William P. Fishback

“ The perpetual demand which American customs make upon anyone of the least position in the way of speech-making must be very trying. In a degree (not within 1,000 miles of the president) I found it so myself when I was in America. But a private foreigner may say what he likes; a president, of course, must watch his words.”
It was assumed that with Mr. Blaine in the cabinet President Harrison would be a very inconspicuous and unimportant person in the administration. It is one of the marked characteristics of the man that when he is assigned to a place he assumes all its responsibilities. ”

“ Addressing a company of survivors of his own regiment, he said: “It is no time now to use an apothecary's scale to weigh the rewards of the men who saved the country.” To a club of railroad employees: “The laboring men of this land may safely trust every just reform in which they are interested to public discussion and to the tests of reason; they may surely hope upon these lines, which are open to them, to accomplish, under our American institutions, all those right things they have conceived to be necessary to their highest success and well-being.” ”

“ Harrison realized the truth of what he said in a speech on the day of his nomination in 1888: “Kings sometimes bestow decorations upon those whom they desire to honor, but that man is most highly decorated who has the affectionate regard of his neighbors and friends.” ”

“ Harrison was not in the habit of boasting of his lineage, of which he had reason to be proud. If it was ever the subject of conversation in his presence he never introduced it. To a delegation of farmers: “The law throws the ægis of its protection over us all. It stands sentinel about your country homes; ... it comes into our more thickly populated community and speaks its mandate for individual security and public order. There is an open avenue through the ballot for the modification or repeal of laws which are unjust or oppressive. To the law we bow with reverence. ”

“ The country takes little note of the petulant criticisms of its public servants, but it will hold at their true worth the great and useful virtues of ability, wisdom, integrity, courage, and patriotism whenever they are exhibited by men in high official station. ”

“ So our great political leaders, from the senate and from the presidency, when their term of office is over, come back to their homes and ordinary pursuits without any impairment of their dignity or their self-respect. ”

“ Harrison to go on in that way he would elect himself in spite of any blundering of the committee or campaign managers.
A few extracts from some of these speeches may give an idea of their quality. To the California delegation the day after the nomination he said: “I feel sure, too, my fellow-citizens, that we have joined now a contest of great principles, and that the armies which are to fight out this great contest before the American people will encamp upon the high plains of principle and not in the low swamps of personal defamation or detraction.” ”

“ He was employed in all sorts of cases, such as came to attorneys engaged in general practice before the era of professional specialists. The panorama of human life with all its disappointments and successes is unrolled before the busy lawyer who has such a practice. ”

“ From one point of view, such a course in a public man may be criticised. It may be doubted, however, if any Indiana Republican who has been confronted with the type of Democrats which have dominated that party for the last thirty years is to be censured for standing by his own party.
[ Fac-simile letter from Benjamin Harrison to Gen. James Grant Wilson ]
The Republican party leaders saw in 1888 that the only hope of winning against Cleveland was to put up a candidate who could carry some of the doubtful States. ”

“ These addresses were non-political, and breathe throughout a spirit of high patriotism and a call to the high responsibilities of citizenship. In a letter to an American friend who had sent him the volume containing these speeches, the late Lord Coleridge says: “The speeches give me a very high idea of Mr. Harrison. We know very little here of your politicians, and it is pleasant to be brought face to face with any one so manly and high-minded as Mr. Harrison shows himself in the book you sent me. ”

“ And this brief exhibit of the growth and prosperity of the country will give us a level from which to note the increase or decadence that new legislative policies may bring to us. There is no reason why the national influence, power, and prosperity should not observe the same rates of increase that have characterized the past thirty years. ”

“ These are truths that do not require profound study.” To an Indiana delegation: “I hope the time is coming, and has even now arrived, when the great sense of justice which possesses our people will teach men of all parties that party success is not to be promoted at the expense of an injustice to any of our citizens.” As early as July 31, 1888, he said: “But we do not mean to be content with our own market; we should seek to promote closer and more friendly commercial relations with the Central and South American states, . ”

“ The products of the farm were annually shipped in flat boats to New Orleans, and his father usually went with the cargo, the crew being composed of men from the neighborhood who were familiar with the perils of transportation on the Mississippi river. ”

“ He resumed command of the 1st brigade, 3d division, 20th army corps, April 21, 1865; was relieved therefrom June 8, 1865, upon the discontinuance of the brigade by reason of the muster out of the troops composing it; and on the same date, June 8, 1865, was mustered out and honorably discharged as colonel with the field and staff of his regiment, near Washington, D. C. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers January 23, 1865, “for ability and manifest energy and gallantry in command of brigade.” ”