Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-10-08
GROVER CLEVELAND AT HOME.

The city was brilliantly illuminated, and
the procession of citizens bearing banners
with appropriate inscriptions was eight
miles long. We have room only to give
but little more than the address of wei
come and Gov. Cleveland's reply
1t was ten minutes past II o'clock when
the Governors carriage arrived again oppo-
site the tennessee House, and still the ser
ried columns passed, without any apparent
indication that the end was near. The
Governor and party alighted and entered
the hotel, and it was nearly three quarters
of an hour before the last organization pass
ed. The column was two hours and ten
minutes in passing the tennessee House,
and it is estimated there were fully $4,000
people in line.
In the square opposite the tennessee
many thousands had congregated, and the
appearance of the Governor on the platform
was signal for wild, tumultuous cheering
that fairly made the building tremble. The
Governor stood with uncovered head while
Hon. Henry Martin, seventy-six years of
age, president of the Manufacturers and
Traders Bank, and the oldest banker in the
city, as well as the Oldest x-railroad con
ductor in the country, welcomed him to the
city.
MR.. MARTINS ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
Mr.. Martin said: Governor Cleveland. in
behalf Of this thronging multitude of your
old friends and neigkbors, welcome you
home tonight You came to our city a
boy; you learned your profession here, and
for more than twenty years you have gone
in and out before us, respected and trusted
and honored by all. In the course of time
the public need demanded you, and regard
less OF party affiliations we elected you our
mayor. The singleness Of purpose, rugged
honesty, faithful discharge of luty, unpre-
tentious yet ever watchful care of the pub
lie interests which marked your admins
tration Of our civic affairs, led the people Of
this proud State, by an unexampled major
ity, to elect you as their Chief Magistrate.
You entered upon this great Office While
you have held it you have had the public
eye turned fully at times on you as prom
inent candidate for the presidency, and at
period remarkable in its demand for pure
and good government and the reform of old
abuses. You have steadily pursued your
way, deciding every question which has
arisen out of the manifold affairs or need of
this great Commonwealth, or which has
been urged to the front by cunning oppo-
nents, with that same integrity of purpose
diiU GIUuRutlul CttIC MnlCn lEdIkGu YOUR
career at home. Again has fidelity to duty
produced its results, and we welcome you
tonight as the presidential candidate of
great party, and Of thousands upon thou
sands who recognize the demands OF public
service as superior to party ties. And we,
your old friends and neighbors. sir, bearing
towards you the full measure of high per-
sonal esteem, rejoice to know that in this
bitter campaign not one reputable man has
yet been able to point to one solitary act of
your administration and pronounce it sub
Ject to just criticism; that not one repu
table man has been heard to say that in any
one single official act you have made the
interests of party or of self superior to the
public good, or for one instant forgotten
that your office was q sacred and solemn
trust to be administered for the best inter-
est of the whole people We believe, sir,
that the calm, good sense of the nation is
with you tonight; that rectitude and truth
and earnestness Of purpose and fidelity to
duty, and firmness in the discharge of duty,
are at this day and time recognized as essen
tial in the Chief Executive of the republic,
and that surely and resistlessly the current
Of public sentiment is doing its perfect
work, which shall end in your triumphal
election. We congratulate you, sir, from
our hearts upon the success which has
marked your past career, and upon the as
surances of coming victory, and we welcome
you to the city whose chief pride tonight
is in the fact that it is the home of Grover
Cleveland.
GOVERNOR CLFyELAND's RESPONSE.
Governor Cleveland responed as follows:
Fellow citizens,-I can hardly tell the
people of Buffalo how l rejoice tonight,
and how grateful | am for this demonstra-
ton of the confidence and esteem of my
friends and fellow-citizens. l have resided
among you and in this city, where all my
success in private life has been achieved,
for nearly thirty years. Tonight come
to you after the longest absence that has
occurred IN all that time; and yet, within
the few weeks that have passed since I saw
you last, an event has happened of supreme
Importance to me, and that places me with
in the nations gaze. The honor it has
brought to me | ask my fellow townsmen
to share, while | acknowledge with CRATE
full heart all that they i'll the past have
done for me. Applause. But two short
years ago you stood steadily by my side in
every effort of mine as chief executive Of
our city to advance its interests and welfare.
Whatever was able to accomplish of value
to this community was largely due to your
thong and intelligent support, Nor can
ever forget the generous endorsement you
gave my candidacy for the high Office which
| now hold IN the State, and l assure you
that in its administration have received no
greater encouragement than the approval
of my friends at home. What have seen
and heard tonight has touched me deeply
1t tells me that my neighbors are still my
friends, and assures me that | have not
been altogether unsuccessful in my efforts
to deserve their confidence and attach
menti. In wears to come | shall deem my
self not far wrong if still retain their good
opinion; and if surrounding cares and per-
plexiti bring Tut anxiety and vexatlon
shall find solace and comfort in the memory
of days | spent here, and in recalling the
kindness of my Buffalo friends. But other
friends are here tonight, and to all who
tender me their kindly welcome l extend
heartfelt greeting as citizens with me Of the
greatest Commonwealth in the sisterhood
of States. and one immensely interested in
the general veal. Because love my State
and her people, cannot refrain
from reminding you that she should
be in the van Of every movement which
promises safer and better administration
of the General Government, so closely re-
lated to her prosperity and greatness.
Applause. And let me leave you with
the thought that your safety lies in i'm
pressing upon the endeavor of those en-
trusted with the guardianship of your
rights aid interests, pure, patriotic, and ex-
acting popular sentiment. The character
of the Government can hardly rise higher
than the source from which it springs; and
the integrity and faithfulness Of public ser
wants are not apt to be greater than the
people demand. [Great cheering.
Nam runniff's Gaod FOrtnna.