Chapter XXII: Part 22

The train reached Washington at 5:30 o'clock, exactly on time to a fraction of a minute. General Harrison was the first to alight to meet his young grandson, Master Benjamin McKee, and the latter's little sister. There was no unusual demonstration or speech-making. The President was met by Secretaries Foster and Proctor, Attorney-General Miller, Ass't Atty.-Gen. James N. Tyner, Assistant Secretary Nettleton, Assistant Secretary Willetts, Major Pruden, and Captain Dinsmore.

PHILADELPHIA, MAY 30.

On Decoration Day, 1891, President Harrison, accompanied by Postmaster-General Wanamaker, Secretary Proctor, Secretary Tracy, and Private Secretary Halford, visited Philadelphia as the guests of George G. Meade Post, No. 1, G. A. R., to participate in their memorial ceremonies. They were met at the station by a committee from the post, comprising the following veterans: Post Commander Louis P. Langer, Senior Vice-Commander Alexander M. Appel, Junior Vice-Commander James Thompson, Adjutant A. C. Johnston, Officer of the Day Robert M. Green, Guard Charles Harris, Chaplain Rev. I. Newton Ritner, and Past Post Commanders Henry H. Bingham, Joseph R. C. Ward, George W. Devinny, L. D. C. Tyler, Alfred J. Sellers, William J. Simpson, James C. Wray, John A. Stevenson, Alexander Reed, Lewis W. Moore, John W. Wiedersheim, Isaiah Price, W. Wayne Vogdes, G. Harry Davis, Charles L. Sherman, Henry C. Harper, Penn Righter, and Isaac R. Oakford. Department Commander George Boyer and Asst. Adjt.-Gen. Samuel Town were also present to welcome the Commander-in-Chief. The historic City Troop of cavalry--who, from the day that General Washington entered Philadelphia to take his second inaugural oath, have acted as an escort to every President who has been a guest of the city--escorted the President and the committee to Independence Hall, where in a brief speech Mayor Stuart, in behalf of the city, welcomed the Chief Magistrate.

The President, replying to the address of welcome, said:

_Mr. Mayor, Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, and
Fellow-citizens_--I esteem it a great pleasure to stand in this
historic edifice in this historic city and to take part to-day as a
comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic in these most interesting
and instructive exercises, which commemorate events which have been
most deeply sunk in our hearts. I think it eminently appropriate that
we should stand for a little time before going to the graves of our
fallen comrades in this edifice, where the foundations of independence
were laid and put into development to make this great Nation to-day.
In my recent extensive trip through the country I was able to see the
effects of planting these seeds of freedom, in the flourishing plants
that have grown. [Applause.]

We are here in a community that was instituted on principles of
peace and good will among men. But you gave a conspicuous illustration
of the facts that the fruits of peace need to be protected.

You did not all depart from the great lessons taught when you united
with the comrades from all the other States to hold up the banner of
the Union and to maintain peace and to perpetuate it at all times. You
went out to maintain peace, and you have established in the affections
of all of us the flag of our faith, and the question of submission to
the Constitution and the law in all States has been settled to the
contentment of all.

I appreciate most highly this welcome, and I take part in these
exercises with a sense of their fitness and a sense of the greatness
of the event which they commemorate.

I have never been able to think that this day is one for mourning,
but think that instead of the flag being at half mast it should be at
the peak. I feel that the comrades whose graves we honor to-day would
rejoice if they could see where their valor has placed us. I feel that
the glory of their dying and the glory of their achievement covers all
grief and has put them on an imperishable roll of honor.

_At General Meade's Grave._

At the conclusion of the public reception at Independence Hall the President and his party were escorted to Laurel Hill Cemetery, where they took part in the ceremonies over the grave of Gen. George G. Meade, the hero of Gettysburg.

Along the entire line of march to the stand were immense crowds, who greeted the President with silent demonstrations of respect.

The usual Memorial Day exercises were held, and at their conclusion Commander Langer said: "I wish to introduce to you the honored guest of the day, Comrade Harrison, the Chief Magistrate of the Nation."

As the President stepped forward he was heartily cheered. He said:

_Commander, Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, and
Fellow-citizens_--I have neither the strength nor the voice adequate
to any extended speech to-day. I come to you as a comrade to take
part in the interesting exercises of this Memorial Day. It gives me
special pleasure to combine with that tribute which I have usually
been able to pay since this day was instituted to the dead of all
our armies a special mark of respect to that great soldier who won
Gettysburg. It is impossible to separate some impressions of sorrow
from these exercises, for they bring to memory comrades who have gone
from us. How vividly there comes to my memory many battle scenes; not
the impetuous rush of conflict, but the hour of sadness that followed
victory. Then it was our sad duty to gather from the field the bodies
of those who had given the last pledge of loyalty.

There is open to my vision more than one yawning trench in which we
laid the dead of the old brigade. We laid them, elbow touching elbow,
in the order in which they had stood in the line of battle. We left
them in the hasty sepulchre and marched on. Now we rejoice that a
grateful Government has gathered together the scattered dust of all
these comrades and placed them in beautiful and safe places of honor
and repose. I cannot but feel that if they could speak to us to-day
they would say put the flag at the top of the mast.

I have recently returned from an extended tour of the States, and
nothing so impressed and refreshed me as the universal display of
this banner of beauty and glory. It waved over every school-house, it
was in the hands of the school children. As we sped across the sandy
wastes at some solitary house a man, a woman, a child would come to
the door and wave it in loyal greeting. Two years ago I saw a sight
that has ever been present in my memory. As we were going out of the
harbor of Newport about midnight on a dark night some of the officers
of the torpedo station had prepared for us a beautiful surprise. The
flag at the top of the station was unseen in the darkness of the
night, when suddenly electric search-lights were turned on it, bathing
it in a flood of light.

