Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-02-28

must expect no mercy and will receive no
sympathy. It is field in which the survival
of the strongest is the recognized rule, and
where no pretense can deceive and no glamour
can mislead. The real man is discovered his
] worth is impartially weighed, his rank is IT.
! reversibly decreed.
With possibly single exception Garfield
was the youngest member in the house when
he entered, and was but seven years from his
college graduation. But he had not been in
| his seat sixty days before his ability was
| recognized and his place conceded He stepped
| to the front with the confidence Of one who
belonged there. The house was crowded with
strong men of both parties; nineteen of them
| have since been transferred to the senate, and
many of them have served with distinction in
the gubernatorial chairs of their respective
states, and on fore q missions of great con-
sequence; but among them none grew so rap
Tevelyan of his parliamentary hero, Garfield
succeeded "because all the world in
concert could not have kept him
in the back ground, and because
when once in the front he played his part with
prompt intrepidity and commanding ease
that were but the outward symptoms OF the
immense reserves Of energy, on which it was
In his power to draw" Indeed the apparently
reserved force which Garfield possessed was
AAS'SA
did so well but that 1t seemed he could easily
have done better. He never expended so much
strength but that he seemed to be holding
additional power at call. This is one Of the
happiest and rarest distinctions of an effective
debater, and often counts for as much In per-
suading an assembly as the eloquent and elab-
crate argument.
The great measure of Garfeld's fame was
filled by his service in the house of representa-
tives His military life, illustrated by honor
able performance, and rich in promise, was, as
he himself felt, prematurely terminated, and
necessarily incomplete. Speculation as to
what he might have done in field, where the
great prizes are so few, cannot be profitable.
1t is sufficient to say that as soldier he did
his duty bravelv; he die it intelllgently; he
won an enviable fame, and he retired from the
service without blot or breath against him.
AS lawyer, though admirably equipped for
the profession, he can scarcely be said to have
entered on its practice. The few efforts he
made at the bar were distinguished by the
same high order of talent which he exhibited
on every field where he was put to the
test, and if a man may be accepted as compe-
tent Judge of his own capacities and adapta-
tions, the law was the profession to which
Garfield should have devoted himself But
fate ordained otherwise, and his reputation In
history will rest largely upon his service in
the house of representatives. That service
was exceptionally long. He was nine times
consecutively chosen TO the house, an honor
enjoyed by not more than six other represen-
tatives of the more than five thousand who
have been elected from the organization OF the
government to this hour.
As parliamentary orator, as debater on
an issue squarely Joined, where the position
had been chosen and the ground laid out,
Garfield must be assigned very high rank.
More, perhaps, than any man with whom he
was associated in public life, he gave careful and
systematic study to public questions and he
came to every discussion in which he took
part, with elaborate and complete prepara-
ton He was a steady and indefatigable worker
Those who imagine that talent or genius can
supply the place or achieve the results of la
hor will find no encouragement in Garheid's
life. In preliminary work he was apt,rapid and
skIllful. He possessed in high degree the
power of readily absorbing ideas and facts,
and like DIR. johnson, had the art of getting
from a book all that was of value in it by
reading apparently SO quick and
cursory that it seemed like glance at
the table of contents. He was pre-eminent-
~ fair and candid man II debate, took no pet
ty advantage, stopped to no unworthy meth
DDS, avoided personal illusions, rarely appeal
ed to prejudice, didsnot seek to infame pas
sion. He had quicker eye for the strong
point of his adversary than for his weak
point; and on his own side he SO marshaled
his weighty arguments as to make his hearers
forget any possible lack in the complete
strength of his position. He had habit OF
stating his opponents's side with such ampli-
tude of fairness and such liberalitY of conces-
sion that his followers often complained that
he was giving his case away. But never in
his prolonged participation in the proceedings
of the house did he give his case away, or fail
IN the judgment of competent ana impartial
listeners to gain the mastery.
DEBATER BUT NOT PARLIAMENTARY LEADER.
These characteristics, which marked Gar.
him great parliamentary leader. A parlia-
mentary leader, as that term is understood
wherever repres sentative government exists, is
necessarily and very strictly the organ of his
party An ardent American defined the in
stinctive warmth of patriotism when he offered
the toast, Sour country, always right, but
right or wrong, onr country" The parlia-
lnentary leader who has body of followers
that will do and dare and die for the cause, is
one who believes his party always right, but
right or wrong, is for his party. No more
important or exacting duty devolves upon
him than the selection Of the field and the time
for the contest. He must know not merely
how to strike, but where to strike and when to
strike. he often skillfully avoids the strength
of his opponents position and seatters con-
fusion in his ranks by attacking an exposed
point when really the righteousness of the
cause and the strength of logical intrench-
ment are against him. He cOnquers often
both against the right and the heavy battal-
ions as when young Charles Fox, in the days
of his toryisn, carried the house of commons
against justice, against its immemorial rights,
against his own convictions, if indeed, at that
period Fox had convictions, and, in the inter
est of corrupt administration, in obedience
to tyraunical sovereign, drove Wilkes from
the seat to which the electors of Middlesex
had chosen him and installed Luttrell in de-
fiance, not merely of law but OF public de-
cency. For an achievement of that kind Gar
field was disqualified by the texture of his
mind, by the honesty of his heart, by his con-
science, and by every instinct and aspiration
of his nature.
The three most distinguished parliamentary
leaders hitherto developed in this country are
Mr.. Clay, Mr.. Douglas and Mr.. Thaddeus Ste
vens. Each was a man of consummate abil-
ity, of great earnestness, OF intense personal
ity, differing widely, each from the other, and
yet with signal trait in common-the power
to command. In the give and take of daily
discussion, in the art of controlling and con
solidating reluctant and refractory followers;
in the skill to overcome all forms of Opposi-
ton, and to meet with competency and cour-
age the varying phases of unlooked-fOr as
sault or unsupported detection, it would be
difficult to rank with these fourth name in
all our congressional history. But of these