Читать книгу The Life and Public Services of James A. Garfield - E. E. Brown - Страница 24

Table of Contents

Rosecrans' Official Report.—Sixteen Years Later.—Promotion to Major-General.—Elected to Congress.—Resigns his Commission in the Army.—Endowed by Nature and Education for a Public Speaker.—Moral Character.—Youngest Member of House of Representatives.—One Secret of Success.—First Speech.—Wade-Davis Manifesto.—Extracts from various Speeches.

General Rosecrans, in his official report of the battles of Chickamauga, writes—

"To Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, chief-of-staff, I am especially indebted for the clear and ready manner in which he seized the points of action and movement, and expressed in order the ideas of the general commanding."

To this meed of praise General Wood adds—

"It affords me much pleasure to signalize the presence with my command, for a length of time during the afternoon (present during the period of hottest fighting), of another distinguished officer, Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, chief-of-staff. After the disastrous rout on the right, General Garfield made his way back to the battle-field (showing clearly that the road was open to all who might choose to follow it), and came to where my command was engaged. The brigade which made so determined a resistance on the crest of the narrow ridge during all the long September afternoon, had been commanded by General Garfield when he belonged to my division. The men remarked his presence with much satisfaction, and were delighted that he was a witness of the splendid fighting they were doing."

In connection with these reports, it is interesting to recall Garfield's address to his comrades, sixteen years later, when some twelve hundred of the veteran volunteers of Ohio visited him at his home in Mentor. In response to an address of General M. D. Leggett, he said, in his hearty, friendly way—

"Any man that can see twelve hundred comrades in the front door-yard has as much reason to be proud as for anything that can well happen to him in this world. To see twelve hundred men from almost every regiment of the state, to see a consolidated field report of survivors of the war sixteen years after it is over, is a great sight for any man to look on. I greet you all with gratitude for this visit. Its personal compliment is great, but there is another thought in it far greater than that to me, and greater to you.

"Just over yonder, about ten miles, when I was a mere lad, I heard the finest political speech of my life. It was a speech of Joshua R. Giddings. He had come home to appeal to his constituents. A Southern man drew a pistol on him while he was speaking in favor of human liberty, and marched over to him to shoot him down, to stop his speech and quench the voice of liberty.

"I remember but one thing the old hero said in the course of that speech so long ago, and it was this—

"'I knew I was speaking for liberty, and I felt that if an assassin shot me down, my speech would still go on and triumph.'

"Well, now, these twelve hundred, and the one hundred times twelve hundred, and the one million of men that went out into the field of battle to fight for our Union, feel as that speaker felt, that if they should all be shot down the cause of liberty would still go on.

"You all, and the Union, felt that around you, and above you, and behind you, was a force and a cause and an immortal truth that would outlive your bodies and mine, and survive all our brigades, and all our armies, and all our battles.

"Here you are to-day; in the same belief we shall die; and yet we believe that after us the immortal truth for which we fought will live in a united nation, a united people, against all factions, against all sections, against all divisions, so long as there shall be a continent of rivers, and mountains, and lakes.

"It was this great belief that lifted you all up into the heroic height of great soldiers in war; and it is my belief that you cherish it to-day, and carry it with you in all your pilgrimages and in all your reunions. In that great belief and in that inspiring faith, I meet you and greet you to-day, and with it we will go on to whatever fate has in store for us."

Ah! how little the devoted band of comrades dreamed that bright October morning, with what a new and solemn meaning before another twelve months those earnest words would come back to them!

Four weeks after the battle of Chickamauga, General Rosecrans sent Garfield on to Washington to report minutely to the War Department and to the President, the position, deeds, resources, etc., of the army at Chattanooga. In the mean time he had received the promotion of major-general "for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Chickamauga;" and during the year previous, the Nineteenth Congressional District of Ohio had elected him as their representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress.

Garfield's whole heart and soul were with the army, he would have preferred to serve his country on the field rather than in the halls of state; but when he expressed his desire to President Lincoln, the latter urged him to resign his commission and come to Congress. There were plenty of major-generals, he said, but able statesmen—like angels' visits—were few and far between.

It was universally believed, at this time, that the war was drawing to a close; and still another consideration that influenced Garfield in his decision was the fact that a voice in military legislation might be of great assistance to his comrades in arms. So, on the 5th of December, 1863, after three years of military life, he resigned his army commission with its high emoluments, for the poor pay and arduous work of a Congressman.

