Part 6

The States of Indiana and Illinois are neighbors, geographically. The river that for a portion of its length constitutes the boundary between our States is not a river of division. Its tendency seems to be, in these times when so many things are "going dry" [cheers], rather to obliterate than to enlarge the obstruction between us. [Cheers.] But I rejoice to know that we are not only geographically neighbors, but that Indiana and Illinois have been neighborly in the high sentiments and purposes which have characterized their people. I rejoice to know that the same high spirit of loyalty and devotion to the country that characterized the State of Illinois in the time when the Nation made its appeal to the brave men of all the States to rescue its flag and its Constitution from the insurrection which had been raised against them was equally characteristic of Indiana--that the same great impulse swept over your State that swept over ours--that Richard Yates of Illinois [cheers] and Oliver P. Morton of Indiana [prolonged cheers] stood together in the fullest sympathy and co-operation in the great plans they devised to augment and re-enforce the Union armies in the field and to suppress and put down treasonable conspiracies at home.

As Americans and as Republicans we are glad that Illinois has contributed so many and such conspicuous names to that galaxy of great Americans and great Republicans whose deeds have been written on the scroll of eternal fame. I recall that it was on the soil of Illinois that Lovejoy died--a martyr to free speech. [Cries of "Hear!" "Hear!"] He was the forerunner of Abraham Lincoln. He died, but his protest against human slavery lived. Another great epoch in the march of liberty found on the soil of Illinois the theatre of its most influential event. I refer to that high debate in the presence of your people, but before the world, in which Douglas won the senatorship and Lincoln the presidency and immortal fame. [Loud cheers.]

But Lincoln's argument and Lincoln's proclamation must be made good upon the battle-field--and again your State was conspicuous. You gave us Grant and Logan [prolonged cheers] and a multitude of less notable, but not less faithful, soldiers who underwrote the proclamation with their swords. [Cheers.] I congratulate you to-day that there has come out of this early agitation--out of the work of Lovejoy, the disturber; out of the great debate of 1858, and out of the war for the Union, a Nation without a slave [cheers]--that not the shackles of slavery only have been broken, but that the scarcely less cruel shackles of prejudice which bound every black man in the North have also been unbound.

We are glad to know that the enlightened sentiment of the South to-day unites with us in our congratulations that slavery has been abolished. They have come to realize, and many of their best and greatest men to publicly express, the thought that the abolition of slavery has opened a gateway of progress and material development to the South that was forever closed against her people while domestic slavery existed.

We send them the assurance that we desire the streams of their prosperity shall flow bank full. We would lay upon their people no burdens that we do not willingly bear ourselves. They will not think it amiss if I say that the burden which rests willingly upon our shoulders is a faithful obedience to the Constitution and the laws. A manly assertion by each of his individual rights, and a manly concession of equal right to every other man, is the boast and the law of good citizenship.

Let me thank you again and ask you to excuse me from further public speech. I now ask an opportunity to meet my Illinois friends personally [Loud and prolonged cheers.]

The second speech of the day was delivered at 9 o'clock at night to an enthusiastic delegation of fifteen hundred Republicans from Shelbyville, Shelby County, led by Hon. H. C. Gordon, J. Walter Elliott, C. H. Campbell, James T. Caughey, C. X. Matthews, J. Richey, E. S. Powell, E. E. Elliott, L. S. Limpus, Orland Young, and Norris Winterowd. Judge J. C. Adams was their spokesman. General Harrison touched upon civil service; he said:

_Judge Adams and my Shelby County Friends_--This is only a new evidence of your old friendliness. My association with the Republicans of Shelby County began in 1855, when I was a very young man and a still younger politician. In that year, if I recollect right, I canvassed every township of your county in the interest of Mr. Campbell, who was then a candidate for County Clerk. Since then I have frequently visited your county, and have always been received with the most demonstrative evidence of your friendship. But in addition to these political associations, which have given me an opportunity to observe and to admire the steadfastness, the courage, the unflinching faithfulness of the Republicans of Shelby County [cheers], I have another association with your county, which I cherish with great tenderness and affection. Two companies of the Seventieth Indiana were made up of your brave boys: Company B, commanded by Captain Sleeth, and Company F, commanded by Captain Endsley, who still lives among you. [Cheers.] Many of the surviving members of these companies still dwell among you. Many others are in the far West, and they, too, from their distant homes have sent me a comrade's greeting. I recollect a little story of Peach Tree Creek that may interest you. When the Seventieth Indiana, then under command of Col. Sam Merrill, swung up from the reserve into the front line to meet the enemy's charge, the adjutant-general of the brigade, who had been directed to order the advance, reported that the left of the Seventieth Indiana was exposed. He said he had ordered the bluff old captain of Company F, who was commanding the left wing, to reserve his left in order to cover his flank, but that the old hickory had answered him with an expletive--which I have no doubt he has repented of--that he "could not see it," that he proposed that his end of the regiment should get to the top of that hill as quick as the other end. [Prolonged cheers.]

