the existence of slavery did not rest upon blessings which the seasons brought,

the South alone. The nation itself is re- By the experience of commercial nations

sponsible for the extension of the suffrage, in all ages it has been found that gold

and is under special obligations to aid in and silver afford the only safe foundation

removing the illiteracy which it has added for a monetary system. Confusion has

to the voting population. For the North recently been created by variations in the

and South alike there is but one remedy, relative value of the two metals, but I

All the constitutional power of the nation confidently believe that arrangements can

and of the States, and all the volunteer be made between the leading commercial

forces of the people, should be surrendered nations which will secure the general use

to meet this danger by the savory in- of both metals. Congress should provide

fluenee of universal education. that the compulsory coinage of silver now

It is the high privilege and sacred duty required by law may not disturb our

of those now living to educate their sue- monetary system by driving either metal

cessors and fit them, by intelligence and out of circulation. If possible, such an

virtue, for the inheritance which awaits adjustment should be made that the pur-

them. chasing power of every coined dollar will

In this beneficent work sections and be exactly equal to its debt-paying power
races should be forgotten and partisan- in all the markets of the world,
ship should be unknown. Let our people The chief duty of the national govern-
find a new meaning in the divine oracle ment in connection with the* currency of
which declares that " a little child shall the country is to coin money and declare
lead them," for our own little children its value. Grave doubts have been enter-
will soon control the destinies of the re- tained whether Congress is authorized by
public. the Constitution to make any form of pa-

My countrymen, we do not now differ per money legal tender. The present issue

in our judgment concerning the contro- of United States notes has been sustained

versies of past generations, and fifty years by the necessities of war; but such paper

hence our children will not be divided in should depend for its value and currency

their opinions concerning our contro- upon its convenience in use and its prompt

versies. They will surely bless their redemption in coin at the will of the

fathers and their fathers' God that the holder, and not upon its compulsory cir-

Union was preserved, that slavery was culation. These notes are not money, but

overthrown, and that both races were promises to pay money. If the holders

made equal before the law. We may demand it, the promise should be kept,

hasten or we may retard, but we cannot The refunding of the national debt at

prevent, the final reconciliation. Is it a lower rate of interest should be aeeom-

not possible for us now to make a truce plished without compelling the withdrawal

with time by anticipating and accepting of the national bank notes, and thus dis-

its inevitable verdict? turbing the business of the country.

Enterprises of the highest importance I venture to refer to the position I have

15



GARFIELD, JAMES ABEAM



occupied on financial questions during a
long service in Congress, and to say that
time and experience have strengthened the
opinions I have so often expressed on
these subjects.

The finances of the government shall
suffer no detriment which it may be pos-
sible for my administration to prevent.

The interests of agriculture deserve
more attention from the government than
they have yet received. The farms of the
United States afford homes and employ-
ment for more than one-half our people,
and furnish much the largest part of all
our exports. As the government lights
our coasts for the protection of mariners
and the benefit of commerce, so it should
give to the tillers of the soil the best lights
of practical science and experience.

Our manufactures are rapidly making
us industrially independent, and are open-
ing to capital and labor new and profit-
able fields of employment. Their steady
and healthy growth should still be ma-
tured. Our facilities for transportation
should be promoted by the continued im-
provement of our harbors and great in-
terior water-ways and by the increase of
our tonnage on the ocean.

The development of the world's com-
merce has led to an urgent demand for
shortening the great sea voyage around
Cape Horn by constructing ship-canals
or railways across the isthmus which
unites the continents. Various plans to
this end have been suggested and will need
consideration, but none of them has been
sufficiently matured to warrant the United
States in extending pecuniary aid. The
subject, however, is one which will im-
mediately engage the attention of the gov-
ernment with a view to a thorough pro-
tection to American interests. We will
urge no narrow policy nor seek peculiar or
exclusive privileges in any commercial
route; but, in the language of my pred-
ecessor, I believe it to be the right " and
duty of the United States to assert and
maintain such supervision and authority
over any interoceanic canal across the
fsthmus that connects North and South
America as will protect our national in-
terests."

