steadily aid in preserving our Western Territories to free labor; and I say that I never will support any man for Speaker of this House unless he convinces me, by his conduct and by his views, that he never will, if he has the power to prevent it, permit the institution of slavery to derive any advantage from repealing the compromise of 1820."

These, Mr. President, were words, indeed, of glad tidings to the slave and of rich promise to the friends of freedom. Throughout the whole memorable period of reconstruction, on all the measures for the enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and for the suppression of kukluxism in the South, the voice of John Sherman was heard vigorously insisting upon the vindication of the rights of the citizens and the strict observance of the laws of the country. I support the nomination of John Sherman, because, in addition to the reasons that I have already assigned, he has, by his genius and by his energy, by his prudent management, directed by wise forethought, advanced the interests of the country, restored the currency to a sound basis, and established, beyond all danger of adversity, the success of our industries. Gentlemen of the Convention, it is not my purpose to trespass upon the time of this Convention. I have endeavored, briefly, to bring the thoughts that I desire to express within the limits of the time fixed by the Convention for seconding or supporting nominations.

I am aware that gentlemen in this Convention have their preferences; I have mine. And we desire to present our candidates to this Convention, asking for its support, believing that if John Sherman is the nominee of the Republican party he will be able to bring success to the banners of the Republican party. We believe that if John Sherman is the nominee of this Convention he will be able to carry States which are said to be doubtful. It has been said that he could not carry any of the States of the South. Neither can any other candidate, in my judgment, that can be named by his Convention, secure a single electoral vote in the South. With a solid Democratic South, controlling 138 votes in the Electoral College, with the voice of loyalty hushed throughout the entire South-land, with universal suffrage practically abolished, with free speech strangled, a race of helpless people, subject to the domination and control of treason itself, I confess to you that we must rely entirely upon you who come from the Republican States of the North and West to carry our party to victory. And whatever others may say, I desire to express this one thought, that if the Republican party goes into the canvass relying upon any State in the South as an element of calculation for success, it cannot triumph. Gentlemen, we shall certainly do all that we can to help you in the canvass. We will put the votes in the ballot-box; but we desire to say to you that we are powerless at the present moment to have them counted in favor of our nominee.

Mr. President and gentlemen of the Convention, I have said about all that I desire to say in the time which was allotted to me. I have endeavored to present the reasons why I advance the claims of John Sherman, of Ohio. I have endeavored to state to the Convention, as briefly as I could, my observation concerning the condition of political affairs in the section or country from which I come. I do not come here to paint with roseate hues the condition of affairs in the Southern States. I do not come here in the spirit of dictation, to force upon this Convention any candidate against the deliberate judgment of those who have the electoral vote to give. I come here rather in the form a petitioner, asking that, whatever may be done in this Convention, it will not nominate any candidate upon the belief, which, in my opinion, is erroneous, that he can be elected by the aid of electoral votes obtained from the Southern States. Having said this much, gentlemen, and thanking you for the courtesy which you have extended me, I now give way.

NOMINATION OF GEORGE F. EDMUNDS.

On the call of the State of Vermont.

Mr. BILLINGS, of Vermont. Mr. President: The State earliest born into the Union after the old Thirteen, whose people have always been loyal to liberty, enthusiastically urges the name of her most distinguished son as the fittest name to be inscribed on the Presidential banner. Her delegates bring that message here with joy and pride alike supreme because they know no State has a better right to name a Republican candidate, and that no State can name a better man. For the first time in her history, Vermont, although always in the advance guard of the Republican hosts, thus comes to the front in a National convention. She thus comes, not seeking reward for loyalty which has never faltered in the years gone by, not asking a price for loyalty never to falter in the years to come. Her Republicanism is not born of selfishness. It is bred in her bone, and it runs in her blood. Nor does she thus come because the man she names for the Presidency sprung from her loins. He is no longer hers. He is the possession and the pride of the Nation. Still more: Vermont would call on her everlasting mountains to fall on and hide her before she would thrust any local pride or selfish ambition into the counsels of this critical epoch.

