Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 10.djvu/275

 HAY

hoped in his second term to accomplish substan- tial results in the development and affirmation of those policies. I spent a day with him shortly before he started on his fateful journey to Buf- falo. Never had I seen him higher in hope and patriotic confidence. He was gratified to the heart that we had arranged a treaty which gave us a free hand in the Isthmus. In fancy he saw the canal already built and the argosies of the world passing through it in peace and amity. He saw in the immense evolution of American trade the fulfilment of all his dreams, the reward of all his labors. He was, I need not say, an ardent protectionist, never more sincere and devoted than during those last days of his life. He re- garded reciprocity as the bulwark of protection — not a breach, but a fulfilment of the law. The treaties which for four years had been pre- paring under his personal supervision he re- garded as ancillary to the general scheme. He was opposed to any revolutionary plan of change in the existing legislation; he was careful to point out that everything he had done was in faithful compliance with the law itself.

In that mood of high hope, of generous ex- pectation, he went to Buffalo, and there, on the threshold of eternity, he delivered that memor- able speech, worthy for its loftiness of tone, its blameless morality, its breadth of view, to be regarded as his testament to the nation. Through all his pride of country and his joy of its success 237

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