Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-02-28

Eloquent Tribute to the Memory of the
Deceased,
BY Hon. James G. Blaine, Late Secretary
of State.

BY Hon. James G. Blaine, Late Secretary
of State.
WASHINGTON, February 27.-At 10
O'Clock the doors of the Capitol were
opened, and in half an hour the galleries of
the House were filled with those fortunate
enough to hold tickets to the Garfield me-
mortal services.
The House was called to order at II M,
and prayer was offered by the chaplain
The Speaker announced that the House was
ready to perform its part of the ceremonies.
At 1919 the members of the Senate en-
tered, followed by the Judges of the Su-
preme Court. The President arrived a few
moments later.
Prayer was offered by Chaplain Power.
President pro tenn. Davis introduced Mr.
Blaine. Mr.. Blaine in loud, clear voice
read his Grafton, as follows:
MIR. PRESIDENT For the second time in
this generation the great departments of the
government of the United States are as
sembled 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 tragi-
cal termination of his great life added but
another to the heightened succession of hor-
rors which had marked SO many lintels with
the blood of the first born. Garfield was
slain in day of peace, when brother had
been reconciled 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 example was last to
have been looked for, let him not give it the
grim visage of Moloch, the brow knitted
by revenge, the face black with settled hate
Let him draw, rather, decorous smooth
faced, bloodless demon not SO much for
an example of human nature In its de-
pravity and in its paroxysms of crime, as an
internal being, a fend in the ordinary dis
play and development of his character"
From the landing of the Pilgrims at Ply
mouth till the uprising against Charles First,
about twenty thousand emigrants came
from old England to New England As
they came in pursuit of intellectual freedom
and ecclesiastical independence rather than
for worldly honor and profit, the emigration
naturally ceased when the contest for relig-
ious liberty began at home, The man who
struck his most effective blow for freedom
of conscience by sailing for the colonies in
1920 would have been accounted q deserter
to leave after 1910. The opportunity had
then come on the soil of England for that
great contest which established the authori-
ty of Parliament, gave religious freedom to
the people, sent Charles to the block; AMI
committed to the hands of Oliver Cromwell
the Supreme Executive authority of Eng
land. The English emigration was never
renewed, and from these twenty thousand
men with a small emigration from Scotland
and from France are descended the vast
numbers who have New England blood in
their veins.
In 1856 the revocation of the edict of
Nantz by Louis XIV scattered to other
countries four hundred thousand Protest
ants, who were among the most intelligent
aud enterprising of French subiects-mer-
chants of capital, skilled manufacturers, and
handicraftsmen, superior at the time to all
others in Europe. A considerable number
of these Huguenot French came to America;
few landed in New England and became
honorably prominent in its history. Then
names have in large part become anglicised
or have disappeared, but their blood is
traceable in many of the most reputable
families, and their fame is perpetuated i'll
honorable memorials and useful institu-
tions.
From these two sources, the English Pur
itan and the French Huguenot, came the
late President-his father, Abram Garfield
being descended from one, and his mother
Eliza Ballou, from the other.
1t was good stock on both sides-none
better, none drawer, none truer. There was
in it an inheritage of courage, of manliness,
of imperishable love of liberty, of undyine
adherence to principle. Garfield was proud
of his blood and, with as much satisfac-
ton as if he were British nobleman read.
ing his stately ancestral record in Burke's
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 Protest
ants who refused to submit to tyranny even
from the grand Monarque.
General Garfield delighted to dwell on
these traits, and during his only visit to
England, he busted himself in discovering
every trace of his forefathers in parish regis
tries and ancient army rolls. Sitting with a
friend in the gallery of the House of Com
mons one night after long days labor in
this field of research, he said with evident
elation that in every war in which for three
centuries patriots of English blood had struck