should feel it my duty to chronicle the important part he took in the
battle of Chickamauga, where he acted as chief of staff to General
Rosecranz, aiding his superior officer at a most critical point in the
battle by advice which had an important influence in saving the day. I
should like to describe the wonderful and perilous ride of three miles
which he took, exposing his life at every moment, to warn General Thomas
that he is out-flanked, and that at least seventy thousand men are
closing down upon his right wing, to crush his twenty-five thousand to
fragments. Sometimes I hope a poet, of fitting inspiration, will sing of
that ride, and how, escaping from shot and shell, he plunged down the
hill through the fiery storm, reaching Thomas in safety, though his
noble horse at that moment fell dead at his feet. I can not spare time
for the record, but must refer my young reader to the pages of Edmund
Kirke, or General James S. Brisbin.

Other duties, and another important field of action, await Garfield, and
we must hurry on. But, before doing so, I must not fail to record that
the War Department, recognizing his important services at the battle of
Chickamauga, sent him a fortnight later the commission of a
major-general.




CHAPTER XXVI.

THE CANAL-BOY BECOMES A CONGRESSMAN.


While Garfield was serving his country to the utmost of his ability in
the field, the voters of the Nineteenth District of Ohio, in which he
had his home, were called upon to select a man to represent them in
Congress. It perhaps exceeds any other portion of the State in its
devotion to the cause of education and the general intelligence of its
inhabitants. The people were mostly of New England origin, and in
selecting a representative they wanted a man who was fitted by
education, as well as fidelity, to do them credit.

Their choice fell upon Garfield, who was known to them at home as the
head of one of their chief institutions of learning, and whose
reputation had not suffered in the field. They did not even consult him,
but put him in nomination, and elected him by an overwhelming majority.

It was a gratifying compliment, for in our country an election to
Congress is regarded as a high honor, which no one need be reluctant to
accept. We have on record one of our most distinguished statesmen--John
Quincy Adams--who, after filling the Presidential chair, was content to
go back to Washington as a member of the House of Representatives from
his district in Massachusetts. It was undoubtedly more in harmony with
the desires and tastes of the young man--for he was still a young
man--than service in the field. But he felt that that was not the
question. Where was he more needed? The war was not over. Indeed, it
seemed doubtful when it would be finished; and Garfield was now in a
position to serve his country well as a military commander.

When on the march to Chattanooga, Garfield consulted Gen. Rosecranz,
owning that he was perplexed in attempting to decide.

Rosecranz said: "The war is not yet over, nor will it be for some time
to come. Many questions will arise in Congress which will require not
only statesman-like treatment, but the advice of men having an
acquaintance with military affairs. For that reason you will, I think,
do as good service to the country in Congress as in the field. I not
only think that you can accept the position with honor, but that it is
your duty to do it."

He added, and we may be sure that his advice accorded with the personal
judgment of the man whom he was addressing, "Be true to yourself, and
you will make your mark before your country."

Some months were to elapse before he would require to go to Washington,
for Congress was not to meet till December.

He went to Washington, undecided even yet whether to remain as a
legislator, or to return to his old comrades in the army. He only wished
to know where he could be of most service to his country, and he finally
decided to lay the matter before President Lincoln.

Lincoln gave substantially the same advice as Rosecranz: "We need men
who will help us carry the necessary war measures; and, besides, we are
greatly lacking in men of military experience in the House to promote
legislation about the army. It is your duty, therefore, to enter
Congress."

When, on the 5th of December, 1863, Garfield took his seat in the House
of Representatives, he was the youngest member of that body. The
Military Committee was the most important committee of Congress, and he
was put upon that, on account of his practical experience in the field.
This, of course, brought him, though a new and young member, into
immediate prominence, and his familiarity with the wants of the army
enabled him to be of great service.

