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 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030930923 
 
Cornell University Library 
 E687 .G48 
 + 
 The life of James A. Garfield president 
 
 3 1924 030 930 923 
 olin Overs 
 
BOOKSELLERS SUPPLIED WITH TRIMMED OR UNTRIMMED COPIES AS THET MAT INDICATE THEIR PREFERENCE. 
 
 NUMBEE 132. 
 
 Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. Price 20 Cts. 
 
 Copyright, 18S1, by Harpke A BaoTHRBs. 
 
 July 30j 1880. 
 
 Twelfth Edition. 
 
 Subscription Price per Year of 52 NomberB, JIO. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 
 Copyright, 1880, by Hakpicb & Brothkhs. 
 
PI^EF^CE. 
 
 In the early part of the year 1863 I 
 passed several weeks with General Eose- 
 crans at Murfreesborough, Tennessee, and 
 there for the first time met General 
 Garfield, who was then Chief of Staff of 
 the Army of the Cumberland. Circum- 
 stances threw us into daily intercourse, 
 and in a short time we became very inti- 
 "saately acquainted, and probably no two 
 men ever came to know each other better 
 in a six weeks' intercourse than we did. 
 We sat together at head-quarters, rode to- 
 gether about the camp, and on short ex- 
 cursions outside of our lines ; and during 
 a severe illness which prostrated the Gen- 
 eral for about ten days, I was with him 
 almost constantly. Thrown thus close- 
 ly together, it was natural for two men 
 to open their hearts to each other. He 
 opened his to me — told me the story of 
 his life, of his early battle with poverty, 
 his later struggles in securing an educa- 
 tion, and his subsequent brilliant career 
 in the Ohio Senate, and in the War — 
 which career had ijust beon crowned by 
 his wonderful campaign in Eastern Ken- 
 tucky. The man's noble naiure won my 
 affection, and his remarkable story fasci- 
 nated my imagination ; and I determined 
 to write his life, as an example and en- 
 couragement to other young men who 
 might be engaged in a like hand-to-hand 
 struggle with adverse circumstances. With 
 this in view, I took full no^es of his con- 
 versations; and on my retarii from the 
 front opened an extended correspondence 
 with : many of his former associates in 
 civil life and in the army. Among these 
 were Captain B. B. Lake, Captain Ralph 
 Plumb, and Major Don A. Pardee, of Ohio, 
 who had been his companions in early 
 life, and his comrades during the cam- 
 paign in Eastern Kentucky, and to them 
 I am indebted for many of the more im- 
 portant facts contained in this biography, 
 I accumulated a mass of material — enough 
 to fill a goodly-sized volume ; but before 
 1 set about putting it in order for publi- 
 cation I consulted Dr. Mark Hopkins, then 
 President of Williams College, as to the 
 expediency of giving the book at that 
 time to the public. I knew him as one 
 of the wisest, as well as one of the best 
 of men, and as strongly attached to Gar- 
 field, and I determined to be governed by 
 his views in regard to the intended publi- 
 cation. The letter he wrote in answer to 
 my inquiry is now before me, and I give 
 it verbatim to the reader : 
 
 "Williams College, May 26th, 1864. 
 ■•' Edmund Kirke, Esq. ; 
 \ "Dbar Sib, — The course of General 
 
 Garfield has been one which the young 
 men of the country may well emulate, 
 and you will do a good service if you can 
 cause it to become to them a stimulus and 
 a guide. Your work, 'Among the Pines,' 
 I have read with great interest, and should 
 hope much from anything you would un- 
 dertake. 
 
 " General Garfield is a young man to 
 have his life written. As you know him, 
 I need not tell you that it will be but 
 eight years next commencement since he 
 graduated. A rise so rapid, in both civil 
 and military life, is, perhaps, without ex- 
 ample in the country. 
 
 " I should be glad to furnish you aid 
 in this work, but having no incidents to 
 communicate, could do so only by pre- 
 paring an essay on what a student Ought 
 to be. Obtaining his education almost 
 wholly by his own exertions, and having 
 reached an age when he could fully ap- 
 preciate the highest studies. General Gar- 
 field gave himself to study (with a zest 
 and delight wholly unknown to those 
 vvho find in it a routine. A religious 
 man, and a man of principle, he pursued 
 of his own accord the ends proposed by 
 the institution. He was prompt, frank, 
 manly, social in his tendencies ; combin- 
 ing active exercise with habits of study, 
 and thus did for himself what it is the 
 object of a college to enable every young 
 man to do — he made himself a man. 
 There never was a time when we more 
 needed those who would follow his ex- 
 ample. 
 
 " Wishing you much success, I am, 
 very truly yours, 
 
 "Mark Hopkins." 
 
 Those words, " General Garfield is a 
 young man to have his life written " (he 
 was then only thirty - two), decided me 
 to defer the publication of the book till 
 the riper life of Garfield should have jus- 
 tified my expectations ; for I said then — 
 and in print — that if he should live he 
 would attain an eminence second to that 
 of no other man ever born in this coun- 
 try. I laid my material aside, and did 
 not again recur to them till a few months 
 ago, when, accidentally coming upon the 
 above quoted letter of President Hopkins, 
 I was reminded of my unfinished work, 
 and again sought his advice as to its pres- 
 ent publication. I told him I did not 
 propose to write a political biography of 
 Garfield, but to exhibit simply his remark- 
 able career, as an example and encourage- 
 ment to struggling young men ; and . I 
 made no allusion whatever to the expec- 
 tation I have long held that General Gar- 
 
 field would some day become a candidate- 
 for the Presidency, and be elected on a 
 whirlwind wave of popular enthusiasm. 
 The following is the answer I received 
 from President Hopkins : 
 
 "Williams College, March 27th, 1880. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — It is my hope that Gen- 
 eral Garfield may yet be President of th& 
 United States. Of his nomination for 
 the next term I suppose there is no prob- 
 ability. If so, I should question the ex- 
 pediency of getting out a life of him pre- 
 vious to the nomination. It would look 
 like a premature effort to bring him for- 
 ward, and that always works prejudice. 
 What I would like would be that he 
 should grow up to the nomination for 
 that office, as he did to that for the Sen- 
 ate in Ohio. 
 
 " That General Garfield has now reach- 
 ed such a position that his life might 
 properly be published with no reference 
 to its political bearing, is true ; but' any 
 publication of it will be supposed to have 
 such a bearing, and you can judge better 
 than I can of the time that would be least 
 likely to awaken" jealousy. With this 
 suggestion in regard to time, I would say 
 that I think you would do a good service 
 to the young men of the country by pub- 
 lishing the life. 
 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 "Mark Hopkins." 
 
 Again this wise and eminent man up- 
 set my plans, and again I abandoned the- 
 intended' publication. 
 
 But the people in convention nomi- 
 nated Garfield for the Presidency, and 
 thus removed all objections to the iinme- 
 diate publication of his biography. 
 
 I make this extended explanation, that 
 it may be seen that this book, while in 
 parts rapidly written, is not a hasty pro- 
 duction. It is the result of a careful 
 gathering and sifting of material during 
 a period of fully seventeen years, in all of 
 which time I have intimately known and 
 closely observed the career of this most in- 
 teresting man afhong the public men of 
 this country. The book is not intended to 
 make him votes ; but it will do so ; for it i» 
 a truthful record of his life, and his life 
 cannot be made known without its en- 
 dearing him to the hearts and commend- 
 ing him to the intelligence of his coun- 
 trymen, as the one man now living who is 
 pre-eminently qualified to fill the first 
 station in this Repuhlic. 
 
 Edmund Kirke. 
 
 New York, July 4th, 1880. 
 
CORNELL 
 UNIVERSITY 
 LIBRARY^ 
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 WITH EXTRACTS FROM HIS SPEECHES. 
 AUTHOE OF "AMONG THE PINBS," "DOWN IN TENNESSEE," 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIETH AUD BOYHOOD. 
 
 James A. Gtakfield is of New England an- 
 cestry. He is the ninth in direct descent from 
 Edward Garfield, who emigrated from near Ches- 
 ter, on the border of Wales, in 1636, and settled 
 in Watertown, Massachusetts ; and there, in the 
 ancient burial-ground of that beautiful suburb 
 of Boston, fire of his ancestors now lie buried. 
 They were all tillers of the soil — a sturdy, inde- 
 pendent, God-fearing race of men, but in no way 
 distinguished for intellectual or other achieve- 
 ments. They have left scarcely any record of 
 their lives except the brief histories that may still 
 be deciphered on their mouldering head-stones ; 
 but they have bequeathed to their descendants 
 a better heritage than fame — the priceless birth- 
 jight of which Cowper boasted. 
 
 Edward Garfield, as I have said, came from 
 the border of Wales, but from which side of the 
 border is uncertain, and hence it is impossible, 
 at this distance of time, to decide whether he 
 was a Welshman or an Englishman. According 
 to a tradition of the family, he married a German 
 lady on his passage out to this country ; and if 
 this be true, it accounts for the decided German 
 cast of countenance, and strong love for the Ger- 
 man race and literature which distinguish Gen- 
 eral Garfield. He once said, "England is not 
 the father-land of the English-speaking people. 
 Our real ancient home, the real father-land qf our 
 race, is the ancient forests of Germany." 
 I Of the immediate descendants of Edwai-d Gar- 
 field the &mily has no records ; but it ill known 
 that in 1766 Solomon Garfield married Sarah 
 Stimpson, and removed to Weston, Massachu- 
 setts, and that his brother, Abraham Garfield, 
 with one John Hoar, was, in 1775, called as a wit- 
 ness by the Province to prove that the British 
 troops committed an unprovoked breach of the 
 peace in firing first upon the handful of militia 
 assembled at Concord Bridge. So careful were 
 our fathers to have it appear they Ijad observed 
 the law, and so little did they know that the 
 shots they then fired were to echo round the 
 world ! Abraham Garfield was in the battle of 
 Concord ; it is uncertain if his brother was, but 
 it is known that he was a soldier during the Rev- 
 olution. One of these men was the great-grand- 
 father, the other the great-uncle, of General Gar- 
 field ; while the abovermentioned John Hoar was 
 the great-grandfather of Senator George F. Hoar, 
 who was chairman of the Convention which nom- 
 inated General Garfield for the Presidency. 
 
 Coming out of the Revolution a poor man — 
 for all his wealth was in the worthless Conti- 
 nental cun-ency of the period — Solomon Garfield 
 turned his eyes westward in search of a home 
 for his young and growing family. Soon after 
 the close of the 'war he removed from Weston, 
 and settled in the town of Worcester, Otsego 
 County, New York. Here he took up a small 
 farm, and, like his original ancestor, with his own 
 hands carved out a home in the almost unbroken 
 wilderness. Toward the close of the century, 
 one of his sons, Thomas Garfield, the eighth in 
 
 descent from the sturdy Briton, married hei-e 
 Asanaith Hill, a half-sister of Samuel Russell, a 
 gentleman well known to many now living as the 
 late highly esteemed clerk of Otsego County. 
 Like all bis American ancestors, Thomas Gar- 
 field followed the plough. He owned and lived 
 upon a farm known in the neighborhood as 
 "West Hill." On this farm, in December of 
 the year 1799, was born his son, Abram Gai-field, 
 who became the father of the subject of this 
 history. 
 
 About the year 1801, Thomas Garfield, while 
 still a young man, suddenly sickened and died, 
 leaving hi^ young family to battle almost alone 
 with adverse circumstances — a fate which was 
 singularly repeated in the history of his young- 
 est son, Abram, who was then scarcely more than 
 an infant in his mother's arms. On the death 
 of his father this child was taken into the family 
 of his father's near friend and neighbor, James 
 Stone, of West Hill, and by him was reared as 
 one of his own children. This half-orphan boy 
 grew up to manhood, the counterpart of all his 
 American progenitors. He was tall, broad-shoul- 
 dered, strong of sinew, and large of body and of 
 brain ; but he exhibited no marked superiority 
 over the other young farmers of the neighborhood. 
 In his large brain may have slept the undeveloped 
 force which, in more favorable circumstances, 
 might have made him a leader among men ; but, 
 chained down by an iron necessity, this force 
 never awoke to activity; and he went to his 
 grave a mere "hewer of wood and drawer of 
 water " — all his great powers expended in wrest- 
 ing from the unkindly earth a bare subsistence 
 for his wife and children ; and yet those who 
 knew him well speak of him as a marked char- 
 acter — kind-hearted, broad-minded, and uttering 
 now and then a quaint sort of wisdom, which, 
 though his education had been meagre, and t\e 
 had little knowledge of books, showed that he 
 had thought much and deeply on the subjects 
 most worthy of the attention of thinking beings. 
 
 Early in life this man'married Eliza Ballon, 
 a near relative of Hosea Ballou, the great Apos- 
 tle of American Universalism. She became the 
 mother of General Gai'field, and thus he is allied 
 to that distinguished family, which has given so 
 many eloquent preachers and eminent divines to 
 liberal theology, and for two centuries has left 
 such deep and abiding traces on the scholarship, 
 religion, and jurisprudence of this country. 
 
 The Ballous are of Huguenot origin, and di- 
 rectly descended from Maturin Ballou, who fled 
 from France on the revocation of the Edict of 
 Nantes, and, joining the infant colony of Roger 
 Williams, settled in Cumberland, Rhode Island. 
 There Maturin Ballou built a. church, which is 
 still standing, and still known as the "Elder 
 Ballou Meeting-house," and there, during a long 
 life, he taught the purest tenets of the i^rench 
 Reformation TOth a fervid eloquence that was 
 not unworthy of the great French Reformers. 
 For many generations his descendants preached 
 from this pulpit ; but now the old Meeting-house 
 has ceased to be a place of regular worship, and 
 instead has become a sort of Mecca, to which 
 
 tlje Ballous from all parts of the country yearly 
 come to inscribe their names in the ancient book 
 still kept in the weather-beaten church, and to % 
 talk of the gloiy of their ancestors. This old 
 church is a genuine curiosity. It is of wood, 
 shingled on the outside, and its pews and gal- 
 lery are of oak, hewn from the solid log, and 
 put together with wooden pins. When it was 
 built there were no saw-mills in the country, and 
 no nails could he procured, so that even its floor 
 was hewn by hand, and fastened down with wood- 
 en pegs./ It is still in excellent preservation, 
 and looks as if it might yet outlast the storms of 
 another two centuries. ' 
 
 This old church has listened t6 the eloquence 
 of more than half a score of this remarkable 
 familj', and what a tale it might tell had it a 
 voice to reproduce the burning words that have 
 echoed among its decaying lafteis ! Father and 
 son, and grandson, and great-grandson, even to 
 the tenth generation, have impressed their high 
 thoughts, their lofty aspirations, and their loving 
 hearts upon its old walls, till it would seem to be 
 all impregnated with their living breath — a part 
 of the pure and holy lives they have left as a 
 legacy to their remotest descendants. 
 
 They were a race of preachers. One of them, 
 himself a clergyman, had four sons who were 
 ministers of the Gospel : one of these sons had 
 three sons who were ministers, and one of-these 
 had a son and a grandson who were also clergy- 
 men. But it is not only as preachers that the 
 members of this remarkable family have been 
 celebrated. As lawyers, politicians, and soldiers 
 some of them have been equally distinguished. 
 One of them is now the eminent head of Tufts 
 College, and a score or more were officers or 
 privates in the Revolution ; and, nearer our 
 day, another — Sullivan Ballou, the distinguished 
 Speaker of the Rhode Island House of. Repre- 
 sentatives — fought and fell at Bull Rurf, where 
 his body was exhumed and burnt by the Con- 
 federates. As a race, they have been remarkable 
 for an energy and force of character that is equal 
 to the highest enteiprises, and altogether un- 
 daunted in the face of what would be to others 
 insurmountable obstacles. For this trait of char- 
 acter they are especially known ; and this trait 
 is fully reproduced in the distinguished man who 
 is destined to attain a higher eminence than any 
 yet attained by any of his distinguished family. 
 
 One of the Ballous, who preached in the old 
 church about theij time of the Revolution, was 
 conscientiously opposed to receiving pay for his 
 ministrations ; and yet he was so poor that his 
 son, in learning to write, was compelled to use 
 .birch bark in lieu of paper, and chaicoal instead 
 of pen and ink. This son was Hosea Ballou, 
 the founSer of Univeisalism in the United States. 
 His father, before his birth, had left the fold of 
 the old Meeting-house, and settled in New 
 Hampshire ; and with him went his cousin, 
 James Ballon, who became the father of Eliza 
 Ballou, the heroic mother of James A. Garfield. 
 
 "Great men are the sons of great mothers ;" 
 and from this woman are derived most of the - 
 great qualities which distinguish her eminent son. 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 To his father he owes his large brain, and robust, 
 manly frame ; but to his mother he is indebted 
 for the untiring energy, unyielding pluck, and 
 patient courage which have enabled him to over- 
 come obstacles that would have altogether daunt- 
 ed any common man. In the drawing-room of 
 General Garfield's house in Washington hangs 
 an exquisite painting, which the casual observer 
 would take for a portrait of Mary, the mother 
 of Washington. It has the same fine, regular 
 features ; the same high, full forehead ; and 
 the same serene, spiritual eyes ; but the firm 
 lines about the mouth, and the intense look in 
 the deep, clear eyes, reveal a depth and energy 
 of nature that is not seen in the face of the re- 
 . vered mother of Washington. The face of this 
 woman shows that she l^as hoped, and feared, 
 and struggled ; that life to her has been a stern 
 conflict; .but that in the conflict she has at last 
 come off grandly victorious. This is written all 
 over her features ; but is most clearly seen in 
 the placid smile which encircles the firmly closed 
 mouth, and irradiates the whole of the noble 
 countenance., This is the mother of Garfield. 
 She has made him what he is. Her personality 
 and her principles have moulded his character, 
 and shaped his whole career ; and the filial def- 
 erence which he shows her to-day, when he is 
 well-nigh at the summit of a manly ambition, is 
 the same he felt for her when, a friendless boy, 
 he was struggling in poverty and privation to 
 acquire the means for an education. And when 
 we look into the private lives of great men, do we 
 not see it to be true that all their real greatness 
 is traceable to the influence of some such wom- 
 an, who was either their wife or their mother ? 
 
 After a few years of married life, Abram Gar- 
 field removed with his wife to North-eastei'n 
 Ohio. Buying a tract of eighty acres in the 
 township of Orange, Cuyahoga County, he erect- 
 ed upon it a log-house, and set resolutely to work 
 to hew out for himself a home in the wilderness. 
 And it was a wilderness. The settlements were 
 few and far between ; and a large portion of the 
 State was still covered with the original forest. 
 In the midst of this forest Abram Garfield 
 erected his modest log* cottage, miles away fi'om 
 any other dwelling. It could be called a modest 
 cottage, for it was only about twenty feet one 
 way and thirty the other, and was built of rough 
 logs, ^o which the bark and moss still were 
 clinging. It had a plank door, swinging on 
 stout iron hinges, three small windows, a deal 
 floor, hewn smooth with an axe, and a roof cov- 
 ered with oak clap-boards, held down by long 
 weight -poles. The spaces between the logs 
 were filled in with clay, and the wooden chim- 
 ney was laid up in mud, and rose on the out- 
 side something in the shape of the Egyptian 
 Pyramids. Though not exactly a mud hovel, 
 there was a good deal of mud about it ; but it 
 was warm in winter and cool in summer, and 
 quite as much of a house as was then to be found 
 in that region. In this humble dwelling, on the 
 19th of November, 1831 , was born Jambs Abram 
 Gakfield, the present President of the United 
 States, who is the subject of this history. 
 
 He was the youngest x>f four children, one 
 of whom was then a boy of nine years, and the 
 others girls, aged respectively seven and eleven 
 years. These children, with, their father and 
 mother, comprised the little family, and it was 
 a, happy household ; for though poor, they were 
 content, and the distance which divided them 
 from the rest of the world bound them more 
 closely together, like different spires in a sheaf 
 of wheat, with separate individualities, but with 
 only one life. 
 
 But an autumn wind blew, and the wheat- 
 sheaf was thrown to the ground and rent asun- 
 der. Before the younger Garfield was two years 
 old, the strong, broad-breasted man who bound 
 these lives together was borne out of the low 
 door-way, and laid in a corner of the little wheat- 
 field forever. Nothing now remained to bind up 
 these broken lives but the weak, puny arms of 
 the mother ; but she threw them about the little 
 household, and set her face bravely to meet the 
 wintry storms that were coming : and it was a 
 cold, hard winter, and they were alone in the 
 p^ijxjo-n/issi The SBOW lay deep all over the 
 
 hills ; and often, when lying awake in their nar- 
 row beds, the little ones would hear the wolves 
 howling hungrily around the lonely cabin, and 
 the panthers crying and moaning before the 
 door, like children who had lost their way ia a 
 foi-est. 
 
 The long, dreary winter wore away at last, 
 but spring brought no- fair weather to the little 
 household. They were not only poor, but in 
 debt. The debt must be paid, and the future, 
 ah ! that stared darkly in their faces. But this 
 brave mother went to work bravely. Fifty .acres 
 of the little farm of eighty acres were sold, and 
 she and the older children went to work upon 
 the remainder. Thomas, the older boy, who 
 now was ten, hired a horse, and ploughed and 
 sowed the small plat of cleared land ; and the 
 mother split the rails, and fenced in the little 
 house -lot. The maul was so heavy that she 
 could only just lift it to her shoulder, and with 
 about every blow she herself came down to the 
 ground ; but she struggled on with the work, and 
 soon the lot was fenced, and the little farm in 
 tolerable order. 
 
 But the ,corn was running low in the bin, and 
 it was a long time till harvest. So the mother 
 measured out the corn, reckoned how much her 
 children would eat, and went to bed without her 
 supper. For weeks she did this. But the chil- 
 dren were young and growing ; their little mouths 
 were larger than she had measured, and after 
 awhile she omitted to eat her dinner also. One 
 meal a day, and she a weak and fragile woman ! 
 Is it to be wondered at that she is loved and re- , 
 vered by her children ? 
 
 But the harvest came at last, and then want 
 was driven away, and it never again looked in 
 with gaunt jaws upon the lonely widow. Neigh- 
 bors, too, soon gathered round the little log cot- 
 tage in the wilderness. The nearest was a mile 
 away ; but a mile in a new country is not near 
 so far as a mile in an old one, and they came 
 often to visit the lonely household. They had 
 sewing to do, and the widow did it; ploughing 
 to do, and Thomas did that ; and after a time 
 one of them hired the boy to work on his farm, 
 paying him twelve dollars a month for fourteen 
 hours' daily labor. Thomas worked away like 
 a man ; and— while I do not state it as an histor- 
 ical fact — I verily believe that no man ever felt 
 himself so much of a man as he did when he 
 came home and counted out into his mother's 
 lap his first fortnight's wages — all in silver half- 
 dollars. 
 
 " Now, mother," he said, "the shoemaker can 
 come and make James some shoes." James 
 is our present Pi-esident ; and though the earth 
 had made four revolutions' since he first set foot 
 upon it. he had never yet known the warm em- 
 brace of shoe-leather. 
 
 A school had been started in a neighboring 
 district, and Thomas wanted the other chil- 
 dren to attend it; so he worked away with a 
 will to earn money enough to keep the family 
 through the winter. The shoemaker came at 
 last, and made the shoes, boarding out a part 
 of his pay ; and then Mehetabel, the older girl, 
 took James upon her back, and they all trudged 
 off to school together — all but Thomas. He 
 stayed at home to finish the barU, thresh the 
 wheat, shell the corn, and help his mother force 
 a scanty living for them all from the little farm 
 of thirty acres. And here my pen pauses with 
 a half-regret that it is not the life of this boy,. 
 Thomas, that I am writing. I doubt if so much 
 manliness, unselfishness, and single-hearted de- 
 votion were ever shown by a lad of thirteen. 
 Of such a boy great things might be expected ; 
 and yet he has sunk out of sight, and the world 
 scarcely knows of his existence. Cheerfully he 
 chose a life of humble toil and obscurity, that he 
 might help his younger brother to fit himself for 
 a career of honor and usefulness. So, after all, 
 he has achieved great things ; for if such self- 
 sacrifice is not great, the New Testament gives 
 us a wrong definition of greatness. 
 
 The nearest village was about a mile and a 
 half away. It was not then much of a village — 
 merely the school-house, a grist-mill, and a little 
 log store and dwelling — though now it is a thriv- 
 ing place with a thousand or more people, and 
 
 rejoicing in the name of Chagrin Falls : an odd 
 name, but it has a meaning. The emigrant Yan- 
 kee who settled the\ village built the mill in the- 
 winter, when the stream which forms the falls 
 was a foaming torrent; but summer ):ame,«nd 
 lo! the stream stopped running, and the falls 
 stopped falling; and with the little water re- 
 maining he baptized it Chagrin Falls. Very 
 many of us build mills that grind our grist only 
 half of the year, but not all of us are honest 
 enough to thus publish our chagrin to the world. 
 But this is rather a roundabout way of stating 
 the simple fact that, when the colder weather 
 came, and the snow lay deep in the roads, Me- 
 hetabel was not stout enough to carry her little- 
 brother to school, and so he stayed at home and 
 learned to read at his mother's knee. 
 
 He was a mere scrap of a boy, not five years 
 old, and only able to spell through his words, 
 when one day he came across a little poem about 
 the rain. After patient effort he made out this 
 line: 
 
 "The rain came pattering on the roof." 
 
 "Why, mother," he shouted, "I've heard the- 
 rain do that myself!" All at once it broke upon 
 him that words stand for thoughts ; and all at 
 once a new world opeiied to him — a world in 
 which poor boys are of quite as much conse- 
 quence as rich men, and it may be of a trifle 
 more ; for nearly all the work and thinking of 
 the world has been done by poor boys. This 
 new world opened to him ; and the boy set him- 
 self zealously to work to open the door which 
 leads into it. Before he was out of bed in the 
 morning he had a book in his hand ; and after 
 dark he would stretch himself upon the naked 
 hearth, and by the light of the fire spell out the 
 big words in " The English Reader,"until he had 
 much of the bool^in his memory, and there It 
 remains to this day. 
 
 Seeing his fondness for learning, his mother 
 determined to do all she could to gratify it ; and 
 thinking him still too young to trudge a mile 
 and a half to school, she offered the neighbors 
 a corner of her little farm if they would build 
 upon it a school-house. It would be as far away 
 from the homes of most of them as the other 
 was, but they caught her spirit, and in the course 
 of the autumn built a new school-house. It was 
 of logs, only twenty feet square, and had a pun- 
 cheon floor, a slab roof, and log-benches without 
 backs or a soft spot to sit on ; but it was to turn 
 out men and women for the nation. 
 
 Before the winter set in the school- master 
 came — an awkward, slab - sided young man, 
 rough as the bark and green as the leaves of the 
 pine-trees which grew about his home ia New 
 Hampshire ; but, like the pine-trees, he had a 
 wonderful deal of sap in him — a head crammed 
 with knowledge, and a heart full of good feeling. 
 He was to " board round " among the neighbors, 
 and at first was quartered at the little cottage, 
 to eat the widow's corn-bread, and sleep in the 
 loft with James and Thomas. He took at once 
 a fancy to James, and, as the little fellow trotted 
 along by his side on the first day of school, he 
 put his hand upon his head, and said to him, 
 "If you lc(arn, my boy, you may grow np yet, 
 and be a general." 
 
 The boy did not know exactly what it was to 
 be a general ; but his mother had told him about 
 the red and blue coats of the Revolution, and 
 of their brass buttons and gilded epaulets; so 
 he fancied it must be some very grand thing ; 
 and he answered, "Oh yes, sir; I'll learn — ^I'll 
 be a general." 
 
 It was, as is common, one of the rules of the 
 school that the scholars should sit still, and not 
 gaze about the school-room. But James never 
 sat still in all his life. The restless activity of 
 his brain made it impossible for him to observe 
 this rule. He tried -to do it, and he tried so 
 hard that he minded nothing else, and entirely 
 neglected to study. , The result was that his les- 
 sons were not learned, and after a few days the 
 teacher said to his mother, "I don't want to 
 grieve you, ma'am ; bu^ I fear I can make noth- 
 ing of James. He won't sit still, and he does 
 not learn his lessons. " 
 
 But he did grieve the poor woman; nothing 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIEI.!) 
 
had grieved her ao much since the death of 
 her husband. She looked at the boy and said, 
 "Oh, James!" This was all she said; but it 
 went to the heart of the five-year-old boy. He 
 thought he was very wicked, that he had done 
 very wrong, and, burying his face in her lap, he 
 sobbed out that he would be a good boy, he would 
 sit still, he would learn. 
 
 The sorrow of the child touched the heart of 
 the teacher ; and he tried him again, and tried 
 him now in the right way. He let him move 
 about as much as he liked, calling to mind that 
 he came to school to become a scholar, and not 
 a block of wood. At the end of a fortnight 
 he said to the widow; " James is perpetual mo- 
 tion ; but he learns — not a scholar in the school 
 learns so fast as he." This healed the mother's 
 sorrow ; for she had set her heart upon this boy 
 becoming a man of learning. 
 
 This restlessness was a characteristic of the 
 boy. It was born in him, and clings to him, 
 even now that he is a man. Every night, when 
 lying in his narrow bed in the little cottage, he 
 would kick off the clothes, and turning over 
 half awake, say to his brother, "Thomas, cov- 
 er me up." A quarter of a century later, he 
 and a distinguished officer lay down one night 
 on the ground after a great battle, with only a 
 single blanket between them. His eyes were no 
 .sooner closed than, after his usual fashion, he 
 kicked off the clothes, and turning over half 
 awake, said to the officer, " Thomas, cover me 
 up." He covered him up, and in doing so 
 awakened him, and repeated the words he had 
 said. Then the man, who all that day had rid- 
 den unmoved through a hurricane of bullets, 
 turned his face away and wept like a child ; for 
 he thought of Thomas, and of the little log cot- 
 tage in the wilderness. 
 
 . W^hen the term was over, the teacher gave 
 James a Testament — his way of saying that, for 
 his years, he was the best scholar in the school. 
 He took it home, and I verily believe that the 
 Jittle cottage then held the happiest mother on 
 tills continent. 
 
 So things went on — Thomas tilling the farm 
 or working for the neighbors, and James going 
 to school, and helping his brother mornings and 
 evenings, until one was twelve and the other 
 twenty-one years old. Then, wanting to make 
 more money than he could at home, Thomas 
 went to Michigan, and engaged in clearing land 
 for a farmer.: In a few months' he returned with 
 seventy-five doll/irs, all in gold. Counting it out 
 on the little table, he said, "Now, mother, you 
 shall have a framed house. " 
 
 All these years they had lived in the little log 
 cottage, but Thomas had been gradually cutting 
 the timber, getting out the boards, and gathering 
 together the other material for a new dwelling ; 
 and now it was to go up, and his mother have a 
 comfortablehome for the rest of her days. Soon 
 a carpenter was hired, and they set to work upon 
 it. James took so handily to the business that 
 the joiner told him he was born to be a carpen- 
 ter. This gave the boy an idea. He would set 
 up for a carpenter, and, like Thomas, do some- 
 thing to help his mother. 
 
 During the next two years he worked on four or 
 five bams, going to school only at intervals ; but 
 he then had learned all that is to be leai-ned from 
 "Kirkham's Grammar," "Pike's" and "Adams's 
 Aritlimetics," and "Morse's (old) Geography " — 
 that wonderful book, which describes Albany as 
 a city with a great many houses, and a great 
 many people, " all standing with their gable ends 
 to the street." With this immensity of knowl- 
 edge he thought he would begin the world. Not 
 having got above a barn, he naturally concluded 
 he was not "born to be a carpenter," and so 
 cast about for some occupation better suited to 
 his genius. One — about its suitableness I will 
 not venture an opinion — was not long in pre- 
 senting itself. 
 
 About ten miles from his mother's house, and 
 not far away from Cleveland, lived a man who 
 did a thriving business as a black-salter. He had 
 a large establishment, and it was growing. It 
 was growing, for James had just helped to add 
 a woodshed to the log shanties of which it was 
 and so it came about that he met its 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 proprietoi', and the current of his life was changed 
 — diverted into one of those sterile by-ways in 
 which currents will now and then run, without be- 
 ing able to give any good reason for so useless a 
 proceeding. 
 
 "You kin read, you kin write, and you are 
 death on figgers," said the man to the boy one 
 day, as he watched the energetic way in which 
 he did his work; "so stay with me, keep my 
 'counts, and 'tend to the saltery. I'll find you, 
 and give you fourteen dollars a month. " 
 
 Fourteen dollars a month was an immense 
 sum to a boy of his years ; so that night he 
 trudged off through the woods to consult his 
 mother. She was naturally pleased that the ser- 
 vices of her son were so highly valued ; but she 
 had misgivings about the proposed occupation — 
 a world of wickedness, she thoughtj lurked be- 
 tween buying and selling. 
 
 But the boy overcame her scruples, and thus 
 our future President became prime-minister to a 
 black-salter. To this useful pursuit he applied 
 the rules of arithmetic and the principles of gram- 
 mar. And he did it well. So well that the 
 black-salter would occasionally say to, him, in 
 his rough but hearty fashion, "You're a good 
 boy ; keep on, and one of these days you'll have 
 a saltery of your own ; and maybe as big a one 
 as our'n." 
 
 And so he might, had not good or b&d fortune 
 thrown in his way the few choice works which 
 comprised the black-salter's library. These books, 
 selected by the daughter of the village — who 
 wrote " poetiy " for a Cleveland neii'spaper, and 
 therefore had some literary taste — were such 
 standard productions as "Sinbad the Sailor," 
 "The Lives of Eminent Criminals," "The Pi- 
 rate's Own Book," and Marryat's Novels. To- 
 tally different from the dry but wholesome read- 
 ing on which he had been nurtured, they roused 
 the imagination and fostered the love of advent- 
 ure which was born in the backwoods boy. But 
 soon he was thrown upon the world these books 
 tell about, and taught that " all is not gold that 
 glitters," and life not a gorgeous romance, "full 
 of sound and fury, signifying nothing." 
 
 One day a female member of the family, in his 
 hearing, spoke of him as a "servant," and that 
 he could not tolerate. He a servant ! He who 
 had read all about the battle of Bunker Hill, 
 whose great-grandfather had seen a signer of the 
 Declaration of Independence! Se a servant! 
 The blood boiled in his veins, rushed to his face, 
 and tingled way down to the tips of 'his toes ! 
 Oh that a man had said it ! But it was a wom- 
 an, so his hands and feet were tied. With the 
 latter, however, he managed to climb up the 
 rickety ladder which led to his lodgings, and ty- 
 ing his few garments together he announced to 
 the black-salter that a boy and a bundle of clothes 
 were about to be subtracted from the population 
 of his vicinity. The worthy man saw the main 
 prop of his fortunes falling, and demeaned him- 
 self accordingly. But entreaties and remon- 
 strances were alike unavailing. Outraged dig- 
 nity could not be appeased ; so in half an hour 
 James, with his little bundle of clothes slung 
 over his shoulder, was on his way homeward. 
 His mother received him with open arms and a 
 blessing. "Providence," she said, "will open 
 some better way for you, my son." And Provi- 
 dence did ; but it took its own time and way 
 about it. . 
 
 The boy was now out of employment ; but he 
 soon took the job of chopping twenty-five cords 
 of wood for a farmer in the township of New- 
 burg, a place within the present limits of Cleve- 
 land. For this he was to receive seven dollars. 
 From where he worked he could see, looking to 
 the north, the slaty-blue of- Lake Erie, and in 
 his imagination it was magnified into the great 
 ocean he had read of in the "Pirate's Own 
 Book "and " Sinbad the Sailor." The vh-us he 
 had imbibed from the black-salter's books now 
 began to work, and he began to dream of an im- 
 possible life upon the ocean. He determined to 
 go out into the great world and carve out for 
 himself « destiny — where carving is easy — on 
 the breast of the waters. While dreaming this 
 dream his work of wood-chopping went vigor- 
 ously on, and time flew by with great rapidity. 
 
 But he reflected that seven dollars is a small 
 capital on which to begin the world ; so, when 
 the job was done, he hired himself out to a Mr. 
 Treat to work during haying and harvesting. 
 
 But he still dreamed of the sea, and, when har- 
 vest was over, went home to his mother, and an- 
 nounced to her his intention to, begin life as a 
 sailor. The announcement was a terrible blow 
 to the poor woman, who had centred all her 
 hopes on his becoming a scholar, and rising to a 
 life of usefulness, if not distinction ;. but, seeing 
 he had set his heart upon it, she forbore to op- 
 pose him ; for she felt sure that God would, in 
 his own time and way, turn him back from such 
 a life. At last she consented to his going to 
 Cleveland ; but she stipulated that he should try 
 to procure some other respectable employment. 
 Then the boy, with his small bundle of clothes 
 upon his back, and a few dollars in his pocket, 
 departed, amidst his mother's prayers and God's 
 blessings. 
 
 He walked the whole way— seventeen mileS— 
 and, weary and footsore, arrived at Cleveland 
 just at dark. But a good night's sleep and a 
 warm breakfast refreshed him greatly, and in 
 the morning he strolled out to view the great 
 city. It was scarcely a fourth of its present 
 size, but to the boy it was an immensity of 
 houses. He had never seen buildings half so 
 large, nor steeples half so high ; in fact, he had 
 never seen steeples at all, for the simple people 
 among whom he had lived did not put cocked 
 hats and cockades upon their meeting-houses. 
 He wandered about all day, stepping now and 
 then, as he had promised his mother, into the 
 business places to inquire for employment ; but 
 no one wanted an honest lad who could read, 
 write, and was "death on figgers." Evferybody 
 could read and write, and there was no end to 
 their figuring — so said a good-natured gentle- 
 man, who gratuitously advised him to go home, 
 teach a district school, or do honest work for a 
 living. 
 
 Night found him, weary and footsore, down 
 upon the docks among the shipping. " These," 
 he said to himself as he looked around upon the 
 little fleet of sloops and schooners, " are the ships 
 that Captain Marryat tells about;" and visions 
 of the free life of which he had dreamed came 
 again, even more vividly, before him. He sat 
 down on the head of a pier and looked out on 
 the great lake, heaving, and foaming, and rolling 
 in broken waves all about him. He watched it 
 creeping up the white beach, and gliding back, 
 singing a low hymn among the shining stones, 
 or muttering hoarse cries to the black rocks 
 along the shore ; and then looked out on the 
 white sails that were dancing about all over its 
 bosom. His mother's little cottage, and the lone- 
 ly woman herself — even then, it may be, seated 
 in the open door-way, looking up the road for his 
 coming, — faded from his sight as he gazed, and 
 he stepped down upon one of the tossing vessels. 
 
 It was a dirty fore-and-aft -schooner, with 
 mildewed sails, a greasy deck, and a low-sunken 
 cabin. In this cabin, which was thick with to- 
 bacco-smoke, half a dozen men, with reeking 
 clothes and sooty faces, were drinking and ca- 
 rousing. He inquired of a sailor on the deck 
 for the captain. He was told that he would 
 soon come up ; and soon he did, » half-drunk- 
 en wretch, with bloated features and filth -be- 
 smeared clothes, swearing like a pirate. Step- 
 ping modestly forward, the boy asked if a hand 
 was wanted ; when, turning upon him, the reel- 
 ing brute poured forth a volley of oaths and 
 curses that made him shudder. This was his 
 only answer. The poor awkward lad was for a 
 moment thunderstruck; then he turned away, 
 and walked back upon the pier to recover from 
 his amazement. 
 
 But this rebuff did not cure his longing for the 
 sea. _ He was too tenacious of will to be so easi- 
 ly disenchanted, and this passion had taken too 
 deep a hold upon him. He im&gined that his 
 homespun appearance had worked against Him 
 with the captain, and that he would succeed on 
 another trial if first he should rub off all the as- 
 pects of a landsman. He must go through an 
 initiatory process, for the quarter-deck was not 
 to be reached except by successive steps upwai-d. 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 
 
 As the lake w^s a step to the ocean, so the canal 
 was a step to the lake, and he would begin with 
 the canal. 
 
 His cousin, Amos Letcher, commanded a boat 
 on the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal, and to him 
 he would go for employment. Amos wanted a 
 driver, and he took the situation, and so he rose 
 i — it may have been an Irish hoist — from the 
 station of prime-minister to a black-salter to the 
 post of driver of a canal-boat. 
 
 In an account of the boy's life on the canal 
 that the worthy captain has given me, are some 
 incidents which, in view of the lad's altered for- 
 tunes, may be worth relating. The Evening 
 Star was lying at her dock in Cleveland one 
 July morning in 1847, when the boy presented 
 himself to Captain Letcher and asked for employ- 
 ment, adding, " I came here to ship on the lake, 
 but tiiey blulf me off, and call me a country green- 
 horn, and ask me if I can climb a mastinastorm." 
 
 "And what did you tell them?" asked the 
 captain. 
 
 "I told them I would try.'' 
 
 The captain liked the boy'p pluck, and at once 
 gave him charge of a pair of horses. Soon the 
 boat set out on her voyage, and the captain 
 writes: "In an hour the boys had the old 
 Evening Star through the first lock. Jim was 
 there with his team, ready to hitch on, and we 
 were off in a jiffy. Soon we met a boat, and the 
 two drivers had some trouble about their lines — 
 they got sort of tangled. The impetus of our 
 boat had carried her up even with the horses, 
 and as there was a waste-way a few rods ahead, 
 • my steersman called out, ' Hurrah Jim, whip up 
 that team, or your line will ketch on the bridge. ' 
 So Jim he cracks his whip, and his team was soon 
 on the trot ; but, just as the team was at the mid- 
 dle of the bridge, the line tightened, and jerked 
 horses, driver and all into the canal. It came 
 very nearly drowning the whole pile, and my 
 opinion is, if it had, we should have lost a good 
 President. But all is well that ends well. So, 
 after everything was all right, I asked Jim, 
 'What were you doing in the canal?' 'Oh, I 
 was julst taking my morning bath,' he answered. 
 
 "At Eleven Mile Lock we changed teams. 
 Another liand took the tow-path, and Jim, with 
 his team, came on board. After he had taken 
 care of his team Jim came up on deck, and I 
 thought I would sound him a little on the rudi- 
 ments of geography, arithmetic, and grammar, 
 for I was just green enough in those days to im- 
 aging that I knew it all. You see, I had been 
 teacher for three winters in the back- woods of 
 Steuben County, Indiana. 
 
 " 'Jim,' I said, 'I hear there is some come- 
 out to you, and if you have no objections I would 
 like to make up my own mind in regard to it. As 
 it is a long way to Pancake Lock, this will be a 
 good time ; so I should like to ask you a few 
 questions. 
 
 " ' Proceed, ' said Jim, ' but don't ask too hard 
 ones.' I asked him several, and he answered 
 them all, and then turned on me, and asked me 
 several that I could not answer, and I was like 
 the boy who got into a row and said, ' If you'll 
 let me alone, I'll let you alone.' 
 
 " 'Jim,' I said, 'you have too good a head on 
 you to be a wood-chopper or a canal-driver. 
 You go to school one term more, and you will be 
 qualified to teach a common school, and then yon 
 can make anything you have » mind to out of 
 yourself.' ' 
 
 " ' Do you think so, captain ?' And it set him 
 a thinking, I know. 
 
 "Everything went off well until about ten 
 o'clock that night. Then we were approaching 
 the twenty-one locks of Akron, and I sent my 
 bowman to make the first lock ready. Just as 
 he got there, a bowman from a boat above ap- 
 peared and said, ' Don't turn this lock ; our boat 
 is just around the bend, ready to enter.' But my 
 man objected, and commenced turning the gate. 
 By this time both boats were near the lock, with 
 their head-lights shining as bright as day, and 
 every man from both was on hand, ready for a 
 field -fight. I motioned to my bowman, and 
 asked, ' Were you here first ?' 
 
 " 'It is hard to tell,' he replied; 'but we will 
 have the lock anyhow. ' 
 
 " ' All right ; just as you say, ' I said ; and we 
 laid out for a battle. 
 
 "Jim had heard what had been said, and, 
 tapping me on the shoulder, he said, ' See here, 
 captain, does that lock belong to us ?' 
 
 " 'I really suppose, according to law, it does 
 not; but we will have it anyhow.' 
 
 " 'No, 'replied the boy, 'we will not.' 
 
 " ' And why not ?' I asked, in surprise. 
 
 " ' Because it does not belong to us.' 
 
 " I saw that Jim was right, so I cried, 'Boys, 
 let thetn have the lock.' 
 
 "At sunrise next morning we had got through 
 all the twenty-one locks, and were on Summit 
 Lake. It was a fine morning. The other driver 
 was cracking his whip over his leader, had got 
 them to a trot, and all seemed to be in good- 
 humor. Breakfast was called. George Lee, our 
 steersman, came out and sat down to breakfast, 
 and the first word he spoke was, ' Jim, what is 
 the matter with you?' 
 
 " ' Nothing, ' said Jim ; ' I never felt better in 
 my life. ' 
 
 " ' But why did yon go for giving up the lock 
 last night ?' 
 
 " ' Oh, I thought it wasn't ours.' 
 
 "'Jim, you are a coward, ' he answered ; ' you 
 ain't fit for a boatman. You may do to chop 
 wood or milk cows, but a man or a boy isn't fit 
 for a boat who won't fight for his rights.' 
 
 "Jim didn't miike any answer." 
 
 This was the boy's first trip, ahd now again he 
 did his work well ; so well that before its close he 
 was promoted to the more responsible position of 
 bowman. But, to tell the exact truth, this may 
 have been quite as much owing to the admira- 
 tion which the honest captain had conceived for 
 the boy's courage as to any regard he had for 
 his close attention to his duties as driver;' for he 
 soon showed that he was not a coward, and it 
 was on this first trip that he fought his first bat- 
 tle and won his first victory. 
 
 No ofiipial report was ever made of this battle, 
 and no bulletin was ever issued in glorification 
 of the boy's victory ; but the following I con- 
 dense from the captain's account of the engage- 
 ment : • 
 
 "The Evening Star was at Beaver, and a 
 steamboat was ready to tow her up to Pitts- 
 burg. The boy was standing on deck, with the 
 setting-pole against his shoulders, and some feet 
 away stood Murphy, one of the boat-hands, a big 
 burly fellow of thirty-five, when the steamboat 
 threw the line, and, owing to a sudden lurch of 
 the boat, it whirled over the boy's shoulders and 
 flew in the direction of the boatman. 'Look 
 out. Murphy!' cried the boy; but the rope had 
 anticipated him, and knocked Murphy's hat off 
 into the river. The iboy expressed his regret, 
 but it was of no avail. In a towering rage the 
 man rushed upon him, with his head down, like 
 a maddened animal ; but stepping nimbly aside, 
 the boy dealt him a powerful blow behind the 
 ear, and he tumbled to the bottom of the boat 
 among the copper ore. Before he could rise 
 the boy was upon him, one hand upon his throat, 
 the other raised for another blow upon his fron- 
 tispiece. 'Pound the cussed fool, Jim!' cried 
 Captain Letcher, who was looking on, appreciat- 
 ingly. 'If he hain't no more sense 'n. to get 
 mad at accidents, giv it ter him! Why don't 
 you strike?' But the boy did not strike, for 
 the man was down and in his power. Mur- 
 phy expressed regret for his rage, and then Gar- 
 field gave him his hand, and they became better 
 friends than before. This victory of a boy of 
 sixteen over a man of thirty-five obliterated the 
 notion of young Garfield's character for coward- 
 ice, and gave him a great reputation with his 
 associates. The incident is still well remem- 
 bered among the boatmen of the Ohio and 
 Pennsylvania Canal. 
 
 Another of Garfield's associates at this time 
 was one Harry Brown — ^baptismal name, Henry 
 S. Brown — of whom we shall have occasion to 
 speak farther on in this history. 
 
 Young Garfield remained on the canal four 
 months, and during this period, by actual count, 
 fell into the water fourteen times. His last im- 
 mersion made a deep impression upon him, and 
 was the turning-point in his history. It changed 
 
 the whole current of his life, gave him a purpose, 
 and made him a man. 
 
 One rainy midnight, as the boat on which be 
 was employed was leaving one of those long 
 reaches of slack-water which abound in the Ohio 
 and Pennsylvania Canal, he was called up to 
 take his turn at the bow. Tumbling out of bed, 
 his eyes heavy with sleep, he took his stand on 
 the narrow platform below the bow-4eck, and be- 
 gan uncoiling a rope to steady the boat through 
 a lock it was approaching. Slowly and sleepily 
 he unwound it, till it knotted and Caught in a nar- 
 row cleft in the edge of the deck. He gave it a 
 sudden pull, but it held fast ; then another knd a 
 stronger pull, and it gave way, hut sent him over 
 the bow into the water, Down he went into the 
 dark night and the still darker river; and the 
 boat glided on to bury him among the fishes. 
 No human help was near. God only could save 
 him, and he only by a miracle. So the boy 
 thought, as he went down, saying the prayer his 
 mother had taught him. Instinctively clutching 
 the rope, he sank below the surface ; but then it 
 tightened in his grasp and held firmly. Seizing 
 it hand-over-hand, he drew himself up on deck, 
 and was again a live boy among the living. An- 
 other kink had caught in another crevice, and 
 saved him ! Was it that prayer, or the love of 
 his praying mother, which wrought this miracle ? 
 He did not know ; but, long after the boat had 
 passed the lock, he stood there, in his dripping 
 clothes, pondering the question. 
 
 Coiling the rope, he tried to throw it again 
 into the crevice; but it had lost the knack of 
 kinking. Many times he tried — a hundred, says 
 my informant — and then sat down and reflect- 
 ed. "I have thrown this rope," he thought, 
 " one hundred times ; I might throw it ten times 
 as many' without its catching. Ten times one 
 hundred are one thousand — so, there were a 
 thousand chances against my life! Against 
 such odds Providence only could have saved itJ 
 Providence, therefore, thinks it worth saving ; 
 and if that's so, I won't throw it away on a 
 canal-boat. I'll go home, get an education, and 
 he a man." 
 
 He acted on, this sudden resolution, and not 
 long afterward stood before the little cottage in 
 the depths of the Ohio wilderness. It was late 
 at night ; the stars were out, and the moon was 
 down ; but by the fire-light that came through 
 the window he saw his mother kneeling before 
 an open book which lay on a chair in the cor- 
 ner. She was reading ; but h^r eyes were off 
 the page, looking up to the Invisible. "Oh, 
 turn unto me," she said, " agid have mercy upon 
 me! give Thy strength unto Thy servant, and 
 save the son of Thine handmaidJ" More she 
 read, which sounded like a prayer; but this is all 
 that the boy remembers. He opened the door, 
 put his arm about her neck, and his head upon 
 her bosom. What words he said I do not know ; 
 but there, by her side, he devoted to God the 
 life which God had given. So the mother's 
 prayer was answered. So sprang up the seed 
 which in toil and tears she had planted. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 YOUTH AND EAELT MANHOOD. ' 
 
 But though young Garfield had fully deter- 
 mined to lead a better life, he had not yet de- 
 cided what that life should be. 'With the good 
 seed which had been implanted by his mother 
 had come up the weeds which were sown in his 
 mind by the " choice " books in the black-salter's 
 library, and they conld not be extirpated in a 
 day. His passion for the sea still clung to 
 him ; and now and then, during the few follow- 
 ing weeks, he would recur to it to his mother, 
 and give vent to his longing for a free life upon 
 the ocean. She gently opposed this. With sweet, 
 winning words she tried to lead his mind to high- 
 er aims, and in a measure she succeeded; but 
 again and again he would recur to it, for he 
 did not see then, and did not know till many 
 years afterward the agony his words caused her. 
 But God had higher work for him. He soon 
 took him in hand, and so it was that he was re- 
 served for a more honorable career. • « 
 
 His life on the canal had planted the seeds of 
 
3 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 ague in his system, and now he was prostrated 
 with the "ague cake,"as the "natives" call the 
 hardness in the left side which accompanies that 
 disease. An old-time physician was called in, 
 who salivated him, and for several weary months 
 he lay upon his bed, while the "ague cake," as 
 they said, was dissolving under the influence of 
 talomel. During these weary months his moth- 
 er cared for him with tender watchfulness ; and 
 when, tired of the tedious conKnement, he would 
 express his longing to be about; again, and at 
 bis work, she would say, in her sweet, quiet 
 way: "You are sick, my son. If you go back 
 to the canal, I fear you will be taken down 
 again. I have thought it over. It seems to me 
 you had better go to school this spring, and then, 
 with a term in the fall, you may be able to teach 
 next winter. If you teach winters, and work on 
 the canal or lake summers, you will have em- 
 ployment the year round." 
 
 Thus the wise woman lured him gradually 
 away from his infatuation, and as he thought it 
 over in his broken condition, what she proposed 
 seemed to him not a bad plan. He intimated 
 as much to her, and then she said to him, "Your 
 money is all gone ; but your brother Thomas and 
 I will be able to raise seventeen dollars for you 
 to start to school on, and when that is gone, per- 
 haps you can get along on your own resources." 
 
 The mother's arguments were fortunately sec- 
 onded by those of a young acquaintance. Teach- 
 ing the district school at this time was a young 
 man by the name of Bates, and he came to see 
 young Garfield in his illness. He had attended 
 the " Geauga Seminary," in the adjoining coun- 
 ty, and his conversation soon so fired the sick 
 boy's ambition that he determined to listen to 
 the entreaties of his mother, give up forever the 
 idea of becoming a sailor, and attempt to secure 
 an education. On this he was now fully resolved, 
 but he was not equally decided as to his ulti- 
 mate choice of a profession. He knew he could 
 make a creditable mechanic or merchant, but 
 had be braip enough to become distinguished as 
 a lawyer, a scholar, or a preacher? — and it was 
 to an honorable position in one of these learned 
 professions that his mother had tried to lift his 
 ambition. With that nice perception of the re- 
 lation of means to ends which still distinguishes 
 him, young Garfield now sought to measure his 
 powers, and ascertain for what walk in life he 
 was best fitted by natural ability. To this end 
 he consulted Dr. J. P. Eobison, now a resident 
 of Cleveland, but then a prominent physician in 
 the neighboring village of Bedford. The doctor 
 was on a visit at tift house of President Hayden, 
 of Hiram College, and hearing of it, the home- 
 spun boy called there for an interview. He was 
 rather shabbily clad, in coarse satinet trousers, 
 far outgrown, and reaching only half-way down 
 the tops of his cowhide boots ; a waistcoat much 
 too short, and a threadbare coat whose sleeves 
 went only a little below the elbows. Surmount- 
 ing the whole was a coarse slouched hat, much 
 the worse for wear; and as the lad removed it, 
 in making his obeisance to the physician, he dis- 
 played a heavy shock of unkempt yellow hair 
 that fell half-way down his shouldeis. 
 
 "He was wonderfully awkward," says the 
 good doctor, "but had a sort of independent, 
 go-as-you-please manner that impressed me fii- 
 vorably." 
 
 " Who are you?" was Ms somewhat gruff sal- 
 utation. 
 
 "My name is James Garfiel^, from Solon," 
 replied the latter. 
 
 " Oh, I know your mother, and knew you 
 when yon were a babe in arms ; but you have 
 outgrown my knowledge. I am glad to see 
 you." 
 
 "I want to see you alone," said young Gar- 
 field. 
 
 The doctor led the way to a secluded spot in 
 the neighborhood of the house, and there, sitting 
 down on a log, the youth, after a little hesitation, 
 opened his business. 
 
 "You are a physician," he said, "and know 
 the fibre that is in men. Examine me, and tell 
 me with the utmost frankness whether I had 
 better take a course of liberal study. I am con- 
 templating doing so. My desire is in that di- 
 
 rection. But, if I am to make a failure of it, or 
 practically so, I do not desiie to begin. If you 
 advise me not to do so, I shall feel content." 
 
 In speaking of this incident, the doctor has re- 
 marked, recently, "I felt that I was on my sa- 
 cred honor, and the young man looked as though 
 he felt himself on trial. I had had considerable 
 experience as a physician, but here was a case 
 much different from any other I had ever had. 
 I felt that it must be handled with great care. I 
 examined his head, and saw that there was a mag- 
 nificent brain there. I sounded his lungs, and 
 found that they were strong, and capable of making 
 good blood. I felt his pulse, and saw that there 
 was an engine capable of sending the blood up 
 to the head to feed the brain. I had seen many 
 strong physical systems with warm feet, but cold, 
 sluggish brain ; and those who possessed such sys- 
 tems would simply sit around and doze. There- 
 fore I was anxious to know about the kind of an 
 engine to run that delicate machine, the brain. 
 At the end of a fifteen minutes' careful examina- 
 tion of this kind, we rose, and I said, ' Go on, 
 follow the leadings of your ambition, and ever 
 after I am your friend. You have the brain of a 
 Webster, and you have the physical proportions 
 that will back you in the most herculean efforts. 
 All you need to do is to work. Work hard — do 
 not be afraid of overworking — and you will make 
 your mark.'" 
 
 These words fixed the lad's waveiing resolu- 
 tion, and gave him a definite purpose, from which 
 he never afterward swerved. "It is a great 
 point gained," he wrote in after-life, "when a 
 young man makes up his mind to devote several 
 years to the accomplishment of a definite work." 
 He had gained this point, and thenceforward, 
 for nine years, amidst innumerable difficulties, 
 this homespun lad of sixteen pursued his end 
 till he was graduated at twenty-five with the high- 
 est honors of an Eastern institution. 
 
 He now took the seventeen dollars his mother 
 had offered him — the only money he ever received 
 to aid him in securing an education which he has 
 not fully repaid — for how can a son ever pay what 
 he owes to a mother — and accompanied by a cous- 
 in and another young man from this neighboring 
 village, and supplied by his nlother with a few 
 pots, frying-pans, and dinner-plates, he set out for 
 Chester, where the academy was located. The 
 three young men rented a room in an old un- 
 painted building near the academy, and with 
 their cooking utensils, a few dilapidated chairs, 
 loaned by a kindly neighbor, and some straw 
 ticks, which they spread upon the floor to sleep 
 on, they set up house-keeping — for they were too 
 poor to pay board as well as tuition. 
 
 Young Garfield's heart was now in his work. 
 He studied hard, progressed rapidly, and soon 
 distanced many competitors who had enjoyed far 
 better advantages. Mornings and evenings, and 
 Saturdays, he worked in the carpenters' shops in 
 the village, and thus managed to earn enough to 
 pay for his living when his motlier's seventeen 
 dollars were expended. After this he paid his 
 own way, never calling on Thomas or his moth- 
 er for further assistance. He worked hard ; but 
 he had most excellent health, a robust frame, 
 and he acquired knowledge easily ; so that this 
 combined mental and physical toil, which has 
 broken down many an ambitious youth, did not 
 tell on his splendid constitution. 
 
 When the summer vacation came, he took a 
 job of chopping a hundred cords of wood for 
 twenty-five dollars, and with the fund thus real- 
 ized he was in the fall able to board with one of 
 the neighboring families, and so dispense with 
 the drudgeiy of house-keeping. The price he 
 paid for board, washing, and lodging was one 
 dollar and six cents per week. His landlady was 
 a Mrs. Stiles, m»ther to the present sheriff of 
 Ashtabula County ; and after Garfield had be- 
 come somewhat distinguished, she was fond of 
 relating an incident connected with his residence 
 in her family. The young man was without 
 overcoat or underclothing, and had only one suit 
 of clothes, and those were of cheap Kentucky 
 jean. Toward the close of the term his trousers 
 had worn exceedingly thin at the knees, and on 
 an occasion when he was bending forward, they 
 tore half-way round the leg, exposing his bare 
 
 knee to view. The mortified young man pinned 
 the rent garment together as well as he could, 
 and to the family that night bewailed his pover- 
 ty, and his inability to remedy the misfortune to 
 his only pair of trousers. " Why, that is easy 
 enough," said the good Mrs. Stiles. "You go 
 to bed, and one of the boys will biing down your 
 trousers, and I will darn the hole so it will be 
 better than new. You shouldn't care for such 
 small matters. You will forget all about them 
 when you get to be President." 
 
 The good lady is still alive to see her predic- 
 tion verified. 
 
 It was during this fall term at Geauga Acad- 
 eihy that the penniless student met the young 
 woman who, to use an expression of the novel- 
 ists, was to be his destiny. Her name was Lucre- 
 tia Rudolph, and she was the daughter of a farm- 
 er in the neighborhood — "a quiet, thoughtful 
 girl," says one who knew her, "of singularly 
 sweet and refined disposition, fond of study and 
 reading, and possessing a warm heart, and a 
 mind capable of steady growth." It was years 
 before the lives of the two young people were 
 united; but from this time foi-ward she exerted a 
 marked influence upon the boy student, inspiring 
 him to even harder work, and a firmer resolve 
 to act a manly part in the world's struggle. 
 
 At the end of this term he was sufficiently 
 progressed in his studies — English Grammar, 
 Natural Philosophy, Arithmetic, and Algebra — 
 to teach a district school, and thus, by teaching, 
 and working at carpentry of evenings and dur- 
 ing vacations, he not only managed to pay his 
 expenses at the academy, but to lay by a small 
 fund toward carrying him through a collegiate 
 course, on which he had now fully resolved to 
 enter. At length, after three years of alternate 
 work and study, he left the academy, and went 
 to the Eclectic Institute, a collegiate school lo- 
 cated at Hiram, in Portage County, and there he 
 entered on a higher course of study. 
 
 Hiram College, which will hereafter be long 
 associated with the name of Garfield, had been 
 built during this year (1851), and he was among 
 the first students of the Institution. His first 
 presentation of himself to the Board ofTrustees, 
 as related by Mr. Frederick Williams, one of the 
 number, is characteristic, and therefore worth 
 repeating. 
 
 "The Board was in session with closed doors," 
 says Mr. Williams, "when the door-keeper en- 
 tered and said there ws^s a young man at the 
 door very desirous of seeing the Board without 
 delay. No objections being made, the young 
 man entered, and addressing the Board, said, 
 
 " Gentlemen, I want an education, and would 
 like the privilege of making the fires and sweep- 
 ing the floors of the building to pay part of my 
 expenses. " 
 
 Mr. Williams, seeing in his bearing and coun- 
 tenance an earnestness and intelligence that was 
 more than common, said to the Board, "Gen- 
 tlemen, I think we had better try this young 
 man." Another member said to him, "How 
 do we know, young man, that the work will be 
 done as we' may want ?" 
 
 "Try me," was the answer; "try me two 
 weeks, and if it is not done to your entire satis- 
 faction, I will retire without a word." 
 
 They took him at his word ; and so Garfield, 
 at the age of nineteen, was duly installed as jan- 
 itor and bell-ringer of the institution over which 
 he was afterward to preside, and whose prosper- 
 ity he was to be largely instrumental in advanc- 
 ing. Of Garfield's student -life at this time a 
 better idea can be had from the following ac- 
 count by a fellow-student than from any more 
 elaborate description. She is a lady, now resid- 
 ing in Illinois, and was among the first stu- 
 dents at Hiram. "When he first entered the 
 college," she writes, "he paid for his schooling 
 by doing janitor's work, sweeping the floor and 
 ringing the bell. I can see him even now stand- 
 ing in the morning with his hand on the bell- 
 rope, ready to give the signal calling teachers 
 and scholars to engage in the duties of the day. 
 As we passed by, entering the school-room, he 
 had a cheerful word for every one. He was 
 probably the most popular person in the insti- 
 tution. He was always good-natured, fond 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 9 
 
 of conversation, and very entertaininf;. He 
 was witty, and qaick at repartee, but his jokes, 
 tiiough brilliant and strilcing, were always harm- 
 less, and he never would willingly hurt another's 
 feelings. 
 
 "Afterward he became an assistant teacher, 
 and while pursuing his classical studies, prepara- 
 tory to his college course, he taught the English 
 branches. He was a most entertaining teach- 
 er — ^^I'eady with illustrations, and possessing in a 
 marked degree the power Of exciting the inter- 
 est of the scholars, and afterward making clear 
 to them the lessons. In the arithmetic class 
 thei-e were ninety pupils, and I cannot recol- 
 lect a time when there was any flagging in the 
 intei-est. There were never any cases of unruly 
 conduct, or a disposition to shirk. With schol- 
 ars who were slow of comprehension, or to whom 
 recitations were a burden, on account of their 
 modest or retiring disposition, he was special- 
 ly attentive, and by encouraging words and gen- 
 Ue assistance wonld manage to put all at their 
 ease, and awaken in them a confidence in them- 
 selves. He was not given much to amusements 
 or the sports of the playground. He was too 
 industrious, and too anxious to make the utmost 
 of his opportunities to study. 
 
 " He was a constant attendant at the regular 
 meetings for prayer, and his vigorous exhorta- 
 tions and apt remarks upon the Bible lesson 
 
 of the forest. He would repeat poetry by the 
 hour, having a very retentive memory. At the 
 Institute the members were like a band of broth- 
 ers and sisters, nil struggling to advance in knowl- 
 edge. They all dressed plainly, and there was 
 no attempt or pi-etence at dressing fashionably 
 or stylishly. Hiram was a little country place, 
 with no ^iscinations or worldly attractions to 
 draw off the minds of the students from their 
 work. Two churches, the post-ofSce, one store, 
 and a blacksmith's shop, with the college build- 
 ings, constituted the village. " 
 
 The lady adds that the present nomination of 
 General Garfield was a surprise to her, although 
 for years she had thought she should some day 
 see his name brought out as a candidate for the 
 Presidency. ' "He is," she says, "a man who, 
 in the belief of any one who ever knew him, 
 could not be corrupted, and who considers his 
 honor above his life." 
 
 While a student at Hiram College, Garfield 
 connected himself with the " Church of the Dis- 
 ciples " — a sect founded by Alexander Campbell, 
 one of the most extraordinary men of our time. 
 This Church has a large membership in West 
 Virginia, Kentucky, and Southern and Eastern 
 Ohio. "Its principal peculiarities are its refus- 
 al to formulate its beliefs into a creed, the inde- 
 pendence of each denomination, the hospitality 
 and fraternal feeling of the members, and the 
 
 conscience of his audience when all his rivals 
 fail." 
 
 Father Bentley, a man widely known and 
 loved throughout the Western Reserve, was at 
 this time pastor of the Church of the Disciples 
 at Hiram. He early conceived a strong affec- 
 tion for young Garfield, and, seeing his talents 
 as a speaker, often asked him to address the 
 week-day assemblies of his congregation. He 
 soon went farther, and requested him, in accord- 
 ance with the liberal usages of the Disciples, to 
 officiate, in his absence, at its Sunday gather- 
 ings. This young Garfield did frequently, and 
 he kept up the pYactice during his whole con- 
 nection with the college, which finally led the 
 outside public to regard and speak of him as a 
 minister of the' Gospel. For this position hie 
 pure character and remarkable abilities emi- 
 nently fitted him ; but he never filled it, and 
 never intended to fill it. He early intended to 
 enter the legal profession, and this he finally 
 did, pursuing his studies while continuing his 
 collegiate course, and being admitted to the 
 Bar during his presidency of Hiram College. 
 
 Of Father Bentley a little anecdote is related 
 which shows his estimate, at this early time, of 
 young Garfield's character and abilities. It was 
 at an evening meeting of his church, and the 
 young man was with him on the platform, wait- 
 ing to take his accustomed part in the evening's 
 
 VIEW OP HIRAM. 
 
 were impressive and interesting. There was a 
 cordiality in his disposition which won quickly 
 the fovor and esteem of others. He had a hap- 
 
 £j habit of shaking hands, and would give a 
 eorty grip which betokened » kind-hearted 
 feeling for all. He was always ready to turn 
 his mind and hands in any direction whereby 
 he might add to his meagre store of money. 
 One of his gifts was that of mezzotint drawing, 
 and he gave instracdon in this branch. I was 
 one of his pupils in this, and have now the pict- 
 ure of a cross npon which he did some shading 
 and put on the finishing touches. Upon the 
 margin is written, in the hand of the noted 
 teacher, his own name and his pupil's. There 
 are also two otlier drawings, one of a large Eo- 
 Topean bird on the bough of a tree, and the other 
 a church-yard scene in winter, done by him at 
 that time. In those days the fiicnlty and pupils 
 were in the habit of calling him ' the second 
 Welister,' and the remark was common, 'He 
 will fill die White House yet.' In the Lyceum 
 he early took rank far above the others as a 
 speaker and debater. 
 
 "During the month of Jnne the entire school 
 went in caniages to their annual grove meeting 
 at Randolph, some twenty-five miles away. On 
 this trip he was the life of the party, occasional- 
 ly bursting out in an eloquent strain at the sight 
 of a bird or a trailing vine, or a venerable giant 
 
 lack of any regular ministry." The Scriptures 
 are accepted without note or comment, and any 
 member can address the assemblies. Garfield, 
 who never does anything by halves, entered 
 heartily into the work of this communion, and 
 soon became one of the most prominent mem- 
 bers of the church at Hiram. He was now 
 twenty, and this was his first school as a pub- 
 lic speaker. He spoke in die meetings of the 
 society, and in a short time developed that un- 
 usual power over an audience which still dis- 
 tinguishes him, and he soon became known for 
 many miles around as the most eloquent young 
 man in the county. He is a born orator, and 
 his speeches at this early period displayed the 
 same characteristics that hare in later years 
 made him so widely famous. Says one who 
 has often heard him, "As a popular speaker 
 he has very few equals : even his scholarly and 
 thoughtful manner is forgiven him in view of his 
 earnestness, directness, and honesty of speech. 
 He does not stab his opponents whenever he de- 
 tects a weak place in their armor, and then play 
 with the wonnds he has succeeded in making. 
 He indulges in no fantastic or overstrained 
 flights of exaggerated rhetoric ; and he wants, 
 also, the nervous energy, the word-and-a-blow 
 manner which sometimes makes other speakers 
 so effecuve. But he is none the less a very suc- 
 cessful orator, and wins his way to the &vor and 
 
 exereises, when a political associate entered aad 
 took him away to address a political gathering. 
 The good elder did not at once notice the young 
 man's withdrawal, but when he did, and when die 
 young man was half-way down the aisle, he called 
 to him not to go ; then quickly checking himself, 
 he said to the tmngregation, " Never minO, let 
 him go ; that boy will yet be President of the 
 United States." • 
 
 During his second term at the Eclectic Insd- 
 tute, and while acdng as one of the tutors, Gar- 
 field had, as one of his pupils, the young lady 
 whom he had become intei'ested in at Chester, 
 and who subsequently became his wife. It was 
 also at this dme that he became acquainted with 
 Miss Almeda A. Booth, one of the teachers of the 
 institnUon ; a woman of great ability, and who 
 had a marvellous influence in forming his intel- 
 lectual character. He never speaks of her even 
 now but with strong expressions of veneration, 
 and he still regards her as intellectually the great- 
 est woman — not excepting Margaret Fuller — that 
 this country has produced. She was only nine 
 years his senior ; but she concentrated upon him 
 all the impassioned foree of a strong maternal 
 soul, and she led him to intellectual heights sd- 
 dom trnd by any but the highest intellects. " I 
 never met the man,'' he once said to the writer, 
 " whose mind I feared to grapple with ; but this 
 woman could lead where I found it hard to follow." 
 
10 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 She not only guided his studies, but she shared 
 in them as a comrade and coworker ; and a friend 
 relates how she sat with him after school one 
 night, talking up a thesis he was preparing for 
 an exhibition day, both so supremely absorbed 
 in the work that neither realized the night had 
 worn away till the morning light came breaking 
 through the window. This woman had more in- 
 fluence in forming his intellectual character than 
 any one he ever met, except that great and good 
 man, President Hopkins. She died in 1875, and 
 the tribute which Garfield paid to her memory is 
 one of the most eloquent things, he has* ever spo* 
 ken or written. 
 
 He remained a student at Hiram about three 
 years, and by the close of this period had fitted 
 himself to pass examination for the junior class 
 at college. By alternating work with study, he 
 had laid byabout half enough to carry him through 
 a two years' collegiate course, and it was an in- 
 teresting question how he should provide for the 
 remainder. And now the reputation he had es- 
 tablished for integrity, industry, and persistency 
 of purpose stood him in good stead. The sum 
 needed was several hundred dollars, but a kind- 
 hearted gentleman, who had watched his course, 
 volunteered to loan him the required amount, to 
 be advanced from time to time, when it was need- 
 ed. To secure the advance, Garfield took out a 
 policy of insurance on his life ; and as he placed 
 it in the hands of the worthy gentleman, he said, 
 " If I live, I shall pay you ; and if I die, you will 
 suffer no loss." This kind gentleman is still liv- 
 ing, and still one of the warmest of General Gar- 
 field's fiiends. 
 
 ' ' Pecuniary difficulties thus dispcsed of, he was 
 ready to start. But where ? He had originally 
 intended to attend Bethany College, the institu- 
 tion sustained by the church of which he was a 
 member, and presided over by Alexander Camp- 
 bell, the man above all others whom he had been 
 taught to admire and revere. But as study and 
 experience had enlarged his vision, he had come 
 to see that there were better institutions outside 
 the limits of his peculiar sect. A familiar letter 
 of his, written about this time, from which a for- 
 tunate accident enables 'is to quote, shall tell us 
 bow he reasoned and acted : 
 
 ' ' ' There are three reasons why I have decided 
 not to go to Bethany : 1st. The course of study 
 is not so extensive or thorough as in Eastern 
 colleges. 2d. Bethany leans too heavily toward 
 slavery. 3d. I am the son of Disciple parents, 
 am one myself, and have had but little acquaint- 
 ance with people of other views; and having al- 
 ways lived in the West, I think it will make me 
 more liberal, both in my religious and general 
 views and sentiments, to go into a new circle, 
 where I shall be under new influences. These 
 considerations led me to conclude to go to some 
 New England college. I therefore wrote to the 
 Presidents of Brown University, Yale, and Wil- 
 liams, setting forth the amount of study I had 
 done, and asking how long it would take me to 
 finish their course. 
 
 " ' Their answers are now before me. All tell 
 me J can graduate in two years. They are all 
 brief, business notes, but President Hopkins con- 
 dudes with this sentence, 'If you come here we 
 shall be glad to do what we can for you.' Other 
 things being so nearly equal, this sentence, which 
 seems to be a kind of friendly grasp of the hand, 
 has settled the question for me. I shall start for 
 Williams next week.' 
 
 "Some points in this letter of a young man 
 about to start away from home to college will 
 strike the reader as remarkable. Nothing could 
 show more mature judgment about the matter in 
 hand than the wise anxiety to get out from the 
 Disciples' influence, aijd see something of other 
 men and other opinions. It was notable that 
 one trained to look upon Alexander Campbell 
 as the master intellect of the churches of the day, 
 should revolt against studying in his college be- 
 cause it leaned too strongly toward slavery. 
 And in the final turning of the decision upon the 
 little friendly commonplace that closed one of 
 the letters, we catcli a glimpse of the warm sym- 
 pathetic nature of the man, which much and wide 
 experience of the world in after -years has never 
 hardened. 
 
 "So, in the fallof 1854, the pupil of the Geauga 
 Seminary and of the Hiram Institute applied for 
 admission at the venerable doors of Williams 
 College. He knew no graduate of the College, 
 and no student attending it ; and of the Presi- 
 dent he only knew that he had published a vol- 
 ume of lectures which he liked, and that he had 
 said a kindly word to him when he spoke of 
 coming. 
 
 "The Western carpenter and village school- 
 teacher received many a shock in the new sphere 
 in which he now entered. On every hand he 
 was made to feel the social superiority of his fel- 
 low-students. Their ways were free from the 
 little awkward habits of the untrained laboring 
 youth. Their speech was free from the uncouth 
 phrases of the provincial circles in which he had 
 moved. Their toilets made the handiwork of 
 his village tailor look sadly shabby. Their free- 
 handed expenditures contrasted strikingly with 
 his enforced parsimony. To some tough-fibred 
 hearts these would have been only petty annoy- 
 ances ; to the warm, social, generous mind of 
 young Garfield they seem, from more than one 
 indication of his college life that we can gath- 
 er, to have been a source of positive anguish. 
 But he bore bravely up, maintained the advance 
 standing in the junior class to which he had been 
 admitted on his arrival, and at the end of his 
 two years course bore off the metaphysical honor 
 of his class, reckoned at Williams among the 
 highest within the gift of the institution to her 
 graduating members."* 
 
 By those who knew Garfield at this time he 
 is described as a tall, awkward youth, with a 
 great shock of light hair rising nearly erect 
 from a broad, high forehead, and an open, kind- 
 ly, and thoughtful face, which showed no traces 
 of his long struggle with poverty and privation. 
 His classmates still speak of his prodigious in- 
 dustry, his cordial, hearty, and social ways, and 
 the great zest with which he entered into all the 
 physical exercises of the students. He soon be- 
 came distinguished as the most ready and ef- 
 fective debater in the college, and one occasion 
 on which he displayed these peculiar abilities is 
 specially mentioned. Charles Sumner had been 
 stricken down in the Senate-chamber by Brooks 
 of South Carolina, and the news reaching the 
 college, caused great excitement among the stu- 
 dents. An indignation meeting was that even- 
 ing held among them, and, mounting the plat- 
 form, Garfield — so says my informstnt, who was 
 himself one of the students — delivered "one of 
 the most impassioned and eloquent speeches that 
 was ever heard in old Williams. " 
 
 There are many anecdotes afloat of Garfield's 
 wielding the saw and jack-plane while he was a 
 student at Williams College, but all these are in- 
 correct ; though he did fill up his vacations by 
 teaching in the neighboring towns and villages, 
 and it is true that he taught penmanship one 
 winter at North Pownal, and in the same room 
 where the present candidate for the Vice-presi- 
 dency had, two winters before, taught the com- 
 mon English branches. The Eev. T. Brooks, a 
 respected minister of the Disciples' Church, re- 
 lates meeting Garfield at this time at Poestenkill. 
 "I forifled an intimate acquaintance with him," 
 he writes, "and admired his genial, manly, and 
 pleasant ways. Shortly afterward, there being 
 a vacancy in the Higli School in Troy, and hav- 
 ing an influence by which I could secure it for a 
 friend, I offered it to Garfield, well knowing his 
 financial needs. After listening to my enumera- 
 tion of the advantages of taking the vacant posi- 
 tion, he rose, and, with a flush of animation and 
 decision, said, ' Brother Brooks, this is exceed- 
 ingly tempting, and l thank you, but it has been 
 the ambition and struggle of my life to win an 
 honorable diploma from some Eastern college, 
 for then I can hold it in the face of the world, 
 and win honor and distiuction. I cannot ac- 
 cept the alluring offer.' " 
 
 At this very time Giirfield was so sadly sti'ait- 
 ened for money that he had to run into debt for 
 
 * The above extract is quoted from an admirable 
 sketch of General Gai-fleld in Whitelaw Reid's "Ohio 
 in the War," a Ixtok which every one should read who 
 would know the li\rjj:e array of emiueiit men Ohio has 
 given to the cunutry during the present generation. 
 
 a suit of clothes,* and was uncertain if he might 
 not be obliged to leave college, and resort tempora- 
 rily to the carpenter's bench to obtain the requisite 
 funds to finish his collegiate course. His good 
 Portage County friend had fallen into embarrass- 
 ments, and could no longer continue his remit- 
 tances. At first Garfield was at a loss what to 
 do, or which way to turn, but then he wrote to 
 the kind-hearted Dr. Eobison, who had five years 
 before passed so favorable a judgment on his 
 physical and mental powers. The good Doctor 
 at once remitted him the required sum, and add- 
 ed a request that he would call on him for more 
 whenever it was needed. Garfield did occasion- 
 ally draw on him from that time till the end of 
 his collegiate course. t 
 
 In 1856 Garfield was graduated, bearing off, 
 as has been said, the metaphysical honor of his 
 class. He was now twenty-five ; and as the re- 
 sult of his constant, self-denying toil of nearly 
 twenty years, he had a collegiate education, a 
 few threadbare clothes, a score or more of col- 
 lege text-books, his diploma, and a debt of four 
 hundred and fifty dollars. But, being in excel- 
 lent health, and strong and active, mentally and 
 physically, he was splendidly accoutred for the 
 work of life, and not long in finding a field for 
 his activities. He was at once elected teach- 
 er of Latin and Greek in the college at Hiram. 
 The college was poor and in debt, but Garfield 
 threw all his energies into the work of building 
 it up on a solid foundation. He soon became 
 distinguished as a teacher ; and students from 
 far and near flocked to Hiram. 
 
 In 1858, while teacher of Latin and Greek at 
 Hiram, Garfield was married to Miss Lucretia 
 Rudolph, his former pupil at Hiram, and school- 
 mate at Chester Academy ; and she soon proved 
 herself a most efficietit helpmate in his studies and 
 college duties. His life now was a most hiborious 
 one, and he has often said that he could not 
 
 * The mud-slingers have warmed up to their work 
 snfiiciently to charge General Garfield with refusing 
 to pay for these cIothcB until he had been dunued a 
 number of times. The Troy Press, eager to do Bome 
 of the dirty work of the cauvaes, leuds itself to the 
 buBiuesB, but in its haste it makes the blunder of 
 uamlug the man who made the clothes. Q'he latter 
 gentleman, Peter S. Haskell by name, publishes a card 
 in The Troy Times deJiyiug the story in this concise 
 way; "It is true I made a suit of clothes for Mr. Gar- 
 field when he was preaching and teaching in Foesten- 
 kill, in this countjr. He was then a poor young man, , 
 struggliug to obtaiu an education. Oue of my custom- 
 ers came to me and said, ' There is a youug man in 
 the village who wants a suit of clothes. He canuot 
 pay. for them now, but you will get your money. Will 
 you make them for him f ' 1 replied that I would. In 
 a day or two Mr. Garfield came iu, told me his cir- 
 cumstances and the amount of time he would require 
 to pay for the clothes. In exact accordance with his 
 agreement he paid me, and I did not have to jog his 
 memory in order to get my money. I regard James 
 A. Garfield as an honest and truthful mau, and I am 
 very sorry to see thus early in the campaign an effort 
 made to impeach his character." 
 
 t President Chidbonine, of Williams College, said 
 recently, "The college life of General Garflfld was 
 so perfect, so rounded, so pure, so in accordance with 
 what it ought to be in all respects, that I can add noth- 
 ing to it by eulogizing him. It was a noble college 
 life; there are no stories to be told of General Gar- 
 field as a college student. On the contrary, everything 
 about him was high aud noble and manly ; the man 
 in college gave promise of what the man is to-day. 
 And so, when some charges weie made against him 
 some years ago, I wrote to General Garfield, and have 
 said in speeches since that time, that when n youu» 
 man goes through a college coarse without exhibit- 
 ing a mean or dishonest trait, and then goes out aud 
 lives BO as to impress upon other meu the idea that 
 he has been true at all times and in all places, it will 
 take a great deal of proof to convince me that that 
 man has forsalten the path he trod so long. And I 
 have aeon nothing to shake my confidence iu General 
 Garfield from the day he entered college until to-day, 
 as he stands up before the people as a candidate for 
 President of the Uuited States." 
 
 When the news of Garlteld's nomination was re- 
 ceived at the college, the wildest enthusiasm prevail- 
 ed among the students. A Garfield clnD was formed 
 m ten miuntes, and the Btudenis paraded the streets. 
 President Chadbounie made them a brief address, 
 
 ^?5"",.S),"-*-" ™^ ^"'■''^ *'"'" ^^ "^^^ '" niaking'speechea 
 this fal . It seems bat a few days since I used to call 
 General Garfield up to recite, and he never fiuuked. 
 When the Duke of Wellington visited Ktoii College, 
 after the battle of Waterloo, he said, ' Boys, the vic- 
 tory of Waterloo was won upon this ground,' aud 
 80 the foundation of Garflpld's Buccessfurnominntioa 
 was laid upon this ground." The words of President 
 Chadbourne, oue of the best and purest men in the 
 laud, show how General Garfield is regarded by all 
 who know him welL 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 11 
 
 have gone througli with liis work wicoout her 
 aid, nnd that of his accomplished friend, Miss 
 Ahiiedii Booth. At one time hedelivered a course 
 of lectures on geology, held debates on subjects 
 of public interest, spoke frequently on Sunday, 
 and heard the recitations of five or six classes 
 every day, besides attending to all the financial 
 affairs of the college, and studying for admission 
 to the Bar. But these glorious women followed 
 him in all his studies, and shared his labors. 
 When he had speeches to make, or lectures to 
 deliver,they would ransack the library by day, 
 collecting fiicts, and marking books ibr reference 
 to be, at night, used iu the preparation of his 
 discourses. He displayed striking literary abili- 
 ties, and some of his productions at this time 
 were of a very high order. His mirid retained 
 and digested easily all that he read, and, like 
 Macaulay, he was an omnivorous reader of his- 
 tory and genei-al literature. He was, iu short, a 
 marvel of application and industry ; and so pop- 
 ular did he become, that at the end of the year 
 he was made President of the College — a posi- 
 tion which he held till the outbreak of the war. 
 
 The college soon felt the effects of his won- 
 derful industry. It soon entei-ed upon a career 
 of prosperity, and won a high rank among West- 
 ern educational institutions. Of Garfield's meth- 
 ods as an etiucator, one of his pupils, the Rev. 
 J. L. Darsie, of Danbury, Connecticut, gives the 
 following testimony : 
 
 " I attended, " he writes, " the Western Reserve 
 Institute when Garfield was Principal, and I 
 rec.ill vividly his method of teaching. He took 
 very kindly to me, and assisted me in various 
 ways, because I was poor and was janitor of the 
 bnildings, and swept them out in the morning 
 and built the fires, as he had done only six years 
 before, when he was a pupil at the same college. 
 He was full of animal spirits, and nsed to run 
 out on the green almost eveiy day and play crick- 
 et with his scholars. He was a tall, strong man, 
 but dreadfully awkward. Every now and then 
 he would get a hit, and he mu&d his ball and 
 lost his hat as a regular thing. He was left- 
 handed, too, and that made him seem all the 
 clumsier. Bnt he was most powerful and very 
 quick, and it was easy for ns to undei-stand how 
 it was that he had acquired the reputation of 
 whipping all the other mnle-drivers on the cannl, 
 and of making himself the hero of that thorough- 
 fare when he followed its tow-path tea years ear- 
 lier. 
 
 " No matter how old the pupils wei-e, Garfield 
 alwiiys called ns by our first names, and kept 
 himself on the most familiar terms with all. He 
 played with as freely, and we treated him oat 
 of the class-room just about as we did one anoth- 
 ei-. Yet he was a most strict disciplinarian, and 
 enforced the rules like a martinet. He com- 
 bined an affectionate and confiding manner with 
 respect for order in a most saccessfal manner. 
 If he wanted to speak to a pupil, either for re- 
 proof or approbation, he would generally manage 
 to get one arm around him and draw him close 
 ap to him. He had a peculiar way of shaking 
 hands, too, giving a twist to your arm and draw- 
 ingyoQ right up to him. This sympathetic man- 
 ner has helped him to advancement. When I 
 was janitor, he used sometimes to stop me and 
 ask my opinion about this and that, as if serious- 
 ly advising with me. I can see now that my 
 opinion could not have been of any value, and 
 that he probably asked me partly to increase 
 my self-respect, and partly to show me that he 
 felt an interest in me. I certainly was his friend 
 all the firmer for it. 
 
 "I remember once asking him what was the 
 best ^vay to pursue a certain study, and he said, 
 ' Use several text-books. Get the views of dif- 
 ferent authoi-s as yoa advance. In that way yon 
 can plough a broader furrow. I always study in 
 that way.' He tried hard to teach us to observe 
 carefully and accurately. He broke ont one day 
 in the midst of a lesson with, ' Henry, how many 
 posts are there under the building down-stairs ?' 
 Henry expressed his opinion, and the question 
 went around the class, hardly any one getting it 
 right. Then it was, ' How many boot-scrapers 
 are there at the door V ' How many windows in 
 the building?' ' How many trees in the field ?' 
 
 What were the colors of different rooms, and the 
 peculiarities of any familiar objects. He was 
 the keenest observer I evei- saw. 1 think he no- 
 ticed and numbered every button on our coats. 
 A friend of mine was walking with him through 
 Cleveland one day, when Garfield stopped and 
 darted down a. cellar-way, asking his companion 
 to follow, and briefly pausing to explain himself. 
 The sign 'Saws and Files' was over the door, 
 and in the depths was heard a regular clicking 
 sound., ' I think this fellow is cutting files, said 
 he, ' and I have never seen a file cut. ' Down 
 they went, and, sure enongh, there was a man 
 recutting an old file, and they stayed ten minutes 
 and found out all about the process. Garfield 
 would never go by anything without underetand- 
 ■ing it. 
 
 "Mr. Garfield was very fond of lecturing to 
 the school. He spoke two or three times a week, 
 on all manner of topics, generally scientific, 
 though sometimes literary or historical. He 
 spoke with great freedom, never writing ont what 
 he had to say, and I now think that his lectures 
 were a rapid compilation of his current reading, 
 and that he threw it into this form partly for 
 the purpose of impressing it on his own mind, 
 tiis fhcility of speech was learned when he was 
 a pupil at Hiram. The societies had, a rule that 
 every student should take his stand on the plat- 
 form and speak for five minutes on any topic 
 suggested at the moment by the audience. It 
 was a vei'y trying ordeal. Garfield broke down 
 ibadly tlie first two times he tried to speak, bat 
 persisted, and was at last, when he went to Wil- 
 liams, one of the best of the five-minute speak- 
 ers. When he returned as Principal, his readi- 
 ness was striking and remarkable." 
 
