Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.--The New York
Mob.--Garfield's Memorable Words.--Eulogy upon
Lincoln.--Memorial Oration.--Eulogy upon Senator
Morton.--Extracts from other Orations.
It is the morning after the fateful fourteenth of April, 1865. From the
Atlantic shore to the Pacific the whole startled nation is in the
wildest state of excitement. President Lincoln, with the glorious words
of Emancipation still warm upon his lips, has been shot down by the hand
of Booth. The newsboys shout through the streets that Seward is
dying--that the lives of other Government officers have been assailed!
A furious mob rules the thoroughfares of New York and clamors for
revenge. One man who is suspected of rebel sentiments is shot dead on
the spot; another instant and his adversary lies beside him in the
gutter.
"To the _World_! To the office of the _World_!" shout the rabble,
bearing high above their heads a roughly constructed gallows.
Suddenly, a tall, manly figure steps forward with a small flag in his
hand.
"Another telegram from Washington!" exclaims a chorus of excited voices.
A dead silence follows, and then, with a reverential glance heavenward,
the stranger begins in clear, deep tones,--
"Fellow-citizens! clouds and darkness are round about Him. His pavilion
is dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Justice and judgment are
the establishment of His throne. Mercy and truth shall go before His
face. Fellow citizens, God reigns, and the Government at Washington
still lives!"
An eye-witness writes of the memorable scene:
"The crowd stood riveted to the ground with awe, gazing at the
motionless orator, and thinking of God and the security of the
Government in that hour. As the boiling wave subsides and settles to the
sea, when some strong wind beats it down, so the tumult of the people
sank and became still. All took it as a divine omen. It was a triumph of
eloquence, inspired by the moment, such as falls to but one man's lot,
and that but once in a century. The genius of Webster, Choate, Everett,
Seward, never reached it. What might have happened had the surging and
maddened crowd been let loose, none can tell. The man for the crisis was
on the spot, more potent than Napoleon's guns at Paris. I inquired what
was his name. The answer came in a low whisper, 'It is General Garfield
of Ohio!'"
"_God reigns; and the Government at Washington still lives!_" With what
majestic eloquence those immortal words come back to us to-day! With
what quickened sympathies we re-read his grand eulogy delivered a year
later in Congress, upon Abraham Lincoln, the martyred president!
Have not the American people repeated one of those "times in the history
of men and nations when they stand so near the veil that separates
mortals from immortals, time from eternity, and men from their God, that
they can almost hear the beatings and feel the pulsations of the heart
of the Infinite?"
Through its parting folds the thin veil has admitted another "martyr
president to the company of the dead heroes of the Republic." Shall not
the whispers of God be heard by the children of men? Awe-stricken by His
voice, shall not the American people again "kneel in tearful reverence
and make a solemn covenant with Him and with each other that this nation
shall be saved from its enemies, and the temples of freedom and justice
built upon foundations that shall survive forever?"
Upon the birthday of Lincoln, February 12th, 1878, when Carpenter's
painting of "The Emancipation" was presented to Congress by Mrs.
Thompson, Garfield delivered another memorial oration, from which we
quote the following beautiful passages:--
"The representatives of the nation have opened the doors of this Chamber
to receive at her hands a sacred trust. In coming hither, these living
representatives have passed under the dome and through that beautiful
and venerable hall, which, on another occasion, I have ventured to call
the third House of American Representatives, that silent assembly whose
members have received their high credentials at the impartial hand of
history. Year by year, we see the circle of its immortal membership
enlarging; year by year, we see the elect of their country, in eloquent
silence, taking their places in this American pantheon, bringing within
its sacred precincts the wealth of those immortal memories which made
their lives illustrious; and year by year, that august assembly is
teaching deeper and grander lessons to those who serve in these more
ephemeral Houses of Congress.
"Abraham Lincoln" (and may we not say the same of James Abram Garfield?)
"was one of the few great rulers whose wisdom increased with his power,
and whose spirit grew gentler and tenderer as his triumphs were
multiplied.
"His character is aptly described in the words of England's great
laureate--written thirty years ago--in which he traces the upward steps
of some
'Divinely gifted man,
Whose life in low estate began,
And on a simple village green;
'Who breaks his birth's invidious bar,
And grasps the skirts of happy chance,
And breasts the blow of circumstance,
And grapples with his evil star;
'Who makes by force his merit known,
And lives to clutch the golden keys,
To mould a mighty State's 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 the sacred
possession of the American people and of mankind."