It is a little singular that he should have filled in Congress the very seat left vacant by the death of Joshua R. Giddings, his boyhood's hero. Did the mantle of this brave Elijah fall upon him, too, I wonder?

Upon his arrival at Washington, Garfield, with his characteristic energy and perseverance, began a thorough course of study upon all topics with which he might have to deal, giving especial attention to commerce, manufactures, finance, the tariff, taxation, and international law. Every spare moment was turned to the best account; an intimate friend says he was seldom seen without a book in his hand, or in his pocket.

Both by nature and education, Garfield seemed specially endowed for the office of a public speaker. He had a ready flow of language that practice in debating clubs, the teacher's desk, at the bar, and in the pulpit had rendered apt, pointed, and polished. His tall, massive figure, powerful voice, and dignified manner gave additional weight to every word that fell from his lips, while his fine scholarship, extensive reading and wonderful memory furnished an inexhaustible "reserve fund" of illustration and imagery. But above all and through all, was the vital power of a warm, sympathetic, generous heart.

"His moral character," writes President Hinsdale, "was the fit crown to his physical and intellectual nature. No man had a kinder heart or a purer mind. Naturally, and without conscious plan or effort, he drew men to him as the magnet the iron filings."

He had been the youngest man in the Ohio senate, the youngest brigadier-general, and now, at the age of thirty-two, he was found to be the youngest member of the House of Representatives. To make his mark among so many brilliant intellects, so many fine orators, so many old and well-tried statesmen, as graced the legislation halls of the nation at that critical period of our history, required in the young and then almost unknown congressman "a peculiar combination of strong talents and intellectual acuteness."

One secret of his success lay in his "genius for hard work." He was not one to take ideas at second-hand; he was never satisfied until he had sifted the subject in hand to the very bottom, and when once assured of the truth and right of any matter, no power on earth could move him.

"Comparatively few men or women," he said one day to a friend, "take the trouble to think for themselves. Most people frame their opinions from what they read or hear others say. I noticed this in early life, but never saw the evil of it until I went to Congress."

From the very first, Garfield made his influence felt in the Hall of Representatives. He was strong enough to break over the bars that usually restrict the new and younger members of Congress, and soon took up the gauntlet with debaters like Thaddeus Stevens, N. P. Banks, Roscoe Conkling, and other old leaders in the legislative halls.

It was a tumultuous period in our national history; the War of the Rebellion had brought to the surface many questions of debate that required the utmost thought and deliberation, and upon whose decision hung the weightiest of results.

But Garfield as some able writer says, was "a man who was always equal to the greatest opportunity; often surpassed it. He was great on great occasions, because in temperament, intelligence, enthusiasm, and eloquence, he rose, like air, to its highest limit."

The first speech he delivered of any length, was on January 28th, 1864, and was a reply to his Democratic colleague, Mr. Finck. It was in favor of the confiscation of rebel property, and the following passage will give an idea of his style of argument in those early days:—

"The war was announced by proclamation, and it must end by proclamation. We can hold the insurgent states in military subjection half a century—if need be, until they are purged of their poison and stand up clean before the country. They must come back with clean hands, if they come at all. I hope to see in all those states the men who fought and suffered for the truth, tilling the fields on which they pitched their tents. I hope to see them, like old Kaspar of Blenheim, on the summer evenings, with their children upon their knees, and pointing out the spot where brave men fell and marble commemorates it."

His answer to Mr. Long, in the campaign of 1864, when McClellan was proposed as the Democratic candidate, will never be forgotten. It was delivered on the impulse of the moment and excited the wildest applause throughout the House. The older members began to realize what a growing power they had in their midst, and were not slow to seek Garfield's assistance when they had some pet measure to bring forward.

As the time drew near for holding the Congressional Convention of 1864, in the Nineteenth District, a report was circulated in the Western Reserve, that Garfield was the author of the famous Wade-Davis manifesto.

The convention wished to nominate him, but hesitated. Would he not come forward and explain himself?

Now this was just what Garfield was longing to do. With a firm step he walked up to the platform and in a brief, trenchant speech, declared that although he had not written the Wade-Davis letter, he was in sympathy with the authors. If the Nineteenth District did not want a representative who would assert his independence of thought and action, it must find another man. Having stated his conviction of the truth in the plainest, strongest terms, he came down from the platform and quietly left the hall. A great noise from the building greeted his ears as he turned the street-corner. He thought they were having an indignation meeting, and he fully expected to be apprized of his rejection.

