"But while he was truly great in devising and successfully carrying through the great appropriation bills, made necessary by the enormous expenditures of the war, he was greater by far as the philosophic leader of his party.
"After the power vanished from his party in the House, although his knowledge, of the principles and rules of parliamentary law was full and accurate, he rarely spoke on questions of order; but when the principles, policy, methods, or measures of the Republican party were attacked, he was always put forward as their champion; and, although men will and do honestly differ about such matters, yet by the concessions of friend and foe alike, the proudest monuments of his intellectual greatness have for their base these masterly vindications.
"He had a power of generalization and classification possessed by but few men. He was not a logician in the popular sense of the term. He addressed the intuitions, and consciences, of men quite as often as their reason. John C. Calhoun, Senators Morton and Bayard and Garfield, stand unrivalled among American statesmen for their wonderful powers of generalization, classification, and analysis. This power made Calhoun a dangerous antagonist to Webster, with all his sledge-hammer strokes of logic and incisive reasoning. Morton's fame and reputation rests upon this foundation alone. Garfield possessed this power in a remarkable degree. It was this power that enabled him to hold popular audiences even in a two-hours' speech on the dreary topics of finance.
"He gathered up the fundamental principles underlying the complicated topics of political economy, stated them with such clearness and simplicity, as not only to bring them within the comprehension of, but to make them attractive to the ordinary understanding. The most voluminous and complicated mass of facts, fused in the furnace of such an intellect, is quickly reduced to order; the good separated from the bad, the valuable from the worthless; and the principles underlying the good and valuable made manifest, like as the fire of the furnace releases the precious metal from the rock, dirt and sand by which it is surrounded, and utilizes it for purposes of commerce and civilization.
"As a speaker he was always dignified and impressive. He had strong convictions, and he uttered them with courage and earnestness. He was one of the few members who could always command the attention of the House. I have seen him arise in a tumult of excitement, and as soon as the tones of his clear, ringing voice echoed through the vast hall, all was hushed, and every ear was open, and every eye was turned toward him. I was present when he delivered his great speech on the importance and necessity of standing by the Resumption law and the currency of the Constitution. Many members were wavering, hard times were abroad in the land; bankruptcies were frequent, and enormous in amount. There was an appalling shrinkage of values, and a wild cry came up from the North, the South and the great Inland West for more money. The advocates, of the policy of largely increasing the volume of the greenback currency, were jubilant; but that speech decided their fate.
"The doubting were convinced, and the wavering fixed, in their determination to stand by the Resumption law. Resumption succeeded. The national honor was preserved. Business rests upon a solid foundation and an era of prosperity prevails. To no man is the nation more indebted for this auspicious condition of affairs than to him whose untimely death we mourn to-day.
"Notwithstanding the earnestness and boldness of Mr. Garfield's utterances, everybody was his friend. They gave him credit for honesty, and sincerity. So sure it is that these qualities always command our respect, if they do not excite our admiration.
"The sterling qualities which I have briefly mentioned, together with his known and accepted position on the great public questions of the day, secured Mr. Garfield's nomination to the Presidency at the National Convention, which met at Chicago on the 2nd day of June, A. D. 1880. His competitor, as all know, was a patriotic and illustrious Union General. The contest was remarkable for its thoroughness and intensity in the doubtful States, but Mr. Garfield was clearly and fairly elected, and on the 4th of March last, was duly inaugurated. He entered on the discharge of his duties as President under the most auspicious circumstances. We were at peace with all the world. The wounds of the war had been healed, and the work of reconciliation had fairly been accomplished. Prosperity reigned supreme; the good time had come and the people rejoiced. Menaced by no external power and free from domestic dissensions, he could turn his entire attention to the internal machinery of government. He determined to distinguish his term of office by its purity of administration, and its economy of expenditures. Only four months was he at the helm, but his achievements in that time will be remembered long, and bless the land for years. In that brief time he routed the army of contracting thieves from their entrenched position in the postoffice department, and established a standard of official integrity and honor that carried dismay to the spoils-hunter and dishonest official. But just as he had fully gathered the reins of government in his hands, and sent forth the uncompromising demand for honesty and integrity from all officials, and while preparing to enforce that demand, the assassin's bullet paralyzed his power and arrested the much-needed work of reform. That he made mistakes may be conceded, for all human judgments are imperfect; but the cold and passionless voice of history, though it may find fault or flaw, will more than satisfy those who loved him most, and will place his name among the highest and purest in the list of human rulers.
"In contemplation of the solid and brilliant abilities of a great man, we often lose sight of those qualities that endear him to friends, and to the loved ones around the home circle. Man may possess transcendant genius, and be the idol of the populace, and yet be selfish, unsocial and cruel at home. Towering ambition may, and sometimes does, subordinate the love of wife, of children, and of parents, to its gratification. Such was not the case with Garfield. His home was his retreat from the storms and battles of life, where love reigned supreme. The telegram dictated by himself to his wife on the 2nd of July last, just after the fatal shot, was full of the holy felicities of domestic life. Mrs. Garfield was in Elberton, where the President finally died. The telegram read: 'The President wishes me to say to you for him, that he has been seriously hurt, how seriously he cannot say. He is himself in hopes you will come to him soon. He sends love to you.'
"The voice of ambition was hushed. The counsel and association of a statesman was subordinated to the presence and society of the loving and faithful wife; and how touching has been her devotion; how grand and noble her fortitude in that trying hour! Some one has truthfully said that there are but three words of beauty in the English language, and they are: 'Mother, Home, Heaven.' All know that the love and affection of our dead President for his aged mother, who by the cruel shot of the assassin, will be the chief mourner at the grave of her dear boy. These are the qualities, more than the brilliant display on the rostrum, in the forum or before enraptured thousands, that give the full measure of a noble manhood. This display may co-exist with selfishness and meanness; love and affection sanctify the noblest gifts and the loftiest aspirations.