The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1881-02-19

His Congressional career has extended
through the most exciting and moment
Gus period Of our National history. and
he has contributed his full share to
those changes for good or Ill which
make the Nation of 1880 SO widely diff
ferent from the Nation of 1860. This
experience, added to his natural and
acquired ability as politician and de-
batter, gave him the acknowledged Re-
publican leadership of the House, which
he held when elected Senator. Few
Presidents have had more executive
strength than Mr.. Garfield ought to
have, if that strength comes from long
and varied practice. If culture is Of
any particular value in Chief Magis-
trate he has that advantage also. He
is scholar; not a great one, of course,
but still the best Presidential scholar
since John Quincy Adams. His liberal
education, which has been reinforced
by systematic and judicious reading,
ought to enable him to take those broad
and comprehensive views of men and
things so indispensable to Presidential
craftsmanship. With the exception of
the two scandals SO inseparably linked
to his name. his public and private
character is blameless. The fact that
with abundant opportunities to become
rich by jobbery and ring associations
he is poor man must be reckoned in
his favor. If essentially and incurably
corrupt his record would be more yul-
nerable than it is, and he would have
more wages to show for his sin. Agree
able and popular manners. free from
ostentation and arrogance, and a facul-
ty for gaining and keeping friends,
complete the list of his personal assets.
The worst point in Mr.. Garfield. so
far as his character is now known, is
his moral cowardice. This was dis
played in the scandals to which we have
alluded, in that portion of his letter of
acceptance relating to the Civil Service.
and in his complete surrender Of the
campaign to Radical management. Had
he been morally brave he would have
resisted the temptations addressed to
his purse, and those addressed to his
ambition. He would have begged his
bread rather than touched q dollar to
which the faintest suspicion attached;
he would have borne any punishment
rather than swear that he did not do
what he had done; he would have lost
the Presidency rather than repudiate
his own declarations in regard to Civil
Service reform and the sectional issue.
We believe the instincts of the man are
right, and that he is naturally inclined
to be honest and honorable, but, judg-
ing from the past. he has not the cour-
age of his convictions. There is little Of
the hero and none of the martyr stuff in
him. His viii is made of lead. not iron.
When the current of the stream is with
him, he swims boldly and well; but
when it is against him he is disposed to
seek the shore and wait for turn. He
would rather be right than wrong. but
he does not want to pay too much for
being right. He has no difficulty in see
ing his duty. but under trying circum-
stances is liable to fail miserably In do
ing it. The majority, though wrong,
is more to him than the minority In
the right. In short, the moral element
in him is far inferior to the intellect
ual. If the two were evenly bal
anced, Mr.. Garfield might be one of
the best of Presidents. As il is, the
kind of President he will be depends
.entirly upon the circumstances with
which he has to deal. Unfortunately
for him and for the country, q crisis in
National affairs has arrived which he
must face, and in which be cannot be
neutral. The Republican party il
divided on the Southern question and
on the question of reform. During the
next four years these questions must
either be settled. or put in the way of
settlement. They cannot be postponed
or ignored, they must be met, and the
new President must 60 with one faction
the other in the meeting. We believe
that if he had entire freedom of choice
in the matter, could do Just as he
pleased without risk of opposition, he
would choose the better part; that is,
go with the reformers and anti
stalwarts. But the anti-reformers and
stalwarts, If not numerically the
strongest, are the most active and
aggressive; and moreover, MIR. Garfield
owes his election to them. Fear and
gratitude, therefore, must sway him
more or less in that direction;
the direction which is contrary to
his expressed convictions Whether
contact with the Executive chair
will work such q revolution in
his character as to make him dare to do
what he thinks is right, regardless of
consequences to himself and his Ad-
ministration, can only be determined
be the logic of events.-H. Louis Re-
publican.
POLITICAL POINTS.