condition. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] And now, gentlemen, I had a stipulation that I was not to speak at all. [Laughter.] You will surely allow me now to stop this formal address, and to welcome my comrades to our home. [Applause.]
Governor Rusk, Comrades of the Grand Army, and Ladies—I did not suppose that the Constitution of our country would be subjected to so serious a fracture by the executive of one of our great States. [Laughter.] Four years is the constitutional term of the President. [Laughter.] I am glad to see you; I return your friendly greetings most heartily. Your association is a most worthy one. As I said to some comrades who visited me this morning, it has the best reason for its existence of any human organization that I know of. [Applause.] I am glad to know that your recent encampment at Columbus was so largely attended, and was in all its circumstances so magnificent a success. The National Encampment of the G. A. R. is an honor to any city. The proudest may well array itself in its best attire to welcome the Union veterans of the late war. In these magnificent gatherings, so impressive in numbers and so much more impressive in the associations they revive, there is a great teaching force. If it is worth while to build monuments to heroism and patriotic sacrifice that may stand as dumb yet eloquent instructors of the generation that is to come, so it is worth while that these survivors of the war assemble in their national encampments and march once more, unarmed, through the streets of our cities, whose peace and prosperity they have secured. [Applause.]
Every man and every woman should do them honor. We have a body of citizen soldiers instructed in tactics and strategy and accustomed to the points of war that make this Nation very strong and formidable. I well remember that even in the second year of the war instructors in tactics were rare in our own camps. They are very numerous now. [Laughter.] Yet, while this Nation was never so strong in a great instructed, trained body of veteran soldiers, I think it was never more strongly smitten with the love of peace. The man that would rather fight than eat has not survived the last war. [Laughter.] He was laid away in an early grave or enrolled on the list of deserters. But he would be mistaken who supposes that all the hardships of the war—its cruel, hard memories—would begin to frighten those veterans from the front if the flag was again assailed or the national security or dignity imperilled. [Applause and cries of "You are right!"] The war was also an educator in political economy.
These veterans, who saw how the poverty of the South in the development of her manufacturing interests paralyzed the skill of her soldiers and the generalship of her captains, have learned to esteem and value our diversified manufacturing interests. [Applause.] You know that woollen mills and flocks would have been more valuable to the Confederacy than battalions; that foundries and arsenals and skilled mechanical labor was the great lack of the Confederacy. You have learned that lesson so well that you will not wish our rescued country, by any fatal free-trade policy, to be brought to a like condition. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] And now, gentlemen, I had a stipulation that I was not to speak at all. [Laughter.] You will surely allow me now to stop this formal address, and to welcome my comrades to our home. [Applause.]
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 15.General Harrisonheld three receptions this date. The first was tendered the Scott Rifles of Kansas City, all members of the G. A. R.,en routehome from the Columbus encampment. They wore the regulation blue uniform and carried muskets. Captain Brant introduced his company, stating that in bringing their arms with them "they did not intend to do General Harrison any violence." The General responded:Captain and Comrades—I did not need to be assured that comrades of the Grand Army, whether bearing arms or not, brought me noperil. No loyal and orderly citizen will mistrust their friendliness. The people of Indiana will not ask that you procure any permit or give bond to keep the peace before passing through this loyal State with arms in your hands.I am especially complimented by the visit of this organized company of the Missouri militia, composed wholly of Union veterans. It gives evidence that those who served in the Civil War are still watchful of the honor and safety of our country and its flag; that our Government may rest with security upon the defence which our citizen-soldiers offer.And now, without alluding at all to any topic of partisan interest, I bid you welcome, and will be pleased to have a personal introduction to each of you, if that is your pleasure.The second reception was extended to a delegation of twelve hundred workingmen from New Albany, Floyd County, organized into political clubs, among whose leaders were Walter B. Godfrey, M. Y. Mallory, Geo. B. Cardwell, M. M. Hurley, W. A. Maynor, Andrew Fite, Chas. R. Clarke, J. W. Edmonson, L. L. Pierce, Horace Brown, N. D. Morris, T. W. Armstrong, D. C. Anthony, John Hahn, R. E. Burke, Albert Hopkins, F. D. Connor, Frank Norton, M. McDonald, M. H. Sparks, W. H. Russell, J. N. Peyton, Daniel Prosser, Geo. Roberts, and G. H. Pennington. A band of G. A. R. veterans from far-off Texas happened to be present at the reception, among them Col. J. C. De Gress, Wm. Long, John Herman, S. C. Slade, W. H. Nye, W. H. Tuttle, Geo. A. Knight, and Dr. S. McKay. James A. Atkinson, a glassblower of the De Pauw works at New Albany, delivered an able address on behalf of the visitors. General Harrison responded as follows:My Fellow-citizens—There is something very distinctive, very interesting, and very instructive in this large delegation of workingmen from the city of New Albany. Your fellow-workman and spokesman has so eloquently presented that particular issue upon which you have the greatest interest that I can add nothing to the force or conclusiveness of his argument. He has said that the interests of the workingmen were especially involved in the pending political contest. I think that is conceded even by our political opponents. I do not think there is a man so dull or sounfair as to deny that the reduction of our tariff rates so as to destroy the principle of protection now embodied in our laws will have an influence on your wages and on the production of your mills and factories. If this be true, then your interest in the question is apparent. You will want to know whether the influence of the proposed reduction of rates is to be beneficial or hurtful; whether the effect will be to stimulate or diminish production; whether it will be to maintain or increase the rate of wages you are now receiving, or to reduce them. As you shall settle these questions, so will you vote in November. [Applause.]No man can doubt that a reduction of duties will stimulate the importation of foreign merchandise. None of these plate-glass workers can doubt that a reduction of the duty upon plate-glass will increase the importation of French plate-glass.None of these workers in your woollen mills can doubt that the reduction of the duty upon the product of their mills will increase the importation of foreign woollen goods.And, if that is true, is it not also clear that this increased importation of foreign-made goods means some idle workingmen in your mills? The party that favors such discriminating duties as will develop American production and secure the largest amount of work for our American shops is the party whose policy will promote your interests. [Applause and cries of "Hit him again!"] I have heard it said by some leaders of Democratic thought that the reduction proposed by the Mills bill, and the further reduction which some of them are candid enough to admit they contemplate, will stimulate American production by opening foreign markets and that the interests of our Indiana manufacturing establishments would thus be promoted. But those who advance this argument also say that it will not do to progress too rapidly in the direction of free trade—that we must go slowly, because our protected industries cannot stand too rapid an advance; it would not be safe. [Laughter.] Now, my countrymen, if this plan of revenue reform is to be promotive of our manufacturing interests, why go slowly? Why not open the gates wide and let us have the promised good all at once? [Laughter and applause.]Is it that these philosophers think the cup of prosperity will be so sweet and full that our laboring people cannot be allowed to drink it at one draught? [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] No, my countrymen, this statement implies what these gentlemen know to be true—that the effect of the proposed legislation is diminished production and diminished wages, and they desire that you shall have an opportunity to get used to it. [Applause.] ButI cannot press this discussion further. I want to thank you for the cordial things you have said to me by him who has spoken for you. I trust, and have always trusted, the intelligence and conscience of our working people. [Applause.]They will inevitably find out the truth, and when they find it they will justify it. Therefore, there are many things that have been said to which I have not and shall not allude while this contest is on. They are with you: the truth is accessible to you, and you will find it. Now, thanking you most heartily for the personal respect you have evidenced, and congratulating you upon your intelligent devotion to that great American system which has spread a sky of hope above you and your children, I bid you good-by. [Cheers.]The crowning event of the day was the reception of several hundred members of the Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County and Chicago. The visitors were met by the Home Irish-American Protection Club, Patrick A. Ward, President, assisted by the Columbia Club and several thousand citizens. Their demonstration was one of the most notable of the campaign. This club was the first political organization in the country to congratulate General Harrison on his nomination. The evening of June 25 the club met and adopted the following, which was telegraphed the General:The Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County, Illinois, congratulate you and the country upon your nomination. We greet the gallant soldier and true American, and rejoice with our fellow-citizens of every nationality in the glad assurance your nomination gives that the industries of our country will be protected and the honor of the Nation maintained with the same courage and devotion that distinguished you on the bloody field of Resaca. We salute the next President of the Republic.Nathan P. Brady,President.Leaders of the delegation were Hon. John F. Finerty, F. J. Gleason, Dennis Ward, Richard Powers, and Messrs. Russell and O'Morey. Thomas F. Byron, of Lowell, Mass., founder of the Land League in America, accompanied the club. In the absence of President Brady theirspokesman was Mr. John F. Beggs. General Harrison delivered one of his happiest responses. He said:Mr. Beggs and my Friends of the Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County, Ill.—You were Irishmen, you are Americans [cheers]—Irish-Americans [continued cheering], and though you have given the consecrated loyalty of your honest hearts to the starry flag and your adopted country, you have not and you ought not to forget to love and venerate the land of your nativity. [Great applause.] If you could forget Ireland, if you could be unmoved by her minstrelsy, untouched by the appeals of her splendid oratory, unsympathetic with her heroes and martyrs, I should fear that the bonds of your new citizenship would have no power over hearts so cold and consciences so dead. [Cheers.]What if a sprig of green were found upon the bloody jacket of a Union soldier who lay dead on Missionary Ridge? The flag he died for was his flag and the green was only a memory and an inspiration.We, native or Irish born, join with the Republican convention in the hope that the cause of Irish home rule, progressing under the leadership of Gladstone and Parnell [cheers] upon peaceful and lawful lines, may yet secure for Ireland that which as Americans we so much value—local home rule. [Cheering.] I am sure that you who have, in your own persons or in your worthy representatives, given such convincing evidence of your devotion to the American Constitution and flag and to American institutions will not falter in this great civil contest which your spokesman has so fittingly described. Who, if not Irish-Americans versed in the sad story of the commercial ruin of the island they love, should be instructed in the beneficent influence of a protective tariff? [Continuous cheering.] Who, if not Irish-Americans should be able to appreciate the friendly influences of the protective system upon their individual and upon their home life? Which of you has not realized that not the lot of man only, but the lot of woman, has been made softer and easier under its influence? [Applause and "Hear! hear!"] Contrast the American mother and wife, burdened only with the cares of motherhood and of the household, with the condition of women in many of the countries of the Old World, where she is loaded also with the drudgery of toil in the field. [Applause.]I know that none more than Irishmen, who are so characterized by their deference for women, and whose women have so fitly illustrated that which is pure in female character, will value thisillustration of the good effects of our American system upon the home life. [Continued applause.]There are nations across the sea who are hungry for the American market. They are waiting with eager expectation for the adoption of a free-trade policy by the United States. [Cries of "That will never happen!"] The English manufacturer is persuaded that an increased market for English goods in America is good for him, but I think it will be impossible to persuade the American producer and the American workman that it is good for them. [Applause and cries of "That's right!"] I believe that social order, that national prosperity, are bound up in the preservation of our existing policy. [Loud cheering and cries of "You are right!"] I do not believe that a republic can live and prosper whose wage-earners do not receive enough to make life comfortable, who do not have some upward avenues of hope open before them. When the wage-earners of the land lose hope, when the star goes out, social order is impossible, and after that anarchy or the Czar. [Cheering.]I gratefully acknowledge the compliment of your call, and exceedingly regret that the storm without made it impossible for me to receive you at my house. [Applause and cries of "Thanks! thanks!"] I will now be glad to take each member of your club by the hand. [Continued cheering.]