All below the flag was hidden, and it seemed to have no touch with
earth, but to hang from the battlements of heaven. It was as if Heaven
was approving the human liberty and human equality typified by that
flag.

Let us take on this occasion a new draught of courage, make new
vows of consecration, for, my countrymen, it was not because it was
inconvenient that the rebel States should go, not that it spoiled the
autonomy of the country, but because it was unlawful that all this
sacrifice had to be made, to bring them back to their allegiance.
Let us not forget that as good citizens and good patriots it is our
duty always to obey the law and to give it our loyal support and
insist that every one else shall do so. There is no more mischievous
suggestion made than that the soldiers of the Union Army desire to lay
any yoke on those who fought against us other than the yoke of the
law. We cannot ask less than that in all relations they shall obey
the law, and that they shall yield to every other man his full rights
under the law.

I thank you for the pleasure of participating in these exercises
with you to-day, and give you a comrade's best wishes and a comrade's
good-by.

THE BENNINGTON TRIP, AUGUST, 1891.

On Tuesday, August 18, President Harrison left Cape May Point on a journey to Bennington, to participate in the dedication of Bennington Battle Monument. He was accompanied by Private Secretary Halford, Russell B. Harrison, Mr. Howard Cale, of Indianapolis, and George W. Boyd, of the Pennsylvania Company. The trip through New Jersey was uneventful. At Vineland, Glassboro, Camden, Trenton, and Burlington crowds greeted the President, but as it was raining there was no speech-making. At Jersey City the party was joined by John A. Sleicher, W. J. Arkell, and E. F. Tibbott, the President's stenographer.

Leaving New York at noon the first stop was at Cornwall, where the President was heartily welcomed by a large crowd and bowed his acknowledgments.

NEWBURGH, NEW YORK, AUGUST 18.

The weather cleared as the party reached historic Newburgh, where 3,000 people gave the Chief Executive a rousing welcome. Hon. M. Doyle, Mayor of Newburgh, and the following representative citizens received the President: Ex-Mayor B. B. Odell, Hon. A. S. Cassedy, Hon. B. B. Odell, Jr., William G. Taggart, Daniel S. Waring, William Chambers, Charles H. Hasbrouck, J. M. Dickey, Henry B. Lawson, James G. Graham, Thomas R. Spier, A. E. Layman, George Hasting, Maj. E. C. Boynton, A. Woolsey, John F. Tucker, William Lynn, George Brown, Dr. D. L. Kidd, H. C. Smith, Augustus Denniston, E. M. Murtfeldt, and John J. Nutt.

Colonel Sleicher introduced President Harrison, who said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I am very much obliged to you for this
friendly greeting. It is pleasant to run out of the rain and mist
that have hung about our train for an hour or two into this bright
sunshine and into the gladness of the pleasant welcome which you have
extended to us. You are situated here in a region full of historic
interest. Every child learns early here the story of the sacrifice and
courage of those who laid the foundation of this Government, which
has grown beyond the conception of even the wisest of our fathers. I
am sure that in these things you must all find inspiration to good
citizenship, and it is pleasant to know that you rejoice that it has
left its impress upon the hearts of all our people; that upon the
Sacramento as well as upon the Hudson men love the old memories and
the old flag. [Applause.]

I am glad to pause with you a moment in passing to the observance
in Vermont of one of those great battle events which led to the
independence of our country. We have great common interests as a
people, and, while we divide as to the method by which we would
promote the national prosperity, I am sure we are all devoted in heart
to the country and the institutions that have done so much for us. In
the interest of good government we are one; we all believe that the
Government should be so administered that all the people shall share
equally in its benefits; that there shall be no favored class. I thank
you again, and bid you good-by. [Applause.]

KINGSTON, NEW YORK, AUGUST 18.

At Kingston fully 2,000 people were assembled. Prominent among those who welcomed the President were Hon. James G. Linsley, Hon. Geo. M. Brink, H. W. Baldwin, William D. Brinnier, D. C. Overbaugh, S. B. Sharpe, B. J. Winnie, Charles B. Safford, George B. Merritt, O. P. Carpenter, James E. Phinney, and Noah Wolven.

After shaking hands for several minutes, Hon. William H. Turner introduced President Harrison, who said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--Perhaps I had better spend the moment or two
that remains in saying a word to all of you than in shaking hands
with the few that can gather about the car. You ask for a speech. It
is not very easy to know what one can talk about on such an occasion
as this. Those topics that are most familiar to me, because I am
brought in daily contact with them, namely, public affairs, are in
some measure prohibited to me, and I must speak therefore only of
those things upon which we agree; for I have no doubt, if we were
closely interrogated, some differences would develop in the views
of those assembled here. That is one of the things we are proud of
and that tend to the perpetuity and purity of our institutions--that
we are permitted to differ in our views, to be independent in our
opinions, and to be answerable to our consciences and to God only for
the convictions we entertain. I am sure, however, we all rejoice in
the evidences of prosperity which are spread over this good land of
ours. We rejoice in the freedom and happiness and contentment that are
in our communities and in our homes. We rejoice to know that no cloud
is over our horizon; that we are at peace with the world and at peace
among ourselves. I think the world has come to understand that it is
well to be at peace with us [applause], and I am sure we have come
to understand that it is very well to be at peace among our selves.
[Applause.]

