Part 52

After the applause subsided the Lieutenant-Governor introduced President Harrison, who addressed the legislators as follows:

_Mr. President and Gentlemen, the Legislature of the State of Vermont_--I am grateful to you for this cordial reception, which crowns a series of friendly demonstrations which began with my entry into this good State and have continued to this interesting and important occasion. I am glad to meet the chosen representatives of the towns of Vermont, appointed to the discharge of functions of legislating for the general good. The wisdom of our fathers devised that system of governmental division for the general Government which has found adoption or adaptation in all the States--the division of the powers of the Government into three great co-ordinate departments, each independent, and yet having close and important relations one with the other, and each adapted in the highest degree to secure the liberty of the individual, the welfare of our community, and the national honor and prosperity. [Applause.] It has been fortunate for us as a people that no serious clash has occurred to these great departments. The constitutional balance and counterbalance have preserved with marvellous exactness, with the perfection of the most perfect machinery, the relations of these several departments, each doing its appropriate work and producing the great result which had been intended. Surely there is no other country where the springs of government are higher than here. The impulses of our people are drawn from springs that lie high in the hills of duty and loyalty. They respect and obey the law, because it is the orderly expression of their own will. The compact of our Government is a rule by the majority.

The sanction of all law is that it is the expression by popular election of the will of a majority of our people. Law has no other sanction than that with us; and happy are we, and happy are those communities where the election methods are so honestly and faithfully prescribed and observed that no doubt is thrown upon the popular expression and no question of the integrity of the ballot is ever raised. [Applause.] If we shall ever or anywhere allow a doubt to settle into the minds of our people whether the results of our elections are honestly attained, whether the laws made are framed by those who have been properly chosen by the majority, then all sanction is withdrawn from law and all respect from the rulers who by a false ballot are placed in public office. [Applause.]

I am glad to congratulate you upon your constituencies, intelligent, devoted and patriotic. I am glad to congratulate you that the State of Vermont, from its earliest aspirations and efforts for liberty and self-government, which developed into your Constitution in 1777, down through all the story of toil and the struggles which have beset you as a State, and the vicissitudes which have beset the country of which you are an honored part, that the State of Vermont and her sons in the councils of the Nation and on the blood-stained battle-fields of the great war have borne themselves worthily. [Applause.] Will you permit me now to thank you again for this demonstration and for the opportunity to stand for a moment in your presence? I am sure that we may each, from this occasion, in the discharge of public duty, draw some impulse to a more perfect exercise of our powers for the public good. [Applause.]

_The Public Reception._

The speech-making within doors being over, President Harrison entered a side room, where he received the Tippecanoe Club, shaking hands cordially with all. He was then conducted to the Governor's Room, where he received the members of the Legislature. Meanwhile a great crowd massed on the beautiful grounds and waited impatiently for the reappearance of the President. Finally he made his way from the interior to the front of the Capitol. Governor Page introduced him. The President spoke as follows:

_Governor Page and Fellow-citizens_--This sunshine is as warm as a Vermont welcome. [Applause.] It is of the highest quality. It has life in it. But too much of it is prostrating. [Laughter.] I have felt, in endeavoring to respond to these calls, that I was possibly overtaxing my own strength, and perhaps overcrowding the Press Association. [Laughter.] I am not naturally a gossip, I think I had some reputation as a taciturn man, but it is gone. [Laughter.] I have not given it up willingly. I have struggled to retain it, but it has been forcefully taken from me by kindness of my fellow-citizens, whom I have met so frequently within the last year. Perhaps, however, if I preserve other virtues I can let this go. [Laughter.] It is a great thing to be a citizen of the United States. I would not have you abate at all the love and loyalty you have for Vermont. But I am glad to know that always in your history as a State and a people you have felt that the higher honor, the more glorious estate, was to be a citizen of the United States of America. [Applause.] This association of States is a geographical necessity. We can never consent that hostile boundaries shall be introduced with all that such divisions imply. We must be one from Maine to California, one from the Lakes to the Gulf [applause], and everywhere in all that domain we must insist that the behests of the Federal Constitution and of the laws written in the Federal statute-book shall be loyally obeyed. [Applause.] A statesman of one of the Southern States said to me, with tears in his eyes, shortly after my inauguration: "Mr. President, I hope you intend to give the poor people of my State a chance." I said in reply: "A chance to do what? If you mean, sir, that they shall have a chance to nullify any law, and that I shall wink at the nullification of it, you ask that which you ought not to ask and that which I cannot consider. [Applause.] If you mean that obeying every public law and giving to every other man his full rights under the law and the Constitution, they shall abide in my respect and in the security and peace of our institutions. Then they shall have, so far as in my power lies, an equal chance with all our people." [Applause.] We may not choose what laws we will obey; the choice is made for us. When a majority have, by lawful methods, placed a law upon the statute-book, we may endeavor to repeal it, we may challenge its wisdom, but while it is the law it challenges our obedience. [Applause.]

