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YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

A Life of Mr. Garland
OF ARKANSAS

A Thesis for the Master s Degree

By FARRAR NEWBERRY, A. M.

To THE Citizens of the State
1908

CLA\2>.5'^Z

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

This is intended to be a brief or compendium of a
larger volume on Mr. Garland which is to follow
at some later date, when the author may have the
time and money to hunt out other records, and write
up still other phases of the great Arkansan's noble life.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section I. Early life, etc. Difficulties of a young lawyer.
Rising in his profession. Confederate congress. War record.
The "Iron Clad Oath" case. Governor, etc., etc.
Section H. His career in the Senate. Excerpts from his
speeches in the Senate, briefs, etc. An estimate of his
senatorial career.
Section III. His career as Attorney-General of the U. S.
His later efforts at Washington. His characteristics and
character, personality, death, tribute, etc.

^^

is/ ^

AUGUSTUS HILL GARLAND.

SECTION I

It is not the province of the biographer to indulge in
exorbitant praise — still less that of the thesis-writer
to employ excessive flattery. The writer is not
unaware that the written history of a man, whose life
exhibits no adventures, save of an intellectual kind,
is seldom read with that enthusiasm which is generally
called forth by the story of a chieftain. Readers at
large are more fond of tracing the progress of action
than of thought, although the latter is the source of
the former. They can gaze with rapture upon the
beauty or magnificence of the stream, without caring
to understand the mysteries of the power by which the
fountain spray is thrown up from its secret home.
The achievements of the great intelligencies of the age
are too little regarded. If mankind would but mark
the gradual unfolding of the principles, powers, and
passions of the great master spirits, as indeed they
are coming more and more to do in our day than ever
before, each generation could be furnished with an
amount of moral power by which it might elevate
itself into a nobler sphere of being, and leave behind
it a long train of glory for the illumination of posterity.
The most fitting monument in honor of a public
man is a faithful record of his public acts. If these
acts be 'worthy, and the record simple, time, which
destroys all things but good deeds and lofty thoughts.

4 Augustus Hill Oakland
will embalm them for eternity. If they be base,
"eulogy adds a lie to their deformities," and they
must perish of their own disease. In the spirit of
this truth we address ourselves to the task before us,
seeking but to write a plain and simple record of a
plain and simple life.
Augustus Hill Garland was born in Tipton County,
Tenn., June ii, 1832. Both his parents were from
good families, and dated their ancestry back to Revo
lutionary times. His mother's people, the Hills, were
from Franklin County, near Louisburg, and his father
had been christened Rufus by his Revolutionary sire,
in Virginia, who was from a highly respectable family.
An incident happened a few months after the birth
of Augustus H. Garland that probably determined the
parents to come to Arkansas, and hence to give to
that State the great man about whom this book
is written. This incident, otherwise trivial, will bear
noting here. Rufus and his good wife had a fine farm
in Tipton County, and were doing well. However, he
had his fault — a grievous one — but one that hurt him
self more than anyone else. He, in common with
other Tennesseans, went to the County Seat every
monthly county court, and, after all business was over,
indulged himself too freely with the juice of the com.
Rufe Garland sober was the pink of courtesy and
manhood ; but drunk, he, like most others, was any
thing but that. The home-keepers of Tipton soon
came to know his ways, and in the late afternoon of
all county court days every door went shut and stayed
closed until he was out of town.
He was cured in a peculiar way. One Saturday
evening, he started home, and at about the half-way
point, he passed a place where a body of campers had
built their night fire. Riding violently through the
camp, he became engaged in a broil with a young

man, and, in an infuriated state, stabbed him. When
Garland saw him fall, he was sobered — he was Rufe
Garland, the' gentleman. He did all he could for him,
and was much grieved over the affair. He was
arrested, however, and put in the Tipton jail, and the
injured young man lingered between life and death. It
was a terrible punishment for him. He employed his
time in making all kinds of tin instruments ; and chief-
est of them, he constructed a tin fiddle, and with it he
entertained the citizens of Tipton with his music,
which, it is said, was really entrancing. The young man
whom Rufe had cut got well, and became a listener
to his fiddling. It so impressed him that he forgave
him, slipped out into the great world and rejoined his
people in Missouri, saying that he would never prose
cute a man who could make music like that.
Garland was released, but he came out of jail a
changed man. He then, feeling the necessity of mov
ing away from this scene, sent his wife and young
son, Augustus, then a year old, together with Eliza
beth, John, and Rufus King, the other children, to
Arkansas, with the assurance that he was done with
whiskey — a resolution which he actually lived out
during the remaining few years of his life. When he had
sold all the possessions, he followed to Arkansas, and
is said to have made one of the best citizens of his
section. They came to a place on Red river, near
what is now Garland City. In a short while the father
died, and the family moved to Spring Hill, in Hemp
stead County. Upon the boyhood of Gus Garland, we
shall not dwell at length. His father died a few years
after they came, and his mother, strong both mentally
and morally, gave her son an elementary education at
home. They continued to live at Spring Hill until
Augustus was twelve years of age, when they moved
to Washington, Ark. As a small boy he was prepared

6 Augustus Hill Garland
for college partly in the private academy of H. R.
Banks, and perhaps under another school-master,
named Day. At fourteen he was sent by his mother
to Bardstown, Ky., then the most famous seat of learn
ing in the Southwest, where he pursued his academic
studies in the Catholic Schools of St. Mary and St.
Joseph. He took a thorough course of training, receiv
ing the degree, and also doing some post-graduate
work. While there, he read law a great deal, as was
the custom in those days, for ambitious young men.
He attended courses in the court room when he could.
At that time the local bar was very strong, and Gar
land profited greatly by this practice.
Returning home, he went to Sevier County at nine-.
teen, to teach school for a year, in order to prepare
himself better for the law, and get general experience.
It is said that while teaching at this early age, he was
brought before a circuit court by one of the patrons of
his school, for whipping the latter's child ; but he
plead his own case, and was acquitted.
In 1853 he was admitted to practice law at Wash
ington, Ark., just after he married Miss Virginia
Sanders, which event took place when he was twenty-
one, just upon his advent to manhood. Virginia San
ders was a brilliant young woman of an old family of
Virginia, and herself beautiful, cultured, and tactful.
She was the daughter of Simon T. Sanders, who for
thirty years was Clerk of Hempstead County. • Garland
read law with several lawyers at Washington, while
acting as Deputy Clerk under his father-in-law. He
thus learned much that was useful in his after life,
and more than all else, the great lesson of patient
labor, which few men learn too well, and which, in
fact, lays the foundation for all permanent greatness
and v/orth. Nearly all of his time was devoted to the
prosecution of legal studies, and to the general disci-

Augustus Hill Garland 7
plining of his mind, which training he still felt to
be very incomplete. His mother had in the mean
time married Major Hubbard, afterward Qrcuit
Judge, and a very prominent lawyer at Washington;
and Garland thus had the legal opportunities afforded
by his father-in-law's office. They organized the
firm of Hubbard and Garland, which continued for
a few years, and was one of the strongest in South
Arkansas. Young Garland is said to have been always
found sitting up with a law book at night, and of
course throughout the day. Some one asked him one
day, "would he never put down that book?" "Not
until I have reached the office of Attorney General of
the United States," was the reply. Later pages will
tell how he actually did occupy that place.
By 1856 Mr. Garland had advanced considerably in
his knowledge of the law. His mental talents were
even then beginning to come out. He had laid well
his foundation ; he had made careful preparation ; and,
moving to Little Rock, he formed a law partnership
with a Mr. Ebenezer Cummins. Mr. Cummins, besides
being a law partner with Garland, was also in the firm
of Pike and Cummins, also in Little Rock. One day
in March, 1858, Cummins was found dead in his bed,
from some sudden cause. Mr. Garland was left prac
tically alone to manage the ever-increasing business
of both these firms, and the responsibility thus thrust
upon him was great. He was then quite a young man,
beardless and unskilled, but ever alert and diligent.
The business took him into counties where he had
never been before. The way he sustained himself, so
that his clients almost without exception, found it
unnecessary to employ assistance for him, is nothing
less than wonderful. A young man of strong mind
and great energy, he advanced rapidly in his profes
sion. His habits were notably studious and systematic.