Vermont rises to the height of the occasion. She looks backward through the years. She looks forward through the years. She sees the infinite peril, the ignominy-aye, the crime, of turning over the administration of this Government to a revolutionary Democracy. She longs for victory-the victory of patriotism at the polls, and the victory of statesmanship after the polls. She implores the Convention to let no unnecessary issues, no discords born of hot rivalries, no personal ambition, no dissensions, no anything, put this victory in peril. She prays you to make this victory secure by going straight to the conscience and intelligence of the people, not only by a platform ringing with honor and honesty, from money clear up through everything to human rights, but by putting thereon a candidate far better than the platform, because known everywhere through the length and the breadth of the land as its very incarnation, long tried and never found wanting. A candidate weak nowhere, strong everywhere, who will consolidate the party, bring every independent into line, and win recruits from the enemy. That is victory here and now, victory for years to come. Any other course forebodes disaster and courts defeat now and for years to come. Such a candidate, healing all dissensions, of wondrous ability, of aggressive integrity, of the largest experience in public affairs, of the highest statesmanship, is that brave, clean, vigilant man, upon whom rests no shadow of reproach, to whom in every crisis in the councils of the Nation we turn with joy and confidence-the central figure and leader of the Senate, the foremost type and defender of all that is best in the Republican faith, the ideal candidate, seeking not the office, worthy of the best days of the Republic, having the promise of potency of victory, is George F. Edmunds; and him Vermont nominates for the Presidency.

Welcome, gentlemen of the Convention, this breeze from the Green Mountains. How quickly it will swell into a gale, and how surely sweep the land.

Mr. SANFORD, of Massachusetts. Mr. President: In behalf of the Republicans of Massachusetts, and by the express sauction of her delegation, to which I have the honor to belong, I desire to second the nomination which has just been made by the gentleman from Vermont. I shall not repeat the tribute which he has so justly and eloquently paid to the gallant Republican State for which he has spoken, and to the ability, the statesmanship, the char acter and the services of her distinguished son. The record of the State, and of the statesman, alike conspicuous and untarnished, needs no encomium here.

By all Republicans, at least, it is already known, and no word can be spoken here to add to its lustre or diminish its fame. The Republicans of Massachusetts, trained like their brethren of Vermont by long and unfaltering devotion to the principles and fortunes of the Republican party, have learned to regard the success of that party as far more important than the success of any candidate within the party. They have also learned to believe that, if there is wisdom in the maxim that the most available nominations are the best, there is also truth in the converse of that maxim, that the best nominations are the most available. Deeply sensible of the importance of the impending election to the prosperity, the honor and safety of the Nation, the Republicans of Massachusetts, unembarrassed by any candidate of their own, have selected from the list of eminent names presented to their choice a leader who should bear the standard of the party triumphantly through the contest that lies before us; with that enthusiasm wholly spontaneous, and a large degree of unanimity, they have given their preferences unsolicited, but earnestly, to the Senator whose name, and the fame of whose manhood is identified with that Green Mountain State among whose majestic hills he was born and reared. I shall enter, sir, upon no comparisons. I shall not disparage_the claims or merits of any candidate to whom any State or delegate in this Convention has given preference. It is enough to say, and I desire to say it with all courtesy, that we of the State of Massachusetts have found no other man who has seemed to us to possess in a larger degree the requisite qualifications for the high office of President, or who has seemed to us more likely to combine the hosts of the Republican party in the emergency before us.

I will not delay you, gentlemen. You are weary and impatient, and I close by saying that the Republicans of Massachusetts join with their brethren of his own State in respectfully presenting to this Convention and commending to its support George F. Edmunds, of Vermont.

NOMINATION OF ELIHU B. WASHBURNE.

On the call of the State of Wisconsin.

