Daily Republican., 1882-02-28

louu ~ SuAStAuOOkos IhO "0o HJOAA
turning over In his mind lis addres
for each occasion, aud The thEss take
together, he said to friend, gave hin
the exact scope and verge which b
needed.
At Yorktown he would have befor
him the associations of a hundred year
that bouud the South and the North Il
the Eacred memory of a common DANCE
and common victory. At Atlanta h.
would present the material interest
and the industrial development whicI
appealed to the thrift and independenc
of every household, and which shoul,
unite the two sections by the instinct O
self interest and self.defence. At Chat
tanooga he would revive memories O
the war only to show that after all it
disaster and all its suffering, the coun
try was stronger and greater, the Union
rendered indissoluble, and the future
through the agony and blood of one gen
GRAFTON, made brighter and better forall
his administration was high. With
strong caution and conservatism in hit
nature, he was in no danger of attempt
ing rash experiments Or of resorting tt
tho empiriclsm of craftsmanship. But
be believed that renewed and closer at
tention should be given 70 questions
affecting the material interests and
commercial prospects of nifty million
of people. Hs believed that our con.
tinental relations, extensive and un-
developed as they are, involved re.
sponsibility, and could be cultivated
into profitable friendship or be aband-
Oned to harmful indifference or lasting
enmity. He believed with equal con.
tidence that an essential forerunner to a
new era of national progress must he a
feeling of contentment In every section
of the Union, and generous belief
that the benefits and burdens of govern.
ment would be common to all. Him
self conspicuous illustration Of what
ability and ambition may do under re-
publican institutions, Ee loved his
country with passion OF patriotic
devotion, and every waking thought
was given to her advancement. He
was an American in all bis aspirati ons,
and be looked to the destiny and in.
fuence of the United States with the
philo sophie composure of Jefferson and
the demonstrative confidence of Johu
Adams.
THE POLITICAL CONTROVERSY.
The political events which disturb
ed the Presidents serenity for many
weeks before that fatal day in july
form an important chapter in his Ca, eel
and, IN his own judgment, involved
questions of principle and of righi
which are vitality essential to the con-
stitutional administration of the FEEDER.
al Government. 1t would be out OF
place here and now to speak the Ian
guage of controversy, but the evenos re.
ferred to, however they may continue
to be q source Of contention with others,
have become, 80 far as Garfield is con-
cerned, as much matter Of history as
his heroism at Chickamauga or his
illustrious service in the House. Detail
is not needful, and personal antagonism
shall not be rekindled by any word
uttered to-day. The motives of those
him are not to be here ad Y erse.
ly interpreted nor their course harshly
But of the dead Presi-
dent this is to be said, and said because
his own speech is forever silenced and
he can be no more heard except through
the fidelity and the love of surviving
friends: From the beginning to the
end of the controversy he 80 much de-
plored, the President was never for one
actuated by any motive Of gain
TO himself or of loss to others. Least
Of all men did he harbor revenge, rare
ly did he even show resentment, and
malice was not in his nature. He was
employed only in the ex-
change Of good offices and the doing
Of kindly deeds.
There was not an hour, from the be-
ginning of the trouble till the fatal shot
entered his body, when this President
would not gladly, for the sake of re-
storing har mony, have retraced any
step he had taken if such retracing had
merely involved consequence ces personal
10 himself. The pride of consistency,
or any suppose sense Of humiliation
that might result from surrendering his
position, had not feathers weight
with him. No man was ever less sub.
jeCt to such influences from within or
from without. But after mOst anxious
leliberation and the coolest survey of
sll the circumstances, he solemnly he
ieved that the true prerOgatives, of the
Executive were involved in tie issue
which had been raised, and that he
would be unfaithful to his supreme oh
igation if he failed to maintain, in all
heir vigor, the constitutional rights
Ind dignities of his great Office. He
believed this in all the convictions of
conscience when in sound and vigorous
health, and he believed it in his suffer
ng and prostration in the last conscious
thought which his wearied mind be.
slowed on the transitory struggles of
ife.
More than this need not be said. Less
han this could not BE- said. Justice to
he dead, the highest obligation that
levolvts upon the living, demands the
that in all the bearings of
the subject, actual or possible, the Presi-
lent was conteut in his mind, justified
n his conscience, immovable in his
conclusions.
THE AssAssIN's BULLET.
On the morning of Saturday, July
d the President was conteuted |
md happy man - not in all
rdinary degree, but joyfully, almost
'oyishly happy. Cn his way to the
abroad station to which he drove
lowly in conscious enjoyment of the
morning, with an unwonted
ense of leisure, and keen anticipa-
ion Of pleasure, his talk was all in the
,rateful and gratulatory vein. He felt
nat after four months of trial his ad.
was sronR in its grasp OF
fairs, strong in popular favor aud de-
tined to grow stronger; that grave
difficulties confronting him at his in.
,uguration had bten safely passed;
hat trouble lay behind him and NOT be-
ore him; that he was soon to meet the
wife whom he loved, now recovered
rom an illness which had but lately
Iisquieted and at times almost unnerv-
ID him; that he was going to his Alma
Mater to renew the most cherished as
ocialiOns of his young manhood, and
0 exchange greetings with those whose
intol est had followed every