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INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 8.

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The Republican State Convention.

The Republican State Convention convened at Tomlinson Hall, city of Indianapolis, August 8, 1888, and concluded its work in one day.

It was the largest attended and most enthusiastic convention ever held in Indiana. Hon. Wm. H. Calkins of Indianapolis was chosen Chairman, and Mark L. De Motte of Valparaiso Secretary. The following ticket was nominated, and in November triumphantly elected:

Governor—Alvin P. Hovey, Posey County.

Lieutenant-Governor—Ira J. Chase, Hendricks County.

Secretary of State—Charles F. Griffin, Lake County.

Auditor of State—Bruce Carr, Orange County.

Treasurer—J. A. Lemcke, Vanderburg County.

Attorney-General—L. T. Michner, Shelby County.

Superintendent Public Instruction—H. M. LaFollette, Boone County.

Reporter Supreme Court—John L. Griffiths, Marion County.

Judges of Supreme Court.

First District—Silas T. Coffey, Clay County.

Second District—J. G. Berkshire, Jennings County.

Fourth District—Walter Olds, Whitely County.

Electors-at-Large—James M. Shackelford, Vanderburg County; Thomas H. Nelson, Vigo County.

Judge Gardner, a delegate from Daviess County, introduced a resolution, which was unanimously adopted midst great enthusiasm, inviting General Harrison to visit the convention, and designating Hon. Richard W. Thompson, John W. Linck and E. P. Hammond a committee to convey the invitation.

On the platform, with the presiding officer, to meet the distinguished guest were the Hon. James N. Huston, Hon. John M. Butler, Hon. Will Cumback, William Wallace, Hon. W. P. Fishback, Hon. A. C. Harris, Rev. Dr. Backus, Judge E. B. Martindale, General Thomas Bennett, Judge J. H. Jordan, and the Republican State officials.

The entrance of General Harrison, escorted by the committee, was followed by a tumultuous scene rarely witnessed outside of a national convention, the demonstration lasting nearly ten minutes. Chairman Calkins finally succeeded in introducing—"the next President"—and General Harrison spoke as follows:

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention—When I received your invitation to appear for a moment before you I felt that what you asked could not involve any indelicacy, and as it offered me the only opportunity which I shall have to look into the faces of my Indiana Republican friends here assembled, I could not find it in my heart to deny myself the pleasure of spending a moment in your presence. [Applause.] This enthusiastic and kindly reception crowns a long series of friendly acts on the part of my Republican friends of Indiana. To have your confidence is very grateful to me, to be worthy of your confidence is the highest ambition I can set before me. [Applause.] Whatever may befall me, I feel that my fellow-citizens of Indiana have crowned me and made me forever their debtor. [Applause.] But I must not detain you from the business which has brought you here. [Cries of "Go on!"] Such an assemblage as this is characteristic of America. What you shall do to-day will influence the prosperity and welfare of the State. Such a meeting is a notable historical event. We have to-day transpiring in this country two other events that are attracting wide interest. At the chief seaport of our country that great Republican, and that great American, James G. Blaine, returns to his home. [Applause.] We shall not be disappointed, I hope, in hearing his powerful voice in Indiana before the campaign is old. [Applause.] Another scene attracts our solemn and even tearful interest, for while you are transacting your business here to-day a draped train is bearing from the place of his sojourn by the sea to the place of his interment at Washington the mortal part of Philip H. Sheridan. From the convention at Chicago we sent him our greetings and our earnest prayers for his restoration. To-day we mourn our hero dead. You called him then a favorite child of victory, and such he was. He was one of those great commanders who, upon the field of battle, towered a very god of war. [Applause.] He was one of those earnest fighters for his country who did not at the end of his first day's fight contemplate rest and recuperation for his own command. He rested and refreshed his command with the wine of victory, and found recuperation in the dispersion of the enemy that confronted him. [Great applause.] This gallant son of Ireland and America [great applause] has written a chapter in the art of war that will not fail to instruct and to develop, when the exigencies may come again, others who shall repeat in defence of our flag his glorious achievements. [Great applause.]

And now, Mr. President, and gentlemen, I am sure the heat of this hall and the labors that are before you suggest to you, as they do to me, that I shall close these remarks and bid you good-by. [Great applause.]

Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United States

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