PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY. Saturday, September 24, 1881.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 981, 24 September 1881, Page 2

PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY. Saturday, September 24, 1881.

“ President Garfield is dead.” Such are the momentous words that have been flashed, far and wide over the face of the earth since our last issue. And the message might truthfully have added that millions of people, outside those over whom General Garfield ruled, do “ wear their hearts iu grief,” and that whole kingdoms are “ contracted in one brow of woe.” Yes. He, who but yesterday moved about in the pride of health and strength—the most popular and liberal minded statesman that ever occupied

the Presidental Chair of the American nation, now lies a sepultured corpse in a grave prepared for him by the hand of An assassin. Had any Royal Monarch, or other Potentate been removed from the sway of his sceptre as the President of the United States has been, the sorrow of teeming millions — not only of English speaking people; but those of foreign countries —could not be more universal than that which finds expression in the great heart of all nations alike. “ Uneasy lies the head that wears a Crown,” has long since passed into a proverb ; for the experiences of our later —no less fatally than that of our earlier —history teach us lessons; not only on the mutability of mundane affairs, but that the lives of our Kings and Rulers are in jeopardy every hour. The common accidents of life, the humblest of us are subject to; but there appears to be a special element of danger attending those called to positions of eminence. Some men carry “ their hearts upon their sleeve, for daws to peck at;” but Princes and Governors carry their lives in their hands, and the more prominent their position, the more conspicuous targets do they become for the bullet and the bombshell. Mob government, the outcome of an overstrained democracy, has now become but another name for death or deposition. The mightiest potentates of the earth are not safe from the dagger or the bullet of him who nurses an alleged wrong in the cradle of his heart. There seems to be but one alternative, our Rulers must bend to every wind of doctrine, and exert no active exercise of the mind — or die an ignoble death. True, a life will be forfeited for the one so untimely slain ; but the measure of the one, robbed of its fruitfulness, cannot be be gauged by the sacrificial penalty of the other. One life will be made to die, because another was not allowed to live; and beyond the universal execration that will attach to the murderer’s name, it is to be regretted that the capital punishment he will suffer, will be incommensurate with the dire calamity the culprit has inflicted on a nation through its Chief Ruler.

But what is the alleged crime for which General Garfield has been so unceremoniously sent out of the world ? Let us retrace our steps a little. The first intimation we had of the shooting atthe President, was that one Guiteau, a disappointed Civil Service man, had done the deed. Before becoming President, General Garfield was a Member of the Lower House of Congress, and a powerful leader of the Republican party ; and when the time came for an electioneering campaign for the Presidency he made it a special article of his creed that, if elected, his great efforts would be directed towards Civil Service reform—a thing much needed, for it must be borne in mind, that it was the want of that reform, and the reformation sought to be brought about by the new President that cost General Garfield his life. Under the existing state of service in the States Government, every person holding an appointment therein, from the messengers upwards to the highest officers of State, goes out of it on the expiry of the President’s term of office, the incoming President filling the appointments from amongst his own friends. This enormous patronage has its counterpart in such a mass of official and political corruption, that General Garfield set his face against its continuance ; and, although Guiteau put in a special claim to the emoluments of office, as a reward for political services rendered, it was not recognised. The exact reason the President had for refusing Guiteau employment is not known, except that he doggedly refused to expose himself to the charge of giving his friends or supporters appointments if it could be avoided. It is reported that Guiteau. was prepared for any office, the Ambassadorship of Austria, or the Consulate of Marseilles would be agreeable; but the stern decision of the President was not to be turned aside, and vengeance was sought as in satisfaction of the wrongs of wounded ambition, and ill-requited service. It is now alleged that Guiteau was' insane, but there is much method in it, for we find in a recent exchange that : — He resolved upon the murder seven weeks before it was committed. Once, at Long Branch, he had even sallied forth to consummate liis purpose, but the President was with his wife, and Mrs. Garfield looked so feeble and pitiful that he relented. At another time, in Washington, he followed the President as be walked home one evening from Mr. Blaine’s house to the White House ; but it was dark, and he was afrrid that his aim would be uncertain. He also examined the

Church where Mr. Garfield worshipped, but found that he could not fire without great risk of hurting other people besides the President. Nearly every day he practised with his weapon, and when he left home on the morning of his final attempt he wrapped it in paper, lest the perspiration should injure it while in his pocket.

Of this, however, there is no doubt, that the disease of murder has fastened its fangs so intently on his mind that he in common with most fanatics raised the projected deed from the category of crime to one of virtue. Conkling, one of the Senators of the State of New York m the Upper Chamber, was leagued with Vice President Arthur, and Guiteau with them both, in opposition to the reform tendencies of the President; so that, as there appeared to be little hope of gaining his point, Guiteau determined on taking the life of his opponent, exclaiming as he fired the fatal shot “It had to be done. I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts ; Arthur is now President.” There are some who think Conkling and the Vice President not altogether blameless, but we have not heard that they have been openly accused in aiding Guiteau in his murderous design.

The Republican Party in the New York Legislature appears to be divided into two sections —the “ Half-breeds ” as represented by President Garfield, and the “ Stalwarts ” of which Conkling and Arthur are members, and Guiteau the champion. • So when General Garfield was first attacked, and little hopes were entertained of bis recovery, it was endeavored that the Vice-President should assume the Presidency forthwith, in which case the Half - breeds would be shut out of office for some time, while the Half-breeds themselves were planning as to the effect a change of administration would have on their party. Later telegrams advise that Vice-President Arthur has been summoned to fill the Presidential Chair, for the remainder of the term ; so that the Stalwarts will have it all their own way, although the chief instrument in bringing them into power will have nothing more than the elevated satisfaction of contemplating their success at the foot of the gallows. Thus, after the short space of six months, has the career of a man—• whom it was believed would purge the Governmental system of America from its gross impurities—been cut short. And what is to follow but a repetition of all the iniquities, and official turpitude that ever characterizes a change of President. Hundreds, and thousands of those who thought themselves safe while General Garfield held official possession of the White House, will now be turned adrift, possibly but few finding favor with the new President. And who is to say that in the view of such a state of things, another Guiteau may not arise to avenge his wrongs in turn ? The “ odious name of Stalwart,” will be more odious still, and any hope that was being buil£ up, of the Third Term, or Great Party, as the Stalwarts are likewise called, being defeated, is now dashed to the ground. The “machine” Government will probably remain; and a more moderate system of popular management of parties will be delayed until another Garfield comes to the front, to be shot down like him for whose untimely death, and national loss, “ countless thousands mourn/’