 Another of his pupils, Henry James, writes as 
 follows, speaking of him at this period : 
 
 "There began to grow np in me an admira- 
 tion and love for Garfield that has never abated, 
 and the like of which I have never known. A 
 bow cf recognition, or a single word from him, 
 was to me an inspiration. Garfield taught me 
 more than any other man, living or dead ; and 
 proud as I am of his record as a soldier and a 
 statesman, I can hardly forgive him for abandon- 
 ing the academy for tlie field and the forum." 
 
 To the same puiport is the following from 
 President Hinsdale, Garfield's successor in the 
 college at Hiram, and one of his former pupils : 
 
 "My real acquaintance with Garfield," he 
 writes, "did not begin until the fiiU of 1856, 
 when he returned from Williams College. He 
 then found me ont, drew near to me, and entered 
 into all my troubles and difficulties pertaining to 
 questions of the future. In a greater or less de- 
 gree this was true of his relations to his pupils 
 generally. There ai'e hundreds of these men 
 and women scattered over the world to-day who 
 cannot find language strong enough to express 
 their feeling in contemplating Garfield as their 
 old instructor, ad\iser, and friend. Since 1856 
 my relations with him have been as close and 
 confidential as they could be with any man, and 
 much closer and more confidential than they 
 have been with any other man. I do not say 
 that it would be possible for me to know any- 
 body better than I know him, and I kqow that 
 he possesses all the great elements of character 
 in an extraordinary degree. His interest in hu- 
 manity has always been as broad as humanity 
 itself, while his lively interest in young men and 
 women, especially if they were struggling in nar- 
 row circumstances to obtain an education, is a 
 characteristic known as widely over the world 
 as the footsteps of Hiram boys and girls have 
 wandered. The help that he fui-nished hun- 
 dreds in the way of suggestions, teaching, en- 
 couragement, inspiration, and stimulus, was most 
 valuable. I have repeatedly said that, as re- 
 spects myself, I am more indebted to him for all 
 that I am, and for what I hAve done in the in- 
 tellectual field, than to any other man that ever 
 lived. His power over students was not so 
 much that of a drill-master or disciplinarian as 
 that of one who was able to inspire and energize 
 young people by his own intellectual and moral 
 fi)tfe." 
 
 In the course of a lecture delivei-ed at the 
 College on the day following Garfield"^ nomina- 
 
 tion, this same gentleman read a letter from his 
 former preceptor, dated as far back as 1857, 
 which siiould be read and pondered by every 
 young man in the country. 
 
 He said that in the fall of 1856 he had left 
 the Eclectic Institute, now Hiram College, in 
 great distress of mind, growing out of his own 
 life -questions. He had passed his nineteenth 
 birthday, and the question of the future weighed 
 heavily upon his mind. That winter he taught 
 a district school. He had already won a friend 
 in Mr. Garfield, then twenty-five years old, and 
 just out of Williams College. Garfield was then 
 teaching at Hiram as Professor of Ancient Lan- 
 guages. In his distress of mind Hinsdale wrote 
 Garfield a letter, in which he fully opened his 
 mind. In reply, he received a letter that gave 
 him great help. This letter, which had been re- 
 ligiously preserved, might give help to some i>( 
 the young men before him, the President thought 
 Besides, there was peculiar propriety in his pro- 
 ducing it, on account of what had taken place 
 the day before in Chicago. He then proceeded 
 to read from the original, yellow with age, and 
 worn from repeated foldings and unfuldings, the 
 following beautiful letter : 
 
 "Hiram, Jan. 15th, 185T. 
 
 "Mt dear Brother Burke, — I was made 
 very glad a few days since by the receipt of your 
 letter. It was a very acceptable New-year's 
 present, and I take great pleasure in responding. 
 You have given a vivid picture of a community 
 in which intelligence and morality have been 
 neglected, and 1 am glad you are disseminating 
 the light. Certainly, men must have some 
 knowledge in order to do right. God first said, 
 'Let there be Ifght.' Afterward he said, 'It 
 is very good.' I am glad to hear of your suc- 
 cess in teaching: but I approach with much 
 more interest the consideration of the question 
 you have proposed. Brother mine, it is not a 
 quesdon to be discussed in the spirit of debate, 
 but to be thought over and prayed over as a 
 question out of which are the issues of life. You 
 will agree with me that every one must decide 
 and direct his own course in life — and the only 
 service friends can afford is to give us the data 
 from which we must draw our own conclusion 
 and decide onr course. Allow me, then, to sit 
 beside you and look over the field of life and see 
 what are its aspects. I am not one of those who 
 advise every one to undertake the work of a lib- 
 eral education. Indeed, I believe that in two- 
 thirds of the cases such advice would be unwise. 
 The great body of the people will be and ought 
 to be (intelligent) fiirmers and mechanics, and in 
 many respects these pass the most independent 
 and happy lives. But God has endowed some 
 of his children with desires and capabilities for a 
 more extended field of labor and influence, and 
 so every life should be shaped according to what 
 the man hath. Now, in reference to yourself, I 
 know you have capabilities for occupying posi- 
 tions of high and impprtant trust in the scenes 
 of active lifSs, and I am sure you will not call it 
 flattery in me nor egotism in yourself to say so. 
 
 "Tell me, Bai^e, do you not fed a spirit stir- 
 ring within yoa that longs to know, to do, and 
 to dare? to hold converse with the great world 
 of thought, and hold before you some high and 
 noble object to which the vigor of your mind and 
 the strength of your arm may be given ? Do 
 you not have longings sach as these which you 
 breathe to no one, and which you feel must be 
 heeded, or yoa will pass through life unsatisfied 
 and regretful? I am sure you have these, and 
 they will fi^rever cling around your heart until 
 yoa obey their mandate. They are the voices - 
 of that nature which God has ' given yon, and 
 which, when obeyed, will bless you and your fel- 
 low-men. Now, all this-might be true, and yet 
 it might be your duty not to follow that course. 
 If your duty to your father or your mother de- 
 mands that yoD take another, 1 shall rejoice to 
 see you taking that other coarse. The path of 
 duty is where we all ought to walk, be that where 
 it may ; but I sincerely hope that yon will not, 
 without an earnest struggle, give up a course <^ 
 liberal study. Suppose you could not begin yonr 
 study again until after your majority. It will 
 not be too late then, bat you will gain in many 
 
12 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 respects. Yoa will have more maturity of mind 
 to appreciate wiiatever you may study. You 
 may say you will be too old to begin the course, 
 but how could you better spend the earlier days 
 of life ? We should not measure life by the days 
 and moments that we pass on earth. ' The life 
 is measured by the soul's advance, the enlarge- 
 ment of its powers, the expanded field wherein 
 it ranges, till it burns and glows with heavenly 
 joy, with high and heavenly hope. ' It need be 
 no discouragement that you be obliged to hew 
 your own way and pay your own charges. You 
 can go to school two terms of every year and pay 
 your own way. I know this, for I did so when 
 teachers' wages were much lower than they are 
 now. It is a great truth, that ' Where there is a 
 will there is a way. ' It may be that by-and-by 
 your father could assist you. It may be that 
 even now he could, let you commence on your 
 resources, so that you could begin immediately. 
 Of this you know, and I do not. I need not tell 
 you how glad 1 should be to assist you in your 
 work. But if you cannot come to Hiram while 
 I am here, I shall still hope to hear that you are 
 determined to go on as soon as the time will per- 
 mit. Will you not write me your thoughts on 
 this whole subject, and tell me your prospects ? 
 We are having a vei-y good time in the school 
 this winter. Give my love to Rolden and Louisa, 
 and believe me always your friend and brother, 
 "J. A. Garfield. 
 "P.S. — Miss Booth and Mr. Ehodes send 
 their love to you. Henry James was here, and 
 made me a good visit a few days ago. He is 
 doing well. He and I have talked of going to 
 see you this winter. I fear w; cannot do it. 
 How far is it from here? Burke, was it pro- 
 phetic that my last word to you ended on the 
 picture of the Capitol of Congress ? J. A. G. " 
 
 The last question in the postscript refers to 
 the little picture of the Capitol which, in those 
 days, was so common in the upper left-hand cor- 
 ner of the Congress note-paper. The letter was 
 written on one of these sheets, and filled it com- 
 pletely, and was written crosswise at the end, 
 the last word coming exactly across the picture 
 of the Capitol. The General was quick to per- 
 ceive this, and referred to it in that neat question. 
 
 But a better idea of Garfield as an educator, 
 and of his work at Hiram, can be obtained from 
 the following remarks he made to a friend, than 
 from anything that any other person has written 
 on the subject. It was in 1 877, after he had 
 made one of his masterly speeches in that hard- 
 fought campaign, and as he lay upon his back 
 under one of the famous old elms of Guernsey 
 County, Ohio, that he thus unbosomed himself 
 to one of his former college companions. He 
 said, ' ' r have taken more solid comfort in the 
 thing itself, and received more moral recompense 
 and stimulus in after-life from capturing young 
 men for an education than from anything else 
 in the world." 
 
 "As I look back over my life thus' far," he 
 continued, "I think of nothing that so fills me 
 with pleasure as the planning of these sieges, the 
 revolving in my mind of plans for scaling the 
 walls of the fortress ; of gaining access to the 
 inner soul-life, and at last seeing the besieged 
 party won to a fuller appreciation of himself, to 
 a higher conception of life, and of the part he is 
 to bear in it. The principal guards which I 
 have found it necessary to overcome in gaining 
 these victories are the parents or guardians of 
 the young men themselves. I particularly re- 
 member two such instances of capturing young 
 men from their parents. Both of those boys are 
 to-day educators of wide reputation — one Presi- 
 dent of a college, the other high in the ranks of 
 graded school managers. Neither, in my opin- 
 ion, would to-day have been above the common- 
 est walks of life unless I or some one else had 
 captured him. There is a period in every 
 young man's life when a very small thing will 
 turn him one way or the other. He is distrust- 
 ful of himself, and uncertain as to what he should 
 do. His parents are poor„ perhaps, and argue 
 that he has more education than they ever ob- 
 tained, and that it is enough. These parents are 
 sometimes a little too anxious in regard to what 
 
 their boys are going to do when they get through 
 with their college course. They talk to the 
 young man too much, and I have noticed that 
 the boy who will make the best man is some- 
 times most ready to doubt himself. I always 
 remember the turning period in my own life, 
 and pity a young man at this stage from the 
 bottom of my heart. One of the young men I 
 refer to came to me on the closing day of the 
 spring term and bade me good-bye at my study. 
 I noticed that he awkwardly lingered after I ex- 
 pected him to go, and had turned to my writing 
 again. ' I suppose you will be back again in the 
 fall, Heniy,' I said, to fill in the vacuum. He 
 did not answer, and, turning toward him, I no- 
 ticed that his eyes were filled with tears, and that 
 his countenance was undergoing contortions of 
 pain. 
 
 "He at length managed to stammer out, 'No, 
 I am not coming back to Hiram any more. Fa- 
 ther says I have got education enough, and that 
 he needs me to work on the farm ; ' that educa- 
 tion don't help along a farmer any. ' 
 
 " ' Is your father here ?' I asked, almost as 
 much affected by the statement as the boy him- 
 self. He was a peculiarly bright boy — one of 
 those strong, awkward, bashful, blonde, large- 
 headed fellows, such as make men. , He was not 
 a prodigy by any means. But he knew what 
 work meant, and when he had won a thing by 
 the true endeavor, he knew its value. 
 
 " ' Yes, father is here, and is taking my things 
 home for good,' said the boy, more affected than 
 ever. 
 
 " ' Well, don't feel badly,' I said. ' Please tell 
 him Mr. Garfield would like to see him at his 
 study before he leaves the village. Don't tell 
 him that it is about you, but simply that I want 
 to see him.' In the course of half an hour the 
 old gentleman, a robust specimen of a Western 
 Beserve Yankee, came into the room, and awk- 
 wardly sat down. I knew something of the man 
 before, and I thought I knew how to begin. I 
 shot right at the bull's-eye immediately. 
 
 " ' So you have come up to take Henry home 
 with you, have you ?' The old gentleman an- 
 swered ' Yes.' ' I sent for you because I wanted 
 to have a little talk with you about Henry's future. 
 He is coming back again in the fall, I hope ?' 
 
 " ' Wal, I think not. I don't reckon I can 
 afford to sind him any more. He's got eddica- 
 tion enough for a farmer already, and I notice 
 that when they git too much they sorter git lazy. 
 Yer eddicated farmers are humbugs. Henry's 
 got so far 'long now that he'd rother hev his 
 head in a book than be workin'. He don't take 
 no interest in the stock nor in the farm improve- 
 ments. Everybody else is dependent in this 
 world on the farmer, and I think that we've got 
 too many eddjcated fellows setting around now 
 for the farmers to support. ' 
 
 '"I am sorry to hear you talk so,' I said; 
 ' for really I consider Henry one of the bright- 
 est and most faithful students I have ever had. 
 I have taken a very deep interest in him. What 
 I wanted to say to you was that the matter of 
 educating him has largely been a constant out- 
 go thus far, but if he is permitted to come next 
 fall term, he will be far enough advanced so that 
 he can teach school in the winter, and begin to 
 help himself and you along. He can earn very 
 little on the farm in the winter, and he can get 
 very good wages teaching. How does that 
 strike yoii ?' 
 
 "The idea was a new and good one to him. 
 He simply remarked, 'Do you really think he 
 can teach next winter ?' 
 
 "'I should think so, certainly,' I replied. 
 ' But if he cannot do so then, he can in a short 
 time, anyhow.' 
 
 " ' Wal, I will think on it.' He wants to come 
 back bad enough, and I guess I'll have to let 
 him. I never thought of it that way afore.' 
 
 "I knew I was safe. It was the financial 
 question that troubled the old gentleman, and I 
 knew that would be overcome when Henry got 
 to teaching, and could earn his money himself. 
 He would then be so far along, too, that he could 
 fight his own battles. He came all right the 
 next fall, and, after finishing at Hiram, gradu- 
 ated at an Eastern college. " 
 
 His friend asked General Garfiel.) how he 
 managed the campaign for capturing the other 
 young man. 
 
 "Well, that was a different case. I knew 
 that this youth was going to leave mainly for 
 financial reasons also, but I understood his fa- 
 ther well enough to know that the matter must 
 be managed with exceeding delicacy. He was 
 a man of very strong religious convictions, and 
 I thought he might be approached from that side 
 of his character ; so when I got the letter of the 
 son telling me, in the saddest language that he 
 could master, that he could not come back to 
 school any more, but must be content to be simply 
 a farmer, much as it was against his inclination, I 
 revolved the matter in my mind, and decided to 
 send an appointment to preach in the little coun- 
 try church where the pld gentleman attended. 
 I took for a subject the parable of the talents, 
 and in the course of my discourse dwelt special- 
 ly upon the fact that children were the talents 
 which had been intrusted to parents, and if these 
 talents were not increased and developed there 
 was a fearful trust neglected. After church I 
 called upon the parents of the boy I was besieg- 
 ing, and I saw that something was weighing 
 upon their minds. At length the subject of the 
 discourse was taken up and gone over again, 
 and in due course the young man himself was 
 discussed, and I gave my opinion that he should 
 by all means be encouraged and assisted in tak- 
 ing a thorough course of study. I gave my 
 opinion that there was nothing more important 
 to the parent than to do all in his power for the 
 child. The next term the young man again 
 appeared upon Hiram Hill, and remained pretty 
 continuously till graduation." 
 
 Garfield's private life was spotless, his nature 
 whole-souled and generous, his personal presence 
 commanding and magnetic, his ability and integ- 
 rity alike unquestioned; and he was an ora- 
 tor, with the warm feelings, the fervid imagina- 
 tion and the Intense purpose which electrify great 
 masses of men. His public addresses had made 
 him widely known throughout his district, and it 
 was natural that he should be looked to as a 
 leader in the stirring times that now were ap- 
 proaching. Up to 1856 he had taken but little 
 interest in public affairs. He had been engross- 
 ed in his work as an educator; but with the 
 Kansas-Nebraska legislation his political pulses 
 began to stir. He saw that freedom was about 
 to engage in a hand-to-hand struggle with slav- 
 ery, and, attempered as he was, he was irresisti- 
 bly drawn into the conflict. It was the birth- 
 day of the Republican party, all whose aims ap- 
 pealed to his judgment, his feelings and his im- 
 agination. He enrolled himself at once among 
 its speakers, and became at once one of its most 
 effective advocates. In a speech at a later time 
 he thus alludes to this stirring period: "Long 
 familiarity with traflSc in the bodies and souls of 
 men had paralyzed the consciences of a majority 
 of our people. The baleful doctrine of State 
 sovereignty had shaken and weakened the no- 
 blest and most beneficent powers of the National 
 Government ; and the grasping power of slavery 
 was seizing the virgin territories of the West and 
 dragging them into the den of eternal bondage. 
 At that crisis the Republican party was born. 
 It drew its first inspiration from that fire of 
 liberty which God has lighted in every human 
 heart, and which all the powers of ignorance and 
 tyranny can never wholly extinguish. The Re- 
 publican party came to deliver and save the Re- 
 public. It entered the arena where the belea- 
 gured and assailed territories were struggling for 
 freedom, and drew around it the sacred circle of 
 liberty which the demon of slavery has never 
 dared to cross. It made them free forever." 
 
 It was quite natural that the strong antislav- 
 ery people of Portage and Summit counties 
 should select him as a representative, so in 1859 
 he was nominated for the State Senate. He 
 was elected by a large majority, and though yet 
 scarcely twenty-eight, at once took high rank as 
 a man unusually well-informed on the subjects of 
 legislation, and effective and powerful in debate. 
 When the secession of the Southern States took 
 place, Garfield's course in the Senate was manly 
 and outspoken. He was serving in that body 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 13 
 
 ivhen hostilities broke out, and it was he who 
 sprang to his feet when the President's call for 
 seventy-five thousand men was read in the cham- 
 ber, and, amidst the tumultuous acclamations of 
 the assemblage, moved that twenty thousand 
 troops and three millions of money should at 
 once be voted as the quota of the State. When 
 the time came for appointing the officers for the 
 Ohio troops, Governor Dennison offered him 
 command of a regiment ; and this brings us to 
 the part he took in the War of the Rebellion. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THB EAST KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN. 
 
 General Garfield decided to accept the ap- 
 pointment tendered him by Governor Dennison, 
 and resigning the presidency of the college at 
 Hiram, he placed himself and his abilities whol- 
 ly at the service of the Irrational Government. 
 Before doing so, however, he went to his home, 
 opened the Bible his mother had given him, and 
 pondered long and earnestly upon the subject. 
 He had a wife, a child, and about three thousand 
 dollars. If his life should be sacrificed for his 
 country, would God and the three thousand dol- 
 lars provide for his wife and child ? He consult- 
 ed the Book about it. It seemed to him to give 
 an affirmative answer; and before the morning 
 he wrote to a friend as follows : 
 
 "I have had a curious interest in watching the 
 process in my own mind, by which the fabric of 
 my life is being demolished and reconstructed, 
 to meet the new condition of afiiiirs. One by 
 one my old plans and aims, modes of thought 
 and feeling, are found to be inconsistent with 
 present duty, and are set aside to give place to 
 the new structure of military life. It is not with- 
 out a regret, almost tearful at times, that I look 
 upon the ruins. But if, as the result of the bro- 
 ken plans and shattered individual lives of tlibu- 
 sands of American citizens, we can see on 'the 
 ruins of onr old national errors a new and en- 
 dnring fabric arise, based on larger freedom and 
 higher justice, it will be a small sacrifice indeed. 
 For myself I am contented with such a prospect, 
 and, regarding my life as given to the country, 
 am only anxious to make as much of it as possi- 
 ble before the mortgage upon it is foreclosed." 
 
 It is remarkable with what facility the Ameri- 
 can mind adapts itself to new situations, and this 
 has never been so strikingly illustrated as in the 
 great movements of 1861, which transformed in 
 so short a time so great a multitude of young 
 men from the unlimited independence of Ameri- 
 can citizens to the willing but severe restraints 
 of military discipline. With Garfield, however, 
 it was not merely the temporary adoption of a 
 new profession — it was the overturning of all his 
 life-plans ; and to his mother it was the demoli- 
 tion of all her ambitions hopes — hopes which had 
 sustained her through long years of poverty and 
 privation — that this son would pursue a scholarly 
 career which would be worthy of her distinguished 
 family. But, after the first shock of mingled sur- 
 prise and disappointment was over, she quietly 
 said, " Go, my son ; your life belongs to your 
 country. " 
 
 To this man, who thus went into the war with 
 a life not his own, was given, on the 20th of De- 
 cember, 1861, command of the little army which 
 held Kentucky to her moorings in the Union. 
 
 He knew nothing of war beyond its fundamen- 
 tal principles — which are, I believe, that a big 
 boy can whip a little boy, and that one big boy 
 can whip two little boys, if he take them singly, 
 one after the other. He knew no more about it ; 
 yet he was selected by General Buell — one of the 
 most scientific military men of his time — to solve 
 a military problem which has puzzled the heads 
 of the gi-eatest generals, namely, how two small 
 bodies of men, stationed widely apart, can unite 
 in the presence of an enemy and beat him, Avhen 
 he is of twice their united strength, and strongly 
 posted behind intrenchments. With the help of 
 many "good men and true," he solved this prob- 
 lem ; and in telling how he solved it, I shall give 
 the history of the most remarkable campaign that 
 occurred during the War of the Rebellion. 
 
 In the months of October and November, 1861, 
 this graduate from the Ohio and Pennsylvania 
 
 Canal, with the aid of Judge Sheldon, of Elyria, 
 Don A. Pardee, of Medina, Ralph Plumb, of 
 Oberlin, and other patriotic citizens of his dis- 
 trict, had raised the Forty-second Regiment of 
 Ohio volunteers. Taking its command, he re- 
 paired with it to Camp Chase, and at once set 
 vigorously to work to master the art and mys- 
 tery of war, and to give to his men such a de- 
 gree of discipline as would fit them for effective 
 service in the field. Bringing his saw and jack- 
 plane again into play, he fashioned companies, 
 officers, and non - commissioned officers out of 
 maple blocks, and with these wooden - headed 
 troops thoroughly mastered the infantry tactics 
 in his quartets. Then he organized a school for 
 the officers of his regiment, requiring thorough 
 recitation in the tactics, and illusti°ating the ma- 
 nceuvres by the blocks he had prepared for his 
 own instruction. This done, he instituted regi- 
 mental, company, squad, skirmish, and bayonet 
 drill, and kept his men at these exercises from 
 six to eight hours a day, until it was universally 
 admitted that no better drilled or disciplined 
 regiment could he found in Ohio. 
 
 While thus employed, he was suddenly order- 
 ed by General Buell to move his regiment, by the 
 way of Cincinnati, to Catlettsburg, Kentucky, a 
 town at the junction of the Big Sandy and the 
 Ohio, and to report immediately, in person, to 
 the department head-quarters at Louisville. 
 
 Arriving at Louisville just at sunset on the 
 19th of December, he at once sought an inter- 
 view with General Buell, and was told by that 
 officer that he was to be sent against the Con- 
 federate general, Humphrey Marshall, who had 
 invaded Eastern Kentucky from the Virginia 
 border, and had already advanced as far north 
 as Pi'estonburg, driving the small Union foree 
 before him. 
 
 Entering Kentucky at Pound Gap, Marshall 
 had fortified a strong natural position near Paint- 
 ville, and, with small bands, was overrunning the 
 whole Piedmont region. This region, contain- 
 ing an area larger than the whole of Massachu- 
 setts, was occupied by about four thousand blacks 
 and one hundred thousand whites — a brave, 
 hardy, rural population, with few schools, scarce- 
 ly any churehes, and only one newspaper, but 
 with that sort of patriotism which grows among 
 mountains and clings to its barren hill-sides as 
 if they were the greenest spots in the universe. 
 Among this simple people Marshall was scat- 
 tering firebrands. Stump oratoi's were blazing 
 away at every cross-road, lighting a fire which 
 threatened to sweep Kentucky from the Union. 
 To the Ohio canal-boy was committed the task 
 of extinguishing this conflagration. It was a 
 difficult task ; one which, with the means at com- 
 mand, would have appalled any man not made 
 equal to it by early struggles with hardship and 
 poverty, and entire trust in the Providence that 
 guards his country. 
 
 How many men Marshall had was not known, 
 but he was rapidly gathering an army, and, if 
 unmolested, would soon have a large force with 
 which he could hang on Buell's flank, and so pre- 
 vent his advance into Tennessee; or, if he did 
 advance, cut off his communications, and, fall- 
 ing on his I'ear, while Beauregard encountered 
 him in front, crush him, as it were, between the 
 upper and nether mill-stones. This done, Ken- 
 tucky was lost; and that occuiTing so early in 
 the war, the dissolution of the Union might have 
 followed. 
 
 To check this dangerous advance, meet Mar- 
 shall — a thoroughly educated military man — and 
 the uncounted hordes whom his reputation would 
 draw about him, the inexperienced Ohio colonel 
 was offered — what? Twenty-five hundred men 
 — eleven hundred of whom, under Colonel Cra- 
 nor, were at Paiis, Kentucky ; the remainder — 
 his own regiment, and the half- formed Four- 
 teenth Kentucky, nnder Colonel Moore, at Cat- 
 lettsburg ; a hundred miles of mountain country, 
 infested with guerillas, and occupied by a dis- 
 loyal people, being between them. This was 
 the problem of the big boy of uncertain size, but 
 known to be skilled in war, and the two little boys 
 who were to whip him, when, only by a miracle 
 could they act together, and when they knew no 
 more of war than can be learned from the pos- 
 
 turing of wooden blocks, and the crack, perhaps, 
 of squirrel rifles. 
 
 "Thot is what you have to do. Colonel Gar- 
 field — drive Marshall from Kentucky," saidBuell, 
 when he had finished his view of the situation ; 
 '•'and you see how much depends on your ac- 
 tion. Now go to your quarters, think of it 
 overnight, and come here in the morning and 
 tell me how you will do it. " 
 
 On the way to his hotel the young colonel 
 bought a rude map of Kentucky, and then, shut- 
 ting himself in his room, spent the greater part 
 of the night in studying the geography of the 
 country in which he was to operate, and in mak- 
 ing notes of the plan which in the still hours 
 came to him as the only one feasible, and likely 
 to secure the objects of the campaign. 
 
 His interview with the commanding general, 
 on the following morning, was, as may be im- 
 agined, one of peculiar interest. Few army offi- 
 cers ever possessed more reticence, terse logic, and 
 severe military habits than General Buell ; and 
 as the young man laid his rude map and rough- 
 ly-outlined plan on his table, and, with a curious 
 and anxious face, watched his features to detect 
 some indication of his thought, the scene was 
 one for a painter. But no word or look indi- 
 cated the commander's opinion of the feasibility 
 of the plan, or the good sense of the suggestions. 
 He spoke, now and then, in a quiet, sententious 
 manner, but said nothing of approval or disap- 
 proval; only at the close of the conference he 
 did make the single remark — 
 
 " Your orders will be sent to you at six o'clock 
 this evening." 
 
 Promptly at that hour the order came, organ- 
 izing the Eighteenth Brigade of the Army of the 
 Ohio, Colonel Garfield commanding ; and with 
 the order came a letter of instructions, in Buell's 
 own hand, giving general directions for the cam- 
 paign, and recapitulating, with very slight modifi- 
 cations, the plan submitted by Garfield. On the 
 following morning he took leave of his general, 
 and the latter said to him, at parting, 
 
 "Colonel, you will be at so great a distance 
 from me, and communication will be so slow 
 and difficult, that I must commit all mattei°s of 
 detail, and much of the fate of the campaign to 
 your discretion. I shall hope to hear a good ac- 
 count of you." 
 
 Garfield set out at once for Catlettsburg, and, 
 amving there on the 22d of December, found 
 his regiment had already proceeded to Louisa — 
 twenty-eight miles up the Big Sandy. 
 
 A state of general alarm existed throughout 
 the district. The Fourteenth Kentucky — the 
 only force of Union troops left in the Big Sandy 
 region — had been stationed at Louisa ; but had 
 hastily retreated to the mouth of the river dur- 
 ing the night of the 19th, under the impres- 
 sion that Marshall, with his whole force, was 
 following to drive them into the Ohio. Union 
 citizens and their families were preparing to 
 cross the river for safety ; but with the appear- 
 ance of Garfield's regiment a feeling of securi- 
 ty returned, and this was increased when it was 
 seen that the Union troops boldly pushed on to 
 Louisa, without even waiting for their colonel. 
 This, however, was only in pursuance of orders 
 he had telegraphed on the morning after he 
 had formed the plan of the campaign by mid- 
 night, in his dingy quarters at the hotel in Lonis- 
 ville. 
 
 Waiting at Catlettsburg only long enough to 
 forward supplies to his forces, Garfield appeared 
 at Louisa on the morning of the 2't:th of Decem- 
 ber, and thenceforward he became the chief actor 
 in a drama which, all its circumstances consider- 
 ed, is one of the most wondei'ful to be read of in 
 history. 
 
 Garfield had two very difficult things to ac- 
 complish. He had to open communication with 
 Colonel Cranor, while the intervening country, 
 as has been said, was infested with roving bands 
 of guerillas, and QUed with a disloyal people. 
 He had also to form a junction with the force 
 nnder that officer, in the face of a superior eno- 
 my, who would, doubtless, be apprised of his ev- 
 ery movement, and be likely to fall upon his sep. 
 arate columns the moment that either was set iii 
 motion, in the hope of crushing them in detaiL 
 
u 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 Eithei- operation was hazardous, if not well-nigh 
 impossible. 
 
 Evidently, the first thing to be done was to 
 find a tniscwoi'thy messenger to convey de- 
 spatches between the two divisions of the Union 
 army. To this end the Union commander ap- 
 plied to Colonel Moore, of the Fourteenth Ken- 
 tucky. 
 
 " Have you a man," he aslced, "who will die 
 rather than fail or betray us ?" 
 
 The Kentuckian reflected a moment, then an- 
 swered, "I think I have — John Jordan, from 
 the head of Blaine."* 
 
 Jordan was sent for. He was a tall, gaunt, 
 sallow man of about thirty, with small gray eyes, 
 a fine falsetto voice, pitched in the minor key, 
 and his speech was the rude dialect of the moun- 
 tains. His face had as many expressions as 
 could be found in a regiment, and he seemed a 
 strange combination of cunning, simplicity, un- 
 daunted courage, and undoubting faith ; yet, 
 tliongh he might pass for a simpleton, he had a 
 rude sort of wisdom, which, cultivated, might 
 have given his name to history. 
 
 The young colonel sounded him thorotighly, 
 for the fate of the little army might depend on 
 his fidelity. The man's soul was as clear as 
 crystal, and in ten minutes Garfield saw through 
 it. His history is stereotyped in that region. 
 Born among the hills, where the crops are stones, 
 and sheep's noses are sharpened before they can 
 nibble the thin grass between them, his life had 
 been one of the hardest toil and privation. He 
 knew nothing but what Nature, the Bible, the 
 " Course of Time," arid two or three of Shak- 
 speare's plays had taught him ; but somehow in 
 the mountain air he had grown to be a man — 
 a man, as civilized nations account manhood. 
 
 "Why did you come into the war?" at last 
 asked the colonel. 
 
 " To do my sheer fur the kentry, gin'ral," an- 
 swered the man. " And I didn't druv no bar- 
 g'in wi' th' Lord. I guv him my life squar' out ; 
 and ef he's a mind ter tuck it on this tramp, why, 
 it's a liis'n ; I've nothin' ter say agin it." 
 
 " You mean that you've come into the war not 
 expecting to get out of it ?" 
 
 "Thiit's so, gin'ral." 
 
 " Will you die rather than let the despatch be 
 taken ?" 
 
 "I wull." 
 
 The colonel recalled what had passed in his 
 own mind when poring over his mother's Bible 
 that night at his home in Ohio, and it decided 
 him. "Very well," he said; "I will trust 
 you." 
 
 'The despatch was written on tissue-paper, roll- 
 ed into the form of a bullet, coated with warm 
 lead, and put into the hand of ihe Kentuckian. 
 He was given a carbine, a brace of revolvers, 
 and the fleetest horse in his regiment, and, wlien 
 the moon was down, started on his perilous jour- 
 ney. He was to ride at night, and hide in the 
 woods or in the houses of loyal men in the day- 
 time. 
 
 Space will not permit me to detail the inci- 
 dents of this perilous ride over nearly a hundred 
 miles of disaflfected country. On his first day 
 out the scout was waylaid by a band of guerillas, 
 who were apprised of the object of his journey 
 through the treachery of one of his own com- 
 rades in the Fourteenth Kentucky. They sur- 
 rounded the house of a loyal man at which he 
 was sleeping, and he had barely time to intrust 
 the despatch to the worthy housewife, and to 
 enjoin her, in case he was killed, to convey it 
 safely 'o Colonel Cranor at Paris, when the 
 door was burst open, and they were npon him. 
 He fled to the woods, running the gauntlet of 
 his pursuers, and killing one of them before he 
 reached the timber. There he lay concealed 
 till night, when he stole again to the loyal 
 man's dwelling, recovered the despatch, and with 
 it again set out on his hazardous journey. Other 
 perils encountered him ; but at last, at midnight 
 of the following day, he reached the camp of 
 Colonel Cranor, having ridden nearly a hun- 
 
 * The Blaine is a small stream which puts into the 
 Big Sandy a short distance from the town of Loaias, 
 Kentackr. 
 
 dred miles with a rope round his neck, for thir- 
 teen dollars a month, hard-tack, and a shoddy 
 uniform. 
 
 Colonel Cranor opened the despatch. It was 
 dated Louisa, Kentucky, December 24th, mid- 
 night ; and directed him to move at once with 
 his regiment (the Fortieth Ohio, eight hundred 
 strong), by the way of Mount Sterling and Mc- 
 Cormick's Gap, to Prestonburg. He would en- 
 cumber his men with as few rations and as lit- 
 tle luggage as possible, bearing in mind that the 
 safety of his command depended on his expe- 
 dition. He would also convey the despatch to 
 Lieutenant-colonel Woodford at Stamford, and 
 direct him to join the march with his three hun- 
 dred cavalry. 
 
 Hours now were worth months of common 
 time, and on the following morning Cranor's col- 
 umn began to move. The scout lay by till night, 
 then set out on his return, and at last rejoined 
 his regiment in safety. 
 
 The contents of the bullet which Jordan con- 
 veyed to Colonel Cranor indicated that it was 
 the intention of the Union commander to move 
 at once upon the enemy. Of Marshall's real 
 strength he was ignorant; but his scouts and the 
 coun try people reported that the main body of the 
 Confederates — which was intrenched in an almost 
 impregnable position near Paintville — was from 
 four to seven thousand strong, and that an out- 
 lying force of eight hundred occupied West Lib- 
 erty, a town directly on the route by which Cra- 
 nor was to march to efl^ect a junction with the 
 main Union army. Cranor's column, as has been 
 said, was eleven hundred strong, and the main 
 body under Garfield now numbered about fifteen 
 hundred — namely, the Forty- Second Ohio In- 
 fantry, ten hundred and thirteen strong, and the 
 Fourteenth Kentucky Infantry, numbering five 
 hundred rank and file, but imperfectly armed 
 and equipped. All told, therefore, Garfield had 
 a force of twenty-six hundred in a strange dis- 
 trict, andcut off from re-enforcements, with which 
 to meet and crush an army of at least five thou- 
 sand, familiar with the country, and daily receiv- 
 ing recruits from the disaffected Southern coun- 
 ties. 
 
 Evidently a forward movement was hazard- 
 ous ; but the Union commander did not waste 
 time in considering the obstacles and dangers 
 of the expedition. On the morning following 
 the departure of Jordan, he set out up the river 
 with such of his command as were in readiness, 
 and halting at George's Creek, only twenty miles 
 from Marshall's intrenched position, prepared to 
 move at once upon the enemy. 
 
 The roads along the Big Sandy were impas- 
 sable for trains, and the close proximity of the 
 enemy rendered it unsafe to make so wide a 
 detour from the river as would be required to 
 send supplies by the table-lands to the west- 
 ward. In these> circumstances, Garfield decided 
 to depend mainly upon water navigation for 
 the transport of his supplies, and to use the 
 anny train only when his troops were obliged, 
 by absolutely impassable roads, to move away 
 from the river. 
 
 The Big Sandy is a narrow, fickle stream, and 
 finds its way to the Ohio through the roughest 
 and wildest spurs of the Cumberland Mountains. 
 At low-water it is not navigable above Louisa, 
 except for small flat - boats, pushed by hand ; 
 but these ascend as high as Piketon, one hun- 
 dTQu and twenty miles from the mouth of the 
 river. In time of high -water small steamers 
 can reach Piketon ; but heavy fieshets render 
 navigation impracticable, owing to tlie swift cur- 
 rent, filled with floating timber, and to the over- 
 hanging trees, which almost touch one another 
 from the opposite banks. At this time the river 
 was of only moderate height ; but, as will be 
 readily seen, the supply of a brigade at mid- 
 winter by such an uncertain stream, and in the 
 presence of a powerful enemy, was a thing of 
 great difficulty. 
 
 However, the obstacles did not intimidate Gar- 
 field. Gathering together ten days' rations, he 
 chartered two small steamers, and impressed all 
 the flat-boats he could lay hands on, and tiien, 
 taking his army-wagons apart, he loaded them, 
 with his forage and provisions, upon the flat- 
 
 boats. This was on the 1st of January, 1862, 
 and the day before Garfield received an unex- 
 pected re-enforcement, that cannot be omitted 
 in a full statement of the progress of the expe- 
 dition. This was Henry S. (Harry) Brown, who 
 has before been alluded to as a fellow-boatman 
 with Garfield on the Ohio and Pennsylvania 
 Canal. He had served as a kind of scout or 
 rough-rider in West Virginia during the three 
 months' service under Rosecrans ; and hearing 
 of the Sandy Valley Expedition, and that it was 
 commanded by James A. Garfield, from the 
 Ashtabula district in Ohio, he at once con- 
 ceived that he must be his old-time canal-boat 
 companion. He had felt for him, when a boy, 
 a strong affection, and he now hastened to 
 tender him his services. He knew Garfield at 
 once ; but the latter did not so soon recognize 
 him, disguised as he was by time, and the traces 
 of an irregular life and much dissipation. Brown 
 was thoroughly acquainted with the country the 
 army was about entering, and, feeling that he 
 could trust him, Garfield at once sent him 
 ahead of his column to make the circuit of 
 Marshall's camp, and, if possible, to ascertain 
 his actual strength and position. He was also 
 to sweep through the mountain border of Vir- 
 ginia, on the left of the line of march, to learn 
 if the Union forces were likely to be threatened 
 from that quarter. Rosecrans has termed scouts 
 ' ' the eyes of an army. " This man and the scout 
 Jordan were the " eyes " of Garfield's com- 
 mand ; and though they were clad in butternuts, 
 and made no very presentable appearance, the 
 services they rendered were too important to be 
 passed without mention in any detailed account 
 of the expedition. i 
 
 On the following day Garfield put his little 
 army — reduced now, by sickness and garrison 
 duty, to fourteen hundred — in motion. 
 
 It was a toilsome march. The roads were 
 knSe-deep in mire, and, though it was encum- 
 bered with only a light train, the army made 
 very slow progress. Some days it marched 
 five or six miles, and some a considerably less 
 distance ; but on the 6th of January it arrived 
 within seven miles of Paintville. Here the men 
 threw themselves upon the wet ground, and Gar- 
 field laid down in his boots, in a wretched log- 
 hut, to catch a few hours of slumber. About 
 midnight he was roused from sleep by a man 
 who said his business was urgent. He rubbed 
 his eyes, and raised himself on his elbow. 
 
 "Back safe?" he asked. "Have yott seen 
 Cranor?" 
 
 " Yes, colonel ; he can't be more'n two days 
 ahind o' me, nohow." 
 
 " God bless you, Jordan ! You have done us 
 great service," said Garfield, warmly. 
 
 "I thank ye, colonel," answered Jordan, his 
 voice trembling; "that's more pay 'n I expect- 
 ed." 
 
 He had returned safely ; but the Providence 
 which so wonderfully guarded his way out 
 seemed to leave him to find his own way 
 back; for, as he expressed it, "The Lord he 
 cared more for the despatch nor he cared for 
 me ; and it was nat'ral he shu'd ; 'cause my 
 life only counts one, but the despatch — it stood 
 for all Kentucky."* 
 
 In the morning another horseman rode up to 
 the Union head-quarters. He was a messenger 
 direct from General Buell, who had followed 
 Garfield up the Big Sandy with despatches. 
 They contained only a few hurried sentences 
 from a man to a woman, but their value was 
 not to be estimated in money. It was a letter 
 from Marshall to his wife, which Buell had in- 
 tercepted, and it revealed the important fact 
 that the Confederate general had five thousand 
 men— forty-four hundred infantry and six hun- 
 dred cavalry — with twelve pieces of artilleiy ; 
 
 • A detailed account of this scout's perilous ride I 
 wrote for the Atlantic Monthly for October, 1808. In 
 thntacconnt, following the current report hi the army, 
 I spoke of him as having been killed iu the war; bat 
 about two years afterward be wrote to General Gar- 
 field, protesting that I had killed him without war- 
 rant of fact, and saying that he still had a life to give 
 to the natiou. Of his subsequent history I kuow noth- 
 ing; but, be he alive or dead, he deserved well of hia \ 
 coautrjr. 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 IS 
 
 and that he was daily expecting an attack from 
 a Union force of ten thousand. 
 
 Garfield put the letter silently into his pock- 
 et, and then called a council of his officers. 
 They assembled in the mde log-shanty, and, 
 without disclosing the contents of the inter- 
 cepted letter, he pot this question to them : 
 
 *'Shall we march at once, or wait the coming 
 ofCranor?" 
 
 All but one said "Wait." He said, "Move 
 at once; our fonrteen hundred can whip ten 
 thousand Confederates!" 
 
 Garfield reflected awhile, then closed the coun- 
 cil with the laconic remark, " Well, forward it 
 is. Give the order!" 
 
 He said this, but nothing about the intercepted 
 letter he had in his pocket. 
 
 Three roads lead to Marshall's position : one 
 at the east, bearing down to the river, and along 
 its western bank ; another, a circuitous one, to 
 the west, coming in on Painter Creek, at the 
 mouth of Jenny's Creek, on the right of the 
 village; and a third between the others — a 
 more direct route, but climbing a succession of 
 almost impassable ridges. These three roads 
 were held by strong Confederate pickets, and a 
 regiment was outlying at the village of Paintville. 
 
 The following diagram will help the reader to 
 an idea of the situation : 
 
 To deceive Marshall as to his real strength and 
 designs, Garfield orders a small force of infantry 
 and cavalry to advance along the river, drive in 
 the enemy's pickets, and move rapidly after them, 
 as if to attack Paintville. Two hours after this 
 force goes off, a similar one, with the same or- 
 ders, sets out on the road to the westward ; and 
 two hours later still, another small body takes 
 the middle road. The effect is, that the pickets 
 on the first route, being vigorously attacked and 
 driven, retreat in confusion to Paintville, and de- 
 spatch word to Marshall that the Union army is 
 advancing along the river. He hurries off a 
 thousand infantry and a battery to i-esist the ad- 
 vance of this imaginary column. When this de- 
 tachment has been gone an hour and a half, he 
 hears, from the rented pickets on the right, that 
 the Fedeiids are advancing along the western 
 road. Countermanding his first order, he now 
 directs the thousand men and the battery to 
 check the new danger, and hurries off the 
 troops at Paintville to the month of Jenny's 
 Creek to make a stand there. Two houi-s later 
 the pickets on the central route are driven in, 
 and, finding Paintville abandoned, flee precipi- 
 tately to the fortified camp, with the story that 
 the Union army is close at their heels and occu- 
 pying the town. Conceiving that he has thus : 
 
 lost Paintville, Marshall hastily withdraws tKe 
 detachment of one thousand men to his fortified 
 cam^ ; and Garfield, moving rapidly over the 
 ridges of the central route, occupies the aban- 
 doned position. 
 
 So affairs stand on the evening of the 8th of 
 January, when a spy entei-s the camp of Mar- 
 shall with tidings that Cranor, with thirty-three 
 hundred (!) men, is within twelve hours' march 
 at the westward. On receipt of these tidings, 
 the "big boy" — he weighed three hundred 
 pounds by the Louisville hay-scales — conceiving 
 himself outnumbered, breaks up his camp, and 
 retreats precipitately, abandoning or burning a 
 large portion of his supplies. Seeing the fires, 
 Garfield mounts his horse, and, with a thousand 
 men, enters the deserted camp at nine in the 
 evening, while the blazing stores are yet uncon- 
 snmed. He sends off a detachment to harass 
 the reti"eat, and waits the arrival of Cranor, with 
 whom he means to follow and bring Mai-shall to 
 battle in the morning. 
 
 In the morning Cranor comes, but his men 
 are footsore, without rations, and completely ex- 
 hausted. "They cannot move one leg after the 
 other. But the canal-hoy is bound to have a 
 fight ; so every man who has strength to march 
 is ordered to come forward. Eleven hundred — 
 among them four hundred of Cranor's tired he- 
 roes — step from the ranks, and with them, at 
 noon of the 9th, Garfield sets out for Preston- 
 burg, sending all his available cavalry to follow 
 the line of the enemy's retreat, and harass and 
 delay him. 
 
 Marehing eighteen miles, he reaches, at nine 
 o'clock that night, the mouth of Abbott's Creek, 
 three miles below Prestonhnrg, he and the elev- 
 en hundred. There he heai-s that Mai-shall is 
 encamped on the same stream, three miles high- 
 er up ; and throwing his men into bivouac, in 
 the midst of a sleety rain, he sends an order back 
 to Lieutenant-colonel Sheldon, who is left in com- 
 mand at Paintville, to bring up every available 
 man with all possible despatch, for he shall foree 
 the enemy to battle in the morning. He spends 
 the night in learning the character of the sur- 
 rounding country, and the disposition of Mar- 
 shall's forces; and now again John Jordan 
 comes into action. 
 
 A dozen Confederates are grinding at a mill, 
 and a dozen Union men come upon them, cap- 
 ture their corn, and make them prisoners. The 
 miller is a tall, gnunt man, and his clothes fit the 
 scout as if they were made for him. He is a Dis- 
 unionist, too, and his very raiment should bear 
 witness against this feeding of his enemies. It 
 does. It goes back to the Confederate camp, and 
 — the scout goes in it. That chameleon face of 
 his is smeared with meal, and looks the miller so 
 well that the miller's own wife might not detect 
 the difference. The night is dark and rainy, and 
 that lessens the danger ; bat still he is picking his 
 teeth in the very jaws of the lion. 
 
 Space will hot permit me to detail this mid- 
 night ramble; but it gave Garfield the exact 
 position of the enemy. They had made a stand, 
 and laid an ambnscade for him. Strongly post- 
 ed on a semicircular hill, at the forks of Middle 
 Creek, on both sides of the road, with cannon 
 commanding .its whole length, and hidden by 
 the trees and underbrush, they were waiting his 
 coming. 
 
 Deeming it unsafe to proceed fiirther in the 
 darkness, Garfield, as has been said, had ordered 
 his array into bivouac at nine in the evening, and 
 climbing a steep ridge, called Abbott's Hill, his 
 tired men threw themselves upon the wet ground 
 to wait for the morning. It was a terrible night, 
 a fit prelude to the terrible day that followed. 
 A dense fog shut out the moon and stars, and 
 shrouded the lonely mountain in Cimmerian dark- 
 ness. A cold wind swept from the north, driving 
 the rain in blinding gusts into the fiices of the 
 shivering men, and stirring the dark pines into 
 a mournful music. But the slow and cheerless 
 night wore away at last, and at four in the morn- 
 ing the tired and hungry men, their icy clothing 
 clinging to their half-frozen liml)s, were roused 
 from their cold beds, and ordered to move for- 
 ward. Slowly and cautiously they descended into 
 the valle^y, feeling at every step for the enemy. 
 
 About daybreak, while rounding a hill which 
 jutted out into the valley, the advance-guard 
 was charged upon by a body of Confederate 
 horsemen. Forming his men in a hollow square, 
 Garfield gave the Confederates a volley that sent 
 them reeling up the valley — all but one ; and he, 
 with his horse, plunged into the stream, and was 
 captured. 
 
 The main body of the enemy, it was now evi- 
 dent, was not far distant ; but whether he had 
 changed his position since the visit of Jordan 
 was uncertain. To deteriiiiie this, Garfield sent 
 forward a strong corps of skirmishers, who swept 
 the cavalry from a ridge which they had occupied, 
 and, moving forward, soon drew the fiie of the 
 hidden Confederates. Suddenly a puff of smoke 
 rose from beyond the hill, and a twelve-pound 
 shell whistled above the trees, then ploughed up 
 the hill, and buried itself in the ground at the 
 very feet of the adventurous little band of skir- 
 mishers. 
 
 It was now twelve o'clock, and throwing his 
 whole force upon the ridge whence the Confed- 
 erate cavalry had been driven, Garfield prepared 
 for the impending battle. It was a ti-ying and 
 perilous moment. He was in presence of a 
 greatly superior enemy, and how to dispose his 
 little force, and where first to attack, were things 
 not easy to determine. But he lost no time in 
 idle indecision. Looking in the faces of his eleven 
 hundred, he went at once into the terrible strug- 
 gle. His mounted escort of twelve men he sent 
 forward to make a charge, and, if possible, to 
 draw the fire of the enemy. The ruse worked 
 admirably. As the little squad swept round a 
 curve in the road another shell whistled through 
 the valley, and the long roll of nearly five thou- 
 sand muskets chimed in with a fieree salutation. 
 Then began the battle. 
 
 It was a wonderful battle. In the history of 
 the late war there is not another like it. Meas- 
 ured by the forces engaged, the valor displayed, 
 and the results that followed, it throws into the 
 shade the achievements of even the mighty hosts 
 which saved the nation. Eleven hundred foot- 
 sore and weary men, without cannon, charge up 
 a rocky hill, over stumps, over stones, over fallen 
 trees, over high intrenchments, right in the face 
 of five thousand fresh troops, with twelve pieces 
 of artillery. 
 
 A glance at the ground will best show the real 
 nature of the conflict. It was on the margin of 
 Middle Creek, a narrow, rapid stream, and three 
 miles from where it finds its way into the Big 
 Sandy, through the sharp spura of the Cumber- 
 land Mountains. A rocky road, not ten feet in 
 width, winds along this stream, and on its two 
 banks abrupt ridges, with steep and rocky sides, 
 overgrown with trees and underbrush, shut close- 
 ly down upon the road and the little streamlet. 
 At twelve o'clock Garfield had gained the crest 
 of the ridge at the right of the road, and the 
 charge of his handfnl of horsemen had drawn 
 Marshall's fire, and disclosed his actual position. 
 It will be clearly seen from the diagram given 
 on the following page. 
 
 The main foree of the Confederates occupied 
 the crests of the two ridges at the left of tha 
 stream, but a strong detachment was posted on 
 the right, and a battery of twelve pieces held 
 the forks of the creek and commanded the ap- 
 proach of the Union Army. It was Marshall's 
 plan to lure Garfield along the road, and then, 
 taking him between two enfilading fires, to sur- 
 round and utterly destroy him. But his has^ 
 fire betrayed his design, and unmasked his entire 
 position. 
 
 Garfield acted with promptness and decision. 
 A hundred undergraduates, recruited from his 
 own college, were ordered to cross the stream, 
 climb the ridge whence the fire had been hottest-, 
 and bring on the battle. Boldly the little band 
 plunge into the creek, the icy water up to their 
 waists, and, clinging to the trees and underbrush, 
 climb the rocky ascent. Half-way up the ridge, 
 the fire of at least two thousand rifles opens upon 
 them, but, springing from tree to tree, they press 
 on, and at last reach the summit. Then sudden- 
 ly the hill is gray with Confederates, who, rising 
 from ambush, pour thdr deadly volleys into the 
 little band of onty one hundred. In a moment 
 
16 
 
 they waver, but their leader calls out, "Every 
 man to a tree ! Give them as good as they send, 
 my boys!" 
 
 The Confederates, behind rocks and a rude in- 
 trenchment, are obliged to expose their heads to 
 take aim at the advancing column ; but the Un- 
 ion troops, posted behind the huge oaks and ma- 
 ples, can stand erect and load and fire, fully pro- 
 tected. Though they are outnumbered ten to one, 
 the contest is, therefore, for a time, not so very 
 unequal. 
 
 But soon the Confederates, exasperated \rtth 
 the obstinate resistance, rush from cover, and 
 charge upon the little handful with the bayonet. 
 Slowly they are driven down the hill, and two 
 of them fall to the ground wounded. One never 
 rises ; the other — a lad of only eighteen — is shot 
 through the thigh, and one of his comrades turns 
 back to bear him to a place of safety. The ad- 
 vancing Confederates are within thirty feet, when 
 one of them fires, and his bullet strikes a tree di- 
 rectly above the head of the Union soldier. He 
 turns, levels his musket, and the Confederate is 
 in eternity. Then the rest are upon him ; but, 
 zigzagging from tree to tree, he is soon with his 
 driven column. But not far are the brave boys 
 driven. A few rods lower down they hear again 
 the voice of the brave 
 Captain Williams, their 
 leader. 
 
 "To the trees again, 
 my boys!" he cries. 
 "We may as well die 
 here as in Oliio !" 
 
 To the trees they go, 
 and in a moment the ad- 
 vancing horde is checked, 
 and then rolled back- 
 ward. Up the hill they 
 turn, firing as they go, 
 and the little band fol- 
 lows. Soon the Con- 
 federates reach the spot 
 where the Hiram boy lies 
 wounded ; and< one of 
 them says to him, 
 
 " Boy, guv me yer 
 musket." 
 
 " Not the gun, but its 
 contents," cries the boy ; 
 and the Confederate falls, 
 mortally wounded. An- 
 other raises his weapon to 
 brain the prostrate lad ; 
 but he, too, falls, killed 
 with his comrade's own 
 rifle. And all this is dune while the hero-boy 
 is on the ground bleeding. An hour afterward 
 his comrades bear the boy to a sheltered spot on 
 the other side of the streamlet, and then the first 
 word of complaint escapes him. As they are 
 taking off his leg, he says, in his agony, 
 
 " Oh, what will mother do ?" 
 
 A fortnight later his words, repeated in the 
 Senate of Ohio, rouse the noble State to at once 
 make provision for the widows and mothers of 
 its soldiers. I do not know if he be dead or liv- 
 ing, but his name should not be forgotten. It 
 was Charles Carlton, of Franklin, Ohio. 
 
 Meanwhile the Union commander is standing 
 upon a rocky height on the other side of the 
 narrow valley, and his quick eye has discerned, 
 through the densely curling smoke, the real state 
 of the, unequal contest. 
 
 "They are being driven," he says. "They 
 will lose the hill if they are not supported." 
 
 Instantly five hundred of the Ohio Fortieth and 
 Forty-second, under Major Pardee and Colonel 
 Cranor, are ordered to the rescue. Holding 
 their cartridge-boxes above their heads, they 
 dash into the stream, up the hill, and into the 
 £ght, shouting, 
 
 "Hurrah for Williams and the Hiram boys!" 
 But shot and shell and canister, and the fire of 
 four thousand muskets, are now concentrated 
 npon the few hundred heroes. 
 
 " This will never do !' cries Garfield. " Who 
 will volunteer to carry the other mountain ?" 
 
 "We will!" shouts Colonel Monroe, of the 
 Twenty- second Kentucky. "We know every 
 inch of the ground," 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 " Go in, then," cries Garfield, "and give them 
 Hail Columbia !" 
 
 Fording the stream lower down, they climb 
 the ridge at the left, and in ten minutes are upon 
 the enemy. Like the others, these Confederates 
 are posted behind rocks, and, as they uncover 
 their heads, become ghastly targets for the un- 
 erring Kentucky rifles. 
 
 " Take good aim, and don't shoot till you see 
 the eyes of your enemy," shouts the brave colonel. 
 
 The men have never been under fire, but in a 
 few moments are as cool as if shooting at a tur- 
 key-match. 
 
 "Do you see that Keb?" says one to a com- 
 rade, as a head appears above a rock. "Hit 
 him while I'm loading." 
 
 Another is bringing his cartridge to his mouth, 
 when a bullet cuts away the powder and leaves 
 the lead in his fingers. Shielding his arm with 
 his body, he says, as he turns from the foe and 
 rams home another cartridge, 
 
 "There, see if you can hit that !" 
 
 Another takes out a piece of hard-tack, and a 
 ball shivers it in his hand. He swallows the rem- 
 nant, and then coolly fires away again. One is 
 brought down by a ball in the knee, and lying 
 on the ground, rifle in hand, watches for the man 
 
 ™~:~::L~=:;=r;;;;:;~.-.:.:.-: Federal lines. 
 
 A. Rebel artillery, 6 anri 12 ponnders. 
 
 B. Eiflge taken by the Ohio boys. 
 
 C. Kldge taken by Kentuckiaus under Monroe. 
 
 Bebel lines. 
 
 D. Garfield's reserve. 
 
 E. Approach orre-enforcementB under CoL Sheldon 
 
 F. Boad by which the enemy retreated. 
 
 who shot him. Soon the man's head rises above 
 the rock, and the two fire at the same instant. 
 The loyal man is struck in the mouth ; but, as 
 he is borne down the hill, he splutters out, 
 
 "Never mind, that Secesh is done for !" 
 
 The next morning the Confederate is found 
 with the wliole upper part of his head shot away 
 by the other's bullet. 
 
 The brave Kentuckians climb or leap up along 
 the side of the mountain. Now they are hidden 
 in the underbrush, now sheltered by the great 
 trees, and now fully exposed in some narrow 
 opening; but gradually they near the crest of the 
 ridge, and at last are at its very summit. 
 
 'rhen comes a terrible hand-to-hand struggle, 
 and the little band of less than six hundred, 
 overpowered by numbers, are driven far down 
 the mountain. 
 
 Soon the men rally, and as they turn a bullet 
 grazes the colonel's side, and buries itself in the 
 breast of a man whom he has seen send five Con- 
 federates to the great accounting. Blood will 
 have blood, and so he, too, goes to the judgment. 
 
 Meanwhile, another cannon has opened on 
 the hill, and round shot and canister fall thickly 
 among the weary eleven hundred. Seeing his 
 advance about to waver, the Union commander 
 sends volley after volley from his entire reserve, 
 at the central point, between his two detach- 
 ments, and for a time the enemy's fire is silenced 
 in that quarter. But soon it opens again, and 
 then Garfield orders all bnt a himdred reserve 
 npon the mountain. Then the battle grows ter- 
 rible. Thicker and thicker swarm the enemy on 
 the crest ; sharp and sharper rolls the musketry 
 
 along the valley, and, as volley after volley echoes 
 among the hills, and the white smoke curls up 
 in long wreaths from the gleaming rifles, a dense 
 cloud gathers overhead, as if to shut out this 
 scene of carnage from the very eye of Heaven. 
 
 For five hours the contest rages. Now the 
 Union forces are driven back ; then, charging up 
 the hill, they regain the lost ground, ajid from 
 behind rocks and trees pour in their murderous 
 volleys. Then again they are driven back, and 
 again they charge up the hill, strewing the ground 
 witli corpses. So the bloody work goes on ; so 
 the battle wavers, till the setting snn, wheelitlg 
 below the hills, glances along the dense lines of 
 Rebel steel moving down to envelop the weary 
 eleven hundred. It is an awful moment, big with 
 the fate of Kentucky. At its very ciisis two 
 figures stand out against the fading sky, boldly 
 defined in the foreground. 
 
 One is in Union blue. With a little bandof 
 heroes about him, he is posted on a projecting 
 rock, which is scarred with bullets, and in full 
 view of both armies. His head is uncovered, 
 his hair streaming in the wind, his face upturned 
 in the darkening daylight, and from his soul is 
 going up a prayer — a prayer for Sheldon and 
 his forces. He turns his eyes to the northward, 
 and his lip tightens as he 
 throws off his outer coat, 
 and, as it catches in the 
 limb of a tree, says to his 
 hundred men, " Come on, 
 boys ; we must give them 
 Hail Columbia!"* 
 
 The other is in Con- 
 federate gray. Moving 
 out to the brow of the 
 opposite hill, and placing 
 a glass to' his eye, he, too, 
 takes a long look to the 
 northward. He starts, for 
 he sees something which 
 the other, on lower 
 ground, does not distin- 
 guish. Soon he wheels 
 his horse, and the word 
 "Retreat!" echoes along 
 the valley between thetn. 
 It is his last word ; for 
 six rifles crack, and the 
 Confederate major lies on 
 the ground quivering. 
 
 The one in blue looks 
 to the north again, and 
 now, floatitig proudly 
 among the trees, he sees 
 the starry banner. It is Sheldon and re-enforce- 
 ments! On they come like the rushing wind, 
 filling the air with their shouting. The weary 
 eleven hundred take up the strain, and theOj , 
 above the swift pursuit, above the lessening con- 
 flict, above the last boom of the wheeling cannon, 
 goes up the wild huzza of victory ! The gallant 
 Garfield has won the day, and rolled back the 
 tide of disaster which has been sweeping on ever 
 since Big Bethel. 
 
 • "GIVE THEM HAIL COLUMBIA!" 
 
 In one hot^flght that Qarfleld won. 
 
 The loyal-souled Commander 
 Sent back a word among his men 
 
 That stirred up all their dander. 
 
 He was not quite so fast to cuss 
 
 And swear around as some be, 
 And all he said was, " Come on boys : 
 
 " We'll give 'em Hail Columby !" 
 
 He led, they followed, spreading wide 
 
 Among the rebels routed. 
 From rank to rank, in libera] gift, 
 
 The selt'-siime tbiug he shouted. 
 
 Tear after year, a leader still. 
 
 In camp and field and forum. 
 His feet beside his colors tread 
 
 As when the bullets tore 'em. 
 
 Tear after year npon his lips, 
 
 Through every contest ringing. 
 The men who fullow hear, as when 
 
 The shells were o'er him singing 
 
 The words thnt harph to many an ear 
 
 Bnt bngle-sweet to some be. 
 For peace or war a charging-cry, 
 
 "Boys, give 'em Hnil ijolumby !" 
 
 William O. Stohdabiki 
 
 He» yoA, Jtme Uth, 1680. 
 
As they come baefe ft'ftbi tR'6 short ^Wstiit the 
 voUn'g comniandevgi'ft'ips taaii aft'ev thaii by the 
 hand, and says, 
 
 " God bless you, boys, ydii hnVe Saved Ken- 
 ttiteky!" . 
 
 At About teight o'clock that night, tit a ^dther- 
 iilg of his officers, Garfield showed them the in- 
 tercepted letter of Marshall, arid for the lirst time 
 they knew that the valiant eleven hundred had 
 rbuted &n iritrenched force of five thousand, 
 strongly sujipdrted with artillery ; and that their 
 leader whs fully oOKiciou's of his^ilemy's strength 
 when he moved to attack him.* 
 
 While war is the greatest of earthly enbrrtii- 
 tie&, it is strange the interest a battle-field al-, 
 ways Awakens. We go over the ground,' tnark- 
 ifig the $pot Where Occm-red some fearful strug- 
 gle, or Vhere some noble regimeht went down 
 tb'U S*ift destruction, and We do hot see the piil- 
 lid faces of the dead, or hear the moaris of the 
 wtebnd'ed. But this is when the ^raSs has'gi'own 
 ^^en, and the Smoke hks cl^r^ away, letting 
 in the'light of heaven. Biit wh^n the ground is 
 r^9,'^en the linbaried dead lie in heaps, bnd 
 the wounded are sti-etched on the trodden grass, 
 rending the air with cries for succor, then it is 
 \*b k-ealise the real horror Of the battte-fleld. It 
 w'Ab thus that my informant s'a\^ it, when, with a 
 ■wWer-bUcket oh his arm, he tvalked slOwIy along 
 ttie n>ountain.<side On the evening of this Te&r- 
 fiil conflict. Twenty-s^ven Confederate dead lay 
 uhboried on the ground, khd si:cty more, has- 
 tily thrown together, and only looSely covered 
 with a few leaves and uhtlei^brush, were at the 
 bbttOm Of a riiviue. Leaning agtiinst a tree, he 
 sitw a fitir-htiired youth, his hands clasped across 
 Ms knete, and his head bent Slightly forward. 
 Mis fUce was flushed, and hi^ eyes gleamed bright 
 in the moonlight. BKring his breast to staunch 
 the Still-flowing blbbd, he spokb to him gently, 
 the eves looked out in a mute appeftl, but the 
 still lij^ls gave no answer. With hiiii the battle 
 of'life was over forever. 
 
 A little farther on five dead and one wounded 
 Uy behind a rock, two of the dead fallen .across 
 the living. The living man's tfeg ilvas shattered, 
 liUt his wound was not mortal. 
 
 "Yon must be in great pain ; can I do any- 
 thihfe for you ?" 
 
 "TUere are othel^ wOrse Off," said the man; 
 "tend to them; then you may look aft^r me." 
 
 Moving the dead from his crushed limb, my 
 informant went forward. 
 
 One bad received a ball through the neck, 
 
 * The eftbct of this victory on the Governmenl and 
 tli«, nation can, at this distance of time, scnrcely be 
 «stimaced. Disaster had followed disaster, till the 
 nation deemed ptkralyzed; but this vit^tory awoke it 
 to lift Kiid fesolate action. As n singnliir coincidence, ' 
 ]t may be aientioued that on this very day President 
 Lincoln, in great depression, bad sent for GenernI 
 HCDoWell to confer with him as to the crisis,— the 
 capttsfl beUngured, and onr armies everywhere idle 
 «r uel^ated ; aud at tbls very hour, when Garfield and 
 his offlcers met after the battle, this cmifereiice tiipk 
 
 tth'^e between the PreBideu^and Geiiernt McDowell. 
 
 iiiiOte tlie nccoiiut of thfe interview from au extract 
 tram the general's diary, published by Mr. Swintuu 
 in his " History of the Army of the Potomac :" 
 
 "Januarn lotft, 1S62.— At dinner at Arlington, Vir- 
 ginia. Received a note flrom the Assistant Secretary 
 of War, saying the President wished to see me that 
 «veuing at eight o'clock, if I could safely leave my 
 post. 900U after 1 received a note from Qnartermas- 
 t«*-geueral Weigs, marked ' private and cuufldeutial,' 
 sayntg the Fra.«ident wished to see me. 
 
 ,. Repaired to the President's house at eight o'clock 
 p. iii. Fonud the President alone. Was taken into 
 the small room in the north-east corner. Soiiu after 
 we were joined by Brigadier -general Franklin, the 
 Secretaiy of State, Governor Seward, the Seci*etJ\rv of 
 the ^Treasury, oi^d th^ A^sistapt Secretary of War. 
 The President was greatly disturbed at the state of 
 afitiira. Spoke of the exhausted condition of the 
 treasury; of the loss of public credit; of the delicate 
 condiUon of onr foreign relations ; of the bad news 
 he had I'eceived from the West, particularly as con- 
 tained in a letter from General Halleok on the slate 
 of affairs in Missouri; of the want of co-operation be- 
 tween Generals Halleck and Bnell ; but more than 
 all, the sickness of General McClellau. 
 
 "The President said he was in great distress, and 
 had sent for General Franklin and myself to ob- 
 tain our opinion as to the possibility of soon com- 
 mencingactive operations with the Army of the Pt»- 
 tomac TTo use his own expre.'^siini, 'If soniethiug was 
 notsooii done, the bottom would be out of the whole 
 aflWr ; and if General McClellan did not want to nsei 
 the array, he would like to borrow it, provided he 
 -coald see how it could he made to do something 1' " 
 
 t 
 
 'ftlE L'lFte'oS' JAMES a, 'GAElFiELto. 
 
 which (destroyed the power of speech, and he 
 made frantic sighs for water ; ahother, a daik- 
 hued to'aVi, Was lying linder a tree, his thigh bro- 
 ken. He vVas stern and morose, asking only for 
 one thing — to be put out Of his misery. The 
 other said, kihdiy, " You will soou be taken to a 
 surgeon ; he will relieve you." 
 
 Then the man faltered out, " I thank yon.'" 
 
 An old miin sat at the foot of a stump, with a 
 ball directly through the base of his brain. A 
 ghastly smite was on his face, his eye's looked 
 wildly oiit ujibn the liight, and his breath was 
 rapid and heavy. He was a breathing corpse — 
 dead, and ylet living. 
 
 'Ihe (itUosphere of death was on the earth ; 
 it was a scene on which one needs look but once 
 to reitteibber it forever. • 
 
 Thus elided this reniarkable battle. It was 
 the first wave ill the tide of victory, which, with 
 now and then ah ebbing flow, swept on to the 
 capture of Richmond. President Lincoln, when 
 he hekrd of it, said to a distinguished airm'y o£S- 
 cer who happened to be with him, 
 
 "Why did Garfield, in two weeks, do what 
 Would have taken one of you Regular folks tWo 
 months to accomplish ?" 
 
 " Because he wias not educated a!t West Point," 
 answered the West-Poiiiter, laughing. 
 
 "No," replied Mr. Lincoln ; " that W'asn't the 
 reason, tt was because, when he was a boy, he 
 had to work fur a living." 
 
 Another iiight on the frozen ground, and dur- 
 ing it, the Union commander ;pondered the situa- 
 tion. Marshall's forces were broken and demor- 
 alized. Though in full retreat, they might be 
 overtalten arid clestroyed; but his own troops were 
 half desid with fatigue and exposure, and had less 
 than three days' rations. In these circumstances 
 Garfield prudently decided to occupy Preston- 
 burg, and await the arrival of, additional supplies 
 before dealing a final blow at the enemy. 
 
 On the day succeeding the battle, he issued 
 the following address to his army, which tells, in 
 brief, the story of the campaign : 
 
 " SOLDIEliS OP THE EIGHTEENTH BRIGADE, — 
 
 I am proud of you all 1 In four weeks you have 
 marched, some eighty and some a hundred miles, 
 over almost Impassable roads. One night in four 
 yon have slept, often in the storm, with only a 
 wintry sky above your heads. You have marched 
 in the face of a foe of more than double your 
 number — led on by chiefs who have won a na- 
 tional renown under the Old Flag — intrenched 
 in hills of his own choosing, iind strengthened by 
 all the appliances of military art. With no ex- 
 perience but the consciousness of your own man- 
 hood, you have driven him from his strongholds, 
 pursued his inglorious flight, and compelled him 
 to meet you in battle. When forced toiight, he 
 sought the shelter of rocks and hills. You drove 
 him from his position, leaving scores of his bloOdy 
 dead uubni-ied. His artillery thundered against 
 you, but you compelled him to flee by the light 
 of his burning stores, and to leave even the ban- 
 ner of his rebellion behind him. I greet you as 
 brave men. Our common country will not for- 
 get yon. She will not forget the sacred dead who 
 fell beside you, nor those of your comrades who 
 won scars of honor on the field. 
 
 "I have recalled you from the pursuit that 
 you may regain vigor for still greater exertions. 
 Let no one tarnish his well-earned honor by any 
 act unworthy an American soldier. Remember 
 your duties as American citizens, and sacredly 
 respect the rights and property of those with 
 whom you may come in contact. Let it not be 
 said that good men dread the approach of an 
 American army. 
 
 ' ' Officers aud soldiers, your duty has been no- 
 bly done. For this I thank you." 
 
 The army, as has been said, had less than three 
 days' rations. The rainy season had set in, and 
 the roads had become impassable for any hut 
 hoi'semen. The river was the only resource ; 
 but the Big Sandy was now swollen beyond its 
 banks, and its rapid current, filled with floating 
 logs and liptorn tiees, rendered navigation a thing 
 of seciiiini; Impossibility. The oldest boatmen 
 of the district shook their heads, and refused to 
 
 2 
 
 IT 
 
 attempt the perilous voyage. In these circum- 
 stances, Brown, the Scout and ex-canal-boutman, 
 who had returned from his circuit of lyiarshall's 
 camp with u bullet through his hat, which had 
 clipped off one of his blkck curls, said to Gar- 
 field, " It's which and t'other, Gineral Jim — starv- 
 in' or drowniu'. I"d rutlier drown nur starve. 
 So, guv the word, and, dead or alive, I'll git down 
 the river!" 
 
 Garfield gave the word, and, alone, in a small 
 skiff, tlie ex-boatman and the Union Comman- 
 der "got down the liver." It now whs a raging 
 torrent, sixty feet iii depth, arid, in many place's, 
 aboVe the tofis of the tall trees which grew along 
 its margin. In some dee)) and narrow gorges, 
 where the steep bariks shut closely, down upon 
 the stream, the^e trees had been undeririined at 
 the roots, and, falling iriward, had locked their 
 arms together, fbrming a net-work that well-nigh 
 prevented the pas's^e of the small skifl' and its 
 two riavigatoi's. , Whi^i'e a smaill skiff cOutd 
 scarcely pass, could they riin a large steamboat 
 loaded with provisions ? Other men inight as'k 
 this question, but not the backwoods boy who 
 bad learned navigation on the waters of the Ohio 
 and Pennsylvania Canal. He pushed on to tfie 
 mouth of the river, and there took possession of 
 the Sandy Valley, a srriall steamer in tHe quarter- 
 master's service. Loading her with supplies, he 
 set about starting up the river, bdt the captain 
 of the boalt declared the thing was impossible. 
 Not stopping to argue the point, Garfield order- 
 ed him and his crew on board, and, hiniself tait- 
 ing the helm, selt out up the river. Brown he 
 stationed at the bow, where, with a long fendine- 
 pote in his hand, be was to keep one eye on tne 
 flOatirig logs and uprooted trees, the other on the 
 chicken-hearted captain. "The river surged and 
 boiled arid whirled against the boat, tossing her 
 about as if she were a cockle-shell. With every 
 turn of her wheels she treiribled from stem to 
 stern, and with a full head of steam could only 
 stagger along at the rate of three miles an hour. 
 When night came the captain begged to tie up 
 till morning, for breasting that flood in the dark 
 was sheer madness; but Brown cried out, "Put 
 her ahead, Gineral Jim," and Garfield clutched 
 the helm, and drove her on through the dark- 
 ness. Soon they cairie to a sudden bend iii the 
 stream, w^here the swift current formed a furious 
 whirlpool, and this, catching the laboring boait, 
 whirled her suddenly round, and drove ber, head 
 on, into the quicksand's. Mattocks were plied, 
 and excavations made around the embedded bow, 
 arid the bowsman uttered oaths loud enough to 
 have raised a small earthquake ; but still the 
 boat was immovable. She was stuck fast in 
 the mud, and every effort to move her was fruit- 
 less, Garfield ordered a small boat to be low- 
 ered, to take a line to the other bank, by which 
 to warp the steamer free ; but the captain, and 
 now the crew, protested it was certain death to 
 tempt that foaming torrent at midnight. They 
 might as well have repeated to him the Creed 
 and the Ten Commkndments, for Garfield him- 
 self spi'ang into the boat, and called to Brown 
 to follow. He took the helm, and laid hei- bow 
 across the stream, but the swift currerit swept 
 them downwai-d. After incre<lil)le labor they 
 made the opposite bank, but far belOw the steam- 
 boat. Closely hugging the shore, they now crept 
 up the sti'eam, and fastening the line to a tree, 
 rigged a windlass, and finally warped the vessel 
 I again into deep water. All that night, and all 
 I the next day, and all the following night they 
 struggled with the furious river, Garfield never 
 but once leaving the helm, and then for only a 
 few horn's' sleep, which he snatched, in his clothes, 
 in the daytime. At last they rounded to at the 
 Union camp, and then went up a cheer that might 
 have been heard all over Kentucky. Jlis waiting 
 men, frantic with joy, seized their glorious com- 
 mander, and were with difficulty prevented fi-om 
 bearing him on their shoulders to his quarters.* 
 
 * The brave fellow, Bnnvn, came to a sad .ending. 
 Speaking of him in a letter to the writer, dated May 
 Slst, 1S64, General Garfield says, "When we first met 
 he recognized me as an. old acquaiutauce ou the Ohio 
 Canal. He at once look a sort of enthusiastic pride 
 in me, aud with a rough, generous nature, was rea^ 
 to make any personal sacrifices to aid me to snccesk 
 I He was not trusted by most of our people : indeed 
 
IS 
 
 THE LIFE OE JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 A state of general alarm existed throughout 
 the district. The retreating Confederates had 
 spread the most exaggerated reports of the 
 strength and character of the Uniou forces, and 
 the simple country people looked for a reign of 
 terror which would deprive them all, loyal and 
 disloyal, of life and property. The result was 
 Ihat, fleeing from their homes, they hid away in 
 the woods and mountains, and the towns for a 
 time were well-nigh deserted. To allay this 
 alarm, and restore society to more of its nor- 
 mal condition, Garfield, during the week follow- 
 ing the battle, issued the following proclamation : 
 
 "Head-quarters, Eighteenth Brigade, 
 Paiiitville, Ky., Jan. 16th, 1SS2. 
 " Citizens op thu; Sandy Valley, — I have 
 come among you to restore the honor of the 
 Union, and to bring back the Old Banner which 
 you all once loved, but which, by the machina- 
 tions of evil men, and by mutual misunderstand- 
 ings, has been dishonored among you. To those 
 wlio are in arms against the Federal Govern- 
 ment I oifer only the alternative of battle or un- 
 conditional surrender; but to those who have 
 taken no part in this war,who are in no way aid- 
 ing or abetting the enemies of the Union, even 
 to those who hold sentiments adverse to the 
 Union, but yet give no aid and comfort to its 
 enemies, I offer the full protection of the Govern- 
 ment, both in their persons and property. 
 
 "Let those who have been seduced away from 
 the love of their country, to follow after and aid 
 the destroyers of our peace, lay down their arms, 
 return to their homes, bear true allegiance tci tlie 
 Federal Government, and they also shall enjoy 
 lilie protection. The army of the Union wages 
 no war of plunder, but comes to bring back the 
 prosperity of peace. Let all peace-loving citizens 
 who have fled from tlieir homes return, and re- 
 sume again the pursuits of peace and industry. 
 If citizens have suffered from any outrages by 
 the soldiers under my command, I invite them to 
 make known their complaints to me, and their 
 wrongs shall be redressed, and the offenders pun- 
 ished. I expect the friends of the Union in this 
 valley to banish from among them all private 
 feuds, and to let a liberal-minded love of country 
 direct their conduct toward those who have been 
 so sadly estranged and misguided. I hope that 
 these days of turbulence may soon end, and the 
 better days of the Republic may soon return. 
 " (Signed), J. A. Gaefield, 
 
 "Coloneil commanding Brigade." 
 
 many of them attempted to convince me that he was 
 not only a rascal, but a Rebel. I think he had an eye 
 for a ffood horse, and did not always closely distin- 
 guish between meuin and tuum ; but my remembrance 
 of him ou the canal, together with a feeling that he 
 loved me, made me trust him implicitly. 1 thiuk he 
 was never perfectly happy till he helped me to navi- 
 gate the little steamer up the Big Sandy in the high 
 water. Indeed, 1 could not have done that without 
 hie aid. He was about fc)rty years old— a short, stocky, 
 sailor -looking fellow, somewhat bloated with hard 
 drinking : in short, he was a rare combination of good 
 and had qualities, with strong traits— a ruined man : 
 and yet, underneath the ruins, a great deal of gener- 
 ous, self- sacrificing noble - heartedness, which made 
 one deplore his fall, and yet like him. He went North 
 ou some personal business just before I left the Saudy 
 Valley, and 1 received a dirty note from him, written 
 from Buffalo, iu which he said he shonid meet me 
 somewhere in ' the tide of battle,' and flght by ray 
 Bide again, but I have not heard from him since." 
 
 This was in 1864. Ten years afterward, as General 
 Garfield was about to dehver an address at Cornell, 
 a heavy hand was laid upon his shoulder, and, turn- 
 ing about, be saw his ex-soont and old boat-compau- 
 ion. He was even a more perfect ruin than before — 
 with bleared eyes, bloated face, and garments that 
 were half tatters. He had come, he said, while the 
 tears rolled down his cheeks, to that quiet place to 
 die, and now he could die iu peace, because he had 
 seen his Giueral. 
 
 Garfield gave him money, and got him quarters 
 among some kiudpeople, and left him, telling him to 
 try to be a man ; but, in any event, to let him know if 
 he ever ueeded further help. A year or more passed, 
 and no word came fiiim Brown ; but then the Superin- 
 tendent of the public hospital at Buffalo wrote the 
 General that a man was there very sick, who in his 
 delirium talked of him, of the Ohio Canal, and of the 
 Sandy Valley expedition. Garfield knew at once that 
 it was Brown, aud immediately foi-warded funds to 
 the hos-pital, asking that he should have every possi- 
 ble care and comfort. The letter which acknowl- 
 edged the remittance auuouuced that the poor fellow 
 had died— died muttering, in his delirium, the name 
 "Jim Garfield." 
 
 Garfield gave him a decent burial, and this was the 
 last of the poor fellow. 
 
 Encouraged by this promise of protection, the 
 people soon issued from their hiding-places, and 
 began to flock about the Union head-quarters. 
 From them various reports were received of the 
 whereabouts and intentions of Marshall. By 
 some it was said that, re-enforced by three Vir- 
 ginia regiments and six field-pieces, he had made 
 a stand, and was fortifying himself in a strong 
 position about thirty miles above, on the waters 
 of the Big Beaver ; by others, that he was mere- 
 ly collecting provisions, and, preparing to retreat 
 into Tennessee as soon as the runs and rivers 
 should become passable. 
 
 The best information, however, indicated that 
 Marshall had made a stand, and was still within 
 the limits of i Kentucky. It was to Garfield of 
 the first moment to learn his exact position, and 
 to this end he despatched a body of a hundred 
 hor.semen, under Captain Jenkins, of the Ohio 
 cavalry, with orders to go up the Big Sandy as 
 far as Piketon, and not to return until they had 
 ascertained the position and intentions of the 
 enemy. 
 
 Jenkins did his work well, and Garfield soon 
 was in possession of the desired information. 
 Marshall himself had evacuated Kentucky, but 
 his forces were not entirely driven from the State. 
 They had fortified a strong position at Pound 
 Gap, and radiating from there, swarms of gueiil- 
 las were still overrunning all the lower counties, 
 robbing and murdering defenceless men and 
 women. More important still was the informa- 
 tion that Marshall had issued an order for a 
 grand muster of the Confederate militia on the 
 1.5th of March. They were to meet at the 
 "Pound," in the rear of their intrenchments, 
 and it was expected they would muster in suf- 
 ficient force 'to enter Kentucky, and drive the 
 Union forces before them. 
 
 Pound Gap is a wild and irregular opening in 
 the Cumberland Mountains, about forty-five miles 
 south-west of Piketon. It is the only channel 
 of wagon communication between the southerly 
 portions of Virginia and Kentucky, and takes its 
 name from a fertile tract of meadow-land which 
 skirts the southerly base of the mountains, and is 
 enclosed by a narrow stream called Pound Fork. 
 In the early history of the district this mountain 
 locality was the home of a tribe of Indians, who 
 made periodical expeditions into Virginia for 
 plunder. Returning with the stolen cattle of 
 the settlers, they pastured them in this meadow- 
 enclosure, and hence it acquired the name of the 
 "Pound," which in time it gave to both the 
 Gap and streamlet. 
 
 In this " Pound," and on the summit of the 
 gorge through which the road passes, the Confed- 
 erates had built log-hnts, capable of quartering 
 twelve hundred men ; and across the opening of 
 the Gap they had erected a formidable breast- 
 work that completely blocked the passage, and 
 which five hundred could hold against five thou- 
 sand. 
 
 For several weeks Pound Gap had been gar- 
 risoned by about six hundred Confederate mili- 
 tia, under Major Thompson ; and though inca- 
 pable of effective service in the field, they had 
 held this gate -way into Virginia, and main- 
 tained a constant reign of terror among the 
 Union citizens of all the lower counties. Issuing 
 from their stronghold on the mountains, small 
 parties of this gang would descend into the val- 
 leys, rob and murder peaceable inhabitants, and, 
 before pursuit could be begun, would be again 
 behind their bieastworks. Many of the.se pred- 
 atory bands had been captured, in consequence 
 of the ceaseless activity of the loyal Kentucky 
 cavalry ; but as soon as one party was made 
 prisoners another would appear in the valley, 
 until it was evident that the only way to effect- 
 ually stop their incursions was to break up their 
 nest on the mountain. This Garfield had long 
 determined to do. He had waited only for re- 
 liable information as to the strength and position 
 of the guerillas, and for a definite description of 
 the route to be taken to get in the rear of their 
 intrejichments. 
 
 Garfield at once determined to forestall the in- 
 tended gathering of forces on the 15th of March, 
 and to disperse the entire swarm of guerillas. 
 With two hundred aud twenty of the Fortieth 
 
 Ohio, under Colonel Cranor; two hundred of 
 the Forty- second Ohio, under Major Pardee; 
 one hundred and eighty of the Twenty -second 
 Kentucky, under Major Cook ; and a hundreJ 
 cavalry, under Major M'Laughlin, he set out od. 
 the following morning, with three days' rations 
 in the haversacks of the men, and a quantity of 
 provisions packed on the backs of mules. 
 
 The highways were deep in mud, and the count- 
 less rivulets which ramify through this mountain 
 region were filled with ice, and swollen into rush- 
 ing torrents ; but pressing on over the rough 
 roads, and in the midst of a drenching rain, the 
 little army, late on the night of the second day, . 
 reached Elkhorn Cjeek, a small stream which 
 flows along the northern base of the mountains, 
 and empties into the Big Sandy, only two miles 
 below the Confederate position. There they 
 went into camp on the wet ground, and waited 
 for the morning. 
 
 Garfield's plan was to send his small party of 
 horsemen up the road to make a demonstration 
 against the enemy's intrenchments, and to en- 
 gage his attention, while, with the infantry, he 
 should climb the steep side of the mountain, and,, 
 filing along the narrow ledge of rocks on its sum-, 
 mit, reach the Gap, and attack the flank of the 
 Confederate position. To prove successful, the- 
 movement must be executed with the utmost se- 
 crecy, and a guide must be obtained to conduct 
 the infantry over the mountain. To these ends . 
 every male resident of the vicinity was brought , - 
 into camp, where he was detained, to prevent his 
 carrying information to the enemy, and ques- 
 tioned as to some practicable route to the rear 
 of his intrenchments. There was, they said, no 
 route. The mountain was steep, and in some 
 places precipitous, and it was tangled with dense- 
 thickets, obstructed with fallen logs, and covered, 
 with huge boulders, which, coated with ice and 
 snow, formed an almost impassable barrier to- 
 the passage of any living thing save the panther 
 or the catamount. But if, in the face of all these 
 obstacles, the summit weie at last gained by the 
 adventurous band, they would be obliged to thread 
 for a Ibng distance a narrow ledge, which rose- 
 like a knife-edge, and was in places so narrow 
 that two persons could not pass it abreast. This 
 ledge was buried three feet deep in yielding snow ; 
 one false step would be death, and ten determined 
 men could dispute the passage of an army. 
 
 Though tempted with liberal offers of money, 
 not one of the natives would undertake to guide, 
 the expedition. In these circumstances, Gar- 
 field lay down at midnight on the floor of a 
 wretched log-shanty near the foot of the moun- 
 tain. The prospect was in no way encouraging ; 
 in fact, the difiSculties seemed well-nigh insur- 
 mountable. But turning back was out of the 
 fluestion. Guide or no guide, he would attempt 
 to scale the mountain in the morning. 
 
 In the morning the snow was falling so thick.^ 
 ly that objects only a few rods distant were to- 
 tally invisible; but at nine o'clock the little- 
 body of cavalry was sent up the road to engage 
 the attention of the enemy, and .draw him from 
 his intrenchments; and then the infantry was 
 set in motion. In a long, bristling, serpent-like- 
 column, catching at every twig and shrub and 
 fallen log that lay in their way, they clambered 
 slowly up the icy mountain-side, steadying thrar 
 steps as well as they could by their bayonets and 
 musket-barrels. The ridge at this point rises two 
 thousand feet above the valley, and half-way up 
 breaks into abrupt precipices, which defy the ap- 
 proach of any foot but that of the deer or the 
 chamois. The ascent was long and toilsome, but 
 at last they reached the summit of the mountain ; 
 and here they paused to rest their tired limbs, 
 and catch a glimpse of the magnificent view that 
 stretched away far below them. They were 
 above the storm, and the snow was falling thickly 
 lower down the mountain, but here the eye could 
 range for thirty miles, east and west, into three- 
 States, and over a most enchanting country. 
 
