Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-09-20

1.-THE House, he commanded the admiration
of his opponents by his eminent display
! of fairness and how great the consterna-
ton of his own partisans by a display of
Tolerance and liberality that shocked
their petty, narrow, minds. The parti-
san clamor was sometimes too great
flor him to breast, and the errors he COM
United were when he succumbed to these
partisan influences.
But, standing beside the inanimate clay
8 of the dead statesman, his mistakes are
swallowed up and forgotten and forgiven.
Though differing politically with a large
portion of his fellow citizens, and, at
times, the numerical majority of the
country being against his party, we can
honor and commend him for the honesty
+ and sincerity of his convictions and his
eminent desire to discharge his public
trusts conscientiously, and, as he be-
5lieved, for the best interests of the coun-
: try. He did not belong to the trucking,
) time serving class of politicians. He was
Ian Abolitionist when the cause was I'M
spopular-when men were seeking politi-
Scal preferment by trimming their sails to
! the breeze, he was straightforward and
consistent He never wavered in his
faith in the perpetuity of the government.
When, after the assassination of Lincoln,
: he stood before a bowling mob in Wall
street, he largely quoted them by his
memorable utterance,
"Thank God the government at Washing
ton still lives"
And now in this hour of national sor-
row, when strong men are bowed down
! with grief, his words ring back with a
2talismanic, reassuring peal, which recalls
: the fact that however great the national
and personal affection, the government
of the country is beyond the reach of the
assassin's deadly aim.
A great man has fallen. Great in him
: self and his own mental attributes, but still
greater because he was the chosen head
8 of the nation. He has fallen because he
was placed IN the commanding position
he held and not because of any personal
luminosity cherished by the assassin. This,
of itself, awakens a special feeling of ten
aderness in the breast of every lover of
This country. He was foully murdered
because he stood as the representative
man of all the people, and fifty millions
stand personally bereft by the great
crime. 1t is pitiable that one despicable
wretch has succeeded in producing such
an affliction.
The aged mother who 80 proudly wit
messed the Inauguration ceremonies of
= her eminent son; the heroic wife and
mother, who has so faithfully watched
! oy the deathbed of her distinguished
husband; the now fatherless children in
( that stricken household, are bearing a
burden of grief which no words
can assuage. But from every home
in all this great country, sympathy goes
: out for the stricken family which Ian
aguage cannot express. Every home feels
+ the impress of this affection upon the
Presidents family, because it is fully
REALIZED that this son, husband and father
shas been torn from his weeping and sor-
Srowing relatives for no other offense than
that he was the national representative
3of every fireside in the land If it was
spossible to lift the great grief from the
Borrowing family of the late President,
millions would volunteer to bear the bur
sden. But in their silent grief world of
tender sympathy will insensibly mingle,
land the tears which flow at Elberon to-
day will find trickling responses in Amer
sican homes from ocean to ocean.
\ Death under such circumstances oblit-
5erates all political animosities and there
Ills no break in the ranks of the national
amourners to-day. Political differences
sare forgotten and we stand with bowed
heads in the presence of national ca
jlamity.i
And in closing this imperfect personal
tribute, there seems singular appropri-
3ateness in adopting the lines dedicated to
! the memory of another President, who
adied at his post of duty while President
Garfield was in his boyhood:
&''Follow now, as We list The first mourner
to-day
: Is the nation-whose father is taken away!
Wife, children, and mother, may moan at
his knell-
: He was clover and friend" to his country