James A. Garfield was elected President of the United States of America
in November, 1880, and was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1881; was
shot and mortally wounded on the 2nd day of July, 1881; and was removed
to Elberton, New Jersey, where he lingered until September 19th, and on
that day he died--to the great sorrow of a waiting, hopeful and
sympathetic Nation. No death in our history, save possibly that of
Lincoln, so generally and profoundly filled the hearts of the American
people with sorrow as did the death of Garfield. After its announcement
a Nation, inspired by a common impulse, at once hung out the dark
emblems of sorrow.
September 27th was appointed Memorial Day. On the 25th a public meeting
was called in Seattle at the old Pavilion. Honorable Roger S. Greene was
elected chairman of that meeting, and he was to act as such on Memorial
Day. Myself, Rev. George H. Watson and Honorable William H. White were
invited to deliver at that time addresses on the character and public
career of the fallen statesman.
On the appointed day an audience of over four thousand people assembled
in front of and on each side of the west end of the old Occidental
Hotel. The officers of the day and the speakers occupied the first
balcony of the hotel. The exercises were appropriately opened with
prayer by Rev. Ellis. Honorable Roger S. Greene made a brief but earnest
and impressive address, and introduced me in the following complimentary
language:
"We shall hear from one to-day who can occupy an appreciative
standpoint and speak of the departed President with more than
common sympathy for his public purposes and deeds.
"Yet more. You yourselves have something to say. You seek one of
yourselves to speak for you; one who not only, like the lamented
dead, thinks as the people think and feels as the people feel,
but one who belongs to this local community and who shares our
own peculiar shade of sorrow.
"Such an one is here. He is a man skilled in the use of words, a
man identified with yourselves, a man experienced and
accomplished in public and national affairs, a man personally
acquainted with James A. Garfield.
"Fellow citizens, I introduce to you Orange Jacobs, your orator
of to-day."
Thus eloquently introduced to the audience, I delivered the following
address:
"FELLOW CITIZENS:--In arising to address you on this occasion I
feel my own inability to do the subject justice; and the hollow
impotence of human language to express the sentiment of national
woe. We have assembled to honor the memory, to revere the
character, and recount the living virtues of a fallen patriot
and statesman. James A. Garfield, the popular idol of the
nation, is no more. His spirit has passed the bourne from whence
there is no return. We have, in time of our greatest need, lost
one of our greatest statesmen and purest patriots. In the
mid-day of his manhood, in the midst of his usefulness, just as
hope became steady, and faith reliant and sure, Mr. Garfield
descended to the grave. His sun of life has set forever. It
fell from its meridian splendor, as falls a star from the
blazing galaxy of heaven. No twilight obscured its setting.
"As the sun of the physical world--the brightest and grandest of
all of the luminaries of the firmament sinks to rest, tingeing
the clouds that stretch along the horizon with the golden
glories of its declining rays, so Garfield, the sun-intellect of
this nation, has gone to his repose, reflecting the light of his
noble deeds and unfaltering patriotism, tingeing the breaking
clouds of dissention with the beauty and effulgence of hope and
peace.
"When the telegraph flashed over a hopeful nation the mournful
news of James A. Garfield's death, with the previous knowledge
of the cowardly means by which it was effected, the great
popular and patriotic heart momentarily ceased its pulsations,
and the life-current of a nation, stood still for a moment,
until the energies of patriotic vitality gathered new force to
repel the effect of the stunning shock. Unbelief and
astonishment were succeeded by wordless sorrow, and this was
mingled with emotions of patriotic vengeance. Patriots in this
mournful hour can brook no sympathy for the damning deed--can
bear no manifestation of joy for the bloody work of the
assassin.
"James A. Garfield was the popular representative of American
patriotism. As President he possessed no powers but those freely
delegated to him by his fellow-citizens. His highest duty under
the Constitution, and by the delegation of the people, was to
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and Government
established by the Revolutionary Fathers. In the faithful
discharge of these duties, he was suddenly struck down by an
assassin. The blow struck not the President alone; it reached in
its rebound the popular heart of America. The shot meant the
annihilation of delegated power, and as such reached the
fountains of popular vitality.
