Year: 1866

HOUSE.


WAsHISGroN. April IA.
i On motion of Mr.. Garfield, the reading O
the journal of yesterday was dispensed with


Mr. Garfield then prodeeded to address tht
House at length. He said. Idesre to enter
motion that this House be now adjourn
ed. The day will be memorable as long as
this. nation shall endure, which God grant
may be till that last moment of recorded time
when the volume of the worlds history shall
be sealed up and placed before the Omniuo-
tent Judge for III sentence on this, body tol
all time TO come. | doubt not that the citi
zens OF this Republic will meet together TO-
day looking into each others face with solemn
sadness, as they reseal the great events of the
day IN ls65-an event unparalleled in the
history OF nations B-certainly unparalleled in
our own.


/ think 1t eIhlnently proper that this Con
gress should put bn lis record to-day a reso.
luton III memory OF that event. The war
with It's wonderful events, gave TO history
many distinguished names it took the
young men Of thh land and made them iIe-
roes 1t made the old men patriotic. and the
women became aintsterng angels all OVER
the land bat chief among all The great de-
velopnents Of tho war were the character
and life OF that great man whose loss the ma
I ton still deplores. He is aptly described in
the language of one of England great po-
cts, and that divinely gifted man, whose life
{ in low estates began upon simple village
green, who breaks his births insiduous bar
and grasps the skirts OF happy chance and
becomes the flower of circumstances and
grapples with her evil star; who makes by
force his merits known. and lives to clutch
the golden keys to mould mighty stale
dream, and shape the whisper of the throne
and moving up from high to higher,
becomes on fortunes, crowney slope, The
pillar of a peoples hope, the center of a
worlds design. Such life and such
character will go down to all times as the
great and sacred possession of the American
people But there is more than the mere ac-
ton OF any one man IN that great struggle
through which wdshave passed there were
two scenes in the drama OF the rebellion, one
was the military scene with all its death with
all its suflerngs, signs and tears. and that
scene was closing Que year ago last night
Just as the curtain was lifting up the new and
final scene-the restoration Of peace, liberty
and orfler-Iust as the curtain was rising 10
show the new character. the evil spirit of re-
bellion and treason could not resist It's desire
to strike one blow, and to cause the chief
character III the scene then closing to perish
by the hand of an assassin 1t was not the
hand of one man that killed President Lin
coin. 1t was the embodied snirit of treas.
on and slavery, concentrated into fearful
hate, that struck him down in that supreme
hour of the nation day. There are times
in the history of men, and OF nations when
they seem to stand SO closely BY the veil
which shuts out mortais from immortality.
time from eternity, and man from God. that
they almost hear the beating and feel
the pulsation OF the heart of God Such
time have we passed through, when 250, 900
patriotic spirits broke through the folds of
that veil and went up into the. presence Of
God, and when al last its parting folds ad
mitted the President to go with the dead he
roes of the republic. The nation felt indeed
that it could hear the whisper of God coming
down among the children of men. knee!ing
iu that troubled hour, when joy and sadness
were SO strongly commingled, the American
people listened to the voice Of their
I'D and made solmn convenant with him,
and with each other, that this nation she uld
be redeemed, all sglories restored, and that
on the ruins of slavery and treason the tenn
pies of freedom and justice should be built.
and should prosper forever. 1t remains for
us, Mr.. Speaker, consecrated by that great
event, and under the covenant with God, TO
keep that faith, and to go on in the good
work until it shall be completed, following
the lead of that great man--and reyerently
following the lead of God, let us remember
that He has sounded forth the trumpet which
shall never call retreat-that he is sitting out
the hearts of men before his judgement seat
Be swift my soul to answer him. Be jubilant
my feet for God is marching on. The motion
Of Mr. Garfield was then agreed to, aud the
House therefore adjourned.