Mexico weekly ledger., 1881-09-22

! tOlilC0 tuC ofthN vi tt& Al
then under the command of General
Rosecrans, who appointed him chief
of staff. December G., 1868, he re-
signed his commission having been
previously elected to Congress, of
which he continued to be n member
until his Inauguration, occupying in
the house varied positions in the
committees on military affairs, bank.
ing and currency and ways aud
means. In 1880 he succeeded Mr..
Thurman in the senate. Being nom-
mated to the presidency by the Chi
cago Republican National ave
ton, he was elected President by
PA electoral votes, against 155 cast
for Gen. Hancock carrying 10 ont
of SO States and receiving 4,442,9 $50
out of a total of 9,2O4, 42S popular
votes and inaugurated March 4,
1881.
Concerning General Garfield's mill
itary services there has been some
diversity Of opinion, but the probi-
biiity is he did no better and GER
tainly no worse than many others,
who like him, we're civilians without
experience in the arts of war and
without particular zest for them.
His natural position was politics and
had he always followed the dictates
of his sagacity, or even his ex-
pressed opinions, he would have
ranked among our most gifted states
men. No one could have listened
to his speeches, or can now read
them without being impressed with
his great ability and his quick and
ready grasp of what was presented in
argument.
He was a great student, possessed of
Il ready memory and gifted with a
fluent and attractive diction, connect
cd with wonderful powers OF general
i~zation. But he was not a leader,
such as Grant, or Blaine, or Conk-
ling or others that might be named
On the contrary he often yielded to
to the behests of situation and
party. A freetrader at heart and in
judgment, he yet supported an ex-
horbltant duty on iron, SO as to con
form to the interests and desires of
his constituency, and even cooper
ated with other high protectionists
to secure its demands. He also ac-
cepted the leadership of a campaign
based upon sectional issues, the impol-
icy of which he had previouslyidcnoun-
ced. But for this pliancy of character
he might have led bis party and with it
his country to the benignant meas
ures which appeared SO clearly to his
commanding and intelli gent foresight
and had the mead of craftsmanship
lie q SO we'll qualified to attain un-
i~versally awarded to him.
That such a cruel and demoniac
spirit as that Of his ASSASSINATION
could have been excited against SUCH
a character will in all probability be
one of earth's ~impenetrable mysteries.
Political corruption arising out of
promised and expected partisan re-
ward is not Of itself sufficient to ac-
count fully for it. SucE. an act
could not by any possibility have
subserved personal Or party ends, and
of all our public men he was the least
calculated to excite malignant antag-
onism. 1t would have beer impossi-
BILE for him to have ACTED either heart
lessly " tyranically, and, therefore,
Guiteau's crime must have been with
out any Of the incentives that usually
lead to murder.
1t was q sad event that struck
down the head Of this mighty repub-
tic No other calamity has recently
SO profoundly moved the world-~not
even the assassination of the Gar.
Everywhere intelligence of what hap
pened was received with surprise and
indignation. Everywhere mortifica-
ton was experienced that such a man
had been stricken. During his pro-
tracted suffering the public mind
without exception took deep interest
in the Presidents fate, and showered
a nations and a worlds sympathetic
coincidence upon him.
In this brief summary of the Pres
ident's life, it Is scarcely necessary to
more than refer to Gen. Garfeld's
short occupancy of the White House,
into which he entered with unusually
general heartfelt and cordial wishes
for Il successful administration of
national affairs. The hope was al
most everywhere INDUCED in, that
Gen. Garfield would surrender him.
self to his natural impulses and judg-
ment and become the President of
the whole country. Every mistake
previously made by him vas either
condoned or forgotten. His hesitan-
cy about his cabinet, the injudicious-
ness of some of his selections, and
the meaninglessness of his glitteling
and beautiful inaugural were forgiven
together with his evaporation OF
Conkling. Ali active opposition to
him sprang from the minority faction
of his own party, who charged him
with classifying pledges given prior to
his election and sought to array stall
Wartism and bossism against him. 1t
was in their name, if not with their
authority and acquiesoence, that
Guiteau fired the fatal shot that oc-
casioned such widespread sympathy
and alarm.
The autopsy of the Presidents
body revealed the following facts:
1t was found that the bali, after frac-
turing the right eleventh rib, passed
through the spinal column, in front
of the spinal canal, %fracturing the
body of the first lumbar vertebra
driving small fragments Of bones into
adjacent soft parts, and lodging just
below the paRcreas about two and a
half inches to the left of the spine
and behind the pefitoneum near the