d "the Mills Bill as destructive to
the general business, the labor, and the farming interests of the
country."

The Democrats, as is usual for the party in power, had already held
their convention before the Republicans met. They had renominated Grover
Cleveland by acclamation, and Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, as
Vice-President, and had indorsed, not the Mills Bill by name, but the
views of Cleveland and the efforts of the President and Representatives
in Congress to secure a reduction. For many of the Democrats the need to
defend tariff reform was so distasteful that they left the party,
blaming Cleveland as the cause of their defection.

The canvass of 1888 was not marred by the personalities of 1884. The
issue of protection was discussed earnestly by both parties, Blaine, who
returned from Europe, leading the Republican attack. The only exciting
incidents of the campaign had to do with the "Murchison Letter" and the
campaign fund.

Matthew S. Quay, whose career as Treasurer of Pennsylvania had not been
above reproach, was chairman of the Republican campaign committee.
During the contest it was asserted that he was assessing the protected
manufacturers and guaranteeing them immunity in case of a Republican
victory. He was at least able to play upon their fears and bring a
vigorous support to the protective promises of his party. His committee
circulated stories of the un-Americanism of Cleveland, charging that
free-trade was pro-British, and making capital out of the pension
vetoes. Toward the end of the canvass Sir Lionel Sackville-West, the
British Minister, fell into a Republican trap and wrote to a pretended
naturalized Englishman, who called himself Murchison, that a vote for
Cleveland would best serve Great Britain. His tactless blunder caused
his summary dismissal from Washington and aided the Republican cause
much as the Burchard affair had injured it four years before.

Harrison was elected in November as a minority President, Cleveland
actually receiving more popular though fewer electoral votes. He came
into office with a Republican Senate and a Republican House, able to
carry out party intentions for the first time since 1883.

Benjamin Harrison was never a leader of his party. He had a good war
record and had been Senator for a single term. His nomination was not
due to his strength, but to his availability. Coming from the doubtful
State of Indiana, he was likely to carry it, particularly since the