Year: 1876

having been requested by many Republi-
cans to print in full the speech of Col. Robert
j. lngersoll of Illinois, in which he presented
the name of James G. Blaine to the Cincin-
natl Convention, we give it below. The gen.
tlsman who sends it to US says that no reading
OF the speech can convey the faintest idea of
its power as it fell upon the Convention from
the lips OF the most eloquent platform speaker
in the country:


Massachusetts may be satisfied with the 10y
atty OF Benjamin II. Bristow. So am /.
lApplause.1 But if any man nominated by
TINS convention cannot carry the state Of Mas
sac4usetts am not satisfied with the LOYALTY
OF that state; Tremendous applsuse.l If the
nominee OF this convention cannot carry the old
grand Commonwealth by $4,000 majority,
would advise them to sell out Faneuil Hah as
q Democratic headquarters. Applause
would advise them TO take from Bunker Hill
that old monument of glory. The Republi-
cans of the United States demand as their
leader in the great contest Of 1876 a man of
intellect man OF integrity Applausel q man
or well Known and approved political Opinions
lApplausel They demand Statesman, they
demand reformer, after as well as before the
election. They demand a politician in the
highest, the broadcast and the best sense of that
word. IApplausel They demand a man ac-
quainted with public affairs, with the wants of
the people, with the requirements of the hour
not only, but with the demands Of the future
They demand man broad enough to compre-
hend the relation of this government to the
other nations of the earth. [Applausel They
demand man well versed in the power, dp-
ties and prerogat!ves of each and every de-
partment of this government. [Applausel
They demand man who will sacredly pre-
serve the financial honor of the United States
lApplausel One who knows enough to know
that the national debt must be paid from the
prosperity OF the people. Applausel Who
knows enough to know that all financial theo-
ries in the world cannot redeem a single dol
lar (applausel: who knows enough to know
that all money must be made, not by law, but
by labor lapplause]; one who knows enough to
know that the people of the United States
have the industry to make the money and the
honor to pay it over Just as fast as they can.
The Republicans of the United States demand
man who knows that prosperity and resump-
tion when they come must come together
lapplausel; when they come they will come
hand in hand through the golden harvest of
the fields [applausel; hand In hand in hand by
the whirling spindles and the turning wheel;
hand in hand past the open furnace doors;
hand in hand by the chimney filled with eager
fire, reaching and grasping by the hand Of the
conquering sons of toll. (Applause.)


This money has got to be dug out of the
earth You cannot make it by passing resolu-
tons In political meeting. The Republicans
of the United States want man who knows
that this government should protect every
citizen at home and abroad; who knows
that every government that will not defend its
defenders and will not protect its protect
ors is disgrace to the map of the world.
cloud applause) They demand man whose
political reputation is as spotless as is q star,
but they do not demand that their candidate
shall have certificate OF moral character
signed by the Confederate Congress. [Vocifer-
GUS applause. The man who has in full
heart and rounded measure all these qualifica-
tions is the present grand and gallant leader Of
the Republican party james q. Blaine. Loud
Applausel


Our country, crowned by the vast and mar
velous achieveme of ITS first century, asks
tor man worthy of her past and prophetic Of
her future; asks for a man who has the audaci-
ty of genius; asks for a man who has the
grandest combination of heart, conscience and
brain beneath her flag. [Applause] That man
is James e. Blaine; Tremendous applausel
For the Republican hosts, led by this intrepid
man, there can be no such thing as defeat.
lApplausel This is grand year-a year filed
with the recollections of the Revolution Zap
plausel /; filled with proud and tender memories
OF the sacred past; filled with legends Of liber-
ty-a year in which the sons of freedom will
drink from the fountain of enthusiasm; year
in which the people call for the man who has
preserved in Congress what their soldiers won
upon the field: Loud applausel A year in
which we call for the man who has torn from
the throat of treason the tongue of the slandsr-
er. loud applause] The man who has snatch
ed the mask of Democracy from the hideous
face OF rebellion; the man who, like the in
tellectual athlete. has stood in the arena Of
debate challenging all comers, and who up to
the present moment is total stranger to defeat,
[ApplaLse] Like an armed warrior, like
plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched
down the halls of the American Congress and
threw his shining lance full and fair against
the brazen forehead of every traitor TO his
country and every malinger of his fair reputa-
ton. Tremendous applause


Time being called on the speaker, the conven =
ton extended the rule, and allowed him to
continue as follows:


For the Republican party to desert that gall
liant man now is as though the army should de =
sert their General on the field of battle. James
q. Blaine is now and has been for years the
bearer of the sacred standard of the RPpubli-
can party. call it sacred because no human
being can stand beneath its folds without be-
coming and without remaining free. loud
applause.


GENTLEMEN OF THE CoNvENT1oN:-In the
name of the great republic tie only republic
that ever existed upon the face Of the earth; in
the name of all her defenders and of all her
supporters; in the name of all her soldiers that
died upon the field of battle, and in the name
of those that perished in the skeleton clutch of
famine at Andersonville and Libby [applausel,
whose sutferings he so vividly remembers, ILL
nois nominates for the next President of this
country that prince of parliamentarians. that
leader of leaders, James G. Blaine. Loud
and Cproarious applause.