General Harrisonheld three receptions this date. The first was tendered the Scott Rifles of Kansas City, all members of the G. A. R.,en routehome from the Columbus encampment. They wore the regulation blue uniform and carried muskets. Captain Brant introduced his company, stating that in bringing their arms with them "they did not intend to do General Harrison any violence." The General responded:
Captain and Comrades—I did not need to be assured that comrades of the Grand Army, whether bearing arms or not, brought me noperil. No loyal and orderly citizen will mistrust their friendliness. The people of Indiana will not ask that you procure any permit or give bond to keep the peace before passing through this loyal State with arms in your hands.I am especially complimented by the visit of this organized company of the Missouri militia, composed wholly of Union veterans. It gives evidence that those who served in the Civil War are still watchful of the honor and safety of our country and its flag; that our Government may rest with security upon the defence which our citizen-soldiers offer.And now, without alluding at all to any topic of partisan interest, I bid you welcome, and will be pleased to have a personal introduction to each of you, if that is your pleasure.
Captain and Comrades—I did not need to be assured that comrades of the Grand Army, whether bearing arms or not, brought me noperil. No loyal and orderly citizen will mistrust their friendliness. The people of Indiana will not ask that you procure any permit or give bond to keep the peace before passing through this loyal State with arms in your hands.
I am especially complimented by the visit of this organized company of the Missouri militia, composed wholly of Union veterans. It gives evidence that those who served in the Civil War are still watchful of the honor and safety of our country and its flag; that our Government may rest with security upon the defence which our citizen-soldiers offer.
And now, without alluding at all to any topic of partisan interest, I bid you welcome, and will be pleased to have a personal introduction to each of you, if that is your pleasure.
The second reception was extended to a delegation of twelve hundred workingmen from New Albany, Floyd County, organized into political clubs, among whose leaders were Walter B. Godfrey, M. Y. Mallory, Geo. B. Cardwell, M. M. Hurley, W. A. Maynor, Andrew Fite, Chas. R. Clarke, J. W. Edmonson, L. L. Pierce, Horace Brown, N. D. Morris, T. W. Armstrong, D. C. Anthony, John Hahn, R. E. Burke, Albert Hopkins, F. D. Connor, Frank Norton, M. McDonald, M. H. Sparks, W. H. Russell, J. N. Peyton, Daniel Prosser, Geo. Roberts, and G. H. Pennington. A band of G. A. R. veterans from far-off Texas happened to be present at the reception, among them Col. J. C. De Gress, Wm. Long, John Herman, S. C. Slade, W. H. Nye, W. H. Tuttle, Geo. A. Knight, and Dr. S. McKay. James A. Atkinson, a glassblower of the De Pauw works at New Albany, delivered an able address on behalf of the visitors. General Harrison responded as follows:
My Fellow-citizens—There is something very distinctive, very interesting, and very instructive in this large delegation of workingmen from the city of New Albany. Your fellow-workman and spokesman has so eloquently presented that particular issue upon which you have the greatest interest that I can add nothing to the force or conclusiveness of his argument. He has said that the interests of the workingmen were especially involved in the pending political contest. I think that is conceded even by our political opponents. I do not think there is a man so dull or sounfair as to deny that the reduction of our tariff rates so as to destroy the principle of protection now embodied in our laws will have an influence on your wages and on the production of your mills and factories. If this be true, then your interest in the question is apparent. You will want to know whether the influence of the proposed reduction of rates is to be beneficial or hurtful; whether the effect will be to stimulate or diminish production; whether it will be to maintain or increase the rate of wages you are now receiving, or to reduce them. As you shall settle these questions, so will you vote in November. [Applause.]No man can doubt that a reduction of duties will stimulate the importation of foreign merchandise. None of these plate-glass workers can doubt that a reduction of the duty upon plate-glass will increase the importation of French plate-glass.None of these workers in your woollen mills can doubt that the reduction of the duty upon the product of their mills will increase the importation of foreign woollen goods.And, if that is true, is it not also clear that this increased importation of foreign-made goods means some idle workingmen in your mills? The party that favors such discriminating duties as will develop American production and secure the largest amount of work for our American shops is the party whose policy will promote your interests. [Applause and cries of "Hit him again!"] I have heard it said by some leaders of Democratic thought that the reduction proposed by the Mills bill, and the further reduction which some of them are candid enough to admit they contemplate, will stimulate American production by opening foreign markets and that the interests of our Indiana manufacturing establishments would thus be promoted. But those who advance this argument also say that it will not do to progress too rapidly in the direction of free trade—that we must go slowly, because our protected industries cannot stand too rapid an advance; it would not be safe. [Laughter.] Now, my countrymen, if this plan of revenue reform is to be promotive of our manufacturing interests, why go slowly? Why not open the gates wide and let us have the promised good all at once? [Laughter and applause.]Is it that these philosophers think the cup of prosperity will be so sweet and full that our laboring people cannot be allowed to drink it at one draught? [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] No, my countrymen, this statement implies what these gentlemen know to be true—that the effect of the proposed legislation is diminished production and diminished wages, and they desire that you shall have an opportunity to get used to it. [Applause.] ButI cannot press this discussion further. I want to thank you for the cordial things you have said to me by him who has spoken for you. I trust, and have always trusted, the intelligence and conscience of our working people. [Applause.]They will inevitably find out the truth, and when they find it they will justify it. Therefore, there are many things that have been said to which I have not and shall not allude while this contest is on. They are with you: the truth is accessible to you, and you will find it. Now, thanking you most heartily for the personal respect you have evidenced, and congratulating you upon your intelligent devotion to that great American system which has spread a sky of hope above you and your children, I bid you good-by. [Cheers.]
My Fellow-citizens—There is something very distinctive, very interesting, and very instructive in this large delegation of workingmen from the city of New Albany. Your fellow-workman and spokesman has so eloquently presented that particular issue upon which you have the greatest interest that I can add nothing to the force or conclusiveness of his argument. He has said that the interests of the workingmen were especially involved in the pending political contest. I think that is conceded even by our political opponents. I do not think there is a man so dull or sounfair as to deny that the reduction of our tariff rates so as to destroy the principle of protection now embodied in our laws will have an influence on your wages and on the production of your mills and factories. If this be true, then your interest in the question is apparent. You will want to know whether the influence of the proposed reduction of rates is to be beneficial or hurtful; whether the effect will be to stimulate or diminish production; whether it will be to maintain or increase the rate of wages you are now receiving, or to reduce them. As you shall settle these questions, so will you vote in November. [Applause.]
No man can doubt that a reduction of duties will stimulate the importation of foreign merchandise. None of these plate-glass workers can doubt that a reduction of the duty upon plate-glass will increase the importation of French plate-glass.
None of these workers in your woollen mills can doubt that the reduction of the duty upon the product of their mills will increase the importation of foreign woollen goods.
And, if that is true, is it not also clear that this increased importation of foreign-made goods means some idle workingmen in your mills? The party that favors such discriminating duties as will develop American production and secure the largest amount of work for our American shops is the party whose policy will promote your interests. [Applause and cries of "Hit him again!"] I have heard it said by some leaders of Democratic thought that the reduction proposed by the Mills bill, and the further reduction which some of them are candid enough to admit they contemplate, will stimulate American production by opening foreign markets and that the interests of our Indiana manufacturing establishments would thus be promoted. But those who advance this argument also say that it will not do to progress too rapidly in the direction of free trade—that we must go slowly, because our protected industries cannot stand too rapid an advance; it would not be safe. [Laughter.] Now, my countrymen, if this plan of revenue reform is to be promotive of our manufacturing interests, why go slowly? Why not open the gates wide and let us have the promised good all at once? [Laughter and applause.]
