parade in honor of the centenary of the admission of Vermont into
the Union and the dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument.
Col. W. Seward Webb, President-General of the Sons of the American
Revolution, accompanied by a mounted Grand Army Post, escorted President
Harrison to the Soldiers' Home, where Gov. Carroll S. Page and all
the living ex-Governors of Vermont greeted him. The presidential
party to review the parade consisted of sixty guests of the State,
and included Secretary of War Proctor, Attorney-General Miller, Gen.
O. O. Howard, Governor Russell, of Massachusetts; Governor Tuttle,
of New Hampshire; Senator Henry L. Dawes and ex-Gov. A. H. Rice, of
Massachusetts; Senators Edmunds and Morrill; Senators Wm. E. Chandler
and J. H. Gallinger, of New Hampshire; Congressmen Grout and Powers;
Adjutant-General Ayling and Hon. John King, of New York.
The parade was the most brilliant and imposing ever seen in the State. A
feature of the decorations was a magnificent triumphal arch, the turrets
and embrasures of which were filled with young maidens clad in brilliant
colors, while on the top of the arch were 125 little girls dressed
in white, with flowing hair, singing patriotic songs. In the loftiest
turret was a gorgeous throne of gold, occupied by Miss Lillie Adams,
personating the Goddess of Liberty.
After the review the presidential party was escorted to the grand stand
at the monument, where 15,000 people assembled.
The battle monument is a plain, square shaft of magnesian limestone
302 feet high. The interior at the base is 22 feet square and has a
stairway. It was built under the supervision of the Trustees of the
Bennington Battle Monument Association. The Building Committee comprised
Gen. John G. McCullough, H. G. Root, A. B. Valentine, M. C. Huling, and
L. F. Abbott.
Gen. Wheelock G. Veazey was President of the Day, and introduced Rev.
Dr. Charles Parkhurst, of Boston, who opened the dedicatory exercises
with prayer. Governor Page delivered the address of welcome, and
was followed by ex-Gov. B. F. Prescott, of New Hampshire, President
of the Bennington Battle Monument Association, who transferred the
monument to the care and keeping of Vermont. Hon. Edward J. Phelps,
the chosen orator of the occasion, then delivered a historical and
scholarly address, which was listened to with marked attention by his
distinguished audience.
At the conclusion of Mr. Phelps' oration Chairman Veazey introduced
President Harrison, who arose midst prolonged cheers and spoke as
follows:
_Mr. President and Fellow-citizens_--There are several obvious
reasons why I should not attempt to speak to you at this time.
This great audience is so uncomfortably situated that a further
prolongation of these exercises cannot be desirable, but the stronger
reason is that you have just listened with rapt attention to a most
scholarly and interesting review of those historical incidents which
have suggested this assemblage and to those lessons which they furnish
to thoughtful and patriotic men. [Applause.] A son of Vermont honored
by his fellow-citizens, honored by the Nation which he has served in
distinguished public functions, honored by the profession of which he
is an ornament and an instructor, has spoken for Vermont [applause];
and it does not seem to me fit that these golden sentences should be
marred by any extemporaneous words which I can add. I come to you
under circumstances that altogether forbid preparation. I have no
other preparation for speech than this inspiring cup of good-will
which you have presented to my lips. [Applause.] The most cordial
welcome which has been extended to me to-day makes it unfitting that
I should omit to make a cordial acknowledgment of it. Perhaps I may
be permitted, as a citizen of a Western State, to give expression to
the high regard and honor in which Vermont is held. Perhaps I may
assume, as a public officer representing in some sense all the States
of the Union, to bring to-day their appreciation of the history and
people of this patriotic State. Its history is unique, as Mr. Phelps
has said. The other colonies staked their lives, their fortunes and
honor upon the struggle for independence, with the assurance that
if, by their valor and sacrifice, independence was achieved, all
these were assured. The inhabitants of the New Hampshire grants alone
fought with their fellow-countrymen of the colonies for liberty, for
political independence, unknowing whether, when it had been achieved,
the property, the homes upon which they dwelt, would be assured by
the success of the confederate colonies. They could not know--they
had the gravest reason to fear--that when the authority of the
confederation of the States had been established this very Government,
to whose supremacy Vermont had so nobly contributed, might lend its
authority to the establishment of the claims of New York upon their
homes; and yet, in all this story, though security of property would
undoubtedly have been pledged by the royal representative, Vermont
took a conspicuous, unselfish, and glorious part in achieving the
independence of the united colonies, trusting to the justice of her
cause for the ultimate security of the homes of her people. [Applause.]
