The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-02-27

from Its Tuoe CHIMNEY and curIed over The
! frozen hills there was no similar evidences
OF white mans habitatien between it anc
tne settlements on the rivers Of Canada
It's remains still exist. I make to it ar
annual visit. I carry my children to it te
teach them the hardships endured by the
generations which have gone before them
love to dwell on the tender recollections
the kindred ties, the early affections, and
the touching narratives and incidents
which mingle with all know of this prim.
tive family abode"
The political events which disturbed the
presidents serenity for many weeks before
that fateful day in July, form an important
chapter in his career, and, in his own
judgment, involved questions of principle
and OF right which are vitality essential to
the constitutional administration of the
| federal government. 1t would be cut OF
place here and now to speak the language
OF controversy; hut the events referred to,
however they may continue to be a source
| OF contention with others, have become, so
far as Garfield is concerned, as much a
| matter of history rs his heroism at Chicka-
mauga or his illustrious service in the
House. Detail is not needful, and per
sonal antagonism shall not be rekindled by
any word uttered to-day. The motives OF
those opposing him are not to be here adj
versely interpreted nor their course harshly
characterized. But of the dead president
this is to be said, and said because his own
speech is forever sllenced and he can be no
more heard except through the fidelity of
surviving friends: From the beginning to
the end of the controversy he so much de-
plored, the president was never for a mo-
ment actuated by any motive of gain to
himself or of loss to others. Least of all
men did he harbor revenge, rarely did he
even show resentment, and malice was not
in his nature. He was congenially en-
ployed only in the exchange of good offices
and the doing of kindly deeds
There was not anshour, from the begin
ming of the trouble till the fatal shot
entered his body, when the President
would not gladly, for the sake of restoring
harmony, have retraeed any step he had
taken ifisuch retracing had merely involved
consequences personal to himself The
pride of consistency, or any supposed sense
of humiliation that might result from sur
rendering his position, had not feathers
weight with him. No man was ever less
subject to such influences from within or
without. But after most anxious delibera-
ton and the coolest survey of all the cir
cumstances, he solemnly believed that the
volved in the issue which had been raised.
and that he would be unfaithful to his SUI
preme obligation if he failed to maintain,
in all their vIgor, the constitutional rights
and dignities of his great office. He be-
lieved this in all his convictions of con-
science when in sound andsvigorous health,
and he believed it in his suffering and pros
tration in the last conscious thought which
his wearied mind bestowed on sthe transi-
tory struggles of life.
More than this need notbe said Less than
this could not be said. Justice to the dead,
the highest obligation that devolves upon
the living, demands the declaration that in
all the bearings of the subject, actual or
mind, justified in his conscience, immov-
able in his conclusions.
On the morning of Saturday, July sec
ond, the President was contented and
happy man-not in an ordinary degree, but
ioyfully. almost boyishly happy. On his
way to the railroad station to which he
drove slowly, in concious enjoyment of
the beautiful morning, with an unwonted
sense of leisure and keen anticipation of
pleasure, his talk was all in the grateful
and gratulatory vein. He felt that after
four months of trial his administration was
strong in it's grasp of affairs strong in pop
ular favor and destined to grow stronger;
that grave difficulties confronting him at
his Inauguration had been safely passed;
that trouble lay behind him and not before
him. that he was soon to meet the wife
whom he loved, now recovering from an
illness which had but lately disquieted and
at times almost unnerved him; that he-was
going to his Alma Mater to renew the
most cherished associations of his young
manhood, and to exchange greetings with
those whese deepening interest had fol
lowed every step of his upward progress
from the day he entered upon his college
course until he had attained the 1ofticst
elevation in the gift of his countrymen.
Surely if happiness can ever come from
the honors or triumphs of this world, on
that quiet July morning James A. Garfield
may well have been happy man. No
foreboding of evil haunted him; no slight
est premonition of danger clouded his sky.
His terrible fate was upon him in an in
slant. One moment he stood erect, strong,
confident in the years stretching peacefully
cut before him. The next he lay wounded,
bleeding, helpless, doomed to weary weeks
of torture, to silence and the grave.
Great in life, he was surprising in death.
For no cause, in the very frenzy of wan
of murder, he was thrust from the full tide
of this worlds interest from its hopes, it's
aspirations, its victories, into the visible
presence of death-and did not quail. Not
alone for the one short moment in which,
stunned and dazed, he could give up life,
hardly aware of its REIMBURSEMENT, but
through days of deadly languor through
weeks of agony, that was not less agony
because silently borne, with clear sihgt and
calm courage, he looked into the open
grave What blight and ruin met his an
guished eyes, whose lips may tell-what
brilliant, broken plans, what baffied, high
ambitions, what sundering of strong,
warm, manhood's friendships, what bit
ter rending of sweet household
ties! Behind him proud, expectant ma
ton, great host of sustaining friends, a
cherished and happy mother, wearing the
fnll, rich honors her early toll and tears
the wife of his youth, whose whole life
lay in his; the little boys not yet emerged
from childheod's day Of fro1ic; the fair,
young daughter; the sturdy sons just
springing into closest companionship,
claiming every day and every day reward
ing fathers love and care; and in his
heart the eager, rejoicing power to meet
all demand Before him, desolation and
great darknessl Aud his soul was not
shaken His countrymen were thrilled