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IN MEMOEIAM 
 ALEXANDER GOLDSTEIN 
 
c 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 JAMES A. GARF1ELD 
 WILLIAM McKINLEY 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESSES DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS ON THE LIFE AND 
 CHARACTER OF 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD 
 WILLIAM McKINLEY 
 
 PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
 OF CONGRESS, AND UNDER DIRECTION OF JOINT COMMITTEE 
 ON PRINTING 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES ROWLEY CUSHMAN 
 
 Clerk of Committee on Printing, House of Representatives 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 1903 
 
<<; 
 
 [Concurrent resolution to print the memorial addresses on the life and character of 
 Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, and William McKinley.] 
 
 Resolved by the Senate {the House of Representatives concurring), 
 That there be printed and bound in one volume, in cloth, fifteen thou 
 sand copies of the three separate memorial addresses delivered before 
 the two Houses of Congress, as follows: On February twelfth, eighteen 
 hundred and sixty-six, by Hon. George Bancroft, on the life and char 
 acter of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States; on 
 February twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, by Hon. 
 James G. Elaine, on the life and character of James A. Garfield, late 
 President of the United States; on February twenty-seventh, nineteen 
 hundred and two, by Hon. John Hay, on the life and character of 
 William McKinley, late President of the United States, ten thousand 
 copies of which shall be for the use of the House of Representatives 
 and five thousand copies for the use of the Senate. The Joint Committee 
 on Printing are hereby authorized to have the copy prepared for the 
 Public Printer, who shall procure suitable portrait etchings to be bound 
 in with these memorials, and shall use such paper and bindings as will 
 make the volumes worthy of a place in the libraries of the land. 
 
 Passed June 26, 1902. 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS ON THE LIFE AND 
 CHARACTER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 BY 
 
 HON. GEORGE BANCROFT 
 j* 
 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE TWO HOUSES OH CONGRESS, FEBRUARY u, 1866 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SENATORS, 
 
 REPRESENTATIVES OF AMERICA: 
 That God rules in the affairs of men is as 
 certain as any truth of physical science. On 
 the great moving Power which is from the 
 beginning hangs the world of the senses and 
 the world of thought and action. Eternal 
 wisdom marshals the great procession of the 
 nations, working in patient continuity through 
 the ages, never halting and never abrupt, 
 encompassing all events in its oversight, and 
 ever effecting its will, though mortals may 
 slumber in apathy or oppose with madness. 
 Kings are lifted up or thrown down, nations 
 come and go, republics flourish and wither, 
 dynasties pass away like a tale that is told; 
 
8 
 
 but nothing is by chance, though men, in their 
 ignorance of causes, may think so. The deeds 
 of time are governed, as well as judged, by 
 : the decrees of eternity. The caprice of fleeting 
 existences bends to the immovable Omnipo 
 tence, which plants its foot on all the centuries 
 and has neither change of purpose nor repose. 
 Sometimes, like a messenger through the thick 
 darkness of night, it steps along mysterious 
 ways; but when the hour strikes for a people, 
 or for mankind, to pass into a new form of 
 being, unseen hands draw the bolts from the 
 gates of futurity; an all-subduing influence 
 prepares the minds of men for the coming 
 revolution; those who plan resistance find 
 themselves in conflict with the will of Provi 
 dence rather than with human devices; and 
 all hearts and all understandings, most of all 
 the opinions and influences of the unwilling, 
 are wonderfully attracted and compelled to 
 bear forward the change, which becomes more 
 
9 
 
 an obedience to the law of universal nature 
 than submission to the arbitrament of man. 
 
 In the fullness of time a Republic rose up 
 in the wilderness of America. Thousands of 
 years had passed away before this child of the 
 ages could be born. From whatever there 
 was of good in the systems of former centu 
 ries she drew her nourishment; the wrecks of 
 the past were her warnings. With the deepest 
 sentiment of faith fixed in her inmost nature, 
 she disenthralled religion from bondage to 
 temporal power, that her worship might be 
 worship only in spirit and in truth. The 
 wisdom which had passed from India through 
 Greece, with what Greece had added of her 
 own; the jurisprudence of Rome; the mediae 
 val municipalities; the Teutonic method of 
 representation; the political experience of 
 England; the benignant wisdom of the expos 
 itors of the law of nature and of nations in 
 France and Holland, all shed on her their 
 
IO 
 
 selectest influence. She washed the gold 
 of political wisdom from the sands wherever 
 it was found; she cleft it from the rocks; she 
 gleaned it among ruins. Out of all the dis 
 coveries of statesmen and sages, out of all the 
 experience of past human life, she compiled a 
 perennial political philosophy, the primordial 
 principles of national ethics. The wise men of 
 Europe sought the best government in a mix 
 ture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy; 
 America went behind these names to extract 
 from them the vital elements of social forms, 
 and blend them harmoniously in the free 
 commonwealth, which comes nearest to the 
 illustration of the natural equality of all men. 
 She intrusted the guardianship of established 
 rights to law, the movements of reform to the 
 spirit of the people, and drew her force from 
 the happy reconciliation of both. 
 
 Republics had heretofore been limited to 
 small cantons, or cities and their dependen- 
 
II 
 
 cies; America, doing that of which the like 
 had not before been known upon the earth, 
 or believed by kings and statesmen to be pos 
 sible, extended her Republic across a conti 
 nent. Under her auspices the vine of liberty 
 took deep root and filled the land; the hills 
 were covered with its shadow; its boughs 
 were like the goodly cedars, and reached unto 
 both oceans. The fame of this only daughter 
 of freedom went out into all the lands of the 
 earth; from her the human race drew hope. 
 
 Neither hereditary monarchy nor hereditary 
 aristocracy planted itself on our soil; the only 
 hereditary condition that fastened itself upon 
 us was servitude. Nature works in sincerity, 
 and is ever true to its law. The bee hives 
 honey; the viper distills poison; the vine stores 
 its juices, and so do the poppy and the upas. 
 In like manner, every thought and every action 
 ripens its seed, each according to its kind. In 
 the individual man, and still more in a nation, 
 
12 
 
 a just idea gives life, and progress, and glory; 
 a false conception portends disaster, shame, 
 and death. A hundred and twenty years ago 
 a West Jersey Quaker wrote: "This trade of 
 importing slaves is dark gloominess hanging 
 over the land; the consequences will be 
 grievous to posterity." At the North the 
 growth of slavery was arrested by natural 
 causes; in the region nearest the Tropics it 
 throve rankly, and worked itself into the 
 organism of the rising States. Virginia stood 
 between the two, with soil and climate and 
 resources demanding free labor, yet capable 
 of the profitable employment of the slave. 
 She was the land of great statesmen, and they 
 saw the danger of her being whelmed under 
 the rising flood in time to struggle against the 
 delusions of avarice and pride. Ninety-four 
 years ago the legislature of Virginia addressed 
 the British King, saying that the trade in slaves 
 was "of great inhumanity," was opposed to 
 
13 
 
 the "security and happiness" of their constit 
 uents, "would in time have the most destruc 
 tive influence," and "endanger their very 
 existence." And the King answered them 
 that, "upon pain of his highest displeasure, 
 the importation of slaves should not be in any 
 respect obstructed." "Pharisaical Britain," 
 wrote Franklin in behalf of Virginia, "to pride 
 thyself in setting free a single slave that hap 
 pened to land on thy coasts, while thy laws 
 continue a traffic whereby so many hundreds 
 of thousands are dragged into a slavery that 
 is entailed on their posterity." "A serious 
 view of this subject," said Patrick Henry in 
 1773, "gives a gloomy prospect to future 
 times." In the same year George Mason 
 wrote to the legislature of Virginia: "The 
 laws of impartial Providence may avenge our 
 injustice upon our posterity." Conforming 
 his conduct to his convictions, Jefferson, in 
 Virginia, and in the Continental Congress, 
 
14 
 
 with the approval of Edmund Pendleton, 
 branded the slave trade as piracy; and he 
 fixed in the Declaration of Independence, as 
 the corner stone of America: "All men are 
 created equal, with an unalienable right to 
 liberty." On the first organization of tempo 
 rary governments for the continental domain, 
 Jefferson, but for the default of New Jersey, 
 would, in 1784, have consecrated every part 
 of that territory to freedom. In the formation 
 of the national Constitution Virginia, opposed 
 by a part of New England, vainly struggled 
 to abolish the slave trade at once and forever; 
 and when the ordinance of 1787 was intro 
 duced by Nathan Dane without the clause 
 prohibiting slavery, it was through the favor 
 able disposition of Virginia and the South that 
 the clause of Jefferson was restored, and the 
 whole Northwestern territory all the terri 
 tory that then belonged to the Nation was 
 reserved for the labor of freemen. 
 
15 
 
 The hope prevailed in Virginia that the 
 abolition of the slave trade would bring with 
 it the gradual abolition of slavery; but the ex 
 pectation was doomed to disappointment. In 
 supporting incipient measures for emancipa 
 tion, Jefferson encountered difficulties greater 
 than he could overcome; and after vain wres 
 tlings, the words that broke from him, "I 
 tremble for my country when I reflect that 
 God is just, that His justice can not sleep 
 forever," were words of despair. It was the 
 desire of Washington s heart that Virginia 
 should remove slavery by a public act; and 
 as the prospects of a general emancipation 
 grew more and more dim, he, in utter hope 
 lessness of the action of the State, did all 
 that he could by bequeathing freedom to his 
 own slaves. Good and true men had, from 
 the days of 1776, suggested the colonizing of 
 the negro in the home of his ancestors; but the 
 idea of colonization was thought to increase 
 
i6 
 
 the difficulty of emancipation, and, in spite of 
 strong support, while it accomplished much 
 good for Africa, it proved impracticable as a 
 remedy at home. Madison, who in early life 
 disliked slavery so much that he wished "to 
 depend as little as possible on the labor of 
 slaves;" Madison, who held that where slav 
 ery exists "the republican theory becomes fal 
 lacious;" Madison, who in the last years of his 
 life would not consent to the annexation of 
 Texas, lest his countrymen should fill it with 
 slaves; Madison, who said: "Slavery is the 
 greatest evil under which the Nation labors 
 a portentous evil an evil moral, political, 
 and economical a sad blot on our free coun 
 try" went mournfully into old age with the 
 cheerless words: "No satisfactory plan has 
 yet been devised for taking out the stain." 
 
 The men of the Revolution passed away. 
 A new generation sprang up, impatient that 
 an institution to which they clung should be 
 
condemned as inhuman, unwise, and unjust. 
 In the throes of discontent at the self-reproach 
 of their fathers, and blinded by the luster of 
 wealth to be acquired by the culture of a new 
 staple, they devised the theory that slavery, 
 which they would not abolish, was not evil, 
 but good. They turned on the friends of col 
 onization, and confidently demanded: "Why 
 take black men from a civilized and Christian 
 country, where their labor is a source of 
 immense gain, and a power to control the 
 markets of the world, and send them to a 
 land of ignorance, idolatry, and indolence, 
 which was the home of their forefathers, but 
 not theirs? Slavery is a blessing. Were they 
 not in their ancestral land naked, scarcely 
 lifted above brutes, ignorant of the course of 
 the sun, controlled by nature ? And in their 
 new abode have they not been taught to know 
 the difference of the seasons, to plow and 
 plant and reap, to drive oxen, to tame the 
 
 3 
 
i8 
 
 horse, to exchange their scanty dialect for the 
 richest of all the languages among men, and 
 the stupid adoration of follies for the purest 
 religion? And since slavery is good for the 
 blacks, it is good for their masters, bringing 
 opulence and the opportunity of educating a 
 race. The slavery of the black is good in 
 itself; he shall serve the white man forever." 
 And nature, which better understood the qual 
 ity of fleeting interest and passion, laughed as 
 it caught the echo, "man" and "forever!" 
 
 A regular development of pretensions fol 
 lowed the new declaration with logical con 
 sistency. Under the old declaration every 
 one of the States had retained, each for itself, 
 the . right of manumitting all slaves by an 
 ordinary act of legislation; now the power of 
 the people over servitude through their legis 
 latures was curtailed, and the privileged class 
 was swift in imposing legal and constitutional 
 obstructions on the people themselves. The 
 
19 
 
 power of emancipation was narrowed or taken 
 away. The slave might not be disquieted by 
 education. There remained an unconfessed 
 consciousness that the system of bondage was 
 wrong, and a restless memory that it was at 
 variance with the true American tradition; its 
 safety was therefore to be secured by political 
 organization. The generation that made the 
 Constitution took care for the predominance 
 of freedom in Congress by the ordinance of 
 Jefferson; the new school aspired to secure for 
 slavery an equality of votes in the Senate, and, 
 while it hinted at an organic act that should 
 concede to the collective South a veto power 
 on national legislation, it assumed that each 
 State separately had the right to revise and 
 nullify laws of the United States, according to 
 the discretion of its judgment. 
 
 The new theory hung as a bias on the 
 foreign relations of the country; there could 
 be no recognition of Haiti, nor even of the 
 
20 
 
 American colony of Liberia; and the world 
 was given to understand that the establish 
 ment of free labor in Cuba would be a reason 
 for wresting that island from Spain. Territo 
 ries were annexed Louisiana, Florida, Texas, 
 half of Mexico; slavery must have its share in 
 them all, and it accepted for a time a dividing 
 line between the unquestioned domain of free 
 labor and that in which involuntary labor was 
 to be tolerated. A few years passed away, 
 and the new school, strong and arrogant, 
 demanded and received an apology for apply 
 ing the Jefferson proviso to Oregon. 
 
 The application of that proviso was inter 
 rupted for three Administrations, but justice 
 moved steadily onward. In the news that 
 the men of California had chosen freedom, 
 Calhoun heard the knell of parting slavery, 
 and on his deathbed he counseled secession. 
 Washington and Jefferson and Madison had 
 died despairing of the abolition of slavery; 
 
21 
 
 Calhoun died in despair at the growth of free 
 dom. His system rushed irresistibly to its 
 natural development. The death struggle for 
 California was followed by a short truce; but 
 the new school of politicians, who said that 
 slavery was not evil, but good, soon sought 
 to recover the ground they had lost, and, 
 confident of securing Kansas, they demanded 
 that the established line in the Territories be 
 tween freedom and slavery should be blotted 
 out. The country, believing in the strength 
 and enterprise and expansive energy of free 
 dom, made answer, though reluctantly: "Be 
 it so; let there be no strife between brethren; 
 let freedom and slavery compete for the Ter 
 ritories on equal terms, in a fair field, under 
 an impartial administration;" and on this 
 theory, if on any, the contest might have been 
 left to the decision of time. 
 
 The South started back in appallment from 
 its victory, for it knew that a fair competition 
 
22 
 
 foreboded its defeat. But where could it now 
 find an ally to save it from its own mistake? 
 What I have next to say is spoken with no 
 emotion but regret. Our meeting to-day is, 
 as it were, at the grave, in the presence of 
 eternity, and the truth must be uttered in 
 soberness and sincerity. In a great republic, 
 as was observed more than two thousand 
 years ago, any attempt to overturn the state 
 owes its strength to aid from some branch of 
 the government. The Chief Justice of the 
 United States, without any necessity or occa 
 sion, volunteered to come to the rescue of the 
 theory of slavery; and from his court there 
 lay no appeal but to the bar of humanity and 
 history. Against the Constitution, against 
 the memory of the Nation, against a previous 
 decision, against a series of enactments, he 
 decided that the slave is property; that slave 
 property is entitled to no less protection than 
 any other property; that the Constitution 
 
23 
 
 upholds it in every Territory against any act 
 of a local legislature, and even against Con 
 gress itself; or, as the President for that term 
 tersely promulgated the saying, "Kansas is 
 as much a slave State as South Carolina or 
 Georgia; slavery, by virtue of the Constitu 
 tion, exists in every Territory." The municipal 
 character of slavery being thus taken away, and 
 slave property decreed to be "sacred," the 
 authority of the courts was invoked to intro 
 duce it by the comity of law into States where 
 slavery had been abolished, and in one of 
 the courts of the United States a judge pro 
 nounced the African slave trade legitimate, and 
 numerous and powerful advocates demanded 
 its restoration. 
 
 Moreover, the Chief Justice, in his elabo 
 rate opinion, announced what had never been 
 heard from any magistrate of Greece or 
 Rome; what was unknown to civil law, and 
 canon law, and feudal law, and common 
 
24 
 
 law, and constitutional law; unknown to Jay, 
 to Rutledge, Ellsworth, and Marshall that 
 there are "slave races." The spirit of evil is 
 intensely logical. Having the authority of 
 this decision, five States swiftly followed the 
 earlier example of a sixth, and opened the 
 way for reducing the free negro to bondage; 
 the migrating free negro became a slave if he 
 but entered within the jurisdiction of a sev 
 enth; and an eighth, from its extent and soil 
 and mineral resources destined to incalculable 
 greatness, closed its eyes on its coming pros 
 perity, and enacted, as by Taney s dictum it 
 had the right to do, that every free black 
 man who would live within its limits must 
 accept the condition of slavery for himself and 
 his posterity. 
 
 Only one step more remained to be taken. 
 Jefferson and the leading statesmen of his day 
 held fast to the idea that the enslavement of 
 the African was socially, morally, and politi- 
 
25 
 
 cally wrong. The new school was founded 
 exactly upon the opposite idea; and they 
 resolved, first, to distract the Democratic 
 party, for which the Supreme Court had now 
 furnished the means, and then to establish a 
 new government, with negro slavery for its 
 corner stone, as socially, morally, and politi 
 cally right. 
 
 As the Presidential election drew on, one 
 of the great traditional parties did not make 
 its appearance; the other reeled as it sought 
 to preserve its old position, and the candidate 
 who most nearly represented its best opinion, 
 driven by patriotic zeal, roamed the country 
 from end to end to speak for union, eager, at 
 least, to confront its enemies, yet not having 
 hope that it would find its deliverance through 
 him. The storm rose to a whirlwind; who 
 should allay its wrath? The most experi 
 enced statesmen of the country had failed; 
 there was no hope from those who were great 
 
26 
 
 after the flesh: could relief come from one 
 whose wisdom was like the wisdom of little 
 children ? 
 
 The choice of America fell on a man born 
 west of the Alleghanies, in the cabin of 
 poor people of Hardin County, Kentucky 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 His mother could read but not write; his 
 father could do neither; but his parents sent 
 him, with an old spelling book, to school, and 
 he learned in his childhood to do both. 
 
 When eight years old he floated down the 
 Ohio with his father on a raft, which bore the 
 family and all their possessions to the shore 
 of Indiana; and, child as he was, he gave help 
 as they toiled through dense forests to the 
 interior of Spencer County. There, in the 
 land of free labor, he grew up in a log cabin, 
 with the solemn solitude for his teacher in his 
 meditative hours. Of Asiatic literature he 
 knew only the Bible; of Greek, Latin, and 
 
27 
 
 mediaeval, no more than the translation of 
 /Esop s Fables; of English, John Bunyan s 
 Pilgrim s Progress. The traditions of George 
 Fox and William Penn passed to him dimly 
 along the lines of two centuries through his 
 ancestors, who were Quakers. 
 
 Otherwise his education was altogether 
 American. The Declaration of Independence 
 was his compendium of political wisdom, the 
 Life of Washington his constant study, and 
 something of Jefferson and Madison reached 
 him through Henry Clay, whom he honored 
 from boyhood. For the rest, from day to day, 
 he lived the life of the American people, 
 walked in its light, reasoned with its reason, 
 thought with its power of thought, felt the 
 beatings of its mighty heart, and so was in 
 every way a child of nature, a child of the 
 West, a child of America. 
 
 At nineteen, feeling impulses of ambition 
 to get on in the world, he engaged himself to 
 
28 
 
 go down the Mississippi in a flatboat, receiv 
 ing ten dollars a month for his wages, and 
 afterwards he made the trip once more. At 
 twenty-one he drove his father s cattle, as the 
 family migrated to Illinois, and split rails to 
 fence in the new homestead in the wild. At 
 twenty-three he was a captain of volunteers 
 in the Black Hawk war. He kept a store; he 
 learned something of surveying; but of Eng 
 lish literature he added to Bunyan nothing 
 but Shakespeare s plays. At twenty-five he 
 was elected to the legislature of Illinois, where 
 he served eight years. At twenty-seven he 
 was admitted to the bar. In 1837 ne chose 
 his home at Springfield, the beautiful center of 
 the richest land in the State. In 1847 ne was 
 a member of the national Congress, where 
 he voted about forty times in favor of the 
 principle of the Jefferson proviso. In 1849 ne 
 sought, eagerly but unsuccessfully, the place 
 of Commissioner of the Land Office, and 
 
2 9 
 
 he refused an appointment that would have 
 transferred his residence to Oregon. In 1854 
 he gave his influence to elect from Illinois to 
 the American Senate a Democrat who would 
 certainly do justice to Kansas. In 1858, as 
 the rival of Douglas, he went before the peo 
 ple of the mighty Prairie State, saying: "This 
 Union can not permanently endure half slave 
 and half free; the Union will not be dissolved, 
 but the house will cease to be divided;" and 
 now, in 1861, with no experience whatever as 
 an executive officer, while States were madly 
 flying from their orbit, and wise men knew 
 not where to find counsel, this descendant of 
 Quakers, this pupil of Bunyan, this offspring 
 of the great West, was elected President of 
 America. 
 
 He measured the difficulty of the duty that 
 devolved upon him, and was resolved to fulfill 
 it. As on the eleventh of February, 1861, he 
 left Springfield, which for a quarter of a century 
 
30 
 
 had been his happy home, to the crowd of his 
 friends and neighbors, whom he was never 
 more to meet, he spoke a solemn farewell: 
 "I know not how soon I shall see you again. 
 A duty has devolved upon me, greater than 
 that which has devolved upon any other man 
 since Washington. He never would have 
 succeeded except for the aid of Divine Provi 
 dence, upon which he at all times relied. On 
 the same Almighty Being I place my reliance. 
 Pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, 
 without which I can not succeed, but with 
 which success is certain." To the men of 
 Indiana he said: "I am but an accidental, 
 temporary instrument; it is your business to 
 rise up and preserve the Union and liberty." 
 At the capital of Ohio he said: "Without a 
 name, without a reason why I should have a 
 name, there has fallen upon me a task such 
 as did not rest even upon the Father of his 
 Country." At various places in New York, 
 
especially at Albany, before the legislature, 
 which tendered him the united support of the 
 great Empire State, he said: "While I hold 
 myself the humblest of all the individuals 
 who have ever been elevated to the Presidency, 
 I have a more difficult task to perform than 
 any of them. I bring a true heart to the work. 
 I must rely upon the people of the whole 
 country for support; and with their sustaining 
 aid, even I, humble as I am, can not fail to 
 carry the ship of state safely through the 
 storm." To the assembly of New Jersey, 
 at Trenton, he explained: "I shall take the 
 ground I deem most just to the North, the 
 East, the West, the South, and the whole 
 country, in good temper, certainly with no 
 malice to any section. I am devoted to peace, 
 but it may be necessary to put the foot down 
 firmly." In the old Independence Hall of 
 Philadelphia he said: "I have never had a 
 feeling politically that did not spring from the 
 
32 
 
 sentiments embodied in the Declaration of 
 Independence, which gave liberty, not alone 
 to the people of this country, but to the world 
 in all future time. If the country can not be 
 saved without giving up that principle, I would 
 rather be assassinated on the spot than sur 
 render it. I have said nothing but what I 
 am willing to live and die by." 
 