I do not propose to detail at tiresome length the legislative
achievements of Gen. Garfield in the new position which he was destined
to fill for eighteen years. I shall only refer to such as illustrate his
characteristic devotion to duty without special regard to his own
interests. He never hesitated to array himself in opposition to the
popular will, if he thought the people were wrong. It was not long
before an occasion came up which enabled him to assert his independence.

The country needed soldiers, and had inaugurated a system of bounties
which should tempt men to join the ranks of the country's defenders. It
was only a partial success. Some men, good and true, were led to join by
the offer of a sum which made them more at ease about the comfort of
their families, but many joined the service from mercenary
considerations only, who seized the first opportunity to desert, and
turning up in another locality, enlisted again and obtained a second
bounty. These men obtained the name of bounty-jumpers, and there was a
host of them. Yet the measure was popular with soldiers, and Congress
was unanimously in favor of it. Great was the amazement of his
fellow-members when the young member from the Nineteenth Ohio district
rose in his seat and earnestly opposed it. He objected that the policy
was ruinous, involving immense expense, while effecting little good. He
claimed that the country had a right to the service of every one of its
children at such a crisis, without hire and without reward.

But one man stood with him, so unpopular was the stand he had taken; but
it was not long before the bounty system broke down, and Garfield's
views were adopted.

Later on he had another chance to show his independence. President
Lincoln, foreseeing that at a certain date not far ahead the time of
enlistment of nearly half the army would expire, came before Congress
and asked for power to draft men into service. It met with great
opposition. "What! force men into the field! Why, we might as well live
under a despotism!" exclaimed many; and the members of Congress, who
knew how unpopular the measure would be among their constituents,
defeated it by a two-thirds vote.

It was a critical juncture. As Lincoln had said in substance, all
military operations would be checked. Not only could not the war be
pushed, but the Government could not stand where it did. Sherman would
have to come back from Atlanta, Grant from the Peninsula.

The voting was over, and the Government was despondent. Then it was that
Garfield rose, and moving a reconsideration, made a speech full of fire
and earnestness, and the House, carried by storm, passed the bill, and
President Lincoln made a draft for half a million men.

Garfield knew that this action would be unpopular in his district. It
might defeat his re-election; but that mattered not. The President had
been assailed by the same argument, and had answered, "Gentlemen, it is
not necessary that I should be reelected, but it is necessary that I
should put down this rebellion." With this declaration the young
Congressman heartily sympathized.

Remonstrances did come from his district. Several of his prominent
supporters addressed him a letter, demanding his resignation. He wrote
them that he had acted according to his views of the needs of the
country; that he was sorry his judgment did not agree with theirs, but
that he must follow his own. He expected to live long enough to have
them all confess that he was right.

It was about this time that he made his celebrated reply to Mr.
Alexander Long, of Ohio, a fellow Congressman, who proposed to yield
everything and to recognize the Southern Confederacy.

The excitement was intense. In the midst of it Garfield rose and made
the following speech:

"MR. CHAIRMAN," he said, "I am reminded by the occurrences of this
afternoon of two characters in the war of the Revolution as compared
with two others in the war of to-day.

"The first was Lord Fairfax, who dwelt near the Potomac, a few miles
from us. When the great contest was opened between the mother country
and the colonies, Lord Fairfax, after a protracted struggle with his own
heart, decided he must go with the mother country. He gathered his
mantle about him and went over grandly and solemnly.

"There was another man, who cast in his lot with the struggling
colonists, and continued with them till the war was well-nigh ended. In
an hour of darkness that just preceded the glory of the morning, he
hatched the treason to surrender forever all that had been gained to the
enemies of his country. Benedict Arnold was that man!

"Fairfax and Arnold find their parallels of to-day.

"When this war began many good men stood hesitating and doubting what
they ought to do. Robert E. Lee sat in his house across the river here,
doubting and delaying, and going off at last almost tearfully to join
the army of his State. He reminds one in some respects of Lord Fairfax,
the stately Royalist of the Revolution.

