tion, and the prospects of
Republican or Democratic success. I had been away so long that I
supposed the embers left by the convention were extinguished, but
nothing, I think, can prevent the Ohio man from expressing his
opinion about parties and politics. I met William Lawrence, one
of the ablest men of the state as a lawyer, a judge and a Member
of Congress. An interview with him had recently been published in
respect to the resolution indorsing my candidacy. This was frequently
called to my attention, and though I had not then read it, my
confidence in him was so great I was willing to indorse anything
he had said.

On the 7th of September I attended a soldiers' meeting at Bellville,
in Richland county, where it was said upwards of 4,000 people took
part. I made quite a long talk to them, but was far more interested
in the stories of men who had served in the war, many of whom gave
graphic accounts of scenes and incidents in which they had taken
part. I have attended many such meetings, but do not recall any
that was more interesting. The story of the private soldier is
often rich in experience. It tells of what he saw in battle, and
these stories of the soldiers, told to each other, form the web
and woof out of which history is written. It was useless to preach
to these men that Providence directly controls the history of
nations. A good Presbyterian would find in our history evidence
of the truth of his theory that all things are ordained beforehand.
Certain it is that the wonderful events in our national life might
be cited as an evidence of this theory. I do reverently recognize
in the history of our war, the hand of a superintending Providence
that has guided our great nation from the beginning to this hour.
The same power which guided our fathers' fathers through the
Revolutionary War, upheld the arms of the soldiers of the Union
Army in the Civil War, and I trust that the same good Providence
will guide our great nation in the years to come.

I made my opening political speech in this campaign at Wilmington,
on the 15th of September. Clinton county is peopled almost exclusively
by a farming community, whose rich upland is drained by the waters
of the Scioto and Miami Rivers. My speech, not only on this
occasion, but during the canvass in other parts of the state, was
chiefly confined to a defense of the Republican party and its policy
while in power, which I contrasted with what I regarded as t