 Traveling in the dead of night to escape 
 assassination, LINCOLN arrived at Washing 
 ton nine days before his inauguration. The 
 outgoing President, at the opening of the 
 session of Congress, had still kept as the 
 majority of his advisers men engaged in 
 treason; had declared that in case of even an 
 "imaginary" apprehension of danger from 
 notions of freedom among the slaves, "dis 
 union would become inevitable." LINCOLN 
 and others had questioned the opinion of 
 Taney; such impugning he ascribed to the 
 "factious temper of the times." The favorite 
 
33 
 
 doctrine of the majority of the Democratic 
 party on the power of a Territorial legislature 
 over slavery he condemned as an attack on 
 "the sacred rights of property." The State 
 legislatures, he insisted, must repeal what he 
 called "their unconstitutional and obnoxious 
 enactments," and which, if such, were "null 
 and void," or "it would be impossible for any 
 human power to save the Union." Nay, if 
 these unimportant acts were not repealed, 
 "the injured States would be justified in rev 
 olutionary resistance to the Government of the 
 Union." He maintained that no State might 
 secede at its sovereign will and pleasure; that 
 the Union was meant for perpetuity, and that 
 Congress might attempt to preserve it, but 
 only by conciliation; that "the sword was not 
 placed in their hands to preserve it by force;" 
 that "the last desperate remedy of a despair 
 ing people" would be "an explanatory amend 
 ment recognizing the decision of the Supreme 
 
34 
 
 Court of the United States." The American 
 Union he called "a confederacy" of States, 
 and he thought it a duty to make the appeal 
 for the amendment "before any of these 
 States should separate themselves from the 
 Union." The views of the lieutenant-gen 
 eral, containing some patriotic advice, "con 
 ceded the right of secession," pronounced a 
 quadruple rupture of the Union "a smaller 
 evil than the reuniting of the fragments by 
 the sword," and "eschewed the idea of invad 
 ing a seceded State." After changes in the 
 Cabinet, the President informed Congress that 
 "matters were still worse;" that "the South 
 suffered serious grievances," which should be 
 redressed "in peace." The day after this 
 message the flag of the Union was fired upon 
 from Fort Morris, and the insult was not 
 revenged or noticed. Senators in Congress 
 telegraphed to their constituents to seize the 
 national forts, and they were not arrested. 
 
35 
 
 The finances of the country were grievously 
 embarrassed. Its little Army was not within 
 reach; the part of it in Texas, with all its 
 stores, was made over by its commander to 
 rebels. One State after another voted in 
 convention to secede. A peace congress, so 
 called, met at the request of Virginia to con 
 cert the terms of a capitulation which should 
 secure permission for the continuance of the 
 Union. Congress, in both branches, sought 
 to devise conciliatory expedients; the Terri 
 tories of the country were organized in a 
 manner not to conflict with any pretensions 
 of the South, or any decision of the Supreme 
 Court; and, nevertheless, the representatives 
 of the rebellion formed at Montgomery a 
 provisional government, and pursued their 
 relentless purpose with such success that the 
 lieutenant-general feared the city of Wash 
 ington might find itself "included in a for 
 eign country," and proposed, among the 
 
36 
 
 options for the consideration of LINCOLN, to 
 bid the wayward States "depart in peace." 
 The great Republic appeared to have its 
 emblem in the vast unfinished Capitol, at 
 that moment surrounded by masses of stone 
 and prostrate columns never yet lifted into 
 their places, seemingly the monument of 
 high but delusive aspirations, the confused 
 wreck of inchoate magnificence, sadder than 
 any ruin of Egyptian Thebes or Athens. 
 
 The fourth of March came. With instinc 
 tive wisdom the new President, speaking to 
 the people on taking the oath of office, put 
 aside every question that divided the country, 
 and gained a right to universal support by 
 planting himself on the single idea of union. 
 The Union he declared to be unbroken and 
 perpetual; and he announced his determina 
 tion to fulfill "the simple duty of taking care 
 that the laws be faithfully executed in all the 
 States." Seven days later the convention of 
 
37 
 
 Confederate States unanimously adopted a 
 constitution of their own; and the new gov 
 ernment was authoritatively announced to be 
 founded on the idea that the negro race is a 
 slave race; that slavery is its natural and nor 
 mal condition. The issue was made up, 
 whether the great Republic was to maintain 
 its providential place in the history of man 
 kind, or a rebellion founded on negro slavery 
 gain a recognition of its principle throughout 
 the civilized world. To the disaffected LIN 
 COLN had said: "You can have no conflict 
 without being yourselves the aggressors." 
 To fire the passions of the Southern portion 
 of the people, the Confederate government 
 chose to become aggressors, and, on the 
 morning of the twelfth of April, began the 
 bombardment of Fort Sumter, and compelled 
 its evacuation. 
 
 It is the glory of the late President that 
 he had perfect faith in the perpetuity of the 
 
38 
 
 Union. Supported in advance by Douglas, 
 who spoke as with the voice of a million, he 
 instantly called a meeting of Congress, and 
 summoned the people to come up and repos 
 sess the forts, places, and property which had 
 been seized from the Union. The men of 
 the North were trained in schools; indus 
 trious and frugal; many of them delicately 
 bred; their minds teeming with ideas and 
 fertile in plans of enterprise; given to the 
 culture of the arts; eager in the pursuit of 
 wealth, yet employing wealth less for osten 
 tation than for developing the resources of 
 their country; seeking happiness in the calm 
 of domestic life, and such lovers of peace 
 that for generations they had been reputed 
 unwarlike. Now, at the cry of their country 
 in its distress, they rose up with unappeasable 
 patriotism; not hirelings the purest and of 
 the best blood in the land. Sons of a pious 
 ancestry, with a clear perception of duty, 
 
39 
 
 unclouded faith, and fixed resolve to succeed, 
 they thronged around the President to support 
 the wronged, the beautiful flag of the Nation. 
 The halls of theological seminaries sent forth 
 their young men, whose lips were touched 
 with eloquence, whose hearts kindled with de 
 votion, to serve in the ranks, and make their 
 way to command only as they learned the 
 art of war. Striplings in the colleges, as well 
 the most gentle and the most studious, those 
 of sweetest temper and loveliest character and 
 brightest genius, passed from their classes to 
 the camp. The lumbermen from the forests, 
 the mechanics from their benches, where they 
 had been trained by the exercise of political 
 rights to share the life and hope of the Repub 
 lic, to feel their responsibility to their fore 
 fathers, their posterity, and mankind, went to 
 the front resolved that, their dignity as a con 
 stituent part of this Republic should not be 
 impaired. Farmers and sons of farmers left 
 
40 
 
 the land but half plowed, the grain but half 
 planted, and, taking up the musket, learned to 
 face without fear the presence of peril and the 
 coming of death in the shocks of war, while 
 their hearts were still attracted to their herds 
 and fields and all the tender affections of 
 home. Whatever there was of truth and 
 faith and public love in the common heart 
 broke out with one expression. The mighty 
 winds blew from every quarter to fan the 
 flame of the sacred and unquenchable fire. 
 
 For a time the war was thought to be con 
 fined to our own domestic affairs, but it was 
 soon seen that it involved the destinies of 
 mankind; its principles and causes shook the 
 politics of Europe to the center, and from 
 Lisbon to Pekin divided the governments of 
 the world. 
 
 There was a Kingdom whose people had 
 in an eminent degree attained to freedom 
 of industry and the security of person and 
 
property. Its middle class rose to greatness. 
 Out of that class sprung the noblest poets and 
 philosophers, whose words built up the intel 
 lect of its people; skillful navigators, to find 
 out for its merchants the many paths of the 
 oceans; discoverers in natural science, whose 
 inventions guided its industry to wealth, till it 
 equaled any nation of the world in letters, and 
 excelled all in trade and commerce. But its 
 Government was become a government of 
 land, and not of men; every blade of grass 
 was represented, but only a small minority of 
 the people. In the transition from the feudal 
 forms, the heads of the social organization 
 freed themselves from the military services 
 which were the conditions of their tenure, 
 and, throwing the burden on the industrial 
 classes, kept all the soil to themselves. Vast 
 estates that had been managed by monasteries 
 as endowments for religion and charity were 
 impropriated to swell the wealth of courtiers 
 
42 
 
 and favorites; and the commons where the 
 poor man once had his right of pasture were 
 taken away, and, under forms of law, inclosed 
 distributively within the domains of the 
 adjacent landholders. Although no law for 
 bade any inhabitant from purchasing land, the 
 costliness of the transfer constituted a prohibi 
 tion; so that it was the rule of the country 
 that the plow should not be in the hands of 
 its owner. The church was rested on a con 
 tradiction; claiming to be an embodiment of 
 absolute truth, it was a creature of the statute 
 book. 
 
 The progress of time increased the terrible 
 contrast between wealth and poverty. In their 
 years of strength the laboring people, cut off 
 from all share in governing the state, derived 
 a scant support from the severest toil and 
 had no hope for old age but in public charity 
 or death. A grasping ambition had dotted 
 the world, with military posts, kept watch over 
 
43 
 
 our borders on the Northeast, at the Bermu 
 das, in the West Indies; appropriated the 
 gates of the Pacific, of the Southern, and of 
 the Indian Ocean; hovered on our Northwest 
 at Vancouver, held the whole of the newest 
 continent and the entrances to the old Medi 
 terranean and Red Sea, and garrisoned forts 
 all the way from Madras to China. That 
 aristocracy had gazed with terror on the 
 growth of a commonwealth where freeholders 
 existed by the million and religion was not in 
 bondage to the state; and now they could not 
 repress their joy at its perils. They had not 
 one word of sympathy for the kind-hearted 
 poor man s son whom America had chosen 
 for her chief; they jeered at his large hands 
 and long feet and ungainly stature; and the 
 British secretary of state for foreign affairs 
 made haste to send word through the palaces 
 of Europe that the great Republic was in its 
 agony; that the Republic was no more; that a 
 
44 
 
 headstone was all that remained due by the 
 law of nations to "the late Union." But it 
 is written: "Let the dead bury their dead;" 
 they may not bury the living. Let the dead 
 bury their dead; let a bill of reform remove 
 the worn-out government of a class, and in 
 fuse new life into the British constitution by 
 confiding rightful power to the people. 
 
 But while the vitality of America is inde 
 structible, the British Government hurried 
 to do what never before had been done 
 by Christian powers; what was in direct con 
 flict with its own exposition of public law in 
 the time of our struggle for independence. 
 Though the insurgent States had not a ship 
 in an open harbor, it invested them with all 
 the rights of a belligerent, even on the ocean; 
 and this, too, when the rebellion was not 
 only directed against the gentlest and most 
 beneficent Government on earth, without a 
 shadow of justifiable cause, but when the 
 
45 
 
 rebellion was directed against human nature 
 itself for the perpetual enslavement of a race. 
 And the effect of this recognition was that 
 acts in themselves piratical found shelter in 
 British courts of law. The resources of Brit 
 ish capitalists, their workshops, their armo 
 ries, their private arsenals, their shipyards, 
 were in league with the insurgents, and 
 every British harbor in the wide world be 
 came a safe port for British ships, manned 
 by British sailors, and armed with British 
 guns, to prey on our peaceful commerce; 
 even on our ships coming from British ports, 
 freighted with British products, or that had 
 carried gifts of grain to the English poor. 
 The prime minister, in the House of Com 
 mons, sustained by cheers, scoffed at the 
 thought that their laws could be amended 
 at our request so as to preserve real neutral 
 ity; and to remonstrances now owned to have 
 been just their secretary of state answered 
 
46 
 
 that they could not change their laws ad 
 infinitum. 
 
 The people of America then wished, as 
 they always have wished, as they still wish, 
 friendly relations with England; and no man 
 in England or America can desire it more 
 strongly than I. This country has always 
 yearned for good relations with England. 
 Thrice only in all its history has that yearn 
 ing been fairly met: in the days of Hampden 
 and Cromwell, again in the first ministry of 
 the elder Pitt, and once again in the ministry 
 of Shelburne. Not that there have not at 
 all times been just men among the peers of 
 Britain like Halifax in the days of James 
 the Second, or a Granville, an Argyll, or a 
 Houghton in ours; and we can not be indif 
 ferent to a country that produces statesmen 
 like Cobden and Bright; but the best bower 
 anchor of peace was the working class of 
 England, who suffered most from our civil 
 
47 
 
 war, but who, while they broke their dimin 
 ished bread in sorrow, always encouraged us 
 to persevere. 
 
 The act of recognizing the rebel bellig 
 erents was concerted with France France, 
 so beloved in America, on which she had 
 conferred the greatest benefits that one peo 
 ple ever conferred on another; France, which 
 stands foremost on the continent of Europe 
 for the solidity of her culture, as well as for 
 the bravery and generous impulses of her 
 sons; France, which for centuries had been 
 moving steadily in her own way toward 
 intellectual and political freedom. The policy 
 regarding further colonization of America by 
 European powers, known commonly as the 
 doctrine of Monroe, had its origin in France; 
 and, if it takes any man s name, should bear 
 the name of Turgot. It was adopted by 
 Louis the Sixteenth, in the cabinet of which 
 Vergennes was the most important member. 
 
4 8 
 
 It is emphatically the policy of France, to 
 which, with transient deviations, the Bour 
 bons, the first Napoleon, the house of Orleans 
 have adhered. 
 
 The late President was perpetually har 
 assed by rumors that the Emperor Napoleon 
 the Third desired formally to recognize the 
 States in rebellion as an independent Power, 
 and that England held him back by her reluc 
 tance, or France by her traditions of freedom, 
 or he himself by his own better judgment and 
 clear perception of events. But the Republic 
 of Mexico, on our borders, was, like our 
 selves, distracted by a rebellion, and from a 
 similar cause. The monarchy of England had 
 fastened upon us slavery which did not dis 
 appear with independence; in like manner, 
 the ecclesiastical policy established by the 
 Spanish Council of the Indies, in the days 
 of Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second, 
 retained its vigor in the Mexican Republic. 
 
49 
 
 The fifty years of civil war under which she 
 had languished was due to the bigoted sys 
 tem which was the legacy of monarchy, just 
 as here the inheritance of slavery kept alive 
 political strife, and culminated in civil war. 
 As with us there could be no quiet but 
 through the end of slavery, so in Mexico 
 there could be no prosperity until the crush 
 ing tyranny of intolerance should cease. The 
 party of slavery in the United States sent 
 their emissaries to Europe to solicit aid; and 
 so did the party of the church in Mexico, as 
 organized by the old Spanish Council of the 
 Indies, but with a different result. Just as 
 the Republican party had made an end of 
 the rebellion, and was establishing the best 
 government ever known in that region, and 
 giving promise to the Nation of order, 
 peace, and prosperity, word was brought 
 us, in the moment of our deepest affliction, 
 that the French Emperor, moved by a desire 
 
50 
 
 to erect in North America a buttress for 
 imperialism, would transform the Republic of 
 Mexico into a secundo-geniture for the house 
 of Hapsburg. America might complain; she 
 could not then interpose, and delay seemed 
 justifiable. It was seen that Mexico could 
 not, with all its wealth of land, compete in 
 cereal products with our Northwest, nor in 
 tropical products with Cuba; nor could it, 
 under a disputed dynasty, attract capital, or 
 create public works, or develop mines, or bor 
 row money; so that the imperial system of 
 Mexico, which was forced at once to recognize 
 the wisdom of the policy of the Republic by 
 adopting it, could prove only an unremu- 
 nerating drain on the French treasury for the 
 support of an Austrian adventurer. 
 
 Meantime a new series of momentous 
 questions grows up, and forces itself on the 
 consideration of the thoughtful. Republican 
 ism has learned how to introduce into its 
 
constitution every element of order, as well 
 as every element of freedom; but thus far 
 the continuity of its government has seemed 
 to depend on the continuity of elections. It 
 is now to be considered how perpetuity is to 
 be secured against foreign occupation. The 
 successor of Charles the First of England 
 dated his reign from the death of his father; 
 the Bourbons, coming back after a long series 
 of revolutions, claimed that the Louis who 
 became King was the eighteenth of that name. 
 The present Emperor of the French, disdain 
 ing a title from election alone, calls himself 
 Napoleon the Third. Shall a republic have 
 less power of continuance when invading 
 armies prevent a peaceful resort to the ballot 
 box? What force shall it attach to intervening 
 legislation? What validity to debts contracted 
 for its overthrow? These momentous ques 
 tions are, by the invasion of Mexico, thrown 
 up for solution. A free state once truly 
 
52 
 
 constituted should be as undying as its peo 
 ple; the Republic of Mexico must rise again. 
 
 It was the condition of affairs in Mexico 
 that involved the Pope of Rome in our diffi 
 culties so far that he alone among sover 
 eigns recognized the chief of the Confederate 
 States as a President, and his supporters as 
 a people; and in letters to two great prel 
 ates of the Catholic Church in the United 
 States gave counsels for peace at a time 
 when peace meant the victory of secession. 
 Yet events move as they are ordered. The 
 blessing of the Pope at Rome on the head 
 of Duke Maximilian could not revive in the 
 nineteenth century the ecclesiastical policy of 
 the sixteenth; and the result is only a new 
 proof that there can be no prosperity in the 
 state without religious freedom. 
 
 When it came home to the consciousness 
 of the Americans that the war which they 
 were waging was a war for the liberty of all 
 
53 
 
 the nations of the world, for freedom itself, 
 they thanked God for giving them strength to 
 endure the severity of the trial to which He 
 put their sincerity, and nerved themselves for 
 their duty with an inexorable will. The Pres 
 ident was led along by the greatness of their 
 self-sacrificing example; and as a child, in a 
 dark night on a rugged way, catches hold of 
 the hand of its father for guidance and sup 
 port, he clung fast to the hand of the people, 
 and moved calmly through the gloom. 
 While the statesmanship of Europe was mock 
 ing at the hopeless vanity of their efforts, 
 they put forth such miracles of energy as the 
 history of the world had never known. The 
 contributions to the popular loans amounted 
 in four years to twenty-seven and a half 
 hundred millions of dollars; the revenue 
 of the country from taxation was increased 
 sevenfold. The Navy of the United States, 
 drawing into the public service the willing 
 
54 
 
 militia of the seas, doubled its tonnage in eight 
 months, and established an actual blockade 
 from Cape Hatteras to the Rio Grande; in the 
 course of the war it was increased fivefold 
 in men and in tonnage, while the inventive 
 genius of the country devised more effective 
 kinds of ordnance and new forms of naval 
 architecture in wood and iron. There went 
 into the field for various terms of enlistment 
 about two million men; and in March last the 
 men in the Army exceeded a million; that is to 
 say, nine of every twenty able-bodied men in 
 the free Territories and States took some part 
 in the war; and at one time every fifth of their 
 able-bodied men was in service. In one single 
 month one hundred and sixty-five thousand 
 men were recruited into service. Once, within 
 four weeks, Ohio organized and placed in the 
 field forty-two regiments of infantry nearly 
 thirty-six thousand men; and Ohio was like 
 other States in the East and in the West. 
 
55 
 
 The well-mounted cavalry numbered eighty- 
 four thousand; of horses and mules there 
 were bought, from first to last, two-thirds of a 
 million. In the movements of troops science 
 came in aid of patriotism, so that, to choose a 
 single instance out of many, an army twenty- 
 three thousand strong, with its artillery, trains, 
 baggage, and animals, were moved by rail 
 from the Potomac to the Tennessee, twelve 
 hundred miles, in seven days. On the long 
 marches wonders of military construction 
 bridged the rivers, and wherever an army 
 halted ample supplies awaited them at their 
 ever changing base. The vile thought that 
 life is the greatest of blessings did not rise 
 up. In six hundred and twenty-five battles 
 and severe skirmishes blood flowed like water. 
 It streamed over the grassy plains; it stained 
 the rocks; the undergrowth of the forests was 
 red with it; and the armies marched on with 
 majestic courage from one conflict to another, 
 
56 
 
 knowing that they were fighting for God and 
 liberty. The organization of the medical 
 department met its infinitely multiplied duties 
 with exactness and dispatch. At the news 
 of a battle the best surgeons of our cities 
 hastened to the field to offer the untiring aid 
 of the greatest experience and skill. The gen 
 tlest and most refined of women left homes of 
 luxury and ease to build hospital tents near 
 the armies and serve as nurses to the sick 
 and dying. Besides the large supply of reli 
 gious teachers by the public, the congrega 
 tions spared to their brothers in the field the 
 ablest ministers. The Christian Commission, 
 which expended more than six and a quarter 
 millions, sent nearly five thousand clergy 
 men, chosen out of the best, to keep unsoiled 
 the religious character of the men, and 
 made gifts of clothes and food and medicine. 
 The organization of private charity assumed 
 unheard-of dimensions. The Sanitary Com- 
 
57 
 
 mission, which had seven thousand socie 
 ties, distributed, under the direction of an 
 unpaid board, spontaneous contributions to 
 the amount of fifteen millions in supplies or 
 money a million and a half in money from 
 California alone and dotted the scene of 
 war, from Paducah to Port Royal, from 
 Belle Plain, Virginia, to Brownsville, Texas, 
 with homes and lodges. 
 
 The country had for its allies the river 
 Mississippi, which would not be divided, and 
 the range of mountains which carried the 
 stronghold of the free through western Vir 
 ginia and Kentucky and Tennessee to the 
 highlands of Alabama. But it invoked the 
 still higher power of immortal justice. In 
 ancient Greece, where servitude was the uni 
 versal custom, it was held that if a child were 
 to strike its parent, the slave should defend the 
 parent, and by that act recover his freedom. 
 After vain resistance LINCOLN, who had tried 
 
58 
 
 to solve the question by gradual emancipation, 
 by colonization, and by compensation, at last 
 saw that slavery must be abolished or the 
 Republic must die; and on the first day of 
 January, 1863, he wrote liberty on the banners 
 of the armies. When this proclamation, which 
 struck the fetters from three millions of slaves, 
 reached Europe, Lord Russell, a countryman of 
 Milton and Wilberforce, eagerly put himself 
 forward to speak of it in the name of mankind, 
 saying: "It is of a very strange nature;" "a 
 measure of war of a very questionable kind;" 
 an act "of vengeance on the slave owner," 
 that does no more than "profess to emancipate 
 slaves where the United States authorities can 
 not make emancipation a reality." Now, there 
 was no part of the country embraced in the 
 proclamation where the United States could 
 not and did not make emancipation a reality. 
 Those who saw LINCOLN most frequently had 
 never before heard him speak with bitterness 
 
59 
 
 of any human being; but he did not conceal 
 how keenly he felt that he had been wronged 
 by Lord Russell. And he wrote in reply to 
 other cavils: "The emancipation policy and 
 the use of colored troops were the greatest 
 blows yet dealt to the rebellion; the job was 
 a great national one, and let none be slighted 
 who bore an honorable part in it. I hope 
 peace will come soon and come to stay; then 
 will there be some black men who can re 
 member that they have helped mankind to 
 this great consummation." 
 
