History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 124

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574

USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 124

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ness and force. He dressed himself, made his way to the street, and saw around him the ominous signs of the breaking down of authority, in the great cosmopolitan cen- ter. He met many utter strangers who, without reserve, spoke their innermost thought and emotion. The streets, too, were full of dark, silent and sinister faces, as of men who had escaped from the pent places of dark- ness and hiding, and were for the first time abroad in the day-not a full-orbed healthy day, but one of half- twilight, full of shadows, and half-uttered whispers of impending evil. He finally reached the custom house, one of the seats of national authority, where was assembled an immense crowd of fearful, overwhelmed men. Mr. Odell, a representative from New York, re- cognized him, conducted him through the mass, up the steps, and pushed him forward to address the frightened unknowing multitude. A reporter of the Herald gath- ered portions of what was a solemn and impressive address such as a man of his mould would make under the circumstances.

RESTORATION.

The vacation of the summer of 1865 gave time and opportunity for a survey of the state of the Republic and its needs in the future. To Garfield it was obvious that a period of destruction, of uprooting and overturn- ing had come. It must be succeeded by that of repose, new crystallizations, and growths; new ideas must orig- inate new policies. They could hardly be expected from the old conductors of the war. They were the most of them warriors, ministers and legislators of the war, having clear vision, fixed purpose, and great power and grasp in creating and using means. Their work was well and thoroughly done. What was the next wise thing seemed hardly to dawn on many minds. Stern, intent, narrow, and hence forceful, with frowning brows confronting the great rebellion, till the habit of mind and form of ex- pression were fixed also. It were easy to destroy. The hand which ruins can hardly restore. There now re- mained the great work of clearing the ground of the entire Republic, of the debris, the cost, debt, and ruin of the war. Disband and pay the army, adjust a pension roll, fund the floating debt, readjust the whole vast sub- ject of revenue, all the forms and sources of taxation and expenditure, search out the true basis of the mone- tary system of the country, govern the subdued States, provide a system of education, change and restore the currents and costs of war to the economies and condi- tions of peace. He saw a parallel between the condition of the Republic at the close of the war, and that of Eng land at the end of the Napoleonic struggles. He read with great care the entire history of the period of her

IN CONGRESS-EUROPEAN TOUR.

transit from Waterloo to her resumption of specie pay- ments, the course and policy of Wellington, and con- trasted them with those of Peel and of those who held with him ; mastered the literature of political economy and the history of banking ; and when asked by the re-elected Colfax, what place he should assign him to, he answered that he preferred a place on the ways and means. With much remonstrance, the amazed speaker complied. He had favorably attracted the notice of Justin S. Morrell, now to be placed at the head of the committee, who requested that he might be assigned a place with him. Aside from his great value in the committee room, Morrell wanted the aid of his unsurpassed power to master, and of his clear and forcible exposition in committee of the whole and in the house. Roscoe Conkling, who had returned to the house, was on the same committee, as was also John Wentworth, who now appeared after years of absence.

Of old and distinguished members thus returning after many years, may be mentioned Delano, Bingham and Shellabarger. Of the new, were Rutherford B. Hayes, William Lawrence, Henry J. Raymond, Thomas W. Ferry, General Halbert E. Paine, Robert S. Hale, and others.

This session is memorable for the overhauling and re- construction of all the revenue legislation, the elabora- tion and enactment of the great statutes of taxation. The internal revenue law was revised and remodelled anew, with delegations representing all the trades and interests. The whiskey crowd, the brewers, the tobacco manufacturers of all sorts, men, craftsmen of all the trades, whose products were to be subjected to the ser- vitudes of the revenue. Then came the tariff, upon which men never have agreed, and never will agree.