To his astonishment, however, he learned that the noise he had heard was the cheering of the people upon his nomination.

The convention had been taken entirely by surprise. Before any of his opponents had had time to say a word, an Ashtabula delegate had risen to his feet and declared that "a man who could face a delegation like that, ought to be nominated by acclamation." Then, the popular feeling expressed itself freely, and Garfield was renominated with great applause.

"It was a bold action on my part," he said afterward, "but it showed me the truth of the old maxim that 'Honesty is the best policy,' and I have ever since been entirely independent in my relations with the people of my district."

Ben Wade, the "old war-horse," was greatly touched by Garfield's championship.

"I shall never forget it, never, sir, while I live on this earth!" he exclaimed as he held the hand of the young statesman in his iron grasp.

Garfield was elected by a majority of twelve thousand, and on his return to Congress the second term, the secretary of the treasury requested that he might have a place on the Committee of Ways and Means.

From his entrance into Congress, Garfield had made a special study of finance and political economy. He was therefore, well equipped for this new position, and nothing could move him from the firm stand he had taken in favor of specie payments and the honorable fulfilment of the nation's contract.

"I affirm," he boldly declared before the House, "against all opposers, that the highest and foremost present duty of the American people is to complete the resumption of specie payments; and first of all, because the sacred faith of this republic is pledged to resumption; and if it were never so hard to do it, if the burdens were ten times greater than they are, this nation dare not look in the face of God and men, and break its plighted word.

"It is a fearful thing for one man to stand up in the face of his brother-man and refuse to keep his pledge; but it is a forty-five million times worse thing for a nation to do it. It breaks the mainspring of faith. It unsettles all security; it disturbs all values; and it puts the life of the nation in peril for all time to come.

"I am almost ashamed to give any other reason for resumption than this one I have given. It is so complete that no other is needed; but there is another almost as strong. If there were no moral obligations resting upon the nation, if there were no public faith pledged to it, I affirm that the resumption of specie payment is demanded by every interest of business in this country, and so imperatively demanded that it can be demonstrated that every honest interest in America will be strengthened and bettered by the resumption of specie payment."

Garfield's fidelity to conviction was strikingly shown in a case at this time when in some of the states there were conflicts between civil and military authorities. He was too well versed in law to follow blindly the opinion of the majority.

"Young man," said Judge Jeremiah Black to him, "it is a perilous thing for a young Republican in Congress to take such an independent stand, and I don't want you to injure yourself."

"That consideration," replied Garfield, "does not weigh with me; I believe in English liberty and English law."

Speaker Colfax wanted to reappoint him on the military committee, but he asked to be excused, saying—

"I would rather serve where I can study finance; this is to be the great question in the future of our country."

In his first speech on the tariff question, he defines his position as follows:—

"I hold that a properly adjusted competition between home and foreign products is the best gauge to regulate international trade. Duties should be so high that our manufacturers can fairly compete with the foreign product, but not so high as to enable them to drive out the foreign article, enjoy a monopoly of the trade, and regulate the price as they please. This is my doctrine of protection."

In the well-remembered controversy that succeeded General Schenck's tariff bill, Garfield said—

"The great want of industry is a stable policy; and it is a significant comment on the character of our legislation that Congress has become a terror to the business men of the country. … A distinguished citizen of my own district has lately written me this significant sentence: 'If the laws of God and nature were as vacillating and uncertain as the laws of Congress in regard to the business of its people, the universe would soon fall into chaos.'

"Examining thus the possibilities of the situation I believe that the true course for the friends of protection to pursue, is to reduce the rates on imports when we can justly and safely do so, and accepting neither of the extreme doctrines, endeavor to establish a stable policy that will commend itself to all patriotic and thoughtful people."

Finding that no one in Congress had made a business of examining in detail the various appropriations of the public money, Garfield took the arduous task upon his own shoulders so that he might vote more intelligently. Having made out a careful analysis, he delivered it before the House; it was so well received, that each succeeding year another was called for until "Garfield's budget speech" became a well-known institution in Congress, and was considered a most important help in reducing the expenditures of the Government.

A few years later, Garfield was promoted to the chairmanship of the Committee on Appropriations.