The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1882-03-04
GARFIELD MEMORIAL SERVICES.
Mr.. BLAINE'S EULOGY.

upon the life and services OF the late IIesiueht
Garfield delivered in the Hall of the House OF Rep
resentatives on Monday.
The vast Hall was packed to OVERLOOKING, the
chief officers of the Government, both Houses of
Congress, the Supreme Court, diplomatic corps, and
most distinguished officers of the army and navy
being present, besides many ether prominent per-
sons from distant STATES.
At half-past twelve Mr.. Blaine took his stand at
the clerks desk and began:
Mr. PRESIDENT: For the second time in this
generation the great departments of the Govern
ment of the United States assembled in the Hall
of Representatives to do honor to the memory of
murdered President. Lincoln fell at the close of
mighty struggle in which the passions of men had
been deeply stirred. The tragical termination of
his great life added but 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
reconcied 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 eX-
ample was last to have been look ed for let him not
give it the grim vsage of Moloch, the brow knitted
by revenge, the face black with settled hate. Let
him draw, rather, decOrOus smooth faced, blood
less demon not so much an example of human
nature in its depravity and in its paroxysms of
crime, internal being, fiend in the ordinary
display and development of his character"
From the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth
TILL the uprising against Cnar eS flTS dDOut GWely
thousand emigrants came from old England to New
England AS they came ia pursuit of intellectual
freedom and ecclesiastical independence rather than
for worldly honor and profit, the emigration nat
uraly ceased when the contest for religious liberty
began in earnest at home. The man who struck
his most effective blow for freedom of conscience by
sailing for the colonies in 1920 would have been &C
counted deserter to leave after 1640 The oppor-
tunity 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 Oliver Cromwell the supreme executive
authority of England. The English emigration was
never renewed; and from these twenty thousand
men, with small emigration from Scotland and
from France, are de scenied The vast numbers who
hsye New England blood in their veins.
In 1856 the nevocation of the edict of Nantes by
Louis XIV scattered to other countries four hum
dred thousand Protestants, who were among the
most intelligent and enterprisiDg of Preach SUBJ
jects-merchants of capital, skilled manufacturers,
and handicrattmen. superior at the time to all
others in Europe. considerable number of these
Huguenot Frerch came to America; few landed in
New England and became honorably prominent in
its history. Their have in large part become
anglecised, have disappeared, but their blood Is
traceable in many of the most reputable families,
and their fame is perpetuated in honorable memo
rails and useful institutions
From these two sources, the glish-Puritan and
the French Huguenot came the late Presdent-his
father Abram Garfield being descended from the
one and his mother, Eliza Ballou, from the other.
1t was good stock on both sides-nOne better,
none drawer, truer. There was in it an in
heritance of courage of manlness, of imperishable
love of liberty, of undying adherence to principle.
Garfield was proud of his blood and with as much
satisfaction if he a British nobleman
reading his stated ancestral record in Burkes
Peerage, he spoke Of himself as ninth in descent
from those who would not endure the oppression OF
the Stuarts, and seventh in descent from the brave
French Protestans who refused to submit to ranny
even from the Grand Monarque.
General Garfield delighted to dwell these
traits, and, during his only visit to England, he
busted himself in discovering every trace OF his
forefathers in parish registers and ancient army
rolls. Sitting with friend in the gallery of the
House of Commons one night after long days
labor in this field of research, he said with evident
citation that in every war in which for three GEN.
turtles patriots of English blood had struck sturdy
blows for constitutional government and human
liberty his family had been represented. They
were at Marston Moor, at Naseby, and at Preston;
they at Bunker Hill, at Saratoga and at Mon
mouth, and in his own person had battled for the
same great cause in the war which preserved the
Union of the States.
Losing his father before he two years old, the
early life OF Garfield was one of privaton, but it's
poverty has been made indelcately and unjustly
prominent. Thousands of readers have imagined
him as the ragged starving child whose reality too
often greets the eye in the squalid sections of our
large cities. General Garfeds infancy and youth
had none of their restitution, of their pitful
features appealing to the tender heart and to the
open hand of charity. He was a poor boy in the
same sense in which Henry Clay was poer boy;
in which Andrew Jackson was poor boy; in which
Daniel Webster was poor boy; in the same sense
in which large majority of the eminent men of
America in all generations have been poor boys
The Speaker then went on to say, that up to the
date of his graduation from college the history of
Garfelds life presents novel features. Said Mr..
Blaine:
He had undoubtedly shown perseverance, self
which, be it said for the honor of our country, are
everywhere to be found among the young men of
America. But from bis graduation at Williams
onward to the hour Of his tragical DEATH Garfelds
career eminent and exceptional. Slowly work
ing through his educational period, receiving his
diploma when twenty -four years of age, he seemed
at one bound to spring into conspicuous and
brilliant success Within six years he was success
lively president of college, State senator of Ohio
major-general of the Army of the United States,
and Representative elect to the National Congress.
A combination of honors varied, SO elevated,
within period so brief, and to young, is
without precedent or parallel in the history OF the
country.
The speaker next gave synopsis of the late
Presidents military history, which the nation
knows by heart, and re viewed briefly his services
in Congress, familiar as household words to the
American people. In this connection, Mr.. Blaine
said
There is no test of mans ability in any depart
ment of public life more than service in the
House Of Representatives; there is no place where
little Difference is paid to reputation previously
acquired, or to emInence won outside; no place
where so little consideration is shown for the feel