The Portland daily press., 1898-08-03
refer anv resolutions to this committee,

refer any r6soiuGlono w '
without debate.
The preliminary business of the conyen-
tion having been disposed of, nominating
sneecbes were in order. Hon. Joseph
w. Symonds of this city, who occupied
q seat on the west side of the hall, stepped
TO the front. and with characteristic
grace and eloquence, presented the name
of Mr.. Reed to the convention. He said:
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of tho Con-
vention:
l remember standing, many years ago.
twenty two years ago it must have been,
in Republican convention of this First
District of Maine, in the old Lancaster
Hall in Portland. Doubtless many of
J GU were present and remember the scene.
There l heard the vote declared which
announced @ new nominee for Congress,
perhaps I should say rather which made
new member of Congress, for in those
days, as now, and from that time to this,
the distinction between a Republican
nomine tion and an election in this dis
trict has been practically distinction
without difference, hardly worth OBJ
serving. Even then the new nominee: the
new candidate tor representative to Con-
greSs WAS not a new man in the sense OF
being unknown to the people or his DIS
trict. Far from that During successive
terms, as representative from Portland,
he had distinguished himself by doing
good work, in the Legislature at Augusta.
As young man he had filled, with hon
or to himself and advantage to the state,
with an ability that is still remembered
in the courts, the important Office OF At
torney General of Maine. He was re-
spected and admired by the par ana me
bench not less than by the people; and
his friends loved him through and
through.
We all knew him then. He and I am
proud to remem Der, were always TRENDS
from early boyhood. We had walked and
talked, played and studied and dreamed
together in those glorious days when the
rich illusions of youth invest the present
and brighten all the future. l had sat
on the same form with him in the old
High soohol on Spring street, and for
four years at BowdOin. had seen HIM
spring, almost at bound, to the very
height of his profession. And J knew
then, twenty years ago, that brilliant ser
vice and great future were before MIN,
thai honor, renown and pride in him
were before the people OF this Flrst DIS
trict of Maine. l knew it then just as
we'll as T know it now when the glory OF
it all has become part OF American MS
tory. !,
From that time to this we have watched
his career, aspiring, climbing, always
the upward way, always the steady step
with something of the leisurely stride OF
the giant in it, always the farthest
heightss in view. Year after year. term
by term, he has had our interests in his
keeping, and with sleepless q vigilance he
has guarded them we'll. Our country has
learned to look to him, in the hour Wnen
she would summon to her aid her clearest
intellect and her strongest arm, and with
xrbo hQGehp raSnOnd6Q TO
her CALI If there were little to rouse
him to action he might love to lo1ter at
| his post, but when the grave issue was
| to be met and decided, then he STROBE IN
upon the field, like the Black Knight In
| the lists at Ashby, and soon the connlct
was at an end. He has filled large place
| in the nation during our period. The
| influence of his life and character is q
potent influence permanently felt upon
| the public history of our time.
The impression of his splendid man :
hood, of his genius in public affairs, Of
his great personality is stamped upon he
| institutions of this country not only now,
not only in the present age, but for al
coming time.
| We have watched his career, We have
| welcomed him home. We have been glad
| to meet and to greet him. 10 catch
even distant glimpse of him upon the
street was always a pleasure, reminding
MS of what he was and what he had done.
| No constituency was ever more loyal to
| its representative than We nave neen 70
| him. 1t mattered little, it mattered moth
| ing whether the breezes blew from the
| York hills and beaches, or from the lakes
| and shores of Cum berland, there was al.
| ways In them the same good quality Tor
him.
In being true to itself, the district has
| been true to him. In honoring him, we
i oIryor nd vuh
| times, fearless and indomitable as he Is
| O man to hold the steady helm even In
the foam Of perilous seas, when sometimes
1 in his great work, in the try ing hours OF
public life, brave and strong as he is, he has
| felt as all men feel ut times, the need Of
friends to fall back upon, his voice in any
emergency has always been trumpet
call to us. He has never found his friends
| far off. Whenever the days might come,
in whatever crisis he might need our aid
wherever we could serve him for twenty.
| two wears now, somehow or other we have
managed to be there every time.
| And. Mr.. President and Gentlemen of
the Convention, we are all there today.
| The Republican party is there that tire.
| in this country, the Republican party
that oueenly presence to which we all pay
kntphtly homage, the Republican party
| ia there, in dead earnest, remin ding us
that our country Is in war, that she her
self is responsible for the issue of the con.
fifct. ana for the wise and just settle
ment of the grave and difficult questions
which the war has raised, that she must
have her best and bravest about her, and
demanding of them, above all things else,
that they strike out for her the shortest
road, thu best way, to an honorable and
lasting peace. Ths district is there. had
almost said solid but there must be some
| exceptions, suppose, to prove the rule.
| 1t asks no pledge of him, except himself.
| What he has been, and what he is, are
warrant enough for what he is to be.
| No future can make him other or greater
than he is. Never has he played more
useful or grander part than during the
session of Congress which has just closed.
And we all hope and trust that many
years are bsfore him of noble effort, OF
great accomplishment.
And now, Mr. President and Gentle-
men of the Convention, in this hour
when his star shines brightest, at the
very zenith, in full orb, every ray un
dimmed, it will be a lifelong satisfaction
to me to remember that by the kindness
of yotir committee. am permitted tc
speak the word which Is on all your lips
the thought in all your minds the wish in
all your hearts, when !! propose to you