2

in their own way, paid their tribute of honor and reverence. The statue of Horace Mann stands by the portal of the State House. The muse of Whittier and Holmes, the lips of our most distinguished living orators, the genius of his gifted wife,1 have united in a worthy memorial of Howe. The stately eloquence of Sumner, in his great oration at Cambridge, has built a monument to Channing 3 more enduring than marble or granite; but Channing's published writings, eagerly read wherever the English language prevails, are better than any monument.

3

1 Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), philanthropist and author. Wrote the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

2 Samuel Gridley Howe (1801–1876), philanthropist. Introduced education for the blind into America.

3 William Ellery Channing (1780-1842), clergyman and leader in the antislavery movement."

GRANT FOR THIRD TERM

ROSCOE CONKLING

(1880)

ROSCOE CONKLING (1829-1888), statesman, was born at Albany, New York. He served several terms in the House of Representatives, and later in the United States Senate. As senator he took an active part in the reconstruction of the southern states, opposing strenuously President Johnson's policy, but championing zealously that of President Grant, even advocating his nomination for a third term. He was appointed and confirmed an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, but declined the office.

When asked whence comes our candidate, we say, from Appomattox.2 Never defeated in war or in peace, his name is the most illustrious borne by any living man; his services attest his greatness, and the country knows them by heart. His fame was born not alone of things done; and dangers and emergencies will search in vain in the future, as they have searched in vain in the past, for any other on whom the nation leans with such confidence and trust. Standing on the highest eminence of human distinction, and having filled all lands with his renown; modest, firm, simple, selfpoised; he has seen not only the titled but the poor and the lowly in the utmost ends of the world rise and uncover before him. He has studied the needs and defects of many systems of government, and he comes back a

1 From the nominating address delivered before the National Republican Convention in 1880. This selection is an abridgment of the version published in "The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling," and is printed here by permission of the Hon. Alfred R. Conkling.

2 General Lee surrendered there.

better American than ever, with a wealth of knowledge and experience added to hard common sense which so conspicuously distinguished him in all the fierce light that beat upon him throughout the most eventful, trying, and perilous sixteen years of the nation's history. There is no field of human activity, responsibility, or reason in which rational beings object to Grant, because he has been weighed in the balance and not found wanting, and because he has had unequaled experience, making him exceptionally competent and fit. From the man who shoes your horse to the lawyer who pleads your case, the officer who manages your railway, the doctor into whose hands you give your life, or the minister who seeks to save your soul, whom now do you reject because you have tried him and by his works have known him? What makes the presidential office an exception to all things else in the common sense to be applied to selecting its incumbent ? Who dares to put fetters on the free choice and judgment which is the birthright of the American people? Can it be said that Grant used official power to perpetuate his plan? He has no plan. No official power has been used for him. Without patronage or power, without telegraph wires running from his house to the Convention, without electioneering contrivances, without effort on his part, his name is on his country's lips, and he is struck at by the whole Democratic party because his nomination will be the deathblow to Democratic success. He is struck at by others who find offense and disqualification in the very service he has rendered and the very experience he has gained.

Show me a better man. Name one, and I am an

swered; but do not point, as a disqualification, to the very facts which make this man fit beyond all others. Let not experience disqualify or excellence impeach him. There is no third term in the case, and the pretense will die with the political dogdays which engendered it. Nobody is really worried about a third term except those hopelessly longing for a first term and the dupes they have made.

Without bureaus, committees, officials, or emissaries to manufacture sentiment in his favor, without intrigue or effort on his part, Grant is the candidate whose supporters have never threatened to bolt. As they say, he is a Republican who never wavers. He and his friends stood by the creed and the candidates of the Republican party, holding the right of a majority as the very essence of their faith, and meaning to uphold that faith against the common enemy and the charlatans and the guerrillas who from time to time deploy between the lines and forage on one side or the other.

SHERMAN FOR PRESIDENT 1

JAMES A. GARFIELD

(1880)

JAMES A. GARFIELD (1831-1881), statesman, was born at Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He was educated at Western Reserve Institute, Hiram, Ohio, and at Williams College. He was appointed an instructor in the Western Reserve Institute, and became president of the Institution. He served with distinction in the Civil War. He was elected a member of Congress for eight terms. He was later elected United States senator from Ohio, and afterwards became president of the United States. He was shot by a disappointed office seeker, and died after a lingering illness of two months.

In order to win victory now, we want the vote of every Republican, of every Grant Republican,2 and every anti-Grant Republican in America, of every Blaine man3 and every anti-Blaine man. The vote of every follower of every candidate is needed to make success certain. Therefore I say, gentlemen and brethren, we are here to take counsel together, and inquire what we shall do.

We want a man who standing on a mountain height, traces the victorious footsteps of our party in the past,

1 From a speech in the Republican National Convention in Chicago, 1880, nominating John Sherman for the presidency of the United States. By permission of President H. A. Garfield of Williams College.

2 A Republican favoring the nomination of General Ulysses S. Grant.

3A Republican favoring the nomination of James G. Blaine.