"But now when tens of thousands of brave souls have gone up to God under
the shadow of the flag; when thousands more, maimed and shattered in
the contest, are sadly awaiting the deliverance of death; now, when
three years of terrific warfare have raged over us; when our armies have
pushed the Rebellion back over mountains and rivers, and crowded it into
narrow limits, until a wall of fire girds it; now when the uplifted hand
of a majestic people is about to hurl the bolts of its conquering power
upon the Rebellion; now, in the quiet of this hall, hatched in the
lowest depths of a similar dark treason, there rises a Benedict Arnold,
and proposes to surrender all up, body and spirit, the nation and the
flag, its genius and its honor, now and forever, to the accursed
traitors to our country! And that proposition comes--God forgive and
pity our beloved State--it comes from a citizen of the time-honored and
loyal commonwealth of Ohio!

"I implore you, brethren in this House, to believe that not many births
ever gave pangs to my mother State such as she suffered when that
traitor was born! I beg you not to believe that on the soil of that
State another such a growth has ever deformed the face of nature, and
darkened the light of God's day!"




CHAPTER XXVII.

GARFIELD'S COURSE IN CONGRESS.


If Garfield at once took a prominent place in the House of
Representatives, it was by no means because it was composed of inferior
men. On the other hand, there has seldom been a time when it contained a
larger number of men either prominent, or destined in after days to be
prominent. I avail myself of the detailed account given of its members
by Major Bundy, in his excellent Life of Garfield. There are some names
which will be familiar to most of my young readers:

"Its then most fortunate and promising member was Schuyler Colfax, the
popular Speaker. But there were three young members who were destined to
a more lasting prominence. The senior of these who had enjoyed previous
service in he House, was Roscoe Conkling, already recognized by Congress
and the country as a magnificent and convincing speaker. The other two
were James G. Blaine and James A. Garfield. Only a year the senior of
Garfield, Blaine was about to begin a career as brilliant as that of
Henry Clay, and the acquisition of a popularity unique in our political
history. But in this Congress there were many members whose power was
far greater than that of either of the trio, who may yet be as much
compared as Clay, Webster, and Calhoun were in former days.

"In the first place, there was Elihu B. Washburne, 'the watch-dog of the
treasury,' the 'father of the House,' courageous, practical, direct, and
aggressive. Then there was Thaddeus Stevens, who was one of the very few
men capable of driving his party associates--a character as unique as,
and far stronger than, John Randolph; General Robert C. Schenck, fresh
from the army, but a veteran in Congress, one of the ablest of practical
statesmen; ex-Governor Boutwell, of Massachusetts; ex-Governor Fenton,
of New York, a very influential member, especially on financial
questions; Henry Winter Davis, the brilliant orator, of Maryland;
William B. Allison, since one of the soundest and most useful of Iowa's
Senators; Henry L. Dawes, who fairly earned his promotion to the
Senate, but who accomplished so much in the House that his best friends
regret the transfer; John A. Bingham, one of the most famous speakers of
his time; James E. English, of Connecticut, who did valiant and
patriotic service as a War Democrat; George H. Pendleton, now Senator
from Ohio, and a most accomplished statesman, even in his early service
in the House; Henry G. Stebbins, who was to make a speech sustaining Mr.
Chase's financial policy that was unequaled for its salutary effect on
public opinion; Samuel J. Randall, now Speaker; John A. Griswold, of New
York; William Windom, one of the silent members, who has grown steadily
in power; James F. Wilson, who was destined to decline three successive
offers of Cabinet positions by President Grant; Daniel W. Voorhies, of
Indiana, now Senator; John A. Kasson, of Iowa, now our Minister to
Austria; Theodore M. Pomeroy, of New York, afterward Acting Speaker for
a brief period; William R. Morrison, of Illinois, since a Democratic
candidate for the Presidency; William S. Holman and George W. Julian, of
Indiana, both able men; and Fernando Wood--these were all prominent
members of the House. It will be seen that the House was a more trying
arena for a young member like Garfield than the Senate would have been;
for the contests of the former--unsubdued and unmitigated by 'the
courtesy of the Senate'--were conducted by as ready and able a corps of
debaters as ever sat in that body."

