The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1881-07-07

IA UfspatCu oI " " OioCh tbte w Ou-
nesday) morning ssys: president
had an easy night. Pulse, loo. Ply.
sicians seemed pleased"
The N1IIs6;. ds.;sf ana shaaae.
In commenting upon the assassina-
tiens of President Garfield the Pitts
burg Post of July 4th, makes the fol-
lowing able and timely remarks:
Humiliation and grief are the bitter
.portions of the American People on
this anniversary of the Nations birth
day. The Chief Magistrate of the
Union lies dead or dying by the hand
of the assassin. There is no incident
Of the crime that raises it above the
level of cruel, causeless and cOwardly
murder. We write In doubt of the re-
suit. The President may be dead be-
fore this meets the eye of the reader,
or. happily his vigorous constitution
may bring him safely through. In
any event the character of the Infamous
deed remains unchanged; the will was
there, and if the assassin has not been
wholly successful in his desperate and
insane purpose it was higher power
guarded the thread of life. h -
The President was new in his great
Office. The earnest party strife of the
late canvass had died away. He was
drawing to himself the wide-reachin ng
and unseifish sympathies and good
wishes of his late opponents. Only by
a faction of his own party was he
assailed with bitterness, and even in
this there was promise of his greatest
administrative triumph. In his per-
sonal relations he was 1ovable man !;
no party, no section or creed but in.
cluded affectionate and admiring
friends; his career filled the ideal of
every aspiring boy in the land he was
among the best equipped and cultured
of our public men, always a student
and always ready with an eloquence
that thrilled the popular heart and
claimed the admiration of the scholar
aud statesman. The country on the
high tide of prosperity; the people
buoyont, confident, happy.
Assassination at such q time seems
like fearfuldream. We cannot real
ize the hard fact. Everything argues
against it, and makes it AZ among the
most remote of possibilities. We are
not in Russia. This is free America,
where the people rule. The President
is of their own election-one of them
selves. Why should he die by their
hands?
Here we find the single ray of light
in the terrible tragedy. 1t was the in
dividual, personal act Of maniac--no
faction or body of the American peo-
ple-no political clique or influence
prompted it, there was no conspiracy
or secret plotting of murder. Thank
God, all our people, our people indi-
vidually and collectively, in open par
tisan organization OF as they are gath
cred i'll secret societies, stand clear of
the faintest faint or suspicion Of guilt.
The murder was to oTennedy no pretence
of public. wong or; private grievance ;
il WAS TO cure no defect in our system
or cOmpelchanges inigovefnmentSzIt
was the crazy act of q poor lunatic
driven mad by the insanity OF office
seeking blow devised with the dew
iIiah cunning often noticeable in these
unfortunates. There was no conspira-
cy back of it. This1s the single gleam
of light when We regard the conse-
quences of the atropious crime. We
throw aside as unwsl. Thy Of notice the
misarabie rawlings Of the poor lunatic
about. i"SLalwarts' = and 5.Arthnr." +"
They are Of no more account than the
mention of ,Sher man or Of Grant, rs in
sympathy with the assassin-and are
only thedidle yaporings Of . darkened
intellect. ~ uz fE.oiin., GG isdf
Those who despair Of the Republic
may have reason in many passing
events to grow discouraged, but the
terrible crime means nothing more
than appears on its surface-the crazy
act of a crazy man. Were it otherwise
and we should accept it as a fact that
back Of the treason were secret CON
spiracies and societies. and that, rs in
Europe, others stand ready to follow
Gitteau in the path of assassination, to
promote political objects or remove
other Prssidents, then indeed, should
we consider the days of the Republic
numbered, IT would go down to per-
dition, as it should, and speedily. But
such is not the case. The crime that
plunges the Nation in sorrow and hui
initiation is the personal, individual
act of one man--a miserable, demented
fungus growth of the lowest type OF
our political life. 80
Such consolation as this affords we
have but poor Garfield: lies dead OF
dying in yOnder Capital. No American
but will mourn his death /; the untime-
ly cutting off his splendid powers and
exalted ambition. LincOlp's work was
well-nigh compIeted-his life rounded
off. But Garfieid's sad fate, If he
should die, will recall the broken and
unfinished column, whose base gave
promise Ofra grandeur that would
pierce the skies, And to the stricken
wife, whose wise counsels led the man
to greatness, End 10 the fatherless chill
dren, the tender. love and .sympathies
of fifty millions, of American people
viii go out with heartfelt fervor. The
Republic will adopt them as its own.
~ ----~r~---7 -7------- t,o-l
DANIEL DOUGHERFY, Of, iPhiladel-
phia, whose fame as an orator was es.
tablished long before hisspeech nom
mating Hancock at Cincinnati. was
the chosen orator of the. Army Of the
Potomac, which held its meeting at
Hartford last week. His effort was
worth the listening to. The perora-
ton ran: "No martial hosts can con.
quer. US but there are Otherfoes, more
subtle, insidious, and fatal. ;, We have
Syyi rfly r,oafurpd Wo have roach o1 ~,