Our situation is one of great favor. We are pretty widely separated
from those who would hurt us, if there are any such. We are secure
in our great isolation, and we are secure, too, in our great and
patriotic people. [Applause.] We do not maintain armies; we do not
need to extend the conscription list until it takes old age and youth.
We maintain only the merest skeleton of an army, but we have already
seen how speedily it may develop into gigantic proportions, and how,
in a few months, it may take on the discipline that makes it the equal
of any of the great armies of the world. [Applause.] We have this year
a season of unusual productiveness. The orchards are laden with fruit,
the gardens yield their abundant supplies to the table, and the fields
have produced crops that are too great for our storehouses.

God has greatly blessed us, and it happens that this season of our
abundance is not only good for us, but for the world; for again, as
many times before, the nations of Europe, by reason of crop failures,
must look to us to feed their people. We have a great surplus and an
assorted market for it. Our riches must be greatly increased as the
result of two magnificent harvests. Their good effects will be felt
in every home, contentment upon the farm, and well-paid labor in all
our cities and centres of manufacture. Thus it should be. Thus, I am
sure, we all rejoice that it is, because these institutions of ours
can have no danger except in a discontented citizenship. As long as
men have a free and equal chance, as long as the labor of their hands
may bring the needed supplies into the household, as long as there are
open avenues of hope and advancement to the children they love, men
are contented--they are good, loyal, American citizens. [Applause.]
And now I thank you again for your kindness. [Cheers.]

ALBANY, NEW YORK, AUGUST 18.

It was 6 o'clock in the afternoon when the President arrived at Albany, during a heavy rain. In anticipation of this visit from the head of the Nation, the following telegraphic correspondence had passed between the courteous Governor of New York and President Harrison:

ALBANY, August 12.
HON. BENJAMIN HARRISON, _Cape May, N. J._:

I learn for the first time to-day that you have accepted the
invitation of Mayor Manning to stop at Albany on your way to Vermont.
If the plan of your journey will enable you to pass a night in Albany,
as I hope it may, I shall be pleased to have yourself and party become
my guests at the Executive Mansion. Personally, as well as officially,
I assure you it gives me great pleasure to extend this invitation, and
I sincerely trust that you will so arrange your plans as to give me
the opportunity of entertaining you. The Executive Mansion is ample
for the accommodation of such members of your Cabinet or friends as
may accompany you. On behalf of the people of the State, also, I shall
be pleased to tender you a public reception at the State Capitol.

DAVID B. HILL.

STOCKTON HOUSE, CAPE MAY, August 12.
GOV. D. B. HILL, _Albany_:

I am very much obliged for your very cordial invitation, but it
will be only possible for me to make a brief stay at Albany. How
long depends upon the railroad schedule, not yet communicated to me.
As soon as details are arranged will advise you. For such time as
I can spare I will place myself in the hands of the city and State
authorities.

BENJAMIN HARRISON.

The following prominent citizens of Albany met the President at Selkirk and escorted him to the city: James Ten Eyck, Chairman; Col. A. E. Mather, John G. Myers, James M. Warner, Henry C. Nevitt, and William Barnes. Among others who greeted the President on his arrival were Capt. John Palmer, Commander-in-Chief of the G. A. R., Hon. Simon W. Rosendale, Deputy Controller Westbrook, H. N. Fuller, C. B. Templeton, William H. Cull, and Oscar Smith.

The reception was held in City Hall Square, where many thousand Albanians assembled. On the platform Governor Hill, Mayor Manning, with the Common Council, Secretary of State Rice, State Treasurer Danforth, and other State and municipal officers were gathered. The President received an ovation as he approached the stand. Mayor Manning welcomed him in the name of the city and presented Governor Hill, who extended to the Chief Magistrate a broader welcome in the name of the people of the Empire State.

Responding to these hospitable addresses, the President said:

_Governor Hill, Mr. Mayor, and Fellow-citizens_--The conditions
of the evening, these threatening and even dripping clouds, are not
favorable to any extended speech. I receive with great gratification
the very cordial expressions which have fallen from the lips of his
excellency, the Governor of this great State, and of his honor,
the Mayor of this great municipality. It is very gratifying to me
to be thus assured that as American citizens, as public officers
administering each different functions in connection with the
government of the Nation, of the State, and of the municipality, we,
in common with this great body of citizens, whose servants we all
are, have that common love for our institutions, and that common
respect for those who, by the appointed constitutional methods, have
been chosen to administer them, as on such occasions as this entirely
obliterates all differences and brings us together in the great and
enduring brotherhood of American citizens. [Prolonged cheering.]

This great capital of a great State I have had the pleasure of
visiting once or twice before. I have many times visited your
commercial capital, and have traversed in many directions the great
and prosperous Empire State. You have concentrated here great wealth
and great productive capacity for increased wealth, great financial
institutions that reach out in their influences and effects over
the whole land. You have great prosperity and great responsibility.
The general Government is charged with certain great functions in
which the people have a general interest. Among these is the duty
of providing for our people the money with which its business
transactions are conducted. There has sometimes been in some regions
of the great West a thought that New York, being largely a creditor
State, was disposed to be a little hard with the debtor communities
of the great West; but, my fellow-citizens, narrow views ought not to
prevail with them or with you and will not in the light of friendly
discussion. The law of commerce may be selfishness, but the law of
statesmanship should be broader and more liberal. I do not intend to
enter upon any subject that can excite division; but I do believe that
the general Government is solemnly charged with the duty of seeing
that the money issued by it is always and everywhere maintained at
par. I believe that I speak that which is the common thought of us all
when I say that every dollar, whether paper or coin, issued or stamped
by the general Government should always and everywhere be as good as
any other dollar. I am sure that we would all shun that condition of
things into which many peoples of the past have drifted, and of which
we have had in one of the great South American countries a recent
example--the distressed and hopeless condition into which all business
enterprise falls, when a nation issues an irredeemable or depreciated
money. The necessities of a great war can excuse that.