 They now were two and a half miles from the 
 point where the Confederate garrison was posted, 
 and noiselessly they set out again, for discovery 
 was only another name for destruction. It was 
 a march of three hours. Garfield led the way 
 through tangled thickets, over iee-coated logs, 
 
across abrupt chaBms, to a point where a vieir 
 was had of the fortifications in tlie Gnp below 
 them. " We are within half a mile of their po- 
 sition," he whispered to Lienteniint Lake, who 
 had come up, and was stiiiuling beside him. 
 ' ■ Yonder is their outside picket ; but the way is 
 clear — if we press on at the double-quick we have 
 tliem." 
 
 The picket had now descried the advancing 
 column, and, firing his gun, he set out at the 
 top of his speed for the intrenchments. A dozen 
 muskets made shrill music about his ears, but he 
 kept on, and the eager blue coats followed. When 
 within sight of the camp, a line was thrown down 
 along the eastern slope of the mountain, and, 
 pressing rapidly forward, was formed along the 
 deep gorge through which the high-road passes. 
 Up to this time the Confederates had been skir- 
 mishing with the cavalry in front of their breast- 
 works ( but now they gathered on the hill direct- 
 ly opposite the advanced position of the Union 
 infantry. 
 
 To try the range, Garfield sent a volley across 
 the gorge, and, as the smoke cleared away, he 
 saw the unformed line melt like mist into the op- 
 posite forest. The enemy's position being now 
 understood, the men of the Fortieth and Forty- 
 second Ohio were ordered to the already formed 
 left wing, and then along the line rang the words, 
 " Press forward; scale the hill, and carry it with 
 the bayonet!" 
 
 A ringing shout was the only answer, and then 
 tbe long column swept down the ridge, across the 
 raving through the Confederate camp, and up 
 the opposite mountain. The enemy fell gradu- 
 ally back among the trees, but when the Union 
 bayonets clambered the hill, they broke and ran 
 in the wildest confusion. The Ohio boys follow- 
 ed, firing as they ran, and for a few moments 
 the mountain echoed with the sharp, quick re- 
 ports of half a thousand rifles ; but pursuit in the 
 dense forest was impossible, and soon the recall 
 was sounded. 
 
 In a fight of less than twenty minutes the Con- 
 federates were utterly routed, and their camp, 
 consisting of sixty log-houses, capable of accom- 
 modating twelve hundred men, and all their 
 stores, were in the hands of the attacking party. 
 
 After spending the night in these comfortable 
 quarters. General Garfield burnt the camp, and 
 all the stores which he could not carry away, and 
 returned to Piketon without the loss of a man, 
 having marched over ninety miles in the woret 
 of winter weather, and, with » handful of men, 
 carried an almost impregnable position, defended 
 by superior numbers. Only seven of his men 
 were wounded ; but this well-nigh bloodless vic- 
 tory rid East Kentucky of Confederate rale for- 
 ever. 
 
 This was the only independent command ever 
 held by James A. Garfield ; but by it he' showed 
 himself possessed of qualities which would, on a 
 wider field, have ranked him among the great 
 •commanders of the Union. 
 
 When the news of Colonel Garfield's victory 
 at Middle Creek reached the head-quarters of 
 the Department, the following General Order was 
 issued : 
 
 " Head-qnarters Department of the Ohio, 
 Louisville, Ky., January 20th, 1S62. 
 
 " Genera/ Ch-ders, No. 4a. 
 
 "The General Commanding takes occasion 
 ■to thank Colonel Garfield and his troops for their 
 successful campaign against the Rebel force un- 
 der General Marshall on the Big Sandy, and their 
 gallant conduct in battle. They have overcome 
 formidable diiBculties in the character of the 
 country, the condition of the roads, and the in- 
 clemency of the season ; and, without artillery, 
 hare in several engagements, terminating with 
 the battle on Middle Creek on the lOth inst., 
 driven the enemy from his intrenched positions, 
 And forced him back into the mountains with 
 the loss of a large amount of baggage and stores, 
 -and many of his men killed or captured. 
 
 "These services have called into action the 
 iiigbest qualities of a soldier — fortitude, perse- 
 •verance, courage. 
 
 "By command of Greneral Bnell. 
 
 " Jambs B. Frt, 
 "A. A. G., Chief of Staff." 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 A few weeks later Colonel Garfield received 
 a commission as Brigadier- general of Volun- 
 teers, to date from the battle of Middle Creek. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WITH THE ARMY OP THE CDMBEBLAND. 
 
 THENCEFonwARD the military career of Gen- 
 eral Garfield was merged in that of the Army of 
 the Cumberland. He held no separate com- 
 mand, and hence the traces of his great military 
 abilities are lost in the general operations of the 
 army, or only now and then seen in the compli- 
 mentary allusions to his services which were so 
 often made by his snperior ofHcers. It is no 
 doubt true that to him, more than to any other 
 man, was dae the admirable organization of that 
 army, which, despite its misfortunes, saved the 
 South-west to the Union. 
 
 Previous to the Found Gap Expedition, Gen- 
 eral Garfield bad corresponded with General 
 Bosecrans, then commanding the Department 
 of West Virginia, and they had united in pro- 
 posing to the War Department a plan to destroy 
 the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Iteil- 
 road, then the only direct line of communication 
 between the Gulf States and Richmond. Gen- 
 eral Rosecrans was to send a force up New River, 
 in West Virginia, to cut the railroad near New- 
 bern, while General Garfield was to pass through 
 Pound Gap, and cut it at Abingdon, Va., and 
 destroy the salt-works at that place. The two 
 great Confederate armies of the East and the 
 West were at that time fully occupied, and the 
 destruction could have been made very com- 
 plete. But toward the end of March orders 
 were issued creating the Mountain Department 
 for General Fremont; Rosecrans was relieved, 
 and Garfield was ordered to leave a small force 
 to hold the valley of the Sandy, and with the rest 
 of his command join General Bnell. 
 
 He reached Louisville with a part of his com- 
 mand, and there found an order to report to 
 Buell in person, at Nashville. Arriving there, 
 he learned that Buell was hurrying to the relief 
 of Grant at Pittsburg Landing; and, overtaking 
 him on the 5th of April, was at once assigned 
 to the command of the Twentieth Brigade, Sixth 
 Division of the Army of the Ohio. With Buell 
 he reached the battle-field of ^hiloh on the af- 
 ternoon of the second day's fight, and in time 
 to participate in the victory. He continued with 
 Buell's army in its operations around Corinth, 
 and on its subsequent march across Northern 
 Alabama. 
 
 While Garfield was in camp, after the battle 
 of Shiloh, a trifling incident occurred, which 
 showed the effects of his antislavery education. 
 I give the narrative as it is related by a member 
 of his staff, but I have heard the general vouch 
 for its correctness. 
 
 " One day," says the officer, " I noticed a fu- 
 gitive slave come rushing into camp with a 
 bloody head, and greatly frightened. He had 
 only passed my tent a moment when a regular 
 bully of a fellow came riding up, and with a 
 volley of oalhs began to ask after his ' nigger.' 
 General Garfield was not present, and he passed 
 on to the division commander. This division 
 commander was a sympathizer with the theory 
 that fugitives should be returned to their mas- 
 ters, and that Union soldiers should be made the 
 instruments for returning them. He according- 
 ly wrote a mandatory order to General Garfield, 
 in whose command the negro was supposed to 
 he hiding, telling him to hunt out and deliver 
 over the property of the outraged citizen. I 
 stated the case as fully as I could to General 
 Garfield before handing him the order, but did 
 not color my statement in any way. He took 
 the order, and deliberately wrote on it the fol- 
 lowing endorsement : 
 
 " ' I respectfully, but positively, decline to al- 
 low my command to search for, or deliver up, 
 any fugitive slaves. I conceive that they are 
 here for quite another purpose. The command 
 is open, and no obstacles will be placed in the 
 way of the search.' 
 
 "I read the endorsement, and was alarmed. 
 T expected that, if it was returned, the result 
 would be that the General would be court-mar- 
 
 19 
 
 tialed. I told him my fears. He simply re- 
 plied, ' The matter may as well be tested first 
 as last. Right is right, and I do not propose to 
 mince matters at all. My soldiers are here for 
 far other purposes than hunting and returning 
 fugitive .slaves. My people, on the Western Re- 
 serve of Ohio, did not send my boys and myself 
 down here to do that kind of business, and they 
 will back me up in my action.' He would not 
 alter tbe endorsement, and the order was re- 
 turned. Nothing ever came of the matter fur- 
 ther." 
 
 This was the first instance in which a Union 
 officer refused to return a fugitive slave. The 
 principle of Garfield's action was soon afterward 
 embodied in a general order, and thus received 
 the endorsement of the War Department. 
 
 In August, 1862, Garfield's health failed, and 
 he was sent North on sick leave. As he was 
 about leaving for home, he was assigned, by or- 
 der of the War Department, to the command of 
 the forces at Cumberland Gap, but he was too 
 ill to accept the appointment. 
 
 Upon his recovery he was ordered to Washing- 
 ton, and detailed as a member of the Fitz-John 
 Porter court-martial, which occupied forty-five 
 days, and in which his great abilities as a lawyer 
 and a soldier were called forth and freely recog- 
 nized. When the court adjourned in January, 
 1 868, General Garfield was ordered to report to 
 Major-general Rosecrans, commanding the Army 
 of the Cumberland, whose head-qnarters were 
 then at Murfreesborough, Tenn. He was wait- 
 ing here a reorganization of the army, when 
 Rosecrans met him personally, and becoming in- 
 terested in him, assigned him to the position of 
 Chief of Staff, recently made vacant by the death 
 of Colonel Garech^, whose head had been car- 
 ried away by a solid shot at the battle of Stone 
 River. It was here (in May, 1863) that I first 
 met General Garfield ; and I may be pardoned 
 if I now quote from a sketch which I soon af- 
 terward wrote, for it gives the impression which 
 he then made upon a total stranger. I had 
 gone there as a looker-on, and this was my first 
 appearance at head-quarters. I was shown into 
 a large, scantily-furnished room, and there, " In 
 a corner by the window " (1 quote from "Down 
 in Tennessee," published in 1864), "seated at a 
 small pine desk — a sort of packing-box, perched 
 on a long-legged stool, and divided into pigeon- 
 holes, with a turn-down lid — was a tall, deep- 
 chested, sinewy -built man, with regular, mas- 
 sive features, a full, clear blue eye, slightly 
 dashed with gray, and a high, broad forehead, 
 rising into a ridge over the eyes, as if it had been 
 thrown up by a plough. There was someihing 
 .singularly engaging in his open, expressive face, 
 and his whole appearance indicated, as tbe 
 phrase goes, 'great reserved power.' His uni- 
 form, though cleanly brushed, and sitting easily 
 upon him, had a sort of democratic air, and ev- 
 erything about him seemed to denote that he 
 was 'a man of the people.' A rusty slouched 
 hat, large enough to have fitted Danid Webster, 
 lay on the desk before him, but a glance at that 
 was not needed to convince me that his head 
 held more than the common share of brains. 
 Though he is yet young — not thirty-two — the 
 reader has heard of him, and if he lives he will 
 make his name long remembered in our history. 
 He glanced at me as I approached, and when I 
 mentioned my name, rose, and extending his 
 hand in a free, cordial way, said, 
 
 " ' I am glad to meet you. I have seen your 
 handwriting — Edmund Kirke, his (x) mark.' 
 
 " ' And I have seen yours,' I replied, grasping 
 his hand with equal cordiality. ' But you write 
 with a steel pen — epics in the measure of " Hail, 
 Columbia!"' 
 
 " I sat down, and in ten minutes knew him as 
 well as I might have known some other men in 
 ten years." 
 
 Life in an encamped army is somewhat bar- 
 ren of incidents, and but few occurred while 
 I was at Murfreesborough that I have not al- 
 ready elsewhere related. One or two, however, 
 are somewhat indicative of Garfield's character, 
 and hence may be worthy of mention. Rose- 
 crans was a late worker, and often kept the 
 members of his staff up till very unseasonable 
 
20 
 
 hours. The result wfis, that if not actually en- 
 gaged in some active duty, the yoiing gentlemen 
 would often drop off to sleep ; and this more 
 frequently happened with the poor orderlies, 
 who were stationed in the hall outside, in readi- 
 ness to go upon messages for the officers. Be- 
 ing forbidden to tallc together, and having noth- 
 ing whatever to engage their attention, they 
 ijvould generally, toward the small hours of the 
 morning, depute one of their number to remain 
 on watch, and go quietly to sleep at their posts. 
 On one occasion, very late at night, these ordei- 
 Ijes had rolled themselves in their blankets on 
 the hall floor, leaving orderly sergeant Daugher- 
 ty to awake them in case any orders came from 
 Oead-quarters. Tilting his chair against the 
 wall by the general's door, the sergeant ha^ 
 ^ti;etched his legs out to ~ their utiiji^st length,' 
 and fallen fast asleep, when the door sudtijen- 
 ly opened, and General (Jarfield emerged at a 
 Cjuiclt pac^ from the inner ropip. A single tal- 
 lo\v-canille lighted th^ h4H only dimly, and, not 
 observing the! sergei^nt's outstretched lesgs, the 
 Genai-al stunjiblfid over them, and fell on his 
 hands and knpes to the floor. A. stout njan, W 
 game 'down heavily. The affrigfited sergeant 
 ^rang to his feet, and, a^ the (general rpse, 
 stood at "atitention " and saluted, biit expecting 
 to be certainly cuffed, and perhaps kicked fiom 
 one end of t)i^ hall to the other for his be^dless- 
 fiess. 'l^q his' astpnishraent, the General quietly 
 ^ather?4, himself up, and saying, kindly, "Ex- 
 cuse tne,'sergean|;," passed on as if nothing lia,(J 
 happ^nea. This incident, though, trifling in it- 
 self, shows, that a man may be born iii a log-cab- 
 in and yet be a gentleman, 
 
 Anofh^r incident,, of more import^pqe, is also 
 illiistrative of some, traits in General darfield's 
 Character. I have before related the principal 
 ^cts, but nevev till now have published all the 
 ^tteiiding cjrcutnstances. 
 
 ■ Ope day, during this visit to IJurfreesboroujjh, 
 i^^ I was sitting alone xMth, Rosecrans, an aid 
 ^ntered the room and handed him a, letter. He 
 Qpened it, apd tecarne at once abs^'l^^d ii) its 
 contents. He reread it, and, handing it to me, 
 s.aid, "ReaiJ that tell ijie what you think of 
 it." I read it. l(js outside indicated that it had 
 (jpip.e oypr a ro^d " (lard to travel, " but its con- 
 tents st^rtleil me. It was writl^en in a round, un- 
 practised hand, biit, though badly spelled, showed 
 that its author was faojiliar with good Southern 
 Ejnglish. Its date was May 18th, 186.3, arid it 
 an thus : ' 
 
 "Qeneral,^A plan has be?n ^dopt^d for a 
 simultaneous niovement or rising to sever the 
 Rebel communications throughout the whole 
 ^outh, which is npw disclosed to some general 
 in eaclvinilitary departmeiit in the Secesh' States, 
 in prder that they may act in concert, and thus 
 ihs.iire us success, , i 
 
 " The plan is for thp blacks to make a concerted 
 and simultaneous rising, on the night of the 1st 
 of August next, over the whole States in rebejllion. 
 To, arm th,e,raselve,s with any and every kind of 
 vveapon that may come to hand, and commence, 
 operations by' burning all railroad and county 
 bridges, tearing up all railroad tracks, and cut- 
 ting and destroying telegraph wires — and vfhen 
 this is done, take to the vyoods, the swamps, or 
 the mountains, whence they may emergp, as oo- 
 •asions may offer, for proyisions or fot: furthejr 
 depredations. No blood is to be shed except in 
 ^If-defence, 
 
 " The corn will be in roasting^ear abqut tljg 
 1st of August, and upon this, and by (braging 
 on the farms at night, ^e can subsist. Con- 
 certed movemetit at the time named would be 
 successful, and the Eebellion be brought sudden- 
 ly to an end." 
 
 The letter went on with some other details, 
 and ended thus : " The plan will be simultane- 
 ous over the whole South, and yet few of all en- 
 gaged will know of its extent. Please write 
 "Z," and " approved," and send by the' bearer, 
 that we may know t/ou are with us. 
 
 "Be assured, peneral, that a copy of this l^t- 
 ^r has been sent to every military department 
 in the Qorifedejrate States, tbat the time of the, 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. 6AEFIELD. 
 
 movement may thus be general over the entire 
 South." 
 
 I was rereading the letter, when the General 
 again said, "'What do you thinik of it?" 
 
 I answered, " It would end the Rebellion. Co- 
 operated with by our forces, it would certainly 
 succeed, but the South would run with blood." 
 
 "Innocent blood; women ^nd children?" he 
 asked. "Yes, women and children. If you let 
 the bla,pks loose, they \yill rtjsh into carnage like 
 horses into a burning barn. St. Domingo will 
 be multiplied by a million." 
 
 " But he says no blood is to be, shed, except 
 in self-diefencp," 
 
 " He says so, and tbe les^ders may mean, it, 
 but they cannqt restrain the rabble. Every slavp 
 has spine r^iil or fanpied wrong, ^n^ hp ivfluld 
 liake sucfi a time to avenge, it." 
 
 " 'Well, I mqst ta,llf v^ith Garfield- Come, go 
 wiith me." 
 
 " ^e prp^sed the street to Garfleld's lodgings, 
 apd fpund ifiij} bolstered up in bed, quite sick 
 with a feiiei;. Rosecrans S£it dpwn on the fo<it 
 of his bpd §nd handed him the letter- Garfield 
 read it over carpfuUy, and then laying it do,w;n, 
 said, 
 
 "It will never do, Genpi^al. We. don't wai^t 
 to, whip by. such means." 
 
 " I kne\v,yo,u'd say so," said Rose,c,rans; " but 
 he speaks qf other department commanders — 
 may they not qome iijto it ?" 
 
 "Yps, they njay, and that should be looked 
 
 to. Mr. has beer) speaking of going home 
 
 eY,ery, day, for a fortnight. Now let him go; and 
 send tb''"! letter by hitu to the Pi;esitdent. Let Mr. 
 Lincoln head pfFtlje movemen^." 
 
 That afterriopn I was on my way North, and in 
 a couple of diiys, in a privatp. interview, laid thp 
 letter bpfore Mr. Lipcoln. He read, it over 
 thdnghtfully, anotheri said, " Is not this a hpax ?" 
 
 "^t may be, si>:, but it looks and sounds H^e 
 a genuinp document. " 
 
 "That is true; but what do IJiO?p,crans and 
 G^i-field think 'of i,t ?" 
 
 I told him. 
 
 "And, they want me to put my foot upon,i|?" 
 
 "They do; and Garfield, particularly, urges 
 that you give it immediate attentipn. He thinks 
 the country will be seriously compromised if the 
 project is countenanced for a moment." 
 
 "He i^ right; and I will give if, immediate 
 attention. I vyill thanic you if you will write thetiu 
 to that effect." ' , ' 
 
 This was in the latter part of May, and early 
 in Jupe following I received a letter from Gar- 
 field, of which the following is ap pxtract: "I 
 am clearly of opinion that the negro project is 
 every vyay bad, and should be repudiated, and, if 
 possible, thwarted. If the sl^ives should, of their 
 own accord, rise and assert their original righf to 
 themselves, and cut their way through Rebeldom, 
 that is their own affivir ; but thp Government 
 could have no complicity with it without out- 
 raging the sense of justice pf thp civilised world'. 
 We should create great sympathy for tlje Rebels 
 abroad, and God knows they have top much al- 
 ready. I hope you will ye|nti|a)te the whole thing 
 in the Trfl/une, and show that the Governinept 
 and people disavow it." 
 
 Another letter from him, which I received a 
 few days latpr said : " The negi'o schetne of 
 which we talked ha^ been pi:e5sed upon us again, 
 and the letter asserts that five out qf our ninp 
 department commandprs have tipprpved it. An- 
 other letter, received yesterday, says onp iftpre 
 department has gone into it, and the scheme is 
 being rapidly and thoroughly perfected, and the 
 blow will certainly be struck." 
 
 This last letter showed that no time was to be 
 lost, and I at once' tool? the train for 'Washing- 
 ton, and called again on Mr. Lincoln. He read 
 the two letters in his quiet, thoughtful way; then 
 laying them down, and moving his one leg from 
 where it dangled across the other, he s^id, em- 
 phatically, "That Garfield is a trump — there is 
 no discount upon that." 
 
 Not being in a mood to listen to a eulogy upon 
 Garfield, or any one else, I hastily assented, and 
 vvas about to ask him what he had done abput 
 the negro project, v^hen hp went pn, "Dp ypu 
 
 know, that jpb pf his on the Big Sandy was the 
 cleanest thing that has been done in the w;ar. 
 It's something to have been bprn in a log-shapty." 
 
 "And to have split rails!" I replied, smiling. 
 
 "Yes," he answered, "and I'll bet Garfield 
 has done that." 
 
 " I don't know about him ; but it is a fact 
 that his mother has." 
 
 " Is that so ?" he said, laughing. " Well, that 
 accounts foi- Garfield — he had a good mother." 
 
 Then subsiding into a serious mood, he added, 
 "But, as Garfield says, that negro business ia 
 bad e,*ery way, t^nd we can't afford it. I think 
 I haye piiit piy foot npon it." 
 
 "Apd ahput vpntilating it in the Tribune, as- 
 he suggeists, Mr. Lincqln^^shall I do that ?" ' 
 
 " Not yep ; I haye scotched the snake, not kill- 
 ed i;t. 'Syhen it is dead will be time enough to 
 preach its, funeral seripon." 
 
 "And ypu will let me know when ypti are 
 ready fqr the sei*non ?." 
 
 He pi-omised that he would, and soon thp ip- 
 tprvipw ended. 
 
 1 waited for a few days, apd thpn, not hearlpgj 
 i^roip }/f.r. Lincoln, 'wrote i)\ro, aslfing if the time 
 had not come when I could prpperly yentilatiet 
 thp negro project. I was pot ^p dpsirons of giv- 
 ing it publicity as apxipps to hear of its having 
 bepn suppressed ; and if he cpnsented tp publi- 
 cation, it wpuld indicatp that fact clparly. His 
 reply is before me, in a letter fi-om bis priyatp; 
 secretary, Mr. John G. Nicolay, dated June 14th, 
 1864. So much of the letter as refers to thia 
 subject is as follows: "The President has "o 
 objection wbateypr to your publisliing what you 
 propose concerning the npgro insurrection, pro- 
 viding you do not in any way connect his name 
 with it." ' 
 
 I do npt assert that this projected ipsurrection 
 was lipt, what M''- Lincoln at first surmispd it 
 ipight be, a hoax. I simply affirm that Gener- 
 als Rospcrans and Garfield (and soon the Presi- 
 dent also) believed it to be a real danger, which 
 thrpajtened, the ^puth w,ith all the horrors of St. 
 Domingo, and I would merely call attention to 
 their actipn in relation to it. If Christian men 
 ever acted niqre like Christians, or if any man, 
 Chr,istip,n or heathen, ever uttered more mag- 
 nanimp^s spptimpnts toward a threatened ene- 
 my than thpse writtpp by Garfield, I have yet to 
 know it. 
 
 We all know that the insurrection did not, taka 
 place, and If haj^e mysplf doubted if the intepd.ed. 
 uprising \vas sp wide-spread and universal as the 
 letters indicated ; but when we reflect that a hun- 
 dred, or evpn fifty, intelligent and resplutje men, 
 actjing in concert in as many different localities^ 
 and aided by ppr troops, might at apy time dur- 
 ing the war have lighted a negro conflagration 
 which, once startpd, would soon have invplyed 
 the whole South, even the strongest statement 
 of the possible danger will not seem improbable. 
 The uprising was fixed for thp 1st of August, 
 and we know that serious outbreaks occurred 
 among the blacks of Georgia and Alabama io 
 Septeniher. May npt those have been the work 
 of subordinate leaders, who, maddened at the 
 miscarriage of the main design, were determined 
 to carry out their own part of thp programme at 
 all hazards ? 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was always very reticent abont 
 the part he took in, thp affair. To my occasional 
 indirect questions hp plways, but once, retqrned 
 evasive answers, apd then he said, "When the 
 right time comes, I will tell you thp whole of that 
 stpry." The assassin's bullet cut shprt the s);pry. 
 
 'While pur forces lay at Murfreesborough, Gen- 
 eral Garfield organized the admirable secret-ser- 
 vice system of the Army of the Cumberland, which 
 gave Rospcrnps such perfect information of the 
 movements of thp pnemy, and put an end to the 
 extensive spiuggling of cotton through the army 
 linps which wiis being carried on by professed 
 Union men high in civil and military positions. 
 In this last he at first met with strenuous oppo- 
 sition, and then was offered enormous bribes to 
 Ipt things go on in their former routine; bnt 
 this young officer, with a bare stipend of only 
 three thousand dollars from his rank as Briga- 
 dier, was proof against both bribes and blan- 
 dishn^pnts, and, with the cordial help of Rose- 
 
crans, he soon cleaned ont tlie Augean stables. 
 Had he but. done as others did — merely shut his 
 eyes to this oomrabaiul traffic — lie niislit have 
 made, during tlie five months the nrmv lav at 
 Muvfreesborongh. at least a million of dollars. 
 And yet we are told that at a subsequent period 
 he sold him^:elf to Dakes Ames for three luni- 
 dred and twenty-nine dollars! 
 
 The Army of the Cuinbeiland lay idle he- 
 fore Mnrfreesborough from Jainuiry 4th to June 
 2-tth, 18()3. The War Department demanded 
 an advance, and the coimtry clamored tor it, be- 
 lieving that the hero of .Stone River had onlv to 
 move to command victory. But for five months 
 Kosecrans remained inactive till he had, as well 
 as he conld, completed the reorganization of his 
 army. Then he addressed letters to each of his 
 corps, division, and cavalry commanders, asking 
 as to the advisability of a foiward movement. 
 Tliey answered in writing, and not one favored 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 yon to understand that it is a rash and fatal 
 move, for which you will be held responsible." 
 
 "Tiie rasli and fatal move was the Tnllahoma 
 campaign— a campaign perfect in its conception, 
 excellent in its general execution, and oulv hin- 
 dered from resnliing in the complete destruction 
 of the opposing army by the delays which bad 
 too long postponed its commencement. It, might 
 even yet have destroyed Bragg, but for the ter- 
 rible season of rains wliich set in on the morning 
 of the advance, and continued uninterruptedly foT 
 the greater part of a month, Witli a week's'ear- 
 lier start it would have ended the career of Br 
 army in the war 
 
 In his re 
 
 ragg s 
 
 port forwarded to the War Depart- 
 ment, as he was setting out for this campaign, 
 General Rosecrans hopes it will not be consid- 
 ered invidious if he speciallv mentions "Briga- 
 dier-general James A. Garfi'eld, an able soldier, 
 zealous, devoted to duty, pncdent and sagacious. 
 
 21 
 
 "The Rossville road — the road to Chattanooga 
 — was the great prize to be won or lost at Chick- 
 amauga. If the enemy filled togaiu it,theircam- 
 paigu would be an unmitigated disaster; for the 
 gate-way of the mountains woidd be irretrievablv 
 lost. If our army failed to bold it, not only would 
 our campaign be a failure, but almost inevitable 
 destrnciion awaited the army itself The first 
 day's battle (September 19th), which lasted far 
 into the uiglit, left us in possession of the road; 
 but all knew that ne.xt day would bring the 
 final decision. Late at night, surrounded by his 
 cinnmanders, assembled in the rude cabin known 
 as the Widow Glen House, Rosecians gave his 
 orders for the coming morning. The substance 
 of his order to Thomas was tliis : ' Your line lies 
 across the road to Chattanooga. That is the piv- 
 ot of the battle. Hold it at all hazards ; and I 
 will re-enforee you, if necessary, with the whc.le 
 army.' 
 
 ati advance. General Garfield, at Rosecrans's re- 
 quest, collated their answers — seventeen in .all — 
 and then gave liis own opinion. This paper has 
 been pronouiired. by competent authority, "the 
 ablest military document known to have been 
 submitted by a Chief of Staff to his superior dur- 
 ing the war." In it, against the opinion's of sev- 
 enteen general oflieers, Garfield advised an im- 
 mediate forward movement. " Onr true objec- 
 tive point," he said, "is the Rebel Armv. whose 
 last reserves are substantially in the field, and an 
 effective blow w ill crush the shell, and soon be 
 followed by a collapse of the Rebel government.'' 
 Rosecrans decideil to act on Garfield's advice, 
 and twelve days thereafter the armv was set in 
 motion. As it was about to break up camp. 
 Major-general T. L. Crittenden, one of the 
 three corps commanders, said to Garfield, "It 
 is understood, sir, by the general otiicers of the 
 amy that this niovemem is your work. I wish 
 
 MURFREESBOROUGH. 
 
 I feel," he says, "much indebted to him both for 
 his counsel and assistance in the administration 
 of this army. He possesses the instincts and 
 energy of a great commander." 
 
 General Gaifield's last service in the army was 
 at the battle of Chitkamauga, and this was prac- 
 tically the close of bis military career. The gen- 
 eral position of the opposing forces in that great 
 battle, and the gieat i<snes at stake on it, cannot 
 be belter given tlian in his own language t 
 
 "Rosecrans had ciossed the Teniies.see, and 
 had successfully mananivred the enemy ont of 
 Chattanooga. The greater work remained — 
 to maich his own army into that place, in the 
 face of Bragg's army, heavily re-enforced, and 
 greatlv outnumbering his own. 
 
 * Wiitelaw Reid. 
 
 t Oration on the Life and Character of General 
 George H. Thomas, by James A. Garlield. 
 
 "During the whole night the re-enforcements 
 of the enemy were coming in. Early next 
 morning we were attacked along the whole 
 line. 'Phomas commanded the left and centre 
 of our army. From eaily morning he withstood 
 the furious and repeated attacks of the enemy, 
 who constantly re-enforced his assaults on our 
 lelt. About noon our whole right wing w'as 
 broken, and driven, in hopeless confusion, from 
 the field. Rosecrans was himself swept away 
 in the tide of retreat. The forces of Long- 
 street, which had broken our right, desisted 
 from the pursuit, and. fuming in heavy col- 
 umns, assaulted the right flank of Thomas with 
 unexampled fury. Seeing the npproarlnng dan- 
 </u: he threw back his exposed flank toward the 
 base of the mountain, and met the new peril." 
 
 The few words I have italicised reveal the 
 turning and vital point of the battle. Thomas 
 saw the approaching danger, and, seeing it, was 
 
22 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 aWe ta ::heck the enemy and save the army ; 
 tmd, in telling how he came to see it, I shall re- 
 late one of tlie most brilliant exploits of the 
 War of the Rebellion. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the Union 
 army had a line of fully four miles, and was op- 
 erating in a broken country, half forest and half 
 cotton-field, from no one point of which was it 
 possible to take in the movements of the entire 
 forces. Rosecians had established his head- 
 quarters for the day in the rear of his centre 
 and right wing, and on one of the foot-hills of 
 Missionary Ridge. He was here about noon, 
 Bnrrounded by General Garfield, Major McMi- 
 chael,assistant adjutant-general ; Major Bond,his 
 senior aid, and Haifa dozen orderlies, when Cap- 
 tain Gaw, of Thiimas's statf, rode up to his head- 
 quarters. The cantain liad been sent by 'J'homas 
 with a message to General Negley, and had pass- 
 ad the right centre jnst as Wood opened the fa- 
 tal gap into which Longstreet streamed, breaking 
 McCook's corps into fragments. Reining his 
 horse to the riglit, he had got out of the way of 
 the fugitives. A moment liefore, Rosecrans had 
 caught a distant sight of some scattering troops 
 straggling over the hills, and he called out to 
 Captain Gaw, as he approached, " What troops 
 are those coming down the hill ?" 
 
 ' " They are a part of McCleve's reserres, Gen- 
 eral — the right centre is broken I" 
 
 In a moment more the hills were swarming 
 with a disordered rabble, and turning to his Chief 
 of Staff, this genuine soldier, who had never be- 
 fore lost a batde, rried out, his . anxiety photo- 
 graphed in his face, " Garfield, what shall be 
 done ? Garfield, what shall be done ?" 
 
 Cool, clear-headed, and intrepid, this glorious, 
 man and wonderful soldier took in, on the in- 
 stant, the whole extent of the disaster. It did 
 not stun hitn, but instinctively he turned to 
 Bome one else to show the way out of the emer- 
 gency. 
 
 As quietly as if on dress-parade, Garfield an- 
 swers, "Send an order to General Mitchell 
 (commanding the cavalry) to fall back on Chat- 
 tanooga ; send anotlier to the officer in com- 
 mand at Rossville to withdraw his guards, and 
 let the I'etreating troops pass ; and send Captain 
 Gaw to 'General Thomas, asking him to take 
 command of all the forces, fall back on Ross- 
 ville, and, with McCook and' Crittenden, make a 
 stand there, and hold the enemy in check until 
 you can reorganize the broken divisions." 
 
 Couriers are quickly despatched with the sev- 
 eral messages, and Captain Gaw has set out, 
 when Rosecrans calls him back, and directs him 
 to show them the shortest route to the Chatta- 
 nooga Valley Jioad. They set out, through a 
 trackless forest of cedar-brake and bramble, in 
 the direction of Nickajack Trace. Now and 
 then the commanding general halts,_turn9 his 
 head to listen, and says, "Thomas is still in- 
 tact;" then moves on in monrnful silence. 
 They come to the Dry Valley Road, and find it 
 crowded with a tangled mass of horses, wagons, 
 and soldiers moving biiskly, but without the en- 
 ergy of a stampede. As they pass this disor- 
 ganized mass, the general's face reflects the hu- 
 miliation he feels. Then they leave the high- 
 way, and go on again over a rugged, trackless 
 waste. At last they reach the Chattanooga 
 Road, three miles by direct route from Thomas, 
 and four from Chattanooga. Here they halt; 
 and now occurs one of those ludicrous incidents 
 which occasionally break the monotony of the 
 severest battles. The Government has sent out 
 a commissioner to look into the state of the 
 army — an honorable Senator, whose reputation 
 fills the country. He approaches them now on 
 horseback, through the oijen field at the south. 
 His horse is at full speed, and he is hatless, his 
 clothing torn and begrimed with dirt, his hands 
 brier- scratched and bleeding, his hair literally 
 on end, and his face the very image of despair. 
 Rosecrans salutes him ; but passing the general 
 without recognition, he rides up to one of the or- 
 derlies, and says, " Sir, have you any tobacco 
 about you ?" The soldier takes out a package 
 wrapped in tin-foil, and the Senator says, hurried- 
 ly and emphatically, "I will give you five dol- 
 lars for this tobacco, sir." The orderly declines 
 
 the money, but tells him to keep the tobacco ; 
 and then he turns to the commanding general, 
 and, with a wild and vacant look, says, " Your 
 army has all gone to h — 1, sir ! Where is Nick- 
 ajack Gap? lam bound for Bridgeport." Then, 
 without waiting for an answer, he turns, puts 
 spurs to his horse, and gallops down the road 
 northward. The next heard of him he was seat- 
 ed, canted back in his chair, and with his hoots 
 on the top of his desk, in the Senate-chamber at 
 Washington. 
 
 Thomas is only three miles away, but the noise 
 of his fire is broken by the intervening hills and 
 timber. They are in doubt, from the indistinct 
 sounds, whether he is holding his ground, or is 
 falling back, already broken. Rosecrans and 
 Garfield dismount from their horses, and, lay- 
 ing their ears to the ground, listen long and in- 
 tently. 
 
 Rosecrans is the first to speak. " It is a scat- 
 tering fire," he says. " He is broken !" 
 
 " No, General," says Garfield. " He is hold- 
 ing his ground. They are regular discharges." 
 
 They listen again, and in a few moments Ro- 
 secrans exclaims, "Ton are mistaken, Garfield! 
 He is giving way. We must hurry back, and 
 hold Chattanooga." 
 
 The Chief of StaflF knows he is right, but ar- 
 gument is useless. He simply says, " Well, Gen- 
 eral, if you think you must go back, let me go 
 on to Thomas." 
 
 Rosecrans hesitates, then says, ' ' As you will. 
 General;" and then, reaching Garfield his hand, 
 he adds, while his face shows his emotion, "We 
 may not meet again ; good-bye: God bless you!" 
 Though one of the bravest men and ablest sol- 
 diers that ever lived, Rosecrans has a heart as 
 tender and gentle as a woman's. He thhiks 
 Garfield is going to well-nigh certain death, and 
 he loves him as David loved Jonathan. Again 
 he wrings his hand, and then they part — Rose- 
 crans to the rear, to rally his broken troops, 
 Garfield to a perilous ride in pursuit of Thomas. 
 
 Captain Gaw goes with Garfield to guide the 
 way, and two of the orderlies. They make a 
 wide detour to avoid the Confederates, and, by 
 the route they take, it is eight miles of tangled 
 forest and open road before they get to Thomas, 
 and at any turn they may come upon the enemy. 
 They set out in a straight line for Rossville. 
 Striking into a dark, pathless v^ood, a tangled 
 undergrowth of intertwisted biish and brier, 
 for two miles they skirt the low bottom-lands 
 of the Cliattanooga Valley. 
 
 Near the middle of the valley, on the banks 
 of Chattanooga Creek, at an opening among the 
 trees, they come suddenly upon a small-pox hos- 
 pital — an abandoned relic of the enenrty. It con- 
 tains a large number of loathsome, half-starved 
 wretches, blacks and whites in about equal num- 
 bers. Heedless of its noxious vapors, Garfield 
 leads the way through the midst of this pesti- 
 lential field, and halts a moment to express a 
 painful sympathy with its wretched tenants; 
 but time is precious, and on they go again, 
 through the cedar-brakes, over rough and stony 
 fields, and up the northerly slopes of Missionary 
 Ridge, to the Dry Valley Road. 
 
 Thence their way is clear to Rossville. At 
 Rossville they take the Lafayette Road, guiding 
 their way by the sound of the firing, and moving 
 cautiously, for they are now nearing t\\e battle- 
 field. The road here is scarcely more than a 
 lane, flanked on one side by a thick wood, and 
 on the other by an open cotton-field. No troops 
 are in sight, and on they gallop at a rapid pace ; 
 and they have left Rossville a thousand yards 
 behind, when suddenly, from along the left of 
 the road, a volley of a thousand Minie- balls 
 falls among them, thick as hail, wounding one 
 horse, killing another, and stretching the two 
 orderlies on the ground lifeless. They have rid- 
 den into an ambuscade of a large body of Long- 
 street's skirmishers and sharp-shooters, who, 
 entering the fatal gap in the right centre, have 
 pressed thus far upon the flank of Thomas. 
 
 Garfield is mounted on a magnificent horse, 
 that knows his rider's bridle-hand as well as he 
 knows the route to his fodder. Putting spurs to 
 his side, he leaps the fence into the cotton-field. 
 The opposite fence is lined with gray blouses, and 
 
 a single glance tells him that they are loading 
 lor another volley. He has been in tight places 
 before, but this is the tightest. Putting his lips 
 firmly together, he says to himself, "Now is 
 your time ; be a man, Jim Garfield !" He speaks 
 to his horse, and lays his left hand gently on the 
 rein of the animal. The trained beast yields 
 kindly to his touch, and, putting the rowels into 
 his side, Garfield takes a zigzag course across the 
 cottoti-field. It is his only cliance ; he must tack 
 from side to side, for he is a dead man if they 
 get a steady aim upon him. 
 
 He is riding up an inclined plane of about four 
 hundred yards, and if he can pass the crest, he 
 is in safety. But the gray fellows can load and 
 fire twice before he reaches the summit, and his 
 ,death is a thing certain, unless Providence has 
 more work for him to do on this footstool. Up 
 the hill he goes, tacking, when another volley 
 bellows from out the timber. His horse is stinick 
 — a flesh wound — but the noble animal only leaps 
 forward the faster. Scatteiing bullets whiz by 
 his head, but he is within a few feet of the sum- 
 mit. Another volley echoes along, the hill when 
 he is half over the crest, but in a moment more 
 he is in safety. As he tears down the slope, a 
 small body of mounted blue-coats gallop forward 
 to meet him. At their head is General Dan 
 McCook, his face anxious and pallid. "My 
 God, Garfield!" he cries, "I thought you were 
 killed, certain. How you have escaped is a mir- 
 acle." It was not long before this brave man 
 was himself stretched upon such another shot- 
 swept field at Knoxville. Captain Gaw has had 
 his horse shot under him at the first fire, and is 
 considerably hurt by the fall ; but somehow he 
 has managed to dodge the bullets, and crawl over 
 the crest to the side qf McCook and Garfield. 
 McCook gives him another horse, and they start 
 again for the head-quarters of Thomas. 
 
 Garfield's horse has been struck twice, but he 
 is good yet for a score /)f miles ; and at a break- 
 neck pace they go forward, through ploughed 
 fields and tangled forests, and over broken and 
 rocky hills, for four weary miles, till they climli 
 a wooded crest, and are within sight of Thomas. 
 In a slight depression of the ground, with a group 
 of officers about him, he stands in the open field, 
 while over him sweeps the storm of shotted fire 
 that falls in thick rain on the high foot-hill which 
 Garfield is crossing. Shot and shell and canis- 
 ter plough up the ground all about Garfield ; 
 but in the midst of it he halts, and with uplifted 
 right arm, and eyes full of tears, he shouts, as 
 he catches sight of Thomas, " There he is ! God 
 bless the old hero! he has saved the army." 
 
 For a moment only he halts, then he plunges 
 down the hill through the fiery storm, and in 
 five minutes is by the side of Thomas. He has 
 come out unscathed from the hurricane of death, 
 for God's good angels have warded off the bul- 
 lets ; but his noble horse staggers a step or two, 
 and then falls dead at the feet of Thomas.* 
 
 The meeting of tlie two men I shall not at- 
 tempt to describe, for it was too pathetic for de- 
 scription. In hurried, broken sentences Garfield 
 tells Thomas that he is out-flanked, and that at 
 least seventy thousand men are closing down 
 upon his right wing, to crush his twenty-five 
 thousand into fjagments. He must withdraw 
 his right wing and form line again upon the 
 crested horseshoe which is before them at the 
 base of the mountain. Quick the orders are 
 given, and quick the movement is executed, yet 
 not a moment too soon ; for yonder, from behind 
 a clump of woods, emerges the head of Longstreet's 
 bristling columns. But Thomas's men are few, 
 and his line falls short by three hundred feet of 
 the spur of the cnountain. Longstreet sees this 
 gap, heads his column for it, and in a moment 
 more will have struck Thomas on flank and rear 
 fatally. 
 
 At this critical moment a heavy column is 
 seen on the hill down which Garfield has just 
 ridden, and in another moment a horseman, his 
 steed covered with foam, is by the side of Thom- 
 as and Garfield. He is a slightly-formed man, 
 
 * The details of this ncconnt are mostly from the 
 statement pf Captain William B. Gaw, then chief-eu. 
 gineer on the staff of General Thomas, who was Gar- 
 field's compauion in this perilous ride. 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 23 
 
 n little slab-sided, with- dark linii', projecting 
 brows, and deep, black cavernous eyes, from 
 which now a black flame is flashing. It is 
 Granger. He points witli his sword to the men 
 on the hill, and cries, "' Where will you place us?" 
 Thomas stretches his hand toward the three-ium- 
 dred-feet gap, in the direction of wliich Long- 
 street is coming, and simply says, ** There!" 
 Back, up the ballet-suept liill, Granger gallops, 
 and in a moment liis thirty-seven hundred men, 
 led on by iSteadman, are rushing down to the 
 break in the lines, like a bristling avalanche. 
 They are not a moment too soon, for Long- 
 street's heavy column is at the breach, and — now 
 comes the collision. It is like two imtnense rail- 
 way trains meeting in full career — the for- 
 ward columns siiiver- 
 ing to atoms, and going 
 down as they come to- 
 gether. Steadman's 
 horse is shot on the 
 full gallop, and his rider 
 is hurled fifteen feet for- 
 ward by the momen- 
 tum ; but, turning a 
 complete somerset, he 
 lights on his feet, and 
 waves his sword for his 
 men to come on as if 
 nothing had happened. 
 For forty minutes the 
 onset lasted, and then 
 a ghastly breastwork 
 of three thousand min- 
 gled blue -coats and 
 gray fills the narroiv 
 gap, but the Army 
 of the Cumberland is 
 saved from destruction. 
 And this is the result 
 ' of Garfield's zigzag ride 
 over that bullet-swept 
 cotton -field. It gave 
 Thomas the informa- 
 tion which saved the 
 army. 
 
 Now, beaten and baf- 
 fled, Longstreet with- 
 draws his reeling col- 
 umns, bnt along the 
 rest of the line the con- 
 flict still rages. At its 
 close, bleeding and dy- 
 ing and dead, twenty 
 thousand men lie about 
 that smoking horse- 
 shoe ; but then the 
 Confederates are in full 
 retreat, and Garfield, 
 shotting a battery of 
 Napoleon guns, gives 
 them a parting saluta- 
 tion. 
 
 Begrimed with smoke 
 and powder, Garfield 
 had been everywhere 
 during the battle, ani- 
 mating and encourag- 
 ing the men ;* but to- 
 ward the close of the 
 fight, sheltered by a 
 dead tree, he sat down 
 on the ground, and 
 indited a despatch to 
 
 Rosecrans, detailing the situation. As he sat 
 there, during the heaviest of the firing, a white 
 
 • TO JAMES A. GARFIBLD. 
 
 Thou who didst ride on Chickainanga's day 
 All solitary down the Hary line, 
 And saw the ranks of battle rnsty shine, 
 Where grand old Thomas held them from dismay, 
 Regret not now, while meaner factions piny 
 
 Their brief campaigns aLjaiiist the best of men ; 
 For these spent balls of slander have Iheh- way, 
 
 And thou Shalt see the victory again ! 
 Weary and ragged, though these broken lines 
 
 Of party reel, and thine own honor bleeds, 
 That mole is blind that Garfield andei-mines, 
 
 That shot falls shcnt thai hired malice speeds. 
 That man will live whose pl:ice rhe Slate assigns. 
 
 And whose high mind a mightly nation needs! 
 Geokqu: Alfkkd Towkbkmd. 
 1872. 
 
 I dove, after hovering above his head for a few 
 moments, settled on the topmost branch of the 
 tree \v!iicli sheltered him. It i-emained there in 
 all the leaden storm, nor flew away till he bad 
 finished bis wiiling. '*It is an omen of peace," 
 said General Wood, who stood beside him. 
 Garfield said nothing, bnt went on with his de- 
 spatch. Then the dove flew awa\ to the North. 
 Garfield went again into the batlle, and the flash 
 of bis Napoleon gnus was the last ligbt tliat 
 shone upon the bloody field of Cbickamanga. I 
 need not tell the rest, for it is already histin'y.''' 
 
 In his report of the battle of Chickamauga, 
 General Rosecrans says : " To Brigadier-general 
 Garfield, Chief of Staff, I am especially indebted 
 for the clear and ready manner in which he 
 
 GENERAL GRANGER. 
 
 seized the point of action and movement, and 
 expressed in orders the ideas of the geneial com- 
 manding;" and a fortnight later the War Depart- 
 
 • General Oreswell, of Mai-yland, in a speech recent- 
 ly delivered, relaied the following incident: He said, 
 "James A. Gartield has risen from the barefooted 
 camil-boy to the proudest position in the coantry. I 
 met him for the tirst time at the wharf in Chester- 
 town, seventeen years a<;o, when,at the solicitation 
 of Hem-y Winter Davis, iinmedialely afler hie glorious 
 career in the field, he came to Maryland to assist the 
 Republicans in the campaign for emancipation. He 
 delivered a speech at the Chestertowa Conrt-honse, 
 and was attacked with rotten ei^trs and apples. Rais- 
 ing his head aloft, General Gailield ci-ied aload, 'I 
 have jast emerged from the rain of hail at Chicka- 
 mauga. I have dared to face the worst that conrn- 
 geons Rebels can do, and do yon tliink I can be fright- 
 ened by cowards?' The imposing beating of the 
 man stilled the turbulent audience." 
 
 1 ment commissioned bim a M.-ijor-general, "for 
 gallant conduct, and important services " in that 
 battle. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 IN CONGKUSS. 
 
 "Pj5aob hath her victories no less renowned 
 than war;" and we are now to follow Garfield 
 in the walks of peace, but through many a well- 
 contested struggle, crowned by many a hard-won 
 victory. He had been elected to Congress from 
 the Nineteenth District of Ohio, for so many years 
 represented by Joshua R. Giddings. Tliis dis- 
 trict, comprising the counties of Ashtabula, 
 Lake, Geauga, Portage, and Trumbull, and con- 
 taining a voting population of about twenty-five 
 thousand, has, perhaps, 
 less illiteracy, and more 
 intelligence, than any 
 district of its size in the 
 United States. Free 
 schools are at every 
 cross - road, and in 
 some sections one may 
 ride a whole day with- 
 out coming upon a 
 dram-shop. The peo- 
 ple are of New England 
 origin, and possess all 
 the best traits of their 
 Puritan ancestors. 
 They are manly, ener- 
 getic, freedom-loving, 
 and God-fearing; but 
 with these qualities, it 
 may be, there exist 
 among them some faint 
 traces of the bigotry, 
 narrowness, and cast- 
 iron theology of rural 
 New England as it was 
 fifty years ago. Gid- 
 dings had served them 
 faitlifully for nearly a 
 quarter of a century, 
 when one day they 
 learned that, in reck- 
 oning his mileage, he 
 went to Washington by 
 the way of New York, 
 while Ben Wade, who 
 lived on the other side 
 of the street from him, 
 made the same journey 
 by the shorter route via 
 Harrisburgh, and thai 
 saved the district two 
 hundred dollars a year. 
 Two hundred doUan 
 divided among twenty- 
 fi\e thousand tax-pay- 
 ers is less than one cent 
 to each ; but every one 
 of these tax-payers felt 
 that the whole amount 
 came out of his indi- 
 vidual pocket, and they 
 arose in the spirit of 
 Seventy- six and threw 
 Mr. Giddings, as their 
 fathers had thrown the 
 boxes of tea, overboard. 
 They elected an ambi- 
 tious young lawyer in 
 place of the old abolition hero, and left him, old 
 and poor, to meditate upon the "gratitude of 
 republics." But the country was kinder than his 
 constituency ; it gave the good old man the Con- 
 sulate at Montreal, and thus he was not left in 
 his age altogether " naked to his enemies.'' 
 
 In a short time the majority of the district be- 
 came dissatisfied with their new representative, 
 and, repenting of their unkindness, the leading 
 men laid tlieir siifl'rages again at the feet of their 
 old Congressman ; but, comftn'tably settled in 
 his leather-bottomed arm-chair at the Consulate, 
 be preferred not to trust himself again to the 
 fickle Avaves of popular favor. 
 
 In these ciicurastances they looked about for 
 some one to supersede the present incumbent; 
 and their eyes fell upon General Garfield. He 
 
u 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 
 
 had recently made' his brilliant campaign in 
 Eastern Eehtiutlcy, and tliey vividly remertiber- 
 ed his important services in tlie State Senate, 
 so, witliout asking his leave, or even notifying 
 him, they put him in nomination for Congress. 
 He was elected by an overwhelming majority. 
 It was then the almost Universal opinion that 
 the war would Soon be over, arid that another 
 year, at most, would see every rebellious State 
 back in the Union. GarflSld entertained this 
 opinion, and so he accepted the elfectiOn. 
 
 Bijt the war went On, and soon it became 
 apparent that it Vvas to be a long and des- 
 perate sti'uggle. Garfield saw this, and qnes- 
 tioried if hon(>r and duty did not requiie him 
 to remain in the army. In the suftinier of 1863 
 Kh ^ut this question to Bosecrans when on the 
 march to Ohaitiindbga. The latter said, "The 
 war is not yet over, nor will it be for some time 
 to'coine. Many questions will arise in Congress 
 *hich will require not only statesman-like treat- 
 ment, but the advice of men having an acquaint- 
 abce with liiilitary affiiirii; for that reason you 
 \n&, I thirik, do as good service to the country in 
 Congress as in the 'tteld. I not only think that 
 you can accept the position with honor, but that 
 it is jroir duty tO do it." This, for the time, 
 dfecidfed Garfield, and before the interview closed 
 EbSBcriins said to him, "Garfield, I want to give 
 you soihe advice. When you go to Congress, be 
 CaTeful what you say. Don't talk too much ; 
 biit when you talk. Speak to the point. Be true 
 to yiitirself, and you Will make your mark before 
 the coiiritry." As we go on with his life, we shall 
 i^ee howGarfield has profited by these instructions. 
 
 Congress would ndt meet tilUDecember. So 
 Geiiierai Gitrfield remained in the army, and be- 
 fore iiiany months came Chickamauga. This; 
 Battle, which more clearly forecasted a long and i 
 desperate struggle, iinsettled his decision, and 
 iiiadie him agaiii question if his duty, was not with 
 the army. He Was Still undecided when Con- 
 'pt'^h was 'abbnt to tneet, and, with despatches 
 from Roseci'aris, he went on to Washington. On 
 bis Way he stopped at his honye in Hirach, and 
 there met his first real sorrow since the death 1 
 of his father. The little daughter who was born ; 
 tjefore he went into the war, his first child, was 
 dying, and he retriairifed over to attend the ifu-i 
 a'evkl. The parents hkd no picture of the child. 
 io ^(vhom they were both tenderly attached, and 
 an ai'tist was called iri to take its photdgraph af- 
 t%t i^eath. Garfield was in his uniform, his civil- 
 ian suit not being yet ready; and when he took 
 t'He little creattire on his lap, and glanced dowii; 
 it^on itfe pallid features, his eye fell on the but- 
 tiih's of his new rank of Major-general. Sit- 
 ting thus. With death in his arms, how little, he 
 thdUght, thW'e is ift all the honors and gloi'^ of 
 the world! With this sorrow in his heart, he 
 Went on to Washington. 
 
 Arriving at New York, he stayed overnight with 
 ftfs college class-mate and bosom fiiend, Henry 
 E. Knbx, of the legal firm of FuUertoii, KnOx, & 
 Gi'o'sby. To him he put the same question he 
 had put to Rosecrans, and received, in substance, 
 the same answer; but still he was undecided. 
 At last he skid to his friend, "I will state the 
 case to Mr. Lincoln when I arrive at Washing- 
 toh, arid leave it to his decision." 
 
 lie did so, avid Mr. Lincoln said, " The Ke- 
 publican majority in Congress is very small, and 
 ills often doubtful whether we can carry the nec- 
 essary war measures ; and, besides, we are great- 
 ly lacking in men of military experience iri the 
 House to regulate legislation abput the army. 
 It is your duty, therefore, to enter Congress." 
 
 On the itth bf December,1863,Garfield resigned 
 his new rank as Major-geiiefal, and the next day 
 took his seat in the House of Kepresentatives, the 
 youngest meiiibei- in that body, as he had been of 
 the Ohio Legislature, and the youngest Brigadier 
 in the army. He was at once put upon the mili- 
 tdry committee, at that time the most important 
 committee of Congi-eSs. There his activity, iri- 
 diistiy, military knowledge, ilnd familiarity with 
 the Wants of the arthy brought hiin into imme- 
 diate requisition, and, with his ability in debate, 
 gave him at once a prominence in the Hoiise 
 which he might not have acquired in a much' 
 IbBger time in other circumstances. 
 
 Almost immediately occuiTed the great war- 
 legislation of this momentous period. Oh the 
 2Uth of January, 186i, was introduced a bill for 
 the confiscation of Rebel property, and Garfield 
 made his first speech in Congress. Space will 
 not permit me to reproduce any portion of this 
 speech ; but I would like to do So, for it shows the 
 swing of his mind and the character of his ora- 
 toiy, as well aS his mentiil stature at this early 
 date in his Cbngressional career. 
 
 The next question of importance that came tip 
 was the one in regard to bbuniies. The system had 
 been tiied before, and it had gathered in a host of 
 bounty-jumpers arid wretched fellows who would 
 have shaiiied the raw recruits of Falstaff. The 
 bill Was popular with the soldiers, for it offered 
 recruits — whether they jumped the service or 
 served out their time honestly — a large premium 
 for enlistment. Congress was unanimously in 
 favor of the measui'e, for the members wanted to 
 be friendly with the soldiers who were their con- 
 stituents. When the Ayes and Noes were called, 
 to the amazement of every one in the House, 
 Garfield voted against it, assigning as a reason 
 that the policy was ruinous, would not secure 
 more men, and would simply cost a vast amount 
 of money. He said that in a crisis like that the 
 nation was entitled to the service of every one 
 of its children, and it had a right, and it Was its 
 duty, by the strong arm of the law, to put just as 
 many men into the field as were needed to put 
 down the Rebellion. On a resolution from the 
 Military Colnmjttee, embodying the principles of 
 this bill, he at first voted absolutely alone in the 
 negative ; but before the vote was announced Mr. 
 Grinneir, of Massachusetts, arose, and changed 
 his to the negative, so that the record shows. 
 Yeas, 112; Nays, 2.* A day or two afterward 
 Mr. Chase, tlien Secretary of the Treasury, met 
 Garfield, and said to him, "1 was proud of your 
 vote the other day. You were right. But you 
 have just started in public life, and I want you 
 to bear in mind that it is a very risky thing to 
 vote against your whole party. It is a good 
 thing to do Sometimes, but not Very often. Do 
 it Sparingly and carefully." 
 
 It ^aS not long before the Bounty system 
 broke down, and Congress came to Garfield's 
 opinion. 
 
 The aririy at this time numbered about seven 
 bundled and fifty thousand; but one day Mr. 
 Lincoln came to the room of the Committee on 
 Military Affairs, and told them — what he did not 
 dare say in public, and they did not dare to 
 disclose to the House— that at i, certain time not 
 far ahead, say, one hundred days, the term of 
 throe hundred and eighty thousand men Would 
 expire, and the aimy be reduced below four 
 hundred thousand. "Unless I can replace those 
 three hundred and eighty thousand," he said, 
 " we not only cannot push the Rebellion, but we 
 cannot stand where we are. Sherman will have 
 to come back from Atlanta, Grant from the 
 Peninsula. I ask you to give me the power to 
 draft men to fill the ranks." 
 
 Some of his Republican friends on the Com- 
 mittee remonstrated with him ; they represented 
 that it was just on the eve of his re-election, and 
 tljfit the country would not tolerate a draft-law ; 
 that men who had already paid large sums for 
 substitutes to meet the quotas would not now 
 submit to be drafted, and would raise a tempest 
 which would carry the country for the Democ- 
 racy. 
 
 Mr. Lincolri raised his aWkWard but manly 
 figure up to its full height, as he said, " Gentle- 
 men, it is not necessary that I should be re- 
 elected ; but it is necessary that I should put 
 down this Rebellion. If you will give me this 
 law, I will put it down before my successor takes 
 his seat." 
 
 Thereupon the Coirimittee drew a draft bill, 
 and reported it to the House. It was voted 
 dowh by a two- thirds majority. The Demo- 
 crats Were not very numeroiis at that time, but 
 they were joined by a large number of Republi- 
 cans, who were on the eve of a re-election, and 
 feared to fiice an angry constituency. 
 
 When the voting was over, Mr. Garfield arose 
 
 * See Congreaaional Qloie tor Janiiaiy, 1884, p. llS. 
 
 and ihoved a reconsideration, and then m^de a 
 speech full of fire, and bristling like a regiment 
 of bayonets.* It carried the House by storrn; 
 the bill was passed after a lengthy discussion, 
 and Mr. Lincolri tnade the draft for five hundred 
 thousand men. 
 
 Garfield could not understand ho* men could 
 value their political lives in such a crisis. He 
 was young and impetuous, arid he did hot hesi- 
 tate to uSe some very plain speech iri the course 
 of this discussion. As he has grown older he 
 has ^roVvn cooler, and now his words seldoih 
 rinake hirii an enemy ; but then many a place- 
 seeking member conceived for hirti k coolness, 
 which did n'ot thaw but till wftrinM by his per- 
 sonal acquaintance. 
 
 Mr. Garfield's course on thte draft and bounty 
 laws alienated from him also many of his owA 
 constituents. Several of the prominent then of 
 his district joined in addressihg him a letter 
 withdrawing their confiilerice, and demanding 
 his resignation. He wrote them in reply that 
 he had acted according to his views of the needs 
 of the country; that he was sorry his judgtefSrit 
 did not agree with theirs ; but that, between theii- 
 opinion and his own, he vvas compelled to follbw 
 his own; and that he expected to live lorig 
 enough to have them all confess that he was 
 right and they were wrong. And he did. It 
 was not long before he had letters from every 
 signer of the letter, expre^sihg regrei for his cen- 
 sure, and saying he noW saw their Congressman's 
 course had been right. 
 
 About this time he made a speech in aiiswel 
 to Mr. Alexander Long, of Ohio, a portion o^ 
 which I quote, as a fair Spedtrien of his utter- 
 ances at this period. Lbrig had delivered an 
 ultra-peace harangue, proposing the recogriitibri 
 of the Southein Confederacy, which attracted to 
 an unusual degree the attention of the HoUse. 
 He sat down, and as if by coriairibn conSeht all 
 eyes were turned toward the young riiember frobd 
 Ohio. They expected a reply, and they were 
 not disappointed. Garfield at onbe rose, and 
 his first words struck on the House like the 
 notes of a hugle. Members from the remtitSt 
 seats crowded about him, ani in the midst of 
 intense excitement, broken by frequent applause, 
 he poured forth a torrerit of invective, whicli 
 has been rarely surpassed for p6Wer and elo- 
 quence. 
 
 " Me. Chairman," he sa^d — "I am reriiinde4 
 by the occurrences of this afternoon of two chai-~ 
 acters in the war of the Revolutiori, aS coihpared 
 with tWo others in the wat of to-day. 
 
 " The first was Lord Fairfax, who dWelt neiif 
 the Potomac, a few miles from uS. When the 
 great contest was opened between the mother 
 country and the colonies, Lord Fairfax, after a 
 protracted struggle with hiss own heart, decided 
 he must go with the mothei' country. He gath. 
 ered his mantle about him and went bVei' grand- 
 ly and solemnly. 
 
 "There was another man *ho caSt Jn his lot 
 with the struggling colonists, and contiimed with 
 them till the war was well-nigh ended. In an 
 hour of darkness that just preceded the glory of, 
 the morning, he hatched the treason tb surren- 
 der forever all that had been gained to the ene- 
 mies of his country. Benedict Arnold was that 
 man! 
 
 "Fairfax and Arnold find thelil' parallel oif to- 
 day. 
 
 "When this war begin, many g6od ihe.ri 
 stood hesitating and doubting what they ought 
 to do. Robert E. Lee sat in his house acrosi 
 the river here, doubting and delaying, and going 
 off at last almost tearfully to joirt thfe army of 
 his State. He reminds one, in some respects, 
 of Lord Fairfax— the stately Royalist of the Rev- 
 olution. " 
 
 "Bui; now, when tens of thousands of brave 
 souls have gone up to God under the shadow of 
 the flag; when thousands more, maimed and 
 shattered in the contest, are sadly awaiting the 
 deliverance of death ; now, when three years of 
 terrific Warfare have raged over us ; when our 
 armies have pushed the Rebellion back over 
 mountains and rivers, and crowded it into narrow 
 
 * See Congressional Olobe for July, 1881, 
 
limits, until a wall of fire girds it ; now, when 
 the uplifted hand of a niiijestio people is about 
 to harl the bolts of its conquering power upon 
 the Rebellion ; now, in the quiet of this hall, 
 hatched in the lowest depths of a similar dark 
 treason, there rises a Benedict Arnold and pro- 
 poses to surrender all up, body and spirit, the 
 Kation and the Flag, its genius and its honor, 
 now and forever, to the accursed traitors to our 
 country! And that proposition comes — God 
 forgive and pity my beloved State — it comes 
 from a, citizen of the time-honorecl and loyal 
 commonwealth of Oliio ! 
 
 " I implore you, brethren in this House, to 
 believe that not many births ever gave pangs to 
 my mother State such as she suifered when that 
 traitor was born ! I beg you not to believe that 
 on the soil of that State another such a growth 
 has ever deformed the face of nature, and dark- 
 ened the light of God's day." 
 
 It was during this session that a resolution 
 was introduced in the House, tendering the 
 thanks of Congress to General George H. Thom- 
 as for his important sei-vices at the battle of 
 Chicamauga, but omitting all mention of Bose- 
 crans. Garfield arose and defended his former 
 chief, recounting his brilliant services, but in no 
 way disparaging the merits of Thomas. The 
 nation now knows that Garfield was right ; that 
 Hosecrans was one of the ablest soldiers and 
 purest patriots that helped to crush the Bebel- 
 lion ; and let as hope that the lover of his coun- 
 try may not much longer have to hang his head 
 with shame when he thinks of the injustice that 
 this brave man has received at the hands of the 
 Government. 
 
 It was about this time that General Thomas, 
 having been appointed to supersede Bosecrans, 
 ofiered General Garfield the command of a corps 
 in his army. Thomas urged this upon him In a 
 private letter, and it brought up again to Garfield 
 the question whether his duty did not lie in that 
 direction. Another consicleration which may 
 properly have weighed with him, was the fact 
 that he had a youiig and growing family, and 
 that his salary as a Congressman — then only 
 three thousand dollars — was barely sufficient for 
 their support, and less than half, what his pay 
 would be as a M|ijor-general. He was a poor 
 man, and tliis last, therefore, was a weighty con- 
 sideration. Again he consulted Mr. Lincoln, and 
 again Mr. Lincoln told him that duty required 
 him to stay in Congress ; and fearing that that 
 consideration might not be strong enough, he 
 put it on the ground that by remaining Garfield 
 would phice him under personal obligation. 
 
 General Garfield appeared often in debate dur- 
 ing this session oif Congress: and some of his 
 speeches at this time — notably that on the Con- 
 stitutional Amendment to abolish slavery — are 
 among the best he ever delivered. 
 
 He had already iittained a very high rank 
 among his colleagues, and men of brains in both 
 houses had discovered that here was a fresh, 
 strong intellectual force, wliich was destined to 
 make its mark upon the politics of the country. 
 Of* his power over a popular audience a single 
 incident; which occurred about this time, will af- 
 ford illustration. 
 
 It was "the 14th of April, 186fl, and in the 
 midst of the universal rejoicing'oyer the return 
 of pteee, that Mr. Lincoln was struck down by 
 the hand of the assassin. Instantly the telegraph 
 flashed the news from one end of ttie land to the 
 ether, and the country became excited to its ut- 
 most tension. New York City, on the morning 
 after the nssassinatioii, seemed rehdy tor the 
 scenes of the French Beivolntion. The newspa- 
 per head-lines were in the largest type. Ci-owds 
 were about the bulletin boards, and the high 
 crime was on every one's tongue. Fear took 
 possession of men's minds as to the fate of the 
 Government, for in a few hours the news came 
 that Seward, too, had been murdered, and that 
 attempts had been mad^upon the lives of other 
 of the Government officers. Placards were put 
 up everywhere, in great black letters, calling 
 upon the loyal iritizens of New York, Brooklyn,' 
 Jersey City, and neighboring cities to meet 
 around Wa'U Stieet lixchange, and give expres- 
 sion to their sentiments. It was a dark and ter- 
 
 THB LIFE OF JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 
 
 rible hour. What might come next no one 
 could tell, and men spoke with t>»ted breath. 
 The wrath of the workingmen was simply un- 
 controllable, and revolvers and knives were in 
 the hands of Jhousands, ready at tlie first provo- 
 cation to avenge the death of the martyi'ed Pres- 
 ident upon any and all who dared to utter a word 
 against him. 
 
 Bleven o'clock in the inorning was the hour 
 set for the rendezvous. Fifty thousand people 
 crowded around the Exchange Building, wedged 
 in as tight as men could stand together. Gen- 
 eral Butler, it was announced, had started froni 
 Washington, and was either already in the city, 
 or expected every moment ; and the crowd wait- 
 ed in solemn silence for him to arrive and ad- 
 dress the gathering. Not a hurrah was heard, 
 but, for the most part, dead silence hung over 
 all, broken only now and then by a deep, ominous 
 muttering, which ran like a rising wave up the 
 street toward Broadway, and again down toward 
 the river on the right. In the reception-i'oora 
 of the building nearly a hundred prominent men 
 — generals, judges, statesmen, lawyers, editors, 
 and clergymen — were gathered, waiting the ar- 
 rival of Butler. 
 
 At length the batons of the police were seen 
 swinging iti the air, far up on the left, parting 
 the,crowd and pressing it back, to make way for 
 a carriage that moved slowly and with difiicult 
 jogs through the compact multitude. Suddenly 
 the sileAce was broken, and the cry of " Butler! 
 Butler! Butler!" rang out with tremendous and 
 thrilling effect, and was taken up by the people. 
 But not a hurrah ! Not one ! It was the cry 
 of a great people, asking to know how their Pres- 
 ident died. The blood boiled in their vehis, 
 and the tears ran in streams down tht'ir faces. 
 How it was done cannot be told, but Butler was 
 pulled through, and pulled up, arid into the re- 
 ception-room. A broad crape, a yard long, hung 
 from his left arm, in striking contrast with tlie 
 countless flags that wei'e waving the nation's 
 victory froni the adjoining buildings. Wlien 
 Butler entered the room he shook iiands witli 
 the gentlemen present. Some spoke, some could 
 not speak. All were in tears. The only word 
 he had for them all at the first break of the si- 
 lence was, " Gentlemen, he died in the fulness 
 of his fame!" As he spoke his lips quivered, 
 and the tears ran fast down his cheeks. 
 
 After a few moments, coming out upon the 
 balcony of the Exchange, Butler addressed the 
 assemblage. The effect, as the crape on his up- 
 lifted arm fluttered in the wind, can scarcely be 
 imagined. Men became frantic with excitement. 
 Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, was fairly 
 wild. He leaped over the iron railing of the 
 balcony, and while a by-stander held oh to his 
 coat to keep him from falling, he stood there, 
 on the very edge overhanging the crowd, gesticu- 
 lating in the most vehement manner, and bid- 
 ding the crowd " to burn up. the rebel seed, root 
 and branch." By this time the wave pf popular 
 indignation had swelled to its crest. In an ad- 
 joining street two men lay bleedipg. the one 
 dead, tlie other trying ; one on the pavement, the 
 other in the gutijer. ' They had said a monient 
 before that "Xiincolti ought to have been shot 
 long ago." They were not allowed to say it again ! 
 Sootj two long pieces of scantling were raised 
 above the heads of the crovfd, crossed at the top 
 like the letter X, a looped halter pendept f'roni 
 the junction, and a ^ozen men followed i^s s^ow 
 motion through the masses, \yhile the cry of 
 "Vengeance!" surged rip ft'om ev^fy quarter. 
 
 On the right suddenly the shout arofee, " The 
 World!" " The World!" "The office of The. 
 World!" "World!" "World!" and a move- 
 ment of perhaps eight or ten thousand, turning 
 their faces in the direction of that building, began 
 to be, executed. It Was a critical moment. What 
 might have come, had that crowd inoved upon 
 the office of that journal, may he easily imag- 
 iiied. Police and military would haye availed 
 nothing. A telegram had just been' read froin 
 Washihgton, " Seward is dying!" Just then, at 
 that juncture, a man stepped forward with a small 
 flag in his hand, and beckoned to the crowd. 
 "Another telegram froin Washington!" Atid 
 then, in the avrful stillness, of the crisis, taking 
 
 25 
 
 advantage of the hesitation of the crowd, whose 
 steps had been arrested a monient, a right arm 
 was lifted skyward, and a voice, clear and steady, 
 lond and distinct, spoke out: '■ Fellow-citizens! 
 ("blonds and darkness are roupd about Him! 
 His pavilion is dark waters and thick clouds of 
 the skies! Justice and judgment are the es- 
 tablishment of His throne! Mercy and truth 
 shall go 'before His face! Fellow-citizens! God 
 reigns, and the Government at Washington still 
 lives."* 
 
 The effect was tremendous. The crowd stood 
 riveted to the ground in awe. gazing at the mo- 
 tionless orator, and thinking of God and of his 
 providence over the Government and the nation. 
 As the boiling wave snbside.s and settles to the 
 sea when some strong wind beats it down, so thp 
 tninnit of the people sank and became still. A^ 
 the rod draws the electricity from the air, aiid 
 conducts it safely to the ground, po this man hai) 
 drawn the fury from that frantic crowd, ann 
 guided it to more tranquil thoughts than ven- 
 geance. It was as if some divinity had spoken 
 through him. It was a triumph of eloquence, a 
 flash of inspiration such as seldom comes to any 
 man, and to not more than one man in a cen- 
 tury. Webster, nor Choate, nor Everett, nor 
 Seward ever reached it. Demosthenes never 
 equalled it. The man for the ciisis had come, 
 and his words were more potent than Napoleon's 
 guns at Paris. A murmur went through the 
 crowd, " Who is he?" The answer came in low 
 *hispers, "General Garfield, of Ohio." When 
 asked some time ago to give the words he had 
 spoken, he answered, "I cannot; I could not 
 have told five minutes afterward. I only know I 
 drew the lighining from that crowd, and brought 
 it back to reason." 
 
 He had arrived from Washington that morn- 
 ing, and after breiikfast had strolled out upon 
 the crowded streets, with no definite purpose in 
 view, and in entire ignorance of the great gath- 
 ering at the Exchange Building. Providence — 
 wliich we misname accident — directed his steps 
 down Broadway, and when he saw the great 
 concourse of people he kept on to learn the oc- 
 casion of the assemblage. General Butler was 
 speaking when he arrived, and a friend on the 
 steps of the Kxchange beikone<l to him to come 
 up there, above the heads of the multitude. 
 Providence thus furnished the man for the occa- 
 sion, and soon it lent him the inspiration. 
 
 About this time General Garfield won his first 
 case as a lawyer, and it was in the Supreme 
 Court of the United States — in other words, he 
 began where most lawyere are content to end. 
 It is the general impression that he is not a reg- 
 ular member of the legal profession, and hence 
 some people suppose that the fee of five thousand 
 dollars, which was paid him in the De Golyer 
 case, was more to secure his influence as a Con- 
 gressman than his services as a lawyer. For 
 the benefit of such persons I will say that Gen- 
 eral Garfield is regarded by the members of the 
 Supreme Court as one of the ablest constitutional 
 lawyers in thi^ country, and th;^t some of his fees 
 for arguments before the U. S. Bench have beeii 
 as large as any ever paid to Daniel Webster. He 
 was not ifdmitted to the Bar by (he nsu^l routine, 
 but he is no less a very a,ble lawyer, '('he usual 
 tread-mill route to legal preferment .is, I believe, 
 to enter as a small boy a lawyer's office, swe^g 
 the floor f"'' tw <"■ three year's, engross, long le^ 
 gal documents fpr two or three more, pettifog 
 in a Justice's Court for even a longer timp, ana 
 then slowly and gradually, as the older heads die 
 off, appear in the nigher courts ; and when he has 
 done this fifteen or twenty years, becotne admit- 
 ted to the Supreme Court, and when he is, per- 
 haps, a man of .sixty, have his first case, apd glory 
 over it as the Bed-letter day in his history. 
 
 He did not reach the Bar of the' Supreme 
 Court by this slow arid tedious process. He 
 studied law as thoroughly, perhaps, as any man 
 ever did study it; but he' studied it in his own 
 room at Hiram, while he was teaching his class 
 in the college, lecturing on Geology, simplying 
 the pulpit for good " Father " Byder,'and dqing.n 
 
 • This narrative is frotn the statement, and largely 
 in the words, of an ejfe-witueas. 
 
26 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GAKFIELU. 
 
 tliuiisand otlier things, that would have broken 
 down any man not of iiis iron constitution. To 
 Comply with the statute, he entered his name as 
 a student witli the Hon. A. G. Riddle, then prac- 
 tising law in Cleveland ; and he was admitted to 
 the ISar in 1860, after being examined by a 
 committee of the Supreme Com t of Ohio, wlieu 
 he was President of Hiram College. He was 
 about to resign his Pi-esidenoy, and form a part- 
 nership for tiie practice of the Law, \vhen the war 
 broke out, and he went into the army. But he 
 then had never had a biief, never aigued a case, 
 and never had liis name emblazoned as "Attor- 
 ney and Counsellor " on the door of a second- 
 story rear office. 
 
 The war over, he went into Congress; and 
 when he had been tiiere a couple of years, it so 
 happened that, in company with his friend Hen- 
 ry Winter Dtivis, wliom lie vety much admired, 
 he resisted in the House an attempt to extend 
 tlie power of mihtary commissions over civil- 
 ians interfering in any way with the war — such 
 worthy gentlemen as Vallandigliam. He re- 
 sisted this attempt as un-American, and contra- 
 ry to the old English spirit of liberty. About 
 
 and the record of the trial. Garfield read it, and 
 on meeting Judge Black again, said, "I believe 
 in that doctrine." The astute old lawyer then 
 said to the young Congressman, " Young man, 
 it is a perilous thing for a young Republican in 
 Congress to endorse such doctrines, and I don't 
 want you to injure yourself." "That consider- 
 ation," answered Garfield, "does not weigh with 
 me. I believe in English liberty and English law ; 
 but, Judge Black, I am not a practitioner in the 
 Supreme Court, and I never tiled a case in any 
 court in my life." The Judge answered, "How 
 long ago were you admitted to the Bar?" "About 
 six years," said Garfield. "That will do," said 
 Judge Black ; "you must now be admitted to the 
 Supreme Court, and try this case with me." Gar- 
 field was admitted, and at once entered upon this 
 important case. 
 
 There was a strong array of counsel on both 
 sides. The prisoners were represented by Hon. 
 J. S. Black, of Pennsylvania, Hon. David Dud- 
 ley Field, of New York, Hon. J. E. McDonald, 
 of Indiana, who had been on the bench of that 
 State, and General Garfield ; the Government, 
 by Hon. James Speed, Attorney- general, Hon. 
 
 oners; Garfield followed him; Black followed 
 him ; and David Dudley Field closed the argu- 
 ment. And the case was decided in their favor. 
 
 Garfield spoke for two hours ; and his argu- 
 ment, which was leported in short- hand, was 
 printed in pamphlet form, and given a wide cir- 
 culation. By eminent legal authority it was pro- 
 nounced conclusive and masterly. It gave him 
 at once a high standing in the Supreme Court, 
 and soon brought him many important cases. 
 The men he had defended weie poor and in pris- 
 on. Garfield had never seen them, never had any 
 relation with them, and was never paid for his 
 services in any other ^vay than by the valuable 
 practice ivhich came to him in consequence of 
 defending them. He has since never been with- 
 out a case in the Supreme Court, and be has had 
 as many as seven in the course of a twelve- 
 month. 
 
 On the 4th of March, "1865, when the Thirty- 
 eighth Congress expired, the Rebellion was in 
 the last throes of dissolution. GaiHeld had been 
 re-elected bv a large majority ; and when he took 
 his seat in the Thirty-ninth Congress, which as- 
 sembled in December, 1865, Speaker Colfax in- 
 
 LAWNFIBLD: GENERAL GAHPIELD'S NEW HOME AT MENTOR. 
 
 two years later Judge Black of Pennsylvania 
 was acting as attorney for some Indiana Demo- 
 crats who were trying to save three men — Mil- 
 ligan, Bowles, and Horsey — citizens of Indiana, 
 that had been convicted and sentenced for con- 
 spiracy against the Government, in preventing 
 enlistments, and encouraging desertions from the 
 army. They had been tried in 1864, while the 
 war was pending, and had been sentenced to 
 death by a military commission sitting in Indi- 
 ana, where no war existed. Mr. Lincoln had com- 
 muted their sentence to imprisonment for life, 
 and they were then in the State-prison of Indi- 
 ana. Their friends, to test the constitutionality 
 and legality of their trial, had taken out a writ 
 of habeas corpus, and brought them before the 
 two judges of tiie Circuit Court of Indiana, who 
 had disagreed, and certified their disagreement 
 up to the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 Judge Black had seen what Garfield had said 
 two years before in Congress, and now came to 
 him, and asked if he was n illiug to say the same 
 thing in an argument before the Supreme Court. 
 Garfield's answer was, "That depends alto- 
 gether upon the nature of your case." Judge 
 Black then gave him briefly the facts of the case, 
 
 Henry Stanberry, and General B. F. Butler, who 
 was called in because of his militaiy as well as 
 legal knowledge. Garfield sat down to his work 
 after his usual fashion, and soon mastered the 
 subject thoroughly. With the exception of four 
 or five hours given to sleep, he studied two days 
 and two nights, and then had wrought out the 
 points of his argument. 
 
 On the day before the trial, the counsel for the 
 prisoners met in Washington to determine upon 
 the conduct of the case. As soon as they liad 
 come together, Judge Black said, " We will hear 
 first from our youngest member. Garfield, what 
 do you intend to say?" The scene was very 
 much like that which I have described when — a 
 young colonel — Garfield stood before Buell at 
 Louisville. These men were the foremost law- 
 yers in the land, and the young lawyer, not ten 
 days admitted, was to show his hand before them. 
 It required more pluck than to face the fire of 
 Chickamanga. But he took his points coolly, 
 and stated succinctly the line of his argument. 
 When he was through, they said to him with one 
 accord, " J^on't change one word or one point." 
 
 On the following day the case was tried in the 
 Supreme Court. McDonald opened for the pris- 
 
 quired of him if he had any suggestions to maka 
 about the make-up of the Committee. Garfield 
 surprised the Speaker by saying that he had one, 
 and that was, that he might be left oft' from the 
 iVIilitary Committee. The war was over ; but the 
 army had to be reorganized, and the Military 
 Committee was still the most important one in 
 the House ; for the adjustment of many great 
 questions would come before it. "That," said 
 Colfax, "is the most remarkable request I ever 
 heard ; but if you don't wish to serve upon the 
 ^Military, there are dozens here, just back from 
 the army, who woidd like the opportunity. 
 What do you want ?" Garfield replied, " I 
 would like to serve where I can study finance. 
 That is to be the great question in the future, 
 in this country." 
 
 Accordingly, he was dropped from the Mili- 
 tary Committee and put upon that of Ways and 
 Means, just when Congress was beginning to 
 handle the great dry questions of Taiift', Taxa- 
 tion, Cin-rency, and the Public Debt. He at 
 once set to work to master thoroughly these 
 immense subjects. He studied carefidiv the his- 
 tory of English finance during the Napoleonic 
 War; went over the debates and speeches in 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 27 
 
 the English Parliament, and the writings of 
 the English financiers of that time ; and then 
 traced the subject down through our own Revo- 
 lutionary period, and through Hamilton's and 
 Jackson's time, making copious notes as he went 
 along. His speech on the Public Debt and Spe- 
 cie Payments,* delivered March 16tli, 1865, was 
 the first in which he displayed the extensive 
 knowledge he had acquired of these subjects, 
 but it is also shown in muny of his speeches at 
 a later period. Mr, Chase spoke of him at this 
 time as one of the bflst informed men on such 
 topics theit in public life. He was industrious 
 in his work in che committee-room, assiduous 
 in his private study of pending questions, an able 
 debater on the floor of Congress, and, because 
 he kept in the line of the current thought of the 
 time, always prepared to speak understandingly 
 and eloquently upon any subject that came up, 
 however sudden or unexpected the occasion. 
 
 An instance of this last was the readiness with 
 which he responded to the call of the Speaker 
 to make some remarks in the House on the morn- 
 ing of the first anniversai-y of the death of Mr. 
 Lincoln. Without notifying Congress, Presi- 
 dent Johnson had decided to observe the day 
 by closing the Departments, and had issued an 
 order to that effect in the morning journals. 
 Speaker Colfiix heai-d of this only fifteen minutes 
 before the hour Congress was to assemble, and 
 calling at once at Garfield's committee-room, 
 said to him, " I desire you to move that the 
 House shall adjourn as a mark of respect to our 
 martyred President. I give you just fifteen min- 
 utes to prepare some suitable remarks." Gar- 
 field demurred for want of time, but Colfax 
 cleared the room, locked the door, and left hitn 
 to his reflections. In fifteen minutes Garfield 
 entered the House, and as soon as the last words 
 ' of the previous day's proceedings had fallen from 
 the lips of the reading clerk, he rose and said : 
 
 "Mr. Speaker — I move that this House do 
 now adjourn ; and upon that motion I desire to 
 say a few words : 
 
 "This day will be sadly-memorable so long as 
 this nation shall endure, which God grant may 
 be till the last syllable of recorded time, when 
 the volume of human history shall be sealed up 
 and delivered to the omnipotent Judge. In all 
 future time, on the recurrence of this day, I doubt 
 not that the citizens of this republic will meet in 
 solemn assembly to reflect on the life and char- 
 acter of Abraham Lincoln, and the awful tragic 
 event of April 14th, 1865— an event unparalleled 
 in the history of nations. It is eminently prop- 
 er that this House should this diiy place upon its 
 record a memorial of that event. Tlie last five 
 years have been marked by wonderful develop- 
 ments of individual character. Thousands of 
 our people before unknown to fume have taken 
 their places in history crowned with immortal 
 honors. In thousands of liumble homes are 
 dwelling heroes and patriots whose names shall 
 never die. But gi'eatest among all these great 
 developments were the character and fame of 
 Abraham Lincoln, whose loss the nation still de- 
 plores. His character is aptly described in the 
 words of England's great laureate as he traces 
 the step upward of some 
 
 '"Divinely giftefl man. 
 
 Whose life in low estate began. 
 And on a simple villafie green. 
 
 Who bieiiks his binh'x invidions bars, 
 And grasps the skirts of happy chnnce, 
 And breasts. the blows of circnmstauce, 
 
 And grapples with his evil slai-s: 
 Who miikes by force his merit known, 
 
 And lives ti> clutch the jji'ISen keys 
 
 ■To mould a niiijhLy staters decrees, 
 And shape the whisper of the throne ; 
 And moving up from high to higher, 
 
 Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope. 
 
 The pillar of a people's hope, 
 The centre of a world's desire.' 
 
 " Such a life and character will be treasured 
 forever as tlie sacred possession of the Ameiican 
 people and of mankind. In the great drama of 
 the Rebellion there were two acts. The first 
 was the war, with its battles, its sieges, victories 
 and defeats, its suffeiings and tears. Tliat act 
 
 40 
 
 * Extracts from this speech may be found on page 
 
 was closing one year ago to-night, and just as 
 the curtain was rising upon new events, the evil 
 spirit of Rebellion in the fury of despair nerved 
 and directed the hand of the assassin to strike 
 down the chief character in both acts. It was 
 no one man who killed Abraham Lincoln. It 
 was the embodied spirit of treason and slavery, 
 inspired with fearful and despairing hate, that 
 struck him down in the moment of the nation's 
 supremest joy. Ah, sir, there are times in the 
 history of men and nations when they stand so 
 near the veil that separates mortals and immor- 
 tals, time from eternity, and men from their God, 
 that they can almost hear the breathings, and 
 feel the pulsations of the heart of the Infinite. 
 Through such a time has this nation passed. 
 When two hundred and fifty thousand brave 
 spirits passed from the field of honor through 
 that thin veil to the presence of God, and when 
 at last its parting folds admitted the martyred 
 President to the company of the dead heroes of 
 the republic, the nation stood so near the veil that 
 the whispers of God were heard by the children 
 of men. Awe-stricken by his voice, the Ameri- 
 can people knelt in tearful reverence, and made 
 a solemn covenant with God and each other that 
 this nation should be saved from its enemies; 
 that all its glories should be restored, and on the 
 ruins of slavery and treason the temples of free- 
 dom and Justice should be built and stand forev- 
 er. It remains for us, consecrated by that great 
 event, and under that covenant with God, to 
 keep the faith, to go forward in the great work 
 until it shall be completed. Following the lead 
 of that great man, and obeying the high behests 
 of God, let us remember 
 
 "'He has sounded forth his trumpet that shall never 
 call retreat; 
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before His Judg- 
 ment-seat; 
 Be swifi, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my 
 feet. 
 Fur God is marching ou.' " 
 
 He had not read Tennyson's lines in fifteen 
 years, and yet he misquoted but one word. 
 
 In August, 1866, th6 gentleman who had been 
 set aside'by his district on the occasion of Gar- 
 field's first election to Congress, made an effort 
 to secure the nomination. He thoroughly can- 
 vassed the district, and was aided in his opposi- 
 tion by the iron-producers of the Mahoning Val- 
 ley, who opposed Garfield's renominatioii on the 
 ground that he did not favor so high a tariff on 
 iron as they considered their interest demanded. 
 He was, however, renominated by an overwhelm- 
 ing vote, and elected by his usual majority. He 
 afterward convinced these opponents that a mod- 
 erate duty, affording a reasonable margin for pro- 
 tection, was better for them than a high prohibi- 
 tory tariff. 
 