This was surely a formidable array of men, and a man of ordinary powers
would have found it prudent to remain silent during the first session,
lest he should be overwhelmed by some one of the ready speakers and
experienced legislators with whom he was associated. But the canal-boy,
who had so swiftly risen from his humble position to the post of college
president and major-general, till at the age of thirty-two he sat in the
national council the youngest member, was not daunted. His term of
service as State Senator was now of use to him, for it had given him a
knowledge of parliamentary law, and the practice in speaking which he
gained long ago in the boys' debating societies, and extended in
college, rendered him easy and master of himself.

Indeed he could not remain silent, for he represented the "boys at the
front," and whenever a measure was proposed affecting their interests,
he was expected to take part in the debate. It was not long before the
House found that its new member was a man of grace and power, with whom
it was not always safe to measure weapons. He was inclined to be
peaceful, but he was not willing to permit any one to domineer over him,
and the same member did not often attempt it a second time.

My young readers are sure to admire pluck, and they will, therefore,
read with interest of one such occasion, when Garfield effectually
quelled such an attempt. I find it in a chapter of reminiscences
contributed to the Boston _Journal_, by Ben Perley Poore, the well-known
correspondent:

"When the Jenckes Bankrupt Bill came before the House, Gen. Garfield
objected to it, because in his opinion it did not provide that the
estates of rebels in arms should escape the operations of the law. He
also showed that money was being raised to secure the enactment of the
bill, and Mr. Spalding, of the Cleveland district, was prompted by Mr.
Jenckes to 'sit down on him.' But Gen. Garfield was not to be silenced
easily and quite a scene ensued. The next day Garfield rose to a
personal explanation, and said:

"'I made no personal reference whatever; I assailed no gentleman; I
called no man's honor in question. My colleague from the Cleveland
district (Mr. Spalding) rose and asked if I had read the bill. I
answered him, I believe, in courteous language and manner, that I had
read it, and immediately on my statement to that effect he said in his
place in the House, and it has gone on the record, that he did not
believe I had read it; in other words, that he believed I had lied, in
the presence of my peers in this House. I felt, under such
circumstances, that it would not be becoming my self-respect, or the
respect I owe to the House, to continue a colloquy with any gentleman
who had thus impeached my veracity and I said so.

"'It pains me very much that a gentleman of venerable age, who was in
full maturity of life when I was a child, and whom I have respected
since my childhood, should have taken occasion here in this place to use
language so uncalled for, so ungenerous, so unjust to me, and
disgraceful to himself. I have borne with the ill-nature and bad blood
of that gentleman, as many others in this House have, out of respect for
his years; but no importunity of age shall shield him, or any man, from
my denunciation, who is so lacking in the proprieties of this place as
to be guilty of such parliamentary and personal indecency as the House
has witnessed on his part. I had hoped that before this time he would
have acknowledged to me the impropriety and unjustifiableness of his
conduct and apologized for the insult. But he has not seen fit to take
this course. I leave him to his own reflections, and his conduct to the
judgment of the House.'"

Those who listened to these spirited rebukes saw that the young member
from Ohio would not allow himself to be snubbed or insulted with
impunity, and the few who were accustomed to descend to such discourtesy
took warning accordingly. They were satisfied that Garfield, to quote a
common phrase, would give them as good as they sent, and perhaps a
little better. The boy, who at sixteen, when employed on the tow-path,
thrashed the bully of thirty-five for insulting him, was not likely in
his manhood to submit to the insults of a Congressional bully. He was a
man to compel respect, and had that resolute and persistent character
which was likely ere long to make him a leader. So Disraeli, coughed
down in his first attempt to speak before the English House of Commons,
accepted the situation, but recorded the prediction that one day they
would hear him. He, too, mounted step by step till he reached the
highest position in the English Government outside of royalty. A man who
is destined to be great is only strengthened by opposition, and rises in
the end victorious over circumstances.