Is it that these philosophers think the cup of prosperity will be so sweet and full that our laboring people cannot be allowed to drink it at one draught? [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] No, my countrymen, this statement implies what these gentlemen know to be true—that the effect of the proposed legislation is diminished production and diminished wages, and they desire that you shall have an opportunity to get used to it. [Applause.] ButI cannot press this discussion further. I want to thank you for the cordial things you have said to me by him who has spoken for you. I trust, and have always trusted, the intelligence and conscience of our working people. [Applause.]
They will inevitably find out the truth, and when they find it they will justify it. Therefore, there are many things that have been said to which I have not and shall not allude while this contest is on. They are with you: the truth is accessible to you, and you will find it. Now, thanking you most heartily for the personal respect you have evidenced, and congratulating you upon your intelligent devotion to that great American system which has spread a sky of hope above you and your children, I bid you good-by. [Cheers.]
The crowning event of the day was the reception of several hundred members of the Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County and Chicago. The visitors were met by the Home Irish-American Protection Club, Patrick A. Ward, President, assisted by the Columbia Club and several thousand citizens. Their demonstration was one of the most notable of the campaign. This club was the first political organization in the country to congratulate General Harrison on his nomination. The evening of June 25 the club met and adopted the following, which was telegraphed the General:
The Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County, Illinois, congratulate you and the country upon your nomination. We greet the gallant soldier and true American, and rejoice with our fellow-citizens of every nationality in the glad assurance your nomination gives that the industries of our country will be protected and the honor of the Nation maintained with the same courage and devotion that distinguished you on the bloody field of Resaca. We salute the next President of the Republic.Nathan P. Brady,President.
The Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County, Illinois, congratulate you and the country upon your nomination. We greet the gallant soldier and true American, and rejoice with our fellow-citizens of every nationality in the glad assurance your nomination gives that the industries of our country will be protected and the honor of the Nation maintained with the same courage and devotion that distinguished you on the bloody field of Resaca. We salute the next President of the Republic.
Nathan P. Brady,President.
Leaders of the delegation were Hon. John F. Finerty, F. J. Gleason, Dennis Ward, Richard Powers, and Messrs. Russell and O'Morey. Thomas F. Byron, of Lowell, Mass., founder of the Land League in America, accompanied the club. In the absence of President Brady theirspokesman was Mr. John F. Beggs. General Harrison delivered one of his happiest responses. He said:
Mr. Beggs and my Friends of the Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County, Ill.—You were Irishmen, you are Americans [cheers]—Irish-Americans [continued cheering], and though you have given the consecrated loyalty of your honest hearts to the starry flag and your adopted country, you have not and you ought not to forget to love and venerate the land of your nativity. [Great applause.] If you could forget Ireland, if you could be unmoved by her minstrelsy, untouched by the appeals of her splendid oratory, unsympathetic with her heroes and martyrs, I should fear that the bonds of your new citizenship would have no power over hearts so cold and consciences so dead. [Cheers.]What if a sprig of green were found upon the bloody jacket of a Union soldier who lay dead on Missionary Ridge? The flag he died for was his flag and the green was only a memory and an inspiration.We, native or Irish born, join with the Republican convention in the hope that the cause of Irish home rule, progressing under the leadership of Gladstone and Parnell [cheers] upon peaceful and lawful lines, may yet secure for Ireland that which as Americans we so much value—local home rule. [Cheering.] I am sure that you who have, in your own persons or in your worthy representatives, given such convincing evidence of your devotion to the American Constitution and flag and to American institutions will not falter in this great civil contest which your spokesman has so fittingly described. Who, if not Irish-Americans versed in the sad story of the commercial ruin of the island they love, should be instructed in the beneficent influence of a protective tariff? [Continuous cheering.] Who, if not Irish-Americans should be able to appreciate the friendly influences of the protective system upon their individual and upon their home life? Which of you has not realized that not the lot of man only, but the lot of woman, has been made softer and easier under its influence? [Applause and "Hear! hear!"] Contrast the American mother and wife, burdened only with the cares of motherhood and of the household, with the condition of women in many of the countries of the Old World, where she is loaded also with the drudgery of toil in the field. [Applause.]I know that none more than Irishmen, who are so characterized by their deference for women, and whose women have so fitly illustrated that which is pure in female character, will value thisillustration of the good effects of our American system upon the home life. [Continued applause.]There are nations across the sea who are hungry for the American market. They are waiting with eager expectation for the adoption of a free-trade policy by the United States. [Cries of "That will never happen!"] The English manufacturer is persuaded that an increased market for English goods in America is good for him, but I think it will be impossible to persuade the American producer and the American workman that it is good for them. [Applause and cries of "That's right!"] I believe that social order, that national prosperity, are bound up in the preservation of our existing policy. [Loud cheering and cries of "You are right!"] I do not believe that a republic can live and prosper whose wage-earners do not receive enough to make life comfortable, who do not have some upward avenues of hope open before them. When the wage-earners of the land lose hope, when the star goes out, social order is impossible, and after that anarchy or the Czar. [Cheering.]I gratefully acknowledge the compliment of your call, and exceedingly regret that the storm without made it impossible for me to receive you at my house. [Applause and cries of "Thanks! thanks!"] I will now be glad to take each member of your club by the hand. [Continued cheering.]
Mr. Beggs and my Friends of the Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County, Ill.—You were Irishmen, you are Americans [cheers]—Irish-Americans [continued cheering], and though you have given the consecrated loyalty of your honest hearts to the starry flag and your adopted country, you have not and you ought not to forget to love and venerate the land of your nativity. [Great applause.] If you could forget Ireland, if you could be unmoved by her minstrelsy, untouched by the appeals of her splendid oratory, unsympathetic with her heroes and martyrs, I should fear that the bonds of your new citizenship would have no power over hearts so cold and consciences so dead. [Cheers.]
What if a sprig of green were found upon the bloody jacket of a Union soldier who lay dead on Missionary Ridge? The flag he died for was his flag and the green was only a memory and an inspiration.
We, native or Irish born, join with the Republican convention in the hope that the cause of Irish home rule, progressing under the leadership of Gladstone and Parnell [cheers] upon peaceful and lawful lines, may yet secure for Ireland that which as Americans we so much value—local home rule. [Cheering.] I am sure that you who have, in your own persons or in your worthy representatives, given such convincing evidence of your devotion to the American Constitution and flag and to American institutions will not falter in this great civil contest which your spokesman has so fittingly described. Who, if not Irish-Americans versed in the sad story of the commercial ruin of the island they love, should be instructed in the beneficent influence of a protective tariff? [Continuous cheering.] Who, if not Irish-Americans should be able to appreciate the friendly influences of the protective system upon their individual and upon their home life? Which of you has not realized that not the lot of man only, but the lot of woman, has been made softer and easier under its influence? [Applause and "Hear! hear!"] Contrast the American mother and wife, burdened only with the cares of motherhood and of the household, with the condition of women in many of the countries of the Old World, where she is loaded also with the drudgery of toil in the field. [Applause.]
I know that none more than Irishmen, who are so characterized by their deference for women, and whose women have so fitly illustrated that which is pure in female character, will value thisillustration of the good effects of our American system upon the home life. [Continued applause.]
There are nations across the sea who are hungry for the American market. They are waiting with eager expectation for the adoption of a free-trade policy by the United States. [Cries of "That will never happen!"] The English manufacturer is persuaded that an increased market for English goods in America is good for him, but I think it will be impossible to persuade the American producer and the American workman that it is good for them. [Applause and cries of "That's right!"] I believe that social order, that national prosperity, are bound up in the preservation of our existing policy. [Loud cheering and cries of "You are right!"] I do not believe that a republic can live and prosper whose wage-earners do not receive enough to make life comfortable, who do not have some upward avenues of hope open before them. When the wage-earners of the land lose hope, when the star goes out, social order is impossible, and after that anarchy or the Czar. [Cheering.]
I gratefully acknowledge the compliment of your call, and exceedingly regret that the storm without made it impossible for me to receive you at my house. [Applause and cries of "Thanks! thanks!"] I will now be glad to take each member of your club by the hand. [Continued cheering.]
