The Governors of Connecticut last session he was speaker of the House. Waller was elected secretary of state on the Democratic ticket with James E. English in 1870, and in 1873 was honored by being chosen mayor of his adopted city. He was chosen state attorney for New London County in 1875, a position which he held until 1883. In 1882 Waller was nominated for governor and after a memorable campaign in which he visited all portions of the state, making speeches in his own behalf he was elected by a majority of 2,390 over W. H. Bulkeley. He served as chief executive from 1883 to 1835. His charming personality, courtly manners and pronounced ability made his name famous throughout the country. Soon after retiring from the governor's chair in 1885, President Cleveland appointed Governor Waller as United States consul-general at London, England. He held this position until 1889, when he returned to the United States and resumed the practice of his profession. His famous speech at St. Louis in 1888, when he placed in nomination Grover Cleveland, for president proved remarkable as oratory. was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1901. He Governor Waller has held no political office of late years but has attained great eminence at both the Connecticut and New York bar. A writer in commenting on his career says: "Governor Waller has consistently been a Democrat in politics. He has been frankly independent on many occasions in convention of his party, and in other places of partisan debate. As an orator he is impressive to a degree which, on occasion of party strife in important gatherings, had given him a magnetic hold of men, and no man of his party in the state has so often carried conviction by the power of eloquence or any other influence." The FORTY-NINTH GOVERNOR of CONNECTICUT was HENRY B. HARRISON An instructor in a private school who attained scholarship at Yale and was graduated with the highest honors the college could bestowHe studied law, became an anti-slavery leader, and was prominent in the organization of the Republican party in this state-His first political service began in his native city of New Haven and led to the governorship, gracing the office with his scholarly dignity |