with a wild
burst of applause, a great many persons rising to their feet, waving
their hats and handkerchiefs, and the thousands of people in the
gallery joining in the roars of applause. The cheers were renewed
again and again. The speaker resumed:

'A native of the State which he represents in the Council of the
Nation, reared among the youth of a section where every element of
manhood is early brought into play, he is eminently a man of the
people. The safety, the permanency, and the prosperity of the
Nation depend upon the courage, the integrity, and the loyalty of
its citizens. . . . Like Douglas, he believed that in time of war
men must be either patriots or traitors, and he threw his mighty
influence on the side of the Union; and Illinois made a record
second to none in the history of States in the struggle to preserve
the Union. . . .

'During the long struggle of four years he commanded, under the
authority of the Government, first a regiment, then a brigade, then
a division, then an army corps, and finally an army. He remained
in the service until the war closed, when at the head of his army,
with the scars of battle upon him, he marched into the capital of
the Nation, and with the brave men whom he had led on a hundred
hard-fought fields was mustered out of the service under the very
shadow of the Capitol building which he had left four years before
as a member of Congress to go and fight the battles of his country.

'When the war was over and peace victoriously restored, he was
again invited by his fellow-citizens to take his place in the
Councils of the Nation. In a service of twenty years in both Houses
of Congress he has shown himself to be no less able and distinguished
as a citizen than he was renowned as a soldier. Conservative in
the advocacy of measures involving the public welfare, ready and
eloquent in debate, fearless--yes, I repeat again, fearless--in
defence of the rights of the weak against the oppression of the
strong, he stands to-day closer to the great mass of the people of
this country than almost any other man now engaging public
attention.'"

At the conclusion of my speech there was a tremendous demonstration,
and General Prentiss seconded the nomination. General Logan received
sixty-three and one-half votes on the first ballot, and sixty-one
votes on the second and third ballots.

Immediately after the third ballot, I received this telegram from
General Logan, who was in