Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-09-03
THE STRICKEN PRESIDENT.

THE STRICKEN PRESIDENT.
AN HISTORICAL PARALLEL.
GLOWING TRIBUrE To nK. GARFIELD
Add.es. BY Cha.: 4. smith, Esq, of tn.
fn''s de'Phis Frees. 1t tho drsngers'
NJ. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
| As long as he lived, he was the guild.
| ing star of a whole brave nation, and When
he died the little children cried in the
streets Such are the graphic and
| pathetic words with which Motley closes
his patchless history of the Rise of the
Dutch Republic. With one master stroke
they picture tho supreme and luminous
leadership of William of Orange-the
Washington of his earlier age-and with
another they sound the depths of universal
grief which surged through all the state
when the great chief was struck down by
the desperate hand of the demoniac assas.
sin.
How vividly this picture of sentiment
which swayed the United States of the
| Netherlands three centuries ago pnrtrays
the feeling which fills the United States OF
America to-day For nine long weeks We
have lived under the shadow of q great
and darkening calamity. During ali this
period the heart of the nation has been
bowed with unspeakable anxiety and an.
| guish. AS we have waited and watched by
| the bedside of the prostra:e president hope
and fear have struggled within our breasts
for tho mastery. Yesterday We were
plunged almost into the depths of despair
| to day the cloud which hangs over us is
| illumincd with the silver lining of renewed
faith. When tho noble founder of the
| Dutch Republic fell under the shot OF
| Gerard, his countrymen were not merely
overwhelmed with sorrow at the loss of
their revered chief, but struck with dis
may at the deadly blow to their struggling
state. When the beloved president Of the
American Republic fell under the shot of
Guiteau, fifty millions of freemen auivcrcd
with grief as if threatened with personal
bereavement, but with their weight of
woe there was so fear Of tho fate of the
nation.
~ see chasm in the place of Frarce.' -
exclaimed Burke amid tho throes of the
French revolution. cit is the chasm of a
volcano" thundered Mirabeau in reply
from the tribune of the Assembly. There
was no fear of a chasm in tho place of our
| republic-neither the cliasm of a stupen-
dous eruption like that which convulsed
France, nor the chasm of the Frustrated
central pillar in new and rising unfinished
temple of free government, like that which
opened before tho Netherlands when Will
liam fell. Our edifice of organized free.
dom is complete. 1t rests upon the firm
foundation OF hundred years of establish
ed constitutional liberty. 1t is crowned
with the imposing capstOne of the supreme
majesty of the law. Not even tho fall Of
the chosen representative of the nations
will could shake the walls of this splendid
structure. Our grief was not dismay ior
tho state. but sorrOwing love for tho brave,
manly, heroic chief whose gentleness and
goodness had won our devotion and whose
threatened death bowed every heart with
the profound sense of personal loss. lie
was not, like William, the creator of a
commonwealth; but, through his owslofty
inspirations aud the march Ofgreat events,
he had become tho trusted leader of all the
best impulses of the people and the high
hope around which clustered all their as
pirations for political regeneration. He
was thus, like William, though in a differ
ent mission, tho guiding star of q whole
brave natiOn," and as he stood on the
verge OF death, from which, in answer to
the prayers of fifty millions, he has, let us
hope, been brought back by a gracious
Providence, even before the cloud had
seemed to settle Oh him "the little chill
dren cried in the streets.''
Without pursuing the parallel too far
there is much likeness in tho attributes of
the two great chiefs which inspired admir-
ntS md ..Gn
dier with soldiers chivalric virtues. So
a statesman with that highest political
genius which rises to tho summit of
creative power. General Garfield's su-
preme mastery of principles and intellect
ual leadership have much of the same
quality. William, as the historian paints
him. possessed ready eloqucnce, some.
times impassioned, oftener argumentatiye.
always RATIONAL" and "knew how to
reach both the mind and the heart
of his hearers" How descriptive of
the oratory of our stricken ruler !
Like the few over-towering guide.
posts Oh the great highway of civ
ilization-like Pitt who was Premier at
"a /; like Napoleon who forced the bridge
of Lodi at 26 like Hamilton, who was
the peerless finance minister at 81, Will
liam was at Is the confidential counselor,
and ut 81 the trusted general-in-chief of tho
wisest prince Of the age, and himself
afterward the founder of state and
James A. Garfield was at 90 senator, at
80 a general, at 80 leader in the House,
and in his early prime president of the re-
public. 1t has sometimes been said that
he had too little force and firmness. But
here again see the answer which Motley
furnishes in his picture of William
whether originally of timid tempera-
ment or not, he was certainly possessed of
perfect courage at last" How striking
portraiture of the figure which fills the
public thought to-day! What bravery
and heroism have been displayed on that
racking bed of pain with the angel Of
death lowering over it. What wonder |
that this sublime spectacle and this tender |
solicitude, so long as they remain, over
shadow every other theme and thought in
the public mind
In the presence of this peril and sorrow
we have little heart for another discussion |
and we have dwelt upon this subject not |
merely because it SO supremely engages the |
public attention, but because it leads to a |
reflection which is especially appropriate |
to this occasion. This is a gathering of |
journalists. Three years ago James A. |
Garfield stood before a similar asscmblage |
in his own state of Ohio. and spoke his |
thoughts on journalism. That address is
so clear in its insight, so just in its iudg
ment, SO full of sound observation that l |
cannot do better than recall it at this hour.
t,n pfO,. kl>n