Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-09-27

force abated," but for thirty-seven years he had
been their prophet, lawgiver, leader and statesman
and now that he had been taken away the plains
Of Moab, the wall of orphanage goes up from all the
tents of Israel
To day people giving expressions to the
same feeling that moved the Hebrew heart; in all
our dwellings the voice of lamentation is heard.
The beauty OF our Israel has fallen
In presence of this great sorrow, are grief
stricken, bswed and desolate. Only once in our
history, as a nation, have We passed through such
an ordeal. refer to that eyer-u emorable Friday,
April ID, 1865, when John Wilkes Booth fanatical
actor at Ford's Theater, Washington shot Abraham
Lincoln. Manifestations of grief then not con-
fined to our own country foreign nations took part
| in mourning the death of the great commoner-a
true representative of American nationality. Little
did we dream then that we were so soon TO witness
another tragedy cold, so willful go unproy oked
So unnatural has been his death that, like the
ton who found it impossible to believe that he, on
whom its hopes were fondly built, whom it had
trusted should at length have delivered it. and with
whose death those hopes have all fallen to the
ground, that he indeed has come, like other men,
under the law OF mortaity-has ssed away, and
left his work, as it seems, unconcluded. How long
Britain was waiting for her Arthur How long did
the legends that told of him as surviving yet in the
far valley of Avalon live on the lips and in the
hearts of people And exactly in the same man.
ner, in later and more historic age, Portugal
waited for her youthful king, looking fondly with
aching expectation for his return, and this for
many weary year after he had persisted, not OBJ
/ I,,,.
Africa.
Has James A. Garfield died? Has the graves dark
eclipse settled that manly formf Has the
| luster faded from that eagle eye? And shall that
voice, which listening Senates hung with rapture
be heard 70 more? 1t is hard to believe that the
ruler OF fifty millions of people can die; ; that re-
dressers Of wrong, indicators OF honor, souls OF
| heroic stature, must succumb to death 1t is so.
| To-day, shrouded and coiined he sleeps the last
long sleep that shall know no waking TIL the
the trumpet of eternity pours its thunders over
grave.
This, fellow-citizens is great OCCASION | am
well nigh overwhelmed with it. So many eyes, SO
many ears-all organs OF immortal souls Let me
relieve my emotions by an alluson to WELL
known fact When Massillon pronounced one of
>s-OSN -
of orators it was st royal funeral A sense of the
nothingness of man "at his best estate in that
hearsed mortal overcame him. His eyes closed, his
action was suspended and in scarcely audible
whisper he disturbed the long drawn pause" There
is nothing great but God" The earthquake is
great; the tempest it strides over the sea
is great; but infinitely above these rises
God, and none dare approximate him. He rules in
the kingdoms of and "giveth them to whom.
soever He will" But this providence how difficult
to interpret; how sad in all its environments and
how affecting in its issue to the nation. "Clouds
and darkness are round about him righteousness
and judgment are the habitatons OF his throne"
On the I'd day of July, just before the national
anniversary dawned, when the very air was tremu-
lous with the shouts of millions of freemen, the
President was stricken down. A thrill of horror
ran though every heart Men talked OF it with
bated breath, and women on their knees invoked
the blessings of God upon him, his wife and devoted
mother Not moment has passed since that-in
the cottage of the poor and in the mansions OF the
rlch in church and cathedral, in village and city
prayer has not been offered that his valuable life
might be spared
For weeks all eyes have been turned toward the
White House and Eberon. Morning and evening
wift-wngedimessengers have borne to us the news
OF the progress of death at last the shadows thick
ehed, his pulse began to sink-and then, "The
President is dead"-was passed in whisper along
our streets. Dead-murdered? yes murdered most
foully, by one whom he naver knew.
On this day, when the insignia of grief are every
where; when hands folded and eyes are lifted
to heaven; when utterance is almost denied us-let
him be nameless here. The occasion is too sacred
to be marred by repeating that name, which, like
that of Judas Iscariot, must go adown the ages as
the synonym of all that is infamous.
Fellow citizens, the President Of the United
States is the property of all. He belonged to no
State but to all States to no age but to all the ages
OF our history His death, therefore, affects direct
ly and remotely every department of our life as a
nation-the political, the religious and the social
Elected by majority of his countrymen, he
entered upon the discharge of the duties of his high
Office enjoying the respect and confidence of every
section of the republic. Is it not saying too much
when we say that no President ever had grander
opportunity to distinguish himself, and be bless
ing to the nation, than did James A. Garfield His
cvil-service policy looked upon with great
favor by the wisest and best statesmen North and
South; besides conservative administration was
confidently expected by all.
Since he was stricken down, men who entertained
adverse political opinions have not been slow to ex-
press for him the profoundest sympathy 1t was
stroke that made all the world akin :" and leaders
who had confronted each other in battle and in halls
OF legislation, for time forgot their sectional
prejudices, and hastened to send him messages of
tenderest love.
Your speaker was born in the South, and enter
tains for her people and institutions nothing but the
most dsinterested affection. Through the press
and by private correspondence he is assured that
the people Of that "land Of sun and flowers have
felt in their very hearts the keenest anguish the
most poignant grief. How could it be otherwise? :?
Brave and impulsive, none but the most magnani-
nous sentiments could find place in their hearts
and as read these sentences, methinks 1 can see
far off cities by the Gulf wrapping themselves in
mourning and sitting in solitude
Over the grave of James A. Garfield may the
North and the South become what they should
| have always been-one and inseparable
The dead President was the peer Intellectually Of
the greatest men whose names have adorned the
pages of couptrys history. In early life he
poor bat with the sun by day and the lamp by
night as headlights he pressed and inscribed his
name in imperishabe characters in glory's glitter
ing temple. For many years Professor of Greek
and Latin in Hiram College, no student ever ap-
peared before him that not impressed with his
powers of analysis. Had he not been intellectually
prince, he could never have achieved what he did
| in so short time-be for long term OF years
member Of Congress, then United States Senator
and lastly promoted to the highest office within the
| gift of the people.
| But what of his untimely death? Is there no
blessing in it for us? Or must we, as a nation, sit
in the shadows of this great calamity? Shall we
regard it the beginning of the end-the first OF a
series of national caamities that shall conclude the
| great experiment of free government "for the
| people and by the people?" No; /; this Government
has laid its foundations, not in the heart of the
| President alone, but in the affections OF toiling
millions. The President may die, but the nation
lives it possesses elements Of reiuvnescence, and
we trust Immortality. 1t will live when these hills