on Permanent Organization had agreed upon a report, and that its Chairman would be present very soon to present the report to the Convention.

The PRESIDENT called for the report of the Committee on Credentials, if the Chairman was present.

Judge TRACY, of California: I understand that the Committee on the Order of Business are ready to report in part; and inasmuch as no other committee seems to be ready to report, I propose that the Chair call for the report of that committee.

The PRESIDENT: I think that if the Committee on Permanent Organization is ready to report, it would be best to receive that.

Judge TRACY: Certainly, if they are in a state of crystallization. [Laughter.]

The PRESIDENT: I understand that they are ready. Mr. Horton, of the Committee on Permanent Organization, makes a report in part that they have agreed upon Mr. Ashmun, of Massachusetts.

A VOICE: George ?

The PRESIDENT: Hon. George Ashmun [a voice, "Good boy"-Laughter], of Massachusetts, for President of the Convention. [Prolonged cheers.]

The report in reference to the selection of Permanent President was unanimously adopted.

A VOICE: Nary a "no." [Laughter.]

The Temporary President appointed Hon. Preston King, of New York, and Carl Schurz, of Wisconsin, to wait upon and conduct the President to the chair. The appearance of Mr. Schurz was the signal for loud cheers.

The President was conducted to the chair amid enthusi

astic applause. When this had subsided he addressed the Convention.

SPEECH OF HON. GEORGE ASHMUN.

Gentlemen of the Convention-Republicans, Americans: My first duty is to express to you the deep sense which I feel of this distinguished mark of your confidence. In the spirit in which it has been offered I accept it, sensible of the difficulties which surround the position, but cheered and sustained by the faith that the same generosity that has brought me here will carry me through the discharge of the duties. I will not shrink from this position, at the same time the post of danger as well as the post of honor. [Applause.] Gentlemen, we have come here to-day at the call of our countrymen from widely separated homes, to fulfill a great and important duty. No ordinary call has brought us together. Nothing but a momentous question would have called this vast multitude here to-day-nothing but a deep sense of the danger into which our government is fast running could have rallied the people thus in this city to-day, for the purpose of rescuing the government from the deep degradation into which it has fallen. [Loud applause.] We have come here at the call of our country, for the purpose of preparing for the most solemn duty that freemen have to perform. We are here in the ordinary capacity as delegates of the people, to prepare for the formation and carrying on of a new administration, and with the help of the people we will do it. [Applause.] No mere controversy about miserable abstractions has brought us here to-day; we have not come here on any idle question. The sacrifice which most of us have made in the extended journey, and in the time devoted to it, could only have been made upon some solemn call; and the stern look which I see, the solemn look which I see on every face, and the earnest behavior which has been manifested in all the preliminary discussions, shows full well that we all have a true and deep sense of the solemn obligation which is resting upon us. Gentlemen, it does not belong to

me to make an extended address; it is for me rather to assist in the details of the business that belong to the Convention. But allow me to say that I think we have a right here to-day, in the name of the American people, to say that we impeach the administration of our General Government of the highest crimes which can be committed against a constitutional government, against a free people, against humanity. [Prolonged cheers.] The catalogue of its crimes it is not for me to recite. It is written upon every page of the history of the present administration, and I care not how many paper protests the President may send into the House of Representatives [Laughter and applause], we, here, the grand inquest of the nation, will find out for him and his confederates, not merely punishment terrible and sure, but a remedy which shall be satisfactory. [Prolonged cheers.] Gentlemen, before proceeding to the business of the Convention, allow me to congratulate you and the people upon the striking feature which, I think, must have been noticed by everybody who has mixed in the preliminary discussions of the people who have gathered in this beautiful city. It is that brotherly kindness, and cordial and generous emulation, which has marked every conversation and every discussion, showing a desire for nothing else but their country's good. Earnest, warm and generous preferences are expressed, ardent hopes and fond purposes are declared, but not within the three days I have spent among you all, have I heard one unkind word, uttered by one man towards another. I hail it as an augury of success, and if, during the proceedings of this Convention, you will unite to perpetuate that feeling, and allow it to pervade all your proceedings, I declare to you, that I think it is the surest and brightest promise of our success, whoever may be the standard bearer in the contest that is pending. [Applause.] In that spirit, gentlemen, let us now proceed to the business-to the great work, which the American people have given into our hands to do. [Applause.]

THE OFFICERS OF THE CONVENTION.

Mr. MARSH, of New Jersey: The Committee on Permanent Organization having reported in part, desires to complete its report.

The committee appointed to recommend officers for the permanent organization of this Convention, have attended to that duty, and report that the officers shall consist of a President, twenty-seven Vice-Presidents and twenty-six Secretaries; and the following gentlemen are recommended to fill the offices respectively named:

SECRETARIES.

Charles A. Wing.
Nathaniel Hubbard.
John W. Stewart.
Charles O. Rogers.
Rowland R. Hazard.
H. H. Starkweather.
George William Curtis.
Edward Brettle.
J. Bowman Bell.
Benjamin C. Hopkins.
William E. Coale.
A. W. Campbell.

H. G. Beebe.

D. D. Pratt.

O. L. Davis.

William S. Stoughton.

L. F. Frisbie.

Wm. B. Allison.

D. A. Secombe.

J. K. Kidd.

Stephen J. Hawes.

Dunbar Henderson.
D. J. Staples.
Eli Thayer.

John A. Martin.

H. P. Hitchcock.

On motion of Mr. STONE, of Iowa, the report of the Committee on Permanent Organization was adopted.

Hon. F. P. TRACY, of California, moved that a committee, consisting of one delegate from each state and territory represented in the Convention, be selected by the delegates thereof, to report resolutions and platform.

Mr. CARTER, of Ohio, moved to amend, by requiring that