8 Augustus Hill Garland
He was analytical and searching, and possessed untir
ing energy, clear perception, and inexorable logic. His
preparation of his cases was always exhaustive. He
soon became thoroughly versed in the literature of
his profesion. He had resource, grasp, and above all,
the sense of justice. Even at this early time, Mr.
Garland was able to carry with him into the arena of
the court room much of that judicial temperament that
enables one to perceive both sides of questions brook
ing discussion — a faculty which long and assiduous
practice at the bar tends most strongly to cultivate,
and one that added greatly to his success in the fields
of endeavor, and gave a certain unity to his career,
varied as it was and full of vicissitudes. This faculty
enabled him to preserve the same equanimity in vic
tory or defeat.
One thing that contributed very largely to Mr. Gar
land's early success in his profession of the law, was
that he was capable of doing an immense amount of
work without apparent hurry or fatigue. Though quick
to sieze and analyze the most complex details of fact,
and to apply appropriate legal principles ; and though
his memory of both was remarkably retentive and his
legal knowledge very extensive, yet he never trusted
to the inspiration of the moment, but placed his main
reliance upon uncompromising labor.
In the court room, as elsewhere, he was of a very
kindly and tolerable disposition. He took men as he
found them, and never demanded ideal perfection in
anyone. He was especially considerate through force
of long habit, towards all who were connected with
the administration of justice — officers, witnesses, and
jurors. Always courteous towards his adversaries, he
was likewise respectful and deferential toward the
courts ; and although it was said that he possessed the
rare faculty of getting all that he desired out of a wit-

Augustus Hill Garland 9
ness, yet he rarely gave offense even to those who
were unduly sensitive. His fine sense of humor often
relieved the tedium of legal proceedings, but never
degenerated into buffoonery, and was never used to
wound the feelings of others. Strong and forcible in
his presentation of facts, eager and intent upon vic
tory, his advocacy was a model of fairness; and if he
could not win on the merits of his case, he never
resorted to any questionable methods. In the court
room or out of it, his manners were affable, simple,
and unaffected. Mr. Garland, though still a young
man, soon came to be recognized as one of the leading
lawyers of the State. More of his characteristics and
character is reserved until the end.
Through habits of close study Mr. Garland acquired
an extraordinary familiarity with the decisions of the
Supreme Court of the United States, and afterwards
made use of them with striking effects. His acquaint
ance with thera was not only thorough, but critical ;
hence it was entirely consistent with his habits of
thought that he should prefer to practice at that high
tribunal. As the years elapsed, Mr. Garland, after the
great dispute over the "Iron-Clad Oath" law had been
settled in his favor, came to have a profound respect
for. the Supreme Court, amounting almost to reverence.
He was an enthusiastic admirer of Chief Justice Mar
shall, and had a great personal familiarity with the
long line of decisions of the Supreme Court. Garland
was first admitted to practice at that court on Decem
ber 26, i860.
In politics Mr. Garland was an old-line Whig, but
afterwards when party names changed, and the Whigs
were absorbed in the other parties, he represented his
State as a Democrat. In 1861 he was elected to repre
sent Pulaski County in the State Convention which
voted for secession, and known as the Secession Con-

10 Augustus Hill Garland
vention of Arkansas. Though only twenty-nine years
of age, he took a leading part among the conservatives
in opposing radical action at the first session. Though
an ardent Southerner, he nevertheless opposed seces
sion, and exercised as much or more influence than
any other member of that body ; still he seldom spoke
or made a motion. In fact, the Union men were on
the defensive, and simply attempted to keep wrong
from being done. A man of great sprightliness and
versatility, he did not attempt oratory, according to
Judge Corrigan, who is one of the four survivors of
that Convention, writing from memory for the Ameri
can Historical Review, Book I; but he used a collo
quial and argumentative style that was attractive and
convincing. He did not believe that the States should
secede, and thought that the great calamity which was
about to sweep his country Co ruin and desolation was
greatly maximized by unwonted and unnecessary agi
tation, and could yet be averted. Mr. Garland was,
we believe, a Nationalist at heart, as opposed to being
a Seceder. He believed that the South was right in
holding that at the time of the framing of the Consti
tution sovereignty was believed by all to be divided;
that the States, the original possessors of sovereignty,
gave part of this, by donating certain sovereign powers,
to the new-created nation. Sovereignty was then
believed to be divisible ; but decisions of the Supreme
Court, from that time, began to mould the new idea ol
nationality into practical form. Mr. Garland's profound
admiration for the decisions of the Supreme Court
undoubtedly must have influenced him greatly. He,
like Alexander Stephens, and others, did not agree
with Mr. Davis, that the South had the absolute right
to secede whenever it pleased. He threw the whole
weight of the counsels and his great personality into
the work of averting serious measures ; but it was of

Augustus Hill Garland 11
no avail. The people were in too great a state of com
motion, and too much action towards moderation on
the part of the convention would likely have proved
dangerous. As the realization dawned upon Mr. Gar
land that war was then inevitable, he was confronted
with the problem of whether he should put his ser
vices to the task of further maintaining the Union and
join the Union side in the coming conflict, or should
take sides with his State and section. This grave
question stared many great men of that time directly
in the face. Hnudreds of men of prominence in public
life had to choose between State and Union. It was
with reluctance that Mr. Garland chose to cleave to
the former and let go the latter. He voted against
secession until the effort to re-enforce Fort Sumpter
by the Federal Government, which brought on the
attack upon that fort by the forces of the South. Then
he reluctantly yielded and voted for secession, and
from then on was a zealous supporter of the Confed
erate cause.
Mr. Garland was sent by his State as a delegate to
the Convention known as the Provisional Convention,
at Montgomery, Ala., in May, 1861. He was elected
by the Secession Convention to represent Arkansas
at Montgomery by fifty-two votes, the largest received
by any of the five, (Garland, Johnson, Thomasson,
Watkins and Rust.) He took a leading part in the
arguments incident to the framing of the provisional
Constitution of the Confederate States.
When he had finished service in that capacity he
returned to Arkansas, and did some actual service in
the trenches. This, however, did not last long ; for his
State had already become awake to his great ability,
energy and patriotism ; and he was called from service
in the Army to hold a seat in the lower House of the
Confederate Congress. He was chosen without oppo-

13 Augustus Hill Garland
sition. When the Confederate Capital was moved from
Montgomery to Richmond, Va., Garland carried his
family with him to that place. In 1862 he was returned
to the Congress, then at Richmond, and was re-elected
again in 1864, but soon resigned to accept a seat in the
Confederate Senate, made vacant by the death of Hon.
Charies B. Mitchell.
As a member of the Confederate Congress Mr. Gar
land made his first really great reputation as a lawyer.
In committee work, in debate, and in conference, he
became one of the most influential men of that distin
guished body. His war record was not made on the
battlefield, but in a place where heroism was just as
much needed. It is true that the South's heroes of
the sixties were for the most part heroes of the physi
cal battlefield. The noblest sons enlisted for the field,
and comparatively few of manhood and merit remained
to hold the helm of the ship of State. But Mr. Garland
realized that fearless, honest men were needed in polit
ical offices then more than any other time ; and so his
services were in the civil halls of his country, and not
upon the field. He could not have done a wiser thing;
and more is the honor due him for it. The conflict for
justice and freedom from selfish tendency was as great
and terrible as any ever settled on a hard-fought bat
tlefield. These men who held the places of civil trust
in the South were, more than all the generals of the
war, the index-fingers of the country's welfare. For
Mr. Garland, therefore, it was an all-important matter
that he guard the more carefully his every act and
word, that it might redound to the glory of his State,
and the good of the Confederacy's cause. The South's
great Epic of the future, that will tell of the private
Confederate soldier's last farewell to home, as he left
to join the faded ranks of the gray; of the picket's last
watch on earth, from which he entered into the death-

Augustus Hill Garland 13
watch, to guard his fallen comrades; of the fortitude,
the self-sacrifice and matchless devotion of the daugh
ters and wives, whose weapons were sacred prayer and
sacred tears ; of the faithful old slave, who carried the
body of his dead master, wrapped in the flag he fol
lowed, and laid upon his own shield, to the sad ones
at home — ^this "Iliad" of the future will also tell, with
the imperishable history of a Livy, of the faithfulness
and service of the devoted civilians of the Confederacy,
who kept unstained throughout the struggle the escut
cheon of her public dignity in a Congress which,
though unrecognized by the National legislature, was
yet her source of law and progress. Mr. Garland on
one occasion many years later said that he had been
prominently spoken of more than once for the place of
Attorney General in the Confederate Cabinet.
At the close of the war Mr. Garland resumed the
practice of law in Little Rock. On January 24, 1865,
Congress pjassed a law prohibiting those who had aided
the South from practicing in the United States Courts,
without taking the "Iron-Clad Oath." This was a
heavy blow to the leading lawyers of the South, and
deprived them of one of their chief means of support.
All Southerners felt that the law was unjust. Mr.
Garland believed that Congress had no constitutional
right to pass such a law, and resolved to test its valid
ity in the United States Supreme Courts. He argued
that it was invalid, producing one of the most power
ful, forceful and clearest briefs of argument ever made
before that high tribunal. He won his case, and the
law was set aside by the court on account of its uncon
stitutionality. This was a great victory for Mr.
Garland, and won for him a national reputation as a
lawyer. This successful effort to secure readmission
to the United States Courts without the iron-clad test
oath, was one of the most notable contests ever waged

14- Augustus Hill Garland
there. The victory gave Mr. Garland high prestige in
his State, as well as a national reputation, and resulted
in his election to the United States Senate in 1867,
though he was not permitted to take his seat. Owing
to the importance of the case, we submit a report of
notes on the proceedings of the same, as given in 4
Wallace of the United States Supreme Court Reports.
Mr. Garland had been permitted to practice before
the Supreme Court of the United States in i860. His
name remained on the roll of the Supreme Court Attor
neys from then until 1865, but the Rebellion inter
vened, and all the business in which he was concerned
at the time of his admission remained indisposed of.
Having taken part in the Rebellioiv by being in the
Congress of the "so-called" Confederate States, from
May, 1861, until the surrender, first in the lower House
and afterwards in the Senate, he could 101 take the
oath prescribed by Congress, before rn-- -.tioned, and
the rule of the court itself, of March, rne^. Arkansas,
in May, 1861, seceded and attached herlSHff to the Con
federacy. In July, 1865, Garland received 'from Presi
dent Johnson a pardon, which granted /'full pardon and
anmesty for all ogenses committed in the Rebellion, and
conditioned as follows : The pardon to take effect from
the day on which the said A. H. Garland shall take the
oath prescribed in the proclamation of the President,
dated May 29, 1865 ; and to be void and of no effect
if the said A. H. Garland shall hereafter at any time
acquire any property w^hatever in slaves, or make use
of slave-labor." Mr. Garland took the oath and faith
fully pledged himself to support the constitution, and
all laws made during the Rebellion with reference to
the emancipation of slaves.
Garland produced his pardon, and by petition filed
in court, asked permission to continue to practice as an
attorney and counsellor of the court, without taking

