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in the hills of duty and loyalty. They respect and obey the law, because it is the orderly expression of their own will. The compact of our Government is a rule by the majority. The sanction of all law is that it is the expression by popular election of the will of a majority of our people. Law has no other sanction than that with us; and happy are we, and happy are those communities where the election methods are so honestly and faithfully prescribed and observed that no doubt is thrown upon the popular expression and no question of the integrity of the ballot is ever raised. If we shall ever or anywhere allow a doubt to settle into the minds of our people whether the results of our elections are honestly attained, whether the laws made are framed by those who have been properly chosen by the majority, then all sanction is withdrawn from law and all respect from the rulers who by a false ballot are placed in public office.

I am glad to congratulate you upon your constituencies-intelligent, devoted, and patriotic. I am glad to congratulate you that the State of Vermont, from its earliest aspirations and efforts for liberty and self-government, which developed into your constitution in 1777, down through all the story of toil and the struggles which have beset you as a State and the vicissitudes which have beset the country of which you are an honored part-that the State of Vermont and her sons in the councils of the nation and on the blood-stained battlefields of the great war have borne themselves worthily. Will you permit me now to thank you again for this demonstration and for the opportunity to stand for a moment in your presence? I am sure that we may each, from this occasion, in the discharge of public duty, draw some impulse to a more perfect exercise of our powers for the public good.

METHODIST ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE.

[Metropolitan M. E. Church, Washington, October 7, 1891.]

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Conference: I come here this morning to make an expression of my respect and esteem for this great body of delegates assembled from all the countries of the world, and much more to give a manifestation of my respect and love for that greater body of Christian men and women for whom you stand. Every ecumenical conference is a distinct step in the direction, not only of the unification of the church, but of the unification of the human race.

Assembling from countries unlike in their civil institutions, from churches not wholly in accord as to doctrine or church order, you come together to find that the unlikeness is not so great as you had thought, and to find your common sympathies and common purposes greater and larger than you had thought-large enough presently to overspread and to extinguish all these transitory lines of division.

I am glad to know that as followers of Wesley, whose hymns we sing, you have been in consultation as to the methods by which these minor divisions among you might be obliterated. It is the natural order that subdivisions should be wiped out before the grand divisions of the church can be united. Who does not greatly

rejoice that the controversial clash of the churches is less than it once was; that we hear more of the Master and His teachings of love and duty than of hair-splitting theological differences?

Many years ago, while visiting in Wisconsin, when Sunday came around I went with some friends to the little Methodist church in an adjoining village. The preacher undertook to overturn my Presbyterianism. An irreverent friend who sat beside me as the young man delivered his telling blows against Calvinism was constantly emphasizing the points made by nudging me with his elbow. Now, I am glad to say that very often since then I have worshipped in Methodist churches, and that is the last experience of that kind I have had.

You have to-day as the theme of discussion the subject of international arbitration; and this being a public, or, in a large sense of the word, a political question, perhaps makes my presence here as an officer of the United States especially appropriate.

It is a curious incident that some days ago, and before I was aware of the theme or the occasion which we have here this morning, I had appointed this afternoon to visit the great gun foundry of the United States at the navy-yard. Things have come in their proper sequence. I am here at this arbitration meeting before I go to the gun factory.

This subject is one that has long attracted the attention, and I think I may say has, perhaps, as greatly attracted the interest and adherence of the United States as that of any other Christian power in the world.

It is known to you all that in the recent Conference of the American States at Washington the proposition was distinctly made and adopted by the representatives of all, or nearly all, of the governments of America that, as applied to this hemisphere, all international disputes should be settled by arbitration.

Of course there are limitations as yet, in the nature of things, to the complete and general adoption of such a scheme. It is quite possible to apply arbitration to a dispute as to a boundary line; it is quite impossible, it seems to me, to apply it to a case of international feud. If there is present a disposition to subjugate, an aggressive spirit to seize territory, a spirit of national aggrandizement that does not stop to consider the rights of other men and other people—to such a case and to such a spirit international arbitration has no, or if any a remote and difficult, application.

It is for a Christian sentiment, manifesting itself in a nation, to remove forever such causes of dispute; and then what remains will be the easy subject of adjustment by fair international arbitration. But I had not intended to enter into a discussion of this great theme, for the setting forth of which you have appointed those who have given it special attention. Let me, therefore, say simply this, that for myself— temporarily in a place of influence in this country—and much more for the great body of its citizenship, I express the desire of America for peace with the whole world. It would have been vain to suggest the pulling down of blockhouses or family disarmament to the settlers on a hostile Indian frontier. They would have told you rightly that the conditions were not ripe. And so it may be, and is probably, true that a full application of the principle is not presently possible, the devil still being unchained.

We will have our gun foundries, and possibly will best promote the settlement of international disputes by arbitration, by having it understood that if the appeal is to a fiercer tribunal we shall not be out of the debate. There is a unity of the Church and of humanity, and the lines of progress are the same.

It is by this great Christian sentiment, characterized not only by a high sense of justice, but by a spirit of love and forbearance, mastering the civil institutions and governments of the world, that we shall approach universal peace and adopt arbitration methods of settling disputes.

Let me thank you, Mr. Chairman, and you gentlemen of this conference, for the privilege of standing before you for a moment, and for this most cordial welcome which you have given to me. I beg to express again my high appreciation of the character of this delegation and the membership of the great church from which you come, and to wish that in your remaining deliberations and in your journeys to far-distant homes you may have the guidance and care of that God whom we all revere and worship.

GRANT MEMORIAL MONUMENT.

[Riverside Park, New York, April 27, 1892.]

Mr. President and fellow-citizens: My assignment in connection with these exercises has to do with mechanics rather than with oratory. The pleasant duty of bringing to our memory to-day those brilliant incidents of public service and those personal and manly virtues which have placed the name of Ulysses S. Grant so high upon the scroll of fame, and settled the love of the man so deeply in all patriotic hearts has been devolved upon another, who never fails to meet these high occasions with credit to himself and with pleasure to all his favored hearers. No orator, however gifted, can overpraise General Grant. The most impressive and costly memorial structure that an architect can plan or wealth execute is justified when the name of Grant is inscribed upon its base. This stone which has now been laid, accompanied by this magnificent expression of popular interest, is only the top stone of a foundation, but it speaks to us of a structure, imposing and graceful in its completeness, which shall rise from this supporting base. Shall it rise with stately progress, without check or tardiness, until the capstone is set amid the plaudits of the liberal and patriotic citizens of this great city? Thus his fame grew, from Belmont to Appomattox, in whose honor this tomb is builded. I am glad to see here what seems to me to be adequate assurance that this work, so nobly started upon, will be speedily consummated. Your distinguished citizen, who has assumed as a labor of love the burden of conducting this great enterprise, learned of his beloved friend and commander to exclude the word "failure" from his vocabulary.

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GENTLEMEN: When you called upon me on the 13th day of May, just prior to my departure with Mrs. Harrison, I expressed myself somewhat fully to you orally upon the subject of the memorial which you submitted, and promised to respond in writing at the earliest practicable moment.

Those who have read my public addresses and official papers must be aware of the fact that I have felt the reproach which lawlessness has brought upon some of our communities. I have endeavored to hold up the law as the one single admissible rule of conduct for good citizens. I have appealed against race discriminations as to civil rights and immunities, and have asked that lawabiding men of all creeds and all colors should unite to discourage and to suppress lawlessness. Lynchings are a reproach to any community; they impeach the adequacy of our institutions for the punishment of crime; they brutalize the participants and shame our Christian civilization. I have not time to explain to you the limitations of the Federal power further than to say that under the Constitution and laws I am, in a large measure, without the power to interfere for the prevention or punishment of these offenses. You will not need to be assured that the Department of Justice will let no case pass that is one of Federal jurisdiction without the most strenuous endeavors to bring the guilty persons to punishment. I will give the matter you have suggested the most serious consideration and you may be assured that my voice and help will be given to every effort to arouse the conscience of our people and to stimulate efficient efforts to reestablish the supremacy of the courts and public officers as the only proper agency for the detection and punishment of crime and the only security of those who are falsely accused.

With great respect, very truly, yours,

BENJ. HARRISON.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.

[Rochester, N. Y., May 30, 1892.]

Fellow-citizens: Every external condition, and some internal conditions affecting my strength, admonish me that I should speak to you with brevity. I have enjoyed greatly the exercises which are now being consummated in this beautiful city. You have met a great occasion greatly. I have never seen anywhere a more magnificent expression of patriotism than I have witnessed here.

These streets upon which the institutions of trade have been for a time covered with the starry banner, this great marching column in which the veterans of the war march again to the old music and follow with faithful hearts the old flag that they may do honor to those brave comrades who were permitted under God to make a supremer sacrifice than they to the flag they dearly love; these

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