The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-03-02

! dare aud die Tor The cause, "a one who b
! lieyos his party always right, bat hglit
! wrong IL ..
No moro IMPORTANT or ekaCting duty M
wolves upon him than the selection Of tli
field and the time for contest. lie mu,
know not merely how 10 strike, but whcf
10 strike and when 10 strike lie Otto
skillfIly avoids the strength Of his Oppc
nentis position and sCatters confusion IN hi
ranks by attacking an exposed point, whel
really the righteousness Of the cause anI
the strength of logical intrenchment ar,
against him. He cOnquers often, botl
against the right and the heavy battnlions
as when young Charles Fox, in the days o
commons against justice, against lis
immemorial rights, against his own
convictions, II indeed at that period
Fox had convictions, and in the interest Of
corrupt administration, in obedience to Il
tyrannical sovereign, drove Wilkes from a
SCAT to which the electors of MiddleseX had
chosen him, and installed Luttrell,
IN DEFIANCE,
not merely of law but of public decency.
For an achievement of that kind Garfield
was disqualified by the texture OF his mind,
by the honesty of his heart, by his con
science and by every instinct ana aspiration
of his nature. The three most distinguish
ed parliamentary leaders hitherto devel.
oped in this country are Mr.. Clay, Mr..
Douglas and Mr.. Thaddeus 5 evens. Each
was IA man Of consummate ability, OF great
earnestness, of intense perso nallty, differ
ing, widely each from, the other,
common-the power to command in the
give.take of daily discussion, in the art of
controlling and consolidating reluctant and
refractory followers, in the skill to over
come all forms of opposition and to meet
with competency and courage the varying
phases of unlooked-ior assault or unsus-
pected detection. 1t would be difficult to
congressional history, but OF these Mr.. Clay
WAS THE GREATEST.
1t would perhaps be impossible to find in
the parliamentary annals of the world a
parallel to Mr. Clay in 1911, when at 81
years of age he took the control of the
whig party, from the president who had
received their sutf'rages, against the power
quence of Choate in the senate,
against the herculean efforts of Caleb
Gushing and Henry A. Wise i'll
the house. In ushared leader
ship, in the prime and plenitude of power,
he hurled against John Tyler, with deepest
scorn, the mass OF that csnquering column
which swept the land in 1910 and drove his
administration to seek shelter behind the
lines of his political foes. Mr.. Douglas
achieved victory scarcely less wonderful
when, in 1854, against the secret desires of
strong administration, against.the wise coun-
sci of the older Chiefs against the CoLst rva-
tive instincts and even the moral sense the
country he forced a reluctant congress into
repeal of the Missouri compromise.
Mr.. Thaddeus Stevens, in his contests
from 1865 to 1865, actually advanced his
tied the hands Of the president and gov
erned the country by its own will leaving
only perfunctory duties to be discharged by
the executive. With $200,000,00O of the
patronage in his hands at the
OPENING OF THE CONTEST,
aided by the active force of Seward in the
cabinet and the moral power of Chase on
the bench Andrew Johnson could not
command the support of one-third in either
house against the parliamentary uprising,
OF which Thaddeus Stevens was the
animating spirit and the unquestiOned
leader. From these three great men
Garfield offered radically adj mind Offered ed
temperament, in the form and phase OF am
bition. He could not do what they could,
but he could do what they could not, aud,
l.. the breadth of his congressional work,
he left that which will longer exert poten.
tial influence among men, and which,
measured by the severe test OF post humouS
criticism, will secure more enduring and
more envable fame.
Those unfamiliar with Garfeld's indus
try, and ignorant of the details OF his work,
>maySiY SOME degree, measure them by the
annals of congress. No one of the genera
tion of publiS men to which he belonged
has contributed so much that will be valua-
HE for future reference His speeches aTe
numerous, many of them brilliant, all of
them well studied carefully phrased and
exhaustive of the subject under
consideration. Collected from the scattered
pages of ninety rOyal-octavo volumes oil
congressional record they would present an
invaluable compendium of the political
history of the most important era through
which the national government has ever
passed When the history of this period
shall be impartially written, when war
legislation, measures of reconstruction, pro-
lection of human rights, amendments to the
constitution, maintenance of public credit
be reviewed, unsurr" lded by prejudice
and disconnected Il N partisanism,
THE SPEECHES
of Garfield will be estimated at their true
value, and will be found to comprise vast
magazine of fact and argument of clear
analysis and sound conclusion, In
deed, il no other authority
were accessible, his speeches in
the house of representatives from Decem-
Der, 1863 to June, 1sS0, would give we'll
connected history and complete defense OF
the important legislation of the seventeen
eventiul years that constitute his parlla-
mentary fife. Far beyond that, his speeches
would be found to forecast many great
measures yet to be completed, measures
which he knew were beyond the public
epinion of the hour, but which he conii-
IDENTIFY believed would secure popular APP
proval within the period OF bis own NE
time and by the aid of his own Efforts. IN
fering as Garfield does from the brilliant
parliamentary leaders it is not easy to lind
his counterpart anywhere in the record OF
American public life. He perhaps more
nearly resembles Mr.. Seward in his supreme
faith in the all-conquering power of prin-
ciple. lie had the
LOVE or LEARNING
and the patient industry OF investigation TO
which John Quincy Adams owes his prom
inence and his presidency. He had some
of those penderOus elements Of merit which
distinguished Mr.. Webster, and which, in
deed, in all our public life have let the
great Massachusetts, senator without an IN
te'lcctual peer.
|. In English parliamentary history, as in
our own, the leaders IN the house OF com
mons nrcsent points OF essential difference
from Garfield, but some Of his methods re
call the best features In the strong, indie
pendent course Of Sir Robert Peel,
and striking resemblances are dis
cernible in that most promising
OF modern conservatives, who died
too early for his country and his fame, the
Lord George Bentinck. He had all OF
Burke's love for the sublime aud the beau
tiful. with possibly something Of his super
abundance, and in his faith and bis mag
nanimity in his power Of statement, in his
subtle analysis. in his faultless logic, in his
love Of literature, in bis wealth and world
Of illustration. one Is reminded OF that
/ great English statesman Of to-day who, con-
D fr0uted with obstacles that would
DAUNT ANY But TIE DAUNTLEsst
reyiled by those whom be would relieve a.
] bitterly a. bv those whose supposed rights
he i forced to invade, still labOrs With
serene courage for the ameliOration q
I ireland and for the honor 81 the English
name garfe1dfs nomination 20 The