Morning journal and courier., 1881-07-12
Sournal arlo Gontier.
Tuesday Morning, July 12. 1881
Local News.
For other Local News zee Second Page
Fair Haven.

For other Local News zee Second Page.l
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 Fair Haven. The Attempted Assassination of the President-Eloquent Words from the Pulpit of the First Church-Valuable Thoughts and Comments. At the First church, Fair Haven, Sunday, the pastor Rev. Burdett Hart, preached an impressive sermon from the S5th Psalm, 9th verse, ''Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land"
 For eight days great gloom has settled on all the land. We were in the midst of the joyfulness of great prosperity. The re- vived business of the country had harnessed the forces of nature and was driving them from sea to sea with an energy that was never before known. The harvests were laughing in the footsteps of the farmer. Stream and steam were making manifold ma chinery to spin in their productive service. Schools were sending forth their graduates into inviting vacations. Foreign immigra tion was pouring upon our shores in unpar- alleled numbers. The country was moving into an era of great growth and power.
 It was fearful shock when the announce ment was carried over the whole land that the President had been dangerously shot at the capital and had been carried badly wounded into the Presidential mansion. Men stopped in their tracks to wonder and ques- ton what it could mean. There was tenn porary paralysis of business. The whole country seemed to reel as though another world had collided with the globe. Anxious questions were on all pale lips. How could such thing be? What will be the conse- quences of an event so strange? Who is responsible? What will become of the na- ton if it's chief should die? Have we national safeguards for such an emergency :? Are we too in the midst of perils like those which constantly threaten the despotic lands :? Saturday was passed in doubt and fear and mournful anxiety. Sunday broke and the President lived, and the millions of worship CTS united their prayers that life so valu- able, so prized, so essential to the whole country might be spared. This church, at a meeting of conference and prayer specially called by the pastor, united in tender prayer and the meeting unanimously passed 8 series of declarations which were duly forwarded to the Presidents family. Similar messages
 
 tentates, from foreign ambassadors. from churches and societies and municipal and ju- dicial bodies, from every section and State of our land, showing that our woe had touched all our people and had struck re- sponsive chords all over the world. | week wide and tender sympathy l was evoked and the one matter of popular ! interest and inquiry was the probability of | the Presidents recovery. To-day, the ninth | day since the wounding, the message comes | ''All is well.'' Surgeon General Barnes says ''If the recovery of the President was fully l assured we couldn't ask for a more satisfac- ! tory condition of affairs than the present. , "All is well" So while there is still danger, l the prospect is favorable, and the country 1 to-day speak its thanksgiving to God.
 And now what practical lessons are we to learn from this astounding occurrence Or l the first tidings of it every one reverted tc the assassination of Lincoln. But President Lincoln was murdered when the passions o1 men were at fever heat in the midst of civi war, and at time when the war devel oping disasters for the southern confederacy l He was taken off in the spirit of retaliation which the defeats of the South were inspiring in men grown desperate The attempt upo1 MT. Garfield was at time of profound peace, when the formerly opposing section of the country were approaching new con cord, when the new administration of th' government was winning popular ap l proval and when the rising tid' of prosperity was enklndling universal grati
 ication from ocean to ocean. This assassi nation has peculiarity of it's own. It Ii without reason. There is no rational pre- text even for it. It is a spasmodic event, lik an unclassifed disease. It sprung from kind of mania which possessed the assassin Not that he is irresponsible, the working ul 1 of the whole affair by this Guiteau demon | ,k, F. fook- IJa what he was doing, why he was doing it. tn personal peril which he ran and he weighed carefully the probabilities and possibilities O the venture. He was not insane, and noth ing before or since the event has shown tha he was insane to that degree that he is no | morally and personally accountable for hi | crime. So far all sin is insanity, so far a all depravity is folly, this man was insar4 | and foolish. We may go further and sa, l that his miserable relation to politics, hi 1 devoting himself to detestable attempts t. | procure support through some office O place which he might obtain under the gov ernment as the pitiful reward of supposed l efforts in the presidential campaign, ma, have wrought upon mind not overstocket 1 with strength or sense, so that he becam l susceptible to the influence which the preva lent and just now prominent spirit of faction is exercising upon men who are counting spells as more than principles and persona | This wrought on him to this extent that h, imagined it would be an act whiel would gain applause should he offel the greatest possible sacrifice the altar O faction. He evidently imagined in his veal insanity that he was serving that responsible and aggressive faction in one of the great DO htical parties of the country which fol months past has been in open opposition tc the administration, and that he should so ad vance their interests that he would be pro tected in his person by them and would ever be able to demand rewards from them when through the influence of his crime he should instate them in the place o1 power. It was fatal and false presumption. The dreadful crime should, however, be stern rebuke to tht spirit of faction which undoubtedly instigatet it. The country should learn this lessor Clearly bought) that the office and the perso1 of the elected ruler of the nation should com mand universal respect, and that all factiona opposition is abhorrent to the birth l right of citizenship. The coun try should learn this also, tha the clamor and persistence of office seeking, the greedy hunt and track of spoil ! are sufficient to condemn all who indulge il l them, that offices should ever seek fit men | that places of high trust are for those wht are called to them, not for demagogue aspir ants
 The Rev. gentleman then dwelt at lengtl | upon the life of the President both moral uable lessons for his congregation to goverI | them in all the various walks of life.
 | Hair dressing and restorative is to be found | T1r 1I0r1