I thank you for the kindliness of this greeting in this capital of Vermont. I wish for you and your gallant State and for all your people in all their good, God-fearing homes continuance of that personal liberty, that material prosperity, that love of the truth which has always characterized them. [Applause.]

PLAINFIELD, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.

At Montpelier the President's party was joined by Hon. F. A. Dwinnel, Gen. F. E. Alfred, Gen. W. H. Gilmore, V. R. Sartwell, W. A. Stowell, Col. H. E. Folsom, Fletcher D. Proctor, Frank C. Partridge; also, E. W. Smith and John Bailey, of Newbury.

The first stop in the afternoon was at Plainfield, where 1,000 people gave the President a cordial greeting. Among the leading citizens participating in the reception were: Joseph Lane, George D. Kidder, Leroy F. Fortney, E. J. Bartlett, H. E. Cutler, Henry Q. Perry, D. B. Smith, H. G. Moore, John A. Fass, Ira F. Page, Nelson Shorey, H. W. Batchelder, and W. B. Page. W. E. Martin Post, G. A. R., H. H. Hollister Commander, occupied a conspicuous position.

President Harrison was introduced by Senator Dwinnel, and said:

_My Fellow-citizens and Comrades_--For I see here, as everywhere, some of those who wore the blue and carried the flag in the great Civil War gathered to greet me. It gives me pleasure to stop for a moment and to thank you for the friendliness which has brought you from your homes to make this journey bright with your presence and cordial welcome. I have been talking so much to-day that I will not attempt to make a speech. I have already said a great deal about Vermont, have expressed my esteem for it and for its people, and all that. I have been very sincere, for I think that your State does hold a very high place among the States. Your sons, who have gone out to represent you and to take part in those stirring enterprises which have laid the foundations of new States, have already borne themselves with honor and with true New England thrift, obtaining in the long run the full share of all the good things that were going. I met some of them in California. They are scattered this broad land over, and I think they carry with them everywhere the love of the flag, respect for law and order, love of liberty and of education, and interest in all those things that make the communities where they abide prosperous and happy. I think I owe a special debt to this neighborhood for a pair of good Vermont horses that Secretary Proctor selected for me, and in the driving of which I have had great relaxation and pleasure. Your Vermont horses are well trained. The Morgan horse has the good habit of entering into consultation with the driver whenever there is any trouble. [Laughter and applause.]

ST. JOHNSBURY, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.

Brief stops were made at Wells River, McIndoes, and Barnet, and the President cordially thanked the people at each place. St. Johnsbury, where great preparations were made to welcome the distinguished guest, was reached at 4:30 P.M.

The President's party headed a procession which moved through the principal streets over a distance of two miles. The guard of honor consisted of 300 mounted veterans with drawn swords. The following prominent citizens met the President: Col. Franklin Fairbanks, Hon. Jonathan Ross, Chief Justice of Vermont, and Mrs. Ross; Rev. Dr. C. M. Lamson, L. D. Hazen, A. H. McLeod, Charles T. Walter, Hon. H. H. Powers, Col. Frederick Fletcher, H. H. Carr, C. H. Stevens, E. H. Blossom, S. H. Brackett, Lucius K. Hazen, Osborne Chase, George H. Cross, N. P. Bowman, Albert Worcester, H. I. Woods, Dr. G. B. Bullard, A. F. Walker, C. P. Carpenter, N. R. Switser, F. A. Carter, L. W. Fisher, J. B. Gage, C. H. Horton, L. N. Smythe, and Wm. H. Sargent. An incident of the parade was the reception by the school children. The President's carriage halted and several hundred of the children, led by H. H. May, rendered "America," at the conclusion of which six pretty little girls--Misses May Masten, Lala McNeil, Marian Moore, Lottie Holder, Beatrice May, and Emma May--stepped forward and presented a beautiful floral key, thus tendering the freedom of the city to the illustrious guest. The President reviewed the procession from "Undercliffe," the stately residence of Colonel and Mrs. Fairbanks, whose guest he was.