 He has thoroughly studied this subject, 
 and between 1866 and 1880 has made on it 
 several of the ablest speeches that were ever 
 heard in Congress. In the first — that of 1866 
 — he goes fully into the history of Protection ; 
 states the policy of England toward the Colonies, 
 which led to the Revolution, and shows how ^lie 
 made of our fathers mere " hewers of wood and 
 drawers of water" — simply farm-laborers to sup- 
 ply the raw material for her manufactories ; and 
 in subsequent ones he discusses more fully the 
 philosophy of the subject. His studies have led 
 him to believe that, as a mere abstract theory, 
 free -trade is the true doctrine; but that in a 
 country situated like ours it can be made to work 
 practically only as we come up to it through a 
 long series of protections, until, one by one, the 
 various articles of manufacture are placed so well 
 on their feet as to stand alone. He is opposed 
 to prohibitory protection, but in favor of a tariff 
 high enough to enable our people to compete 
 fairly with foreign industries, and keep our own 
 alive; yet not so high as to enable our manu- 
 facturers to combine and monopolize prices, and 
 altogether shut out foreign competition. He 
 early took his stand on this middle doctrine. It 
 was not satisfactory to the free- traders, because 
 they wanted absohitely no restriction : nor was 
 it to the extreme protectionists, because they 
 desired the highest possible taritf, to give them 
 a monopoly of their business. He was de- 
 
 nounced by the protectionists as a free-trader, 
 and by the free-traders as a protectionist. In 
 fact, it is the only position where he ever stood 
 in the middle between two extrenies. On every 
 other question he ^as been at one pole or the 
 other. Here he has stood on the equator, and in- 
 sisted that the true position is the point of stable 
 equilibrinm where a tariff could be held that 
 would not be let down whenever the free-traders 
 held sway, or forced up whenever the protection- 
 ists got into power. What the country needs is 
 a pei^manent and settled policy, the tendency of 
 which will be constantly toward amelioration and 
 lesser duties. He has held this equitable ground 
 throughout his Congressional career, against the 
 assaiflts of first one side and then of the other ; 
 and to have held that steady equipoise is, per- 
 haps, the greatest of his achievements in states- 
 manship. 
 
 Early in 1867 his constant application began 
 to wear upon him ; his health broke down, and 
 by the advice of his physician, in the summer of 
 that year, accompanied by his wife. General Gar- 
 field went to Europe. He was absent from New 
 York seventeen weeks, and in that time made 
 the tour most familiar to travellers. He landed 
 at Liverpool, and went down to London, stop- 
 ping at Chester — which is near the home of his 
 ancestors. He remained in London about a 
 week, and while there listened to the great re- 
 form debate which resulted in giving the ballot 
 to seven hundred thousand Englishmen. He 
 then visited Scotland, making tlie tour of the 
 lakes, and then, crossing the North Sea, landed 
 at Rotterdam. Thence he went to Brussels, and 
 up the Rhine to Switzerland, and then across the 
 Alps into Italy. At Milan and Venice he made 
 short stops ; but at Rome he remained a week, 
 studying its ruins and monuments, and being 
 carried back to the classic times, which, since 
 his college days, have been the delight of his im- 
 agination. On his return, he spent another week 
 in Paris, and then, after a few days in London 
 and Liverpool, crossed to Kingston, and after a 
 trip through Ireland, set sail for home. This 
 journey widened his knowledge of men and 
 things, and gave him what he sought — restored 
 health. 
 
 General Garfield has from the outset been a 
 consistent advocate, both in Congress and on the 
 Stump, of " Honest money." He has opposed 
 every form of Inflation and Greeiibackism, and 
 he had at this time succeeded in making his 
 opinions on this subject the thought of the ma- 
 jority of his district ; but now, when he returned 
 froni Europe, he found that the Republicans of 
 Ohio had adopted a wretched platform, which 
 looked to the payment of the bonds of the Gov- 
 ernment in greenbacks, and that they had already 
 fought the Fall campaign on that issue. His friendi 
 proposed to give him a public reception before 
 his departure for Washington, and, knowing his 
 opinions, they said to him : " The State is swept 
 into the greenback current, and there is no stem- 
 ming the torrent; so, say nothing on this subject, 
 for the feeling is too strong to be resisted. An 
 indiscreet word may cost you the uomiuation." 
 
 He was not to be in Ohio again before the hold- 
 ing of the nominating convention ; but he attend- 
 ed the reception, and when called upon to address 
 the assemblage, rose and made a speech in favor 
 of the honest payment of the public debt, right 
 in the teeth of the platform. And he said to 
 them, "Much as I value your opinions, I here 
 denounce this theory that has worked its way into 
 this Stare, as dishonest, unwise, and unpatriotic; 
 and if I were, offered a nomination and election 
 for my natural life, from this district, on this plat- 
 form, I should spurn it. If you should ever raise 
 the question of renominating me, let it be under- 
 stood you can have iny services only on the ground 
 of the honest payment of this debt, and these 
 bonds, in coin, according to the letter and spirit 
 of the contract." 
 
 He thus took "the bull by the horns," and 
 then went to Washington. The result was that, 
 when the Convention met, he was renominated 
 by acchimation. He has ever since been the 
 consistent and unwavering opponent of all "soft 
 money" delusions, and the firm advocate of specie 
 payments and the Etrict fulfilment of the national 
 
28 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 obligations ; and he has ever since rtceived the 
 cordial support of his district on these questions, 
 and been re-elected by overwhelming majorities. 
 
 On the assembling of the next Congress' he was 
 made Chiiirman of the Committee on Military Af- 
 fairs, and in tlie succeeding Congress of that on 
 BankingandCurrency, and while servingin that ca- 
 pacity he Tiiade his celebrated report on the Causes 
 of the Gold Panic. The r port was the result of 
 a lengthy investigation, during which all thecliief 
 actors in the drama of the Black Friday apjjeiired 
 before the committee, and though it is packed 
 with hard facts — and very hard ones at that — It 
 reads like a chapter from one of Hugo's or Bal- 
 zac's romances. The documen1;,which was wijltten 
 altogether by General Uarfield himself sliows that 
 a first-class historian was sacrificed when he was 
 sentintopublic life. During these sessions of Con- 
 gress he made several speeches on the Tariff, the 
 Currency and the Banks, and Public Expenlii- 
 tiires and the Civil Service, which, if he had dbne 
 nothing else, would have;giv!en him high rank as 
 a Statesman. Extracts frofti some bf them will 
 be found at the close of this vdlulhfe. 
 
 In 1871, GeVreral Gil field wafe ihad^ Chairftian 
 Vjf the fcoiimittee on Appropriatiohs-^a commit- 
 tee Which recommends iind supervises all the bx- 
 penditul'es of the Gbvernhient. This important 
 positioh he Occupied four years, until the Demo- 
 crats carhe into power in the Hduse ih 1875 — 
 and during that time he largely reduced the'tix- 
 pdilses of the Government, " refovtned the Sys't'erii 
 Of estinaates iirtd k{>prbpriations, providilig f&'r 
 closer accoiintability on the part of those who 
 spend the public money, and a clear knoWledge 
 on those who Vote it of what it is uSed for." The 
 importance of thik position will be apjii-etiated 
 if the reader call's to mind that the annual Ex- 
 penditures of the United States Governnient at 
 this tiiWe were tidt far from $3t)rO,'OOO,O06. 
 
 On the 23d of January, 1872, and while chair- 
 mari of this committee, Geilei'al Garfield Irhadfe 
 a' speech on Public Ex[ienditures — their increase 
 aftd dlmiii'utidn, Which, in some vespSb'ts, is diie 
 of the most i'6'marka;b1e that efir pi'oceed'ed from 
 a legisliitbr. In it he drew a hbrosbope of our 
 national future^foi'ecasted the fffiahcial histoi'y 
 of the country for many years to come ; aud the 
 vi'onderful feature abdnt it is, th'at time has thiis 
 far almost literWly veriBed his pi'edictions. The 
 spSech is what is Called in the English Parliatrietlt 
 a " budget Speech," and is the insult of aVi im-' 
 iMetase ind'itdtio'n, by Which he arrivbs at the'cbn- 
 claSibn that the expenditures of a war cannot be 
 bl'bught down to a peace Ifevel until a Subsequent 
 piriod' twice as lofij as the War itself. He .sho'Ws 
 titfalt it had been so in the v/krs of England, and 
 in our oWn Wai's ever sirtce the formation of tlie 
 GoVgrnmeht; tliat expenditures rise to their, 
 height at the clOSe of a war ; that thert they be- 
 gtn to fall — to gradWally and uniformly decline 
 until they strike the nevy level of pea'Ce; when 
 tfiey again Began to rise gradually, keeping pace 
 with the growth and prosperity of the coun- 
 try. The late war; he said, was substantially 
 fiVe-yearS long, ending, finsincially, in l'gp66. Ap- 
 ply hts rule to this, and the peace level will 
 hS^e been reached in 1876. He analyzed the 
 table's 6f expenditures attending and resulting 
 from the war, and the expenses of peace, and 
 demortstrated that there had been a constant in- 
 crease 6f the peace expenditures, and a constant 
 decrease Of those of the war. There were two 
 proces.ses — one of increase and otie of diminution ; 
 but the magnitude of the war had been so great 
 that the decrease would be faster than the in- 
 crease resulting fi-om peace. The problerti was, 
 when will these two lines 'meet, and the upward 
 incline of peace begin ? It required gre&t breadth 
 of generalization, and rninute attentibn to details, 
 to reach the result; and that he did it, and came 
 to so correct a conclusion, is evidence of the re- 
 markable power and grasp of his mind. But a 
 few extracts from the speech itself will more 
 cleaily exhibit the striking analysis he performed. 
 
 " The history of the expenditures of the United 
 States is worthy of special study. Omitting pay- 
 ments of the principal and interes't of the pub- 
 lic debt, the annual average may be thus sum- 
 marized : 
 
 " Beginniiig with 1791, the last decade of the 
 
 eighteenth century showed an annual average of 
 13, 750,000. During the first decade of thepres- 
 ent century, the avenige was nearly $5,500,000. 
 Or, commencing with 1791,there followed twen- 
 ty years of peace, d tiring, which the annual aver- 
 age of ordinary expenditures was more than 
 doubled. Then followed four years, from 1812 
 to 1815, inclusive, in which the" war with Eftg- 
 land swelled the average to $25,500,000. Dur- 
 ing the five years succeeding that War, the aver- 
 age was $16,500,000; and it was not until 1821 
 that the tiew level of peace Was reached. Dur- 
 ing the five years, fi-om 1820 to 1825, inclusive, 
 the annual average was $ll,i560,000. From 
 1825 to 1830 it was 113,000,006. From 1830 
 to 1835 it was $17,06'0,000. Fro'm 1835 to 
 1840, in which period occurred the Seminole 
 War, it was $30,500,000. From 1840 to 1845 
 it was $27,000,000. Frtjm 1845 to 18^0, dur- 
 itig Wliich peiiod bdcurred the Mexican war, it 
 was $40,500,000. From 1850 to 1855 it was 
 i47,.'500,600. From 1855 to June 30, 1861, it 
 was $67,000,000. From June 30, 1861, to Jun'e 
 30, 1866, $713,750,000; and from Jurte SiO, 
 I8G6, to June 30, 1871, the annual average Wks 
 $189,000,000. 
 
 " It is 'interesting to inquire hoW far we may 
 reasonably expect to go iri the descending scale 
 b'efbre we reach the nBW level of peace. It took 
 England twenty yeAvs afte'r Waterloo before she 
 reached such a level. Our own experience has 
 been peculiiir in this, that Our p'ebpl'e have been 
 impatient of debt, ar/d have always determinedly 
 set about the work 'of reducing it. '_ 
 
 "Tliroughottt alii' history thei'e miy be seen 
 a curious uniformity in the inoVe'nnent of the an- 
 nual expenditures for the years, immediately fol-! 
 lowing a war. We have not the data to deter- 
 mine hoW long it was, stMr the war of Inde- 
 pendence, before the expenditures ceased to de- 
 crease, that is, before they reached the point 
 where their natural growth more than ballinced 
 the tendency to reduction of war expenditure; 
 blit in the years i'mrnediately following all our 
 subsequent Wars, the decrease has continued for 
 a pei-idd fetttiiost exactly twice the 'length of 'the 
 War itself. 
 
 "A'ftbr the W!ar of 1812-'1'5, the expenditures 
 eorttinued to decliiie for eight years, reacliing 
 the lowest poitit in 1823. ' 
 
 "After the Serninole war, which rah through 
 three years— 18SB, 1837, and 1838— the new lev- 
 el was not reached utitil 1 844, six years after its 
 close. 
 
 "After 'the Mexican War, Which lasted two 
 yefti's, it to6k four yeiirs, until 1852, to reach the 
 new level of penCe. 
 
 "It is, perhaps, uiisafe to base our caltiulaiidiis 
 for the f\ittii'e on these analogies ; but the wars 
 already referred to have been of such varied 
 character, itnd their finaneial effects have been 
 so uniftjrni, as t6 make it hot unresisori'abl'e to 
 expect tha't a Similar result will follow our late 
 war. If s'b, the decrease Of our ordinary expen- 
 ditures, exclusive of the principal and interest of 
 the, pu'blic debt, will continue until 1875 or 1876. 
 
 ">We caiinAt expect So rapid a reduction of 
 the public debt and its burden ofiinterest as we 
 have witnessed for the last three years; but the 
 reduction will doubtless continue, aiid the bur- 
 den of interest will constantly decrease. I know 
 it is not safe to attempt to forecast the future; 
 but I venture to express the belief that, if peace 
 continues, the year 1876 will withess our ordi- 
 nary expenditures reduced to $125,000,000, and 
 the'interest oh our public debt to $d'5,06b,000 ; 
 making our total expehditures, exclusive of pay- 
 ment onithe principal of the public debt, $230,- 
 000,000. Judging from our own experience and 
 from that of otiier nations, we may not hope 
 thereafter to reach a lower figure. Ih ma!king 
 this estimate, I have assuthed that there Will be 
 a considerable reduction of the burdens of taxa- 
 tion, and a revenue not nearly in so great excess 
 of the expenditures as we now collect." 
 
 In viewof the foregoing predicticm, it will be 
 interesthig to notice the actual expenditures of 
 the Government since the war, and since the year 
 1872, when the prediction was rhade. Including 
 interest on the public debt, as shown by the ofii- 
 cial recol'd these expenditures have been as fol- 
 
 lows: In 1865, $1,297,5S5,2S!4 41; in 1866, 
 $520,809,416 99; in 1867, $357,542,675 16; 
 ih 1868, $377,340,284 86; In 1869, $322,865,- 
 277 80; in 1870, $309,653,560 In; in 1871, 
 $292,177,188 25; in 1872, $277,517,962 67 ; 
 in 1873, $290,345,245 33; in 1874, $287, 133,- 
 873 17; in 1875, $274,623,392 84 ; in 1876, 
 $258,459,797 33; in 1877, $238,660,008 93; 
 ill 1878, $236,964,826 80. 
 
 Oiiiitting the first of these years, in which the 
 enormous payments to the army swelled the ag- 
 gregate of exp'enses to $1,297,000,000, aridbe- 
 ginning Wiih the first full year after the termina- 
 tion of the war, it will be seen that the expendi- 
 tures have been reduced, at first, very rapidly, and 
 ttien mbi'e .slowly, from $:')20,0'OO,OO0 ih 1866 to 
 about $237,000,000 in 1878. 
 
 Tlie estimate q'uoted i«i,bove was that in 1876 
 expenditures vvould lie reduced to $^i50, 000,000, 
 including $95,000,0100 for interest on the public 
 debt. In 1877, onfe year later than the esti- 
 mated date, the actual reduction had reached 
 $238,000,000, including $97,000,000 for interest 
 on the public debt ; and that this was the idwest 
 le^fcl is shown by the fact that the yearly eXpendi- 
 ttire for 18'7'9 did not tall below $,24'0,o60,()00. 
 
 In the aiitumri and winter of this year (1872) 
 occurred' the Credit JAobilier investigatiiin, with 
 which General Garfield's name lias been so wide- 
 ly cbnriected. No account of his career can do 
 hi'ni justice that does not exhibit the full' histoiy 
 of that transaction, and that cannot be ddne iu 
 a paragraph. Heiice, to avoid breaking the con- 
 tinuity of this narrative, the relation of it is re- 
 served to the Appendix, at the close 6f this vol- 
 ume. Btit this would seerii to be tlie proper place 
 to speak of Garfield's cdniiectibn with wfiat is 
 known as the t'Salary Grab," and of the effect 
 which cthis and the Credit Mobilier scandal had 
 upon his immediate constituency. The reader 
 will I'etiieiTib'er that, by tlieSalary Bill, niembersof 
 Coiigi'ess voted into their own pockets bac*k pay 
 to the ainbunt Of abotit $4500. General Gar- 
 field was one of those who voted for this meas- 
 uie ; but fie diil s6 only to seciire the passage of 
 the General Ajppropriatioft Bill to Which it was ap- 
 pended, ahd he Was the first member to "cover" 
 his pay back, into the Treasury. Haid the appro- 
 priation bill filled, an extra session of Congress 
 W6ul'd have been made necessary, iiid that Would 
 have irivolved an expense to the country vastly 
 gi-eit^r than was demanded by the extra salaries. 
 Blit nothing that I can say will so well, describe 
 this' time is the following remarks of President 
 Hinsdale 6f Hiram College, who has known Gen- 
 aral GiVrfield intimately for twenty- five years, 
 and during ill Of that period has been a resi- 
 dent of his distriet. In a rec'eiit address he used 
 the fbllowihg language : 
 
 "It Was in the winter of l872-'7S that the 
 Credit MoliiliMr developments aroused and alarm- 
 ed the country. They seemed to point to a cor- 
 ruption in public life that had not been gefterially 
 suspected. Mr. Garfield's name, from no real 
 fault of his divn, appeared in the history. No 
 sooner had the House of Representatives disposed 
 of the Mobilier than the salary legislation Was 
 enacted. The Forty-second Congress had been 
 unpopular; the Mobilier transactions had scan- 
 dalized tlie country ; the public had always beett 
 jealous of Congressmen voting up their own pay; 
 so that everything conspired to stir the public 
 indignation to its depths. A wave of objurga- 
 tion, bearing upon its breast 'steal,' 'robber,' 
 'grab,' starting on the Atlantic shore, rolled to 
 the Pacific arid back again. Mr. Garfield had 
 vigorously opposed the increase of salaries. But 
 When it was forced upon one of the great appro- 
 priation bills by a decided vote, when the Confer- 
 ence Cornmittee insisted that it should remain, 
 when further resistance was either nugatory or 
 would involve an extra session of Congress, he 
 concluded that it was his duty to acquiesce and 
 vote for the bill with the obnoxious mea.sure. In 
 so doing, he may have been wrong ; that ques- 
 tion I do not argue; my proposition is that he 
 was honest and patriotic. Perhaps I ihay be in. 
 dulged in saying that I wis in 'Wa'shingtbn at 
 the time, that I was thoroughly familiar with all 
 the history, and then, as now, I was as confi- 
 dent of his uprightness as I can be of an^ man's 
 
inpnghtness. But my great point is yet before 
 me. 
 
 " Tlie Westeiii Reserve is North-east Ohio. It 
 was originally settled , by New Englanders, and 
 its population has the tlirift, the keen intelli({eiice, 
 the habits of local self-government, tl'je political 
 instincts, and the morals of !New England. The 
 mail clerks on Mr.Vanderbilt'e railroad will tell 
 you that there is no population of equal numbers 
 on the long line reaching from New York to Chi- 
 cago that writes and reads so many letters, and 
 that receives through the mails so much reading 
 matter. 
 
 " The Nineteenth Ohio Congressional District 
 is tlie eastern part of the Reserve. Proljably it 
 has retained the New England blood and tradi- 
 tions in a higher degree (if purity than any other 
 part. It early became deeply interested in the 
 antislavery rhovement, and this greatly quick- 
 ened the interest"of the people in public affairs. 
 
 "Nowhere did the Mobilie'r and salary mat- 
 t!ers make a deeper impression than on this most 
 sensitive and jealous constituency. General Gar- 
 field had now represented it in five successive 
 Congresses ; and, although not then so well 
 known as he is to-day, his name has crossed the 
 continent to the West and the ocean to the East. 
 -The district felt very proud of him. He was 
 nominated the first time by a small majority. 
 The second time without opposition. Sis third 
 and fdurth nominations were vigorously contest- 
 ed, but he triumphed so easily and so decisively 
 that opposition fled the field and left him in 
 secure possession. No iepresentative held liis 
 constituency with a firmer hand. His tenure 
 proAiised to be as long as that of Whittlesey, or 
 even Giddings. But now atl was changed. A 
 Republican convention thai, met in Warren for 
 some local purpose deinahded his resignation. 
 Most men denounced, all regretted, none de- 
 fended, what had been done. All that the 
 staunchest friends of General Garfield piesiiined 
 to do was to say, ' Wait uiitil you hear the 
 case ; heair what Garfiel'd has to say before you 
 ' determine that h^ is a dishonest man.' Indulge 
 me again in a personal word, fetur'niiig home 
 from Washington after the iidjournment, I found 
 myself in the midst of the tempest. Cleveland 
 editors heisitated to publish any statement of the 
 salary matter that varied from the current version. 
 One of them said to me, ' This vote has taken us 
 in the pit of the Stomach.' Perhaps the best 
 illiistiation that I can give of the intensity of 
 feeling is this : Knowing as I did the grounds 
 of Geiieral Garfield's action, and the spirit in 
 which he had' acted, I felt it my duty to say in 
 piivatfe conversation, in the newspapers, and even 
 in the Hiram pulpit : ' General Garfield is not 
 a thief. He has not robbed the Treasuiy. 
 Whether he is right or wrong, I do not argue ; 
 but whether right or wrong, he has acted honestly 
 and with an eye single to the public good.' And 
 some of my neighbors said: 'Mr. Hinsdale has 
 a private right to think General Garfield honest 
 if h4 can ; but let hiiii keep his opinion to hiin- 
 self; he has no right to injure the college of 
 which he is president, as he will do by bearing 
 public testirnony.' Garfield wrote me from 
 Washington, sadly but resolutely : ' The district 
 is lost, and as soon as I can close up my affairs 
 here I am coming hoiiie to capture it.' 
 
 "And he did capture it. He issued his paiii- 
 pTilets, ' Review of the Transactions of the Credit 
 Mobilier Conipany ' and 'Increase of Salaries,' 
 from Washington, and then came on to Hiram. 
 These pamphlets, with a personal speech in 
 Warren soiiiewhat later, constituted his direct 
 defence. When the next campaign opened he 
 went as usual upon the stump. He rarely re- 
 ferred to the charges against him, and never did 
 unless compelled to do so. He grappled with 
 the questions of the day. He went frotn county 
 to 'county, and altflost from village to village. 
 His knowledge was so great, his argnmentation 
 so logical, his spirit so earnest, and his bearing, 
 both public and private, so manlyj that men be- 
 gan to ask, ' Can it be trde that Mr. Garfield is 
 soeh a man as they tell us?' Prejudice yielded 
 slowly though surely. The tiext campiiign it 
 was the same thing ovef. Garfield had now to 
 be returned himself or leave public life. After 
 
 ■THE LrtE 05F JAMES A'. GARFIELD. 
 
 a straggle that shook the district, he was re- 
 nominated by a three-fourths vote of the con- 
 vention. Two years later the resistance was 
 less. By this time he had won back the masses. 
 They had become convinced almost universally 
 of his integrity. Hardly a man can be found in 
 the district who questions it. Only those who 
 had been very violent in opposition now stood 
 out. These had to be won back one by one. 
 Two years later there was ho opposition what- 
 ever ; the district had been recaptured. In IST'S 
 he was re-elected by his old-time majority. Op- 
 position was now no more. Men who had been 
 most denunciatory now were warmest in his 
 praise; and it was actually left to the friends 
 who had stood by him through all the storm to 
 supply such criticism as every public man needs 
 to keep him in proper tone. When the Sena- 
 torsliip question came up last fall, the Repub- 
 licans of,the Nineteenth District had but one 
 objection to his election — unwillingness to lose 
 him as their Representative. And now that he 
 is oh the way to the chair at VVashington, I will 
 say that ho equal population between the two 
 oceans will give him a greater majority than this 
 old constituency. 
 
 "Nor should I fail to mark how the victory 
 was won, how the district was recaptured. It 
 was not accomplished by management; James 
 A.Garfield is no 'inanager.' It was not by 
 fiattering the people and appealing to popular 
 passions. General Garfield is no demagogue. 
 It was by the earnest, straightforward ej^position 
 of soiid political doctrine ; it was by the high 
 beariiig of the man ; in a word, it was by the 
 impact of his mental and moral power upon in-, 
 telligent and honest minds." 
 
 The fpur years during which he was Chaiir- 
 man of the Comiiiittee oh Appropriations wei'e 
 occiipi'ed with hard work in committee, and wise 
 discussion oii the floor of Congress. He has. 
 himself said that, "The mail who wants to serve 
 his country must put himself in the line of its 
 leading thought, and that is the restoration of 
 business, trade, commerce, industry, sound polit- 
 ical economy, hard money aind honest payment 
 of all obligations ; and the man who caii add any- 
 thing, in the direction of the accomplishment of 
 any of these purposes is a public benefactor. " 
 
 This he did, grappling with these politico-biisi- 
 ness questions "with the powei' of a giailt and 
 the zeal of a missionary," and tlie speeches he 
 delivered during this period are a monument ito 
 his great ability and industry. 
 
 When the Democrats came into power in the 
 House of Representatives in 1875 he was dis- 
 placed from the Committee on Appropriations, 
 and assigned to that of Ways and Means ; and 
 almost immediately occurred the debate on am- 
 nesty, and the question arose whether Jeff. Da-, 
 vis should be restored to the rights of citizenship. 
 
 Mr. Blaine made a speech against it; Hill of 
 Geoi'gia followed in a terrific onslaught upon 
 Mr. Blaine ; and then General Garfield got the 
 floor and replied to Hill. He had in a speech 
 on the currency, delivered in 1868, said : "I 
 am aware that financial subjects are dull and iih- 
 iiiviting in comparison with those heroic themes 
 which have absorbed the attention of Congress 
 ifor the last five years. To turn from the con- 
 sideration of armies and navies, victories and 
 defeats, to the array of figures which exhibits 
 the debt, expenditure, taxation, and industry of 
 the nation, requires no little courage and self- 
 denial ; but to those questions we must come, 
 and to their solution Congress, political parties, 
 and all thoughtful citizens must give their best 
 efforts for many years to come. " 
 
 And in accordance with this he had avoided 
 all discussion of past issues, and confined him- 
 self to living questions ; but now, when the North 
 was wantotily assailed, he put on his armor and 
 went forth again to do battle for the Union. He 
 went over the history of Southern pri.?ons, and 
 opened those charnel-houses till the effluvia fill- 
 ed the country, for the speech was circulated by 
 millions; but he closed with these words of con- 
 ciliation : 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, I close as I began. Toward 
 those men who gallantly fought us on the field 
 I cherish the kindest feeling. I feel a siiidere 
 
 29 
 
 reverence for the soldierly qualities they dis- 
 played on many a well- fought battle-field. I 
 hope the day will come when their swords and 
 ours will be crossed over many a door-way of 
 our children, who will remember the glory of 
 their ancestors with pride. The high qualities 
 displayed in that ooiifliet now belong to the 
 whole nation. Let them be consecrated to the 
 Union, and its future peace and glory. I shall 
 bail that consecration as a pledge and symbol of 
 our perpetuity. 
 
 " But to those most noble men, Democrats and 
 Republicans, who together fought for the Union, 
 I commend all the lessons of charity that the 
 wisest and most beneficent men have taught. 
 
 "I join you all in every aspiration that you 
 may express to stay in this Union, to heal its 
 wounds, to increase its glory, and to forget the 
 evils and bitternesses of the past; but do not, 
 for the sake of the three hundred thoSsand he- 
 roic men who, maimed and bruised, drag out 
 their weary lives, many of'them carrying in their 
 hearts horrible memories of what they suffered 
 in the prison-pen — do not. ask us to vote to put 
 back into power that man who was the cause 
 of their suffering — that man still unaneled, un- 
 shrived, unforgiven, undefended." 
 
 I think this was the last occasion that South- 
 ern gentlemen in Congress have ventured to call 
 up the memories of Saulsbury and Andersonville. 
 
 Toward the close of this Congress, as it was 
 about to adjourn on the eve of the last Presiden- 
 tial election, Mr. Lamar, of Mississippi — a very 
 brilliant man — made a carefully prepared speech 
 arraigning the Republican party, and stating rea- 
 sons why the Democratic party should be put 
 into power at the next election. The speec^i 
 Nvas delayed, until within two or three days of 
 the close of the session ; but it came to be whis- 
 pered about that it would be a strong campaign 
 document, and be delivered so late that no reply 
 could be made to it by the Republicans. The mo- 
 ment Mr. Lamar sat down General Garfield rose, 
 and got the floor. It was late in the afternoon, 
 and the! Ilouse at once iidjourned ; but he had 
 secured the right to reply on the following morn- 
 ing. Lamar's speech was withheld from publi- 
 cation in the Congressional Record, and Garfield 
 was forced to rely upon the brief notes of it 
 which he had takeri, and the short summary that 
 had appeared in the morning journals. , He had 
 but little time for prepairation, and had to work 
 nearly all night in preparing bis "pioints," but 
 the speech is one of the best be ever made, and 
 should be read by millions. It is as applicable 
 to to-day as to the time when it was delivered; 
 and the most of it is, therefore, included among 
 the extracts which are given at the close of this 
 volume. 
 
 Now caVhe the Presidential election of 1876, 
 and that over. Congress again assembled, and at 
 bnce weiit into the discussion of the electoral 
 count. Tne Southern elections were investi- 
 gated, and General Garfield was invited to be- 
 come one of the " visiting statesmen." He went 
 to Louisiana, and examined carefully the testi- 
 mony in relation to the election in one parish — 
 West Feliciana. He wrote out a brief and ju- 
 dicial statement of the official testimony as to 
 the conduct of the election in that district, ana- 
 lyzing the movements of the Ku-klnx Rifle Club 
 which broke up the election, and adding his own 
 conclusions. When the Potter Committee came 
 to make its investigations afterward, " it found 
 no fault in him " whatever. 
 
 When General Garfield returned to Congress 
 'the question of the electoral count came up, and 
 an effort was made to pass a bill establishing the 
 Electoral Commission. Who originated this plan 
 of settlement is uncertain. It is attributed to 
 Mr. McCreary (Republican), of Iowa, but the 
 Democrats heartily adopted it, pronouncing it 
 a highly patriotic measure. General Garfield 
 opposed it in a speech in which he took the 
 ground that, under the Constitution, it was the 
 duty of the Vice-president to count the vote, and 
 that in attempting to do it, Congtess was usurp- 
 ing a powei- it did not legally possess. The two 
 Houses could be present only as witnesses, but 
 nbl; as actors in the^reat, solemn ceremoiiy. 
 
 Mr. Garfield voted against the bill, but it was 
 
30 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 caiTied by a large majority, the Democrats join- 
 ing heartily in its support. It subsequently 
 transpired that they had fully arranged that 
 Jndge Diivis, of Illinois (a Democrat), should hold 
 the Ciisting vote ; and Henry B. Payne, of Ohio, 
 afterward admitted, in a speech in Cleveland, 
 that they would not have passed the bill had they 
 not supposed he would be on the Commission. 
 But this little arrangement did not go into opera- 
 tion. Providence at the right moment stepped in 
 and saved the country from four years of Gram- 
 ercy Park and Cipher Despatches. Before the 
 members of the Electoral Commission were se- 
 lected by Congress the State of Illinois elected 
 Judge Davis to the United States Senate ; he re- 
 signed his position on the United States Bench, 
 and Judge Bradley, a Republican, was put in his 
 place on the Commission. This elected Mr. 
 Hayes President of the United States. 
 
 Although General Garfield had voted and 
 spoken against the electoral bill, yet when it was 
 decided that the Repnblicans in the House should 
 appoint upon the Commission two members, he 
 and Mr.Hoar, of Massachusetts, were unanimous- 
 ly chosen. "Since you have appointed me," he 
 said, " I will sei-ve ; I can act on a committee when 
 I do not believe in its validity." He according- 
 ly acted on the Commission, and two opinions 
 which he delivered while serving in that capacity 
 are well worthy of perusal. 
 
 Mr. James G. Blaine had been elected to the 
 Senate, and General Garfield now, by common 
 consent, became the Republican leader in the 
 House— a position which he has filled with dis- 
 tinguished ability ever since. Says one who has 
 been for many years familiar with his Congres- 
 sional career, "As a. leader in the House he is 
 more cautious and less dashing than Blaine, and 
 his judicial turn of mind makes him too prone 
 to look for two sides of a question for him to 
 be an efficient partisan. When the issue fairly 
 touches his convictions, however, he becomes 
 thoroughly aroused,and strikes tremendous blows. 
 Bliiiue's tactics were to continually harass the 
 enemy by sharp-shooting surprises and picket- 
 firing. Garfield waits for an opportunity to de- 
 liver a pitched battle, and his generalship is 
 shown to best advantage when the fight is a fair 
 one, and waged on grounds where each party 
 thinks itself strongest. Then his solid shot of 
 argument are exceedingly effective." 
 
 When Mr.Hayes's policy of conciliation became 
 fully developed, it met,as is well known, with very 
 strenuous opposition from a large wing of the 
 Republican party. It was deemed by many ill- 
 considered, ill-advised, and dangerous. The day 
 had not yet come for the lion and the lamb to lie 
 down together — though a little child was ready 
 to lead them. Mr. Hayes was bitterly assailed, 
 denounced as a traitor and a renegade, and one 
 who was going to Johnsonize his party. His 
 defenders were comparatively few, and it required 
 a good deal of courage for any Republican in or 
 out of Congress to attempt to stem the torrent 
 against him. But knowing his intentions to be 
 good, if his course was premature and injudicious. 
 General Garfield stood by him, and did all he 
 could to prevent a rupture in the party. He 
 knew that if a caucus were held there would 
 inevitably be a, rupture, so he united with other 
 gentlemen of similar views in agreeing that no 
 caucus whatever should be called. And no 
 caucus was called until Mr. Potter made his 
 motion for an investigation into the title by 
 which Mr. Hayes held the Presidency. This 
 notice of an outside attack united the two wings 
 of the party almost immediately. A caucus was 
 then called, and they worked together harmoni- 
 ously, uniting to denounce the Potter investiga- 
 tion a^ revolutionary. A few remarks in Mr. 
 Garfield's speech on the Policy of I'acification 
 will throw light upon his action in this emer- 
 gency : 
 
 " Sir, if there ever was a people on this earth 
 who had reason to be tired and weary, to the 
 bone and heart, of political contention, the bit- 
 terness of party malice, and all the evils that 
 can be suffered from partisanship, it is this af- 
 flicted American people. 
 
 " All admit that there are three stages that 
 must be passed through between war and peace. 
 
 There was, first, the military stage — the period 
 of force, of open and bloody war — in which gen- 
 tlemen of high character and honor met on the 
 field, and decided by the power of the strongest 
 the questions involved in the high court of war. 
 That period passed, but did not leave us on the 
 calm level of peace. It brought us to the period 
 of transition, in which the elements of war and 
 peace were mingled together iii strange and anar- 
 chic confusion. It was a period of civil and 
 military elements combined. All through that 
 semi- military period the administration of Gen- 
 eral Grant had, of necessity, to conduct the coun- 
 try. His administration was not all civil, it was 
 not all military ; it was necessarily a combination 
 of both ; and out of that combination came many 
 of the strange and anomalous situations which 
 always follow such a war. 
 
 "Men who looked upon the duties of the ad- 
 ministration as only civil, criticised it savagely 
 because the military element entered into it so 
 largely. Men who looked at the administration 
 from the strong ground of military government, 
 criticised it as too feeble — lacking the force and 
 vigor of military command. But out of these 
 mingled elements, step by step, and year by 
 year, the administration emerged from the en- 
 tanglements of the situation, working its way up 
 to the level of peace. 
 
 " Our great military chieftain, who brought the 
 war to a successful conclusion, had command as 
 chief executive during eight years of turbulent, 
 difiScult, and eventful administration. He saw 
 his administration drawing to a close, and his 
 successor elected — who, studying the question, 
 came to the conclusion that the epoch had ar- 
 rived, the hour had struck, when it was possible 
 to declare that the serai-military period was end- 
 ed, and the era of peace methods, of civil pro- 
 cesses, should be fully inaugurated. With that 
 spirit, and at the beginning of this third era, 
 Rutherford B. Hayes came into the Presidency. 
 I ought to say that, in my judgment, more than 
 any other public man we have known, the pres- 
 ent head of the administration is an optimist. He 
 looks on the best side of things. He is hopeful 
 for the future, and prefers to look upon the bright 
 side rather than upon the dark and sinister side 
 of human nature. His faith is larger than the 
 faith of most of us ; and with his faith and hope 
 he has gone to the very verge of the Constitution 
 in offering both hands of fellowship and all the 
 olive-branches of peace to bring back good feel- 
 ing, and achieve the real pacification to this coun- 
 try. 
 
 " No man has shared more earnestly these as- 
 pirations of the President than I have. I have 
 sought, in every way in my power, to help, wher- 
 ever there was a place to help, to bring about, in 
 the largest spirit of fellowship and restored Union, 
 a day of honorable reconciliation and peace. To 
 do that, there was a world of things to be forgot- 
 ten and forgiven on both sides." 
 
 About the last thing which the Republicans 
 did before they went out of power in Congress, 
 in 1875, was to pass a law providing for a re- 
 sumption of specie payments on the 1st of Jan- 
 uary, 1879. The Democrats said that it could 
 not be done. Speeches were delivered, essays 
 were written, and reports were made to show 
 that it could not be done. The Democrats de- 
 nounced the Government for holding gold, and 
 thereby crippling the business of the country. 
 When any unfortimate trader failed in business, 
 he was the victim of "Sherman's policy" — the 
 victim of the Republican party. The Demo- 
 cratic journals were full of ridicule and denun- 
 ciation of the policy of Resumption. The times 
 were indeed terrible — they tried the souls of the 
 commercial community; but, during the whole, 
 Garfield stood by the policy of honest money, 
 and made no concessions whatever ; and he knew 
 that the "sober second thought" of the people 
 would sustain his position. In the course of 
 the debate on this subject, he said : 
 
 " That man makes a vital mistake who judges 
 of truth in relation to financial affairs from the 
 changing phiises of public opinion. He might 
 as well stand on the shore of the Bay of Fundy 
 and, from the ebb and flow of a single tide, at- 
 tempt to determine the general level of the sea. 
 
 as to stand on this floor and, from the current 
 of public opinion in any one debate, judge of the 
 general level of the public mind. It is only 
 when long spaces along the shore of the sea are 
 taken into the account that the grand level is 
 found from which all heights and depths are 
 measured. And it is only when long spaces of 
 time are considered that we find, at last, that 
 level of public opinion which we call the general 
 judgment of mankind. From the turbulent ebb 
 and flow of the public opinion of to-day I appeal 
 to that settled judgment of mankind on the sub- 
 ject-matter of this debate." 
 
 The struggle was a long one, but the friends 
 of "hone.st money" were at length triumphant, 
 Resum^jtion came at last, and on the day follow- 
 ing the one when the Government, for the first 
 time in seventeen years, made its payments in 
 coin. General Garfield thus catalogued the bless- 
 ings it was to biing upon the country. 
 
 "Successful Resumption will greatly aid in 
 bringing into the murky sky of our politics what 
 the signal-service people call 'clearing weather.' 
 It puts an end to a score of controversies which 
 hiive long vexed the public mind, and wrought 
 mischief to business. It ends the angry conten- 
 tion over the difference between the money of 
 the bond-holder and the money of the plough- 
 holder. It relieves enterprising Congressmen of 
 the necessity of introducing twenty-five or thirty 
 bills a session to furnish the people with cheap 
 money, to prevent gold-gambling, and to make 
 custom duties payable in greenbacks. It will 
 dismiss to the limbo of things forgotten such 
 Utopian schemes as a currency based upon the 
 magic circle of interconvertibility of two differ- 
 ent forms of irredeemable paper, and the schemes 
 of a currency 'based on the public faith,' and 
 secured by ' all the resources of the nation ' in 
 general, but' upon no particular part of them. 
 We shall still hear echoes of the old conflict,snch 
 as ' the barbarism and cowardice of gold and sil- 
 ver,' and the virtues of 'fiat money;' but the 
 theories which gave them birth will linger among 
 us like belated ghosts, and soon find rest in the 
 political grave of dead issues. 
 
 " When we have fully awakened from these 
 vague dreams, public opinion will resume its old 
 channels, and the wisdom and experience of the 
 fathers of our coiistitutioii will again be acknowl- 
 edged and followed. 
 
 "We shall agree, as our fathers did, that the 
 yai-d-stick must have length, the pound must 
 have weight, and the dollar must have value in 
 itself, and that neither length, nor weight, nor 
 value can be crented by the fiat of law. Con- 
 gress, relieved of the arduous task of regulating 
 and managing all the business of our people, will 
 address itself to the humbler hut more important 
 work of preserving the public peace, and mana- 
 ging wisely the revenues and expenditures of the 
 Government. Industry will no longer wait for 
 the Legislature to discover easy roads to sudden 
 wealth, but will begin again to rely upon labor 
 and frugality as the oidy certain road to riches. , 
 Prosperity, which has h)iig been waiting, is now 
 ready to come. If we do not rudely repulse her 
 she will soon revisit our people, and will stay 
 until another periodical craze shall drive her 
 away. " 
 
 After the attempt to repeal the Resumption 
 law came the Silver fight, with all its ferocity; 
 and in a circle of nine States around (and in- 
 cluding) Ohio, General Garfield was the only 
 political leader on either side who voted against 
 flooding the countiy with depreciated silver. He 
 was not opposed to silver; he was in favor of 
 it; but he insisted that silver coin should be 
 equal in value with gold coin, so that every dol- 
 lar should be at par before the law. This result 
 was finally reached by a modification of the 
 original bill, in which it was provided that the 
 coinage of silver should be of a certain standard, 
 and should not exceed a certain sum per month, 
 and tills limitation saved the country from a del- 
 uge. 
 
 Then came the extra session of Congress, in 
 the spring of 1879, and the struggle over the 
 election law. The speeches which General Gar- 
 field delivered at this time have justly been 
 classed among the ablest ever heard in the halls 
 
of Congress. Some extracts are made from 
 them at the close of this volume. 
 
 Among his last utterances in Congress was a 
 speech entitled "Obedience totlie tiiw the fore- 
 most Duty of Congress." A brief extract from 
 this may not seem untimely : 
 
 "I ask, gentlemen, wliether this is a time 
 when it is safe to disregard and weaken the au- 
 thority of law? In all quarters the civil society 
 of this country is becoming honeycombed through 
 and through by disiuiegratitig forces— in some 
 States, by the violation of contracts and the re- 
 pudiation of debts ; in others, by open resistance 
 and defiance; in still others, by the reckless 
 overturning of constitutions, and letting 'the red 
 fool-fury of the Seine ' run riot among our peo- 
 ple, and build its l)lazing altars to the strange 
 gods of ruin and misrule. All these things are 
 shaking the good order of society, and threaten- 
 ing the foundations of our Government and our 
 peace. In a time like this, more than ever be- 
 fore, this country needs a body of law -givers 
 clothed and in their right minds, who will lay 
 their hands npon the altar of the law as its de- 
 fenders, not its destroyers." 
 
 And in tliis connection I would reproduce a 
 few paragraphs from an article he wrote for a 
 recent issue of the Atlantic Monthly: 
 
 " Now, more than ever before, the people are 
 responsible for the character of their Congress. 
 If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, 
 it is because the people tolerate ignorance, reck- 
 lessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, 
 brave, and pure, it is because the people demand 
 those high qnalities to represent them in the na- 
 tional legislature. Congress lives in the blaze 
 of 'that fierce light which beats against the 
 throne.' The telegraph and the Press will to- 
 morrow morning announce at a million break- 
 fast-tables what has been said and done in Con- 
 gress to-day. Now, as always. Congress repre- 
 sents the prevailing opinions and political aspi- 
 rations of the people. The wildest delusions of 
 paper- money, the crudest theories of taxation, 
 the passions and prejudices that find expression 
 in the Senate and House, were first believed and 
 discussed at the firesides of the people, on the 
 corners of the streets, and in the caucuses and 
 conventions of political parties. 
 
 "The most alarming feature of our situation 
 is the fact that so many citizens of high charac- 
 ter and solid judgment pay but little attention to 
 the sources of political power, to the selection of 
 those who shall make their laws. The clergy, 
 the faculties of colleges, and many of the leading 
 business men of the community never attend the 
 township caucus, the city primaries, or the coun- 
 ty convention ; but they allow the less intelligent 
 and the more selfish and corrupt members of the 
 community to make the slates and ' run the ma- 
 chine ' of politics. They wait until the machine 
 has done its work, and then, in surprise and hor- 
 ror at the ignorance and corruption in public of- 
 fice, sigh" for the return of that mythical period 
 called the ' better and purer days of the repub- 
 lic' It is precisely this neglect of the first steps 
 in our political processes that has made possible 
 the worst evils of our system. Corrupt and in- 
 competent presidents, judges, and legislators can 
 be removed, but when the fountains of political 
 power are corrupted, when voters themselves 
 become venal, and elections fraudulent, there is 
 no remedy except by awakening the public con- 
 science and bringing to bear upon the subject 
 the power of public opinion and the penalties of 
 the law. 
 
 "In a word, onr national safety demands that 
 the fountains of political power shall be made 
 pnre by intelligence, and kept pure by vigilance ; 
 that the best citizens shall take heed to the selec- 
 tion and election of the worthiest and most in- 
 telligent among them to hold seats in the nation- 
 al Legislature ; and that, when the choice has 
 been made, the continuance of their representa- 
 tive shall depend u])on his faithfulness, his abil- 
 ity, and his willingness to work." 
 
 General Garfield's election to the United States 
 Senate by the State of Ohio, and his more recent 
 unanimous nominatioti by the Kepnblican Con- 
 vention as candidate for the Presidency of the 
 United States, are events too fresh in the pubhc 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 mind to require any more than a mere mention 
 in this biography. 
 
 His letter of acceptance is herewith subjoined, 
 in order that the reader may have the opportu- 
 nity of comparing its sentiments with those that 
 General Gai-field has announced in his speeches in 
 Congress during the past eighteen years, copious 
 extracts from which are in the following chapters. 
 The .slightest examination will show the entire 
 agreement between them, and thus it will be seen 
 that the views here expressed are not gotten up 
 for the occasion, but are his matured, fife- long 
 convictions : 
 
 "Mentor, Ohio, July 10th, ISSO. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — On the evening of the 8th of 
 June last I had the honor to receive from you, 
 in the presence of the committee of which you 
 were Chairman, the official announcement that 
 the Republican National Convention at Chicago 
 had that day nominated me as their candidate 
 for President of the United States. I accept 
 the nomination, with gratitude for the confi- 
 dence it implies, and with a deep sense of the re- 
 sponsibilities it imposes. I cordially endorse the 
 principles set forth in the platform adopted by 
 the Convention. On nearly all the subjects of 
 which it treats, my opinions are on record among 
 the published proceedings of Congress. 1 vent- 
 ure, however, to make special mention of some 
 of the principal topics which are likely to be- 
 come subjects of discussion. 
 
 "Without reviewing the controversies which 
 have been settled during the last twenty years, 
 and with no purpose or wish to revive the pas- 
 sions of the late war, it should be said that, while 
 the Republicans fully recognize and will strenu- 
 ously defend all the rights retained by the people, 
 and all the rights reserved to the States, they re- 
 ject the pernicious doctrine of State supremacy 
 which so long crippled the functions of the Na- 
 tional Government, and at one time brought the 
 Union very near to destruction. They insist that 
 the United States is a nation, with ample power 
 of self-preservation ; that its Constitution and 
 the laws made in pursuance thereof are the su- 
 preme law. of the land ; that the right of the Na- 
 tion to determine the method by which its own 
 Legislature shall be created cannot be surrender- 
 ed without abdicating one of the fundamental 
 powers of government ; that the national laws 
 relating to the election of representatives in Con- 
 gress shall neither be violated nor evaded ; that 
 every elector shall be permitted, freely and with- 
 out intimidation, to cast his lawful ballot at such 
 election and have it honestly counted, and that 
 the potency of his vote shall not be destroyed by 
 the fraudulent vote of any other person. The 
 best thoughts and energies of our people should 
 be directed to those great questions of national 
 well-being in which all have a common interest. 
 Such efibrts will soonest restore to perfect peace 
 those who were lately in arms against each oth- 
 er, for justice and good-will will outlast passion. 
 But it is certain that the wounds of the war can- 
 not be completely healed, and the spirit of broth- 
 erhood cannot fully pervade the whole country, 
 until every citizen, rich or poor, white or black, 
 is secure in the free and equal enjoyment of 
 every civil and political right guaranteed by 
 the Constitution and the laws. Wherever the 
 enjoyment of these rights is not assured, discon- 
 tent will prevail, immigration will cease, and the 
 social and industrial forces will continue to be 
 disturbed by the migration of laborers and the 
 consequent diminution of prosperity. The Na- 
 tional Government should exercise all its consti- 
 tutional authority to put an end to these evils ; 
 for all the people and all the States are members 
 of one body, and no member can suffer without 
 injury to all. 
 
 '"The most serious evils which now afflict the 
 South arise from the fact that there is not such 
 freedom and toleration of political opinion and 
 action that the minority party can exercise an 
 effective and wholesome restraint upon the party 
 in power. Without such restraint, party rule be- 
 comes tyrannical and corrupt. 'The prosperity 
 which is made possible in the South by its great 
 advantages of soil and climate, will never be re- 
 alized until every voter can freely and safely sup- 
 port any party he pleases. 
 
 31 
 
 " Next in importance to freedom and justice 
 is popular education, without which neither jus- 
 tice nor freedom can be permanently maintain- 
 ed. Its interests are intrusted to the States, and 
 to the voluntary action of the people. Wliat- 
 evei- help the Nation can justly afford should be 
 generously given to aid the States in supporting 
 common schools ; but it would be unjust to our 
 people, and dangerous to our institutions, to ap--? 
 ply any portion of the revenues of the Nation or 
 of the States to the support of sectarian schools. 
 The separation of the Church and the State in ev- 
 erything relating to taxation should be absolute. 
 
 "On the subject of national finances, my views 
 have been so frequently and fully expressed that 
 little is needed in the way of additional state- 
 ment. The public debt is now so well secured, 
 and the rate of annual interest has been so re- 
 duced by refunding, that rigid economy in ex- 
 penditures, and the faithful application of our 
 surplus revenues to the payment of the principivl 
 of the debt, will gradually but certainly free the 
 people from its burdens, and close with honor 
 the financial chapter of the war. At the same 
 time, the Government can provide for all its or- 
 dinary expenditures, and discharge its sacred 
 obligations to the soldiers of the Union, and to 
 the widows and orphans of those who fell in its 
 defence. The resumption of specie payments, 
 which the Republican party so courageously and 
 successfully accomplishes, has removed from the 
 field of controversy many questions that long and 
 seriously disturbed the credit of the Government 
 and the business of the coimtry. Our paper cur- 
 rency is now as national as the flag, and resump- 
 tion has not only made it everywhere equal to 
 coin, but has brought into use our store of gold 
 and silver. The circulating medium is more 
 abundant than ever before, and we need only 
 to maintain the etiuality of all our dollars to in- 
 sure to labor, and capital a measure of value from 
 the use of which no one can suffer loss. The 
 great prosperity which the conntry is now enjoy- 
 ing should not be endangered by any violent 
 changes or doubtful financial expeiiments. 
 
 "In reference to our Customs laws, a policy 
 should be pursued which will bring revenue to 
 the Treasury, and will enable the labor and cap- 
 ital employed in onr great industiies to compete 
 fairly in our own markets with the labor and 
 capital of foreign producers. We legislate for 
 the people of the United States, not for the 
 whole .world, and it is our glory that the Ameri- 
 can laborer is more intelligent and better paid 
 than his foreign competitor. Our country can- 
 not be independent unless its people, with their 
 abundant natural resources, possess the requisite 
 skill at any time to clothe, arm, and equip them- 
 selves for war, and in time of peace to produce 
 all the necessary implements of labor. It was 
 the manifest intention of the founders of the 
 Government to provide for the common defence, 
 not by standing armies alone, but by raising 
 among the people a greater army of artisans, 
 whose intelligence and skill should powerfully 
 contribute to the safety arid glory of the nation. 
 Fortunately for the interests of commerce, there 
 is no longer any formidable opposition to appro- 
 priations for the improvement of our harbors and 
 great navigable rivers, provided that the expen- 
 ditures for that purpose are strictly limited to 
 works of national importance. The ^Ussi!^sippi 
 River, with its great tributaries, is of such vital 
 importance to so many millions of people that 
 the safety of its navigation requires exceptional 
 consideration. In order to secure to the Nation 
 the control of all its waters. President Jefferson 
 negotiated the purchase of a vast territory, ex- 
 tending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific 
 Ocean. The wisdom of Congress should be in- 
 voked to devise some plan by which that great 
 river shall cease to be a terror to those who 
 dw^U upon its banks, and by which its shipping 
 may safely carry the indnstiial products of 
 25,000,000 of people. The interests of agricult- 
 ure, which is the basis of all our material pros- 
 perity, and in which seven-twelfths of otn- popu- 
 lation are engaged, as well as the interests of 
 manufactures and commerce, demand that tha 
 facilities for cheap transportation shall be in-^ 
 creased by the use of all our great water-courses. 
 
"The material interests of this cpijntiy, the 
 traditions of its settlement, and the sentiment 
 of oar people liave led the Government to offer 
 the widest hospitality to emigrants who seek our 
 shores for new and happier homes, willing to 
 share the burdens as well as the benefits of our 
 society, and intending that their posterity shall 
 become an undistingiiishahle part of our popu- 
 lation. The recent movement of the Chinese to 
 our Pacific coast partakes but little of the qual- 
 ities of such an emigration, either in its purpose? 
 or its result. It is too much like an importation 
 to be welconied without restrictions; too much 
 like an invasion to be looked upon \yithout solic- 
 itude. We catmot Consent to allow any form 
 of servile labor to be introduced among us un- 
 4er the gnise of immigration. Recognizing the 
 gravity of tliis subject, the present Administra- 
 tion, supported by Congress, has sent tp China 
 a commission of distinguished ci^izens'for the 
 pui^pose of securing such a modification of the 
 fecisting treaty as will prevent the evils likely to 
 arise from the present situation. It is confident- 
 ly believed that these dijDloraatic negotiations 
 will be successful, without the loss of commer- 
 cial intercourse between the two powers, which 
 promises a great increase of reciprocal trade and 
 the enlargement of our inarkets.' Shoul^; these 
 eiforts fail, it will be the duiy of Congress tp 
 mitigate the evils already felt, and prevent theiir 
 increase by such restrictions as, without violence 
 or injustice, will place upon a sure foundation 
 the peace of our communities^ a.nd the freedom 
 and dignity qf labor. 
 
 "The appoin^pient of.citizens to the vfirioiis 
 executive and judicial offices of the Government 
 is, perhaps, the most difiicult of alj duties wh|ph 
 the Constitution has imposed on the Exequtive. 
 The Convention wisely demands that Congress 
 shall co-operate with the Executive Department 
 in placing the civil service On a better basi?. 
 Experience lias proved that, with our frequent 
 changes of Administration, no system of reform 
 can be made effective and permanent without 
 the aid of legislation. Appointments to the mil-' 
 itary and naval servic!^ are so. reguktqd by law 
 and custom as to leave but, little ground for; 
 complaint. It may not b^ wise to make similar 
 regulations by law for the civil service. But, 
 without invading the authority or necessary dis- 
 cretion of the Executive, Congres? shpuld devise 
 a method that wiU determine the tenure of of- 
 fice, and greatly reduce the nncertf^inty ivhich 
 ipakes that semce so uncertain and unsatisfac- 
 tory. Without depriving any officer of his rights 
 AS a citizen, the Goverriinerit should requiie him 
 to discharge all his official duties with iijtelli- 
 gence, efficiency, and fi^ithfulness. To select 
 wisely from our v^ast populatipri th()s,e wjio ace^ 
 best fitted for the many offices to b,e filled, re- 
 duires an acquaintance^ far hej^ond the rjingp of 
 any one-man. The Executive should, therefore, 
 geek aiid receive the infcirmation and assist^npe 
 dlFtho^e wbose knowledge of, the cpioinuniti^s in 
 which' the dui;ies are to b? performe^.best'qualf- 
 fies them to aid in making t^eVj^est choice. 
 
 "The doctrines announced by the ChicagO| 
 Convention are not the temporary device? of a, 
 narty to attract vojes and carry^ an elec'tipi^; 
 tney are ^ielibisrate, convictioris i;esnjtin|g h-oTn a, 
 car^dl, study of the spirit of pijr institutipiis, the 
 events of our history, and the, be,st impulses of 
 our people. In my iii'dgni^n);, \hg|p ijfiinciples, 
 should coiitrol the legislation and a^ipini^(i;af,ion' 
 qf the Government. In any event, they will 
 guide my conduct until ejsperi^pce jioints p\it_a, 
 better \vay. 
 
 " " if elected, it will Ije my pujRo^^ tp|, epfojrce 
 strict ohedience to the Conqtitutioii and the l^ws, 
 and to promote, as best I njay, the interest and 
 I^onor of tlie \yhole country, relying for support 
 upoii the wisdom of Cpiig|'ess,i the, intelligence 
 and patriotism of the people) and the favpr of 
 (iod. 
 
 " With great respect, I ani, very truly, ypws, 
 
 " J. A. G^JFJJJJ.D. 
 
 "'];'o tbe,B^il. G.F. HoAB, Qh^ii-man of Commltitee," 
 
 This imperfect! sketch of th^ life pf Gpneral 
 Grarfield canriot be better clpse^ thftn by the^ fol- 
 lowing estimate o.this^ cjha|i;acter f(nd puWit; spr-r 
 
 the; LIFE OF JAJk^ESA. GAREIjEIJ). 
 
 vices by Presi^enl; Hin?(3ale,; of , Hii-aijn College, 
 who has known him intimat^y for n^pre than a 
 quarter of a century : 
 
 " 1. His physical constitution. There rises up 
 before me the Garfield whom I fii^st saw in,i853 ; 
 strong-framed, six feet high, brpa^ - shouldered 
 and deep-ehested ; a massive head, sni'ijipunted 
 by a shock of tow-colored hair, anil a large blue 
 eye. He, is the, feame, to-day, only tirpe has 
 rpundecJ oulj l^js flgnre, browiied and thinned 
 his hair, and ii;arlied his fijce with lines of 
 thought. He is a good ejiter and sleeper, wpvks 
 easily under high-pressure, and has a power pf 
 physical endurance that can hardly be over- 
 taxed. 
 
 " 2. His naen.l:Rl chaf^cter. His power of log- 
 ical analysis, and, classification is very, great; of 
 rhetorical ex^positioh, hardly surpassed. H^ ex- 
 cels it^ the patient ivccumulatipn of facfs, and, in 
 striking generalizations. As a stud,ent, he loves 
 tp roam, in every field, of aptivity. He, delights 
 in poetry and, other \yorks of the imngiuation; 
 loves tl^e abjftruse th,ings of philosophy ; ti^kes 
 keen'ipterest,in scientific re^earqh ; g^fhers i^tp 
 his storehouse the factis of history and politics ; 
 and throws over all the life and «;f"'n)th of his 
 ovvn originality. His general culture, is bioad, 
 deep, and generous. He hf(?, the b,e,st instincts 
 and ha])it^,of the studejjt an,d the scholar, P'rob- 
 ahly no nian in Cong;i;e§s these twelve years, past 
 has more won upon ofli; scientist^, pur scholiirs, 
 and pur men of literature. Ha was tjie frie;^d of 
 Henry and of Agiissiz ; of Lowell a,nd, pf Park: 
 than. I quite agrpe (y^thl Geprge Alfved , Tovyn-r 
 send in saying that no man since John Quincy 
 Adams has carried to the P^'e^'dpH''*! chair so 
 tho,rpugh a, training, so w,ide an in,te!lectual ap- 
 precijitjon, or so rich aschblarsbip. Withal, fie 
 is aji orator. Hi? speeches are strpng in fact, 
 ribbed with principle, lucid in arguinen|^,'p.ol,ished 
 in diction, rich in illustration, aii(l,^,^>'''> ^v>'|l the 
 v.ital power of a noble h.eayt, 
 
 "3. His moral character is.thefjtcrpiYn.tO, hi?, 
 physical and intellectual naturp, Ifp.man has a 
 kindev he^i't or a. ptjrer igind. ^i? generosity of ■ 
 nature ;s,unstintedii ^11 his \}f^, public and pri- 
 vate, is niarked by gi;eat,unse!fishne^,s, Fpr the 
 most pai;t, he has, t^eglect^ed material acqiiisitipn , 
 but his ineaiis, as vyell as his time and talent?, 
 arp at, the c^U , of those \y?^q, need them, All 
 these poii\t?cp,ijldhe;jlliji,st|:ated by a vohnpe.. pf- 
 in,cidents. '"fhe pthej- d(iy, the represeiitative.of 
 a great public journa|.asfced n^e, ' Whfit do thp., 
 people wl)p kppvv Gep^val Garfield th'fpk of, his 
 integrity ?' Had W. wit? fieep about n]s, I sh,p.i(ld; 
 have answered, ' l),id the njpp whp saw Clj^eyjiUer 
 3ayard hold the biidgie, pf Garigiiapp, agajnst 
 the Spaniards dpuht; ms. courage^? Did, those 
 who. saw Sir PhiHp Sidney, f^l on, Zntphen 
 field question hi? chiyalryf Ag it, wgs, H first 
 ansyirgred in a, general, way, syid, thfjn a^ded, 
 'I have known General, Garfleld twenty -seypn 
 ye^rs; I do not Ei^y that \ l<no\y hint as, we|| as 
 onp, mi^n can liflow anp(her ; I knpjv ^i^t afi \\p]l^ 
 a?, I c.ifij kpowf another; apd ^I'e.iie,is,,qp,i\it8)'ei?t 
 that one tpan can coiiifide to l^is fellow:-man,tJist 
 I wppld not; freely, illtrusj; to hi"), A little, later, 
 anptl)er repprter called upon nie,in, i^iy stu,dy tp 
 ol)|ljaij) sonrje fft<f ts t}lat|n^lgfft| l),e, of intere.st to, the. 
 puhliq. ihadjust tl^rp\¥,n the, private letters ^^f^P 
 General Garfield bjiflwrittien tp nje uppn tjheiflppr. 
 Thiere wpre spme hui;i,dred? \i\ a^ ; the ^I'sp, writr 
 ten ',n, "f^W^^t iiSjST, t)],e, lasf pfj^ thp, eiy|e,,of,tihe„ 
 Clficago Conversion. I said tp film, ' IJerp aiV.? 
 my (^rfield le,tter?, Spme' i\r,e, sqvfippjr, r|ptes, 
 others dis?ertatipn?. 'They, are, qj^e, sidp/pf a 
 long apd.intirnatp cpvrespondgnce. 'Thiey rp|i^,te 
 to a, greist wainy suhjepf?, — bjisines?) dpP^estic 
 n^afteris, religion, poUtics, life at hpme, syid, life 
 abroad. With a few exceptions, I hayje, npt rpjid 
 tljem sii^pe they wpre first reqejvsd- No man 
 is, more, jealotis qf l^i? l^pnpr than am I.; l^ut| I 
 nipnid b.e willing, ?p far as affecting hi? pht^'ivpr 
 ter, is cpncerned, to havp them go in?p every ne\ys- 
 paper in the land without rijy even refiding them 
 oyer.' The. Chicago reporter did well tp asfc, 
 'Wh^t do the people w;ho, knqv), him thin,^?'. 
 TJheie is np better test than this. Now, I fear- 
 lessly say that tfie^ nearer men, have comp, tp 
 Generji^ Garfie|d the greater h^s been tjipiv con- 
 fidence. I may say that; hp has ii;spit;ed un,u,s^^|, 
 
 resppctt^nd fti\th in all largp-nninded and generp 
 ous men, without regard tp pplitic?. La?t m^„ 
 tey, in p.ointing for my students the moral qfbii 
 life, I said : 
 
 " 'Hp has commanded success. His a,bility, 
 knowledge, mastery of questions, generosity of. 
 nature, devotion to the public good, and honesty 
 of,purpo?e, have done the wprk. lie has never 
 had a pplitical " machine." He has never for- 
 gptten the day of small things. He has never 
 made personal enemies. It is difficult to see how 
 a political triumph could bp more complete or 
 more gratifying l;han his election to the Senate. 
 No bargains, no "slate," no "grocery" at Co-, 
 lumbus. He did npt even go to the Capital City. 
 Such things are inspiring to thpsjp, who think; 
 politics in a bad «;siy. He is a map of po?itiKei 
 convictions, freely, utteredr Politically, hg njaj; 
 bp called a, "man of war;" and yet few inen, or 
 none, begrudge him his triunnph, Denctocrats 
 vied "lUh J^epublicans the other, diiy in Washingr 
 ton in snp\ving him, iipder with congralulatipijs,; 
 somp.pf them were a? anxious fpr his elpqtipn 
 as any l^epijblipan coiild be. It vyas said that, 
 he would go to the Senate without an enemy oij, 
 either side of the chamber- These thing?, are 
 honorahlg tp all pai,ties. They show that man- 
 hood is moi;e than party.' 
 
 "4. Hi? cljaractpr a? a public man, Hfi has 
 served, the public with conspicuous ability apd^a, 
 single, eye, He has moved all the time iii, thei 
 right dirpcfion. He, has striven to make the pub- 
 lic service cle^n and honovahlp ; tp inakft the, 
 Gpyernment one of statesmen and patriots, not 
 of demagogues and placemen; and in evpry vvay 
 tp dignify and, ennoble the Bepubllc. 
 
 "A newspaper man frpin a distant city, a?kedi 
 me the pthpr day, ' How do you explain the 
 common lack of ponHde.nce in Mr. Garfield's, 
 courage.?' I s,ai4, ' Wh9 doubts his courage^.' 
 He answered that hghttd. heard in V^ashingtou, 
 and, in other pla,ces tha,t he lacke/i. backbone. ^ 
 fptv questions revealed, that thosp who hold thi^ 
 opinion, thought that lie did not denounce ' the 
 Solid. South ' with^uffltiient severity, and was not 
 properly ^ptive ip 'stirring up t,lie Brigadiers..?- 
 If f ipsy parpdy lyiadame Kuhind, ' O, couragp, 
 what folly is conimitfe,d,,ip tliy nanie.!' 1 have 
 known a minister of the Gospel to he, called a 
 cpwardihepanse hg coiii,d reqognize the, worth of 
 thqsp whp d'd| npf \yorship ip his convent.i,ple. 
 Similarly eagef partiijans charge with cowavdiqe, 
 the r(ian who, Ipyal tp hi^ovyn convictioffls„ <Jfi 
 truth and duty, d^rps to think andi act f^r, hu^r 
 self. In both cases \ylmt is callejl. cowarditte i?. 
 t|ie genuine luoral courage. To gp with: tbe^ 
 stream — to ble?s with you;' secli or^tp hurrah vyltll, 
 your party — is slight prppf qf, courage; but tq 
 stand put by ypurself in, fflftral i^platipii, tp b^SSJ. 
 the Jib,es of tho?e whonj yo,ii call your bfetbrsj). 
 is a very high proof of character. Snch a mm 
 is Qpner^l Garhpld. Hp li^s , uttpred many na- 
 ble,V5ords; bijt none npj^lpr than those, spoken 
 'n thp, OljlPi Senatie-ch^^ipl^p?;, just after his, ht^, 
 jlfi9t.ip.ii : 
 
 " ' Lei; me. vept,i^re^ tq ppipt, a single instance, 
 in regard to that y)rqr^ Dnring.thp twenty years, 
 that I haye, b^eq in puftljc life (almost eightee.a 
 of it, in, tli,e„Qoji,gregj of the United States), Ih^xft 
 tried.tp do one thing. Whether I was mi?(ake5, 
 or otherwise, it. has been the plan of niy life tp. 
 follow, r(iy conyiqtipns, atiwhatpvpr personal ppsj, 
 tp myse,lfi I have rep,vfisented for iu4ny ye«v9 H 
 distr^qt in. Congress \yhpse approbation t gre!a,tljr. 
 desii;ed, but though it may seem perhaps, a lit- 
 tle egotistical to say it, I yet desired still mpre. 
 the, apprpbatipn of oflie, persbn, and( his. name 
 vyfts, Garfield. He is the oply man that I am 
 compelled to sleep with, t^nd eat with, a,nd live 
 with, and die w,it,h, and if I cpuld not have his, 
 approbation I should have ha,d bad companion- 
 ship.' 
 
 "In taking, leave pf this sphject, I will say. 
 that General Garfie)d i?, remarkable for thp bal- 
 ance, haJ^'ony and rpundness of his nature, ^e, 
 has distinguished hinptself in ediiqatipn, in \^ar, 
 in oratory, in legislation ; and he might, hajje 
 been distinguished in almost any walk of life.lja 
 chose to follow.^' 
 
 Garfield hi^s been coqipare^ to Gladstone. 
 Bfifji, arei,deiep sludents of Bolitlc?, sqienqe. lao- 
 
' swages, and lifevatm-e ; bpth practised statesmen ; 
 I bpth men of stjong moral qonyictions. Garfield 
 1 has not vet reiichad the full maturity of his pow- 
 !ers. He is a growing man. In the mWst of his, 
 Ipressing oicuputions he has found time for the 
 acquirement of a vast fund of general information. 
 If he had been otheiwise phiced, he might ha.ve 
 been to JVmerican Sfience what Huxley has been 
 to English science. Possessing unusual. breadth 
 of mind, and the power of popiilarizins his knowl- 
 edge, he could both collect and liisseminntg strik- 
 ing facts in any department of human activity 
 that he might explore. With more solidity and 
 bflilanoe of mind than Gladstone, and little less 
 versatility, he is an example of the best order of 
 A,iiiei'ican itatesmen. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A STUMP-SPEECH. 
 
 No review of General Garfield's career caa ba 
 complete which does not allude to his labors on 
 the "stump." No man has done so much effec- 
 tive woik there for freedom, as he^ and to-day he 
 is the most powerful stump-orator in this coun- 
 try. Iqgersoll can arouse, but Garfield both 
 arOuses and ]iersuades. Whenever and wherever 
 he speaks, he breaks the ranks of the Demoqra- 
 cy. Space will allow me to quote only one of his 
 stump-speeches, but I do that in full, because it 
 should be read by every voter in the country. It 
 was spoken at Cleveliind,Ohio, October 1 1 th, 1 879. 
 
 TJaE DJIMO'CEATIC PARTY ARRAIGNED A,T 
 
 THE Bar of public pPINlbN. 
 
 ',' FELLOw-ciri?ENS, — The distinguished gen- 
 tlemen who have preceded me have covered the 
 ground so completely and so admirably that I 
 have a very easy task. I will pick up a tew 
 straws here and there over the broad field, and 
 ask you for a few moments to look at tliem. I 
 take it for granted that every thoughtful, intel- 
 ligent man would be glad, ifhe could, to be on 
 the right side, believins that, in the long-run, the 
 right side will be the stjong side. I take it, for 
 gj'anted that every man would like to hojd polit- 
 ical opinions tiiat will live some time, if he could. 
 It is 3 v^ry awkward thing, indeed, to adopt a 
 political: opinion, and trust to it, and find that it 
 will not live overnight. [Laushter.], It wonld 
 he an exqeedingly awk.\vnrd tiling to go to bed 
 alone with your political doctrine, tr.usting, and 
 believing in it, thinking it is true, and wake up 
 in the. mO'ning and find it a corpse in your arms. 
 Piaughter.] 
 
 "I should be glfid, for my part, to hold to a 
 political doctrine that would live all through 
 summer, and stand the frost, and stand a fregzo 
 in the wijiter, and come out alive and true iij the 
 ^nng. [jLaugliter.] I should like to adopt 
 palitical doctriiies that would live longer than 
 my dog, [Laughter.} I should be glad to hold 
 to a ptjlitical doctrine that \YOuld live longer than 
 I shall live, and that my children after me might 
 helieve in as true, and say, 'This doctrine iptrue 
 tp.-day, and; it was true fifty years ago, when my 
 jjltber adopted it.' 
 
 '.f Every great political party that has, done 
 this country any good has given, to it some im- 
 mortalideas that have outljy.ed all the members 
 (jf that party. The old Federal party, gave great 
 permainQnt "ideas to this country that are still 
 ^ive. TheoRWJiig party did the same. The 
 old, the very old, Democratic party did the same. 
 [Jjaughter.] Th^ Raity qf , 4j|W''^^ Jaokspn, 
 Benton, 'and Calhouif. But ' ' ' 
 
 /E^ ^ppspfl, P^JSIOCRAO^IQ PARTY 
 
 has given this countrj in the last twenty years 
 no idea that has lived to be four years old. 
 riaughfer.] I mean an idea, not a passioii. 
 The' Democratic party has ha4 passions that 
 have lasted longer than that. 'They have bad 
 an immortal appetite for office. [Laughter.] 
 That is just as strong to-day as it was twenty 
 years ago. Somebody has. called the Democrat- 
 ic party 'an organized appetite.' [Laughter.} 
 But that is not an idea, that is of the belly 
 [laughter], and not of the heart, nor of the brain. 
 I say agdin they have given to this country no 
 great national idea or doctrine that has lived to 
 
 TSigJfi LJFE: OF JAMES A. GARFIELp. 
 
 ha four yei^rs old ; ijnd if we had in thi? gi,'eat 
 park, as in a great field, herded here together all 
 the ideas that 'he Democratic party has uttered 
 and put forth in (he last twenty years, there would 
 not be found a four-year-old in the lot [laughter] 
 — hardly a three-year-old — hardly a two-year-old. 
 They have adopted a doctrine just to last till 
 electioii was over; and if it did not succeed, they 
 have dropped it to try another; and they have 
 tried another until it' failed, and'then tried an- 
 other ; and it has been a series of mere trials to 
 catch success. Whenever they have started in 
 a campaign, they have lool^ed out to aU the po- 
 litiqal barns to see how the tin roosters were 
 pointing, to learn from the political weather- 
 cocks which way the wind is, lil^oly to blow ; and 
 then they have made their doctrines aqcording- 
 ly. [Laughter and applause.] This is no slan- 
 der of the Democratic party. As my friend Mr. 
 Foster has said, this is true not so mi^ch of the 
 body of the party as of the leaders. What a 
 dance they have put the good, sound, quiet, 
 steady-going Democrat through during th^ last 
 twenty years! [Laughter.] They made him 
 denounce our war for iy long time; and then, 
 when it was all over, they made him praise it, 
 [Laughter.] They made him vote with a party 
 that called our soldiers 'Lincoln's hirelings' 
 and 'Lincoln's dogs;' and this very day one of 
 the men who did that is parading up and down 
 this State praising the Deiiiociatic pArty because 
 it has two soldiers at the head of its ticket, and 
 sneering at us because Mr. Foster was not a 
 soldier in the field. 
 
 " That party has taken both sides of every grqat 
 question in this country in the last twenty years. 
 They, are in fiivor of the war — after it is over, 
 [Laughter.] They are in tiavor of hard money 
 — or they will be next year, after it is an ac- 
 complished fact. They were opposed to green- 
 ba.cks when greenbacks were necessary to save 
 the life of the nation, and when they thought it 
 wonld be popular to oppose greenbacks. The 
 moment they found it was unpopular they faced 
 the other way, and declared that the greenback 
 was the best currency the world ever saw. 
 
 ''I would like to ask that good, old, quiet 
 Democrat how he has felt when they have told 
 him to vote against the war one year and then 
 praise it the next, and he had to follow his lead- 
 ers all the while; how he felt when they told 
 him to curse greenbacks, and he voted the ticket, 
 and then when they ordered him to wheel right 
 around on his heel and march the other way., 
 and' vote the Democratic ticket all the time. 
 ;They told him, for example, that the proposil;ion 
 to let the negro have his freedom was an out- 
 rageous thing that must not be listened to, and. 
 he voted the Democratic ticket. A little whUe 
 after they came aiouud and said: 'We. will en- 
 force all the amendments of the Constitution, 
 the negro ainendment among the rest, and we 
 are among the best friends thai; the negro ever 
 had.' And yet he voted with them every time 
 [laughter], facing iight the other way. When 
 we proposed to give the ballot to the negro, they 
 said, 'Why, he is an inferior race. God made 
 him to be a hewer of wood, and a drawei: of wa- 
 ter. He is inferior to us. He is o£ had odor, 
 and bad every way, of low intelligence, and we 
 will never, never allow, him to vote. ' What do 
 they say now? They are cooing and billing 
 wit;h every negro that will listen to them, and 
 asking him to vote the Democratic ticket. They, 
 are, saying to him, ' My friend, the. Democratic 
 party was always a good friend of the negro. 
 [Laughter.].' The Democratic party knows the 
 negro better than the Republicans do. We have 
 been nearer to you. We know, your habits. 
 [Laughter.] We understand your character, 
 and we can do you more good.' Yes, they have 
 been nearer to you. The fellow that flogs you 
 with a cat-o'-nine-tail» has to be pretty near to 
 you. [Laughter.] They have a warm feeling 
 for you. [Lauehter.] The man that brands 
 your cheek wit'h a red-hot iron gets up a good 
 deal of warmth toward you. [Laughter.] 
 
 "But, my tViends, the curious thing is how a 
 stcadjTgoing, consistent Democrat can have fol- 
 lowed ill these crooks and turns and, facings- 
 afaout pfi his party in all these years, and not 
 
 33 
 
 haye gotten dizzy by turning §o frequently. 
 [Laughter.] They shouted for.hard money, and 
 he voted the Democratic ticket. They shouted' 
 for soft money, and he voted the Demoqratic 
 ticket. They said the three amendments to the 
 Constitution were void and should not be obey- 
 ed, and he voted the Democratic ticket. They 
 walked light out to the next great election, 
 bringing Horace Greeley in their arms, and said, 
 'We will carry out all the amendments to the 
 Constitution ; we vvill bfi the best fi:iend of the 
 slave, in the world,' and he voted the Democratic 
 ticket [laughter], fojlowing in the same wake. 
 
 "Now, my friends, there has not been a lead- 
 ing prophecy, there has not been a leading doc- 
 trine put forward by the Democratic party in all 
 th^se years that it has not itself abandoned. I 
 do not believe there is a fair-minded Deinoqrat 
 here to-night who doe^ not rejoice in his soul 
 that his party has abandoned the leading doP,- 
 trines of the last twenty years. [Laughter.]. 
 Are you sorry, my Democratiq friend, that slav- 
 ery is dead ? I believe you are not. Then you 
 are glad that we out-voted you when you tried 
 to keep it alive. [Applause.] Are you sorry 
 that rebellion and secession are dead ? If yon 
 ar^ not, then you are glad that you were over- 
 vvhelmed and ont-votjed when you tried to keep 
 the party that sustained them alive. [Applause. ] 
 Are you glad that our war was nof a failure? 
 If you are, you are glad that we voted you down 
 in 1864, when your central doqtiine was that the 
 war was a failure and mjist be stopped. If you 
 are glad of so many things, will you not be glad 
 when we have voted down your party next Tues- 
 day, and elected Charley Foster Governor of 
 Ohio? [Applause. A voice: 'We are going 
 to do it fcr a fact.'] You are going to do it, I 
 have no doubt. 
 
 WHY REPUBLICAN^ WILL SUCCEED. 
 
 ''There ai;e two great reasons why the people 
 of this State are going, to do it. One is, that 
 they do not intend to allow any more fooling 
 vvith the business of this country. [Applause.) 
 For the last four years the chief obstacle in the 
 way of the restoraition of business prospeiity and 
 the full employment of labor in this country has 
 been the danger threatened to you by the poli- 
 ticians in Congress. [Applause.] Business has 
 waited to awaken. Prospejity has been trying 
 to come. General Ewing. tells us that i|: is Di- 
 vine Providence, and a good crop tjiat brought 
 revival of busineiis tliis year. I remind General 
 Ewing that we ha,d' a "bountiful ciop last year, 
 and business did not revive. I remind him that 
 the year before was a. year of great harvest and 
 plenty, and prosperity did not come. 
 
 EWINQ'S GOSPEL. 
 
 'i^ Do, yoij. know that when we commenced this 
 qampaign General Ewing began to preach his 
 old sermon of last year — his gospel of gloom, 
 and darkness, and difstvess, and misery ; and 
 some of his friends said: ' But see here, Spying,, 
 the furnaces are aflame, tilie mills are busy. It 
 will not do to talk that these peojile are all in 
 distress.' And fipr a vyeek or two Mr. Ewing 
 denied that there was any revival of business. 
 He d.enied it flatly. But every mill roared in. 
 his ears, and. every furnace and forge flashed in 
 his eyes the truth that there was a revival; of bu$i< 
 ne^s ; and then for about four days he under- 
 took to say that it was a campaign dpdge of the 
 BepuhUcan party [laughter] ; that thsy started 
 up a few iron-mills until election to aifect the 
 election. But that would not vtork, for Dem- 
 ocratiq States began to start their iron -mills 
 [laughter] ; Rebel States began to boom in hiL'^i- 
 ness ; and that second explanation of Mr. Ewing's 
 would not work. Then he undertook, and is yet 
 undertaking, to explain this pf osperity away. I 
 heard a gentleman lately tell an incident that il- 
 lustrates this futile attempt of Mr. Ewing. Eng- 
 land wanted Garibaldi to be married to some 
 distinguished English lady, so as to ally free 
 Italy to Enghmd. They got it well talked up in 
 diplomatic circles; but finally some unfortunate 
 fellow suggested a fact that disturbed their cal- 
 culations. It was that Garibaldi was married 
 [laughter] ; that he had a young, healthy wife,. 
 
3* 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 likely to outlive him. The old diplomatist, not 
 to be balked by any obstacles, said, ' Nevei- mind ; 
 we will get Gladstone to explain her away.' 
 [Laughter.] Gladstone is a very able man, but 
 when he attemps to explain away as real a 
 thing as a woman [laughter], and a wife at that, 
 he undertakes a great contract. [Laughter.] 
 Thomas Ewing is not any abler than Gladstone, 
 and his attempt to explain away this prosperity 
 of our country will be more disastrous than the 
 attempt of Gladstone would have been if he had 
 made it. [Applause; cries of ' Hear !' 'Hear ! '] 
 Everywhere he goes it meets him. 
 
 THE REVIVAL OP BUSINESS. 
 
 " Pig-iron in this country, the lowest form of 
 the iron product, has risen in price almost thir- 
 teen dollars the ton since resumption came [ap- 
 plause]; and all industries depending upon it 
 have risen in proportion. My only fear — and I 
 say it to the business men around me to-night — • 
 is that the revival of business is coming too fast, 
 and that we may overdo it and bring a reaction 
 by-and-by. But that prosperity has come, and, 
 if we do not abuse it, has come to stay, 1 have 
 uo doubt. I do not claim that the resumption 
 of specie payments has done it all. I admit that 
 the favorable balance of trade, that the operation 
 of our tariff laws, that our own great crops and 
 the failure of crops in Europe, have done much 
 to secure and aid this revival of business. 
 
 But there is an element in this revival distinct- 
 ly and markedly traceable to the resumption of 
 specie payments, and I ask your indulgence for 
 half a minute to state it. 
 
 WHAT EBSUMPTION HAS DONE. 
 
 "All over this country there was hidden away 
 in the hands of private men, in stocking-feet, in 
 tills, in safes, capital that they dared not invest. 
 Why ? Because they did not know what Con- 
 gress would do ; whether it would vote their pros- 
 perity up or down, whether the wild vagaries of 
 fiat money should rule, or whether the old God- 
 made dollar, of the Constitution and the fathers, 
 the hundred-cent dollar, the dollar all round, 
 should come to be our standard or not; and 
 they waited. But the moment our Government, 
 in spite of the Democratic party, in spite of the 
 fiat money party, in spite of all croakers of all 
 parties, resolved to redeem the great war prom- 
 ises of the Nation, and lift our currency up to 
 •be as good as gold the world over, that moment 
 the great needed restoration of confidence came, 
 and when it came, capital came out of its hid- 
 ing-places and invested itself in business. [Ap- 
 |)lause.] And that investment, that confidence, 
 that stability, gave the grand and needed impe- 
 tus to the restoration of prosperity in this coun- 
 try. 
 
 "Now, what has been the trouble with us? 
 1860 was one shore of prosperity, and 1 879 the 
 other; and between those two high shores has 
 flowed the broad, deep, dark river of fire and 
 blood and disaster through which this nation has 
 tieen compelled to wade [applause], and in whose 
 depths it has been almost suffocated and drown- 
 .ed. In the darkness of that tenible passage we 
 4:aiTied liberty in our arms ; we bore the Union 
 •on bur shoulders ; and we boi-e in our hearts 
 und on our arms what was even better than lib- 
 •erty and Union — we bore the faith, and honor, 
 .and public trust of this mighty Nation. [Ap- 
 plause.] And never, until we came up out of 
 the dark waters, out of the darkness of that ter- 
 rible current, and planted our feet upon the solid 
 shore of 1879 — never, I say, till then could this 
 •country look back to the other shore and feel 
 ■that its feet were on solid ground, and then look 
 forward to the rising uplands of pei'petual peace 
 -and prosperity that should know no diminution 
 in the years to come. [Applause.] 
 
 " I rejoice, for my part, that the party to which 
 I belong has not been fighting against God in 
 ^his struggle for prosperity. [Applause.] I re- 
 joice that the party to which I belong has not 
 iiad its prospects hurt by the coming of pros- 
 perity. [Applause.] Can you say as much, my 
 Democratic friend, for your party ? Would it 
 not have been better for you at the polls next 
 Tuesday if the blight had fallen upon our great 
 
 corn crop, if the Colorado beetle had swept ev- 
 ery potato-field in America, if the early frost 
 had smitten us all ? ])on't you think Mr. Ewing 
 could then have talked more eloquently about 
 the grief, and suffering, and outrage, and hard 
 times brought upon you by the Republican poli- 
 cy of resumption ? [Applause and laughter.] I 
 should be ashamed to belong to a political party 
 whose prospect^ were hurt by the blessing of my 
 country. 
 
 "But it was so all during the war. Just be- 
 fore election any time in Oliio during the war, a 
 great battle that won a victory over the Rebellion 
 hurt the Democratic parry in this State, and they 
 walked about our streets looking down their noses 
 in sadness and gloom, recogniziug tliat their bal- 
 lots would be fewer on election-day because of the 
 success of our arms;, and if our soldiers were 
 overwhelmed in battle, if five thousand of your 
 children were slaughtered on the field by the 
 enemies of the Republic, the Democrats in Ohio 
 walked more confidenrly to the polls on elec- 
 tion-day, and said : ' Didn't I tell you so ?' [Ap- 
 plause.] There is something wrong with a par- 
 ty about which those things could be truthfully 
 said ; and you know that they are the truth. 
 
 THE EBPHBLICAN PARTY TRUE TO THE 
 PEOPLE. 
 
 "Now, I leave all that with this single reflec- 
 tion : That it is to me for my party a matter of 
 pride and congratulation that in all the darkness 
 of these years we have not deceived you by any 
 cunning device to flatter your passions or your 
 hopes. We have told you these are hard times ; 
 we are in the midst of suffering, and there is no 
 patent process by which you can get out of it. 
 Yon cannot print yourselves rich. Yon have got 
 to suffer and be strong. You have got to endure 
 and be economical. You have got to wait in pa- 
 tience and do justice, keep your pledges, keep 
 your promises, obey the laws, and by-and-by 
 prosperity will come with its blessings upon you. 
 We have now nothing to take back. We re- 
 joice that we were true to you in the days of 
 darkness, and we congratulate you that you have 
 stood by the truth until your hour of triumph 
 has come. [Applause.] 
 
 ANOTHER REASON FOR TRIUMPH. 
 
 " I said there were two reasons why I thought 
 we would triumph next Tuesday. I have hinted 
 at one ; I will now speak briefly of the other. I 
 mean to say that the great audiences that have 
 gathered everywhere in Ohio during this cam- 
 paign have had more than finance in their hearts. 
 They have thought of something as much higher 
 than finance as liberty is more precious than cash. 
 [Applause.] They have been moved — and I ask 
 all Democrats to hear it with patience — by what 
 I venture to call 
 
 THE NEW REBELLION 
 against liberty and this Government. [Applause.] 
 I do not mean a rebellion with guns, for I think 
 that was tried to the heart's content of the peo- 
 ple that undertook it. [Applause.] Not that, 
 but another one no less wicked in purpose and 
 no less dangerous in character. Let me try in a 
 few words, if it be possible to reach all this vast 
 audience, to make you understand what I mean 
 by this new rebellion. 
 
 " Fellow-citizens, what is the central thought 
 in American life? What is the germ out of 
 which all our institutions were born and have 
 been developed ? Let me give it to you in a 
 word. When the Mayflower was about to land 
 her precious freight upon the shore of Plymouth, 
 the Pilgrim Fathers gathered in the cabin of that 
 little ship, on a stormy November day, and after 
 praying to Almighty God for the success of their 
 great enterprise, drew up and signed what is 
 known in history, and what will be known to the 
 last syllable of recorded time, as 
 
 'THE PILGRIM COVENANT." 
 
