St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-10-07
Public Opinion.
THINGS MADE PLAIN.

The long suspense is over. A crime
more wanton and purpOseless than any
recorded in history has cOmpassed the
death of the president of the United
States. 1t is safe to say that no con-
spicuous public man has ever departed
this life amid sorrow so profound and
universal as that which attended the
passing away of James A. Garfield. 1t
may be confidently asserted that
among the things which the slow mar
tyrdOm of James A. Garfield has made
plain to this people is that there can
be no stable government for them at
home, nor respect abroad, while politi-
cal partisanship tends to stimulate the
lowest passions of our nature, and
place hunting becomes the parent of
the most remOrseless hatred and the
foulest revenge. The blood of the
dead president WILL. we believe and
trust, nourish such hatred and horror
of the evils out of which its shedding
grew, that the potency of his death
may prove in the providence of God to
be greater than aught which could have
attended the unfiagging and best di-
rected energies of his life n. Y.
Times. ....t .
GOOD OMENS.
1t is not expected that Mr.. Arthur
will outrage public sentiment by any
sudden and fragrant reversal of his
predecessors acts. The welfare of the
Republican party is involved in his
administration. If his Interpretation
of the party desire should lead him to
discard the general views with which
President Garfield was known to sym
pathize, if he should suppose that the
party can successfully fight new bat
ties upon old issues, and cOntemptuOus-
ly disregard progress and reform, Re-
publican regret for the great calamity
which now OvershadOws the country
would be more poignant than ever.
Meanwhile there is general recOgni-
ton of the perfect propriety of Presi-
dent Arthur's conduct since the fatal
shot of the 2nd of July, and an equally
general disposition not to embarrass
his most difficult position. He knows
what courses and what men the cOun-
try and his party have impressively
and overwhelmingly condemned, and
he must know that to adopt them now
would be to disappOint the country,
and to ruin both his administration and
the Republican party. The tone and
spirit of his modest, sympathetic, and
.judicious inaugural address indicates a
determination to pursue the wise poll
cy.- Harper's Weekly.
THE REASON OF 1T.
To do the work which the people
should do, to meet their responsible
tiles, to endure their dangers, and
suffer their pangs, the people chose
Mr.. Garfield as their President. 1t is
because he was put by them in the po-
sition that a miscreant shot him. The
shot was at the people. They had put
him in front of the pistol, and he re-
ceived the bullet, and he has to suffer
for us. Every heart says, We elected
him, we put him there it is for us
that he suffered and died. There was
a substitutionary element in the suffer
ing of the President which appealed
to every heart. 1t were an utterly
heartless and lost people that would not
take into their hearts best love the
man who was dying for them. But for
them, he would be to-day enjoying the
peace and rest of a happy home. Not
at his solicitation, but theirs; not by
any act of his, but of theirs, he was
chosen most worthy to bear their bur
den. Only the most worthy could be
chosen, and it was he. He accepted
the position, he performed its duties,
and very soon the hour of trial came.
He was bruised and wounded for us.
He bore it with exquisite patience and
courage but the burden was too great,
the wound was too deep, and he could
only die. His worth, with his patience
of the suffering, into which he stepped
between violence and us, stirred to
sympathy and love the coolest heart.
Had he lived, never was President
more loved than President Garfield.
He has died, and we will embalm his
memory in our hearts, and our people
will consecrate themselves to carry out
the higher purposes of patriotism
which he taught us IN. Y. Indepen-
dent.