The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1882-03-02

than Is 900 who have been elected from the or
ganlzatOn Of the government to this hour.
AS PARLIAMENTARY ORATOR,
as dobater on an issue squarely joined whore the
position had boon chosen and the ground laid out
Garfield must 10 assigned very high rank
More, perhaps, than any man with whom
he was associated in public life, lie
questions and he came to every discussion in which
he took part with elaborate and complete prepara-
ton. lie was steady and interchangeable worker.
tho place or achieve the results Of labor will find
no encouragement in Garfied's life: In prelimi-
nary work no was apt, rapid and skillfh lie
absorbing ideas and facts, and, like DIR. Jol,uson,
had the art of getting from book all That was of
va,ue IN it. iy reading apparently 80 quick and
table of contents He was precautionary fair
and candid man in debate, took no
petty advantage, stopped to no unworthy m ethods,
avoided personal ausion, rarely appealed to preju-
Dice did not seek to intamo passion. Ho had IL
quicker eye for tho strong point of his adversary
than for his weak point, and on his own side he
so MARSIIALED HIS WEIGlITY AKGUME NTS
as to make his hearers forget any possible lack in
the complete strength Of his position. Ho had a
habit of stating his opponents side with such am
plitudo of fairness and such liberaty Of conccs-
vas giving his case away. But nevor in his pro-
longed participation in tho proceedings in tho
house did he give his case away or fail
ers to gam the mastery. These CHARACTERISTICS
which marked Garfield as great debater did not,
however. make him great parliamentary leader
understood wherever a free representative
government exists. is necessarily and
very strictly the organ Of his party An ardent
riotsm when he offered tho toast Our country,
always right; but right or wrong, our country"
Tho parliamentary leader who has body
and of followers die for that the wi" cans 90 an" is ons
who believes his party always right, but right or
wrong is for his party. No more important or OK
Of the field and the time for the contest lie must
know not merely how to strike but where to strike
and when to strike. lie often skillfully avoids the
strength of MS opponents position and
and exposed point, when really the righteous ness
of the cause and the strength Of the logical on
trenchmcnts are against him He conquers often
when young Charles Fox in the days of his Toryisn
carried the house of commons against justice against
its mmomorial rights, against his own convic-
and in the interests OF corrupt administration in
obedience to q tyrannical sovereign drove Wilkes
from the seat to which the electors Of Middlesex
but of public decency. For an achievement Of
that kind Garfield was Disqualified disqualified
by the texture Of his mind, by the honesty Of his
heart, by his conscience and by every instinct and
aspiration of his nature. The three
hitherto developed in this country Mr.. Clay, Mr.
Douglas and Mr. Tha!dcus Stephens. Each was a
man Of consumnate ability, of great ernestness, OF
int n xot FERN widely eafh IN
give and F FaEs Of daily diseassion
in in, the . art Of controlling ana :n co,,-
in the skill to all forms of opposition and
to meet with competency and courage the varying
phases Of unlocked for assault or unsupported de-
lection, it would b. difficult to rank with these
Sisory Sut Of these Mr. Clay y" was S the s!eat1
It would perhaps be impossible to find in the par
Of age he took T'p the at conrS Of
, Whs party o, from the president who had
Of Webster in the cabinet, against the eloquonce Of
Choate in the senate, against the herculean efforts
Of Caleb Gushing and Henry A. Wise in the house.
of power, he hurled against John Tyler, with deep
est scorn, the mass Of that conquering column
viii Which had swept over the Land in 1sdg
shelter behind the lines OF his political
foes. MIR. Douglas achieved victory scarcely less
wonderful. when in So against the secret desires
of a strong administration, against the wise counsel
of the older Chiefs against the conservative i'll
stncts and even the moral sense of the country. he
forced a reluctant congress into
nrpr,r M ,u,,, ,,rceor,p, co,,ppo,51sr
Mr.. Thaideus Stephens in his contest from 1868
to 1868 actually advanced his parlia-
hands RI the nr,sIent and onverned tbe contrv
nv its own viii leavinr uuiv nerfnnctory duties
to be DISCHARGED by the fxatutiye, With 5000
100000 Of patronage in his hands at tn
force Of Seward in the cabinet ami the
moral bower of Chase on tho bench. Andrew john
son could not command the support Of onc-third i'll
ricj,l
of which Thadlc.ls Sephtns was tho annatns
spirit and the uuul: STONED leader From
these tilrco great men Garfield Differed radically
differed in the quality of his mind in temperament
in the form aud phase Of ambition lie could not
do what they did, but he could do what they could
not and int the hjs Of his s1ar; wGr
Influence among men and Which, measured by tl.,
test Of p,sth1nllous criticism will secure moro en-
during and more enval!c fame. Those unfamiliar
of his work, may in sonle iegruo measure them by
the Annals Of CONGRESS; Noono Of the generation Of
VALUABLE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
His spo. r,cs are numerous, many of them bril-
liant all Of them we'll studied, carefully plIrasrd
and exhaustive Of tho subject under consideration.
Collected from the scattered pages of ninety roya
octave volumes OF Congressional Records, they
would present an Invaluable compendium of tho
era through which the national government has
ever passed When the his DRY of this period shall
be impartally w1itton. when war legislation meas
ures Of reconstruction. protection of human rights
amendments to the constitution maintenance of
Dub)ic credit stems toward snecio rosumptiou true
theories of revenue. NAV he reviewed. unsurround-
ed bv nrnilice and isconnccted from nartisanship
the sneeches of Garfied viii be estimated at
their trna value and will ha fonnd To- cumnrise a
va morozna Of fact an1 oronment Of clear analv-
ss and sonnd conclusion indeed If no other a,l-
tory ware accessible his snacchcs in the house of
REPRESENTATIVES. from December. 1863. to June
1880, would give we'll connected history and com
nlcto defense Of the LEGISLATION OF the sew
enteen eyentful Years that constitute his parliament
ary lifo far beyo,: that lis sp.cches Would be found
to forecast many great measures vet to be com
,leie: measures which ne knew were beyond public
opinion of tho hour, but which he confidently be-
lieyed would secure popular approval within the
period of his own life time, aud by the aid
OF his own effort Differing as Garfield does from
the brilliant parliamentary leaders is not easy to
find his counterpart anywhere in the record of
American public life. Ho perhaps more nearly
resembled Mr.. Seward in his supreme faith in
the all conouering power of a principle, He
Ind the love of learning and the
m mSt ' industrv Of investiaaion to which
lain Ouincv Adams owed his prominence and his
nrcsidency He lad some Of those ponderous ele-
3nsmtS If mind Which d;st;nonishcd mr. Wehster
and which inIaed in all onr nnbIic life haVa
iaft Tho oraat Maesachnsetta senator with
nnt ny IN ;n+a,1nctna1 near In Eno
Goi narIiamentarv history as in our own. tho
ia,orms i, tho homso ~ Commons nracent no;nts ~