Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-04-19
An E~sIoauent Speech.

Gen. Garfield, M. @. from the Ashtabuls
District, In submitting q motion Ia the U.
9. House Of Representatives, on Saturday,
to adjourn ia commemorstiou Of the murder
Of President Lincoln, said:
This day will be memorable 60 long AZ
this nation shall endure, which God grant
may be till that last moment of recorded
time when the volume of the worlds history
shall be sealed up and placed before the
Omnipotent Judge for his sentence.
On this day for all time to come, I doubt
not the citizens Of this Republic will meet
together, looking into each other faces with
solemn sadness as they recall the sad event
OF this day In 1855, an event unparalleled in
the history Of nations, certainly unparalleled
in our own.
I think it sminsntly proper that this Cen.
eress should put on it's record to. day q reso-
luton in memory Of that event.
The war with its wonderful events, gave
to history many distinguished names. 1t
took the young men Of the land and made
them into heroes. II made the old men
patriots, and the women became ministeriBg
angels all over the land.
But chief among the great developments
Of the war were the character and life Of
that great man, whose loss the nation still
denlOres. 4,
He is aptly described in the language Of
one Of England's great poets, as
"Thei divinely gifted man,
Whose life in low estate began
Upon n simple village green:
Who breaks his births ~invidious bar.
And grasps the skirts Of happy chame,
Aud breasts the blows OF circumstance,
And g%rapples with his evil star;
WHO makes by force his merit known,
And lives to clutch the golden keys,
To mold n mighty States DEGREES,
Aud shape the whisper Of the throne;
And moving up from high 10 higher,
Becomes. on fortunes Growing slope,
The pillar Of the peoples hope
The center Of n worlds desire.
Such q life and such q character will 20
down to all time as the great and sacred
possession of the American people. But
there is more than the mere character 81
any one man in the great struggle through
scenes in the drama of the Rebellion One
was the military scene, with all its death,
with all its sufferings, losses and tears
That scene was closing one year ago this
night. Just as the curtain was lifting on
the new and inal scene, the restoration Of
peace, and liberty, and order-just as tht
curtain was rising to show the new charac
tiers, the evil spirit Of Rebellion and treason
could not resist its desire to strike one blew
and to cause the chief character 10 the scene
then closing, to perish by the hand of assas
sination. 1t was not the hand Of one maj
that killed President Lincoln /; it was tn
embodied spirit of treason aud Slavery. con
centrated into fearful hate, that struck hin
down in that supreme hour of the nation
joy. There are times in the history Of mel
and Of nations when they seem to stand A
closely by the veil which shuts out mortal
from immortality, time from eternity, an,
man from God, that they can almost hea
the beatiDgs and feel the pulsations of tn
Heart of God.
Snoh a time have we passed through.
When 100000 patriotic spirits brok
through the folds OF THAT thin veil, and wen
up into the presence of God, and when, q
last, its parting folds admitted the Presiden
to go with the dead heroes Of the Republic
the nation felt. indeed, that IL could hea
the whispers Of God coming down anon
the children Of men.
Kneeling at that troubled hour, Joy an
sadness were so strangely ce~mmingled. tn
American people listened to the voice q
their God. and made q solemn covensr
with Him, and with zach other, that thl
nation should be redeemed, all its glory n
stored, and that on the rims Of Slavery an
Treason, the temples Of Fraadom and .1uatic
should be built, and should survive forever
It remains for us. Mr.. Speaker, c9nsecri
ted by that great event, and under the GOV,
nant with God to keep that faith. and to q
on in the good work until ii shall be CON
pleted. '}f
Following the lead Of that great man an
reverently following the lead Of God, let q
remember that ~ Lr1
Ne ha. sounded forth the trumpet which shalt new,
call reireat.
He is sitting out the hears OF men before his judgme,
seat.
Be swift. my soul. to answer him, be i ubilant, my feet
for God Ia marching en-.