American Politics (non-partisan) from the Beginning to Date

period presents no novel features. He usual and extraneous importance, and in had undoubtedly shown perseverance, self- the popular judgment elevated the young reliance, self-sacrifice, and ambition-qual- commander to the rank of a military hero. ities which, be it said for the honor of our With less than two thousand men in his country, are everywhere to be found among entire command, with a mobilized force of the young men of America. But from his only eleven hundred, without cannon, he graduation at Williams onward, to the had met an army of five thousand and dehour of his tragical death, Garfield's career feated them--driving Marshall's forces sucwas eminent and exceptional. Slowly cessively from two strongholds of their working through his educational period, own selection, fortified with abundant arreceiving his diploma when twenty-four tillery. Major-General Buell, commandyears of age, he seemed at one bound to ing the Department of the Ohio, an exspring into conspicuous and brilliant suc-perienced and able soldier of the regular cess. Within six years he was success- army, published an order of thanks and ively president of a college, State Senator congratulation on the brilliant result of of Ohio, Major General of the Army of the Big Sandy campaign which would the United States and Representative-elect have turned the head of a less cool and to the National Congress. A combination sensible man than Garfield. Buell declared of honors so varied, so elevated, within a that his services had called into action the period so brief and to a man so young, is highest qualities of a soldier, and President without precedent or parallel in the his- Lincoln supplemented these words of praise tory of the country. by the more substantial reward of a brigadier-general's commission, to bear date from the day of his decisive victory over Marshall.

IN THE ARMY.

Garfield's army life was begun with no other military knowledge than such as he The subsequent military career of Garhad hastily gained from books in the few field fully sustained its brilliant beginning. months preceding his march to the field. With his new commission he was assigned Stepping from civil life to the head of a to the command of a brigade in the Army regiment, the first order he received when of the Ohio, and took part in the second ready to cross the Ohio was to assume com- and decisive day's fight in the great battle mand of a brigade, and to operate as an of Shiloh. The remainder of the year independent force in Eastern Kentucky. 1862 was not especially eventful to GarHis immediate duty was to check the ad- field, as it was not to the armies with vance of Humphrey Marshall, who was which he was serving, His practical sense marching down the Big Sandy with the was called into exercise in completing the intention of occupying in connection with task, assigned him by General Buell, of reother Confederate forces the entire terri-constructing bridges and re-establishing tory of Kentucky, and of precipitating the lines of railway communication for the State into secession. This was at the close army. His occupation in this useful but of the year 1861. Seldom, if ever, has a not brilliant field was varied by service on young college professor been thrown into courts-martial of importance, in which dea more embarrassing and discouraging po-partment of duty he won a valuable repusition. He knew just enough of military science, as he expressed it himself, to measure the extent of his ignorance, and with a 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.

tation, attracting the notice and securing the approval of the able and eminent Judge-Advocate-General of the Army. That of itself was a warrant to honorable fame; for among the great men who in those trying days gave themselves, with entire devotion, to the service 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.

The result of the campaign is matter of history. The skill, the endurance, the extraordinary energy shown by Garfield, the courage 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, Early in 1863 Garfield was assigned to the dispersion of his force, and the eman- the highly important and responsible post cipation of an important territory from the of chief of staff to General Rosecrans, then control of the rebellion. Coming at the at the head of the Army of the Cumberclose of a long series of disasters to the land. Perhaps in a great military camUnion arms, Garfield's victory had an un-paign no subordinate officer requires

sounder judgment and quicker knowledge | work which fell upon its successor was unof men than the chief of staff to the com- precedented, both in respect to the vast manding general. An indiscreet man in sums of money raised for the support of such a position can sow more discord, the Army and Navy, and of the new and breed more jealousy and disseminate more extraordinary powers of legislation which strife than any other officer in the entire it was forced to exercise. Only twentyorganization. When General Garfield as- four States were represented, and one hunsumed his new duties he found various dred and eighty-two members were upon troubles already well developed and seri- its roll. Among these were many disously affecting the value and efficiency of tinguished party leaders on both sides, the Army of Cumberland. The energy, veterans in the public service, with estabthe impartiality and the tact with which lished reputations for ability, and with he sought to allay these dissensions, and that skill which comes only from parliato discharge the duties of his new and try- mentary experience. Into this assemblage ing position, will always remain one of the of men Garfield entered without special most striking proofs of his great versatility. preparation, and it might almost be said His military duties closed on the memor- unexpectedly. The question of taking able field of Chickamauga, a field which command of a division of troops under however disastrous to the Union arms gave General Thomas, or taking his seat in to him the occasion of winning imperish- Congress was kept open till the last moment able laurels. The very rare distinction so late, indeed, that the resignation of his was accorded him of great promotion for military commission and his appearance his bravery on a field that was lost. Pres- in the House were almost contempora ident Lincoln appointed him a Major-Gen-neous. He wore the uniform of a Majoreral in the Army of the United States for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chickamauga.

The Army of the Cumberland was reorganized 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 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 5th day of December, 1863, and took his seat in the House of Representatives on the 7th. He had served two years and four months in the army, and had just completed his thirty-second year.

IN CONGRESS.