Augustus Hill Garland 15
the oath required by the Act of January, 24, 1865, and
the rule of the court. He rested his application princi
pally on the grounds: (i) That the act of January 24,
1865, so far as it affected his status in the court, was
unconstitutional and void ; and (2) that if the act were
constitutional, he was released from compliance with
its provisions by the pardon of the President. Messrs.
Reverdy Johnson and M. S. Carpenter argued for the
petitioner, Mr. Garland, who had filed a brief of his
own, presenting fully his case :
I. The act of January 24, 1865, was an ex post facto
law. Suppose "A" tomorrow commits assault and bat
tery. Tomorrow, say. Congress passes a law that no
person shall hold any office of honor or profit until he
shall have taken an oath that he has never committed
that crime. Is it not apparent that such an act, in its
practical operation, would be ex post facto, as adding
to the punishment of assault and battery an important
penalty not attaching when the crime was committed?
This is only an illustration of the proposition that an
act is unconstitutional, which accomplishes a result
-forbidden by the Constitution.
II. That is the result accomplished by the act
complained of, and how does that result accord with
the spirit and provisions of the Constitution? The act
of Congress of January 24, 1865, accomplishes a result
in direct opposition to the constitutional effect of the
pardon. The President says, "You shall not be ex
cluded from practicing in the Supreme Court in conse
quence of your crime; I pardon you." The act of
Congress says, "You shall never practice in the
Supreme Court without taking an oath which will be
perjury, and then, on conviction of that, that shall
disqualify you." The Constitution provides that the
President "Shall have power to grant reprieves and
pardons for all offenses against the United States,

16 Augustus Hill Garland
except in cases of impeachment." The effect of the
pardon is to make the offender a new man. Therefore
the effect of the pardon is to make it impossible for
any power on earth to inflict, constitutionally, any pun
ishment whatsoever upon the petitioner for the crime
of treason specified in the pardon.
III. The act, as applied to the petitioner, visits
upon him a punishment of his pardoned crime.
(i) The pardon absolves him from all punishment
for his offense.
(2) The act in question does, in its operation on
him, disfranchise him from holding office.
(3) Such disfranchisement is a punishment for
which he has been pardoned.
(4) Therefore, the act and the pardon are in con
flict, and the pardon must prevail.
IV. What right has Congress to prescribe other
qualifications than are found in the Constitution ? Con
gress can exercise none but delegated powers. If this
act be constitutional, there is no limit to the others
which may be hereafter prescribed.
The petitioner's rights to practice in the Federal
Courts is property. He has a vested right in his office
as an attorney, of which he can only be deprived by
some regular judicial proceeding. Depriving the peti
tioner, therefore, of his office, by an enforcement of
this act of Congress, is depriving him of his property
without due process of law.
Mr. R. H. Marr, of Louisiana, had filed a similar-
petition, and he also presented an argument for Mr.
Garland. Mr. Speed, Attorney General of the United
States, argued for the constitutionality of the act:
"The privilege of practicing law is not a natural
right, but a privilege created by the law, and accord
ing to its conditions. If Congress could present the
old oath of 1789 to Attorneys, why can it not prescribe

Augustus Hill Garland 17
the present one? Cannot the legislature prescribe the
qualifications which the counsellor shall have? Where
is the limit?
"As to the expediency and propriety of such an act
as that of January 24, 1865, that involves a question of
duty in Congress, with which this court has nothing
to do. It would seem that, in times such as we have
had, some oath ought to be required that would keep
from this bench and bar men who had been guilty,
and more than guilty, of treason."
Mr. Stanbery, special counsel for the United
States, also argued against admitting Mr. Garland. His
point was, that pardon is forgiveness, but not neces
sarily restoration, and that Congress had the right to
pass the act, and the Court to pass its rule. Then he
discussed the expediency of Congress' passing the said
law. He stated that the law was eminently and posi
tively expedient at the time.
The brilliant argument of Mr. Reverdy Johnson, in
reply to the argument of the opposition ends with a
thrilling and somewhat eloquent conclusion. We give
both argument and conclusion, briefly :
I. The law in question, in its application to Mr.
Garland, is an ex post facto law. However criminal
his conduct may have been, and however liable he may
have been to prosecution, the particular punishment
inflicted by the act of 1865, could not have been
amended. He could not have been convicted for not
taking that oath, or any other, but only "upon the tes
timony of two witnesses, to the same overt act, or on
confession in open court.''
II. The act is also in conflict with that part of the
constitution (the fifth article of the amendinents),
which provides that "no person shall be compelled, in
any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor

18 Augustus Hill Gaeland
be deprived of life, liberty and property, without due
process of law."
III. The act is void because it interferes with the
rights and powers conferred on the Judiciary Depart
ment of the government, by the third Article of the
Constitution. The admission of counsel is a preroga
tive of the court, and cannot be interferred with by
any other department of the government.
IV. The answer to the argument of the opposition
that the privilege of practicing before a court is not
a "natural right" is, that the very preservation of lib
erty itself demands the aid of counsel. The safety of
the citizen depends on the lawyer. The Courts also
require their aid. Congress would, therefore, but con
vert themselves into a semblage of tyrants, regard
less of the safety of the citizens, recreant to the cause
of freedom, and forgetful of the guarantees of the con
stitution, if they attempted to deny to the courts and
to the citizens the assistance of counsel.
V. Even conceding the constitutionality of the act,
Mr. Garland is removed from its operation by the
President's pardon, with the terms of which he has
complied. In conclusion, Mr. Johnson said :
"May it please the court, every right-minded man —
I should think every man who has within his bosom a
heart capable of sympathy — who is not the slave to a
narrow political feeling — a feeling that does not
embrace as it ought to do, a nation's happiness ; must
make it the subject of his daily thoughts and of his
prayers to God, that the hour may come, and come
soon, when all the States shall be again within the
protecting shelter of the Constitution and Union —
enjoying, all of them, its benefits ; contented, happy,
and prosperous ; sharing, all of them, in its duties ;
devoted, all, to its principles, and participating alike

Augustus Hill Garland 19
in its renown; that the hour when former differences
shall be forgotten, and nothing remembered but our
ancient concord and the equal title we have to share in
the glories of the past, and to labor together for the
still greater glories of the future, may soon come. And,
may I not, with truth, assure your honor, that this
result will be hastened by the bringing within these
courts of the United States a class of men, now
excluded who, by education, character and profession,
are especially qualified by their example to influence
the public sentiment of their respective States, and to
bring those states to the complete conviction, which
it is believed they most largely entertain, that to sup
port and defend the Constitution of the United States,
and the government instituted by it, in all its rightful
authority, is not only essential to their peoples' hap
piness, but is a duty to their country and their God."
The arguments concluded, Mr. Justice Field deliv
ered the judgment of the court:
"The exaction of the oath that the party has never
taken part in nor aided any movement against, the
United States, is the mode provided for ascertaining
the parties on whom the act is intended to operate :
"The power of pardon conferred by the constitution
on the President is unlimited except in cases of
impeachment. It extends to every offence known to
law, and may be exercised at any time after its com
mission, either before legal proceedings are taken, or
during their pendency, or after conviction and judg
ment. "A pardon reaches the punishment of the offense,
and the guilt of the offender.
"The petitioner in this case (Mr. Garland), having
received a full pardon for all offenses committed by his
participation, direct or otherwise, in the Rebellion, is
relieved from all penalties and disabilities attached to

20 Augustus Hill Garland
the offense of treason, committed by such participa
tion. For that offense he is beyond the reach of pun
ishment of any kind. He cannot, therefore, be
excluded by reason of that offense, from continuing
the enjoyment of a previously acquired right to appear
as an attorney and counsellor in the Federal Courts.
Mr. Justice Miller, in behalf of himself and the Chief
Justice, Mr. Chase, and Messrs. Justices Swayne and
Davis, delivered a dissenting opinion.
In a little book written in 1898, and entitled "Exper
iences in the Supreme Court," Mr. Garland humor
ously relates of the getting of his pardon, and of the
great case, as follows : "In July, 1865, I called on Pres
ident Johnson with much amiability, and requested
pardon for my deeds of omission and commission in
the row; and, seconded by the efforts of my constant
and steadfast friend, Mr. Reverdy Johnson, I pro
cured the pardon. It was large and capacious, and I
hugged it closely and went off rejoicing with exceeding
great joy, as a novus homo would naturally do. Before
going home, however, I went to the Clerk's office and
renewed a very pleasant acquaintance with those there,
and formed others quite agreeable. I drew a petition
and forwarded to President Johnson, and he filed it in
the Supreme Court. Late that year I came on to see
after it. By this time the move had attracted much
attention and excited no little interest; and the day
after I came, Mr. Middleton, then Clerk of the Court,
said he- desired very much to see the Southern law
yers back in court, and recommended me to get, if I
could, Mr. Matt Carpenter, to appear in the case. I
spoke to him and obtained his aid. The case was
argued in that term, Johnson, Carpenter, R. H. Marr
and myself appearing for it, and Mr. Speed, Attorney
General, and the courtly and polished Stanbery, Spe
cial Counsel, against it. The Court held the case for

