Chapter II: Part 2

_Gentlemen_--I am very much obliged to my Hendricks County friends
for this visit. The trouble you have taken to make this call so soon
after information of the result at Chicago reached you induces me
to say a word or two, though you will not, of course, expect any
reference to politics or any extended reference to the result at
Chicago. I very highly appreciate the wise, discreet and affectionate
interest which our delegation and the people of Indiana have displayed
in the convention which has just closed at Chicago. [Cries of "Good!"
"Good!" and cheers.] I accept your visit to-day as an expression of
your confidence and respect, and I thank you for it. [Great cheering.]

Scarcely had the Danville visit concluded before another organization from Hendricks County arrived, the Republican Club of Plainfield, led by Dr. Harlan, William G. Ellis, Oscar Hadley, and A. T. Harrison.

Responding to their call, General Harrison said:

_Gentlemen_--I can only thank you for this evidence of your
friendliness. That so many of my Hendricks County friends should have
reached Indianapolis so soon after hearing the result at Chicago is
very gratifying. The people of your county have always given me the
most hearty support whenever I have appealed to them for support. I
have a most affectionate interest in your county and in its people,
especially because of the fact that it furnished two companies to the
regiment which I took into the field. Some of the best and most loyal
of these soldiers gave their lives for their country in the battles in
which the regiment was engaged. These incidents have attached me to
the county, and I trust I have yet, even here among this group, some
of my friends of the Seventieth Indiana surviving, who will always be
glad to extend to me, as I to them, a comrade's hand. I thank you for
this call.

A few moments later two large delegations arrived from Hamilton and Howard Counties: Hon. J. R. Gray of Noblesville and Milton Garrigus of Kokomo delivered congratulatory addresses on behalf of their townsmen, to which General Harrison responded:

I thank you, my friends of Hamilton County, for this call. I know
the political steadfastness of that true and tried county. Your people
have always been kind to me. I thank you for this evidence of your
confidence and respect.

Howard County. Of that county I may say what I have said of Hamilton
County. It is a neighbor in location and it is a neighbor in good
works. [Great cheering.]

On the evening of the twenty-fifth five thousand or more neighbors and residents of the city congregated before the Harrison residence.

The General, on appearing, was greeted by a demonstration lasting several minutes. The standard-bearers, carrying the great banner of the Oliver P. Morton Club, made their way to the steps and held the flag over his head. Hon. W. N. Harding finally quieted the crowd and presented General Harrison, who spoke as follows:

_Neighbors and Friends_--I am profoundly sensible of the kindness
which you evidence to-night in gathering in such large numbers
to extend to me your congratulations over the result at Chicago.
It would be altogether inappropriate that I should say anything
of a partisan character. Many of my neighbors who differ with me
politically have kindly extended to me, as citizens of Indianapolis,
their congratulations over this event. [Cries of "Good!" "Good!"] Such
congratulations, as well as those of my neighbors who sympathize with
me in my political beliefs, are exceedingly grateful. I have been a
long time a resident of Indianapolis--over thirty years. Many who are
here before me have been with me, during all those years, citizens of
this great and growing capital of a magnificent State. We have seen
the development and growth of this city. We are proud of its position
to-day, and we look forward in the future to a development which shall
far outstrip that which the years behind us have told. I thank you
sincerely for this evidence that those who have known me well and long
give me still their confidence and respect. [Cheers and applause.]

Kings sometimes bestow decorations upon those whom they desire to
honor, but that man is most highly decorated who has the affectionate
regard of his neighbors and friends. [Great applause, and cries of
"Hurrah for Harrison!"] I will only again thank you most cordially
for this demonstration of your regard. I shall be glad, from time to
time, as opportunity offers, to meet you all personally, and regret
that to-night this crowd is so great that it will be impossible for me
to take each one of you by the hand [cries of "We'll forgive you!"],
but we will be here together and my house will always open its doors
gladly to any of you when you may desire to see me. [Great cheering.]

INDIANAPOLIS, JUNE 26.

The evening of the day following his nomination General Harrison was visited by the surviving members of his old regiment, the Seventieth Indiana Volunteers, led by Major George W. Grubbs of Martinsville. There was also present a delegation from Boone County headed by the Hon. Henry L. Bynum, O. P. Mahan and S. J. Thompson; also the returning delegates from Vermont to the Chicago convention, headed by Gov. Redfield Proctor and General J. G. McCullough.

