The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-09-20

He Tells How Faithful He Has Been t.
Mr.. Hendricks in the Past.

MIR. Hendricks in the Past.
Letter in Cincinnati Enquirer
while member OF the United States Senate, "
continued Mr.. Mcdonald, my only thought was
to be my own successor | was total stranger
TO every other ambition. The only avenue open
ing to success in my estimation led through tue
nomination of Mr.. Hen1ricks to the presidency.
regarded the placing of any other man at the
head of the national ticket as likely 10 jeopar-
dize Democratic triumph in tins state.
have had no evidence since the
campaign to convince me that l
II he had been Endorsed by the Cincinnati con-
vention our party would have carried Indiana
without doubt. was full of the subject, and
| believed that he would receive the nomination
up to the meeting of the delegates. Several
senators jOkingly called me Hendricks. with
! his record made during the war believed him
| the one Democrat in America who could be
elected President. Figures could tell me
nothing else but that he would carry a majority
of the electoral votes up to the border OF New
York. And it was impossible for me to see how
that State, because of soreness, would prefer 10
surrender TO the Republicans. No, sir, If
Thomas A. Hendricks had been the choice OF the
Cincinnati convention the Democrats wOnd
have President to-day.
"About six weeks before the meeting of the
delegates at Cincinnati, spoke at the rooms OF
the Hendricks club, in Washington, in advocacy
of Mr.. Hendricks. That speech published
in Washington daily paper, Of which we took
"a large number of copies, and you will find 1t
republished in papers of this city. The argu-
ments were as plain and terse as could possibly
state them. Taxing a newspaper directory,
the Democratic press of the country. l held in
that speech, or rather, in that written article
given out as speech, that Indiana, being a
recognized battlefield, was entitled to the
largest consideration. The fact that Demo-
Graf in Indiana doubted the wisdom of Mr.. Hen
dricks's nomination. 1t would have lifted us, l
believed, and yet believe, from the list OF doubt
tu States.
"A deiusiOn prevailed N some quarters to the
effect that MIR. Hendricks had been Green
hacker, and brought the record forward TO
show that he had advocated no theory of finance
not strictly accord with the cardinal doctrine
of the DEMO- ratio party as expressed in its ma
tona conventions. | also cited his letter of ac-
ceptance, which, as yet remember, read: Our
financial system of eXpedients must be reformed.
Gold and silver are the real standards of value,
and onr national currency Will mot be perfect
medium OF exchange untll IL shall be conveTtf-
bic at the pleasure Of the holder That settled
the question in regard to his views OF money or
exchange.
az happened 20 be in Washington" continued
ex-senator Mcdonald, "during Mr.. Hendrickss
senatorial term, and heard his speech reply to
Morton, who favored a military bill then up for
discussion. 1t was certainly the ablesJ effort OF
Mr.. Hendricks's life, and L do not remember
even to have heard d more adroit, earnest and
eloquent discourse. It had a marked influence
at the time. and he won the highest order of adj
was leader of the Democratic party
during the war, and that neither the
nents ever provoked from him one act
or one expression not Feverential TO the
constitution and the laws of the country. 1 re-
garded as something we'll worth remembering 2.
He could never be driven to an utterance posi-
bic to torture or cODsfIue into any thing like
hostility to the Union nor enmity to any candid
effort for its preservation. With his reasons for
apprehension that our system of government
was to be hopelessly injured, occupying the 20
stlon he did, the most conspicuous figure for
partisan maignity in The republic, his motives
purposely mlsinterpreted, and his slightest mis-
take liable to be largely magnifisd, Ills course
was such as attested the loftiest public WORTH