Augustus Hill Garland 21
some time under advisement, and then ordered a
reargument, which was had; and in due time a deci
sion by one majority was rendered in its favor."
The case won for A. H. Garland so much popularity
that he was early in the next year, 1867, elected to the
Senate without opposition, and appeared to take his
seat on March 4, 1867 ; but was not permitted to do so,
as. Congress refused at that time to admit representa
tives from the South. The next few years he continued
to practice law at Little Rock. His practice was vastly
too much for one man to manage, and he was, at dif
ferent times, associated both with General Sterling
Cockrill and Colonel J. N. Smithee in law partnership.
Mr. Garland was one of the Attorneys, in the Missouri
Courts, in the greatest case that was ever decided by
the United States Supreme Court, the case of Dred
Scott. 5* *** T* ^P
Before going into Mr. Garland's public career as
Governor of Arkansas, it is necessary to briefly out
line the events just preceeding, which are important
in the history of the State, and in which Mr. Garland
took an important part. The facts of history are taken
from Shinn's History of Arkansas. Baxter was inau
gurated governor January 6, 1873. He was a member of
the minstrel wing of the Republican party, but had
promised to administer the laws in the interest of the
people, without regard to party. Brooks, his oppo
nent, believed that the governorship was his, and con
tested the election of Mr. Baxter before the legislture,
but without success. He then tried to get recognition
before the United States Court, the Supreme Court,
and, as a last resort, the Pulaski Circuit Court, but to
no avail. In the meantime Baxter's acts did not please
that wing of his party which had elected him, and it
turned its forces over to declaring that he had not

23 Augustus Hill Garland
been rightfully elected. On the other hand, the Demo
crats, who had before opposed Baxter, turned now to
his aid. Brooks repaired to the governor's office, and
forcibly ejected him. He himself was sworn in May
15, 1874, and held office thirty days. In the meantime,
Gov. Baxter drove out to St. John's College, and was
there guarded from attack by two companies of cadets.
During the trying days just before the election of
Baxter, he had a corps of advisors : — H. C. Caldwell,
E. H. English, F. W. Compton, U. M. Rose, and Mr.
Garland, — which, for courage, legal ability, and char
acter, has never been surpassed. These called upon
him at St. John's College, and the situation was dis
cussed. A committee of prominent citizens did like
wise, and all advised him to declare martial law,
assuring him that the people thought his cause was
just and would uphold it. After due deliberation he
did so. The militia began pouring in from all sides,
and Little Rock became the theatre of war. Men were
honestly divided in this great contest, known in his
tory as the Brooks-Baxter War, and the two opposing
forces were led by two ex-Confederate soldiers. Gen
eral Fagan and Colonel Newton. These matters were
telegraphed to Washington, and both sides awaited the
decision of Federal authorities. President Grand fin
ally decided that the legislature of Arkansas was the
body to decide the question. The legislature met on
May II, 1874, and decided that Baxter was the legal
governor. On May 15, Grant issued his proclamation
in favor of Baxter, and commanded Brooks and his
followers to disperse, which they did.
The legislature passed an act calling a convention
to frame a new constitution for the State. The con
vention met on July 14, and a new constitution
removing all disfranchisements and registrations was
framed, submitted to the people, and ratified by them.

Augustus Hill Garland 23
As a return for the faithfulness of the Democratic
leaders who had aided him, Mr. Baxter had determined
to establish a government that would do away with
the evils of carpet-bag government, and give the peo
ple their rights. He had therefore called the con
vention mentioned above. Many of the ablest men of
the State were delegates to this convention, and they
framed the Constitution under which the people of
Arkansas now live. Under it almost every office is
in the hands of the people, instead of being subject to
the appointing power of the governor. By it the legis
lature, the cities, and the counties are forbidden to
issue bonds or levy heavy taxes. Under it the people
have gradually taken to themselves the decision of
all political and economic questions, and gained the
power of governing themselves with enterprise, econ
omy and wisdom.
Governor Baxter ordered an election of officers
under the new Constitution. He did this despite the
fact that he would lose half his term, as he had been
elected for four years and had served but two. He is
said to have been urged to run for re-election for the
governorship, but declined, saying that if he accepted
the nomination, it would appear that he had done
what he had in order to get the support of the Demo
crats. Mr. Garland was an earnest supporter of Mr.
Baxter, and had zealously espoused his cause in the
struggle. He had been appointed Deputy Secretary
of State when Baxter was first elected. He perhaps
had as much or more than any one else to do in laying
the plans and directing the movements which resulted
in restoring Governor Baxter to power. And now,
when Baxter declined the race for re-election, the
Democrats nominated Augustus H. Garland without
opposition. In the general election he received 78,000
votes, against 24,000 for his opponent.

1 24 ¦ Augustus Hill Garland
Very soon after Mr. Garland was inaugurated as
, governor, he was confronted by a proclamation made
by Volney V. Smith, lieutenant-governor under Mr.
Baxter, declaring himself the successor of Baxter a.nd
the rightful governor of Arkansas. This declaration
was based upon the assertion that the acts of the leg
islature in calling a contitutional convention, etc., were
null and void. Governor Garland ordered the arrest
of Smith, and offered a reward for his apprehension.
Smith wrote to President Grant protesting and asking
for aid. Following is a copy of the letter, giving his
point of view, obtained from Flemming's "Documen
tary History of Reconstruction:" Little Rock, Nov. l6, 1874.
From Smith to President Grant ;
The State government is completely overthrown by
the connivance of Elisha Baxter, as that of Louisiana
was by Penn's militia. It is true that the revolution by
which it was accomplished was bloodless, but it was
just as effectually done as though it had cost a thou
sand lives. Baxter himself used the office of Governor
to organize the present revolutionary government. It
was perfected in all its departments, civil and mili
tary, before he abdicated the office and turned over the
same to Garland. When Baxter ceased to act, he
yielded the office to a person who was the head of the
new government, backed by a well-armed militia. In
the face of such overwhelming advantages on the part
of the Garland government, it would be worse than
madness for me to try to re-establish the overthrown
government by force of arms. It is because I am pow
erless that I appeal to you for aid. Before the life
of any citizen is sacrificed, I desire to know from you,
who are the arbiter between Garland and myself,
whether I will be regarded as the rightful executive

Augustus Hill Garland 25
of a lawful government, or as being guilty of treason
against it."
Representations were also made to President Grant
early in 1875 that the Constitution of 1868 had been
overthrown by violence, and a new one adopted. In
a special message, he reported the matter to Congress.
Governor Garland invited the committee, known as the
Poland investigating committee, to visit Arkansas and
investigate the matter from the beginning. The com
mittee examined witnesses from the Democratic party
and from both wings of the Republican party, and on
February 19, 1875, reported to Congress that no inter
ference with the existing government of Arkansas,, by
any department of the United States Government, was
advisable. Congress adopted the report, and Arkansas
escaped Federal interference with her local affairs.
(From Shinn's History.) President Grant shortly
afterward appointed Smith consul to the Island of .St.
Thomas, and he left Arkansas for that place.
To show the warm spirit in Arkansas at that time,
a glowing account from the Fort Smith Herald, extra
edition, is given;
FORT SMITH HERALD— EXTRA
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 1874.
78,000 against 24,000 1
Trouble again ! Baxter out ! Garland in ! Baxter's
Lieutenant-Governor proclaims himself Governor.
78,000 people say that Garland is Governor.
It now remains for that 78,000 people to sustain
Garland and the free voice of the people. Let the
people be true to themselves. Let them come up like
men, if needs be, and stand by their colors. The Gar-

26 Augustus Hill Garland
land government is the people's government. The
lieutenant-governor and his Bourbon allies must be
suppressed. If it be war, let it be war to the knife,
and the knife to the hilt, if they force us to it, in
defense of the new constitution, and the officers elected
under it. Now is the time; and if Garland will have
Smith and his followers arrested, tried and executed
by drum-head court-maritial and shot; that done, go
for
CLAYTON, DORSEY,
and their abettors. Then we will be rid of the great
curse, and Arkansas will be free ! Sic semper tyrannis !
Thus we see that Mr. Garland was chosen to be
:governor in a critical and turbulent period of his
State's history. Feeling ran high when the carpet-bag
government was overthrown, and there was a demand
for the punishment of the leaders. But Gov. Garland
began the pursuance of a broad and liberal policy. He
allowed neither persecutions nor prosecutions. Tak
ing the reins of government at the zenith of a success
ful revolution, when violence sought gratification,
when passion struggled for the mastery, by a conser
vative policy, he soothed the one and discouraged the
other. This policy he early announced in his first
proclamation, as follows : — "Should there be any
indictments in the courts for past political offenses, I
would suggest and advise their dismissal. Let the peo
ple of all parties, races, and colors, come together,
be welcomed to our State, and encouraged to bring her
up to a position of true greatness."
The impoverished economical and financial condition
of the State at the time of Mr. Garland's entrance
upon the duties of office, was appalling. Resources
were shattered, fortunes lost, and the people discour-

Augustus Hill Garland 27
aged. Mr. Garland himself said that when he first
went into office there was not enough money in the
State treasury to buy the kindling necessary to start
a fire in his office. But he went about everywhere
inspiring hope in the people by his example of courage
and fortitude in this trying time. He administered the
government with so much tact that the wounds of
the past were rapidly healed, and good feeling restored.
He built up the financial interests of the State, and
restored confidence everywhere. The State govern
ment was conducted for two months on the promissory
notes of individuals, and after that on borrowed money,
for which loans were effected, but which in time
were all paid back and liquidated. The first loan of
$200,000 was paid back in June, 1876. Expenditures
were cut down, and an effort was made to keep them
within the limits of the appropriations. It was nat
urally not long before the change for the better began
to take place. Scrip began to rise in value and before
many years was all redeemed and destroyed. Thus
was Mr. Garland largely instrumental in restoring
prosperity to Arkansas, and people began to rebuild
their scattered and dilapidated fortunes, that had been
placed in the pitiless scales of war.
So hopeful were the people that the legislature on
November 30, 1875, made an appropriation to erect a
building at the Centennial Exposition of the United
States, to be held at Philadelphia the next year. The
building was erected, and was an honor to the exhibi
tion as well as to the State. The Bureau of Awards
granted prizes to Arkansas: — (i) For a large, well-
planned building; (2) For a large and attractive exhi
bit of the natural and industrial products of the
State ; (3) For a large collection of native woods ; (4)

28 Augustus Hill Garland
For an exhibit of agricultural products, especially of
corn and cotton, the latter equalling any fibre of its
kind in the United States. In addition the State took
other prizes. This was the first effort of that common
wealth to display her resources, and did much to allay
sectional feeling and reunite the people.

