The Portland daily press., 1882-02-28

was unprecedented, both in respect to the vast
sums OF money raised for the support OF the
Army and Navy, and of the new and ex-
traordinary powers of legislation which i was
forced to exercise. Only twenty-four States
were represented, and one hundred and eighty
two members were upon its roll Among
these were many distinguished party leaders
on both sides, veterans in the public service,
with established regulations Tor ability, ana
with that skill which comes only from par
liamentary experience. Into this assemplage
of men Garfield entered without special pre-
paration, and it might almost be said unex-
pectedly. The question OF taking command
of division of troops under General Thomas,
or taking his seat in Congress was kept open
till the last moment, SO late, indeed that the
resignation of his military commission and his
appearance in the House were almost con-
temporaneous. He wore the uniform OF a
Major-general of the United States Army on
Saturday, and on Monday in civilians dress,
he answered to the roll-call as Representa-
tive in Congress from the State of Ohio.
He was especially fortunate in the constr
tuency which elected him. Descended almost
entirely from New England stock, the men of
the Ashtabua district we're intensely radical
on all questions relating to human rights.
Well educated, thrifty, thoroughly intelligent
in affairs, acutely discerning OF character, not
quick to bestow confidence, and slow to with
draw it, they were at once the most helpful
and most exacting of supporters. Their
tenacious trust in men in whom they have
once confided is illustrated by the unparalleled
fact that Elisha Whittlesey, Joshua r. Gid
dings and James A. Garfield represented the
district for fifty-four years.
There is no test of mans ability in any de-
partment of public life more severe than SER
vice in the House of Representatives; there is
no place where so little Difference is paid to
reputation previously acquired, or to eminence
won outside; no place where SO little consider
alton is shown for the feelings or the failures
Of haOi What a m gains in the House
he gains by sheer force of his own character,
and if he loses and falls back he must expect
no mercy, and will receive no sympathy. 1t is
field in which the survival OF the strongest is
the recognized rule, and where no pretence
can deceive and no glamour can mislead. The
real man is discovered, his worth is impartialy
weighed, his rank is irreversibly decreed.
With possibly single exception Garfield was
the youngest member in the House when he
entered, and was but seven years from his col
lege graduation. But he had not been in his
seat sixty days before his ability was recog-
nized and his place conceded. He stepped to
the front with the confidence of one who be-
longed there. The House was crowded with
strong men of both parties; nineteen of them
have since been transferred to the Senate, and
many of them have served with distinction in
the gubernatorial chairs of their respective
States, and on foreign missions of great conse-
quence; but among them all none grew SO rap
idly, none so Firmly as Garfield. AS is said
Dy Ir6Veiyan Oh MS parliamentary Hero, 0dr-
field succeeded "because all the world in con-
cert could not have kept him in the back
ground, and because when once in the front he
played his part with prompt intrepidity and
a commanding ease that were but the outward
symptoms of the immense reverses of energy,
on which it was in his power to draw" In
deed the apparently reserved force which Car
field possessed was one of his great character
istics He never did so well but that it seemed
he could easily have done better. He never
to be holding additional power at CALL This is
one of the happiest and rarest distinctions OF
an effective debater, and often counts for as
much in persuading an assembly as the elo-
quent and elaborate argument.
The great measure of Garfelds fame was
| filed by his service in the House of Represen-
tatives. His military life, illustrated by hon
orable performance, and rich in promise, was,
as he himself felt, prematurely terminated, and
necessarily incomplete. Speculation as to what
he might have done in field, where the great
prizes are SO few cannot be profitable. 1t is
sufficient to say that as soldier he did his duty
bravely; he did it intelligently; he won an en-
viable fame, and he retired from the service
without blot or breath against him. As law
yer, though admirably equipped for the profess
sion, he can scarcely be said to have entered on
its practice. The few efforts he made at the
bar were distinguished by the same high order
of talent which he exhibited on every field
where he was put to the test, and if a man may
be accepted as competent Judge OF his own
capacities and adaptations, the law was the
profession to which Garfield should have de-
voted himself. But fate ordained otherwise,
and his reputation in history will rest largely
upon his service in the House of Represents
tives That service was exceptionally long.
