"As the sun of the physical world—the brightest and grandest of all of the luminaries of the firmament sinks to rest, tingeing the clouds that stretch along the horizon with the golden glories of its declining rays, so Garfield, the sun-intellect of this nation, has gone to his repose, reflecting the light of his noble deeds and unfaltering patriotism, tingeing the breaking clouds of dissention with the beauty and effulgence of hope and peace.
"When the telegraph flashed over a hopeful nation the mournful news of James A. Garfield's death, with the previous knowledge of the cowardly means by which it was effected, the great popular and patriotic heart momentarily ceased its pulsations, and the life-current of a nation, stood still for a moment, until the energies of patriotic vitality gathered new force to repel the effect of the stunning shock. Unbelief and astonishment were succeeded by wordless sorrow, and this was mingled with emotions of patriotic vengeance. Patriots in this mournful hour can brook no sympathy for the damning deed—can bear no manifestation of joy for the bloody work of the assassin.
"James A. Garfield was the popular representative of American patriotism. As President he possessed no powers but those freely delegated to him by his fellow-citizens. His highest duty under the Constitution, and by the delegation of the people, was to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and Government established by the Revolutionary Fathers. In the faithful discharge of these duties, he was suddenly struck down by an assassin. The blow struck not the President alone; it reached in its rebound the popular heart of America. The shot meant the annihilation of delegated power, and as such reached the fountains of popular vitality.
"The people, in the exercise of their inherent sovereignty, may elect, but if it does not suit he shall not live says the shot of the assassin. Such assassinations are extremely dangerous to liberty and constitutional government. If the will of the majority is defeated in this manner, popular government will not long survive. Anarchy, bloodshed and general civil war will succeed the rebound of the popular heart. The popular frenzy which developed itself in mobs in many sections of our country, on the reception of the tidings of Lincoln's death, is but the logical sequence of the assassin's stroke at civil liberty and popular rights. Then it behooves every well-wisher of his country, on such mournful occasions, to give emphasis and intensity to the nation's woe. For, mark you, fellow-citizens, there is a smothered volcano of wrath and vengeance in the great popular heart upon such occasions. A word may vent it, and fill all this fair land with the lava of blood and ashes.
"One more preliminary consideration before I call your attention to the life, character and public services of our dead President. What will be the effect and consequence of this horrid murder, considered with reference to national affairs? No one present can fully tell. Most of the ultimate consequences are too remote and recondite to be comprehended now. We must wait for the full development of the logic of events. This we know, that the time elapsing between the assassin's shot and the lamented death of his victim has been sufficient for the supremacy of reason and the subjugation of passion so far as to prevent any immediate dire results to free government. The American people, yea the Anglo-Saxon race, are believers in law and order. They put their trust in and found their hopes upon a liberty regulated by law. Passion may triumph for an hour, but the sober-second-thought of the masses is sure to assert itself. Passion has never but once in our history crystalized into revolution. It is this subordination to law, this reverence for its majesty, this reliant faith in its methods and results, that constitute the bulwark of our liberties, and make the American people capable of self-government.
"James A. Garfield was born on the 19th day of November, 1831, in Orange, Cuyahoga County, State of Ohio, and hence was in his fiftieth year when he died. He was a graduate of Williams College, Massachusetts. After his graduation he followed the profession of teacher, and was president of a literary institution in Ohio for several years. He afterwards studied law, and so great was his proficiency, that in legal knowledge and forensic power he was a foeman worthy of the steel of such men as Stanton, Ewing, Stanberry and others of national reputation at the Ohio bar. He entered the Union army as Colonel of the 42nd Ohio, in 1861; was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General January 10th, 1862; was appointed chief of the staff of the Army of the Cumberland, and was promoted to the rank of Major-General, Sept. 20th, 1863; was elected to the 38th Congress while in the field, and was successively elected up to and including the 46th Congress; and while holding this last position he was elected Senator from the great State of Ohio, to succeed Judge Thurman. He never took his seat, however, in the American Senate, for he was nominated and elected President, before Judge Thurman's time expired. I ought to have mentioned that in 1859-'60 he was a member of the State Senate of Ohio. Such is a brief history of this remarkable man.
"James A. Garfield, in common with Abraham Lincoln, the patriotic and lamented Douglas, and the eloquent Clay, sprang from the loins of the American people. These all forced their way from poverty up to commanding positions and national renown. Their genius for public affairs was triumphant over all opposition and victorious in their rising greatness. The success of such men is possible only in a government by the people. Be it said to the everlasting honor of the people, and their fitness for government, that they not only recognized the ability of these men, but they gave them their affections without stint, and their hearty support in opposition to party. And to-day, from his sublime heights, he whom we commemorate beholds a manifestation of this affection, by a nation in mourning.
"His knowledge, tact, and judgment made him equal to every position bestowed upon him by the partiality of his countrymen; yea, more, he was a leader in all. As a student, scholar, and teacher he stood high. As a soldier his coolness in the shock of battle, as well as his admirable foresight and judgment, won for him rapid promotion. As a legislator, debater, orator and statesman he had but few equals and no superiors. And it was in these capacities that I knew him well, as it is in the character of Congressman that he is best known to the great mass of the American people, I pause for a brief time to consider some of his qualities as a legislator.
"He was for many years, while the Republicans had control of the House, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. This was a position of the highest importance and of the most commanding influence. It gave him control of all the appropriations of the Government and made his the actual leader of the House. A defeat of this committee by the House would be as disastrous to the party in power as the defeat of the ministry in England: a defeat by his own party would show such lack of unity of purpose, and of objects, and ideas on the part of the majority, as to render them incapable of carrying on the Government.
"Firm, decided, full of expedients, and wonderful in debate, he not only carried his measures triumphantly through, but at each session strengthened his hold upon his party and the country. In the fierce contests that raged upon such occasions, he showed that his knowledge and intellect were stupendous. His quick perception grasped, his strong memory retained, and his ready logic commanded, immense sources of useful knowledge, gathered from science, reflection, the history of the past, and the stirring events of the present. In debate he rejected all rhetorical ornament, all ostentation and show. Stating his premises concisely, his reasoning led to the conclusion aimed at, as irresistibly as the current of a deep and strong river leads to the sea. There was a logical force and point to his clear sentences that tended to his conclusions with the directness and certainty with which the successive steps in a mathematical demonstration point to the grand result. In making an attack or repelling an assault upon his position, he always had a mark, and his intellectual shots fell in and around that mark with effective proximity.