The memory of his exalted character, of his noble achievements, and of his patriotic life will be treasured forever as a sacred possession of the whole people.
The announcement of his death drew from foreign governments and peoples tributes of sympathy and sorrow which history will record as signal tokens of the kinship of nations and the federation of mankind.
The Senate on December 6, 1881, adopted the following resolution:
Resolved, That a committee of six Senators be appointed on the part of the Senate to join such committee as may be appointed on the part of the House to consider and report by what token of respect and affection it may be proper for the Congress of the United States to express the deep sensibility of the nation to the event of the decease of the late President, James A. Garfield, and that so much of the message of the President as relates to that melancholy event be referred to said committee.
The committee on the part of the Senate, having been subsequently increased to eight, comprised the following-named gentlemen:
John Sherman, of Ohio; George H. Pendleton, of Ohio; Henry L. Dawes, of
Massachusetts; Elbridge G. Lapham, of New York; Thomas F. Bayard, of
Delaware; John T. Morgan, of Alabama; Omar D. Conger, of Michigan, and
Joseph E. Brown, of Georgia.
The House of Representatives on December 6, 1881, passed the following resolution:
Resolved, That a committee of one member from each State represented in this House be appointed on the part of the House to join such committee as may be appointed on the part of the Senate to consider and report by what token of respect and affection it may be proper for the Congress of the United States to express the deep sensibility of the nation to the event of the decease of their late President, James Abram Garfield, and that so much of the message of the President as refers to that melancholy event be referred to said committee.
The committee on the part of the House of Representatives comprised the following-named gentlemen:
William McKinley, Jr., of Ohio; Romualdo Pacheco, of California; James
B. Belford, of Colorado; John T. Wait, of Connecticut; William H.
Forney, of Alabama; Poindexter Dunn, of Arkansas; Edward L Martin, of
Delaware; Robert H.M. Davidson, of Florida; Alexander H. Stephens, of
Georgia; Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois; Godlove S. Orth, of Indiana;
John A. Kasson, of Iowa; John A. Anderson, of Kansas; John G. Carlisle,
of Kentucky; Randall L. Gibson, of Louisiana; Nelson Dingley, jr., of
Maine; Robert M. McLane, of Maryland; Benjamin W. Harris, of
Massachusetts; Roswell G. Horr, of Michigan; Mark H. Dunnell, of
Minnesota; Charles E. Hooker, of Mississippi; Nicholas Ford, of
Missouri; Edward K. Valentine, of Nebraska; George W. Cassidy, of
Nevada; Joshua G. Hall, of New Hampshire; John Hill, of New Jersey;
Samuel S. Cox, of New York; Robert B. Vance, of North Carolina; Melvin
C. George, of Oregon; Charles O'Neill, of Pennsylvania; Jonathan Chace,
of Rhode Island; D. Wyatt Aiken, of South Carolina; Augustus H.
Pettibone, of Tennessee; Roger Q. Mills, of Texas; Charles H. Joyce, of
Vermont; J. Randolph Tucker, of Virginia; Benjamin Wilson, of West
Virginia, and Charles G. Williams, of Wisconsin.