Below the great schools of protection and free trade were infinite subdivisions of men, who disagreed as to what free trade practically meant, and what was protec- tion; with every shade from high to low tariff, and here again come the trades and artisans. There was the awful debt to be met, and 1866 saw twelve hundred and ninety millions of dollars appropriated for all purposes. Does history parallel this in the expenditures of any nation for a fiscal year? In all these labors, the strong, clear, well- advised mind of Garfield, luminously and profitably worked, and his firm, strong hand, made itself felt in the fashioning of this legislation. Thus employed the four- teenth of April, 1866, came upon the over-busy house, unconscious that it was the anniversary of the assassina- tion of Lincoln. President Johnson had been more thoughtful. He issued an order to close the great de- partments in commemoration of the event. The execu- tion of the order reminded the members of the house of

their own proper duty. Fifteen minutes before twelve, when the house would be called to order, Colfax rushed breathless into the committee room, where Garfield was hard at work, and told him that when the house was called to order he, the general, was to rise, remind the house of the solemn anniversary and move an ad- journment, and deliver a happy, touching and eloquent speech.

If there is anything in the world that would greatly dismay a public speaker, no matter how gifted, original and eloquent, it would be such an announcement. Few can, with ample preparation, do these things well. No one would attempt on such notice, were escape open to him.

Garfield, lost in figures and tables, looked up in dis- may. The uncovering of a rebel battery in his front would have startled him less. Colfax turned everybody out of the room, went out himself, and placed a messen- ger at the door. Fifteen minutes! The imprisoned re- presentative turned himself in on his roomy brain; started the imps of memory in all directions for stores which never did fail, awoke fancy, pathos and reverence. He was at his desk as the prayer ended and the gavel fell, when he arose and said:

MR. SPEAKER, I desire to move that this house do now adjonrn. And before the vote upon that motion is taken I desire to say a few words.

This day, Mr. Speaker, will be sadly memorable so long as this Na- tion shall endure, which God grant may be "till the last syllable of re- corded time,". when the volume of human history shall be sealed up and delivered to the omnipotent Judge.

In all future time, on the recurrence of this day, I doubt not that the citizens of this Republic will meet in solemn assembly to reflect on the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, and the awful, tragic event of April 14, 1865-an event unparalleled in the history of nations, cer- tainly unparalleled in our own. It is eminently proper that this house should this day place npon its records a memorial of that event.

The last five years have been marked by wonderful developments of individual character. Thousands of our people before unknown to fame, have taken their places in history, crowned with immortal honors. In thousands of humble homes are dwelling beroes and patriots whose names shall never die.

But greatest among all these great developments were the character and fame of Abraham Lincoln, whose loss the Nation still deplores. His character is aptly described in the words of England's great laure- ate-written thirty years ago-in which he traces the upward steps of some

" Divinely gifted man, Whose life in low estate began, And on a simple village green;

" Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, And grasps the skirts of happy chance, And breasts the blows of circumstance, And grapples with his evil star;

" Who makes his force by merit known, And lives to clutch the golden keys To mould a mighty State's decrees, And shape the whisper of the throne;

LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD.

"And moving up from high to higher, Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope, The pillar of a people's hope, The center of a world's desire."

Such a life and character will be treasured forever as the sacred pos- session of the American people and of mankind.

In the great drama of the rebellion, there were two acts. The first was the war with its battles and sieges, victories and defeats, its suffer- ings and tears.

That act was closing one year ago to-night, and, just as the curtain was lifting on the second and final act-the restoration of peace and liberty-just as the curtain was rising upon new characters and new events, the evil spirit of the rebellion, in the fury ol despair, nerved and directed the hand of an assassin to strike down the chief character in both.

It was no one man who killed Abraham Lincoln ; it was the embodied spirit of treason and slavery, inspired with fearful and despairing hate, that struck him down, in the moment of the nation's supremest joy.

Sir, there are times in the history of men and nations, when they stand so near the veil that separates mortals from the immortals, time from eternity, and men from their God, that they can almost hear the beatings and feel the pulsations of the heart of the Infinite.

Through such a time has this Nation passed. When two hundred and fifty thousand brave spirits passed from the field of honor, through that thin veil, to the presence of God, and when at last its parting folds admitted the martyr President to the company of these dead he- roes of the Republic, the nation stood so near the veil, that the whispers of God were heard by the children of men.

Awe-stricken by His voice, the American people knelt in tearful reverence and made a solemn covenant with Him and with each other, that this Nation should be saved from its enemies, that all its glories should be restored, and, on the ruins of slavery and treason, the temples of freedom and justice should be built and should survive forever.