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 18.General Harrison'scallers to-day numbered about five thousand, over half of whom came from Vermilion County, Illinois, led by a company of young ladies, in uniform, from the town of Sidell. Hon. Samuel Stansbury of Danville was Marshal of the delegation, aided by E. C. Boudinot, D. G. Moore, Chas. A. Allen, J. G. Thompson, and W. C. Cowan. Col. W. R. Jewell, editor DanvilleDaily News, was spokesman. General Harrison, in response, said:My Illinois Friends—The people of your State were very early in giving evidence to our people and to me that they are deeply and generally interested in this campaign. I welcome you and accept your coming as evidence that the early interest you manifested has suffered no abatement. It was not an impulse that stirred you, but a deep conviction that matters of great and lasting consequence to your country are involved in this campaign. Your representative in Congress, Hon. Joseph Cannon, is well known in Indiana. [Applause.] I have known him for many years; have observed his conduct in the National Congress, and always with admiration. He is a fearless, aggressive, honest Republican leader. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] He is worthy of the favor and confidence you have shown him.If some one were to ask to-day, "What is the matter with the United States?" [laughter and cries of "She's all right!"] I am sure we would hear some Democratic friend respond, "Its people are oppressed and impoverished by tariff taxation." [Laughter.] Ordinarily our people can be trusted to know when they are taxed; but this Democratic friend will tell us that the tariff tax is so insidious that our people pay it without knowing it. That is a very unhappy condition, indeed. But his difficulties are not all surmounted when he has convinced his hearers that a customs duty is a tax, for history does not run well with his statement that our people have been impoverished by our tariff system. Another answer to your question will be perhaps that there is now a great surplus in the Treasury—he will probably not state the figures, for there seems to be a painful uncertainty about that. I have sometimes thought that this surplus was held chiefly to be talked about. The laws provide a use for it that would speedily place it in circulation. If a business man finds an accumulated surplus that he does not need in his business, that stands as a bank balance and draws no interest, and if he has notes outside to mature in the future he will make a ready choice between leaving his balance in the bank and using it to take up his obligations. [Applause.] But in our national finances the other choice has been made, and this surplus remains in the national bank without interest, while our bonds, which, under the law, might be retired by the use of it, continue to draw interest.You have a great agricultural State. Its prairies offer the most tempting invitation to the settler. I have heard it suggested that one reason why you have outstripped Indiana in population was because the men who were afraid of the "deadening" passed over us to seek your treeless plains. [Applause.] But you have not been contented to be only an agricultural community. You have developed your manufactures and mechanical industries until now, if my recollection is not at fault, for every two persons engaged in agricultural labor you have one engaged in manufacturing, in the mechanical arts and mining. It is this subdivision of labor, thesediversified industries, that make Illinois take rank so near the head among the States. By this home interchange of the products of the farm and shop, made possible by our protective system, Illinois has been able to attain her proud position in the union of the States. Shall we continue a policy that has wrought so marvellously since the war in the development of all those States that have given hospitable access to manufacturing capital and to the brawn and skill of the workingman? [Cries of "Good! good!" and cheers.]From Louisville, Ky., came 1,000 enthusiastic visitors, led by the Hon. Wm. E. Riley, Hon. R. R. Glover, Hon. Albert Scott, W. W. Huffman, W. M. Collins, M. E. Malone, and J. J. Jonson. A. E. Willson, of Louisville, delivered a stirring address on behalf of the Republicans of Kentucky, to which General Harrison responded as follows:My Kentucky Friends—There have been larger delegations assembled about this platform, but there has been none that has in a higher degree attracted my interest or touched my heart. [Applause.] It has been quite one thing to be a Republican in Illinois and quite another to be a Republican in Kentucky. [Applause.] Not the victors only in a good fight deserve a crown; those who fight well and are beaten and fight again, as you have done, deserve a crown, though victory never yet has perched on your banner. [A voice, "It will perch there, though, don't you forget it!"] Yes, it will come, for the bud of victory is always in the truth. I will not treat you to-day to any statistics from the census reports [laughter], nor enter the attractive field of the history of your great State. I have believed that these visiting delegations were always well advised as to the history and statistics of their respective States. [Laughter.] If this trust has been misplaced in other cases, certainly Kentuckians can be trusted to remember and perhaps to tell all that is noble in the thrilling history of their great State. [Great applause.] Your history is very full of romantic and thrilling adventure and of instances of individual heroism. Your people have always been proud, chivalric, and brave. In the late war for the Union, spite of all distraction and defection, Kentucky stood by the old flag. [Applause.] And now that the war is over and its bitter memory is forgotten, there is not one, I hope, in all your borders, who does not bless the outcome of that great struggle. [Applause.] Surely there are none in Kentucky who do not rejoice that the beautiful river is not a river of division. [Great applause.] And now what hinders that Kentucky shall step forward in the great industrial rivalry between the States? Is there not, as your spokesman has suggested, in the early and thorough instruction which the people of Kentucky received from the mouth of your matchless orator, Henry Clay [applause], a power that shall yet and speedily bring back Kentucky to the support of our protective system? [Applause.] Can the old Whigs, who so reverently received from the lips of Clay the gospel of protection, much longer support a revenue policy that they know to be inimical to our national interests? If when Kentucky was a slave State she found a protective tariff promoted the prosperity of her people, what greater things will the same policy not do for her as a free State? She has now opened her hospitable doors to skilled labor; her coal and metals and hemp invite its transforming touch. Why should she not speedily find great manufacturing cities spring up in her beautiful valleys? Shall any old prejudice spoil this hopeful vision? [Great applause.] I remember that Kentucky agitated for seven years and held nine conventions before she secured a separate statehood. May I not appeal to the children of those brave settlers who, when but few in number, composed of distant and feeble settlements, were received into the Union of States, to show their chivalry and love of justice by uniting with us in the demand that Dakota and Washington shall be admitted? [Applause.] Does not your own story shame those who represent you in the halls of Congress and who bar the door against communities whose numbers and resources so vastly outreach what you possessed when you were admitted to statehood? We look hopefully to Kentucky. The State of Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln [enthusiastic cheering] cannot be much longer forgetful [cries of "No! no!"] of the teachings of those great leaders of thought.I believe that Kentucky will place herself soon upon the side of the truth upon these great questions. [A voice, "We believe it!" Another voice, "We will keep them out of Indiana, anyhow!" Great cheering.] Thank you. There is no better way that I know of to keep one detachment of an army from re-enforcing another than by giving that detachment all it can do in its own field. [Applause and laughter.]The last visitors of the day were 200 delegates, in attendance upon the sessions of the National Association of Union Ex-Prisoners of War. They were led by Gen. W. H. Powell, of Belleville, Iowa, President of the Association;E. H. Williams, of Indianapolis, Vice-President; Chaplain C. C. McCabe, New York City; Historian Frank E. Moran, Philadelphia; President-elect Thomas H. McKee and Secretary L. P. Williams, Washington, D. C.; S. N. Long, of New Jersey, and J. W. Green, of Ohio. Every one of the visiting veterans had undergone imprisonment at Andersonville, Libby, or some less noted Southern prison. Conspicuous among them was Gen. B. F. Kelly, of Virginia, the first Union officer wounded in the rebellion, and J. A. January, of Illinois, who amputated both his own feet while in Libby Prison, to prevent gangrene spreading. General Powell, in a brief address, touchingly referred to the perils and hardships they had survived. General Harrison was greatly affected by the scene—the veterans grouped closely about him in his own house. He paused a moment in silence, then in a low, sympathetic voice, said:General Powell and Comrades—I am always touched when I meet either with those who stood near about me in the service, or those who shared the general comradeship of the war. It seems to me that the wild exhilaration which in the earlier reunions we often saw is very much sobered as we come together now. I have realized in meeting with my own regiment this fall that it was a time when one felt the touches of the pathetic. And yet there was a glow of satisfaction in being together again and in thinking of what was and what is. The annals of the war fail to furnish a sadder story than that of the host of Union veterans who suffered war's greatest hardship—captivity. The story of the rebel prison pens was one of grim horror. In the field our armies, always brave, were generally always chivalric and humane. But the treatment of the captured Union soldiers surpassed in fiendish cruelty the best achievements of the savage. It is the black spot without any lining of silver or any touch of human nature. But you have cause for congratulation that you have been spared to the glory and prosperity that your services and sufferings have brought to the Nation. The most vivid imagination has drawn no picture of the full meaning to our people and to the world of these simple words—we saved the Union, perpetuated free government, and abolished slavery. [Prolonged applause.]
General Harrison'scallers to-day numbered about five thousand, over half of whom came from Vermilion County, Illinois, led by a company of young ladies, in uniform, from the town of Sidell. Hon. Samuel Stansbury of Danville was Marshal of the delegation, aided by E. C. Boudinot, D. G. Moore, Chas. A. Allen, J. G. Thompson, and W. C. Cowan. Col. W. R. Jewell, editor DanvilleDaily News, was spokesman. General Harrison, in response, said:
My Illinois Friends—The people of your State were very early in giving evidence to our people and to me that they are deeply and generally interested in this campaign. I welcome you and accept your coming as evidence that the early interest you manifested has suffered no abatement. It was not an impulse that stirred you, but a deep conviction that matters of great and lasting consequence to your country are involved in this campaign. Your representative in Congress, Hon. Joseph Cannon, is well known in Indiana. [Applause.] I have known him for many years; have observed his conduct in the National Congress, and always with admiration. He is a fearless, aggressive, honest Republican leader. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] He is worthy of the favor and confidence you have shown him.If some one were to ask to-day, "What is the matter with the United States?" [laughter and cries of "She's all right!"] I am sure we would hear some Democratic friend respond, "Its people are oppressed and impoverished by tariff taxation." [Laughter.] Ordinarily our people can be trusted to know when they are taxed; but this Democratic friend will tell us that the tariff tax is so insidious that our people pay it without knowing it. That is a very unhappy condition, indeed. But his difficulties are not all surmounted when he has convinced his hearers that a customs duty is a tax, for history does not run well with his statement that our people have been impoverished by our tariff system. Another answer to your question will be perhaps that there is now a great surplus in the Treasury—he will probably not state the figures, for there seems to be a painful uncertainty about that. I have sometimes thought that this surplus was held chiefly to be talked about. The laws provide a use for it that would speedily place it in circulation. If a business man finds an accumulated surplus that he does not need in his business, that stands as a bank balance and draws no interest, and if he has notes outside to mature in the future he will make a ready choice between leaving his balance in the bank and using it to take up his obligations. [Applause.] But in our national finances the other choice has been made, and this surplus remains in the national bank without interest, while our bonds, which, under the law, might be retired by the use of it, continue to draw interest.You have a great agricultural State. Its prairies offer the most tempting invitation to the settler. I have heard it suggested that one reason why you have outstripped Indiana in population was because the men who were afraid of the "deadening" passed over us to seek your treeless plains. [Applause.] But you have not been contented to be only an agricultural community. You have developed your manufactures and mechanical industries until now, if my recollection is not at fault, for every two persons engaged in agricultural labor you have one engaged in manufacturing, in the mechanical arts and mining. It is this subdivision of labor, thesediversified industries, that make Illinois take rank so near the head among the States. By this home interchange of the products of the farm and shop, made possible by our protective system, Illinois has been able to attain her proud position in the union of the States. Shall we continue a policy that has wrought so marvellously since the war in the development of all those States that have given hospitable access to manufacturing capital and to the brawn and skill of the workingman? [Cries of "Good! good!" and cheers.]
