THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1898.-MORNING SESSION.

The Thirty-second National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, convened at Music Hall, in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, at 10 o'clock A. M., on September 8, 1898. It was called to order by Comrade J. P. S. Gobin, Commander-in-Chief, who introduced Mr. J. Milton Blair, of Cincinnati, Chairman of the Committee on Reception.

Commander-in-Chief and Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic: As Chairman of the Committee on Reception of the Citizens' Committee of Cincinnati, I have the pleasure of being able to introduce to you to-day, the Governor of the great Commonwealth of Ohio, who desires to extend to you a welcome to this State. I present to you Governor Asa S. Bushnell.

Governor Bushnell, on behalf of the people of Ohio, extended a most cordial welcome to the comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, and kindred associations. His address was able and eloquent. In closing the Governor read the following greeting to the soldiers:

GREETING TO THE SOLDIERS.

Out of the morning a Sunbeam sped,
Cheery and fresh from its spangled bed,
Danced over hilltop and valley, too,
Meeting a Zephyr that gently blew.

"Whither O Zephyr?" the Sunbeam cried,
"Off to the City" the Zephyr sighed.
Stooping and touching a blossom fair,
Gathering sweets that were hidden there.

"Cityward, Zephyr? Why, that's the way
I, too, go," said the Sunbeam gay;
Give me your hand and we'll trip along,
Out of the silence into the throng.

So they traveled, these blessed two,
Gathering perfumes, sipping dew,
Bearing at last to the restless town.
Blessings surpassing an earthly crown.

Where Old Glory was high displayed,
Sunbeam and Zephyr their outing made,
Gilding the stars in the field of blue,
Holding in ripples the stripes to view.

Brighter the eyes in the gray-haired throng,
Lighter the hearts and in each a song;
Buttons were gleaming like stars above,
And in younger eyes was the look of love.

Thus did the Sunbeam and Zephyr, too,
Help to welcome the " boys in blue,"
Help to laurel the brave again,

Help the Now to enshrine the Then.

Governor Bushnell was followed by Comrade G. Gustave Tafel, Mayor of Cincinnati, who in an admirable address, patriotic and eloquent, extended the welcome on behalf of the city of Cincinnati.

Hon. M. E. Ingalls, chairman of the Citizen's Executive Committee, who had at Buffalo extended the invitation for this meeting in Cincinnati, followed in an able address.

Col. Wm. B. Melish, executive director of the Citizen's Committee and President of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, was next presented, and in a most interesting and comprehensive manner outlined the work done by the committee, and informed the Encampment fully as to provision made for their entertainment and that of the visiting Comrades.

To these addresses the Commander-in-Chief responded as follows:

come.

Gentlemen representing the City and State and the Committee of Arrangements, on behalf of the Grand Army of the Republic permit me to return to you our most earnest thanks for the cordial greeting you have extended to the old veteran. He came to the city of Cincinnati as to one of the bright spots of the banks of the magnificent river that flows down to the Gulf and upon whose waters so many incidents are familiar and along which so many scenes seem to have occurred but yesterday. We recognize the importance of your city and we appreciate the warmth of your welWe are glad to be with you. We come from every section of the country to renew old associations, to revive our admiration for the Government of the people and the flag that represents it, to see one another and shake one another by the hand, perhaps many of us for the last time, and let me assure you, gentlemen, that as the step of the veteran grows weaker his heart grows stronger, and we accept your welcome in the most cordial manner in which it is tendered, and I beg to assure you that you have the thanks of the entire Grand Army, not only those of us who are here, but those who are at home-the balance of the 340,000 who are looking to see what is being done in Cincinnati to those of our comrades who are here, and on behalf of all of them we thank you. I beg to assure you that we will carry from here the kindest recollections of Cincinnati and of its people, and we will take to our homes a high appreciation, not only of the courtesy extended, but of the magnificent utterances of your various speakers, because the Grand Army of the Republic takes to itself considerable credit for the condition of things to-day which has placed the American nation upon the top notch of fame. It has worked for it; it has talked for it; it has taught for it, and to-day we congratulate each other for it. And in going to our homes we will carry with us new inspiration for the work that is before us and, right or wrong, you will find the Grand Army of the Republic standing by the country always.