"The people, in the exercise of their inherent sovereignty, may
elect, but if it does not suit he shall not live says the shot
of the assassin. Such assassinations are extremely dangerous to
liberty and constitutional government. If the will of the
majority is defeated in this manner, popular government will not
long survive. Anarchy, bloodshed and general civil war will
succeed the rebound of the popular heart. The popular frenzy
which developed itself in mobs in many sections of our country,
on the reception of the tidings of Lincoln's death, is but the
logical sequence of the assassin's stroke at civil liberty and
popular rights. Then it behooves every well-wisher of his
country, on such mournful occasions, to give emphasis and
intensity to the nation's woe. For, mark you, fellow-citizens,
there is a smothered volcano of wrath and vengeance in the great
popular heart upon such occasions. A word may vent it, and fill
all this fair land with the lava of blood and ashes.
"One more preliminary consideration before I call your attention
to the life, character and public services of our dead
President. What will be the effect and consequence of this
horrid murder, considered with reference to national affairs? No
one present can fully tell. Most of the ultimate consequences
are too remote and recondite to be comprehended now. We must
wait for the full development of the logic of events. This we
know, that the time elapsing between the assassin's shot and the
lamented death of his victim has been sufficient for the
supremacy of reason and the subjugation of passion so far as to
prevent any immediate dire results to free government. The
American people, yea the Anglo-Saxon race, are believers in law
and order. They put their trust in and found their hopes upon a
liberty regulated by law. Passion may triumph for an hour, but
the sober-second-thought of the masses is sure to assert itself.
Passion has never but once in our history crystalized into
revolution. It is this subordination to law, this reverence for
its majesty, this reliant faith in its methods and results, that
constitute the bulwark of our liberties, and make the American
people capable of self-government.
"James A. Garfield was born on the 19th day of November, 1831,
in Orange, Cuyahoga County, State of Ohio, and hence was in his
fiftieth year when he died. He was a graduate of Williams
College, Massachusetts. After his graduation he followed the
profession of teacher, and was president of a literary
institution in Ohio for several years. He afterwards studied
law, and so great was his proficiency, that in legal knowledge
and forensic power he was a foeman worthy of the steel of such
men as Stanton, Ewing, Stanberry and others of national
reputation at the Ohio bar. He entered the Union army as Colonel
of the 42nd Ohio, in 1861; was promoted to the rank of
Brigadier-General January 10th, 1862; was appointed chief of the
staff of the Army of the Cumberland, and was promoted to the
rank of Major-General, Sept. 20th, 1863; was elected to the 38th
Congress while in the field, and was successively elected up to
and including the 46th Congress; and while holding this last
position he was elected Senator from the great State of Ohio, to
succeed Judge Thurman. He never took his seat, however, in the
American Senate, for he was nominated and elected President,
before Judge Thurman's time expired. I ought to have mentioned
that in 1859-'60 he was a member of the State Senate of Ohio.
Such is a brief history of this remarkable man.
"James A. Garfield, in common with Abraham Lincoln, the
patriotic and lamented Douglas, and the eloquent Clay, sprang
from the loins of the American people. These all forced their
way from poverty up to commanding positions and national renown.
Their genius for public affairs was triumphant over all
opposition and victorious in their rising greatness. The success
of such men is possible only in a government by the people. Be
it said to the everlasting honor of the people, and their
fitness for government, that they not only recognized the
ability of these men, but they gave them their affections
without stint, and their hearty support in opposition to party.
And to-day, from his sublime heights, he whom we commemorate
beholds a manifestation of this affection, by a nation in
mourning.
"His knowledge, tact, and judgment made him equal to every
position bestowed upon him by the partiality of his countrymen;
yea, more, he was a leader in all. As a student, scholar, and
teacher he stood high. As a soldier his coolness in the shock of
battle, as well as his admirable foresight and judgment, won for
him rapid promotion. As a legislator, debater, orator and
statesman he had but few equals and no superiors. And it was in
these capacities that I knew him well, as it is in the character
of Congressman that he is best known to the great mass of the
American people, I pause for a brief time to consider some of
his qualities as a legislator.
"He was for many years, while the Republicans had control of the
House, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. This was a
position of the highest importance and of the most commanding
influence. It gave him control of all the appropriations of the
Government and made his the actual leader of the House. A defeat
of this committee by the House would be as disastrous to the
party in power as the defeat of the ministry in England: a
defeat by his own party would show such lack of unity of
purpose, and of objects, and ideas on the part of the majority,
as to render them incapable of carrying on the Government.