Augustus Hill Garland 29

SECTION II
The above is the important mission which Mr. Gar
land had to fill as governor of his State. The people,
never ungrateful to a benefactor and a statesman, were
ready to give him "higher things," and in 1877 he was
elected without opposition to succeed Powell Clayton
in the Senate of the United States. And this time he
was admitted to that assembly — the arena where his
fame, already having travelled across the nation, was
to be maintained and increased, and where he was to
restore the glory of former days, when Arkansas was
represented in the Senate by Ashley and Sevier. At
the expiration of his first term, he was re-elected with
practically no opposition. Of the pages that are to fol
low dealing with his senatorial career, there needs
must be some words of introduction. Any report of
his utterances in that Chamber must necessarily be
imperfect and incomplete. Many of his speeches are not
mentioned for want of space. Several are herewith
quoted almost in full — the most important — and quo
tations and notes are made from many others. But
they are all upon the Congressional Record, which is
the source of information of this search, and the
authority for the facts here stated. His speeches
should prove a constant pride to every patriotic citi
zen of Arkansas. The quotations that are made, unless
they be from speeches on issues of great national
The references are all given by dates instead of by the
method, Cong. Rec. 42 Cong., 1 Sess. p. 101, (for instance)
As the dates appear on the backs of the volumes of Cong.
Rec, the speeches may be found just as easily in this way.

30 Augustus Hill Garland
importance, are selected mainly for two reasons : first,
to show certain characteristics of the man ; and second,
to show their importance or meaning to the State of
Arkansas. Some selected for the latter reason should
be of more special interest to those who live in that
State. Mr. Gariand first entered the Senate of the United
States at the opening of the session of 1877-8, early in
December, 1877. He was honored by being placed upon
the Standing Senate committees on Public Lands and
on Territories, December 6. Of course he took but lit
tle part in the debate during his first session. On
December 11, he had a bill read twice to establish a
certain post-route in Arkansas. It was referred to the
committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, but got no
further. On February 18, 1878, he submitted the following
resolution, which was considered by unanimous con
sent and agreed to: "Resolved, that the Secretary of
War be requested to make a report to the Senate of
the work of removing a certain bar in the Arkansas
river near Fort Smith ; whether any further appropria
tion is needed to successfully complete the same, and
if so, what amount."
On May i, Mr. Garland introduced a bill authorizing
the appointment of a committee of three Senators,
three Congressmen, and three others not members of
either House, to inquire: —
(i) — Into the relative effects of the tariff under the
existing law upon the different industries of the coun
try. (2) — Into the relative effects of the existing tariff
upon the consumer and producer.
(3) Into the relative merits of the specific and ad
valorem system.

Augustus Hill Garland 31
(4) — What, if any, improper discriminations exist
under the present law.
(S) — What changes are necessary to be made to
insure a wholesome law on the tariff, etc.
(6) — Into, and review the whole tariff system, as
now existing.
(7) — That the said commission report the result of
their examination, with recommendations, at the
earliest possible time.
This bill was read a second time by its title, and
referred to the Committee on Finance. This concludes
his work in the Senate for the first term. He could not
be expected to have spoken much then, because he
would thereby have broken in upon that precedent of
Senatorial dignity, which means that new Senators,
for sometime after arrival, "be seen and not heard."
Mr. Garland was back at the opening of Congress,
December 3, 1878, and was again appointed on the
standing committee on Public Lands and on Territo
ries, and also was appointed on the special committee
of December 4, for the Prevention of Epidemic
Diseases. On December 5, he made a few remarks which show
in' a manner his idea of the individual's rela
tion to the government. The facts were: — Geo. W.
Clarke, of Crawford County, Ark., was appointed
Indian agent, and gave bonds for such, in 1854. Jesse
Warner and others went on his bond as sureties. All
who were worth the amount claimed were dead at this
time, except Warner. Clarke was found to be in
default, and relieved from duty in 1856. Those who
went on his bond were notified in 1875. Warner,
the only living one, sued to be relieved from liability.
The investigating committee believed that great injus
tice had been done to the sureties by the delay on the
part of the Government, and thought that they should

32 Augustus Hill Garland
be relieved from liability on the bond. Mr. Gariand
held to this opinion, and he said : —
"A high and lofty consideration lies at the bottom
of this matter. It is said that no government is bound
by statute unless specially barred. But when the gov
ernment puts herself in the position of an individual
and goes into the courts of the country, she is held to
the same degree of diligence, and the same exercise of
energy, to which the individual is held. Her rights
stand no better and no higher in that tribunal, than
those of the individual who attends before it. Many of
the sureties have died, and but one now, in Arkansas,
is worth the money claimed on the bond. He is a high
and respectable attorney of that State, and advanced in
years. His application speaks in louder and better
words than I can speak. I am always prepared to do
right in a given case presented to me; and you may
bring cases of this kind as often as you please, at every
turn of the clock in the day, if you please, and I shall
vote for them, come from what section of the country
they may."
On December 12, certain Senators got into a wrangle
over a bill claiming to protect the Hot Springs Reser
vation at Hot Springs, Ark., from the encroachments
of individual's building houses over the springs, aind
thus controlling the water from them. Mr. Garland
said, in answer to a speech made by Mr. Hill, of Geor
gia:— "The point of Mr. Hill was, to protect the indigent
and the poor people, that they may have the full use
of the hot water. In that I fully concur. But there is
a clause in the bill itself providing for free baths for
the use of the indigent. No one big iron bath-house
can procure a lease so as to infringe on this right. The
bill provides that the government shall lease the
grounds on which the Arlington Hotel stands, to its

Augustus Hill Garland 33
proprietors, and also to give to owners of bath-houses
the sites on which their houses stand. The question
of the title to Hot Springs has been in the courts for
over thirty years, the government holding all the time
the fee, never having issued the patent to anybody.
In 1870 Congress passed the statute compelling parties
to go before the Court of Claims and litigate with the
United States the right to this property. Have the
parties, to whom leases have been already made no
rights in equity, and should they not be considered in
adjusting these matters? This is but a temporary pro
vision to enable these parties to have their titles
adjusted there. I am committed to none. I am as
free and independent as to my actions toward that
property, after the rights of my constituents there are
determined, as if the property were in Pensacola or in
Brooklyn. Leases have been made under the color of
law, and the question is, shall we ignore and trample
them under foot? There is great necessity for enact
ing the bill. It is almost a land without law there.
It is time that Congress was doing something. The
various propositions for the government to build
hotels, lease bath-houses, etc., can come up at the
proper time. So far as I represent the State of Arkan
sas, I am committed to none of them."
On February 5, 1879, the discussion of the thirteenth,
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitu
tion was up, and Mr. Garland spoke at considerable
length. He offered an amendment to the resolution of
Senator Morgan, of Alabama, offered as a substitute
for the resolution of Senator Edmunds of Vermont.
Garland's amendment inserted after "that" the word
"although," and inserted also, "were not adopted in a
legal manner," etc., to the words "are as," etc., mak
ing it read: "Resolved, that although the thirteenth,
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitu-

34 Augustus Hill Garland
tion of the United States were not adopted in a legal
manner, yet having been accepted, recognized, and
acquiesced in by the States, they are as valid and bind
ing as any other part of the Constitution ; that the peo
ple of the United States have a common interest in the
enforcement of the whole Constitution in every State
and Territory; and that it's alike the right and duty
of the United States, so far as the power has been dele
gated to them, to enforce said amendments, and to pro
tect every citizen in the exercise of all the rights there
by secured." Although Mr. Garland's amendment
received but five votes — Garland, Beck, Harris,
McDonald and Vorhees — yet no one of the opposition
for one moment doubted his sincerity of purpose or
earnestness of effort ; and even they, in their speeches,
paid him the highest tributes, not merely in a formal
and polite manner, but out of warm respect and regard.
Owing to its importance as showing Mr. Garland's
views of the amendments, the greater part of his
remarks is herewith given : —
"There is a difference between these three amend
ments and the other amendments to the Constitution.
It is to draw this distinction that my amendment to
the resolution is made. It is drawn in plain language.
I could have said, instead of 'legal manner,' 'in due
form,', or 'in due process of law,' but the good old word,
'manner' is understood better in the country — in the
midst of the people who have to bear the taxes and
burdens of the government. When the amendments
were adopted, eleven of the States of the Union had no
representation here. Upon these States they were to
operate, as well as on the others. The farce, which
amounted later to a tragedy, was gone through, of
submitting them to those States for ratification.
Whether you indulge in the theory of what is called
States Rights, or liberal construction, we must not