It remains for us, consecrated by that great event, and under a covenant with God, to keep that faith, to go forward in the great work until it shall be completed.

Following the lead of that great man, and obeying the high behests of God, let us remember that-

" He has sounded forth a trumpet that shall never call retreat ; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat ; Be swift, my soul, to answer HIM, be jubilant my feet ; For GOD is marching on."

I move, sir, that this house do now adjourn.

The motion was unanimously agreed to; and thereupon (at fifteen minutes after twelve o'clock) the house adjourned.

This is justly regarded as one of the most felicitous things of the kind in our congressional history. Perhaps the recalling of the lines of Tennyson, seemingly written and laid away for the occasion, was an effort of memory little short of inspiration. He had not seen them for years. No book was at hand; no tongue to recall. They leaped from their ambush in his brain, and gave themselves to the tender and solemn office of an offering never more fitly made than now.

The general's rendering was as if the words were a sudden inspiration, now first finding utterance in their own most fitting expression ; rapt, tender, tremulous, and with loving awe. They were taken down with the speech. On comparison with the authorized text, there was the single error of a word.

The celebrated case of Milligan and others is referable to this period. It will be brought fully under notice for another purpose. In the order of time, and as illustra- tive of character, it must receive mention here.

The secret history of the provost marshal general's office at Washington, and the connection of the war office of which it was an agency with it, never can be written; perhaps, never should be. It is known, however, that the Old Capitol and Carroll prisons were thronged with men against whom no charges were ever preferred, who were never tried, and yet who were arbitrarily detained against remonstrance, in spite of entreaty, and without a shadow of constitutional authority. The writ of habeas corpus was suspended, and there were no legal means of relief. In this condition, a statement of the prisons, with many details, was sent to the military committee, which so startled the generals at its head, that they went to the prisons, and made a personal inquiry, saw several of the prisoners, and heard their stories, which excited their surprise and indignation. On the next day Garfield offered a resolution demanding an inquiry. The house adopted it, and directed the military committee to make it. On the day following, General Garfield was detained from the house at its opening. When he entered, he found it listening to Thaddeus Stevens on his motion to rescind Garfield's resolution of the day before, which the old inan denounced as a needless and mischievous intermeddling by a young man, with the management of the war office. Garfield replied with great spirit, stated the origin of the resolution, the petition, his personal inquiry, what he found; related in indignant terms the outrages upon Union men ; told the story of a Union colonel, wounded at the second battle of Bull Run, and denounced the great secretary of war as worthy of impeachment, and told the house to rescind the resolution if it would. It did not do it, but there was an immediate emptying of the prisons, which rendered inquiry useless. The daring of the young tribune, in thus bearding the terrible secre- tary, won the admiration of all men, and especially of Mr. Stanton himself, which was manifested in a strik- ing way. Meantime, Milligan and his co-conspirators were in prison awaiting execution, and the kind Lincoln was sorely perplexed.

In this exigency Judge Black and one or two leading Democrats approached Garfield, laid the case before him, and asked him to appear in it before the supreme court of the United States. The defendants were poor, abject and odious, but their case involved the same great questions of right, constitutional law, and civil liberty, so promptly and effectively vindicated in the case of the Capitol and Carroll prisoners. He did not hesitate.

IN CONGRESS-EUROPEAN TOUR.

His sense of duty in the defense of the principles in- volved, compelled him at any personal sacrifice and peril, to undertake the case, and he did. He prepared his great argument, printed his brief, presented the case, con- vinced the court, saved the wretched men, and restored to menaced rights the support of the law of the land .*

During this session he introduced a bill to establish the national bureau of education. He secured a special committee for its consideration, and closed the interest- ing and important debate upon it June 8, 1868. The speech was full of the broad, just and enlightened nature of the man, and presents the views in favor of it, with an amplitude of argument and illustration, fortified from history and experience, which would go far to establish the reputation of almost any other man.

The bill passed by eighty to forty-four, became a law, and for this the people of the United States are wholly indebted to the young professor of Hiram college.