 In that covenant is one sentence which I ask 
 you to take home with you to-night. It is this : 
 ' We agree before God and each other that the 
 freely expressed will of the majority shall be the 
 law of all, which we will all obey.' [Applause.] 
 
 Ah, fellow-citizens, it does honor to the headl 
 and the hearts of a great New England audience 
 here on this Western Reserve to applaud the 
 grand and simple sentiment of the Pilgrim Fa- 
 thers. They said, ' No standing army shall be ' 
 needed to make us obey. We will erect here in 
 America a substitute for monarchy, a substitute 
 for despotism, and that substitute shall be the, 
 will of the majority as the law of all.' And that 
 germ, planted on the rocky shores of New Eng- 
 land, has sprung up, and all the trees of our lib- 
 erty have grown from it into the beauty and 
 glory of this year of our life. [Applause.] 
 
 "Over against that there grew up in the South 
 a spirit in ab.wlute antagonism to the 'Pilgrim 
 Covenant.' That .spirit, engendered by the in- 
 stitution of slavery, became one of the most pow- 
 erful and despotic of all the forces on the face 
 of this globe. 
 
 " Let me state, even as an apology for that 
 tyranny — if you and I owned a powder-mill in 
 the city of Cleveland, we would have a right to 
 make some very stringent and arbitrary rules 
 about that powder-mill. We would have a right 
 to say that no man should enter it who had nails 
 in the heels of his boots, because a single step 
 might ex|>lode it and ruin us all. But that would 
 be an absurd law to make about your own house 
 or about a green-grocer's shop. 
 
 " Now, the estahlishmeut of the institution of 
 slavery required laws and custom.s absolutely 
 tyrannical in their character. Nails in the heels 
 of your boots in a powder-magazine would ba 
 safely compared with letting education into 
 slavery. [Applause.] It was an institution that 
 would be set on fire by the tprch of knowledge, 
 and they knew it, and therefore they said, 'The 
 shining gates of knowledge shall be shut every- 
 where where a slave lives. It shall be a crime 
 to teach the black man the alphabet ; a crime 
 greater still to teach him the living oracles of 
 Almighty God ; for if once the golden rule of 
 Christ finds its way into the heart of a negro 
 man, and he learns the literature of liberty, our 
 institution is in danger.' Hence the whole 
 Southern people became a disciplined, banded, 
 absolute despotism over the politics of their sec- 
 tion. They had to be. I do not blame them. 
 1 only blame the system that compelled them to 
 be so. Now, therefore, all before the wai- the 
 Southern people were the best disciplined poli- 
 ticians in this world. They were organized on 
 the one great idea of protecting their Southern 
 society, with slavery at its centre. Do you know 
 the power of discipline ? Here is a vast audience 
 often or fifteen thousand people in this Square, 
 and you are not organized. One resolute cap- 
 tain with one hundred resolute, disciplined sol- 
 diers, such as stormed the heights of Kenesaw, 
 could sweep through this Square and drive us all 
 out hither and thither at their pleasure. And 
 that is nothing against our courage. It is in 
 favor of their discipline. The clinched fist of 
 Southern slave-holders was too much for the great, 
 bulky, proud strength of the North. They went 
 to Washington, consolidated for one purpose, 
 and they called all their fellows around them 
 from the North, and said, 'Give way to our doc- 
 trine, and you have our friendship and support. 
 Go against us at all, and we will rule vou out 
 of place and power,' The result was that the 
 Southern politicians absolutely commanded and 
 contrpUed their Northern allies. They converted 
 the 
 
 NORTHERN DEMOCRATS INTO DOUGH-PACES 
 of the most abject pattern ; and you know here 
 to-night, if there be a Democrat who listens to 
 me, that the Republican party was born as a 
 protest against the tyranny of that Southern po- 
 lineal hierarchy that made slaves of all Northern 
 Democrats, [Applause.] Three-quarters of the 
 Republican party were made up twenty-five years 
 ago by Democrats that would no longer consent 
 to be slaves. 
 
 "Now, why am I going into that long tirade 
 in the past? For this purpose. After the war 
 was over, and reconstruction completed, this same 
 Southern political hierarchy came back into 
 power in Washington, and to-day they are as 
 consolidated as the slave-holding poIiticianE of 
 
1 1 860-'61 were ! [' Hear !' ' hear ! '] And to-day 
 ' they hold in their grip absolutely all the Northern 
 members of their party ! The Northern dough- 
 face has again appeared in American politics, and 
 he is found wherever a Democratic Congressman 
 '^ts. [Applause.] I say without offence, it is 
 the literal truth that this day there is not in all 
 this country a free and absolutely independent- 
 minded Democratic member of either House of 
 your Congress at Washington. [Applause.] 
 
 "Now let me go back for a moment, and re- 
 turn to this point with a re-enforceipeiit. Are 
 you aware that there is one thing that can kill 
 this country, and kill it beyond all hope? That 
 one thing is the destruction or enslavement of 
 its voting population. The voting population of 
 the United States is the only sovereign on thij 
 continent. [Applause.] You talk about the 
 sovereign States, or even the sovereign Nation. 
 A corporation is not a sovereign. The corpora- 
 tion that we call Ohio was made by the people, 
 and they are its sovereigns. Even the grand 
 corporation that we call the United States was 
 created also by the people, who are its superiors 
 and its only sovereigns. Now, therefore, if any- 
 thing happens in this country to corrupt, or en- 
 slave, or destroy the votere of the United States, 
 that is an irreparable injury to liberty and the 
 Union. [Applause.] If in Europe they slay a 
 sovereign, one man is killed, and another can be 
 found to take his place ; but when they slay our 
 sovereign, there is no heir to the throne ; our 
 sovereign has no successor. 
 
 "Well, now, that is rather general, but I ask 
 you to come down to particulars. Let me make 
 this statement to you : In 1872, only seven years 
 ago, in the eleven States that went into rebel- 
 lion there were cast, at a free and fnir election, 
 759,000 Repulilican votes, and 650,000 Democrat- 
 ic votes. There is liberty for you ! There are a 
 million and a quarter of free voting citizens east- 
 ing their ballots for the men of their choice ! 
 
 "This country has been growing in the last 
 seven years, but let me tell you what calamity 
 has happened to us. In those same eleven late 
 Rebel States there have disappeared, apparently, 
 from the face of the earth 400,000 American 
 voters. Fellow-citizens, that is an awful sen- 
 tence which I have just spoken in your hearing. 
 I repeat it. In eleven States of this Union there 
 have disappeared, apparently, from the face of 
 the earth 400.000 American voters. Where 
 have they gone? Tliey are all Republicans. 
 Have they gone to the Democratic party ? No ; 
 for the Democratic party has also lost some of 
 its voters in those States. What has happened ? 
 I will tell you. That spirit of Southern tyran- 
 ny — that old spirit of despotism bom of slavery, 
 has arisen and killed freedom in the South. It 
 has slain liberty in at least seven of the eleven 
 States of the South. 
 
 MISSISSIPPI BULL-DOZING. 
 
 "It happened in this wise: In 1872, in five 
 States of the South, we had a miirked, over- 
 whelming, and fair majority of Republican votes. 
 For example, in the State' nf Mississippi, at the 
 Congressional election of 1 872, there were thrown 
 80,803 Republican votes, and there were thrown 
 40,500 Democratic votes. Tliat was a fair test 
 of the strength of the two parties. Five Repub- 
 licans and one Democrat were elected to Con- 
 gress fiom the State of Mississippi. Six years 
 passed, and in 1878 there were just 2056 Re- 
 publican votes thrown in the State of Missis- 
 sippi. How many Democratic votes? 35,000. 
 They had fallen ntf .")000 ; the Republicans had 
 fallen off 78,000 votes. Wheie had the 78,000 
 voters gone ? 1 will tell you. The Rebel army, 
 without uniforms, organized itself as Democrat- 
 ic clubs in Mississifipi. and, armed with shot- 
 guns and rifles, surrounded the houses of Repub- 
 lican voters, with the muzzles of their guns at 
 their heads, in the night, and said, 'You come 
 but and vote if you dare. We will kill you when 
 you come.' And all over the State of Missis- 
 sippi the Democratic party, being the old Rebel 
 array, deploved itself among the cabins of the 
 blacks, and "killed liberty everywhere through- 
 out that State. 
 
 "Why, In a. district of Mississippi where, m 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 1872, 15,000 Republican votes were polled, and 
 8000 Democratic, there were but 4000 polled for 
 a Rebel general, and twelve scattering voles poll- 
 ed for other people — not one Republican vote put 
 in a box in all the district. So it was in Ala- 
 bama. So it was in Louisiana, in part. So it 
 was in the two Caiolinas. The result was this : 
 400,000 voters substantially annihilated. And 
 the further result was this: thirty Democratic 
 Rebels elected in Republican districts 'where lib- 
 erty had first been slain ; and to-day there are 
 thirty members of Congress, not one of whom 
 has any more right to sit there and make laws 
 for yon and me than an inhabitant of that jail 
 has a right to go there and make laws for us. 
 [Applause.] They are not created Congress- 
 men by virtue of law, but by virtue of mur- 
 der, assassination, riot, intimidation ; and on the 
 dead body of American liberty they stand and 
 make laws for you and me. [Applause.] That 
 gives them the House. That gives them the 
 Senate. That gives the old slave power and 
 the old Rebel power its grip again on this coun- 
 try, and it gives them what we call the Solid 
 South. I am talking plain talk. I am tallying 
 words that I expect will be read by every gen- 
 tleman in Congress whom I am to-night denounc- 
 ing. I expect to meet those gentlemen and 
 make good every word I say. [Great applause.] 
 
 THE AIM OP THE SOLID SOUTH. 
 
 "Now, what purpose has this Solid South in 
 thus grasping power and killing liberty ? This : 
 They are determined to make their old 'lost 
 cause ' the triumphing cause. Who is their 
 leader to-day? By all odds the most popular 
 man south of Mason and Dixon's line is Jeffer- 
 son Davis, of Mississippi. He is to-day their 
 hero and their leader ; and I will give you my 
 proof of it. 
 
 THE RICE PENSION BIIJ,. 
 
 "Do you know that our friend General Rice 
 has been making a great deal of small capital out 
 of the fact that he introduced an Arrears of Pen- 
 sions hill for soldiers ? You all know what kind 
 of a bill that was. It was a bill granting arrears 
 of pensions to onr soldiers ; but it also granted 
 arrears of pensions to all Rebel soldiers who 
 had fought iu the Mexican war. We made a 
 law that the mime of a man who had taken up 
 arms against this country should be stricken 
 from our pension rolls, and he should receive no 
 money out of our treasury. That law Mr. Kice's 
 bill repealed, in so far as it related to the Mexi- 
 can soldiers, and he knew, and was told plain- 
 ly, that that clause included Jefferson Davis 
 as one of the pensioners to be helped by that 
 law ; and even in that Rebel Congress there were 
 many Democrats that could not quite be brought 
 up to the scratch to vote to pension Jeft'erson 
 Davis; and hence Mr. Rice's bill hung in the 
 committee, and was not reported. Then a Re- 
 publii'an member of the House moved to dis- 
 charge the committee from the consideration of 
 the whole subject. He introduced a bill that 
 did not have Jeft'erson Davis in it, but had oidy 
 our soldiers in it ; and that bill, not Mr. Rice's, 
 passed. [Applause.] But when that bill got to 
 the Senate a Democrat moved to add the Rice 
 section that covered all Rebel pensioners under 
 its provisions ; and then it was that Mr. Hoar, 
 of Massachusetts, called the attention of the 
 United States Senate to the fact that that 
 amendment would include Jefferson Davis, and 
 he moved an amendment to the amendment 
 that it sTiould not be so construed. 
 
 THE DEFENDERS OP JEFFERSON DAVIS. 
 
 "What followed? Immediately there sprung 
 to his feet our Ohio Senator. I blush for my 
 State when I repeat it. Allen G.Tliurman arose 
 to his feet and said, 'The Democratic Legislat- 
 ure of Ohio has instructed me to vote to pension 
 the soldiers of the Mexican war, and they did 
 not instruct me to make an exception against 
 Jellerson Davis, and therefore I vote against 
 Mr. Hoar's ameudmetit.' Thereupon Mr. Hoar 
 spoke against the amendment that would pension 
 Jefferson Davis, and the moment he did it there 
 sprung up all over that chamber champions and 
 
 35 
 
 defenders of Jefferson Davis. The tomahawks 
 literally flew, or rather metaphorically flew, ev- 
 erywhere at the head of any Republican that 
 dai'ed to suggest that the Government ought not 
 to pension Jefferson Davis. Lamar, of Missis- 
 sippi, an eloquent and able Senator, arose in his 
 place and said that there had not lived on this 
 earth, from the days of Hampden to Washington, 
 a purer patriot and a nobler man than Jefferson 
 Davis, of Mississippi. Man after man exhausted 
 his eloquence in defending and eulogizing the 
 archrebel who led this countiy into oceans of 
 blood. I give you that to show the spirit that 
 animates the people that rule in Congress to- 
 day. 
 
 "Now let me say a word more that connects 
 what I am saying with the old story of the days 
 before slavery was dead. I have been seventeen 
 years a member of the House, and in all that pe- 
 riod I never have once known, as my friends here 
 on the stand can testify in their experience, of 
 the members of the Republican party binding 
 themselves in a caucus to support any bill before 
 Congress. I have seen it tried once or twice, 
 but I have always seen dozens of Republicans 
 spring to their feet and say, ' I am a free man, 
 and I will vote according to the interests of my 
 constituents and the dictates of ray conscience, 
 and no caucus shall bind me.' 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY RULED BY THE 
 CAUCUS. 
 
 "But the moment the Democratic party got 
 back into power again, that moment they organ- 
 ized the caucus — the secret caucus, the oath-bound 
 caucus, for within the recent extra session they 
 have actually taken oaths not to divulge what 
 occurred in caucus, and to be bound by whatever 
 the caucus decreed, and I have known man after 
 man, who had sworn by all the wicked gods at 
 at once that he would not be bound to go for a 
 certain measure, walk out of the caucus like a 
 sheep led to the slaughter, and vote for the bill 
 that he had cursed. They brought bills at the 
 extra session so full of manifest errors that when 
 we pointed them out they would admit in private 
 that there were errors that ought to be corrected, 
 but they would say, ' I have agreed to vote for it 
 without amendment, and I will.' We pointed 
 out wretchedly bad grammar in bills, and they 
 would not even correct their grammar, because 
 the caucus had adopted it. [Laughter.] Now, 
 therefore, gentlemen, the Congress of the United 
 Slates is ruled by a caucus. It has ceased to be 
 a deliberative body. It is ruled by a secret cau- 
 cus — and who rules the caucus ? Two-thirds of 
 its members are men who fought this country in 
 war ; who tried to destroy this nation, and who 
 to-day look upon Jefferson Davis as the foremost 
 patriot and highest political leader in America. 
 Therefore, the leadership which rules you is the 
 Rebellion in Congress. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PLAN FOE SUCCESS IN 1880. 
 
 I " Well, now, what of that? This is not all. 
 They look over the field of 1880 and they say 
 they have got in their hands the Solid South, 
 and they lack only one thing more. They lack 
 thirty-seven electoral votes to add to their one 
 hundred and thirty-five, and they have captured 
 the offiees of the Government, and have captured 
 the Presidency. The South will then have the 
 whole control of this Republic in its hands. 
 
 "Now, how are they going to get the thirty- 
 seven electoral votes ? There are two States 
 that will fill the bill— New York and Ohio. If 
 they can get those two States next year they 
 have indeed captured the Government. [A 
 voice: 'They can't have them.'] This good 
 friend says they can't have them. [A voice: 
 'Never.'] They cannot get them in this audi- 
 ence. This is not the place to capture the State 
 of Ohio for Rebel brigadiers. They cannot capt- 
 ure it in any of the great agricultural counties 
 of Ohio, for they are sound and true to the Un- 
 ion, and loyal to their heart's core. They can- 
 not go into the central parts of patriotic New 
 York ^nd capture the thirty-seven votes. 
 
 "But I will tell you, fellow-citizens, what they 
 hope to do, and there is one way by which they 
 may succeed. Let me stop and say one single 
 
3t> 
 
 word to you about the great cities. Thomas 
 Jefferson siiid thnt great cities were the sores on 
 the body poliiic — the Cancers- whose roots run 
 down ami curse, and will ultimately break up 
 the country unless tliey are ruled. A city of the 
 size of Cleveliind has its troubles. A great city 
 like the city of New York has passed the bounds 
 of safety in this country. 
 
 "The ablest orator that Rome ever produced, 
 in descniiing the political party led by Catiline, ' 
 said that all the bankrupts, all the desperadoes, 
 all the thieves and robbers and murderers gath- 
 ered around Catiline; and finally, in a horrible 
 figure of tremendous power, he said that the par- 
 ty of Catiline was 'the bilge- water of Rome.' 
 What a figine that is, my friends ! What do 
 you mean by ' bilge - water ?' That water that 
 leaks BteaUliily through your planks and down 
 below the deck and in the darkness, out if 
 sight, out Of reach ; it reeks and stagnates and 
 8t?n'ks, breads pestilence and brings death Upon 
 all that are on board. Cicero Said that that par- 
 ty that gathered in Rome was ' tlie bilge-water 
 of Rome,' and into that bilge- water, in the cities 
 of Cincinnati and New York, the Democratic 
 party desire to insert their political pumps and 
 pnmp out the hell-broth that can poison and cor- 
 rupt and ruin the freedom of both these great 
 cities, and gain them to the Solid South. [Ap-' 
 plause.] That is the programme. If they can 
 get control of the elections, th^y will make both 
 those cities strong enough Democratic to over- 
 whelm all the votes thW the grefen latles of our 
 connti'y can groiv. 
 
 THE ELECTION LAWS. 
 
 " Now, what is iii the w4y of that ? Just two 
 things. Thfe United States have passed a law 
 to j)nt a Democrat at one end of the ballot-box 
 in the great cilifes and a Republican at the other 
 end; and it empowered those two men, not to 
 run the election, but to stand there as eyes of 
 the Government and look^ook first to see that 
 the ballot-box is empty wheti they begin, and 
 theti to stand and look into the facAs of every 
 man that votes, and if lie comeS to vote twice, 
 recm"dit, and have him brought before the jiidgfe 
 arid sent to the penitentiary for his criine, and' 
 to stay there until itie polls are closed ; and then 
 not allow the ballot-boxes to be sent off and the 
 •vote connted in Secret by partisaii judges, but 
 to be opened and unfolded and read in the light 
 of day, rectnded and certified to by the Republi- 
 can aVid Democratic officers, so that the justice 
 of the biillot-bok Should not be outrhged and 
 freedom slioilld not be sla:in. 
 
 "No juster law was ever passed on this eon- 
 tinent than that. It saved New York from the 
 .^ilpremest of crimes. It elicited, even from a 
 Democratic coramittefej of which A. V. Rice was 
 a member, the highest ffosSible encomium in 1876. 
 And he and Sunset Cox, of New York, in their 
 -official report to Congress, recommended to all 
 parts of the country the acfmirable election law 
 •of Congress that brought into unison and co-op- 
 eration the officer's of the State and the officers 
 -of the nation, in keeping a pure ballot and a 
 free election in the gi-eat cities. That is what 
 the Democratic party said of this law in 1876. 
 But their masters of the caucus had not then 
 -jgiven out their decree. They have now given it ; 
 and the decree from the secret caucus, the de- 
 cree from their old slave-masters, has now gone 
 forth : ' Take those two men away from the bal- 
 lot-box. Wipe out the election law, so that the 
 'Tweeds of New York and the Eph Hollands of 
 •Cincinnati may have free course, and do the work, 
 and fix 1880 in their own way.' That is the pro- 
 .gramme of the Rebel brigadiers in Congress. 
 
 " I understand that Mr. Ewing said here the 
 •other night lie was amazed to hear Republicans 
 talk as though they were afraid of a few Rebel 
 brigadiers. It was not so surprising, he said, 
 that our friend Foster should be afraid of them, 
 throwing a slur at him because he was not in 
 the army, but he was surpi'ised that General 
 Garfield should be alarmed at the brigadiers. 
 fLaughtcr.] I am here to answer GerieraV Kw- 
 ing. [Applause.] As to who is afraid of brig- 
 adiers, let him boast who has the first need to 
 boast. [Applause.] 
 
 THE LIEE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 "But there are some things I am afraid of, 
 and I confess it in this great presence. I am 
 afraid to do a mean thing. [Applause, and cries 
 of 'Good.'] I am afi-aid of any policy that will 
 let the vileness of New York C'ity pour its foul 
 slime over the freedom of the American ballot- 
 box and ruin it. [Applause.] And the man 
 that is not afraid of that I iim ashamed of him. 
 [Applause.] 
 
 THE EBBEL PROBLEM. 
 
 "Now, how to get those two men away from 
 the ballot-box is the Rebel problem. If they get 
 thetn away, the Solid South has triumphed. If 
 they get them away, 'the lost cause' has won, 
 and Jefferson Davis is crowned as the foremost 
 man in America. If they get them avtay, good- 
 bye for a generation to come to the old ' pilgrim 
 covenant,' and the doctrine of the right of the 
 majority to rule. 
 
 "Now, how did they undertake to gfet them 
 kv/ay? In this way: They said to us, 'At last 
 we have got you. We have the control of the 
 'Ti-easury. No money can be employed to Sup- 
 port the Government unless we vote it by an ap- 
 propriation. Now, we tell you that we will nev- 
 er vote one dollar to support yonr Government 
 until you join us in tearing down that election 
 law, and take away those two witnesses from the 
 polls.' That is what they told us. 
 
 " Then we answered them thus : ' Eighteen 
 years ago you were in power in this Congt-ess, 
 and the last act of yoUr domination was this: 
 You told us 'that if we dai'ed to elect Abraham 
 Lincoln President yon Would shbbt our Govern- 
 ment to death ; and we answered, " We are free 
 men; begotten of freedom, and are accustomed 
 to vote our thoughts. We believe in Abraham 
 Lincoln. We vlfill elect him President." And 
 we did. [Applause.] And then eleven great 
 States declared that they would shoot the Union 
 to death, and we appealed to the majesty of the 
 great North land, and w'ent Out int^b a lAouband 
 bldody battle-fields, and wi shot the shooters to 
 death and saved this Union alive. [ApplauSi.] 
 And for eighteen years you have beeti in exile, 
 banished from power, and now, by v&'tue of 
 milrder, and assassination, and the slaying of 
 liberty, you have come back ; and the first act 
 you do on your return is not now courageously 
 to dare us out to battle, but, like asSasSins, cow- 
 ards, murderers, you come to us and say, " With 
 our hand on the throat of your Government, we 
 will starve it to death if you do not let us pluck 
 doiyn the sattred laws that protect the purity of 
 electioiis."' And w'e said to them : 'By the sa- 
 cred (neniories of eiighteen years ago,' we reply, 
 'you shiiU not starve this Government to death, 
 nor shall you tear down these laws. The inen 
 that saved it in battle will now feed it in peace.' 
 [Great applause.] 'The men that bore it on 
 their shields in the hour of death will feed it with 
 the gift of their hands in the hour of its glory.' 
 And they said, 'You shall try it!' And they 
 passed their iniquitous bill. They took the bread 
 of the Government, and spread upon it the poi- 
 son of the bilge-water of New York and CinCin-' 
 nati, and they said to the Government, 'Eat this 
 or starve ! ' They passed the iniquity through the 
 House and through the Senate, and it went to 
 an Ohio Republican who sits in the seat of great 
 Washington [applause], whose arm is mailed 
 with the thunder- bolt of the Constitution, and 
 he hurled the power of his veto against the wick- 
 ed bill and killed it. Five times they tried the 
 iniquity, and five times he killed, with the power 
 of the Constitution, the wickedness they sought 
 to perpetrate. [Applause.] And then, like 
 sneaking cowards as they were, they passed the 
 appropriations all but six hundred thou.sand dol- 
 lars' and said, ' We will come back to it next 
 winter, and we will never give it up until we con- 
 quer you; and in the mean time,' they said, 
 'we will appeal to the people at the ballot-box.' 
 They are now mnking that appeal — and so are 
 we. That is what we are here for to-night. 
 [Applause.] And it is that appeal that awakens 
 this people as it has never been awakened before 
 since the days of Vallandigham and Rrough, 
 especially Brough. [Laughter.] In the pres- 
 ence of this people, in the heart of this Old Re- 
 
 serv'e, I feel the cbhscionsness of our strength and 
 the assurance of Our victory. [A^^plause.] 
 
 AN APPEAL TO tOUNG MEN. 
 
 "Now, fellow-citizens, a word before I leave 
 yOn, on the Very eve of the holy day of God — a 
 fit moment to consecrate oin-selves finally to the 
 great work of next Tuesday morning. I see in 
 this great audience to-night a great many young 
 men, young men who are about to cast their first 
 vote. I want to give you a wind of suggestion 
 and advice. - I heard a very brilliant thing said 
 by a boy the other day up in one of our North- 
 western counties. He said to me^ 'General, I 
 have a great mind to vote the Democratic ticket.' ' 
 That was not the brilliant thing, [l^aughter.] 
 I*aid to him. ' Why ?' ' Why.' said he, ' my 
 father is a Republicari, and my brothers are Re- 
 publicans, and I am a Republican all over, but 
 I want to be an independent nian, and I don't 
 want anybody to say, 'That fellow votes the 
 Republican ticket just because his dad does,' 
 and I have half a mind to vote the Democratic 
 tickdt just to prove my independence.' I did 
 not like the thing the boy suggested, hiit I did 
 adtriire the spirit of the boy that wanted to have 
 some indfep^tidence o^ his cnvn. 
 
 " Now, I tell you, youiig man, don't vote the 
 Republican ticket just because your father votes 
 it. Don't vote the Deniocratic ticket, even if he 
 does vote it. [Laughter.] But let me give you 
 this one word of advice, as you are about to 
 pitch your tent in one of the great political 
 camps. Your lifeis full and buoyant with hope 
 nOw, ahd I beg you, when you pitch ^bbr teint, 
 pitch it among the living and not among the 
 dead. [Applause.] If you are at all inclined 
 to pitch it among the Democratic people arid 
 with tha.t party, let me go with you for a moment 
 while we survey the groimd where I hope you 
 will noit shortly lie. [Laughter,] It is a sad 
 place, j'bung man, for yon to put your young life 
 into. It is to me far more like a graveyard than 
 like a c&mp for the living. Look at it! It is 
 billbwed all over with the graves of dead issues, 
 of btiried opinions, of exploded theories, of dis- 
 graced dbcti'ines. You cannot live in coikfoVt 
 in such a place. [Laughter.] Why, look here ! 
 Here is a little double mound. I lobk down on 
 it and I read, ' Sacred to the memory of Squatter 
 Sovereignty and the Dred Scott decision.' A 
 million and a half of Democrats voted for tTiafc, 
 but it has been dead fifteen years — died by tlie 
 hand of Abraham Lincoln, and here it lies. [Ap- 
 plaiise.] YoUn'g man, that is not the place for 
 you. 
 
 "But look a little farther. Here is another 
 mo'niinlent — a bfeck tomb — and beside it, as our 
 distinguished friend said, there towers to the sky 
 a m:onument of four million pairs of human 
 fetters taken from the arms of slaves, and I read 
 on its little headstone this ; ' Sacred to the mem- 
 ory of human slavery.' For fmty years of its 
 ■infamous life the Defnoeratic party taught that 
 it was divine — God's institution. They defend- 
 ed it, they stood around it, they followed it to its 
 grave as a mourner. But here it lies, dead by 
 the hand of Abraham Lincnln. [Applause.] 
 Dead by the power of tlie Republican party. 
 [Applause.] Dead by the justice of Almighty 
 God. [Great applause and cheers.] Don't camp 
 there, young man. 
 
 "But here is another — a little brimstone 
 tomb [laughter] — and I read across its yellow 
 face in luiid, bloody lines these wiirds: 'Sacred 
 to the memory of State Sovereignty and Seces- 
 sion.' Twelve millions of Democrats mustered 
 around it in arms to keep it alive; but here it 
 lies, shot to death by the niillinn guns of the 
 Republic. [Applause.] Here it lies, its shrine 
 burnt to ashes under the blazing rafters of iho 
 burfiing Confederacy. [Applause] It is dead I 
 I would not have you stay in there a minute, 
 even in this balmy night air, to look u,., such a 
 place. [Laughter".] 
 
 " But just before I leave it I discover a new- 
 made grave, a little mound — short. The grass 
 has hardly sprouted over it, and all around it I 
 see torn pieces of paper with the word 'fiat' on 
 them [laughter], and I look down in curiosity, 
 wondering what the little gravb is, and I read oa 
 
it : ' Sacred to the memory of the Rag Baby 
 [laughter] nursed in the bvain of all the. fanati- 
 cism of the world [laughter] ; rocked by iliomas 
 Ewing, George H. Pendleton, Samuel Cary^and 
 a few others throughout the land.' But it died 
 on the 1st of January, 1879, and the one hundred 
 and forty millions of gold that God made, and 
 not fiat power, lie upon its little carcass to keep 
 it down forever. [Prolonged applause.] 
 
 "Oh, young man, come out of that ! [Laugh- 
 ter.] That is no place in which to put your 
 young life. Come out, and cpme over into this 
 «amp of liberty, of order, pf liiw, of justice, of 
 freedom [' Amen '], of all that is glorious under 
 these night stars. 
 
 " Is there any death here in our camp? Yes ! 
 yes! Three hundred and fifty thousand sol- 
 diers, the noblest band that ever trod the earth, 
 died to make this camp a camp Of glory and of 
 liberty forever. [Tremendous applause.] 
 
 "But there are no dead i.ssues here. There 
 are no dead ideas here. Hang out our banner 
 from iinder the blue sky this niglit jintil'it shall 
 sweep the green turf under .your feet ! It hangs 
 over our camp. Kead away up under the stars 
 the in^scription we bave written on it, lo ! these 
 twenty-five years. 
 
 " Twenty-flve years ago the Republican party, 
 was married to Liberty, and this is pur silver 
 wedding, fellow-citizens. [Great applause.J A 
 worthily married pair love each other better on the 
 diiy^ of their silver wedding (than on the day of 
 their first espousals ; and we are truer to Liberty 
 to-day, and dearer to God than we were when we 
 spoke our first word of liberty. Kead away up, 
 under the sky across our starry banner that first 
 word we uttered twenty-five years ago! What 
 was It? 'SJavery shall never extend over an- 
 other foot of the territories of the great West.' 
 [ApplauiSe.] , Is that dead or alive! Alive, 
 thank ■ God, for evermore ! [Applause.] And, 
 triier to-night than it was the hour it was writ- 
 ten ! [Applause. ] Then it was a hope, a prom- 
 ise, a purpose. To-night it is equal with the 
 stars: — immortal history and immortal truth. 
 [Appjainse.] 
 
 " Come down the glrtrious steps of our ban- 
 ner. Every great record we have made we have 
 viiiditated with our blood and with our truth. 
 It sweeps the ground, and i^ touches the stars. 
 Come there, young man, and put in your young 
 life where all is living, and where nothing is dead 
 biit the heroes that defended it! [Applause.] 
 I think these young men will io that. ['Of 
 course they will!'] , 
 
 "Gentlemen, we are closing this memorable 
 campaign. We have got our enemies on the 
 run - everywhere. [Laughter.] And all you 
 need to do in tliis noble old city, this capital of 
 the Western Reserve, is to follow them lip arid 
 finish St iiy snowing the Rebellion under once 
 moi-e. We stand oh an isthmus. This year and 
 next IS the narrow isthmus between us and per- 
 petual victory. If you can win now, and win in 
 1880, then the very stars in their courses will 
 fight for us. [Applause.] The census will do 
 the work, and will give us thirty more freemen 
 of the North in our Congress that will make up 
 for the rebellion of the South. [Great applause.] 
 We. are posted here, as the Greeks were posted 
 ' at 'fhermppjlse, to meet this one great barbarian, 
 Xerxes of the isthmus. Stand in your places, 
 men of Ohio ! Fight this battle, win this vic- 
 tory, and then one more puts you in safety for- 
 ever !" ' 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 feXTKACTS FROM SI'SIEGHE'S.* 
 
 No one can obtain a full view of General Gar- 
 field's career without a careful reading of his 
 speeches in Congress. , The limits of this pub- 
 
 •More than forty of hi's Oongressinnal speeches 
 have appeared in pnmphlep furm. The following 
 are some of their titles: "Free Cmnmeice between 
 the Sta'tes ;" "iSTatiiiual Bureau of Educatiou j" "The 
 Public JJeht and Specie Payments;" "Taxation of 
 United States Bonds ;" "NrntihCensnsi" "Public Ex- 
 penditures and .Qiyil Service;" ",The Tariff;" "Cor- 
 rerrc'y aiid the Biiiite;" "Deliate nrtthe Currency 
 Bill'" "On the McG'iiri-iibnn Claim:" "TRe Right to 
 Oriffluate Revenue B:illa;" "Public .Expeiidifures;" 
 "National Aid to Education;" "The Currency;" 
 
 THE Lli^E OP JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 licatioil forbid their reproduction at length, and 
 we must content ourselves, therefore, with such 
 quotations as will give the general drift oi his 
 political opinions. 
 
 In the debate on the Constitutional Amend- 
 ment to abolish Shivery on the 13th of January, 
 1865,Mr. George H. Pendletoii,of 0!iio,delivered 
 a very astute speech, in which he took the ground 
 that slavery could not be abolished except by 
 the consent of each individual State ;. that it was 
 one of the reserved riglits under tlie Constitution 
 which could not be in.terfered with, like that 
 riglit by wliich no State can, unless by its own 
 tonsentj ever be made to lose its equal repre- 
 sentation in the Senate. This right of equal 
 representation is the only thing that a constitu- 
 tional amendment cannot change, and Pendleton 
 undertook to show that, in the nature of the 
 case, slavery was such a thing, and could not be 
 touched by any power outside of the State itself; 
 and if in every State except one the amendment 
 should be adopted, in that one it would still con- 
 tinue in force and operation. 
 
 Mr. Garfield's speech was in answer to that 
 argument. He said : 
 
 IN SegaIid to SLXVEEY. 
 
 " Mk. Speaker, — We shall never know why: 
 slavery dies so hard in this Republic and in this 
 Hall till we know why sin has such longevity 
 and Satan is immortal. With marvellous teiiac- 
 ity of existence^ it has outlived tiie expectatibtis 
 of its friends and the hopes of its enemies. It 
 has been declared here and elsewhere to be in all 
 the several stages of mortality — wounded, mori- 
 bund, dead. The question was raised by my 
 colleague [Mr. Cox] yesteiday, whether it was 
 indeed dead, or only in a troubled sleep. I know 
 of no better illustration of its condition than is 
 found in Sallust's admirable, liistory of the great 
 conspirator, Catiline, wlio, when his final , battle 
 was fouglit and lost, his army broken and scat- 
 tered, was found far in advance pf his own troops, 
 lying among the dead enemies of Rome, yet 
 breaching a little, but exhibiting in his counte- 
 nance all that ferocity of spirit which had char- 
 acterized his life. So, sir, this body of sls^very 
 lies before us among the dead enemies pf the 
 Republic, mortally wounded, iippotent in its fiend- 
 ish wickedness, but with its old ferpoity of look, 
 bearing the unmistakable masi-ks of its infernal 
 origin. , , 
 
 " We can hardly realize that, this is the sahae 
 people, and these the same Halls, where now 
 scarcely a man can be found who will venture t0| 
 do more than falter out an apology for slavery, 
 protesting in the same breath that he has no Ipve 
 for the dying tyrant. Nonp, I believe, but that 
 man of more than supernal boldness, frofn the 
 city of New York [Mr. Fernando Wood], has 
 ventured, tfiis session, to raise his voice in favor 
 of slavery ftn' its own sake. He still sees in its 
 features the reflection of beauty and divinity, and 
 only he. 'How art thou .falieh fioni heaven, 
 O Lucifer, Sop of the morning! How art thou 
 cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the 
 nations!' Many mighty men have been slain 
 by thee; many proud ones have humbled them- 
 selves at thy feet ! All along the coast of our 
 political sea these victims of slavery lie like 
 stranded wrecks, broken on the headlaiids of 
 freedom. How lately did its ad,vocaies, with im- 
 pious boldness, maintain it as God's own, to be 
 
 "Revenues and Expenditures;" "Ci)rrericy and the 
 Public Paith;" " Appniprlnliiins;" "Counting the 
 Electoral Vote;" "Repeal of the Besnmption Law;" 
 "The New Scheme of American Ifinance ;" "The 
 Tariff;" "Snspeusion and Resuinptioh of Specie Pay- 
 ments;" "ftfeliitiou of the National Government to 
 Science;" "Snsiar Tariff." "This may be a tedious 
 recital, but tell me what American statesman ciin 
 show a better list of titles ? Does it not read like the 
 table Of contents to the speeclies (if Daniel VVebster f 
 The captious of these speeches disclose the field ofhis 
 most valuable public labors since 1S66; the speeches 
 themselves show the ability, the knowledge, and the 
 high purpose thathe brolight to its cilltivaMqn."— Peto- 
 iDRNT HiNstiALK. Thiit Very able jounial, the Nation, 
 Biiysi. "He has been for many years ail industrious 
 member of Congress, who has borne a prominent and 
 able part in the work of len;islatiiin, has long had a 
 coiisiaerable share in shaiiing "r carrying all measures 
 of Importance, and whose opinions on the great topics 
 of the day are perfectly well known." 
 
 87 
 
 venerated and cherished as divine ! It was an- 
 other and higher form of civilization. It was 
 the holy evangel of Amei'ica dispensing its mer- 
 cies to a benighted race, and destined to beaf 
 countless blessings to the wilderness of tlie West. 
 In its mad arrogance it lifted its hand to strike 
 down the fabric of the Union, and since that fa- 
 tal day it has been a ' fugitive and a vagabond 
 upon the earth.' Like the spirit that Jesus cast 
 out, it has, since tlien, been ' seeking rest and 
 finding none.' 
 
 "It has sought in all the corners of the Repub- 
 lic to find some hiding-place in which to shelter 
 itself from the death it so richly deserved. 
 
 " It souglit an asylum in the untrodden terri- 
 tories of the West, but with a whip of scoipions 
 indignant freemen drove it thence. I do not be- 
 lieve that a loyal man can now be foimd who 
 would consent that it should again enter them. 
 It has no hope of harbor there. It found no pro- 
 tection or favor in the liearts or consciences of 
 the freemen of the Republic, and has fled for its 
 last hope of safety behind the shield of the Con- 
 stitution. We propose to follow it tliere, and 
 drive it thence as Satan was exiled frotn heaven. 
 But now, in the hour of its mortal agttny,, in this 
 Hall, it has found a defender. 
 
 "My gallant colleague [Mr. Pendleton], for 
 I recognize him as a gallant and able man, plants 
 himself at the door of his diirling, and bids de- 
 fiance to all assailants. He has followed slavery 
 in its flight, until at last it has reached the great 
 temple where liberty is enshrined — the ConstitCi- 
 tion of the United States-r^and there, in that last 
 retreat, declares that no hand shall strike it. It 
 reminds me <;f that celebrated passage in the great 
 Latin poet, in which the serpents of the Ionian 
 sea, vvhen they had destroyed. Laocoon and his 
 sons, fled to the heights of the Trojan citadel and 
 coiled their slimy lengths around the fee)t of the 
 tutelar gpddess, and weie covered by the oi^b of 
 her shield. So, under the guidance of my col- 
 league, slavery, goi'ged with the blood of ten 
 thousand freemen, has climbed to the high citBr 
 del of American nationality, and coiled itself se- 
 curely, as he believes, around the feet of the s'tatne 
 of justice, and under the shield of the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. We desire to follow 
 it even there, and kill it beside the veiy altar of 
 liberty.. Its bldod can never make atonement' 
 for the least of its crimes. 
 
 " But the gentleman has gone farther. He 
 is not content that the snaky sorceress ishall be 
 merely under the protection of the Constitution. 
 In his view, by a strange metamuiphosis, slavery 
 becomes an invisible essence, and takes. up its 
 abode in the very grain and fibre of the Consti- 
 tutipn...... But he has gone even deeper than 
 
 the spirit and intent of the Constitution. He 
 has announced a discovery to which I am sure 
 no other statesman will lay claim. He has found 
 a domain where slavery can no more be reached 
 by human law than the life of Satan by tlie sword 
 
 of Michael Not finding anything in the 
 
 words arid phrases of tlie Constitution that for- 
 bids an amendment abolishing slavery, he goes 
 behind all human enactments, and far away, 
 among the eternal equities, he finds a primal law 
 which overshadows states, nations, and constitu- 
 tions, as space envelops the imiverse, and by its 
 solemn sanctions one human being can hold 'an- 
 other in perpetual slavery. Surely, human in- 
 genuity has never gone farther to protect a male- 
 factor or defend a crime. I shall make no argu- 
 ment with my colleague on this point, for in that 
 high court to which he appeals eternal justice 
 dwells with freedom^ and slavery has never en- 
 tered. 
 
 "I now tnrn to the main point ofhis argu- 
 ment. He has given us the key to his theory of 
 the Constitution in three words. Upon those 
 words rests the strength or weakness of his po- 
 sition. He describes the Constitution of the 
 United States as a " compact of confederation^ 
 
 "If I understand the gentleman, he holds that 
 each State is sovereign ; that in their sovereign 
 capacity, as the source and fountain of power, 
 the States, each for itself, ratified the Constitu- 
 tion which the convention had framed. What 
 po*eVs tliey dia not gr'airt, they reserved. They 
 did not grant to the Federal Government the 
 
38 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 right to control the subject of slavery. That 
 right still resides in the Suites severally. Hence 
 no amendment of the Constitution by three- 
 fourths of the States can legally affect slavery in 
 the remaining fourth. Hence no amendment 
 by the modes pointed out in the Constitution can 
 reach it. This, I believe, is a succinct and just 
 statement of his argument. The whole question 
 turns upon the sovereignty of the States. Are 
 they soveieign and independent novir? Were 
 they ever so ? I shall endeavor to answrer. " 
 
 SOVEBEIGNTY RESIDES IN THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Then, appealing to the facts of history, Mr. 
 Garfield shows, by an incontrovertible argument, 
 that sovereignty resides in the people, and not in 
 the States ;* and then goes on to say : 
 
 "On the 21st day of June, 1788, our national 
 sovereignty was lodged, by the people, in the 
 Constitution of the United States, where it still 
 resides, and for its preservation our armies are 
 to-day in the field. In all these stages of devel- 
 opment, from colonial dependence to full-orbed 
 nationality, the people, not the States, have been 
 omnipotent. They have abolished, established, 
 altered, and amended, as suited their sovereign 
 pleasnre. They made the Constitution. That 
 great charter tells its own story best : 
 
 " * We, thf people of the United States, in order to 
 form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure 
 domestic tranqnilliiy, provide for the common dereuce, 
 promote the general welfnre, and eecare the blessings 
 of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain 
 and establish this CuNSTiTnTioN for the IJuited States 
 of America.' 
 
 ' Not ' we, the sovereign States,' do enter into a 
 
 ! or form a 'compact of confederation' 
 
 In framing and establishing the Constitution, 
 what restrictions were laid upon the people? 
 Absolutely no human power beyond themselves. 
 No barriers confined them but the laws of nat- 
 ure, the laws of God, their love of justice, and 
 their aspirations for liberty. Over that limit- 
 less expanse they ranged at will, and out of such 
 materials as their wisdom selec^ted they built 
 the stately fabric of our government. That 
 Constitution, with its amendments, is the latest 
 and, the greatest utterance of American sover- 
 eignty. The hour is now at hand when that 
 majestic sovereign, for the benignant purpose of 
 securing still farther the ' blessings of liberty,' is 
 about to put forth another oracle; is about to 
 declare that universal freedom shall be the su- 
 preme law of the land. Show me the power that 
 
 is authorized to forbid it They made the 
 
 Constitution what it is. They could have made 
 it otherwise then ; they can make it otherwise 
 now On the justice of the amendment it- 
 self no arguments are necessary. The reasons 
 crowd in on every side. To enumerate them 
 would be a work of superfluity. To me it is a 
 matter of great surprise that gentlemen on the 
 other side should wish to delay the death of 
 slavery. 1 can only account for it on the ground 
 of long-continued familiarity and friendship. I 
 should be glad to hear them say of slavery, their 
 beloved, as did the jealous Moor : 
 
 " ' Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.' 
 
 " Has she not betrayed and slain men enough ? 
 Are they not strewn over a thousand battle- 
 fields ? Is not this Moloch already gorged with 
 the bloody feast ? Its best friends know that its 
 final hour is fast approaching. The avenging 
 gods are on its track. Their feet are not now, 
 as of old, shod with wool, for slow and stately 
 stopping, but winged like Meicury's, to bear the 
 swift mesSiHge of vengeai^ce. No human power 
 can avert the final catastrophe. 
 
 "I did not intend, Mr. Speaker, ever again to 
 address the House on the subject of slavery. I 
 had hoped we might, without a struggle, at once 
 and forever remove it from the theatre of Amer- 
 ican politics, and turn oiir thoughts to those oth- 
 er and larger fields now opening before us. But 
 when. I saw the bold iind determined efforts put 
 forth in this House yesterday for its preserva- 
 tion, I could not resist my inrliiiation to strike 
 one blow, in the hope of hastening its doom." 
 
 * Speech of January 13th, 13G5, in Cimgreasumal JRcc- 
 »rd. 
 
 In the early part of the session of ] 866, Gen- 
 eral Garfield defined in Congress his views of 
 the nature of States in the Union, and of the 
 duties of the nation to the freedmen. From his" 
 masterly speech delivered in the House on Feb- 
 ruary 1st, 1866, 1 make a few extracts. 
 
 DEFINITION OF A "STATE." 
 
 " The word ' State,' " he says, " as it has been 
 used by gentlemen in this discussion, has two 
 meanings, as perfectly distinct as though differ- 
 ent words had, been used to express them. The 
 confusion arising from applying the same word 
 to two different and dissimilar objects has had 
 very much to do with the diverse conclusions 
 which gentlemen have reached. They have 
 given us the definition of a 'State' in the con- 
 templation of public or international law, and 
 have at once applied that definition, and the 
 conclusions based upon it, to the States of the 
 American Union, and the effects of war upon 
 them. Let us examine the two meanings of 
 the word, and endeavor to keep them distinct 
 in their application to the questions before us. 
 
 "Phillimore, the great English publicist, says ; 
 ' For all the purposes of international law a 
 State (demos, civitas, volk) may be defined to 
 be a people permanently occupying a fixed ter- 
 ritory, bound together by common laws, habits, 
 and customs into one body - politic, exercising, 
 through the medium of an organized government, 
 independent sovereignty and control over all per- 
 sons and things within its boundaries, capable 
 of making war and peace, and of entering into 
 all international relations with the other com- 
 munities of the globe.' (Phillimore's Interna- 
 tional Law, vol. i. sec. 65.) 
 
 "Substantially the same definition may be 
 found in Grotius, book one, chapter one, section 
 fourteen ; in Burlamaqui, volume two, part one, 
 chapter four, section nine ; and in Yattel, book 
 one, chapter one. The primary point of agree- 
 ment in all these authorities is that in contem- 
 plation of international law a State is absolutely 
 sovereign, acknowledging no superior on earth. 
 In that sense the United States is a State, a sov- 
 ereign State, just as Great Britain, France, and 
 Russia are States. 
 
 "But what is the meaning of the word State 
 as applied to Ohio or Alabama? Is either of 
 them a State in the sense of international law? 
 They lack all the leading requisites of such a 
 State. They are only the geographical sub- 
 divisions of a State ; and though endowed by 
 the people of the United States with the riglus 
 of local self-government, yet in all their external 
 relations t)ieir sovereignty is completely destroy- 
 ed, being merged in the supreme Federal Gov- 
 ernment. (Halleck's International Law, section 
 16, page 71.) 
 
 "Ohio cannot make war; cannot conclude 
 peace; cannot make a treaty with any foreign 
 Government, cannot even make a compact with 
 her sister States; cannot regulate commerce; 
 cannot coin money ; and has no flag. These 
 indispensable attributes of sovereignty the State 
 of Ohio does not possess, nor does any other State 
 of the Union. We call them States for want of a 
 better name. We call them States, because the 
 original Thirteen had been so designated before 
 the Constitution was formed ; but that Constitu- 
 tion destroyed all the sovereignty which those 
 States were ever supposed to possess in reference 
 to external affairs. 
 
 "I submit, Mr. Speaker, that the five great 
 publicists, Grotius, Puffendorf, Bynkershoek, 
 Burlamaqui, and Vattel, who have been so often 
 quoted in this debate, and all of whom wrote 
 more than a quarter of a century, and some near- 
 ly two centuries, before our Constitution was 
 formed, can hardly be quoted as good authori- 
 ties in regard to the nature and legal relation- 
 ships of the component States of the American 
 Union. 
 
 "Even my colleague from the Columbus dis- 
 trict [Mr. Shellabarger], in his very able dis- 
 cussion of this question, spoke as though a State 
 of this Union was the same as a State in the 
 sense of international law, with certain quali- 
 ties added. I think he must admit that nearly 
 all the leading attributes of such a State are 
 
 taken from it when it becomes » State of the 
 Union. ' 
 
 " Several gentlemen, during this debate, have 
 quoted the well-known doctrine of international 
 law, 'that war annuls all existing compacts and 
 treaties between belligerents;' and they have 
 concluded, therefore, that our war has broken 
 the Federal bond, and dissolved the Union. 
 This would be true, if the Rebel States were 
 States in the sense of international law — if our 
 Government were not a sovereign nation, but 
 only a league between sovereign States. 
 
 "I oppose to this conclusion the unanswer- 
 able proposition that this is a nation ; that thii 
 Rebel States are not sovereign States, and, there- 
 fore, their failure to achieve independence was a 
 failure to break the Federal bond — to dissolve 
 the Union 
 
 THIS A NATION. 
 
 "Let the stars of heaven illustrate our con- 
 stellation of States. When God laimched the 
 planets npon their celestial pathway He bound 
 them all by the resistless power of attraction to 
 the central sun, around which they revolved in 
 their appointed orbits. Each may be swept by 
 storms, may be riven by lightnings, may be rock- 
 ed by earthquakes, may be devastated by all the 
 teiTestrial forces and overwhelmed in ruin, but 
 far away in the everlasting depths the sovereign 
 sun holds the turbulent planet in its place. 
 This earth may be overwhelmed until the high 
 hills are covered by the sea ; it may tremble 
 with earthquakes miles below the soil, but it 
 must still revolve in its appointed orbit. So 
 Alabama msy overwhelm all her municipal in- 
 stitutions in ruin, but she cannot annul the om- 
 nipotent decrees of the sovereign people of the 
 Union. She tnnst be held forever in her orbit 
 
 of obedience and duty, 
 
 , " We should do nothing inconsistent with the 
 spirit and gepiiis of our institutions. We should 
 do nothing for revenge, hut everything for se- 
 curity ; nothing for the past, everything for the 
 present and the future. Indemnity for the past 
 we can never obtain. The four hundred thou- 
 saiid graves in which sleep our fathers and broth- 
 ers, murdered by rebellion, will keep their sacred 
 trust till the angel of the resurrection bids,th(3 
 dead come forth. The tears, the sorrow, the un- 
 utterable anguish of broken hearts can never be 
 atoned for. We turn from that sad but glorious 
 past, and demand such securities tor the future 
 as can never be destroyed. 
 
 "And, first, we must recognize in all our ac- 
 tion the stupendous facts of the war. In the very 
 crisis of our fate God brought us face to face 
 with the alarming truth that we must lose our 
 own freedom or grant it to the slave. In the 
 extremity of our distress we called upon the 
 black man to help us save the Republic, and 
 amidst the very thunder of battle we made a cov- 
 enant with him, sealed both with his blood and 
 ours, and witnessed by Jehovah, that when the 
 nation was redeemed, he should be free, and 
 share with us the glories and blessings of free- 
 dom. In the solemn words of the great procla- 
 mation of emancipation, we not only declared 
 the slaves forever free, but we pledged the faith 
 of the nation ' to maintnin their freedom ' — 
 mark the words, 'to maintnin their freedom.^ 
 The Omniscient witness will appear in judgment 
 against us if we do not fulfil that covenant. 
 Have we done it? Have we given freedom to 
 the black man ? What is freedom ? Is it a 
 mere negation ; the bare privilege of not being 
 chained, bought and sold, branded and scourged? 
 If this be all, then freedom is a bitter mockery, 
 a cruel deln.sion, and it may well be questioned 
 whether slavery were not better. 
 
 " But liberty is no negation. It is a substan- 
 tive, tangible reality. It is the realization of 
 those imperishiible truths of the Declaration 
 'that all men are created equal,' that the sanc- 
 tion of all just government is ' the consent of 
 the governed.' Can these truths be realized un- 
 til each man has a right to be heard on all mat- 
 ters relating to himself? 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, we did more than merely to 
 break off the chains of the slaves. The aboli- 
 tion of slavery added four railUon citizens to the 
 
Republic. By the decision of the Supreme Couvt, 
 by the decision of the Attorney-general, bv the 
 decision of all the departments of our Govern- 
 ment, those men made free are, by the act of 
 freedom, mad^ citizens. As another has said, 
 (;hey must be ' four million disfranchised, dis- 
 armed, untausht, landless, thriftless, non-produc- 
 ing, non-consuming, degiaded men, or four mill- 
 ion land-holding, industrious, arms-bearing, and 
 voting population. Choose between the two!' 
 
 "If they are to be disfranchised, if they are 
 to have no voice in determining the conditions 
 under which tliey are to live and labor, what hope 
 have they for the future? It will rest with their 
 late masters, whose treason they aided to thwart, 
 to determine whether negroes shall be peimitted 
 to hold property, to enjoy the benefits of educa- 
 tion, to enforce contracts, to have access to the 
 courts of justice — in short, to enjoy any of those 
 rights which give vitality and value to freedom. 
 Who can fail to foresee the ruin and misery that 
 await this race to whom the vision of freedom 
 has been presented only to be witlidrawn, leav- 
 ing them without even the aid which the mas- 
 ter's selfish, commercial interest in their life and 
 service formerly afforded tliem ? AVill these ne- 
 groes, remembering the battle-fields on which 
 nearly two hundred thousand of their number 
 have so bravely fought, and many thousands 
 have heroically died, submit to oppression as 
 tamely and peaceal)ly as in the days of slavery ? 
 Under such conditions there could be no peace, 
 no security, no prosperity. The spirit of slavery 
 is still among us; it must be utterly destroyed 
 before we shall be ssafe 
 
 " But, sir, there is a duty laid upon us by the 
 Constitution. That duty is declared in these 
 words: 'The USited States shall guaran- 
 tee TO ETEKT State in this Union a repub- 
 lican FORM OP government.' What does that 
 mean ? Read the twenty-first and forty-third 
 numbers of the Federalist, and you will under- 
 stand what the fathers of the Constitution meant 
 when they put that clause into our organic law. 
 With wonderful foresight, amounting almost to 
 prophecy, they appear to have foreseen just such 
 a contingency as the one that has arisen. Madi- 
 son said that an insurrection might arise too 
 powerful to be suppressed by the local authori- 
 ties, and Congress must have authority to put it 
 down, and to see that no usurping government 
 shall be erected on the rnins of a State.- 
 
 "What is a republican form of government ? 
 When the Union was formed the free colored 
 people were not a tenth of the population of any 
 State. Now all black men are free citizens, and 
 'we are asked,' as the lamented Henry Winter 
 Davis has so clearly stated it, ' to recognize as 
 republican such despotisms as these : ' In North 
 Carolina, 631,000 citizens will ostracize 331,000 
 citizens; in Virginia, 719,000 citizens will ostra- 
 cize 533,000 citizens ; in Alabama, ,596,000 citi- 
 zens will ostracize 437,000 citizens; in Louisi- 
 ana, 357,000 citizens will ostracize 350,000 citi- 
 zens; in Mississippi, 353,000 citizens will ostra- 
 cize 436,000 citizens; in South Carolina, 291,000 
 citizens will ostracize 411,000 citizens.' 
 
 " We are asked to guarantee all these as re- 
 publican governments! Gentlemen upon the 
 other side of the House ask us to let such shame- 
 less despotisms as these be represented here as 
 republiciin States. I venture to assert that a 
 more monstrous proposition was never before 
 made to an American Congress. 
 
 ' ' I am, therefore, in favor of the amendment 
 to the Constitution that passed the otiter day to 
 reform the basis of representation. I could have 
 wished that it had been more thorough and 
 searching in its terms. I took it as the best we 
 could get ; but I say here, before this House, 
 that I will never, so long as 1 have any voice in 
 political affairs, rest satisfied until the way is 
 opened by which these citizens, so soon as they 
 are worthy, shall be lifted to the full rights of 
 citizenship. I will not be factious in my action 
 here. If I cannot to-day get all 1 desire, I will 
 try again to-morrow, securing all that can be ob- 
 tained to-day. But so long as 1 have any voice 
 or vote here, they shall aid in giving the suffrage 
 to every citizen qualified, by intelligence, to ex- 
 ei'cise it. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 "Mr. Speaker, I know of nothing more dan- 
 gerous to a Republic than to put into its very 
 midst four million people stripped of every at- 
 tribute of citizenship, robbed of the right of rep- 
 resentation, but bound to pay taxes to the Gov- 
 ernment. If they can endure it, we cannot. 
 The murderer is to be pitied more than the mur- 
 dered man ; the robber more than the robbed. 
 And we who defraud four million citizens of their 
 rights are injuring ourselves vastly more than we 
 are injuring the black man whom we rob." 
 
 It was during this same session that General 
 Garfield, after two years thorough study of the 
 subject, broke ground in Congress on the Cur- 
 rency AND Sphcie Payments. His speech of 
 March 16th, 1866, is the very A B C of finance. 
 In it ho says, "I need only refer to the horn- 
 books of financial science to show that the only 
 sure test of the redundancy of paper-money is 
 its convertibility into coin at the will of the hold- 
 er, and that its redundancy rwill inevitably in- 
 crease prices. On the latter proposition I will 
 read a sentence from tlie highest living authority 
 in political economy (John Stuart Mill, Political 
 Economy, vol. ii. p. 18), 'That an increase of 
 the quantity of money raises prices and a dim- 
 inution lowers them is the most elementary prop- 
 osition in the theory of currency, and without it 
 we should have no key to any of the others.' 
 
 "I call attention, because the gentleman from 
 Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] has referred to it, 
 to the remarkable example in British financial 
 history. I have never seen a more perfect illus- 
 tration of the truth that history repeats itself than 
 this debate as compared with the debate in the 
 British Parliament during their great struggle 
 for a return to specie payments after the war 
 against Napoleon. From 1797 to 1819 the Brit- 
 ish people had only a paper circulation, and, as 
 is always the case, the poorer currency drove out 
 the better. As respectable people leave that por- 
 tion of a city in which disreputable people settle, 
 so gold retires before an irredeemable paper cur- 
 rency. If our customs and the interest on our 
 public debt had not been made payable in coin, 
 gold would have disappeared from the country. 
 In England, when they had no gold in circula- 
 tion, when prices had risen, when rents had 
 risen, after stocks had fallen. Englishmen did 
 what we are now attempting to do. 
 
 "I refer to this, sir, as a matter of history, 
 and I further assert that there is no respectable 
 authority on the subject of finance on the other 
 side of the water or here that denies the doctrine 
 that the only true test of redundancy of currency 
 is its convertibihty into gold. You may bring 
 your figures to prove that we have no more cur- 
 rency than our trade requires, but I tell you that 
 so>long as your paper dollar cannot be converted 
 into gold there is too much currency, and the 
 moment it can be converted into gold for its 
 face it has reached a stable and safe basis. 
 
 "Now, if any gentleman here has the temerity 
 to deny this doctrine, I shall be pleased to hear 
 his reasons for it. To make his denial good, he 
 must prove that the immutable laws of value 
 have been overthrown. He cannot plead that 
 the necessities of trade alone control the value 
 of currency. Double the amount of currency, 
 and the money market will be apparently more 
 stiingent; triple the amount, and money will be 
 more stringent still. Why do we need four 
 times as much money now to move the products 
 of the country as was needed five years ago? 
 Simply because the inflation of the currency has 
 quadrupled prices, and deranged values. 
 
 " But the worst featin'e in the case is the stim- 
 ulus which this inflation gives to dishonesty eve- 
 rywhere, and the consequent discouragement of 
 productive industry. I will not now question the 
 policy of the act of 1862, by which paper-money 
 was made a legal tender. It was, perhaps, a 
 necessity of the war that could not have been 
 avoided. But no one will deny that it unsettled 
 the basis of all values in this country. It was a 
 declajation by law that a promise to pay a dollar 
 might be discharged by paying a sum less than a 
 dollar. There was a time within the last two 
 years when an obligation to pay one hundred 
 dollars cotdd be legally cancelled by the pay- 
 ment of thirty-eight dollars. The manifold evils 
 
 39 
 
 resulting from such a state of values cannot be 
 computed. To fulfil in January the contract of 
 July may ruin the creditor, because the mean- 
 ing of the most important word in the contract 
 has been changed by the changing market. The 
 dollar of July may have represented forty cents, 
 while the dollar of January may represent double 
 that sum. 
 
 "Will prudent men embark in solid busi- 
 ness, and risk all they possess to such uncertain 
 chances? There is left open the alluring temp- 
 tation to speculate on the rise and fall of gold 
 stocks and commodities — a pursuit in which all 
 that is gained by one is lost by another, and no 
 addition is made to the public wealth. And 
 this is the history of thousands of our business 
 men. They have trusted their capital to the 
 desperate chances of Wall Street. They have 
 embarked on the sea of paper-money, and they 
 ask us to keep the flood rising that they may 
 float. Every day adds stimulus to this insane 
 gambling, and depresses legitimate business and 
 honest labor. The tide must be checked, and 
 the fury of the flood restrained. We mast bring 
 values back to the solid standard of gold. Let 
 that be done, and the fabric of business is found- 
 ed, not on the sand, but on the firm rock of pub- 
 lic faith. The fury of the storm tore us from 
 our moorings, and left us to the mercy of the 
 waves. Let us pilot the good ship again into 
 port, so that we may once more feel the solid 
 earth beneath our feet 
 
 "Mr. Speaker, there is no leading financier, 
 no leading statesman now living, or one who has 
 lived within the last half-century, in whose opin- 
 ion the gentleman can find any support. They 
 all declare, as the Secretary of the Treasury de- 
 clares, that the only honest basis of value is a 
 currency redeemable in specie at the will of the 
 holder. I am an advocate of paper-money,. but 
 that paper-money must represent what it pro- 
 fesses on its face. I do not wish to hold in my 
 hands the printed lies of the Government; I 
 want its promise to pay, signed by the high of- 
 ficers of the Government, sacredly kept in the 
 exact meaning of the words of the promise. 
 Let us not continue to practise this conjurer's 
 art by which sixty cents shall discharge a debt 
 of one hundred cents. I do not want industry 
 everywhere to be thus crippled and wounded, 
 and its wounds plastered over with legally au- 
 thorized lies 
 
 " I propose, sir, to let the House take the re- 
 sponsibility of adopting or rejecting this meas- 
 ure. On the one side it is proposed to return 
 to solid and honest values ; on the other, to float 
 op the boundless and shoreless sea of paper-mon- 
 ey, with all its dishonesty and broken pledges. 
 We leave it to the House to decide which alter- 
 native it will choose. Choose the one, and yoa 
 float away into an unknown sea of paper-money 
 that shall know no decrease until you take just 
 such a measure as is now proposed to bring us 
 back again to solid values.^ Delay the measure, 
 and it will cost the country dear. Adopt it 
 now, and, with a little depression in business, 
 and a little stringency in the money market, the 
 woi-st will be over, and we shall have reached 
 the solid earth. Sooner or later such a measure 
 must be adopted. Go on as you are now going 
 on, and a financial crisis worse than that of 1837 
 will bring ns to the bottom. I for one am un- 
 willing that my name shall be linked to the fate 
 of a paper currency. I believe that any party 
 which commits itself to paper-money will go 
 down amidst the general disaster, covered with 
 the curses of a ruined people. 
 
 "Mr. Speaker, I remember that on the mon- 
 ument of Queen Elizabeth,where her glories were 
 recited and her honors summed up, among the 
 last and the highest, recorded as the climax of 
 her honoi-s, was this : that she had restored the 
 money of her kingdom to its just value. And 
 when this House shall have done its work, when ' 
 it shall have brought back values to their proper 
 standard, it will deserve such a monument." 
 
 In 1868 General Garfield followed up this 
 speech by another on the currency, in which He 
 very fully defined the nature and functions of 
 money. It is worthy of being carefully pon* 
 dered. 
 
40 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 THE FUNCnONS OF CUREBNCY. 
 
 "In order to reach a sntisfiictory understand- 
 ing of the currency question, it is necessary to 
 consider somewhat fully the nature and func- 
 tions of money, or any substimie for it. 
 
 "The theory of money wliiih formed the ba- 
 sis of the 'mercantile system' of the seventeenth 
 and eighreenth eeniuries hus been rejected by 
 all leading financiers nnd politicai economists for 
 the last seventy-five years. That theory assert* 
 ed that, money is wealth ; that the great object 
 of every nation should be to increase its amount 
 of gold and silver; that this was a direct in- 
 ctease of national wealth. 
 
 ','It is now held as an indisputable-truth that 
 money is an insU'ument of trade, and' performs 
 but two functions. It is a measure ofivalueandi 
 a medium of exchange. 
 
 "In cases of simple barter, where no money 
 is used, we estimate the relative values of the 
 commodities to .be exchanged in dollars and. 
 cents, it being our only universal measure of 
 Yalue. 
 
 "As a medium of exchange, money is to all 
 business transactions what ships are. to the trans- 
 portation of merchandise. If a hundred vessels 
 of a given tonnage are just sufiivient to carry all 
 the commodities between two ports, any increase 
 of the number of vessels will correspondingly 
 decrease the value of each as an instrument olF 
 commerce ; any decrease below one himdred will 
 correspondingly increase the value of each. If 
 the number be doubled, each will carry but half 
 its usual freight, will be worth but half its former 
 value for that trade. There is so imich. work to 
 be done, and' no more. A hundred, vessels, can 
 do it all. A thousand can do no more than all. 
 
 "The functions of money as a medium of 
 exchange, though more complicated in their ap- 
 plication, are precisely the same in principle as 
 the functions of the vessels in the case I have 
 supposed^ 
 
 "If we could, ascertain the total value of all 
 the exchanges effected in this country by means 
 of money iii any year, and could ascertain how 
 many dollars' worth of such exchanges can be 
 effected in a year by one dollar in money, we 
 should kiu)w how much money the country needl- 
 ed for the business transactions of that year. 
 Any decrease below that amount will correspond- 
 ingly inciLease the value of each dollar as an in- 
 strument of exchange. Any increase above that 
 amount will correspondingly decrease the value 
 ofreach dollar. If i,hat amount be doubled, each 
 dollar: of the whole mass will peiform but half 
 the amount of business it did before, will be 
 worth but half its former value as a medium of 
 exchange. 
 
 " iBeCurring to our illustration : if, instead of 
 sailing vessels, steam vessels were substituted, a 
 mnoh smaller tonnage wouldi be required; so, 
 ie it were found, that $.500,000,000 of paper, 
 each worth seventy cents in gold, were sufficient 
 for the business of tlie.countiy. it is equally evi- 
 dent that |35(),000i000 of gold substituted for 
 the paper would perform precisely the same 
 amount of business. 
 
 " It should be remembered, also, that any im- 
 provement in the mode of transacting business 
 by which the actual use ofmoney is in part dis- 
 pensed' with, reduces the total amount needed by 
 the country. How much has been accomplished 
 in this direction by recent improvements in bank- 
 ing, may be seen in the operations of the clear- 
 iagrhouses in our great cities. 
 
 '^ The records of the New York Clearing-houte 
 show that, from October 11th, ls853., the date of 
 its establishment, to October 11th, 1867, the ex- 
 changes amounted to nearly one hundred and 
 eighty thousand million dollars : to eHfect which 
 less than eight thousand millions of money 
 were used — an average of about four per cent. ; 
 that is, exchanges were made to the amount of 
 $100^000,000 by the payment of four millions 
 of money. 
 
 " It is also a settled principle that all deposits 
 in banks drawn upon by checks atid drafts real- 
 ly 'serve the purpose ofmoney. 
 
 " The amornit of currency needed in the coun- 
 tiy depends, as we have seen, upon the amount 
 
 of business transacted by means ofmoney. The 
 amount of business, however, is varied by many 
 causes which are irregular and uncertain in their 
 operation. An Indian war, deficient or abun- 
 dant harvests, an overflow of the cotton lands of 
 the South, a bread famine or war in Europe, and 
 a score of such causes entirely beyond the reach 
 of legislation, may make money deficient this 
 year and abundant next. The needed amount 
 varies also from month to month in the same 
 year. More money is required in the autumn, 
 when the vast products of agriculture are being 
 moved to market, than when the great army of 
 laborers are in winter- quarters, awaiting the 
 seed-time. 
 
 ". When the money of the country is gold and 
 silver, it adapts itself to the fluctuations of busi- 
 ness without the aid' of legislation. If at any 
 jtime we have more than is needed, the surplus 
 flows off to other countries through the chan- 
 [Uels ofinternational commerce. If less, the de- 
 ficiency is supplied 'through the same channels. 
 Thus the monetary equilibrium is maintained. 
 So immense is the trade of the world; that the 
 golden streams pouring from California arid Aus- 
 tralia into the specie circulation are soon ab- 
 sorbed in the great mass and equalized through- 
 out the world, as the waters of all the rivers are 
 spread upon the surface of all the seas. 
 
 " Not so, however, with an inconvertible pa- 
 per currency. Excepting the specie used in 
 payment of customs and the interest on our pub- 
 lic debt, we are cut off from the money currents 
 of the world. Our currency resembles rather 
 the waters of an artificial lake, which lie in stag- 
 nation or rise to full banks' at the caprice of the 
 gate-keeper. 
 
 " Gold and silver abhor depreciated paper- 
 money, and will not keep company with it. If 
 our currency be more abundant than business 
 demands, not a dollar of it can go abroad ; if 
 deficient, not a dollar of gold will come in to 
 supply the lack. There is no Legislature on 
 earth wise enough to adjust such a currency to 
 the wants of the coiintry. 
 
 KELATION OF CUEEBNCy TO.PEIQES, 
 '.' Let us examine more minutely the effect of 
 such a currency upon prices. Suppose that the 
 business transactions of the country at the pres- 
 ent time require $3!>,0,000,000 in gold. It is 
 manifest that, if there are just $3.50,000,000 of 
 legal-tender notes and no other money in the 
 country, each dollar will pei:form the full func- 
 tions of a gold dollar, so far as the work of ex- 
 change is concerned. Now, business remaining 
 the same, let $3SO,O0O,OOO more of the same kind 
 of notes be pressed into circulation. The whole 
 vblume, as thiis increased, can do no more than 
 all the business. Each dollar will accomplish 
 just half the work that a dollar did before the 
 increase; but as the nominal dollar is fixed by 
 law, the effect is shown in prices being doubled. 
 It requires two of these dollars to make the same 
 purchase that one dollar made before the increase. 
 It would require some time for the business of 
 the country to adjust itself to the new condi- 
 tions, and great derangement of values 'would 
 ensue ; but the result would at last be reached 
 in all transactions which are controlled by the 
 law of demand and supply. 
 
 iijic]?EAas q;?, the pkbreijct is taxation, 
 
 " No such change of values can occur without 
 cost. Somebody must pay for it. Who pays 
 in this case ? We have seen that doubling the 
 currency finally resiilts in reducing the purchas- 
 ing power of each dollar one-half; hence every 
 man who held a legal-tender note at the time of 
 the increase, and continued to hold it till the full 
 effect of the increase was pi'oduced, suffered a 
 loss of fifty per cent, of its value ; in other words, 
 he paid a tax to the amount of half of all the cur- 
 rency in his possession. This new issue, there- 
 fore, by depreciating the value of all the currency, 
 cost ttie holders of the old issue $176,000,000 ; 
 and if the new notes were received at their nomi- 
 nal value at the date of issue, their holders paid 
 a tax of $175,0011,000 more. No more unequal 
 or unjust mode of taxation could possibly be de- 
 vised. It would be tolerated only by being so 
 
 involved in the transactions of business as to be 
 concealed from observation ; but it would be no 
 less real because hidden. 
 
 ITS CHIEF BURDEN PALLS.ON THE LABORBB* 
 "But some one'may say, 'This depreciation 
 would fall upon capitalists and rich men who 
 are able to bear it.' If thi.i were true it would 
 be no less nnjust. But, unfortunatejy, the capi- 
 talists would suffer less than an^ other class. 
 The new issue would be paid, in the first place, 
 in large amounts to the creditors of the Govern- 
 ment; it would pass from their hands before the 
 depreciation had taken full effect, and, passing 
 down step by step throtigh the ranks of middle- 
 men, the dead' weight woiild fall at last upon the 
 laboring classes in the increased price of all the 
 necessaries of life. It is well known that in a 
 general rise of prices, wages are among the last 
 itb rise. This principle was illustrated in 'the re- 
 jport of the Special Commissioner of the Revenue 
 |for the year 186§. it is there shown that from 
 the beginning of the war Ijo the end of 1866, the 
 average price of all commodities bad ri.sen ninety 
 per cent. Wages, however, had risen but sixty 
 per cent, A day's labor would purchase but 
 two-thirds as many of the necessaries of life as 
 it would before. The wrong is therefone inflict- 
 ed on the laborer long before his income can be 
 adjusted to his increased expenses, It was in 
 view of this truth that Daniel Webster said in 
 one of his ablest speeches : 
 
 "'Of all. the contrivances foi; cheating the labppng 
 clasees'nf mankind, lioue hasbeeu more effectual than. 
 that- which" dfehid'es them' with papei-nioney; This is', 
 the most e^ectual of Inveutidiis lo fertilize the rich 
 mail's 4eld by tl}e s.weat of.the poor man's, brow, Or- 
 dniary tyrnnuy, oppression, excessive taxation, the^e^ 
 bear' lightly on the hiippiu'ess of ihe mass of the com- 
 mimity, compared with a fraudulent ciuTeucy audthe 
 robberies coinmitted by dept;ec,iat^d paper.' 
 
 "The fraiid committed and the burdens im- 
 posed upon the people, in the case we have sup- 
 posed, would be less intolerable if all business 
 transactions could be really adjusted to the new 
 conditions ; but even this is impossible. AU, 
 debts would be cancelled, all contracts fulfilled by 
 payinent in these notes — not at tlieir real value, 
 but for their face. All salaries fixeil by law, the 
 pay of every soldier in the Army, of every sailor 
 in the Navy, and all pensions and bounties, would, 
 be reduced to half their former value. In these 
 cases the effect is only injurious. Let' it nev- 
 er be forgotten that every depreciation of our 
 currency results in robbing the one hundred, 
 and eighty thousand pensioners, mnimed heroes, 
 crushed and bereaved widows, a.nd homeless or- 
 phans, who sit helpless at oui' feet. And who 
 would be benefited by this policy? A pretence, 
 of appl,ogy might be offered for it, if the Govern- 
 ment could save what the people Ipse. But the 
 system lacks the support of even that selfish and 
 inrimoral considei'ation. 'The depreciation caused 
 by the over-issue in the case we have supposed 
 compels the Government to pay just that per 
 cent, inpre on all the contract* it makes, on all 
 the loans it negotiates, on all the siipplies it pur- 
 chases ; aiid, to crown all, it must at last redeeih 
 all its legal-tender notes in gold coin, dollar for 
 dollar. The advocates of repudiation have not 
 yet been bold enough to deny this. , 
 
 HKPRECIATBD CXJEKBNCY STIMULATES SPBG- 
 UiI^ATIOS AND OVBRTIIADINQ. 
 " I have thus far considered the influence of a 
 redundant paper currency on the country when 
 its trade and industry are in a healthy and nor- 
 mal state." I now call attention to its effect in 
 producing an unhealthy expansion of business, 
 in stimulating speculation and extravagance, and 
 in laying the sure foundation of commercial re- 
 vulsion and wide-spread ruin. This principle is 
 too well understood to require any elaboration 
 here. The history of all modern nations is full 
 of examples. One of the ablest American writ- 
 ers on banks and banking, Mr. Gouge, thus sums 
 up the result of his researches : 
 
 '"The history of nil oqr bank pressures and panics 
 has been the same in 182S, in ISSti and in 1843;' and 
 the cause given in these two simple words — uiilr^rsal 
 expansion.' 
 
 "There still remains to be considered the effect 
 
of depreciated currency on our trade with 'other 
 nations. By raising prices at home higher than 
 they are abroad, imports are largely increased 
 beyond the exports ; our coin must "go abroad ; 
 or, what is far worse for us, our bonds, which 
 have also suffered depreciation, and are pur- 
 chased by foreigners at seventy cents on the dol- 
 lar. During the whole period of high prices 
 occasioned by the war, gold and bonds have 
 been steadily goifig abroad, notwithstanding our 
 tariff duties, which average nearly fifty per cent. 
 dd valorem. More than five h'undred 'million 
 dollars of our bonds are now held in Europe, 
 ready to be thrown back npon us when any war 
 or other sufficient disturbance shall occur. No 
 teviff rates short of actual prohibition can pi'e- 
 Tent this outflow of gold while bur currency is 
 tlhns depreciated. During these years, also, our 
 merchant marine steadily decreased, and our 
 Ship-building interests were nearly ruined. 
 
 " bar tonnage engageil in foreign trade, which 
 amounted in 1859-'iiO to more than two and a 
 hWf million tons, had fallen in 1 865-'66 to less 
 t^an one and a half millions — a decrease of more 
 than fifty per cent. ; and prices of labor and ma- 
 terial are still too high to enable oar shipwrights 
 to compete with foreign builders. 
 
 "From the facts alrciidy exhibited in reference 
 tb oiir industrial revolution, and from the fore- 
 gbing analysis of the nature and functions of 
 cuil-ency, it is manifest : 
 
 " 1. Tliat the remarkable prosperity of all in- 
 da^trial enterprise during the war was not caused 
 by the abundance of currency, but by tlie uhpai"- 
 alleled demand for every product of labor. 
 
 " 2. That the great depression of biisiness, the 
 stagnation of trade, the "bald times" which 
 have prevailed during the past year, iand which 
 still prevail, have not been caused by an insuffi- 
 cient amount of currency, but mainly by the 
 great falling off of ilie demand for all the prod- 
 ucts of labor compared with the increased sup- 
 ply since the return from war to peace 
 
 " For my own part, my course is taken. In 
 view of all the focts of oui- situation ; of all the 
 ten-ible experiences of the past, both fit home 
 and abroad ; and of the united testimony of the 
 wisest and bravest statesmen who have lived 
 and labored during the last century, it is my 
 firm conviction that any considerable increase 
 of the volume of our inconvertible paper-money 
 will shatter public credit, will paralyze indostry 
 and oppress the poor; and that the gradual res- 
 toration of our ancient standard of value will 
 lead as, by the safest and surest path, to national 
 prosperity and the steady pursuits of peace." 
 
 And while on this grand subject, it seems nec- 
 essary to quote from another speech made by 
 General Garfield on June Tth, 1870, 
 
 ON CUEKBNCT AND THE BANKS, 
 which contains some sound views that should be 
 not merely read but studied. 
 
 "But some gentlemen say, ' Increase the green- 
 back currency ; issue more ; it is popular ; it is 
 safe ; it is cheap ; give it liberally, and satisfy the 
 wants of the country.' This brings us to the 
 question whether we will have the national bank 
 currency or a currency issued directly by the 
 Government. All those who believe that the 
 national banks should be overthrown, and that 
 the Government should itself become the man- 
 ufacturer of the cuiTency of the country, will 
 doubtless oppose this bill in all its provisions. 
 There are a few gentlemen, whose opinions I 
 very greatly respect, who believe such a substitu- 
 tion ought to take place. I disagree with them 
 for the following reasons : 
 
 "In the first place, it is the experience of all 
 nations, and it is the almost unanimous opinion 
 of all eminent statesmen and financial writers, 
 that no nation can safely undertake to supply its 
 people with a paper cuiTency issued directly by 
 the Government And, to apply that principle 
 to our own country, let me ask if gentlemen 
 think it safe to subject any political party who 
 may be in power iin this Government to the 
 great temptation of over-issues of .paper-money 
 in lieu of taxation ? In times of high political 
 excitement, and on the eve of a general election, 
 when there might be a deficiency in the revenues 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GAEFIELl). 
 
 of the country, and Cfthgress should find it nec- 
 essary to levy additional taxes, the temptation 
 would be overwheluiii'ig to supply the deficit by 
 an increased issue of paper-money. Thus the 
 whole 5)usiness of the country, the value of all 
 contracts, the prices of all commodities, tlie 
 wages of labor, would depend upon a vote in 
 Congress. For one, I dare not trust the great 
 industrial interests of this country to such un- 
 certain and hazardous chances. 
 
 "But even if Congress and the Administra- 
 tion should be always superior to siich political 
 temptations, still I affirm, in the second place, 
 that no human legislature is wise enough to de- 
 termine how much currency the wants of this 
 country require. Test it in this House to-dav. 
 Let every meriibei- mark down the amount which 
 he believes the business of the country requires, 
 and who does not know thkt the aihounts will 
 vary by hundreds of millions? 
 
 " But a third ohjectinii, stronger even than 
 the last, is this : iihat such a currency possesses 
 no power of adapting itself to the business of the 
 country. Suppose the total issues should be five 
 hundred millions, or seven hundred milliotls, or 
 any amount you please ; it might be abundant 
 for spring and sumtnei', 4nd yet when the great 
 body of agricultural products were moving off to 
 market in the fall that amount might be totally 
 insufficient. Fix any volume you please, and if 
 it be just sufficient at one period it may be re- 
 dundant at another, or insufficient at another. 
 No currency can meet the wants of this country 
 unless it is founded directly upon the demands 
 of business, and not upon the caprice, the ig- 
 norance, the political selfishness of the party in 
 power. 
 
 "What regulates now the loans and discounts 
 and credits of our national banks? The busi- 
 ness of the country. The amount increases or 
 decreases, or reihains stationai-y, as business is 
 fluctuating or steady. This is a natural form of 
 exchange, based upon the business of the coun- 
 try and regulated by its changes. And when 
 that happy day arrives when the whole volume 
 of Our currency is redeemable in gold at the will 
 of the holder, and recognized by all nations as 
 equal to money, then the whole business of bank- 
 ing, the whole volume of currency, the whole 
 amount of credits, whether in the form of checks, 
 drafts, or bills, will be regulated by the same 
 general law, the business of the country. The 
 business of the coimtry is like the level of the 
 ocean, from which all measurements are made 
 of heights and depths. Though tides and cur- 
 rents may for a time disturb, and tempests vex 
 and toss its surface, still, through calm and 
 storm the grand level rules all its waves and 
 lays its measuring-lines on every shore. So the 
 business of the conn tiy, which, in the aggregated 
 demands of the people for exchange of values, 
 marks the ebb and flow, the rise and fall of the 
 currents of trade, and forms the base-line from 
 which to measure all our financial legislation, 
 and is the only safe rule by which the volume 
 of our currency can be determined.- 
 
 "There is another consideration which I de- 
 sire to present to this House, and it is this : we 
 are not permitted to choose between banks and 
 no banks. We are not permitted to choose be- 
 tween a niitional banking system, and a green- 
 back system managed immediately by the offi- 
 cers of the Treasury. The national banks exist 
 now only because they occupy the field, and the 
 ten per cent, tax on State circulation prevents 
 the issue of State bank-notes. 
 
 "If we abolish the national banks, and under- 
 take to conduct the business of this country by 
 issues of greenback currency, the influence of the' 
 State banks and of banking capital will soon 
 compel the repeal of the ten per cent, tax ; and 
 then will spring up again all the wild-cat banks 
 against which the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. 
 Ingei'soU] declaimed so eloquently a few days 
 ago. 
 
 " We are shut up, in my judgment, to one 
 of two things: either to maintain, extend, and 
 amend the present national banking system, or 
 to go back to the old system under which every 
 State was tinkering at the currency, without 
 concert of action and uncontrolled by any gen- 
 
 ii 
 
 eral law. Then banks were established under 
 the law's of twenty-nine diffeient States, granted 
 different privileges, subjected to different restric- 
 tions, and their chcuhition was based on a grea't 
 variety of securities, of different qualities and 
 qinmtities. In some States the bill-holder was 
 secured by the daily redemption of notes in the 
 principal city ; in others bv the pledge of State 
 stocks, and in others by coin reserves. But as 
 State stocks differed greatly in vidne, all the way 
 from the repudiated bonds of Mississippi to the 
 premium stock of Massachusetts, there was no 
 uniformity of security, and the amount of coin 
 reserves required in the different States was so 
 various as to make that security almost equally 
 irregular. 
 
 " It required the study of a lifetime to under- 
 stand the various systems. Tliere were State 
 banks with branches, imiependent banks, free 
 biihks, individual banks, baiiks organized under 
 a general law, and hanks with special charters. 
 They represented all varieties of condition and 
 credits. They were solvent, suspended, closed, 
 wound up, broken, according as the fluctuation? 
 of trade, and the wisdom or folly, the honesty 
 or rascality of their managers dictated. Their 
 notes had no uniformity of value, and nearly all 
 of them — especially of the West and South — lost 
 heavily in current value wheb cariied beyond 
 the limits of the State. 
 
 "Examine a Bank-note Eeportei- foi- 1862- 
 '63, and consider the inass of trash there set 
 down as the paper currency of the country. 
 
 "In November, 1862, the circulation in the 
 loyal States was $167,000,000. The State se- 
 curities for this amount were only $40,000,000, 
 leaving over $120,000,000 inadequately provided 
 for. In only nine of the States did tlie law re- 
 quire the circulation to be secured by State 
 bonds. 
 
 "In the State of Illinois, from 1851 to 1863, 
 the failures of banks numbered eighty-inne, and 
 their paper was reduced from one hundred per 
 cent, to thirty-eight iti some instances. Of the 
 $12,000,000 'of bank circulation in Illinois, the 
 people lost: two or thi-ee millions directly, besides 
 the indirect loss of as many millions more by de- 
 rangement of business and ruin to private inter- 
 ests. 
 
 "Of ten suspended banks in Minnesota, the 
 notes were redeemed at an average of less than 
 thirty cents on the dollar. 
 
 "Of thirty-six broken banks of Wisconsin, , 
 only six redeemed their notes at so high a rate 
 as eighty cents on the dollar. 
 
 "Even as early as 1860, a time of great com- 
 mercial prosperity, the official report of only 
 eighteen States showed one hundred and forty- 
 seven banks broken, two linndred and thirty- 
 four closed, and one hundred and thirty -one 
 worthless. Such was the condition of live huii- 
 dred and sixty-two banks; the whole number 
 in those States being one thousand two hundred 
 and thirty-one. But there was one class of pa- 
 per issues which must not be overlooked— the 
 vast cii-Culatioh issued by counterfeiters. There 
 were in circulation, in 1862, about seven thou- 
 sand different notes i.-^sued by the fifteen hun- 
 dred banks. From statistics carefully compiled, 
 it was ascertained that there were in existence 
 that year over three thousand kinds of altered 
 notes, seventeen hundred varieties of spurioiis 
 notes, and over eight hundred varieties of imita- 
 tions. 
 
 "Thus it appeat-s there were more than six 
 thousand five hundi-ed varieties of fraudulent 
 notes in circulation; and the dead weight of all 
 the losses occasioned by them fell at last upon 
 the people, who were not expert in snch matters. 
 There were, in 1 862, but two hundred and fifty- 
 three banks whose notes had not been altered or 
 imitated. 
 
 "Let it be remembered that for nearly half a 
 century a large part of the rejenues of the gen- 
 eral government were received in the notes of 
 these State banks, in all stages of discredit and 
 depreciation, and with all the attendant risks of 
 counterfeit and altered bills. It is a fact worthy 
 of remembrance that in 1819 the Secretary of 
 the Treasury was compelled to borrow $500,000 
 to meet a foreign debt of that amount ; and at 
 
42 
 
 that moment there were $22,000,000 surplus 
 funds in the national Treasury, out of which he 
 could not call enough current funds to meet the 
 demand. 
 
 "In obedience to a resolution of Congress, 
 adopted January 7th, 1841, the Secretary of the 
 Treasury made a report, showing that, from 1789 
 to 1841, three hundred and ninety-five banks had 
 become insolvent, and that the aggregate loss 
 sustained by the government and people of tlie 
 United States was f3B5,451,497. The report 
 also showed that the total amount paid by the 
 people of the United States to the banlts, for the 
 use of them, during the ten years preceding 1841, 
 amounted to the enormous sum of $282,000,000. 
 