Garfield soon made it manifest that he had come to Washington to work.
He was not one to lie back and enjoy in idleness the personal
consequence which his position gave him. All his life he had been a
worker, and a hard worker, from the time when he cut one hundred cords
of wood, at twenty-five cents a cord, all through his experience as a
canal-boy, a carpenter, a farm-worker, a janitor, a school teacher, a
student, and a military commander, and now that he had taken his place
in the grand council of the nation, he was not going to begin a life of
self-indulgent idleness.

In consideration of his military record he was, at his entrance into
Congress, put upon the Military Committee; but a session or two later,
at his own request, he was assigned a place on the Committee of Ways and
Means. His reason for this request was, that he might have an
opportunity of studying the question of finance, which he had sufficient
foresight to perceive would one day be a great question, overshadowing
all others. He instantly set himself to a systematic and exhaustive
study of this subject, and attained so thorough a knowledge of it that
he was universally recognized as a high authority--perhaps the highest
in the department. He made speech after speech on the finance question,
and was a pronounced advocate of "Honest Money," setting his face like a
flint against those who advocated any measures calculated to lower the
national credit or tarnish the national reputation for good faith.

"I am aware," said he one day in debate, "that financial measures are
dull and uninviting in comparison with those heroic themes which have
absorbed the attention of Congress for the last five years. To turn from
the consideration of armies and navies, victories and defeats, to the
array of figures which exhibits the debt, expenditure, taxation, and
industry of the nation requires no little courage and self-denial; but
to these questions we must come, and to their solution Congress and all
thoughtful citizens must give their best efforts for many years to
come."

It was not only a wise but a bold thing to do, for among the members of
his own party, in Ohio, financial heresies had crept in, and a party
platform was adopted in 1867, looking to the payment of the bonds of the
Government in greenbacks. He was advised to say nothing on the subject
lest it should cost him the nomination in the election just at hand; but
he met the question boldly, and declared that the district could only
have his services "on the ground of the honest payment of this debt, and
these bonds in coin, according to the letter and spirit of the
contract."

Nevertheless he was renominated by acclamation.




CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE MAN FOR THE HOUR.


On the 15th day of April, 1865, the country was thrilled from end to end
by the almost incredible report that President Lincoln had been
assassinated the evening previous while witnessing a performance at
Ford's Theatre, in Washington.

The war was not yet over, but peace seemed close at hand. All were
anticipating its return with joy. The immense sacrifices of loyal men
seemed about to be rewarded when, like a clap of thunder in a clear sky,
came the terrible tidings, which were flashed at once over the
telegraphic wires to the remotest parts of the country.

The people at first were shocked and silent. Then a mighty wave of wrath
swept over the country--a wrath that demanded victims, and seemed likely
in the principal city of the country to precipitate scenes not unlike
those witnessed in the "Reign of Terror" in France.

The boys who read this story can not understand the excitement of that
day. It was unlike the deep sorrow that came upon us all on the second
of July, for Lincoln died a martyr, at a time when men's passions had
been stirred by sectional strife, and his murder was felt to be an
outgrowth of the passions which it engendered; but Garfield fell, slain
by the hand of a worthless wretch, acting upon his own responsibility.

I shall venture, for the information of young readers, to whom it may be
new, to quote the graphic description of an eye-witness, contributed to
General Brisbin's interesting life of our subject:

"I shall never forget the first time I saw General Garfield. It was the
morning after President Lincoln's assassination. The country was excited
to its utmost tension.... The newspaper head lines of the transaction
were set up in the largest type, and the high crime was on every one's
tongue. Fear took possession of men's minds as to the fate of the
Government, for in a few hours the news came on that Seward's throat was
cut, and that attempts had been made on the lives of others of the
Government officers. Posters were stuck up everywhere, in great black
letters, calling upon the loyal citizens of New York, Brooklyn, Jersey
City, and neighboring places, to meet around the Wall Street Exchange
and give expression to their sentiments.