The necessity for subjecting Mr. Garfield's career to a more rapid treatment, in view of the many years yet be- fore us, is apparent, and my sketch must pass with but. slight glances at its more prominent points. I leave the residue of the Thirty-ninth congress without further refer- ence to him or it.

EUROPE.

In the summer vacation of 1867 Mr. Garfield was able to realize the dream of every intelligent Ameri- can, and visit Europe. He sailed from New York on the thirteenth of July, and reached that city, on his re- turn, November 6th of the ensuing autumn. With a just and tender appreciation of their mutual help and dependence, the husband and devoted wife had made their lives continuously together, and she lived with him at Washington, holding her proper place by his side, sharing his confidence and counsels, and going with him along the way of his rapid advance, herself develop- ing naturally and gracefully in the seemly form of per- fecting womanhood, in the atmosphere and social circles of the capital. They carried with them and realized there the tenderness, warmth, and simplicity of their true home life.

For this brief absence they made a careful disposition of the loved ones, and now this husband and wife, who have never ceased to be lovers, go away-they two, each having only the other, to stand side by side with a strong arm around a slender waist on the large steamer's deck, and, with a half-sense of bereavement, see the land and light of their home fade into night, and fall below the horizon, then turn to hail the new day, count the days, and look for the new and everlasting old shores,

where they are to land-they two, and run, hand in hand, like wondering, wandering boy and girl, through Europe. I hold the young man's diary in my hand, and fancy I can see them, and it all seems very sweet and charming.

Here is what he says on the day they started: "When I entered Williams, in 1854, I probably knew less of Shakspeare than any other student of my age and cul- ture in the country. Though this was a reproach to me, I had the pleasure of bringing to the study of those great poems a mind of some cultivation and maturity, and my first impressions were strong and vivid. Some- thing like this may be my experience on this trip." Un- doubtedly it will. They were on the great "City of London." "At eight o'clock in the evening we caught the last glimpse of land."

One hour on the high seas, when the land has sunk, brings all that can be seen at sea, unless storms or islands arise, baring sea-sickness. Of course, everything is novel and fresh to one capable of the vivid impressions of Garfield. The ocean, the sun, and, above all, the huge, throbbing ship, and its navigation, were new and pictur- esque subjects, the unusual, to be studied. We must pass over the Atlantic more rapidly, under our recent pledge. We wait for them at Queenstown and find the ship washed and scoured, and the passengers ready to land. Of course, the general got acquainted with everybody on board, and found something to like in everyone. The person he would not like would be unlovely to the odious; and we know they all liked him, though he is careful to say nothing of that. We remember he was a born sailor, and the voyage awoke all his old longings. On the ship's last day, I find this reflection : "Perhaps each human being has several possible characters in him which changed circumstances could bring out. Certain- ly life on the sea brings me out quite unique. Mine is as much a surprise to me as it could be to any other. I have purposely become absorbed in the parenthetic life, and have enjoyed it so much, that a fellow passenger said to 'Crete' (Lucretia), that I would certainly be sorry to land." He was greatly interested in testing the accuracy of the captain's estimate of his whereabouts, and rate of speed. The captain had assured him that he would see the speck of Little Skelligs not thirty minutes from six P. M. It was sighted at ten minutes to six o'clock of July the 24th. On the twenty-sixth they steamed up the muddy Mersey, and the general is moved to qoute:

"The quality of Mersey is not strained."

He may have been homesick a little. They visited and lingered about Chester, oldest and sole walled town of England. The general had great aptitude for becom-

* See Chapter I, Part V.

LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD,

ing impregnated with the spirit of a place, and saw and felt with the fresh, unsoiled nature of a primitive man, which responded truly to impressions. July 28th, off to London-town of Whittington, lord mayor, and London bridge; stopped at the Langham, and found there Henry J. Raymond; went to the parliament house, and admitted to the gallery; heard Disraeli, Layard and others; surprised with the conversational, business- like manner of the speaking, marred by an almost painful hesitancy; went to the lords, where, sitting on the steps of the throne, the future President listened to born law-makers, Lord Russell, Lord Malmsbury, and smaller lordlings, on the reform bill. "I was strongly impressed with the democratic influences manifest in both houses. There seemed as much of the demagogue here as in our congresses," is his comment. "There is a constant ref- erence to the demands of the people."