 "Startling as these figures are, they fall far 
 short of exhibiting the magnitude of the losses 
 which this system occasioned. The financial 
 journals of that period agree in the following 
 estimate of the losses occasioned by the revul- 
 sion of 1 837 : 
 
 On bank circulation and deposits $54,000,000 
 
 Bank capital, fniled and depreciated 243,000,000 
 
 State stock depreciated 100,000,000 
 
 Company stock depreciated 80,000,000 
 
 Seal estate depreciated 300,000,000 
 
 Total $7Si!,000,000 
 
 " The State banl< system was a chaos of ruin, 
 in which the business of the country was again 
 and again ingulfed. The people rejoice that it 
 has been swept away, and tliey will not consent 
 to its re-estal)lishment. In its place we have the 
 national banlc system, based on the bonds of the 
 United States, and sharing the safety and credit 
 of the Government. Their notes are made se- 
 cure, first, by a deposit of Government bonds, 
 worth at least ten per cent, more than the whole 
 value of the notes ; second, by a paramount lien 
 on all the assets of the b^nks; third, the per- 
 sonal liability of all the share - holders to an 
 amount equal to the capital they hold ; and, 
 fourth, the aljsolnte guarantee by the Govern- 
 ment to^redfeem them at the National Treasury 
 if the b,*ffl<s fail to do so. Instead of seven thou- 
 sand different varieties of notes, as in the State 
 system, we have now but ten varieties, each uni- 
 form in eharactei- and appearaiice. Like our 
 flag, they bear the stamp of nationality, and are 
 honored in every part of the Union. 
 
 "Now, I do not speak for the banks; I have 
 no J)ei'sonal interest in them ; but I speak for the 
 interests of trade and the business of the country, 
 which demand that no measure shall pass this 
 House wliich may rudely shock those interests." 
 
 His views on Be:fok.u in the Civil Service 
 are set forth in two speeches — one delivered 
 March 14th, 1870; the other July 31st, 1872. 
 
 "No man whose vision is not utterly blinded 
 by partisan feeling will deny that our civil ser- 
 vice has fallen far below the high place which 
 the founders intended it should occupy ; and it 
 is no doubt true that the doctrine of 'spoils,' 
 introduced in the days of Jackson, has been the 
 chief motive power in dishonoring and degrad- 
 ing that service. But a careful study of the sub- 
 ject has led me to conclude that at the present 
 moment another element is at work even more 
 dangerous than the doctrine of 'spoils;' it is the 
 tendency of the different departments of the Gov- 
 ernment to interfere with the independence of 
 each other. While it is made the constitutional 
 duty of the President to recommend to Congress 
 such measures as he considers for the public 
 good, it was never intended that he should dic- 
 tate to Congress the policy of the Government, 
 nor use the power of his great office to force upon 
 Congress his own peculiar views of legislation. 
 The tendency to do this, beginning in the days 
 of Jack.son, had a steady growth until its cul- 
 mination in the administration of Andrew John- 
 son ; when adherence to his policy of reconstruc- 
 tion was made tlie test of party fealty and the 
 ground of all executive favors. The effort to 
 impeach Johnson was really an effort to protect 
 Congress against Ihe unlawful encroachments 
 of executive power. Curiously enough, since 
 1867 a strong tendency has been developed in 
 the opposite direction, and I do not hesitate to 
 declare that we are now in greater danger of dis- 
 turbing the balance and distribution of powers, 
 by the interference of Congress with the execu- 
 
 / 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 tive office, than we were in the days of Johnson 
 from executive usurpation. 
 
 "By the provisions of the civil tenure act the 
 President cannot remove an officer even for the 
 worst of crimes ; he can only suspend him until 
 the Senate approves or disapproves the nomitia- 
 tion of a successor. This has placed in the 
 hands of the Senate so much control over execu- 
 tive appointments that it has at last resulted in 
 a custom now rigidly followed by the Senate, not 
 to confirm a nomination foi' any State unless the 
 Administration Senator from that State approves. 
 This substantially subjects the President to the 
 dictation of the Senators and Representatives in 
 whose State he wishes to make an appointment. 
 Thus his action is virtually no longer free ; his- 
 appointments must be the result of compromise 
 with the Senators and members ; and yet, under 
 our theory of government, the President is held 
 responsible for the character of the officers he 
 appoints 
 
 "Many citizens, and a few Senators and Rep- 
 resentatives, have sustained the President in his 
 attempts to reform the civil service. He has un- 
 dertaken to establish a body of rules by which 
 selections for office shall be made on the ground 
 of personal merit and fitness for the public ser- 
 vice. But many members of Congress of both 
 parties have denounced the attempt, and loaded 
 it with all the odium they conld command. I 
 have done what I could to sustain the President 
 in this effort ; and though something has been 
 accomplished, yet I am satisfied that no plan of 
 competitive examination or advLsory boards can 
 cure the evil until the Executive is left free and 
 untrammelled in the exercise of his constitution- 
 al powers, and is held to a strict responsibility 
 for the result of his action. 
 
 "During the debate on the appropriation to 
 carry into effect his plan of civil service reform, 
 I called on the President in company with my 
 colleague, Hon. Mr. Perry, of Cincinnati, and 
 had a full conversation on the subject. The 
 President expressed an earnest desire to better 
 the condition of the service ; but it was easy to 
 see that the chief obstaeles in the way of success 
 were those to which I have alluded. 
 
 DETAILS AND ABUSES OF THE CIVIL SERVICE. 
 
 "In the annual report of the Secretary of the 
 Interior there is a passage which should be com- 
 mended to every member of this House. That 
 officer says that he can do the work of his de- 
 partment with two-thirds of the force which he 
 now has under his control if you will only give 
 him a reasonable and wise organization. I quote 
 his words : ' The first measure of reform is to 
 raise the standard of qualification, make merit 
 as tested by the duty performed the sole ground 
 of promotion, and secure to the faithful incum- 
 bent the same permanence of employment that 
 is given to officers of the Army and Navy. Un- 
 der the present system the general conviction 
 among the clerks and employes is that the reten- 
 tion of their places depends much more upon the 
 political influence they can command than npcn 
 energy or zeal in the performance of duty. Af- 
 ter a careful examination of the subject, I am 
 fully persuaded that the measure I have suggest- 
 ed would have enabled this Department to do 
 the work of the past fiscal year with a corps of 
 clerks one-third less in number than were found 
 necessary.' 
 
 "I believe i am right in saying that one-half 
 of all of that great army of clerks employed in 
 the civil Departments are engaged in the mere 
 business of copying; not in the use of judgment 
 nor expert knowledge of business, nor the appli- 
 cation of the law to the adjustment of accounts ; 
 but to the mere manual labor of copying, filing, 
 or counting. 
 
 " Now, to do just such work as this, men can 
 be hired all over the country for six or eight 
 hundred dollars a year. Every business man 
 knows that he can get a good, efficient copying 
 clerk at that rate. But without any rational or- 
 ganization we are paying that whole class of em- 
 ployes at least double what they can get else- 
 where. The whole business of civil appoint- 
 ments depends upon that vague, uncertain, in- 
 tangible thing called political influence. 
 
 " Take the messenger service in these varioue. 
 Departments. I saw a man in one of the De-j 
 partments this morning whose whole business is, 
 to sit at a door and open it when people come iiv 
 and shut it when they go out, and occasionally 
 to run into an office a few feet distant. Under 
 our laws these messengers get eight hundred 
 dollars a year, and if tliey were to go to any 
 business man in thiscity they could not get half 
 the money fiom him for the same kind of ser- 
 vice. 
 
 "We employ common laborers in our Execu- 
 tive Departments to do work for which we pay 
 them twice or more than twice as much as they, 
 can get anywhere else in the country where they 
 are paid at the current rate of wages. In doing 
 so we demoralize the whole system of labor. 
 We pick one man out of a thousand and give 
 him triple wages, thus making all the rest dis- 
 contented office-seekers. Now, who is at fault 
 in this? Not the President of the United States, 
 not the Secretary of the Treasury, not the head 
 of an)' Department of this Administration. Not 
 any or all of these, exclnsively or mainly. The 
 fault lies here, fellow-citizens of the House of 
 Representatives ; here with us and our legisla-, 
 tion. We make the laws ; we fix the rates of 
 wages ; we render workingmen discontented with 
 ordinary gains, by picking out and promoting in. 
 an unreasonable and exceptional way the few 
 men we hire, and they hold their places at our 
 mercy and at our caprice. They are liable, at 
 liny moment to be pushed a.side for another fa- 
 vorite. Their service is miserable for its uncer- 
 tainty. It tends to take away their indepen- 
 dence and manliness, and make them the mere 
 creatures of those in power. 
 
 "We do all this ourselves; we go, man by 
 man, to the heads of these several Departments 
 and say, ' Here is a friend of mine; gfve him a 
 place.' We press such appointments upon the 
 Departments; we crowd the doors; we fill the 
 corridors; Senators and Representatives throng 
 the offices and bureaus until the public business 
 is obstructed, the patience of officers is worn out, . 
 and sometimes, for fear of losing their places 
 by our influence, they at last give way and ap- 
 point men, not because they are fit for the posi- 
 tions, but because we ask it. There, Mr. Chair- 
 man, is, in my own judgment, the true field for 
 retrenchment and reform. I believe that we can, 
 at almost half the present cost, manage all these 
 Departments better than they are now managed, 
 if we adopt a judicious system of civil service. 
 There are scores of auditing and accounting offi- 
 cers, heads of bureaus and divisions ; there are 
 clerks charged with quasi judicial functions, 
 through whose hands pass milliohs in a day, and 
 upon whose integrity and ability the revenues of 
 the nation largely depend, who are receiving far 
 less than the railroad, telegraph, insurance, man- 
 ufacturing, and other companies pay for services' 
 far less responsible. Such officers we do not pay 
 the market value of their services. When we 
 find that the duties of any office demand ability, 
 cultivation, and experience, let a liberal salary 
 be given in order to procure the services of the 
 best man ; and for the mere manual duties of 
 these civil Departments let us get men for the 
 market price. 
 
 " Now, sir, what do we see ? The Republican 
 party is not moving forward to make this need- 
 ed change. The Democratic party is not mov- 
 ing forward to make it. We are enjoying these 
 privileges, so called, and our political opponents, 
 are waiting and watching and hoping for the 
 time to come when they can do the same — when 
 we shall be out of power, and they shall come 
 in to do the same miserable work of ousting and 
 appointing which we are called upon to do year 
 after year. Now, in the name of justice, in the 
 name of economy, let us take hold of this mat- 
 ter and sustain the Secretary of the Interior in 
 the kind of work which he is doing, and help 
 all the other Departments to follow his example. 
 Some one may say, ' That is very fine talk ; 
 show us the practice.' I will tell you about the 
 practice. The Patent-office of the Interior De- 
 partment has during a whole year been conduct- 
 ed in part on the plan I am here advocating. 
 No man, so far as I know, has been appoint^ , 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 43 
 
 to service in that bureau except on a strict com- 
 petitive exuminatioti. The result is that we see 
 ill tile maiiageinent of the Patent-office marlied 
 efficiency and economy. But what can a De- 
 partment ilo, niiat can a bmeiiu do with tlie 
 i<rh()le neiglit of congressional influence press- 
 ing for the appointment of men because they 
 are our friends ? In this direction is the true 
 lineW statesmanship, the true paih of economy. 
 Let lis take this great subject in hand, and it can 
 be settled in a very few weeks." 
 
 THE TARIFF. 
 
 General Gfl.rfield's position upon this general 
 subject may be se^n in the following extracts 
 taken from a speech he made in the House, April 
 1st, 1870. . 
 
 "As an abstract theory of political economy 
 free-trade has many advocates, and iniicli can 
 be said in its favor ; nor will it be denied that 
 the scholarship X)f modern times is largely on 
 that side; that a large majority of the great 
 thinkers of the present day are leading in the 
 direction of what is called free-trade. 
 
 " While this is true, it is equally undeniable 
 that the principle of protection has always been 
 recognized and adopted in some form or another 
 by all naticms, and is to-day, to a greater or less 
 extent, the policy of every civilized Govern- 
 ment 
 
 " Protection, in its practical meaning, is that 
 provident care for the industry and development 
 of our own country which will give our own 
 people an equal chance in the pursuit of wealth, 
 and save us from the calamity of being depend- 
 ent upon other nations with whom we may any 
 day be at war. 
 
 "In so far as the doctrine of free-trade is a 
 protest against the old system of oppression and 
 prohibition, it is a healthy and wortliy sentiment. 
 But underlying all theories, there is a strong an.d 
 deep conviction in the minds of a great majority 
 of our people in favor of protecting American 
 industry 
 
 ■' We are limited in our tariff legislation by 
 two things : first, the demands of the Treasury ; 
 and, second, the wants and demands of Ameri- 
 can industry. The Treasury we understand, 
 but what is 'American industry?' I reject 
 that narrow view which considers ' industry ' 
 any one particular form of labor. I object to 
 any theory that treats the industries of the coun- 
 trv as they were treated in the last census, where 
 we had "one schedule for ' agriculture,' and 
 another for ' industry,' as though agriculture 
 were not an industry, as though commerce and 
 trade and transportation were not industries. 
 American industry is labor in any form which 
 gives value to the raw materials or elements of 
 nature, either by extracting tliem from the earth, 
 the air, or the sea, or by modifying their forms, 
 or transporting them through the channels, of 
 trade to the markets of the world, or in any way 
 rendering them better fitted for the use of man. 
 All these are parts of American industry, and 
 deserve the careful and earnest attention of the 
 Legislature of the natfon. Wherever a ship 
 ploughs the sea, or a plough furrows the field ; 
 wherever a mine yields its treasure; wherever 
 a ship or a railroad train carries freight to mar- 
 ket ; wherever the smoke of the furnace rises, 
 or the clang of the loom resounds ; even in the 
 lonely garret where the seamstress plies her busy 
 needle, there is industry. 
 
 "There have been few occasions when Con- 
 gress and the countiy had more need than now 
 of studying the lessons taught by the history of 
 past legislation. I therefore ask the indulgence 
 of the committee for a few moments while I re- 
 view the history of our tarifl:' legislation. As I 
 read that history the warning is repeated again 
 and again to avoid extremes of legislation on 
 tliis subject. 
 
 "The second act of the First Congress was 
 what has been called ' the Hamilton tariff of 
 1789,' and continued in force, with some addi- 
 tions and modifications, for twenty-five years. 
 During that period the average rate of duty on 
 imported goods did not exceed fifteen per cent. 
 
 "The war of 1812 greatly crippled our com- 
 merce, and proved the necessity of a more inde- 
 
 pendent system of home manufactures. The pub- 
 lic debt, which in 1815 reached 1120,000,000, 
 required an unusually large revenue ; and at the 
 meeting'of Congress in December, 1815, Mr. 
 Madison recommended an inc^'eased duty on im- 
 ports, not only for the sake of revenue, but also 
 for the protection and inniiitenance of our man- 
 ufacturing industry, which had received a pow- 
 erful impulse during the latter part of the war. 
 He expressed the belief that our manufacturing 
 industry, ' with a protection not more than is due 
 to the enterprising citizen whose interests are at 
 stake, would become, at an early day not only 
 safe from occasional competition from abroad, 
 but a source of domestic wealth and even of ex- 
 ternal commerce.' 
 
 "During that session 'the Calhoun tariff of 
 1816' was passed, which may be said to mark 
 the beginning of discriminating protection. The 
 bill was sustained by the South, but opposed by 
 New England ; it being claimed on the one hand 
 that it would utilize the cotton crop of the Sou(h, 
 and on the other that it would injure the com- 
 merce and fisheries of New England. The tariff 
 of 1816 lasted for eight years, producing revenue 
 from 20 to 35 per cent, of the importations, the 
 average rate being about 25 per cent. 
 
 "The year 1824 marked the era of what may 
 be called ' the Clay tarirt',' which passed the 
 House by five majority, and the Senate by three. 
 This bill, also, encountered its heaviest opposi- 
 tion from New England, Massachusetts and New 
 Hampshire together casting twenty-three votes 
 against ai^id only tliree for it. 
 
 " In this tariff ' the American system,' as Mr. 
 Clay named it, found its first complete embodi- 
 ment. The duties imposed by it. ranged from 
 34^ to 41 per cent. When it had been in oper- 
 ation about four years the friends of protection 
 determined to pusli the rates up to a still higher 
 figure, and the act of 1828 was passed by a close 
 vote, after an acrimonious debate, with bitter 
 feeling and intense excitement on both sides. 
 Almost immediately after its passage the reac- 
 tion began, and it went on gathering head and 
 force until, in 1832, resistance to the tariff as- 
 sumed the form of nullification and open rebel- 
 lion, and the whole country was brought to the 
 verge of civil war. To avert such a calamity, 
 Henry Clay, the great leader of the protective 
 movement, himself came forward with a bill re- 
 ducing the rates by a sliding scale, to operate for 
 ten years, until the average of 20 per cent, should 
 be reached. It is true that other questions were 
 involved in the issue, bat the gentleman will find 
 it unsafe to apply the test of history to his asser- 
 tions. The contest was concerning the tariff, 
 particularly the act of 1828. It was that act 
 which South Cai-olina nullified and refused to al- 
 low to be executed within her borders. When 
 Clay's compromise tariff passed, South Carolina 
 revoked her acts of nullification, and came out of 
 the contest with flying colors. The compromise 
 tariff of Mr. Clay prevented civil war. It went 
 into operation in 1833 ; but the free-traders push- 
 ed their victory so far that in 1840 a great reac- 
 tion came from the other side, and they were in 
 turn driven from power, and the tariff of 1842 
 was adopted, by which the rate of duty was raised 
 and fixed at an average of 33 per cent. 
 
 "In 1845, the free-trade party having again 
 come into power, a heavy reduction of the tariff 
 was made in 1846, and the rate pushed down to 
 an average of 24^ per cent. This act continued 
 in force without material change during a period 
 of nine years, when the Democratic party, flush- 
 ed with success in the presidential election of 
 1856, determined to push their fiee-trade policy 
 to a still greater extreme, and in the tariff act 
 of 1857 they reduced the rate of duty to 20^ per 
 cent., a lower rate than it had reached in forty 
 years. This law so crippled the revenue- of the 
 Government that in 1860 the Treasury was emp- 
 ty, and our credit so poor that the Secretary was 
 paying 12 per cent, interest for loans, which even 
 at that rate he found it diflicult to negotiate. As 
 might be expected, there was another reaction in 
 favor of higher rates, and the year 1861 marked 
 a new era in the history of the tariff. In the 
 winter of I860-'61 the nites were again raised. 
 From the 2d of March, 1861, to the present time 
 
 there have been thirteen separate tariff acts and 
 resolutions, all of which have m .re or less in- 
 creased the rate of duties, and it now averages 
 about 47J per cent, on dutiable anicles, and over 
 41 per cent, on all our imports, botli dutiable and 
 free. 
 
 "That these acts were made necessary by the 
 war, few will venture to deny. Ii is also unde- 
 niable that the heavy internal taxes imposed 
 upon manufacturing industries neutralized the 
 effect of protective duties, and made an increase 
 of the tariff necessary as a measure of compensa- 
 ting protection. But, as I have already shown, 
 the heaviest burdens of internal taxes have been 
 removed from manufactures, and a demand that 
 some corresponding reduction in the tariff rates 
 shall be made is coining up from all quarters of 
 the country. The signs are unmistakable that a 
 strong reaction is setting in against the prevail- 
 ing rates, and he is not a wisi, legislator who 
 shuts his eyes to the facts of the. situation. 
 
 "The historical revieu' I have given strongly 
 exhibits the fact that the industry of the country 
 during the last half century has been repeatedly 
 tossed up and down between two extremes of 
 policy, and the country has suffered great loss by 
 each violent change. 
 
 "After studying the whole subject as careful- 
 ly as I am able, I am firmly of the opinion that 
 the wisest thing that the Protectionists in this 
 House can do is to unite in a moderate reduc- 
 tion of duties on imported articles. He is not a 
 faithful Representative who merely votes for the 
 highest rate jiroposed in order to show on the 
 record that he voted for the highest figure, and, 
 therefore, is a sound Protectionist. He is the 
 wisest man who sees the tides and currents of 
 public opinion, and uses his best efforts to pro- 
 tect the industry of the people against sudden 
 collapses and sudden changes. Now, if I do not 
 misunderstand the signs of the times, unless we 
 do this ourselves, prudently and wisely, we shall 
 before long be compelled to submit to a violent 
 reduction, made rudely an4 witiiout discrimina- 
 tion, which will shock, if not shatter, all our pro- 
 tected industries. 
 
 " Tlfe great want of industry is a stable policy ; 
 and it is a significant comment on the character 
 of our legislation that Congress has become a 
 terror to the business men of the country. TiiiB 
 very day the great industries of the nation are 
 standing still, half paralyzed at the uncertainty 
 which hangs over our proceedings here. A dis- 
 tinguished citizen of my own district has lately 
 written me this significant sentence: 'If the laws 
 of God aisd nature were as vacillating and un- 
 certain as the laws of Congress in regard to the 
 business of its peopl^, the universe would soon 
 fall into chaos.' 
 
 " I will not indulge in crimination or recrim- 
 ination. I will take no part in the violent de- 
 nunciation which we have heard in the progress 
 of this debate. I do not believe, on the one hand, 
 that the manufacturers are corruptly striving for 
 their own gain as against the public good ; nor, 
 on the other, that the free-traders have been 
 bought with British gold, and are wilfully and 
 knowingly the enemies of their country. 
 
 " I stand now where 1 have always stood since 
 I have been a member of this House. I take the 
 liberty of quoting, from the Congressional Globe 
 of 1866, the following remarks which I then made 
 on the subject of the tariff: 
 
 " 'We have seen that one extreme school of 
 economists would place the price of all manufact- 
 ured articles in the hands of foreign producers 
 by rendering it Impossible for our manufacturers 
 to compete with them ; while the other extreme 
 school, by making it impossible for the foreigner 
 to sell his competing wares in oiu- market, would 
 give the people' no Immediate check upon the 
 prices which our manufacturers might fix for' 
 their products. I disagree with both these ex- 
 tremes. I hold that a properly adjusted compe- 
 tition between home and foreign products is the 
 best gauge by which to regulate International 
 trade. Duties should be so high that our man- 
 ufacturers can fairly compete with the foreign 
 product, but not so high as to enable them to 
 drive out the foreign article, enjoy a monopoly 
 of the trade, and regulate the price as they please. 
 
ii 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 
 
 This is my doctrine of protection. If Congress 
 pursues tliis line of policy steadily, we shall, year 
 by yeai-, apjji'oach more nearly to the basis of 
 free-trade, because we shall be more nearly able 
 to compete with other nations on equal terms. 
 I am for a protection wliiih leads to ultimate 
 free-trade. I am for that free-trade which can 
 only be achieved through a reasonable protec- 
 tion.' 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, examining thus the possibili- 
 ties of the situation, I believe that the true course 
 for the friends of protection to pursue is to re- 
 duce the rates on impoi'ts wherever we can just- 
 ly and safely do so, and, accepting neithei'' of 
 the extreme doctrines in-ged on this flc^jr, en- 
 deavor to establish a stable policy that will com- 
 mend itself to all patriotic and thoughtful peo- 
 ple." 
 
 Various tariff legislation occurred between 
 1870, when the above speech was delivered, and 
 1878, when Mr. Wood undertook the preparation 
 of a tariff bill which greatly leduced duties on 
 most articles of foreign manufacture. The course 
 of General Garfield during these years was en- 
 tirely consistent with the views announced in 
 his speech of 1870 ; and in the early as well as 
 In the later stages of the struggle over the Wood 
 bill there was no uncertainty about his position; 
 he was against the bill. On the 4th of June he 
 delivered an elaborate speech against it in Com- 
 mittee of the Whole, in the course of which he 
 said: "I would have the duty so adjusted that 
 every great American industry can fairly live and 
 make fair profits. The chief chargel make against 
 this bill is that it seeks to cripple the Protective 
 features of the law." He further said, in con- 
 cluding Ills speech : "A bill so radical in its char- 
 acter, so dangerous to om' business prosperity, 
 would work infinite mischief at this time, when 
 the country is just recovering itself from a long 
 period of depression and getting again upon 
 solid ground, just coming up out of the wild 
 sea of panic and distress which has tossed us so 
 long. 
 
 "Let it be remembered that 22 per cent, of 
 all the laboring people of this, country are arti- 
 sans engaged in manufactures. Their culture 
 has been fostered by our tariff laws. It is their 
 pursuits and the skill which they have developed 
 that produced the glory of our Centennial Exhi- 
 bition. To them the country owes the splendor 
 of the position it holds before the world more 
 than to any other equal number of our citizens. 
 If this bill becomes a law it strikes down their 
 occupation, and throws into the keenest distress 
 the brightest and best elements of our popula- 
 tion. 
 
 "When the first paragraph has been read, I 
 will propose to strike out the enacting clause. 
 If the committee will do that we can kill the 
 bill to-day." 
 
 On the day following the delivery of General 
 Garfield's speech, his suggestion to strike out the 
 enacting clause was carried into effect, upon mo- 
 taon of Mr. Conger, and the bill was killed — yeas 
 134, nays 121. 
 
 During the recent session of Congress a vig- 
 orous effort was made to break down the tariff 
 by piecemeal legislation. "Divide and con- 
 quer," was the motto of the Free-traders. They 
 were defeated in every effort to reduce duties, 
 and in every instance they encountered General 
 Garfield's opposition. Iron and steel manufact- 
 urers have good cause to remember his vote in 
 the Ways and Means Committee last March on 
 the bill of Mr. Covert to reduce the duty on steel 
 rails. General Garfield voted with Judge Kel- 
 ley and Messrs. Conger, Frye, Felton, Gibson, 
 and Phelps against any reduction, and that was 
 the end of Mr. Covert's bill— the vote being 7 
 against to 6 in favor of it. Had the bill prevail- 
 ed, the entire line of duties on iron and steel and 
 other manufactures would have been seriously 
 endangered. 
 
 Such is General Garfield's tariff record — a 
 course between two equally ruinous extremes. 
 He has been charged with being a member of the 
 British free-trade Cobden Club ; but he has re- 
 peatedly declared over his own signature that the 
 use of his name by the Cobden Club was wholly 
 unauthorized by him, and that its free-trade doc- 
 
 trines did not meet with his approval. If the 
 Club thought, by the conferring of an empty 
 compliment, to entrap liitn into an expression of 
 sympathy with its principles and philosophy, it 
 failed signally. 
 
 In a speech delivered on the 4th of April, 
 1871, General Garfield gave his wise and con- 
 stitutional views on the bill for the enforcement 
 
 of THE FOURTKENTH AMENDMENT. He Said, 
 
 "I am not able to understand the mental organ- 
 ization of the man who can consider this bill, 
 and the subject of which it treats, as free from 
 very great difiiculties. He must be a man, of 
 very moderate abilities, whose ignorance is bliss, 
 or a man of transcendent genius whom no diffi- 
 culties can daunt, and whose clear vision no cloud 
 can obscure 
 
 "There are two ideas so utterly antagonistic 
 that wheiij in any nation, either has gained abso- 
 lute and complete possession of that neutral 
 ground, the ruin of that nation has invariably 
 followed. The one is that despotism which 
 swallows and absorbs all power in a single cen- 
 tral government; the other is that extreme doc- 
 trine of local sovereignty which makes national- 
 ity impossible, and resolves a general government 
 into anarchy and chaos. It makes biit little dif- 
 ference as to the final result which of these ideas 
 drives the other from the field ; in either case 
 ruin follows. 
 
 " Nothing more aptly describes the char- 
 acter of our Republic than thp solar system, 
 launched into space by the hand of the Ci'eator, 
 where the central sun is the great power around 
 which revolve all the planets in their appointed 
 orbits. But while the sun holds in the grasp of 
 its attractive power the whole system, and im- 
 parts its light and heat to all, yet each individ- 
 ual planet is under the sway of laws peculiar to 
 itself 
 
 " Under the sway of terrestrial laws, winds 
 blow, waters flow, and all the tenantries of the 
 planet live and move. So, sir, the States move 
 on in their orbits of duty and obedience, bound 
 to the central Gpvei-nment by this Constitiition, 
 which is their supreme law ; while each State is 
 making laws and regulations of its own, develop- 
 ing its own energies, maintaining its own indus- 
 tries, mana.niiig Its local glairs in its own way, 
 subject only to the supreme but beneficent coii- 
 trol of the Union. When State-rights, run mad, 
 put on the form of secession, and attempted to 
 drag the States out of the Union, we saw the 
 grand lesson taught in all the battles of the late 
 war. that a State could no more be hurled from 
 the Union without ruin to the nation, than coidd 
 a planet be thrown from its orbit without drag- 
 ging after it, to chaos and ruin, the whole solar 
 universe. 
 
 "Sir, the great war for the Union ha? vindi- 
 cated the centripetal power of the nation, and 
 has exploded, forever, I trust, the disoi'ganl^ing 
 theory of State sovereignty which slavery at- 
 tempted to impose upon this country. But we 
 should never forget that there is danger in the 
 opposite direction. The destruction or serious 
 crippling of the principle of local government 
 would be as fatal to liberty as secession would 
 have been fatal to the Union. 
 
 "The first experiment which our fathers tried 
 in government-makingafter the War of Indepen- 
 dence was a failure, because the central power 
 conferred in the Articles of Confederation was 
 not strong enough. The second, though nobly 
 conceived, became almost a failure because slav^- 
 ery attempted so to interpret the Constitution as 
 to reduce the nation again to a confederacy, a 
 mei;e league between sovereign States. But we 
 have now vindicated and secured the centripetal 
 power; let us see that the centrifugal force Is 
 not destroyed, but that the grand arid beautiful 
 equipoise may be maintained. 
 
 PEOTECTION OP PERSONS AND PROPERTY 
 BEFORE THE LATE AMENDMENTS.' 
 
 "I presume it will not be denied that, before 
 the adoption of the last three amendments, it was 
 the settled interpretation of the Constitution that 
 the protection of the life and property of private 
 citizens within the States belonged to the State 
 governments exclusively 
 
 PROTECTION OF PERSONS AND PROPERTY 
 UNDER THE LATE AMENDMENTS. 
 
 "Now, three amendments, the Thirteenth, 
 Fourteenth, and Fifteenth, have been added to the 
 Constitution, and it will not be denied that each 
 of these amendments has so modified the Con- 
 stitution as to change the relation of Congress to 
 the citizens of the States. They have to some 
 extent enlarged the functions of Congress, ^nd, 
 within prescribed limits, have extended its juris- 
 diction within the States. 
 
 "I now inquire how far this juiisdiction has 
 been extended. The Thirteenth Amendment 
 provides that slavery shall never exist within the 
 United States, or any place subject to their juris- 
 diction, and Congress is empowered to enforce 
 this provision on every inch of soil covered by 
 our flag. Congiess may, by its legislation, pre- 
 vent any person from b,eing made a slave by any 
 law, usage, or custom, or by any act, direct or in- 
 direct. This, I presume, will not be denied ; and 
 Congress has effectually cai'ried out this provision. 
 
 "In the Fifteenth Amendment, th^ last of the 
 three, the rights of citizens of the United States 
 to vote shall not be denied or abiidged, either by 
 the United States or by any State, inconsequence 
 of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; 
 and that, taken in connection with the clause in 
 the main text of the Constitution, which author- 
 izes Congress to regulate the time, place, and 
 manner of holding elections, arms Congress with 
 the full power to protect the ballot-box at all 
 elections, at leasf of officers of the United States,' 
 and to protect the right of all men vvithin (he. 
 limit of that clause to the suffrage. On this 
 point, I presiitne, there will be no difference of 
 opinion — at least on this side of the House. In 
 pursua,nce of this power, we passed the act of 
 May 31st, 1870, and the amendatory act of Feb- 
 ruary 28th, 1 871. 
 
 FIRST SECTION OF THE FOURTEENTH 
 AMENDMENT. 
 
 "I now come to consider last in order, for it 
 is the basis of the pending bill, the Fourteent'h 
 Amendment. I ask the attention of the House 
 to the first section of that amendment, as to its 
 scope and meaning. I hope gentlemen will bear 
 in mind that this debate, in which so many have 
 taken part, will become historical, as the earliest 
 legislative construction given to this clause of the 
 amendment. Not only the words which we put 
 into the law, but what shall be said here in the 
 way of defining and interpreting the meaning of 
 the clause, may go far to settle its interpretation 
 and its value to the country hereafter. 
 
 "For the protection of all officers of the United 
 States in the discharge of their duties, aiid for the 
 enforcement of all the laws of the United States, 
 our statutes make ample provisions. The Pres- 
 ident is empowered to use all the land and naval 
 forces, if neeessary, to exectite these laws against 
 all offenders. 
 
 "But, sir, the President has informed us in 
 his recent Message that in some portions of the 
 Republic wiongs and outrages are now being per- 
 petrated, under circumstances which lead him to 
 doubt his power to suppress them by means of 
 existing laws. That new situation confronts us. 
 I deeply regret that we were not able to explore 
 the length, breadth, and depth of this new dan- 
 ger before we undertook to provide a legislative 
 remedy. The subject is so obscured by passion 
 that it is hardly possible for Congress, with the 
 materials now in our possession, to know the 
 truth of the case, to uiiderstand fully the causes 
 of this new trouble, and to provide wisely and 
 intelligently the safest and most certain remedy. 
 
 "Bii,t enough is known to demand some ac- 
 tion on our part. "To state the case in the most 
 moderate terms, it appears that in some of the 
 Southern States there exists a wide-spread secret 
 organization, whose members are bound togeth- 
 er by solemn oaths to prevent certain classes of 
 citizens of the United States from enjoyjng these 
 new rights conferred upon them by the Constitu- 
 tion and laws ; that they are putting into execu- 
 tion their design of preventing such citizens from 
 enjoying the free right of the ballot-box and oth- 
 er privileges and immunities of citizens, and from 
 enjoying the equal protection of the laws. Mr. 
 
Speaker, I have no doubt of the power of Con- 
 gress to provide for meeting this new danger, 
 %nd to do so wicliout trenching upon those great 
 and benelicent powers of local self-government 
 lodged in the States and with the people. To 
 reach this result is the demand of the honr upon 
 the statesmnnsliip of *his country. This brings 
 roe to the consideration of the pending bill. 
 
 BILL TO ENFORCE THE FOURTEENTH 
 AMENDMENT. 
 
 "The first section provides, in snbstance, that 
 any pei-^on who, under color of any State law, 
 ordinance, or custom, shall deprive any person 
 of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured 
 by the Constitution, the offender shall bQ liable 
 to a^ action at law, or other proper proceeding, 
 for redress in tlie several district or circuit courts 
 of the United States. This is a wise and salu- 
 tary provision, and plainly within the power of 
 Congress. 
 
 ''But the chief complaint is not that the laws 
 of the State are une(|nal, but that even where the 
 laws are just and equal on th^ir t^tce, yet, by a 
 systematic maliidininistration of them, or a neg- 
 lect or refusal to enforce their provisions, a por- 
 tion of the people are denied equal protciction 
 under them. Whenever such a state of facts is 
 clearly made out, I believe the l)\st clause of the 
 first section empowers Congi-ess to step in and 
 provide for doing jnstiee to those persons who 
 are thus denied eqnal protection. 
 
 "Now if the second section of the pending 
 bill can be so amended that it shall clearly de- 
 fine this offence, as I have described it, and shall 
 employ no terms wliicli assert the power of Con- 
 gress to take jurisdiction of the sufiyect until such 
 denial be clearly made, and shall not in any way 
 assume the original jurisdiction of the rights of 
 private persons and of property within the States 
 — with these conditions clearly expressed in the 
 section, I shall give it my hejirty support. These 
 limitations will not impair the efficiency of the 
 section, but will remove the serions objections 
 that are entertained by many gentlemen to the 
 section as it now stimds. 
 
 SUSPENSION OF THE PRIVILEQES OP HABEAS 
 CORPUS. 
 
 " But, Mr. Speaker, there is one provision in 
 the fourth section which appairs to me both un- 
 wise and unnecessary. It is proposed not only 
 to authorize the suspension of the privileges of 
 the writ of habetis corpus, but to authorize the 
 declaration of martial law in the disturbed dis- 
 tricts. 
 
 "I do not deny, but I alBrm the right of Con- 
 gress to authorize the suspension of the privileges 
 of the writ of Aa6e(MC0J7)tis whenever in cases of 
 rebellion or invasion the public safety may re- 
 quire it. Such action has been and may again 
 be necessary to the safety of the Republic : but 
 I call the attention of the House to the fact that 
 never but once in the history of this Government 
 has Congress snspended the great privileges of 
 this writ, and then it was not done until afler 
 two years of war had closed all the ordinary tri- 
 bunals of justice in the rebellious districts, and 
 the great armies of the Union, extending from 
 Maryland to the Mexioxn line, were engaged in 
 a death struggle with the armies of the Bebell'on. 
 It was not until the third day of Mareh, 1863, 
 that the Congress of the United States found the 
 situation so full of peril as to make it their duty 
 to suspend this greatest privilege enjoyed by An- 
 glo-Saxon people. Are we ready to say that an 
 eqnal peril confronts us to-day ? 
 
 "My objection to authorizing this suspenaon 
 implies no disf'ust of the wisdom or ps^triotism 
 of the President. I do not believe he would em- 
 ploy this power were we to confer it upon him ; 
 and if he did employ it, I do not donbt he would 
 use it with justice and wisdom. But what we 
 do on this occasion will be quoted as a precedent 
 hereafter, when other men with other purposes 
 may desire to confer this power on another Pres- 
 ident for purposes that may not aid in securing 
 public liberty and public peace. 
 
 "But this section provides no safeguard for 
 titizens who mav be aiTested during the susiien- 
 sion of the writi There is no limit to the time 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 during which men may be held as prisoners. 
 Nothing in the section requires them to be de- 
 livered over to the courts. Nothing in it gives 
 them any other protection than the will of the 
 commander who orders their arrest 
 
 MARTIAL LAW. 
 " But, sir, this fourth section goes a himdred 
 bow-shots farther than any similar legislation of 
 Congress during the wildest days of the Rebel- 
 lion. It authorizes the declaration of maitial 
 law. We are called upon to provide by law for 
 the suspension of all law! Do gentlemen re- 
 member what martial law is ? Refer to the di- 
 gest of opinions of tne Judge Advocate General 
 of the United States, and you will find a teree 
 definition which gleams like the flash of a sword- 
 blade. The Judge Advocate says: ' Martial law 
 is the will of the general who commands the 
 army.' And Congress is here asked to declare 
 martial law. Why, sir, it is the pride and boast 
 of England that martial law has not existed iti 
 that country since the Petition of Right in the 
 thirty-fii-st year of (Charles II. Three years ago 
 the Lord Chief-justice of England came down 
 from the high court over which he was pi-esiding 
 to revie\y the charge of another judge to a grand- 
 jury, and he there announced that the power to 
 declare martial law no longer existed in England. 
 In 1867, the same jiulge, in the case of The 
 Queen vs. Nelson, uttered this sentence : ' There 
 is no such law in existence as martial law, and 
 no power in the Crown to proclaim it.'" 
 
 ENFORCEMENT OF THE AMENDMENTS. 
 
 " How can these new guarantees be enforced ? 
 In the first place, it is within the power of Con- 
 gress to provide, by law, that cases arising under 
 the provisions of these amendments may be car- 
 ried up on appeal from the State tribunals to 
 the courts of the United States, where every law, 
 ordinance, usage, or decree of any State in con- 
 flict with these provisions may be declared un- 
 constitutional and void. This great remedy cov. 
 ers nearly all the ground that needs to be cov- 
 ered in time of peace ; and this ground .has al- 
 ready been covered, to a great extent, by the 
 legislation of Congress 
 
 " In the second place, it is undoubtedly with- 
 in the power of Congress to provide by law for 
 the punishment of all pei-sons, official or private, 
 who shall invade these rights, and who, by vio- 
 lence, threats, or intimidation, shall deprive any 
 citizen of their fullest enjoyment. This is a 
 part of that general power vested in Congress to 
 punish the violators of its laws. I cannot think 
 that this House will, at this time, take such an 
 extreme and unprecedented measure. 
 
 " Sir, this provision meims war, or it means 
 nothing ; and I ask this House whether we are 
 now ready to take this step ? Shall we ' cry 
 havoc, and let slip the dogs of war ?' 
 
 " 1 have taken a humble part in one war, and 
 I hope I shall always be ready to do any duty 
 that the necessities of the country may require 
 of me ; but I am not willing to talk war or to 
 declare war in advance of the terrible necessity. 
 Are there no measures within our reach which 
 may aid in preventing war ? When a savage 
 war lately threatened our Western, frontiers, we 
 sent out commissioners of peace in the hope of 
 avoiding war. Have we done all in our power 
 to avoid that which this section contemplates ? 
 I hope the committee will bring in a companion 
 measure that looks toward peace, and enable us 
 to send the olive-branch with tiie sword." 
 
 In a speech on the taxation of United States 
 Bpnds, General Garfield showed his familiar 
 knowledge of English financial history. In the 
 course of it he uses this language in regard to a 
 
 REPUDIATION OF THE PUBLIC DEBT. 
 "Nobodv expects that we can pay as fast as 
 the debt matures, but we shall be compelled to 
 go into the market and negotiate new loans. 
 Let this system of taxation be pursued ; let an- 
 other Congre-ss put the tax at twenty per cent., 
 another at forty per cent., and another at fifty 
 per cent, or one hundred per cent. ; let the 
 principle be once adopted — the rate is only a 
 question of discretion — and where will yon be 
 
 IS 
 
 able to negotiate a loan except at the most ruin- 
 ous sacrifice? Let such legislation prevail as 
 the gentleman urges, and can we look anv man 
 in the face and ask him to loan us money ? If 
 we do not keep faith to-day, how can we expect 
 to be trusted hereafter? I have said there are 
 two methods of managing debt and taxation. 
 One I have just been considering. The other 
 is advocated, not by the gentleman from Mas- 
 sachusetts, nor in the Democratic platform, but 
 in the platform adopted at Chicago, in which it 
 is declared that — 
 
 " ' We denounce all forms of repudiation as 
 national crime ; and the national bcmor requires 
 the payment of the public indebtedness in the 
 uttermost good faith to all creditors at home and 
 abroad, not only according to the letter but the 
 spirit of the laws under which it w^ contracted. 
 
 " ' It is due to the labor of the natipn that ta](- 
 ation should be equalized, and reduced as rapid- 
 ly as the national faith will permit. 
 
 " 'The national debt, contracted as it has been 
 for the preservation of the Union, for all time to 
 come, should be extended over a fair perio^ for 
 redemption ; and it is the duty of Congress, to 
 reduce the rate of interest thereon whenever it 
 can be honestly done. 
 
 " ' That the best policy to diminish our burden 
 of debt is to so improve our credit that capital- 
 ists will seek to loan us money at lower rates of 
 interest thaii we now pa}', and must continue to 
 pay so long as repudiation, partial or total, open 
 or covert, is threatened or suspected.' 
 
 "I quote these declarations with feelings of 
 pride and satisfaction. I am proud of that great 
 party which, having saved the life of the nation 
 by its valor, now declares its unalterable purpose 
 to save, by its truth and devotion, wliat is still 
 more precious, the fiiith and honor of the nation. 
 
 "There was a declaration made by an old 
 English gentleman in the days of Charles H. 
 which does honor to human nature. He said 
 he was willing at any time to give his life for the 
 good of his country ; but he would not do a 
 mean thing to save his country from ruin. So, 
 sir, ought a citizen to feel in regard to our finan- 
 cial afKiirs. The people of the United States 
 can afibrd to make any sacrifice for their coun- 
 try, and the history of the last war has proved 
 their willingne.<« ; but the hnmblest citizen can- 
 not afibrd to do a mean or dishonorable thing to 
 save even this glorious Republic." 
 
 ON CURRENCY AND THE PUBLIC FAITH. 
 
 The House having under consideration the bill 
 (H. R. No. 1.572) entitled "An act to amend th» 
 several act* providing a national currency, and to- 
 establish free banking, and for other purposes," 
 Mr. Garfield said (April 8th, 1874_) : 
 
 " Let me call attention to a few features of the 
 bill now before the House. Its fii-st section 
 abolishes all the reserves by which our states- 
 men have hitherto protected the circulation of 
 banks, and kept them in readiness to redeem 
 their notes. This great safeguai'd is to be 
 thrown away. The ballast is to be tossed from 
 the boat of the balloon — the cables are to be cut 
 which held it to the earth. But the section will 
 operate unequally and nignsdy. For example, it 
 requires five and a half millions less of reserve to 
 be held by the banks of New York, and five and a 
 half millions more by the banks of Baston, than 
 is now required by law. Inflation in New York 
 — contraction in Boston. 
 
 "Section 5 works a revolution in the system 
 of bank balances. It requires five per cent, of 
 the circulation of every national bank to be kept 
 in New York and Washington, This takes twen- 
 ty millions of greenbacks away from the sixteen 
 redemption cities of the United States, and places 
 them in Wsishington and New York, for the pur- 
 pose of making the officers ofthe Treasury assort 
 and redeem the mutilated currency ofthe banks, 
 and issue new notes in their place. 
 
 "By the third section forty- four millions are 
 added to the greenback circulation. By this we 
 are to lo.se all we have gained in the way of re- 
 deeming the promise ofthe nation to pay its long 
 overdue paper. This is a permanent postpone- 
 ment of specie payments ; it hopelessly cripples 
 the machinery by which that result is to be reach- 
 
4C 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 od. To this is added an unlimited increase of 
 national banlc-notea. 
 
 "By this measure we invite two dangers. 
 With one hand we throw overboard the ballast ; 
 with the other we spread the sails, and thus com- 
 mit the ship of our public credit 
 
 " ' To the god of storms, 
 The lightning aud the gale.' 
 
 "I believe, Mr. Speaker, that the proposition 
 before us is fraught with measnreless mischief 
 If you will authorize free banking coupled with 
 some wise restriction — something that will lead 
 us slowly but surely toward specie payments ; if 
 we can reach the two great results — specie pay- 
 ments and free banking — we shall preserve the 
 quality of our currency, and shall leave its quan- 
 tity to be regulated by the demands of trade. 
 There never did exist on this earth a body of 
 men wise enough to determine by any arbitrary 
 rule how much currency is needed for the busi- 
 ness of a gieat country. The laws of trade, the 
 laws of credit, the laws of God impressed upon 
 the elements of this world, are superior to all leg- 
 islation ; and we can enjoy the benefits of these 
 immutable laws only by obeying them. 
 
 "I desire, Mr. Spealser, that all the real wants 
 of the. Great West and of the whole country shall 
 be fully supplied, but let them be supplied by that 
 which is reality, and not by broken and dishon- 
 ored promises. Let us not offer to people of this 
 country the apples of Sodom, that shall turn to 
 ashes on their lips. 
 
 "I believe, sir, that, if this legislation prevails, 
 the day is not far distant when the cry will come 
 up from those who labor in humblest fields of in- 
 dustry, denouncing those who have let loose upon 
 them the evils enveloped in this bill. . It has been 
 demonstrated again and again that upon the arti- 
 sans, the farmers, the day-laborers falls at last 
 the dead weight of all the depreciation and loss 
 that irredeemable paper-money carries in its train. 
 Let this policy be carried out, and the day will 
 surely and speedily come when the nation will 
 clearly trace the cause of its disaster to those who 
 deluded themselves and the people with what Jef- 
 ferson fitly called 'legerdemain tricks of paper- 
 money.'" 
 
 From a speech delivered in the House, June 
 22d, 1874, we extract some remarks of General 
 Garfield's on 
 
 THB BAILWAT PROBLEM. 
 
 "We are so involved in the events and move- 
 ments of society that we do not stop to realize — 
 what is undeniably true — that during the last 
 forty years all modern societies have entered 
 upon a period of change, more marked, more 
 pervading, more radical than any that has oc- 
 curred during the last three hundred years. In 
 saying this I do not forget our own political and 
 military history, nor the French Revolution of 
 17^3. The changes now taking place have 
 been wrought, and are being wrought, mainly, al- 
 mqst wholly, by a single mechanical contrivance, 
 the steam locomotive. Imagine, if you can, 
 what would happen if to -morrow morning the 
 railway locomotive, and its corollary, the tele- 
 graph, were blotted from the earth. At first 
 thought It would seem impossible to get on at 
 all with the feeble substitutes we should be com- 
 pelled to adopt in place of these great forces. 
 To what humble proportions mankind would be 
 compelled to scale down the great enterprises 
 they are now pushing forward with such ease ! 
 But were this calamity to happen, we should 
 siinply be placed where we were forty-three years 
 ago. 
 
 "There are many persons now living who well 
 riiniember the day when Andrew Jackson, after 
 foiir weeks of toilsome travel from his home in 
 Tennessee, reached Washington and took his 
 first oath of oCSce as President of the United 
 States. On that day the railway locomotive did 
 not exist. During that year Henry Clay was 
 struggling to make his name immortal by link- 
 ing it with the then vast project of building a 
 national road — a turnpike — from the national 
 capital to the banks of the Mississippi. 
 
 " In the autumn of that very year George Ste- 
 phenson ran his first experimental locomotive, 
 
 the 'Rocket,' from Manchester to Liverpool and 
 hack. The I'umble of its wheels, redoubled a 
 million times, is echoing to-day on eVery conti- 
 nent. 
 
 "In 1870 there were about l'J5,000 miles of 
 railroad on the two hemispheres, constructed at 
 a cost of little less than $100,000 per mile, and 
 representing nearly $12,000,000,000 of invested 
 capital. 
 
 "A parliamentary commission found that dur- 
 ing the year 1866 the railway cars of Great Brit- 
 ain carried an average of 8.50,000 passengers per 
 day; and during that year the work done by 
 their 8125 locomotives would have required for 
 its performance three and a half million horses 
 and nearly two million men. 
 
 " What have our people done for the locomo- 
 tive, and what has it done for us ? To the 
 United States, with its vast territorial areas, the 
 railroad was a vital necessity. 
 
 "Talleyrand once said to the first Napoleon 
 that 'the United States was a giant without 
 bones.' Since that time our gristle has been 
 rapidly hardening. Sixty-seven thousand miles 
 of iron track is a tolerable skeleton, even for a 
 giant. When this new power appeared, our peo- 
 ple everywhere felt the neces.sity of setting it to 
 work ; and individuals, cities. States, and the na- 
 tion lavished their resources without stint to 
 make a pathway for it. Fortunes were sunk un- 
 der almost every mile of our earlier roads in the 
 effort to capture and utilize this new power. If 
 the State did not head the subscription for a new 
 road, it usually came to the rescue before the 
 work was completed. 
 
 "The lands given by the States and by the 
 national Government to aid in the construction 
 of railroads reach an aggregate of nearly two 
 hundred and fifty million acres — a territory 
 equal to nine times the area of Ohio. With these 
 vast resources we have made paths for the steam 
 giant; and to-day nearly a quarter of a million 
 of our business and working men are in his im- 
 mediate service. Such a power naturally at- 
 tracts to its enterprise the brightest and strong- 
 est intellects. It would be difficult to find in any 
 other profession so large a proportion of men pos- 
 sessed of a high order of business ability as those 
 who construct, manage, and operate our railroads. 
 
 "The American people have done much for 
 the locomotive ; and it has done much for them. 
 We have already seen that it has greatly reduced, 
 if not wholly destroyed, the danger that the Gov- 
 ernment will fall to pieces by its own weight. 
 The i-ailroad has not only brought our people 
 and their industries together, but it has carried 
 civilization into the wilderness, has built up States 
 and Territories, which but for its power would 
 have remained deserts for a centuiy to come. 
 ' Abroad and at home,' as Mr. Adams tersely 
 declares, ' it has equally nationalized people and 
 cosmopolized nations.' It has played a most 
 important part in the recent movement for the 
 unification and preservation of nations. 
 
 "It enabled us to do what the old military 
 science had pronounced impossible — to conquer a 
 revolted population of eleven millions, occupying 
 a territory one-fifth as large as the continent of 
 Europe. In an able essay on the railway sys- 
 tem, Mr. Charles F. Adams, Jr., has pointed out 
 some of the remarkable achievements of the rail- 
 road in our recent history. For example, a sin- 
 gle railroad track enabled Sherman to maintain 
 eighty thousand fighting men three hundred 
 miles beyond his base of supplies. Another 
 line, in a space of seven days, brought a re-en- 
 forcement of two fully equipped army corps 
 around a circuit of thirteen hundred miles, to 
 strengthen an army at a threatened point. He 
 calls attention to the still more striking fact that 
 for ten years past, with fifteen hundred millions 
 of our indebtedness abroad, an enormous debt at 
 home, unparalleled public expenditures, and a 
 depreciated paper currency, in defiance of all 
 past experience, we have been steadily conquer- 
 ing our difficulties, have escaped the predicted 
 collapse, and are promptly meeting our engage- 
 ments; because, through energetic railroad de- 
 velopment, the country has been producing real 
 wealth, as no country has produced it before. 
 Finally, he sums up the case by declaring that 
 
 the locomotive has ' dragged the country through 
 its difficulties in spite of itself ' 
 
 " In discussing this theme we mast not make 
 an indiscriminate attack upon corpoi'ations. The 
 corporation limited to its proper uses is one of 
 the most valuable of the many useful creations 
 of law. One class of corporations has played a 
 most important and conspicuous part in securing 
 the liberties of mankind. It was the- municipal 
 corporations — the free cities and chartered towns 
 — that preserved and developed the spirit of free- 
 dom during the darkness of the Middle Ages, 
 and powerfully aided in the overthrow of the 
 feudal system. The charters of London and of 
 the lesser cities and towns of England made the 
 most effective resistance to the tyranny of Charles 
 II. and the judicial savagery of Jeffries. The 
 spirit of the free town and the chartered colony 
 taught our own fathers how to win their inde- 
 pendence. The New England township was the 
 political unit which formed the basis of most of 
 our States. 
 
 "This class of corporations have been most 
 useful, and almost always safe, because they have 
 been kept constantly within the control of the 
 community for whose benefit they were created. 
 The State has never surrendered the power of 
 amending their charters. 
 
 "Under the name of private corporations or- 
 ganizations have grown up, not for the pei'petu- 
 ation of great charity, like a college or hospital, 
 not to enable a company of citizens more con- 
 veniently to cany on a private industry, but a 
 class of corporations unknown to the early law 
 writers has arisen, and to them have been com- 
 mitted the vast-powers of the railroad and the tel- 
 egraph, the great instruments by which modern 
 communities live, move, and have their being. 
 
 "Since the dawn of history the great thor- 
 oughfares have belonged to the people, have been 
 known as the king's highways or the public high- 
 ways, and have been oi)en to the free use of all, 
 on payment of a small uniform tax or toll to keep 
 them in repair. But now the most perfect and 
 by far the most important roads known to man- 
 kind are owned and managed as private property^ 
 by a comparatively small number of private citi- 
 zens. 
 
 " In all its uses the railroad is the most public 
 of all our roads ; and in all the objects to which 
 its work relates, the railway coi-poration is as pub- 
 lic as any organization can be. But in the start 
 it was labelled a private corporation ; and, so far 
 as its legal status is concerned, it is now grouped 
 with eleemosynary institutions and private char- 
 ities, and enjoys similar immunities and exemp- 
 tions. It remains to be seen how long the com- 
 munity will suffer itself to be the victim of an 
 abstract definition. 
 
 " It will be readily conceded that a corporation 
 is strictly and really private when it is authorized 
 to carry on such a business as a private citizen 
 may carry on. But when the State has delegated 
 to a corporation the sovereign right of eminent 
 domain, the right to take from the private citizen, 
 without his consent, «. portion of his real estate, 
 to build its structure across farm, garden, and 
 lawn, into and through, over or under, the blocks, 
 squares, streets, churches, and dwellings of incor- 
 porated cities and towns, across navigable rivers, 
 and over and along public highways, it requires a 
 stretch of the common imagination and much re- 
 finement and subtlety of the law to maintain the 
 old fiction that such an organization is not a pub- 
 lic corporation 
 
 "In view of the facts already set forth,. the 
 question returns, what is likely to be the effect 
 of railway and other similar combinations upon 
 our community and our political institutions ? Is 
 it true, as asserted by the British writer quoted 
 above, that the State must soon recapture and 
 control the railroads, or be captured and subju- 
 gate by them ? Or do the phenomena we are 
 witnessing indicate that general breaking-up of 
 the social and political order of modern nations 
 so confidently predicted by a class of philosophers 
 whose opinions have hitherto made but little im- 
 pression on the public mind ? The analogy 
 
 between the industrial conditiqn of society at the 
 present time and the feudalism of the Middle 
 Ages is both striking and instructive. 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 47 
 
 "In the darkness and chaos of that period the 
 feudal system was the firsr. important step toward 
 the orgnnizaiion of modern nntinns. Powerful 
 chiefs and barons intrenched tliemselves in cas- 
 tles, and in return for submission and service gave 
 to their vassals rude protection and radar laws. 
 But as the feudal chiet^ grew in power and wenlth, 
 they became the oppressors of their people, taxed 
 and robbed them at will, and finally, in their ar- 
 rogance, defied the kings and emperors of the 
 Mediaeval States. From their castles, planted on 
 the great thorough Rires, they practised the most 
 capricious extortions on comniurce and travel, 
 and thus gave to modern language the phrase, 
 'levy black-mail.* 
 
 "The consolidation of our great industrial and 
 commercial companies, the power they wield, and 
 the relations they sustain to the State and to the 
 industry of the people, do not fall far short of 
 Fourier's definition of commercial or industrial 
 feudalism. The modern barons, more powerful 
 than their military prototypes, own our greatest 
 highways, and levy tribute at will upon all our 
 vast industries. And, as the old feudalism was 
 finally controlled and subordinated only by the 
 combined efforts of the kings and the people of 
 the free cities and towns, so our modern feudal- 
 ism can be subordinated to the public good only 
 by the great body of the people, acting through 
 their goveniments by wise and just laws. 
 
 "I shall not now enter upon the discussion of 
 methods by which this great work of adjustment 
 may be accomplished. But I refuse to believe 
 that the genius and energy which have developed 
 these new and tremendous tVn-ces will fail to make 
 them not the masters but the fiiithful servants of 
 society. It will bo a disgrace to onr age and to 
 us if we do not discover some method by which 
 the pablic functions of these orgauiwitions may 
 be brought into full subordination to the public, 
 and that too without violence, and without unjust 
 interfei-ence with the rights of private individuals. 
 It will be unworthy of our age. and of us, if we 
 make the discussion of this subject a mere war- 
 fare again.st men. For in these greiit industrial 
 enterprises have been and still are engaged some 
 of the noblest and worthiest men of our time. 
 It is the system — its tendencies and its dangers 
 — which society itself has produced, that we are 
 now to confront.. And these industries must not 
 be crippled, bat promoted. The evils complained 
 of are mainly of our own making. States and 
 communities have willingly and thonghtJessly 
 conferred these great powers upon railways ; and 
 they mast seek to rectify their own errors with- 
 out injury to the industiies they have encour- 
 aged. 
 
 ' ' Already methods are being suggested. Mas- 
 sachusetts has been discussing the proposal to pur- 
 chase and operate a portion of her railroad sys- 
 tem, and thus bring the rest into competition with 
 the State, as the representative of the people. And 
 it is claimed that the success of this plan has been 
 proved by the expeiience of Belgium. 
 
 ' ' Another proposition is that the State parehase 
 the roads and open them, like other highways, to 
 the free use of the public, subject to such regula- 
 tions and toll as the safety of transportation and 
 the maintenance of the system may require. This, 
 it is claimed, would remove the stocks and bonds 
 from the gambling operations of the markets, and 
 (jaca the levying of the transportation tax in the 
 hands of the'State and under the control of those 
 who pay. 
 
 " Others, again, insist that the system has over- 
 grown the limits and the powers of the separate 
 States, and must be taken in hand by the National 
 Governmeitt under that provision of the Consti- 
 tution which empowers Congress 'to regulate 
 commerce among the several States.' When it 
 is objected that this would be a great and danger- 
 ous step toward politiaU centralization — which 
 many think ha.s already been pushed too far— it 
 is r^ponded that, as the railway is the greatest 
 centralizing force of modern time-s nothing but a 
 kindi^ force can control it, and it is better to 
 rule it than to be niled by it. Other solutions 
 have been proposed, but these are sufiBcient to 
 show how strongly the current of public thought 
 is setting toward the subject. Indications ai-e 
 not wanting that the discussion wUl be attended 
 
 by passion, and by a full exhibition of that low 
 political I'unuing whicli plays with the passions 
 and prejudices of men, and measures success by 
 results, and not by the character of the means 
 employed. 1 have ventured to criticise the ju- 
 dicial application of the Dartmouth College case ; 
 and I venture the further opinion that some feat- 
 ures of that decision, as applied to the railway 
 and similar corporations, must give way under the 
 new elements which time has added to the prob- 
 lem. But this must be done not by denouncing 
 judges who fjiithfully administer tlie law, but by 
 such prudent changes in the law, and perhaps in 
 our constitutions, as will guide the courts in fut- 
 ure adjudications. 
 
 "It depends upon the wisdom, the culture, the 
 self-control of our people and their representatives 
 to determine how wisely and how well this ques- 
 tion shall be settled. But that it will be solved, 
 and solved in the interest of liberty and justice, 
 I do not doubt. And it« solution will open the 
 way to a solution of a whole chapter of similar 
 questions that relate to the conflict between cap- 
 ital and labor." 
 
 In a speech on the report of the Rksdmption 
 Law he spoke as follows, November 16th, 1877: 
 
 " I now proceed to notice the second point that 
 has been made in favor of this bill. It is assumed 
 that specie payment will injure the debtor class 
 of this couiitiy. and thereby oppi-ess the poor ; 
 in other words, that the enforcement of the Re- 
 sumption law will oppress the poor and increa.se 
 the riches of the rich. It is assumed that the 
 laboring men are in debt, and that the rich men 
 constitute the ci-editor class. I deny this propo- 
 sition tn toto. I affirm that the vast majority of 
 the creditore of tliis country are the poor people ; 
 that the vast majority of the debtors of this coun- 
 try are the well-to-do-people, in fact, people who 
 are moderately rich. 
 
 "As a matter of fact, the poor man, the labor- 
 ing man, cannot get heavily in debt. He has 
 not the security to offeiv Men lend their money 
 on security '; and, in the very nature of the case, 
 poor men can borrow hut little. What, then, do 
 poor men do with their small earnings ? When 
 a man has earned, out of his hard work, a hun- 
 dred dollars more than he needs for current ex- 
 penses, he reasons thus : " I cannot go into busi- 
 ness with a hundred dollars ; I cannot embark 
 in trade; but, as I work, I want my money to 
 work." And so he puts his small gains where 
 they will earn someihing. He lends his money 
 to a wealthier neighbor, or puts it into a savings- 
 bank. There were in the United States, on the 
 1st of November, 1876, forty-four hundred and 
 seventy-five savings-banks and private banks of 
 deposits; and their deposits amounted to $1,377,- 
 000,000, almost thi-ee-fourths the amonnt of our 
 national debt. Over two and a half millions of the 
 citizens of the United States were depositors. 
 In some States the deposits did not average more 
 than $250 each. ^ The great mass of the deposi- 
 tors are men and women of small means — ^labor- 
 ers, widows, and orphans. They are the lenders 
 of this enormous aggregate. The savings-banks, 
 as their agents, lend it to whom ? Not to the la- 
 boring poor, but to bu.siness men who wish to en- 
 large their business beyond their capital. Spec- 
 ulators sometimes borrow it. But in the main, 
 well-to-do business men borrow these hoardings. 
 Thus the poor lend tn the rich. 
 
 "Gentlemen assail the bond -holders of the 
 country as the rich men who oppress the poor. 
 Do they know how vast an amount of the pnblic 
 securities are held by poor people? I took oc- 
 casion, a few years since, to ask the officers of a 
 bank in one of the counties of my district — a ru- 
 ral district — to show me the number of holders 
 and amounts held of United States bonds on 
 which they collected the interest The total 
 amonnt was $416,000. And how many people 
 held them ? One hundred and ninety-six. Of 
 these, jnst eight men held from $15,000 to 
 .$20,000 each ; the other one hundred and eighty- 
 eight ranged from $!>0 up to $2500. I found in 
 that list fifteen orphan children and sixty widows, 
 who had a little left them from their fathers' or 
 husbands' estate-s. and had made the nation their 
 guardian. And I fiuind one hundred and twen- 
 ty-one laborers, mechanics, ministers, men ^of 
 
 slender means, who had saved their earnings and 
 put them in the bauds of the United States that 
 they might he safe. And they were the ' bloated 
 bond-holders ' against whom so much eloquence 
 is fulminated in tliis House. 
 
 "There is another way in which poor men 
 dispose of their money. A man says. I can keep 
 my wife and babies from starving while I live 
 and have my health ; but if I die they may be 
 compelled to go over the hill to the pour-house; 
 and, agonized by that thought, he saves of his 
 hard earnings enough to take oat and keep alive 
 a small life-insurance policy, so that, if he dies, 
 there may be something left, provided the insur- 
 ance company to which he intrusts his money is 
 honest enough to keep its pledges. And how 
 many men do you think have done that in the 
 United States? I do not know the number for 
 the whole country ; but I do know this, that 
 from a late report of the insurance commission- 
 ers of the State of New York, it appeai-s that 
 the companies doing business in that State had 
 774,625 policies in force, and the face value of 
 these policies was $1,922,000,000. I find, by 
 looking over the returns, that in my State there 
 are 55,000 policies outstanding ; in Pennsylva- 
 nia, 74,000 ; in Maine, 1 7,000 ; in Maryland, 
 25,000 ; and in the State of New York, 160,000. 
 There are, of coui-se, some rich men insured in 
 these companies ; but the majority are poor peo- 
 ple ; for the policies do not average more than 
 $2200 each. What is done with the assets of 
 these companies, which amounts to $455,000,- 
 000. They are loaned out. Here, again, the 
 creditor .class is the poor, and the insurance 
 conxjianies are the agents of the poor to lend the 
 money for them. It would be dishonorable for 
 Congress to legislate either for the debtor class 
 or for the creditor class alone. We ought to 
 legislate for the whole country. But when gen- 
 tlemen attempt to manufacture sentiment against 
 the Resumption Act, by saying it will help the 
 rich and hurt the poor, they are overwhelmingly 
 answered by the facts. 
 
 " Suppose you undo the work that Congress 
 has attempted — to resume specie payment — what 
 will result ? You will denreciate the value of the 
 greenback. Suppose it fells ten cents on the dol- 
 lar. You will have destroyed ten per cent, of the 
 value of every deposit in the savings-banks, ten 
 per cent, of every life-insurance policy and fire- 
 insurance policy, of every pension to the soldier, 
 and of every day's wages of every laborer in the 
 nation. 
 
 "In the census of 1870 it was estimated that 
 on any given day there were $120,000,000 due to 
 the laborers for their unpaid wages. That is a 
 small estimate. Let the greenback dollar come 
 down ten per cent., and yon take $12,000,000 
 from the men who have already earned it In 
 the name of every interest connected with the 
 poor man, I denounce this effort to prevent re- 
 sumption. Daniel Webster never uttered a 
 greater truth in finance than when he said that 
 of all contrivances to cheat the laboring-classes 
 of mankind, none was so effective as that which 
 deluded them with irredeemable paper-money. 
 The rich can take care of themselves ; bat the 
 dead weight of all the fluctuation and loss fells 
 ultimately on the poor man who has only his 
 day's work to sell 
 
 " I do not undervalne the greenback or its 
 great services to the conntiy ; but when the gen- 
 Ueman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kelley] spoke of 
 the greenback as being the thing that put down 
 the Rebellion, I thought if I had been on the oth- 
 er side I would have said, ' We had a much more 
 liberal snpply of paper-money than you had ; why 
 did it not put you down? [Laughter.]] Oar 
 money was better than yours in one respect, for 
 ours set a day of resumption, which was six 
 months after the independence of the Confeder- 
 ate States shonid be arltnowledged.' [Langh- 
 ter.] I think, sir, that those gentlemen who are 
 femiliar with the financial history of the Confed- 
 eracy would not join the gentleman in his eulogy 
 on paper currency which is cut loose from the 
 coin standard. 
 
 "Our country needs not only a national, but 
 an international currency. Let me state a feet 
 of vast importance in ttus discnssion. The for- 
 
48 
 
 THfc LIFE OF JAMES A. GAEFlEIiD. 
 
 eigii trade of this conntry-^ts exports artd iwi- 
 ptortS— amounts to $1,500,000,000 in vAlde ; arid 
 every dollar of that trade must be tria,nsacted in 
 coin. We cannot help ourselves. Every article 
 of export «:e send abroad is measured by and 
 sold for coin. Every article of import we must 
 pay for in coin. We must translate these coin 
 prices into our currency ; and every fluctuation 
 in the value of the greenback falls upon us, and 
 not upon the countries wi^h which we ti'ade. 
 Therefore, the commercial interests of America 
 demand that the internatiorial and national value 
 of money shall be one; so that what is a dollar 
 in Ohio shall be a dollir the world over. Our 
 money must be international as wfell as tiationftli 
 unless we wish to isolate this country find have 
 no trade or commerce', or glOry on the sea. 
 
 "The trouble with our greienback dollar is 
 this : it has two distinct funeti6n'S — one a pur- 
 chasing power and the other a debt-paying pow- 
 el". As a debt-paying power it is equal to one 
 hundred cents — that is, to pay an old private 
 dfebt. A greenback dollar Will by law dischai%e 
 one hundred cents 6f dfebt. But no law cati 
 give it purchasing power in the general markets 
 of the world, unless it represents a known stand- 
 ard w coin valud Now, what we want it that 
 tW^e two qualities of our grfeenbafek dollar shall 
 be made equ.il — its debt-paying power and its 
 geneval purchasing power. When these are 
 equEll, the problem of our currency is Solved, 
 arid not till then. 
 
 " This is the era of pacification. We believe 
 ift the pacification <Jf the country ; that is, we 
 seek to pass out of the storm-centre of war that 
 raged over this country So long, ilnd enter .the 
 calAi Circle of pBace. We betievein the equality 
 of States, and the equality of citizens before the 
 law. In these we have made great progress. 
 Let us take rine step farther. Let us have 
 equality of dollars before the law, so (hat the 
 trinity of our political creed shall be equal StaiteS, 
 equal men, and equal dollars tliloughout the 
 Union. When these three are realized we shall 
 have achieved the eoftiplete pacification of our 
 country. 
 
 ''We are bound for thrie greit reasons to 
 maintain the resuni'ptioii of specie payments : 
 First, because the sanction of the public faith re- 
 quires it; second, becau.se the material prosper- 
 ity bf the country demands it ; and, third, be- 
 cause our future prosperity demands that a'gita- 
 tion shall cease, and that the country shall find a 
 safe and permanent basis for financial peace. 
 
 "The conditions ai'6 now all in our favor. 
 The Secretary of the Treasury tells Us in his re- 
 port, laid upon our taible this morning, that he 
 has $66,000,000 of gold coin, unpledged for any 
 ot'her purpose, waiting as a reserve for the day 
 of resumption. He is adding to that stock at 
 the rate of $5,000,000 a month. Our surplus 
 revenue of $35,000,000 a year, all will be added 
 to this reserve. Foreigrt exchange is now in our 
 favor. We are selling to other nations almost 
 $200,000,000 a year more than we are buying. 
 AH liheSe elements are with us. Our harvests 
 are more bountiful than ever before. The nation 
 is on the returaing wave Of proSpferitJ-. Every- 
 whei'e business is reviving, and thSre is no dan- 
 ger esicept from the Congress of the United 
 States. Here is the storm-centre'; here is the 
 point of peril. If we can pass this peril, and 
 not commit ourselves to the dangerous act now 
 threatened, we shall soon see resurfaptioa com- 
 plete." 
 
 ON THE EELATION OF THB GOVBENMBNT 
 TO SCIENCE, PEBEUAEY 11th, 1879. 
 
 "What ought to be the relation of the Nation- 
 al Government to science ? Whatj if anything, 
 ought we to do in the way of promoting science? 
 For example, if we have the power, would it be 
 wise for Congress to appropriate money out of 
 the Treasury to employ naturalists to find out 
 all that is to be known of our American birds? 
 Ornithology is a delighlfid and useful study ; but 
 woold it be wise for Congress to make an appro- 
 priation for the advancement of that science ? In 
 my judgment, manifestly not. We would thtere- 
 by make one favored class of men the rivals of 
 oil the ornitbologiEts who in their private Way, 
 
 following the bent of their geninfe, may be work- 
 ing out the results of science in that field. I 
 have no doubt that kn appi'Opriation out of our 
 Treasdry fbr that purpose would be a positive 
 injury to the advancement of science, jUst a^ irt 
 appropriation to establish a church woiild work 
 injury to religion. 
 
 "Generally the desire of our stientific men is 
 tb be let alone to work in free competition with 
 all the scientific men of the wbrld ; to develop 
 their own results, and get the credit of them eaich 
 for himself'; not t6 have the Government enter 
 the lists as the rival ctf private enterprise._ 
 
 " A's a general principle, therefore, the'ITnited 
 States ought not to interfere in rnatter's of sci- 
 ence, but should leave its development to the 
 free, voluntary action of our great third estate, 
 the people themselves. 
 
 "Id this non-inteifetence theory of tbe Gov- 
 ernment I do not g6 to the extent of saying thftt 
 we should do nothing for educlition — foi- primary' 
 edflc&tiori. That cotoes Under another consid- 
 eration — the Viecessity of the nation to protect 
 itself, and the consideration that it ife cheaper 
 arid wiser to give eiduCation ihah to build jails. 
 Biit I am speaking now of the higher scieriCeS. 
 
 " To the general priheiple I have Stated, there 
 are a few obvious exceiVtioris which should Vs 
 clearly understood When we legislate on the sub- 
 ject; Ih the first place the Government should 
 aid all sorts df sciehtific inquiry that are neces- 
 sary to thfe intelligent exercise of its own fuiic- 
 tiohs. 
 
 "For examplei as we are atlthorizeid by the 
 Constitution and dompelled by necessity to build 
 and maintain light-houses on our coast and 'es- 
 tablish fog-signals', we are bound to make all 
 necessary scientific inquiries in reference to Tight 
 and its laws, sound and its laws — to do whatever 
 in the way of science is necessary to achieve the 
 best results in lighting our coasts and warning 
 our mariners of danger. So, when we are build- 
 ing iron-clads f6r our navy or casting guns fOr 
 our army, we ought to know all that is scientifi- 
 cally possible to be kn6wn about the strength of 
 materials and the laws of mechariics which ap- 
 ply to such structures. In short, v^herever in 
 exercising any of the necessary functions of the 
 Government scientific inquiry is needed, let us 
 make it, to the fullest extent, and at the public 
 expense. 
 
 "There is another exception to the general 
 rule of leaving science to the voluntary action of 
 the people. Wherever any gieat popular inter- 
 est, affectirig whole classes, pdSsibly all classes 
 of the community, imperatively need scientific 
 investigation, and privnte enterprise cannot ac- 
 complish it, We may wisely intervene and help 
 where the Constitution gives us authority. For 
 example, in discovering the origin of yellow- feve/r 
 and the methods of preventing its ravages, the 
 nation should do, for the good of all, what nei- 
 thev the States nor individuals can accomplish. 
 I might perhaps include in a third exception 
 thdse inquiries which, in consequence of their 
 great magnitude and cost. Cannot be successful- 
 ly Alftde by private individuals. Outside these 
 thi'ee' claisses of inquiries, the Gb^ernment ought 
 to 'keep ieb hands off', and leave scientific exper- 
 iment rind inquiry to the free competition of 
 those bright, intelligent men whose genius leads 
 them into the fields of research. 
 
 "And I suspect, when We read the report of 
 our commissioner to the late Paris Exposition, 
 which Shows Such astonishing resiilts, so credita- 
 ble to our Country, so honorable to the genius of 
 our people, it will be found, in any final analysis 
 of causes, that the superiority of Americans in' 
 that grekt Exposition resulted main'ly from- their 
 superior freedom, and the greater competition be- 
 tween mind and mind untrammelled by Govern- 
 ment interference. I believe it will be found we 
 are best Serving the cause of religion and sci- 
 ence, and all those great primary rights which 
 we did not delegate to the Congress or the States, 
 but left the people free to enjoy and maintain 
 them 
 
 "We have made the Gftvemment a formida- 
 ble and crushing competitor- of private students 
 of Science'; and I think we have in some cases 
 gonp beyond the fair limit of what the Govern- 
 
 ment ought to do in the way of scientific investi- 
 gation. We have had the War Department, with 
 tWo 6r ihiee Sfefikrate e?:p6dition4, exploiiiig oUr 
 Westei'n territory. We have had tvvo separate 
 organizations from t'he Interior Depirtrhe'nt alsb 
 exploring ; arid it has all bee'rt dorie oh a system 
 which has invited arid fostered a personal seek- 
 ing of favor froni Congress. There havS been 
 good men, intelligerit riiCri, scieritific meri, wli6 
 have Sought fiir authbrity and aid to make sci- 
 ehtific investigations in fields which private ciW- 
 zens were exploring ; and in erriployirig so manjr 
 separate and indeperiderit parties there hflvfe be'eh ' 
 many Cas'e^, if not of Collision, at least of ovSi-- 
 lapping and duplication in the same field 'Af^k- 
 ariiiriaition. tt Seems to me it is high tiftie for 
 us, first, to restrict bur scientific work plaiBiy 
 aWd riiirrowly within the limits Of ihfe rules I 
 have tried to lay down ; arid, second, to cbnsoli- 
 date the sciehtific part of ouV work of iufvfey tin- 
 der OriC resporiiible hfead ; aijd havirig doViTe thkt, 
 with all the economy Which can be fairiy u^ed', 
 let us make our oiillay Only in the direbt'ioh of 
 public necessity. 
 
 ' ' Now, lest some brie should think I kiti kt- 
 tacking the 'giebTogifeal sui-Veys, I haitfeft to Sajr 
 that it is absolutely Vital tb an iritelligent dis- 
 charge bf our di'ities as trustees, or rather as own- 
 ers of 'the gi'eflt public doWain yet unsnrveyed 
 q,nd unsold, to 'give to Our people all the light 
 that science can shed upoh the character -and 
 quality of thoije lands. 
 
 "While I ftiay dbirbt the prb^priety of raakirig 
 at once the whole change proposed in this bill, 
 it is ^eiftetly Clear to my mind thkt we ti&ii' 
 reached a riafurAl Crisis ih the niftnugement 'arid 
 disposition of oui^ public domain. We have'rioW 
 reached the foot-hills of the great Eocky Moiiri- 
 tain Chain ; and the Old plans, the old method's, ' 
 both bf survey and Of SettleimeHt, are in the nikin 
 no longei- applicable. Of what possible rise baft 
 it be to chbt'k'br-hoaid the slopes and the tops bf 
 mouritairis that are full of ores with the old sys- 
 tem of sections, half Sectibris, and Quarter Sec- 
 tions ? 
 
 "To say that the old pliri haS workefd vi^ell 
 for it huhdrbd years is to priiise our past proper- ' 
 ly ; biit to say that the same plan will work \v'ell 
 for the next huridred yefirs is to say the match- 
 locks, gun-fiints, the pontoons a«d other nanfi'i- 
 leSs and obsolete implements of War that were ih 
 vogue a hundred years ago will be good for a 
 hundred years to Comb, and should not be abin- ' 
 doned. We must not revolutionize merely fiir 
 thfe sake of change, but We hiust *isely arid In- 
 telligently adapt our policy to the pirci'gress bf 
 events ; and I believe it has been clearly shb*h 
 that if the old rectangular system is cori'tinu'ed it 
 will be substantially worthless in its applicatfoli 
 to most of orir tinsiirv'eye'd territory." , 
 
 On the question whether NATiotiAL EL^fe 
 TioNS should be protected by niitiohal au'thori^, 
 he said : 
 
 "There is another Jioirit which I must toubh 
 to show the evasions which hive been resbrted 
 tb in this debate. The other side Seeks to go 
 before the country on Jileaslike this which standi 
 as the heading of the speech of tlie distinguished 
 geritlfeman fi'om Virginia [Mr. Tucker] : 'El'eo- 
 tions by the people must be free fi'bin the poVer 
 and presencfe of thb Standing army.' They sb^k 
 to make the people believe that Deriiocrats In 
 Cbrigress aW struggling to get the bavoriets 
 away from the breasts of the voters, and that we 
 are striving to kCep the army at the polls. The 
 Deriiocratic Press is everywhere stating the is'srie 
 in thife waj^, that the Republicans are defendfrig 
 an odibus law, enacted amidst the passiortb of the 
 war, to authorize the use bf the army 'at StMxk 
 elections. 
 
 "^bW, ' mark how |)lain a tale shall put that 
 down.' On this side this "prbpbSitidri was made: 
 If you find fault with the law of 1865 we will 
 help you repeal it altogether. On the motion 
 of the distinguished gentleman frbm Michigan 
 [Mr. Conger], every Republican ori this flobr 
 who vbted at all, when the Army Bill was herfe, 
 voted to repeal JB toto the law of 1865, which you 
 complained of to the people as putting the bay- 
 onets at the breasts of the ■voters ; and every 
 Dembcrat who sits here and vbted at all, voted 
 
'No,' Yon would not repeal the law, but you 
 told the people we were tiying to keep it on the 
 statute-books, and jou were trying to get it off. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Chairman, onr vote on that sub- 
 ject has put us beyoud all cavil on this high and 
 unassailable ground. We are willing and we 
 have voted to repeal the whole of that law, and 
 we even went so far as to put that repeal on the 
 Array Bill, and you voted against it. Now, 
 never again go to the people and say you tried 
 to repeal the odious law of 1865, and the Uepub- 
 Ucan.s would not let you. 
 
 "My colleague [Mr. Ewing], who has just 
 taken his seat, says that the sections sought to 
 be repealed by the bill now before us authorize 
 unwarrantable and unconstitutional interference 
 with elections in the Sfates. He says that the 
 supervisors and marshals are intrudei's at the 
 election of Congressmen ; that they have no con- 
 stitutional right to be there, even as witnesses. 
 Grentlemen, I never believed in State rights to 
 the extent yon did and do; but there is one 
 thing concerning which I have always thought 
 that the States came very near being sovereign. 
 I suppose that all our States claim the right to 
 have a legislature of two Houses, each House 
 with a right to make its own rules, sit in its own 
 separate chamber, pass measures accordirj^ to its 
 own rules, and regulate the conduct of its own 
 clerks. Yet, gentlemen, if you will read from 
 Sections li to 19 of the Kerised Statutes, you 
 will find that the following iias been done : The 
 supreme power of the United States, by force of 
 national law, has gone into the Legislature of ev- 
 ery State in this Union, and said to them, ' There 
 is a certain Tuesday, the second Tuesday after 
 you have organized, when you shall not fix your 
 own time of meeting ; when you shall not even 
 adjourn over. You shall meet at twelve o'clock. 
 When you meet, yon shall not vote by ballot ; you 
 shall vote viva voce. Your clerk shall call the 
 roll. You shall vote for a Senator.' The law 
 prescribes how the clerks of both Houses shall 
 make the entries in their journals. If there is 
 no election, the clerk shall certify it ; and then 
 this national authority says : ' If there is no elec- 
 tion by the separate vote of the two Houses the 
 second day, I take your two Houses and consoli- 
 date them into one. I abolish the distinction 
 between senator and representative, put them 
 into one hall, and hold them in joint session 
 from day to day, and they shall vote as one 
 body nnm a Senator is^elected.' 
 
 "Who dues tUl that to State Legislatures? 
 It is done by a law of the United States passed 
 in July, 186U ; and no Democrat has denounced 
 it as unconstitutional ; no State Legislature has 
 made any opposition to it ; and every one of the 
 seventy-six Senators now at the other end of this 
 Capitol holds his seat in pursuance of the oper- 
 ation uf that law. 
 
 "Now, if we do all that unchallenged to the 
 Legislature of a sovereign State, who will say that 
 we cannot go among our own citizens and super- 
 vise and protect our own ballot-boxes where men 
 are to be elected to seats on this floor? Your 
 constitational question is given away when you 
 admit the supervisions there, as you do in this 
 bill ; still more decisively it is given away by the 
 universal acquiescence in the law for electing 
 Senators. 
 
 " The gi-eat danger which threatens this conn- 
 try is, that our sovereign may be dethroned or 
 destroyed by corruption. In any monarchy of 
 the world, if the sovereign be slain or become 
 lanatic, it is easy to put another in his place, for 
 the sovereign is a person. But our sovereign is 
 the whole body of voters. If you kill or cor- 
 rupt or render lunatic our sovereign, there is no 
 Euccessor, no regent to take his place. The 
 source of onr sovereign's supreme danger, the 
 point where his life is vulnerable, is at the bal- 
 lot-box, where his will is declared; and if we 
 cannot stand by that cradle of our sovereign's 
 heir-apparent and protect it to the uttermost 
 against all assa-ssins and assailants, we have no 
 goveinment and no safety for the future." 
 
 THE NEW SILVER BILL. 
 The House having under consideration a bill 
 to aathoriie the unlimited coinage of silver, and 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GAM'lELU. 
 
 to give the profits thereof to the owners of bull- 
 ion. May 17th, 1879— Mr. Garfield said : 
 
 " Mr. Spkakkr, — We have probably never 
 legislated on any question the influence of which 
 reaches farther, both territorially and in time, 
 and touches more interests, more vital interests, 
 than are touched by this and similar bills. No 
 man can doubt that within recent years, and 
 notably within recent months, the leading think- 
 ers of the civilized world have become alarmed 
 at the attitude of the two precious metals in re- 
 lation to each other ; and many leading thinkers 
 are becoming clearly of the opinion that by some 
 wise, judicious arrangement both the precious 
 metals must be kept in service for the currency 
 of the world. And this opinion has been very 
 rapidly gaining ground within the last six months, 
 to such an extent that England, which for more 
 than half a century has stoutly adhered to the 
 single gold standard, is now seriously meditating 
 how she may harness both these metals to the 
 monetary car of the world. And yet, outside 
 of this Capitol, I do not this day know of a sin- 
 gle great and recognized advocate of bi-metallic 
 money who regards it prudent or safe for any 
 nation largely to increase the coinage standard 
 of silver coin at the present time beyond the lim- 
 its fixed by existing laws. France and the states 
 of the Latin Union, that have long believed in 
 hi - metallism, maintained it against nil comers, 
 and have done all in their power to advocate it 
 throughout the world, dare not coin a single sil- 
 ver coin, and have not done so since 1874. The 
 most strenuous advocates of hi -metallism in 
 those countries say it would be ruinous to bi- 
 metallism for Fi-ance or the Latin Union to coin 
 any more silver at present. The remaining 
 stock of German silver now for sale, amounting 
 to from forty to seventy-five millions of dollars, 
 is a standing menace to the exchanges and silver 
 coinage of Europe. One month ago the leading 
 financial journal of London proposed that the 
 Bank of England buy one-half of the German 
 surplus and hold it five years on condition that 
 the German Government shall hold the other 
 half off the market. The time is ripe for some 
 wise and prudent arrangement among the na- 
 tions to save silver from a disastrous break- 
 down. 
 
 " Yet we, who during the past two years have 
 coined far more silver dollars than we ever be- 
 fore coined since the fonndation of the Govern- 
 ment—ten times as many as we coined during 
 half a century of our national life — are to-day 
 ignoring and defying the enlightened, univei-sal 
 opinion of bi-metallists, and saying that the Unit- 
 ed States, single-handed and alone, cim enter 
 the field and settle the mighty issue alone. We 
 are justifying the old proverb that ' Fools rush 
 in where angels fear to ti'ead.' 
 
 "It is sheer madness, Mr. Speaker. I once 
 S.1W a dog on a great stack of hay that had been 
 floated out into the wild, ovei-flowed stream of a 
 river, with its stack-pen and fonndation still hold- 
 ing together, but ready to be wrecked. For a 
 little while the animal appeared to be perfectly 
 happy. His hay-stack was there, and the pen 
 around it, and he seemed to think the world 
 bright, and his happiness secure, while the sun- 
 shine fell softly on his head and his hay. But 
 by-and-by he began to discover that the house 
 and the barn and their surroundings were not all 
 there as they were when he went to sleep the 
 night before ; and he began to see that he could 
 not command all the prospect and peacefully 
 dominate the scene as he had done before. So 
 with this House. We assume to manage this 
 mighty question which has been launched on the 
 wild current that sweeps over the whole world, 
 and we bark from our legislative hay-stacks as 
 though we commanded the whole world. In the 
 name of common-sense and sanity, let us take 
 some accoimt of the flood; let us nndeivtand 
 that a deluge means something, and try, if we 
 can, to get our bearings before we undertake to 
 settle the a6Fairs of all mankind by a vote of this 
 Honse. 
 
 "To-day we are coining one-third of all the 
 silver that is being coined in the round world. 
 China is coining another third; and all other 
 nations are using the remaining one -third for 
 
 49 
 
 subsidiary coin. And if we want to take rank 
 with China and part company with all the civil- 
 ized nations of the Western World, let us pass 
 this bill, and then ' bay the moon ' as we float 
 down the whirling channel to take our place 
 among the silver monometallists of Asia. 
 
