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.

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