HARRISON'S SPEECHES. (continued 13)

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:

Comrades and Fellow-citizens—It is pleasant to come this morning upon an assemblage of comrades gathering with their families to a social reunion to recall their services and sacrifices and to bathe their souls in the glory of this bright day and of this great land that they fought to save. [Applause.] Such assemblages are full of interest to the veterans, and they are full of instruction and inspiration to those who gather with them. It is our habit in the West, as it is yours here, to have these annual meetings, and it is always a pleasure to me when I can arrange to meet with the comrades of my old regiment, or of the old brigade, or with the veterans of any regiment of any State who stood for the flag. [Applause.] There is a pathetic side to all this. We gather with diminished ranks from year to year. We miss the comrades who are dropping by the way. We see repeated now that which we saw as the great column moved on in the campaign of the war—a comrade dropping out, borne to the hospital, followed to the grave—and yet these soldier memories and thoughts are brightened by the glories which inspire and attend all these gatherings of the veterans of the war. We see the old flag again, and I am glad to believe that there has never been a period in our history when there was more love for it. [Applause.]

It is quite natural that it should be so. These veterans who stand about me have seen many days and months in camps and battlefields and in devastated country through which they marched when there was on all the horizon one thing of beauty—that glorified flag. [Applause.] They brought home the love of it in their hearts, wrought in every fibre of their nature; and it is very natural that the children who have come on should catch this inspiration and love from the fathers who perilled everything that the flag might still be held in honor, and still be an emblem of the authority of one Constitution over an undivided Nation. We see to-day how worthy the land was for which our comrades died, and for which you, my comrades, offered your lives, in its great development and its increasing population, in its multiplying homes, where plenty and prosperity, the love of God and social order, and all good things abide. In this great Nation, striding on in wealth and prosperity to the very first place among the nations of the earth; in this land, in truth as well as in theory the land of the free, we see that which was worthy of the utmost sacrifice of the truest men. [Prolonged Cheers.]

I recall with pleasure that some of the New York regiments, coming to the Western army with Hooker and Howard and Gerry and Williams and others, served in the same corps to which I was designated during the great campaign upon Atlanta. Some of the comrades who made that march from Chattanooga to Atlanta and the sea are here to-day, survivors of one of the greatest, in all its aspects, of all the campaigns of the war. You came from those bloody fields upon the Potomac, and struck hands with us of the West as brothers. You helped us in the struggle there to cut the Confederacy in twain, and, lapping around by the sea, to strike hands with Grant again near Appomattox. [cheers.]

I thank you again most cordially for your friendly demonstration and presence. If I had the power to call down blessings upon my fellow-men, the home of every comrade here would be full of all prosperity. [Applause.]

FAIR HAVEN, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

At Whitehall the party was joined by Adj.-Gen. T. S. Peck and Col. M. J. Horton, of Governor Page's staff. When the Vermont line was reached General Peck, in the name of the Governor, formally welcomed the President to the State. Fair Haven was reached at 10 o'clock. The Reception Committee was Hon. Samuel L. Hazard, Andrew N. Adams, George M. Fuller, and Wm. V. Roberts.

Mr. Hazard introduced President Harrison, who said:

My Fellow-citizens—We have already lost some minutes at your station, and it will not be possible for me to hold the train longer. I thank you for this friendly greeting, and for the kindness which beams upon me from the faces of these contented and happy men and women of the good State of Vermont. I am glad to see about me the evidences of the indomitable pluck and successful enterprise which characterize so highly all of your New England States. When you found the stones too thick to make agriculture profitable you compelled the rocks to yield you a subsistence, and these great slate and marble industries have become the centre of wealthy and prosperous communities. You are here, each in his own place; these good ladies in that supremely influential position, the American home, and you, my countrymen, in the shops and in the fields, making contributions to the prosperity and glory of this great Nation. It is pleasant to know that the love of country, stimulated by the teaching of the father and of the mother, revived by these recollections of the first struggle for independence, deepened by the sacrifices which were made in the Civil War to preserve what our fathers had purchased for us, are still holding sway in the hearts of our people. [Cheers.]

We are conspicuously a people abiding in respect and honor for the law. The law, as expressed in our constitutions and in our statute-books, is the sovereign to which we all bow. We acknowledge no other. To the law each and every one should give his undivided allegiance and his faithful service. There is no other rule that will bring and maintain in our communities that peaceful and orderly condition, that good neighborhood and kindly intercourse, which is so essential to the happiness of any community. I am sure that these things, now as of old, characterize these New England communities, where the strife which your colder climate and your soil compel you to make for your subsistence has bred habits of thrift, economy, and independence, and the love of liberty which I am sure is as fadeless as the stars. [Applause.]

Thanking you again for this pleasant morning reception, I will bid you good-by. [Applause.]

CASTLETON, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

At Castleton there was a large crowd, including 200 pupils of the Normal School, who pelted the President with roses and golden-rod. The Reception Committee comprised Hon. Henry L. Clark, A. E. Leavenworth, S. B. Ellis, and A. L. Ramson.

Judge Clark introduced the President, who said:

Ladies and Gentlemen—It is very pleasant to meet here, mingling with the citizens of this neighborhood, the pupils of your Normal School. One of the most influential characters in the history of the United States is the New England school-teacher. If we could follow the track of these intelligent men and women who have gone out from the New England States into the West and South; if we could trace those strong, yet slender and hard-to-be-discovered, threads of influence which they have started in the communities to which they went; if we could know how they have impressed on the minds of the pupils brought under their care the great lessons of self-respect and love for free institutions and social order,—we should have a higher thought than we have yet had of the power and dignity of these pioneers of education. [Cheers.]

BRANDON, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

Brandon gave the travellers a hearty reception at 11 A.M. Ex-Gov. J. W. Stewart, of Middlebury, Hon. Aldace F. Walker, of Chicago; G. G. Benedict and C. S. Forbes, of St. Albans, joined the party here. Ex-Governor Ormsbee welcomed the President on behalf of the residents of Brandon.

General Harrison said:

My Fellow-citizens—The kindly pelting which I have received at the hands of some of your ladies and of these bright children reminds me of a like experience on the California trip, when we were so pelted with bouquets of handsome flowers that we were very often compelled to retreat from the platform and take cover in the car. These gifts of flowers which you bring to me here are the products of your fields and not of your gardens. The beautiful golden-rod! It is pleasant to think that in this plant, so widely distributed, slightly diversified in its characteristics, but spreading over nearly our whole country, we have a type of the diversity and yet the oneness of our people; and I am glad to think that its golden hue typifies the gladness and joy and prosperity that is over all our fields this happy year, and, I trust, in all your homes. I thank you for your pleasant greeting this morning, and bid you good-by. [Cheers.]

MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

On the arrival of the train at Middlebury at 11:30 A.M. another large and enthusiastic throng was on hand. The President was greeted by ex-Gov. John W. Stewart, Col. A. A. Fletcher, G. S. Wainwright, Judge James M. Slade, Charles M. Wilds, E. H. Thorp, E. P. Russell, B. S. Beckwith, E. J. Mathews, John H. Stewart, A. J. Marshall, Col. T. M. Chapman, Rufus Wainwright, and Frank A. Bond. The veterans of Russel Post, G. A. R., were present in a body, also the Sons of Veterans.

Governor Stewart introduced the President, who said:

My Fellow-citizens—Though I have not before had the pleasure of looking into the faces of many of you, Vermont has for many years been familiar to me, and has been placed high in my esteem by the acquaintance I have formed at Washington with the representatives you have sent there. It has been a great pleasure to me to know your esteemed fellow-citizen, Governor Stewart. Your State and district and the Nation at large have had in him a most able and faithful champion of all that was true and clean and right. [Three cheers were given for Governor Stewart.]

You have been particularly fortunate, I think, in your representatives at Washington, as I had occasion to say the other day at Bennington. I am glad to be here at the site of this institution of learning—Middlebury College, which is soon to complete its hundredth year of modest yet efficient service in training the minds of your young men for usefulness in life. These home institutions, in which these able and faithful men assiduously give themselves and their lives to the building up and development of the intelligence—and not only that, but of the moral side of your young men—are bulwarks of strength to your State and to your community. They cannot be too highly esteemed and honored by you; because, my countrymen, kings may rule over an ignorant people, and by their iron control hold them in subjection and in the quietness of tyranny, but a free land rests upon the intelligence of its people, and has no other safety than in well-grounded education and thorough moral training. [Cries of "Good! Good!" and applause.] Again I thank you for this cordial greeting which Vermont gives me this morning, and to these comrades and friends I extend a comrade's greeting and good wishes. [Applause.]

VERGENNES, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

At Vergennes a large and joyful crowd greeted the distinguished traveller. The Reception Committee comprised Hon. J. G. Hindes, Mayor of the city; Hon. J. D. Smith, Herrick Stevens, and J. N. Norton.

Secretary Proctor introduced the President, who spoke as follows:

My Fellow-citizens—I have had, as you know, some experience in this business of speaking from the end of a railroad train. But it has seemed to me this morning that these Vermont towns are closer together than on any other route I have travelled. [Laughter.] Perhaps it is because your State is not very large, and you have had to put your towns close together in order to get them all in. [Laughter.] I have heard an interesting story of the origin of this city of Vergennes. I suppose it was one of the earliest instances in the history of our country, if not the very first, of a city being constructed upon paper before it was built upon the ground. [Laughter.] That has come to be quite a familiar practice in these late days of speculation, but it is singular that a city charter and the ample corporate limits of one mile square should have been given to Vergennes before this century began. If the expectations of the founder of this city have not been realized fully, you have more than realized all the thoughts of Ethan Allan and his contemporaries in the greatness and prosperity of your State and in the richer glory and higher greatness of the Nation of which you are a part. [Cheers.]

I am glad this morning to look into the contented faces of another audience of New England people. You were greatly disparaged in the estimation of some of our people before the Civil War. There had spread unfortunately over the minds of our Southern brethren the impression that you were so much given to money, to thrift, and to toil that your hands had forgotten how to fight. It was a most wholesome lesson when the whole country learned again in the gallant charges and stubborn resistances of the Vermont Brigade that the old New England spirit still lived; that Paul Revere still rode the highways of New England; and that the men of Concord and Lexington and Bennington still ploughed her fields. [Applause.] I am glad to meet you this bright, joyous morning; and I am sure, in view of the fatigues that have preceded and that are to follow, you will excuse me from further speech, and accept my most heartfelt thanks for your friendliness. [Applause.]

BURLINGTON, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

Burlington gave the President a royal reception Tuesday noon. The Queen City was elaborately decorated, and all business was suspended during the demonstration. The distinguished visitors were welcomed by Senator George F. Edmunds, his honor Mayor Hazelton, Col. Le Grand B. Cannon, Hon. E. J. Phelps, Gen. William Wells, ex-Gov. U. A. Woodbury, Hon. B. B. Smalley, Hon. G. G. Benedict, C. F. Wheeler, ex-Governor Barstow, C. W. Woodhouse, and Elias Lyman, President of the Board of Aldermen. After luncheon at the home of Senator Edmunds, the President was escorted through the Fletcher Library to a platform fronting the park, where 20,000 people greeted him.

Mayor Hazelton delivered the address of welcome and introduced President Harrison, who responded as follows:

Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens—I am not a little intimidated as I face so unexpectedly this vast concourse of the citizens of this great State of Vermont. I say great, though your territorial extent does not place you among large States; great in an origin that gave occasion for an early and resolute expression of that love of liberty which has always pervaded your people; great in a population that has never bowed the knee to the arrogance of power or to the blandishments of wealth, and has, through all the history of the State, maintained the inspiration of its early annals for love of personal independence. I rejoice to be present to-day at the home of one of your distinguished public servants, with whom it was my good fortune for a time to be associated in the discharge of public duties. I am glad to see here, at his own home, the respect and honor in which George F. Edmunds is deservedly held by the people of Vermont. [Applause.] Having for six years witnessed the value of his services as a legislator in the Senate of the United States, I share with you the regret that this country is no longer to enjoy those services; though it is a source of gratification to you, as it is to me, to know that in his love and loyalty to the State that he has so highly honored, in his love and loyalty to the Union of States, there will be no call for his wise counsel and help that will not find a ready response from the walks of life which he has chosen to resume. [Applause.]

