Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1882-04-03

done better. He never expended so
much strength but that he seemed to
be holding additional power at call.
This is one of the happiest and rarest
distinctions Of an effectual debater,
and often counts for as much in per-
suading an assembly as the eloquent
and elaborate argument.
AS a parliamentary orator, as a
debater on an issue squarely joined,
where the issue had been chosen and
the ground laid out, Garfield must be
assigned a very high rank. More,
perhaps, than any man with whom he
was associated in public life, he gave
careful and systematic study to pub
lie questions, and he came to every
discussion in which he took part,
with elaborate preparation. He was
steady and indefatigable worker.
Those who imagine that talent or ge-
MUS can supply the place or achieve
the results of labor will find no en-
couragement in Garfeld's life. In
parliamentary work he was apt, rapid
and skillful. He possessed in high
degree the power of rapidly absorb
| ing ideas and facts, and like DIR.
johnson, had the ort of getting from
q book all that was of value in it by
a reading apparently so quick and
cursory that it seemed like a mere
glance at the table of contents. He
was pre- -eminently fair and candid
man in debate, took no petty advan-
tage, stopped to no unworthy methods
avoided personal illusions, rarely ap-
pealed to prejudices, did not seek to
infame passion. He had quicker
eye for the strong point of his adver-
sary than for his weak point, and on
his own side he so marshaled his
weighty arguments as to make his
hearers forget any possible lack il
the complete strength of his position
He had habit of stating his oppo
nent's side with such aptitude OF
fairness and such liberality of con
cession that his followers often com
planned that he was giving the case
away. But never in his prolonged
participation in the proceedings O
the house did he give his case away
or fail in the judgment of competen
and impartial listeners to gain th
mastery.
These characteristics, which mark
ed Garfield as a great debater, di,
f not, however, make him great par
l liamentary leader. A parliamentary
: leader as that term is understood
wherever free representative govern
ment exists, is necessarily the orga
I of his party. An ardent America
defined the instructive warmth of pa
e triotism when he offered the toast
y 'EOur country, always right, but rigl
t or wrong, our country" The pa
= iamentary leader who has body {
followers that will do and dare an
: die for the cause is one who believe
n his party always right, but right {
wrong, is for his party. No mo-
u important or exacting duty devolvt
o upon him than the selection of tt
{ field and the time for contest, I
: must know not merely how to strik
J. but where to strike. He often ski
le fully avoids the strength of his opp
is nent's position and scatters conf
Ie sion in his ranks by attacking an e,
posed point when really the righteou
. ness of the cause and the strength
~ ~ logical intrenchment are against hil
t. He conquers often both against t
IS right and the heavy battalions
e. when Charles Fox, in the days of
ne toryism, carried the house of col
10 10 mons against justice, against its il
10 memorial rights, against it's own CO
yn victions, if, indeed, at that peri
up Fox had convictions, and, in the
re terest of corrupt administration,
III obedience to a corrupt sovereig
- drove Wilkes from the seat to VIII
the electors of Middlesex had chos
him and installed Luttrell in defan
10 not merely of law but public decen'
~. For an achievement of this kind @
or field was disqualified disqualified
ion the texture of his mind, by the h'
'x- esty of his heart, by his consciel
'er and by every instinct and aSpirat