At night the town was brilliantly illuminated, and 10,000 residents gathered in the public park. Colonel Fairbanks made the welcoming address and introduced the President, who received an ovation and spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I could wish that I were in better voice and in full strength, that I might better respond to this most magnificent demonstration. I have rarely looked upon a scene more calculated to inspire a patriot than this upon which my eye rests to-night. I do most profoundly thank you for this great welcome. The taste and beauty and elaboration of these preparations exceed anything that I have looked upon in this journey. [Applause.] I am sure you are here to-night after making all this preparation to give witness by your presence of your love to the flag of our country [applause] and to those institutions of civil government and of liberty which that flag represents. [Applause.] It gives me great pleasure to see that the flag is everywhere. I journeyed across this continent, and, except when darkness shut in the landscape, I was never out of sight of the American flag. [Applause.] On those wide plains of the West, once called the Great American Desert, now and again, in the home of some adventurous settler, the flag appeared and was waved in greeting as our train sped on its way. I rejoiced to see it everywhere in the sight of school children. On that great demonstration in New York in observance of the centennial of the inauguration of Washington, as I moved from the Battery up through those streets dedicated to commerce, I saw every front covered with flags, hiding for the time those invitations to trade which covered their walls. The thought occurred to me, What will be done with these flags when this celebration is over? And it occurred to me to suggest at the centennial banquet that the flags should be taken into our school-houses. [Applause.] I rejoice to know that everywhere throughout the land, in all our patriotic towns and villages, movements are being inaugurated to display the American flag over our institutions of learning.

I have several times been brought in contact with incidents showing this love of the flag. I remember that when Hood was investing Nashville, and when that gallant, sturdy, unostentatious, but always faithful and victorious leader, Gen. George H. Thomas, was gathering the remnants of an army that he might confront his adversary in battle, it was assigned to me to intrench through the beautiful grounds of a resident in the suburbs of Nashville. The proprietor was a Tennessee Unionist. While I was digging and tearing the sod of his beautiful lawn, he was removing his library and other valuables from his mansion, for it was within easy range of the rebel fire. Happening into his library while he was thus engaged, he opened a closet below the book-shelf, and, taking out a handsome bunting, asked me whether I had a garrison flag. I told him no. "Well," he said, "take this. Sir, I have never been without the American flag in my house." [Applause.] I would be glad if that could be said by every one of our people. There is inspiration in it. It has a story wrought into its every fold until every thread has some lesson to tell of sacrifice and heroism. It is the promise of all that we hope for. It is to it and about it that we must gather and hold the affections of our people if these institutions are to be preserved. I have it in my mind as I saw it one night in Newport harbor. Going out of that harbor upon a Government vessel about midnight, when the heavens were darkened clouds, I saw a sight that lives fresh in my memory. The officers of the torpedo station had run up the Starry Banner upon the staff, and turned upon it as we moved out of the harbor two great electric search-lights. It revealed the banner, while the staff and buildings below it were all hidden in the blackness. I could see it as if it had been hung out of the battlements of heaven, lifting its folds in the darkness of night, a glorified emblem of the hope of a free people. [Applause.] Let us keep it thus in our hearts; let no other flag be borne in our marching processions. We have no place for the red flag of anarchy. [Applause.] This emblem typifies a free people, who have voluntarily placed themselves under the restraints of the law, who have consented that individual liberty shall cease where it infringes upon the right or property of another. This is our contract. This is the liberty which we offer those who cast in their lot with us, not a liberty to destroy, but a liberty to conserve and perpetuate. [Cheers.]

I am most happy to witness in this prosperous New England town so many evidences that your community is intelligent, industrious, enterprising, and your people lovers of home and order. You have here some great manufacturing establishments, whose fame and products have spread throughout the world. You have here a class of enterprising, public-spirited citizens, who are building these free libraries and galleries of art and are ministering to the good of generations that are to come. You have here an intelligent and educated class of skilled workmen, and nothing pleased me more as I passed through your streets to-day than to be told that here and there were the homes of the working people of St. Johnsbury [applause]--homes where every evidence of comfort was apparent; homes where taste has been brought to make attractive the abodes where tired men sought rest; homes that must have been made sweet for the children that are reared there, and comfortable for the wives whose place of toil and responsibility it is. Here is the anchor of our safety. This is the state that binds men to good order, to good citizenship, to the flag of the Constitution, a contented and prosperous working class. [Applause.] I will not cross any lines of division in my remarks to night, for this reception is general; but I will venture to say that all our public policy, all our legislation, may wisely keep in view the end of perpetuating an independent, contented, prosperous and hopeful working class in America. [Applause.] When hope goes out of the heart and life becomes so hard that it is no longer sweet, men are not safe neighbors and they are not good citizens, Let us, then, in cheerful, loving, Christian good neighborhood see that the blessings of our institutions, the fruits of labor, have that fair distribution that shall bring contentment into our homes. [Applause.]

But, my countrymen, I did not intend to speak even so long. I wish it were in my power to make some adequate return for the generous welcome you have given me. I am not a man of promises. I abhor pretension, but every such assembly as this that I see--this great cup of good-will which you put to my lips--gives me strength to do what I can for our country and for you. [Applause.]

BILLINGS PARK, AUGUST 27.