The Constitution guarantees absolute
religious freedom- Congress is prohibited
from making any law respecting an estab-



lishment of religion or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof. The Territories of the
United States are subject to the direct
legislative authority of Congress, and
hence the general government is respon-
sible for any violation of the Constitution
in any of them. It is therefore a reproach
to the government that in the most popu-
lous of the Territories the constitutional
guarantee is not enjoyed by the people, and
the authority of Congress is set at naught.
The Mormon Church not only offends the
moral sense of manhood by sanctioning
polygamy, but prevents the administration
of justice through ordinary instrumen-
talities of law.

In my judgment it is the duty of Con-
gress, while respecting to the uttermost
the conscientious convictions and relig-
ious scruples of every citizen, to prohibit
within its jurisdiction all criminal prac-
tices, especially of that class which de-
stroy the family relations and endanger
social order. Nor can any ecclesiastical
organization be safely permitted to usurp
in the smallest degree the functions and
powers of the national government.

The civil service can never be placed
on a satisfactory basis until it is regu-
lated by law. For the good of the ser-
vice itself, for the protection of those
who are intrusted with the appointing
power against the waste of time and
obstruction to the public business caused
by the inordinate pressure for place, and
for the protection of incumbents against
intrigue and wrong, I shall at the proper
time ask Congress to fix the tenure of the
minor offices of the several executive de-
partments, and prescribe the grounds upon
which removals shall be made during the
terms for which incumbents have been
appointed.

Finally, acting always within the au-
thority and limitations of the Constitu-
tion, invading neither the rights of the
States nor the reserved rights of the peo-
ple, it will be the purpose of my adminis-
tration to maintain the authority of the
nation in all places within its juris-
diction; to enforce obedience to all the
laws of the Union in the interests of the
people; to demand rigid economy in all
the expenditures of the government, and
to require the honest and faithful service
of all executive officers, remembering that



16



GARFIELD, JAMES ABEAM

the offices were created, not for the bene- study in reference to our country, I will

fit of incumbents or their supporters, but call attention to a few general facts con-

for the service of the government. cerning its discovery and settlement.

And now, fellow-citizens, I am about to First. — The Romantic Period of Dis-

assume the great trust which you have covery on this Continent,

committed to my hands. I appeal to you There can scarcely be found in the

for that earnest and thoughtful support realms of romance anything more fasci-

which makes this government in fact, nating than tne records of discovery and

as it is in law, a government of the adventure during the two centuries that

people. followed the landing of Columbus on the

I shall greatly rely upon the wisdom soil of the New World. The greed for

and patriotism of Congress, and of those gold; the passion for adventure; the

who may share with me the responsibilities spirit of chivalry; the enthusiasm and

and duties of administration, and, above fanaticism of religion — all conspired to

all, upon our efforts to promote the wel- throw into America the hardiest and most

fare of this great people and their gov- daring spirits of Europe, and made the

ernments I reverently invoke the support vast wilderness of the New World the

and blessings of Almighty God. theatre of the most stirring achievements

The Western Reserve. — On Sept. 1G, that history has recorded.

1873, General Garfield delivered the ad- Early in the sixteenth century, Spain,

dress that follows before the Historical turning from the conquest of Granada and

Society of Geauga county, Ohio: her triumph over the Moors, followed her

golden dreams of the New World with the

From the historian's stand-point, our same spirit that in an earlier day ani-
country is peculiarly and exceptionally mated her Crusaders. In 1528 Ponce de
fortunate. The origin of nearly all great Lecn began his search for the fountain of
nations, ancient and modern, is shrouded perpetual youth, the tradition of which
i a fable or traditionary legend. The story he had learned among the natives of the
of the founding of Rome by the wolf- West Indies. He discovered the low-lying
nursed brothers, Romulus and Remus, has coasts of Florida., and explored its in-
long been classed among myths of history; terior. Instead of the fountain of youth,
and the more modern story of Hengist and he found his grave among its everglades.
Horsa leading the Saxons to England is A few years later De Soto, who had ac-
almost equally legendary. The origin of companied Pizarro in the conquest of
Paris can never be known. Its founda- Peru, landed in Florida with a gallant
tion was laid long before Gaul had written array of knights and nobles, and corn-
records. But the settlement, civilization, menced his explorations through the west-
and political institutions of our country ern wilderness. In 1541 he reached the
can be traced from their first hour by the banks of the Mississippi River, and, cross-
clear light of history. It is true that ing it, pushed his discoveries westward
over this continent hangs an impenetrable over the great plains; but, finding neither
veil of tradition, mystery, and silence, the gold nor the South Sea of his dreams,
But it is the tradition of races fast pass- he returned to be buried in the waters of
ing away; the mystery of a still earlier the great river he had discovered.
race, which flourished and perished long While England was more leisurely ex-
before its discovery by the Europeans, ploring the bays and rivers of the Atlan-
The story of the Mound-builders can never tic coast, and searching for gold and pel-
be told. The fate of the Indian tribes try, the chevaliers and priests of France
will soon be a half-forgotten tale. But were chasing their dreams in the North,
the history of European civilization and searching for a passage to China and the
institutions on this continent can b^ realms of Far Cathay, and telling the
traced with precision and fulness, unless mystery of the Cross to the Indian tribes
we become forgetful of the past, and neg- of the far West. Coasting northward,
lect to save and perpetuate its precious her bold navigators discovered the mouth
memorials. of the St. Lawrence; and in 1525 Cartier

In discussing the scope of historical sailed up its broad current to the rocky
TV.— B 17



GARFIELD, JAMES ABRAM



heights of Quebec, and to the rapids above
Montreal, which were afterwards named
La Chine, in derision of the belief that
the adventurers were about to find China.

In 1609 Champlain pushed above the
rapids and discovered the beautiful lake
that bears his name. In 1615 Priest La
Caron pushed northward and westward
through the wilderness and discovered
Lake Huron.

In 1635 the Jesuit missionaries founded
the Mission St. Mary. In 1654 another
priest had entered the wilderness of
northern New York and found the salt
springs of Onondaga. In 1659-60 French
traders and priests passed the winter on
Lake Superior and established missions
along its shores.

Among the earlier discoverers, no name
shines out with more brilliancy than that
of the Chevalier La Salle. The story of
his explorations can scarcely be equalled
in romantic interest by any of the stirring
tales of the Crusaders. Born of a proud
and wealthy family in the north of France,
he was destined for the service of the
church and of the Jesuit order. But his
restless spirit, fired with the love of ad-
venture, broke away from the ecclesiasti-
cal restraints to confront the dangers of
the New World, and to extend the empire
of Louis XIV. From the best evidence ac-
cessible, it appears that he was the first
white man that saw the Ohio River. At
twenty-six years of age we find him with
a small party, near the western extremity
of Lake Ontario, boldly entering the do-
main of the dreaded Iroquois, travelling
southward and westward through the win-
try wilderness until ho reached a branch
of the Ohio, probably the Alleghany. He
followed it to the main stream, and de-
scended that, until in the winter of 1669
and 1670 he reached the Falls of the Ohio.
near the present site of Louisville. His
companions refusing to go farther, he re-
turned to Quebec, and prepared for still
greater undertakings.

In the mean time the Jesuit missionaries
had been pushing their discoveries on the
northern lake. In 1673 Joliet and Mar-
quette started from Green Bay. dragging
llioir canoes up the rapids of Fox River;
crossed Lake Winnebago; found Indian
guides to conduct them to the waters of
the Wisconsin ; descended that stream to



the westward, and on the 16th of June
reached the Mississippi near the spot
where now stands the city of Prairie du
Chien. To-morrow will be the 200th anni-
versary of that discovery. One hundred
and thirty-two years before that time De
Soto had seen the same river more than
1,000 miles below; but during that in-
terval it is not known that any white man
had looked upon its waters.