Next day did St. Paul's and Westminster, and again to the lords, with Senator Morrell, of Vermont; heard Carns, and also Cardigan, of the "light brigade;" later, took rooms; again at Westminster, and then to parlia- ment; heard Derby, whose gout permitted his attend- ance; also Earl Gray. How these names take one back. Derby was the best speaker he had yet heard; saw Gladstone. Next day, August 2d, at the British museum; saw the remains of the Elgin marbles. Of course, he called upon Mr. Charles Francis Adams, and talked up home polities, which may have been interesting to hear; went to Hampton court. Such a reader of English history saw the places, and freshened his im- pressions. The next Sunday, went to see and hear Spurgeon, and gives an interesting account of him, his tabernacle, and people. Next day they went to the Tower, and then home through Billingsgate. They were very busy every day in London. The parliament house had charms for the politician and member of congress, and he managed to hear a good deal of indifferent speaking. He speaks forcibly of it-of the leading men. He made a good study of Disraeli; also of Bright. He was quick to see and apprehend the lines and points of these English statesmen. There is a good sketch of Gladstone. It is curious to think of the possible official relations of these remarkable men. Then follows a de- bate and "division." August 10th went to Leamington, and the next day to Stratford-on-Avon, where some good ramblings and musings were done. Many pages bear the notes. Such a man could not help his impressions. I must pass them. From there they visited various places, not on the usual beaten routes to Sheffield. August 15th they were at Edinboro, visited Abbottsford, Holly- rood, the Heart of Midlothian, and all the points which

were as fresh as if the way to them had not been beaten hard and smoth by previous visitors. There was Glasgow, the Clyde, and then Burns' cottage, and the "twa Brigs," and the general says he re-read Tam 'O Shanter. I believe Morrell and Blaine were with them part of the time in Scotland. August 23d, sailed from Leith to Rotterdam. The passage over the North sea is well described; and the next morning they were in sight of the dykes, and soon after they were looking at Holbein's landscapes, and the men and women whom they saw wore the same clothes as in his pictures. August 27th, went to Brussels, thence to Cologne, and steamed up the Rhine. Read Childe Harold, and estimates Byron's poetry. Stopped at Mayence, thence to Frankfort, and on Baden, September 5th, to Strasbourg, to see the cathedral and clock, then the Alps and Berne, next Lausanne and Lake Lucerne, more mountains, and then to Italy, then come the old names dear to history, and the romances of the medi- æval years and the renaissance, and so, to the still "spouseless Adriatic," and Venice, city of dreams, where her annual bridegroom perished centuries ago. Florence, and finally Rome, receptacle of things lost on earth, herself the saddest and greatest loss. Here all ways meet, all journeys end.

What must be the impressions of such a man when he buys his last ticket for Rome, and takes his seat in a car! To Rome by railroad! What an anachronism! What days those Roman days were! On page 217 I find a rude map-the Tiber, and the position of the Seven Hills. Childe Harold accompanied him to Rome. They reached there September 28th, and remained there until October Ist, and left with an infinitely greater regret than he ever left home. Away by the blue Mediterra- nean to Leghorn, and by steamer to Genoa and Colum- bus, thence to Turin, and so on, and over the moun- tains, and finally to Paris, where, too, all roads intersect, and many end. Dear Geneva had been left out with a small pang. Paris, and it was the fourth of October ; and already thoughts of home and hard work came upon the busy-brained man. Home and the babies. were ever in the heart of his companion. There they found Miss Ransom, the artist, and many Ohio friends. It was still the Paris of the second empire, and they left it on the nineteenth. Fifteen days there, then by rail to Dieppe, and there they took a steamer for New Haven. How flat sounds our familiar names after spelling out and fan- cying the otherwise unpronounceable names of continental Europe. Fifteen days of reflection and ocean, recalling, comparing, and the western world received them.

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History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 124

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers Number of Pages: 574

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574