My fellow-citizens, it is true, as your Mayor has said, happily true, that we not infrequently, and with ease, lift ourselves above all the contentions of party strife and stand in the clear, inspiring and stimulating sunshine as American patriots. [Applause.] We are conspicuously a people who give their allegiance to institutions and not to men. [Applause.] It were a happy thing for others of our sister republics on this hemisphere if they could follow this great example. Our people are not slow to appreciate public services. They are not reluctant to acknowledge transcendent genius, but they give their loyalty as citizens to institutions, and not to parties or to men. [Applause.] This was happily shown in our great rebellion, when party divisions, that seemed to lift barriers between us like these mountain peaks, were obliterated in a moment by that love for the Constitution and the flag which pervaded all our people [applause]—a love that made the people of all these great States one; that sent from Vermont and Massachusetts, as from Indiana, those stalwart and devoted sons who offered—many of them gave—their lives for the perpetuity of the Union and the honor of the flag. Let us pursue our lines of division. It is characteristic of a free people—it is essential—that mental agitation and unrest out of which the highest and best is evolved. But let us never forget that the fundamental thought of our Government is the rule of the majority, lawfully expressed at pure and clean elections, and that, when thus expressed, the laws enacted by those chosen to make our laws are not less of the minority than of the majority. [Applause.] Those who make the laws are our servants, to whom we yield the respect of office and that measure of personal regard to which their lives may entitle them. [Applause.]

We are this year a most favored and happy people. Drouth has blasted the crops of many of the nations of the world. Most of the peoples of Europe are short of food. And God has this year, mercifully to us, mercifully to them, made our store-houses to burst with plenty. We have a great surplus of breadstuffs, and there is not a bushel of wheat, corn, rye or oats that will not find a ready market this year. Happy are we in this great prosperity; happy that again out of your abundance the lack of other peoples may be supplied. Let us be careful that our heads are not turned by too much prosperity. It has been out of hardness, out of struggles, out of self-denials, out of that thrift and economy which was an incident of your soil, that the best things in New England have come. [Applause.] And, while thankful to God for a season that diffuses its blessings as this sweet sunshine is diffused into all our homes, let us remember that it is not, after all, riches that exalt the Nation. It is a pure, clean, high, intellectual, moral, and God-fearing citizenship that is our glory and security as a Nation. [Applause.]

Let me thank you again for the friendliness of your manifestations, for the opportunity to stand for a few moments in this most beautiful city. [Applause.] You have the advantage of many of our municipalities. You have not only the beauties of these groves and gardens and pleasant streets and lovely homes, but from these hilltops you have laid under contribution fifty miles in either direction to beautify Burlington. [Applause.] I thank you, and part with you with regret that my stay cannot be longer and my intercourse with you more personal and informal. [Applause.]

ST. ALBANS, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

The President and party embarked at Burlington on board Col. W. Seward Webb's yacht Elfrida and greatly enjoyed the sail on Lake Champlain, landing at Maquam in the evening, whence a special train carried them to St. Albans, where they were welcomed by the Committee of Reception, consisting of Hon. A. D. Tenney, George T. Childs, Alfred A. Hall, T. M. Deal, W. Tracy Smith, B. F. Kelley, A. L. Weeks, and A. W. Fuller. After dining at Governor Smith's the President, at 9 P.M., was escorted to the Welden House, fronting St. Albans Park. Twelve thousand people greeted him. The scene was one of unusual beauty; from the branching elms hung 2,000 Chinese lanterns.

When the President appeared on the balcony the enthusiasm was great. He was introduced by Hon. E. C. Smith, and spoke as follows:

My Fellow-citizens—I fear that my voice will not permit me suitably to acknowledge this magnificent demonstration. In the tour which I made this spring across the continent I witnessed very many great assemblages and looked upon very many brilliant and entrancing scenes, but I recall none outside the greater cities more beautiful and worthy than this in St. Albans to-night. [Applause.] Most deeply do I feel whatever of personal respect you thus evidence, and yet more highly do I appreciate that love of American institutions, that fealty to the flag, which I am sure is the dominant impulse in this great assembly. [Applause.]

Your situation upon this great water line connecting the St. Lawrence with the Hudson was an early suggestion to the trader as well as to the invader. The Indian canoe, the boat of the fur-trader, ploughed these waters in the early days of our history. At a later time they suggested to the military leaders of Great Britain who commanded the armies sent for the subjection of the colonies that familiar strategy of severing the colonies into two parts by moving and establishing posts upon Champlain and the Hudson. These attempts and the brave resistance which was made by our people, in which Vermont had so conspicuous and creditable a part, have made all the shores of Lake Champlain historic ground. In the address delivered by President Bartlett in 1877 at the observance of the centennial of the battle of Bennington, I noticed that he said, "Trading Manchester sent two regiments to conquer a market," and it recalled to my mind the fact that one of the great motives of resistance on the part of the colonies was the unjust trade restrictions and exactions which were imposed upon them by the mother country in order to secure the American markets for the British manufacturer. You recall how severe and persistent were the measures adopted in order to repress and crush out the establishment of manufacturing industries in the colonies. This battle for a market was never more general or more strenuous than now among all of the nations of the world, though now generally not pushed to bloodshed. [Applause.] All of the countries of the Old World have through colonial extension by the division of Africa, much as a boy might divide a watermelon among his fellows, had reference largely to trade extensions and enlarged markets. In this contest we have ourselves engaged, not by attempting to push our political domain into lands that are not rightfully ours, not by attempting to overthrow or subjugate the weaker but friendly powers of this hemisphere, but by those methods of peaceful and profitable interchange which are good for them as for us, [Cries of "Good! good!" and applause.] Secure in the great American market for our manufactures—a market the best per capita of any in the world—we have come now to believe that we may well extend our trade and send our manufactured products to other countries across the seas and in ships carrying the American flag. [Cries of "Good! good!" and applause.] We do not need in any degree to break down or injure our own domestic industries. We are consuming, to an enormous extent, of tropical products not produced by our people, and by a fair exchange with the nations sending us sugar, tea, and coffee we propose and have entered successfully upon the enterprise of opening the markets of Central and South America to the manufacturing establishments of New England and the United States. [Cries of "Good! good!" and applause.]

I am sure every American will rejoice in the success which has thus far attended these efforts, and will rejoice that with this expanding trade to the southward there opens before us this year a largely increased traffic in agricultural products with the nations of Europe. We have never in the history of our country harvested such a crop as has now been gathered into the granaries of the United States. [Applause.] We shall have an enormously large surplus of breadstuffs for exportation, and it happens that in this period of our abundance crop failures or shortages in India, in Russia, in France, in Germany, and England have opened a market that will require the last bushel of grain we have to sell. [Cries of "Good! good!" and applause.] Rejoicing in the peace that pervades our land, proud of institutions which have for more than a hundred years witnessed their adequacy to give peace and security at home and to preserve our National honor abroad, rejoicing in the great increase of material wealth which is flowing in upon us, may we not on these great lines of enterprise, lifting ourselves now to newer and larger thoughts of what this country may be, enter upon these opening avenues of trade and influence upon which are the beckoning invitations of friendly peoples? [Applause.]

