The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-03-02
Mr. Blaine's Eulogy on President Gar
fa16

government OF the ODlteu states are dsHeHi-
bled in the Hall of Representatives 10 do
honor to the memory of a murdered Presi-
dent. Lincoln fell at the close of mighty
struggle in which the pass ions of men had
been deeply stirred The tragical termina-
tion of his great life added bur another to
the heightened succession of horrors which
had marked so many lintels with the blood
of the first-born. Garfield was slain in
day of peace. when brother had been re-
conc lied to brother. and when anger and
hate had been banished from the land
"Whoever shall hereafter draw the portrait
of murder, if he will show it as it has been
exhibited where such example was least to
have been looked for, let him not give 1t the
grim visage of Moloch. the brow knitted by
revenge, the face black with settled hate.
Let him draw, rather. Il decOrous. smooth
faced, bloodless demon. not so much an ex-
ample of human nature in its depravity and
its paroXysms of crime as an Internal be-
ing. a fiend in the ordinary display and de-
velopment of his character"
From the landing of the Pilgrims at Ply
mouth till the uprising against Char les FIRST.
about twenty thousand emigrants came from
old England to new England. AS they
came in pursuit of intellectual freedom
for worldly honor and profit. the emigra-
ton naturally ceased when the contest for
religious liberty began in earnest at bone.
The man who struck his most effective blow
for freedom Ofconscence by sailirg for the
colonies in 1920 would have been counted a
deserter to leave after 1910. The oppOrtu-
nifty had then come on the soil OF England
for that great contest which established the
authority of Parliament. gave religious
freedom to the people. sent Charles to the
block. and committed to the hands OF Oil
yer Cromwell the supreme executive au-
thority of England. The English emigra-
ton was never reneweda and from these
twenty Thousand men with small emigra-
ton from Scotland aud from France are
descended the vast numbers who have New
England blood in their veins.
In 1856 the revocation of the edict OF
Nantes by Louis XIV, scattered to other
countries four hundred thousand Protcs-
tants. who were among the most intelligent
| and enterpr Using of French sub;ects-mer-
| chants of capital. skilled manufacturers, and
| handicraftsmen, superior at the time to all
| others in Europe. A considerable number
of these Huguenot French came TO America
a few landed in New England and became
honOrably prominent in It's history. Their
names have in large part become anglcised
or have disappeared. but their blood is trace
able in many of the most reputable fami-
| lies, and their fame is perpetuated in hon
| orable memorials and useful institutions.
From these two sources. the English Pu-
ritan and the French Huguenot, came the
late President-hls father, Abram Garfield
| being descended from the one, and b is
mother. Eliza Ballou. from the other.
| 1t was good stock on both sides none
| better. none drawer. none truer. There was
| in it an inheritance of courage, of manli
ness. of imperishable love of liberty. of an
| diving adherence to principle. Garfield was
| proud of his blood and. with as much sat
| isfaction as if he were a British noblemal
reading his stately ancestral record il
| Burke's Peerage. lie spoke of himself a
ninth in descent from those who would no
| endure the expressions OF the Stuarts. anC
1 seventh in descent from the brave French
| PrOtestants who refused to sub lit to tyran
| nv even from the Grand Monarque.
| Gen. Garfield delighted to dwell on these
| traits, and during his only visit to England
| he busted himself in discovering every trace
| of his forefathers in parish registries anC
on ancient army rolls. Sitting with a frent
| in the gallery of the House of Common,
one night after long days labor in THU
field of research. he said with evident ella
ton that in every war in which for three
centuries patriots of English blood hat
| struck sturdy blo~ for constitutional gov
eminent and human liberty, his family haC
| been represented. They were at Marstof
Moor. at Naseby and Preston: they were
at Bunker Hill. at Saratoga, and at Mon
| mouth. and in his own person bad battlet
for the same great cause III the wal which
preserved the Union of the States.
Losing his father before he was TIVE
| ~, IS 4 Il
of privation, but its poverty has been mad
indelicately and unjustly prominent
Thousands of readers have imagined hin
as the ragged. starving child, whose realit'
too often greets the eye of tile squalid sec
| tions of our large cities. Gen. Garfield
infancy and youth had none of their desti
tuition. none OF their pitiflh features APP
pealing to the tender heart and to the 0pei
hand of charity. He was a poor boy III th
same sense in which Henry Clay was
poor boy; in which Andrew Jackson wai
poor boy in which Daniel Webster wa
poor boy; in the sense in which Iafg
majority OF the eminent men OF America il
all generations have been pocr boys. BE
fore great multitude of men, in d publ
speech. Mr.. Webster bore this testimony
ut did not happen to me to be born in
log cabin. but my elder brothers and sis
tiers were born in a log cabin. raised ami
the snow-drifts of New Hampshire. at
period so early that when the smoke TOs
first from its rude chimney ard curled owe
the frozen hills there was no similar ev
dence of white mans habitatlon betwee
it and the settlements on the rivers OF Car
ada Its remains still exist. | make to
an annual visit. | carry my children to
to teach them the hardships endured by tn
generations which have gone before them
love to dwell on the tender recollectiOns
the kindred ties. the early affections and th
touching narratives and incidents whic
mingle with all l know OF this primitiv
family abode
With the requisite change of scene th
same wo' ds would aptly portray the earl
, DAYS of Garfield. The poverty of the fror
tier, where all are engaged in Il c0mmo
| struggle and where common sympath
and hearty cooperation Tighten the burden
of each. is very different poverty, differ
emit in kind, different in influence and e
feet. from that conscious and humliatin
indulgence which is every day forced TO COZ
trast itself with neighboring wealth, o
which it feels sense of grinding depeI
dence. The poverty of the frontier is il
deed no poverty. 1t is the beginning {
wealth, and has the bOundless possiblitie
of the future always opening before it. n
| man ever grew up III tHe dSIlcultHtd1 II
giOns of the West. where a house sins
or even corn-husk ing is matter of commo
interest and helpfulness, with any othe
feeling than of broad minded, generous il
dependence. This honorable independent
marked the youth OF Garfield. as it mark
the youth of millions of the best blood an
brains now training for the future citizer
shin and future government of the Repui
lie, Garfield was born heir to land. to th
title of freebooter. which has been the pa
.ent and passport of self-respect with IN
| Anglo. Saxon race ever since Hengist an
| Horsa landed on the shores OF England
His adventure on the canal-an alternafiv
between that and the deck OF a Lake Fri
schooner-was a farmer bows device IL
earning money, just as the New Englan
lad begins possibly great career by sailin
before the mast on coasting vessel ORION
merchantmen bound to the farther India {
to the China seas.
No manly man feels anything OF sham
ia looking ba' to early struggles with at
! verse circumstances. and no man feels
worthier pride than when he has conquere
the obstacles to his progress. But no on
of noble mind desires to be looked upon =
having occupied a mental position. as hay
ing been repressed by feeling of inferior
ity, or as having suffered the evils OF po'
ertv until relief was found at the land {
charity. Gen. Garfield's youth presente
no hardshps which family love and famil
energy did not overcome, subjected him
no privations which he did not cheerful
ooon,,t apd loft M memories save thOs