He was nine times consecutively chosen to the
House, an honor enjoyed by not more than six
other Representatives of the more than five
Thousand who have been elected from the or
ganization of the government to this hour.
AS parliamentary orator, as a debater on
an issue squarely joined, where the position
had been chosen and the ground laid out, Gar
field must be assigned very high rank. More,
perhaps than any man with whom he was as
soeiated in public life, he gave careful and
systematic study to public questions and he
came to every discussion in which he took part,
with elaborate and complete preparation. He
was steady and indefatigable worker. Those
who imagine that talent .or genius can supply
the place or achieve the results of labor will
find no encouragement in Garfeld's life. In
preliminary work he was apt, rapid and skill
full He possessed in high degree the power
of readily absorbing ideas and facts, and like
DIR. johnson, had the art OF getting from a
book all that was of value in it by reading
apparently so quick and cursory that it seemed
like mere glance at the table of conte ntS lie
was pre-eminently fair and candid man in
debate, took no petty advantage, stopped to no
unworthy methods, avoided personal alluSions,
rarely appealed to prejudice, did not seek to
iniame passion. He had quicker eye for the
strong point of his adversary than for his weak
point, and on his own side he so marshaled his
weighty arguments as to make his hearers for
get any possible lack in the complete strength
of his position. He had a habit of stating his
opponents side with such amplitude OF fair
ness and such liberality of concession that his
followers often complained that he was giving
his case away But never, in hisprolonged par
ticipation in the proceedings of the House did
ho riu ooe fail in the iudpnp nj
of competent and impartial listeners to gain the
mastery.
These characteristics, which marked Garfield
as a debater, did not however, make him a
great parliamentary leader. A parliamentary
leader, as that term is understood wherever
free representative government exists, is neces-
sarily and very strictly the organ of his party.
An ardent American defined the instructive
warmth of patriotism when he offered the toast
sour country, always right, but right or
wrong, our country" The parliamentary lead
or who has body of followers that will do and
dare and die for the cause, is one who believes
his party always right, but right or wrong, is
for his party. No more important or
exacting duty devolves upon him than the se-
lection of the field and the time for contest
He must know not merely how to strike, but
where to strike and when to strike. He often
skillfully avoids the strength of his opponents
position and scatters confusion in his ranks by
attacking an exposed poiRt when really the
righteousness Oh Inc cause anu tn6 Slr0HSt1 Vi
logical intrenchment are against him. He con
quers often both against the right and the hea-
Wy battalions as when young Charles Fox, in
the days of his toryism, carried the House of
Commons against justice, against its immemor-
ial rights against his own convictions, if, in
deed, at that period, Fox had convictions, and,
in the interest of corrupt administration, in
obedience to a tyrannical sovereign, drove
Wilkes from the seat to which the electors of
Middlesex had chosen him and installed Lut-
trell in defiance, not merely of law but of pub
lie decency. For ansachievement of that kind
Garfield was isqualifed-disgualifed 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 most distinguished parliame ntary
leaders hitherto developed in this country are
Mr.. Clay, Mr.. Douglas, and Mr.. Thaddeus Ste
vens. Each was man of consummate ability,
of great earnestness. of intense persona lity,
differint widely, each from the others, and yet
with signal trait in cOmmon--tbe power to
command. In the give and take of daily dis
cusson, in the art OF controlling and consolidat-
ing reluctant and refractory followers; in the
skill to overcome all forms of opposition, and
to meet with competency and courage the vary
ing phases of unlocked for assault or unsuspect-
ed detection, it would be difficult to rank with
these fourth name in all our Congressional
history. But of these Mr.. Clay was the greatest
1t would, perhaps, be impossible to find in the
parliamentary annals of the world parallel to
Mr.. Clay, in 1841, when at sixty-four years of
age be took control of the Wing party from the
President who had received their suffrages,
against the power of Webster in the Cabinet
against the eloquence of Cnoate in the Senate,
against the Herculean efforts OF Caleb Cushing