 "What this country needs above all other 
 things is that this Congress shall pass the ap- 
 propriation bills, adjourn, and go home, and let 
 the forces of business and good order and broth- 
 erhood, working in their natural and orderly 
 way, bring us into light and stability and peace. 
 And we want time to adjust this great interna- 
 tional question." 
 
 We will close these extracts'With General Gar- 
 field's able reply to Mr. Lamar, on the question, 
 
 CAN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BE SAFELY IN- 
 TEOSTED WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF 
 THE GOVERNMENT f 
 
 The House being in Committee of the Whole 
 on the bill to transfer the conduct of Indian af- 
 fairs from the Interior Department to the War 
 Department, Mr. Garfield said : 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, — I regret that the speech 
 of the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Laihar] 
 has not yet appeared in the Record, so that I 
 might have had its fnll and authentic text before 
 offering my own remarks in reply. But his prop- 
 ositions were so clearly and so very ably stated, 
 the doctrines that run through it were so logical- 
 ly connected, it will be my own fault if I fail to 
 undei'stand and appreciate the general scope and 
 purpose of his speech. 
 
 " In the outset, I desire for myself and for a 
 majoiity, at least, of those for whom I speak, to 
 express my gratitude to the gentleman for all 
 that portion of his speech wliich had for its ob- 
 ject the removal of the prejudices and unkindly 
 feelings that have arisen among citizens of the 
 Republic in consequence of the late war. What- 
 ever faults the speech may have, its author ex- 
 presses an earnest desire to make progress in the 
 direction of a better understanding between the 
 North and the South ; and in that it meets my 
 most hearty concurrence and approval. 
 
 "I will attempt to state briefly what I under- 
 stand to be the logic of the gentleman's speech. 
 He sets out with deploring the evils of party, and 
 expressing the belief that the great mass of the 
 American people are tired of much that belongs 
 to party ; and, looking beyond and above mere 
 parly prejudices and passions, they greatly de- 
 sire to remove public corruptions, and reform the 
 manifold errors and evils of administration and 
 legislation ; that those errors and evils consist 
 mainly of two things : First, of a generally cor- 
 rupt state of public administration ; and, second, 
 of a deplorable state of the civil service; that 
 this state of aflairs is buttressed and maintained 
 by an enormous army of one hundred thousand 
 civil office-holders and one hundred thousand 
 more expectants for office ; and that because of 
 this vast force the people have hitherto been un- 
 able to make the refbims they desire. This is 
 his major premise. 
 
 "The next point, his minor premise, is that 
 the Republican party is incapable of effecting the 
 great reforms which the people desire; and his 
 conclusion from these premises is that the Dem:- 
 ocratic party ought to be brought into power in 
 the coming election. 
 
 "This was the summary, and, I may say, 
 abrupt, conclusion of bis rejisoning. The gen- 
 tleinan seemed to be aware that there might he 
 some apprehensions in the minds of the people 
 that it would not, quite yet, be safe to recall the 
 Democratic party to power; and he endeavored 
 to qniet those apprehensions by stating, in the 
 first place, that there need be no fear that the 
 South, lately in rebellion, would again control 
 the Government; that they were prostrated ; that 
 their institutions had been overthrown ; that their 
 industries had been broken up ; that in tlieirweak 
 and broken condition there need be no fear that 
 thev would again be placed at the head of public 
 affairs; and, finally, that the South has united 
 with the Democratic party not from choice, but 
 forced to it by inexorable necessity as their only 
 means of protection. 
 
 " In the second place, there was apprehension. 
 
60 
 
 THE LIFE OE JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 he said, that the Democracy, if they came into 
 power, would not preserve the beneficent results 
 of the war. But he assures us that this fear is 
 groundless ; that the people of the South have no 
 aspirations which are not bounded by the horizon 
 of the Union ; that they as well as the Democ- 
 racy of the North accept, honestly and sincerely, 
 the great results of the war; and that they can 
 he trusted to preserve all the good that has been 
 gained. 
 
 "Again, he says it is feared, on the part of 
 many, that the colored race, lately enslaved, will 
 not be safe in the full enjdyment of all the rights 
 resulting from the war, and guaranteed by the 
 amendments to the Constitution. This he also 
 assures us is a groundless fear, because the peo- 
 ple of the South understand the colored race, ap- 
 preciate their qualities, find are on such a footing 
 ef friendship and regard that they are, in fact, 
 better fitted to meet the wants of that people, and 
 help them along in the way of civilization, en- 
 lightenment, and peace, than those who are far- 
 ther removed from such knowledge. 
 
 " He emphasizes the statement that the South 
 cheerfully accepts the results of the war, and ad- 
 mits that much good has been achieved by the 
 Republican party which ought to be preserved. 
 I was gratified to hear the gentleman speak of 
 Lincoln as ' the illustrious author of the great 
 act of emancipation.' That admission will be 
 welcomed, everywhere by those who believe in the 
 justice and wisdom of that great act. While 
 speaking of the condition of the South and its 
 wants, he deplores two evils which afflict that 
 portion of our country : First, Federal supervi- 
 sion ; and, second, negro ascendency in its politi- 
 cal affairs. In that Connection, it will be remem- 
 bered, he quoted from John Stuart Mill and from 
 Gibbon ; the one to show that the most deplora- 
 ble form of government is where the slave, gov- 
 erns ; and from the other to show the evils of a 
 government which is in alien hands. The gen- 
 tleman represented the South as suffering the 
 composite evils depicted by both these great 
 writers. 
 
 ' ' Now I have stated — of course very briefly, 
 but I hope with entire fairness — the scope of the 
 very able speech to which we listened. In a 
 word, it is this : the Republican party is oppress- 
 ing the South ; negro suffrage is a grievous evil ; 
 there are serious corruptions in public affairs in 
 the national legislation and administration ; the 
 civil service of the country especially needs great 
 and radical reform ; and therefore the Democrat- 
 ic party ought to be placed in control of the Gov- 
 ernment at this time. 
 
 "It has not been my habit, and it is not my 
 desire, to discnss mere party politics in this great 
 legislative forum. And I shall do so now only 
 in so far as a fair review of the gentleman's speech 
 requires. My remarks shall be responsive to his ; 
 and I shall discnss party history and party poli- 
 cy only as the logic of his speech leads into that 
 domain. 
 
 " From most of the premises of the gentleman, 
 as matters of fact and history, I dissent ; some 
 of them are undoubtedly correct. But, for the 
 sake of argument only, admitting that all his 
 premises are coiTect, I deny that his conclusion 
 is warranted by his premises ; and, before I 
 close, I shall attempt to show that the good he 
 seeks cannot be secured by the ascendency of 
 the Democratic party at this time. 
 
 "Before entering upon that field, however, I 
 must notice this remarkable omission in the log- 
 ic of his speech. Although he did state that the 
 country might consider itself free from some of 
 the dangers which are apprehended as the result 
 of Democratic ascendency, he did not, as I re- 
 member, by any word attempt to prove the fit- 
 ness of the Democracy as a political organization 
 to accomplish the reforms which he so much de- 
 sires ; and without that affirmative proof of fitness 
 his argument is necessarily an absolute failure. 
 
 " It is precisely that fear which has not only 
 made the ascendency of the Democratic party so 
 long impossible, but has made it incompetent to 
 render that service so necessary to good govern- 
 ment — the service of maintaining the position of 
 a wise and honorable opposition to the dominant 
 party. Often the blunders and faults of the Bo- 
 
 publican party have been condoned by the peo- 
 ple because of the violent, reactionary, and dis- 
 loyal spirit of the "Democracy. 
 
 " He tells us that it is one of the well-known 
 lessons of political history and philosophy, that the 
 opposition party comes in to preserve and crys- 
 tallize the measures which their antagonists in- 
 augurated ; and that a conservative opposition 
 party is better fitted to accomplish such a work 
 than an aggressive radical party, who roughly 
 pioneered the way and brought in the changes. 
 And to apply this maxim to our own situation, 
 he tells us that the differences between the Re- 
 publican and the Democratic parties upon the is- 
 sues which led to the war, and those which grew 
 ont of it, were rather differences of time than of 
 substance; that the Democracy followed more 
 slowly in the Republican path, but have at last 
 arrived, by prudent and constitutional methods, 
 at the same results ; and hence they will be sure 
 to guard securely and cherish faithfully what the 
 Republicans gained by reckless and turbulent 
 methods. Thbre is some truth in these ' glitter- 
 ing generalities,' but, as applied to our present 
 situation, they are entitled only to the considera- 
 tion which we give to the blight but fantastic 
 pictures of a Utopian dream. 
 
 "I share all that gentleman's aspirations for 
 peace, for good government at the South ; and 
 I believe I can safely assure him that the great 
 majority of the nation shares the same aspira- 
 tions. But he will allow me to say that he has 
 not fully stated the elements of the great prob- 
 lem to be solved by the statesmanship of to-day. 
 The actual field is much broader than the view 
 he has taken. And before we can agree that the 
 remedy he proposes is an adequate one, we must 
 take in the whole field, comprehend all the con- 
 ditions of the problem, and then see if his reme- 
 dy is sufficient. The change he proposes is not 
 like the ordinary change of a ministry in Eng- 
 land when the government is defeated on a tax- 
 bill or some routine measure of legislation. He 
 proposes to turn over the custody and manage- 
 ment of the Government to a party which has 
 persistently and with the greatest bitterness re- 
 sisted all the great changes of the last fifteen 
 years ; changes which were the necessary results 
 of a vast revolution — a revolution in national 
 policy, in social and political ideas — a revolution 
 whose causes were not the work of a day nor a 
 year, but of generations and centuries. The scope 
 and character of that mighty revolution must 
 form the basis of our judgment when we inquire 
 whether such a change as he proposes is safe 
 and wise. 
 
 "In discussing his proposition we must not 
 forget that, as the result of this resolution, the 
 South, after the great devastations of war, the 
 great loss of life and treasure, the overthrow of 
 its social and industrial system, was called upon 
 to confront the new and difficult problem of two 
 races — one just relieved from centuries of slav- 
 ery, and the other a cultivated, brave, proud, im- 
 perious race — to be brought together on terms of 
 equality before the law. New, difficult, delicate, 
 and dangerous questions bristle out from every 
 point of that problem. 
 
 " But that is not all of the situation. On the 
 other hand, we see the North, after leaving its 
 350,000 dead upon the field of battle and bring- 
 ing home its 500,000 maimed and wounded to 
 be cared for, crippled in its industries, stagger- 
 ing under the tremendous burden of public and 
 private debt, and both North and South weight- 
 ed with unparalleled burdens and losses — the 
 whole nation suffering from that loosening of the 
 bonds of social order which always follows a 
 great war, and from the resulting corruption both 
 in the public and the private life of the people. 
 These, Mr. Chairman, constitute the vast field 
 which we must survey in order to find the path 
 which will soonest lead our beloved country to 
 the highway of peace, of liberty, and prosperity. 
 Peace from, the shock of battle ; the higher peace 
 of our streets, of our homes, of our equal rights 
 we must make secure by making the conquering 
 ideas of the war everywhere dominant and per- 
 manent. 
 
 " With all my heart I join with the gentleman 
 in rejoicing teat 
 
 " ' The war-drams throb no longer, and the battl* 
 flags are furled,' 
 
 and I look forward with joy and hope to the day 
 when our biave people, one in heart, one in their 
 aspirations for freedom and peace, shall see that 
 the darkness through which we have travelled 
 was a part of that stern but beneficent discipline 
 by which the Great Disposer of events has been 
 leading us on to » higher and nobler national 
 life. 
 
 "But such a result can be reached only by 
 comprehending the whole meaning of the revo- 
 lution through which we have passed and are 
 still passing. I say still passing ; for I remem- 
 ber that after the battle of arms comes the bat- 
 tle of history. The cause that triumphs in the 
 field does not always triumph in history. And 
 those who carried the war for union and equal 
 and universal freedom to a victorious issue can 
 never safely relax their vigilance until the ideas 
 for which they fought have become embodied in 
 the enduring forms of individual and national 
 life. 
 
 " Has this been done? Not yet. 
 
 " I ask the gentleman in all plainness of 
 speech, and yet in all kindness, is he correct in 
 his statement that the conquered party accept 
 the results of the war ? Even if they do, I re- 
 mind the gentleman that accept is not a very 
 strong word. I go further. I ask him if the 
 Democratic party have adopted the results of the 
 war ? Is it not asking too much of human nat- 
 ure to expect such unparalleled changes to be 
 not only accepted, but, in so short a time, adopted 
 by men of strong and independent opinions ? 
 
 " The antagonisms which gave rise to the war 
 and grew out of it were not born in a day, nor 
 can they vanish in a night. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, great ideas travel slowly, and 
 for a time noiselessly, as the gods, whose feet 
 were shod with wool. Our war of independence 
 was a war of ideas, of ideas evolved out of two 
 hundredyearsof slow and silent growth. When, 
 one hundred years ago, our fathers announced ' 
 as self-evident truths the declaration that all 
 men are created equal, and the only just power 
 of governments is derived from the consent of 
 the governed, they uttered a doctrine that no 
 nation had ever adopted, that not one kingdom 
 on the earth then beheved. Yet to our fathers 
 it was so plain that they would not debate it. 
 They announced it as a truth ' self-evident.' 
 
 "Whence came the unmortal truths of the 
 Declaration? To me this was for years the 
 riddle of our history. I have searched long and ,, 
 patiently through the books of the doctrinaires 
 to find the germs from which the Declaration of 
 Independence sprang. I found hints in Locke, 
 in Hobbes, in Rousseau, and Fenelon ; but they 
 were only the hints of dreamers and philoso- 
 phers. 'The great doctrines of the Declaration 
 germinated in the hearts of our' fathers, and 
 were developed under the new influences of this 
 wilderness world, by the same subtle mystery 
 which brings forth the rose from the germ of 
 the rose-tree. Unconsciously to themselves, the 
 great truths were growing under the new condi- i 
 tions until, like the century-plant, they blossom- 
 ed into the matchless beauty of the Declaration 
 of Independence, whose fruitage, increased and 
 increasing, we enjoy to-day. 
 
 "It will not do, Mr. Chairman, to speak of 
 the gigantic revolution through which we have 
 lately passed as a thing to be adjusted and set- 
 tled by a change of administration. It was cyc- 
 lical, epochal, century-wide, and to be studied in 
 its broad and grand perspective — a revolution 
 of even wider scope, so far as time is concerned, 
 than the Revolution of 1776. We have been 
 dealing with elements and forces which have 
 been at work on this continent more than two 
 hundred and fifty years. I trust 1 shall be ex- 
 cused if I take a few moments to trace some of 
 the leading phases of the great struggle. And 
 in doing so, I beg gentlemen to see that the sub- 
 ject itself lifts us into a region where the indi- 
 vidual sinks out of sight and is absorbed in the 
 mighty current of great events. It is not the 
 occasion to award praise or pronounce condem- 
 nation. In such a revolution men are like in- , 
 sects that fret and toss in the storm, but are 
 
SNvept onward by the resistless movements of 
 elements beyond their control. I spenk of this 
 revolution not to praise the men who aided i,t, 
 or to censure the men who resisted it, but as a 
 force to he studied, as a mandate to be obeyed. 
 
 "In the year 1620 there were planted upon 
 this continent two ideas irreconcilably hostile to 
 each other. Ideas are the great warriors of the 
 world ; and a war that has no ideas behind it is 
 simply brutnlity. The two ideas were landed, 
 one at Plymouth Eock from the Mayflower, and 
 the other from a Dutch brig at Jamestown, Vir- 
 ginia. One was the old doctrine of Luther, that 
 private judgment, in politics as well as religion, 
 is the right and duty of every man ; and the oth- 
 er that capital should own labor, that the negro 
 had no rights of matihood, and the white man 
 might justly buy, own, and sell him and his off- 
 spring forever. Thus freedom and equality on 
 the one hand, and on the other the slavery of 
 one race and the domination of another, were 
 the two germs planted on this continent. In 
 our vast expanse of wilderness, for a long time, 
 there was room for both ; and their advocates 
 began the race across the continent, each devel- 
 oping the social and political institutions of their 
 choice. Both had vast interests in common ; 
 and for a long time neither was conscious of the 
 fatal antagonisms that were developing. 
 
 "For nearly two centuries there was no seri- 
 ons collision ; but when the continent began to fill 
 up, and the people began to jostle against each oth- 
 er; when the Koundhead and the Cavalier came 
 near enough to measure opinions, the irreconcil- 
 able character of the two doctrines began to ap- 
 pear. Many conscientious men studied the sub- 
 ject, and came to the belief that slavery was a 
 crime, a sin, or, as Wesley said, ' the sum of all 
 villanies.' This'belief dwelt in small minorities 
 for a long time. It lived in the churches and 
 vestries, but later fonnd its way into the civil and 
 political organizations of the country, and finally 
 found its way into this chamber. A few brave, 
 clear-sighted, far-seeing men announced it here, 
 a little more than a generation ago. A prede- 
 cessor of mine, Joshua R. Giddings, following 
 the lead of John Quincy Adams, of Massachu- 
 setts almost alone held np the banner on this 
 floor, and from year to year comrades came to 
 his side. Through evil and through good re- 
 port he pressed the question upon the conscience 
 of the nation, and bravely stood in his place in 
 this House, until his white locks, like the plume 
 of Henry of Navarre, showed where the battle 
 for freedoms raged most fiercely. 
 
 "And so the contest continued; the support- 
 ers of slavery believing honestly and sincerely that 
 slavery was a divine institution ; that it found its 
 high sanctions in the living oracles of God and 
 in a wise political philosophy ; that it was justi- 
 fied by the necessities of their situation ; and 
 that slave-holders were missionaries to the dark 
 sons of Africa, to elevate and bless them. We 
 are so far past the passions of that early time 
 that we can now study the progress of the strug- 
 gle as a great and inevitable development, with- 
 out sharing in the crimination and recrimination 
 that attended it. If both sides could have seen 
 that it was a contest beyond their control j if 
 both parties could have realized the truth that 
 'unsettled questions have no pity for the repose 
 of nations,' much less for the fate of political 
 parties, the bitterness, the sorrow, the tears, 
 and the blood might have been avoided. But 
 we walked in the darkness, our paths obscured 
 by the smoke of the conflict, each following his 
 own convictions through ever-increasing fierce- 
 ness, until the debate culminated in 'the last 
 argument to which kings resort.' 
 
 "This conflict of opinion was not merely one 
 of sentimental feeling ; it involved our whole po- 
 litical system ; it gave rise to two radically dif- 
 ferent theories of the nature of onr GoA'ernment : 
 tlie North believing and holding that we were a 
 nation, the South insisting that we were only a 
 confederation of sovereign States, and insisting 
 that each State had the right, at its own discre- 
 tion, to break the Union, and constantly threat- 
 ening secession where tlie full rights of slavery 
 were not acknowledged. 
 
 "Thus the defence and aggrandizement of 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 slavery, and the hatred of abolitionism, became 
 not only the central idea of the Democratic par- 
 ty, but its mnstei'-piission — a passion intensified 
 and infiiimed by twenty-five years of fierce polit- 
 ical contest, which had not only driven from its 
 ranks all those who preferred freedom to slav- 
 ery, but had absorbed all the extreme pro-slav- 
 ery elements of the fallen Whig party. Over 
 against this was arrayed the Republican party, 
 asserting the broad doctrines of nationality and 
 loyalty, insisting that no State had a right to se- 
 cede, that secession was treason, and demanding 
 that the institntion of slavery should be restrict- 
 ed to the limits of the States where it already 
 existed. But here and there, many bolder and 
 more radical thinkers declared, with Wendell 
 Phillips, that there never could be union and 
 peace, freedom and prosperity, until we were 
 willing to see John Hancock under a black skin. 
 
 "That we may see more clearly the opinions 
 which were to be settled by war, I will read two 
 passages from the Congressional Globe, not for 
 the purpose of making a personal point against 
 any man, but simply to show where honest men 
 stood when that contest was approaching its cri- 
 sis. I read from a speech made on the 19th 
 day of December, 1859, by the distinguished 
 gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Singleton], 
 then and now a member of this House : 
 
 " ' The South will never submit to that state 
 of things. It matters not what evils come upon 
 us; it matters not how deep we may have to 
 wade through blood : we are bound to keep our 
 slaves in their present position. And let me 
 ask you, what good would you bring to the slaves 
 by this process of abolition ? You may possibly 
 have the object in view of benefiting the slaves, 
 or benefiiing the white race, or both ; but sup- 
 pose you could carry out your plans and confine 
 us to our present area, and suppose that the in- 
 stitution of slavery should abolish itself, what 
 would you have done ? You know it is impossi- 
 ble for us to live on terms of equality with them. 
 It is not to be supposed for a moment that we 
 can do so. The result would be a war between 
 the races, which would perhaps involve the utter 
 annihilation of one or the other ; and thus you 
 see that, instead of benefiting either, you would 
 have brought disaster upon both. 
 
 " ' But I tell you here to-day that the institu- 
 tion of slavery must be sustained. The South 
 has made up its mind to keep the black race in 
 bondage. If we are not permitted to do this in- 
 side of the Union, I tell yon that it will be done 
 outside of it. Yes, sir, and we will expand this 
 institution ; we do not intend to be confined 
 within our present limits ; and there are not men 
 enough in all your borders to coerce three mill- 
 ion armed men in the South, and prevent their 
 going into the siu-rounding Territories.' 
 
 "In the coui-se of that debate, the same gen- 
 tleman said : ' I am one of those who have 
 said, and here repeat it, if the Black Republican 
 party elect a President, I am for dissolving the 
 Union.' 
 
 "I have no doubt the gentleman fairly and 
 fiiithfully represented the opinions of his State. 
 Not long before the date of this speech, it will 
 be remembered that two distinguished members 
 of the Republican party had uttered their opin- 
 ions on this question. Mr. Lincoln had said that 
 it was impossible for a country to remain partly 
 slave and partly free. And Mr. Seward had 
 said that there was an irrepressible conflict be- 
 tween the systems of free and slave labor, which 
 could never cease nntil one or the other was 
 wholly overthi'own. The Republican party, how- 
 ever, disclaimed all right or purpose to interfere 
 with slavery in the States ; yet they expressed 
 the hope tliat the time would come when there 
 should he no slave under our flag. In response 
 to that particular opinion, the distinguished gen- 
 tleman from Mississippi [Mr. Lamarj, then a 
 member of this House, on the 23d day of Decem- 
 ber, 1859, said this : 
 
 " 'I was upon the floor of the Senate when 
 your great leader, William H. Seward, announced 
 that startling programme of antislavery senti- 
 ment and action And, sir, in his exultation 
 
 he exclaimed — for I heard him myself — that he 
 hoped to see the day when thei'e would not be 
 
 51 
 
 the footprint of a single slave npon tWs conti- 
 nent. And when he uttered this attocious sen- 
 timent, his form seemed to dilate, his pale, thin 
 face, furrowed by the lines of thought and evil 
 passions, kindled with malignant triumph, and 
 his eye glowed and glared upon Southern Sen- 
 ators as though the fires of hell were burning in 
 his heart.' 
 
 " I have read this passage to mark the height 
 to which the antagonism had risen in 1859 ; and 
 this passage enables us to measure the progress 
 he has since made. 
 
 "I mark it here, as one of the notable signs 
 of the time, that the gulf which intervenes be- 
 tween the position then occupied by the gentle- 
 man from Mississippi, and the position he occu- 
 pies to-day, is so deep, so vast, that it indicates 
 a progress worthy of all praise. I congratulate 
 him and the country that in so short a time so . 
 great a change has been possible. 
 
 " Now I ask the gentleman if he is quite sure, 
 as a matter of fact, that the Democratic party, 
 its Southeim as well as its Northern wing, have 
 followed his own illustrious and worthy example 
 in the vast progress he has made since 1859 ? 
 He assures us that the transformation has been 
 so complete, that the nation can safely trast all 
 the most precious fruits of the war in the hands 
 of that party who stood with him in 1 859. If 
 that be true, I rejoice at it with all my heart ; 
 but the gentleman must pardon me if I ask him 
 to assist my wavering faith by some evidence, 
 some consoling proofs. When did the great 
 transformation take place ? Certainly not with- 
 in two years after the delivery of the speech I 
 have quoted ; for two years from that time the 
 contest had risen much higher ; it had risen to 
 the point of open, terrible, and determined war. 
 Did the change come during the war? Oh no; 
 for in the four terrible years ending in 1865, ev- 
 ery resource of courage and power that the 
 Southern States could muster was employed not 
 only to save slavery, but to destroy the Union. 
 So the transformation had not occnrred in 1865. 
 When did it occur? Aid our anxious inquiry, 
 for the nation ought to be sure that the great 
 change has occurred before it can safely trust its 
 destinies to the Democratic party. Did it oc- 
 cur in the first epoch of reconstruction — the two 
 years immediately following the war ? During 
 that period the attempt was made to restore gov- 
 ernments in the South on the basis of the white 
 vote. Military control was held generally ; but 
 the white popidation of the Southern States were 
 invited to elect their own Legislatures, and estab- 
 lish provisional governments. 
 
 " In the laws, covering a period of two and a 
 half years— 1865, 1866, and a portion of 1867— 
 enacted by those Legislatures, we ought to find 
 pixiof of the transformation if it had then oc- 
 curred. What do we find? What we should 
 naturally expect : that a people, accustomed to 
 the domination of slavery, re-enacted in almost 
 all of the Southern States, and notably in the 
 States of Mississippi and Louisiana, laws limit 
 ing and restricting the liberty of the colored man ; 
 vagrant laws and peonage laws, whereby negroes 
 were sold at auction for the payment of a paltry 
 tax or fine, and held in a slavery as real as the 
 slavery of other days. I believe that this was 
 true of nearly all of the Southern States ; so that 
 the experiment of allowing the white population 
 of the South to adjust that very question proved 
 a frightful failure ; and then it was that the na- 
 tional Congress intervened. They proposed an 
 act of reconstruction, an act which became a 
 law on the 2d of March, 1867. 
 
 "And what was that act ? Gentlemen of the 
 South, yon are too deeply schooled in philosophy 
 to take an umbrage at what I shall now say, for 
 I am dealing only with history. Yon must know, 
 and certainly do know, that the great body of the 
 nation which had carried the war to triumph and 
 success knew that the eleven States that had op- 
 posed the Union had plunged their people into 
 crime ; a crime set down in the law — a law signed 
 by Pi'esident Washington — at the very top of the 
 catalogue of crimes : the crime of treason, and 
 all that follows it. You certainly know that, un- 
 der that law, every man who voluntarily took up 
 arms against the Union could have been tried. 
 
S3 
 
 THE LIFK OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 convicted, and hanged as a traitor to his conn- 
 try. But rcall your attention to the fact that 
 the conquering nation said, in this great worli of 
 reconstruction, ' We will do nothing for revenge, 
 everything for permanent peace ; ' and you know 
 there never was a trial for treason in this coun- 
 try during the whole of the struggle nor after it : 
 no man was executed for treason ; no man was 
 tried. There was no expatriation, no exile, no 
 confiscation after the war. The only revenge 
 which the conquering nation gratified was this : 
 In saying to the South, 'You may come back to 
 your full place in the Union when you do these 
 things : join with the other States in putting into 
 the Constitution a provision that the national 
 debt shall never be repudiated ; that your Rebel 
 war debt shall never be paid ; and that all men, 
 without regard to race or color, shall stand equal 
 before the law ; not in suffrage, but in civil rights ; 
 that these great guarantees of liberty and public 
 faith shall be lifted above the reach of political 
 parties, above the legislation of States, above the 
 legislation of Congress, and shall be set in the 
 serene firmament of the Constitution, to shine as 
 lights forever and forever. And under that equal 
 sky, und6^ the light of that equal sun, all men, 
 of whatever race or color, shall stand equal be- 
 fore the law.' 
 
 "That was the plan of reconstruction offered 
 to those who had been in rebellion, offered by a 
 generous and brave nation ; and I challenge t^e 
 world to show an act of equal generosity to a 
 conquered people. What answer did it meet? 
 By the advice of Andrew Johnson, a bad adviser, 
 backed by the advice of the Northern Democra- 
 cy, a still worse adviser, ten of the eleven States 
 lately in rebellion contemptuously rejected the 
 plan of reconstruction embraced in the Four- 
 teenth Amendment of the Constitution. They 
 'would have none of it ; they had been invited 
 by their Northern allies to stand out, and were 
 told that when the Democracy came into power 
 they should be permitted to come back to their 
 places without guarantees or conditions. 
 
 "This brings us to 1868. Had the transfor- 
 mation occurred then ? For remember, gentle- 
 men, I am searching for the date of the great 
 transformation similar to that which has taken 
 place in the gentleman from Mississippi. We 
 do not find it in 1 868. On the contrary, in that 
 year we find Frank P. Blair, of Missouri, writing 
 these words, which, a few days after they were 
 written, gave him the nomination for the Vice- 
 presidency on the Democratic ticket : ' There is 
 but one way to restore government and the Con- 
 stitution : and that is for the President elect to 
 declare all these acts' — and the constitutional 
 amendment with them — ' to declare all these acts 
 null and void, compel the army to undo its usur- 
 pations at the South, and disperse the carpet-bag 
 State governments, and allow the white people to 
 reorganize their own governments and elect Sen- 
 ators and Representatives.' 
 
 "Because he wrote that letter, he was nomi- 
 nated for Vice-president by the Democratic par- 
 ty. Therefore, as late as July, 1868, the trans- 
 formation had not occurred. 
 
 " Had it occurred in 1872 ? In 1871 and 1872 
 all the amendments of the Constitution had been 
 adopted, agaipst the stubborn resistance of the 
 Northern and Southern Democracy. I call you 
 to witness that, with the exception of three or 
 four Democratic Representatives who voted for 
 the abolition of slavery, the three great amend- 
 ments—the Thirteenth, the Fourteenth, and the 
 Fifteenth — met the determined and united oppo- 
 sition of the Democracy of this country. Each of 
 the amendments now so praised by the gentleman 
 was adopted against the whole weight of your re- 
 sistance. And two years after the adoption of the 
 last amendment, in many of your State platforms, 
 they were declared to be null and void. 
 
 "In 1871 and 1872 occurred throughout the 
 South those dreadful scenes enacted by the Ku- 
 klux organization, of which I will say only this, 
 that a man yaeiVc princeps among the Democrats 
 of the slave-holding States — Reverdy Johnson — 
 who was sent down to defend those who were in- 
 dicted for their crimes — held up his hands in hor- 
 ror at the shocking barbarities that had been per- 
 petrated by his clients upon negro citizens. I re- 
 
 fer to the evidence of that eminent man as a suf- 
 ficient proof of the character of that great con- 
 spiracy against the freedom of the colored race. 
 So the transformation had not come in the days 
 of Ku-klux of 1871 and 1872. 
 
 " Had it come in 1873 and the beginning of 
 1874 ? Had it come in the State of Mississippi f 
 Had it come in one-quarter of the States lately 
 in rebellion 1 Here is a report from an honora- 
 ble committee of this House, signed by two gen- 
 tlemen who are still members — Mr. Conger and 
 Mr. Hnrlburt — a report made as late as Decem- 
 ber, 1874 — ^in which there is disclosed, by in- 
 numerable witnesses, the proof that the White- 
 Line organization — an armed military organiza- 
 tion formed within the Democratic party — had 
 leagued themselves together to prevent the en- 
 joyment of suffrage and equal rights by the col- 
 ored men of the South. 
 
 "So the transformation had not occurred in 
 August, 1874. I come down now to 1875, to 
 the late autumn of that year, and ask if the trans- 
 formation had then occurred. I will not detain 
 the House by reading the testimony of the cloud 
 of witnesses which gathers around me. While 
 I say, to the honor of the gentleman from Mis- 
 sissippi, that in his own State he spoke against 
 the organization of the White Line, it is unques- 
 tionably true that he was not supported by a 
 like action on the part of the great mass of his 
 political associates. With the utmost boldness 
 Colonel Lamar spoke against the White Line, 
 and though the State Convention ignored it, yet 
 back of the Convention, and back of the gentle- 
 man himself, the White Line was formed and 
 carried the election, and intends in the same 
 way to carry the next. 
 
 " If the testimony of the Democratic Press of 
 Mississippi is to be credited, the late election in 
 the State of Mississippi was tainted with fraud, 
 and managed by intimidation unparalleled by 
 anything in our recent political history. Let 
 the gentleman explain this striking fact : There 
 are many thousands more colored than white vot- 
 ers in Mississippi. In the electipn of 1873 the 
 Republican party had 22,976 majority ; in the 
 election last autumn the Democratic party had 
 ^0,922. How came this change of more than 
 53,000, in the short space of two years, if there 
 was a free and uncoerced vote of the electors of 
 that State ? 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, after the facts I have cited, 
 am I not warranted in raising a grave doubt 
 whether the transformation occurred at all ex- 
 cept in a few patriotic and philosophic minds ? 
 The light gleams first on the mountain peaks ; 
 but shadows and darkness linger in the valley. 
 It is in the valley masses of those lately in re- 
 hellion that the light of this beautiful philosophy, 
 which I honor, has not penetreted. Is it safer 
 to withhold from them tlie custody and supreme 
 control of the precious treasures of the Republic 
 until the mid-day sun of liberty, justice, and equal 
 laws shall shine upon them with unclouded ray ? 
 
 " In view of all the facts, considering the cen- 
 turies of influence that brought on the great strug- 
 gle, is it not reasonable to suppose that it will 
 require yet more time to effect the great trans- 
 formation. Did not the distinguished gentleman 
 from Massachusetts [Mr. George F. Hoar] sum 
 up the case fairly and truthfully when he said 
 of the South, in his Louisiana report of 1874 : 
 ' They submitted to the national authority not 
 because they would, but because they must. They 
 abandoned the doctrine of State sovereignty, 
 which they had claimed made their duty to the 
 States paramount to that due to the nation in 
 case of conflict, not because they would, but be- 
 cause they must. They submitted to the con- 
 stitutional amendments which rendered their 
 former slaves their equals iti all political rights, 
 not because they would, but because they must. 
 The passions which led to the war, the passions 
 which the war excited, were left untamed and 
 unchecked, except so far as their exhibition was 
 restrained by the arm of power.' 
 
 " The gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. La- 
 mar] says there is no possibility that the South 
 will again control national affairs, if the Democ- 
 racy be placed again in power. How is this ? 
 We are told that the South will vote as a unit 
 
 for Tilden and Hendricks. Suppose those gen- 
 tlemen also carry New York and Indiana. Does 
 the gentleman believe that a Northern minority 
 of the Democracy will control the Administra- 
 tion ? Impossible ! Bat if they did, would it 
 better the case ? 
 
 "Let me put the question in another form. 
 Suppose, gentlemen of the South, you had won 
 the victory in the war ; that you had captured 
 Washington, and Gettysburg, and Philadelphia, 
 and New York ; and we of the North, defeated 
 and conquered, hkd lain prostrate at your feet. 
 Do you believe that by this time you would be 
 ready and willing to intrust to us — our Garrisons, 
 our Phillipses, and our Wades, and the great ar- 
 ray of those who were the leaders of our thought 
 — to intrust to us the fruits of your victory, the 
 enforcement of your doctrines of State sover- 
 eignty and the work of extending the domain 
 of slavery ? Do you think so ? And if not, will 
 yon not pardon us when we tell you that we are 
 not quite ready to trust the precious results of 
 the nation's victory in your hands ? Let it be 
 constantly borne in mind that I am not debating 
 a question of equal rights and privileges within 
 the Union, but whether those who so lately sought 
 to destroy it ought to be chosen to control its / 
 destiny for the next four years. 
 
 " I hope my public life has given proof that I 
 do not cherish a spirit of malice or bitterness 
 toward the South. Perhaps they will say I have 
 no right to advise them ; but, at the risk of being 
 considered impertinent, I will express my con- 
 viction that the bane of the Southern people, for 
 the last twenty -five years, has been that they 
 have trusted the advice of the Democratic party. 
 The very remedy which the gefttleman from Mis- 
 sissippi offers for the ills of his people has been, 
 and still is, their bane. The Democratic party 
 has been the evil genius of the South in all these 
 years. They yielded their own consciences to 
 you on the slavery question, and led you to be- 
 lieve that the North would always yield. They 
 made you believe that we would not fight to save 
 the Union. They made you believe that if we 
 ever dared to cross the Potomac or Ohio to put 
 down your Rebellion, we could only do so across 
 the dead bodies of many hundred thousands of 
 Northern Democrats. They made you believe 
 that the war would begin in the streets of our 
 Northern cities ; that we were a community of 
 shopkeepers, of sordid money-getters, and would ' 
 
 not stand against your fiery chivalry. You thought 
 us cold, slow, lethargic ; and in some respects 
 we are. There are some differences between * 
 us that spring from oi-igin and influences of cli- ' * 
 mate — differences not unlike the description of 
 the poet, that 
 
 " ' Bright and fierce and flckle is the South 
 Ann dark and true and tender is the North ' — 
 
 differences that kept us fi'om a good understand- 
 ing. 
 
 " Yon thought that our coldness, our slowness, 
 indicated a lack of spirit and of patriotism, and 
 you were encouraged in that belief by most of 
 the Northern Democracy ; but not by all. They 
 warned you at Charleston in 1860. 
 
 "And when the gi-eat hour struck, there were 
 many noble Democrats in the North who lifted 
 the flag of the Union far above the flag of party ; 
 but there was a residuum of Democracy, called 
 in the slang of the time ' Copperheads,' who were 
 your evil genius from the beginning of the war 
 till its close, and ever since. Some of them sat 
 in these seats, and never rejoiced when we won 
 a victory, and never grieved when we lost one. 
 They were the men who sent their Vallandighams 
 to give counsel and encouragement to your Re- 
 bellion, and to buoy you up with false hope that 
 at last you would conquer by the aid of their 
 treachery. I honor you, gentlemen of the South, 
 ten thousand times more than I honor such Dem- 
 ocrats of the North. 
 
 ' ' I said they were your evil genius. Why, in 
 1864, when we were almost at the culminating 
 point of the war, their Vallandighams and Til- 
 dens (and both of these men were on the com- 
 mittee of resolutions) uttered the declaration, 
 as the voice of the Democracy, that the experi- 
 ment of war to preserve the Union was a failure, 
 
and tlmt hostilities should cense. They asked 
 us to sound the recall on ouv bugles, to call our 
 conquering m-mies back from the contest, and 
 trust to their machinations to save their party 
 at the expense of a broken and ruined country. 
 Brave soldiers of the lost cause, did you not, 
 even in that hour of peril, in your hearts loathe 
 them with supremest scorn ? But for their ti-each- 
 eiy at Chicago, the war might have ended and 
 a hundred thousand precious lives been saved. 
 But your evil genius pui'sued you, and the war 
 went on. And later, when you would have ac- 
 cepted the Constitutional Amendment and res- 
 toration without universal suffrage, the same evil 
 genius held you back. In 1868 it still deceived 
 you. In 1872 it led you into 
 
 " 'A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog 
 Betwixt Somiata and Mouut Casina old, 
 Where armies whole have sunk.' 
 
 "Let not the eloquence of the gentleman 
 from Mississippi [Mr. Lamar] lure you again to 
 its brink. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, it is now time to inquire as 
 to the fitness of this Democratic party to take 
 control of our great nation and its vast and im- 
 portant interests for the next four years. I put 
 the question to the gentleman from Mississippi 
 [Mr. Lamar], what has the Democratic party 
 done to merit that great trust ? He tried to show 
 in what respects it would not be dangerous. I 
 ask him to show in what it would be safe. I 
 a£Brm, and I believe I do not misrepresent the 
 great Democratic party, that in the last sixteen 
 yeare they have not advanced one great national 
 idea that is not to-day exploded and as dead as 
 Julius Caesar. And if any Democrat here will 
 rise and name a gi-eat national doctrine his party 
 has advanced, within that time, that is now alive 
 and believed in, I will yield to hear him. [A 
 pause.] In default of an answer, I will attempt 
 to prove my negative. 
 
 "What were the great central doctrines of 
 the Democratic party in the Presidential struggle 
 of 1860? The followei-s of Breckinridge said 
 slavery had a right to go wherever the Consti- 
 tution goes. Do yon believe that to-day? Is 
 there a man on this continent that holds that 
 doctrine to-day? Not one. That doctrine is 
 dead and buried. The other wing of the Democ- 
 racy held that slavery might be established in 
 the Territories if the people wanted it. Does 
 ■anybody hold that doctrine to-day ? Dead, ab- 
 solutely dead ! 
 
 "Come down to 1864. Your party, under 
 the lead of Tilden and Vallandigham, declared 
 the experiment of war to save the Union was a 
 failure. Do you believe that doctrine to-day? 
 That doctrine was shot to death by the guns of 
 Farragut at Mobile, and driven, in a tempest of 
 fire, from the valley of the Shenandoah by Sher- 
 idan less than a month after its birth at Chicago. 
 
 "Come down to 1868. Yon declared the 
 Constitutional Amendment revolutionary and 
 void. Does any man on this floor say so to-day ? 
 If so, let him rise and declare it. 
 
 " Do you believe in the doctrine of the Broad- 
 head letter of 1868, that the so-called Consti- 
 tutional Amendments should be disregarded ? 
 No ; the gentleman from Mississippi accepts the 
 results of the war ! The Democratic doctrine 
 of 1868 is dead! 
 
 " I walk across that Democratic camping- 
 ground as in a graveyard. Under my feet re- 
 sound the hollow echoes of the dead. There lies 
 Slavery, a black marble column at the head of its 
 grave, on which I read : Died in the flames of 
 the Civil War; loved in its life ; lamented in its 
 death ; followed to its bier by its only mourner, 
 the Democratic party, but dead ! And here is 
 a double grave ; Sacred to the memory of Squat- 
 ter Sovereignty. Died in the campaign of 1860. 
 On the revei'se side : Sacred to the memory of 
 the Dred Scott-Bi-eckinridge doctrine. Both 
 -dead at the hands of Abraham Lincoln! And 
 here t> monument of brimstone: Sacred to the 
 memory of the Rebellion ; the war against it is a 
 failure; Tilden et Vallandigham Jiscenmt,A.it. 
 1864. Dead on the field of battle; shot to 
 death by the million guns of the Republic. The 
 -doctrine of Secession; of State Sovereignty. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 I 
 
 Dead. Expired in the flames of civil war, amidst 
 the blazing raftei-s of the Confederacy, except 
 that the modern ./Eneas, fleeing out of the flames 
 of that ruin, beai-s on his back another Anchises 
 of State Sovereignty, and brings it here in the 
 person of the honorable gentleman from the 
 Appomattox district of Virginia [Mr. Tucker]. 
 [Laughter.] All else is dead. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen, are you sad, are you sorry 
 for these deaths ? Are you not glad that Seces- 
 sion is dead ? that slavery is dead ? that Squat- 
 ter Sovereignty is dead ? that the doctrine of the 
 failure of the war is dead ? Then you are glad 
 that you were out-voted in 1860, in 1864, in 1868, 
 and in 1872. If you have tears to shed over these 
 losses, shed them in the graveyard, but not in this 
 House of living men. I know that many a 
 Southern man rejoices that these issues are dead. 
 The gentleman from Mississippi has clothed his 
 joy with eloquence. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, if you yourselves are glad 
 that you have suffered defeat during the last six- 
 teen years, will you not be equally glad when 
 you suffer defeat next November? [Laughter.] 
 But pardon that remark ; I regret it ; I would 
 use no bravado. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, come with me for a mo- 
 ment into the camp of the Republican party and 
 review its career. Our central doctrine in 1860 
 was that slavery should never extend itself over 
 another foot of American soil. Is that doctrine 
 dead? It is folded away like a victorious ban- 
 ner ; its truth is alive for evermore on this con- 
 tinent. In 1864 we declared that we would put 
 down the Rebellion and Secession. And that 
 doctrine lives, and will live when the second 
 Centennial has arrived ! Freedom, national, 
 universal, and perpetual — our great Constitu- 
 tional Amendments, are they alive or dead? 
 Alive, thank the God that shields both liberty 
 and Union. And our national credit, saved from 
 the assaults of Pendleton ; saved from the as- 
 saults of those who struck it later, rising higher 
 and higher at home and abroad ; and only now 
 in doubt lest its chief, its only enemy, the Democ- 
 racy, should triumph in November. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, ought the Republican party 
 to surrender its truncheon of command to the 
 Democracy? The gentleman from Mississippi 
 says, if this were England, the, ministry would 
 go out in twenty-four hours with such a state of 
 things as we have here. Ah, yes ! that is an 
 ordinary case of change of administi-ation. But 
 if this were England, what would she have done 
 at the end of the war ? England made one such 
 mistake as the gentleman asks this country to 
 make, when she threw away the achievements 
 of the grandest man that ever trod her highway 
 of power. Oliver Cromwell had overturned the 
 throne of despotic power, and had lifted his conn- 
 try to a place of masterful greatness among the 
 nations of the earth ; and when, after his death, 
 his great sceptre was transferred to a weak though 
 not unlineal hand, his country, in a moment of 
 reactionary blindness, brought back the Stuarts. 
 England did not recover from that folly until, in 
 1689, the Prince of Orange drove from her island 
 the last of that weak and wicked line. Did she 
 afterward repeat the blunder? 
 
 "For more than fifty years pretenders were 
 seeking the throne ; and the wars on her coast, 
 in Scotland and in Ireland, threatened the over- 
 throw of the new dynasty and the disruption of 
 the empire. But the solid phlegm, the magnifi- 
 cent pluck, the roundabout common -sense of 
 Englishmen steadied the throne till the cause of 
 the Stuarts was dead. They did not change as 
 soon as the battle was over, and let the Stuarts 
 come back to power. 
 
 " And how was it in our own country, when 
 onr fiithers had triumphed in the war of the Rev- 
 olution ? When the victory was won, did they 
 open their arms to the Loyalists, as they called 
 themselves, or Tories, as our fathere called them ? 
 Did they invite them back? Not one. They 
 confiscated their lands. The States passed de- 
 crees that no T017 should live on our soil. And 
 when they were too poor to take themselves 
 away, our fathers, burdened as the young nation 
 was with debt, raised the money to transport the 
 Tories beyond seas or across the Canada border. 
 
 5* 
 
 They went to England, to France, to Nova 
 Scotia, to New Brunswick, and especially to 
 Halifax ; and that town was such a resort for 
 them, that it became the swear-word of our boy- 
 hood. 'Go to Halifax!' was a substitute for a 
 more impious, but not more opprobrious expres- 
 sion. The presence of Tories made it oppro- 
 brious. 
 
 "Now, I do not refer to this as an example 
 which we ought to follow. Oh no. We live in 
 a milder era, in an age softened by the more 
 genial influence of Christian civilization. Wit- 
 ness the sixty-one men who fought against us in 
 the late war, and who are now sitting in this and 
 the other Chamber of Congress. Every one of 
 them is here because a magnanimous nation 
 freely voted that they might come ; and they are 
 welcome. Only please do not say that you are 
 just now especially fitted to rule the Republic, 
 and to be the apostles of liberty and of blessings 
 to the colored race. 
 
 " Gentlemen, the North has been asked these 
 many yeai-s to regard the sensibilities of the 
 South. We have been told that you were brave 
 and sensitive men, and that we ought not to 
 throw firebrands among you. Most of our peo- 
 ple have treated you with justice and magnanim- 
 ity. In some things we have given yon just 
 cause for complaint ; but I want to remind yon 
 that the North also has sensibilities to be regard- 
 ed. The ideas which they cherished, and for 
 which they fought, triumphed in the highest 
 court, the court of last resort, the field of battle. 
 Our people intend to abide by that verdict and 
 to enforce the mandate. They rejoice at every 
 evidence of acquiescence. They look forward 
 to the day when the distinctions of North and 
 South shall have melted away in the grander 
 sentiment of nationality. But they do not think 
 it is yet safe to place the control of this great 
 work in your hands. In the hands of some of 
 yon they would be safe, perfectly safe ; but in 
 the hands of the united South, joined with the 
 most reactionaiy elements of the Northern De- 
 mocracy, our people will not yet surrender the 
 Government. 
 
 " I am aware that there is a general disposi- 
 tion ' to let by-gones be by-gones,' and to judge 
 of parties and of men, not by what they have 
 been, but by what they are and what they pro- 
 pose. 
 
 "That view is partly just and partly erroneons. 
 It is just and wise to bnry*resentments and an- 
 imosities. It is erroneous in this, that parties 
 have an organic life and spirit of their own — an 
 individuality and character which outlive the 
 men who compose them ; and the spirit and 
 traditions of a party should he considered in de- 
 termining their fitness for managing the affairs 
 of a nation. For this purpose I have reviewed 
 the history of the Democratic party. 
 
 " I have no disposition, nor would it be jast, to 
 shield the Republican party from fair and search- 
 ing criticism. It has been called to meet ques- 
 tions novel and most difficult. It has made many 
 mistakes. It has stumbled and blundered ; has 
 had some bad men in it : has suffered from the 
 corruptions incident to the period following a 
 gi'eat war ; and it has suffered rebuke and partial 
 defeat in consequence. But has it been singular 
 and alone in these respects ? With all its faults, 
 I fearlessly challenge gentlemen to compare it 
 with auy party known to our politics. Has the 
 gentleman shown that the Democratic party is 
 its superior either in virtue or intelligence 7 
 Gentlemen, the country has been testing . your 
 qualities during the last eight months. The peo- 
 ple gave you a probationary trial by putting you 
 in control of this House. When you came here 
 in December last, the same distinguished gentle- 
 man to whom I am replying addressed you, on 
 the evening of your first caucus, in these words : 
 'There has been for some time in the public 
 mind a conviction profound and all-pervading 
 that the civil service of the country has not been 
 directed from considerations of public good, but 
 from those of party profit, and for corrupt, selfish, 
 and unpatriotic designs. The people demand at 
 our hands a sweeping and thorongh reform, which 
 shall be conducted in a spirit that will secnrs 
 the appointment to places of trust and respoDsi- 
 
54 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 bility of the honest, the experienced> and the 
 capable.' 
 
 "That is sound doctrine; and I have advo- 
 cated it here and elsewhere, and during the last 
 eight years. I remind him that the pernicions 
 doctrine, that ' to the victors belong the spoils,' is 
 of Democratic oiigiii ; that nearly half a century 
 of Democratic tradition and practice has fasten- 
 ed it upon the country. We found it, and have 
 been cursed by it ever since ; and though some ef- 
 forts havebeen made to reform it, the good work 
 is hardly begun. When, therefore, the gentle- 
 man from Mississippi [Mr. Lamar], as chairman 
 of the Democratic caucus, at the opening of the 
 session, announced the doctrine I have quoted, 
 we had reason to hope that a new era of civil 
 service had dawned upon the Capitol. But what 
 performance has followed his high-sounding proc- 
 lamation ? No sooner did this reforming party 
 take possession of this House, than it began the 
 most wholesale, sweeping changes of officials, 
 from^the highest to the humblest employes of 
 the House, that has been known in our history. 
 Many of these officers had come to us fi-om our 
 Democratic predecessors ; but they were almost 
 all' disniissed to give place to hungry partisans. 
 Sixty-seven Union soldiers, who were faithfully 
 doing their dudes here, were turned out, and 
 among those who filled their places were forty- 
 seven Rebel soldiers. 
 
 " I desire to glance for a moment now at the 
 career of this House, and at what they have done 
 and omitted to do. Passing by their treatment 
 of contested-election cases, their appointment of 
 officers, employes, committee-clerks who have re- 
 flected no credit upon the House, I desire to 
 a^ what valuable work of general legislation has 
 this House accomplished ? 
 
 ' ' We had hardly been here a month, when, 
 among the first things demanded was that, in 
 disregard of the deep feelings of the Northern 
 people, it was proposed to crown Jefferson Da- 
 vis with full and free amnesty, notwithstanding 
 he had contemptuously declared he never would 
 ask for it ; and this was to be done, or no am- 
 nesty was to be granted to any one. And when 
 we objected because he was the author of the un- 
 utterable atrocities of Libby and Andersonville 
 prisons, the debate which followed disclosed the 
 spirit and temper of the dominant party. 
 
 " We were hardly in our seajts when the gen- 
 tleman from Virginia [Mr. Tucker] brought in 
 a bill to repeal a statute of 1866 which no Dem- 
 ocrat had before that proposed to disturb, so far 
 as I know — a statute which provided that no 
 man who voluntarily went into the rebellion 
 against the Union should ever hold a commis- 
 sion in our Army or Navy. And a Democrat 
 from my own State [Mr. Banning], the chair- 
 man of the Committee on Military Affairs, be- 
 came the champion of that bill ; and this House 
 passed it. 
 
 "Again, we had passed a law to protect the 
 sanctity and safety of the ballot in national elec- 
 tions, so that the horrors of the Ku-klux and the 
 White-Lines should not run riot at the polls, and 
 among the earliest acts of this House was a clause 
 added to one of the appropriation bills to repeal 
 the election law ; and to effect that repeal they 
 
 kept up the struggle lately under the fierce rays 
 of the dog-star. They have been compelled by 
 a Republican Senate to abandon the attempt. 
 
 "Again, what have they neglected ? Early in 
 the session, indeed in the first days of it, a prop- 
 osition was made, introduced by the gentleman 
 from Maine [Mr. Blaine], so to amend the Con- 
 stitution as to remove forever from the party pol- 
 itics of the country the vexed and dangerous ques- 
 tion of Church and State by preventing the use 
 of the school funds for sectarian purposes. That 
 amendment was sent to the Committee on the 
 Judiciary to sleep, perhaps to die; for-it is said 
 to have been three times' voted down in that com- 
 mittee. 
 
 "AgaSr;, the Secretary of the Treasury official- 
 ly informed us that his power was exhausted fur- 
 ther to refund the debt ; and that if we would 
 give him the requisite authority he could refund 
 four or five hundred millions more at so favor- 
 able a. rate as to save the Treasury at least one 
 per cent, per annum of the whole amount. The 
 Senate passed the bill more than six months ago, 
 but this House has taken no action upon it. 
 
 " Our revenues have been threatened with a 
 deficit, and our industries have been shaken with 
 alarm by bills reported to the House but never 
 brpught to a vote ; for example, the Tariff Bill, 
 floating lazily upon the stagnant waters of the 
 House, 
 
 " 'As idle as a painted phip 
 Upon a paiuted ocean ' — 
 
 a promise to free-traders, a threat of danger to 
 manufacturers, but with no prospect or purpose 
 of acting upon it. 
 
 "And the Government has been crippled by 
 the withholding of necessary appropi'iations ; 
 withheld, as I do not hesitate to say, for the pur- 
 pose of making political capiial at the coming 
 election, in which the gentleman from Mississippi 
 desires his party to succeed in the name of hon- 
 esty and reform. His colleague was frank enough 
 to declare that he wanted to reduce the general 
 appropriations, so as to have money enough to 
 devote to some scheme for his section, such as 
 the cotton claims and the Southern Pacific Rail- 
 road. 
 
 "But party necessity has held many waiting 
 schemes and claims in leash. They are anchor- 
 ed in the lobbies and committee - rooms of this 
 House till the election is over. There is the bill 
 to refund the. cotton tax to the amount of $60,- 
 000,000, wi^iting to be launched when the elec- 
 tion is over. A subsidy of $100,000,000 up- 
 stairs (Pacific Railroad committee-room) is wait- 
 ing to come down upon us for the Southern Pa- 
 cific Railroad when the election is over. There 
 are $38,000,000 of private claims. Southern 
 claims, war claims, waiting to burst up from the 
 committee-rooms below-stairs when the election 
 is over. 
 
 " While these things surround us ; while the 
 very earth shakes with the tramp of the advan- 
 cing army of schemers, who are coming ' with 
 the Constitution and an appropriation,' the gen- 
 tleman from Mississippi thinks that as a measure 
 of reform the Democratic party ought at once to 
 be brought back into power ! 
 
 "Meanwhile what has been the chief employ- 
 
 ment of this House? It has divided itself into 
 a score of police courts, in the hope of finding 
 corruption. Like those insects that feed upon 
 sores, it has hoped to live and thrive upon the 
 corruption of others. Like that scavenger of 
 the air, the carrion bird, that buiies its beak in 
 the rotten carcass, so the Democratic party seeks' 
 to fatten on the refuse which is here and there 
 thrown out of the public service. 
 
 "This House has adopted eighty-three resolu- 
 tions of investigation, besides a legion of reso- 
 lutions of inquiry of the several Departments. 
 Twenty-five standing committees and eight select 
 committees, up to the 20th of June, in all thirty- 
 three committees, have been raking all the slums 
 of the nation, to find, if possible, some savory 
 morsel with which to impregnate the air during 
 the coming election. 
 
 "And what have they found ? Has any of 
 these committees found that a' single dollar has 
 been stolen from the Treasury of the United 
 States ? If so, let them declare it. Why, sir, 
 the Republican party for the last three years has 
 been investigating its own Administration far 
 more effectually than you have^ investigated it. 
 It has had not only the courage of its opinions, 
 but the courage to punish its own rascals. 
 
 " But, gentlemen, after all that may be said 
 of corruptions and wrong-doing, do you show, 
 on that ground, any good reason why the Repub- 
 lican party should surrender the Government to 
 the Democracy ? Would it be better f It is a 
 matter of official record that the Treasury suffer- 
 ed a. far greater percentage of loss, by misman- 
 agement and defalcation, under your administra- 
 tion than it has suffered under oui-s. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, our fathers never thought it 
 necessary to call the Tories back to take charge 
 of their newly-gained liberties. 
 
 "I will close by calling your attention again 
 to the great problem before us. Over this vast 
 horizon of interests North and South, above all 
 party prejudices and personal wrong-doing, above 
 our battle hosts and our victorious cause, above 
 all that we hoped for and won, or you hoped for 
 and lost, is the grand, onward movement of tlie 
 Republic to perpetuate its glory, to save liberty 
 alive, to preserve exact and equal justice to all, 
 to protect and foster all these priceless principles, 
 until they shall have crystallized into the fonm 
 of enduring law, and become inwrought into the 
 life and the habits of our people. 
 
 "And, until these great results are accom- 
 plished, it is not safe to take one step backward. 
 It is still more unsafe to trust interests of such 
 measureless value in the hands of an organiza- 
 tion whose members have never comprehended 
 their epoch, have never been in sympathy with 
 its great movements, who have resisted every 
 step of its progress, and whose principal function 
 has been 
 
 " ' To lie in cold obstruction ' 
 pcross the pathway of the nation. 
 
 "No, no, gentlemen, our enlightened and pa- 
 triotic people will not follow such leaders in the 
 rearward march. Their myiiad faces are turned 
 the other way ; and along their serried lines still 
 rings the cheering cry, ' Forward ! till our great 
 work is fully and worthily accomplished.'" 
 
 ^I>I>EISrDIX 
 
 THE CREDIT MOBILIER AND DE GOLYER TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 The Credit Mobilier was, without doubt, one of 
 the most gigantic swindles in history. The fa- 
 mous scheme of JohnLaw, which beggared France 
 for thirty years, was more wide-spread and dis- 
 astrous in its consequences ; but it was the ef- 
 fect of a sudden financial craze which seized 
 upon the community, and not the result of any 
 thoroughly devised and skil^Uy executed plan 
 on the part of its projector. Not so the Credit 
 Mobilier of America. This scheme was coolly 
 and deliberately concocted through a course of 
 years, and as coolly and deliberately executed in 
 
 the full blaze of newspapers and telegraphs, when 
 the public' mind was in its normal condition. 
 
 One was an accident made possible only by an 
 exceptional state of popular feeling ; the other 
 was the logical consequence of certain move- 
 ments; and, those movements being made, would 
 have succeeded under any circumstances. It 
 was a game of chess played between Oakes Ames 
 and the public, the public not knowing the game, 
 and Ames having the advantage of the devil to 
 prompt his playing. This will clearly appear 
 from a glance at the facts of the transaction. 
 
 ■The majority of readers can remember the 
 universal interest which existed about twen- 
 ty years ago in the project of a railroad to the 
 Pacific. Fremont had made his overland trip 
 to California; and Colfax, Bayard Taylor, and 
 Horace Greeley had journeyed "across the 
 Continent," and come back with glowing ac- 
 counts of the genial climate, and immense agii- 
 cultural and mineral resources of the young em- 
 pire which bathes its feet, in the Pacific, and 
 holds the golden gate-way of the eastern hemi- 
 sphere. Boundless prosperity would result to 
 
the whole country if the young and virgin State 
 were wedded with an iron ring to the older and 
 richer States on the Atlantic seaboard. This 
 was the universal sentiment, and soon Congress 
 caught its inspiration. It passed an act holding 
 ont the most munificent inducements to any one 
 who would undertake to bnild an iron raad 
 across the country to the Pacific. 
 
 It granted a charter to the "Union Pacific 
 Railroad," with a capital of one hundred millions, 
 and a land grant of twenty millions of acres — 
 twenty square miles of land to every lineal mile 
 of rtad — and it offered to loan the company six- 
 teen thousand dollars a mile through the prairie 
 levels ; thirty-two thousand doUai-s a mile up the 
 slopes of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Moun- 
 tains; and forty- eight thousand doUai-s a mile 
 across the broken country that lies between 
 thesft two ranges. In other words : for the 
 building of one thousand and eighty-three miles 
 of railroad, the Government offered a free gift 
 of land worth at least twenty-five million dollars, 
 and a loan, in cash, of twenty-seven millions. 
 
 But the tempting bait was not taken. Capi- 
 tal is timid, and capitalists were afraid to vent- 
 ure into an untrodden wilderness, swarming 
 with hostile Indians, where the track-layer would 
 have to work with a spade in one hand and a 
 rifle in the other. Besides, it would be a quar- 
 ter of a century before local settlements along 
 the line would contribute any revenue, and from 
 a through traffic alone no dividends could be ex- 
 pected. It was a great, a patriotic enterprise, 
 and every one wanted to see the road built, but 
 every one wanted somebody else to build it. So 
 it remained an "unfinished problem" until the 
 war came, and then all the loose money in the 
 country was turned into powder, to be burnt 
 up, a sacrifice for free institutions. 
 
 The war over, and the country saved, people 
 could think again of enlarging the " area of free- 
 dom" by annexing to civilization the rich and 
 almost limitless prairies that stretch westward to 
 the Rocky Mountains and on to the Pacific. At 
 least one man thought of this, and set himself 
 resolutely to work to make this splendid di-eam a 
 glorious reality ; but whether he had the interest 
 of freedom so much at heart as his own interest, 
 his subsequent acts may well lead us to question. 
 
 This man was a Yankee blacksmith, ignorant, 
 illiterate, and without a knowledge of the first 
 principles of book-keeping; and yet be had a 
 mind capacious enough to hold all the details of 
 an extensive business, and a spirit bold enough 
 to undertake the mostgigantic enterprises. With 
 an older brother, he haid begun life as a manu- 
 &ctarer of shovels ; and going from little to 
 great, had, before he reached middle age, accu- 
 mulated a handsome fortune. Then the fiiilare 
 of a rival mannfiicturer, on whose stock and 
 property he held a mortage, made him a miU- 
 ionnaire, and gave him a monopoly of the shovel 
 business. He was thns crowned the "King of 
 Spades ;" but it was rumored that this new dig- 
 nity was not founded on the law of "loving our 
 neighbor," but on that other law of loving our 
 neighbor's goods and chattels. In fiict, he was 
 accused of converting wrongfully, though legal- 
 ly, his rival's property to his own possession. 
 But I suppose this is none of my, or the read- 
 er's business, except as it may show the sort of 
 ^an some of whose acts we are about to take 
 into consideration. 
 
 We are told to JHdge a tree by its fruits, 
 and, up to his coup aitat in the spade business, 
 there were no fruits in this blacksmith's life to 
 indicate that he was a bad man. He seemed to 
 be honest, as the world accounts honesty; and 
 he boasted that his " word was as good as his 
 bond;" and I reckon it was; for so shrewd a 
 man could not have been ignorant of the com- 
 mercial value of a reputation for integrity. And 
 he had none of the meanness that is attributed 
 to his birthplace, New England. There was 
 nothing small about him. He w.^_ built upon 
 too large a scale to stoop to little things, and he 
 oonld even be generous — when he saw some, how- 
 ever distant, personal advantage. In short, he 
 had only one fanlt ; but that was radical, and, in 
 the end, vitiated the whole man. He was thor- 
 oughly selfish.! all his plans centred in himself; 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 and so he fell an easy prey to the accursed spir- 
 it of accumulation which, when it once takes full 
 possession, mildews and destroys even the most 
 generous nature. 
 
 This man's wealth gave him influence, which 
 influence, after a time, sent him to Congress. 
 He was there a prominent member of the Pacific 
 Railroad Committee when the war was about to 
 close, and he saw the moment had arrived to trans- 
 late this visionary project into a tangible reality. 
 But no sane business man would think of invest- 
 ing in a road across eleven hundred miles of unin- 
 habited waste with any hope of dividends on his 
 money, and this man was in pursuit of the al- 
 mighty dollar. He would, therefore, not invest 
 in the road, but he would contract to build it, 
 and get the Government to pay enough, directly 
 or indirectly, for the building, to allow a hand- 
 some profit on the construction, and then it mat- 
 tered not to him what became of the road, the 
 stock, or the dividends. 
 
 The first step in the programme was to com- 
 mit the Government to more liberal terms ; and 
 to this end a bill was i-eported from the Railroad 
 Committee, of which the Yankee blacksmith was 
 a member, authorizing the Pacific Railroad Com- 
 pany to issue its bonds, to be a first lien on the 
 road, for the same amount as those to be issued to 
 the Government. Thus the Government would 
 have only a second mortgage, and take the whole 
 risk of the enterprise ; and, as if this were not 
 enough, the bill allowed the Company to mort- 
 gage the land the Government had given to it, 
 and to issue construction bonds, in advance of 
 grading, upon one hundred miles of trackless 
 mountain and prairie, even before its own sur- 
 veyor had set foot upon it. 
 
 Congress passed the bill, and thus was made 
 sure the first step in the programme. That it 
 was an important step will be evident when it is 
 stated that by this bill the Company became em- 
 powered to sell in the market securities to the 
 amount of ninety-five millions of dollars on a 
 road that would not cost over fifty millions. 
 Therefore, if the bonds should sell for five per 
 cent, below par, there would be a net profit on 
 the transaction of forty millions — a sum moch 
 larger than the whole amount of bonds to be ad- 
 vanced by the Government. This the Yankee 
 blacksmith knew, for he had already built one or 
 more railroads. 
 
 The next step was to organize the Company, 
 and to include among the directors a number of 
 well-known and highly respectable gentlemen, 
 whose names and reputation would give confi- 
 dence in the enterprise and iaciUtate the disposal 
 of the bonds. This was done on the 1st of No- 
 vember, 1865, and the Hon. John A. Dix was 
 elected president of the road. Two million dol- 
 lars of stock was at the same time suhicribed 
 for, and ten per cent, on that amount paid in : 
 $200,000, with which to build a road that was 
 to cost $50,000,000 ! 
 
 The Company, however, calculated to bnild 
 the road upon the proceeds of its bonds, and 
 therefore it was necessary that a public interest 
 should he created in the enterpiise that would 
 facilitate the negotiation of these securities. In 
 other words, the directors had now some wares 
 for sale, and a market must be made for them 
 by advertising. And in this the Company seems 
 to have been especially fortunate, for on the 11th 
 of December, 1865 — less than six weeks after its 
 organization — the Hon. Schuyler Colfax begim 
 the delivery of a series of lectures, in nil parts of 
 the country, on the overland journey, in the per- 
 oration of which he made an eloquent appeal for 
 a railroad "Across the Continent." I do not 
 assert that this gentleman was in the pay of the 
 Company, or that the lecture had been even sug- 
 gested by the Yankee blacksmith ; for I have 
 no knowledge whatever on the subject; but I 
 would call attention to the singular coincidence 
 of time and purpose, and mention the fact that 
 the lecture was delivered in about every lai^ 
 city in the Union, and that it did excite a deep 
 interest in the project that was now so near to 
 the hearts and pockets of the blacksmith and his 
 associates. 
 
 These two steps having been taken, it re- 
 mained now to test the blacksmith's estimates 
 
 56 
 
 of the cost of building the road by employing a 
 competent engineer to go over the ground, and 
 carefully survey the route as far west as the 
 Rocky Mountains. This was done, and his re. 
 port only served to show that the blacksmith was 
 thoroughly familiar with the building of rail- 
 roads. The figures agreed in a wonderful man. 
 ner; and they demonstrated that the profits 
 would be all that had been calculated. 
 
 There now remained only one more step to 
 insure the certain flow of the enoimous profits 
 of this gigantic enterprise into the pockets of the 
 Yankee blacksmith and his associates, und that 
 was the devising of some scheme whereby they — 
 the directors and managers of the railroad — might 
 become also its builders and contractors. This 
 at first sight would seem to be a diflxcult thing ; 
 for the ordinary mind cannot see how one and 
 the same person can be buyer and seller at one 
 and the same time, consistently with honor and 
 honesty, especially if he be acting for another 
 in a fiduciary capacity. But the blacksmith'* 
 was not an ordinary mind, and honor and hon- 
 esty had been ruled out of his ledger — the ac- 
 counts closed and balanced — ^years before, when 
 he gave himself up, body and soul, to the spirit 
 of accumulation. He had seen the end from the 
 beginning, and provided for this already; and 
 this brings ns to the Credit Mobilier of America. 
 
 This was a moribund corporation, chartered 
 some time before — under another name — by the 
 State of Pennsylvania. The charter could bo 
 bought for a nominal price. Forthwith this 
 was done, and then the blacksmith and his as- 
 sociates — six other spirits like unto himself — ' 
 organized for their campaign of plunder. They 
 were to form a ring within a ring — a wheel with- 
 in a wheel — and all the grist which came to the 
 mill was to pass through their hopper. The 
 plan, in brief, was for this Company to contract 
 with the railroad company for the building of 
 the line for about twice its actual cost, and to 
 divide the profits among these seven associates, 
 in the proportion of the stock each one held in 
 the Company. The charter required seven di- 
 rectors ; therefore the blacksmith was obliged to 
 have associates, even if he alone could have car- 
 ried the whole of the gigantic operation. Howev- 
 er, he was, and continued to be as long as it ex- 
 isted, the heart, brains, and soul of the Company. 
 
 I must not omit to mention that the Hon. John 
 A. Dix, president, and Mr. Peter A. Dey, engi- 
 neer of the railroad company, resigned their po- 
 sitions as soon as the tactics of the inner ring 
 began to be developed. The action of this lat- 
 ter gentleman was especially commendable. Ha 
 had been asked to estimate upon the first one 
 hundred miles of road, and had returned thirty 
 thousand dollars a mile as the cost of its con- 
 struction. He was told to revise his figures — to 
 put an excavation here, an embankment there, 
 and to increase the expense generally, so that it 
 should reach a total of fifty thousand dollars a 
 mile. The answer he made to this proposal is 
 worthy of being recorded. It was addressed to 
 the president of the road, who also soon after- 
 ward resigned. He sajs : " My views of the 
 Pacific Road are, perhaps, peculiar, I look upon 
 its managers as trustees of the bounty of Con- 
 gress You are, doubtless, informed how dis- 
 
 proportioned the amount to be paid is to the 
 work contracted for. I need not expatiate on 
 the sincerity of my course, when yon reflect upon 
 the fact that I have resigned the best position in 
 my profession this country has offered to any 
 man." 
 
 This noble action of this comparatively poor 
 man has no especial bearing on our subject, but 
 I have introduced it here for the same reason 
 that an artist throws bright colors into a picture 
 — to relieve the dark ones, and bring out mors 
 clearly the turpitude of the millionnalre black- 
 smith and his millionnaire accomplices. 
 
 Space will not permit me to detail the oper- 
 ations of these delectable associates, nor, if I did, 
 would it be pleasant reading. The average read- 
 er may delight to hear 8f "battles, murder, and 
 sudden death," but his gorge will surely rise at 
 the relation of the daily doings of a gang of 
 thieves. But I am forced to some mention of 
 their general operations. 
 
66 
 
 THE Lli'E OF JAMES A. GAKi'IELD. 
 
 The course at first pursued was for the Rail- 
 road Company to contract with some man of 
 straw for the building of a certain section of the 
 line, and then for this straw contractor to assign 
 the contract to the Credit Mobilier Company, 
 which then, as his assignee, received the bonds 
 by which payment was made by the Kailroad 
 Company. This course was pursued up to Au- 
 gust 16th, 1867, when even this formality was 
 thrown aside, and the blacksmith himself con- 
 tracted with the Railroad Company for six hun- 
 dred and sixty-seven miles of road, at a cost of 
 •$i7, 9 15,000, and himself assigned (on October 
 15th, 1867) the contract to the Credit Mobilier 
 Company. Success had given them boldness, 
 and tlicy now did riot even care for fig-leaves to 
 cover their nakedness. It will be remembered 
 that the ofiScers and directors of one Company 
 were the offluers and directors of the other. They 
 were, therefore, literally contracting with them- 
 selves. Even William M. Tweed, who.se famous 
 "Well, what are you going to do about it?" in- 
 dicated a sufficient degree of boldness, had not 
 the sublime effrontery of these villains. 
 
 The result of their operations may be very 
 briefly stated. The Credit Mobilier Company 
 built the Union Pacific Railroad at a cost to it- 
 self of $50,720,958 94, and a cost to the Rail- 
 road — in other words, to the bond-holders and 
 the Goveranient— of $94,650,287 28. That is 
 to say, it robbed the country of $43,929,328 34, 
 which amount, less the cost of selling its securi- 
 ties, it divided among its stockholders. What 
 this cost of negotiation was is diil'erently stated, 
 and cannot now be exactly ascertained ; but the 
 following detail of dividends which the Credit 
 Mobilier made is considered reliable : 
 
 July, 1867, from Boomer Contract $1,104,000 Ofl 
 
 " " " Hoxie " 6,108,232 91 
 
 Dec, I" " Ames " 120^ 4,488,000 00 
 
 Jan., 1868, " " " Wfi 748,000 00 
 
 Jnne, " " " " 100* 3,750,000 00 
 
 July 3, " " " " K% 2,791,500 00 
 
 " 8, " " " 'fc 30i 1,095,168 00 
 
 Dec, " " " '^ 200* 7,699,000 00 
 
 1869, " Davis contract and final 
 
 division ■ 13,000,009 00 
 
 Total dividends in two years $39,743,900 91 
 
 These, be it understood, were the earnings of a 
 capital oi only $3,750,000 — a multiplying of 
 the money invested more than ten times within 
 a period of only two years ! Oakes Ames, in his 
 testimony before the Poland Committee, stated 
 the earnings at about 800 per cent. ; but the 
 above statement shows that on this occasion, at 
 least, he did not tell the whole truth. 
 
 One would think that, with this exhibit of 
 profits before them, these men, whose souls were 
 engrossed in the one passion of accumulation, 
 would have been satisfied. Probably they would 
 have been, were the saying not true that "the 
 thief doth fear each bush an officer." They 
 feared exposure, they feared one another, and 
 for all the comfort they derived from their ill- 
 gotten gains they might as well have been im- 
 prisoned in a powder-house, where, at any mo- 
 ment, some random spark might blow them and 
 their plunder into the air together. They had 
 not the traditional honor which is said to exist 
 among thieves. They stole from one another, 
 pud so boldly and brazenly, that the wonder is 
 how even " the cohesive power of public plun- 
 der " could have held (hem so long together. To 
 exhibit the internal economy of this delectable as- 
 sociation, it may be well to mention a few facts 
 that came to light subsequently. 
 
 The books of the gang at one time showed a 
 large deficiency in the funds of the companies. 
 Enormous sums of money had been disbursed by 
 the Vice-president for secret service, and when 
 his accounts were looked into he failed to pro- 
 duce the vouchers for these expenditures. As 
 miiy be imagined, there were whispers of foul 
 play, and cloudy visages among the "honest 
 men " who had not yet inserted their own fin- 
 gers into the Company's money-till. They called 
 the Vice-president to account, and appointed a 
 committee of two, consisting of the President 
 and Treasurer of the Company, to investigate his 
 transactions. They evidently expected that the 
 businesss would have, if divulged, an unsavory 
 odor in the nostrils of the public ; for the whole 
 
 gang, in solemn conclave, decided not to unrea- 
 sonably demand the production of vouchers, and 
 voted that the report of the President and Treas- 
 urer, that the facts in the premises weie satisfac- 
 tory to them, should exonerate the Vice-presi- 
 dent, and end all discussion. The amount of the 
 deficiency was $435,724,21, the half of which 
 would seem a reasonable amount for a twelve- 
 month's stealings ; but the committee reported 
 the accounts of the Vice-president to be correct, 
 and recommended that the whole sum should be 
 charged to "suspense account." Why charged 
 to suspense, and not to "profit and loss," will 
 not readily appear to an ordinai'y accountant ; for 
 the money was evidently not "suspended," but 
 sunk, and the greater part, no doubt, sunk into 
 the pockets of the Vice-president. 
 
 They all seem to have had an insatiable maw 
 for "pickings and stealings;" and of this another 
 trifling incident will afford illustration. Some 
 additional Congressional legislation was needed 
 concerning the railroad-bridge between Council 
 Bluifs and Omaha, and the engineer -in -chief, 
 who had succeeded the worthy Mr. Dey, was 
 telegraphed to come on to Washington to aid 
 in procuring it. The leader of the gang was a 
 member of Congress, but this man was omnipo- 
 tent in the lobby, so he was called upon to aid 
 thq "honorable gentleman "from Massachusetts. 
 But he required pay for his services. He had 
 recently lost $17,500 in a stock operation, which 
 must be made good to him, together with what- 
 ever he had to expend in securing this legislation. 
 As I have said, the blacksmith was not a mean 
 man — he never stood upon trifles. So he assent- 
 ed to the conditions, and the needed bill was 
 engineered through Congress. The engineer 
 then handed in to the Company his little bill 
 of $24,500, namely, $17,500, plus $7000 for 
 disbursements; but the economical Vice-presi- 
 dent objected to the amount — he, a moderate 
 man, thouglit it exorbitant. There might have 
 resulted trouble in the camp ; for he was calling 
 in question a decree of the King of Spades, had 
 not the engineer been a man of nimble resources. 
 He soon hit upon an expedient that overcame 
 the scruples of the Vice-president. The two 
 were directors of the Railroad Company ; they 
 called in another director, and had a meeting 
 of the board, and the three worthies voted them- 
 selves $126,000— namely, $82,500 to the Vice- 
 president, $24,500 to the engineer, and $19,000 
 to the other director, and the whole sum was 
 charged to "special legal expenses." I might 
 fill this page with accounts of similar transac- 
 tions, but these will suffice; for they are "spec- 
 imen bricks " from which may be inferred the 
 character of the whole edifice of greed, and 
 fraud, and unblushing peculation. 
 
 I have given the reader an incorrect idea of 
 the character of the Yankee blacksmith if he sup- 
 poses that he would tamely submit to be thus 
 defrauded by his confederates in iniquity. He 
 did not. He was a plain man, and he heartily 
 despised the shoddy respectability _of some of 
 his accomplices. This, however, he might have 
 borne, but not to have these greedy scoundrels 
 put their hands openly into his pockets, and 
 squander on fine wines, and fast horses, and har- 
 lots the hard-earned proceeds of the shovel busi- 
 ness. There is no record on the minutes of the 
 Company of any special outbreak from the King 
 of Spades ; but a simple knowledge of the facts, 
 and the character of the man, are enough to show 
 to a moral certainty that there must have been 
 such outbreaks; and the exercise of a very little 
 " historical imagination " will enable the reader 
 to picture the scenes when these worthies occa- 
 sionally came together at the boaid-meetings. 
 
 These dissensions "grew fast and furiouis," 
 and we soon see the Vice-president — ^he "who 
 had the bag, and purloined what was put there- 
 in " — about to further enact the rdle of Judas in 
 betraying his associates. He threatened expos- 
 ure to the Government, and — says one of his 
 associates, in his sworn testimony before the Con- 
 gressional Committee — " I knew him to once car- 
 ry his threats so far as to write a letter and put 
 it in the Post-office, directed to Elihu B. Wash- 
 burne, accusing the companies of the greatest ras- 
 calities. Had this letter gone forward, you can 
 
 realize the consequences McComb said he 
 
 could get that letter out of the Post-office, as he 
 knew the clerk weli.'"" He did withdraw it from 
 the Post-office. 
 
 These "wicked partners" were evidently on 
 the thin crust of a volcano, and the ground was 
 shaking beneath their feet. They scented dan- 
 ger in the air, and set about preparing for the 
 emergency. Between the 4th of July, 1868, and 
 the 19th of December of the same year, they had 
 divided among themselves nine hundred and five 
 per cent, dividends on the amount of the capital 
 stock, in cash. Union Pacific Railroad stock and 
 Union Pacific first mortgage railroad bonds. 
 These profits were so enormously large, and so 
 dishonestly acquired, that the conspirators took 
 fright lest Congress should investigate their do- 
 ings and explode this unprecedented fraud. On 
 the 9th 'of December, 1867, Mr. Washburna, of 
 Wisconsin, had introduced in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives a bill to regulate the rate of trans- 
 portation on the Union Pacific Railroad. Other 
 measures hostile to the interests of the conspira- 
 tors were subsequently introduced by him and 
 Washburne of Illinois. These measures indicated 
 that at least two members of Congress were in- 
 quiring into their transactions, and at any mo- 
 ment the Vice-president might make such dis- 
 closures as would precipitate upon them an inves- 
 tigation before the whole of the immense haul 
 of illegal gain was safely brought to shore. 
 
 The " King of Spades " was seriously alarmed. 
 "He feared" (says the Report of the Congres- 
 sional Committee) "that the interests of the 
 road might sufi'er by adverse legislation, and 
 what he desired to accomplish was to enlist 
 strength and friends in Congress who would re- 
 sist any encioachment upon, or interference with, 
 the right and privileges already secured, and to 
 that end wished to create in them an interest 
 identical with his own. This purpose is clearly 
 avowed in his letters to McComb, copied in the 
 evidence. He says he intends to place the stock 
 ' where it will do most good to us.' And again, 
 'We want more friends in this Congress.' In 
 his letter to McComb, and also in his statement 
 prepared by counsel, he gives the philosophy of 
 his action, to wit: 'That he has found tliere is 
 no difficulty in getting men to look after their 
 own property.' The Committee are also sat- 
 isfied that Mr. Ames entertained a fear that, 
 when the true relations between the Credit Mo- 
 bilier Company and the Union Pacific became 
 generally known, and the means by which the 
 great profits were expected to be hnade, were fully 
 understood, there was dangei- that Congressional 
 investigation and action would be invoked." This 
 was the opinion of the Committee, and in this, 
 no doubt, they were correct. . 
 
 The stake was tremendous ; for the King of 
 Spades had just before — August 16th, 1867 — 
 signed a contract with the Raihoad Company 
 for the building of 667 miles of road, on which 
 the prospective profit was not less than twenty 
 millions of dollars. But he was an expert chess- 
 player, and his satanic friend was at his elbow, 
 and prompted the movements of the game. A 
 year before he had seen the necessity of having 
 a body-guard of Congressmen, to ward olf any 
 impending investigation. To this end he had, 
 through one of his whippers-in, offered several 
 members stock in the Credit Mobilier Company, 
 representing that it was organized to operate in 
 real estate along the line of the railroad, and 
 would pay at least a hundred per cent, annual 
 dividends ; but none had taken the bait, mainly, 
 he thought, because they had no money to make 
 the investment. Now, he would sell them the 
 stock on a credit, allowing the dividends to pay 
 for the principal, but still representing the profits 
 as derived from real-estate transactions ; for it 
 was certain these gentlemen would not touch it 
 if they were told it had any connection what- 
 ever with the Union Pacific Railroad, on which 
 they might be called to act, the road being un- 
 der the supervision of Congress. 
 
 * See Report of Poland Committee, pape 94. The 
 gentleman who testifies this held only $29,000 of Ilie 
 Mobilier stock, and swears his priiflts were .1.'93,4S6; 
 and he adds, in a cnmpitiining t<me, "Tliat was every 
 dollar I ever mnde in the coustrnction of that road. I 
 have got no money that I earued harder." 
 
This programme this worthy decided upon, 
 and twelve of the foremost legislators in Con- 
 gress, men of unsullied honor and national rep- 
 utation, were selected as a body-guard by this 
 rascally Yankee blacksmith, who, not content 
 with plundering the country of three times as 
 much money as Tweed plundered New York, 
 sought to shield himself from detection behind 
 the good name and high position of men who 
 would have been the fii-st to bring him to justice 
 had they known the true character of his opera- 
 tions. How successful he was the reader may 
 learn from a reading of the testimony given be- 
 fore the Poland Committee, which is in every 
 public library. 
 
 The danger, for the time, went by ; but soon 
 another squabble broke out among the conspii^ 
 ators over the division of the booty, which now 
 would seem to have been gathered safely into 
 their pockets. The qnan-el, after a few yeai-s, 
 got into the courts, whence it reached the ears 
 of Congress, and the dreaded investigation came, 
 and filled the country with scandal. Many men 
 high in position were implicated, and others, nqt 
 guilty, had their good names befouled, simply be- 
 cause they had come in contact with the black- 
 smith ; for who can tonch pitch and not be de- 
 filed ? One of those who came in contact with 
 him was James A. Garfield, whose life I have 
 imperfectly sketched in the preceding pages. 
 The following is his own statement of his con- 
 nection with this man, written at the time, and 
 it is entitled to a careful reading by all who feel 
 at all interested in this subject. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 OF THB TRANSACTIONS OF THB CRBDIT MO- 
 BILIER COMPANY. 
 
 The events of the late winter recall forcibly a 
 declaration, made more than twenty-two centn- 
 ries ago, by a man who possessed a profound 
 knowledge of human nature and society. In 
 answering a grave chaise made against his pub- 
 lic condnct, he said he did not sl^d on equal 
 gronnd with his accusers, for the reason that 
 people listen to accusation more readily than 
 to defence. This remark has sometimes been 
 thought cynical and unjust ; but there is much 
 In our recent history that gives it force. 
 
 In no period of the political life of this coun- 
 try has the appetite for scandal been keener, or 
 its exercise less restrainedj than during the last 
 year. One of our most brilliant and influential 
 journalists, in an address delivered a few days 
 since to a convention of his professional breth- 
 ren in Indiana, while speaking of the present 
 tone of the Press, used this emphatic langnao-o : 
 
 The law presumes a man to be innocent until he is 
 proved guilty. 
 
 The Press, not merely usurping the functions of the 
 law In arraigning a man whom tee constable has no 
 warrant to arrest, goes still further, and assumes him, 
 })n'n»o fitci», to be guilty. After many weeks, if the 
 case of the accnsea comes to trial, he is acquitted ; 
 the law makes him an honest man ; but there is the 
 newspaper whi<^ has condemned him, and cannot, 
 with a dozen retractions, erase the impression left 
 and the damage done by a single paragraph. 
 
 It might not be becoming in a layman, who 
 feels in his own case the force of this paragraph, 
 to volunteer such a declaration ; but it is quite 
 proper for him to testify to its truth when thus 
 forcibly stated. 
 
 This paragraph from the address of the jour- 
 nalist finds a striking illustration in the history 
 of the subject now under review. 
 
 In the autumn of 1872, during the excitement 
 of the Presidential campaign, charges of the 
 most serious character were made against ten 
 or twelve persons who were then, or had re- 
 cently been. Senators and Representatives in 
 Congress, to the effect that, five years ago, they 
 had sold themselves for sundry amounts ef 
 stock of the Credit Mobilier Company, and 
 bonds of the Pacific Railroad Company. The 
 price at which different members were alleged 
 to have bartered away their personal honor 
 and their official influence was definitely set 
 down in the newspapers; their guilt was as- 
 sumed, and the public vengeance was invoke4 
 not only upon them, but also upon the party to 
 which most of them belonsed. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 CREDIT MOBILIER INVESTIGATION. 
 
 By a resolution of the House, introduced by 
 one of the accused members, and adopted on 
 the first day of the late session, an investigation 
 of these charges was ordered. The parties them- 
 selves and many other witnesses were examined ; 
 the records of the Credit Mobilier Company and 
 of the Pacific Railroad Company were produced; 
 and the results of the investigation were report- 
 ed to the House on the 18th of February. The 
 report, with the accompanying testimony, was 
 brought up in the House for consideration on 
 the mh of "February, and the discussion was 
 continued until the subject was finally disposed 
 of, three days before the close of the session. 
 The investigation was scarcely begun before it 
 was manifest that the original charge, that stock 
 was given to membere as a consideratiop for 
 their votes, was wholly abandoned, there being 
 no proof whatever to support it. 
 
