ficulties that had caused a good deal of bitterness of feeling between England's great dependency Canada and the United States-were under consideration once more and a treaty was agreed upon on February 15, 1888. This treaty was rejected by the Senate and the attempt at an amicable settlement of this question for which the President was largely responsible was used against him by his political opponents. He was accused by them of playing into the hands of England.

However, he was still the first Democrat in the country. Despite his vetoes, despite his refusal to play into the hands of the professional politicians of his party, it was clear to all that no other Democratic leader could hope to carry the country, and so when the National Democratic Convention met at St. Louis in June, 1888, he received the nomination on the first ballot.

He accepted the nomination and in doing so gave in a few pregnant sentences the state of affairs as he found them in the Council Chambers of the nation at Washington.

"Four years ago I knew that our chief Executive office, if not carefully guarded, might drift little by little away from the people to whom it belonged, and become a perversion of all that it ought to be; but I did not know how much its moorings had already been loosened.

"I knew four years ago how well devised were the principles of true Democracy for the successful operation of a government by the people and for the people; but I did not know how absolutely necessary their application then was for the restoration to the people of their safety and prosperity. I knew then that abuses and extravagances had crept into the

management of public affairs; but I did not know their numerous forms nor the tenacity of their grasp. I knew then something of the littleness of partisan obstruction; but I did not know how bitter, how reckless and how shameless it could be."

He was once more before the nation on his record. He had proved himself a wise President and a true one. He had been an indefatigable worker with an eye to the smallest details of the government. Nothing seemed to escape him and his opponents could not accuse him of ever having winked at corruption. He had lived up to the letter of his promises and although he had not been able to make the civil service reforms he desired, he had done much to elevate and purify the tone of the entire political life of his country.

CHAPTER XXII.

PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND. (Concluded).

THE struggle between the Republicans under the leadership of General Harrison and the Democrats under President Cleveland was a well fought one. The battle was mainly on the President's message of 1887, and the one great issue of the campaign was tariff reform. The business men of the country were with the Republicans and subscribed liberally to the campaign fund. On the other hand the Democrats lacked organisation. The fight was hottest in Indiana, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Of these New Jersey and Connecticut went Democratic, but Indiana, Harrison's State, and New York which had elected Cleveland in 1884, went Republican; as a result Harrison had 233 electoral votes and Cleveland 168, but of the popular vote Cleveland had 5,540,390 and Harrison 5,439,853.

Cleveland accepted his defeat with his usual calmness and began the practice of his profession in New York City. He did not, however, remain "blind, deaf and dumb" to the questions of the hour. On several public occasions he showed that he was still in politics and, in 1891, wrote a strong letter against a bill for the free and unlimited coinage of silver. This was a brave letter as it was written in the face

of the fact that the bill had the support of the majority of his own party in Congress. His letter was received with enthusiasm by the nation, and it was a strong factor in re-electing him for President in 1892.

The great question before the country at the close of President Harrison's term was tariff reform. The McKinley bill had not had the effect that its supporters hoped for. There was a general rise in prices under it, but no rise in wages and the nation began to think that what was needed was the general reduction in duties advocated in President Cleveland's message of 1887. Already there had been a reaction against high tariff, and, in 1890, the Republicans suffered severe defeat in the Congressional election, William McKinley of Ohio going down with the rest. The people it was believed were being robbed for the few, and the forces of labour were massed against capital.

The Democrats saw that their chances of being returned to power were good, and they likewise saw that the one man in their party who had the confidence of the nation was Grover Cleveland. When the Democratic National Convention met at Chicago in June, 1892, he was nominated for the Presidency on the first ballot, and this in opposition to the delegates from his own State. In his letter of acceptance he said:

"Tariff reform is still our purpose. Though we oppose the theory that tariff laws may be passed having for their object the granting of discriminating and unfair governmental aid to private ventures, we wage no exterminating war against any American interests. We believe a readjustment can be accomplished, in accordance with the principles we profess,

without disaster or demolition. We believe that the advantages of freer raw material should be accorded. to our manufacturers, and we contemplate fair and careful distribution of necessary tariff burdens, rather than the precipitation of free trade."

He was for sound money, for civil service reform, for reduced taxation, and on these questions he won a tremendous victory. There were four candidates in the field, but Cleveland had a substantial majority. The popular vote stood 5,553,142 for Cleveland, 5,186,931 for Harrison, 1,300,128 for Weaver, leader of the "People's Party," and 268,361 for Bidwell, the prohibitionist representative. Of the electoral vote Cleveland received 276, General Harrison 145, and Mr. Weaver 23.

Grover Cleveland had the honour of being the first President re-elected after an interim.

In the cabinet he selected there were no representatives from the cabinet of his first term, but it was made up of even stronger men. Walter Q. Gresham of Indiana, was his Secretary of State, John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, Secretary of the Treasury; Daniel S. Lamont, of New York, Secretary of War; Richard Olney, of Massachusetts, Attorney-General; Wilson S. Bissell, of New York, Postmaster-General; Hilary A. Herbert, of Alabama, Secretary of the Navy; Hoke Smith, of Georgia, Secretary of the Interior, and J. Sterling Morton, of Nebraska, Secretary of Agriculture, a department which Mr. Cleveland had given cabinet rank during his first administration. In May, 1895, Judge Gresham died and was succeeded by Attorney-General Olney whose place was taken by Judson Harmon of Ohio. In the same year Postmaster-General Bissell resigned and William L. Wilson of Virginia succeeded to his office. In the