Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-09-28
A MESSAGE.
Mayor Grace OF New York City ON
What Led TO GarfleId's Murder.

INV IVHhT NVTEVW0VT N IV1IsI
To the Honorable the Board Of Aldermen;

NKW YORK ooptomper " lool.J
To the Honorable the Board Of Aldermen;
1t is my sad duty to announce to you
the death Of James A. Garfield, late
President Of the United States. In
an evil hour the hand of the profess
sional place. hunter struck at the life
of the man whom the nation had Ok
allied to its highest office, and wrought
a strange and undreamt-of revolution
in our national government. The
brave man who escaped through the
thousand dangers Of Chickamauga
falls upon the anniversary Of that his
toric day, the victim Of the cowardly
and malignant assassin. In his own
person he worked out all the POSSIBLE
tiles of the life of an American, and
splendidly exempli6ed its best results;
He asked of the constitution and
the law only that they should afford
him that equality Of opportunity
which is all that a brave mar ever
asks, and which our constitution
secures to all who live under
il. From childhood to his grave
every step in this mans life was taken
painfully. He took the chance which
the Constitution gave him and out OF
il built a name tkat every American
regards with pride, The hand that
took his life struck with the same
blow at the Constitution which made
his career possible. The slow, insid-
ions poison of partisan politics has
wrought its work in bringing into
being the professional politician who
regards himself and his order as para
mount to the Constitution and the
law, and these latter have no ~sanctity
in the eye of the ofice-seeking parti
san except in so far as they afford him
a life Of comparative leisure at the
expense ofthe State. The perfection
Of political machinery demands that
the State should support the foes who
plot to ruin its vital principle, and
now at least the necessary logical re-
suit has been achieved, and the man
who embodied in his career the
American political idea lies PROSTATE
before that other idea which sees in
the State only an inexhaustible treas
ury of spoils To-day the nation
mourns; we live in the presence of a
great and inexpressible grief. Every
event in the life ofhim who lived so no.
bly, and who died to give emphasis t
the ignoble principle which aims a
the heart of our liberal institutions
has become a household word. Hi
blood cries out for vengeance, mo-
upon the head of the wretched instru.
ment of evil, whom the law in it
majesty will try and whose cause vii
be determined by the sure wisdom o
unrevengeful justice, but upon th,
political system which makes such in
struments possible and teaches tina
the victor may seize the spoils as h,
may hold his personal property agains
the marauder or the thief, at Tn,
swords point.
The d~eadening grief of a grea
people will be assuaged grandly whel
that people, as it surely will, shall ris
in its greatness and crush out of bein.
the incipient political caste, which
uncrushed, would destroy forever on
free institutions. james A. Garfield
in that he was President, was neithe
the President of the Republican part
nor of the Democratic party, but wa
the President of the people, the rep
resentative of all alike, aud in hi
death all suffer an unspeakable los
and an objectionable wrong. TIL
people will not forget the man who i
his last months whispered painfully
THE people, the p~eople-my trustl
w. r. GRACE, Mayor.