"Firm, decided, full of expedients, and wonderful in debate, he
not only carried his measures triumphantly through, but at each
session strengthened his hold upon his party and the country. In
the fierce contests that raged upon such occasions, he showed
that his knowledge and intellect were stupendous. His quick
perception grasped, his strong memory retained, and his ready
logic commanded, immense sources of useful knowledge, gathered
from science, reflection, the history of the past, and the
stirring events of the present. In debate he rejected all
rhetorical ornament, all ostentation and show. Stating his
premises concisely, his reasoning led to the conclusion aimed
at, as irresistibly as the current of a deep and strong river
leads to the sea. There was a logical force and point to his
clear sentences that tended to his conclusions with the
directness and certainty with which the successive steps in a
mathematical demonstration point to the grand result. In making
an attack or repelling an assault upon his position, he always
had a mark, and his intellectual shots fell in and around that
mark with effective proximity.
"But while he was truly great in devising and successfully
carrying through the great appropriation bills, made necessary
by the enormous expenditures of the war, he was greater by far
as the philosophic leader of his party.
"After the power vanished from his party in the House, although
his knowledge, of the principles and rules of parliamentary law
was full and accurate, he rarely spoke on questions of order;
but when the principles, policy, methods, or measures of the
Republican party were attacked, he was always put forward as
their champion; and, although men will and do honestly differ
about such matters, yet by the concessions of friend and foe
alike, the proudest monuments of his intellectual greatness have
for their base these masterly vindications.
"He had a power of generalization and classification possessed
by but few men. He was not a logician in the popular sense of
the term. He addressed the intuitions, and consciences, of men
quite as often as their reason. John C. Calhoun, Senators Morton
and Bayard and Garfield, stand unrivalled among American
statesmen for their wonderful powers of generalization,
classification, and analysis. This power made Calhoun a
dangerous antagonist to Webster, with all his sledge-hammer
strokes of logic and incisive reasoning. Morton's fame and
reputation rests upon this foundation alone. Garfield possessed
this power in a remarkable degree. It was this power that
enabled him to hold popular audiences even in a two-hours'
speech on the dreary topics of finance.
"He gathered up the fundamental principles underlying the
complicated topics of political economy, stated them with such
clearness and simplicity, as not only to bring them within the
comprehension of, but to make them attractive to the ordinary
understanding. The most voluminous and complicated mass of
facts, fused in the furnace of such an intellect, is quickly
reduced to order; the good separated from the bad, the valuable
from the worthless; and the principles underlying the good and
valuable made manifest, like as the fire of the furnace releases
the precious metal from the rock, dirt and sand by which it is
surrounded, and utilizes it for purposes of commerce and
civilization.
"As a speaker he was always dignified and impressive. He had
strong convictions, and he uttered them with courage and
earnestness. He was one of the few members who could always
command the attention of the House. I have seen him arise in a
tumult of excitement, and as soon as the tones of his clear,
ringing voice echoed through the vast hall, all was hushed, and
every ear was open, and every eye was turned toward him. I was
present when he delivered his great speech on the importance and
necessity of standing by the Resumption law and the currency of
the Constitution. Many members were wavering, hard times were
abroad in the land; bankruptcies were frequent, and enormous in
amount. There was an appalling shrinkage of values, and a wild
cry came up from the North, the South and the great Inland West
for more money. The advocates, of the policy of largely
increasing the volume of the greenback currency, were jubilant;
but that speech decided their fate.
"The doubting were convinced, and the wavering fixed, in their
determination to stand by the Resumption law. Resumption
succeeded. The national honor was preserved. Business rests
upon a solid foundation and an era of prosperity prevails. To no
man is the nation more indebted for this auspicious condition of
affairs than to him whose untimely death we mourn to-day.
"Notwithstanding the earnestness and boldness of Mr. Garfield's
utterances, everybody was his friend. They gave him credit for
honesty, and sincerity. So sure it is that these qualities
always command our respect, if they do not excite our
admiration.