Again, in Garfield's eulogy upon Senator Morton of Indiana, how truly
the words apply to himself:--
"His force of will was most masterful. It was not mere stubbornness, or
pride of opinion, which weak and narrow men mistake for firmness. But it
was that stout-hearted persistency which, having once intelligently
chosen an object, pursues it through sunshine and storm, undaunted by
difficulties, and unterrified by danger.
"He possessed an intellect of remarkable clearness and force. With keen
analysis he found the core of a question, and worked from the centre
outward.... Few men have been so greatly endowed with the power of clear
statement and unassailable argument. The path of his thought was
straight,--
'Like that of the swift cannon-ball
Shattering that it may reach, and
Shattering what it reaches."
"When he had hit the mark, he used no additional words, and sought for
no decoration. These qualities, joined to his power of thinking quickly,
placed him in the front rank of debaters, and every year increased his
power."
One of Garfield's most popular eulogies was that upon John Winthrop and
Samuel Adams, from which we quote the following striking passages:--
"It must not be forgotten that while Samuel Adams was writing the great
argument of liberty in Boston, almost at the same time Patrick Henry was
formulating the same doctrines in Virginia. It is one of the grandest
facts of that grand time that the colonies were thus brought, by an
almost universal consent, to tread the same pathway, and reach the same
great conclusions.
"But most remarkable of all is the fact that, throughout all that
period, filled as it was with the revolutionary spirit, the men who
guided the storm exhibited the most wonderful power of self-restraint.
If I were to-day to state the single quality that appears to me most
admirable among the fathers of the revolution, I should say it was this:
that amidst all the passions of war, they exhibited so wonderful a
restraint, so great a care to observe the forms of law, to protect the
rights of the minority, to preserve all those great rights that had come
down to them from the common law, so that when they had achieved their
independence, they were still a law-abiding people."
When a resolution of thanks was about to be passed in Congress to
General Thomas for his generalship in the battle of Chickamauga,
Garfield moved an amendment, by inserting the name of General Rosecrans.
After an eloquent appeal in behalf of his old commander, he closed with
the following words:--
"Who took command of the Army of the Cumberland,--found the army at
Bowling Green, in November, 1862, as it lay disorganized, disheartened,
driven back from Alabama, and Tennessee,--and led it across the
Cumberland, planted it in Nashville, and thence, on the first day of the
new year, planted his banners at Murfreesboro; in torrents of blood, and
in the moment of our extremest peril, throwing himself into the breach,
saved by his personal labor the Army of the Cumberland and the hopes of
the Republic? It was General Rosecrans. From the day he assumed the
command at Bowling Green, the history of that army may be written in one
sentence--it advanced and maintained its advanced position--and its last
campaign under the general it loved was the bloodiest and most
brilliant.
"The fruits of Chickamauga were gathered in November, on the heights of
Mission Ridge and among the clouds of Lookout Mountain. That battle at
Chattanooga was a glorious one, and every loyal heart was proud of it.
But, sir, it was won when we had nearly three times the number of the
enemy. It ought to have been won. Thank God it was won! I would take no
laurel from the brow of the man who won it, but I would remind gentlemen
here, that while the battle of Chattanooga was fought with vastly
superior numbers on our part, the battle of Chickamauga was fought with
still vaster superiority against us.
"If there is any man upon earth whom I honor, it is the man who is named
in this resolution--General George H. Thomas. I had occasion, in my
remarks on the conscription bill a few days ago, to refer to him in such
terms as I delighted to use; and I say to gentlemen here that if there
is any man whose heart would be hurt by this resolution as it now
stands, that man is General George H. Thomas. I know, and all know, that
he deserves well of his country; and his name ought to be recorded in
letters of gold; but I know equally well that General Rosecrans deserves
well of his country.
"I ask you then, not to pain the heart of a noble man, who will be
burdened with the weight of these thanks that wrong his brother officer
and superior in command. All I ask is that you will put both names into
the resolution, and let them stand side by side."
It is needless to add that the amendment was accepted, and that the name
of General Rosecrans was inserted with that of General Thomas.