THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1815, 13 November 1888, Page 4

THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Until he began to loom • up aa a candidate for the Presidential nomination, Benjamin Harrison cannot be said to have had much of a national reputation. The accident of birth made him the grandson of William Henry Harrison, the victor of Tippercanoe, who died'one month after his inauguration as President in 1841. Benjamin Harrison was born August 20th, 1823, at Hamilton, Ohio. He graduated at Miami University at Oxford, 0., and then for two years he'read law in Cincinatti. His resi* d«nce since 1854 has been in Indianapolis. '• After being admitted to the Bar he practised with a fair degree of aucces«, and in 1869 wis elected reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted in response to the first, call for troops, and ere long was made a second lieutenant. He later organised a company of Volunteers, and won the eagles of the Colonelcy of the 70th Indiana Volunteers.- Iu 1865 he was made a Brigadier-General and mustered out. He again took up the study and practice of the law, more or less actively;-mingling in politics. In 1876, as .Republican candidate for Governor of Indiana, he suffered defeat. He was.appointed to the Mississippi River Commission in 1879, and in 1881 was sent to the United States Senate, where he served six years, having displayed in that time nothing to mark him as in any way a brilliant leader or profound statesman. Indeed, his record in the Senate was not at all removed from the commonplace. On various occasions he showed opposition to anti-Chinese measures. In 1884 he figured as a possible choice in the Eepublican National Convention, but the Blaine forces were too well organised then. In 1887 be sought re-election to the. Federal Senate, but was defeated, the successful candidate being David Turpie. As showing the searching ordeals American public men are subjected to in America, an English paper culled from papers in the States a number of personal details published •bout the then candidate General Harrison. Even his shoemaker was interviewed, and then we are taken to his library. He is a case in point, it seems, for. Bishop Stubbs'-recent defence; of novels: "A peculiar thing about the U-eneral is that, before any important argument or speech, he is accustomed t,o come home, retire to his itudy, and pass, perhaps, an entire evening with some light or.even trashy novel.' I don't know what his theory ig, unless it is that by this means he temporarily leaves .the case on hand, and thus clarifies hi? brain. I think he has no special favorites among the novelists. He reads indifferently Scott, Elliot and Thackeray, and seems fond of each"—a superior kind of " trash," it would seem. This information was extracted from the General's son-in-law, who went on to give the following domestic particulars :—"The family at present consists ©? the General and Mrs Harrison, my wife—bin daughter—myself and our two children. The General invariably

retire at* ten, sleeps soundly, arises between six _and, soveu, breakfasting family at the Matter hour. The General never drives in a carriage, and never owns but one horse at a time. In the winter, of course, society makes many demands on his evenings, a thing not always pleasant for him, I believe, for it requires the coat, and he never feels nor appears, on account of his peculiar form, comfortable in the regulation? evemng costume- "Jewellery?" " Not a bit. Doesn't wear a particle of it; never saw him wear a ring ; he's to plain," and Mr McK.ee began to enthuse on the subject. " Well, yes, I believe he does wear cuff buttons and collar buttons, but they are vory plain."—Exchange.