But Cleveland had his revenge four years later, when, in spite of the
protests of the leaders from his own state of New York, he was again
nominated on a platform denouncing the tariff, and defeated Harrison by
an overwhelming majority. And now came one of those strange instances of
party perfidy and party suicide, of which the country has just witnessed
a second example. In accordance with the platform pledges, a bill to
lower the tariff was at once framed in the House and adopted; but the
Senate, although Democratic in complexion, so altered it that it fell
far short of carrying out the party pledges. The leader in the Senate
was Arthur P. Gorman, of Maryland, and to him chiefly was due this act
of treachery. The President refused to sign the bill, and it became a
law without his signature. There can be little question that it was the
failure of the Democratic party to fulfil its pledges at that critical
time which led to its subsequent disruption and defeat.
Twice more did Cleveland startle the country with his extraordinary
decision of character. In the summer of 1894, a great railroad strike,
centering at Chicago, occasioned an outbreak of violence, which the
governor of Illinois did nothing to quell. The President, therefore,
declaring that the rioters had no right to interfere with the United
States mails, ordered national troops to the scene to maintain order. A
year later, when the British Government, involved in a boundary dispute
with Venezuela, declared that it did not accept the Monroe Doctrine and
would not submit the dispute to arbitration, the President sent a
message to Congress, declaring that the Monroe Doctrine must be upheld
at whatever cost. The country was thrilled from end to end, the
President's course approved, and Great Britain at last consented to
arbitration.
[Illustration: CLEVELAND]
And yet, when Cleveland left the presidential chair for the second time,
he had entirely lost control of and sympathy with his own party. He had
shown little tact in his dealings with the party leaders. He seemed to
forget that, after all, these leaders had certain rights and privileges
which should be respected; he sometimes blundered through very anxiety
to be right. You have heard some men called so upright that they leaned
over backward--well, that, occasionally, was Cleveland's fault. He
was subjected to such a storm of abuse as no other ex-President ever had
to endure. That he felt it keenly there can be no question; but in the
years which followed, his sturdy and unassailable character came to be
recognized and appreciated, and his death, in the summer of 1908, was
the occasion of deep and widespread sorrow.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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