"It was a dark and terrible hour. What might come next no one could
tell, and men spoke with bated breath. The wrath of the workingmen was
simply uncontrollable, and revolvers and knives were in the hands of
thousands of Lincoln's friends, ready, at the first opportunity, to take
the law into their own hands, and avenge the death of their martyred
President upon any and all who dared to utter a word against him.

"Eleven o'clock A.M. was the hour set for the rendezvous. Fifty thousand
people crowded around the Exchange building, cramming and jamming the
streets, and wedged in as tight as men could stand together. With a few
to whom special favor was extended, I went over from Brooklyn at nine
A.M., and even then, with the utmost difficulty, found my way to the
reception room for the speakers in the front of the Exchange building,
and looking out on the high and massive balcony, whose front was
protected by a massive iron railing.

"We sat in solemnity and silence, waiting for General Butler, who, it
was announced, had started from Washington, and was either already in
the city or expected every moment. Nearly a hundred generals, judges,
statesmen, lawyers, editors, clergymen, and others were in that room
waiting for Butler's arrival.

"We stepped out to the balcony to watch the fearfully solemn and swaying
mass of people. Not a hurrah was heard, but for the most part a dead
silence, or a deep, ominous muttering ran like a rising wave up the
street toward Broadway, and again down toward the river on the right. At
length the batons of the police were seen swinging in the air, far up on
the left, parting the crowd, and pressing it back to make way for a
carriage that moved slowly, and with difficult jags through the compact
multitude, and the cry of 'Butler!' 'Butler!' rang out with tremendous
and thrilling effect, and was taken up by the people.

"But not a hurrah! Not one! It was the cry of a great people asking to
know how their President died. The blood bounced in our veins, and the
tears ran like streams down our faces. How it was done I forget, but
Butler was pulled through, and pulled up, and entered the room where we
had just walked back to meet him. A broad crape, a yard long, hung from
his left arm--terrible contrast with the countless flags that were
waving the nation's victory in the breeze. We first realized then the
sad news that Lincoln was dead. When Butler entered the room we shook
hands. Some spoke, some could not; all were in tears. The only word
Butler had for us all, at the first break of the silence was,
'_Gentleman, he died in the fullness of his fame_!' and as he spoke it
his lips quivered, and the tears ran fast down his cheeks.

"Then, after a few moments, came the speaking. And you can imagine the
effect, as the crape fluttered in the wind while his arm was uplifted.
Dickinson, of New York State, was fairly wild. The old man leaped over
the iron railing of the balcony and stood on the very edge, overhanging
the crowd, gesticulating in the most vehement manner, and almost bidding
the crowd 'burn up the rebel, seed, root, and branch,' while a bystander
held on to his coat-tail to keep him from falling over.

"By this time the wave of popular indignation had swelled to its crest.
Two men lay bleeding on one of the side streets, the one dead, the other
next to dying; one on the pavement, the other in the gutter. They had
said a moment before that 'Lincoln ought to have been shot long ago!'
They were not allowed to say it again. Soon two long pieces of scantling
stood out above the heads of the crowd, crossed at the top like the
letter X, and a looped halter pendant from the junction, a dozen men
following its slow motion through the masses, while 'Vengeance' was the
cry.

"On the right suddenly the shout arose, '_The World!_' '_The World_!'
and a movement of perhaps eight thousand to ten thousand turning their
faces in the direction of that building began to be executed.

"It was a critical moment. What might come no one could tell, did that
crowd get in front of that office; police and military would have
availed little, or been too late. A telegram had just been read from
Washington, 'Seward is dying!' Just then, at that juncture, a man
stepped forward with a small flag in his hand and beckoned to the
crowd.

"'Another telegram from Washington!'