When the presidential party left St. Johnsbury on the morning of the 27th, they were joined by Hon. A. A. Woolson, C. S. Forbes, ex-Governor Farnham, and ex-Senator Pingree. At White River Junction the President's car was switched to a siding running to Billings Park, where the Vermont Association of Road and Trotting Horse Breeders was holding its annual exhibition. Senator Morrill, Col. Geo. W. Hooker, and Capt. A. W. Davis accompanied the party to the park, where carriages conveyed them over the grounds. A large crowd was present.

Col. Hooker, as President of the Association, introduced President Harrison, who said:

_Colonel Hooker and Fellow-citizens_--I have been called upon to address my fellow-citizens under many diverse and some very peculiar circumstances, but I think that those that surround me this morning are absolutely unique. I understood that in the programme Secretary Proctor had arranged for a day of pleasure here at this horse fair, and that a more attractive entertainment was to be provided for you and for me than speech-making. I am not well up in the rules of the track, but I suppose on a morning like this some allowance will be made for a heavy track, and if the horses are entitled to it I think I may claim an allowance myself. [Laughter.] Therefore, I have only to thank you for the friendliness of your reception and to express my interest in this great industry which is represented here--the breeding of horses. I understand that it was so arranged that, after I had seen the flower of the manhood and womanhood of Vermont, I should be given an exhibition of the next grade in intelligence and worth in the State--your good horses. [Applause.] I have had recently, through the intervention of the Secretary of War, the privilege of coming into possession of a pair of Vermont horses. They are all I could wish for, and, as I said the other day at the little village from which they came, they are of good Morgan stock, of which some one has said that their great characteristic was that they enter into consultation with the driver whenever there is any difficulty. [Laughter and applause.] Thanking you again, I hope you will give me the allowance to which a heavy track entitles me. [Applause.]

BRADFORD, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

At Bradford 1,000 people assembled to do honor to the President, who arrived at 10 A.M. The visitors were escorted to a platform near the station. Among the prominent residents who welcomed the Chief Executive were H. E. Parker, Judge S. M. Gleason, Roswell Farnham, John H. Watson, Dr. J. H. Jones, and L. J. Brown.

Ex-Governor Farnham introduced the President, who spoke as follows:

_Ladies and Gentlemen_--I will only say a few words to thank you for this welcome which is extended to me this morning, and which it seems to me furnishes some proof of your well wishes and kindly feelings. I have had a journey through Vermont that will be very pleasant in my recollection, although attended with some instances of an unpleasant nature. As I understood the purpose of this trip when I gave my assent to it at the request of your excellent fellow-citizen, whom you kindly loaned me for a little while, and are now, as far as I can see, about to reclaim, the trip was to be one of relaxation, and to visit him and some of his friends. It seems to me that the circle has been enlarged beyond the limit of his friends, and if not that they include the whole of the people of Vermont. It is very pleasant to pass through your enterprising manufacturing towns, and to see this rural population, which, after all, is the foundation of all State organizations, which are based upon the farms of old New England. The farm has been, perhaps, one of the most productive measures toward the enrichment of this country in things that are greater than the material things--in manhood, valor in warfare, and statesmanship in political life. It has been a matter of great pleasure to me as we have driven through the streets of these cities, from Bennington until this time, to observe one thing. As we pass by your streets I have seen some aged father or mother or grandfather or grandmother placed in a position for best observation and kindly attended by some member of the family, showing that family love, that veneration for the aged, that has, to me, been a source of particular gratification. For, after all, the home is the beginning and centre of all good things. The life of our Nation is learned in the first rudiments of government at home and that lesson of veneration for things that are good. With these elements I think you are sure to make the career of Vermont not greater in temporary things, but greater in those things which are more productive to the Nation and to mankind. [Prolonged cheers.]

WINDSOR, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

It was raining when the President arrived at Windsor, at 1 P.M. He was met by Senator William M. Evarts, accompanied by Hon. C. C. Beaman, of New York; Hon. Chester Pike, of Cornish, N. H., and the following prominent citizens, comprising the local Committee of Reception: Col. Marsh O. Perkins, Dwight Tuxbury, Hon. G. A. Davis, Dr. C. P. Holden, Dr. J. S. Richmond, U. L. Comings, George T. Low, Hon. Rollin Amsden, E. C. Howard, Charles H. Fitch, O. L. Patrick, Rev. E. N. Goddard, S. N. Stone, S. R. Bryant, J. M. Howe, George T. Hazen, S. M. Blood, S. E. Hoisington, Horace Weston, A. E. Houghton, A. J. Hunter, Allen Dudley, Dr. Deane Richmond, J. R. Brewster, A. D. Cotton, G. R. Guernsey, Charles N. Adams, Col. M. K. Paine, H. W. Stocker, George M. Stone, Harvey Miller, George T. Winn, and C. D. Penniman.