Let me thank you again for this magnificent assemblage of Vermont patriots and of Vermont women, who have shared with her gallant men the sacrifices and suffering that this State has borne that it might be born among the States, and, having been admitted to the sisterhood, might, though small in geographical extent and population, bear a noble and honorable part in the work of holding up the American character and defending the American flag. [Great applause.]

RICHMOND, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.

President Harrison passed the night at St. Albans. On his departure, the morning of the 26th, he was accompanied by Secretary Proctor, ex-Governor Smith and wife, Colonel and Mrs. E. C. Smith, Tracy Smith, Hon. H. H. Powers, Henry R. Start, D. Sage McKay, Col. Geo. T. Childs, and Col. M. J. Horton, of Governor Page's staff.

The first stop of the day was at Richmond, where a large audience greeted the party. Among the prominent citizens who received the President were: Judge E. B. Andrews, Hon. U. S. Whitcomb, Capt. G. A. Edwards, Dr. C. W. Jacobs, Hon. H. A. Hodges, C. P. Rhodes and Edgar T. Jacobs. The veterans of Bronson Barber Post, G. A. R., were present in a body.

Congressman Powers introduced the President, who said:

My Fellow-citizens—It is a little early in the morning to begin the daily round of speech-making, and yet I cannot refrain from saying to you how highly I appreciate your morning welcome. There is the tonic of your fine mountain air and the glory of your sunshine in these cordial manifestations of your respect and good-will. I hope no American citizen will ever begrudge the President of the United States the refreshment which comes from these occasional visits through the country, and from that draught of good-will which he receives as he looks into the faces and takes the hands of these good people, who have no other interest in the Government than that it shall be honestly administered for the general good. Washington is not always full of that kind of people; we are more certain, perhaps, to find them in the country. And yet no one should complain of honest criticism, and perhaps fault-finding has its use, for occasionally it must be well grounded and disclose to us errors we might otherwise have failed to discern. But, after all, the bracing of the good-will of the good people of this country is very essential to those who, in the midst of great perplexity and doubt and under staggering responsibility, endeavor as they see the right to do it. No man can do more than this, and I look upon this popular feature of our Government, the readiness of communication, the nearness and familiarity of access which the people have with all public servants, as a great safeguard to those who might otherwise become separated from those impulses which are, after all, the safest and best. [Applause.] I have had great pleasure in passing through your beautiful valley this morning. I can most sincerely commend what I see in these farms and thrifty homes. Vermont is a mountain State, and, I suppose, because your horizon is a little high you are more frequently than we who live on the plains compelled to look up. That may account for a great many of the good things which we discover in the New England character. I thank you for your kindness. [Applause.]

WATERBURY, VERMONT, AUGUST, 26.

Waterbury was reached at 10:30 A.M. Governor Page and Hon. W. W. Grout joined the party here. About 10,000 people were assembled to greet the President, prominent among whom were: G. E. Moody, Esq., Hon. G. W. Rundall, Hon. E. F. Palmer, M. M. Knight, George W. Atkins, John Batchelder, L. H. Haines, Justin W. Moody, C. C. Warren, W. R. Elliott, C. H. Arms, Charles Wells, Dr. Henry Janes, and F. H. Atherton.

Hon. Wm. Paul Dillingham made the welcoming address and introduced the President, who responded as follows:

My Friends—It is very pleasant to know that a public officer may travel everywhere through this great land of ours—and only those who have traversed it can understand how great it is—and find always his sure defence and care in the good-will and respect of the people who surround him. If we bar out the irresponsible crank, so far as I can see the President is in no peril, except that he may be killed by the superabundant kindness of the people. [Laughter.] There seems to be an impression that his strength and capacity for speech-making is unfailing [laughter] and that his arm is a hickory limb. But it is very kind of you and all these good, people of Vermont who have met me on this journey to express so pleasantly by your cheers, and much more by your kindly faces, the love and loyalty you have for those in the situation with which the suffrage of the people has for the time connected me. The New England character is one that has been much written about, much discussed, and I think that even those who have found points for the sharpest criticism have, when they adopted the Yankee method of averages, concluded that the influences emanating from Plymouth Rock and diffusing themselves first through the New Hampshire Grants and then the Western Reserve of Ohio, and so scattering and disseminating the seeds of intelligence and love of liberty throughout the whole land, have been good for the whole country. The New England man is a man with his eye open everywhere. I have sometimes thought that the habit of attention, of giving the whole mind to the business in hand, had its very natural origin and development in New England agriculture. The man who holds a plough in a stumpy or stony ground learns the lesson that he had better give his mind to the business in hand. [Laughter.] Otherwise the revenge and punishments for inattention are so prompt and severe that he is quickly called back from any mental wanderings into which he may have fallen. I had occasion to say a moment ago that the fact that the mountain regions of the world had always furnished the bravest champions of liberty and the most strenuous defenders of the faith was possibly owing to the fact that their horizon was so high that if they looked at all they were compelled to look up. [Laughter and applause.]

My countrymen, we have a great and happy land—a people dwelling in happy homes, and that is the origin of government, and there is the essential of a contented citizenship. As long as we can preserve this independence and self-respect, and that degree of comfort in the home that makes it a pleasant abode when the day's toil is ended, and that enables by the most careful thrift the head of the household to lay by for the family and to lighten in some measure the care and labor of the children that are to follow him, there can be no happier land than ours. If we would perpetuate and secure that which we have had handed down to us and which we have so well preserved until this hour, this is the essential thing.

I thank you for this kindly greeting, and beg you to accept my sincerest good-will. I can say nothing of public affairs. Every man called to public office is subject to the infirmities that belong to our nature—the capacity to make mistakes. He can be, if he is true, sure of one thing—that in all that he does he has it in his mind to do the best he can for all the people. [Prolonged cheers.]

MONTPELIER, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.

A great throng greeted the President's arrival at the Vermont capital. He was met by a Reception Committee consisting of 15 prominent citizens: Col. Fred E. Smith, Hon. Charles Dewey, Prof. J. A. DeBoer, J. C. Houghton, M. E. Smilie, L. Bart Cross, G. H. Gurnsey, T. C. Phinney, H. W. Kemp, D. F. Long, C. P. Pitkin, J. W. Brock, George Wing, F. W. Morse, and Thomas Marvin. The First Regiment N. G. V., commanded by Adjutant-General Peck, with the Sons of Veterans, escorted the President and Governor Page to the State House, the former walking the entire distance with uncovered head, surrounded by a guard of honor detailed from George Crook Post, G. A. R. From the Governor's Room they were conducted to the hall of the House of Representatives, where the Legislature of Vermont was assembled in joint session. The members arose and remained standing until the Chief Magistrate was seated between Governor Page and Lieutenant-Governor Fletcher.