We will venerate the memory of the dead of these companies and their associate companies in other commands who gave up their lives in defence of the flag.

But I turn aside from these matters of personal recollection to say a word of more general concern. We are now at the opening of a presidential campaign, and I beg to suggest to you, as citizens of the State of Indiana, that there is always in such campaigns a danger to be avoided, viz. That the citizen may overlook the important local and State interests which are also involved in the campaign. I beg, therefore, to suggest that you turn your minds not only to the consideration of the questions connected with the national legislation and national administration, but that you think deeply and well of those things that concern our local affairs. There are some such now presented to you that have to do with the honor and prosperity of the State.

There are some questions that ought not to divide parties, but upon which all good men ought to agree. I speak of only one. The great benevolent institutions--the fruit of our Christian civilization--endowed by the bounty of the State, maintained by public taxes, and intended for the care and education of the disabled classes of our community, ought to be lifted above all party influences, benefit or control. [Cheers.] I believe you can do nothing that will more greatly enhance the estimation in which the State of Indiana is held by her sister States than to see to it that a suitable, well-regulated, and strict civil service is provided for the administration of the benevolent and penal institutions of the State of Indiana. I will not talk longer; I thank you for this magnificent evidence that I am still held in kindly regard by the Republicans of Shelby County, and bid you good-night. [Cheers.]

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 24.

On the twenty-fourth of July Champaign County, Illinois, contributed a large delegation under the direction of Hon. F. K. Robeson, Z. Riley, H. W. Mahan, and W. M. Whindley. Their parade was conspicuous for the number of log-cabins, cider-barrels, coons, eagles, and other campaign emblems.

Prominent members of the delegation were Rev. I. S. Mahan, H. M. Dunlap, F. M. McKay, J. J. McClain, James Barnes, Rev. John Henry, H. S. Clark, M. S. Goodrich, A. W. McNichols, Capt. J. H. Sands and three veterans of 1836, the Rev. S. K. Reed, Stephen Freeman, and W. B. Downing. Hon. Frank M. Wright delivered the address on behalf of the visitors. General Harrison responded:

_My Friends_--I feel very conscious of the compliment which is conveyed by your presence here to-day. You come as citizens of an adjoining State to manifest, as your spokesman has said, some personal respect for me, but much more, I think--your interest in the pending contention of principles before the people of the United States. It is fortunate that you are allowed, not only to express your interest by such popular gatherings as these, but that you will be called upon individually, after the debate is over, to settle this contention by your ballots. An American political canvass, when we look through the noise and tinsel that accompanies it, presents a scene of profound interest to the student of government. The theory upon which our Government is builded is that every qualified elector shall have an equal influence at the ballot-box with every other. Our Constitutions do not recognize fractional votes; they do not recognize the right of one man to count one and a half in the determination of public questions. It is wisely provided that whatever differences may exist in intelligence, in wealth, or in any other respect, at the ballot-box there shall be absolute equality. No interest can be truly subserved, whether local or general, by any invasion of this great principle. The wise work of our fathers in constructing this Government will stand all tests of internal dissension and revolution, and all tests of external assault, if we can only preserve a pure, free ballot. [Applause.] Every citizen who is a patriot ought to lend his influence to that end, by promoting necessary reforms in our election laws and by a watchful supervision of the processes of our popular elections. We ought to elevate in thought and practice the free suffrage that we enjoy. As long as it shall be held by our people to be the jewel above price, as long as each for himself shall claim its free exercise and shall generously and manfully insist upon an equally free exercise of it by every other man, our Government will be preserved and our development will not find its climax until the purpose of God in establishing this Government shall have spread throughout the world--governments "of the people, by the people, and for the people." [Cheers.]