Mr. CASSODY, of Wisconsin. Mr. President: During the exciting and arduous duties of this Convention I have not occupied to exceed three minutes of your time, notwithstanding I was the chairman of a delegation. I promise now, if you respectfully listen to me for a few moments, not to use up the time of ten minutes allotted to me, by two or three minutes.

It is indeed fortunate for our party and civilization that we have so many able statesmen from whom to select our candidates. Far be it from me to detract a single syllable from the praise justly due to any; but we live in a vast country, embracing many eminent statesmen whose names have not been presented to this Convention. Here are 756 delegates, representing 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 Republican voters, embracing many nationalities, having diverse interests and theories, that are scattered over 3,000,000 square miles of territory. And any view of our duty is incomplete and altogether too narrow which fails to take in the whole field and all the probabilities and improbabilities of a united support in November.

It may be that in France and some other nations success in government depends wholly upon the character of the leadership; but in this representative Government it must ever depend largely upon the broad common sense and good judgment of the masses of the people. And hence the truism uttered by our martyred President, that no one life is necessary to the existence of a nation. Behold in these seats, in this very presence, men whose ability and statesmanship have become famous on this and other continents. There is no lack of capacity for leadership, much less of a disposition to lead.

What we want most just now, is unity of purpose through the entire party, for the public good, and that can best be secured, not by self-assertion, but by self-negation.

The question is not whose name will elicit the greatest applause at this present moment of time, but whose name is so established in the confidence of the people as to allay all opposition in his own party and secure the greatest number of votes in November. The man of my choice is not a candidate, and has not sought any support from any quarter. He has rather repelled it. But let us remember that in the tabernacle of God those are not chosen who seek the highest seats and demand the richest crowns, but rather those who empty themselves of all vanity and conceit, and go down into the arena, into the face of death, and there are content to labor for the common good.

Such ought to be the rule in every Republican convention. Let us not be too sanguine. A comfortable berth is of no account to the passenger when the ship is fast driving upon the rocks. Let us save the ship and take care of the berths afterwards. Our enemies are in possession of both Houses of Congress. They will demand and claim the right to dictate the methods and the tests of the electoral count. With that object in view, they have purposely omitted, as the distinguished Senator from New York the other day very emphatically told them, all constitutional and statutory guarantees. With an inordinate lust for executive power and patronage on their part, we have nothing to gain, nothing to expect from a decision of theirs in case of a repetition of "184 to 185," nor from an Electoral Commission of their choosing. The only security is to make certain at the polls in the choice of a candidate, around whom the entire party can solidly join and march to victory. That man ascertained with reasonable certainty, it becomes the bounden duty of all to secure the success of the party, and through that party the salvation of our country, by making that man the nominee of this Convention. No other man has the right to insist upon it, and that man has no right to decline it. In the judgment of some in this Convention, and many with cool heads all over the land, there are two men who possess all these requisite qualities. One is Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, and the other is George F. Edmunds, of Vermont. Fully realizing that a divided party at the close of this Convention forebodes defeat in November, and a united party at the close of this Convention insures success in November, and looking over the whole field, I take that man whose history is familiar to you; who at the breaking out of the War sought out an obscure individual in Galena, led him to Springfield, up to the mountain of his glory, and stands by his side, one of his chief admirers and friends to-day. And, therefore, I nominate Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois.

