Part 4

It was no sordid impulse, no hope of spoils that induced these men to sunder the tender associations of home and forsake their business pursuits to look into the grim face of death with unblanched cheeks and firm and resolute eyes. They are the kind of men who draw their impulses from the high springs of truth and duty. The army was great in its assembling. It came with an impulse that was majestic and terrible. It was as great in its muster-out as in the brilliant work which had been done in the field. When the war was over the soldier was not left at the tavern. Every man had in some humble place a chair by some fireside where he was loved and towards which his heart went forward with a quick step. [Applause.]

And so this great army that had rallied for the defence and preservation of the country was disbanded without tumult or riot or any public disturbance. It had covered the country with the mantle of its protection when it needed it, as the snows of spring cover the early vegetation, and when the warm sun of peace shone upon it, it disappeared as the snow sinks into the earth to refresh and vivify the summer growth. They found their homes; they carried their brawn and intellect into all the pursuits of peace to stimulate them and lift them up; they added their great impulse to that great wave of prosperity which has swept over our country ever since. [Applause.] But in nothing was this war greater than in that it led a race into freedom and brought those whom we had conquered in the struggle into the full enjoyment of a restored citizenship, and shared again with them the responsibilities and duties of a restored government. [Applause.]

I thank you to-night most sincerely for this evidence of your comradeship. I thank, specially, those friends who differ with me in their political views, that they have put these things aside to-night, and have come here to give me a comrade's greeting. [Applause.] May I have the privilege now, without detaining you longer, of taking by the hand every soldier here? [Applause.]

Later, the same evening, the Harrison League of Indianapolis, numbering three hundred colored men, assembled on the lawn and congratulated the Republican nominee through its spokesman, Mr. Ben D. Bagby. General Harrison's response was as follows:

_Mr. Bagby and Gentlemen of the Harrison Club_--I assure you that I have a sincere respect for, and a very deep interest in, the colored people of the United States. My memory, as a boy, goes back to the time when slavery existed in the Southern States. I was born upon the Ohio River, which was the boundary between the free State of Ohio and the slave State of Kentucky. Some of my earliest recollections relate to the stirring and dramatic interest which was now and then excited by the pursuit of an escaping slave for the hope of offered rewards.

I remember, as a boy, wandering once through my grandfather's orchard at North Bend, and in pressing through an alder thicket that grew on its margin I saw sitting in its midst a colored man with the frightened look of a fugitive in his eye, and attempting to satisfy his hunger with some walnuts he had gathered. He noticed my approach with a fierce, startled look, to see whether I was likely to betray him; I was frightened myself and left him in some trepidation, but I kept his secret. [Cries of "Good!" "Good!"] I have seen the progress which has been made in the legislation relating to your race, and the progress that the race itself has made since that day. When I came to Indiana to reside the unfriendly black code was in force. My memory goes back to the time when colored witnesses were first allowed to appear in court in this State to testify in cases where white men were parties. Prior to that time, as you know, you had been excluded from the right to tell in court, under oath, your side of the story in any legal controversy with white men. [Cries of "I know that!"] The laws prevented your coming here. In every way you were at a disadvantage, even in the free States. I have lived to see this unfriendly legislation removed from our statute-books and the unfriendly section of our State Constitution repealed. I have lived not only to see that, but to see the race emancipated and slavery extinct. [Cries of "Amen to that!"]

Nothing gives me more pleasure among the results of the war than this. History will give a prominent place in the story of this great war to the fact that it resulted in making all men free, and gave to you equal civil rights. The imagination and art of the poet, the tongue of the orator, the skill of the artist will be brought under contribution to tell this story of the emancipation of the souls of men. [Applause and cries of "Amen!"]

Nothing gives me so much gratification as a Republican as to feel that in all the steps that led to this great result the Republican party sympathized with you, pioneered for you in legislation, and was the architect of those great measures of relief which have so much ameliorated your condition. [Applause.]

I know nowhere in this country of a monument that I behold with so much interest, that touches my heart so deeply, as that monument at Washington representing the Proclamation of Emancipation by President Lincoln, the kneeling black man at the feet of the martyred President, with the shackles falling from his limbs.

I remember your faithfulness during the time of the war. I remember your faithful service to the army as we were advancing through an unknown country. We could always depend upon the faithfulness of the black man. [Cries of "Right you are!"] He might be mistaken, but he was never false. Many a time in the darkness of night have those faithful men crept to our lines and given us information of the approach of the enemy. I shall never forget a scene that I saw when Sherman's army marched through a portion of North Carolina, between Raleigh and Richmond, where our troops had never before been. The colored people had not seen our flag since the banner of treason had been set up in its stead. As we were passing through a village the colored people flocked out to see once more the starry banner of freedom, the emblem, promise, and security of their emancipation. I remember an aged woman, over whom nearly a century of slavery must have passed, pressed forward to see the welcome banner that told her that her soul would go over into the presence of her God. I remember her exultation of spirit as she danced in the dusty road before our moving column, and, like Miriam of old, called upon her soul to rejoice in the deliverance which God had wrought by the coming of those who stood for and made secure the Proclamation of Emancipation. [Applause.]