You will not expect, nor would it be proper, that I should follow the line of your spokesman's remarks, or even allude to some things that he has alluded to; but I will not close without one word of compliment and comradeship for the soldiers of Illinois. [Applause.] I do not forget that many of them, like Logan--that fearless and first of volunteer soldiers--at the beginning of the war were not in sympathy with the Republican national administration. You had a multitude of soldiers besides Logan, one of whom has been immortalized in poetry--Sergeant Tillman Joy--who put their politics by "to keep till the war was through;" and many, I may add, like Logan, when they got home found new party associations. But we do not limit our praise of the loyalty and faithfulness of your soldiers to any party lines, for we realize that there were good soldiers who did resume their ante-war politics when they came back from the army. To such we extend a comrade's hand always, and the free and untrammelled exercise of his political choice shall not bar our comradeship. It happened during the war that three Illinois regiments were for some time under my command. I had opportunity to observe their perfection in drill, their orderly administration of camp duties, and, above all, the brilliant courage with which they met the enemy. And, in complimenting them, I take them as the type of that great army that Illinois sent out for the preservation of the Union and the Constitution. Let me thank you again for your friendly visit to-day; and if any of you desire a nearer acquaintance, I shall be glad to make that acquaintance now.

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 25.

Two thousand visitors from Edgar and Coles counties, Illinois, paid their respects to the Republican nominee this day.

The excursion was under the auspices of the John A. Logan Club of Paris, Charles P. Fitch, President. There were many farmers in the delegation, also eighty-two veterans of the campaign of 1840, and the watchwords of the day were "Old Tippecanoe and young Tippecanoe." The reception took place at University Park, notable from this time forward for many similar events. Prominent among the visitors were Geo. F. Howard, Capt. F. M. Rude, J. W. Howell, E. R. Lodge, Capt. J. C. Bessier, M. Hackett, James Stewart, and Mayor J. M. Bell of Paris; C. G. Peck and J. H. Clark of Mattoon; and Hon. John W. Custor of Benton. State Senator George E. Bacon delivered the congratulatory address. General Harrison replied:

_Senator Bacon and my Illinois Friends_--Some of my home friends have been concerned lest I should be worn out by the frequent coming of these delegations. I am satisfied from what I see before me to-day that the rest of Illinois is here [laughter], and the concern of my friends will no longer be excited by the coming of Illinois delegations. [A voice, "We are all here!"] That you should leave the pursuits of your daily life--the farm, the office, and the shop--to make this journey gives me the most satisfactory evidence that your hearts are enlisted in this campaign. I am glad to welcome here to-day the John A. Logan Club of Paris. You have chosen a name that you will not need to drop, whatever mutations may come in politics, so long as there shall be a party devoted to the flag and to the Constitution, and pledged to preserve the memories of the great deeds of those who died that the Constitution might be preserved and the flag honored. [Applause.] General Logan was indeed, as your spokesman has said, "the typical volunteer soldier." With him loyalty was not a sentiment; it was a passion that possessed his whole nature.

When the civil war broke out no one did more than he to solidify the North in defence of the Government. He it was who said that all parties and all platforms must be subordinated to the defence of the Government against unprovoked assault. [A voice, "That's just what he said!"] In the war with Mexico, as a member of the First Illinois Regiment, and afterwards as the commander of the Thirty-first Illinois in the civil war, he gave a conspicuous example of what an untrained citizen could do in the time of public peril. In the early fight at Donelson he, with the First Illinois Brigade, successfully resisted the desperate assaults that were made upon his line; twice wounded, he yet refused to leave the field. The courage of that gallant brigade called forth from a Massachusetts poet the familiar lines:

"Thy proudest mother's eyelids fill, As dares her gallant boy, And Plymouth Rock and Bunker Hill Yearn to thee, Illinois."

[Applause.] He commanded successively brigades, divisions, corps and armies, and fought them with unvarying success. I greet these veterans of the campaign of 1840. You recall the pioneer days, the log cabin days of the West, the days when muddy highways were the only avenues of travel and commerce. You have seen a marvellous development. The State of your adoption has become a mighty commonwealth; you have seen it crossed and recrossed by railroads, bringing all your farms into easy communication with distant markets; you have seen the schoolhouse and church brought into every neighborhood; you have seen this country rocked in the cradle of war; you have seen it emerge from that dreadful trial and enter upon an era of prosperity that seems to surpass all that had gone before.

To these young men who will, for the first time this year, take part as citizens in determining a presidential election, I suggest that you have become members of a party of precious memories. There has been nothing in the history of the Republican party, nothing in the platform of principles that it has proclaimed, that is not calculated to stir the high impulses of your young hearts. The Republican party has walked upon high paths. It has set before it ever the maintenance of the Union, the honor of its flag, and the prosperity of our people. It has been an American party [great cheering] in that it has set American interests always to the front.

