Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-12-24
OUR PRESIDENTS 3, /.
Remarks Of Secretary Sherman at the Now
England Society Dinner, New York.


England Society Dinner, New York.
NEW YORK, Dec. 22.-At q dinner of the New
England society, tonight, Secretary Sherman
responded to the toast, ''The President of the
United States,'' and in the course of his re-
marks, said: 1t is one Of the first devices OF
the average American to vent all his spite and
spleen against the President of the United
States. 1t is . very safe and easy occupation,
because the President can only ansvver by his
dignity and In silence. But of late years the
press of this country has greatly improved
No other Presidents of the United States were
ever spoken of with such bitterness as Wash
ington, Adams and Jefferson, and yet now We
are brought to respect the name OF
Washington as first in war, first in peace and
first in the hearts of our eountrymen. ZAP.
plause.) Adams and Jefferson. each act
against the other in our early history. are now
blended and all their quarrels forgotten.
have during my official life personally known
six Presidents of the United States, among
them probably the most abused was Abraham
Lincoln. loud applause.) A man who bore
the CROSS of the American people, aud whose
martyrdom will be read with tears by the vet
unborn. (Applause.)
The only of these Presiden ts now living
ID the illustrious soldier and citizen who, hav-
ing conducted great war and won many bat
tles-battles greater than any in modern his.
tory, including even those fought by Napoleon
Bonaparte, and after having served bis coun.
try for eight years and received all the honors
the American people have ever given to mortal
man, he now, after the circle of the globe, re.
turns with blessings heaped on him in the Ian.
guage of the civilized world. (Cheering and
applause). - :
All these precedents have not been equally
distinguished and probably will not be equal
ly remembered, but there ia not one OF
them who has not been there to his coun-
try's honor as he believed it and saw it at the
time. For 80 years the great powers of this
government have been administered by meu
selected by the people, and no one Of
upon him in the way that has been common in
the country, and where the king or Fthe Presi-
dent, or the ruler for the time being, holds
seat by hereditary descent. The great priu.
ciple Of selection of the highest magistrate by
the people has been entirely justified
by the experience.of the American people.
And now trust you will not deem it amiss
for me to say few words of honor and respect
for the President of the United States that
now is. When President Hayes assumed exec
utive functions, yes, before he assumed them,
he was passed with difficulties that
MS predecessors did not have for
the first time, for the second
listed as to who was elected President and no
doubt gentlemen now here may have been and
certainly the American people were divided
upon the question az to who had been elected
to the Presidency, but the very fact that this
question was settled by tribunal organized
for that purpose, in peace and quiet, is the
greatest triumph of American colonization.
loud applause.)
When ne entered upon his Office he found
two States in which were opposing parties pre-
pared for deadly conflict, and though men have
differed as to the mode or means in which
thoseEdiffic ulties were avoided and evaded, vet
believe il is the common judgment that the
administration of President Hayes acted in
this respect with wisdom, prudence and
to preserve the peace of the American people.
His administration commenced when we were
involved in financial difficulties of serious
character, nearly all industries were impeded
all over this broad land were parties demanding
legislative interference. Our currency was ire
deemable; its value was less than it promised,
but such has been the policy adopted by Presi-
dent Hayes that all these evils have been re-
moved. and now peace and plenty spread
themselves all over the country.
men who were idle are now busy, artisans
receiving fair wages, and you in this great
market of commerce are receiving fruits of this
boundless prosperity, and should be thankful
to man, who by his trmnesa aided in bring
ing this about. No doubt many causes have
contributed to this. Our large crops and as-
sence of crops in foreign countries, the
surplus of five years of hard times
and the boundless resources of this great coup-
try of ours, yet after all you must admit that
it was by the frmness Of the President of the
United States that the measure which tended
to promote this result was fually brought to a
successful issue. (Applause.)
The President of the United States has given
you an honest administration. Your revenues
have been faithfully collected, your ordinary
affairs have been conducted we'll, and in the
purity of his life and conduct of his private
affairs he has stood as the type
Of American citizenship upon which
only republican institutions can live. In the
language of the toast, l say, the President OF
the United States is the President of oul
kinpdnm-the nennle's kinndnrn