Responding to the address of Major Grubbs, on behalf of the veterans, General Harrison said:

_Comrades_--Called, as I have been, by the national convention of
one of the great political parties of this country to be its candidate
for the presidency, it will probably be my fortune before the election
to receive many delegations representing various interests and classes
of our fellow-citizens, but I am sure that out of them all there will
come none whose coming will touch my heart so deeply as this visit
from my comrades of the Seventieth Indiana and these scattered members
of the other regiments that constituted the First Brigade of the Third
Division of the Twentieth Army Corps. I recall the scene to which
Major Grubbs has alluded. I remember that summer day, when, equipped
and armed, we were called to leave our homes and cross the Ohio River
and enter the territory that was in arms against the Government which
we were sworn to support. I recall, with you, the tender parting, the
wringing of hearts with which we left those we loved. I recall the
high and buoyant determination, the resolute carriage with which you
went to do your part in the work of suppressing the great rebellion.
I remember the scenes through which we went in that hard discipline
of service and sickness, and all of those hard incidents which are
necessary to convert citizens into veterans.

I remember the scenes of battle in which we stood together. I
remember especially that broad and deep grave at the foot of the
Resaca hill where we left those gallant comrades who fell in that
desperate charge. I remember, through it all, the gallantry, devotion
and steadfastness, the high set patriotism you always exhibited. I
remember how, after sweeping down with Sherman from Chattanooga to the
sea and up again through the Carolinas and Virginia, you, with those
gallant armies that had entered the gate of the South by Louisville
and Vicksburg, marched in the great review up the grand avenue of our
Nation's capital.

I remember that proud scene of which we were part that day; the
glad rejoicing as our faces were turned homeward, the applause which
greeted us as the banner of our regiment was now and then recognized
by some home friends who had gathered to see us--the whole course of
these incidents of battle, of sickness, of death, of victory, crowned
thus by the triumphant reassertion of national authority, and by the
muster out and our return to those homes that we loved, made again
secure against all the perils which had threatened them.

I feel that in this campaign upon which I am entering, and which
will undoubtedly cause careful scrutiny, perhaps unkind and even
malicious assault, all that related to my not conspicuous but loyal
services with you in the army I may confidently leave, with my honor,
in the hands of the surviving members of the Seventieth Indiana,
whatever their political faith may be. [Cries of "That is true,
General!" and "Yes!" "Yes!"]

May I ask you now, for I am too deeply moved by this visit to speak
as I would desire, that each one will enter this door, that will
always open with a hearty welcome to you, and let me take you by the
hand? [Cheering.]

The event of the night was the visit of the California delegation, at ten o'clock, accompanied by the Indiana delegation to Chicago and several hundred personal friends and neighbors of General Harrison just returned from Chicago, where they had been laboring for his nomination.

The Hon. M. H. de Young and John F. Ellison of California delivered congratulatory addresses, on conclusion of which the Californians hastened to their train; after they departed the great crowd refused to disperse and called repeatedly for General Harrison, who responded as follows:

_Fellow-Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen_--I am very deeply impressed
and gratified with this magnificent demonstration of your respect. No
man can be so highly honored by any convention, or by any decoration
which any of the authorities of the Government can bestow, as by the
respect and confidence of those who live near him. My heart is touched
by this demonstration which my fellow-citizens have given me of their
personal respect for me. I do not, however, accept this manifestation
of interest as wholly due to myself. The great bulk of those who
are assembled here to-night manifest rather their interest in those
political principles which I have been called by the representatives,
in national convention of the Republican party, to represent in this
campaign. But I will not discuss any of those high issues to-night,
because I am glad to know that among those who are gathered here,
and among those who have paid me the compliment of their presence in
my home, there are many citizens of Indianapolis who differ with me
politically. I would not, therefore, if it were otherwise proper, mar
this occasion by the discussion of any political topic. I am glad to
have an opportunity to return my sincere and heartfelt thanks to the
Indiana delegation, and to that band of devoted friends who gathered
about them and assisted them in their work at Chicago. When I saw in
the newspaper press of the East and of the West the encomiums that
were passed by the correspondents upon the deportment and character of
the representatives of Indiana at Chicago, I was greatly pleased. When
I heard of their affectionate devotion, of their discreet and wise
presentation of the claims of Indiana, I was still further gratified.
And if the result of that convention had been, as it well might have
been if individuals had only been considered in the contest that was
there waged, the selection for this high place of some one other
than myself, I should have felt that the devoted interest, the wise
and faithful presentation by the Indiana delegation of the Indiana
situation was such that the failure to yield to their argument would
still have left me crowned with the highest crown that can be placed
upon mortal brow--the affection and confidence and discreet support
of my friends from Indiana. [Cries of "Good!" "Good!"] I am glad that
the despatches said of them, and truly said, that they conducted their
canvass with that gentle and respectful regard to the interests and
character of the others who were named for this high place, and that
they came home without those regrets which must have followed if this
victory had been won at the expense of any of those noble names that
were presented for the suffrage of the convention.

