The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-06-19
ARTHUR ROPES. General Editor.
The Presidents Statement.

The Presidents Statement.
Commenting on the incidents of the
Republican convention of 1892, the
WATCHMAN Of June %, Of that year,
said
In respect of manly honor, all bright
and untarnished, Governor Mckinley
is the hero Of two national conventions.
Four years ago he went to Chicago as
the trustee OF John Sherman's presi-
dental ambition, and when in the ebb
and flow Of the long battle for the NOM
ination the effort was made, with every
prospect of success, to crown him with
the honors Of the convention, in ring
ing speech he maintained his fealty to
his chief, and declared with an empha-
sis that was instinct with honor that,
under all the circumstances, he would
not accept the nomination if it should
come to him. He had no difficulty in
impressing the convention with deep
sense of his sincerity and singleness of
purpose. His demeanor in the recent
convention 1892 is fresh in every
mind and his praise on every tongue.
Governor McKinley's time, at the mex
national convention, will be fully ripe,
and he will have no successful rival for
the highest honors of Republican ma
tional convention; and, instead Of pos
sessing those honors by burst from
the covert where dark horses are
groomed, he will be borne to the goal
along the broad highway of popular
acclaim.
This was hardly prophecy. In Con-
gress and in the national conventions
of his party, William Mckinley had be-
come known throughout the nation not
only as man of extraordinary ability
but as person of the highest sense of
honor, Of fidelity no temptation could
shake, of sincerity in his professions
ana declarations which enforced belief.
In the convention of 1888, these
great qualities withstood temptation
that, in the convention of 1880, con-
quered Garfield, who was then, also,
the trusted custodian in that body of
Sherman's ambition to be President.
Again, in 1892, at Minneapolis, Nc
Kinley's SENSE of honor, his power to
resist temptation that would have
swamped weaker man, were striking
ly exempli6ed, and it became plain that
in the next national convention of his
party the way would be cleared and
virtues so strikingly manifested, SO
severely tried, so slgnally triumphant,
would have their reward-and the re-
ward came, in double measure; and
every passing month OF double in
vestiture with duties and responsible
tiles greater and graver than have come
to any President except Lincoln, has
shown that the man of 1888, of 1892,
was the true herald of him of 1896 and
1900.
When, now, alluring suggestions
of the future are made to this man of
wisdom and power and surprising
grace and tenderness, the honorable in
cidents of two national conventions are
revived; and the same true sense of
propriety, the same just measure Of the
requirements of duty and honor, are
again exemplifed, undimmed by time
or the possession of unwonted power,
or by the insidious batteries and vault
ing ambitions that have often wrecked
great regulations and clouded the close
of great careers.
President McKinley's prompt and
unequivocal declaration, expressing his
long settled conviction, that he is not
and will not be candidate for third
term, and would not accept third
nomination il it were rendered him,
must IS effeetually dispose of the sug-
gestions of Mr.. Depew and Mr.. Gros-
vernon and others as did his declara-
tions at Chicago and Minneapolis res
pecting nomination to q first term.
Outside of the precedents respecting
third term, the Presidents reasons
for his statement are of the strongest
and most conclusive character. These
have been given in full in the JOUR-
NAILS dispatches from Washington.
In the performance of duties and the
discharge of responsibilities such as he
describes in his statement, he does not
intend 10 he handicapped by suspi-