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

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

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

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

The Public Reception.

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

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

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

PLAINFIELD, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.

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

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

President Harrison was introduced by Senator Dwinnel, and said:

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

ST. JOHNSBURY, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BILLINGS PARK, AUGUST 27.

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

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

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

BRADFORD, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

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

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

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

WINDSOR, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

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

After partaking of luncheon at the residence of Senator and Mrs. Evarts, the President was conducted to the Town Hall, and, being introduced to the assemblage by Colonel Perkins, he spoke as follows:

My Fellow-citizens—I am about completing a very pleasant trip through the State of Vermont—a trip which, while not the first, has furnished the only occasion on which I have really been brought in contact with the people of your State. My previous journeys were those of a summer tourist, snatching these fine and attractive views as we sped along some of your lines of railway, but getting little impression of the character of the people who occupy these towns and rural homesteads. It has given me great pleasure on this occasion to receive at the hands of your people everywhere a most cordial reception, It has been a source of constant regret to me that I am able on such occasions as we have here this afternoon to make so small a return for the care, preparation, and friendly interest which the people manifest. I am under such limitations as to them and about which I may talk that the fertility of a very rich and highly cultivated mind and imagination would be necessary to furnish one with something new or interesting to say in response to the repeated calls. I have supposed that all of these meetings were expressions of patriotism and of popular interest in a Government which Mr. Lincoln so felicitously described as "a government of the people, by the people, for the people." [Applause.] It is pleasant to have the personal esteem and respect of my fellow-citizens, but I have not thought of appropriating to myself these demonstrations. It is very gratifying to see a people in love with their civil institutions and with that glorious flag which typifies our diversity and our unity. [Applause.] I have said before that it seemed to me this is the essential element and base of every republican government, that the loyalty and love of the people should be given to our institutions and not to men. [Applause.] I think it is one element of discord and unhappiness in some of our sister republics that the minds of these patriotic and generous people are too much swayed by their admiration for men, that they are often swept away from the moorings of principle by the love of a leader. I have rejoiced to find everywhere in the State of Vermont what seemed to me to be a deep-seated, earnest patriotism. [Applause.] It is to be hoped that we may not soon have any call for such manifestations as you have given in the past on the battle-fields from Bennington to the surrender of Appomattox. [Cheers.]

It is pleasant to be here to day at the home of my esteemed friend and your fellow-townsman, the Hon. William M. Evarts. [Applause.] I am glad that he has introduced into Vermont model farming [laughter and applause], and has shown you what the income of a large city law practice can do in the fertilization of a farm. [Laughter and applause.] He has assured me to-day that his farm yields a net income. I accept the statement of my host with absolute faith—and yet Mr. Evarts' reputation as a bookkeeper is not the best in the world. [Laughter and applause.] It is pleasant to see him and to be for a while in his genial presence, and to have this journey illuminated by a visit to his home. I hope he may dwell long with you in peace and honor, as he will always dwell in the honor and esteem of our whole people. [Applause.]

CHARLESTOWN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AUGUST 27.

Notwithstanding the heavy downpour, 1,000 or more sturdy citizens of historic old Charlestown welcomed the President to New Hampshire. The Reception Committee consisted of Hon. George Olcott, George S. Bond, Frank Finnigan, Col. Samuel Webber, Herbert W. Bond, and Frank W. Hamlin. Lincoln Post, G. A. R., Lyman F. Partridge Commander, also participated in the reception. Colonel Webber delivered an eloquent address of welcome.

The President, responding, said:

Colonel Webber and Fellow-citizens—I think it might be said to-day that New Hampshire has "gone wet," as they say when the election returns come in on a vote against prohibition. I am very much obliged to you for this extraordinary manifestation of your interest, for to stand in this downpour of rain is certainly an evidence that you have a most friendly interest in this little party of tourists, who touch in a journey through Vermont the mainspring of the State of New Hampshire. I have been talking about Vermont for the last two or three days, but if you will take the pains, in the comfort of your own homesteads, to read all the good things I have said about Vermont, and then understand that they are all said of New Hampshire, it will abbreviate my speech and will be expressive of my opinion of that sturdy, enterprising, masterful New England character which you share with them. [Applause.]

BELLOWS FALLS, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

When the train arrived at Bellows Falls, the rain was pouring in torrents and the President was conducted to the Opera House by the veterans of E. H. Stoughton Post, G. A. R. The Committee of Reception consisted of Hon. Wm. A. Russell, Hon. A. N. Swain, Judge L. M. Read, Barnes Cannon, Jr., Wyman Flint, John T. Moore, C. W. Osgood, Thomas E. O'Brien, George H. Babbitt, and Capt. Walter Taylor, the latter a veteran of eighty years, who marshalled the hosts for Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison in 1836 and '40. The building was packed.

Mr. Swain introduced President Harrison, who said:

My Fellow-citizens—I will wait a moment until they turn out the footlights. They put a barrier between us, and I always prefer to get my light from above. [Applause.] We can only tarry in this busy city a few moments. The inclement character of the day has driven us to shelter, and the finding of a shelter has consumed some small part of the allotment of time which our schedule gives to you. I greatly appreciate the value and importance of these manufacturing centres, which are now, fortunately for us, not characteristic of New England alone, but are found west of the Ohio and of the Mississippi and of the Missouri. I am one of those who believe that in a diversification of pursuits we make most rapid increase in wealth and attain best social relations and development. I am one of those who believe that Providence did not set apart the United States to be a purely agricultural region, furnishing its surplus to supply the lack of other people of the world while they do all the manufacturing for us. I think there are suggestions in our very geographical position, and a great many of them in our history and experience, that we may well desire and reach for that condition in which we shall raise our own food and in which a manufacturing class, withdrawn from agriculture and other pursuits, shall furnish the farmer a market for his surplus near to his fields and gardens, while he exchanges with the farmer the products of the shop and the loom.

