, 1880-06-13
GARFIELD ON LINCOLN.
4 Speech On the Anniversary Of til
AsHnH&uatfon.

4 Speech on the Anniversary Of the
Assassination.
On the night of the 14th OF April. 1866 J. Wlkea
Booth, creeping from behind President Lincoln
discharged pistoI-ball into his brain 4 yeat
afterwards, on the anniversary OF that trugac
event, Immediately after the House Of hepru-
sentatives WIS opened by PRAYER, Gen. Garfield
:" moved thzt the House do now adjourn" The
words Of eloquence in which he urged the mo-
ton will long BIC remembered by his country.
men. Hesaid:
This day, Mr.. Speaker. will be sadly memora-
BILE SO long as this Nation shall endure. which
corded time" when the volume me 81 human his
tory shall be scnied up and delivered to tho
omnipotent Judge
day, doubt not that the citizens OF this Repub-
ZIG will meet In solemn assembly to reflect On the
awful tragic event Of April II. lSS5.-an event
unparalleled Ia the history Of nations, certainly
@nupa5alleled @ IN ourown. 4 is ennnently propar
records mem0riui Of that event.
The last 1--WE years have been marked by WON
derful developments Of individual character
fame have taken their places In history, crowned
with immortal houors. In thousands or humble
homes aFs ne dwelling heroes and patriots whose
But greatest among all these great develop
mcnfs we're the character and fame Of Abrx~
ham Lincoln, whose loss the Nation still de-
plores, His character IS aptly described in the
words of Engand's great laureate-writtcn
thirty years ago-in which he traces the upward
steps Of some
"Dlvinely gifted man,
Whose life In low estate bexun1
And On simple village green;
"Who breaks bis births invtdious bar, ,
And grasps the skirts OF happy chauca,
And breasts the blows Of circumstance
And grapples with his evil star; /,
Who makes by force his merit known,
And lives to clutch the golden keys
10 mold mighty states DEGREES,
Aud shape the whisper OF the throne;
"And moving up from high to higher,
Becomes on Fortunes crowninG zlope
The pillnr Of a peoples hope,
The centre OF u worlds DESIRE"
Such & life and character will be treasured
forever as the sacred possession Of the Amer1-
can people and OF mankind. In the great drama
OF the Rebellion there were two ucts- The first
was tha Wnr, with its battles and steges, VIC
tories and defeats, its sufferinRs and tears
ThAt act was closing one year ago tonight,
and just Us the curtain WIS lifting on the sec
liberty; just US the curtain was rising upon new
and new events. the evil spirit OF the
Rebellion; in the fury Of despair, nerved and
the chief character IN both.
It WIS no one mnn who killed Abraham Lin
coin; it was the embodied spirit Of treason nnd
slavery, Inspired with fenrfuI and despairing
hate. that struck him down ia the moment Ut
The Nations suprenest Joy
All! sir. there are times in the history OF men
and nations when ther stand 50 near the veu
that sepuratc uiortals trom the immortafs, time
from eternity. aud men fEutn their God, that
they can almost hear the bcasings and feel iha
oulsatons OF the heurt or the lnnnite. Through
such time has this Nation passed When .5u-
10 brave spirits passed from the aeld OF honur
md when at last its parting folds admitted the
martyr President to the company Of the dead
,eroes Of the Republic, the Nation stood so ncar
he veil that the whispers OF God were heard by
he children Of men.