I rejoice in all that you have accomplished since you have been free. I recall no scene more pathetic than that which I have often seen about our camp-fires. An aged man, a fugitive from slavery, had found freedom in our camp. After a day of hard work, when taps had sounded and the lights in the tents were out, I have seen him with the spelling-book that the chaplain had given him, lying prone upon the ground taxing his old eyes, and pointing with his hardened finger to the letters of the alphabet, as he endeavored to open to his clouded brain the avenues of information and light.

I am glad to know that that same desire to increase and enlarge your information possesses the race to-day. It is the open way for the race to that perfect emancipation which will remove remaining prejudices and secure to you in all parts of the land an equal and just participation in the government of this country. It cannot much longer be withholden from you.

Again I thank you for your presence here to-night and will be glad to take by the hand any of you who desire to see me. [Great applause.]

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 4, 1888.

_The Notification._

The Indiana Republican State Committee, through its chairman, the Hon. James N. Huston, designated as a committee to receive and escort the committee on notification from the National Convention the following gentlemen:

Ex-Gov. Albert G. Porter, Mayor Caleb S. Denny, Col. John C. New, J. N. Huston, Col. J. H. Bridgland, Hon. Stanton J. Peelle, William Wallace, M. G. McLain, N. S. Byram, Hon. W. H. Calkins, W. J. Richards, and Hon. H. M. LaFollette.

At noon on July 4 the notification committee representing the Republican National Convention arrived under escort at the residence of General Harrison, No. 674 Delaware Street. The following delegates comprised the committee:

Judge Morris M. Estee of California, _Chairman_; Alabama, A. H. Hendricks; Arkansas, Logan H. Roots; California, Paris Kilburn; Colorado, Henry R. Wolcott; Connecticut, E. S. Henry; Delaware, J. R. Whitaker; Florida, F. M. Wicker; Georgia, W. W. Brown; Illinois, Thomas W. Scott; Indiana, J. N. Huston; Iowa, Thomas Updegraff; Kansas, Henry L. Alden; Kentucky, George Denny; Louisiana, Andrew Hero; Maine, Samuel H. Allen; Maryland, Wm. M. Marine; Massachusetts, F. L. Burden; Michigan, Wm. McPherson; Minnesota, R. B. Langdon; Mississippi, T. W. Stringer; Missouri, A. W. Mullins; Nebraska, R. S. Norval; Nevada, S. E. Hamilton; New Hampshire, P. C. Cheney; New Jersey, H. H. Potter; New York, Obed Wheeler; North Carolina, D. C. Pearson; Ohio, Charles Foster; Oregon, F. P. Mays; Pennsylvania, Frank Reeder; Rhode Island, B. M. Bosworth; South Carolina, Paris Simpkins; Tennessee, J. C. Dougherty; Texas, E. H. Terrell; Vermont, Redfield Proctor; Virginia, Harry Libby; West Virginia, C. B. Smith; Wisconsin, H. C. Payne; Arizona, Geo. Christ; Dakota, G. W. Hopp; Dist. Columbia, P. H. Carson; Idaho, G. A. Black; Montana, G. O. Eaton; New Mexico, J. F. Chavez; Utah, J. J. Daly; Washington, T. H. Minor; Wyoming, C. D. Clark.

Chairman Estee spoke for the committee; his address signed by each member was also presented to General Harrison, who in a full, clear voice replied as follows:

_Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee_--The official notice which you have brought of the nomination conferred upon me by the Republican National Convention recently in session at Chicago excites emotions of a profound, though of a somewhat conflicting, character. That after full deliberation and free consultation the representatives of the Republican party of the United States should have concluded that the great principles enunciated in the platform adopted by the convention could be in some measure safely confided to my care is an honor of which I am deeply sensible and for which I am very grateful. I do not assume or believe that this choice implies that the convention found in me any pre-eminent fitness or exceptional fidelity to the principles of government to which we are mutually pledged. My satisfaction with the result would be altogether spoiled if that result had been reached by any unworthy methods or by a disparagement of the more eminent men who divided with me the suffrages of the convention. I accept the nomination with so deep a sense of the dignity of the office and of the gravity of its duties and the responsibilities as altogether to exclude any feeling of exultation or pride. The principles of government and the practices in administration upon which issues are now fortunately so clearly made are so important in their relations to the national and to individual prosperity that we may expect an unusual popular interest in the campaign. Relying wholly upon the considerate judgment of our fellow-citizens and the gracious favor of God, we will confidently submit our cause to the arbitrament of a free ballot.