 The proclamation accomplished its end, for 
 during the war our armies came into military 
 possession of every State in rebellion. Then, 
 too, was called forth the new power that comes 
 from the simultaneous diffusion of thought 
 and feeling among the nations of mankind. 
 The mysterious sympathy of the millions 
 throughout the world was given spontane 
 ously. The best writers of Europe waked the 
 
6o 
 
 conscience of the thoughtful till the intelligent 
 moral sentiment of the Old World was drawn 
 to the side of the unlettered statesman of 
 the West. Russia, whose Emperor had just 
 accomplished one of the grandest acts in the 
 course of time by raising twenty millions of 
 bondmen into freeholders, and thus assuring 
 the growth and culture of a Russian people, 
 remained our unwavering friend. From the 
 oldest abode of civilization, which gave the 
 first example of an imperial government with 
 equality among the people, Prince Kung, the 
 secretary of state for foreign affairs, remem 
 bered the saying of Confucius, that we should 
 not do to others what we would not that 
 others should do to us, and in the name of 
 his Emperor read a lesson to European diplo 
 matists by closing the ports of China against 
 the war ships and privateers of "the seditious." 
 The war continued, with all the peoples of 
 the world for anxious spectators. Its cares 
 
6i 
 
 weighed heavily on LINCOLN, and his face 
 was plowed with the furrows of thought and 
 sadness. With malice toward none, free 
 from the spirit of revenge, victory made him 
 importunate for peace; and his enemies never 
 doubted his word or despaired of his abound 
 ing clemency. He longed to utter pardon as 
 the word for all, but not unless the freedom 
 of the negro should be assured. The grand 
 battles of Fort Donelson, Chattanooga, Mal- 
 vern Hill, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilder 
 ness of Virginia, Winchester, Nashville, the 
 capture of New Orleans, Vicksburg, Mobile, 
 Fort Fisher, the march from Atlanta, and the 
 capture of Savannah and Charleston, all fore 
 told the issue. Still more, the self-regenera 
 tion of Missouri, the heart of the continent; 
 of Maryland, whose sons never heard the 
 midnight bells chime so sweetly as when they 
 rang out to earth and heaven that by the 
 voice of her own people she took her place 
 
62 
 
 among the free; of Tennessee, which passed 
 through fire and blood, through sorrows and 
 the shadow of death, to work out her 
 own deliverance, and by the faithfulness of 
 her own sons to renew her youth like the 
 eagle proved that victory was deserved and 
 would be worth all that it cost. If words 
 of mercy, uttered as they were by LINCOLN on 
 the waters of Virginia, were defiantly repelled, 
 the armies of the country, moving with one 
 will, went as the arrow to its mark, and with 
 out a feeling of revenge struck a deathblow 
 at rebellion. 
 
 Where in the history of nations had a 
 Chief Magistrate possessed more sources of 
 consolation and joy than LINCOLN? His 
 countrymen had shown their love by choos 
 ing him to a second term of service. The 
 raging war that had divided the country had 
 lulled; and private grief was hushed by the 
 grandeur of the result. The Nation had its 
 
63 
 
 new birth of freedom, soon to be secured 
 forever by an amendment of the Constitution. 
 His persistent gentleness had conquered for 
 him a kindlier feeling on the part of the 
 South. His scoffers among the grandees of 
 Europe began to do him honor. The laboring 
 classes everywhere saw in his advancement 
 their own. All peoples sent him their bene 
 dictions. And at this moment of the height 
 of his fame, to which his humility and mod 
 esty added charms, he fell by the hand of 
 the assassin; and the only triumph awarded 
 him was the march to the grave. 
 
 This is no time to say that human glory 
 is but dust and ashes, that we mortals are no 
 more than shadows in pursuit of shadows. 
 How mean a thing were man, if there were 
 not that within him which is higher than him 
 self; if he could not master the illusions of 
 sense, and discern the connections of events 
 by a superior light which comes from God. 
 
6 4 
 
 He so shares the divine impulses that he has 
 power to subject interested passions to love 
 of country, and personal ambition to the 
 ennoblement of his kind. Not in vain has 
 LINCOLN lived, for he has helped to make this 
 Republic an example of justice, with no caste 
 but the caste of humanity. The heroes who 
 led our armies and ships into battle and fell 
 in the service Lyon, McPherson, Reynolds, 
 Sedgwick, Wadsworth, Foote, Ward, with 
 
 their compeers did not die in vain; they 
 
 / 
 and the myriads of nameless martyrs, and he, 
 
 the chief martyr, gave up their lives willingly 
 "that government of the people, by the peo 
 ple, and for the people shall not perish from 
 the earth." 
 
 The assassination of LINCOLN, who was 
 so free from malice, has by some mysterious 
 influence struck the country with solemn awe, 
 and hushed, instead of exciting, the passion 
 for revenge. It seems as if the just had died 
 
65 
 
 for the unjust. When I think of the friends 
 I have lost in this war and everyone who 
 hears me has, like myself, lost some of those 
 whom he most loved there is no consolation 
 to be derived from victims on the scaffold, or 
 from anything but the established union of 
 the regenerated Nation. 
 
 In his character LINCOLN was through 
 and through an American. He is the first 
 native of the region west of the Alleghanies 
 to attain to the highest station; and how 
 happy it is that the man who was brought 
 forward as the natural outgrowth and first 
 fruits of that region should have been of un 
 blemished purity in private life, a good son, a 
 kind husband, a most affectionate father, and, 
 as a man, so gentle to all. As to integrity, 
 Douglas, his rival, said of him: "LINCOLN is 
 the honestest man I ever knew." 
 
 The habits of his mind were those of med 
 itation and inward thought, rather than of 
 
 9 
 
66 
 
 action. He delighted to express his opinions 
 by an apothegm, illustrate them by a parable, 
 or drive them home by a story. He was 
 skillful in analysis; discerned with precision 
 the central idea on which a question turned, 
 and knew how to disengage it and present it 
 by itself in a few homely, strong old English 
 words that would be intelligible to all. He 
 excelled in logical statement, more than in 
 executive ability. He reasoned clearly, his 
 reflective judgment was good, and his pur 
 poses were fixed; but, like the Hamlet of his 
 only poet, his will was tardy in action; and 
 for this reason, and not from humility or 
 tenderness of feeling, he sometimes deplored 
 that the duty which devolved on him had not 
 fallen to the lot of another. 
 
 LINCOLN gained a name by discussing 
 questions which, of all others, most easily 
 lead to fanaticism; but he was never carried 
 away by enthusiastic zeal, never indulged in 
 
6 7 
 
 extravagant language, never hurried to sup 
 port extreme measures, never allowed himself 
 to be controlled by sudden impulses. During 
 the progress of the election at which he was 
 chosen President he expressed no opinion 
 that went beyond the Jefferson proviso of 
 1784. Like Jefferson and Lafayette, he had 
 faith in the intuitions of the people, and read 
 those intuitions with rare sagacity. He knew 
 how to bide time, and was less apt to run 
 ahead of public thought than to lag behind. 
 He never sought to electrify the community 
 by taking an advanced position with a banner 
 of opinion, but rather studied to move for 
 ward compactly, exposing no detachment in 
 front or rear; so that the course of his Admin 
 istration might have been explained as the 
 calculating policy of a shrewd and watchful 
 politician, had there not been seen behind 
 it a fixedness of principle which from the 
 first determined his purpose and grew more 
 
68 
 
 intense with every year, consuming his life 
 by its energy. Yet his sensibilities were not 
 acute; he had no vividness of imagination 
 to picture to his mind the horrors of the 
 battlefield or the sufferings in hospitals; 
 his conscience was more tender than his 
 feelings. 
 
 LINCOLN was one of the most unassuming 
 of men. In time of success he gave credit 
 for it to those whom he employed, to the 
 people, and to the providence of God. He 
 did not know what ostentation is; when he 
 became President he was rather saddened 
 than elated, and his conduct and manners 
 showed more than ever his belief that all 
 men are born equal. He was no respecter 
 of persons, and neither rank nor reputation 
 nor services overawed him. In judging of 
 character he failed in discrimination, and his 
 appointments were sometimes bad; but he 
 readily deferred to public opinion, and in 
 
6 9 
 
 appointing the head of the armies he fol 
 lowed the manifest preference of Congress. 
 
 A good President will secure unity to his 
 Administration by his own supervision of the 
 various Departments. LINCOLN, who accepted 
 advice readily, was never governed by any 
 member of his Cabinet, and could not be 
 moved from a purpose deliberately formed; 
 but his supervision of affairs was unsteady 
 and incomplete, and sometimes, by a sudden 
 interference transcending the usual forms, he 
 rather confused than advanced the public 
 business. If he ever failed in the scrupu 
 lous regard due to the relative rights of Con 
 gress, it was so evidently without design that 
 no conflict could ensue, or evil precedent be 
 established. Truth he would receive from 
 anyone; but when impressed by others he did 
 not use their opinions till by reflection he 
 had made them thoroughly his own. 
 
 It was the nature of LINCOLN to forgive. 
 
7 o 
 
 When hostilities ceased he, who had always 
 sent forth the flag with every one of its stars 
 in the field, was eager to receive back his 
 returning countrymen, and meditated "some 
 new announcement to the South." The 
 amendment of the Constitution abolishing 
 slavery had his most earnest and unwearied 
 support. During the rage of war we get 
 a glimpse into his soul from his privately 
 suggesting to Louisiana that "in defining the 
 franchise some of the colored people might be 
 let in," saying: "They would probably help, in 
 some trying time to come, to keep the jewel 
 of liberty in the family of freedom." In 1857 
 he avowed himself "not in favor of" what he 
 improperly called "negro citizenship;" for the 
 Constitution discriminates between citizens 
 and electors. Three days before his death 
 he declared his preference that "the elective 
 franchise were now conferred on the very 
 intelligent of the colored men and on those 
 
7 1 
 
 of them who served our cause as soldiers;" 
 but he wished it done by the States them 
 selves, and he never harbored the thought 
 of exacting it from a new government as a 
 condition of its recognition. 
 
 The last day of his life beamed with sun 
 shine, as he sent by the Speaker of this House 
 his friendly greetings to the men of the Rocky 
 Mountains and the Pacific slope; as he con 
 templated the return of hundreds of thousands 
 of soldiers to fruitful industry; as he welcomed 
 in advance hundreds of thousands of emi 
 grants from Europe; as his eye kindled with 
 enthusiasm at the coming wealth of the Nation. 
 And so, with these thoughts for his country, 
 he was removed from the toils and tempta 
 tions of this life and was at peace. 
 
 Hardly had the late President been con 
 signed to the grave when the prime minister 
 of England died, full of years and honors. 
 Palmerston traced his lineage to the time of 
 
72 
 
 the Conqueror; LINCOLN went back only to 
 his grandfather. Palrnerston received his 
 education from the best scholars of Harrow, 
 Edinburgh, and Cambridge; LINCOLN S early 
 teachers were the silent forest, the prairie, 
 the river, and the stars. Palrnerston was in 
 public life for sixty years; LINCOLN for but a 
 tenth of that time. Palmerston was a skillful 
 guide of an established aristocracy; LINCOLN 
 a leader or rather a companion of the people. 
 Palmerston was exclusively an Englishman, 
 and made his boast in the House of Com 
 mons that the interest of England was his 
 shibboleth; LINCOLN thought always of man 
 kind as well as his own country, and served 
 human nature itself. Palmerston, from his 
 narrowness as an Englishman, did not endear 
 his country to any one court or to any one 
 nation, but rather caused general uneasiness 
 and dislike; LINCOLN left America more be 
 loved than ever by all the peoples of Europe. 
 
73 
 
 Palmerston was self-possessed and adroit in 
 reconciling the conflicting factions of the aris 
 tocracy; LINCOLN, frank and ingenuous, knew 
 how 7 to poise himself on the ever moving 
 opinions of the masses. Palmerston was 
 capable of insolence toward the weak, quick 
 to the sense of honor, not heedful of right; 
 LINCOLN rejected counsel given only as a 
 matter of policy, and was not capable of 
 being willfully unjust. Palmerston, essentially 
 superficial, delighted in banter and knew how 
 to divert grave opposition by playful levity; 
 LINCOLN was a man of infinite jest on his 
 lips, with saddest earnestness at his heart. 
 Palmerston was a fair representative of the 
 aristocratic liberality of the day, choosing for 
 his tribunal, not the conscience of humanity, 
 but the House of Commons; LINCOLN took 
 to heart the eternal truths of liberty, obeyed 
 them as the commands of Providence, and 
 accepted the human race as the judge of his 
 
74 
 
 fidelity. Palmerston did nothing that will 
 endure; LINCOLN finished a work which all 
 time can not overthrow. Palmerston is a 
 shining example of the ablest of a cultivated 
 aristocracy; LINCOLN is the genuine fruit of 
 institutions where the laboring man shares 
 and assists to form the great ideas and 
 designs of his country. Palmerston was 
 buried in Westminster Abbey by the order 
 of his Queen, and was attended by the 
 British aristocracy to his grave, which after a 
 few years will hardly be noticed by the side 
 of the graves of Fox and Chatham; LINCOLN 
 was followed by the sorrow of his country 
 across the continent to his resting place in 
 the heart of the Mississippi Valley, to be 
 remembered through all time by his coun 
 trymen and by all the peoples of the world. 
 As the sum of all, the hand of LINCOLN 
 raised the flag; the American people was the 
 hero of the war; and therefore the result is a 
 
75 
 
 new era of republicanism. The disturbances 
 in the country grew not out of anything 
 republican, but out of slavery, which is a part 
 of the system of hereditary wrong; and the 
 expulsion of this domestic anomaly opens to 
 the renovated Nation a career of unthought-of 
 dignity and glory. Henceforth our country 
 has a moral unity as the land of free labor. 
 The party for slavery and the party against 
 slavery are no more, and are merged in the 
 party of union and freedom. The States 
 which would have left us are not brought 
 back as subjugated States, for then we should 
 hold them only so long as that conquest 
 could be maintained; they come to their 
 rightful place under the Constitution as 
 original, necessary, and inseparable members 
 of the Union. 
 
 We build monuments to the dead, but 
 no monuments of victory. We respect the 
 example of the Romans, who never, even in 
 
7 6 
 
 conquered lands, raised emblems of triumph. 
 And our generals are not to be classed in the 
 herd of vulgar warriors, but are of the school 
 of Timoleon and William of Nassau and 
 Washington. They have used the sword 
 only to give peace to their country and 
 restore her to her place in the great assem 
 bly of the nations. 
 
 Senators and Representatives of America, 
 as I bid you farewell, my last words shall be 
 words of hope and confidence; for now slav 
 ery is no more, the Union is restored, a 
 people begins to live according to the laws 
 of reason, and republicanism is intrenched 
 in a continent. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 77 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF 
 REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 MONDAY, February 12, 1866. 
 
 The House met at twelve o clock m. 
 Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. Dr. C. B. 
 Boynton, as follows: 
 
 "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed 
 be Thy name. We thank Thee that once 
 more through the night watches we were safely 
 guarded by Thee, and that our eyes have been 
 opened in peace through Thy love to behold 
 the coming of this gladly solemn day. And 
 now that we are to be called away from the 
 usual public duties of the positions that are 
 occupied here to hold converse awhile with 
 death and with the memories of one whom we 
 
 79 
 
8o 
 
 all honored and loved so much, we beseech 
 Thee, O God, that in Thine infinite mercy 
 Thou wilt grant us all grace to profit as we 
 should by the occasion. We turn away from 
 all relations of a public nature, to country and 
 to time, to think of those more solemn ones 
 that we bear to eternity and to God. May 
 everyone be induced by Thy Holy Spirit to 
 consider to-day what the tendency of life is 
 whether through faith in Jesus Christ it will 
 end in everlasting life. O Lord, prepare all 
 for the proper observance of this solemn day. 
 May everyone interested, and all who may 
 participate in this service, be guided of God, 
 so that all being done decently and in order, 
 this magnificent and solemn testimonial of 
 the Nation to the worth of our departed and 
 murdered President may make a due impres 
 sion on the national heart. 
 
 "And when all is over here, when all the 
 pomp and the pride and the pageantries of 
 
8i 
 
 earth have passed away, may we all be 
 received into Thy heavenly kingdom, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
 To-day had been selected for services to 
 commemorate the life and death of ABRAHAM 
 LINCOLN, late President of the United States, 
 in accordance with the following concurrent 
 resolutions reported from the select joint 
 committee appointed to consider and report 
 by what token of respect and affection it 
 may be proper for the Congress of the 
 United States to express the deep sensibility 
 of the Nation to the event of the decease of 
 their late President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, and 
 adopted unanimously by the two Houses of 
 Congress: 
 
 "Whereas the melancholy event of the 
 violent and tragic death of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 
 late President of the United States, having 
 occurred during the recess of Congress, and 
 
82 
 
 the two Houses sharing in the general grief 
 and desiring to manifest their sensibility 
 upon the occasion of the public bereavement: 
 Therefore, 
 
 "Be it resolved by the Senate (the House 
 of Representatives concurring], That the two 
 Houses of Congress will assemble in the Hall 
 of the House of Representatives on Monday, 
 the twelfth day of February next, that being 
 his anniversary birthday, at the hour of twelve 
 meridian, and that, in the presence of the two 
 Houses there assembled, an address upon the 
 life and character of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, late 
 President of the United States, be pronounced 
 by Hon. Edwin M. Stan ton, a and that the 
 President of the Senate pro tempore and the 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives be 
 requested to invite the President of the United 
 States, the heads of the several Departments, 
 
 a Mr. Stanton having declined, the committee selected Hon. George 
 Bancroft to pronounce the address. 
 
83 
 
 the Judges of the Supreme Court, the repre 
 sentatives of the foreign Governments near 
 this Government, and such officers of the 
 Army and Navy as have received the thanks 
 of Congress who may then be at the seat of 
 government, to be present on the occasion. 
 "And be it further resolved, That the 
 President of the United States be requested 
 to transmit a copy of these resolutions to Mrs. 
 Lincoln, and to assure her of the profound 
 sympathy of the two Houses of Congress for 
 her deep personal affliction, and of their sincere 
 condolence for the late national bereavement." 
 
 The Speaker s desk, and the desk of the 
 Clerk of the House, which was to be occupied 
 by the Orator of the day, were draped in 
 mourning. 
 
 At twelve o clock and ten minutes p. m. 
 the members of the Senate, following their 
 President pro tempore and their Secretary, and 
 
8 4 
 
 preceded by their Sergeant-at-Arms, entered 
 the Hall of the House of Representatives and 
 occupied the seats reserved for them on the 
 right and left of the main aisle. 
 
 The President pro tempore occupied the 
 Speaker s chair, the Speaker of the House 
 sitting at his left. The Chaplains of the 
 Senate and of the House were seated on the 
 right and left of the Presiding Officers of their 
 respective Houses. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the President of the 
 United States, with the members of his Cabi 
 net, entered the Hall and occupied seats, the 
 President in front of the Speaker s table, and 
 his Cabinet immediately on his right. 
 
 Immediately after the entrance of the 
 President, the Chief Justice and the Associate 
 Justices of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States entered the Hall and occupied seats 
 next to the President, on the right of the 
 Speaker s table. 
 
85 
 
 The others present were seated as fol 
 lows: 
 
 The heads of Departments, with the diplo 
 matic corps, next to the President, on the left 
 of the Speaker s table; 
 
 Officers of the Army and Navy who by 
 name have received the thanks of Congress, 
 next to the Supreme Court, on the right of 
 the Speaker s table; 
 
 Assistant heads of Departments, gover 
 nors of States and Territories, and the mayors 
 of Washington and Georgetown, directly in 
 the rear of the heads of Departments; 
 
 The chief justice and judges of the Court 
 of Claims, and the chief justice and associate 
 justices of the supreme court of the District 
 of Columbia, directly in the rear of the 
 Supreme Court; 
 
 The heads of bureaus in the Departments, 
 directly in the rear of the officers of the Army 
 and Navy; 
 
86 
 
 Representatives, on either side of the 
 Hall, in the rear of those invited, four rows 
 of seats on either side of the main aisles 
 being reserved for Senators; 
 
 The Orator of the day, Hon. George 
 Bancroft, at the table of the Clerk of the 
 House; 
 
 The chairmen of the joint committee of 
 arrangements, at the right and left of the 
 Orator, and next to them the Secretary of 
 the Senate and the Clerk of the House; 
 
 The other officers of the Senate and of 
 the House, on the floor at the right and the 
 left of the Speaker s platform. 
 
 When order was restored the Marine 
 Band, stationed in the vestibule, played ap 
 propriate dirges. 
 
 At twelve o clock and thirty minutes p. m. 
 the two Houses were called to order by 
 the President pro tempore of the Senate. 
 
Rev. Dr. Boynton, Chaplain of the House 
 of Representatives, offered the following 
 prayer: 
 
 "Almighty God, who dost inhabit eternity, 
 while we appear but for a little moment and 
 then vanish away, we adore the Eternal 
 Name. Infinite in power and majesty and 
 greatly to be feared art Thou. All earthly 
 distinctions disappear in Thy presence, and 
 we come before Thy throne simply as men, 
 fallen men, condemned alike by Thy law, 
 and justly cut off through sin from com 
 munion with Thee. But through Thy in 
 finite mercy a new way of access has been 
 opened through Thy Son, and consecrated 
 by His blood. We come in that all-worthy 
 Name, and plead the promise of pardon 
 and acceptance through Him. 
 
 "By the imposing solemnities of this scene 
 we are carried back to the hour when the 
 Nation heard, and shuddered at the hearing, 
 
88 
 
 that ABRAHAM LINCOLN was dead was mur 
 dered. We would bow ourselves submis 
 sively to Him by whom that awful hour was 
 appointed. We bow to the stroke that fell 
 on the country in the very hour of its triumph 
 and hushed all its shouts of victory to one 
 voiceless sorrow. The Lord gave and the 
 Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name 
 of the Lord. The shadow of that death has 
 not yet passed from the heart of the Nation, 
 as this national testimonial bears witness 
 to-day. The gloom thrown from these sur 
 rounding emblems of death is fringed, we 
 know, with the glory of a great triumph, and 
 the light of a great and good man s memory. 
 Still, O Lord, may this hour bring to us 
 the proper warning. Be ye also ready, for 
 in such an hour as ye think not the Son 
 of Man cometh. Any one of us may be 
 called as suddenly as he whom we mourn. 
 "We worship Thee as the God of our 
 
9 
 
 fathers. Thou didst trace for them a path 
 over the trackless sea, and bring them to 
 these shores, bearing with them the seed of 
 a great dominion. We thank Thee that the 
 life power of the young Nation they planted 
 received from Thee such energy, guidance, 
 and protection that it spread rapidly over 
 the breadth of the continent, carrying with 
 it Christian liberty, churches, schools, and all 
 the blessings of a Christian civilization. We 
 thank Thee that the progress of the true 
 American life has been irresistible, because 
 sustained by Thy eternal counsels and Thy 
 Almighty power, and because the might of 
 God was in this national life. We have seen 
 it sweeping all opposition away, grinding 
 great systems and parties to powder, and 
 breaking in pieces the devices of men; and 
 Thou hast raised up for it heroic defenders 
 in every hour of peril. We thank Thee, O 
 Strong Defender. And when treason was 
 
 12 
 
9 o 
 
 hatching its plot and massing its armies, 
 then, O God of Israel, who didst bring David 
 from the sheepfold, Thou gavest one reared 
 in the humble cabin to become the hope and 
 stay of this great people in their most peril 
 ous hour, to shield them in disaster, and lead 
 them to final victory. 
 
 "We thank Thee that Thou gavest us 
 an honest man, simple-hearted and loving 
 as a child, but with a rugged strength that 
 needed only culture and discipline. Thanks 
 be to God that this discipline was granted 
 him through stern public trial, domestic sor 
 row, and Thy solemn providences, till the 
 mere politician was overshadowed by the 
 nobler growth of his moral and spiritual 
 nature, till he came, as we believe, into sym 
 pathy with Christ, and saw that we could 
 succeed only by doing justice. Then, in 
 spired by Thee, he uttered those words of 
 power which changed three millions of slaves 
 
9 r 
 
 into men the great act which has rendered 
 his name forever illustrious and secured the 
 triumph of our cause. We think of him 
 almost as the prophet of his era. Thou didst 
 make that honest, great-hearted man the 
 central figure of his age, setting upon good 
 ness, upon moral grandeur, the seal of Thine 
 approval and the crown of victory. We 
 bless Thee that he did not die until assured 
 of victory, until he knew that his great work 
 was done, and he had received all the honor 
 that earth could bestow; and then we believe 
 Thou didst give him a martyr s crown. We 
 thank Thee that we have this hope for the 
 illustrious dead. 
 
