of a century, they have kept
their place in the busy jostling of political life well in the
foreground. And now they have been selected from among millions
of their countrymen to represent--not themselves, but the Republican
party of the United States.

"They represent the American Union, one and indivisible, snatched
by war from the perils of secession and disunion. They represent
a strong national government, able, I trust, in time, not only to
protect our citizens from foreign tyranny, but from local cruelty,
intolerance, and oppression.

"They represent that party in the country which would scorn to
obtain or hold power by depriving, by crime and fraud, more than
a million of men of their equal rights as citizens. They represent
a party that would give to the laboring men of our country the
protection of our revenue laws against undue competition with
foreign labor.

"They represent the power, the achievements, and the aspirations
of the Republican party that now for twenty-four years has been
greatly trusted by the people, and in return has greatly advanced
your country in strength and wealth, intelligence, courage and
hope, and in the respect and wonder of mankind.

"Fellow Republicans, we are about to enter into no holiday contest.
You have to meet the same forces and principles that opposed the
Union army in war; that opposed the abolition of slavery; that
sought to impair the public credit; that resisted the resumption
of specie payment. They are recruited here and there by a deserter
from our ranks, but meanwhile a generation of younger men are coming
to the front, in the south as well as in the north. They have been
educated amidst memorable events with patriotic ardor, love of
country, pride in its strength and power. They are now determined
to overthrow the narrow Bourbon sectionalism of the Democratic
party. They live in the mountains and plains of the west. They
breathe the fresh air of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
They are the hardy, liberty-loving laborers of every state.

"They come from the fatherland, they come from old Ireland. They
are the active spirits, native and naturalized, of a generation of
free men who never felt the incubus of slavery, and who wish only
as Americans to make stronger and plant deeper the principles of
the Republican party. It is to these men we who have grown old in
this conflict wish now to hand over the banner we have borne. Let
them take it