I am one of those that believe that these men from your shops, these
farmers remote from money centres, have the largest interest of all
people in the world in having a dollar that is worth one hundred cents
every day in the year, and only such. If by any chance we should fall
into a condition where one dollar is not so good as another I venture
the assertion that that poorer dollar will do its first errand in
paying some poor laborer for his work. Therefore, in the conduct of
our public affairs I feel pledged, for one, that all the influences of
the Government should be on the side of giving the people only good
money and just as much of that kind as we can get. [Cheers.]

Now, my fellow-citizens, we have this year a most abundant, yes,
extraordinary, grain crop. All of the great staples have been yielded
to the labor of the farmer in a larger measure than ever before. A
leading agricultural paper estimated that the produce of our farms
will be worth $1,000,000,000 more this year than ever before, and
it happens that just with this great surplus in our barns we find
a scarcity in all the countries of Europe. Russia has recently
prohibited the export of rye, because she needs her crop to feed her
own people. The demands in France and in England and Germany will
absorb every bushel of the great surplus we shall have after our
people are fed, and, whatever complaints there may have been in the
past, I believe this year will spread a smile of gladness over the
entire agricultural population of our country.

This is our opportunity, and I cannot see how it shall be possible
but that these exports of grain, now reaching the limit of the
capacity of our railroads and of our ships, shall soon bring back to
us the lost gold we sent to Europe and more that we did not lose. I
was told by an officer of the West Shore road to-day that that road
alone was carrying 100,000 bushels of wheat every day into New York,
and that it scarcely stopped an hour in the elevator, but was run
immediately into the bottom of a steam vessel that was to carry it
abroad. [Cheers.]

This is only an illustration of what is going on. As the result
of it our people must be greatly enriched. Where there has been
complaint, where there has been poverty, there must come this year
plenty, for the gardens have loaded the table, the orchards cannot
bear the burdens that hang upon their reddening limbs, and the
granaries are not equal to the product of our fields. We ought,
then, this day to be a happy people. We ought to be grateful for
these conditions and careful everywhere to add to them the virtue
of patience, frugality, love of order, and, to crown all, a great
patriotism and devotion to the Constitution and the law--always our
rule of conduct as citizens. [Cheers.]

My fellow-citizens, it is very difficult to speak in this heavy
atmosphere. I beg, therefore, that you will allow me to thank you for
your friendly demonstration, and bid you good-night.

TROY, NEW YORK, AUGUST 18.

When the special train reached Troy in the evening an immense throng greeted the President. It was the noisiest demonstration of the day. General Harrison shook hands with hundreds, many of them working men just from the shops. The following prominent Trojans composed the Committee of Reception and escorted the party from Albany: Gen. Joseph B. Carr, Charles W. Tillinghast, William Kemp, Thomas Dickson, F. N. Mann, William H. Hollister Jr., Col. Lee Chamberlin, John I. Thompson, Col. Arthur MacArthur, D. S. Hasbrouck, Samuel Morris, James H. Potts, J. F. Bridgeman, C. L. Fuller, T. J. O'Sullivan, Cornelius Hannan, Henry McMillen, H. M. Reynolds, George H. Mead, Dr. C. B. Herrick, and William Kemp, Jr. The veterans of Willard Post G. A. R., under Commander Leet, participated in the reception.

Ex-Mayor Wm. Kemp made the address of welcome in the unavoidable absence of Mayor Whelan. Midst great enthusiasm and cheers General Carr introduced the President, who spoke as follows:

_My Friends_--I attempted a little while ago to speak in Albany in
this damp atmosphere, and find my voice is so much roughened by the
effort that I can hardly hope to make myself heard by you. I am glad
to have the opportunity to pause some moments in the city of Troy,
to look into the faces of its industrious and thrifty population.
I have long known of your city as a city of industry--as a great
manufacturing city--sending out its products to all the land, and by
the skill of its workmen and the integrity of its merchants finding
everywhere a market for wares kept up to the standard. [Applause.]

The President was here interrupted by the blowing of steam-whistles, and continued, smiling:

I am quite used to having my speeches punctuated by steam-whistles.
I am sure that you realize here in a large degree the benefit of
a policy that keeps the American market for the American workmen.
[Cries of "Good!" and applause.] I try to be broadly philanthropic in
my thoughts about the human race, but cannot help thinking that an
American workman has a stronger claim on my sympathy and help than any
other workman. [Applause.]

I believe that our institutions are only safe while we have
intelligent and contented working classes. I would adopt
constitutional methods--any administrative method--that would
preserve this country from the condition into which some others
have unfortunately fallen, where a hard day's work does not bring
sustenance for the workman and his family. [Applause.] I would be glad
if there were not a home in Troy--not a home in the United States of
America--where there was not plenty for man and wife and child; where
there was not only sustenance, but a margin of saving that might make
the old age of the husband and wife and the life of the children
easier than this generation has been. [Cheers.]

BENNINGTON, VERMONT, AUGUST 19.

