New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-02
A SAD ANNTVERSdRY,


day is one of sad memories and we are not
sure but that a bare mehtion of the fact that 1t
is here is all that is needed to prompt its fitting
commemoratiUn. Certainly the incidents OF
that heroic struggle with death which began
then are still fresh in all our memories. The
Nation was preparing to celebrate It's most
Joyous holiday with more than ordinary hearth
ness The people felt that they were enter
ing upon a period of great material prosperity
and internal peace. We had IL President
whose entrance into Office had been hailed
with popular delight. Not only his party bit
the whole people had nigh hopes of what would
be accomplished for the country under the
leadership of a man so richly endowed and so
exceptionally equipped for the duties of his
high position. He had begun his service with
an Inaugural Address so broad i'll his stateman-
ship, so truly magnanimouS both IN Its recOg-
milton of all that had been settled in the past
and in its promise of gentlcness as well as JUS
tice in the future, that not only was the North
delighted, but the Southern heart also was
touched, and the dawn of a genuine and per-
manent reconciliation was felt to be at hand.
During the few months in which he performed
the duties of his Office he had followed brave
and patriotic policy which had won Tor him
the confidence of all who were not the enemies
of pure government. He had grappled fear
lessly with some of the most powerful and
most corrupt abuses of our political system,
and had already shown that nothing but his
death could save those abuses from extermi
nation.
Suddenly the report of the assassin's pistol
rang through the country. The strong, true
l,o1 f,,r n hr;n
labors looking with boyish delight upon the
prospect of a vacation, was shot III the back,
and after turning about 10 face his cowardly
foe, sank helplessly to the ground. Who of
us has forgotten the shock which the news
of this national calamity gave usY The
startled, dazed incredulity, followed by the
sirkng of the heart which came when we
feared he could not liveY Who of us has for
gotten the great mans heroic geEtleness and
self forgetfulness when, lying in his blood in
the railway station, he dictated that touching
dispatch to his absent wife 2 Where in the
whole range Of literature, history or fiction is
there a more nobly pathetic message than
this /?
The President wishes mc to say you for him that he
has been seriously hurt. How seriously he cannot YET
say. lie is himself. and hopes you Will to him
He sends his love TO you.
Not only the heart of the American people
but of the whole world was moved by that.
IL was the first revelation of the great heart
beating in that stricken body, and from that
moment the whole civilized world sat as one
family in suspense at his bedside, now in tears,
now in smiles of hope, watching the varying
phases of that long martyrdom. During all
those weeks of anguish no word of complaint
4.
heard 10 cry of Impotence, but il heard
many heroic utterances which showed that the
pathetic message to his wife was the true index
of his character. "You have only one chance
in hundred of recovering" said the guTgeon
Well" was the memorable response from the
true soldier, ave will take that chance" Has
anybody forgotten the thrill which that brave
answer sent through him year agoY Or that
other one d" have faced death before and am
not afraid of him now"? The Americans are
charged with being "a people most ready to
forget, most easy to pass from one great
sensation TO another, but we do not believe
that they have forgotten that summer
OF anxiety, Of hope and despair. They
learned to love the man who could endure so
much cad bear it all so bravely, and the
memOly OF him is as tender i'll their hearts
to-day as it was when he was laid in his grave.
We believe that this anniversary will be kept
silently and teariully in many hearts day.
There could be no more fitting cOmmcmOration.
Ii was the human, loving, manly qualities of
Garfield which so drew the hearts of men TO
him, and which caused the whole world to bow
It's head in tears above his grave. Great as his
influence was in his public career, 1t was as
nothing compared with that which went forth
from his sick bed He touched and softened
the souls of men, and taught them anew the
lesson of gentleness and patience. Surely we
are better people for this to-day The snarl-
ing, swapping assassln, who could take FROM