My friends of the colored organization, I greet you as Republicans to-day. I recall the time when you were disfranchised; when your race were slaves; when the doors of our institutions of learning were closed against you, and even admittance to many of our Northern States was denied you. You have read the story of your disfranchisement, of the restoration to you of the common rights of men. Read it again; read the story of the bitter and bigoted opposition that every statute and constitutional amendment framed for your benefit encountered. What party befriended you when you needed friends? What party has stood always as an obstruction to the development and enlargement of your rights as citizens? When you have studied these questions well you will be able to determine not only where your gratitude is due, but where the hopes of your race lie. [Cheers.]

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 26.

From Clay County, Indiana, came three thousand coal-miners and others, this day, under the auspices of the Harrison Miners' Club of Brazil. Their parade, with dozens of unique banners and devices, was one of the most imposing of the campaign. Prominent in the delegation were Dr. Joseph C. Gifford, L. A. Wolfe, Jacob Herr, P. H. Penna, John F. Perry, C. P. Eppert, E. C. Callihan, W. H. Lowery, Rev. John Cox, A. F. Bridges, William Sporr, Carl Thomas, Geo. F. Fuller, John Gibbons, Sam'l Blair, Thomas Washington, and Judge Coffey of Brazil. Major William Carter and Edward Wilton, a miner, delivered addresses; Rob't L. McCowan spoke for the colored members of the delegation. General Harrison, in response, said:

_Gentlemen and Friends from Clay County_--I thank you for this enthusiastic demonstration of your interest. I am glad to be assured by those who have spoken for you to-day that you have brought here, and desire to evidence, some personal respect for me; but this demonstration has relation, I am sure, rather to principles than to men. You come as representatives of the diversified interests of your county. You are fortunate in already possessing diversified industries. You have not only agriculture, but the mine and factory which provide a home market for the products of your farms. You come here, as I understand, from all these pursuits, to declare that in your opinion your interests, as farmers, as miners, as mechanics, as tradesmen, are identified with the maintenance of the doctrine of protection to American industries, and the preservation of the American market for American products. [Cheers.] Some resort to statistics to show that the condition of the American workman is better than that of the workman of any other country. I do not care now to deal with statistics. One fact is enough for me. The tide of emigration from all European countries has been and is towards our shores. The gates of Castle Garden swing inward. They do not swing outward to any American laborer seeking a better country than this. [Cries of "Never!"]

My countrymen, these men, who have toiled at wages in other lands that barely sustained life, and opened no avenue of promise to them or to their children, know the good land of hope as well as the swallow knows the land of summer. [Applause.] They testify that here there are better conditions, wider and more hopeful prospects for workmen than in any other land. The next suggestion I have to make is this: that the more work there is to do in this country the higher the wages that will be paid for the doing of it. [Applause.] I speak to men who know that when the product of their toil is in demand in the market, when buyers are seeking it, wages advance; but when the market for your products is depressed, and the manufacturer is begging for buyers, then wages go down. Is it not clear, then, that that policy which secures the largest amount of work to be done at home is the policy which will secure to laboring men steady employment and the best wages? [Cheers and cries of "That is right!"] A policy which will transfer work from our mines and our factories to foreign mines and foreign factories inevitably tends to the depression of wages here. [Applause and cries of "That is true!"] These are truths that do not require profound study.

Having here a land that throws about the workingman social and political conditions more favorable than are found elsewhere, if we can preserve also more favorable industrial conditions we shall secure the highest interests of our working classes. [Great cheering.] What, after all, is the best evidence of a nation's prosperity, and the best guarantee of social order, if it is not an intelligent, thrifty, contented working class? Can we look for contentment if the workman is only able to supply his daily necessities by his daily toil, but is not able in the vigor of youth to lay up a store against old age? A condition of things that compels the laborer to contemplate want, as an incident of sickness or disability, is one that tends to social disorder. [Applause and cries of "That is so!"] You are called upon now to consider these problems. I will not debate them in detail, others will. I can only commend them to your thoughtful consideration. Think upon them; conclude for yourselves what policy as to our tariff legislation will best subserve your interests, the interests of your families, and the greatness and glory of the Nation of which you are citizens. [Cheers.]

My colored friends who are here to-day, the emancipation of the slave removed from our country that which tended to degrade labor. All men are now free; you are thrown upon your own resources; the avenues of intelligence and of business success are open to all. I notice that the party to which we belong has been recently reproached by the suggestion that we have not thoroughly protected the colored man in the South. This has been urged as a reason why the colored people should join the Democratic party. I beg the gentlemen who urge that plea to answer this question: Against whom is it that the Republican party has been unable, as you say, to protect your race? [Applause and cries of "Good! Good!"] Thanking you again for this demonstration and for your friendly expressions, I will, if it be your pleasure, drop this formal method of communication and take my Clay County friends by the hand. [Great cheering.]