Lincoln embodied, to the mind of the people, two great issues that were really only one-the preservation of the American Union and the abolition of slavery. At the root of both there lay a moral principle, and both appealed with overwhelming force to sentiment. They were so plain, so vividly defined, that no sophistry could obscure them, no shrewd debater reason them away. And so, back of the supercilious politicians at the Capitol were the masses of the people, their eyes fixed with pathetic faith and loyalty upon that tall, gaunt, stooping, homely man, who to their minds meant everything that makes a cause worth dying for.

But to President Cleveland it was given to deal with issues that made no such simple and direct appeal. The questions that were his to solve were economic questions, replete with technicalities which only a comparatively few could rightly understand, and as to which even these comparatively few were not agreed. Catchwords and clever phrases and garbled facts, when rolled forth glibly by a smooth-tongued speaker, sufficed to make the worse appear the better reason, and confuse the wits of half the nation. Hence the task which Cleveland took upon himself was harder in its way than Lincoln's, and one which in its very nature could have been completed only after the weariness of many years and the bitterness of many failures. So far as his own hand could perform what he attempted, he was splendidly successful. He was like a giant facing a terrific tempest. If he could not advance, he would, at least, not yield nor take a backward step. His old-time foes assailed him without ceasing, and his one-time friends betrayed him. He encountered such malignity of hatred as would have terrified and sickened a weaker soul than his. There are signs that within his heart even he often.

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winced at the cruel falsehoods which assailed him. Yet none the less, he stood unmoved and magnificently unafraid—a superbly virile figure, holding fast to what he felt to be the right, and looking all opponents squarely in the eye. In the end, he came to know that it was his, not to achieve what he had hoped, but to save that which had been entrusted to him; and he did it bravely, grimly, powerfully. Opinions may differ as to his conception of his duty; but the memory of his devotion to high principle, his strength of will and his dauntless courage must remain to all Americans a source of patriotic pride and an enduring inspiration.

CHAPTER XI

THE ELECTION OF 1896

As the time for holding the national conventions drew near, both the Republican and the Democratic parties were in a state of feverish anxiety. The free-silver agitation had divided both; and no one could with confidence predict the effect of this division upon either of them. Yet the Republicans were seemingly in a far better position than the Democrats. The latter, now that Presi-. dent Cleveland's guidance had been practically repudiated,. were without any leadership whatever. There had, as yet arisen no strong, dominant personality such as could compel obedience to his will. The Pennoyers and Waites and Tillmans had often a numerous local following; but they were not of the stuff which goes into the making of national leaders. On the other hand, whatever differences of opinion might divide the Republicans on, questions of policy, there was among them no lack of experienced and able party chiefs to arouse strong popular enthusiasm. Of these, the two who received the most. earnest support as candidates for the Presidential nomination were Mr. Thomas B. Reed of Maine and Mr. William McKinley of Ohio.

Mr. Reed's energetic and almost revolutionary course. as Speaker of the House had made him a very conspicuous and striking figure. His forceful personality, his intellectual acumen, his iron will, and his effectiveness as a debater gave him a definite title to the highest political preferment. He was known to be fairly conservative in

1 See pp. 199-201.

his financial views, and he was, therefore, acceptable to the Republicans of New England and the Middle States. But this very fact militated against his candidacy with the party as a whole, and especially with the party managers. In view of the intense sectional feeling which was then influencing the West, the nomination of a New England candidate seemed to many to be politically inexpedient. Furthermore, precisely in proportion to the definiteness of Mr. Reed's financial views was his availability as a harmoniser generally questioned. What was sought by the shrewdest politicians in the party was a candidate who should come from a Western State, who was identified with some other issue than the money question, whose record would neither alarm the gold men nor exasperate the "friends of silver," and who was personally liked by representatives of every faction. Such an individual was Mr. McKinley, who seemed to be an almost ideal leader from the standpoint of "availability." In his behalf, moreover, there were enlisted forces, the extent and power of which were not generally recognised in the early months of 1896, but which were soon to prove quite irresistible.

Mr. McKinley was a kindly personage of winning manners and unblemished character. He had served in the army during the Civil War; and had afterwards acquired a wide experience of practical politics and of politicians, as a member of Congress. During that time he had been a strong protectionist; and the high tariff act which bore his name and which became law in 1890, had made him 5 known all over the civilised world. This measure had, in

fact, led to his own defeat for re-election to the House in the same year, and had caused the Republican disaster of 1890; yet in view of Democratic incompetence and the failure of President Cleveland's tariff policy, there had

2 See pp. 214-215.

now come about a strong reaction, which was favourable to high protective duties. But it was Mr. McKinley's past and present attitude toward the financial question. which made him seem especially well fitted to succeed in. 1896. In the early part of his congressional career, he had been emphatically numbered among the "friends of. silver." He had voted for the Bland-Allison Bill on its . first passage through the House, and he had again voted, to enact that measure in disregard of the veto of President Hayes. Later, in many public speeches, he had defended, the freer use of silver. At the same time, his utterances. were far from radical, and he had recently appeared rather. to advocate bimetallism through an international agree-. ment, than to approve the policy of letting the United States attempt the dangerous experiment alone. There-. fore Mr. McKinley, while not antagonising the silver wing. of his own party, was regarded as "a safe man" by the. gold monometallists. His own desire, if nominated, was to relegate the financial question to an inconspicuous place in the campaign, and to fight the battle once more upon the issue of the tariff.

In a speech delivered at Niles, Ohio, on August 22, 1891, during his canvass for the governorship, Mr. McKinley had said:

"I do not want gold at a premium. I do not want silver at a discount. I want both metals side by side, equal in purchasing power and in legal-tender quality, equal in power to performing the functions of money with which to do business and to move the commerce of the United States. To tell me that the free and unlimited coinage of the silver of the world, in the absence of co-operation on the part of other commercial nations, will not bring gold to a premium, is to deny all history and the weight of all financial experience. The very instant that you have opened up our mints to the silver of the world, independent of international action, that very instant, or in a brief time at best, you have sent gold to a premium, you have put it in great measure into disuse, and we are remitted to the single standard, that of silver alone. We have deprived ourselves of the use of both metals."

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