 But the charge assumed a new foi-m, namely . 
 That the stock had beeu sold to members at a 
 price known to be greatly below its actual val- 
 ue, for the purpose of securing their legislative 
 influence in favor of those who were managing 
 and manipulating the Pacific Railroad for their 
 own private advantage, and to the injury both 
 of the trust and of the United States. Eight 
 of those a^inst whom charges had been made 
 in the public Press, myself among the number, 
 were still members of the House of Representa- 
 tives, and were specially mentioned in the re- 
 port. The committee recommended the adop- 
 tion of resolutions for the expulsion of Messrs. 
 Ames and Brooks, the latter on charges in no 
 way connected with Mr. Ames or Sie other 
 members mentioned. They recommended the 
 expulsion of Mr. Ames for an attempt to influ- 
 ence the votes and decisions of members of Con- 
 gress by interesting them in the stock of the 
 Credit Mobilier, and, through it, in the stock of 
 the Union Pacific Railroad. They found that 
 though Mr. Ames in no case disclosed his pur- 
 pose to these members, yet he hoped so to enlist 
 their interest that they would be inclined to fa- 
 vor any legislation in aid of the Pacific Railroad 
 and its interest — and that he declared to the 
 managers of the Credit Mobilier Company at 
 the time that he was thus using the stock 
 which had been placed in his hands by the 
 company. 
 
 Concerning the members to whom he had 
 sold, or offered to sell, the stock, the committee 
 say that they " do not find that Mr. Ames, in his 
 negotiations with the persons abr ve-named, en- 
 tered into any detail of the relations between 
 the Credit Mobilier Company and the Union 
 Pacific Company, or gave them any specific in- 
 formation as to the amount of dividends they 
 would be likely to receive, farther than has been 
 already stated [viz., that in some cases he had 
 
 been guaranteed a profit of 10 per cent.] 
 
 They do not find as to the members of the pres- 
 ent House above-named that they were aware 
 of the object of Mr. Ames, or that they had any 
 other purpose in taking this stock than to make 
 
 a profitable investment They have not been 
 
 able to find that any of these members of 
 Congress have been affected in their official ac- 
 tion in consequence of interest in the Credit 
 Mobilier stock They do not find that ei- 
 ther of the above-named gentlemen, in contracts 
 lug witli Mr. Ames, had any corrupt motive or 
 purpose himself, or was aware Mr. Ames had 
 any. Nor did either of them suppose he was 
 guilty of any impropriety or even indelicacy in 
 becoming a purchaser of this stock." And, 
 finally, that "the committee find nothing in 
 the conduct or motives of either of these mem- 
 bers, in taking this stock, that calls for any rec- 
 ommendation by the committee of the House." 
 (See pp. viii., ix., x.) 
 
 In the case of each of the six members jnst re- 
 ferred to, the committee sum up the results of 
 the testimony, and from that summary the con- 
 clusions above quoted are drawn. In r^;ard to 
 me, the committee find: "That in December, 
 1867, or January, 1868, 1 agreed to purchase ten 
 shares of Credit Mobilier stock of Mr. Ames for 
 $1000, and the accrued interest from the pre- 
 vious July ; that in June, 1868, Mr. Ames paid 
 me a check on the Sergeant-at-arms of the 
 House for $829, as a balance of dividends on 
 the stock, above the purchase price and accrued 
 interest ; and that thereafter there were no pay- 
 ments or other transactions between us j or any 
 communication on the subject until the mvesti- 
 gation began in December last." (See Report, 
 p. vii.) 
 
 I took the first opportunity offered by the 
 completion of public business to call the atten- 
 tion of the House to the above summary of the 
 
 57 
 
 testimony in reference to me. On the 3d of 
 March I made the following remarks, in the 
 House of Representatives, as recorded in the 
 C<mg7'essional Globe for that day : 
 
 Mr. GARFiELn, of Ohio. — I rise to a personal expla- 
 nation. During the late investigntiou by the com- 
 mittee of which the gentleman Trom Vermout [Mr. 
 Poland] was the chairman, I pnrsaed what seemed to 
 be the plain path of duty— to keep silence except when 
 I was called upon to testify before the committee. 
 When testimony was given which appeared to be in 
 couftict with mine, I waited, ezpeptmg to be called 
 again if anything was needed from me in reference 
 to these discrepancies. I was not recalled ; and when 
 the committee eabmitted their report to the House, a 
 considerable portion of the testimony relating to me 
 had not been printed. 
 
 In the discussion which followed here I was pre- 
 pared to submit some additional facts and cousidera- 
 tious in case my own conduct came up for considera- 
 tion In the House; bnt the whole subject was con- 
 cluded without any direct reference to myself, and 
 since then the whole lime of the Honse has been oc- 
 cnpied with the public business. I now desire to 
 make a single remark on this subject in the hearing 
 of the House. Though the committee acquitted me 
 of all charges of corruption in action or intent, yet 
 there is in the report a summing np of the facts in 
 relation to me which I respectfully protest is not war- 
 rimted by the testimony. I say tnia with the utmost 
 respect for the committee, and without intending any 
 renection upon them. 
 
 I cannot now enter npon the discussion; bnt I pro- 
 pose, before long, to make a statement to the pabllc, 
 setting forth more fully the grounds of my dissent 
 from the summing up to which I have referred. I 
 will only say now that the testimony which I gave 
 before the committee is a statement of the facte ia 
 the case as I have understood them from the begin- 
 ning. More than three years ago, on at least two oo- 
 casionSi^I stated the case to two personal friends snb- 
 stantially as I stated it before the committee, and I 
 here add that nothing in my condnct or conversation 
 has at any time been in conflict with my testimony. 
 For the present I desire only to place on record thja 
 declaration and notice. 
 
 In pursuance of this notice, I shall consider 
 BO much of the history of the Credit Mobilier 
 Company as has any relation to myself. To 
 render the discussion intelli^ble, I wiU first 
 state briefly the offences which that corpora- 
 tion committed, as found by the committees of 
 the House. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CREDIT MOBILIER 
 COMPANY. 
 
 The Credit Mobilier Company is a corpora- 
 tion organized under the laws of the State of 
 Pennsylvania, and authorized by its charter to 
 purchase and sell varions kinds of securities, and 
 to make advances of money and credit to ndl- 
 road and oth^r improvement companies. Its 
 charter describes a class of business which, if 
 honestly conducted, any citizen may properly 
 engage in. 
 
 On the 16th of August, 1867, Mr. Oakes Ames 
 made a contract with the Union Pacific Rail- 
 road Company to build six hundred and sixty- 
 seven miles of road, from the one hundredth 
 meridian westward, at rates ranging from $42,000 
 to $96,000 per mile. For executing this contract 
 he was to receive in the aggregate $47,935,000 
 in cash, or in the securities of the company. 
 
 On the I5th of October, 1867, a triple contract 
 was made between Mr. Ames of the first part, 
 seven persons as trustees of the second part, and 
 the Credit Mobilier Company of the third part, 
 by the terms of which the Credit Mobilier Com- 
 pany was to advance money to build the road, 
 and to receive thereon 7 per cent, interest, and 
 2)4 per cent, commission; the seven trustees 
 were to execute the Ames contract, and the 
 profits thereon were to be divided among them, 
 and such other stockholders of the Credit Mo- 
 bilier Company as should deliver to them an ii^ 
 revocable proxy to vote the stock of the Union 
 Pacific held by them. The principal stockhold- 
 ers of the Credit Mobilier Company were also 
 holders of a majority of the stock of the Union 
 Pacific Railroad. 
 
 On the face of this agreement, the part to be 
 performed by the Credit Mobilier Company, as 
 a corporation, was simple and unobjectionable. 
 It was to advance money to the contractors, and 
 to receive therefor about ten per cent, as inter- 
 est and commission. This explains how it was 
 that in a suit in the courts of Pennsylvania, in 
 1870, to collect the State tax on the profits of 
 the company, its managers swore that the com- 
 pany had never declared dividends to an aggre- 
 gate of more than twelve present. The eom- 
 gany proper did not receive the profits of the 
 iakes Ames contract. The profits were paid 
 only to the seven trustees, and to such stock- 
 holders of the Credit Mobilier as had delivered 
 to thein the proxies on their Pacific Railroad 
 stock. In other words, a ring inside the Credit 
 
6S 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 Mobilier obtained the control both of that cor- 
 poration and of the profits of the Ames con- 
 tract. 
 
 By a private agreement made in writing, Octo- 
 ber 16th, 1867, the day after the triple contract 
 was signed, the seven trustees pledged them- 
 selves to each other so to vote all the Pacific 
 Eailroad stock which they held in their own 
 right or by proxy, as to keep in power all the 
 members of the then existing board of directors 
 of the railroad company not appointed by the 
 President of the United States, or such other 
 persons as said board should nominate. By 
 this agreement, the election of a majority of 
 the directors was wholly within the power of 
 the seven trustees. From all this it resulted 
 that the Ames contract, and the triple agree- 
 ment made in October, amounted, in fact, to a 
 contract made by seven leading stockholders of 
 the Pacific Railroad Company with themselves ; 
 so that the men who fixed the price at which 
 the road was to he built were the same men 
 who would receive the profits of the contract. 
 
 The wrong in this transactiou consisted, first, 
 in the fact that the stockholding directors of 
 the Pacific Railroad, being the guardians of a 
 great public ti-ust, contracted with themselves ; 
 and, second, that they paid themselves an ex- 
 orbitant price for the work to he done-i-a price 
 which virtually brought into their own posses- 
 sion, as private individuals, almost all the prop- 
 erty of the railroad company. The six hundred 
 and sixty-seven miles covered by the contract 
 included one hundred and thirty-eight miles al- 
 ready completed, the profits on which inured to 
 the benefit of the contractors. (See Report of 
 Credit Mobiller Committee No. 2, p. xiii.) 
 
 The Credit Mobiller Company had already 
 been engaged in various enterprises before the 
 connection with the Ames contract. George 
 Francis Train had once been the principal own- 
 er of its franchises, and it had owned some West- 
 ern lands (Wilson's Report, pp. 497-'8) ; but its 
 enterprises had not been very remunerative, and 
 its 'Stock had not been worth par. The triple 
 contract of October, 1867, gave it at once con- 
 siderable additional value. It should be borne 
 in mind, however, that the relations of the Cred- 
 it Mobiller Conipany to the seven tmstees, to 
 the Oakes Ames contract, and to the Pacific 
 Railroad Company, were known to but few per- 
 sons until long afterward, and that it was for 
 the interest, of the parties to keep them secret. 
 Indeed, nothing was known of it to the general 
 public until the facts were. brought out in the 
 recent investigations. 
 
 In view of the facts above stated, it is evident 
 that a purchaser of such shares of Credit Mo- 
 biller stock as were brought under the opera- 
 tion of the triple contract would be a sharer in 
 the profits derived by that arrangement from 
 the assets of the Pacific Railroad, a large part 
 of which consisted of bonds and lands granted 
 to the road by the United States. The holding 
 of such stock by a member of Congress would 
 depend for its moral qualities wholly upon the 
 fact whether he did or did not know of the ar- 
 rangement out of which the profits would come. 
 If he knew of the fraudulent arrangement by 
 which the bonds and lands of thb United States 
 delivered to the Union Pacific Railroad Com- 
 pany for the purpose of constructing its road, 
 ■were to be paid out at enormously extravagant 
 rates, and the proceeds to be paid out as divi- 
 dends to a ring of stockholders made tlie Credit 
 Mobiller Company, he could not, with any pro- 
 priety, hold such stock, or agree to hold it, or 
 any of its proceeds. And for a member of Con- 
 gress, knowing the facts, to hold under advise- 
 ment a proposition to buy this stock, would be 
 morally as wrong as to, hold it and receive the 
 profits upon it. If it was morally wrong to 
 purchase it, it was morally wrong to hesitate 
 whether to purchase it or not. 
 
 I put the case on the highest ethical ground, 
 and ask that this rule be applied, in all its se- 
 verity, in judging of my relation to this subject. 
 
 PEOPosrriONS to be discussed. 
 
 The committee founi, as already stated, that 
 none of the six members to whom Mr. Ames 
 sold, or proposed to sell, the stock, knew of 
 this arrangement. I shall, however, discuss the 
 subject only in so far as relates to me, and shall 
 undertalie to establish three propositions : 
 
 First. That I never purchased, nor ^reed to 
 purchase, the stock, nor received any or its divi- 
 dends. 
 
 Second. That though an offer was made, which 
 I had some time under advisement, to sell me 
 $1000 worth of the stock, I did not then know, 
 nor had I the means of knowing, the real con- 
 ditions with which the stock was connected, or 
 
 the method by which Its profits were to be 
 made. 
 
 Third. That my testimony before the com- 
 mittee is a statement of the facts as I have al- 
 ways tinderstood them ; and that neither before 
 the committee nor elsewhere has there been, on 
 my part, any prevarication or evasion on the 
 subject. • 
 
 MR. GARFIELD'S TESTIMONY. 
 
 My testimony was delivered before the in- 
 vestigating committee on the 14th of January. 
 That portion which precedes the cross-exam- 
 ination I had written out soon after the com- 
 mittee was appointed. I quote it, with the 
 cross-examination, in full, as found recorded on 
 pp. 128 to 131 : 
 
 Washington, D. C, January 14tU, 1873. 
 
 J, A. Gaefisld, a member of the United States 
 Hod^e of Hepreseutatlves from the State of Ohio, 
 having been duly sworn, made the , following state- 
 ment : 
 
 The first I ever heard of the Credit Mobilier was 
 some time in 1866. or 1S6T— I cannot flx the date- 
 when George Francis Train called on me and said he 
 was organiising a company to be known as the Credit 
 Mol)ilier of America, to be formed on the model of 
 the Credit Mobilier of France ; that the object of the 
 company was to purchase lands and build houses 
 along the line of the Pacific Railroad at points where 
 cities and villages were likely to spring up; that he 
 had no doubt that money thns invested would double 
 or treble itself each year ; that subscriptions were lim- 
 ited to $1000 each, and he wished me to subscribe. He 
 showed me a long list of subBcribere, among them Mr. 
 Oakes Ames, to whom heA-eferred me for further in- 
 formation concerning the enterprise. I answered that 
 I had not the money to spare, and if I had I would not 
 subscribe without knowing more about the proposed 
 organization. Mr. Train left me, saying be would hold 
 a place open for me, and hoped I would yet conclude 
 to subscribe. The same day I asked Mr. Ames what 
 lie thought of the enterprise. He expressed the opin- 
 ion that the investment would be safe aud profitable. 
 
 I heard nothing further-on the subject for a year or 
 more, and it wa^ almost forgotten, when some time, I 
 shonld say during the long session of ] SOS, Mr. Ames 
 spoke of it again ; said the company had organized, 
 was doing well, and he thought would soon pay large 
 dividends. He said that some of the stock had been 
 left, or was to be left, in his hands to sell, and I could 
 take the amounti which Mr. Train bad offered me by 
 
 ?ayirig the $1000 and the accrued interest. He said if 
 was not able to pay for it then, he would hold it for 
 me till I could pay, or until some of the dividends 
 were peyable. I told him I would consider the mat- 
 ter; but would not agree to take any stock until I 
 knew, from an examiuation of the charter and the 
 conditions of the subscription, he extent to which I 
 should become pecuniarily liable. He said he was 
 not sure, but thought a stockholder would be liable 
 only for the par value of his stock ; that he had not 
 the stock and papers with him, but would have them 
 ' after awhile. 
 
 From the case, as presented, I should probably have 
 taken the stock if I had been satisfied in regard to the 
 , extent of pecuniary liability. Thus the matter rested 
 for some time, I think until the fidlowiug year. Dur- 
 ing that interval I understood that there were divi- 
 dends due amounting to nearly three times the par 
 value of the stock. But, in the mean time, I had heard 
 that the company was involved in some controversy 
 with the Pacific Railroad, and that Mr. Ames's right 
 to sell the stock was denied. When I next saw Mr. 
 Ames I told him I had concluded not to take the 
 stock. There the matter ended, so far as I was con- 
 cerned, and I had no further knowledge of the com- 
 pany's operations until the subject began to be dis- 
 cussed in the newspapers last fall. 
 
 Nothing was ever said to me by Mr. Train or Mr. 
 Ames to indicate or imply that the Credit Mobilier 
 was, or could be, in any way connected with the leg- 
 islation of Congress for the Pacific Railroad or for 
 any other purpose. Mr. Ames never gave, nor offer- 
 ed to give, me any stock or other valuable thing as & 
 gift. I once asked, and obtained from him, and after- 
 ward repaid to hira.a loan'ofJSOO; that amouut is the 
 only valuable thing I ever received from or delivered 
 to him. 
 
 I never owned, received, or agreed to receive, any 
 stock of the Credit Mobilier or of the Union Pacific 
 Railroad, nor any dividends or profits arising from 
 either of them. 
 
 By the Cuaitiman: 
 
 Question. Had this loan you speak of any connec- 
 tion in any way with your conversation in regard to 
 the Credit Mobilier stockf— Answer. No connection 
 in any way except in regard to the time of payment. 
 Mr. Ames stated to me that if I concluded to subscribe 
 for the Credit Mobilier stock, I could allow the loan 
 to remain until the payment on that was adjusted. I 
 'never regarded it as connected in any other way with 
 the stock enterprise. 
 
 Q. Do you remember the time of that transaction ? 
 —A. I do not remember it precisely. I should think 
 it was in the session of 1868. I had been to Europe 
 the fall before, and was in debt, and borrowed several 
 suras of money at different times and from different 
 persons. This loan from Mr. Ames was not at his 
 instance. I made the request myself. I think I had 
 asked one or two persons before him for the loan. 
 
 Q. Have you any knowledge in reference to any 
 dealings of Mr. Ames with any gentleman in Con- 
 gress in reference to the stock of the Credit_Mobilier ? 
 — ^A. No, sir ; I have not. I had no knowledge that 
 
 Mr. Ames had ever tallied with anybody hnt myself. 
 It was a subject I gave but little attention to ; in fact, 
 inauy of the details had almost passed out of my mind 
 until they were called up in the late campaign. 
 
 By Mr. B LACK. - 
 
 Q. Did you say you refused to take the stock sim- 
 ply because there was a lawsuit about itf— A. No; 
 not exactly that. I do not remember any other rea- 
 son which I gave to Mr. Ames than that I did not wish 
 to take stock in anything that would involve contro- 
 versy. I think I gave him no other reason than that. 
 
 Q. When jfou ascertained the relation that this com- 
 pany had with the Union Pacific Railroad Company, 
 and whehce its profits were to be derived, would you 
 have considered that a sufficient reason foi' declining 
 it irrespective of other cousiderations ? — A. It would 
 have been, as the case was afterward stated. 
 
 Q. At the time you talked with Mr. Ames, before 
 yon rejected the proposition, you did not know whence 
 the profits of the company were to be derived f — A. I 
 did not. I do not know that Mr. Ames withheld, in- 
 tentionally, from me any information. I had de- 
 rived my original knowledge of the organization 
 of the company from Mr. Train. He made quite an 
 elaborate statement of its purposes, aud I proceeded 
 in subsequent conversations upon the supposition that 
 the organization was unchanged. I ought to say for 
 myself, as well as for Mr. Ames, that he never said any 
 word to me that indicated the least desire to influence 
 my legislative action in any way. If he'had any such 
 purpose, he certainly never said anything to me which 
 would indicate it. 
 
 Q. Ton know now, and have known for a long time, 
 that Mr. Ames was deeply interested in the legislation 
 on this subject?— A. i snppbsed that he was largely 
 interested in the Union Pacific Railroad. I have 
 heard various statements to that effect. I cannot say 
 I had any such information of my own knowledge. 
 
 Q. You mean that he did not electioneer with you, 
 or solicit your vote ?— A. Certainly not. None of the 
 conversations I ever had with him had any reference 
 to such legislation. 
 
 By Mr. Meretok : 
 
 Q. Have you any knowledge of any other member 
 of Congress beiii^ concerned in the Credit Mobilier 
 stock f — A. No, sir ; I have not. 
 
 Q. Or any stock in the Union Pacific Railroad f — A. 
 I have not. I can say to the committee that I never 
 saw, I believe, in my life a certificate of stock of the 
 Union Pacific Railroad Company, and I never saw any 
 certificate of stock of the Credit Mobilier, until Mr. 
 Brooks exhibited one, a few days ago, in the House 
 of Representatives. 
 
 Q. Were any dividends ever tendered to you on the 
 stock of the Credit Mobilier upon the supposition that 
 yon were to be a subscriber? — A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. This loan of $300 you have repaid, if I understood 
 you correctly ?— A. Yes, sir. 
 
 By Mr. MoCbakt : 
 
 Q. You never examined the charter of the Credit 
 Mobilier to see what were its objects? — ^A. No, sir; I 
 never saw it. 
 
 Q. If I understood you, you did not know that the 
 Credit Mobilier had any connection with the Union 
 Pacific Railroad Company ?— A. I understood from 
 the statement of Mr. Train that its objects were con- 
 nected with the lauds of the Union Pacific Railroad 
 Company and the developihent of settlements along 
 that roan: but that it had any relation to the Union 
 Pacific Railroad, other than that, I did not know. I 
 think I did hear, also, that the company was Investing 
 some of its earnings in the bonds of the road. 
 
 Q. He stated it was for the purpose of purchasing 
 laud and building bouses? — A. That was the state- 
 ment of Mr. Train. I think he said in that connec- 
 tion thair he had already been doing something of 
 that kind at Omaha, or was going to do it. ^ 
 
 Q. You did not know that the object was to build 
 the Union Pacific Railroad ? — A. No, sir ; I did not. 
 
 This is the ease as I understand it, and as I 
 have always understood it. In reviewing it, 
 after all that has been said and written during 
 the past winter, there are no substantial changes 
 which I could now make — except to render a 
 few points more definite. Few men can be cer- 
 tain that they give with absolute correctness 
 the details of conversations and transactions 
 after a lapse of five years. Subject to this lim- 
 itation, I have no doubt of the accuracy of my 
 remembrance concerning this transaction. 
 
 From tills testimony it will be seen that when 
 Mr. Ames offered to sell me the stock in 1867-'68, 
 my only knowledge of the character and objects 
 of the Credit Mobilier Company was obtained 
 from Mr. Train, at least as early as the winter 
 of 1866-'67, long before the company had be-' 
 come a party to the construction contracti It 
 has been said that I am mistaken in tliiuking it 
 was the Credit Mobilier that Mr. Train offered 
 me in 1866-'67. I think I am not. Mr. Durant, 
 in explaining his connection with the Credit 
 Mobilier Company, says (pp. 169, 170), 
 
 I sent Mr. Train to Philadelphia. We wanted it 
 (the Credit Mobilier) for a stock operation, but we 
 could not agree what was to be done with it. Mr. 
 Train proposed to go on an expanded scale, bnt I 
 abandoned it. I think Mr. Train got some subscrip- j 
 tions ; what they were I do not know. 
 
 It has been said that it is absurd to suppose 
 that Intelligent men, familiar with public affairs, 
 
did not understand all about the relation of the 
 Credit Mobiliei- Compauy to the PaeiHc Rail- 
 road Company. It is a sufttelent answer to say 
 that, until the present winter, few men either in 
 or out of Congress ever understood it ; aud it 
 was for the iuterest of those in the management 
 of that arrangement to pi'eveut these facts from 
 heini): known. This will appear from the testi- 
 mony of Hon. J. F. Wilson, who purchased ten 
 shares of the stock in 1868. In the spring of 
 1869, he was called upon professionally to give 
 an, opinion as to the rigjit of holdei-s of Paoiflc 
 Railroad stock to Tote their own shares, not- 
 witlistanding the proxy tliey had giveu -to the 
 seven trustees. To enable him to undei-staud 
 the case, a copy of the triple contract was placed 
 in his hands. He says (p. 218) : 
 
 Down to the time these papers were placed In my 
 hands, I kuew almost nuthins' of the or^giinizatiun 
 and details of the Credit Hobifier, or the value of its 
 "stock, but then saw that here was abundant grouud 
 for Flitnre trooble and Utigatiou; aud, as oue of the 
 I'ssnlts, sold out my iulerest. 
 
 ' And again (p. 316) : 
 
 . Q. Do yon, or did you know, at the time yon had 
 this nezoilaliou with Mr. Ames, the value of the Cred- 
 it Mnbilier stock? — A. I did not ; aud I wish to state 
 here, iu regard to that, that it was a very difficult 
 thing to ascertain what was the value of the stock. 
 Those who, as I say in my statement, possessed the 
 secrets of the Credit Mobilier, kept them to them- 
 selves ; and I never was able to get auy definite in- 
 fbrmatiou as to what the value of the stock was. 
 
 When, in the winter of 1867-'68, Mr. Ames 
 proposed to sell me some of the stock, I rcMrd- 
 ed it as a mere repetition of the offer made by 
 Mr. Train more than a year before. The com- 
 pany was the same, and the amount offered me 
 was the same. Mr. Ames knew it had formerly 
 bocu offered me, for I had then asked him his 
 opinion of such an investment; and having un- 
 derstood the objects of the company, as stated 
 by Mr. Train, I did not inquire further on that 
 point. 
 
 There could not be the slightest impropriety 
 in taking the stock, had the objects of the com- 
 pany been such as Mr. Train represented them 
 to me. The only question on which I then hes- 
 itated was that of the personal pecuniary liabil- 
 ity attaching to a subscription ; and, to settle 
 that question, I asked to see the charter, and 
 the conditions on wliich the stock were based. 
 I have no doubt Mr. Ames expected I would 
 subscribe. But more than a year passed with- 
 out further discussion of the subject. The pa- 
 pers were not brought, and the purchase was 
 never made. 
 
 In the winter of 1869-'70 I received the first 
 intimation I ever had of the real nature of the 
 connection between the Credit Mobilier Com- 
 pany aud the Pacific Railroad Company, in a 
 private conversaUon with the Hon. J. S. Black, 
 of Pennsylvania. Finding in the course of that 
 conversation that he was familiar with the his- 
 tory of the enterprise, I told him all I knew 
 about the matter, and informed him of the of- 
 fer that had been made me. He expressed the 
 opinion that the managers of the Credit Mobi- 
 lier were attempting to defraud the Pacific Rail- 
 road Company, and informed me that Mr. Ames 
 was pretending to have sold stock to members 
 of Congress for the purpose of influencing their 
 action in any legislation that might arise on the 
 subject. 
 
 Though I had neither done nor said anything 
 which placed me under any obligation to take 
 the stock, I at once informed Mr. Ames that if 
 he was still holding the offer open to me he need 
 do so no longer, for I would not take the stock. 
 This I did immediately after the conversation 
 with Judge Black, which, according to his own 
 recollection as well as mine, was early in the 
 winter of 1869-'70. 
 
 One circumstance has given rise to a painful 
 conflict of testimony between Mr. Ames and my- 
 self. I refer to the loan of $300. Among the 
 various criticisms that have been made on this 
 subject, it is said to be a suspicious circum- 
 stance that I should have borrowed so small a 
 sum of money from Mr. Ames about this time. 
 As stated in "my testimony, I had just returned 
 from Europe, only a few days before the session 
 began, and the excuses of the trip had brought 
 me short of funds. I might have alluded in the 
 same connection to the fact that, before going 
 abroad, I had obtained money from a banker in 
 New York, turning over to him advanced drafts 
 for several months of my congressional salary 
 when it should be due. And needing a small 
 sum, early in the session, for current expenses, 
 I asked it of Mr. Ames, for the i-eason that he 
 had volunteered to put me in the way of making 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 what he thought would be a profitable invest- 
 ment. Ho gave me the money, asking for no 
 receipt, but saying at the time that if I con- 
 cluded to take the stock, we would settle both 
 matters together. I am not able to fix the ex- 
 act date of the loan, but it was probably in Jan- 
 uary, 1868. 
 
 Mr. Ames seemed to have forsfotten this cir- 
 cumstance until I mentioned it to him after the 
 investigation began ; for he said in his first tes- 
 timony (p. 28) that he liad forgotten that he had 
 let me have any money. I neglected to pay him 
 this money until after the conversation with 
 Judge Black, partly because of my pecuniary 
 embarrassments, and partly because no conclu- 
 sion had been reache'd in regard to the purcliase 
 of the stock. When I repaid him I took no re- 
 ceipt, as I had given none at the first. 
 
 Mr. Ames said once or twice, in the course of 
 his testimony, that I did not repay it, altbougli 
 he says in regard to it, on page S58, that he does 
 not know, and cannot rememiber. 
 
 ADDITIONAL TESTIMONY. 
 
 On these differences of recollection between 
 Mr. Ames aud myself, it is not so important to 
 show that my statement is the correct one, as to 
 show that I have made it strictly in accordance 
 witli my undei'standing of the facts. And this 
 I am able to show by proof entirely independent 
 of my own testimony. 
 
 In the spring of 1868, Hon. J. P. Robison, of 
 Cleveland, Ohio, was my guest here in Washing- 
 ton, and spent nearly two weeks with me during 
 the trial of the impeachment of Andrew John- 
 son. There has existed between us an intimate 
 acquaintance of long standing, and I have often 
 consulted him on business affaii-s. On meeting 
 liim since the adjournment of Congress, he in- 
 forms me that while he was visiting me on the 
 occasion referred to, I stated to him the offer of 
 Mr. Ames, and asked hitn his opinion of it. The 
 following letter, just received from him, states 
 the conversation as he remembers it : 
 
 Clflvel&nd, Obio, May ist, 1S7S. 
 
 DxAB GsirtBAi.,— I send yon the facts concerning a 
 conversation which 1 had with you (I think in the 
 spring of 186S) wheu'I was stopping iu Washington 
 for some days, as yonr guest, during the trial of the 
 impeachment of Pre:^ident Johnson. While there, 
 you told me that Mr. Ames had offered you a chance 
 to invest a small amount iu a company that was to 
 operate iu lands aud buildings along the Pacific Kail- 
 road, which he (Ames) said would oe a good thing. 
 You asked me what 1 thought of it as a business prop- 
 osition ; that yon had not determined what you would 
 do about it ; and suggested to me to talk with Ames, 
 and form ray own judgment, aud if 1 thought well 
 enough of it to advance the money and buy the stock 
 on joint account with you, and let yon pay me interest 
 on the one-half, I could do so. But I did not think 
 well of the proposition as a business enterprise, and 
 did not talk wiu> Ames on the subject. 
 
 After this talk, having at flret told yon I would give 
 the subject thought, aud perhaps talk with Ames, I 
 told you one evening that I did not think well of the 
 proposition, and had not spoken to Ames on the sub- 
 ject. Yours, truly, 
 
 J. P. BOBISON. 
 Hob. J. A. 6Amiisi.D. 
 
 I subjoin two other letters, which were writ- 
 ten about the time the report of the committee 
 was made, and to which I refer in my remarks 
 made on the 3d March in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. The first is from a citizen of the 
 town where I reside ; and the time of the con- 
 versation to which it alludes was, as near as I 
 can remember, iu the fell of 1868, during the re- 
 cess of Congress : 
 
 Hlnim, OUo, Fabrusiy ISth, 1S7S. 
 
 Dbau Sir, — It may be relevant to the question at 
 issue between yourseir and Mr. Cakes Ames, in the 
 Credit Mobilier investigation, for me to state that 
 three or four years ago, in a private conversation, yon 
 made a statement to me involving the substance of 
 vour testimony before the Poland committee, as pub- 
 lished in the newspapers. The material points of 
 yonr statement were these : 
 
 That yon had been spoken to by George Francis 
 Train, who offered yon some shares of the Credit Mo- 
 bUier stock ; that you told him that yon had no mon- 
 ey to invest in stocks ; that snbseqnently you had a 
 conversation in relation to the matter with Mr. Ames; 
 that Ames offered to carry the stock for you until you 
 could pay for it, if you cared to buy it; and that yon 
 had told him in that case perhaps yon wonld take it, 
 but wonld not agree to do so until you had inquired 
 more flilly into the matter. Such an arrangement as 
 this was made, Ames affreeing to carry the stock un- 
 til you should decide. In this way the matter stood, 
 as I understood it, at the time of our conversation. 
 My nnderstandiug was distinct that you had not ac- 
 cepted Mr. Ame^s proposition, but that the shares 
 were still held at your option. 
 
 You stated, fUruier, that the company was to oper- 
 ate in real property along the line of the Paciflc road. 
 Perhaps I should add that this conversation, which I 
 have always remembered very distinctly, took place 
 here in Hiram. I have remembered the conversation 
 
 69 
 
 the more distinctly ftom the circumstances that gave 
 rise to it. Having been intimately acquainted with 
 yon for twelve or fifteen years, and having hud a con- 
 siderable knowledge of yonr pecnniary afiairs, I asked 
 yon how you were getting on, and especially whether 
 you were managing to reduce yonr debts. In reply 
 you gave me a detailed statement of yonr affaire, aim 
 concluded by saying you had had some stoclc offered 
 you, which, if you lionght it, would probably make 
 you some money. You then proceeded to state the 
 case, lis I have stated it above. 
 
 1 canUot fix tb6 time of this conversation more defi- 
 nitely than to say it was certainly three, and probably 
 four, years ago. Very truly yours, 
 
 B. A. HlNSBAXE, 
 
 President of Hiram College. 
 Hon. J. A. O&BPiBLD, 
 
 Wnaliiiigtoii.D.C. 
 
 The other letter was addressed to the Speaker 
 of the House, and is as follows : 
 
 PhiliidDlphl«,Febniiiry 16th, 1S73. 
 
 My dear Sid, — From the beginning of the iuvesti- 
 
 fation concerning Mr. Ames's use of the Credit Mo- 
 vlier, I believed that General Garfield was free from 
 all guilty connection with that hnsineoB. This opin- 
 ion was founded not merely on my confidence in his 
 integrity, but on some special knowledge of his case. 
 I may have told yon all about it in conversation, but 
 I desire now to repeat it by way of reminder. 
 
 I assert unhesitatingly that, whatever General Gar- 
 field may have done or forborne to do, he acted In pro- 
 found Ignorance of the nature and character of the 
 thing: which Mr. Ames was proposing to sell. He had 
 not the slightest suspicion that he was to be taken 
 into a ring organized for the purpose of defrauding 
 the public; nor did he know that the stock was in 
 auy manner connected with anything which came, or 
 could come, within the legislative jurisdiction of Con- 
 gress. The case against him lacks the scienter which 
 alone constitutes guilt. 
 
 In the winter of 1869-'Ta I told General Garfield of 
 the fact that his name was ou Ames's list ; that Ames 
 charged him with being one of his distributees ; ex- 
 plained to him the character, origin, and objects of 
 the Credit Mobilier; pointed out the connection, it 
 had with' congressional legislation, and showed him 
 how impossible it was for a member of Congress to 
 hold stock in it withont bringing his piivate interests 
 in conflict with his pnblic duty. That all this was to 
 him a perfectly new revelation I am as sure as I caa 
 be of such a fact, or of any fact which is capable of 
 being proved only by moral circumstances. He told 
 me then the whole story of TrMU's offer to him and 
 Ames's subsequent solicitation, and his own action in 
 the premises, much as he details it to the committee. 
 I do not undertake to reproduce the conversation, but 
 the effect of it all was to convince me thoroughly that' 
 when he listened to Ames he was perfectly uncon- 
 scious of anything evil. I watched carefnlly every 
 word that fell from him on this point, and did uot re- 
 gard his narrative of the transaction in other respects- 
 with much interest, because iu my view everything 
 else was insignificant. I did not care whether he had 
 made a bargain technically binding or not ; his integ- 
 rity depended upon the question whether he acted 
 with his eyes open. If he had known the true char- 
 acter of the proposition made to him he wonld not 
 have endured it, much less embraced it. 
 
 Now, couple this with Mr. Ames's admission that 
 he gave no explanation whatever of the matter to 
 General Garfield ; then reflect that rot a particle of 
 proof exists to show that he learned anything about 
 it previous to his conversation with me, and 1 think 
 yon will say that it is altogether uujust to put him on 
 the list of those who knowingly and wilmlly joined 
 the fraudulent association in question. 
 
 J. S. BuoK. 
 
 Hon. J. O. Bl.AlNa, 
 
 Sp«iikflr of tbe House of KepreseDtaUves. 
 
 To these may be added the fiict, recently pub- 
 lished by Colonel Donn Piatt, of this city, that 
 in the winter of 1869-'70 he had occasion to look 
 into the history of the Credit Mobilier Company, 
 and found the same state of fects concerning my 
 connection with it as are set forth in the letters 
 quoted above. 
 
 Whether my understanding of the facts is cor- 
 rect or not, it is manifest from the testimony 
 given above that, in the spring of 1868, and in 
 the autumn of that year, and again in the win- 
 ter of 1869, when I could have no motive to mis- 
 represent the facts, I stated tbe case to these 
 gentlemen substantially as it is stated in jny 
 testimony before the committee. 
 
 RESPONSE TO THE CHARGES IN SEPTEMBER, 
 1ST8. 
 
 But it has been charged in the newspapers 
 that, during the Presidential campaign, I denied 
 any knowledge of the subject, or at least that I 
 allowed the impression to be made upon the 
 pnblic mind that I knew nothing of it. To this 
 I answer, I wrote no letter on the subject, and 
 made no statement in any pnblic address, except 
 to deny, in the broadest terms^ the only charge 
 then made, that I had been bribed by Oakes 
 Ames. 
 
 When tlie charges first appeared in the news- 
 papers I was in Montana Territory, and heard 
 nothing of them nntil my return on tlie 13th or 
 14th of September. On the following day I met 
 General Boynton, correspondent of the (Sncinr 
 
CO 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 noli Gazette.ani related to him briefly wliat I 
 remembered about the oflfer to sell the stock. 
 I told him I Bhould write no letter on the sub- 
 ject, but if he thought best to publish the sub- 
 stance of what I stated to him, he could do so. 
 The same day he wrote and telegraphed from 
 Washington to the Cincinnati Gazette, under 
 date of September 15th, 1873, the following, 
 which is a brief but correct report of my state- 
 ment to him : 
 
 General Garfield, who has just arrived here from 
 the Indian country, has to-day had the first oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the charges counecting his name 
 with receiving shares of the Credit Mobilier from 
 Oakes Ames. He authorizes the statement that he 
 never subscribed for a single share of the stock, and 
 that he never received or saw a share of it. When 
 the company was first formed, George Francis Train, 
 then active in it, came to Washington and exhibited 
 a list of subscribers, of leading capitalists, and some 
 members of Congress, to the stock of tbe company. 
 The subscription was described as a popular one of 
 $1000 cash. Train urged General Garfield to sub- 
 scribe on two occasions, and each time he declined. 
 Sabseqnently, he was again informed that the list 
 was nearly completed, but that a chance remained 
 for him to subscribe, when he again declined ; and to 
 .this day he has not subscribed for or received any 
 share of stock or bond of the company. 
 
 This despatch was widely copied in the news- 
 papers at the time, and was the only statement 
 I made or authorized. One tiling in connection 
 with the case I withheld from the public. When 
 I saw the letters of Oakes Ames to Mr. McCorab, 
 I was convinced, from what Judge Black had 
 told me in 1869, that they were genuine, and 
 that Ames had pretended to McComb that he 
 had sold the Credit Mobilier stock for the pur- 
 pose of securing the influence of members of 
 Congress in any legislation that might arise 
 touching his interests. I might have publish- 
 ed the fact that I had heard this, and now be- 
 lieved Ames had so represented it; though at 
 the time Judge Black gave me the information 
 I thought quite likely he was mistaken. I did 
 not know to what extent any other member of 
 Congress had had any negotiations with Mr. 
 Ames ; but knowing the members whose names 
 were published in connection with the charges, 
 and believing them to be men of the highest in- 
 tegrity, I did not think it just, either to them 
 ©r to the party with which we/cted, to express 
 my opinion of the genuineness of Ames's let- 
 tei-s at a time when a false construction would 
 doubtless have been placed upon it. 
 
 Here I might rest the case, but for some of 
 the testimony given by Mr. Ames in reference 
 to myself. I shall considei: it carefully, and 
 shall make quotations of his language, or refer 
 to it by pages as printed in the report, so that 
 the correctness of my citations may, in every 
 case, be verified. 
 
 POINTS OF AGREEMENT AND DIFFERENCE 
 BETWEEN ME. AMES AND MYSELF. 
 
 To bring the discussion into as narrow a com- 
 pass as possible, the points of agreement and 
 difference between Mr. Ames and myself may 
 thus be stated : 
 
 We agree that, soon after the beginning of 
 the session of 1867-'68, Mr. Ames offered to sell 
 ' me ten shares of the Credit Mobilier stock, at 
 par and the accrued interest ; that I never paid 
 him any money on that oflfer; that I never re- 
 ceived a certificate of stock ; that after the 
 month of June, 1868, 1 never received, demand- 
 ed, or was oflered any dividend, in any form, on 
 that stock. We also agree that I once received 
 from Mr. Ames a small sum of money. On the 
 following points we disagree: He claims that I 
 agreed to take the stock. I deny it. He claims 
 that I received from him $339, and no more, as 
 a balance of dividends on the stock. This I 
 deny ; and assert that I borrowed from him 
 $300, and no more, and afterward'returned it; 
 ani that I never received anything from him on 
 account of the stock. 
 
 In discussing the testimony relating to my- 
 self, it becomes necessary, for a full exhibition 
 of the argument, to refer to that concerning 
 others. 
 
 ME. AMES'S FIRST TBS'HMONT. 
 
 It has been said that in Mr. Ames's first testi- 
 mony, he withheld or concealed the facts gener- 
 ally ; and hence, that what he said at that time 
 concerning any one person is of but little con- 
 sequence. The weight and value of his first 
 testimony concerning any one person can be 
 ascertained only by comparing it with his tes- 
 timony given at the same examination concern- 
 ing others. 
 
 In that first examination of December 17th, 
 ^ recorded on pp. 15-58, Mr. Ames mentions by 
 
 name (pp. 19-31) sixteen members of Congress 
 who were said to have had dealings with him in 
 reference to Credit Mobilier stock. Eleven of 
 these, he says in that testimony, bought the 
 stock; but he there sets me down among the 
 five who did not buy it. He says (p. 31), "He 
 [GarfieldJ did not pay for it or receive it. " 
 
 He was, at the same time, cross-examined in 
 regard to the dividends he paid to different per- 
 sons ; and he testified (pp. 33-41) that he paid 
 one or more dividends to eight different mem- 
 bers of Congress, and that tliree others, being 
 original subscribers, drew their dividends, not 
 from him, but directly from the coiiipany. To 
 several of the eight he says he paid all the divi- 
 dends thatj accrued. But In the same cross-ex- 
 amination he testified that he did not remem- 
 ber to have paid me any dividends, nor that he 
 had let me have any money. The following is 
 the whole of his testimony Concerning me, on 
 cross-examination : 
 
 Q. In reference to Mr. Garfield, you say that yon 
 agreed to get ten shares for him, and to hold them 
 tnl he could pay for them, and that he never did pay 
 for them nor receive them ? — A. Tes, sir. 
 
 Q. He never paid any money on that stock nor re- 
 ceived any money from it f— A. Not on account of it. 
 
 Q. He received no dividends ?— A. No, sir j I think 
 not. He says he did not. My own recollection is not 
 very clear. \ 
 
 Q. So that, aa yon understand, Mr. Garfield never 
 parted with any money, nor received any money on 
 that transaction ? — A. No, sir ; he had some money 
 from me once, some three or four hundred dollars, 
 and called it a loan. He says that that is-all he ever 
 received from me, and that he considered it a loan. 
 He never took his stock, and never paid for it. 
 
 Q. Did- you understand it so ? — A. Yes : I am will- 
 ing to so understand it. I do not recollect paying 
 him any dividend, and have forgotten that I paid him 
 any money (P. 28.) 
 
 Q. Who received the dividends f — A. Mr. Patter- 
 son, Mr. Bingham, James F. Wilson did, and I think 
 Mr. Colfax received a part of them. I do nbt Itnow 
 whether he received them all or not. I think Mr. Sco- 
 field received a part of them. Messrs. Kelley and Gar- 
 field never paid for their stock, and never received 
 their dividends (P. 40.) 
 
 Certainly it cannot be said that Mr. Ames has 
 evinced any partiality for me ; and if he was at- 
 tempting to shield any of those concerned, it 
 will not be claimed that I was one of his favor- 
 ites. 
 
 In his first testimony, he claims to have 
 spoken from memory, and without the aid of 
 his documents. But he did then distinctly tes- 
 tify that he sold the stock to eleven members, 
 and paid dividends to eight of them. He not 
 only did not put me in either of those lists, but 
 distinctly testified that I never took the stock 
 nor received the dividends arising from it. 
 
 ME. AMES'S SUBSEQUENT TESTIMONY. 
 
 His second testimony was given on the 33d 
 of January, five weeks after liis first. In as- 
 signing to this, and all his subsequent testi- 
 mony, its just weight, it ought to be said that 
 before he gave it an event occurred which made 
 it strongly for his interest to prove a sale of the 
 stock which he held as trustee. Besides the 
 fact that McOomb had already an equity suit 
 pending in Philadelphia, to compel Mr. Ames 
 to account to him for this same stock, another 
 suit was threatened, after he had given his fi^st 
 testimony, to make him account to the com- 
 pany for all the stock he had not sold as trus- 
 tee. His first testimony was given on the 17th 
 of December, and was made public on the 6th 
 of January. On the 15th of January, T. C. Du- 
 rant, one of the heaviest stockholders of the 
 Credit Mobilier Company, and for a long time 
 its president, was examined as a witness, and 
 said (p. 173) : " The stock that stands in the 
 name of Mr. Ames, as trustee, I claim belongs 
 to the company yet ; and I have a summons in 
 a suit in my pocket waiting to catch him in New 
 York to serve the papers." Of course, if as a 
 trustee he had made sale of any portion of this 
 stock, and afterward as an individual had bought 
 it back, he' could not be compelled to return it 
 to the company. 
 
 Nowhere in Mr. Ames's subsequent testimony 
 does he claim to remember the transaction be- 
 tween himself and me any differently from what 
 he first stated it to be. But from the memoran- 
 da found or made after his first examination, he 
 infers and declares that there was a sale of the 
 stock to me, and a payment to me of $339 on 
 account of dividends. 
 
 Here, again, his testimony concerning me 
 should be compared with his testimony given 
 at the same time concerning others. 
 
 The memoranda oTit of which all his addi- 
 
 tional testimony grew consisted of certificates 
 of stock, receipts, checks on the sergeant - at- 
 arms, and entries in his diary. I will consider 
 these in the order stated. 
 
 To two members of Congress he delivered 
 certificates of Credit Mobilier stock, which, as 
 trustee, he had sold to them (see pp. 367 and 
 390) ; and in a third case he delivered a certifi- 
 cate of stock to the person to whom a member 
 had sold it. But Mr. Ames testifies that he 
 never gave me a certificate of stock; that I 
 never demanded one; and that no certificate 
 was ever spoken of between us. (See pp. ^5, 
 396.) , 
 
 In the case of five members, he gave to them, 
 or received from them, regular receipts of pay- 
 ment on account of stock and dividends. <See 
 pp. 31, 113^ 191, 304, 337, 456, and 458.) , But no- 
 where is it claimed or pretended that any re- 
 ceipt was ever given by me, or to me, on ac- 
 count of this stock, or on account of any divi- 
 dends arising from it. 
 
 Again, to five of the members Mr. Ames gave 
 checks on the sergeant-at-arms, payable to' them ^ 
 by name; and these checks were produced in 
 evidence. (See pp. 333, 334, and 449.) In the 
 case of three others, he produced checks bear- 
 ing on their face the initials of the persons tO' 
 whom he claimed they were paid. But he no- 
 where pretended to have, or ever to have had,, 
 any cheek bearing either my name or my ini- 
 tials, or any mark or endorsement connecting it 
 with me. 
 
 In regard to dividends claimed in his subse? 
 quent testimony to have been paid to different 
 members, in two cases he says he paid all the 
 dividends that accrued on the stock from De- 
 cember, 1867, to May 6th, 1871. (See pp. 191 and 
 337.) In a third case, all the accretions of the- 
 stock were received by the person to whom, 
 he sold it, as the result of a resale. (See p. 
 317.) In a fourth case, he claims to have paid 
 money on the 33d of September, 1868, on account 
 of dividends (.see p. 461) ; and in a fifth case, he 
 claims to have paid a dividend in full, January 
 33d, 1869. (See p. 454.) One purchaser sold his 
 ten shares in the winter of 1868-'69, and received 
 thereon a net profit of at least $3000. Yet Mr. 
 Ames repeatedly swears that he never paid me 
 but $339; that, after June, 1868, he never ten- 
 dered to me, nor did I ever demand from him, 
 any dividend ; and that there was never any 
 conversation between us relating to dividends. 
 (See pp. 40, 396, and 356.) 
 
 As an example of his testimony on this point,. 
 I quote from p. 296. After Mr. Ames had stated 
 that he remembered no conversation between 
 us in regard to the adjustment of tliese ac- 
 counts, the committee asked : 
 
 Q. t\^as this the only dealing yon had with him in 
 reference to any stock ?— A. I think so. 
 
 Q. Was it the only transaction of any kind? — A. 
 The only transaction. 
 
 Q. Hasthat$329ever beenpaid to yon?— A. I have 
 no recollection of it. 
 
 Q. Have you any belief that it ever has ?— A. No, 
 sir. 
 
 Q. Did you ever loan General Gai-fleld $300? — A. 
 Not to my knowledge ; except that he calls this a 
 loau. 
 
 Q. There were dividends of Union Pacific Railroad 
 stock on these ten shares ? — A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Did General Garfield ever receive these? — A. 
 No, sir. He never has received but $329 
 
 Q. Has there been any conversation between you 
 and him in reference to the Pacific stock he was en- 
 titled to ?— A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Has he ever called for it? — A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Have you ever offered it to him? — A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Has there been any conversation in relation to 
 it ?— A. No, sir. 
 
 The assertion that he withheld the payment 
 of dividends because of the McComb suit brought 
 in November, 1868, is wholly broken down by 
 the fact that he did pay the dividends to sev- 
 eral persons during a period of two years after 
 the suit was commenced. 
 
 The only other memoranda ofitered as evidence 
 are tbe entries in Mr. Ames's diary for 1868. 
 That book contains a separate statement of an 
 account with eleven members of Congress, show- 
 ing the number of shares of stock sold or in- 
 tended to be sold to each, with the interest and 
 dividends thereon. (Seepp. 450to 461.) Across 
 the face of nine of these accounts long lines are 
 drawn, crossing each other, showing, as Mr. 
 Ames says, that in each such case the account 
 was adjusted and closed. Three of these entries 
 of accounts are not thus crossed off' (see pp. 
 451, 458, and 459), and the three members refer- 
 red to therein testify that they never bought the 
 stock. The account entered under my name is 
 one of the three that are not crossed off. Hera 
 is the entry in full (see p. 459) : 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 
 
 61 
 
 Gartisui. 
 
 10 shares Credit M $1000 00 
 
 TmO9.10dBJB 43 36 
 
 1043 36 
 80perct.bd.dlv.,at9T 7T6 00 
 
 267 36 
 Int'st to June 20th 3 64 
 
 $2X1 00 
 1000 C. M. 
 1000 U. P. 
 
 This entry is a mere undated memorandum, 
 and indicates neither payment, settlement, nor 
 sale. In reference to it, the following testimony 
 was given by Mr. Ames on cross-examination 
 (see p. 460) : 
 
 Q. This stittement of He. Garfield's account is not 
 crossed off, which indicates, does it, that the matter has 
 oever been settled or adjasted t—A. No, sir ; it never 
 baa. 
 
 Q. Can you state whether yon have any other entry 
 In relation to Hr. Garfield ?— A. No, sir. 
 
 Comparing Mr. Ames's testimony in reference 
 to me with that in reference to others, it ap- 
 pears that when he testified from his memory 
 alone, he distinctly and affirmatively excepted 
 me fl-om the list of those who bought the stock 
 or received the dividends ; and that subsequent- 
 ly, in aiery case save my own, ho produced some 
 one or more of the following documents as evi- 
 dence, viz., certificates of stock; receipts of mon- 
 ey or dividends ; checks bearing either the full 
 names or tlie initials of the persons to whom 
 they purported to have been paid ; or entries, in 
 his diai-y, of accounts marked "adjusted and 
 close;d." But "no one of the classes of memo- 
 randa here described was produced in reference 
 to me ; nor was it pi-etended that any one such, 
 referring to me, ever existed. 
 
 In this review, I neither assert nor intimate 
 that sales of stock are proved in the other cases 
 referred tiS. In several cases such proof was not 
 made. But I do assert that none of the evi- 
 dences mentioned above exist in reference to 
 "ine. 
 
 ME. AMES'S MEMORANDA. 
 
 Having thus stated the difierence between the 
 testimony relating to other persons, and that 
 relating to me, I now notice the testimony on 
 which it is attempted to reach the conclusion 
 that I did agree to take the stock, and did re- 
 ceive $339 on account of it 
 
 On the 33d of January Mr. Ames presented to 
 the committee a statement of an alleged account 
 with me, which I quote from page 397 : 
 
 J. A. G., Dr. 
 
 186S. To 10 shares stock Credit Mobilier 
 
 of A v.. $1000 00 
 
 Interest 41 00 
 
 Janel9th. Tocash 389 00 
 
 I $1376 00 
 
 Cr. 
 1S68. By dividend bonds, Union Pacif- 
 
 ic Railroad, $1000, at 80 per 
 
 cent, less 3 per cent $776 00 
 
 June 17th. By dividend collected for your 
 
 accoQut 600 00 
 
 $1376 00 
 
 This account, and other similar ones presented 
 at the same time, concerning other members, he 
 claimed to liave copied from his memorandum- 
 book. But when the memorandum -book was 
 subsequently presented, it was found that the ac- 
 count here quoted was not copied from it, but 
 was made up partly from raemoi-y and partly 
 from such memoranda as Mr. Ames had discov- 
 ered after his first examination. 
 
 By comparing this account with the entry 
 made in his diary, and already quoted, it will be 
 seen that they are not duplicates, either in sub- 
 stance or form ; and that in this account a new 
 element is added, namely, an alleged payment of 
 $339 in cash on June 19th. This is the very ele- 
 ment in dispute. 
 
 THE CHECK ON THE SERGKANT-AT-ARMS. 
 
 The pretended proof that this sum was paid 
 me is found in the production of a check drawn 
 by Mr. Ames on the sergeant-at-arms. The fol- 
 lowing is the language of the check, as reported 
 on page 863 of the testimony : 
 
 June Hd, 1S6S. 
 
 Pay O. A, or bearer, three hundred and twenty- 
 nine dollars, and charge to my accoant. 
 
 Oakes Ames. 
 
 This check bears no endorsement or other 
 mark than the words and figures given above. 
 It was drawn on the 33d day of June, and, as 
 shown by the books of the sergeant-at-arms, 
 
 Was paid the same day by the paying teller. But 
 if this check was paid to me on the account just 
 quoted, it must have been delivered to me three days 
 before U was dramn ; for the account says that I 
 received the payment on the 19th of June. 
 
 There is nothing but the testimony of Mr. 
 Ames that in any way connects this check with 
 me. And as the committee find that the check 
 was paid to me, I call special attention to all 
 the testimony that bears upon the question. 
 
 When Mr. Ames testified that he paid me $339 
 as a dividend on account of the stock, the fol- 
 lowing question was asked him (p. 395) : 
 
 Q. How was that paid?— A. Paid in money, I be- 
 lieve. 
 
 At a later period in the examination (p. 297 :) 
 
 Q. You say that $389 was paid to him. How was 
 that paid f— A. I presume by a check on the sergeant- 
 at-arms. I fiud there are checks filed, without indi- 
 cating who they were for. 
 
 One week later, the check referred to above 
 was produced, and the following examination 
 was had (p. 853) : 
 
 Q. This check seems to have been paid to some- 
 body, and taken up by the sergeant-at-arms. Those 
 initials are your owu f— A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Do you know who had the benefit of this check ? 
 — ^A. I cannot tell yon. 
 
 Q. Do you think you received the money on it your- 
 self f — A I have no idea I may have drawn the mon- 
 ey and handed it to another person. It was paid in 
 that transaction. It may have been paid to Mr. Gar- 
 field. There were several sums of that amount. 
 
 Q. Have you any memory in reference to this checks 
 —A. I have no memory as to that particular check. 
 
 Still later in the examination occurs the fol- 
 lowing (p. 854) : 
 
 Q. In regard to Mr. Garfield, do yon know whether 
 you gave nim a check, or paid him the money i — A. 
 I think I did not pay him the money. He got it from 
 the sergeant-at-arms upon a check. 
 
 Still later, in the same examination, occurs 
 the following (p. 855) : 
 
 Q. You think the check on which you wrote noth- 
 ing to indicate the payee must have been Mr. Gar^ 
 field's f — A. Yes, sir. That is my judgment. 
 
 On the nth of February, twelve days later 
 still, the subject came up again, and Mr. Ames 
 said (p. 460): 
 
 A. I am not sure how 1 paid Mr, Garfield. 
 
 Still later, in a cross-examination in reference 
 to Mr. Colfax, the following occurs (p. 471) : 
 
 Q. In testifying in Mr. Garfield's case, you say you 
 may have drawn the money on the check and paid 
 him. Is not your answer eq^ually applicable to the 
 case of Mr. Colfiixf— A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Why not ?— A. I put Mr. Colfax's initials on the 
 check, while 1 put no initials on Mr. Garfield's, and I 
 may have drawn the money myself. 
 
 Q. Did not Mr. Garfield's check belong to him f— A. 
 Mr. Garfield had not paid for his stock. He was en- 
 titled to $329 balance. But Mr. Colfax paid for his, 
 and 1 had no business with his $1800. 
 
 Q. Is your recollection in regard to this payment to 
 Mr. Colhx any more clear than your recollection as 
 to the payment to Mr. Garfield ?— A. Yes, sir ; I think 
 it is. 
 
 And finally, in the examination of Mr. Dillon, 
 cashier of the sergeant-at-arms, the following is 
 recorded (p. 479) : 
 
 Q. There is a check payable to Cakes Ames or bear- 
 er. Have you any recollection of that? — A. That was 
 paid to himself. I have no doubt myself that I paid 
 that to Mr. Ames. 
 
 Reviewing the testimony on this point (and I 
 have quoted it all), it will be seen that Mr. Ames 
 several times asserts that he does not know 
 whether he paid me the check or not He 
 states positively that he has no special recol- 
 lection of the check. His testimony is wholly 
 inferential. In one of the seven paragraphs 
 quoted, he says he paid me the money ; in an- 
 other he says he may have paid me tlie money ; 
 in thre« of them he thinks, or presumes, that he 
 paid me the check ; and in the other two he says 
 he does not know. 
 
 The cashier of the sergeant-at-arms has no 
 doubt that Mr. Ames himself drew the money 
 on the check. And yet, upon this vague and 
 wholly inconclusive testimony, and almost alone 
 upon it, is based the assumption that I received 
 from Mr. Ames $839 as a dividend on the stock. 
 I affirm, with perfect distinctness of recollec- 
 tion, that I received no check from Mr. Ames. 
 The only money I ever received from him was 
 in currenev. 
 
 The only other evidence in support of the as- 
 sumption that he paid me $339, as a balance on 
 
 the stock, is found in the entries in his diary 
 for 1868. The value of this class of memoranda 
 depends altogether upon their character, and 
 upon the business habits of the man who makes 
 them. On this latter point the following testi- 
 mony of Mr. Ames, ou p. 34, is important : 
 
 Q. Is it your habit, as a matter of business, in con- 
 ducting various transactions with different persons, 
 to do It withont making any roemnrauda t—A. This 
 was my habit Uutil within a year or two I have had 
 no book-keeper, and I used to keep all my own mat- 
 ters in my own way, and very carelessly, I admit. 
 
 The memorandum-book in which these entries 
 were made was not presented to the committee 
 until the 11th of February — one week before 
 they made their report. This book does not 
 contain continuous entries of current transac- 
 tions, with consecutive dates. It is in no sense 
 a day-book, bnt contains a loose, irregular mass 
 of memoranda, which may have been made at 
 the time of the transactions, or long afterward. 
 Mr. Ames says of it in his testimony (p. 381) : 
 
 Q. What was the character of the book in which 
 the memoranda were made? — A. It was in a small 
 pocket memorandum, and some of it on slips of 
 paper. 
 
 It is not pretended that this book contains a 
 complete record of payments and receipts. And 
 yet, besides the check already referred to, this 
 book, so made up, contains the only evidence, 
 or pretended evidence, on which it is claimed 
 that I agreed to take the stock. It should be 
 remembered that every portion of this evidence, 
 both check and book, is of Mr. Ames's own mak- 
 ing. I have already referred to the undated mem- 
 orandum of an account in this book, under my 
 name, and have shown that it neither proved a 
 sale of stock, nor any payment on account of it. 
 
 There are but two other entries in the book 
 relating to me, and they are two lists of names, 
 substantially duplicates of each other, with va- 
 rious amounts set opposite each. They are 
 found on pages 450 and 453 of the testimony. 
 The word "paid" is marked before the first 
 name on one of these lists, and ditto marks 
 placed under the word "paid," and opposite 
 the remaining names. But the value of this 
 entry as proof of payment will be seen from the 
 cross-examination of Mr. Ames, which immedi- 
 ately follows the list (p. 453) : 
 
 Q. This entry, "Paid S. Colfax $1800," is the amount 
 whichyou paid by this check on the sergeant-at-arms ? 
 — A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Was this entry upon this page of these various 
 names intended to show the amount you were to pay, 
 or that you had paid ? was that made at this date f — 
 A. I do not know ; it was made about that time. I 
 would not have written it ou Sunday ; it is not very 
 likely. It was made on a blank page. It is simply a 
 list of names. 
 
 Q. Were these names put down after yon had made 
 the payments, or before, do you think? — A. Before, I 
 ihink. , 
 
 Q. You think you made this list before the pai'ties 
 referred to had actually received their checks, or re- 
 ceived the money? — A. Yes, sir; that was to show 
 whom I had to pay, and who were entitled to receive 
 the 60 per cent, dividend. It shows whom I had to 
 pay here in Washington. 
 
 Q. It says " paid ?"— A. Yes, sir j well, I did pay it 
 
 Q. What I want to know is, whether the list was 
 made out before or after payment? — A. About the 
 same time, 1 suppose ; probably before. 
 
 The other list, bearing the same names and 
 amounts, shows no other evidence that the sev- 
 eral sums were paid than a cross marked op- 
 posite each amount Bnt concerning this, Mr. 
 Ames testifies that it was a list of what was to 
 be paid, and that the cross was subsequently 
 added to show that the amount had been paid. 
 
 Neither of these lists shows anything as to 
 the time or mode of payment, and would no- 
 where he accepted as proof of payment By 
 Mr. Ames's own showing, they are lists of per- 
 sons to whom he acpec^ to i>ay the amounts 
 set opposite their names. They may exhibit 
 his expectations, but they do not prove the al- 
 leged payments. If the exact sum of $339 was 
 received by me at the time, and under the cir- 
 cumstances alleged by Mr. Ames, it implies an 
 agreement to take the stock. It implies, fur- 
 tiiermoi-e, that Mr. Ames had sold Pacific Kail- 
 road bonds for me ; that he had received, also, a 
 cash dividend for me, and had accounted to me 
 as trustee for these receipts, and the balance of 
 the proceeds. 
 
 Now, I affirm, with the firmest conviction of 
 the correctness of my statement, that I never 
 heard, until this investigation began, that Mr. 
 Ames ever sold any bonds, or performed any oth- 
 er stock transactions ou my behalf, and no ac' 
 of mine was ever based on such a supposition. 
 
62 
 
 THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 INTERVIEWS WITH MR. AMES DURING THE 
 INVESTIGATION. 
 
 The only remaining testimony bearing upon 
 me is tliat in whieh Mr. Ames refers to conver- 
 sations between himself and me after the inves- 
 tigation began. The first of these was of his 
 own seeking, and occurred before he or I had 
 testified. Soon after the investigation began, 
 Mr. Ames asked rae what I remembered of our 
 talk in 1867-68 in reference to the Credit Mo- 
 bilier Company. I told him I could best an- 
 swer his question by reading to him the state- 
 ment I had already prepared to lay before the 
 committee when I should be called. Accord- 
 ingly, on the following day, I took my written 
 statement to the Capitol, and read it to him 
 carefally, sentence by sentence, and asked him 
 to point out anything whieh he might think in- 
 correct. He made but two criticisms : one in 
 regard to a date, and the other that he thought 
 it was the Credit Fonoier, and not the Credit 
 Mobilier, that Mr. Traia asked me to subscribe 
 to in 1866-'67. When I read the paragraph in 
 which I stated that I had once borrowed $300 
 of him, he remarked, "I believe I did let you 
 have some money, but I had forgotten it." He 
 said nothing to Indicate that he regarded me as 
 iaving purchased the stock ; and from that con- 
 versation I did not doubt that he regarded my 
 statement substantially correct. His first tes- 
 timony, given a few days afterward, confirmed 
 me in this opinion. 
 
 I had another interview with Mr. Ames, of my 
 own seeking, to which he alludes on pp. 357 and 
 359 ; and for a full understanding of it a state- 
 ment of some previous facts is necessary. I 
 gave my testimony before the committee, and 
 in Mr. Ames's hearing, on the morning of Jan- 
 uai7 14th. It consisted of the statement I had 
 already read to Mr. Ames, and of the cross-ex- 
 amination which followed my reading of the 
 statement, all of which has been qnoted above. 
 
 Daring that afternoon, while I was engaged in 
 the management of an appropriation bill in the 
 House, word was brought to me that Mr. Ames, 
 on coming out of the committee-room, had de- 
 clared in the hearing of sevfiral reporters that 
 "Garfield was in league with Judge Black to 
 break him down ; that it was $400, not $300, 
 that he had let Garfield have, who had not only 
 never repaid it, but had refused to repay it." 
 Though this report of Mr. Ames's alleged dec- 
 laration was subsequently found to be false, and 
 was doubtless fabricated for the purpose of cre- 
 ating difficulty, yet there were circumstances 
 which, at the time, led me to suppose that the 
 report was correct. One was, that Judge Black 
 (who was McComb's counsel in the suit against 
 Ames) was present at my examination, and had 
 drawn out, on cross-examination, my opinion of 
 the nature of Mr. Ames's relation to the Credit 
 Mobilier Company and the Union Pacific Com- 
 'pany; and the other was, that in Mr.. Ames's 
 testimony of December 17th he had said (p. 38), 
 "He [Mr. Garfield] had some money from me 
 once, some three or four hundred dollars, and 
 called it a loan." The sum of four hundred dol- 
 lars had thus been mentioned in his testimony, 
 and it gave plausibility to the story that he was 
 now claiming tliat as the amount he had loaned 
 me. 
 
 Supposing that Mr. Ames had said what was 
 reported, I was deeply indignant ; and, with a 
 view of drawing from him a denial or retraction 
 of the statement, or, if he persisted in it, to pay 
 him twice over, so that he could no longer say 
 or pj-etend that there existed between us any 
 unsettled transaction, I drew some money from 
 the ofilce of the sergeant-at-arms, and, going to 
 my committee-room, addressed him the follow- 
 ing note : 
 
 House of Representatives, January 14tli, 1873. 
 
 Sib, — ^I have just been informed, to my utter amaze- 
 ment, that after coming out of the commlttec-room 
 this morning yon said m the presence of several re- 
 
 gortera that you had loaned me fonr instead of three 
 undred dollars, and that I had not only refused to 
 pay yon, but was aiding your accusers to injure you in 
 the investigation.^ I shall call the attention of the 
 committee to it unless I find I am misinformed. To 
 briiig the loan question to an immediate issue between 
 us, lenclose herewith $400. If you wish to do justice 
 to the truth and to me, yon will return it, and correct 
 %e alleged statement, if you made it. If not, you will 
 5eep the money, and thus be paid twice and more. 
 Silence on your part will be a confession that you have 
 deeply wronged me. J. A. Garfield. 
 
 Hon. Oakbs Amss. 
 
 After the House had adjourned for the day, I 
 found, on returning to my committee- room, that 
 I had omitted to enclose the note with the mon- 
 ey, which had been sent to the House post-offlee. 
 I immediately sought Mr. Ames to deliver the 
 
 note, but failed to find him at his hotel or else- 
 where that evening. Early the next morning, 
 January 15th,Ifoand him, and delivered the note. 
 He denied having said or claimed any of the 
 things therein set forth, and wrote on the back 
 of my letter the following : 
 
 Washington, January IStli, 1S73. 
 
 Deab Sib,— I return you your letter with enclosures, 
 and I utterly deny ever having said that you refubed to 
 pay me, or that it was foar instead of three hundred 
 dollars, or that you was aiding my accusers. I also 
 wish to say that there has never been any but the mi)st 
 friendly feelings between us, and no transaction in the 
 least degree thtit can be censured by any fair-minded 
 person. I herewith return yon the four hundred dol- 
 lars as not belonging to me. Tours, truly, 
 
 Oakbs Ames. 
 
 Hon, J. A. Garfibld. 
 
 From inquiry of the reporters to whom the re- 
 marks were alleged to have been made, I had be- 
 come satisfied that the story was wholly false, 
 and when Mr. Ames added his denial, I expressed 
 to him my regret that I had written this note in 
 anger and upon false information. I furthermore 
 said to Mr. Ames that, if he had any doubt in ref- 
 erence to the repayment of the loan, I wished 
 him to keep the money. He refused to keep any 
 part of it, and his conversation indicated that he 
 regarded all transactions between us settled. 
 
 Before I left his room, however, he said he had 
 some memoranda which seemed to indicate that 
 the money I had of him was on account of 
 stock ; and asked me if he did not, some time in 
 1868, deliver to me a statement to that efiect. I 
 told him if he had any account of that sort, I was 
 neither aware of it, nor responsible for it; and 
 thereupon I made substantially the following 
 statement : 
 
 Mr. Ames, the only memorandnm yon ever showed 
 me was in 1867-68, when, speakiug to me of this pro- 
 posed sale of stock, yon figured out, on a little piece 
 of paper, what yon supposed would be realized from 
 an investment of $1000; and, as I remember, you 
 wrote down these figures : 
 
 1000 
 1000 
 400 
 
 2400 
 as the amounts you expected to realize. 
 
 While saying this to Mr. Ames, I wrote the 
 figures as above, on a piece of paper lying on his 
 table, to show him what the only statement was 
 he had ever made to me. It is totally false that 
 these figures had any other meaning than that E 
 have here given i nor did I say anything out of 
 which could be fabricated such a statement as 
 appears on pages 358, 359. 
 
 In his testimony of January 39th, Mr. Ames 
 gives a most remarkable account of this inter- 
 view. Remembering the fact, by him undisputed, 
 that there had been no communication between 
 us on this subject for more than four years be- 
 fore this investigation began, notice the follow- 
 ing (p. 358) : 
 
 Q. Did you have any conversation in reference to 
 the influence this transaction would have on the elec- 
 tion last fall ?— A. Yes, he said it would he very inju- 
 rious to him. 
 
 Q. What else in reference to that ?— A. 1 am a very 
 bad man to repeat conversations ; I cannot remember. 
 
 That is, he makes me, on the 15th of January, 
 1873, express the fear that this transaction will 
 injure me in the election of October, 1873! 
 
 Again, pages 357, 358 : 
 
 Q. Ton may state whether in conversation with yon, 
 Mr. Garfield claims, as he claims before us, that the 
 only transaction between you was borrowing $300. — 
 A. No, sir, he did not claim that with me. 
 
 Q. State how he did claim it with you; what was 
 saia.— A. I cannot remember half of it...... He [Mr. 
 
 Garfield] stated that when he came back from Europe, 
 being in want of funds, he called on me to loan him a 
 sum of money. He thought he had repaid it. I do 
 not know ; I do not remember. 
 
 Q. How long after that transaction [the offer to sell 
 Credit Mobilier stock] did he go to Europe 1 — A. I be- 
 lieve it was a year or two 
 
 , Q. Do you not know that he did not go to Enrope 
 for nearly two years afterward f — A. No, I do not. It 
 is my impression it was two years afterward, hut I 
 can not remember dates. 
 
 I should think not, if this testimony is an ex- 
 ample of his memory ! 
 
 It is known to thousands of people that I went 
 to Europe in the summer of 1867, and at no other 
 time. I sailed from New York on the 13th of 
 July, 1867, spent several days of August in Scot- 
 land, with Speaker Blaine and Senator Morrill, 
 of Vermont, and returned to New York on the 
 9th of the following November — three weeks be- 
 fore the beginning of the session of Congress. 
 
 The books of the sergeant-at-arms of the 
 House sliow that, before going, I bad assigued 
 several mouths' pay in advance to a banker, wlio 
 had advanced me money for :he expenses of the 
 trip. To break the weight of this fact, which 
 showed why I came to need a small loan, Mr. 
 Ames says I did not go to Europe till nearly two 
 years afterward. 
 
 If a reason be sought why he gave such testi- 
 mony it may perhaps be found on the same page 
 from which the last quotation is made (p. 359) : 
 
 Q. How did yon happen to retain that little stray 
 memorandnm ? — A. I do not kuow. I found it in my 
 table two or three days afterward. I did not pay any 
 attention to it at the lime, until I found there was to 
 be a confiict of testimony, and I thought that might be 
 something worth preserving. 
 
 How did he find out after that time that 
 " there was to be a conflict of testimony ?" The 
 figures were made on that piece of paper Janu- 
 ary 15th, the day after I had given my testimony, 
 and four weeks after he had given his first testi- 
 mony. There was no conflict except what he 
 himself made; and that conflict was as marked 
 between his first statement and his subsequent 
 ones, as between the latter and mine. 
 
 There runs through all this testimony now un- 
 der consideration an intimation that I was in a 
 state of alarm, was beseecliing Mr. Ames " to let 
 me off easily," " to say as little about it as pos- 
 sible," "to let it go as a loan," "to save my 
 reputation," that I "felt very bad," was "in 
 great distress," " hardly knew what I said^aud 
 other such expressions. \« "\.. 
 
 I should have been wholly devoid of fiensibility , 
 if I had not felt keenly the suSlf^on^jlM ^Mij 
 accusations, the reckless caiamifres withfwiiich 
 the public mind was filled wtile the invaM.ig».s. 
 tion was in progress. B»ut therWis^ot the smalK 
 est fragment of truth in the ststemeut, or i]atbei>< 
 the insinuation, that I ever askfM arwiriiteaVnyr 
 thing from Mr. Ames (\n thi§ jiui^«c^npslaip}e'^ 
 justice and the truth. i ', 
 
 The spirit in which a portion of \qp public 
 treated the men whose condtte l ii ualf 
 tigated may be understood from the following 
 question, put to Mr. Ames (page 361) in the 
 midst of.((9 examination not at all relating to 
 me: / 
 
 ^.'In that conversation with Mr. Garfield, was any 
 thihg.^aid by him about your being an old man, near 
 the end of your career, fSbA his being comparatively a 
 young man ?— A. JIo, sir'; nothing of that sort. 
 
 ih^ianrflfest tll4fe^-is question was suggested 
 by'Vaig orthe inveplwe bj-standers, in hopes of ' 
 malodg an item for ly^ew sensation. 
 
 The most absurd and exa|;gerated statements 
 were constantly jindirf^th'eU- way into the public 
 press, in reference to e^ry subject and person 
 connected with the investigation, and this ques- 
 tion is an illustration. 
 
 In" no' communication vtiiH^ Mr. Ames did I 
 ever say anything inconsistefii^with my testi- 
 mony before the committee. L^' « 
 
 Conscious thjit I had done nl^^ppng from: the 
 beginning to the>,end of this afiaiJWJted nothing 
 to conceal and nd/anors to ask, ej^eftt that the 
 whole truth shoul'd be knowuyy Iwas in the 
 committ,ee-room but once dnri^ tHB investiga- 
 tion, and I went there then onlywhen sufcomoned 
 to give my testimony, i / 
 
 CONCLDSIONS. / 
 
 Prom a review of the whole jobject, the fol- 
 lowing conclusions are fairly a£d clearly estab" 
 lished : 
 
 I. That the Credit Mobilier Company was a 
 State corporation regularly organized ; and that 
 neither its charter nor the terms of its contract, 
 of October 15th, 1867, disclosed anything which 
 indicated that the company was engaged in any 
 fraudulent or improper enterprise. 
 
 II. That a ring of seven persons inside the 
 Credit Mobilier Company, calling themselves 
 trustees,' obtained the control of the frauchises, 
 and of a majority of the stock of both the Credit 
 Mobilier and of the Union Pacific Railroad Com- 
 pany ; and, while holding such double control, 
 they made a contract with themselves, by which 
 they received for building the road an extrava- 
 gant sum, greatly beyond the real cost of con- 
 struction ; and, in adjusting the payments, they 
 received stock and bonds of the railroad com- 
 pany at a heavy discount, and by tliese means 
 virtually robbed and plundered the road, which 
 was in great part built by the aid of the United 
 States. 
 
 That these exorbitant profits were distributed, 
 not to the stockholders of the Credit Mobilier 
 proper, but to the ring of seven trustees and 
 their proxies — the holders of this ring stock— 
 
THE LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 63 
 
 and tbat this arrangement was kept a clo^e se- 
 cret by its managers. 
 
 III. Tliat in 1867-'68 Mr. Ames offered to sell 
 small amounts o( tljis stock to several leading 
 members of Congress-, representing it as an or- 
 dinary investment promising fair profits ; but in 
 every such offer he concealed from such mem- 
 bers the real nature of the arrangement by which 
 the profits were to be made, as well as the amount 
 of dividends likely to be realized. While thus 
 offering this stock, he was writing to one of his 
 ring associates that he was disposing of the stock 
 " where it would do most good," intimating that 
 he was thereby gaiiling; influence in Congress, to 
 prevent investigation into the affairs of the road. 
 His letters and the list of names which he gave 
 to MoOomb r^epresent many persons as having 
 bouglit the stock who never did buy or agree to 
 buy it, and also repi-esent a much larger amount 
 sold than he did actually sell. Mr. Ames's let- 
 ters and testimony abound in contradictions, not 
 only of his own statements, but also of the state- 
 ments of most of the other witnesses ; and it is 
 fair, in judging of its credibility, to take into ac- 
 count liis interests involved in the controversy. 
 
 IV. That in reference to myself the following 
 points are clearly established by the evidence : 
 
 1. That I neither purchased nor agreed to pur- 
 chase the Credit Mobilier stock which Mr. Ames 
 offered to sell me ; nor did I receive any dividend 
 arising from it. This appears from my own tes- 
 timony ; and from the first testimony given by 
 Mr. Ames, which is not overthrown by his sub- 
 sequent statements ; and is strongly confirmed 
 by the fact that in the ease of each of those who 
 did purchase lie stock there was produced, as 
 evidlpce of the sale, either a certificate of stock, 
 receipt of payment, a check drawn in the name 
 of the payee, or entries in Mr. Ames's diary of a 
 stock account marked adjusted and closed ; but 
 thatno one of these evidences exists In reference 
 to me. Tliis position is further confirmed by the 
 subsequent testimony oSMr. Ames, who, though 
 he claims that I did receive $339 from him on ac- 
 count of the stock, yet he repeatedly testifies 
 that beyond that amount'I never received or de- 
 manded any dividend, that he did not offer me 
 any, nor was the subject alluded to in conversa- 
 tion between us. 
 
 Mr. Ames admits, on page 40 of the testimo- 
 . ny, that after December, 1867, the various stock 
 and bond dividends, on the stock he had sold, 
 amounted to an aggregate of more than 800 per 
 ^ cent. ; and that between Jannai^, 1868, andtMay, 
 1871, all these dividends were paid to several of 
 those who purchased the stock. My conduct 
 was wholly inconsistent with the supposition of 
 such ownership ; for, during the year 1869,1 was 
 borrowing money to build a house here in Wash- 
 ington, and was securing my creditors by giving 
 mortgages on my property ; and all this time it 
 is admitted that I received no dividends and 
 claimed none. 
 
 The attempt to.prove a sale of the stock to me 
 is wholly inconclusive ; for it rests, first, on a 
 check payable to Mr. Ames himself, concerning 
 which he seyeral times says he does not know 
 to whom it was paid ; and, second, upon loose, 
 undated entries in his diaiy, which nteither prove 
 a sale of the stock nor any payment on account 
 of it. 
 
 The ofily fact fl'om which it is possible for Mr. 
 Ames to have inferred an agreement to buy the 
 stock was the loan to me of $800. But that loan 
 was made months before the check of June 33d, 
 1868, and was repaid in the winter of 1869 ; and 
 after that date there were no transactions of any 
 sort betw'een us. 
 
 And, finally, before the investigation was end- 
 ed, Mr. Ames admitted that on the chief point 
 of difference between us he might be mistaken. 
 
 On page 356 he said he " considered me the 
 purchaser of the stock, unless it was borrowed 
 money I had of him ;" and on page 461, at the 
 conclusion of "his last testimony, he said : 
 
 Mr. Garfield understands this matter as a loan ; be 
 says 1 did not explain it to him. 
 
 Q. Tou need not say what Mr. Garfield says. Tell 
 DS what you think. 
 
 A. Mr. Garfield might have raisauderstood me 
 
 I supposed it was like all the rest, but when Mr. Gar- 
 field says be mistook it for a loan ; that he always un- 
 derstood it to be a loan ; that 1 did not make any ex- 
 planation to him, and did not make any statement to 
 him ; I may be mistaken. I am a man of few words, 
 and I may not have made myself understood to him. 
 
 3. That the offer which Mr. Ames made to me, 
 as I understood it, was one which involved no 
 wrong or impropriety. I had no means of know- 
 ing, and had no reason for supposing that behind 
 this offer to sell me a small amount of stock lay 
 hidden a scheme to defraud the Pacific Railroad 
 and imperil the interests of the United States. 
 
 I was not invited to become a party to any 
 scheme of spoliation, much less was I aware of 
 any attempt to influence my legislative action 
 on any subject connected therewith. And on 
 the first intimation of the real nature of the 
 case, I declined any further consideration of the 
 subject. 
 
 3. That whatever may have been the facts in 
 the case, I stated them in my testimony as I 
 have always understood them ; and there has 
 been no contradiction, prevarication, or evasion 
 ou my part. 
 
 This is demonstrated by the fact that I stated 
 the case to Mr. Robinson, in the spring of 1868, 
 and to Mr. Hinsdale in the autumn of that year, 
 and to Judge Black in the winter of 1869-'70, 
 substantially as it is stated in my testimony be- 
 fore the committee. 
 
 I have shown that during the Presidential cam- 
 paign I did not deny having known anything 
 about the Credit Mobilier Company; that the 
 statement published in the Cincinnati Oazelte, 
 September 15th, is substantially in accord with 
 my testimony before the com mittee ; and, finally, 
 that during the progress of the investigation 
 there was nothing in my conversation or corre- 
 spondence with Mr. Ames in any way inconsist- 
 ent with the facts as given in my testimony. To 
 suni it up in a word : out of an unimportant 
 business transaction, the loan of a trifling sum 
 of money, as a matter of personal accommoda- 
 tion, and out of an offer never accepted, has 
 arisen this enormous fabric of accusation and 
 suspicion. 
 
 If there be a citizen of the United States who 
 is willing to believe that for $339 I have har- 
 tere'd away my good name, and to falsehood 
 have added perjury, these pages are not ad- 
 dressed to him. If there be one who thinlS 
 that any part of my public life has been gauged 
 on so low a level as these charges would place it, 
 I do not address him — I address those who are 
 willing to believe that it is possible for a man to 
 serve the public without personal, dishonor. I 
 have endeavored, in this review, to point out the 
 means by which the managers of a corporation, 
 wearing the garb of honorable industry, have 
 robbed and defrauded a great national enter- 
 prise, and attempted, by cunning and decep- 
 tion, for selfish ends, to enlist in its interest 
 those who would have been the first to crush 
 the attempt had their objects been known. 
 
 If any of the scheming corporations or cor- 
 rupt rings that have done so much to disgrace 
 the country., by their attempts to control its 
 legislation have ever found in me a conscious 
 supporter or ally in any dishonorable scheme, 
 they are at fuUliberty to disclose it. In the dis- 
 cussion of the many grave and difiScult ques- 
 tions of public policy which have occupied the 
 thoughts of the nation during the last twelve 
 years, I have borne some part ; and I confidently 
 appeal to the public records for a vindication of 
 my conduct. Jambs A. Gakfield. 
 
 A careful reading of this statement will show 
 that the whole of this controversy is a simple 
 question of veracity between General Garfield 
 and Oakes Ames. Ames assented to Garfield's 
 testimony once ; afterward he denied it. He 
 must have perjured himself on one of these oc- 
 casions ; on which one it is not hard to deter- 
 mine, when we consider Garfield's statement, 
 and take into account the character of the two 
 witnesses. A man who will steal will not hesi- 
 tate to lie, and this man wanted to ' ' pad "for a 
 fall which he saw to be inevitable. Like Sam- 
 son, he would pull down the pillars of the tem- 
 ple, and so have companions in his ruin. 
 
 Another charge made against General Garfield 
 is that, during the days of the District of Colum- 
 bia Ring he accepted $5000 as a fee for making 
 an argument in behalf of the De Golyer wooden 
 pavement, when, in fact, he did no work as coun- 
 sel in the case, and the money was paid to him 
 to influence his action as chairman of the House 
 Committee on Appropriations. This charge is 
 mainly based on the supposition that Garfield is 
 not a lawyer whose legal services of themselves 
 would command so higb a fee, and that, there- 
 fore, it was paid for his Congressional influence. 
 The groundlessness of this supposition I have 
 elsewhere exposed, and I consider the charge 
 too futile for labored refutation ; but I append a 
 few, remarks from the New York Evening Post, 
 which effectually dispose of the whole accusation : 
 
 "It is charged that in the year 1873 General 
 
 Garfield received a counsel fee of $5000 from 
 De Golyer and McClelland, the owners of a pat- 
 ent for wood pavement, which was laid down at 
 a great cost in the streets of the city of Wash- 
 ington, under a contract with the Government of 
 the District of Columbia ; that he did no coun- 
 sel work in the case, and that the money was 
 paid for no other purpose than to influence his 
 conduct as a member of the Congress by which 
 an appropriation for this wood pavement was 
 made, and especially as chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep- 
 resentatives. It is to be observed that, while 
 this charge has been many times repeated, the 
 evidence on which it is founded has been forth- 
 coming very slowly. The reason of this reluc- 
 tance is clear from the report of the investigating 
 committee. The evidence has not been furnished, 
 because it does not prove the case. Before this 
 committee, in February, 1877, Garfield testified 
 that he never knew or saw De Golyer or McClel- 
 land, but was retained by a friend — a lawyer — 
 who desired him to make a brief and argument , 
 in the case for him ; and that, instead of doing 
 nothing to earn the fee, he made a long and la- 
 borious examination of this particular patent and 
 many^ others, and prepared an elaborate brief. 
 Garfield further showed — and this is the only 
 important fact in the whole case — that Congress 
 did not make any appropriation to pay for the 
 pavement, and was not asked to make any, and 
 that, therefore, the ofBcial conduct of Garfield 
 could not be aflTected by the fee, because he 
 could have no oflScial relations to the matter. 
 The contract for the pavement was made by- the 
 Board of Public Works, and was paid for by a 
 geneial local loan already authorize^ by law, 
 and by a, tax or assessment levied by the Gov- 
 ernment of the District of Columbia — just as 
 local improvements in other cities are paid for 
 by tlie property which they are supposed to ben- 
 efit. Congress might be called upon to meet gen- 
 eral deficiencies in the revenues of the District, 
 but this contingency was remote, and did not 
 form a condition of the De Golyer and McClel- 
 land contract. With this only the Board of 
 Public Works was concerned. Garfield's stoiy 
 was supported by the testimony of Commissioner 
 Shepherd before the committee. He says that 
 Congress was not in session when the contract 
 was awarded, and, further, 'We had ample ap- 
 propriations for all the work we had awarded- 
 including that, without regard to any appropri 
 ation from Congress. All these contracts wej 
 awarded on the basis of the four-million loan, 
 and the assessments by the city which were avi- 
 thorized by that law. They were not at all 
 contingent upon Congressional approprifetion.' 
 Even Benjamin R. Nickerson, who tried hard 
 to convict Garfield before the committee, really 
 supported his story, and was constrained to ad- 
 mit that no appropriation was made directly for 
 the pavement by Congress, and that the only 
 connection of Congress with the matter was its 
 assumption afterward of some of the certificates 
 of indeUtedness of the Board of Works. 
 
 "We have considered so far in these several 
 cases only the bare testimony, without regard to 
 the character and circumstances of General Gar- 
 field, or of the witnesses against him ; and upon 
 this bare testimony the friends of Garfield may 
 safely rest his defence. But the people will not 
 fail to take character and circumstances into ac- 
 count. They will remember that General Gar- 
 field is to-day worth not more than $25,000, 
 although he has been long enough in public life 
 to become enormously wealthy if he had been in- 
 clined to turn his official opportunities to pecuni- 
 ary profit. They will remember that his reputa- 
 tion and his methods are not those of a sharp 
 and selfish speculator in politics, but are those 
 of a statesman ; and that the intellectual, habit 
 of the man, to say nothing of his moral nature 
 and his uniform public conduct, are wholly in- 
 consistent with the notion that for a paltry sum 
 he would have blasted an honorable name, and 
 risked a brilliant career." 
 
 This lengthy statement of General Garfield'* 
 connection with these notorious scandals is made 
 for those who do not know him personally. To 
 

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