OF GROVER CLEVELAND BY PENDLETON KING REVISED EDITION. NEW YORK AND LONDON G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS The Knickerbocker Press 1884 U.S.6373.7 Harvard College Librar Nov. 14, 1891. LOWELL BEQUEST! COPYRIGHT, 1884, PREFACE. IN the preparation of the following biography I have attempted to portray Mr. Cleveland, as far as possible, by means of judicious selections from his own messages, vetoes, and speeches. I venture to hope that in bringing before the people at large for the first time many of the vetoes of Mayor Cleveland, I am rendering a public service of no trifling value. I have included such other documents as are most necessary for reference in the present political contest, hoping thereby to render it more useful to those taking a more or less active part in the campaign. Now that there is a clearly defined contest in behalf of pure government, led by a man who, if elected, will surely give it to us so far as he can; at a time when there is such an Independent or Moral movement in favor of honesty and reform, I consider it no time for attempting to write a book that shall aim to be dramatic and amusing. On the other hand, I have tried to produce a simple, clear narrative, free from exaggeration and empty rhetoric. I would return my thanks to several gentlemen who have kindly assisted me by furnishing material, information, or advice. In the first place, to Governor Cleveland himself, in whose modesty, however, I found some restraint to the encouragement afforded me by his kindness and courtesy. It is hardly necessary to say that no responsibility rests with the Governor for either the selections of messages and other documents included in this book, or for the discussion of them. I would also mention Mr. Everett P. Wheeler and Mr. Alexander Fullerton, of the New York CivilService Reform Association, Mr. L. F. Allen, Mr. W. S. Bissell, and Hon. D. N. Lockwood, of Buffalo. Mr. Burns, the City Clerk of Buffalo, kindly furnished me with a copy of the Proceedings of the Common Council for 1882; and Mr. F. F. Fargo with his own copy of a biographical sketch of Mr. Cleveland written by him in 1882, copies of which have now become scarce. The kindness of some of these gentlemen was the greater from the fact that they are "red-hot Republicans," who had some scruples as to whether they ought to furnish me "with powder to shoot them with." The critical reader will readily appreciate certain exigencies peculiar to a work of this kind: the most |