St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-06-29
GEN. CIRCUITS ADDRESS
Accepting His Nomination for Congress.

gates OF the IcpuDitSdu uiotiiSS Soh'Sh
ton at Montpelier June 81:
Mr.. President and gentlemen of the
conventions:
1t is with feeling of profound obliga.
ton that appear before you today and
accept this nomination.
realize that for the high honor here
conferred l am indebted to the earnest
and uuremitting support OF host OF
steadfast friends whose fidelity and zeal
feel that / can never sufficiently honor.
With my hand on my heart let me here
and now thank these friends, one and
all, not only for their faith" but for
their works" Let me at the same time
take by the hand those who up to this
point have not been with me but have
preferred another, and thank them for
the cordiality with which they have
made the work of this convention unan-
imous. l also venture to express the
hope that hereafter we may have bet
ter understanding.
Gentlemen, shall do my best to serve
you all as opportunity may offer, always
upholding the interests of our common
country and the honor of our dear little
state.
And what state state whose sons
have now the very highest honors on
sea and land, in council chamber and leg
islative hall; and the great body Of
whose people know what they want and
know too how to make their wants
known in caucus, convention, at the
polls and everywhere else.
What an honor to represent such
| houa thnt,nht I
must be Indifferent to this honor and so
ready to fall out by the wayside. But
gentlemen, let me say that the way | feel
today, shall always be found proud
beyond expression to serve this people
according to their command.
Mr.. President: The former issues on
which the two great political parties OF
this country have been divided seem to
have dropped almost entirely out of
sight. lust now the republican party is
not under the usual fierce arraignment
for the enormities of the "robber tariff"
nor do we hear just now the cranky cry
for the free coinage OF silver 16 to 1.
These censorious voices arecomparatively
still, and these issues, the real live issues
in the administrative policy of the gov
ernment have given place to the great
questions growing out of the present war
with Spain. This is not alone because
of the novelty of the questions arising,
but because the present tariff is doing
we'll its work. while wheat at $1.00
bushel and silver at SAT an ounce
has utterly exploded the false argument
that the value OF all farm products was
controlled by silver, and had gone down
in price with that metal.
Since the Oregon election the demo-
cratic party seems to be in state of
per ect collapse. Its condition is we'll de-
scrit ed by the remark attributed to J.
Hamilton Lewis, the picturesque demo-
cratic member from the state of Wash
ngton, who is reported as having said
when the Oregon election returns came
in: well, we dragged the republican
party into this war, thinking we were
digging pit for our neighbor; and now
we get it where thechicken got the axe,
in the neck" And so it is sure to be
everywhere through the country, l be-
lieve, in the coming elections.
But. Mr.. President, as said a moment
ago, the old lines of demarkation be-
tween the parties have become obscured
by the overwhelming interest of the
people without respect to party in the
prosecution of the war.
was at least in favor of giving the
president every opportunity to compose
the matter if possible without bloodshed,
and without arousing the angry passions
which war always engenders. 1t is well
known, however, that we gradually
drifted into declaration of war, in obe-
dience to what was supposed to be the
will of the people.
The advice to Laertes. which Shake
speare puts into the mouth of Polonius,
has always seemed to me sound not only
for individuals but fer nations:
Beware of entrance to quarrel but being in
Bear't, that the opposed may beware of thee. I"
Now that we are in, it behooves this
great nation to bear it," and so carry
itself that not only Spain, but the other
nations of the earth may always here
after beware Of the military and naval
prowess of the United States.
Some deplore war as an unmixed evil,
and it has its evils, and we certainly
should never allow the martial spirit to
displace taste for the arts of peace,
but whatever else may be said OF the
present war it has certainly brought the
two sections of the country into better
relations than ever before. The South is
, at last proud of the privilege of march
ing beneath the stars and stripes, and
this alone is worth all the war has cost
thus far.
1t has also touched the heroic spirit oil
the American people, and the world in.
Guiding Kaiser William, is beginning to
: understood that this nation of shop.
keepers and money getters," as Europe
is pleased to call us, is as terrible in war
as it has been enterprsipg and thrifty in
peace. The eyes Of the whole world were
suddenly opened to this fact few morn.
ings ago by the daring performance of a
Vermont boy in an Asiatic port; the per.
Torrance being in two acts. The first
act was just before breakfast; and the
second act just after breakfast.
Mr.. President, this war opens a new
: chapter in American affairs. We are en-.
tering on new era, one in which new is.
, sues are presented, and in which new pol
icies must be formulated.
This war with foreign country, whose
scattered possessions are falling into
our hands, presents the question: What
shall we do with our holdings wher
} peace shall come?
. With the American flag floating over
Porto Rico and the Philippines, what are
we to do? Haul it down, remit the peo
pie Of these islands to the tender mercie.
of their savage Spanish oppressors
# Never! Never! Why, the war was insti