Augustus Hill Garland 35
forget, nor can any of us ever forget, that it is the people
at last who compose the government. When they had
not an opportunity to speak on the amendments, it is
little more than a farce to say that they have been
adopted by the States in a government made, carried
on, and conducted by the people. My people had no
more voice in the adoption of the amendments than if
they had lived in Peru. Three-fourths of the people in
Arkansas were disfranchised. The question was never
submitted to the people. The legislatures were elected
irrespertive of these questions; and they in some
instances represented no person this side of the moon.
The fact that the Secretary of State promulgated the
amendments does not help the case, because he was
simply announcing to the country what already had
been passed, and which in reality had never been voted
on by all the people. The thirteenth and fourteenth
amendments, and especially the former, came while the
South was in the very throes of war. The fifteenth
came when three-fourths were disfranchised.
"But while I religiously and conscientiously believe
that under the law and the Constitution of this coun
try they were not attended with the least legality in
their ratification, yet they are as firmly and fixedly a
part of the Constitution as any other of the amend
ments. The States, ever since they have been restored
to their integrity, have accepted and recognized them.
As Governor of Arkansas, I got the legislature to legis
late directly and indirectly on these amendments. They
are enforced in that State, and there is not a man in
Arkansas, so far as I know, to whatever party he
belongs, who would escape from them.
"I do not accept the decisions of the Supreme Court,
acting here in my legal capacity, merely because they
are such. I must be left to judge of the Constitution,
in all of its parts, upon my own judgment, and I must

36 Augustus Hill Garland
take the responsibility of that judgment, whether it
be good, bad, or indifferent."
A littie later in the discussion, Mr. Garland, said : —
"The amendment is offered in good faith and as one
of the convictions of my soul after a very long and
painful examination of this question in more years than
one. I take the responsibility of any error I may have
made. I believe that even in the United States Senate,
a man ought to express his honest convictions when he
expresses any. The amendment is upon the record
with my remarks. I will invite the Senate to a vote
on it, and if it gets no other vote than my own, it shall
receive that. I have no terror of being in the minority,
for I have been the greater part of my life in the min
ority. .1 stated in my remarks before that I had
enforced these amendments (in Arkansas), for the pur
pose of showing that they are valid ; but that they were
valid through any legal process of ratification there is
not power enough in this world or the next to make me
say, in this or any other tribunal. But with all the
detestation that I have for the origination of these
amendments, I will never agree that any joint resolu
tion of these two Houses of Congress shall repeal
them. They have now been recognized by legislation
of the Southern States, and are parts of the Constitu
tion." Mr. Garland's tribute to Jefferson Davis was deliv
ered in the Senate May i, 1879. The bill was up, pro
viding "that the law granting pensions to the soldiers
and their widows of the War of 1812, be made applica
ble in all its provisions to the soldiers and sailors who
served in the war with Mexico of 1846." To this a pro
viso was made by Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, "that
no pension shall ever- be paid under this act to Jeffer
son Davis, the late President of the 'so-called' Confed
eracy." This naturally aroused considerable resent-

Augustus Hill Garland 37
ment on the part of Senators from the South. The
words of Mr. Garland quoted here are in no sense
given because of any sectional feeling they may con
vey. He said : —
"So far as Mr. Davis is concerned, I do not suppose
he wants a pension, or ever thought of it for a moment.
As one who served with him in a civil capacity in the
late war (in the Confederate Congress), I wish I had
the power and the authority now, and I know it would
accord with every impulse of his heart, to enter here
upon the record before the people of the country, a
receipt in full to the Senator from Massachusetts, and
all others who hold his views toward that distinguished
gentleman. He would scorn it if tendered grudgingly.
He was a gallant soldier in the Mexican War. His
services are on the record of his country, and while
they may not surpass, yet they will equal in history,
all Grecian fame and all Roman glory. Mr. Davis while
he would be proud of any recognition of his services
for his country at any time, yet if he believed there was
a man, woman or child in Massachusetts who
begrudged him recognition, he would scorn it and turn
from it as he would turn from the hiss of an adder.
"Mr. Davis and myself were not in a general way of
the same politics in reference to this government ; but
I have never had occasion, in the long service that I
had with him and under him, in a civil capacity
entirely, to doubt his capacity, his integrity, or power
of purpose under any and all circumstances ; and I will
say to the Senator from Massachusetts, and all others
who agree with him, that whenever they seek to see
a game man die, whether in adversity or prosperity,
they may go to the dying bed of Jefferson Davis, and
they will witness that fact.
"He is a bold man, indeed, who would say that this
government has not been generous to those they con-

38 Augustus Hill Garland
quered ; but he is a much bolder man who would say
that they have been generous. I deny that the conduct
of the government toward Davis has been generous.
When he was incarcerated in the prisons of 'their coun
try,' as they called it, poor and emaciated and .broken
down, beyond the power of doing harm to any living
person, much less to any living government, and car
ried to Richmond almost as often as Troy viewed her,
walls encircled and her chief pursued, to stand his trial,
they dared not try him and they have not to this day
tried him. The sacred right of trial has been denied
him, though he has sought and implored it, from time
to time, and his attorneys for him. How could he, in
decency's name, in the name of all that is worth plead
ing for, ask the country to pardon him, when they kept
him in chains, although liberated upon the bond of
friends in the North? The conduct, instead of being
generous, has been cruel ; it is barbarous, it is inhuman.
"I look about and see others who served in the
Mexican War honored by the government. Yet Jef
ferson Davis cannot receive a pittance from the gov
ernment he has served so well, and the mere mention
of it stirs the blood of gentlemen who talk of gener
osity to indignation. You talk of generosity and you
speak of the proud eras of your history. Why, sir
in the proudest era of Roman History, no general was
ever permitted to have a triumph or bear a trophy
that he had won in a civil war; and the produest and
greatest military nation of modern Europe, England,
has had her escutcheon blurred because she held the
great Napoleon a prisoner, as this Government would
have held Jefferson Davis, but for the generosity of
Horace Greely and a few others, the latchets of whose
political shoes those who are urging this motion are
unworthy to unloose."
Ai the opening of the session of 1879-80, Mr. Gar-

Augustus Hill Garland 39
land was appointed on the Judiciary Committee, and
made Chairman of the Committee on Territories. He
was also appointed on three out of the eight special
committees. On January 21, 1880, he was appointed on
the Senatorial Board of visitors to attend the hext
annual examination of the Cadets at the United States
Military Academy at West Point. He re-introduced his
bill providing for a commission to examine into the
subject of the tariff, with a view to facilitating legis
lation thereto. It was again referred to the Committee
on Finance, but got no further. He also introduced,
among others, a bill (Senate bill No. 925) to provide
for the reappraisement of the abandoned military reser
vation at Fort Smith, Ark. This was referred to the
Committee on Public Lands, but got no further.
On December 18 a bill was up providing that a com
mittee of five be appointed, which should obtain
information of methods which would lead to the emi
gration of negroes northward. Mr. Garland humorously
referred to his own State: "From the leading colored
gentlemen of Arkansas, I have letters informing me
that but few have ever left that State, and those few
have returned to take up their abode again ; consistent
with the saying that no man ever left that State yet.
white or black, who did not go back there to live again.
except one poor individual who sickened while man
fully making his way back, and died before he could
reach the confines of his State."
On March 18, Mr. Garland made a long speech, or
series of speeches, in the debate on the bills for the
establishment of titles at Hot Springs (H. R. Bill No.
4244), upon which he had spoken brieby on December
12, 1878. He had time and time again sought the Senate
and begged it to take up this matter and vote upon it,
before the session should end. But they had hesitated
and neglected it. Mr. Garland's speech was very long.

40 Augustus Hill Garland
He went into 'the elaborate details of the case. He
argued that the people at Hot Springs had practically
made the land's value, by their own improvements
upon it; and that, while it was a large matter finan
cially to those people, many of whom had been born
to believe that they had as good a right to the prop
erty as to the clothes upon their backs, it was a mere
pittance to the government. Nobody would be taxed
to pay it ; no person would lose by it. The government
would have several thousand dollars surplus from the
property after giving these persons the little bit which
the bill proposed. It was, he said, an important matter
to them-, but a mere drop in the bucket to the govern
ment. He said: — "The State of Arkansas is not ask
ing for the lands ; but citizens of Arkansas come to you
asking you for this favor or gratuity, and many per
sons from various States of the Union. Hot Springs
is now the most cosmopolitan city of its size in the
world* I ask the Senate in all sincerity if this is exor
bitant, if this is an outrage either on justice or fair
ness, when you are trying to deal out equity to these
people? I have more reason probably than any other
man in public life to desire that there should be an end
to the litigation of this trouble. For eighteen years,
long before I was in the Senate, I was connected with
the litigation in reference to Hot Springs, and I know
every foot of this land. The place itself I love, and
there I believe I am loved ; indeed this ground is my
second home. Hence this feeling I manifest upon the
subject." And the bill was passed.
On March 23, the bill providing for the distribu
tion of the Geneva Award fund was up for considera
tion, upon which Mr. Garland spoke at considerable
length. The act of 1874 had disposed of part of this
fund, but there was a balance of nine and one-half
million dollars left, and the question was, what should