 "Great reason have we also to thank Thee 
 that such was the enduring strength of our 
 institutions that they received no perceptible 
 shock from the death of even such a man, 
 and in such an hour, and that Thou didst 
 provide for that perilous moment one whose 
 
92 
 
 strength was sufficient to receive and bear the 
 weight of government, and who, we trust, 
 will work out the great problem of Christian 
 freedom to its final solution, and by equal 
 law and equal rights bind this great people 
 into one inseparable whole. 
 
 "We thank Thee that the representatives 
 of the Nation have come to sit to-day in 
 the shadow of ABRAHAM LINCOLN S tomb, to 
 express once more their now chastened sor 
 row. May they all reconsecrate themselves 
 to those principles which made him worthy to 
 be remembered thus; and then a redeemed 
 and transfigured land will be a fitting monu 
 ment for him and for them. 
 
 "Endow the President with wisdom equal 
 to his great responsibilities, that the blessings 
 of a whole Nation may also be given to him. 
 May his advisers, our judges, and our legisla 
 tors be constantly instructed by Thee. 
 
 "May Thy blessing rest on the officers of 
 
93 
 
 the Army and Navy, by whose skill and 
 courage our triumph was won; upon our sol 
 diers and sailors; upon our people, and on 
 those who are struggling on toward a perfect 
 manhood. 
 
 "Bless these eminent men, the honored 
 representatives of foreign powers. Remem 
 ber the sovereigns and people they represent. 
 We thank Thee that peace reigns with them 
 as with us. May it continue until the nations 
 shall learn war no more. 
 
 "Remember ABRAHAM LINCOLN S widow 
 and family. Comfort them in their sore be 
 reavement. May they be consoled to know 
 how much the father and husband is loved 
 and honored still. 
 
 "Give Divine support to the distinguished 
 orator of the day. May he so speak as to 
 impress the whole Nation s mind. Prepare 
 us to live as men in this age should, that we 
 may be received into Thy heavenly kingdom; 
 
94 
 
 and to Thy name shall be the praise and the 
 glory forevermore. Amen." 
 
 Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, President pro 
 tempore of the Senate, in introducing the 
 Orator of the day, said: 
 
 " No ordinary occasion could have con 
 vened this august assemblage. For four 
 weary years the storm of war, of civil war, 
 raged fiercely over our country. The blood 
 of the best and bravest of her sons was freely 
 shed to preserve her name and place among 
 the nations of the earth. In April last the 
 dark clouds which had so long hung heavily 
 and gloomily over our heads were all dis 
 persed, and the light of peace, more welcome 
 even than the vernal sunshine, gladdened the 
 eyes and the hearts of our people. Shouts 
 of joy and songs of triumph echoed through 
 the land. The hearts of the devout poured 
 themselves in orisons and thanksgivings to 
 
95 
 
 the God of battles and of nations that the 
 most wicked and most formidable rebellion 
 ever known in human history had been effec 
 tually crushed and our country saved. 
 
 "In the midst of all this abounding joy, 
 suddenly and swiftly as the lightning s flash, 
 came the fearful tidings that the Chief Magis 
 trate of the Republic, our President, loved and 
 honored as few men ever were, so honest, so 
 faithful, so true to his duty and his country, 
 had been foully murdered had fallen by the 
 bullet of an assassin. All hearts were stricken 
 with horror. The transition from extreme 
 joy to profound sorrow was never more sud 
 den and universal. Had it been possible for 
 a stranger, ignorant of the truth, to look over 
 our land, he would have supposed that there 
 had come upon us some visitation of the 
 Almighty not less dreadful than that which 
 once fell on ancient Egypt on that fearful 
 night when there was not a house where 
 
96 
 
 there was not one dead. The Nation wept 
 for him. 
 
 "After being gazed upon by myriads of 
 loving eyes, under the Dome of this magnifi 
 cent Capitol, the remains of our President 
 were borne in solemn procession through our 
 cities, towns, and villages, all draped in the 
 habiliments of sorrow, the symbols and tokens 
 of profound and heartfelt grief, to their final 
 resting place in the capital of his own State. 
 There he sleeps, peacefully embalmed in his 
 country s tears. 
 
 "The Senate and House of Represent 
 atives of the United States have deemed 
 it proper to commemorate this tragic event 
 by appropriate services. This day, the birth 
 day of him whom we mourn, has properly 
 been selected. An eminent citizen, distin 
 guished by his labors and services in high 
 and responsible public positions at home 
 and abroad whose pen has instructed the 
 
97 
 
 present age in the history of his country, and 
 done much to transmit the fame and renown 
 of that country to future ages Hon. George 
 Bancroft will now deliver a discourse." 
 
 Mr. Bancroft (who, on coming forward, 
 was greeted with warm demonstrations of 
 applause) then proceeded to deliver the 
 memorial address. 
 
 The exercises of the occasion were closed 
 by the following benediction by the Rev. Dr. 
 Gray, Chaplain of the Senate: 
 
 "God of a bereaved Nation, from Thy 
 high and holy habitation look down upon us 
 and suitably impress us to-day with a sense 
 that God only is great. Kings and Presidents 
 die; but Thou, the universal Ruler, livest to 
 roll on Thine undisturbed affairs forever, 
 from Thy throne. A wail has gone up from 
 the heart of the Nation to heaven O hear, 
 
 13 
 
9 8 
 
 and pity, and assuage, and save. We pray 
 that Thou wilt command Thy blessing now, 
 which is life forevermore, upon the family of 
 the President dead; upon the President liv 
 ing; upon the ministers of state; upon the 
 united Houses of Congress; upon the judges 
 of our courts; upon the officers of the Army 
 and the Navy; upon the broken families 
 and desolated homes all over the land, and 
 especially upon the Nation. And grant that 
 grace and peace and mercy from the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, 
 and the fellowship of God the Spirit, may rest 
 upon and abide with us all, forever and ever. 
 Amen." 
 
 The members of the Senate, the Presi 
 dent of the United States, the Orator of the 
 day, and the invited guests withdrew, while 
 the Marine Band rendered national airs. 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS ON THE LIFE AND 
 CHARACTER OF JAMES A. GARFIELD 
 
 BY 
 
 HON. JAMES G. BLAINE 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE TWO HOUSES OK CONGRESS, FEBRUARY 27, 1882 
 
 99 
 
JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: 
 
 For the second time in this generation 
 the great departments of the Government of 
 the United States are assembled in the Hall 
 of Representatives to do honor to the mem 
 ory of a murdered President. Lincoln fell 
 at the close of a mighty struggle in which 
 the passions of men had been deeply stirred. 
 The tragical termination of his great life 
 added but another to the lengthened suc 
 cession of horrors which had marked so 
 many lintels with the blood of the firstborn. 
 GARFIELD was slain in a day of peace, 
 when brother had been reconciled to brother, 
 and when anger and hate had been banished 
 
IO2 
 
 from the land. "Whoever shall hereafter 
 draw the portrait of murder, if he will show 
 it as it has been exhibited where such exam 
 ple 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, a 
 decorous, smooth-faced, bloodless demon; not 
 so much an example of human nature in 
 its depravity and in its paroxysms of crime, 
 as an infernal being, a fiend in the ordinary 
 display and development of his character." 
 From the landing of the Pilgrims at 
 Plymouth till the uprising against Charles 
 the First, about twenty thousand emigrants 
 came from old England to New England. 
 As they came in pursuit of intellectual free 
 dom and ecclesiastical independence rather 
 than for worldly honor and profit, the emigra 
 tion naturally ceased when the contest for 
 religious liberty began in earnest at home. 
 
103 
 
 The man who struck his most effective blow 
 for freedom of conscience by sailing for the 
 colonies in 1620 would have been accounted 
 a deserter to leave after 1640. The oppor 
 tunity had then come on the soil of England 
 for that great contest which established the 
 authority of Parliament, gave religious free 
 dom to the people, sent Charles to the block, 
 and committed to the hands of Oliver Crom 
 well the supreme executive authority of Eng 
 land. The English emigration was never 
 renewed, and from these twenty thousand 
 men, and from a small emigration from Scot 
 land, from Ireland, and from Erance, are 
 descended the vast numbers who have New 
 England blood in their veins. 
 
 In 1685 the revocation of the edict of 
 Nantes by Louis the Fourteenth scattered 
 to other countries four hundred thousand 
 Protestants, who were among the most intel 
 ligent and enterprising of Erench subjects 
 
104 
 
 merchants 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; 
 a few landed in New England and became 
 honorably prominent in its history. Their 
 names have in large part become angli 
 cized, or have disappeared, but their blood 
 is traceable in many of the most reputable 
 families, and their fame is perpetuated in 
 honorable memorials and useful institutions. 
 
 From these two sources, the English- 
 Puritan and the French-Huguenot, came 
 the late President his father, Abram Gar- 
 field, being descended from the one, and 
 his mother, Eliza Ballou, from the other. 
 
 It was good stock on both sides none 
 better, none braver, none truer. There was 
 in it an inheritance of courage, of manliness, 
 of imperishable love of liberty, of undying 
 adherence to principle. GARFIELD was proud 
 
of his blood; and, with as much satisfaction 
 as if he were a British nobleman reading 
 his stately ancestral record in Burke s Peer 
 age, 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 Protestants 
 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 busied himself in searching out 
 every trace of his forefathers in parish regis 
 tries and on ancient army rolls. Sitting with 
 a friend in the gallery of the House of Com 
 mons, one night, after a long day s 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 
 sturdy blows for constitutional government 
 and human liberty, his family had been 
 14 
 
io6 
 
 represented. They were at Marston Moor, at 
 Naseby, and at Preston; they were at Bunker 
 Hill, at Saratoga, and at Monmouth, and in 
 his own person had battled for the same great 
 cause in the war which preserved the Union 
 of the States. 
 
 His father dying before he was two 
 years old, GARFIELD S early life was one of 
 privation, but its poverty has been made 
 indelicately and unjustly prominent. Thou 
 sands of readers have imagined him as the 
 ragged, starving child, whose reality too often 
 greets the eye in the squalid sections of our 
 large cities. General GARFIELD S infancy and 
 youth had none of this destitution, none of 
 these pitiful features appealing to the tender 
 heart and to the open hand of charity. He 
 was a poor boy in the same sense in which 
 Henry Clay was a poor boy; in which Andrew 
 Jackson was a poor boy; in which Daniel 
 Webster was a poor boy; in the sense in 
 
io 7 
 
 which a large majority of the eminent men of 
 America in all generations have been poor 
 boys. Before a great multitude, in a public 
 speech, Mr. Webster bore this testimony: 
 
 "It did not happen to me to be born in a 
 log cabin, but my elder brothers and sisters 
 were born in a log cabin raised amid the 
 snowdrifts of New Hampshire, at a period 
 so early that when the smoke rose first from 
 its rude chimney and curled over the frozen 
 hills there was no similar evidence of a white 
 man s habitation between it and the settle 
 ments on the rivers of Canada. Its remains 
 still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I 
 carry my children to it to teach them the 
 hardships endured by the generations which 
 have gone before them. I love to dwell on 
 the tender recollections, the kindred ties, the 
 early affections, and the touching narratives 
 and incidents which mingle with all I know 
 of this primitive family abode." 
 
io8 
 
 With the requisite change of scene the 
 same words would aptly portray the early 
 days of GARFIELD. The poverty of the fron 
 tier, where all are engaged in a common 
 struggle and where a common sympathy and 
 hearty cooperation lighten the burdens of 
 each, is a very different poverty, different in 
 kind, different in influence and effect, from 
 that conscious and humiliating indigence 
 which is every day forced to contrast itself 
 with neighboring wealth on which it feels a 
 sense of grinding dependence. The poverty 
 of the frontier is indeed no poverty. It is 
 but the beginning of wealth, and has the 
 boundless possibilities of the future always 
 opening before it. No man ever grew up in 
 the agricultural regions of the West, where a 
 house raising, or even a corn husking, is 
 matter of common interest and helpful 
 ness, with any other feeling than that of 
 broad-minded, generous independence. This 
 
109 
 
 honorable independence marked the youth of 
 GARFIELD as it marks the youth of millions 
 of the best blood and brain now training for 
 the future citizenship and future government 
 of the Republic. GARFIELD was born heir 
 to land, to the title of freeholder, which has 
 been the patent and passport of self-respect 
 with the Anglo-Saxon race ever since Hengist 
 and Horsa landed on the shores of England. 
 His adventure on the canal an alternative 
 between that and the deck of a Lake Erie 
 schooner was a farmer boy s device for 
 earning money, just as the New England 
 lad begins a possibly great career by sailing 
 before the mast on a coasting vessel or on a 
 merchantman bound to the farther India or 
 to the China seas. 
 
 No manly man feels anything of shame 
 in looking back to early struggles with ad 
 verse circumstances, and no man feels a 
 worthier pride than when he has conquered 
 
no 
 
 the obstacles to his progress. But no one 
 of noble mold desires to be looked upon as 
 having occupied a menial position, as having 
 been repressed by a feeling of inferiority, or 
 as having suffered the evils of poverty until 
 relief was found at the hand of charity. Gen 
 eral GARFIELD S youth presented no hard 
 ships which family love and family energy 
 did not overcome, subjected him to no priva 
 tions which he did not cheerfully accept, and 
 left no memories save those which were 
 recalled with delight, and transmitted with 
 profit and with pride. 
 
 GARFIELD S early opportunities for secur 
 ing an education were extremely limited, 
 and yet were sufficient to develop in him an 
 intense desire to learn. He could read at 
 three years of age, and each winter he had 
 the advantage of the district school. He read 
 all the books to be found within the circle 
 of his acquaintance; some of them he got by 
 
Ill 
 
 heart. While yet in childhood he was a 
 constant student of the Bible, and became 
 familiar with its literature. The dignity and 
 earnestness of his speech in his maturer life 
 gave evidence of this early training. At 
 eighteen years of age he was able to teach 
 school, and thenceforward his ambition was 
 to obtain a college education. To this end 
 he bent all his efforts, working in the harvest 
 field, at the carpenter s bench, and, in the 
 winter season, teaching the common schools 
 of the neighborhood. While thus labori 
 ously occupied he found time to prosecute 
 his studies, and was so successful that at 
 twenty-two years of age he was able to 
 enter the junior class at Williams College, 
 then under the presidency of the venerable 
 and honored Mark Hopkins, who, in the 
 fullness of his powers, survives the eminent 
 pupil to whom he was of inestimable serv 
 ice. The history of GARFIELD S life to this 
 
112 
 
 period presents no novel features. He had 
 undoubtedly shown perseverance, self-reli 
 ance, self-sacrifice, and ambition qualities 
 which, be it said for the honor of our coun 
 try, are everywhere to be found among the 
 young men of America. But from his grad 
 uation at Williams onward, to the hour of 
 his tragical death, GARFIELD S career was 
 eminent and exceptional. Slowly working 
 through his educational period, receiving his 
 diploma when twenty-four years of age, he 
 seemed at one bound to spring into con 
 spicuous and brilliant success. Within six 
 years he was successively president of a 
 college, State senator of Ohio, major-general 
 of the Army of the United States, and Rep 
 resentative-elect to the national Congress. 
 A combination of honors so varied, so ele 
 vated, within a period so brief and to a man 
 so young, is without precedent or parallel in 
 the history of the country. 
 
"3 
 
 GARFIELD S army life was begun with no 
 other military knowledge than such as he had 
 hastily gained from books in the few months 
 preceding his march to the field. Stepping 
 from civil life to the head of a regiment, 
 the first order he received when ready to 
 cross the Ohio was to assume command of a 
 brigade, and to operate as an independent 
 force in eastern Kentucky. His immediate 
 duty was to check the advance of Humphrey 
 Marshall, who was marching down the Big 
 Sandy with the intention of occupying, in 
 connection with other Confederate forces, the 
 entire territory of Kentucky, and of precipi 
 tating the State into secession. This was at 
 the close of the year 1861. Seldom, if ever, 
 has a young college professor been thrown 
 into a more embarrassing and discouraging 
 position. He knew just enough of military 
 science, as he expressed it himself, to meas 
 ure the extent of his ignorance, and with a 
 
 15 
 
handful of men he was marching, in rough 
 winter weather, into a strange country, among 
 a hostile population, to confront a largely 
 superior force under the command of a 
 distinguished graduate of West Point, who 
 had seen active and important service in 
 two preceding wars. 
 
 The result of the campaign is matter of 
 history. The skill, the endurance, the extra 
 ordinary energy shown by GARFIELD, the 
 courage he imparted to his men, raw and 
 untried as himself, the measures he adopted 
 to increase his force and to create in the 
 enemy s mind exaggerated estimates of his 
 numbers, bore perfect fruit in the routing of 
 Marshall, the capture of his camp, the dis 
 persion of his force, and the emancipation of 
 an important territory from the control of 
 the rebellion. Coming at the close of a 
 long series of disasters to the Union arms, 
 GARFIELD S victory had an unusual and 
 
extraneous importance, and in the popular 
 judgment elevated the young commander to 
 the rank of a military hero. With less than 
 two thousand men in his entire command, 
 with a mobilized force of only eleven hun 
 dred, without cannon, he had met an army 
 of five thousand and defeated them driv 
 ing Marshall s forces successively from two 
 strongholds of their own selection, fortified 
 with abundant artillery. Major -General 
 Buell, commanding the Department of the 
 Ohio, an experienced and able soldier of the 
 Regular Army, published an order of thanks 
 and congratulation on the brilliant result of 
 the Big Sandy campaign, which would have 
 turned the head of a less cool and sen 
 sible man than GARFIELD. Buell declared 
 that his services had called into action the 
 highest qualities of a soldier, and Presi 
 dent Lincoln supplemented these words of 
 praise by the more substantial reward of a 
 
n6 
 
 brigadier-general s commission, to bear date 
 from the day of his decisive victory over 
 Marshall. 
 
 The subsequent military career of GAR- 
 FIELD fully sustained its brilliant beginning. 
 With his new commission he was assigned 
 to the command of a brigade in the Army 
 of the Ohio, and took part in the second and 
 decisive day s fight on the bloody field of 
 Shiloh. The remainder of the year 1862 was 
 not especially eventful to GARFIELD, as it was 
 not to the armies with which he was serving. 
 His practical sense was called into exercise 
 in completing the task, assigned him by 
 General Buell, of reconstructing bridges and 
 reestablishing lines of railway communication 
 for the Army. His occupation in this useful 
 but not brilliant field was varied by service 
 on courts-martial of importance, in which 
 department of duty he won a valuable repu 
 tation, attracting the notice and securing the 
 
approval of the able and eminent judge- 
 advocate-general of the Army. This of itself 
 was warrant to honorable fame; for among 
 the great men who in those trying days gave 
 themselves, with entire devotion, to the serv 
 ice of their country, one who brought to that 
 service the ripest learning, the most fervid 
 eloquence, the most varied attainments, who 
 labored with modesty and shunned applause, 
 who in the day of triumph sat reserved and 
 silent and grateful as Francis Deak in the 
 hour of Hungary s deliverance was Joseph 
 Holt, of Kentucky, who in his honorable 
 retirement enjoys the respect and veneration 
 of all who love the Union of the States. 
 
 Early in 1863 GARFIELD was assigned to 
 the highly important and responsible post of 
 chief of staff to General Rosecrans, then at 
 the head of the Army of the Cumberland. 
 Perhaps in a great military campaign no sub 
 ordinate officer requires sounder judgment 
 
n8 
 
 and quicker knowledge of men than the chief 
 of staff to the commanding general. An 
 indiscreet man in such a position can sow 
 more discord, breed more jealousy and dis 
 seminate more strife than any other officer 
 in the entire organization. When General 
 
 GARFIELD assumed his new duties he found 
 
 / 
 various troubles already well developed and 
 
 seriously affecting the value and efficiency of 
 the Army of the Cumberland. The energy, 
 the impartiality, and the tact with which he 
 sought to allay these dissensions and to dis 
 charge the duties of his new and trying 
 position will always remain one of the most 
 striking proofs of his great versatility. His 
 military duties closed on the memorable 
 field of Chickamauga, a field which, however 
 disastrous to the Union arms, gave to him 
 the occasion of winning imperishable laurels. 
 The very rare distinction was accorded him 
 of a great promotion for bravery on a field 
 
that was lost. President Lincoln appointed 
 him a major-general in the Army of the 
 United States for gallant and meritorious 
 conduct in the battle of Chickamauga. 
 
 The Army of the Cumberland was reor 
 ganized under the command of General 
 Thomas, who promptly offered GARFIELD one 
 of its divisions. He was extremely desirous 
 to accept the position, but was embarrassed 
 by the fact that he had, a year before, been 
 elected to Congress, and the time when he 
 must take his seat was drawing near. He 
 preferred to remain in the military service, 
 and had within his own breast the largest 
 confidence of success in the wider field which 
 his new rank opened to him. Balancing the 
 arguments on the one side and the other, 
 anxious to determine what was for the best, 
 desirous above all things to do his patriotic 
 duty, he was decisively influenced by the 
 advice of President Lincoln and Secretary 
 
120 
 
 Stanton, both of whom assured him that he 
 could, at that time, be of especial value in the 
 House of Representatives. He resigned his 
 commission of major-general on the fifth day 
 of December, 1863, and took his seat in the 
 House of Representatives on the seventh. 
 He had served two years and four months 
 in the Army, and had just completed his 
 thirty-second year. 
 
 The Thirty-eighth Congress is preemi 
 nently entitled in history to the designation 
 of the War Congress. It was elected while 
 the war was flagrant, and every member was 
 chosen upon the issues involved in the con 
 tinuance of the struggle. The Thirty-seventh 
 Congress had, indeed, legislated to a large 
 extent on war measures, but it was chosen 
 before anyone believed that secession of the 
 States would be actually attempted. The 
 magnitude of the work which fell upon its 
 successor was unprecedented, both in respect 
 
121 
 
 to the vast sums of money raised for the sup 
 port of the Army and Navy, and of the new 
 and extraordinary powers of legislation which 
 it 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 reputations for ability 
 and with that skill which comes only from 
 parliamentary experience. Into this assem 
 blage of men GARFIELD entered without 
 special preparation, and it might almost be 
 said unexpectedly. The question of taking 
 command of a division of troops under Gen 
 eral 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 contemporaneous. He wore the 
 uniform of a major-general of the United 
 
 16 
 
122 
 
 States Army on Saturday, and on Monday, 
 in civilian s dress, he answered to the roll 
 call as a Representative in Congress from 
 the State of Ohio. 
 
 He was especially fortunate in the constit 
 uency which elected him. Descended almost 
 entirely from New England stock, the men 
 of the Ashtabula district were intensely rad 
 ical 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 withdraw it, they were at once the 
 most helpful and most exacting of support 
 ers. Their tenacious trust in men in whom 
 they have once confided is illustrated by 
 the unparalleled fact that Elisha Whittlesey, 
 Joshua R. Giddings, and JAMES A. GARFIELD 
 represented the district for fifty-four years. 
 