"And then, in the awful stillness of the crisis, taking advantage of the
hesitation of the crowd, whose steps had been arrested a moment, a right
arm was lifted skyward, and a voice, clear and steady, loud and
distinct, spoke out:

"'Fellow-citizens! Clouds and darkness are round about Him! His pavilion
is dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies! Justice and judgment are
the establishment of His throne! Mercy and truth shall go before His
face! Fellow-citizens! God reigns and the Government at Washington still
lives!'

"The effect was tremendous. The-crowd stood rooted to the ground with
awe, gazing at the motionless orator, and thinking of God and the
security of the Government in that hour. As the boiling waters subside
and settle to the sea, when some strong wind beats it down, so the
tumult of the people sank and became still. All took it as a divine
omen. It was a triumph of eloquence, inspired by the moment, such as
falls to but one man's lot, and that but once in a century. The genius
of Webster, Choate, Everett, Seward, never reached it. What might have
happened had the surging and maddened mob been let loose, none can
tell. The man for the crisis was on the spot, more potent than
Napoleon's guns at Paris. I inquired what was his name.

"The answer came in a low whisper, 'It is General Garfield, of Ohio.'"

It was a most dramatic scene, and a wonderful exhibition of the power of
one man of intellect over a furious mob.

How, would the thrilling intensity of the moment have been increased,
had some prophet, standing beside the inspired speaker, predicted that a
little more than sixteen years later he who had calmed the crowd would
himself fall a victim to violence, while filling the same high post as
the martyred Lincoln. Well has it been said that the wildest dream of
the romancer pales beside the solemn surprise of the Actual. Not one
among the thousands there assembled, not the speaker himself, would have
considered such a statement within the range of credibility. Alas, that
it should have been!--that the monstrous murder of the good Lincoln
should have been repeated in these latter days, and the nation have come
a second time a mourner!

Will it be believed that Garfield's arrival and his speech had been
quite accidental, though we must also count it as Providential, since it
stayed the wild excesses of an infuriated mob. He had only arrived from
Washington that morning, and after breakfast had strolled through the
crowded streets, in entire ignorance of the great gathering at the
Exchange building.

He turned down Broadway, and when he saw the great concourse of people,
he kept on, to learn what had brought them together. Butler was speaking
when he arrived, and a friend who recognized him beckoned him to come up
there, above the heads of the multitude.

When he heard the wild cries for "Vengeance!" and noticed the swaying,
impassioned movements of the crowd, he saw the danger that menaced the
public order, and in a moment of inspiration he rose, and with a gesture
challenged the attention of the crowd. What he said he could not have
told five minutes afterward. "I only know," he said afterward, "that I
drew the lightning from that crowd, and brought it back to reason."




CHAPTER XXIX.

GARFIELD AS A LAWYER.


In the crowded activities of Garfield's life, my readers may possibly
have forgotten that he was a lawyer, having, after a course of private
study during his presidency of Hiram College, been admitted to the bar,
in 1861, by the Supreme Court of Ohio. When the war broke out he was
about to withdraw from his position as teacher, and go into practice in
Cleveland; but, as a Roman writer has expressed it, "Inter arma silent
leges." So law gave way to arms, and the incipient lawyer became a
general.

When the soldier put off his armor it was to enter Congress, and instead
of practicing law, Garfield helped to frame laws.

But in 1865 there came an extraordinary occasion, which led to the Ohio
Congressman entering upon his long delayed profession. And here I quote
from the work of Major Bundy, already referred to: "About that time
that great lawyer, Judge Jeremiah S. Black, as the attorney of the Ohio
Democrats who had been opposing the war, came to his friend Garfield,
and said that there were some men imprisoned in Indiana for conspiracy
against the Government in trying to prevent enlistments and to encourage
desertion. They had been tried in 1864, while the war was going on, and
by a military commission sitting in Indiana, where there was no war,
they had been sentenced to death. Mr. Lincoln commuted the sentence to
imprisonment for life, and they were put into State's prison in
accordance with the commutation. They then took out a writ of _habeas
corpus_, to test the constitutionality and legality of their trial, and
the judges in the Circuit Court had disagreed, there being two of them,
and had certified their disagreement to the Supreme Court of the United
States. Judge Black said to Garfield that he had seen what Garfield had
said in Congress, and asked him if he was willing to say in an argument
in the Supreme Court what he had advocated in Congress.