I would not introduce politics. I do not intend to cross any lines of division, but I think we all agree, though we may differ as to the means by which it is to be done, that the nearer together the producer and the consumer can be brought the less waste there is in transportation and the greater the wealth. [Applause.] It is known to you all that our 65,000,000 people furnish per capita a larger market than any other like number of people. This grows out of the fact that our capacity for purchasing is larger than is found in those countries where poverty holds a larger sway. The workingman buys more, has more to buy with in America than in any other land in the world. [Applause.] I mentioned the other day at St. Albans that this was the era of the battle for a market. The whole world is engaged in it. The thought was suggested to me by a sentence in the address of President Bartlett at the observance of the centennial of the battle of Bennington in 1877. He says, "Trading Manchester furnished two regiments to Burgoyne to conquer a market." The foreign policy of the United States has never been selfish. There has always been, if you will trace it through the struggles of Greece and of our South American neighbors for independence and a free Government, a brave, generous tone of sympathy with struggling people the world round in our diplomatic policy. I think we may well challenge comparison with the foreign policy of any other great Government in the world in this regard. It has never been our policy to push our trade forward at the point of the bayonet. We have always believed that it should be urged upon the ground of mutual advantage; and upon this ground alone are we now endeavoring, by every means in our power, to open the markets of our sister republics in Central and South America to the products of American shops and farmers. [Applause.]

We do not covet their territory. The day of filibustering aggression has gone by in the United States. We covet their good will. We wish for them settled institutions of government, and we desire those exchanges that are mutually profitable. We have found that we were receiving from some of these countries enormous annual imports of sugar, coffee, and hides, and we have now placed these articles on the free list upon the condition that they give to the products of the United States fair reciprocity. [Applause.] If our own laws, or any aggressive movement we are making for a larger share in the commerce of the world, should excite the commercial jealousy and rivalry of other countries we shall not complain if those rivalries find only proper expressions. We have come to a time in our development as a Nation when I believe that interest on money is low enough for us to turn some of our accumulated capital from the railways into steam transportation on the sea; that the time has come when we shall recover a full participation in the carrying trade of the world, when under the American flag steamships shall carry our products to neighboring markets and bring back their exchange to our harbors. Larger foreign markets for the products of our farms and of our factories and a larger share in the carrying trade of the world, peaceful relations with all mankind, with naval and coast defences that will silently make an effective argument on the side of peace, are the policies that I would pursue. [Applause.]

BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

Just before the train reached Brattleboro the rain ceased, and the President rode in a procession to the house of Col. J. J. Estey. The Committee of Reception consisted of Colonel Estey, Col. Kittredge Haskins, Dr. H. D. Holton, N. I. Hawley, F. W. Childs, ex-Governor Holbrook, Judge Wheeler, Hon. B. D. Harris, Hon. J. L. Martin, E. C. Crosby, Judge R. W. Clarke, C. F. Thompson, Col. W. C. Holbrook, George S. Dowley, Colonel Fuller, Dr. Conland, Dr. Ketchum, and G. A. Hines. Veterans of the G. A. R., and the Estey Guard, escorted the Chief Executive through the city. Several thousand were assembled on the grounds.

Colonel Estey welcomed and presented the President, who made the following address:

My Fellow citizens—Governor Proctor held out to me the suggestion that this trip to Vermont would be a very restful one. He has the queerest appreciation of what rest means of any man I know. [Laughter.]

When I attended the centennial demonstration of the inauguration of Washington in New York, I spent part of one day on the bridge of the Despatch bowing to the fleet in the bay as we moved down to the Battery, and the balance of the day shaking hands at the City Hall, attending a ball at night; ten hours the next day reviewing a procession, with a banquet at night; and about as many hours the day following reviewing the civic procession; and when released from the stand about 5 o'clock in the evening I hurried to the Jersey City depot to take the train, scarcely able to stand upon my feet. One of the gentlemen of the committee said to me: "Well, Mr. President, I hope you have enjoyed these three days of rest in New York." [Laughter.]

I wish I could see you more satisfactorily than I am able to do on a hurried trip like this, but Governor Proctor kept me up very late last night, and he was the last man down to breakfast this morning himself.

All that I have seen in your State has but increased the respect I have always entertained for your people. My recent journey of somewhat great length through the country has very deeply impressed upon me the fact of the unity of our people. The building of these great railroad lines making every part of every State familiar, and stretching across the continent so as to bring within easy access the most distant parts of our country, has had a great tendency to unify our people and to wipe out whatever there was provincial or local in our character. It has rubbed off some of the edges of the New England character, and has rubbed on some of the New England polish upon the West. In fact, wherever we have any combining, nothing makes it homogeneous except a thorough mixer, and the American people have certainly had a most thorough mixing. [Cheers.]

One of your war Governors was saying to me to-day, as we came along in the train, your own distinguished fellow-citizen, that on a journey West not long ago everywhere Vermont men came to meet him; and as I went recently across the continent the railroad train scarcely stopped at any station that some one from Indiana did not reach up his hand and claim recognition; and so it is in all the States.

The West is now turning a little back toward the East, and I have found some people, who probably had some ancestral connection with New England, but whose birth, early residence, and business life were in the West, who have come back to the old home. All this is pleasant, all this is surety of the future of our country. It is pleasant to know that the South is being obliterated, that all that made it distinctive in the sense of separation or alienation is being gradually wiped out. [Applause.]

Of course, the prejudices of generations are not like marks upon the blackboard, that can be rubbed out with a sponge. These are more like the deep glacial lines that the years have left in the rock; but the water, when that surface is exposed to its quiet, gentle, and perpetual influence, wears even these out, until the surface is smooth and uniform. And so these influences are at work in our whole country, and we should be hopeful for it, hopeful for its future. I am sure you each feel pride in your American citizenship, and would show readiness to defend it in war, and I am sure that from every class of your community would come the response: "We will maintain it, honorable and high, in peace."

I thank you most sincerely for your friendly greeting, and regret that I am not able to speak to you more satisfactorily, and can only accept with a heart full of appreciation these marks of your respect. [Applause.]

RUTLAND, VERMONT, AUGUST 28.

The President and his party were guests of Secretary Proctor on the night of the 27th, at the village of Proctor, in the Green Mountains. The morning of the 28th, the party visited Rutland, and were met by the local Reception Committee: J. C. Baker, H. H. Dyer, W. G. Veazey, ex-Judge Barrett, J. W. Cramton, Dr. J. D. Hanrahan, C. H. Joyce, J. N. Woodfin, E. P. Gilson, P. W. Clement, George E. Lawrence, Henry F. Field, John N. Baxter, P. M. Meldon, John A. Sheldon, George J. Wardwell, Dr. Norman Seaver, and Henry Carpenter, President of the village.

