Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1864-08-10
THE GREAT CONTEST.
Final Success of our Cause
SPEECH OF THE
HON. J. A. GARFIELD,
OF OHIO.
In the House CT Representatives., June Is '6i

In the House Ct Representatives., June Is '6l
Mr.. Speaker, the honorable gentleman
who has just taken his seat Mr.. 0dell
has seen fit to refer to remark which
made on the last occasion when the pro
posed repeal Of the communication claus
was before the house. I do not think be
intended TO misrepresent me, yet he die
so.
did not take it upon myself to criti
else the individual acts or votes of an!
member of this House. But, sir, it is m,
right to animadvert upon the action o
this House, and the effect. of its policy
This right have hitherto used in sucl
manner as 1 deemed proper; and while
have the honor of a seat in this body
shall continue to use it. On that occa
sion did, as the gentleman states, de
clare it as my opinion that We had reach
ed the point in the progress of events
where we must decide to repeal the com
mutation clause, or give up the successful
prosecution of the war. I did not then
believe, nor do 1 now believe. that the
vote then taken was such decision; but
did believe, and yet believe, that il
the policy indicated by that vote shall be
persisted in, if the communication clause
be permanently retained in the law, if no
mare efficient law be passed this session
for filing up our armies and supplying
the waste OF battle and disease, the re
bellion cannot be put down during the
lifetime of the Thirty Eighth Congress.
l go further. If this Congress shall
leave the law as it now stands and the
next Congress repeats the folly, do not
believe the rebellion will be put down
during the continuance of the next Con-
gress. nor at all while the incubus of com
mutation weighs down the present law
In my Judgment that clause stands di-
rectly in the way of filling up our armies.
Mr. Speaker; it has never been my pol
icy to conceal truth merely because it is
unpleasant. 1t may be well to smile
in the face of danger, but it is neither
well nor wise to let danger approach un-
challenged and unannounccd. 4 brave
nation, like brave man, desires to see
and measure the perils which threaten it.
1t is the right of the American people to
know the necessities of the Republic
when they are called upon to make sacri-
fees for it. 1t is this lack of confidence
in ourselves and the people, this timid
waiting for events to control us when
they should obey us, that makes men
oscillste between hope and fear; now in
the sunshine of the hill-tops, and now in
the gloom and shadows of the valley. To
such men the morning bulletin which
berslds success in the Army gives exul
tation and high hope; the evening dis
patch announcing some slight disaster to
our advancing cOlums bring gloom and
depression. Hope rises and falls by the
accidents Of war as the mercury of the
thermometer changes by the accidents of
heat and cold. Let US rather take for
our symbol the sailors barometer, which
faithfully forewarns him of the tempest
and gives him unerring promise of serene
skies and peaceful seas.
No man can deny that we have grounds
for apprehension and anxiety. The un
exampled magnitude of the contest, the
enormous expenditures of the war, the
unprecedented waste of battle bringing
sorrow to every loyal freside, the courage,
endurance, and desperation of our enemy,
the sympathy given him by the monarch
les of the Old World as they wait and
hope for cur destruction, all these consid-
erations should make US anxious and
earnest, but they should not add one hue
Of despair to the face of an American cit.
izeD, they SHOULD not abate little of his
heart and hope. The spectres of defeat,
bankruptcy, and repudiation hayeistalked
through this Chamber, evoked by those
gentlemen who see no hope for the Re-
pupllc III lu6 aEDllTdIuclt VI " al ~ pOH-
er in the justice of our cause, no peace
made secure by the triumph OF freedom
and truth.
MI. Speaker, even at this late day of
the session will beg the indulgence of
the House while 1 point out some of the
grounds of our confidence in the final
successes of our cause, while I endeavor
to show that though besst with danger
we still stand on firm earth, and though
the heavens are clouded, yet above storm
and cloud the sun of our national hope
shines with steady and undimmed splen-
dor. History is constantly repeating
itself, making only such changes of pro-
gramme as the growth of nations and cen
turies requires. Such struggles as ours,
and far lagre:ones, haye occurred in other
ages, and their record, are written for US.
desirs<fo refer to the example Of our
ancestors across the sss, Ia thar great