_Dedication of the Battle Monument._

President Harrison and his party reached North Bennington at 8 o'clock on the night of the eighteenth. He was met by the following Committee of Reception on the part of the city of Bennington: Gen. J. G. McCullough, M. S. Colburn, J. V. Carney, S. B. Hall, and A. P. Childs; also, Dr. William Seward Webb, and Col. Geo. W. Hooker, representing the State Entertainment Committee. As the President appeared he was greeted with rousing cheers by the large crowd and escorted to the residence of General McCullough, whose guest he was.

The following morning the distinguished visitors reviewed the grand parade in honor of the centenary of the admission of Vermont into the Union and the dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument. Col. W. Seward Webb, President-General of the Sons of the American Revolution, accompanied by a mounted Grand Army Post, escorted President Harrison to the Soldiers' Home, where Gov. Carroll S. Page and all the living ex-Governors of Vermont greeted him. The presidential party to review the parade consisted of sixty guests of the State, and included Secretary of War Proctor, Attorney-General Miller, Gen. O. O. Howard, Governor Russell, of Massachusetts; Governor Tuttle, of New Hampshire; Senator Henry L. Dawes and ex-Gov. A. H. Rice, of Massachusetts; Senators Edmunds and Morrill; Senators Wm. E. Chandler and J. H. Gallinger, of New Hampshire; Congressmen Grout and Powers; Adjutant-General Ayling and Hon. John King, of New York.

The parade was the most brilliant and imposing ever seen in the State. A feature of the decorations was a magnificent triumphal arch, the turrets and embrasures of which were filled with young maidens clad in brilliant colors, while on the top of the arch were 125 little girls dressed in white, with flowing hair, singing patriotic songs. In the loftiest turret was a gorgeous throne of gold, occupied by Miss Lillie Adams, personating the Goddess of Liberty.

After the review the presidential party was escorted to the grand stand at the monument, where 15,000 people assembled.

The battle monument is a plain, square shaft of magnesian limestone 302 feet high. The interior at the base is 22 feet square and has a stairway. It was built under the supervision of the Trustees of the Bennington Battle Monument Association. The Building Committee comprised Gen. John G. McCullough, H. G. Root, A. B. Valentine, M. C. Huling, and L. F. Abbott.

Gen. Wheelock G. Veazey was President of the Day, and introduced Rev. Dr. Charles Parkhurst, of Boston, who opened the dedicatory exercises with prayer. Governor Page delivered the address of welcome, and was followed by ex-Gov. B. F. Prescott, of New Hampshire, President of the Bennington Battle Monument Association, who transferred the monument to the care and keeping of Vermont. Hon. Edward J. Phelps, the chosen orator of the occasion, then delivered a historical and scholarly address, which was listened to with marked attention by his distinguished audience.

At the conclusion of Mr. Phelps' oration Chairman Veazey introduced President Harrison, who arose midst prolonged cheers and spoke as follows:

_Mr. President and Fellow-citizens_--There are several obvious
reasons why I should not attempt to speak to you at this time.
This great audience is so uncomfortably situated that a further
prolongation of these exercises cannot be desirable, but the stronger
reason is that you have just listened with rapt attention to a most
scholarly and interesting review of those historical incidents which
have suggested this assemblage and to those lessons which they furnish
to thoughtful and patriotic men. [Applause.] A son of Vermont honored
by his fellow-citizens, honored by the Nation which he has served in
distinguished public functions, honored by the profession of which he
is an ornament and an instructor, has spoken for Vermont [applause];
and it does not seem to me fit that these golden sentences should be
marred by any extemporaneous words which I can add. I come to you
under circumstances that altogether forbid preparation. I have no
other preparation for speech than this inspiring cup of good-will
which you have presented to my lips. [Applause.] The most cordial
welcome which has been extended to me to-day makes it unfitting that
I should omit to make a cordial acknowledgment of it. Perhaps I may
be permitted, as a citizen of a Western State, to give expression to
the high regard and honor in which Vermont is held. Perhaps I may
assume, as a public officer representing in some sense all the States
of the Union, to bring to-day their appreciation of the history and
people of this patriotic State. Its history is unique, as Mr. Phelps
has said. The other colonies staked their lives, their fortunes and
honor upon the struggle for independence, with the assurance that
if, by their valor and sacrifice, independence was achieved, all
these were assured. The inhabitants of the New Hampshire grants alone
fought with their fellow-countrymen of the colonies for liberty, for
political independence, unknowing whether, when it had been achieved,
the property, the homes upon which they dwelt, would be assured by
the success of the confederate colonies. They could not know--they
had the gravest reason to fear--that when the authority of the
confederation of the States had been established this very Government,
to whose supremacy Vermont had so nobly contributed, might lend its
authority to the establishment of the claims of New York upon their
homes; and yet, in all this story, though security of property would
undoubtedly have been pledged by the royal representative, Vermont
took a conspicuous, unselfish, and glorious part in achieving the
independence of the united colonies, trusting to the justice of her
cause for the ultimate security of the homes of her people. [Applause.]

