Remarks to the Notification Committee of the Republican National Convention Accepting the Presidential Nomination

MR. CHAIRMAN, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE:

I receive, not without deep sensibility, your official notice of the action of the National Convention, already brought to my knowledge through the public press. I appreciate, more profoundly than I can express, the honor which is implied in the nomination for the Presidency by the Republican party of the Nation, speaking through the authoritative voice of its duly accredited delegates. To be selected as a candidate by such an assemblage, from the list of eminent statesmen whose names were presented, fills me with embarrassment. I can only express my gratitude for so signal an honor, and my desire to prove worthy of the great trust reposed in me.

In accepting the nomination, as I now do, I am impressed, I might almost say oppressed, with a sense of the labor and responsibility which attach to my position. The burden is lightened, however, by the host of earnest men who support my candidacy, many of whom add, as does your honorable committee, the cheer of personal friendship to the pledge of political fealty. A more formal acceptance will naturally be expected, and will in due season be communicated. It may, however, not be inappropriate at this time to say that I have already made a careful study of the principles announced by the National Convention, and in whole and in detail they have my heartiest sympathy and meet my unqualified approval.

Apart from your official errand, gentlemen, I am extremely happy to welcome you all to my home. With many of you I have already shared the duties of the public service, and have enjoyed the most cordial friendship. I trust your journey from all parts of the great Republic has been agreeable, and that during your stay in Maine you will feel that you are not among strangers, but among friends. Invoking the blessing of God upon the great cause which we jointly represent, let us turn to the future without fear, and with manly hearts.