CONFIDENCE THAT THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES IS TO REMAIN OUR BULWARK OF JUSTICE AND ALL THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT. (APPLAUSE.)
PROUD OF BEING A REPUBLICAN.
Fellow citizens, I am a Republican and proud of my party's history. The history of the United States has been made rich and resplendent with victories and achievements of our party. We are proud of our nation's history from its earliest dawn down to the present, and for the valuable lessons it has taught. We would not expunge or obliterate a single line. We accept it as a whole, from Plymouth Rock to Bunker Hill, from Bunker Hill to Fort Sumter, from Fort Sumter to Appomattox, and from Appomattox down to the campaign of 1896. We dedicate crowns of laurel for the giants who have evolved the mighty principles and tenets of the republican party—Washington and Grant, Blaine and Logan, Sherman and Garfield, Harrison and McKinley, and most of all, that gentle soul, that man of equal poise, whose peer has never lived since the days of blessed Galilean—Abraham Lincoln! (Applause.) Our history is one of greatness and sublimity. Its pages are rich with the names of orators more eloquent than a Burke, with the names of statesmen more acute than the "Iron Chancellor" and the names of warriors greater and mightier than Napoleon.
IN THE DARK AND TURBULENT DAYS OF THE REBELLION, THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF DEMOCRATIC PATRIOTS, SAVED THIS NATION, WHILE NOW IN THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, BY THE LIVING GOD, PATRIOTS WILL SAVE AND PROTECT OUR NATION'S HONOR.
Ours is the greatest nation on earth, and the possibilities of the future are almost limitless; if we make no mistake in the great principles of protection, reciprocity and a sound currency, which have for their immediate object the betterment of the conditions of the wage-earners of this land.
MARCHING TO GREATEST VICTORY.
Following the leadership of our gallant standard bearer, that brave civilian soldier on the field of battle, that statesman without a peer, that friend of the toiling millions, that companion of every old soldier, that invincible leader of men, Major McKinley, we are advancing proudly on to the greatest political victory of modern times. In the life of Major William McKinley, we find nothing but purity and ability, bravery and compassion, and I promise you that on the fourth day of next March he will be inaugurated president of this republic; a republic whose flag, "Old Glory," the stars and stripes, floats over seas and land, peerless and without price, the emblem of power and protection to all. My friends, we must restore our protective system. Already it has accomplished wonders for the laborers of America, and its mission in behalf of prosperity and posterity has only commenced. It has enabled us to perfect a system of finance that is a marvel to all nations, and has raised our credit to a place among the first countries of the earth. It has elevated the manhood of every American citizen, dignified labor, and instilled a more universal education throughout our land than can be found in any other civilized country on the face of the globe. It has made the flag of our nation emblematical of love, liberty, protection, reciprocity, honor and all that is great and grand of human thought. Major William McKinley is our Bruce at Bannockburn in this struggle for national honor, unlimited labor and higher wages. In the golden casket of his great soul rests the immortal principles which we advocate, and in his heart burns the undying fire of love for America and American institutions. The righteousness of our cause is our strength, while he is our hope and will lead us triumphantly on to certain and splendid victory. (Applause.) But what about William Jennings Bryan?
"Like a comet he rose to our vision,
Like a comet he soon will depart;
And 'tis certain his untimely going