My Illinois Friends—The people of your State were very early in giving evidence to our people and to me that they are deeply and generally interested in this campaign. I welcome you and accept your coming as evidence that the early interest you manifested has suffered no abatement. It was not an impulse that stirred you, but a deep conviction that matters of great and lasting consequence to your country are involved in this campaign. Your representative in Congress, Hon. Joseph Cannon, is well known in Indiana. [Applause.] I have known him for many years; have observed his conduct in the National Congress, and always with admiration. He is a fearless, aggressive, honest Republican leader. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] He is worthy of the favor and confidence you have shown him.
If some one were to ask to-day, "What is the matter with the United States?" [laughter and cries of "She's all right!"] I am sure we would hear some Democratic friend respond, "Its people are oppressed and impoverished by tariff taxation." [Laughter.] Ordinarily our people can be trusted to know when they are taxed; but this Democratic friend will tell us that the tariff tax is so insidious that our people pay it without knowing it. That is a very unhappy condition, indeed. But his difficulties are not all surmounted when he has convinced his hearers that a customs duty is a tax, for history does not run well with his statement that our people have been impoverished by our tariff system. Another answer to your question will be perhaps that there is now a great surplus in the Treasury—he will probably not state the figures, for there seems to be a painful uncertainty about that. I have sometimes thought that this surplus was held chiefly to be talked about. The laws provide a use for it that would speedily place it in circulation. If a business man finds an accumulated surplus that he does not need in his business, that stands as a bank balance and draws no interest, and if he has notes outside to mature in the future he will make a ready choice between leaving his balance in the bank and using it to take up his obligations. [Applause.] But in our national finances the other choice has been made, and this surplus remains in the national bank without interest, while our bonds, which, under the law, might be retired by the use of it, continue to draw interest.
You have a great agricultural State. Its prairies offer the most tempting invitation to the settler. I have heard it suggested that one reason why you have outstripped Indiana in population was because the men who were afraid of the "deadening" passed over us to seek your treeless plains. [Applause.] But you have not been contented to be only an agricultural community. You have developed your manufactures and mechanical industries until now, if my recollection is not at fault, for every two persons engaged in agricultural labor you have one engaged in manufacturing, in the mechanical arts and mining. It is this subdivision of labor, thesediversified industries, that make Illinois take rank so near the head among the States. By this home interchange of the products of the farm and shop, made possible by our protective system, Illinois has been able to attain her proud position in the union of the States. Shall we continue a policy that has wrought so marvellously since the war in the development of all those States that have given hospitable access to manufacturing capital and to the brawn and skill of the workingman? [Cries of "Good! good!" and cheers.]
From Louisville, Ky., came 1,000 enthusiastic visitors, led by the Hon. Wm. E. Riley, Hon. R. R. Glover, Hon. Albert Scott, W. W. Huffman, W. M. Collins, M. E. Malone, and J. J. Jonson. A. E. Willson, of Louisville, delivered a stirring address on behalf of the Republicans of Kentucky, to which General Harrison responded as follows:
My Kentucky Friends—There have been larger delegations assembled about this platform, but there has been none that has in a higher degree attracted my interest or touched my heart. [Applause.] It has been quite one thing to be a Republican in Illinois and quite another to be a Republican in Kentucky. [Applause.] Not the victors only in a good fight deserve a crown; those who fight well and are beaten and fight again, as you have done, deserve a crown, though victory never yet has perched on your banner. [A voice, "It will perch there, though, don't you forget it!"] Yes, it will come, for the bud of victory is always in the truth. I will not treat you to-day to any statistics from the census reports [laughter], nor enter the attractive field of the history of your great State. I have believed that these visiting delegations were always well advised as to the history and statistics of their respective States. [Laughter.] If this trust has been misplaced in other cases, certainly Kentuckians can be trusted to remember and perhaps to tell all that is noble in the thrilling history of their great State. [Great applause.] Your history is very full of romantic and thrilling adventure and of instances of individual heroism. Your people have always been proud, chivalric, and brave. In the late war for the Union, spite of all distraction and defection, Kentucky stood by the old flag. [Applause.] And now that the war is over and its bitter memory is forgotten, there is not one, I hope, in all your borders, who does not bless the outcome of that great struggle. [Applause.] Surely there are none in Kentucky who do not rejoice that the beautiful river is not a river of division. [Great applause.] And now what hinders that Kentucky shall step forward in the great industrial rivalry between the States? Is there not, as your spokesman has suggested, in the early and thorough instruction which the people of Kentucky received from the mouth of your matchless orator, Henry Clay [applause], a power that shall yet and speedily bring back Kentucky to the support of our protective system? [Applause.] Can the old Whigs, who so reverently received from the lips of Clay the gospel of protection, much longer support a revenue policy that they know to be inimical to our national interests? If when Kentucky was a slave State she found a protective tariff promoted the prosperity of her people, what greater things will the same policy not do for her as a free State? She has now opened her hospitable doors to skilled labor; her coal and metals and hemp invite its transforming touch. Why should she not speedily find great manufacturing cities spring up in her beautiful valleys? Shall any old prejudice spoil this hopeful vision? [Great applause.] I remember that Kentucky agitated for seven years and held nine conventions before she secured a separate statehood. May I not appeal to the children of those brave settlers who, when but few in number, composed of distant and feeble settlements, were received into the Union of States, to show their chivalry and love of justice by uniting with us in the demand that Dakota and Washington shall be admitted? [Applause.] Does not your own story shame those who represent you in the halls of Congress and who bar the door against communities whose numbers and resources so vastly outreach what you possessed when you were admitted to statehood? We look hopefully to Kentucky. The State of Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln [enthusiastic cheering] cannot be much longer forgetful [cries of "No! no!"] of the teachings of those great leaders of thought.I believe that Kentucky will place herself soon upon the side of the truth upon these great questions. [A voice, "We believe it!" Another voice, "We will keep them out of Indiana, anyhow!" Great cheering.] Thank you. There is no better way that I know of to keep one detachment of an army from re-enforcing another than by giving that detachment all it can do in its own field. [Applause and laughter.]
My Kentucky Friends—There have been larger delegations assembled about this platform, but there has been none that has in a higher degree attracted my interest or touched my heart. [Applause.] It has been quite one thing to be a Republican in Illinois and quite another to be a Republican in Kentucky. [Applause.] Not the victors only in a good fight deserve a crown; those who fight well and are beaten and fight again, as you have done, deserve a crown, though victory never yet has perched on your banner. [A voice, "It will perch there, though, don't you forget it!"] Yes, it will come, for the bud of victory is always in the truth. I will not treat you to-day to any statistics from the census reports [laughter], nor enter the attractive field of the history of your great State. I have believed that these visiting delegations were always well advised as to the history and statistics of their respective States. [Laughter.] If this trust has been misplaced in other cases, certainly Kentuckians can be trusted to remember and perhaps to tell all that is noble in the thrilling history of their great State. [Great applause.] Your history is very full of romantic and thrilling adventure and of instances of individual heroism. Your people have always been proud, chivalric, and brave. In the late war for the Union, spite of all distraction and defection, Kentucky stood by the old flag. [Applause.] And now that the war is over and its bitter memory is forgotten, there is not one, I hope, in all your borders, who does not bless the outcome of that great struggle. [Applause.] Surely there are none in Kentucky who do not rejoice that the beautiful river is not a river of division. [Great applause.] And now what hinders that Kentucky shall step forward in the great industrial rivalry between the States? Is there not, as your spokesman has suggested, in the early and thorough instruction which the people of Kentucky received from the mouth of your matchless orator, Henry Clay [applause], a power that shall yet and speedily bring back Kentucky to the support of our protective system? [Applause.] Can the old Whigs, who so reverently received from the lips of Clay the gospel of protection, much longer support a revenue policy that they know to be inimical to our national interests? If when Kentucky was a slave State she found a protective tariff promoted the prosperity of her people, what greater things will the same policy not do for her as a free State? She has now opened her hospitable doors to skilled labor; her coal and metals and hemp invite its transforming touch. Why should she not speedily find great manufacturing cities spring up in her beautiful valleys? Shall any old prejudice spoil this hopeful vision? [Great applause.] I remember that Kentucky agitated for seven years and held nine conventions before she secured a separate statehood. May I not appeal to the children of those brave settlers who, when but few in number, composed of distant and feeble settlements, were received into the Union of States, to show their chivalry and love of justice by uniting with us in the demand that Dakota and Washington shall be admitted? [Applause.] Does not your own story shame those who represent you in the halls of Congress and who bar the door against communities whose numbers and resources so vastly outreach what you possessed when you were admitted to statehood? We look hopefully to Kentucky. The State of Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln [enthusiastic cheering] cannot be much longer forgetful [cries of "No! no!"] of the teachings of those great leaders of thought.