Augustus Hill Garland 41
be done with that? Mr. Garland thoiight that when
the facts were known as to how the United States
got hold of this fund, they would be legally compelled
to distribute it in a certain way. The money came to
the Treasury as the result of the want of exercise of
due diligence on the part of Great Britain in prevent
ing Confederate Cruisers from arming themselves and
departing from her ports, and committing depredations
on the property of the United States and its citizens.
There was a dispute on this point between the United
States and Great Britain. In order to settle it amica
bly and not go to war, it was determined to settle the
matter by arbitration. A commission was appointed
for this purpose, which sat at Geneva. The commis
sion met under certain hard and fast rules, which were
to bind its conduct. The government made claims
before the commission for destruction of her vessels
and property, etc. ; and also private claims, for destruc
tion of those belonging to individuals. Now the coun
sel for the United States wished the Commission to
pay her the indemnity fund, out of which she should
distribute shares to her individual citizens who had
suffered. Mr. Garland held that the United States received
indemnity not for the benefit of the American govern
ment, as such, but for her citizens, as trustees for those
citizens. This excluded everything except payment for
direct losses or destruction of vessels and their cargoes
by those cruisers (the Florida, Alabama, and Shenan
doah) . The commission simply gave to the government
a lump sum for individual losses, to be distributed by
it, and including also the government losses, where the
government had any proprietiary interest in ships
destroyed by the inculpated cruisers. We quote, in
part, from Mr. Garland's remarks : —
"I- do not know, so far as I am concerned, what bet-

42 Augustus Hill Garland
ter business the general government can be at than
protecting her individual citizens who pay her taxes
and fight her battles for her. I am not willing to write
myself down for one as consenting to the doctrine that
this government affords no protection to those people,
simply because they have not a strictly legal right or a
technical legal remedy. We cannot shelter ourselves
behind the idea that the government cannot become an
agent, a trustee. Has not Congress established a
Court of Claims, in which an individual can sue the
government? "The simple question now is, shall the fund be dis
tributed to the losers of those vessels and cargoes, and
those persons who paid insurance thereon ? This is the
legal question. Now, will Congress execute the legal
right, or will it set itself up to take in the unexplored
field of charity or mercy, to find some object worthy of
the bestowal of the fund? To pay just those who have
a legal right, and if there is a surplus give that to those
who suffered in consequence of the depredations of
those cruisers, if you can get at them, is right.
"We have seen what high hopes have been placed in
the commission at Geneva in the interests of peace to
the civilized world. If this Congress or any other Con
gress disregards the arbitration, and says, 'We will dis
tribute this fund as we see proper, outside the com
press of the award,' this splendid hope and bright
vision are gone forever, and we shall never have
another international arbitration to settle the disputes
of this kind. If the bill is not correct upon its merits
and general principles, we have no right to this money
at all, and had better send it back to England, for we
hold it under false pretense."
Mr. Garland spoke at other times when this bill was
up again, and we quote again below from his further
arguments on the subject. We do not quote it here,

Augustus Hill Garland 43
as it came in a later session of Congress, and would
spoil the chronological order in which we are placing
his speeches.
On the bill "making appropriations to supply certain
deficiencies in the appropriations for the services of
the government for the year ending June 30, 1880,"
Mr. Garland spoke briefly on March 31, saying that
Arkansas was deeply interested in the matter. The only
complaint he had against the bill was that the amount
it proposed was insufficient. Much money, he said
was needed to clear out the swamps of Arkansas.
The Swamps Land Act of September 28, 1880, granted
swamp lands to the States. In perfecting these gifts
the question had arisen as to what lands were swamp.
He said that these disputes were unsettled, and many
valuable lands were held up, their titles in abeyance,
for want of adjustment. The appropriation of $6,000,-
000, provided by the bill, was, he said, insufficient to
complete the work. Let the government go forward
manfully and settle these disputes.
Mr. Garland, it will be remembered, had, two
years before, introduced a bill providing that a
commission be appointed to look into the matter
of the tariff, and report to the Senate. He first
spoke on the subject May 27, 1880. He had intro
duced the bill, he said, simply to get more accurate
information about the then existing tariff; how, if at
all, it was unfit in its operation, and wherein it could
be revised so as to cure these bad results. Complaints
had been made that whatever law there was on the
subject had not been enforced in its true spirit and
meaning. Complaints were also made that the tariff
system had been burdensome in the way of expense to
the government. Mr. Garland said that the govern
ment had absolutely groaned under it. The existing
tariff was enacted, he said, to defray the expenses of
the war, and was a tariff springing from a spirit of

44 Augustus Hill Garland
retaliation, and not based upon justice. Every one
argued that some tariff suitable to the interests of the
country, and properly adjusted to them, should be
adapted at the earliest possible time. It was to get
such a movement on foot that he had introduced the
bill, and he made speeches later on the tariff which,
from the array of figures and facts presented, must
have consumied much valuable time in their prepara
tion. A case showing how vigorously Mr. Garland stood
up for his constituents at home, came up on June 12.
Under the bill (H. R. No. 6325) "making appropria
tions to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, and for prior
years, and for other purposes," he made a resolution
to pay Jas. F. Fagen, late marshal of the Western Dis
trict of Arkansas $2,116.27, the amount found to be
due him as such marshal, at a trial had in the district
court for the western district of Arkansas in 1879,.
in a suit by the United States on his official
bond as such marshal. Fagan was marshal
under the appointment of General Grant, and after-
his term of office expired the government instituted a
suit in the district court on his official bond, for an
amount alleged to be due to the United States, which
Fagan had failed to pay over. Fagan appeared in the-
suit, and plead, among other things, an offset. After-
a long and exhaustive trial it was obtained by the ver
dict of the jury, that, instead of Fagan owing the Uni
ted States, the latter owed him the sum stated, on his.
transaction as marshal.
But of course no judgment could be recovered,
against the United States for this money. A jury can
find that the government owes money, but no court
can render judgment upon the finding, except the
Court of Claims, unless there be a special act confer--

Augustus Hill Garland 45
ring jurisdiction for that purpose. "As a matter of
course," said Mr. Garland, "it is not a judgment
against the government, but it is a finding that it is
that much in default to Fagan, and the whole matter
is transferred to Congress for its disposal as it sees
proper. You have the verdict of twelve men. There
are only two ways that Fagan can get his money;
either through an appropriation by Congress, or by
having a special bill passed to send him to the Court of
Claims, and put him through that tribunal, involving
a delay of two or three years, and the cost of lawyers'
fees, etc. Which will Congress do? It must appro
priate the money now, or it must compel him to pre
sent a bill for his special relief, and have it referred to
the Committee on Claims to make him go through
that process, or send him under a special act to the
court of Claims. I have presented my resolution to the
Senate. I do not want Mr. Fagan submitted to the
process of coming here with a bill for his special relief
and having the matter re-investigated, or to go to the
Court of Claims and spend all his money to employ
lawyers." And Mr. Garland's resolution was passed.
In the next session of Congress, December, 1880 to
March, 1881, Mr. Garland got a bill through Congress
(S. Bill No. 711) "amending the charter of the Freed-
man's Savings and Trust Company, and for other pur
poses." The bill was reported to the Special Committee
on the Freedman's Savings and Trust Co., recommitted,
reported back with an amendment, the amendment
agreed to, and the bill passed by the Senate ; received,
considered and passed by the House, examined and
signed, and approved by the President. He also sub
mitted the following resolution, among many others,
which was unanimously considered and agreed to: —
"That the committee on. Military Affairs be instructed
to inquire whether the United States arsenal buildings

46 Augustus Hill Gaeland
and grounds at Little Rock, Ark., be not one of the
forts "of but slight value for military purposes," owing
to the changed condition of the country, and the opera
tion of which is continued at great expense to the
country, referred to in the President's last message;
and if the same cannot with proper regard to the ser
vice, be disposed of to Arkansas, and if so, upon what
terms." Mr. Garland's attitude on the question of pensions
is shown in a few well-chosen words, spoken on
December 97 He said : "I stand here prepared in every
instance to vote for an application for pension by a
husband, unless it is shown that he had made on his
part an expressed renunciation of the claim for it;
and I am not so sure but that in cases of that sort I
should vote for his widow to get it, when he dies and
she desires it; because these pensions are given some
what in the nature of a homestead right, and cannot
be waived by the head of the family, the original party,
but must be retained for the benefit of those who came
after him. The case is none the less worthy, none the
less meritorious because the husband failed to make
the application himself. The matter of pensions is at
least one of generosity, while to some extent it is one
of justice. It is not a fixed and unyielding and unbend
ing rule, that because a person, under the existing
pension laws, is not entitled to a fee, therefore Con
gress should not give it to him. Congress is the
great repository of the power, and should exercise it
with the utmost liberality, to those who claim as the
widow in this case does."
Mr. Garland spoke briefly, on December 6, on the bill
to establish an educational fund, and apply a portion
of the proceeds of the public lands to public education.
He said : — "The system of aiding common schools by
the government has been ingrafted in every conceiv-

Augustus Hill Garland 47
able plan of legislation, even antedating the Constitu
tion itself. From the splendid opinion of Judge Camp
bell in the case of Cooper vs. Robinson, there never
has been a doubt of the power of the government to
aid, foster, and do all that it can for the public schools.
Congress has given lands to the States for internal
improvements. Certainly it has the right to appropri
ate them, or their proceeds, for the highest of all
objects, the education of its citizens. Congress has
the power in the constitution ; we have judicial decis
ions; we have the precedent of legislation. The very
best institution we have ever had in my state, the
Industrial University at Fayetteville, which is now
an ornament to the State and country, owes its birth,
and in great part its growth, to the act of 1862. Arkan
sas lays a tax, a liberal one in her impoverished condi
tion ; and we have a good and promising system of
free schools. The passage of the bill will prove a
great help to her."
But Mr. Garland did not believe that this fund
should be given directly to the States ; and he spoke
against amendment to that effect. He argued that if
the money be given directly in lump to the States, it
would become mixed up in State politics, and instead
of being a benefit bestowed, it would be an evil. There
would be no limitations, with no one to account to,
as to how the fund should be distributed. "The bene
fit immediately from this bill," he said, "will be small.
No school-house will be built upon every hill-top in
Arkansas and other states. We cannot at once take
care of the great mass of ignorance thrown upon this
country so suddenly by the war, but we propose to lay
a foundation, by which after a while, as certainly as
the needle points to the pole, we may redeem this
ignorance in the South and in other portions of the