It is a most noble and unmatched history; and if I may deliver the
message of Indiana as a citizen of that State, and as a public officer
the message of all the States, I came to say, "Worthy Vermont!"
[Cheers]. She has kept the faith unfalteringly from Bennington
until this day. She has added, in war and peace, many illustrious
names to our roll of military heroes and of great statesmen. Her
representation in the national Congress, as it has been known to
me, has been conspicuous for its influence, for the position it has
assumed in committee and in debate, and, so far as I can recall, has
been without personal reproach. [Cheers] We have occasionally come to
Vermont with a call that did not originate with her people, and those
have been answered with the same pure, high consecration to public
duty as has been the case with those who have been chosen by your
suffrages to represent the State, and I found when the difficult task
of arranging a Cabinet was devolved upon me that I could not get along
without a Vermont stick in it [laughter and applause], and I am sure
you have plenty of timber left in each of the great political parties.
[Cheers.] The participation of this State in the War of the Rebellion
was magnificent. Her troops took to the fields of the South that high
consecration to liberty which had characterized their fathers in the
Revolutionary struggle. [Applause.] They did not forget, on the hot
savannas of the South, the green tops of these hills, ever in their
vision, lifting up their hearts in faith that God would again bring
the good cause of freedom to a just issue. [Applause.] We are to-day
approaching the conclusion of a summer of extraordinary fruitfulness.
How insignificant the stores that were gathered at Bennington in 1777
compared with these great storehouses bursting with fulness to-day!
Our excess meets the deficiency of Europe, and a ready market is
offered for all our cereals. We shall grow richer by contributions
which other countries shall make as they take from our storehouses
the food needed to sustain their people. But after all, it is not
the census tables of production or of wealth that tell the story of
the greatness of this country. Vermont has not been one of the rich
States of the Union in gold and silver, and its lands have not given
the returns that some of the fertile riversides of the West yield.
There has been here constant effort and honest toil; but out of all
this there has been brought a sturdy manhood, which is better than
riches, on which, rather than to wealth, the security of our country
rests. [Applause.] I beg you to accept my sincere thanks again for the
evidence of your friendliness, and my apology that the conditions are
not such as to enable me to speak as I could wish. [Cheers]

_The Banquet in the Tent._

At 4 o'clock the President's party and the State's invited guests were entertained at a banquet spread in a mammoth tent. The ladies of the party were seated in front of the President. Among the notable ladies present were the wives of General Alger and Attorney-General Miller, Mrs. E. J. Phelps, Mrs. H. H. Baxter, Mrs. A. F. Walker, Mrs. Horatio Loomis, Mrs. W. G. Veazey, and the wives of ex-Governor Ormsbee and Gen. L. G. Kingsley, Miss Roberts, Miss Brown, Miss Ormsbee, the wife of Senator Morrill, Mrs. B. B. Smalley, the wives of ex-Governors Farnham and Pingree, and of Auditor Towell. President Harrison was seated between Governor Page and Secretary Proctor.

Among the distinguished guests--other than those previously enumerated--were Justice Blatchford, of the Supreme Court; Gen. Russell A. Alger; Gen. Alexander S. Webb, of New York; Col. A. F. Walker, of Chicago; Speaker W. E. Barrett, Massachusetts; Col. Albert Clarke, Boston; Maj.-Gen. J. M. Warner, of Albany; John King, President Erie Railway; H. W. Bruce, Kentucky; ex-Gov. R. S. Green, New Jersey; Hon. B. B. Smalley, Dr. E. H. Doty, Asa B. Gardner, Maj.-Gen. William Walls; Surg.-Gen. J. C. Rutherford and Quartermaster-General W. H. Gilmore, of Vermont, F. B. Barrett and L. L. Tarbell, Massachusetts; Col. H. C. Cutler, Col. M. J. Horton, Col. W. H. H. Slack, and Col. H. F. Brigham, of Governor Page's staff. The following ex-Governors of Vermont were present: J. W. Stewart, Barstow, Pingree, Farnham, and E. J. Ormsbee.

The entertainment was upon an extraordinary scale, inasmuch as over 3,500 persons were seated at the banquet tables at one time, and 16,000 pieces of figured china were used, while the President's table was provided with a dinner service of rare Sèvres and old Delft ware.

General Veazey, the President of the Committee, again introduced President Harrison, who spoke as follows:

_Mr. President and Fellow-citizens_--Whatever temporary injury my
voice has suffered was not at the hands of Vermont. [Laughter and
applause.] New York is responsible. In Albany I spoke in the rain to a
large assemblage. Perhaps, if it were worth while to trace this vocal
infirmity further, I might find its origin at Cape May [laughter],
for I think I started upon this trip with the elements of a cold that
has to some degree marred the pleasure which I had anticipated to-day.
But, notwithstanding what my friend, General Veazey, has described
as "the dilapidated condition" of my voice, I will respond to his
request to say a word to you. I know that General Veazey had been
put in charge of the transportation lines of the country; but I did
not expect to find him in charge of what the boys used to call the
"cracker line." [Laughter.] It seems that his capacity for usefulness
in the public service is so great and so diversified that you have
called upon him to conduct the exercises of this magnificent occasion.
He is a most excellent Interstate Commerce Commissioner [applause], an
honor to your State, and I have no criticism of him as President of
the day, except that he calls too much attention to me. [Laughter and
applause.]