I believe that Kentucky will place herself soon upon the side of the truth upon these great questions. [A voice, "We believe it!" Another voice, "We will keep them out of Indiana, anyhow!" Great cheering.] Thank you. There is no better way that I know of to keep one detachment of an army from re-enforcing another than by giving that detachment all it can do in its own field. [Applause and laughter.]
The last visitors of the day were 200 delegates, in attendance upon the sessions of the National Association of Union Ex-Prisoners of War. They were led by Gen. W. H. Powell, of Belleville, Iowa, President of the Association;E. H. Williams, of Indianapolis, Vice-President; Chaplain C. C. McCabe, New York City; Historian Frank E. Moran, Philadelphia; President-elect Thomas H. McKee and Secretary L. P. Williams, Washington, D. C.; S. N. Long, of New Jersey, and J. W. Green, of Ohio. Every one of the visiting veterans had undergone imprisonment at Andersonville, Libby, or some less noted Southern prison. Conspicuous among them was Gen. B. F. Kelly, of Virginia, the first Union officer wounded in the rebellion, and J. A. January, of Illinois, who amputated both his own feet while in Libby Prison, to prevent gangrene spreading. General Powell, in a brief address, touchingly referred to the perils and hardships they had survived. General Harrison was greatly affected by the scene—the veterans grouped closely about him in his own house. He paused a moment in silence, then in a low, sympathetic voice, said:
General Powell and Comrades—I am always touched when I meet either with those who stood near about me in the service, or those who shared the general comradeship of the war. It seems to me that the wild exhilaration which in the earlier reunions we often saw is very much sobered as we come together now. I have realized in meeting with my own regiment this fall that it was a time when one felt the touches of the pathetic. And yet there was a glow of satisfaction in being together again and in thinking of what was and what is. The annals of the war fail to furnish a sadder story than that of the host of Union veterans who suffered war's greatest hardship—captivity. The story of the rebel prison pens was one of grim horror. In the field our armies, always brave, were generally always chivalric and humane. But the treatment of the captured Union soldiers surpassed in fiendish cruelty the best achievements of the savage. It is the black spot without any lining of silver or any touch of human nature. But you have cause for congratulation that you have been spared to the glory and prosperity that your services and sufferings have brought to the Nation. The most vivid imagination has drawn no picture of the full meaning to our people and to the world of these simple words—we saved the Union, perpetuated free government, and abolished slavery. [Prolonged applause.]
General Powell and Comrades—I am always touched when I meet either with those who stood near about me in the service, or those who shared the general comradeship of the war. It seems to me that the wild exhilaration which in the earlier reunions we often saw is very much sobered as we come together now. I have realized in meeting with my own regiment this fall that it was a time when one felt the touches of the pathetic. And yet there was a glow of satisfaction in being together again and in thinking of what was and what is. The annals of the war fail to furnish a sadder story than that of the host of Union veterans who suffered war's greatest hardship—captivity. The story of the rebel prison pens was one of grim horror. In the field our armies, always brave, were generally always chivalric and humane. But the treatment of the captured Union soldiers surpassed in fiendish cruelty the best achievements of the savage. It is the black spot without any lining of silver or any touch of human nature. But you have cause for congratulation that you have been spared to the glory and prosperity that your services and sufferings have brought to the Nation. The most vivid imagination has drawn no picture of the full meaning to our people and to the world of these simple words—we saved the Union, perpetuated free government, and abolished slavery. [Prolonged applause.]
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 19.Fivedelegations paid their respects to the Republican nominee this day. The first was sixty veterans of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry—General J. P. Shanks' old regiment. Colonel Lewis Reeves, of Mentone, Ind., made the address on behalf of the veterans, to which General Harrison responded:Comrades—I recall the services of your gallant regiment. I welcome you as men who had as honorable a part in the great achievements of the Union army as any in the Civil War. I congratulate you that you have been spared to see the fruits of your labors and sacrifices. In these meetings the thought of those who did not live to see the end of the bloody struggle is always present. Their honor also is in our keeping. I am glad to know that at last in our State a shaft is being lifted to the honor of the Indiana soldier. It will not only keep alive a worthy memory, but it will instil patriotism into our children. I thank you for this friendly visit. [Cheers.]From Illinois came two large delegations—that from Iroquois County numbering 1,000, commanded by Chief Marshal Slattery, of Onargo. A Tippecanoe club of veterans headed their column, led by Chairman Owen, followed by the John A. Logan Club, commanded by Capt. A. L. Whitehall. Prominent in the delegation were State Senator Secrist, Judge S. G. Bovie, B. F. Price, J. F. Ireland, A. Powell, James Woodworth, G. B. Joiner, W. M. Coney, Dr. J. H. Gillam, Dr. Scull, editors E. A. Nye and M. S. Taliaferro, of Watseka; also W. H. Howe, of Braidwood, father of the "Drummer Boy of Vicksburg." Robert Meredith, of Onargo, spoke on behalf of the colored members of the delegation, and Capt. R. W. Hilscher, of Watseka, for the veterans. La Porte County, Ind., was represented by a large delegation, the Michigan City detachment commanded by Major Biddle, Uriah Culbert, andMajor Wood. The Laporte City clubs were led by Wm. C. Weir, Marshal of the delegation. Other prominent members were S. M. Closser, W. C. Miller, Frank E. Osborn, J. N. Whitehead, M. L. Bramhall, Nelson Larzen, Samuel Bagley, Brook Travis, Wm. Hastings, S. A. Rose, Swan Peterson, and editor Sonneborn. The presentation address was made by Col. J. W. Crumpacker, of Laporte.To these several addresses General Harrison responded:My Illinois and my Indiana Friends—If I needed any stimulus to duty, or to have my impression of the dignity and responsibility of representative office increased, I should find it in such assemblies as these and in the kind and thoughtful words which have been addressed to me in your behalf. The American people under our system of government have their public interests in their own keeping. All laws and proclamations may be revoked or repealed by them. They will be called on in November to mark out the revenue policy for our Government by choosing public officers pledged to the principles which a majority of our people approve. Fortunately you have now an issue very clearly drawn and very easy to be understood. In previous campaigns we have not quite known where our adversaries stood. Now we do know. Our Democratic friends say a protective tariff is robbery. You see this written at the head of campaign tracts circulated by their committees. You hear it said in the public speeches of their leaders. You have not once, I think, in the campaign heard any Democratic speaker admit that even a low protective tariff was desirable. Those who, like Mr. Randall, have in former campaigns been used to allay the apprehension of our working people by talking protection have been silenced. On the other hand, the Republican party declares by its platform and by its speakers that a protective tariff is wise and necessary. There is the issue. Make your own choice. If you approve by your votes the doctrine that a protective tariff is public robbery, you will expect your representatives to stop this public robbery, and if they are faithful they will do it; not seven per cent. of it, but all of it. [Applause and cries of "That's it!"] So that I beg you all to recollect that you will vote this fall for or against the principle of protection. You are invited to a feast of cheapness. You are promised foreign-made goods at very low prices, and domestic competing goods, if any are made, at the same low rates. But do not forget that thespectre of low wages will also attend the feast. [Applause and cries of "That's so!"] Inevitably, as certain as the night follows the day, the adoption of this policy means lower wages. Choose, then, and do not forget that this cheapening process may be pushed so far as to involve the cheapening of human life and the loss of human happiness. [Applause.]And now a word about the surplus in the Treasury. Our Democratic friends did not know what else to do with it, and so they have deposited it in certain national banks. The Government gets no interest upon it, but it is loaned out by the banks to our citizens at interest. Our income is more than our current expenses. There is no authority for the Secretary of the Treasury to lend the money, and so only three methods of dealing with it presented themselves, under the law—first, to lock it up in the Treasury vaults; second, to deposit it in the banks without interest; or, third, to use it in the purchase of bonds not yet due. The objection to the first method was that the withdrawal of so large a sum might result in a monetary stringency; the second obviated this objection by allowing the banks to put the money in circulation; but neither method resulted in any advantage to the Government.As to it the money was dead; only the banks received interest for its use. By the third method the money would be returned to the channels of trade and the Government would make the difference between the premium paid for the bond and the interest that the bonds would draw if left outstanding until they matured. If a Government bond at the market premium is a good investment for a capitalist who is free to use his money as he pleases, can it be bad finance for the Government, having money that it cannot use in any other way, to use it in buying up its bonds? [Great applause.] It is not whether we will purposely raise money to buy our bonds at a premium—no one would advise that—but will we so use a surplus that we have on hand and cannot lawfully pay out in any other way? Do our Democratic friends propose to give the banks the free use of it until our bonds mature, or do they propose to reduce our annual income below our expenditure by a revision of the tariff until this surplus is used, and then revise the tariff again to restore the equilibriums? [Great applause.] I welcome the presence to-day of these ladies of your households. We should not forget that we have working-women in America. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] None more than they are interested in this policy of protection which we advocate. If want and hard conditions come into the home, the women bear a full share. [Applause.] And now I have been tempted to speak more at lengththan I had intended. I thank you for this cordial manifestation of your confidence and respect. [Cheers.]The fourth delegation of the day came from Grundy County, Illinois, headed by the Logan Club of Morris. An enthusiastic member of this delegation was the venerable Geo. P. Augustine, of Braceville, Ill., aged 77, who in the summer of 1840 employed the boy "Jimmie" Garfield—afterward President of the United States—to ride his horses on the tow-path of the Ohio canal between Portsmouth and Cleveland. Hon. P. C. Hayes, of Morris, was spokesman for the delegation. General Harrison said:General Hayes and my Illinois Friends—I regret that your arrival was postponed so long as to make it impossible for you to meet with the other friends from your State who, a little while ago, assembled about the platform. I thank you for the kind feelings that prompted you to come, and for the generous things General Hayes has said in your behalf. There is little that I can say and little that I can appropriately do to promote the success of the Republican principles. A campaign that enlists the earnest and active co-operation of the individual voters will have a safe issue. I am glad to see in your presence an evidence that in your locality this individual interest is felt. [Applause.] But popular assemblies, public debate, and conventions are all an empty mockery unless, when the debate is closed, the election is so conducted that every elector shall have an equal and full influence in determining the result. That is our compact of government. [Cheers.] I thank you again for your great kindness, and it will now give me pleasure to accede to the suggestion of General Hayes and take each of you by the hand.The fifth and last delegation of the day reached the Harrison residence in the evening, and comprised 200 survivors of the Second and Ninth Indiana Cavalry and the Twenty-sixth Indiana Infantry. Col. John A. Bridgland, the old commander of the Second Cavalry, spoke on behalf of the veterans. General Harrison replied:Colonel Bridgland and Comrades—I am fast losing my faith in men. [Laughter.] This morning a representative or two of thisregiment called upon me and made an arrangement that I should receive you at this hour. It was expressly stipulated—though I took no security [laughter]—that there should be no speech-making at all. Now I find myself formally introduced to you and under the necessity of talking to you. [Laughter.] I am under so much stress in this way, from day to day, that I am really getting to be a little timid when I see a corporal's guard together anywhere, for fear they will want a speech. [Laughter.] And even at home, when I sit down at the table with my family, I have some apprehensions lest some one may propose a toast and insist that I shall respond. [Laughter.]I remember that the Second Indiana Cavalry was the first full cavalry regiment I ever saw. I saw it marching through Washington Street from the windows of my law office; and as I watched the long line drawing itself through the street, it seemed to me the call for troops might stop; that there were certainly enough men and horses there to put down the rebellion. [Laughter.] It is clear I did not rightly measure the capacities of a cavalry regiment, or the dimensions of the rebellion. [Laughter.] I am glad to see you here to-day. You come as soldiers, and I greet you as comrades. I will not allude to political topics, on which any of us might differ. [A voice, "There ain't any differences!"] Of course, the members of the Ninth Cavalry and the Twenty-sixth Infantry must understand I am speaking to all my comrades. [A voice, "The Twenty-sixth were waiting for the cavalry to get out of the way!" Laughter.] Well, during the war you were willing to wait, weren't you? [Hearty laughter.] I was going to say that I had an express promise from Mr. Adams, of the Twenty-sixth Indiana, there should be no speaking on the occasion of your visit. [Laughter.] Perhaps his comrades of the Twenty-sixth will say I had not sufficient reason for so thinking, as we all know that he is given to joking. [Laughter.] I will be pleased now to meet each of you personally.
Fivedelegations paid their respects to the Republican nominee this day. The first was sixty veterans of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry—General J. P. Shanks' old regiment. Colonel Lewis Reeves, of Mentone, Ind., made the address on behalf of the veterans, to which General Harrison responded:
Comrades—I recall the services of your gallant regiment. I welcome you as men who had as honorable a part in the great achievements of the Union army as any in the Civil War. I congratulate you that you have been spared to see the fruits of your labors and sacrifices. In these meetings the thought of those who did not live to see the end of the bloody struggle is always present. Their honor also is in our keeping. I am glad to know that at last in our State a shaft is being lifted to the honor of the Indiana soldier. It will not only keep alive a worthy memory, but it will instil patriotism into our children. I thank you for this friendly visit. [Cheers.]
Comrades—I recall the services of your gallant regiment. I welcome you as men who had as honorable a part in the great achievements of the Union army as any in the Civil War. I congratulate you that you have been spared to see the fruits of your labors and sacrifices. In these meetings the thought of those who did not live to see the end of the bloody struggle is always present. Their honor also is in our keeping. I am glad to know that at last in our State a shaft is being lifted to the honor of the Indiana soldier. It will not only keep alive a worthy memory, but it will instil patriotism into our children. I thank you for this friendly visit. [Cheers.]
From Illinois came two large delegations—that from Iroquois County numbering 1,000, commanded by Chief Marshal Slattery, of Onargo. A Tippecanoe club of veterans headed their column, led by Chairman Owen, followed by the John A. Logan Club, commanded by Capt. A. L. Whitehall. Prominent in the delegation were State Senator Secrist, Judge S. G. Bovie, B. F. Price, J. F. Ireland, A. Powell, James Woodworth, G. B. Joiner, W. M. Coney, Dr. J. H. Gillam, Dr. Scull, editors E. A. Nye and M. S. Taliaferro, of Watseka; also W. H. Howe, of Braidwood, father of the "Drummer Boy of Vicksburg." Robert Meredith, of Onargo, spoke on behalf of the colored members of the delegation, and Capt. R. W. Hilscher, of Watseka, for the veterans. La Porte County, Ind., was represented by a large delegation, the Michigan City detachment commanded by Major Biddle, Uriah Culbert, andMajor Wood. The Laporte City clubs were led by Wm. C. Weir, Marshal of the delegation. Other prominent members were S. M. Closser, W. C. Miller, Frank E. Osborn, J. N. Whitehead, M. L. Bramhall, Nelson Larzen, Samuel Bagley, Brook Travis, Wm. Hastings, S. A. Rose, Swan Peterson, and editor Sonneborn. The presentation address was made by Col. J. W. Crumpacker, of Laporte.
To these several addresses General Harrison responded:
My Illinois and my Indiana Friends—If I needed any stimulus to duty, or to have my impression of the dignity and responsibility of representative office increased, I should find it in such assemblies as these and in the kind and thoughtful words which have been addressed to me in your behalf. The American people under our system of government have their public interests in their own keeping. All laws and proclamations may be revoked or repealed by them. They will be called on in November to mark out the revenue policy for our Government by choosing public officers pledged to the principles which a majority of our people approve. Fortunately you have now an issue very clearly drawn and very easy to be understood. In previous campaigns we have not quite known where our adversaries stood. Now we do know. Our Democratic friends say a protective tariff is robbery. You see this written at the head of campaign tracts circulated by their committees. You hear it said in the public speeches of their leaders. You have not once, I think, in the campaign heard any Democratic speaker admit that even a low protective tariff was desirable. Those who, like Mr. Randall, have in former campaigns been used to allay the apprehension of our working people by talking protection have been silenced. On the other hand, the Republican party declares by its platform and by its speakers that a protective tariff is wise and necessary. There is the issue. Make your own choice. If you approve by your votes the doctrine that a protective tariff is public robbery, you will expect your representatives to stop this public robbery, and if they are faithful they will do it; not seven per cent. of it, but all of it. [Applause and cries of "That's it!"] So that I beg you all to recollect that you will vote this fall for or against the principle of protection. You are invited to a feast of cheapness. You are promised foreign-made goods at very low prices, and domestic competing goods, if any are made, at the same low rates. But do not forget that thespectre of low wages will also attend the feast. [Applause and cries of "That's so!"] Inevitably, as certain as the night follows the day, the adoption of this policy means lower wages. Choose, then, and do not forget that this cheapening process may be pushed so far as to involve the cheapening of human life and the loss of human happiness. [Applause.]And now a word about the surplus in the Treasury. Our Democratic friends did not know what else to do with it, and so they have deposited it in certain national banks. The Government gets no interest upon it, but it is loaned out by the banks to our citizens at interest. Our income is more than our current expenses. There is no authority for the Secretary of the Treasury to lend the money, and so only three methods of dealing with it presented themselves, under the law—first, to lock it up in the Treasury vaults; second, to deposit it in the banks without interest; or, third, to use it in the purchase of bonds not yet due. The objection to the first method was that the withdrawal of so large a sum might result in a monetary stringency; the second obviated this objection by allowing the banks to put the money in circulation; but neither method resulted in any advantage to the Government.As to it the money was dead; only the banks received interest for its use. By the third method the money would be returned to the channels of trade and the Government would make the difference between the premium paid for the bond and the interest that the bonds would draw if left outstanding until they matured. If a Government bond at the market premium is a good investment for a capitalist who is free to use his money as he pleases, can it be bad finance for the Government, having money that it cannot use in any other way, to use it in buying up its bonds? [Great applause.] It is not whether we will purposely raise money to buy our bonds at a premium—no one would advise that—but will we so use a surplus that we have on hand and cannot lawfully pay out in any other way? Do our Democratic friends propose to give the banks the free use of it until our bonds mature, or do they propose to reduce our annual income below our expenditure by a revision of the tariff until this surplus is used, and then revise the tariff again to restore the equilibriums? [Great applause.] I welcome the presence to-day of these ladies of your households. We should not forget that we have working-women in America. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] None more than they are interested in this policy of protection which we advocate. If want and hard conditions come into the home, the women bear a full share. [Applause.] And now I have been tempted to speak more at lengththan I had intended. I thank you for this cordial manifestation of your confidence and respect. [Cheers.]