The day you have chosen for this visit suggests no thoughts that are not in harmony with the occasion. The Republican party has walked in the light of the Declaration of Independence. It has lifted the shaft of patriotism upon the foundation laid at Bunker Hill. It has made the more perfect union secure by making all men free. Washington and Lincoln, Yorktown and Appomattox, the Declaration of Independence and the Proclamation of Emancipation are naturally and worthily associated in our thoughts to-day.

As soon as may be possible I shall by letter communicate to your chairman a more formal acceptance of the nomination, but it may be proper for me now to say that I have already examined the platform with some care, and that its declarations, to some of which your chairman has alluded, are in harmony with my views. It gives me pleasure, gentlemen, to receive you in my home and to thank you for the cordial manner in which you have conveyed your official message.

At the conclusion of these formalities Charles W. Clisbee, one of the secretaries of the National Convention, presented the nominee an engrossed official copy of the Republican platform.

July 4, 1888, was a memorable day in the life of General Harrison and his wife; for aside from the official notification of his nomination, they were the recipients of congratulations of a unique character from the Tippecanoe Club of Marion County, a political organization composed exclusively of veterans who had voted for General William Henry Harrison in the campaigns of 1836 or 1840.

Nearly all the younger and able-bodied members attended the Chicago Convention and worked unceasingly for the nomination of General Benjamin Harrison.

Their average age was seventy-five years, while one member, James Hubbard of Mapleton, was over one hundred years old.

On the afternoon of the fourth, ninety-one of these veterans commanded by their marshal, Isaac Taylor, marched to General Harrison's house through the rain. They had adopted a congratulatory address which was presented by a committee consisting of Dr. George W. New, Judge J. B. Julian, and Dr. Lawson Abbett, to which General Harrison feelingly replied as follows:

_Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Tippecanoe Club of Marion County_--I am very deeply touched by your visit to-day. The respect and confidence of such a body of men is a crown. Many of you I have known since I first came to Indianapolis. I count you my friends. [Cries of "Yes, sir, we are!"] You have not only shown your friendliness and respect in the political contests in which my name has been used, but very many of you in the social and business relations of life extended to me, when I came a young man among you, encouragement and help. I know that at the beginning your respect and confidence was builded upon the respect, and even affection--may I not say, which you bore to my grandfather. [A voice, "Yes, that is true!"] May I not, without self-laudation, now say that upon that foundation you have since created a modest structure of respect for me? [Cries of "Yes, sir!" "We have!" "That's the talk!"] I came among you with the heritage I trust, of a good name [cries of "That's so!" "Good stock!"], such as all of you enjoy. It was the only inheritance that has been transmitted in our family. [Cries of "It has been!"] I think you recollect, and, perhaps, it was that as much as aught else that drew your choice in 1840 to the Whig candidate for the presidency, that he came out of Virginia to the West with no fortune but the sword he bore, and unsheathed it here in the defence of our frontier homes. He transmitted little to his descendants but the respect he had won from his fellow-citizens. It seems to be the settled habit in our family to leave nothing else to our children. [Laughter and cries of "That's enough!"] My friends, I am a thorough believer in the American test of character [cries of "That's right!"]: the rule must be applied to a man's own life when his stature is taken He will not build high who does not build for himself. [Applause and cries of "That's true!"] I believe also in the American opportunity which puts the starry sky above every boy's head, and sets his foot upon a ladder which he may climb until his strength gives out.

I thank you cordially for your greeting, and for this tender of your help in this campaign. It will add dignity and strength to the campaign when it is found that the zealous, earnest, and intelligent co-operation of men of mature years like you is given to it. The Whig party to which you belonged had but one serious fault--there were not enough of them after 1840. [Laughter and applause.] We have since received to our ranks in the new and greater party to which you now belong accessions from those who were then our opponents, and we now unite with them in the defence of principles which were dear to you as Whigs, which were indeed the cherished and distinguishing principles of the Whig party; and in the olden and better time, of the Democratic party also. Chief among these were a reverent devotion to the Constitution and the flag, and a firm faith in the benefits of a protective tariff. If, in some of the States, under a sudden and mad impulse some of the old Whigs who stood with you in the campaign of 1840, to which you have referred, wandered from us, may we not send to them to-day the greetings of these their old associates, and invite them to come again into the fold?

And now, gentlemen, I thank you again for your visit, and would be glad if you would remain with us for a little personal intercourse.

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 7.