I do not feel at all that in selecting the candidate who was chosen
regard was had simply to the individual equipment and qualifications
for the duties of this high office. I feel sure that if the convention
had felt free to regard these things only, some other of those
distinguished men, old-time leaders of the Republican party, Blaine,
or Sherman, or Allison, or some of the others named--would have been
chosen in preference to me. I feel that it was the situation in
Indiana and its relation to the campaign that was impending rather
than the personal equipment or qualifications of the candidate that
was chosen that turned the choice of the convention in our direction.
We are here to-night to thank those members of the convention who
have done us the honor to pay our capital a visit to-night not only
for this visit, but for the support and interest which they took in
the Indiana candidacy in the convention at Chicago. I thank you again
for gathering here to-night. I am sure that in this demonstration
you give evidence that the interest in this campaign will not flag
until the election has determined the result of the contest. And I
feel sure, too, my fellow-citizens, that we have joined now a contest
of great principles, and that the armies which are to fight out this
great contest before the American people will encamp upon the high
plains of principle, and not in the low swamps of personal defamation
or detraction. [Cries of "Hear!" "Hear!" and "Good!"] Again I thank
you for the compliment of your presence here to-night, and bid you
good-night. [Great cheering.]

INDIANAPOLIS, JUNE 30.

During the afternoon representatives of the Marquette Club of Chicago--of which General Harrison is an honorary member--called to present a set of congratulatory resolutions adopted by the club. The committee comprised Geo. V. Lauman, H. D. Crocker, W. S. Gilbert, E. B. Gould, H. M. Kingman and J. S. Moore.

One of the resolutions recited that

"The Marquette Club of Chicago takes great pride in the fact that within its walls and at its board was fired the first gun in Chicago of that memorable contest which has culminated in the nomination of its most honored member, General Benjamin Harrison, to fill the highest office within the gift of the American people."

General Harrison in response said:

_Gentlemen of the Marquette Club_--I sincerely thank you for the
congratulations of the Marquette Club of Chicago. I well recollect
the evening I spent with you last February, and I remember how
favorably your club impressed me at that time as a body of active,
energetic young Republicans: not so much an organization for social
purposes as for active advancement of Republican principles in your
vicinity, and in the country as well. I thought I recognized in you
then an efficient body for work in the State of Illinois, one that
could in the coming campaign render signal service to the party whose
principles its members maintain. I rejoice in your coming to call on
me here, and I hope you will carry my sincere thanks to your members,
and make yourselves welcome at my home now and whenever you are in
Indianapolis.

On the evening of June 30 several thousand citizens, irrespective of party, paid their respects to General Harrison; at the head of the column marched four hundred veterans commanded by Moses G. McLain. Major James L. Mitchell, a prominent Democrat, was spokesman for the veterans.

General Harrison, responding, said:

_Comrade Mitchell and Fellow-Soldiers_--I sincerely thank you for
this evidence of your respect and comradeship. I am very certain that
there is no class whose confidence and respect I more highly prize or
more earnestly covet than that of the soldiers who, in the great war
from 1861 to 1865, upheld the loved banner of our country and brought
it home in honor. The comradeship of the war will never end until our
lives end. The fires in which our friendship was riveted and welded
were too hot for the bond ever to be broken. We sympathize with each
other in the glory of the common cause for which we fought. We went,
not as partisans, but as patriots, into the strife which involved
the national life. I am sure that no army was ever assembled in the
world's history that was gathered from higher impulses than the army
of the Union. [Cries of "Right!" "Right!"]

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.

General Harrison received four delegations this day. The first was a committee of veterans from John A. Logan Post, No. 99, G. A. R., of North Manchester, Wabash County, who came to invite the General to attend a soldiers' reunion for Northern Indiana. The committee comprised Shelby Sexton, Senior Vice-Commander Indiana G. A. R.; John Elwood, Geo. Lawrence, J. A. Brown, W. E. Thomas, I. D. Springdon, J. C. Hubbard, J. M. Jennings, E. A. Ebbinghous, L. J. Noftzger, and S. V. Hopkins. Rev. R. J. Parrott delivered the address of invitation. General Harrison responded:

_Comrades and Gentlemen_--Your request is one that appeals to me
very strongly, and if it were single I should very promptly accede
to it, but, without being told, you will readily understand that
invitations of a kindred nature are coming to me every day, presented
by individual comrades and committees, but more frequently by written
communications.

I have felt that if I opened a door in this direction it would be
a very wide one, and I would either subject myself to the criticism
of having favored particular localities or particular organizations,
to the neglect of others having equal claims upon me, or that I
should be compelled to give to this pleasant duty--as it would be if
other duties did not crowd me--too much of my time. I am, therefore,
compelled to say to you that it will be impossible for me to accept
your invitation. But in doing this, I want to thank you for the
interest you have shown in my presence with you, and I want especially
to thank you for the spirit of comradeship which brings you here. I am
glad to know--and I have many manifestations of it--that the peculiar
position in which I am placed as a candidate of a political party
does not separate me from the cordial friendship and comradeship of
those who differ with me politically. I should greatly regret it if
it should be so. We held our opinions and fought for them when the
war was on, and we will hold them now in affectionate comradeship and
mutual respect. I thank you for your visit.

The second delegation also came from Wabash County and was under the leadership of William Hazen, Warren Bigler, James P. Ross, James E. Still, Robert Weesner, John Rodgers, Job Ridgway, and Joseph Ridgway, aged 83, of Wabash City. Their spokesman was Mr. Cowgill. General Harrison, responding, said:

_Mr. Cowgill and my Wabash County Friends_--In 1860 I was first
a candidate before a convention for nomination to a public office.
Possibly some of those who are here to-day were in that convention.
Wabash County presented in the person of my friend, and afterwards
my comrade, Col. Charles Parrish, a candidate for the office which I
also sought, that of Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the
State of Indiana. We had a friendly yet earnest contest before the
convention, in which I succeeded. A little later in the campaign, as I
was attempting to render to my party the services which my nomination
seemed to imply, I visited your good county and received at your hands
a welcome so demonstrative and cordial that I have always had a warm
place in my heart for your people. I was then almost a boy in years,
and altogether a boy in public life. Since then, in campaigns in which
I have had a personal interest, and in very many more wherein I had
only the general interest that you all had, it has been my pleasure
to visit your county, and I can testify to the earnest, intelligent
and devoted republicanism of Wabash County. You have never faltered
in any of the great struggles in which the party has engaged; and I
believe you have followed your party from a high conviction that the
purposes it set before us involved the best interests of the country
that you love, and to which you owe the duty of citizens. I know how
generously you contributed to the army when your sons were called
to defend it; and I know how, since the war, you have endeavored to
preserve and to conserve those results which you fought for, and
which made us again one people, acknowledging, and I hope loving, one
flag and one Constitution. [Applause.] I want to thank you personally
for this visit, and I wish now, if it is your pleasure, to meet you
individually.

Benton County, Indiana, contributed the third delegation of the day, led by H. S. Travis, Clark Cook, B. Johnson, Henry Taylor, Frank Knapp, and Robert L. Cox of Fowler. They were presented by Col. A. D. Streight. General Harrison said:

_Colonel Streight, Fellow-citizens, and Comrades_--I am very
grateful to you for this visit, and for the cordial terms in which
your spokesman has extended to me the congratulations of my friends
of Benton County. We have men who boast that they are cosmopolitans,
citizens of the world. I prefer to say that I am an American
citizen [applause], and I freely confess that American interests
have the first place in my regard. [Applause.] This is not at all
inconsistent with the recognition of that comity between nations
which is necessary to the peace of the world. It is not inconsistent
with that philanthropy which sympathizes with human distress and
oppression the world around. We have been especially favored as an
apart nation, separated from the conflicts, jealousies, and intrigues
of European courts, with a territory embracing every feature of
climate and soil, and resources capable of supplying the wants of our
people, of developing a wholesome and gigantic national growth, and
of spreading abroad, by their full establishment here, the principles
of human liberty and free government. I do not think it inconsistent
with the philanthropy of the broadest teacher of human love that
we should first have regard for that family of which we are a part.
Here in Indiana the drill has just disclosed to us the presence of
inexhaustible quantities, in a large area of our State, of that new
fuel which has the facility of doing its own transportation, even to
the furnace door, and which leaves no residuum to be carried away
when it has done its work. This discovery has added an impulse to our
growth. It has attracted manufacturing industries from other States.
Many of our towns have received, and this city, we may hope, is yet
to receive, a great impulse in the development of their manufacturing
industries by reason of this discovery. It seems to me that when this
fuller development of our manufacturing interests, this building up of
a home market for the products of our farms, which is sure to produce
here that which has been so obvious elsewhere--a great increase in
the value of farms and farm products--is opening to us the pleasant
prospect of a rapid growth in wealth, we should be slow to abandon
that system of protective duties which looks to the promotion and
development of American industry and to the preservation of the
highest possible scale of wages for the American workman. [Applause.]
The development of our country must be on those lines that benefit
all our people. Any development that does not reach and beneficially
affect all our people is not to be desired, and cannot be progressive
or permanent.