This scene, these tables so bountifully and so tastefully spread,
was one full of beauty when we entered, but it seems now to have
taken on some of that "dilapidation" which General Veazey ascribed
to my voice. [Laughter.] I am sure that if the supplies gathered at
Bennington to-day had been here in 1777 that struggle would have been
much more obstinate. [Laughter.] But, my fellow-citizens, there is
much in this occasion that is full of instruction to the strangers
who by your hospitable invitation have the privilege of meeting with
you. Wherever men may have been born within this galaxy of great
States, which makes the greater Union, there is respect and honor
for the New England character. It has been a source of strength to
the Nation in its development in material things. It has furnished
to literature and to invention some of the largest contributions;
but, more than all this, it has done a great work for all the States,
and especially those States of the West and Northwest, in which its
enterprising sons have found new homes, in establishing everywhere a
love of social order and a patriotic devotion to the Union of States.
[Applause.] If we seek to find the institutions of New England that
have formed the character of its own people and have exercised a
stronger moulding influence than that of any other section upon our
whole people we shall find them, I think, in their temples, in their
schools, in their town meetings and in their God-fearing homes.
[Applause.] The courage of those who fought at Bennington, at Concord,
Lexington, Bunker Hill, and Saratoga was born of a high trust in God.
They were men who, fearing God, had naught else to fear. That devotion
to local self-government which originated and for so long maintained
the town meeting, establishing and perpetuating a true democracy, an
equal, full participation and responsibility in all public affairs
on the part of every citizen, was the cause of the development of
the love of social order and respect for law which has characterized
your communities, has made them safe and commemorable abodes for
your people. These migrations between the States have been to your
loss, but there is now a turning back to these States of New England
and to some of its unused farms, which I believe is to continue and
increase. The migration which you have sent into the South to develop
its industries, to open its mines, to set up factories and furnaces,
is doing marvellous work in unifying our people. [Applause.] As I
journeyed recently across the continent this oneness of our people was
strongly impressed upon me. I think these centennial observances which
have crowded one upon another from Concord to the centennial of the
adoption of the Constitution and the organization of the Supreme Court
have turned the thought of our people to the most inspiring incident
in our history, and have greatly intensified and developed our love
of the flag and our Constitution. [Applause.] I do not believe there
has been a time in our history when there has been a deeper, fonder
love for the unity of the States, for the flag that emblematizes this
unity, and for the Constitution which cements it. [Applause.]

I believe we have come to a time when we may look out to greater
things. Secure in our own institutions, enriched almost beyond
calculation, I believe we have reached a time when we may take a large
part in the great transactions of the world. [Cheers.] I believe
our people are prepared now to insist that the American flag shall
again be seen upon the sea [applause], and that our merchants and
manufacturers are ready to seize the golden opportunity that is now
offered for extending our commerce into the States of Central and
South America. [Cheers.] I believe that conservative views of finance
will prevail in this country. [Applause.] I am sure discontent and
temporary distress will not tempt our people to forsake those safe
lines of public administration in which commercial security alone
rests. [Applause.] As long as the general Government furnishes the
money of the people for their great business transactions I believe
we will insist, as I have said before, that every dollar issued,
whether paper or coin, shall be as good and be kept as good as any
other dollar that issues. [Cheers.] The purity, the equality of what
we call dollars must be preserved, or an element of uncertainty and
of bankruptcy will be introduced into all business transactions. This
I may say without crossing lines of division: How this end is to be
attained I will not attempt to sketch, but I do not hesitate to say
that I feel myself, in the public interest, pledged so far as in me
lies to maintain that equality between our circulating money that is
essential to the perfect use of all. [Prolonged applause.]

I have gone beyond the promise of the President of the day, and have
been betrayed by your friendliness into speaking two or three words.
May I, in closing, tender to these good women of Vermont my thanks
for the grace and sweetness which their services and their presence
have lent to this happy occasion? May I say to them that the devoted
services of their mothers, their courage and patience and helpfulness
shown by the women in the great struggle for liberty cannot be too
highly appreciated? It was an easier fate to march with bared breasts
against the Hessian ramparts at Bennington than to sit in the lonely
homestead awaiting the issue with tearful eyes uplifted to God in
prayer for those who perilled their lives for the cause. All honor to
the New England mother, the queen of the New England home! [Applause.]
There, in those nurseries of virtue and truth, have been found the
strongest influences that have moulded your people for good and led
your sons to honor. [Great cheering.]

At the conclusion John B. Carney, Chairman of the Citizens' Committee, presented General Harrison with a gold medal bearing a likeness of the Bennington Monument. As the medal was pinned on the President's coat he remarked: "It needed not this memento to remind me of this auspicious occasion."

MT. M'GREGOR, AUGUST 20.

President Harrison and his party arrived at Saratoga on the morning of the 20th, and were heartily greeted. He immediately embarked for Mt. McGregor, where another large gathering welcomed him. After visiting the historic Grant cottage the President became the guest of W. J. Arkell, at the latter's cottage on the mountain. In the afternoon the party partook of a "country dinner" at the Hotel Balmoral, given by the Hon. James Arkell in honor of the President's fifty-eighth birthday.

About 120 guests participated. Senator Arkell presided. Among those present besides the President's party were: B. Gillam, Capt. John Palmer, Commander G. A. R.; Hugh Reilly, W. H. Bockes, M. L. Staver, P. Farrelly, J. S. Lamoreaux, J. M. Francis, William Barnes, Jr., and William Whitney, of Albany; Edward Ellis and Samuel Insul, of Schenectady; John W. Vrooman, of Herkimer; J. Y. Foster, C. C. Shayne, Spencer Trask, John A. Sleicher, J. H. Breslin, W. A. Sweetzer, S. E. May, and Marshall P. Wilder, of New York; D. F. Ritchie, W. T. Rockwood, H. B. Hanson, J. G. B. Woolworthy, W. Lester, C. S. Lester, W. W. Worden, E. H. Peters, J. M. Marvin, E. C. Clark, and T. F. Hamilton, of Saratoga; J. A. Manning, of Troy; D. W. Mabee, Frank Jones, and S. C. Medberry, of Ballston, and John Kellogg and W. J. Kline, of Amsterdam. Mr. Arkell paid an eloquent tribute to the memory of General Grant and congratulated his distinguished guest.