It is a most noble and unmatched history; and if I may deliver the
message of Indiana as a citizen of that State, and as a public officer
the message of all the States, I came to say, "Worthy Vermont!"
[Cheers]. She has kept the faith unfalteringly from Bennington
until this day. She has added, in war and peace, many illustrious
names to our roll of military heroes and of great statesmen. Her
representation in the national Congress, as it has been known to
me, has been conspicuous for its influence, for the position it has
assumed in committee and in debate, and, so far as I can recall, has
been without personal reproach. [Cheers] We have occasionally come to
Vermont with a call that did not originate with her people, and those
have been answered with the same pure, high consecration to public
duty as has been the case with those who have been chosen by your
suffrages to represent the State, and I found when the difficult task
of arranging a Cabinet was devolved upon me that I could not get along
without a Vermont stick in it [laughter and applause], and I am sure
you have plenty of timber left in each of the great political parties.
[Cheers.] The participation of this State in the War of the Rebellion
was magnificent. Her troops took to the fields of the South that high
consecration to liberty which had characterized their fathers in the
Revolutionary struggle. [Applause.] They did not forget, on the hot
savannas of the South, the green tops of these hills, ever in their
vision, lifting up their hearts in faith that God would again bring
the good cause of freedom to a just issue. [Applause.] We are to-day
approaching the conclusion of a summer of extraordinary fruitfulness.
How insignificant the stores that were gathered at Bennington in 1777
compared with these great storehouses bursting with fulness to-day!
Our excess meets the deficiency of Europe, and a ready market is
offered for all our cereals. We shall grow richer by contributions
which other countries shall make as they take from our storehouses
the food needed to sustain their people. But after all, it is not
the census tables of production or of wealth that tell the story of
the greatness of this country. Vermont has not been one of the rich
States of the Union in gold and silver, and its lands have not given
the returns that some of the fertile riversides of the West yield.
There has been here constant effort and honest toil; but out of all
this there has been brought a sturdy manhood, which is better than
riches, on which, rather than to wealth, the security of our country
rests. [Applause.] I beg you to accept my sincere thanks again for the
evidence of your friendliness, and my apology that the conditions are
not such as to enable me to speak as I could wish. [Cheers]
_The Banquet in the Tent._
At 4 o'clock the President's party and the State's invited guests were
entertained at a banquet spread in a mammoth tent. The ladies of the
party were seated in front of the President. Among the notable ladies
present were the wives of General Alger and Attorney-General Miller,
Mrs. E. J. Phelps, Mrs. H. H. Baxter, Mrs. A. F. Walker, Mrs. Horatio
Loomis, Mrs. W. G. Veazey, and the wives of ex-Governor Ormsbee and Gen.
L. G. Kingsley, Miss Roberts, Miss Brown, Miss Ormsbee, the wife of
Senator Morrill, Mrs. B. B. Smalley, the wives of ex-Governors Farnham
and Pingree, and of Auditor Towell. President Harrison was seated
between Governor Page and Secretary Proctor.
Among the distinguished guests--other than those previously
enumerated--were Justice Blatchford, of the Supreme Court; Gen. Russell
A. Alger; Gen. Alexander S. Webb, of New York; Col. A. F. Walker, of
Chicago; Speaker W. E. Barrett, Massachusetts; Col. Albert Clarke,
Boston; Maj.-Gen. J. M. Warner, of Albany; John King, President Erie
Railway; H. W. Bruce, Kentucky; ex-Gov. R. S. Green, New Jersey; Hon.
B. B. Smalley, Dr. E. H. Doty, Asa B. Gardner, Maj.-Gen. William Walls;
Surg.-Gen. J. C. Rutherford and Quartermaster-General W. H. Gilmore,
of Vermont, F. B. Barrett and L. L. Tarbell, Massachusetts; Col. H. C.
Cutler, Col. M. J. Horton, Col. W. H. H. Slack, and Col. H. F. Brigham,
of Governor Page's staff. The following ex-Governors of Vermont were
present: J. W. Stewart, Barstow, Pingree, Farnham, and E. J. Ormsbee.
The entertainment was upon an extraordinary scale, inasmuch as over
3,500 persons were seated at the banquet tables at one time, and 16,000
pieces of figured china were used, while the President's table was
provided with a dinner service of rare Sèvres and old Delft ware.
General Veazey, the President of the Committee, again introduced
President Harrison, who spoke as follows:
_Mr. President and Fellow-citizens_--Whatever temporary injury my
voice has suffered was not at the hands of Vermont. [Laughter and
applause.] New York is responsible. In Albany I spoke in the rain to a
large assemblage. Perhaps, if it were worth while to trace this vocal
infirmity further, I might find its origin at Cape May [laughter],
for I think I started upon this trip with the elements of a cold that
has to some degree marred the pleasure which I had anticipated to-day.
But, notwithstanding what my friend, General Veazey, has described
as "the dilapidated condition" of my voice, I will respond to his
request to say a word to you. I know that General Veazey had been
put in charge of the transportation lines of the country; but I did
not expect to find him in charge of what the boys used to call the
"cracker line." [Laughter.] It seems that his capacity for usefulness
in the public service is so great and so diversified that you have
called upon him to conduct the exercises of this magnificent occasion.
He is a most excellent Interstate Commerce Commissioner [applause], an
honor to your State, and I have no criticism of him as President of
the day, except that he calls too much attention to me. [Laughter and
applause.]
This scene, these tables so bountifully and so tastefully spread,
was one full of beauty when we entered, but it seems now to have
taken on some of that "dilapidation" which General Veazey ascribed
to my voice. [Laughter.] I am sure that if the supplies gathered at
Bennington to-day had been here in 1777 that struggle would have been
much more obstinate. [Laughter.] But, my fellow-citizens, there is
much in this occasion that is full of instruction to the strangers
who by your hospitable invitation have the privilege of meeting with
you. Wherever men may have been born within this galaxy of great
States, which makes the greater Union, there is respect and honor
for the New England character. It has been a source of strength to
the Nation in its development in material things. It has furnished
to literature and to invention some of the largest contributions;
but, more than all this, it has done a great work for all the States,
and especially those States of the West and Northwest, in which its
enterprising sons have found new homes, in establishing everywhere a
love of social order and a patriotic devotion to the Union of States.
[Applause.] If we seek to find the institutions of New England that
have formed the character of its own people and have exercised a
stronger moulding influence than that of any other section upon our
whole people we shall find them, I think, in their temples, in their
schools, in their town meetings and in their God-fearing homes.
[Applause.] The courage of those who fought at Bennington, at Concord,
Lexington, Bunker Hill, and Saratoga was born of a high trust in God.
They were men who, fearing God, had naught else to fear. That devotion
to local self-government which originated and for so long maintained
the town meeting, establishing and perpetuating a true democracy, an
equal, full participation and responsibility in all public affairs
on the part of every citizen, was the cause of the development of
the love of social order and respect for law which has characterized
your communities, has made them safe and commemorable abodes for
your people. These migrations between the States have been to your
loss, but there is now a turning back to these States of New England
and to some of its unused farms, which I believe is to continue and
increase. The migration which you have sent into the South to develop
its industries, to open its mines, to set up factories and furnaces,
is doing marvellous work in unifying our people. [Applause.] As I
journeyed recently across the continent this oneness of our people was
strongly impressed upon me. I think these centennial observances which
have crowded one upon another from Concord to the centennial of the
adoption of the Constitution and the organization of the Supreme Court
have turned the thought of our people to the most inspiring incident
in our history, and have greatly intensified and developed our love
of the flag and our Constitution. [Applause.] I do not believe there
has been a time in our history when there has been a deeper, fonder
love for the unity of the States, for the flag that emblematizes this
unity, and for the Constitution which cements it. [Applause.]
I believe we have come to a time when we may look out to greater
things. Secure in our own institutions, enriched almost beyond
calculation, I believe we have reached a time when we may take a large
part in the great transactions of the world. [Cheers.] I believe
our people are prepared now to insist that the American flag shall
again be seen upon the sea [applause], and that our merchants and
manufacturers are ready to seize the golden opportunity that is now
offered for extending our commerce into the States of Central and
South America. [Cheers.] I believe that conservative views of finance
will prevail in this country. [Applause.] I am sure discontent and
temporary distress will not tempt our people to forsake those safe
lines of public administration in which commercial security alone
rests. [Applause.] As long as the general Government furnishes the
money of the people for their great business transactions I believe
we will insist, as I have said before, that every dollar issued,
whether paper or coin, shall be as good and be kept as good as any
other dollar that issues. [Cheers.] The purity, the equality of what
we call dollars must be preserved, or an element of uncertainty and
of bankruptcy will be introduced into all business transactions. This
I may say without crossing lines of division: How this end is to be
attained I will not attempt to sketch, but I do not hesitate to say
that I feel myself, in the public interest, pledged so far as in me
lies to maintain that equality between our circulating money that is
essential to the perfect use of all. [Prolonged applause.]
I have gone beyond the promise of the President of the day, and have
been betrayed by your friendliness into speaking two or three words.
May I, in closing, tender to these good women of Vermont my thanks
for the grace and sweetness which their services and their presence
have lent to this happy occasion? May I say to them that the devoted
services of their mothers, their courage and patience and helpfulness
shown by the women in the great struggle for liberty cannot be too
highly appreciated? It was an easier fate to march with bared breasts
against the Hessian ramparts at Bennington than to sit in the lonely
homestead awaiting the issue with tearful eyes uplifted to God in
prayer for those who perilled their lives for the cause. All honor to
the New England mother, the queen of the New England home! [Applause.]
There, in those nurseries of virtue and truth, have been found the
strongest influences that have moulded your people for good and led
your sons to honor. [Great cheering.]
At the conclusion John B. Carney, Chairman of the Citizens' Committee,
presented General Harrison with a gold medal bearing a likeness of the
Bennington Monument. As the medal was pinned on the President's coat he
remarked: "It needed not this memento to remind me of this auspicious
occasion."
MT. M'GREGOR, AUGUST 20.
President Harrison and his party arrived at Saratoga on the morning of
the 20th, and were heartily greeted. He immediately embarked for Mt.
McGregor, where another large gathering welcomed him. After visiting the
historic Grant cottage the President became the guest of W. J. Arkell,
at the latter's cottage on the mountain. In the afternoon the party
partook of a "country dinner" at the Hotel Balmoral, given by the Hon.
James Arkell in honor of the President's fifty-eighth birthday.
About 120 guests participated. Senator Arkell presided. Among those
present besides the President's party were: B. Gillam, Capt. John
Palmer, Commander G. A. R.; Hugh Reilly, W. H. Bockes, M. L. Staver,
P. Farrelly, J. S. Lamoreaux, J. M. Francis, William Barnes, Jr.,
and William Whitney, of Albany; Edward Ellis and Samuel Insul, of
Schenectady; John W. Vrooman, of Herkimer; J. Y. Foster, C. C. Shayne,
Spencer Trask, John A. Sleicher, J. H. Breslin, W. A. Sweetzer, S. E.
May, and Marshall P. Wilder, of New York; D. F. Ritchie, W. T. Rockwood,
H. B. Hanson, J. G. B. Woolworthy, W. Lester, C. S. Lester, W. W.
Worden, E. H. Peters, J. M. Marvin, E. C. Clark, and T. F. Hamilton, of
Saratoga; J. A. Manning, of Troy; D. W. Mabee, Frank Jones, and S. C.
Medberry, of Ballston, and John Kellogg and W. J. Kline, of Amsterdam.
Mr. Arkell paid an eloquent tribute to the memory of General Grant and
congratulated his distinguished guest.
President Harrison arose and amid great cheering began:
_Mr. Arkell and Friends_--It was a part of the covenant of
this feast that it should be a silent one; not exactly a Quaker
meeting, as Mr. Arkell has said, because silence there is apt to
be broken by the moving of the spirit. That is not a safe rule for
a banquet. [Laughter.] I rise only to thank your generous host and
these gentlemen from different parts of the State who honor this
occasion for their friendliness and their esteem. We are gathered
here in a spot which is historic. This mountain has been fixed in
the affectionate and reverent memory of all our people and has been
glorified by the death on its summit of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
[Applause.] It is fit that that great spirit that had already lifted
its fame to a height unknown in American history should take its
flight from this mountain-top. It has been said that a great life went
out here; but great lives, like that of General Grant, do not go out.
They go on. [Cries of "Good! Good!" and great applause.] I will ask
you in a reverent and affectionate and patriotic remembrance of that
man who came to recover all failures in military achievement, and with
his great generalship and inflexible purpose to carry the flag of the
republic to ultimate triumph, recalling with reverent interest his
memory, to drink a toast in silence as a pledge that we will ever
keep in mind his great services, and in doing so will perpetuate his
great citizenship and the glory of the Nation he fought to save.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK, AUGUST 21.
The President left Mt. McGregor the afternoon of the 21st, and reached
Saratoga at 4 o'clock, where 50,000 people joined in an ovation to him.
It was the largest gathering ever seen in Saratoga, and the town was
resplendent with colors. The Chief Executive was met by a reception
committee composed of Hon. John R. Putnam, Hon. A. Bockes, Hon. Henry
Hilton, Hon. H. S. Clement, Hon. James M. Marvin, Hon. John W. Crane,
Hon. J. W. Houghton, Gen. W. B. French, Hon. John Foley, Hon. D. Lohnas,
Col. David F. Ritchie, Hon. Lewis Varney, Lieut. A. L. Hall, Edward
Kearney, John A. Manning, George B. Cluett, Prof. Edward N. Jones, and
J. G. B. Woolworth. Wheeler Post, G. A. R., acted as an escort of honor.
Arrived at the Grand Union Hotel, the President was greeted with great
clapping of hands and the waving of 10,000 handkerchiefs by the ladies.
He reviewed the procession from the piazza, and, on being introduced by
Village President Lohnas, spoke a follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--The greatness of this assembly makes it
impossible that I should do more than thank you for the magnificent
welcome which you have extended me to-day. I have great pleasure in
being again for a few days in Saratoga--this world renowned health
and pleasure resort. It gives me great satisfaction to witness, on
the part of the citizens of Saratoga and of the visitors who are
spending a season for refreshment or recuperation here, the expression
of kindness which beams upon me from all your faces. I am sure the
explanation of all this is that you are all American citizens, lovers
of the flag and the Constitution [applause], and in thus assembling
you give expression to your loyalty and patriotism. [Applause.] It
is not, I am sure, an individual expression; it is larger and better
than that, for this country of ours is distinguished in naught else
more than in the fact that its people give their love and loyalty
and service, not to individuals, but to institutions. [Applause.]
We love this country because it is a land of liberty, because the
web and woof of its institutions are designed to promote and secure
individual liberty and general prosperity. [Applause.] We love it
because it not only does not create, but because it does not tolerate,
any distinction between men other than that of merit. [Applause.] I
desire to thank those comrades who wear the honored badge of the Grand
Army of the Republic for their escort and their welcome. I never see
this badge anywhere that I do not recognize its wearer as a friend.
[Applause.] Survivors of a great struggle for the perpetuity of our
institutions--having endured in march and camp and battle the utmost
that men can endure, and given the utmost that men can give--they are
now as citizens of this republic in civic life doing their part to
maintain order in its communities and to promote in peace the honor
and prosperity of the country they saved. [Applause.] Thanking you
once more for your friendliness and cordial enthusiasm, I will ask you
to excuse me from further speech. [Great applause.]
FROM SARATOGA THROUGH VERMONT.
The last day of the President's stay at Saratoga Springs he was tendered
a reception by Mr. and Mrs. J. S. T. Stranahan, of Brooklyn, at the
Pompeiian House of Pansa. Admission was by card, and several hundred
well-known people paid their respects to the Chief Magistrate. The wives
of Governor Jackson, of Maryland, ex-Governor Baldwin, of Michigan,
and Hon. George Bliss, of New York, assisted the host and hostess in
receiving. Hon. David F. Ritchie introduced the guests.
On the morning of August 25 the President, accompanied by Secretary
Proctor and the other members of his party, left Saratoga on a
journey through the Green Mountain State. They were accompanied
by Vice-President E. C. Smith, of the Vermont Central road, and
Superintendent C. D. Hammond, of the Delaware and Hudson.
WHITEHALL, NEW YORK, AUGUST, 25.
The first stop was at Whitehall, where the party was met by Hon. H. G.
Burleigh, Gen. J. C. Rogers, William Sinnott, Luke H. Carrington, A. J.
Taft, and Maj. John Dwyer, President of the Washington County Veteran
Association. A train containing several hundred veterans, on their way
to a reunion at Dresden, was in waiting, and a large crowd assembled
around the President's car. The Burleigh Corps acted as a guard of
honor. Ex-Congressman Burleigh, in a brief speech, introduced the
President, whose remarks created much enthusiasm. He said: