immortality of that truth that makes these reunions, and that makes this one. You believed it on the battle-field, you believed it in the hell of Andersonville, and you believe it to-day, thank God; and you will believe it to the last gasp."

Voices-"Yes,

Voices "Yes, we will." "That's so," etc.

Gen. Garfield-"Well, now, fellow-citizens and fellowsoldiers—but I am not worthy to be your fellow in this work. I thank you for having asked me to speak to you. [Cries of 'Go on!' 'Go on!' 'Talk to us some more,' etc.] I want to say simply that I have had one opportunity only to do you any service. I did hear a man who stood by my side in the halls of the legislation-the man that offered on the floor of Congress the resolution that any man who commanded colored troops should be treated as a pirate, and not as a soldier; as a slave-stealer, and not as a soldier-I heard that man calmly say, with his head up in the light, in the presence of this American people, that the Union soldiers were as well treated, and as kindly treated in all the Southern prisons as were the rebel soldiers in all the Northern prisons."

Voices "Liar," "Liar!" "He was a liar."

Gen. Garfield-"I heard him declare that no kinder men ever lived than Gen. Winder and his Commander-in-Chief, Jeff Davis. [Yells of derision, hisses, etc.] And I took it upon myself to overwhelm him with the proof [a roll of applause begins], with the proof of the tortures you suffered, the wrongs done to you, were suffered and done with the knowledge of the Confederate authorities from Jefferson Davis down-[great applause, waving of hats, veterans standing in their chairs and cheering]—that it was a part of their policy to make you idiots and skeletons, and to exchange your broken and shattered bodies and dethroned minds for strong, robust, well-fed rebel prisoners.

That policy, I affirm, has never had its parallel for atrocity in the civilized world."

Voice "That's so."

Gen. Garfield-" It was never heard of in any land since the dark ages closed upon the earth. While history lives men have memories. We can forgive and forget all other things before wo can forgive and forget this.

Finally, and in conclusion, I am willing, for one-and I think I speak for thousands of others-I am willing to see all the bitterness of the late war buried in the grave of our dead. I would be willing that we should imitate the condescending, loving kindness of him who planted the green grass on the battlefields aud let the fresh flowers bloom on all the graves alike. I would clasp hands with those who fought against us, make them my brethren, and forgive all the past, only on one supreme condition: that it be admitted in practice, acknowledged in theory, that the cause for which we fought, and you suffered, was and is, and forevermore will be right, eternally right." [Unbounded enthusiasm.]

Voices "That's it," "That's so," etc.

Gen. Garfield-"That the cause for which they fought was, and forever will be, the cause of treason and wrong. [Prolonged applause.] Until that is acknowledged my hand shall never grasp any rebel's hand across any chasm, however small." [Great applause and cheers.]

Garfield's Great Speech at Columbus, Acknowledging His Election as United States Senator.

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On the 14th of January, 1880, Gen. Garfield arrived in Columbus from Washington. He had that day been formally declared United States Senator from Ohio, his nomination by the Republican Legislative caucus having taken place the week before. In an informal reception which took place in the Hall of the House of Representatives during the evening, the General made the following admirable speech:

FELLOW CITIZENS: I should be a great deal more than a man, or a great deal less than a man, if I were not extremely gratified by this mark of your kindness you have shown me in recent days. I did not expect any such a meeting as this. I knew there was a greeting awaiting me, but did not expect so cordial, generous, and general a greeting without distinction of party, without distinction of interests, as I have received to-night. And you will allow me, in a moment or two, to speak of the memories this Chamber awakens.

Twenty years ago this last week I first entered this Chamber and entered upon the duties of public life, in which I have been every hour since that time in some capacity or other. I left this Chamber eighteen years ago, and I believe I have never entered it since that time. But the place is familiar, though it was peopled not with the faces that I see before me here to-night alone, but with the faces of hundreds of people that I knew here twenty years ago, a large number of whom are gone from earth.

It was here in this Chamber that the word was first brought of the firing on Fort Sumter. I remember distinctly a gentleman from Lancaster, the late Senator Schleigh-Gen. Schleigh, who died not very long ago-I remember distinctly as he came down this aisle, with all the

look of agony and anxiety in his face, informing us that the guns had opened upon Sumter. I remember that one week after that time, on motion of a leading Democratic Senator, who occupied a seat not far from that position (pointing to the Democratic side of the Chamber), that we surrendered this Chamber to several companies of soldiers, who had come to Columbus to tender their services to the imperiled Government. They slept on its carpets and on these sofas, and quartered for two or three nights in this Chamber while waiting for other quarters outside of the Capitol.

All the early scenes of the War are associated with this place in my mind. Here were the musterings--here was the center, the nerve center, of anxiety and agony. Here over 80,000 Ohio citizens tendered their services in the course of three weeks to the imperiled nation. Here, where we had been fighting our political battles with sharp and severe partisanship, there disappeared, almost as if by magic, all party lines; and from both sides of the Chamber men went out to take their places on the field of battle. I can see now, as I look out over the various seats, where sat men who afterward became distinguished in the service in high rank, and nobly served their constituency and honored themselves.

We now come to this place, while so many are gone; but we meet here to-night with the war so far back in the distance that it is an almost half-forgotten memory. We meet here to-night with a nation redeemed. We meet here to-night under the flag we fought for. We meet with a glorious, a great and growing Republic, made greater and more glorious by the sacrifices through which the country. has passed. And coming here as I do to-night brings the two ends of twenty years together, with all the visions of the terrible and glorious, the touching and cheerful, that have occurred during that time.

I came here to-night, fellow-citizens, to thank this General Assembly for their great act of confidence and compliment to me. I do not undervalue the office that you have tendered to me yesterday and to-day; but I say, I think, without any mental reservation, that the manner in which it was tendered to me is far higher to me, far more desirable, than the thing itself. That it has been a voluntary gift of the General Assembly of Ohio, without solicitation, tendered to me because of their confidence, is as touching and as high a tribute as one man can receive from his fellow-citizens, and in the name of all my friends, for myself, I give you my thanks.

I recognize the importance of the place to which you have elected me; and I should be base if I did not also recognize the great man whom you have elected me to succeed. I say for him, Ohio has had few larger-minded, broader-minded men in the records of our history than that of Allen G. Thurman. Differing widely from him, as I have done in politics, and do, I recognize him as a man high in character and great intellect; and I take this occasion to refer to what I have never before referred to in public: that many years ago, in the storm of party fighting, when the air was filled with all sorts of missles aimed at the character and reputation of public men, when it was even for his party interest to join tho general clamor against me and my associates, Senator Thurman said in public, in the campaign, on the stump--when men are as likely to say unkind things as at any place in the world-a most generous and earnest word of defense and kindness for me which I shall never forget so long as I live. I say, moreover, that the flowers that bloom over the garden wall of party politics are. the sweetess and most fragant that bloom in the gardens of this world; and where we can fairly pluck them and enjoy their fragrance, it is manly and delightful to do so.

And now, gentlemen of the General Assembly, without