President Harrison arose and amid great cheering began:

_Mr. Arkell and Friends_--It was a part of the covenant of
this feast that it should be a silent one; not exactly a Quaker
meeting, as Mr. Arkell has said, because silence there is apt to
be broken by the moving of the spirit. That is not a safe rule for
a banquet. [Laughter.] I rise only to thank your generous host and
these gentlemen from different parts of the State who honor this
occasion for their friendliness and their esteem. We are gathered
here in a spot which is historic. This mountain has been fixed in
the affectionate and reverent memory of all our people and has been
glorified by the death on its summit of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
[Applause.] It is fit that that great spirit that had already lifted
its fame to a height unknown in American history should take its
flight from this mountain-top. It has been said that a great life went
out here; but great lives, like that of General Grant, do not go out.
They go on. [Cries of "Good! Good!" and great applause.] I will ask
you in a reverent and affectionate and patriotic remembrance of that
man who came to recover all failures in military achievement, and with
his great generalship and inflexible purpose to carry the flag of the
republic to ultimate triumph, recalling with reverent interest his
memory, to drink a toast in silence as a pledge that we will ever
keep in mind his great services, and in doing so will perpetuate his
great citizenship and the glory of the Nation he fought to save.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK, AUGUST 21.

The President left Mt. McGregor the afternoon of the 21st, and reached Saratoga at 4 o'clock, where 50,000 people joined in an ovation to him. It was the largest gathering ever seen in Saratoga, and the town was resplendent with colors. The Chief Executive was met by a reception committee composed of Hon. John R. Putnam, Hon. A. Bockes, Hon. Henry Hilton, Hon. H. S. Clement, Hon. James M. Marvin, Hon. John W. Crane, Hon. J. W. Houghton, Gen. W. B. French, Hon. John Foley, Hon. D. Lohnas, Col. David F. Ritchie, Hon. Lewis Varney, Lieut. A. L. Hall, Edward Kearney, John A. Manning, George B. Cluett, Prof. Edward N. Jones, and J. G. B. Woolworth. Wheeler Post, G. A. R., acted as an escort of honor.

Arrived at the Grand Union Hotel, the President was greeted with great clapping of hands and the waving of 10,000 handkerchiefs by the ladies. He reviewed the procession from the piazza, and, on being introduced by Village President Lohnas, spoke a follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--The greatness of this assembly makes it
impossible that I should do more than thank you for the magnificent
welcome which you have extended me to-day. I have great pleasure in
being again for a few days in Saratoga--this world renowned health
and pleasure resort. It gives me great satisfaction to witness, on
the part of the citizens of Saratoga and of the visitors who are
spending a season for refreshment or recuperation here, the expression
of kindness which beams upon me from all your faces. I am sure the
explanation of all this is that you are all American citizens, lovers
of the flag and the Constitution [applause], and in thus assembling
you give expression to your loyalty and patriotism. [Applause.] It
is not, I am sure, an individual expression; it is larger and better
than that, for this country of ours is distinguished in naught else
more than in the fact that its people give their love and loyalty
and service, not to individuals, but to institutions. [Applause.]
We love this country because it is a land of liberty, because the
web and woof of its institutions are designed to promote and secure
individual liberty and general prosperity. [Applause.] We love it
because it not only does not create, but because it does not tolerate,
any distinction between men other than that of merit. [Applause.] I
desire to thank those comrades who wear the honored badge of the Grand
Army of the Republic for their escort and their welcome. I never see
this badge anywhere that I do not recognize its wearer as a friend.
[Applause.] Survivors of a great struggle for the perpetuity of our
institutions--having endured in march and camp and battle the utmost
that men can endure, and given the utmost that men can give--they are
now as citizens of this republic in civic life doing their part to
maintain order in its communities and to promote in peace the honor
and prosperity of the country they saved. [Applause.] Thanking you
once more for your friendliness and cordial enthusiasm, I will ask you
to excuse me from further speech. [Great applause.]

FROM SARATOGA THROUGH VERMONT.

The last day of the President's stay at Saratoga Springs he was tendered a reception by Mr. and Mrs. J. S. T. Stranahan, of Brooklyn, at the Pompeiian House of Pansa. Admission was by card, and several hundred well-known people paid their respects to the Chief Magistrate. The wives of Governor Jackson, of Maryland, ex-Governor Baldwin, of Michigan, and Hon. George Bliss, of New York, assisted the host and hostess in receiving. Hon. David F. Ritchie introduced the guests.

On the morning of August 25 the President, accompanied by Secretary Proctor and the other members of his party, left Saratoga on a journey through the Green Mountain State. They were accompanied by Vice-President E. C. Smith, of the Vermont Central road, and Superintendent C. D. Hammond, of the Delaware and Hudson.

WHITEHALL, NEW YORK, AUGUST, 25.

The first stop was at Whitehall, where the party was met by Hon. H. G. Burleigh, Gen. J. C. Rogers, William Sinnott, Luke H. Carrington, A. J. Taft, and Maj. John Dwyer, President of the Washington County Veteran Association. A train containing several hundred veterans, on their way to a reunion at Dresden, was in waiting, and a large crowd assembled around the President's car. The Burleigh Corps acted as a guard of honor. Ex-Congressman Burleigh, in a brief speech, introduced the President, whose remarks created much enthusiasm. He said: