The times., 1888-07-06
JAMES A. GARFIELD

Speech In the National Republican Con-
ventlon at Chicago, June, 1880. Nomi-
mating John Sherman for tho Presidency.
have witnessed the extraordinary
scenes Of this convention with deep solic.
itude. No emotion touches my heart more
quickly than q sentiment in honor of q
great and noble character. But as l sat
on these seats and witnessed these dem
onstrations 1t seemed to me you were a
human ocean In a tempest. | have seen
the sea lashed into a fury and tossed into
a spray, and its grandeur moves the soul
of the dullest man. But remember that
1t Is not the pillows, but the calm level of
the seq, from which all heights and depths
are measured. When the storm has
passed and the hour of calm settles on the
ocean, when sunlight bathes It's smooth
surface, then the astronomer and surveyor
takes the level from which he measures
all terrestrial heights and depths. Gen.
tlemen of the convention, your present
temper may not mark the healthful pulse
Of our people. When our enthusiasm has
passed, when the emotions of this hour
have subsided. we shall find the calm
level of public opinion below the storm
from which the thoughts Of q mighty
people are to be measured, and by which
their final action will be determined Not
here, in this brilliant circle, where $4,000
men and women are assembled. Is the
destiny Of the republic to be decreed; not
here, where l see the enthusiastic faces
of 756 delegates waiting to cast their
votes into the urn and determine the
choice of their party; but by 1000, 900
Republican fresides, where the thought
full fathers, with wives and children about
them, with the calm thoughts inspired by
love of home and love of country, with the
history of the past. the hopes Of the
future, and the knowledge Of the great
men who have adorned and blessed our
nation in days gone by-there God pre-
pares the verdict which shall determine
the wisdom of our work tonight. Not in
Chicago In the heat of June, but in the
sober quiet that comes between now and
the melancholy days of November, in the
silence Of deliberate judgment will this
great question be settled. Let us aid them
tonight.
But now, gentlemen of the conven-
tion, what do we want2 Bear with me a
moment. Hear me for this cause. and
for n moment be silent. that you may
hear Twenty-Five years ago this repub
lie was wearing a triple chain of bondage
Long familiarity with traffic in the body
and souls Of men had paralyzed the con
science of a majority of our people. The
baleful doctrine of state sovereignty had
shocked and weakened the noblest and
most beneficient powers of the national
government, and the grasping power of
slavery was seizing the virgin territories of
the west and dragging them into the den
of eternal bondage. At that crisis the
Republican party was born. 1t drew it's
first inspiration from that fire of liberty
which God has lighted in every mans
heart, and which all the powers of ignor-
ance and tyranny can never wholly ex-
tinguish. The Republican party came to
deliver and save the republic. 1t entered
the arena when the beleaguered and as
sailed territories were struggling for free,
dom, and drew around them the sacred
circle of liberty which the demon of slav.
/ cry has never dared to cross. It made them
free forever. Strengthened by its victory
on the frontier, the young party, under
the leadership Of that great man who. on
this spot, twenty years ago, was made its
leader, entered the national capital and
assumed the high duties of the govern
nent. The light which shone from its
banner dispelled the darkness in which
slavery had enshroudcd the capital and
melted the shackles Of every slave, and
consumed, In the fire Of liberty, every
slave pen within tho shadow Of the capi.