The daily gazette., 1880-06-22
Washington Letter.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE EIaaNDIDATK.--
HIS oRAToRICAL STYLE. GUSHING
GRANDILoQUENT TGARFIELD.-MENTAL
AND pHYaICAI. lHAR ANTKRIaTICa

soMhrHISG ABOUT THE HEaiaANDIDATE.-
HIS oRAToRICAL STYLE. - GUSHING
GhANDILoQUENTG TGARFIELD.-MENTAL
AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC.
From our Regu ar Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, ID. c., June Is, 1881.
Congress has left Washington, but the
Capital Will be a centre of unusual inter.
es, during the Iecess Here will be the
campaign headquarters for both political
parties, and all through the dog-day
heats, anu until what Mr.. Garfield calls
the melancholy days Of Novem Der, COM
mands aud supplies will be issued from
Washington, and the fierce strife waeed
In city and village. on plain and In din
gle, will receive Its impulse and return
Its echo here.
Already, clerks in all the Departments
have oigauized, according TO their sew
eral States, and are prepared to do the
work they know SO we'll how to do, for
the party that has so long kept them in
sinecures at the public expei se.
Last night M r. Garfield trumpeJed the
key-nOve of the campaign in speech
from the balcony OF the Riggs House,
bu IL was a note of uncertain sound,
characteristic oi the cornet, and "wbo
shall prepare himself for battle?" ven-
ture to predict that the campaign will
not be waged with much enthusiasm on
the part of the Republican,. Mr.. Gar
| field IN not u candidate TO excite euthu-
siasin. Your correspondent has known
| him for thirteen years, aud has studied
him, not because he IL Individually in-
| teresting, but because be Is such u type
as no student of contemporary history
can ignore. Ii IN true that Don Platt
and George Alfred Townsend have
recently written lettt RS that are
eighty eulogis ic IF the candidnte, and
Ingeniously exculpatory OF his crooked
record. But 1t must be remembered that
these gentlemen weuid each like to have
| foreign mission, or at least a first class
consu.sbip. Mr.. Garfield, they say, is a
great scholar, a brOad-gauge statesman,
"A brainy man. do not think he IS any
| of these. 1 think his genius is chiefly
10 his lungs and other viscers. His
voice ~ like tue note o. war; he has the
ia ned opposite of Boswelrs hero, and
| the digestion of an ore crusber. He Is a
superb animal Mr.. Garfeld's mental
attribute is precocity, not profuniity
Il is unripe, prematurely developed
Il Q rose rapidly from the head of cana
Doat to the he al of a fourth-rate college
for both sexes. His advancement had
been rapid, but not remarkable, for 10
an era and area Of low culture, f1ippanl
oratory is considered proof of genius
and resonant voice is mistaken fol
oratory None of Mr.. Garfelds speech
e.-indeed, scarcely single paragraph
will bear literary criticism. Gush and
e andiloqueLce a q fhe characteristics o.
his style. The first time i heard hin
speak was at a college CONN" "ncemenf
twelve years ago. when he -xhorted VI
IN su h pla'itudes as 80 keep up to ih'
ii mes, to press forward to the van, ant
march abreast with the latest thought.
Now, refiecu ng men do not have to b'
very old before they learn that The la
test thought Is not necessarily the hes
thought. But in these few words L thini
we have a key TO Mr.. Gartield's menta
tope. In religion. politic 81 and scienc'
he believes In many unsound or uh
sounded th u Is Jesus Christ hesitate'
and asked, "What is truth 2" II MI
Garfield could be persuaded to answe
he would tay, "The newest fangie
thing" G. A. S.