Opening the text

The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States: Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.Ridpath, John Clark

History

The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States: Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.

Name: The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States: Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.
Author: Ridpath, John Clark

Ridpath, John Clark

Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881

“Gentlemen, the North has been asked these many years to regard the
  sensibilities of the South. We have been told that you were brave
  and sensitive men, and that we ought not to throw firebrands among
  you. Most of our people have treated you with justice and
  magnanimity. In some things we have given you just cause for
  complaint; but I want to remind you that the North also has
  sensibilities to be regarded. The ideas which they cherished, and
  for which they fought, triumphed in the highest court, the court of
  last resort, the field of battle. Our people intend to abide by that
  verdict and to enforce the mandate. They rejoice at every evidence
  of acquiescence. They look forward to the day when the distinctions
  of North and South shall have melted away in the grander sentiment
  of nationality. But they do not think it is yet safe to place the
  control of this great work in your hands. In the hands of some of
  you they would be safe, perfectly safe; but into the hands of the
  united South, joined with the most reactionary elements of the
  Northern Democracy, our people will not yet surrender the
  government.

  “I am aware that there is a general disposition ‘to let by-gones be
  by-gones,’ and to judge of parties and of men, not by what they have
  been, but by what they are and what they propose.

  “That view is partly just and partly erroneous. It is just and wise
  to bury resentments and animosities. It is erroneous in this, that
  parties have an organic life and spirit of their own—an
  individuality and character which outlive the men who compose them;
  and the spirit and traditions of a party should be considered in
  determining their fitness for managing the affairs of a nation. For
  this purpose I have reviewed the history of the Democratic party.”

Long ago an arrangement was perfected by which each State of the Union
should be allowed to place in the halls of Congress two statues of
distinguished citizens. On December 19, 1876, the State of Massachusetts
announced its readiness to comply with this arrangement, by presenting
two statues, one of John Winthrop and one of Samuel Adams.

Speaking on the resolution of that day, accepting this gift, Mr.
Garfield made one of the most felicitous of the many speeches of this
kind that he has left on record. One paragraph from this address can not
be omitted here:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.