Arrived at Memorial Hall the President was greeted by a large assemblage, including many ladies. He was presented by Colonel Baker and made the following address:

My Fellow-citizens and Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic—It gives me great pleasure this morning, tired as I am, to see and to have an opportunity to express my thanks to this large assemblage of the good citizens of Rutland. My journey through your State has been attended with every evidence of respect which it was possible for the people to bestow. Your chairman has spoken of the fact that the President of the United States may travel everywhere through our country without any attendance of policemen. As I have had occasion to say before, the only peril he is likely to meet, if the railroads take good care of him and the cranks keep out of the way, is from the over-kindness of the people [laughter and applause]; and there is more peril in that than you will understand at first thought. It is pleasant to stand upon the steps of this Memorial Hall, erected as a place of deposit for trophies of the great Civil War and as a monument of honor to those soldiers from Vermont who aided so conspicuously in making that war successful. We cannot tell how much hung upon that contest. No orator has yet been inspired to describe adequately the gravity of the great issue which was fought out upon the battlefields of the War of the Rebellion. We say it was a contest to preserve the unity of our republic, and so it was; but what dismemberment would have meant; how greatly it would have increased the cost of government; how sadly it would have disturbed the plan of our border communities; how it would have degraded in the eyes of the world this great people; how it would have rejoiced the enemies of popular government, no tongue has yet adequately described. But it was not to be so. God has desired that this experiment of free government should have a more perfect trial, and it was impossible that the brave men of the loyal States should consent to dismemberment of the Union. We were very patient, so patient, in the early contest, as it ranged through the great debate of convention and Congress that our brethren of the South altogether mistook the temper of our people. Undoubtedly there were evidences that the men of trade were reluctant to have those lines of profitable communication, which had been so long maintained with the South, broken off. Undoubtedly that character so undesirable in our politics—the doughface—was particularly conspicuous in those days of discussion, but we were altogether misjudged when the people of the South concluded that they might support their threats of disunion which had so long rung in Congress, and so long filled their boasting press, by force of arms.

I shall never forget, nor will any of you who are old enough to remember it, that great electric thrill and shock which passed through our whole country when the first gun was fired at Sumter. Debate was closed. Our orators were withdrawn, and a great wave of determined patriotism swept over the country higher than any tidal wave ever lifted itself upon a devastated coast [applause], and it was not to be stayed in its progress until the last vestige of rebellion had been swept from the face of our beloved land. The men of New England were a peaceful people. The farmers and the farmers' sons were not brawlers. They were not found at the tavern. They were abiding under the sheltering moral influences and quietude of these New England hills. But the man who thought that the spirit of 1776 had been quenched was badly mistaken. The same resolute love of liberty, the same courage to face danger for a cause that had its inspiration in high moral purposes and resolves abided in the hearts of your people. [Applause.] Possibly the war might have been avoided if the South had understood this, but it was so written in the severe but benevolent purposes of God. There was a great scroll of emancipation to be written. There was a martyr President, who was to affix his name to a declaration that would be as famous as that to which your fathers fixed their signature in 1776. It was to be in truth as well as in theory a free people [applause], and there was no other pathway to emancipation than along the bloody track of armies, not seeing at the beginning nor having the purpose that finally was accomplished, but guided by the hand of power and wisdom that is above us and over us to the accomplishment of that glorious result that struck the shackles from four millions of slaves. [Applause.]

I greet most affectionately these comrades of the war who are before me to-day. Let them abide in honor in all your communities. Let shafts of marble and bronze lift themselves in all your towns to tell the story of patriots' work well done and to teach the generations that are to come how worthy their fathers were. Let us preserve all these inspiring lessons of history, all these individual examples of heroism, of which Vermont furnished so many during the war. Let them not be forgotten. Let them be the illuminated and inspiring pages of your State's history, and then, whatever shock may come to us in the future, whenever the hand of anarchy or disorder shall be raised, whenever foreign powers shall seek to invade the rights or liberties of this great people, there will be found again an impenetrable bulwark in the brave hearts of a sturdy and patriotic people. [Applause.] You will, I am sure, crown your kindness by excusing me from attempting further speech and allowing me to express, as I part from you, my good wishes for Vermont and all her good people. [Applause.]

PROCTOR, VERMONT, AUGUST 28.

On the return to Proctor in the evening the President was tendered the final reception of his trip to Vermont. The village was elaborately decorated; an illuminated evergreen arch spanned the entrance to Secretary Proctor's beautiful grounds. The residences and grounds of E. R. Morse, F. D. Proctor, B. F. Taylor, W. E. Higbee, G. H. Davis, E. J. Boyce, J. H. Edson, and H. E. Spencer were also brilliantly illuminated. From a platform fronting the Secretary's home the party reviewed the procession of 1,000 workmen from the marble quarries.

Secretary Proctor, in an affectionate address, introduced President Harrison, who spoke as follows:

It is not my privilege to call you neighbors, but I am sure I may call you friends. This journey in Vermont is crowned to-night by a reception and a good-by that is surpassingly brilliant and artistic in its preparation and one that I have never seen exceeded. But above all this, I have been able here in Proctor to witness in its best manifestation that which I have seen elsewhere in New England and especially in Vermont—a community of workers, men industriously pursuing mechanical avocations and doing it under conditions of the greatest possible comfort. As I look upon these homes in which you dwell and contrast them with the wretchedness of the crowded tenement-houses of our great cities; as I inhale to-night the bracing air of these mountains, and as my eye has looked to-day upon their green summits, I have said how happy is the lot of that man and that woman who work in one of these bright, wholesome New England villages. [Applause.] It has seemed to me that the relation of our mutual friend who has inaugurated and developed these works in which many of you find employment was that of a public benefactor and a personal friend. [Applause.] The simplicity and naturalness of his own life among you, his ready appreciation of the loyalty and intelligence of those who are employed by him, his interest in their success in life, is the ideal relation between the employer and his workmen. [Applause.] I would to God it was always and everywhere so, that when a man is put at a machine he should not be regarded by his employer as a part of it, that the human nature, the aspirations of a man, should still be recognized, and the relations with the employer be that of mutual confidence and helpfulness and respect! [Applause.]

You are sharers in the responsibilities of local government, of the government of your State and of the Nation, of which Vermont is one of the honored members. I am sure that you have pride in the faithful discharge of all these duties. I cannot but feel that our national policy should be in the direction of saving our working people from that condition of hopelessness which comes when wages are barely adequate to the sustenance of animal life. [Applause.] There is no hope for any community where this state of things exists, and there will be no hope for the Nation should it become the general condition of the workingmen of America. That man or woman out of whose heart hope has gone, who sees nothing better in life, before whom the vista of life stretches in one dead level of unending and half-requited toil, that man's estate is calculated to make him reckless in character. It is one of the beneficent conditions of citizenship here that there are no disabilities put in the way of ambitions and the aspiring. I hope it may always be so. I cannot always sympathize with that demand which we hear so frequently for cheap things. Things may be too cheap. They are too cheap when the man who produces them upon the farm or the man or woman who produces them in the factory does not get out of them living wages with a margin for old age and for a dowry for the incidents that are to follow. [Applause.] I pity that man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth or shapes it into a garment shall starve in the process. [Applause.]