"To which Garfield replied: 'It depends on your case altogether.'

"Judge Black sent him the facts in the case--the record.

"Garfield read it over, and said: 'I believe in that doctrine.'

"To which Judge Black replied: 'Young man, you know it is a perilous
thing for a young Republican in Congress to say that, and I don't want
you to injure yourself.'

"Said Garfield: 'It does not make any difference. I believe in English
liberty, and English law. But, Judge Black, I am not a practitioner in
the Supreme Court, and I never tried a case in my life anywhere.'

"'How long ago were you admitted to the bar?' asked Judge Black.

"'Just about six years age.'

"'That will do,' Black replied, and he took Garfield thereupon over to
the Supreme Court and moved his admission.

"He immediately entered upon the consideration of this important case.
On the side of the Government was arrayed a formidable amount of legal
talent. The Attorney-General was aided by Gen. Butler, who was called in
on account of his military knowledge, and by Henry Stanbury. Associated
with Gen. Garfield as counsel for the petitioners were two of the
greatest lawyers in the country--Judge Black and Hon. David Dudley
Field, and the Hon. John E. McDonald, now Senator from Indiana. The
argument submitted by Gen. Garfield was one of the most remarkable ever
made before the Supreme Court of the United States, and was made under
circumstances peculiarly creditable to Garfield's courage, independence,
and resolute devotion to the cause of constitutional liberty--a devotion
not inspired by wild dreams of political promotion, for at that time it
was dangerous for any young Republican Congressman to defend the
constitutional rights of men known to be disloyal, and rightly despised
and hated for their disloyal practices."

I refer any of my maturer readers who may desire an abstract of the
young lawyer's masterly and convincing argument, to Major Bundy's
valuable work, which necessarily goes more deeply into such matters than
the scope of my slighter work will admit. His argument was listened to
with high approval by his distinguished associate counsel, and the
decision of the Supreme Court was given unanimously in favor of his
clients.

Surely this was a most valuable _debut_, and Garfield is probably the
first lawyer that ever tried his first case before that august tribunal.
It was a triumph, and gave him an immediate reputation and insured him a
series of important cases before the same court. I have seen it stated
that he was employed in seventeen cases before the Supreme Court, some
of large importance, and bringing him in large fees. But for his first
case he never received a cent. His clients were poor and in prison, and
he was even obliged to pay for printing his own brief. His future
earnings from this source, however, added materially to his income, and
enabled him to install his family in that cherished home at Mentor,
which has become, so familiar by name to the American people.

I can not dwell upon Garfield's experience as a lawyer. I content myself
with quoting, from a letter addressed by Garfield to his close friend,
President Hinsdale, of Hiram College, the account of a case tried in
Mobile, which illustrates his wonderful industry and remarkable
resources.

Under date of June 18, 1877, Garfield writes "You know that my life has
abounded in crises and difficult situations. This trip has been,
perhaps, not a crisis, but certainly has placed me in a position of
extreme difficulty. Two or three months ago, W.B. Duncan, a prominent
business man in New York, retained me as his lawyer in a suit to be
heard in the United States Court in Mobile, and sent me the papers in
the case. I studied them, and found that they involved an important and
somewhat difficult question of law, and I made myself sufficiently
familiar with it, so that when Duncan telegraphed me to be in Mobile on
the first Monday in June, I went with a pretty comfortable sense of my
readiness to meet anybody who should be employed on the other side. But
when I reached Mobile, I found there were two other suits connected,
with this, and involving the ownership, sale, and complicated rights of
several parties to the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.

"After two days' skirmishing, the court ordered the three suits to be