"The sterling qualities which I have briefly mentioned, together
with his known and accepted position on the great public
questions of the day, secured Mr. Garfield's nomination to the
Presidency at the National Convention, which met at Chicago on
the 2nd day of June, A. D. 1880. His competitor, as all know,
was a patriotic and illustrious Union General. The contest was
remarkable for its thoroughness and intensity in the doubtful
States, but Mr. Garfield was clearly and fairly elected, and on
the 4th of March last, was duly inaugurated. He entered on the
discharge of his duties as President under the most auspicious
circumstances. We were at peace with all the world. The wounds
of the war had been healed, and the work of reconciliation had
fairly been accomplished. Prosperity reigned supreme; the good
time had come and the people rejoiced. Menaced by no external
power and free from domestic dissensions, he could turn his
entire attention to the internal machinery of government. He
determined to distinguish his term of office by its purity of
administration, and its economy of expenditures. Only four
months was he at the helm, but his achievements in that time
will be remembered long, and bless the land for years. In that
brief time he routed the army of contracting thieves from their
entrenched position in the postoffice department, and
established a standard of official integrity and honor that
carried dismay to the spoils-hunter and dishonest official. But
just as he had fully gathered the reins of government in his
hands, and sent forth the uncompromising demand for honesty and
integrity from all officials, and while preparing to enforce
that demand, the assassin's bullet paralyzed his power and
arrested the much-needed work of reform. That he made mistakes
may be conceded, for all human judgments are imperfect; but the
cold and passionless voice of history, though it may find fault
or flaw, will more than satisfy those who loved him most, and
will place his name among the highest and purest in the list of
human rulers.
"In contemplation of the solid and brilliant abilities of a
great man, we often lose sight of those qualities that endear
him to friends, and to the loved ones around the home circle.
Man may possess transcendant genius, and be the idol of the
populace, and yet be selfish, unsocial and cruel at home.
Towering ambition may, and sometimes does, subordinate the love
of wife, of children, and of parents, to its gratification. Such
was not the case with Garfield. His home was his retreat from
the storms and battles of life, where love reigned supreme. The
telegram dictated by himself to his wife on the 2nd of July
last, just after the fatal shot, was full of the holy felicities
of domestic life. Mrs. Garfield was in Elberton, where the
President finally died. The telegram read: 'The President wishes
me to say to you for him, that he has been seriously hurt, how
seriously he cannot say. He is himself in hopes you will come to
him soon. He sends love to you.'
"The voice of ambition was hushed. The counsel and association
of a statesman was subordinated to the presence and society of
the loving and faithful wife; and how touching has been her
devotion; how grand and noble her fortitude in that trying hour!
Some one has truthfully said that there are but three words of
beauty in the English language, and they are: 'Mother, Home,
Heaven.' All know that the love and affection of our dead
President for his aged mother, who by the cruel shot of the
assassin, will be the chief mourner at the grave of her dear
boy. These are the qualities, more than the brilliant display on
the rostrum, in the forum or before enraptured thousands, that
give the full measure of a noble manhood. This display may
co-exist with selfishness and meanness; love and affection
sanctify the noblest gifts and the loftiest aspirations.
"No account of Mr. Garfield's character would be full and
complete without a statement of his deep and fervent religious
convictions.
"No man with his breadth of knowledge, with his complete mastery
of the processes of induction and analysis, and with his
metephysical character of mind, could ever be a disbeliever in
the existence of God and the immortality of man. Hence we find
him a member of a Christian Church and a regular attendant upon
its services. The problem of human origin and human destiny
early engaged his thoughts, and secured his profound
consideration. He _believed_, and endeavored to regulate his
conduct, habits, and life by Divine laws.
"In conclusion let me say, the hero statesman of this age, and
the loved idol of this nation, has gone down to an honored
grave. He died in the zenith of his reputation and glory, after
a struggle which has held the admiration of the world for his
heroism and manhood. He lived long enough after the fatal shot
to feel the sympathy of the nation, and the deep indignation of
the people, at the manner of his taking-off. He has gone to the
still heights where crime and pain come not. A nation mourns his
loss, and millions of freeman now and hereafter will revere his
virtues and guard his fame.
"Though dead in the flesh he lives in the spirit, and in the
affections and memory of his countrymen.
"The principles and lessons he taught are his best legacy to his
country.
"His memory will never die until time shall be no more. The
tears of a sorrowing people will water the sod that covers the
remains of their loved magistrate; and from every blade of grass
that grows, and from the leaf of every flower that blooms upon
his grave, an avenging spirit shall arise to demand requital for
the damnation of his taking-off. Then at the grave of the great
departed, let us tender anew our vows of fidelity to our country
and to freedom, and consecrate every wish and aspiration of our
hearts to an undivided and free Republic, remembering that
though Presidents may die our country must and shall live
forever. 'God reigns, and the Government, at Washington still
lives.'"
When I had finished speaking the chairman introduced Rev. George Herbert
Watson, whose address was very sympathetic and scholarly as well as
impressive. The chairman next introduced the Honorable William H. White,
whose address was brief, earnest, patriotic and eloquent.