The Portland daily press., 1892-06-11
HARRISON REID.


more conspicuous than the flags, the
handkerchiefs and the waving hats that
surrounded it. Hundreds of people
around her began to shout and cheer
and their outbursts communicated
q current of electricity to every soul
gathered beneath the timbered roof.
When ex-Speaker Reed, who had been
sitting almost phlegmatically in his
chair, first arose and then swung his hat
and finally, when some one handed him
q flag, raised his mighty arm and swung
it in the air perhaps in all the scene this
was the strongest thing of all. Some
one in the gallery began the cry. of
"B1ainc, Blaine, James G. BIaine.''
The great sound spread like wild fire.
With the splendid swinging of concerted
movement, it swept back and forth,
up and down the auditorium.
Senator Washburn, ordinarily so digni-
fed and precise, apparently lost
pranced up and down the
front of the platform yelling the refrain
at the top of his voice. Men swung their
hats upon their canes while others lifted
chairs into the air and with a strength
that was born of the excitement. of the
moment swung them around their heads
as if they had been made of paper.
Thousands of handkerchiefs moved with
the precision of military company to
the musical chant of the Maine mans
name. Whenever the crowd seemed to
lag in its demonstration Mrs. Lake
waved her parasol more furiously than
ever and urged the throng to renewed
exhibitions of its frenzy. Minutes
passed and still the demonstration did
not cease. From its fagdraped plat
form, up near the roof the band
began to send forth the strains of popu
lar song but the crowd resented at this
and only howled and yelled the louder.
Twice did Gov. Mckinley leave his chair
and attempt to still the pandemonium by
noisy raps with his gavel. This action
was greeted with many Misses and by
more determined efforts on the part of
the crowd to prolong the demonstration.
In the Illinois delegation, burly farmer
mounted upon his chair and apparently
made speech but so overpowering was
the noise in the hall that he presented
the ludicrous appearance of an automa-
ton who was doing nothing but moving
his mouth and making signs. In the
climax of the wild scene somebody
handed Mrs. Lake picture of Blaine on
star of colored tissue papers. With
this she made her way from her seat
down to the reporters platform but soon
returned to her seat and few moments
later the cyclone was over. It was with
a sense of relief that the thousands of
participants and spectators in this scene
subsidized into something like order and
listened to an address by a colored dele
gate from Mississippi, seconding the
nomination of Blaine.
Then came the brilliant orator. Chaun-
cey M. Depew, in an address marked by
mobility of language and with the resound
of eloquence in every phrase. He sec
onded the nomination of President Har-
rison. 1t was an earnest, thoughtful,
convincing tribute to the present admin
istration and added many laurels to those
already won by New York's famous
talker. When he gave to the President
the full credit for everything which this
administration has achieved, and when
he spoke of the grand and magnanimous
treatment which Benjamin Harrison has
shown to his subordinates, there was
something of a sensation in the hall
which was repeated VIXEN he injected
into his speech Blaine's much quoted let
ter to Garfield. Mr.. Depew spoke as fol-
lows:
Speech of Hon. Chauncey M. Depew.
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the Con-
Ueqltion:
1t is the popularity of Republican Ma
tional conventions that each one of them
has distinct and interesting history.
We are here to meet conditions and solve
problems which make this gathering not
only an exception to the rule, but SUBJ
stantially new departure. That there
should be strong convictions and earn
est expression as to preferences and
politics, is characteristic of the right of
individual Judgment, which is the funda-
mental principle of Republicanism.
There have been occasions when the re-
suit was SO sure that the delegates could
freely indulge in the charming privilege
of favoritism and of friendship. But the
situation which now confronts us de-
mands the exercise of dispassionate iudg-
ment and our best thought and expert
ence. We cannot venture on uncertain
ground, or encounter obstacles placed in
the pathway of success by ourselves.
The Democratic party is now divided,
but the hope of the possession of power
once more will make it, in the final bat
tie, more aggressive, determined and I'M
scrupulous than ever. 1t starts with Is
States secure without an effort. by
processes which are a travesty upon pop
ular government, and which, if continued
long enough, will paralyze institutions
founded upon popular suffrage. It has
to win ten more States in fair fight.
States which in the vocabulary of politics
are denominated doubtful. The Repub-
ican party must appeal to the conscience
and the judgment of the Individual voter
in every State in the Union. This is in
accordance with the principles upon
which it was founded, and the objects
for which it contends. It has accepted
the issue before and fought it out with
an extraordinary continuance of sue
cess.
The conditions of Republican victory
from 1860 to 1880 were
Created by Abraham Lincoln
and U. s. Grant. They were created
that the saved Republic should be run by
its saviours-the emancipation of the
slaves; the reconstruction of the States.
the reception of those who had fought to
destroy the Republic back into the fold.
without penalties or punishments, and to
an equal share with those who had