Mr. BRANDIGEE, of Connecticut. Mr. President: The State of Connecticut, one of the oldest of the old Thirteen, sends greeting across the lakes, and over the prairies to Wisconsin, one of the youngest of the sisters, and unites with her in presenting to this grand Republican Council the name of that wise, sagacious, honored, faithful, stalwart Republican statesman-the_only name that is sure to carry every doubtful State and poll every Republican vote-Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois. We come here, sir, from the State of Connecticut, presenting no candidate of our own, not that there are not within her borders many very eminent civil statesmen within the reach of the Presidential possibility of being struck by lightning. But, sir, there are within that State two military living heroes, one not trained at West Point, but who, with the force of native genius, inspired with a blazing_patriotism, went to war as a private, graduated from the war as the hero of Fort Fisher-Gen. Alfred H. Terry, of Connecticut. We have also within that State another gallant soldier, statesman and orator-gallant Joe Hawley, of Connecticut, who, in the convention that nominated Grant, sitting in the Chair, and holding the gavel which you now hold, Mr. President, enunciated and crystallized, when the great financial heresy of soft-money repudiation arose, the true heart and thought of Republicanism in one living sentence, when he said that every dollar of the national debt should be as sacred as a soldier's grave.

We present no candidate here of our own. We come here uninstructed, uncommitted, and until we had come here and heard the debate, entirely undecided. We came here to consult with you in this momentous crisis of the history of our party, and, as we believe, in the history of our country. Sir, unless this Convention shall act wisely, and name him who not only can be nominated, but also elected at the polls, we believe that nothing that has been garnered up from the storm of battle is safe beyond all possibility of destruction. We believe, sir, that unless the Republican party can elect its candidate, and inaugurate him in this Presidential election, 500,000 soldiers will have gone to their graves in vain.

Mr. President, sixteen years ago I sat by the side of the statesman of Illinois in the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congress. I have never seen him since. I have never written him since. I have never heard from him since, and therefore I am not the engineer of any "bureau" of Washburne. But, sir, I then saw that he was the terror of the lobby. I saw then that he was the friend of the soldier. I saw then that that great and sainted man, whose portrait is at the other end of this hall [Lincoln], and whose spirit, I believe, looks down upon the deliberations of this assembly, trusted to no other statesman as he did to the advice, the wisdom and the counsel of Washburne. But I know full well, sir, too, that at that dark hour in the day of the Republic, when everything was at stake, when men's hearts failed them for fear, when 600,000 soldiers were on the other side of the Potomac, face to face, I know that then it was through the persistent, indomitable pertinacity of Elihu B. Washburne that the great soldier was brought up from the Southwest and put in command of the Potomac army. And I know, too, sir, by a gentleman whom I have met to-night for the first time since that, with unwearied pertinacity against a reluctant Congress, in season and out of season, he demanded of that Congress that it should pass a bill creating Ulysses S. Grant Lieutenant-General of all the armies of the Republic, thus commissioning by Congress what the Almighty had already commissioned the great hammer of the Almighty to break the backbone of the Rebellion.

That friend of Grant, that friend of economy, that friend and exponent of Republican principles, is the man I mean. Now, Mr. President, there are to-day, in the City of New York alone, 150,000 Germans. There are the sons and daughters of Fatherland in every Northern Republican and doubtful State. There are in the State of Connecticut enough to make the difference between a Democratic and Republican majority in November.

Connecticut is a doubtful State-as doubtful as Indiana. We must carry that State, for two reasons. You want it in the Republican line; and do you not want a Republican Senator, too, in the place of William W. Eaton, who misrepresents New England in the United States Senate.

We elect the Legislature in November that elects a Senator in the place of Eaton. Do you want one new Republican Senator in the United States, or do you not care to have a majority of Republican Senators there? Give us Washburne, and I pledge my life, I pledge everything, that the State of Connecticut in November will go Republican. I know it. And I do believe, too, that he will carry the State of Indiana with such a sweep as no man has ever carried it in modern times. New York is the third German city of the world to-day. There are more Germans there than in any other city in the world, except two. Washburne's name-if there is a German on this continent that does not respond to that, he is unworthy of the traditions of the Fatherland. He collected 30,000 Germans within the black and scarred walls of Paris, with the Commune howling like tigers to lap their blood, and beneath the flag of his country every one of them was safe. There is not a German woman or a prattling child that will not take up his name, and we shall carry four-fifths of the whole German vote of the United States. The gentleman from New York shakes his head. He shakes his head mag