The Thirty-eighth Congress is pre-eminently 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 continuance of the struggle. The Thirty-seventh Congress had, indeed, legislated to a large extent on war measures but it was chosen before any one believed that secession of the States would be actually attempted. The magnitude of the

General of the United 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 constituency which elected him. Descended almost entirely from New England stock, the men of the Ashtabula district were intensely radical on all questions relating to human rights. Well educated, thrifty, thoroughly intelligent in affairs, acutely discerning of character, not quick to bestow confidence, and slow to withdraw it, they were at once the most helpful and most exacting of supporters. Their tenacious trust in men in whom they have once confided is illustrated by the unparalleled fact that Elisha Whittlesey, Joshua R. 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 service in the House of Representatives; there is no place where so little deference is paid to reputation previously acquired or to eminence won outside; no place where so little consideration is shown for the feelings or 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 discovered, his worth is impartially weighed, his rank is irreversibly decreed.

With possibly a single exception Garfield was the youngest member in the House when he entered, and was but seven years from his college graduation. But he had

ORATOR AND DEBATER.

not been in his seat sixty days before his ability was recognized and his place conAs a parliamentary orator, as a debater ceded. He stepped to the front with the on an issue squarely joined, where the confidence of one who belonged there. The position had been chosen and the ground House was crowded with strong men of laid out, Garfield must be assigned a very both parties; nineteen of them have since high rank. More, perhaps, than any man been transferred to the Senate, and many with whom he was associated in public of them have served with distinction in the life, he gave careful and systematic study gubernatorial chairs of their respective to public questions, and he came to every States, and on foreign missions of great discussion in which he took part with 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 "because 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 could easily have done better. He never expended so much strength but that he seemed to be holding additional power at call. This is one of the happiest and rarest distinctions of an effective debater, and often counts for as much in persuading an assembly as the eloquent and elaborate

argument.

elaborate and complete preparation. He was a steady and indefatigable worker. Those that imagine that talent or genius can supply the place or achieve the results of labor will find no encouragement in Garfield's life. In preliminary 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 reading apparently so quick and cursory that it seemed like a mere glance at the table of contents. He was a pre-eminently fair and candid man in debate, took no petty advantage, stooped to no unworthy methods, 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 opponent's side with such amplitude of fairness and such liber

complained that he was giving his cases away. But never in his prolonged participation in the proceedings of the House did he give his case away, or fail in the judgment of competent and impartial listeners to gain the mastery.

The great measure of Garfield's fame was filled by his service in the House of Representatives. His military life, illustrated by honorable performance, and rich in promise, was, as he himself felt, prema-ality of concession that his followers often turely terminated, and necessarily incomplete. Speculation as to what he might have done in a field, where the great prizes are so few, cannot 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 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 otherwise, and his reputation in history will rest largely upon his service in the House of Representatives. That service was exceptionally long. He was nine times consecutively chosen to the House, an honor enjoyed by not more than six other Representatives of the more than five thousand who have been elected from the organization of the government to this hour.

These characteristics, which marked Garfield as a great debater, did not, however, make him a great parliamentary leader. A parliamentary leader, as that term is understood wherever free representative government 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 country." 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. must know not merely how to strike, but where to strike and when to strike. often skillfully 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

sounder judgment and quicker knowledge | work which fell upon its successor was unof men than the chief of staff to the com- precedented, both in respect to the vast manding general. An indiscreet man in sums of money raised for the support of such a position can sow more discord, the Army and Navy, and of the new and breed more jealousy and disseminate more extraordinary powers of legislation which strife than any other officer in the entire it was forced to exercise. Only twentyorganization. When General Garfield as- four States were represented, and one hunsumed his new duties he found various dred and eighty-two members were upon troubles already well developed and seri- its roll. Among these were many disously affecting the value and efficiency of tinguished party leaders on both sides, the Army of Cumberland. The energy, veterans in the public service, with estabthe impartiality and the tact with which lished reputations for ability, and with he sought to allay these dissensions, and that skill which comes only from parliato discharge the duties of his new and try-mentary experience. Into this assemblage ing position, will always remain one of the of men Garfield entered without special most striking proofs of his great versatility. preparation, and it might almost be said His military duties closed on the memor- unexpectedly. The question of taking able field of Chickamauga, a field which command of a division of troops under however disastrous to the Union arms gave General Thomas, or taking his seat in to him the occasion of winning imperish- Congress was kept open till the last moment able laurels. The very rare distinction so late, indeed, that the resignation of his was accorded him of great promotion for military commission and his appearance his bravery on a field that was lost. Pres- in the House were almost contemporaident Lincoln appointed him a Major-General in the Army of the United States for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chickamauga.

IN CONGRESS.

neous. He wore the uniform of a MajorGeneral of the United 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.

With possibly a single exception Garfield 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. 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 missions 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 "because 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 could easily have done better. He never expended so much strength but that he seemed to be holding additional power at call. This is one of the happiest and rarest distinctions of an effective debater, and often counts for as much in persuading an assembly as the eloquent and elaborate

argument.

ORATOR AND DEBATER.

As a parliamentary orator, as a debater on an issue squarely joined, where the position had been chosen and the ground laid 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 complete preparation. He was a steady and indefatigable worker. Those that imagine that talent or genius can supply the place or achieve the results of labor will find no encouragement in Garfield's life. In preliminary 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 reading apparently so quick and cursory that it seemed like a mere glance at the table of contents. He was a pre-eminently fair and candid man in debate, took no petty advantage, stooped to no unworthy methods, avoided personal allusions, rarely appealed to prejudice, did not seek to inflanie 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 opponent's side with such amplitude of fairness and such liber

These characteristics, which marked Garfield as a great debater, did not, however, make him a great parliamentary leader. A parliamentary leader, as that term is understood wherever free representative government 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 country." 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 skillfully 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

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American Politics (non-partisan) from the Beginning to Date: Embodying a ...