I am most profoundly grateful to you, my fellow-citizens, and to my good friend Governor Proctor, for this beautiful demonstration—this magnificent rural welcome which we have had here to-day. It will live always in my memory. I shall carry this community in my thoughts as one of the best types of American neighborhood life. I have found in him a most valuable contribution to the administration of the Government at Washington. [Applause.] You cannot know fully how he has grown into the respect and confidence of all who have been associated with him in the Cabinet and of all our legislators in Congress without distinction of party. I regret that there is some danger that you may reclaim him for Vermont [applause]; yet it is quite natural that it should be so, and I shall do the best I can to get a substitute. The labors of public office at Washington are full of high responsibility and most burdensome toil. No man is endowed with an incapacity to make mistakes. We can, however, all of us, in public or private trust, be sure of our motives. These are our own. We can know whether we are pursuing low and selfish ends or have set before us the general good, the highest good of all our people. Judgment upon what has been done is with you. I am sure only that I have had it in my heart to do that which should in the highest degree promote the prosperity of our people and lift the glorious flag yet higher in the esteem of the world. [Great applause.] We have been endeavoring to open a foreign market for American trade. If these efforts are met, as I trust they will be, by enterprise on the part of our merchants and manufacturers, I do not doubt that the next ten years will see a most gratifying increase in our foreign trade. [Applause.] They should diligently set themselves to the study of the new markets into which their goods may now go. The most intelligent representatives should be sent there, and their goods adapted to the market that is to be supplied. This I have no doubt they will do, and I add the expectation that we shall presently have a most gratifying increase in the American merchant marine. [Applause.]

WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 17, 1891.

The Augusta Exposition.

President Harrison on the above date received at the Executive Mansion a delegation of prominent citizens of Georgia, who extended to him a formal invitation to attend the Augusta Exposition in November. The delegation comprised the following citizens and Exposition directors: Hon. Patrick Walsh, Walter M. Jackson, J. P. Verdery, H. G. Smith, J. L. Gow, C. H. Ballard, J. J. Doughty, W. A. Garrett, G. J. Howard, W. H. Landrum, J. E. Barton, W. E. Keener, Percy Burum, J. P. Bones, J. M. Cranston, Crawford Mays, Maurice Walton, L. J. Henry, T. R. Gibson, P. J. O'Connor, Jules Rival, Joseph Ganahl, Jr., W. H. Barrett, Jr., P. A. Stovall, W. E. Platt, A. J. Gouley, Frank X. Dorr, and Hon. J. C. Clements.

Chairman Walsh, on behalf of the committee, made the invitation address, to which the President, responding, said:

Gentlemen—I recall with pleasure the visit made by some of your representatives. I think I have repeatedly, on every suitable occasion, especially during my recent visit to the South, expressed my sincere hope of the development of those marvellous resources so long hidden from sight, but now about to be opened up. I had occasion to say then that you would realize the advantage of combining manufactures with agriculture. The old system made of Georgia a plantation State. I would not have it less so. But you may still develop other industries without destroying the surface of the country. There is no competition between these industries; one does not supersede the other. The farmer still has his near market for some products that will not bear transportation. Out of this diversity I think the highest development will come. Recently I made a trip through New England and was deeply impressed with the numerous industries and small factories showing in little places, where the lives and homes of the workmen were so much cleaner and purer than in the great cities, and this was made possible by the great diversity of small interests. In Vermont I came upon a busy little factory surrounded by cottages in the midst of the hills. I was told that the proprietor made stethoscopes, and out of a small beginning had built up a great trade. These little things make happy homes; bring money, trade, and development. I am greatly interested in these things, and I would be very happy to see this development in Alabama and Georgia as in any Northern State. We all wish it. Whether I can be with you or not I cannot now say. I have a good many very important matters demanding attention from now on to the meeting of Congress. Some are home matters of importance and some are foreign. Looking back over the last year, it would seem probable that there was a conspiracy among the powers to see that those in responsible places should have no rest. Many of these things must now come to my personal attention. If I cannot be with you, you will know that my heart is with you. If I can I will come, but the time now being so close to the meeting of Congress it is doubtful.

WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 17, 1891.

The Ecumenical Conference of the Methodist Church convened in the Metropolitan Church at Washington, D. C., on October 7, 1891. Rt. Rev. Thomas Bowman, Senior Bishop of the Church in America, presided at the opening, and Rev. William Arthur, M.A., of London, delivered the inaugural sermon. It was in every respect the greatest assembly in the history of Methodism.

Among a few of the distinguished preachers and orators from abroad were: Rev. T. B. Stephenson, D.D., LL.D., Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, M.A., Rev. John Bond, Rev. F. W. Bourne, Rev. J. Ernest Clapham, and Rev. David J. Waller, D.D., all of London. The following Washingtonians comprised the Committee on Reception: Bishop J. F. Hurst, D.D.; Rev. G. H. Corey, D.D., Chairman; Rev. C. W. Baldwin, Rev. J. H. Becket, Rev. J. W. E. Bowen, Rev. T. E. Carson, Rev. R. H. G. Dyson, Rev. George Elliott, Rev. S. R. Murray, Rev. C. H. Phillips, Rev. J. A. Price, Rev. E. S. Todd, Rev. L. T. Widerman, Rev. J. T. Wightman, Rev. L. B. Wilson, Alexander Ashley, E. S. Atkinson, W. S. Birch, Gen. Cyrus Bussey, J. F. Chestnut, D. S. Cissell, Robert Cohen, George Compton, L. A. Cornish, G. S. Deering, Robert Dunn, A. B. Duval, Hon. M. G. Emery, Prof. Edgar Frisbie, D. B. Groff, T. A. Harding, Gen. S. S. Henkle, W. H. Houghton, W. J. Hutchinson, Thomas Jarvis, B. F. Leighton, William Mayse, H. B. Moulton, Hon. Hiram Price, B. Robinson, W. J. Sibley, T. B. Stahl, B. H. Stinemetz, H. L. Strang, G. W. F. Swartzell, Frederick Tasker, J. S. Topham, L. H. Walker, E. S. Wescott, J. B. Wilson, and W. R. Woodward.