Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/152

120 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS nomination for congress. Wishing to retire perma nently from political life, he declined ; but when he was nominated, in spite of his protests, he finally yielded his consent. In his speeches during the canvass he put forward as the principal issues an honest financial policy and civil-service reform. Several sentences on civil-service reform that he pronounced in a speech at Glendale, on September 4, 1872, were to appear again in his letter accepting the nomination for the presidency four years later. In 1872 the current of public sentiment in Cincin nati ran against the Republican party, and Gov. Hayes was defeated in the election by a majority of 1,500. President Grant offered him the office of assistant treasurer of the United States at Cin cinnati, which he declined. In 1873 he established his home at Fremont, in the northern part of Ohio, with the firm intention of final retirement from public life. In 1874 he came into possession of a considerable estate as the heir of his uncle, Sardis Birchard. In 1875 the Republican state convention again nominated him for the gov ernorship. He had not only had not desired that nomination, but, whenever spoken or written to about it, uniformly replied that his retirement was absolute, and that neither his interests nor his tastes permitted him to accept. But the circumstances were such as to overcome his reluctance. In 1873 the Democratic candidate, William Allen, was