Turning southward, these brave priests
descended the great river, amid the awful
solitudes. The stories of demons and
monsters of the wilderness which abounded
among the Indian tribes did not deter
them from pushing their discoveries.
They continued their journey southward
to the mouth of the Arkansas River, tell-
ing as best they could the story of the
Cross to the wild tribes along the shores.
Returning from the Kaskaskias, and
travelling thence to Lake Michigan, they
reached Green Bay at the end of Septem-
ber, 1673, having on their journey pad-
dled their canoes more than 2,500 miles.
Marquette remained to establish missions
among the Indians, and to die, three years
later, on the western shore of Lake Michi-
gan, while Joliet returned to Quebec to re-
port his discoveries.

In the mean time Count Frontenac, a
noble of France, had been made governor
of Canada, and found in La Salle a fit
counsellor and assistant in his vast
schemes of discovery. La Salle was sent
to France, to enlist the Court and the
ministers of Louis; and in 1677-78 re-
turned to Canada, with full power under
Frontenac to carry forward his grand en-
terprises. He had developed three great
purposes: first, to realize the old plan of
Champlain, the finding of a pathway to
China across the American continent;
second, to occupy and develop the regions
of the northern lakes; and, third, to de-
scend the Mississippi and establish a for-
tified post at its mouth, thus securing an
outlet for the trade of the interior and
checking the progress of Spain on the
Gulf of Mexico.

Tn pursuance of this plan, we find La
Salle and his companions, in January.
1079, dragging their cannon and ma-
terials for ahip-building around the Falls
of Niagara, and laying the keel of a ves-
sel 2 leagues above the cataract, at the
18



GARFIELD, JAMES ABEAM



mouth of Cayuga Creek. She was a
schooner of 45 tons burden, and was
named The Griffin. On Aug. 7, 1679,
with an armament of five cannon and
a crew and company of thirty-four men,
she started on her voyage up Lake Erie,
the first sail ever spread over the waters
of our lake. On the fourth day she en-
tered Detroit River; and, after en-
countering a terrible storm on Lake
Huron, passed the strait and reached
Green Bay early in September. A few
weeks later she started back for Niagara,
laden with furs, and was never heard
from.

While awaiting the supplies which The
Griffin was expected to bring, La Salle
explored Lake Michigan to its southern
extremity, ascended the St. Joseph, crossed
the portage to Kankakee, descended the
Illinois, and, landing at an Indian vil-
lage on the site of the present village
of Utica, 111., celebrated mass on New
Year's Day, 1680. Before the winter
was ended he became certain that The
Griffin was lost. But, undaunted by
his disasters, on March 3, with five com-
panions, he began the incredible feat of
making the journey to Quebec on foot
in the dead of winter. This he accom-
plished. He reorganized his expedition,
conquered every difficulty, and on Dec.
21, 1681, with a party of fifty-four
Frenchmen and friendly Indians, set out
for the present site of Chicago, and by
way of the Illinois River reached the
Mississippi, Feb. 6, 1682. He descended
its stream, and on April 9, 1682, stand-
ing on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico,
solemnly proclaimed to his companions
and to the wilderness that, in the name
of Louis the Great, he took possession of
the Great Valley watered by the Missis-
sippi River. He set up a column, and in-
scribed upon it the arms of France, and
named the country Louisiana. Upon this
act rested the claim of France to the vast
region stretching from the Alleghany to
the Rocky Mountains, from the Rio
Grande and the Gulf to the farthest
springs of the Missouri.

I will not follow further the career of
the great explorers. Enough has been said
to exhibit the spirit and character of their
work. T would I were able to inspire the
young men of this country with a desire



to read the history of these stirring days
of discovery that opened up to Europe
the mysteries of this New World.

As Irving has well said of their work:
" It was poetry put into action ; it was
the knight-errantry of the Old World car-
ried into the depths of the American
wilderness. The personal adventures ; the
feats of individual prowess; the pictu-
resque descriptions of steel-clad cavalier*,
with lance and helm and prancing steed,
glittering through the wilderness of
Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and the
prairies of the far West — would seem to
us mere fictions of romance did they not
come to us in the matter-of-fact narra-
tives of those who were eye-witnesses, and
who recorded minute memoranda of every
incident."

Second. — The Struggle for National Do-
minion.

I next invite your attention to the less
stirring but not less important struggle
for the possession of the New World which
succeeded the period of discovery.

At the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury North America was claimed mainly
by three great powers. Spain held pos-
session of Mexico and a belt reaching
eastward to the Atlantic and northward
to the southern line of Georgia except a
portion near the mouth of the Mississippi
held by the French. England held from
the Spanish line on the south to the
northern lakes and the St. Lawrence and
westward to the Alleghanies. France held
all north of the lakes and west of the Al-
leghanies, and southward to the posses-
sions of Spain. Some of the boundary-
lines were but vaguely defined, others
were disputed; but the general outlines
were as stated.

Besides the struggle for national pos-
session, the religious element entered
largely into the contest. It was a strug-
gle between the Catholic and Protestant
faiths. The Protestant colonies of Eng-
land were enveloped on three sides by the
vigorous and perfectly organized Catholic
powers of France and Spain.

Indeed, at an early date, by the bull of
Pope Alexander VI., all America had been
given to the Spaniards. But France, with
a zeal equal to that of Spain, had entered
the list to contest for the prize. So far
as the religious struggle was concerned,
19



GARFIELD, JAMES ABRAM



the efforts of France and Spain were re-
sisted only by the Protestants of the At-
lantic coast.

The main chain of the Alleghanies was
supposed to be impassable until 1714,
when Governor Spotswood, of Virginia,
led an expedition to discover a pass to
the great valley beyond. He found one
somewhere near the western boundary of
Virginia, and by it descended to the Ohio.
On his return he established the " Trans-
montane Order," or " Knights of the
Golden Horse-shoe." On the sandy plains
of eastern Virginia horse-shoes were rare-
ly used, but, in climbing the mountains,
he had found them necessary, and, on
creating his companions knights of this
new order, he gave to each a golden horse-
shoe, inscribed with the motto,

" Sic juvat transcendere montes."

He represented to the British ministry
the great importance of planting settle-
ments in the western valley; and, with the
foresight of a statesman, pointed out the
danger of allowing the French the undis-
puted possession of that rich region.

The progress of England had been
slower, but more certain, than that of her
great rival. While the French were es-
tablishing trading-posts at points widely
remote from each other, along the lakes
and the Mississippi, and in the wilderness
of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the English
were slowly but firmly planting their set-
tlements on the Atlantic slope, and pre-
paring to contest for the rich prize of the
great West. They possessed one great
advantage over their French rivals. They
had cultivated the friendship of the Iro-
quois Confederacy, the most powerful com-
bination of Indian tribes known to the
New World. That confederacy held pos-
session of the southern shores of lakes
Ontario and Erie; and their hostility to
the French bad confined the settlements
of that people mainly to the northern
shores.

During the first half of the eighteenth
century many treaties were made by the
English with these confederated tribes,
and some valuable grants of land were ob-
tained on the eastern slope of the Missis-
sippi Valley.

About the middle of that century the
British government began to recognize the



wisdom of Governor Spotswood, and per-
ceived that an empire was soon to be
saved or lost.

In 1748 a company was organized by
Thomas Lee and Lawrence and Avigustine
Washington, under the name of " The Ohio
Company," and received a royal grant of
500,000 acres of land in the valley of the
Ohio. In 1751 a British trading-post was
established on the Big Miami; but in the
following year it was destroyed by the
French. Many similar efforts of the Eng-
lish colonists were resisted by the French;
and during the years 1751-53 it became
manifest that a great struggle was im-
minent between the French and the Eng-
lish for the possession of the West. The
British ministers were too much absorbed
in intrigues at home to appreciate the im-
portance of this contest; and they did
but little more than to permit the colonies
to protect their rights in the valley of the
Ohio.

In 1753 the Ohio Company had opened
a road, by " Will's Creek," into the west-
ern valley, and were preparing to locate
their colony. At the same time the
French had sent a force to occupy
and hold the line of the Ohio. As the
Ohio Company was under the especial
protection of Virginia, the governor of
that colony determined to send a mes-
senger to the commander of the French
forces and demand the reason for in-
vading the British dominions. For this
purpose he selected George Washington,
then twenty-one years of age, who, with
six assistants, set out from Williams-