National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1880-06-07
GRANTS NAME PRESENTED
Eloquent Speech of Senator Conk-
ling at Chicago.
A Reviow OF tho Military and Civil Life o.
General Grant-Equally Great as II Sol
dier. Statesman. Traveller or Pri-
yato Citizen--Unmoved in the
Midst of Danger, Calm in
the Hour of Victory.
A Noble Tribute to "A Noble Man.

scnting the name of General Grant to the
convention. Mr.. Conkling said
when asked whence comes our can.
didate we say from Appomattox. Zap
plause.l Obeying instructions | should mover
dare to disregard, expressing also my own firm
conviction, / rise in behalf of the state of
New York TO propose a nomination with which
the country and tho republican party can
grandly win. The election before us will be
tho Austerllz of American politics II will
decide whether for years to come the country
shall be republican or Cossack.'
'Tho republican party with its standard in
his hand is stronger now than in 1868 or 1872.
Never defeated in war or in peace, his name
is the most ilustrious bornc by any living
man. His services attest his greatness, aud
the country knows them by heart. His fame
was borne not alone of things written and
said, but of tho arduOus greatness of things
done, and dangers and emergencies will search
in vain in tho future as they have searched
in vain in tho past, for any other on whom
the nation leans with such confidence aud
trust
Standing on the highest omnence ofhuman
distinction, and having filed all lands with
his renown, modest, firm, simple and self
poised, ho has seen not only the titled, but
the poor and the lowly in tho uttermost ends
of the earth risD and uncover before him. He
has studied the needs and the defects of many
systems of government, and ho comes back o
better American than ever, with wealth of
knowledge and experience added to tho hard
common sense which so cOnspicuously distin-
guished him in all the fierce light that beat
upon him throughout the most oventful. try
ing and perlous sixteen years Of the nations
history.
Never having had "a policy to enforce
against the will of the people, ho never bo.
trayed q cause or friend aud the people will
never bctray or desert him. Viiisd and re-
viled ruthlossly, asperscd by numberless presses
not in other lands, but his own-thc assaults
upon him have strengthened and seasoned his
hold on tho public heart. Tho ammunition Of
calumny has all been exploded the powder
has all. beon burned once; its force Is spent,
and Grants name will glitter as bright and
imperishable star in.tho diadem of the republic
when those who have tried to tarnish it have
moldercd in forgotten graves aud the memoir
les and epitaphs have vanished utterly.
Never olatod by success, never depressed by
adyorsity, he has ever, in peace Us in war,
shown the very genius of common sense. The
terms he prescribed for Lcos surrender fore
shadowcl the wisest principles and prophe-
cies of true reconstruction.
"ViGtorious in the greatest of modern wars,
hc quickly signilized his aversion to war and
his love Of peace by an arbitration Of inter.
national disputes which stands rs the wlscst
aud most majestic example of its kind in tho
worlds diplomacy. When initiation at the
height Of its popularity and frenzy had swept
both houses of congress, it was the veto OF
Grant which single and alone overthrow cx-
pansiOn and cleared tho way for specie re-
sumption. To him immeasuably, more than
to any other man, is duo tho fact that every
papor dollar is as good us gold. With him us
our lcador we shall have no defensive cam
paigD, 10 apologies or explanations to make.
4. a
at him, and lie broken and harmless at
his feet. Life, liberty and property will
find u safeguard in him. Whom he said
of the black men in Florida, 'Wheroyor am
they may como also,' he meant that had he
power TO help il the poor dwellcrs in the
cabins of the south should not be driven in
terror from the homes of their childhood and
the graves of their murdered dead. When he
refused to receive Denis Kearney, he IN cant
that lnwlessnoss aud communism, although il
should dictate laws to u whole city, would
everywhere meet II foo in him, and, popular
or unpopular, ho will how to the liue of right
lot the chips fly where they may.
His integrity, his common sense, his cour-
age and his unequalcd experience are the quail
tiles offered to his country. The only argu-
ment against accepting them would amaze
solomon. lie thought there could be nothing
now under tho sun. Having tried Grant
twice and found him faithful, we are told we
must not, even aitcran interval of years, trust
him again. What qualification does not such
a fillacy involve? The American people ox-
Glude Jefferson Davis from public trust. Why {?
Because he was tho arbitrator and would
be destroyer. Aud now the same people
are asked to ostracise Grant and not trust him.
Why? Because he was the arch preserver OF
his country; because, not only in war, but
afterward twice as II civic magistrate, he gavc
his highest noblcst efforts to the public Is
such absurdity an Glectonccriug juggle or hy-
pocrisy'5 masquerade?
"Thcre is no field of human activity, re-
sponsibility or reason in which rational beings
object to Grant, because he has been weighed
in the balance and not found wanting, and
because ho has unequaod experience making
him exceptionally competent and it. From
tho man who shoes your horse to tho lawyer
who pleads your case, the officers who manage
your railway, the doctor into whose hands
you give your life, or the minister who socks
TO save your soul, what man do you reject
because you have tried him, aud by his works
have known him2 What makes tho presi.
Dental Office an exception to all things else In
the common sense 10 be applied to selecting
its incumbcnt2 Who dare7 to put fcttcrs on
the free choice aud judgment which is the
brh-right of the American peopc2 Can It
be said that Grant has used Official power to
perpetuate his plan2
"IIo has no place; no official power has been
used for him. Without patronage or power,
without telegraph wires running from his
house to this convention, without election
contrivancos, without effort on his part, his
name is on his Countly's lips, and he is struck
at by tho whole em)craIG party because his
nomination will be the death.bow to demo-
cratic success He is struck at by others who
hnd of'ense and disqual acation in the very
services he has rendered aud in the worry eE.
perences ho has gained. Show me better
man; name one, and am answered. But do
not point as disqualification to the very facts
which mako this man fit beyond all others.
Lot not experience disqullily or excellence
impeach him.
"Thore is no third term In the casO and tho
pretonse will dlo with the political dog days
which engendOred it.. Nobody Is really worried
about third term except those hopelcssy
longing for first term and tho dupes they
have made. Without bureaus, committees,
officials or emissarcs to manufacture souti.
mcnt in his favor, without intrigue ,or effort
on his part, Grant is the candidate whose sup.
porors have never threatened to bolt, us thoy
say he Is republican who never wlyers. lle
and his friends stand by the creed, and the
of the republican party holding tho
right of a majority Ms the very essence of
their faith, and meaning to uphold that faith
against tho common enemy aud the charatlus
and guorrilhs who from tino to
tino deploy between tho lines aud