convocation been actually in session my brethren of the Episcopate, as well as representatives of the clergy, in our lower House, would have joined me in an expression of that heartfelt sympathy with the people of the United States which I now beg, through you, to offer in my own name, and I think I may say in the name of the Church of England, on the occasion of the sad loss sustained by the death of President Garfield. Trusting that you will kindly make known both to the late President's family and to the Government of the United States this feeling entertained by the Church which I may claim to represent, I have the honor to be your obedient, faithful servant." The Pall Mall Gazette said:

"To-day there will scarcely be one Englishman in one thousand who will not read of President Garfield's death with regret as real and as deep as if he had been a ruler of our own. A communion of sorrow unites the ocean sundered members of the English race to-day more closely. than it has ever been united since 1776. There is something peculiarly touching in the subsidence of party recrimination as soon as the fatal shot was fired. Much as we regret his untimely end, and much as mankind must execrate the murder, the incident is one which will prob ably contribute more to the stability and unity of the Republic than anything that could have been effected by President Garfield's administration. Another tie of strong human interest has linked the States to the political center of union. Another hallowed memory has been added to the historical inheritance of the Republic. The ideal of American citizenship will be purified and elevated by the thought of his simplicity, devotion and patriotism. If it were not for his wife's sorrow, there would be less regret that the President has died. As never again could he have attained to the height of the nation's affection to which he has risen, and any reaction of feeling after twelve weeks of universal sympathy, moved by his fatal wound, would have been painful. Happy in his life, Mr. Garfield is still more happy in the time in which he received the canonization of death,"

The London Times spoke in these words:

"The death of President Garfield is regarded as hardly less than a national calamity. In all ranks, from the Queen to the peasant, there is a most heartfelt sympathy for the bereaved widow and injured nation. The career of President Garfield is of a kind which appeals to the best feelings and most cherished traditions of our people.” The Daily News said:

"Many will be tempted by his long and terrible illness to reflect on less obvious incidents of physical health and strength. If President Garfield had been an ordinary man he would have been spared much suffering. His tenacity of life heightens the calamity involved in the termination of what would have been a long as well as illustrious career. The uppermost feeling of Englishmen, at this critical time, will be one of deep sympathy and condolence with the American people. By common consent President Garfield's life, which has been passed in full view of the public, has been free from spot or blemish. Distinguished in the field, able and upright in civil conduct, he has been a soldier without fear and a citizen without reproach. He has had time to show that the hopes entertained of his presidency were well founded. It was felt that the tone of public life would be purified, and the standard of efficiency raised steadily, persevering in the discharge of every duty. Giving some time to war, some to politics, some to study, and all to his country, he has risen from the humblest walks of life to fill, without exciting envy or surprise, the foremost post to which, with perhaps one exception, any man has been raised by the voice of his fellow-citizens. His illness has been like his active life. Supporting his sufferings with patience and fortitude, the knowledge of which, happily, was not confined to the sick room, occupying his few moments of comparative ease in the discussion of public affairs, a true patriot and statesman, he has proved himself equal to the most terrible strain which human nature can bear."

The Sultan and the Ottoman Government were "profoundly grieved at the death of the President."

The French Republic expressed deep grief in conse

quence of the "fatal result of the odious crime to which Mr. Garfield has fallen a victim."

The King of Italy and the Italian nation expressed their profound regret "for the death of the late Chief Magistrate, as well as their execration of the crime of which he was the victim."

The sympathy in Belgium for the nation and for President Garfield's family was "profound and universal."

The Servian Government and people expressed their "lively and sincere grief at the death of President Garfield."

The Imperial Government of Germany was deeply moved "for the heavy loss the people and the Government of America have sustained through the death of the victim of an abominable crime."

Canada sent its message for the "sad loss."

The Mexican Republic profoundly sympathized with the people of the United States in "rendering funeral honors to President Garfield."

Sweden and Norway, Spain and Russia, Brazil and Ireland sent their sincere condolences and "the homage of their profound respect." From Alfred Tennyson, the Poet Laureate of England, from Lord Lorne, from the Lord Mayor of London, from Pere Hyacinthe, from the illus trious of all the earth, there came but one message, and in it not one discordant note to break the "harmony of the universal cry of sorrow." It has been beautifully said, that "the life estate of all who die falls as a bequest to those who are living-to be terminated, if it be evil, to be enlarged and improved, if it be good. The dead President has bequeathed to each and all of us a benefit and a hope which we little suspected was so near us. His life and tragical death have stirred the hearts of the two greatest nations of the world-representing nearly a hundred mil

lions of people standing in the vanguard of civilizationnations which, seventy years ago, were at war, and sixteen years ago were quarreling. It has been the belief of great thinkers that it would be a token of higher civilization if these two great nations could recover their ancient unity on the broad basis of liberty-if, instead of an extinct Anglo-Saxon race, there could be formed an Anglo-American race. The pulses of sympathy and sorrow every hour beating toward America are far grander as an expression of civilization than the mastered magnetism that is their messenger.

"Old fables tell us of a magical music that built the walls of cities; but the ocean cable, that vibrates with the love of nation for nation is a harpstring of earth's heart, whose music builds ideal civilization. This day the fifty millions of that stricken land behold on the darkness a star of brightness; it is a wreath of flowers laid by the Queen upon the President's bier, fragrant with the sympathy and bedewed with the tears of her people. Those flowers must live. It is for all good men and women to cherish them, that they may never fade. They are blossoms of a springtide of civilization, such as our poor blood-stained earth has vainly sighed for through the centuries. Ah! I know that they will never fade: they will be cherished in the hearts of our children's children, and they will still expand in the happy sunshine when all the battle-flags that ever floated between England and America are furled and forgotten."

What Mr. Conway has so well said of the bequest which President Garfield left to England and America when he died, may be applied in large measure to all the world, for there was no tongue among mankind on which prayer was not lifted to heaven for President Garfield's recovery, and no clime in which tears have not fallen upon his tomb.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE PRESENT ESTIMATE AND THE FINAL CONCLUSION.

An old proverb says: "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

In the history of the world there have been men who might well be called "hinge men." Upon them eras turned, and they marked the beginning of the ages. Such men are not numerous, and when they appear above the horizon of their day, they are so full-orbed and matchless that the world wonders from whence they come and to what race they belong. Such men are not measured by the ordinary rules-neither can they be. No one person contemporary with them is able to take their full measurement. They are many-sided, and each side is a study by itself. Like all great objects, to fully understand them there must be the near and the distant view. James A. Garfield belonged to the race of "hinge men," and he swung, not the door of an era, but of an age; an age in which the heart of the great world beat in a concord not known for eighteen hundred years. It is impossible for the generation in which he lived to place an absolutely correct estimate upon him. But it is for this generation, and for those who knew him personally and intimately, to present their estimate, leaving the absolute final estimate for the generations yet to come.