Five hundred commercial travellers paid a visit to General Harrison on July 7; they came from all parts of the country, principally from Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Louisville. Major James R. Ross was marshal of their delegation; David E. Coffin presented the "drummers" to General and Mrs. Harrison.

When all had gathered within or about the residence, Col. Ed. H. Wolfe of Rushville, Indiana, delivered a congratulatory address on behalf of the visitors. General Harrison, responding, said:

_Gentlemen of the Commercial Travellers' Association of Indiana and Visiting Friends_--I most heartily thank you for this cordial manifestation of your respect. It is to be expected when one has been named for office by one of the great parties that those who are in accord with him in his political convictions will show their interest in the campaign which he represents, but it is particularly gratifying to me that many of you who differ with me in political opinion, reserving your own opinions and choice, have come here to-night to express your gratification, personally, that I have been named by the Republican party as its candidate for the presidency.

It is a very pleasant thing in politics when this sort of testimony is possible, and it is very gratifying to me to-night to receive it at your hands. I do not know why we cannot hold our political differences with respect for each other's opinions, and with entire respect for each other personally. Our opinions upon the great questions which divide parties ought not to be held in such a spirit of bigotry as will prevent us from extending to a political opponent the concession of honesty in his opinion and that personal respect to which he may be entitled. [Applause.]

I very much value this visit from you, for I think I know how to estimate the commercial travellers of America. I am not going to open before you to-night any store of flattery. I do not think there is any market for it here. [Laughter and cries of "That's good!" and cheers.] You know the value of that commodity perfectly. [Laughter and continued applause.] I do not mean to suggest at all that you are dealers in it yourselves [laughter] in your intercourse with your customers, but I do mean to say that your wide acquaintance with men, that judgment of character and even of the moods of men which is essential to the successful prosecution of your business makes you a very unpromising audience upon which to pass any stale compliments.

My memory goes back to the time when there were no commercial travellers. When I first came to Indianapolis to reside your profession was not known. The retail merchant went to the wholesale house and made his selections there. I appreciate the fact that those who successfully pursue your calling must, in the nature of things, be masters of the business in which you are engaged and possess great adaptability and a high order of intelligence.

I thank you again for this visit; and give you in return my most sincere respect and regard. [Applause.] I regret that there is not room enough here for your comfort [a voice: "There will be more room in the White House!" Another: "We will take your order now and deliver the goods in November!"], but I shall be glad if any or all of you will remain for a better acquaintance and less formal intercourse. [Great applause and rousing cheers for the next President.]

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 9.

The first of many delegations from other States arrived July 9, from the city of Benton Harbor, Mich., and included many ladies. The leading members were F. R. Gilson, Ambrose H. Rowe, Wm. S. Farmer, G. M. Valentines, W. B. Shanklin, E. M. Elick, A. J. Kidd, C. C. Sweet, O. B. Hipp, R. M. Jones, W. L. Hogan, James McDonald, Allen Brunson, Frank Melton, P. W. Hall, Geo. W. Platt, W. L. McClure, J. C. Purrill, E. H. Kelly, J. A. Crawford, M. J. Vincent, Dr. Boston, M. G. Kennedy, and Dr. J. Bell. General L. M. Ward was spokesman for the visitors. General Harrison said:

_My Friends_--This visit is exceptional in some of its features. Already, in the brief time since my nomination, I have received various delegations, but this is the first delegation that has visited me from outside the borders of my own State. Your visit is also exceptional and very gratifying in that you have brought with you the ladies of your families to grace the occasion and to honor me by their presence. I am glad to know that while the result of the convention at Chicago brought disappointment to you, it has not left any sores that need the ointment of time for their healing. Your own favored citizen, distinguished civilian, and brave soldier, General Alger, was among the first and among the most cordial to extend to me his congratulations and the assurance of his earnest support in the campaign. I am sure it cannot be otherwise than that the Republicans of Michigan will take a deep interest in this campaign; an interest that altogether oversteps all personal attachments. Your State has been proudly associated with the past successes of the Republican party, and your interests are now closely identified with its success in the pending campaign. I am sure, therefore, that I may accept your presence here to-night not only as a personal compliment, but as a pledge that Michigan will be true again to those great principles of government which are represented by the Republican party. We cherish the history of our party and are proud of its high achievements; they stir the enthusiasm of the young and crown those who were early in its ranks with well-deserved laurels. The success of the Republican party has always been identified with the glory of the flag and the unity of the Government. There has been nothing in the history or principles of our party out of line with revolutionary memories or with the enlightened statesmanship of the framers of our Constitution. Those principles are greater than men, lasting as truth, and sure of final vindication and triumph. Let me thank you again for your visit, and ask introduction to each of you.

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 12.