And now, having received your cordial welcome the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic will proceed to its legitimate work. I understand there is another little ceremony

to be performed before we get to business. Comrade Monfort has something to say.

Comrade Elias R. Monfort, of Cincinnati, addressed the Commander-in-Chief as follows:

Commander-in-Chief: A pleasant duty has devolved upon me. The Mayor of the city of Georgetown had a gavel made from the wood taken from the house in which that matchless leader, our great General Grant, was formed for his great career. The mayor sent that gavel to one of our metropolitan dailies, the Commercial Tribune, and asked that it be the medium through which the gavel should be presented, and I have been asked to present it.

I want to say to you, Commander and comrades, that in this presentation it seems to me that we link together the greatest commander in the history of the world with the commander of the greatest army in the world to-day. It is linked with a home where was framed the character of the man who was ready for the time when the time came. It is especially fitting, it seems to me, because you represent in your personality both of these characteristics. You are the hero of two wars. You will pardon me for such an expression. You were with us when the nation was in peril. You did your duty then, and when the interests of humanity were at stake and the great principles for which we fought were imperiled you took your place again in the front and led a portion of our army. You took your sword out when the time came when it was needed and now you return to us and take the gavel which is the symbol of order, the symbol of peace, the symbol of every thing which will develop a nation.

Now, sir, as the representative of Mr. O'Hara and the paper through which this is presented, I give you this gavel. Use it with firmness if it be necessary, but let it be used with a heart behind it, a heart that shall have charity for the weaknesses of humanity but with the same heroic courage which was used by our great leader and which you have the ability to exercise.

THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF: Comrade Monfort and comrades, the gavel has always been recognized as the emblem of authority, and surrounded as this is by associations so tender and so dear to the heart of the old soldier I accept it with great pleas

use and will cherish it as one of the mementoes of this occasion that will linger with me while life lasts. I know, looking into the faces of this body of soldier citizens and citizen soldiers, that it requires but little use of the gavel to control it. There is no unruliness among men whose only object in life is to show their devotion to country and flag and the institutions which they have done so much to preserve and which they wish to leave to succeeding generations until time shall be no more. In the administration of the affairs of the Encampment I shall endeavor to execute what has been assigned to me in a manner with which I shall be satisfied in my own heart when I shall leave this desk. From all of you I shall ask but the indulgence which you should give to a presiding officer whose only desire is that the business of this Encampment may be conducted satisfactorily, pleasantly and harmoniously and who desires above all things else to promote a cordial agreement among ourselves to do what is right under all circumstances.

The Encampment was then opened in due form. The Chaplain-in-Chief invoked the divine blessing as follows:

Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, we come to Thee in this great patriotic convocation to ask Divine wisdom to transact the business of this important gathering. We thank Thee that Thou art the Father of Nationalism, that Thou didst reveal its principles from the heights of Mount Sinai. We praise Thy name that Thou hast given to our Nation the principles that have grown in the evolution of government into such great results as has given a larger liberty to humanity. We pray that Thou wouldst help us to be more cognizant of the great work that Thou hast wrought out in our Government by the spiritual movements that have developed the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. We thank Thee that despotism is dying out and that theology is not wanted so much as the religion of the Man of Gallilee, which is so well adapted to the character of the Grand Army of the Republic. We pray for Christ's sake to-day that Thou wouldst give us wisdom to turn our thoughts to those things that shall develop in us the spiritual life.

We thank Thee that Thou didst give us a beginning of religious liberty in the Mayflower-that cargo of humanity which has blest this country. We thank Thee for the intelligence and grace of Mary Bald Washington, the mother of our country and the mother of that great son who led the army to victory in 1776. We thank Thee that Thou hast given much wisdom to the men that have been the pride of this nation in literature, science and art. We thank Thee for that great character that produced the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, and for the wisdom that John Adams put into the Constitution of the United States, and for the new march of all our literature into the clear