My Illinois and my Indiana Friends—If I needed any stimulus to duty, or to have my impression of the dignity and responsibility of representative office increased, I should find it in such assemblies as these and in the kind and thoughtful words which have been addressed to me in your behalf. The American people under our system of government have their public interests in their own keeping. All laws and proclamations may be revoked or repealed by them. They will be called on in November to mark out the revenue policy for our Government by choosing public officers pledged to the principles which a majority of our people approve. Fortunately you have now an issue very clearly drawn and very easy to be understood. In previous campaigns we have not quite known where our adversaries stood. Now we do know. Our Democratic friends say a protective tariff is robbery. You see this written at the head of campaign tracts circulated by their committees. You hear it said in the public speeches of their leaders. You have not once, I think, in the campaign heard any Democratic speaker admit that even a low protective tariff was desirable. Those who, like Mr. Randall, have in former campaigns been used to allay the apprehension of our working people by talking protection have been silenced. On the other hand, the Republican party declares by its platform and by its speakers that a protective tariff is wise and necessary. There is the issue. Make your own choice. If you approve by your votes the doctrine that a protective tariff is public robbery, you will expect your representatives to stop this public robbery, and if they are faithful they will do it; not seven per cent. of it, but all of it. [Applause and cries of "That's it!"] So that I beg you all to recollect that you will vote this fall for or against the principle of protection. You are invited to a feast of cheapness. You are promised foreign-made goods at very low prices, and domestic competing goods, if any are made, at the same low rates. But do not forget that thespectre of low wages will also attend the feast. [Applause and cries of "That's so!"] Inevitably, as certain as the night follows the day, the adoption of this policy means lower wages. Choose, then, and do not forget that this cheapening process may be pushed so far as to involve the cheapening of human life and the loss of human happiness. [Applause.]
And now a word about the surplus in the Treasury. Our Democratic friends did not know what else to do with it, and so they have deposited it in certain national banks. The Government gets no interest upon it, but it is loaned out by the banks to our citizens at interest. Our income is more than our current expenses. There is no authority for the Secretary of the Treasury to lend the money, and so only three methods of dealing with it presented themselves, under the law—first, to lock it up in the Treasury vaults; second, to deposit it in the banks without interest; or, third, to use it in the purchase of bonds not yet due. The objection to the first method was that the withdrawal of so large a sum might result in a monetary stringency; the second obviated this objection by allowing the banks to put the money in circulation; but neither method resulted in any advantage to the Government.
As to it the money was dead; only the banks received interest for its use. By the third method the money would be returned to the channels of trade and the Government would make the difference between the premium paid for the bond and the interest that the bonds would draw if left outstanding until they matured. If a Government bond at the market premium is a good investment for a capitalist who is free to use his money as he pleases, can it be bad finance for the Government, having money that it cannot use in any other way, to use it in buying up its bonds? [Great applause.] It is not whether we will purposely raise money to buy our bonds at a premium—no one would advise that—but will we so use a surplus that we have on hand and cannot lawfully pay out in any other way? Do our Democratic friends propose to give the banks the free use of it until our bonds mature, or do they propose to reduce our annual income below our expenditure by a revision of the tariff until this surplus is used, and then revise the tariff again to restore the equilibriums? [Great applause.] I welcome the presence to-day of these ladies of your households. We should not forget that we have working-women in America. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] None more than they are interested in this policy of protection which we advocate. If want and hard conditions come into the home, the women bear a full share. [Applause.] And now I have been tempted to speak more at lengththan I had intended. I thank you for this cordial manifestation of your confidence and respect. [Cheers.]
The fourth delegation of the day came from Grundy County, Illinois, headed by the Logan Club of Morris. An enthusiastic member of this delegation was the venerable Geo. P. Augustine, of Braceville, Ill., aged 77, who in the summer of 1840 employed the boy "Jimmie" Garfield—afterward President of the United States—to ride his horses on the tow-path of the Ohio canal between Portsmouth and Cleveland. Hon. P. C. Hayes, of Morris, was spokesman for the delegation. General Harrison said:
General Hayes and my Illinois Friends—I regret that your arrival was postponed so long as to make it impossible for you to meet with the other friends from your State who, a little while ago, assembled about the platform. I thank you for the kind feelings that prompted you to come, and for the generous things General Hayes has said in your behalf. There is little that I can say and little that I can appropriately do to promote the success of the Republican principles. A campaign that enlists the earnest and active co-operation of the individual voters will have a safe issue. I am glad to see in your presence an evidence that in your locality this individual interest is felt. [Applause.] But popular assemblies, public debate, and conventions are all an empty mockery unless, when the debate is closed, the election is so conducted that every elector shall have an equal and full influence in determining the result. That is our compact of government. [Cheers.] I thank you again for your great kindness, and it will now give me pleasure to accede to the suggestion of General Hayes and take each of you by the hand.
General Hayes and my Illinois Friends—I regret that your arrival was postponed so long as to make it impossible for you to meet with the other friends from your State who, a little while ago, assembled about the platform. I thank you for the kind feelings that prompted you to come, and for the generous things General Hayes has said in your behalf. There is little that I can say and little that I can appropriately do to promote the success of the Republican principles. A campaign that enlists the earnest and active co-operation of the individual voters will have a safe issue. I am glad to see in your presence an evidence that in your locality this individual interest is felt. [Applause.] But popular assemblies, public debate, and conventions are all an empty mockery unless, when the debate is closed, the election is so conducted that every elector shall have an equal and full influence in determining the result. That is our compact of government. [Cheers.] I thank you again for your great kindness, and it will now give me pleasure to accede to the suggestion of General Hayes and take each of you by the hand.
The fifth and last delegation of the day reached the Harrison residence in the evening, and comprised 200 survivors of the Second and Ninth Indiana Cavalry and the Twenty-sixth Indiana Infantry. Col. John A. Bridgland, the old commander of the Second Cavalry, spoke on behalf of the veterans. General Harrison replied:
Colonel Bridgland and Comrades—I am fast losing my faith in men. [Laughter.] This morning a representative or two of thisregiment called upon me and made an arrangement that I should receive you at this hour. It was expressly stipulated—though I took no security [laughter]—that there should be no speech-making at all. Now I find myself formally introduced to you and under the necessity of talking to you. [Laughter.] I am under so much stress in this way, from day to day, that I am really getting to be a little timid when I see a corporal's guard together anywhere, for fear they will want a speech. [Laughter.] And even at home, when I sit down at the table with my family, I have some apprehensions lest some one may propose a toast and insist that I shall respond. [Laughter.]I remember that the Second Indiana Cavalry was the first full cavalry regiment I ever saw. I saw it marching through Washington Street from the windows of my law office; and as I watched the long line drawing itself through the street, it seemed to me the call for troops might stop; that there were certainly enough men and horses there to put down the rebellion. [Laughter.] It is clear I did not rightly measure the capacities of a cavalry regiment, or the dimensions of the rebellion. [Laughter.] I am glad to see you here to-day. You come as soldiers, and I greet you as comrades. I will not allude to political topics, on which any of us might differ. [A voice, "There ain't any differences!"] Of course, the members of the Ninth Cavalry and the Twenty-sixth Infantry must understand I am speaking to all my comrades. [A voice, "The Twenty-sixth were waiting for the cavalry to get out of the way!" Laughter.] Well, during the war you were willing to wait, weren't you? [Hearty laughter.] I was going to say that I had an express promise from Mr. Adams, of the Twenty-sixth Indiana, there should be no speaking on the occasion of your visit. [Laughter.] Perhaps his comrades of the Twenty-sixth will say I had not sufficient reason for so thinking, as we all know that he is given to joking. [Laughter.] I will be pleased now to meet each of you personally.
Colonel Bridgland and Comrades—I am fast losing my faith in men. [Laughter.] This morning a representative or two of thisregiment called upon me and made an arrangement that I should receive you at this hour. It was expressly stipulated—though I took no security [laughter]—that there should be no speech-making at all. Now I find myself formally introduced to you and under the necessity of talking to you. [Laughter.] I am under so much stress in this way, from day to day, that I am really getting to be a little timid when I see a corporal's guard together anywhere, for fear they will want a speech. [Laughter.] And even at home, when I sit down at the table with my family, I have some apprehensions lest some one may propose a toast and insist that I shall respond. [Laughter.]
I remember that the Second Indiana Cavalry was the first full cavalry regiment I ever saw. I saw it marching through Washington Street from the windows of my law office; and as I watched the long line drawing itself through the street, it seemed to me the call for troops might stop; that there were certainly enough men and horses there to put down the rebellion. [Laughter.] It is clear I did not rightly measure the capacities of a cavalry regiment, or the dimensions of the rebellion. [Laughter.] I am glad to see you here to-day. You come as soldiers, and I greet you as comrades. I will not allude to political topics, on which any of us might differ. [A voice, "There ain't any differences!"] Of course, the members of the Ninth Cavalry and the Twenty-sixth Infantry must understand I am speaking to all my comrades. [A voice, "The Twenty-sixth were waiting for the cavalry to get out of the way!" Laughter.] Well, during the war you were willing to wait, weren't you? [Hearty laughter.] I was going to say that I had an express promise from Mr. Adams, of the Twenty-sixth Indiana, there should be no speaking on the occasion of your visit. [Laughter.] Perhaps his comrades of the Twenty-sixth will say I had not sufficient reason for so thinking, as we all know that he is given to joking. [Laughter.] I will be pleased now to meet each of you personally.