Comrades, you still love the flag for which we fought. We are
preserved in God's providence to see the wondrous results of that
struggle in which you were engaged--a reunited country, a Constitution
whose authority is no longer disputed, a flag to which all men bow. It
has won respect at home; it should be respected by all nations of the
earth as an emblem and representative of a people desiring peace with
all men, but resolute in the determination that the rights of all our
citizens the world around shall be faithfully respected. [Applause and
cries of "That's right!"] I thank you again for this visit, and, if it
be your pleasure, and your committee will so arrange, I will be glad
to take you by the hand.

The fourth and largest delegation of the day came from Boone County, numbering more than two thousand, led by Captain Brown, S. S. Heath, A. L. Howard, W. H. H. Martin, D. A. Rice, James Williamson, E. G. Darnell, D. H. Olive, and Captain Arbigas of Lebanon, the last-named veteran totally blind.

Another contingent was commanded by David O. Mason, J. O. Hurst, J. N. Harmon, and Mr. Denny, an octogenarian, all of Zionsville. Dr. D. C. Scull was orator for the visitors. General Harrison said:

_My Friends_--The magnitude of this demonstration puts us at a
disadvantage in our purpose to entertain you hospitably, as we had
designed when notified of your coming. [Cheers.] I regret that you
must stand exposed to the heat of the sun, and that I must be at the
disadvantage of speaking from this high balcony a few words of hearty
thanks. I hope it may be arranged by the committee so that I may yet
have the opportunity of speaking to you informally and individually.
I am glad to notice your quick interest in the campaign. I am sure
that that interest is stimulated by your devotion to the principles of
government which you conceive--rightly, as I believe--to be involved
in this campaign. [Applause.] I am glad to think that some of you,
veterans of a former political campaign to which your chairman has
alluded, and others of you, comrades in the great war for the Union,
come here to express some personal friendship for me. [Cheers.] But
I am sure that this campaign will be waged upon a plan altogether
above personal consideration. You are here as citizens of the State
of Indiana, proud of the great advancement the State has made since
those pioneer days when brave men from the East and South entered our
territory, blazing a pathway into the unbroken forest, upon which
civilization, intelligence, patriotism, and the love of God has walked
until we are conspicuous among the States as a community desirous of
social order, full of patriotic zeal, and pledged to the promotion of
that education which is to qualify the coming generations to discharge
honorably and well their duties to the Government which we will leave
in their hands. [Applause.] You are here also as citizens of the
United States, proud of that arch of strength that binds together
the States of this Union in one great Nation. But citizenship has
its duties as well as its privileges. The first is that we give our
energies and influence to the enactment of just, equal, and beneficent
laws. The second is like unto it--that we loyally reverence and
obey the will of the majority enacted into law, whether we are of a
majority or not [applause]; the law throws the ægis of its protection
over us all. It stands sentinel about your country homes to protect
you from violence; it comes into our more thickly populated community
and speaks its mandate for individual security and public order.
There is an open avenue through the ballot-box for the modification
or repeal of laws which are unjust or oppressive. To the law we bow
with reverence. It is the one king that commands our allegiance. We
will change our king, when his rule is oppressive, by these methods
appointed, and crown his more liberal successor. [Applause.] I thank
you again, most cordially, for this visit, and put myself in the
hands of your committee that I may have the privilege of meeting you
individually.

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 13.

One thousand employees of the various railroads centreing at Indianapolis, organized as a Harrison and Morton Club--J. C. Finch, President, and A. D. Shaw, Marshal of the occasion--called on General Harrison on the night of July 13. Yardmaster Shaw was spokesman. General Harrison replied: