H

METHODIST REVIEW.

JULY, 1889.

ART. I.-PRESIDENT BENJAMIN HARRISON. PRESIDENT HARRISON has stood for months in a blaze of light. As a candidate for nomination by the Republican National Convention the attention of all the politicians of the country was focused upon him. As the nominee of that Convention he was brought under the scrutiny of the nation. As presidentelect he attracted the critical observation of all civilized gov. ernments. He was visited by individuals and delegations from all parts of the country. He was approached by persons who thought they had missions, and by persons who desired missions. He was catechised by theorists, and preached to by reformers. Self-seekers tried to secure his favor, and Christian ministers assured him of their interest in him for the sake of the divine Master. He received and responded to addresses without number. The "reporter" was observing and listening when the object of his interest little dreamed of it. He was followed when he walked out, and watched when he stayed at home. The tongue of criticism was ready to magnify paltry mistakes into grave offenses, and in the fierce light in which he stood for so many months no act or quality of the man escaped observation. The ordeal was one of fire. It is therefore very exalted praise to state the plain fact, that in all that time he neither said nor did one thing which could with justice be severely criticised. In his speeches he did not, by adroit lingual jugglery, seem to speak while really saying nothing. Every formal address from him, however brief, was straightforward, manly, and sensible. His versatility and 31-FIFTH SERIES, VOL. V.

discretion were a surprise to his friends, and gave his foes no point of attack. If there were nothing else to prove it, his bearing through all this crucial period stamps Mr. Harrison as a remarkable man. He never lost his poise and self-control. One of the most intense and exciting moments of his life was that when the committee visited his home to make the formal announcement of his nomination for the presidency. The committee took their places in the parlor, and stood waiting the appearance of the man who had been chosen to be the standardbearer of the Republican Party. Mr. Harrison, accompanied by his wife, came down the stairs into the hall, and thence into the parlor, and stood in the presence of the committee. It was a moment to make a man quiver with excitement. The full meaning of it was not easily understood, but though vague it was oppressive. The committee made the official announcement, and General Harrison responded in words which need not be repeated here. The only sign of emotion were the tears which stole silently into his calm eyes, and were noticed by a careful observer who told me the story. The supreme self-control of the man added pathos to the scene. He is not incapable of tremendous feeling when the occasion justifies it, as a few instances in his life fully prove, and as is often the case with persons of such poise and self-control; but the habit of his life is balance and equanimity, resulting in part from temperament and in part from conscious self-restraint and effort; a habit which has served him a good purpose at the bar, on the stump, and on the field of battle, as well as in the ordeal through which he passed before his induction into his present high office, and serves him well in that through which he is now passing as President of the United States. Such a man is an interesting study, as well for what he is as for the proud elevation which he has reached in the greatest republic of the world.

In this country people care less for their ancestors than in any other civilized nation. One reason is, that few Americans can trace the family line back through many generations, while others have behind them an ancestry that does them small honor. And yet the family tree has a place among us, and no sooner does a man become suddenly famous than a hunt begins to discover his kindred of former generations. Thus an effort has been made to connect the President with Thomas Harrison

of Cromwell's time. The effort is a failure. Thomas Harrison was a man of some ability and much courage, for he rose from the shambles to a seat in Parliament, and was a Cromwellian soldier who preferred to remain in England after the Restoration rather than become an exile to save his life. A brave spirit was in this famous Roundhead, and a president might count it an honor to be descended from such a man. But it is not known that Harrison the Cromwellian had any children, and it cannot be shown, therefore, that President Benjamin Harrison is related to him.

In the Harrisons of Berkeley, Virginia, we find names that can be identified. One of them, at least-Benjamin Harrisonwas a man of more than local influence. He was a member of the House of Burgesses while yet a mere youth, and was soon mnade Speaker of the House. As the Revolution approached an effort was made to secure his allegiance to the King as against the Colonies, but he proclaimed himself a Republican, was one of the first seven delegates from Virginia to the Continental Congress, presided in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was under discussion, voted for it on the 4th of July, and signed it on the 4th of August. He was honored by political favors until Arnold's invasion of Virginia took him to the field, where he later opposed Cornwallis. He was three times elected Governor of Virginia, and died before being inaugurated after his third election.

The second son of Benjamin Harrison, the signer, was William H. Harrison, who inherited many of the qualities which characterized his father. He, too, entered public life early, achieved honor as a civilian and fame as a soldier, and as the hero of Tippecanoe was elected President of the United States. His father was rich when he married, but spent his money lavishly and died poor. William H., therefore, had his own way to make, and it is to his immortal honor that he reached the highest place in the Republic. John Scott Harrison, third son of William H., and father of President Benjamin Harrison, was a man apparently without ambition, but not destitute of ability. He was a good farmer, but a poor financier, and some years before his death his farm passed out of his hands. The new owners, however, still allowed him to occupy it. General Wallace says, "He left no estate whatever."

President Harrison is the second son of John Scott Harrison, and was born at North Bend, Ohio, August 20, 1833. It thus appears that the president has brave blood in his veins. Thomas Harrison was as lion-hearted as any man who fought under the banners of the Protector, for he refused to leave England, and was killed by the new rulers, so that if he was really the progenitor of the Virginia Harrisons, as some still claim, the first in the known line was a man of a brave spirit. Harrison, the siguer, was a leader in perilous times, and dared to strike for freedom when it was by no means certain that the fate of Cromwell's Harrison would not be his own. William Henry was a soldier also, and died President of the United States, a position to which he had been exalted because as a warrior he had been victorious. The President, therefore, inherits bravery, and his own success on the field of battle is in keeping with his ancestral record.

His grandfather and great-grandfather were statesmen, and if he possesses like qualities it only illustrates another form of heredity. No taint of dishonesty is in the family line. The signer was once rich but died poor, in spite of all the opportunities which must have offered for increasing his fortune. There was a time when William H. Harrison, as Governor of the Territory of Indiana, possessed the absolute and very dangerous power of confirming a certain class of land grants. He was authorized to enact and publish such laws, civil and criminal, as in his judgment were best adapted to the condition of the Territory. He could create townships and counties, and appoint civil and militia officers up to a certain grade. His powers were almost imperial, and, to a man not fortified against them, the temptations to abuse his anthority and amass wealth would have been irresistible. He emerged from the ordeal without taint and without fortune. John Scott Harrison was as honorable as he was unfortunate, and though he died poor he also died respected. Thus Benjamin Harrison has inherited courage, statesman-like qualities, and honor.

An attempt to prove that President Harrison was a very remarkable child would be a failure. He was undoubtedly something more than an average boy for the neighborhood in which he passed his childhood, but there is no evidence that any thing more than that can be said of him. He was born