Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

that stout-hearted persistency which, having once intelligently chosen an object, pursues it through sunshine and storm, undaunted by difficulties, and unterrified by danger.

He possessed an intellect of remarkable clearness and force. With keen analysis, he found the core of a question, and worked from the center outward. He cared little for the mere graces of speech; but few men have been so greatly endowed with the power of clear statement and unassailable argument. The path of his thought was straight

Like that of the swift cannon ball,
Shattering that it may reach, and
Shattering what it reaches.

When he had hit the mark, he used no additional words, and sought for no decoration. These qualities, joined to his power of thinking quickly, placed him in the front rank of debaters, and every year increased his power. It has been said that Senator Morton was a partisan, a strong partisan, and this is true. In the estimation of some, this detracts from his fame. That evils arise from extreme partisanship, there can be no doubt. But it should not be forgotten that all free governments are party governments. Our great Americans have been great partisans. Senator Morton was not more partisan than Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, Marshall, Taney and Chase. Strong men must have strong convictions, and 'one man with a belief is a greater power than a thousand that have only interests.'

Partisanship is opinion crystallized, and party organizations are the scaffoldings whereon citizens stand while they build up the walls of their national temple. Organizations may change or dissolve, but when parties cease to exist, liberty will perish. In conclusion, let me say, the memory of Governor Morton will be forever cherished and honored by the soldiers of my State. They fought side by side with the soldiers of Indiana, and in a hundred glorious fields his name was the battle-cry of the noble regiments which he had organized and inspired with his own lofty spirit.

To the nation he has left the legacy of his patriotism, and the example of a great eventful life."

CHAPTER XVII.

PERIOD OF UNPOPULARITY.

[ocr errors]

HIS PRACTICE OF LAW. HIS FIRST CASE IN THE SUPREME COURT.
HIS SUCCESS AS A LAWYER, UNPOPULARITY OF HIS DEFENSE OF
REBELS IN COURT. HIS CONNECTION WITH A MATTER CALLED THE
DE GOLYER PAVEMENT CASE. HOW HE WAS MALIGNED. PER-
SISTENCY OF ENEMIES. THE GREAT CREDIT MOBILIER CASE. -
VINDICATION OF GENERAL GARFIELD. - HIS STORY OF HIS DEAL-
INGS WITH OAKES AMES. HIS OPPOSITION TO THE INCREASE OF
SALARIES IN CONGRESS. -THE CENSURE OF HIS CONSTITUENTS.-
HIS EXPLANATION. — RESTORATION TO PUBLIC FAVOR.

No great or good man ever served a capricious public without disheartening trials, and periods of unpopularity. Such experiences are often the test of a man's ability and integrity. In the history of General Garfield's Congressional career, however, his loss of public favor was due, in each instance, to a misunderstanding of the facts, on the part of the people. When his actions and positions on public measure were fully understood by the people, he was at once restored to favor and applause.

One cause of the first noticeable ebb in the public regard, which the student of his life observes, was the natural result of his practice of law.

He was a Congressman before he ever tried a case in court; and his experience as an attorney is perhaps

[ocr errors]

an exception to that of any other lawyer, inasmuch as his first case was in the Supreme Court of the United States. He never had a case in any other

court.

His first appearance in the Supreme Court was in behalf of some conspirators who had been tried by court-martial, and condemned t death, for engaging in a movement to assist the rebellion. They were tried by martial law in a State, in time of peace de facto in the State, and in a section of State not under martial law. The legal question was, whether any military body had such power under the circumstances. Should the civil power be ignored in time of peace, or in sections of the country where martial law had not been proclaimed? It was a case for which he received no pay, and was undertaken as a test of this important principle.

He was sustained by the Court and complimented by the presiding justice for his able presentation of the case and the law, while the criminals were set at liberty. No sooner had the news of his interference in behalf of condemned rebels reached his district in Ohio, than the indignant voters loudly proclaimed his "treachery to his party and to the nation." In the following election, the great majority, with which he had always been elected, fell off more than a thousand votes, because of his supposed espousal of the cause of rebellious criminals.

Other cases followed with occasionally a like result, from which he easily recovered, but which, for the time, annoyed him and disturbed his district.

His practice in the Supreme Court increased very rapidly, and there was a time when he could have left his seat in Congress and entered upon a practice which would soon have made him rich. As it was, the income he thus derived was of great use to him, for his great generosity and thoughtlessness of self kept him almost incessantly in financial straits. He wasted no money on himself or his family; but he had rather pay a bill himself, than to ask another person, who owed it, for the money; and he gave to almost every good enterprise that came to his notice. He was often called upon to act as attorney for corporations and contractors, whose applications for money or privileges were to come before Congress ; and though it was considered honorable by many Congressmen to act in such cases, provided the attorney refused to vote when the measure came before Congress, yet invariably, did General Garfield refuse such applications, and rejected the large fees, which many statesmen thought it perfectly honorable for him to receive.

In 1873, General Garfield was called upon, by an attorney in Washington, to appear for him in a matter which the attorney (Mr. Parsons) said would not require much attention. The attorney being retained in the case, and being obliged to be absent when the matter was to come up, naturally sought some other attorney to temporarily take his place.

The matter to be attended to, in this instance, was a hearing before the Board of public works in Washington, concerning the durability of a wooden pave

« AnteriorContinuar »