 There is no test of a man s ability in any 
 department of public life more severe than 
 
123 
 
 service in the House of Representatives; there 
 is no place where so little deference is paid 
 to reputation previously acquired, or to emi 
 nence won outside; no place where so little 
 consideration is shown for the feelings or the 
 failures of beginners. What a man 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. It is a field in which the survival 
 of the strongest is the recognized rule, and 
 where no pretense can deceive and no 
 glamour can mislead. The real man is dis 
 covered, his worth is impartially weighed, 
 his rank is irreversibly decreed. 
 
 With possibly a single exception GAR- 
 FIELD was the youngest member in the 
 House when he entered, and was but seven 
 years from his college graduation. But he 
 had not been in his seat sixty days before his 
 ability was recognized and his place conceded. 
 
124 
 
 He stepped to the front with the confidence 
 of one who belonged 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 mis 
 sions of great consequence; but among them 
 all none grew so rapidly, none so firmly as 
 GARFIELD. As is said by Trevelyan of his 
 parliamentary hero, GARFIELD succeeded "be 
 cause all the world in concert could not have 
 kept him in the background, and because 
 when once in the front he played his part 
 with a prompt intrepidity and a commanding 
 ease that were but the outward symptoms 
 of the immense reserves of energy, on which 
 it was in his power to draw." Indeed the 
 apparently reserved force which GARFIELD 
 possessed was one of his great characteristics. 
 He never did so well but that it seemed he 
 
125 
 
 could easily have done better. He never 
 expended so much strength but that he 
 appeared 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 assem 
 bly as the eloquent and elaborate argument. 
 The great measure of GARFIELD S fame 
 was filled by his service in the House of Rep 
 resentatives. His military life, illustrated by 
 honorable performance and rich in promise, 
 was, as he himself felt, prematurely termi 
 nated and necessarily incomplete. Specula 
 tion as to what he might have done in a 
 field where the great prizes are so few can 
 not be profitable. It is sufficient to say that 
 as a soldier he did his duty bravely; he did 
 it intelligently; he won an enviable fame, and 
 he retired from the service without blot or 
 breath against him. As a lawyer, though 
 admirably equipped for the profession, he 
 
126 
 
 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 a competent judge of his own 
 capacities and adaptations, the law was the 
 profession to which GARFIELD should have 
 devoted himself. But fate ordained other 
 wise, and his reputation in history will rest 
 largely upon his service in the House of 
 Representatives. That service was excep 
 tionally long. He was nine times consecu 
 tively chosen to the House, an honor enjoyed 
 probably by not twenty other Representa 
 tives of the more than five thousand who 
 have been elected from the organization of 
 the Government to this hour. 
 
 As a parliamentary orator, as a debater 
 on an issue squarely joined, where the posi 
 tion had been chosen and the ground laid 
 
127 
 
 out, GARFIELD must be assigned a very high 
 rank. More, perhaps, than any man with 
 whom he was associated 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 com 
 plete preparation. He was a 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 GARFIELD S life. In pre 
 liminary work he was apt, rapid, and skillful. 
 He possessed in a high degree the power of 
 readily absorbing ideas and facts, and, like 
 Dr. Johnson, had the art of getting from a 
 book all that was of value in it by a read 
 ing apparently so quick and cursory that it 
 seemed like a mere glance at the table of 
 contents. He was a preeminently fair and 
 candid man in debate, took no petty ad 
 vantage, stooped to no unworthy methods, 
 
128 
 
 avoided personal allusions, rarely appealed 
 to prejudice, did not seek to inflame passion. 
 He had a 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 forget any 
 possible lack in the complete strength of his 
 position. He had a habit of stating his oppo 
 nent s side with such amplitude of fairness 
 and such liberality of concession that his fol 
 lowers often complained that he was giving 
 his case away. But never in his prolonged 
 participation in the proceedings of the House 
 did he give his case away, or fail in the judg 
 ment of competent and impartial listeners to 
 gain the mastery. 
 
 These characteristics, which marked GAR- 
 FIELD as a great debater, did not, however, 
 make him a great parliamentary leader. A 
 parliamentary leader, as that term is under 
 stood wherever free representative govern- 
 
129 
 
 ment exists, is necessarily and very strictly 
 the organ of his party. An ardent American 
 defined the instinctive warmth of patriotism 
 when he offered the toast: "Our country, 
 always right; but right or wrong, our coun 
 try." The parliamentary leader who has a 
 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 selection 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 skill 
 fully avoids the strength of his opponent s 
 position and scatters confusion in his ranks 
 by attacking an exposed point when really the 
 righteousness of the cause and the strength 
 of logical intrenchment are against him. He 
 conquers often both against the right and 
 the heavy battalions; as when young Charles 
 17 
 
130 
 
 Fox, in the days of his Toryism, carried the 
 House of Commons against justice, against 
 its immemorial rights, against his own con 
 victions if, indeed, at that period Fox had 
 convictions and, in the interest of a corrupt 
 administration, in obedience to a tyrannical 
 sovereign, drove Wilkes from the seat to 
 which the electors of Middlesex had chosen 
 him and installed Luttrell, in defiance not 
 merely of law 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 most distinguished parlia 
 mentary leaders hitherto developed in this 
 country are Mr. Clay, Mr. Douglas, and Mr. 
 Thaddeus Stevens. They were all men of 
 consummate ability, of great earnestness, of 
 intense personality, differing widely each 
 
from the others, and yet with a signal trait in 
 common the power to command. In the 
 give and take of daily discussion, in the art of 
 controlling and consolidating reluctant and 
 refractory followers, in the skill to overcome 
 all forms of opposition and to meet with com 
 petency and courage the varying phases of 
 unlooked-for assault or unsuspected defection, 
 it would be difficult to rank with these a 
 fourth name in all our Congressional history. 
 But of these Mr. Clay was the greatest. It 
 would, perhaps, be impossible to find in the 
 parliamentary annals of the world a parallel 
 to Mr. Clay, in 1841, when at sixty-four years 
 of age he took the control of the Whig party 
 from the President who had received their 
 suffrages, against the power of Webster in 
 the Cabinet, against the eloquence of Choate 
 in the Senate, against the herculean efforts 
 of Caleb Gushing and Henry A. Wise in the 
 House. In unshared leadership, in the pride 
 
132 
 
 and plenitude of power, he hurled against 
 John Tyler with deepest scorn the mass of 
 that conquering column which had swept 
 over the land in 1840, and drove his Admin 
 istration to seek shelter behind the lines of 
 its political foes. Mr. Douglas achieved 
 a victory scarcely less wonderful when in 
 1854, against the secret desires of a strong 
 Administration, against the wise counsel of 
 the older chiefs, against the conservative 
 instincts and even the moral sense of the 
 country, he forced a reluctant Congress into 
 a repeal of the Missouri compromise. Mr. 
 Thaddeus Stevens in his contests from 1865 
 to 1868 actually advanced his parliamentary 
 leadership until Congress tied the hands of 
 the President and governed the country by 
 its own will, leaving only perfunctory duties 
 to be discharged by the Executive. With two 
 hundred millions of patronage in his hands 
 at the opening of the contest, aided by the 
 
133 
 
 active force of Sevvard in the Cabinet and 
 the moral power of Chase on the bench, 
 Andrew Johnson could not command the 
 support of one-third in either House against 
 the parliamentary uprising of which Thad- 
 deus Stevens was the animating spirit and 
 the unquestioned leader. 
 
 From these three great men GARFIELD 
 differed radically differed in the quality of 
 his mind, in temperament, in the form and 
 phase of ambition. He could not do what 
 they did, but he could do what they could 
 not, and in the breadth of his Congressional 
 work he left that which will longer exert a 
 potential influence among men, and which, 
 measured by the severe test of posthumous 
 criticism, will secure a more enduring and 
 more enviable fame. 
 
 Those unfamiliar with GARFIELD S indus 
 try, and ignorant of the details of his work, 
 may, in some degree, measure them by the 
 
134 
 
 annals of Congress. No one of the genera 
 tion of public men to which he belonged 
 has contributed so much that will prove 
 valuable for future reference. His speeches 
 are numerous, many of them brilliant, all 
 of them well studied, carefully phrased, and 
 exhaustive of the subject under consideration. 
 Collected from the scattered pages of ninety 
 royal octavo volumes of Congressional rec 
 ord, they would present an invaluable com 
 pendium of the political events of the most 
 important era through which the national 
 Government has ever passed. When the his 
 tory of this period shall be impartially written, 
 when war legislation, measures of reconstruc 
 tion, protection of human rights, amendments 
 to the Constitution, maintenance of public 
 credit, steps toward specie resumption, true 
 theories of revenue may be reviewed unsur- 
 rounded by prejudice and disconnected from 
 partisanism, the speeches of GARFIELD will 
 
be estimated at their true value, and will 
 be found to comprise a vast magazine of fact 
 and argument, of clear analysis and sound 
 conclusion. Indeed, if no other authority 
 were accessible, his speeches in the House of 
 Representatives from December, 1863, to 
 June, 1880, would give a well-connected his 
 tory and complete defense of the important 
 legislation of the seventeen eventful years 
 that constitute his parliamentary life. Far 
 beyond that, his speeches would be found to 
 forecast many great measures yet to be 
 completed measures which he knew were 
 beyond the public opinion of the hour, but 
 which he confidently believed would secure 
 popular approval within the period of his 
 own lifetime and by the aid of his own efforts. 
 Differing, as GARFIELD does, from the 
 brilliant parliamentary leaders, it is not easy 
 to find his counterpart anywhere in the 
 record of American public life. He perhaps 
 
i 3 6 
 
 more nearly resembles Mr. Seward in his 
 supreme faith in the all-conquering power of 
 a principle. He had the love of learning and 
 the patient industry of investigation to which 
 John Quincy Adams owes his prominence 
 and his Presidency. He had some of those 
 ponderous elements of mind which distin 
 guished Mr. Webster, and which, indeed, in 
 all our public life have left the great Massa 
 chusetts Senator without an intellectual peer. 
 In English parliamentary history, as in 
 our own, the leaders in the House of Com 
 mons present points of essential difference 
 from GARFIELD. But some of his methods 
 recall the best features in the strong, inde 
 pendent course of Sir Robert Peel, to 
 whom he had striking resemblances in the 
 type of his mind and in the habit of his 
 speech. He had all of Burke 1 s love for the 
 sublime and the beautiful, with, possibly, 
 something of his superabundance. In his 
 
137 
 
 faith and his magnanimity, in his power of 
 statement, in his subtle analysis, in his 
 faultless logic, in his love of literature, in 
 his wealth and world of illustration, one is 
 reminded of that great English statesman of 
 to-day, who, confronted with obstacles that 
 would daunt any but the dauntless, reviled 
 by those whom he would relieve as bitterly 
 as by those whose supposed rights he is 
 forced to invade, still labors with serene 
 courage for the amelioration of Ireland and 
 for the honor of the English name. 
 
 GARFIELD S nomination to the Presidency, 
 while not predicted or anticipated, was not a 
 surprise to the country. His prominence in 
 Congress, his solid qualities, his wide repu 
 tation, strengthened by his then recent elec 
 tion as Senator from Ohio, kept him in the 
 public eye as a man occupying the very 
 highest rank among those entitled to be 
 called statesmen. It was not mere chance 
 
 18 
 
138 
 
 that brought him this high honor. "We 
 must," says Mr. Emerson, "reckon success a 
 constitutional trait. If Eric is in robust 
 health and has slept well and is at the top 
 of his condition, and thirty years old at his 
 departure from Greenland, he will steer 
 west and his ships will reach Newfoundland. 
 But take Eric out and put in a stronger 
 and bolder man and the ships will sail six 
 hundred, one thousand, fifteen hundred miles 
 farther and reach Labrador and New Eng 
 land. There is no chance in results." 
 
 As a candidate GARFIELD steadily grew 
 in popular favor. He was met with a storm 
 of detraction at the very hour of his nomi 
 nation, and it continued with increasing 
 volume and momentum until the close of 
 his victorious campaign. 
 
 No might nor greatness in mortality 
 Can censure scape; back- wounding calumny 
 The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong 
 Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?" 
 
139 
 
 Under it all he was calm and strong and 
 confident; never lost his self-possession, did 
 no unwise act, spoke no hasty or ill-consid 
 ered word. Indeed, nothing in his whole life 
 is more remarkable or more creditable than 
 his bearing through those five full months of 
 vituperation a prolonged agony of trial to 
 a sensitive man, a constant and cruel draft 
 upon the powers of moral endurance. The 
 great mass of these unjust imputations passed 
 unnoticed, and with the general de bris of 
 the campaign fell into oblivion. But in a 
 few instances the iron entered his soul and 
 he died with the injury unforgotten if not 
 unforgiven. 
 
 One aspect of GARFIELD S candidacy was 
 unprecedented. Never before, in the history 
 of partisan contests in this country, had a 
 successful Presidential candidate spoken 
 freely on passing events and current issues. 
 To attempt anything of the kind seemed 
 
140 
 
 novel, rash, and even desperate. The older 
 class of voters recalled the unfortunate Ala 
 bama letter, in which Mr. Clay was supposed 
 to have signed his political death warrant. 
 They remembered also the hot-tempered 
 effusion by which General Scott lost a large 
 share of his popularity before his nomination, 
 and the unfortunate speeches which rapidly 
 consumed the remainder. The younger 
 voters had seen Mr. Greeley in a series of 
 vigorous and original addresses preparing 
 the pathway for his own defeat. Unmindful 
 of these warnings, unheeding the advice of 
 friends, GARFIELD spoke to large crowds as 
 he journeyed to and from New York in 
 August, to a great multitude in that city, to 
 delegations and deputations of every kind 
 that called at Mentor during the summer and 
 autumn. With innumerable critics, watchful 
 and eager to catch a phrase that might be 
 turned into odium or ridicule, or a sentence 
 
141 
 
 that might be distorted to his own or his 
 party s injury, GARFIELD did not trip or halt 
 in any one of his seventy speeches. This 
 seems all the more remarkable when it is 
 remembered that he did not write what he 
 said, and yet spoke with such logical con- 
 secutiveness of thought and such admirable 
 precision of phrase as to defy the accident 
 of misreport and the malignity of misrepre 
 sentation. 
 
 In the beginning of his Presidential life 
 GARFIELD S experience did not yield him 
 pleasure or satisfaction. The duties that en 
 gross so large a portion of the President s 
 time were distasteful to him, and were unfa 
 vorably contrasted with his legislative work. 
 "I have been dealing all these years with 
 ideas," he impatiently exclaimed one day, 
 "and here I am dealing only with persons. 
 I have been heretofore treating of the funda 
 mental principles of government, and here I 
 
142 
 
 am considering all day whether A or B shall 
 be appointed to this or that office." He was 
 earnestly seeking some practical way of cor 
 recting the evils arising from the distribution 
 of overgrown and unwieldy patronage evils 
 always appreciated and often discussed by 
 him, but whose magnitude had been more 
 deeply impressed upon his mind since his 
 accession to the Presidency. Had he lived, 
 a comprehensive improvement in the mode 
 of appointment and in the tenure of office 
 would have been proposed by him, and with 
 the aid of Congress no doubt perfected. 
 
 But, while many of the Executive duties 
 were not grateful to him, he was assiduous 
 and conscientious in their discharge. From 
 the very outset he exhibited administrative 
 talent of a high order. He grasped the helm 
 of office with the hand of a master. In this 
 respect indeed he constantly surprised many 
 who were most intimately associated with 
 
143 
 
 him in the Government, and especially those 
 who had feared that he might be lacking in 
 the executive faculty. His disposition of 
 business was orderly and rapid. His power 
 of analysis and his skill in classification en 
 abled him to dispatch a vast mass of detail 
 with singular promptness and ease. His 
 Cabinet meetings were admirably conducted. 
 His clear presentation of official subjects, his 
 well-considered suggestion of topics on which 
 discussion was invited, his quick decision 
 when all had been heard, combined to show 
 a thoroughness of mental training as rare as 
 his natural ability and his facile adaptation 
 to a new and enlarged field of labor. 
 
 With perfect comprehension of all the 
 inheritances of the war, with a cool calcula 
 tion of the obstacles in his way, impelled 
 always by a generous enthusiasm, GARFIELD 
 conceived that much might be done by his 
 Administration toward restoring harmony 
 
i 4 4 
 
 between the different sections of the Union. 
 He was anxious to go South and speak to 
 the people. As early as April he had inef 
 fectually endeavored to arrange for a trip 
 to Nashville, whither he had been cordially 
 invited, and he was again disappointed a 
 few weeks later to find that he could not go 
 to South Carolina to attend the centennial 
 celebration of the victory of the Cowpens. 
 But for the autumn he definitely counted on 
 being present at three memorable assemblies 
 in the South, the celebration at Yorktown, the 
 opening of the Cotton Exposition at Atlanta, 
 and the meeting of the Army of the Cum 
 berland at Chattanooga. He was already 
 turning over in his mind his address for each 
 occasion, and the three taken together, he 
 said to a friend, gave him the exact scope 
 and verge which he needed. At Yorktown 
 he would have before him the associations 
 of a hundred years that bound the South 
 
145 
 
 and the North in the sacred memory of a 
 common danger and a common victory. 
 At Atlanta he would present the material 
 interests and the industrial development 
 which appealed to the thrift and independ 
 ence of every household, and which should 
 unite the two sections by the instinct of self- 
 interest and self-defense. At Chattanooga he 
 would revive memories of the war only to 
 show that after all its disaster and all its suf 
 fering, the country was stronger and greater, 
 the Union rendered indissoluble, and the 
 future, through the agony and blood of one 
 generation, made brighter and better for all. 
 GARFIELD S ambition for the success of 
 his Administration was high. With strong 
 caution and conservatism in his nature, he 
 was in no danger of attempting rash exper 
 iments or of resorting to the empiricism 
 of statesmanship. But he believed that re 
 newed and closer attention should be given 
 19 
 
146 
 
 to questions affecting the material interests 
 and commercial prospects of fifty millions of 
 people. He believed that our continental 
 relations, extensive and undeveloped as they 
 are, involved responsibility, and could be 
 cultivated into profitable friendship or be 
 abandoned to harmful indifference or lasting 
 enmity. He believed with equal confidence 
 that an essential forerunner to a new era of 
 national progress must be a feeling of con 
 tentment in every section of the Union, and 
 a generous belief that the benefits and bur 
 dens of government would be common to 
 all. Himself a conspicuous illustration of 
 what ability and ambition may do under 
 republican institutions, he loved his country 
 with a passion of patriotic devotion, and 
 every waking thought was given to her 
 advancement. He was an American in all 
 his aspirations, and he looked to the destiny 
 and influence of the United States with the 
 
147 
 
 philosophic composure of Jefferson and the 
 demonstrative confidence of John Adams. 
 
 The political events which disturbed the 
 President s serenity for many weeks before 
 that fateful day in July form an important 
 chapter in his career, and, in his own judg 
 ment, involved questions of principle and 
 of right which are vitally essential to the 
 constitutional administration of the Federal 
 Government. It would be out of place here 
 and now to speak the language of contro 
 versy; but the events referred to, however 
 they may continue to be source of conten 
 tion with others, have become, so far as 
 GARFIELD is concerned, as much a matter 
 of history as his heroism at Chickamauga or 
 his illustrious service in the House. Detail 
 is not needful, and personal antagonism shall 
 not be rekindled by any word uttered to-day. 
 The motives of those opposing him are not 
 to be here adversely interpreted nor their 
 
148 
 
 course harshly characterized. But of the 
 dead President this is to be said, and said 
 because his own speech is forever silenced 
 and he can be no more heard except through 
 the fidelity and love of surviving friends: 
 from the beginning to the end of the con 
 troversy he so much deplored, the Presi 
 dent was never for one moment actuated 
 by any motive of gain to himself or of loss 
 to others. Least of all men did he harbor 
 revenge, rarely did he even show resent 
 ment, and malice was not in his nature. 
 He was congenially employed only in the 
 exchange of good offices and the doing of 
 kindly deeds. 
 
 There was not an hour, from the begin 
 ning of the trouble till the fatal shot entered 
 his body, when the President would not 
 gladly, for the sake of restoring harmony, 
 have retraced any step he had taken if such 
 retracing had merely involved consequences 
 
149 
 
 personal to himself. The pride of consist 
 ency, or any supposed sense of humiliation 
 that might result from surrendering his posi 
 tion, had not a feather s weight with him. 
 No man was ever less subject to such 
 influences from within or from without. 
 But after most anxious deliberation and the 
 coolest survey of all the circumstances, he 
 solemnly believed that the true prerogatives 
 of the Executive were involved in the issue 
 which had been raised, and that he would 
 be unfaithful to his supreme obligation if 
 he failed to maintain, in all their vigor, the 
 constitutional rights and dignities of his 
 great office. He believed this in all the 
 convictions of conscience when in sound 
 and vigorous health, and he believed it in 
 his suffering and prostration in the last 
 conscious thought which his wearied mind 
 bestowed on the transitory struggles of life. 
 More than this need not be said. Less 
 
than this could not be said. Justice to the 
 dead, the highest obligation that devolves 
 upon the living, demands the declaration 
 that in all the bearings of the subject, actual 
 or possible, the President was content in his 
 mind, justified in his conscience, immovable 
 in his conclusions. 
 
 The religious element in GARFIELD S 
 character was deep and earnest. In his 
 early youth he espoused the faith of the 
 Disciples, a sect of that great Baptist com 
 munion which in different ecclesiastical estab 
 lishments is so numerous and so influential 
 throughout all parts of the United States. 
 But the broadening tendency of his mind and 
 his active spirit of inquiry were early appar 
 ent and carried him beyond the dogmas of 
 sect and the restraints of association. In 
 selecting a college in which to continue 
 his education he rejected Bethany, though 
 presided over by Alexander Campbell, the 
 
greatest preacher of his church. His rea 
 sons were characteristic: first, that Bethany 
 leaned too heavily toward slavery; and, sec 
 ond, that being himself a Disciple and the 
 son of Disciple parents, he had little acquaint 
 ance with people of other beliefs, and he 
 thought it would make him more liberal, 
 quoting his own words, both in his religious 
 and general views, to go into a new circle 
 and be under new influences. 
 
 The liberal tendency which he anticipated 
 as the result of wider culture was fully real 
 ized. He was emancipated from mere sec 
 tarian belief, and with eager interest pushed 
 his investigations in the direction of mod 
 ern progressive thought. He followed with 
 quickening step in the paths of exploration 
 and speculation so fearlessly trodden by 
 Darwin, by Huxley, by Tyndall, and by 
 other living scientists of the radical and 
 advanced type. His own church, binding its 
 
152 
 
 disciples by no formulated creed, but accept 
 ing the Old and New Testaments as the word 
 of God, with unbiased liberality of private 
 interpretation, favored, if it did not stimulate, 
 the spirit of investigation. Its members pro 
 fess with sincerity, and profess only, to be 
 of one mind and one faith with those who 
 immediately followed the Master, and who 
 were first called Christians at Antioch. 
 
 But however high GARFIELD reasoned of 
 "fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge abso 
 lute," he was never separated from the 
 Church of the Disciples in his affections 
 and in his associations. For him it held 
 the Ark of the Covenant. To him it was the 
 gate of Heaven. The world of religious 
 belief is full of solecisms and contradictions. 
 A philosophic observer declares that men by 
 the thousand will die in defense of a creed 
 whose doctrines they do not comprehend and 
 whose tenets they habitually violate. It is 
 
equally true that men by the thousand will 
 cling to church organizations with instinctive 
 and undying fidelity when their belief in 
 maturer years is radically different from that 
 which inspired them as neophytes. 
 
 But after this range of speculation and 
 this latitude of doubt GARFIELD came back 
 always with freshness and delight to the 
 simpler instincts of religious faith, which, 
 earliest implanted, longest survive. Not 
 many weeks before his assassination, walk 
 ing on the banks of the Potomac with a 
 friend, and conversing on those topics of 
 personal religion concerning which noble 
 natures have an unconquerable reserve, he 
 said that he found the Lord s Prayer and the 
 simple petitions learned in infancy infinitely 
 restful to him, not merely in their stated 
 repetition, but in their casual and frequent 
 recall as he went about the daily duties of 
 life. Certain texts of Scripture had a very 
 
strong hold on his memory and his heart. 
 He heard, while in Edinburgh some years 
 ago, an eminent Scotch preacher who pre 
 faced his sermon with reading the eighth 
 chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, which 
 book had been the subject of careful study 
 with GARFIELD during all his religious life. 
 He was greatly impressed by the elocution 
 of the preacher and declared that it had 
 imparted a new and deeper meaning to the 
 majestic utterance of St. Paul. He referred 
 often in after years to that memorable serv 
 ice, and dwelt with exaltation of feeling upon 
 the radiant promise and the assured hope 
 with which the great apostle of the Gentiles 
 was "persuaded that neither death, nor life, 
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
 nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
 height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
 shall be able to separate us from the love 
 of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
I 55 
 
 The crowning characteristic of General 
 GARFIELD S religious opinions, as, indeed, of 
 all his opinions, was his liberality. In all 
 things he had charity. Tolerance was of his 
 nature. He respected in others the qualities 
 which he possessed himself sincerity of con 
 viction and frankness of expression. With 
 him the inquiry was not so much what a man 
 believes, but does he believe it? The lines of 
 his friendship and his confidence encircled men 
 of every creed and men of no creed, and to 
 the end of his life, on his ever lengthening 
 list of friends, were to be found the names 
 of a pious Catholic priest and of an honest- 
 minded and generous-hearted freethinker. 
 
 On the morning of Saturday, July second, 
 the President was a contented and happy 
 man not in an ordinary degree, but joy 
 fully, almost boyishly happy. On his way to 
 the railroad station, to which he drove slowly, 
 in conscious enjoyment of the beautiful 
 
156 
 
 morning, with an unwonted sense of leisure 
 and a keen anticipation of pleasure, his talk 
 was all in the grateful and gratulatory vein. 
 He felt that after four months of trial his 
 Administration was strong in its grasp of 
 affairs, strong in popular favor, and destined 
 to grow stronger; that grave difficulties con 
 fronting him at his inauguration had been 
 safely passed; that trouble lay behind him 
 and not before him; that he was soon to 
 meet the wife whom he loved, now recover 
 ing from an illness which had but lately 
 disquieted and at times almost unnerved him; 
 that he was going to his Alma Mater to 
 renew the most cherished associations of his 
 young manhood, and to exchange greetings 
 with those whose deepening interest had fol 
 lowed every step of his upward progress from 
 the day he entered upon his college course 
 until he had attained the loftiest elevation in 
 the gift of his countrymen. 
 
157 
 
 Surely, if happiness can ever come from 
 the honors or triumphs of this world, on 
 that quiet July morning JAMES A. GARFIELD 
 may well have been a happy man. No 
 foreboding of evil haunted him; no slightest 
 premonition of danger clouded his sky. His 
 terrible fate was upon him in an instant. 
 One moment he stood erect, strong, confident 
 in the years stretching peacefully out before 
 him; the next he lay wounded, bleeding, 
 helpless, doomed to weary weeks of torture, 
 to silence, and the grave. 
 
 Great in life, he was surpassingly great 
 in death. For no cause, in the very frenzy 
 of wantonness and wickedness, by the red 
 hand of murder, he was thrust from the full 
 tide of this world s interest, from its hopes, 
 its aspirations, its victories, into the visible 
 presence of death and he did not quail. 
 Not alone for the one short moment in 
 which, stunned and dazed, he could give up 
 
158 
 
 life, hardly aware of its relinquishment, but 
 through days of deadly languor, through 
 weeks of agony that was not less agony 
 because silently borne, with clear sight and 
 calm courage, he looked into his open grave. 
 What blight and ruin met his anguished 
 eyes, whose lips may tell? What brilliant, 
 broken plans; what baffled, high ambitions; 
 what sundering of strong, warm, manhood s 
 friendships; what bitter rending of sweet 
 household ties ! Behind him, a proud, ex 
 pectant Nation, a great host of sustaining 
 friends; a cherished and happy mother, wear 
 ing the full, rich honors of her early toil 
 and tears; the wife of his youth, whose 
 whole life lay in his; the little boys not yet 
 emerged from childhood s day of frolic; the 
 fair young daughter; the sturdy sons just 
 springing into closest companionship, claim 
 ing every day and every day rewarding a 
 father s love and care; and in his heart the 
 
159 
 
 eager, rejoicing power to meet all demand. 
 Before him, desolation and great darkness! 
 And his soul was not shaken. His country 
 men were thrilled with instant, profound, 
 and universal sympathy. Masterful in his 
 mortal weakness, he became the center of a 
 Nation s love, enshrined in the prayers of a 
 world. But all the love and all the sympa 
 thy could not share with him his suffering. 
 He trod the wine press alone. With unfal 
 tering front he faced death. With unfailing 
 tenderness he took leave of life. Above the 
 demoniac hiss of the assassin s bullet he 
 heard the voice of God. With simple resig 
 nation he bowed to the Divine decree. 
 
 As the end drew near, his early craving 
 for the sea returned. The stately mansion 
 of power had been to him the wearisome 
 hospital of pain, and he begged to be taken 
 from its prison walls, from its oppressive, 
 stifling air, from its homelessness and its 
 
i6o 
 
 hopelessness. Gently, silently, the love of a 
 great people bore the pale sufferer to the 
 longed-for healing of the sea, to live or to 
 die, as God should will, within sight of its 
 heaving billows, within sound of its mani 
 fold voices. With wan, fevered face tenderly 
 lifted to the cooling breeze, he looked out 
 wistfully upon the ocean s changing wonders; 
 on its far sails, whitening in the morning 
 light; on its restless waves, rolling shore 
 ward to break and die beneath the noonday 
 sun; on the red clouds of evening, arching 
 low to the horizon; on the serene and shin 
 ing pathway of the stars. Let us think that 
 his dying eyes read a mystic meaning which 
 only the rapt and parting soul may know. 
 Let us believe that in the silence of the 
 receding world he heard the great waves 
 breaking on a farther shore, and felt already 
 upon his wasted brow the breath of the 
 eternal morning. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 21 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF 
 REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 MONDAY, February 27, 1882. 
 
 The House met at twelve o clock m. 
 Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. F. D. Power. 
 
 The Speaker announced that this day 
 had been dedicated by the action of the two 
 Houses of Congress to services in commemo 
 ration of the life and death of JAMES ABRAM 
 GARFIELD, late President of the United 
 States. This action was taken through the 
 adoption of concurrent resolutions by the 
 unanimous vote of the two Houses, pre 
 sented by a select joint committee appointed 
 "to consider and report by what token of 
 respect, esteem, and affection it may be 
 proper for Congress to express its and the 
 
 163 
 
164 
 
 Nation s deep sensibility over the event of 
 the decease of our late President." 
 
 The Clerk read the following concurrent 
 resolutions adopted by both Houses of Con 
 gress December 21, 1881: 
 
 "Whereas the melancholy event of the 
 violent and tragic death of JAMES ABRAM 
 GARFIELD, late President of the United 
 States, having occurred during the recess of 
 Congress, and the two Houses sharing in the 
 general grief and desiring to manifest their 
 sensibility upon the occasion of the public 
 bereavement: Therefore, 
 
 "Be it resolved by the House of Represent 
 atives (the Senate concurring], That the two 
 Houses of Congress will assemble in the 
 Hall of the House of Representatives on 
 a day and hour to be fixed and announced 
 by the joint committee, and that in the pres 
 ence of the two Houses there assembled 
 an address upon the life and character of 
 
JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD, late President of 
 the United States, be pronounced by Hon. 
 James G. Elaine, and that the President of 
 the Senate PYO tcrnpore and the Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives be requested 
 to invite the President and ex-Presidents of 
 the United States, the heads of the several 
 Departments, the Judges of the Supreme 
 Court, the representatives of the foreign 
 Governments near this Government, the 
 governors of the several States, the General 
 of the Army and the Admiral of the Navy, 
 and such officers of the Army and Navy as 
 have received the thanks of Congress who 
 may then be at the seat of government, to 
 be present on the occasion. 
 
 "And be it further resolved, That the 
 President of the United States be requested 
 to transmit a copy of these resolutions to 
 Mrs. Lucretia R. Garfield, and to assure her 
 of the profound sympathy of the two Houses 
 
1 66 
 
 of Congress for her deep personal affliction, 
 and of their sincere condolence for the late 
 national bereavement." 
 
 The Clerk also read the following concur 
 rent resolution adopted by both Houses of 
 Congress February i, 1882: 
 
 "Resolved by the Hoiise of Representatives 
 (the Senate concurring], That Monday, the 
 twenty-seventh day of February, 1882, be set 
 apart for the memorial services upon the late 
 President, JAMES A. GARFIELD." 
 
 The following programme of arrange 
 ments prepared by the joint committee of 
 both Houses was carried out: 
 
 The Capitol will be closed on the morning 
 of the twenty-seventh to all except the mem 
 bers and officers of Congress. 
 
 At ten o clock the east door leading to the 
 Rotunda will be opened to those to whom 
 invitations have been extended under the 
 joint resolution of Congress by the Presiding 
 
i6 7 
 
 Officers of the t\vo Houses, and to those 
 holding tickets of admission to the galleries. 
 
 The Hall of the House of Represent 
 atives will be opened for the admission of 
 Representatives and to those who have invi 
 tations, who will be conducted to the seats 
 assigned to them, as follows: 
 
 The President and ex-Presidents of the 
 United States and special guests will be 
 seated in front of the Speaker. 
 
 * 
 
 The Chief Justice and Associate Justices 
 of the Supreme Court will occupy seats next 
 to the President and ex-Presidents and 
 special guests, on the right of the Speaker. 
 
 The Cabinet officers, the General of the 
 Army and the Admiral of the Navy, and 
 the officers of the Army and Navy who, 
 by name, have received the thanks of Con 
 gress will occupy seats on the left of the 
 Speaker. 
 
 The chief justice and judges of the Court 
 
i68 
 
 of Claims and the chief justice and associate 
 justices of the supreme court of the District 
 of Columbia will occupy seats directly in the 
 rear of the Supreme Court. 
 
 The diplomatic corps will occupy the front 
 row of seats. 
 
 Ex- Vice -Presidents, Senators, and ex- 
 Senators will occupy seats in the second, 
 third, fourth, and fifth rows, on the east side 
 of the main aisle. 
 
 Representatives will occupy seats on the 
 west side of the main aisle and in the rear 
 of the Senators on the east side. 
 
 Commissioners of the District, governors 
 of States and Territories, assistant heads of 
 Departments, and invited guests will occupy 
 seats in the rear of Representatives. 
 
 The Executive gallery will be reserved 
 exclusively for the families of the Supreme 
 Court and the families of the Cabinet and 
 the invited guests of the President. Tickets 
 
169 
 
 thereto will be delivered to the private secre 
 tary of the President. 
 
 The diplomatic gallery will be reserved 
 exclusively for the families of the members of 
 the diplomatic corps. Tickets thereto will be 
 delivered to the Secretary of State. 
 
 The reporters gallery will be reserved 
 exclusively for the use of the reporters for the 
 press. Tickets thereto will be delivered to 
 the press committee. 
 
 The official reporters of the Senate and 
 of the House will occupy the reporters desk 
 in front of the Clerk s table. 
 
 The House of Representatives will be 
 called to order by the Speaker at twelve 
 o clock. 
 
 The Marine Band will be in attendance. 
 
 The Senate will assemble at twelve 
 o clock, and immediately after prayer will 
 proceed to the Hall of the House of Rep 
 resentatives. 
 
170 
 
 The diplomatic corps will meet at half 
 past eleven o clock in the Representatives 
 lobby, and be conducted by the Sergeant- 
 at-Arms of the House to the seats assigned 
 to them. 
 
 The President of the Senate will occupy 
 the Speaker s chair. 
 
 The Speaker of the House will occupy 
 a seat at the left of the President of the 
 Senate. 
 
 The Chaplains of the Senate and of the 
 House will occupy seats next to the Presid 
 ing Officers of their respective Houses. 
 
 The chairmen of the joint committee of 
 arrangements will occupy seats at the right 
 and left of the Orator, and next to them 
 will be seated the Secretary of the Senate 
 and the Clerk of the House. 
 
 The other officers of the Senate and the 
 House will occupy seats on the floor at the 
 right and the left of the Speaker s platform. 
 
Prayer will be offered by Rev. F. D. Power, 
 Chaplain of the House of Representatives. 
 
 The presiding officer will then present 
 the Orator of the day. 
 
 The benediction will be pronounced by 
 the Rev. J. J. Bullock, Chaplain of the Senate. 
 
 By reason of the limited capacity of the 
 galleries the number of tickets is necessarily 
 restricted, and will be distributed as follows: 
 
 To each Senator, Representative, and 
 Delegate, three tickets. 
 
 No person will be admitted to the Capitol 
 except on presentation of a ticket, which will 
 be good only for the place indicated. 
 
 The Architect of the Capitol and the 
 Sergeant -at -Arms of the Senate and Ser 
 geant -at -Arms of the House are charged 
 with the execution of these arrangements. 
 JOHN SHERMAN, 
 WILLIAM McKiNLEY, Jr., 
 
 Chairmen Joint Committee. 
 
172 
 
 Hon. David Davis, President pro tempore 
 of the Senate, called the two Houses to order. 
 
 Rev. F. D. Power, Chaplain of the 
 House of Representatives, offered prayer as 
 follows: 
 
 "O Lord our God, we thank Thee for 
 this hour and for this service. We thank 
 Thee for a great life given to this Nation; 
 for its genius and potencies; for its ex 
 ample and memories; for its immortality 
 and eternity. May this Republic never for 
 get its dead. 
 
 "As we come together this day to recall 
 the wisdom, the integrity, the statesman 
 ship, the loyalty, the reverence for Thee and 
 Thy Word, the unselfish love for country 
 and for all mankind, wherewith Thou didst 
 endow Thy servant and fit him for the 
 administration of the affairs of the Govern 
 ment; as we meditate upon the patience, 
 the sweetness, the fortitude, the faith, the 
 
173 
 
 quiet resignation to Thy will wherewith 
 Thou didst fit him for his sore trial; as 
 we remember his triumph and our sorrow, 
 grant us Thy gracious benediction. 
 
 "We bear, during this memorial service, 
 our Father, before Thee, on our hearts, his 
 loved ones with whom we weep. Sustain, 
 we beseech Thee, the mother who bore him. 
 May the peace of God, that passeth all under 
 standing, be the strength and the crown of 
 her spirit. Be very merciful to the wife in her 
 present separation from the husband of her 
 youth. May she rest in God, and may she 
 find such sympathy and joy in her Saviour as 
 the world can not give nor take away. Be a 
 father to the children now fatherless, and may 
 they imitate the virtues of their illustrious 
 parent, and like him be useful in living and 
 mourned in dying. May the youth of this 
 land and of all lands feel the power of his 
 example and follow in his footsteps. May 
 
174 
 
 those who rule among us and among men 
 everywhere by the study of his virtues be 
 incited to like patriotism and piety. 
 
 "Now we ask thy blessing on this assem 
 bly. May the remembrance of this great life 
 be a genuine help to all those present and 
 that greater audience waiting without. Give 
 grace and utterance to Thy servant who shall 
 speak to us. May his words be wise and 
 worthy and fitly chosen, like apples of gold 
 in pictures of silver. 
 
 "Remember Thy servant before Thee, the 
 President of the United States. Preserve him 
 from evil influences and evil men. May 
 truth rest upon his brow, wisdom upon his 
 lips, justice in his hands, and grace in his 
 heart. Bless his counselors, this Congress 
 assembled, our magistrates and judges, our 
 Army and Navy, our schools and churches, 
 our whole land and all the inhabitants 
 thereof. 
 
175 
 
 "May we keep alive in us the faith and 
 virtue of those who have passed before. 
 Give peace in our time. Make religion and 
 righteousness, truth and justice, knowledge 
 and freedom to abound everywhere. May 
 Thy name be glorified and Thy kingdom 
 rule over us from sea to sea. 
 
 "We ask it all reverently, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
 The President pro tempore of the Sen 
 ate said: "Senators and Representatives, 
 this day is dedicated by Congress for me 
 morial services upon the late President, 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD. I present to you 
 Hon. James G. Elaine, who has been fitly 
 chosen as the Orator for this historical 
 occasion." 
 
 Mr. Elaine (who was greeted with hearty 
 applause) delivered the memorial address. 
 
i 7 6 
 
 Upon its conclusion Rev. J. J. Bullock, 
 Chaplain of the Senate, pronounced the 
 benediction as follows: 
 
 "May the peace of God, which passeth all 
 understanding, keep your minds and hearts 
 in the knowledge and love of God and His 
 Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And the bless 
 ing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost, rest upon and remain 
 with you, now and forevermore. Amen." 
 
 The President and his Cabinet, the Chief 
 Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme 
 Court, and other invited guests then retired 
 from the Hall; after which the Senate returned 
 to their Chamber. 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS ON THE LIFE AND 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM McKINLEY 
 
 BY 
 
 HON. JOHN HAY 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS, FEBRUARY 27, 1902 
 
 77 
 
WILLIAM McKlNLEY. 
 
 Once more, and for the third time, the 
 Congress of the United States are assembled 
 to commemorate the life and the death of a 
 President slain by the hand of an assassin. 
 The attention of the future historian will 
 be attracted to the features which reappear 
 with startling sameness in all three of these 
 awful crimes: the uselessness, the utter lack 
 of consequence of the act; the obscurity, 
 the insignificance of the criminal; the blame- 
 lessness so far as in our sphere of existence 
 the best of men may be held blameless 
 of the victim. Not one of our murdered 
 Presidents should have had an enemy in 
 the world; they were all of such preeminent 
 
 179 
 
i8o 
 
 purity of life that no pretext could be given 
 for the attack of passional crime; they were 
 all men of democratic instincts who could 
 never have offended the most jealous advo 
 cates of equality; they were of kindly and 
 generous nature, to whom wrong or injus 
 tice was impossible; of moderate fortune, 
 whose slender means nobody could envy. 
 They were men of austere virtue, of tender 
 heart, of eminent abilities, which they had 
 devoted with single minds to the good of 
 the Republic. If ever men walked before 
 God and man without blame, it was these 
 three rulers of our people. The only temp 
 tation to attack their lives offered was their 
 gentle radiance: to eyes hating the light that 
 was offense enough. 
 
 The stupid uselessness of such an infamy 
 affronts the common sense of the world. 
 One can conceive how the death of a dicta 
 tor may change the political conditions of an 
 
empire; how the extinction of a narrowing 
 line of kings may bring in an alien dynasty. 
 But in a well-ordered Republic like ours, the 
 ruler may fall, but the state feels no tremor. 
 Our beloved and revered leader is gone; but 
 the natural process of our laws provides us 
 a successor, identical in purpose and ideals, 
 nourished by the same teachings, inspired by 
 the same principles, pledged by tender affec 
 tion as well as by high loyalty to carry to 
 completion the immense task committed to 
 his hands, and to smite with iron severity 
 every manifestation of that hideous crime 
 which his mild predecessor, with his dying 
 breath, forgave. The sayings of celestial 
 wisdom have no date; the words that reach 
 us, over two thousand years, out of the 
 darkest hour of gloom the world has ever 
 known, are true to the life to-day: "They 
 know not what they do." The blow struck 
 at our dear friend and ruler was as deadly 
 
i8a 
 
 as blind hate could make it; but the blow 
 struck at anarchy was deadlier still. 
 
 What a world of insoluble problems such 
 an event excites in the mind ! Not merely in 
 its personal, but in its public aspects, it pre 
 sents a paradox not to be comprehended. 
 Under a system of government so free and 
 so impartial that we recognize its existence 
 only by its benefactions; under a social order 
 so purely democratic that classes can not 
 exist in it, affording opportunities so uni 
 versal that even conditions are as changing 
 as the winds, where the laborer of to-day is 
 the capitalist of to-morrow; under laws which 
 are the result of ages of evolution, so uniform 
 and so beneficent that the President has just 
 the same rights and privileges as the artisan, 
 we see the same hellish growth of hatred and 
 murder which dogs equally the footsteps of 
 benevolent monarchs and blood-stained des 
 pots. How many countries can join with us 
 
in the community of a kindred sorrow! I 
 will not speak of those distant regions where 
 assassination enters into the daily life of gov 
 ernment. But among the nations bound to 
 us by the ties of familiar intercourse who 
 can forget that wise and high-minded auto 
 crat who had earned the proud title of the 
 Liberator, that enlightened and magnanimous 
 citizen whom France still mourns, that brave 
 and chivalrous King of Italy who only lived 
 for his people, and, saddest of all, that lovely 
 and sorrowing Empress whose harmless life 
 could hardly have excited the animosity of 
 a demon? Against that devilish spirit noth 
 ing avails neither virtue, nor patriotism, 
 nor age nor youth, nor conscience nor pity. 
 We can not even say that education is a 
 sufficient safeguard against this baleful evil, 
 for most of the wretches whose crimes have 
 so shocked humanity in recent years are 
 men not unlettered, who have gone from 
 
1 84 
 
 the common schools, through murder, to the 
 scaffold. 
 
 Our minds can not discern the origin nor 
 conceive the extent of wickedness so perverse 
 and so cruel; but this does not exempt us 
 from the duty of trying to control and 
 counteract it. We do not understand what 
 electricity is; whence it comes or what its 
 hidden properties may be. But we know it 
 as a mighty force for good or evil and so 
 with the painful toil of years, men of learn 
 ing and skill have labored to store and 
 to subjugate it, to neutralize and even to 
 employ its destructive energies. This prob 
 lem of anarchy is dark and intricate, but 
 it ought to be within the compass of demo 
 cratic government although no sane mind 
 can fathom the mysteries of these untracked 
 and orbitless natures to guard against their 
 aberrations, to take away from them the hope 
 of escape, the long luxury of scandalous 
 
days in court, the unwholesome sympathy of 
 hysterical degenerates, and so by degrees to 
 make the crime not worth committing, even 
 to these abnormal and distorted souls. 
 
 It would be presumptuous for me in this 
 presence to suggest the details of remedial 
 legislation for a malady so malignant. That 
 task may safely be left to the skill and 
 patience of the national Congress, which have 
 never been found unequal to any such emer 
 gency. The country believes that the mem 
 ory of three murdered comrades of yours, 
 all of whose voices still haunt these walls, 
 will be a sufficient inspiration to enable you 
 to solve even this abstruse and painful prob 
 lem, which has dimmed so many pages of 
 history with blood and with tears. 
 
 Before an audience less sympathetic than 
 this, I should not dare to speak of that great 
 career which we have met to commemorate. 
 But we are all his friends, and friends do not 
 
 24 
 
1 86 
 
 criticise each other s words about an open 
 grave. I thank you for the honor you have 
 done me in inviting me here, and not less for 
 the kind forbearance I know I shall have 
 from you in my most inadequate efforts to 
 speak of him worthily. 
 
 The life of WILLIAM McKiNLEY was, 
 from his birth to his death, typically Amer 
 ican. There is no environment, I should 
 say, anywhere else in the world which could 
 produce just such a character. He was 
 born into that way of life which elsewhere is 
 called the middle class, but which in this 
 country is so nearly universal as to make of 
 other classes an almost negligible quantity. 
 He was neither rich nor poor, neither proud 
 nor humble; he knew no hunger he was not 
 sure of satisfying, no luxury which could 
 enervate mind or body. His parents were 
 sober, God-fearing people; intelligent and 
 upright; without pretension and without 
 
i8 7 
 
 humility. He grew up in the company of 
 boys like himself wholesome, honest, self- 
 respecting. They looked down on nobody; 
 they never felt it possible they could be 
 looked down upon. Their houses were the 
 homes of probity, piety, patriotism. They 
 learned in the admirable school readers of 
 fifty years ago the lessons of heroic and 
 splendid life which have come down from 
 the past. They read in their weekly news 
 papers the story of the world s progress, in 
 which they were eager to take part, and of 
 the sins and wrongs of civilization, with 
 which they burned to do battle. It was a 
 serious and thoughtful time. The boys of 
 that day felt dimly, but deeply, that days of 
 sharp struggle and high achievement were 
 before them. They looked at life with the 
 wondering yet resolute eyes of a young 
 esquire in his vigil of arms. They felt 
 a time was coming when to them should 
 
i88 
 
 be addressed the stern admonition of the 
 Apostle: "Quit you like men; be strong." 
 
 It is not easy to give to those of a later 
 generation any clear idea of that extraordi 
 nary spiritual awakening which passed over 
 the country at the first red signal fires of 
 the civil war. It was not our earliest apoc 
 alypse; a hundred years before the Nation 
 had been revealed to itself, when after long 
 discussion and much searching of heart the 
 people of the colonies had resolved that to 
 live without liberty was worse than to die, 
 and had therefore wagered in the solemn 
 game of war "their lives, their fortunes, and 
 their sacred honor." In a stress of heat 
 and labor unutterable, the country had been 
 hammered and welded together; but there 
 after for nearly a century there had been 
 nothing in our life to touch the innermost 
 fountain of feeling and devotion. We had 
 had rumors of wars even wars we had had, 
 
189 
 
 not without sacrifices and glory but noth 
 ing which went to the vital self-consciousness 
 of the country, nothing which challenged 
 the Nation s right to live. But in 1860 the 
 Nation was going down into the Valley of 
 Decision. The question which had been 
 debated on thousands of platforms, which 
 had been discussed in countless publications, 
 which, thundered from innumerable pulpits, 
 had caused in their congregations the bitter 
 strife and dissension to which only cases of 
 conscience can give rise, was everywhere 
 pressing for solution. And not merely in 
 the various channels of publicity was it alive 
 and clamorous. About every fireside in the 
 land, in the conversation of friends and 
 neighbors, and, deeper still, in the secret 
 of millions of human hearts, the battle of 
 opinion was waging; and all men felt and 
 saw with more or less clearness that an 
 answer to the importunate question, Shall 
 
i go 
 
 the Nation live? was due, and not to be 
 denied. And I do not mean that in the 
 North alone there was this austere wrestling 
 with conscience. In the South as well, 
 below all the effervescence and excitement 
 of a people perhaps more given to eloquent 
 speech than we were, there was the profound 
 agony of question and answer, the summons 
 to decide whether honor and freedom did 
 not call them to revolution and war. It 
 is easy for partisanship to say that the 
 one side was right and that the other was 
 wrong. It is still easier for an indolent 
 magnanimity to say that both were right. 
 Perhaps in the wide view of ethics one is 
 always right to follow his conscience, though 
 it lead him to disaster and death. But 
 history is inexorable. She takes no account 
 of sentiment and intention; and in her cold 
 and luminous eyes that side is right which 
 fights in harmony with the stars in their 
 
courses. The men are right through whose 
 efforts and struggles the world is helped 
 onward, and humanity moves to a higher 
 level and a brighter day. 
 
 The men who are living to-day and who 
 were young in 1860 will never forget the 
 glory and glamour that filled the earth and 
 the sky when the long twilight of doubt and 
 uncertainty was ending and the time of action 
 had come. A speech by Abraham Lincoln 
 was an event not only of high moral signifi 
 cance, but of far-reaching importance; the 
 drilling of a militia company by Ellsworth 
 attracted national attention; the fluttering of 
 the flag in the clear sky drew tears from the 
 eyes of young men. Patriotism, which had 
 been a rhetorical expression, became a pas 
 sionate emotion, in which instinct, logic, and 
 feeling were fused. The country was worth 
 saving; it could be saved only by fire; no 
 sacrifice was too great; the young men of the 
 
192 
 
 country were ready for the sacrifice; come 
 weal, come woe, they were ready. 
 
 At seventeen years of age WILLIAM 
 McKiNLEY heard this summons of his coun 
 try. He was the sort of youth to whom a 
 military life in ordinary times would possess 
 no attractions. His nature was far different 
 from that of the ordinary soldier. He had 
 other dreams of life, its prizes and pleasures, 
 than that of marches and battles. But to his 
 mind there was no choice or question. The 
 banner floating in the morning breeze was 
 the beckoning gesture of his country. The 
 thrilling notes of the trumpet called him 
 him and none other into the ranks. His 
 portrait in his first uniform is familiar to 
 you all the short, stocky figure; the quiet, 
 thoughtful face; the deep, dark eyes. It is 
 the face of the lad who could not stay at 
 home when he thought he was needed in the 
 field. He was of the stuff of which good 
 
193 
 
 soldiers are made. Had he been ten years 
 older he would have entered at the head of 
 a company and come out at the head of a 
 division. But he did what he could. He 
 enlisted as a private; he learned to obey. 
 His serious, sensible ways, his prompt, alert 
 efficiency soon attracted the attention of his 
 superiors. He was so faithful in little things 
 they gave him more and more to do. He 
 was untiring in camp and on the march; 
 swift, cool, and fearless in fight. He left 
 the Army with field rank when the war 
 ended, brevetted by President Lincoln for 
 gallantry in battle. 
 
 In coming years when men seek to draw 
 the moral of our great civil war nothing will 
 seem to them so admirable in all the history 
 of our two magnificent armies as the way in 
 which the war came to a close. When the 
 Confederate army saw the time had come, 
 
 they acknowledged the pitiless logic of facts, 
 25 
 
194 
 
 and ceased fighting. When the army of the 
 Union saw it was no longer needed, without 
 a murmur or question, making no terms, 
 asking no return, in the flush of victory and 
 fullness of might, it laid down its arms and 
 melted back into the mass of peaceful citi 
 zens. There is no event, since the Nation 
 was born, which has so proved its solid 
 capacity for self-government. Both sections 
 share equally in that crown of glory. They 
 had held a debate of incomparable impor 
 tance and had fought it out with equal 
 energy. A conclusion had been reached 
 and it is to the everlasting honor of both 
 sides that they each knew when the war 
 was over, and the hour of a lasting peace 
 had struck. We may admire the desperate 
 daring of others who prefer annihilation to 
 compromise, but the palm of common sense, 
 and, I will say, of enlightened patriotism, 
 belongs to the men like Grant and Lee, 
 
195 
 
 who knew when they had fought enough, 
 for honor and for country. 
 
 WILLIAM McKiNLEY, one of that sensi 
 ble million of men, gladly laid down his 
 sword and betook himself to his books. He 
 quickly made up the time lost in soldiering. 
 He attacked his Blackstone as he would 
 have done a hostile intrenchment; finding 
 the range of a country law library too nar 
 row, he went to the Albany Law School, 
 where he worked energetically with brilliant 
 success; was admitted to the bar and settled 
 down to practice -a brevetted veteran of 
 twenty-four in the quiet town of Canton, 
 now and henceforward forever famous as 
 the scene of his life and his place of sepul 
 ture. Here many blessings awaited him: 
 high repute, professional success, and a 
 domestic affection so pure, so devoted and 
 stainless that future poets, seeking an ideal 
 of Christian marriage, will find in it a theme 
 
196 
 
 worthy of their songs. This is a subject to 
 which the lightest allusion seems profanation; 
 but it is impossible to speak of WILLIAM 
 McKiNLEY without remembering that no 
 truer, tenderer knight to his chosen lady ever 
 lived among mortal men. If to the spirits 
 of the just made perfect is permitted the 
 consciousness of earthly things, we may be 
 sure that his faithful soul is now watching 
 over that gentle sufferer who counts the 
 long hours in their shattered home in the 
 desolate splendor of his fame. 
 
 A man possessing the qualities with which 
 nature had endowed McKiNLEY seeks politi 
 cal activity as naturally as a growing plant 
 seeks light and air. A wholesome ambition; 
 a rare power of making friends and keeping 
 them; a faith, which may be called religious, 
 in his country and its institutions; and, 
 flowing from this, a belief that a man could 
 do no nobler work than to serve such a 
 
country these were the elements in his 
 character that drew him irresistibly into 
 public life. He had from the beginning a 
 remarkable equipment: a manner of singular 
 grace and charm; a voice of ringing quality 
 and great carrying power vast as were the 
 crowds that gathered about him, he reached 
 their utmost fringe without apparent effort. 
 He had an extraordinary power of marshal 
 ing and presenting significant facts, so as to 
 bring conviction to the average mind. His 
 range of reading was not wide; he read 
 only what he might some day find useful, 
 and what he read his memory held like 
 brass. Those who knew him well in those 
 early days can never forget the consummate 
 skill and power with which he would select 
 a few pointed facts, and, blow upon blow, 
 would hammer them into the attention of 
 great assemblages in Ohio, as Jael drove 
 the nail into the head of the Canaanite 
 
198 
 
 captain. He was not often impassioned; 
 he rarely resorted to the aid of wit or 
 humor; yet I never saw his equal in con 
 trolling and convincing a popular audience 
 by sheer appeal to their reason and intelli 
 gence. He did not flatter or cajole them, 
 but there was an implied compliment in 
 the serious and sober tone in which he 
 addressed them. He seemed one of them; 
 in heart and feeling he was one of them. 
 Each workingman in a great crowd might 
 say: "That is the sort of man I would like to 
 be, and under more favoring circumstances 
 might have been." He had the divine gift of 
 sympathy, which, though given only to the 
 elect, makes all men their friends. 
 
 So it came naturally about that in 1876 
 the beginning of the second century of the 
 Republic he began, by an election to Con 
 gress, his political career. Thereafter for 
 fourteen years this Chamber was his home. 
 
i 9 9 
 
 I use the word advisedly. Nowhere in the 
 world was he so in harmony with his envi 
 ronment as here; nowhere else did his mind 
 work with such full consciousness of its 
 powers. The air of debate was native to 
 him; here he drank delight of battle with 
 his peers. In after days, when he drove by 
 this stately pile, or when on rare occasions 
 his duty called him here, he greeted his old 
 haunts with the affectionate zest of a child 
 of the house; during all the last ten years of 
 his life, filled as they were with activity and 
 glory, he never ceased to be homesick for 
 this Hall. When he came to the Presidency 
 there was not a day when his Congressional 
 service was not of use to him. Probably no 
 other President has been in such full and 
 cordial communion with Congress, if we may 
 except Lincoln alone. McKiNLEY knew the 
 legislative body thoroughly its composition, 
 its methods, its habits of thought. He had 
 
200 
 
 the profoundest respect for its authority and 
 an inflexible belief in the ultimate rectitude 
 of its judgments. Our history shows how 
 surely an Executive courts disaster and ruin 
 by assuming an attitude of hostility or dis 
 trust to the Legislature; and, on the other 
 hand, McKiNLEY s frank and sincere trust 
 and confidence in Congress were repaid by 
 prompt and loyal support and cooperation. 
 During his entire term of office this mutual 
 trust and regard so essential to the public 
 welfare was never shadowed by a single 
 cloud. 
 
 He was a Republican. He could not be 
 anything else. A Union soldier grafted upon 
 a Clay Whig, he necessarily believed in the 
 "American system" in protection to home 
 industries; in a strong, aggressive nationality; 
 in a liberal construction of the Constitution. 
 What any self-reliant nation might rightly 
 do, he felt this Nation had power to do, if 
 
2OI 
 
 required by the common welfare and not 
 prohibited by our written charter. 
 
 Following the natural bent of his mind, 
 he devoted himself to questions of finance 
 and revenue, to the essentials of the national 
 housekeeping. He took high rank in the 
 House from the beginning. His readiness 
 in debate, his mastery of every subject he 
 handled, the bright and amiable light he 
 shed about him, and above all the unfailing 
 courtesy and good will with which he treated 
 friend and foe alike one of the surest sig 
 natures of a nature born to great destinies- 
 made his service in the House a pathway of 
 unbroken success and brought him at last to 
 the all-important post of chairman of Ways 
 and Means and leader of the majority. Of 
 the famous revenue act which, in that capac 
 ity, he framed and carried through Congress, 
 it is not my purpose here and now to speak. 
 The embers of the controversy in the midst 
 
202 
 
 of which that law had its troubled being 
 are yet too warm to be handled on a day 
 like this. I may only say that it was never 
 sufficiently tested to prove the praises of 
 its friends or the criticism of its opponents. 
 After a brief existence it passed away, for a 
 time, in the storm that swept the Republi 
 cans out of power. McKiNLEY also passed 
 through a brief zone of shadow, his Con 
 gressional district having been rearranged 
 for that purpose by a hostile legislature. 
 
 Someone has said it is easy to love our 
 enemies; they help us so much more than 
 our friends. The people whose malevolent 
 skill had turned McKiNLEY out of Congress 
 deserved well of him and of the Republic. 
 Never was Nemesis more swift and ener 
 getic. The Republicans of Ohio were saved 
 the trouble of choosing a governor the 
 other side had chosen one for them. A year 
 after McKiNLEY left Congress he was made 
 
203 
 
 governor of Ohio, and two years later he was 
 reelected, each time by majorities unhoped 
 for and overwhelming. He came to fill a 
 space in the public eye which obscured a 
 great portion of the field of vision. In two 
 national conventions the Presidency seemed 
 within his reach. But he had gone there in 
 the interest of others and his honor forbade 
 any dalliance with temptation. So his nay 
 was nay delivered with a tone and gesture 
 there was no denying. His hour was not 
 yet come. 
 
 There was, however, no long delay. He 
 became, from year to year, the most prom 
 inent politician and orator in the country. 
 Passionately devoted to the principles of his 
 party, he was always ready to do anything, 
 to go anywhere, to proclaim its ideas and to 
 support its candidates. His face and his 
 voice became familiar to millions of our peo 
 ple; and wherever they were seen and heard, 
 
204 
 
 men became his partisans. His face was cast 
 in a classic mold; you see faces like it in 
 antique marble in the galleries of the Vatican 
 and in the portraits of the great cardinal- 
 statesmen of Italy; his voice was the voice 
 of the perfect orator ringing, vibrating, tire 
 less, persuading by its very sound, by its 
 accent of sincere conviction. So prudent 
 and so guarded were all his utterances, so 
 lofty his courtesy, that he never embar 
 rassed his friends, and never offended his 
 opponents. For several months before the 
 Republican National Convention met in 1896, 
 it was evident to all who had eyes to see 
 that Mr. McKiNLEY was the only probable 
 candidate of his party. Other names were 
 mentioned, of the highest rank in ability, 
 character, and popularity; they were sup 
 ported by powerful combinations; but the 
 nomination of McKiNLEY as against the 
 field was inevitable. 
 
205 
 
 The campaign he made will be always 
 memorable in our political annals. He and 
 his friends had thought that the issue for the 
 year was the distinctive and historic differ 
 ence between the two parties on the subject 
 of the tariff. To this wager of battle the dis 
 cussions of the previous four years distinctly 
 pointed. But no sooner had the two par 
 ties made their nominations than it became 
 evident that the opposing candidate declined 
 to accept the field of discussion chosen by the 
 Republicans, and proposed to put forward as 
 the main issue the free and unlimited coin 
 age of silver. McKiNLEY at once accepted 
 this challenge, and, taking the battle for 
 protection as already won, went with energy 
 into the discussion of the theories presented 
 by his opponents. He had wisely concluded 
 not to leave his home during the canvass, 
 thus avoiding a proceeding which has always 
 been of sinister augury in our politics; but 
 
206 
 
 from the front porch of his modest house in 
 Canton he daily addressed the delegations 
 which came from every part of the coun 
 try to greet him in a series of speeches so 
 strong, so varied, so pertinent, so full of facts 
 briefly set forth, of theories embodied in a sin 
 gle phrase, that they formed the hourly text 
 for the other speakers of his party, and give 
 probably the most convincing proof we have 
 of his surprising fertility of resource and flex 
 ibility of mind. All this was done without 
 anxiety or strain. I remember a day I spent 
 with him during that busy summer. He had 
 made nineteen speeches the day before; that 
 day he made many. But in the intervals of 
 these addresses he sat in his study and 
 talked, with nerves as quiet and a mind as 
 free from care as if we had been spending 
 a holiday at the seaside or among the hills. 
 When he came to the Presidency he 
 confronted a situation of the utmost difficulty, 
 
207 
 
 which might well have appalled a man of less 
 serene and tranquil self-confidence. There 
 had been a state of profound commercial 
 and industrial depression, from which his 
 friends had said his election would relieve 
 the country. Our relations with the out 
 side world left much to be desired. The 
 feeling between the Northern and Southern 
 sections of the Union was lacking in the 
 cordiality which was necessary to the wel 
 fare of both. Hawaii had asked for annexa 
 tion and had been rejected by the preceding 
 Administration. There was a state of things 
 in the Caribbean which could not perma 
 nently endure. Our neighbor s house was 
 on fire, and there were grave doubts as to 
 our rights and duties in the premises. A 
 man either weak or rash, either irresolute 
 or headstrong, might have brought ruin 
 on himself and incalculable harm to the 
 country. 
 
208 
 
 Again I crave the pardon of those who 
 differ with me, if, against all my intentions, I 
 happen to say a word which may seem to 
 them unbefitting the place and hour. But I 
 am here to give the opinion which his friends 
 entertained of President McKiNLEY, of course 
 claiming no immunity from criticism in what 
 I shall say. I believe, then, that the verdict 
 of history will be that he met all these grave 
 questions with perfect valor and incomparable 
 ability; that in grappling with them he rose to 
 the full height of a great occasion, in a man 
 ner which redounded to the lasting benefit of 
 the country and to his own immortal honor. 
 
 The least desirable form of glory to a 
 man of his habitual mood and temper that 
 of successful war was nevertheless conferred 
 upon him by uncontrollable events. He felt 
 the conflict must come; he deplored its ne 
 cessity; he strained almost to breaking his 
 relations with his friends, in order, first, if it 
 
2OQ 
 
 might be, to prevent and then to postpone 
 it to the latest possible moment. But when 
 the die was cast, he labored with the utmost 
 energy and ardor, and with an intelligence 
 in military matters which showed how much 
 of the soldier still survived in the mature 
 statesman to push fonvard the war to a 
 decisive close. War was an anguish to him; 
 he wanted it short and conclusive. His mer 
 ciful zeal communicated itself to his sub 
 ordinates, and the war, so long dreaded, 
 whose consequences were so momentous, 
 ended in a hundred days. 
 
 Mr. Stedman, the dean of our poets, has 
 called him "Augmenter of the State." It is 
 a noble title; if justly conferred, it ranks him 
 among the few whose names may be placed 
 definitely and forever in charge of the historic 
 Muse. Under his rule Hawaii has come to 
 us, and Tutuila; Porto Rico and the vast 
 archipelago of the East. Cuba is free. Our 
 
2IO 
 
 position in the Caribbean is assured beyond 
 the possibility of future question. The doc 
 trine called by the name of Monroe, so long 
 derided and denied by alien publicists, evokes 
 now no challenge or contradiction when 
 uttered to the world. It has become an 
 international truism. Our sister Republics to 
 the south of us are convinced that we desire 
 only their peace and prosperity. Europe 
 knows that we cherish no dreams but those 
 of world-wide commerce, the benefit of which 
 shall be to all nations. The state is aug 
 mented, but it threatens no nation under 
 heaven. As to those regions which have 
 come under the shadow of our flag, the pos 
 sibility of their being damaged by such a 
 change of circumstances was in the view of 
 McKiNLEY a thing unthinkable. To believe 
 that we could not administer them to their 
 advantage was to turn infidel to our Amer 
 ican faith of more than a hundred years. 
 
211 
 
 In dealing with foreign powers, he will 
 take rank with the greatest of our diploma 
 tists. It was a world of which he had little 
 special knowledge before coming to the 
 Presidency. But his marvelous adaptability 
 was in nothing more remarkable than in 
 the firm grasp he immediately displayed in 
 international relations. In preparing for war 
 and in the restoration of peace he was alike 
 adroit, courteous, and far-sighted. When a 
 sudden emergency declared itself, as in 
 China, in a state of things of which our 
 history furnished no precedent and interna 
 tional law no safe and certain precept, he 
 hesitated not a moment to take the course 
 marked out for him by considerations of 
 humanity and the national interests. Even 
 while the legations were fighting for their 
 lives against bands of infuriated fanatics, he 
 decided that we were at peace with China; 
 and while that conclusion did not hinder 
 
212 
 
 him from taking the most energetic meas 
 ures to rescue our imperiled citizens, it 
 enabled him to maintain close and friendly 
 relations with the wise and heroic viceroys 
 of the South, whose resolute stand saved 
 that ancient Empire from anarchy and spo 
 liation. He disposed of every question as 
 it arose with a promptness and clarity of 
 vision that astonished his advisers, and he 
 never had occasion to review a judgment 
 or reverse a decision. 
 
 By patience, by firmness, by sheer rea 
 sonableness, he improved our understanding 
 with all the great powers of the world, and 
 rightly gained the blessing which belongs 
 to the peacemakers. 
 
 But the achievements of the Nation in 
 war and diplomacy are thrown in the shade 
 by the vast economic developments which 
 took place during Mr. McKiNLKY s Adminis 
 tration. Up to the time of his first election, 
 
213 
 
 the country was suffering from a long period 
 of depression, the reasons of which I will 
 not try to seek. But from the moment the 
 ballots were counted that betokened his 
 advent to power a great and momentous 
 movement in advance declared itself along 
 all the lines of industry and commerce. In 
 the very month of his inauguration steel 
 rails began to be sold at eighteen dollars a 
 ton one of the most significant facts of 
 modern times. It meant that American 
 industries had adjusted themselves to the 
 long depression; that through the power of 
 the race to organize and combine, stimulated 
 by the conditions then prevailing, and per 
 haps by the prospect of legislation favorable 
 to industry, America had begun to undersell 
 the rest of the world. The movement went 
 on without ceasing. The President and his 
 party kept the pledges of their platform 
 and their canvass. The Dingley bill was 
 
214 
 
 speedily framed and set in operation. All 
 industries responded to the new stimulus 
 and American trade set out on its new 
 crusade, not to conquer the world, but to 
 trade with it on terms advantageous to all 
 concerned. I will not weary you with statis 
 tics; but one or two words seem necessary 
 to show how the acts of McKiNLEY as 
 President kept pace with his professions as 
 candidate. His four years of administration 
 were costly; we carried on a war which, 
 though brief, was expensive. Although we 
 borrowed two hundred millions and paid 
 our own expenses, without asking for 
 indemnity, the effective reduction of the debt 
 now exceeds the total of the war bonds. 
 We pay six millions less in interest than 
 we did before the war and no bond of 
 the United States yields the holder two per 
 cent on its market value. So much for 
 the Government credit; and we have five 
 
215 
 
 hundred and forty-six millions of gross gold 
 in the Treasury. 
 
 But, coming to the development of our 
 trade in the four McKiNLKY years, we seem 
 to be entering the realm of fable. In the 
 last fiscal year our excess of exports over 
 imports was six hundred and sixty-four mil 
 lion five hundred and ninety-two thousand 
 eight hundred and twenty-six dollars. In 
 the last four years it was two billion three 
 hundred and fifty-four million four hun 
 dred and forty-two thousand two hundred 
 and thirteen dollars. These figures are so 
 stupendous that they mean little to a care 
 less reader but consider! The excess of 
 exports over imports for the whole pre 
 ceding period from 1790 to 1897 from 
 Washington to McKiNLEY was only three 
 hundred and fifty-six million eight hun 
 dred and eight thousand eight hundred 
 and twenty-two dollars. 
 
2l6 
 
 The most extravagant promises made by 
 the sanguine McKiNLEY advocates five years 
 ago are left out of sight by these sober facts. 
 The "debtor Nation" has become the chief 
 creditor Nation. The financial center of the 
 world, which required thousands of years to 
 journey from the Euphrates to the Thames 
 and the Seine, seems passing to the Hudson 
 between daybreak and dark. 
 
 I will not waste your time by explaining 
 that I do not invoke for any man the credit 
 of this vast result. The captain can not 
 claim that it is he who drives the mighty 
 steamship over the tumbling billows of the 
 trackless deep; but praise is justly due him 
 if he has made the best of her tremendous 
 powers, if he has read aright the currents 
 of the sea and the lessons of the stars. 
 And we should be ungrateful if in this 
 hour of prodigious prosperity we should fail 
 to remember that WILLIAM McKiNLEY with 
 
217 
 
 sublime faith foresaw it, with indomitable 
 courage labored for it, put his whole heart 
 and mind into the work of bringing it about; 
 that it was his voice which, in dark hours, 
 rang out, heralding the coming light, as over 
 the twilight waters of the Nile the mystic cry 
 of Memnon announced the dawn to Egypt, 
 waking from sleep. 
 
 Among the most agreeable incidents of 
 the President s term of office were the two 
 journeys he made to the South. The moral 
 reunion of the sections so long and so 
 ardently desired by him had been initiated 
 by the Spanish war, when the veterans of 
 both sides, and their sons, had marched 
 shoulder to shoulder together under the 
 same banner. The President in these jour 
 neys sought, with more than usual eloquence 
 and pathos, to create a sentiment which 
 should end forever the ancient feud. He 
 
 was too good a politician to expect any 
 
 as 
 
218 
 
 results in the way of votes in his favor, 
 and he accomplished none. But for all that 
 the good seed did not fall on barren 
 ground. In the warm and chivalrous 
 hearts of that generous people, the echo 
 of his cordial and brotherly words will lin 
 ger long, and his name will be cherished 
 in many a household where even yet the 
 Lost Cause is worshipped. 
 
 Mr. McKiNLEY was reelected by an over 
 whelming majority. There had been little 
 doubt of the result among well-informed 
 people; but when it was known, a profound 
 feeling of relief and renewal of trust were 
 evident among the leaders of capital and of 
 industry, not only in this country, but every 
 where. They felt that the immediate future 
 was secure, and that trade and commerce 
 might safely push forward in every field of 
 effort and enterprise. He inspired universal 
 confidence, which is the lifeblood of the 
 
commercial system of the world. It began 
 frequently to be said that such a state of 
 things ought to continue; one after another, 
 men of prominence said that the President 
 was his own best successor. He paid little 
 attention to these suggestions until they were 
 repeated by some of his nearest friends. 
 Then he saw that one of the most cherished 
 traditions of our public life was in danger. 
 The generation which has seen the proph 
 ecy of the Papal throne Non videbis annos 
 Petri twice contradicted by the longevity 
 of holy men was in peril of forgetting the 
 unwritten law of our Republic: Thou shalt 
 not exceed the years of Washington. The 
 President saw it was time to speak, and in 
 his characteristic manner he spoke, briefly, 
 but enough. Where the lightning strikes 
 there is no need of iteration. From that 
 hour, no one dreamed of doubting his pur 
 pose of retiring at the end of his second 
 
220 
 
 term, and it will be long before another such 
 lesson is required. 
 
 He felt that the harvest time was come, 
 to garner in the fruits of so much planting 
 and culture, and he was determined that 
 nothing he might do or say should be liable 
 to the reproach of a personal interest. Let 
 us say frankly he was a party man; he be 
 lieved the policies advocated by him and his 
 friends counted for much in the country s 
 progress and prosperity. He hoped in his 
 second term to accomplish substantial results 
 in the development and affirmation of those 
 policies. I spent a day with him shortly 
 before he started on his fateful journey to 
 Buffalo. Never had I seen him higher in 
 hope and patriotic confidence. He was as 
 sure of the future of his country as the 
 Psalmist who cried: "Glorious things are 
 spoken of thee, thou City of God." He was 
 gratified to the heart that we had arranged 
 
221 
 
 a treaty which gave us a free hand in the 
 Isthmus. In fancy he saw the canal already 
 built and the argosies of the world passing 
 through it in peace and amity. He saw in 
 the immense evolution of American trade 
 the fulfillment of all his dreams, the reward 
 of all his labors. He was I need not say 
 an ardent protectionist, never more sincere 
 and devoted than during those last days of 
 his life. He regarded reciprocity as the 
 bulwark of protection not a breach, but a 
 fulfillment of the law. The treaties which 
 for four years had been preparing under his 
 personal supervision he regarded as ancillary 
 to the general scheme. He was opposed to 
 any revolutionary plan of change in the exist 
 ing legislation; he was careful to point out 
 that everything he had done was in faithful 
 compliance with the law itself. 
 
 In that mood of high hope, of generous 
 expectation, he went to Buffalo, and there, on 
 
222 
 
 the threshold of eternity, he delivered that 
 memorable speech, worthy for its loftiness 
 of tone, its blameless morality, its breadth 
 of view, to be regarded as his testament to 
 the Nation. Through all his pride of coun 
 try and his joy in its success, runs the note 
 of solemn warning, as in Kipling s noble 
 hymn: "Lest we forget." 
 
 "Our capacity to produce has developed 
 so enormously and our products have so 
 multiplied that the problem of more markets 
 requires our urgent and immediate attention. 
 Only a broad and enlightened policy will 
 keep what we have. No other policy will get 
 more. In these times of marvelous business 
 energy and gain we ought to be looking to 
 the future, strengthening the weak places in 
 our industrial and commercial systems, that 
 we may be ready for any storm or strain. 
 
 "By sensible trade arrangements which 
 will not interrupt our home production we 
 
223 
 
 shall extend the outlets for our increasing 
 surplus. A system which provides a mutual 
 exchange of commodities is manifestly essen 
 tial to the continued and healthful growth 
 of our export trade. We must not repose 
 in fancied security that we can forever sell 
 everything and buy little or nothing. If 
 such a thing were possible, it would not be 
 best for us or for those with whom we 
 deal. * Reciprocity is the natural 
 
 outgrowth of our wonderful industrial de 
 velopment under the domestic policy now 
 firmly established. * The period of 
 
 exclusiveness is past. The expansion of 
 our trade and commerce is the pressing 
 problem. Commercial wars are unprofita 
 ble. A policy of good will and friendly 
 trade relations will prevent reprisals. Reci 
 procity treaties are in harmony with the 
 spirit of the times; measures of retaliation 
 are not." 
 
224 
 
 I wish I had time to read the whole of 
 this wise and weighty speech; nothing I 
 might say could give such a picture of the 
 President s mind and character. His years 
 of apprenticeship had been served. He 
 stood that day past master of the art of 
 statesmanship. He had nothing more to ask 
 of the people. He owed them nothing but 
 truth and faithful service. His mind and 
 heart were purged of the temptations which 
 beset all men engaged in the struggle to 
 survive. In view of the revelation of his 
 nature vouchsafed to us that day, and the 
 fate which impended over him, we can only 
 say in deep affection and solemn awe: 
 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 
 shall see God." Even for that vision he 
 was not unworthy. 
 
 He had not long to wait. The next day 
 sped the bolt of doom, and for a week after 
 in an agony of dread broken by illusive 
 
225 
 
 glimpses of hope that our prayers might 
 be answered the Nation waited for the 
 end. Nothing in the glorious life that we 
 saw gradually waning was more admirable 
 and exemplary than its close. The gentle 
 humanity of his words, when he saw his 
 assailant in danger of summary vengeance: 
 "Don t let them hurt him;" his chivalrous 
 care that the news should be broken gently 
 to his wife; the fine courtesy with which he 
 apologized for the damage which his death 
 would bring to the great exhibition; and the 
 heroic resignation of his final words: "It is 
 God s way. His will, not ours, be done" 
 were all the instinctive expressions of a 
 nature so lofty and so pure that pride in 
 its nobility at once softened and enhanced 
 the Nation s sense of loss. The Republic 
 grieved over such a son, but is proud for 
 ever of having produced him. After all, in 
 
 spite of its tragic ending, his life was 
 29 
 
226 
 
 extraordinarily happy. He had, all his 
 days, troops of friends, the cheer of fame 
 and fruitful labor; and he became at last 
 
 "On fortune s crowning slope, 
 The pillar of a people s hope, 
 The center of a world s desire." 
 
 He was fortunate even in his untimely 
 death, for an event so tragical called the 
 world imperatively to the immediate study of 
 his life and character, and thus anticipated 
 the sure praises of posterity. 
 
 Every young and growing people has to 
 meet, at moments, the problems of its des 
 tiny. Whether the question comes, as in 
 Thebes, from a sphinx, symbol of the hostile 
 forces of omnipotent nature, who punishes 
 with instant death our failure to understand 
 her meaning; or whether it comes, as in 
 Jerusalem, from the Lord of Hosts, who 
 commands the building of His temple, it 
 comes always with the warning that the past 
 
227 
 
 is past, and experience vain. "Your fathers, 
 where are they? and the prophets, do they 
 live forever?" The fathers are dead; the 
 prophets are silent; the questions are new, 
 and have no answer but in time. 
 
 When the horny outside case which pro 
 tects the infancy of a chrysalis nation sud 
 denly bursts, and, in a single abrupt shock, 
 it finds itself floating on wings which had 
 not existed before, whose strength it has 
 never tested, among dangers it can not 
 foresee and is without experience to meas 
 ure, every motion is a problem, and every 
 hesitation may be an error. The past gives 
 no clue to the future. The fathers, where 
 are they? and the prophets, do they live 
 forever? We are ourselves the fathers! We 
 are ourselves the prophets! The questions 
 that are put to us we must answer without 
 delay, without help for the sphinx allows 
 no one to pass. 
 
228 
 
 At such moments we may be humbly 
 grateful to have had leaders simple in mind, 
 clear in vision as far as human vision can 
 safely extend penetrating in knowledge of 
 men, supple and flexible under the strains 
 and pressures of society, instinct with the 
 energy of new life and untried strength, 
 cautious, calm, and, above all, gifted in a 
 supreme degree with the most surely vic 
 torious of all political virtues the genius 
 of infinite patience. 
 
 The obvious elements which enter into 
 the fame of a public man are few and by 
 no means recondite. The man who fills a 
 great station in a period of change; who 
 leads his country successfully through a time 
 of crisis; who, by his power of persuading 
 and controlling others, has been able to 
 command the best thought of his age, so 
 as to leave his country in a moral or mate 
 rial condition in advance of where he found 
 
229 
 
 it such a man s position in history is 
 secure. If, in addition to this, his written 
 or spoken words possess the subtle quality 
 which carry them far and lodge them in 
 men s hearts; and, more than all, if his 
 utterances and actions, while informed with 
 a lofty morality, are yet tinged with the 
 glow of human sympathy, the fame of such 
 a man will shine like a beacon through 
 the mists of ages an object of reverence, 
 of imitation, and of love. It should be to 
 us an occasion of solemn pride that in the 
 three great crises of our history such a man 
 was not denied us. The moral value to a 
 nation of a renown such as Washington s 
 and Lincoln s and McKiNLEY s is beyond 
 all computation. No loftier ideal can be 
 held up to the emulation of ingenuous 
 youth. With such examples we can not be 
 wholly ignoble. Grateful as we may be for 
 what they did, let us be still more grateful 
 
230 
 
 for what they were. While our daily being, 
 our public policies, still feel the influence 
 of their work, let us pray that in our spir 
 its their lives may be voluble, calling us 
 upward and onward. 
 
 There is not one of us but feels prouder 
 of his native land because the august figure 
 of Washington presided over its beginnings; 
 no one but vows it a tenderer love because 
 Lincoln poured out his blood for it; no one 
 but must feel his devotion for his country 
 renewed and kindled when he remembers 
 how McKiNLEY loved, revered, and served 
 it, showed in his life how a citizen should 
 live, and in his last hour taught us how a 
 gentleman could die. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 231 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF 
 REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 THURSDAY, February 27, 1902. 
 
 The House met at twelve o clock m. 
 
 The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, 
 D. D., offered the following prayer: 
 
 "We bless Thee, Almighty God, that our 
 Nation will honor itself to-day in a memorial 
 service to our late lamented and beloved 
 President. May it teach us all the uncer 
 tainty of life and help us by good works to 
 be prepared for that change which must come 
 to us all. In the name of Christ our Lord. 
 Amen." 
 
 The Speaker laid before the House the 
 concurrent resolution relating to the memo 
 rial service for the late President. 
 
 3 233 
 
234 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 "Whereas the melancholy event of the 
 violent and tragic death of WILLIAM Mo 
 KINLEY, late President of the United States, 
 having occurred during the recess of Con 
 gress, and the two Houses sharing in the 
 general grief and desiring to manifest their 
 sensibility upon the occasion of the public 
 bereavement: Therefore, be it 
 
 "Resolved by the Hotise of Representatives 
 (the Senate concurring}, That the two Houses 
 of Congress will assemble in the Hall of the 
 House of Representatives on a day and hour 
 fixed and announced by the joint committee, 
 to wit, Thursday, February 27, 1902, and 
 that in the presence of the two Houses there 
 assembled an address upon the life and char 
 acter of WILLIAM McKiNLEY, late President 
 of the United States, be pronounced by Hon. 
 John Hay, and that the President of the 
 Senate pro tcmpore and the Speaker of the 
 
235 
 
 House of Representatives be requested to 
 invite the President and ex-President of the 
 United States, ex-Vice-Presidents, the heads 
 of the several Departments, the Judges of the 
 Supreme Court, the representatives of the for 
 eign Governments, the governors of the sev 
 eral States, the Lieutenant -General of the 
 Army and the Admiral of the Navy, and such 
 officers of the Army and Navy as have received 
 the thanks of Congress who may then be at 
 the seat of government, to be present on the 
 occasion, and such others as may be sug 
 gested by the executive committee. 
 
 "Resolved, That the President of the 
 United States be requested to transmit a 
 copy of these resolutions to Mrs. Ida S. 
 McKinley, and to assure her of the profound 
 sympathy of the two Houses of Congress 
 for her deep personal affliction, and of their 
 sincere condolence for the late national be 
 reavement. 
 
236 
 
 The following was the official programme 
 of arrangements, prepared by the joint com 
 mittee of the two Houses: 
 
 The Capitol will be closed on the morn 
 ing of the twenty-seventh day of February, 
 1902, to all except members and officers of 
 Congress. 
 
 At ten o clock the east door leading to 
 the Rotunda will be opened to those to whom 
 invitations have been extended under the 
 joint resolution of Congress by the Presiding 
 Officers of the two Houses, and to those 
 holding tickets of admission to the galleries. 
 
 The Hall of the House of Represent 
 atives will be opened for the admission of 
 Representatives and to those who have invi 
 tations, who will be conducted to the seats 
 assigned to them, as follows: 
 
 The President and ex-President of the 
 United States and special guests will be 
 seated in front of the Speaker. 
 
237 
 
 The Chief Justice and Associate Justices 
 of the Supreme Court will occupy seats next 
 to the President and ex-President and spe 
 cial guests, on the right of the Speaker. 
 
 The Cabinet officers, the Lieutenant-Gen 
 eral of the Army and the Admiral of the 
 Navy, and the officers of the Army and Navy 
 who, by name, have received the thanks of 
 Congress will occupy seats on the left of the 
 Speaker. 
 
 The chief justices and judges of the Court 
 of Claims and the chief justice and associate 
 justices of the supreme court of the District 
 of Columbia will occupy seats directly in the 
 rear of the Supreme Court. 
 
 The diplomatic corps will occupy .the front 
 row of seats. 
 
 Ex -Vice- Presidents and Senators will 
 occupy seats in the second, third, fourth, 
 and fifth rows, on the east side of the main 
 aisle. 
 
238 
 
 Representatives will occupy seats on the 
 west side of the main aisle and in the rear 
 of the Senators on the east side. 
 
 Commissioners of the District, governors 
 of States and Territories, assistant heads of 
 Departments, and invited guests will occupy 
 seats in the rear of Representatives. 
 
 The Executive gallery will be reserved 
 exclusively for the families of the Supreme 
 Court and the families of the Cabinet, and 
 the invited guests of the President. Tickets 
 thereto will be delivered to the secretary to 
 the President. 
 
 The diplomatic gallery will be reserved 
 exclusively for the families of the members 
 of. the diplomatic corps. Tickets thereto will 
 be delivered to the Secretary of State. 
 
 The reporters gallery will be reserved 
 exclusively for the use of the reporters for the 
 press. Tickets thereto will be delivered to 
 the press committee. 
 
239 
 
 The official reporters of the Senate and 
 of the House will occupy the reporters desk 
 in front of the Clerk s table. 
 
 The House of Representatives will be 
 called to order by the Speaker at twelve 
 o clock. 
 
 The Marine Band will be in attendance. 
 
 The Senate will assemble at twelve 
 o clock, and immediately after prayer will 
 proceed to the Hall of the House of Rep 
 resentatives. 
 
 The diplomatic corps will meet at half 
 past eleven o clock in the Representatives 
 lobby, and be conducted by the Sergeant- 
 at-Arms of the House to the seats assigned 
 them. 
 
 The President of the Senate will occupy 
 the Speaker s chair. 
 
 The Speaker of the House will occupy 
 a seat at the left of the President of the 
 Senate. 
 
240 
 
 The Chaplains of the Senate and of the 
 House will occupy seats next the Presid 
 ing Officers of their respective Houses. 
 
 The chairmen of the joint committee of 
 arrangements will occupy seats at the right 
 and left of the Orator, and next to them 
 will be seated the Secretary of the Senate 
 and the Clerk of the House. 
 
 The other officers of the Senate and of the 
 House will occupy seats on the floor, at 
 the right and left of the Speaker s platform. 
 
 Prayer will be offered by the Rev. Henry 
 N. Couden, D. D., Chaplain of the House of 
 Representatives. 
 
 The presiding officer will then present 
 the Orator of the day. 
 
 The benediction will be pronounced by 
 the Rev. W. H. Milburn, Chaplain of the 
 Senate. 
 
 By reason of the limited capacity of 
 the galleries the number of tickets is neces- 
 
241 
 
 sarily restricted, and will be distributed as 
 follows: 
 
 To each Senator, Representative, and 
 Delegate, two tickets. 
 
 No person will be admitted to the Capitol 
 except on presentation of a ticket, which will 
 be good only for the place indicated. 
 
 The Architect of the Capitol and the 
 Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate and the 
 Doorkeeper of the House are charged with 
 the execution of these arrangements. 
 J. B. FORAKER, 
 C. H. GROSVENOR, 
 
 Cltairmen Joint Committee. 
 
 The Doorkeeper of the House of Repre 
 sentatives announced the President of the 
 United States and his Cabinet, the President 
 pro temporc and the Senate, the Chief Jus 
 tice and Associate Justices of the Supreme 
 Court, the Lieutenant-General of the Army, 
 31 
 
242 
 
 the diplomatic corps, His Royal Highness 
 Prince Henry of Prussia, and other invited 
 guests. 
 
 Hon. William P. Frye, President pro teni- 
 porc of the Senate, called the two Houses to 
 order. 
 
 The Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., 
 Chaplain of the House of Representatives, 
 offered the following prayer: 
 
 "O Lord God and Father of us all, in 
 whose all-encircling love we dwell, we lift up 
 our hearts in gratitude to Thee for that wise 
 and beneficent Providence which shaped 
 and has guided the destiny of our Nation 
 through all the vicissitudes of the past, and 
 for that long line of illustrious men who, 
 susceptible to that heavenly influence, gave 
 their minds and hearts to the Nation s 
 good, weaving their characters into its fibers, 
 making it strong and great. We are here 
 
243 
 
 in memory of one of her noblest sons, to 
 whom no greater tribute can be rendered, 
 except a Nation s tears, than this distin 
 guished presence. We respect him because 
 he respected his country. We love him 
 because he loved her people. We honor 
 him because he honored and revered her 
 sacred institutions and poured out his 
 heart s blood for them. 
 
 
 
 "God help us to cherish his memory in 
 our hearts and emulate his virtues, that we 
 may leave behind us a record well pleasing 
 in Thy sight. We thank Thee for his life, 
 for his services as a soldier, a citizen, and a 
 statesman; we thank Thee that his country 
 men will build monuments in his memory, 
 that historians will record his deeds, but 
 above all we thank Thee for that monument 
 more grand and imposing than the mind of 
 man has yet conceived which he builded for 
 himself and for that unwritten record which 
 
244 
 
 Heaven alone can reveal. Yea, we bless 
 Thee for his public life and inestimable 
 services, but we are not unmindful of the 
 beautiful example of his private life warm 
 in his friendships; a dutiful son; an affec 
 tionate brother; a tender, loving husband; 
 with malice toward none and charity for 
 all. A Christian, ever turning with faith 
 and confidence to his God for strength and 
 guidance; his life was clean, his work 
 noble, his faith sublime, his death glorious. 
 Good-bye; good-bye, all. It is God s way; 
 His will be done. 
 
 "Tenderly care, we beseech Thee, O God 
 our Father, for his companion in her widow 
 hood, and bring her at last with him to 
 dwell in Thy presence forever. Continue, we 
 pray Thee, to care for us as a people, and 
 bless all our righteous endeavors. Guide 
 the lawmakers of our land, that good gov 
 ernment may more and more obtain. Let 
 
245 
 
 Thy blessing descend in full measure upon 
 our President and all his counselors, that 
 the laws may be administered in justice and 
 equity. Be a light and a guide to those 
 who interpret and judge those laws. Bless 
 our people everywhere, and keep us in peace 
 with all the world. Let Thy kingdom come 
 into all our hearts, and Thy will be done in 
 all lives, that the name of Our Father may 
 be hallowed in all the earth, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
 The President pro tcmpore of the Senate 
 said: "It is now the agreeable duty of your 
 presiding officer to present the Hon. John 
 Hay, who has been selected by a committee 
 of Congress to deliver the address on this 
 occasion." 
 
 Mr. Hay (who was greeted with hearty 
 applause) delivered the memorial address. 
 
246 
 
 Upon its conclusion the Rev. W. H. Mil- 
 burn, D. D., Chaplain of the Senate, pro 
 nounced the benediction, as follows: 
 
 "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
 love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy 
 Ghost be with us all, now and ever. Amen." 
 
 The President and his Cabinet, the Sen 
 ate, the Chief Justice and the Associate Jus 
 tices of the Supreme Court, the diplomatic 
 corps, and other invited guests then retired. 
 
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