48 Augustus Hill Garland
t:ountry. We may heal it, but not by giving the fund
directly." Mr. Garland was very fond of using hugiorous illus
trations, and employed them very often for emphasis.
A case of this kind -was the conclusion of his speech
-on the bill providing that a man named Ben Holladay
"be authorized to institute and prosecute an action in
the Court of Claims against the United States, for
the recovery of an amount of any seizure or destruction
by hostile Indians of property owned by him and used
in performing his contract with the government to
transport the mails on the then overland mail route
hetween the Missouri river and Salt Lake City, from
1868 to November 3, 1876." Mr. Garland favored the bill
in eloquent terms and with clear reasoning, consum
ing considerable time in speaking. He said he knew
little or nothing of Holladay, but favored the bill :
because he thought it just. He considered it the first
great duty of the government to do justice to its citi
zens, and not keep them there asking for compensation,
sending them from one court to another. He finished
by telling of a man from Arkansas, named Ray, who
was in Washington with a claim of $2,500 for the
destruction of a steamboat, in the war, on the lower Red
river, at the time when he (Garland) was there seeking
his pardon from President Johnson. Ray thought he
would get his money in a few days. Six years after
Garland came back to the Supreme Court and Ray was
still waiting. Six years after that Garland was sent to
the Senate, and Ray was there on the same spot where
he had left him six years before. Garland said: —
"How are you, Ray ? Have you got your claim ?" "No,"
was the answer, "but I think I'll get it in a few days."
After about two years Ray did get his claim, and when
he paid his lawyer's fees and hotel bills he had $300.00
left. Mr. Garland said that this was an actual fact.

Augustus Hill Garland 49
Another case showing the great man's humorous
nature took place on February lo. Mr. Pugh, of Ala
bama, had made a long and able presentation of facts
and reasons favoring the expenditure of $1,000,000,
under the direction of the Postmaster General, in the
establishment of mail steamship lines, to be distributed
among the Atlantic, Gulf, Mexican and Pacific ports.
Mr. Garland had intended to speak on it, but after Mr.
Pugh's speech he arose and said: — "The masterly pre
sentation of the case to which we have just listened
relieves me of the necessity of saying anything at all.
I could not add anything. I simply point to the speech
as the man did who had a prayer copied at the head of
his bed, so as to save time, simply saying, when he
went to bed, 'Lord, those are my sentiments.' "
In the special session of March 4 to May 20 and
October 10 to October 29, 1881, Mr. Garland was
again appointed on the committees on the Judiciary
and on Territories, and also on the select committee
on Epidemic Diseases.
A speech showing Mr. Garland's love and appeal for
principle above politics, and right and justice above
party lines, is given almost in full. The special session
had been called by President Hayes, President Garfield
delivered his inaugural address^ etc. On March 24
the question of electing new officers — Secretary, Ser-
geant-at-Arms, Door-keeper, Chief Clerk, Principle
Executive Clerk, and Chaplain, was up for discussion.
The Republicans had gone so far as to assume the
right of electing new officers, or re-organizing the Sen
ate for a special Executive Session, just as is done at
the beginning of a new session; and had presented
names for these officers to the other side of the House
for consideration. The right was by that side disputed.
The Republicans held that the question of changing
the officers was not a problem of the efficiency or ineffi-

50 Augustus Hill Garland
ciency of the existing officers, but whether they (the
Republicans) had the numerical strength to change
them; and claimed that if they had this power they
also had the right to do it. Mr. Garland said : —
"As to the procedure that is asked for here of elect
ing new officers for the Senate, my impression is that
it has not been the custom of the Senate to change its
officers at executive session. It has done so at extra
sessions of Congress ; but the existing officers at the
close of a Congress have always continued through an
executive session following it.
"But I wish to speak to the Senate of what goes
beyond and above the mere question of party power or
party success. Until last Monday a week ago there
were not half a dozen men on the face of the earth
who knew for a certainty what the complexion of the
Senate would be on casting its vote on any proposition.
Upon the revealing of that fact I have nothing to say.
These are matters that gentlemen must take care of for
themselves, with a proper regard for their constitu
ency and their accountability to them. The mixtures
and intermixtures of political bedfellows are like the
verdicts of petitTJurors, among the unaccountable
things — and life is too short for me to undertake now a
diagnosis of the matter. But there is the fact before
us that a number of gentlemen, officials of this Senate,
who are acceptable, against none of whom can a sin
gle charge be brought, either of malfeasance of misfeas
ance or of non-feasance in office, upon a sudden, not
even a respectable justice of the peace's notice, are
called upon to take up their beds and walk, without a
day's preparation, without a moments notice compared
with what should be given them. These gentlemen have
been here now nearly two years, some of them depend
ing for nearly every particle of bread that they get
upon their small salary which they receive here; and

The Hubbard Residence — Washington, Ark.

Augustus Hill Garland 51
they are called upon suddenly to leave, without any
where to go, like the Son of Man, who, as it was said
in the Scriptures, hath not where to lay his head.
"I appeal to both sides of this Chamber. I am not
speaking for party now at all, but I am speaking for
these gentlemen who have demeaned themselves as
faithful servants. Do not inflict an injury on these
•gentlemen — and probably an irreparable injury — for
life. It is a matter of but a few days at best; and if
an extra session of Congress is called, (which God in
His wisdom forbid as one of the calamities to the coun
try), you may then go forward and elect your officers,
but now you will strike down some of the best officials
the country has ever had, for a little gain of possibly a
week or two, or a few months at most. It is not, seri
ously, my brother Senators, a subject worthy of your
consideration. Let us see if there is not something
decent and respectable at least, irrespective of party
discipline or party whip, where we may meet together
on a common ground and let this matter go over until
the regular session. I do not wish to be drawn into
a contest of this sort here, I do not, for the sake of the
country, for the sake of all parties, desire it; and I
ask you in the name of justice to these gentlemen who
have had this short notice, to spare them a little more
time. It is not simply because you have the numerical
power that you have the right and should exercise it.
" 'Oh ! 'tis excellent
To have a giant's strength ; but tyrannous
To use it like a giant.' "
At the session of 1881-2, Mr. Garland was retained
on the standing committees on the Judiciary and on
Territories, and on the special committee on Epidemic
Diseases ; and was appointed as a conf erree on the bill

52 Augustus Hill Garland
(H. R. 4166) to divide Iowa into judicial districts.
During this session he got a bill through Congress (S.
Bill No. 219) entitled "a bill for the relief of Rebecca
Wright, widow of James Wright, a soldier in the War
of 1812." He introduced many other bills, and mostly
for the relief of certain people in his State. Many of
them got through the Senate and to the House and
some got no further than the committees to which they
were entrusted for report. Besides these, he presented
many petitions from people of Arkansas, some of
which are : From citizens of Arkansas, for relief to suf
ferers from the overflow of the Mississippi; from
Joseph Cossart and others of Qark County, pray
ing for an appropriation for improvements on the
Ouachita river in Arkansas ; from citizens of Drew
County, for aid to Education ; from citizens of Eureka
Springs, for the erecting of a hospital there ; from citi
zens of Fort Smith, for the donation by the govern
ment of the military reservation there, for school pur
poses; from citizens of Little Rock, for the improve
ment of the Arkansas river; for a liberal improvement
of the Hot Springs Reservation; from, the Arkansas
W. C. T. U. for General Prohibition; and from the
Hot Springs Woman's Library Association, to erect a
building. Nearly all of the bills which he introduced
also had reference to the good of his State.
On December 12, 1881, Mr. Garland was up again
speaking on the tariff, and he again spoke at great
length. The matter, as was cited above, was before the
Senate on May 20, 1880, and even as early as May
1878, when Mr. Garland first entered that body. Owing
to the importance of the question of re-vising the tariff
at that time, and as showing Mr. Garland's attitude on
that great national issue, his speech is herewith given,
in part: — ¦
"The schedule of the present tariff, its confused

Augustus Hill Garland 53
terms of law, the codification of the laws, the digest,
the decision thereupon, together with the importance
of the subject-matter of the revenue itself — these com
bine to show, outside of the reasons formerly adduced,
the necessity for some kind of action.
"The Constitution provides that the House shall
originate bills for revenue. But the notion of protec
tion always comes, whether directly or indirectly, as
a tail to that feature in the Constitution referring to
revenue. "A tariff, when fairly and justly levied, has always
been a favorite way of raising revenue. But when a
citizen is called upon to pay tax to the government,
it should be in proportion to the ability of the citizen
to pay. This maxim is violated in every tariff act
which is originated for protection.
"I do not want absolute free trade. Some authors
and public speakers claim that this will be the doctrine
of all countries." So it is with the millenium or any
other good time, when those animals we read of in the
Bible shall lie down together and there shall be war no
more. But as a practical question, there is no party
favoring absolute free trade.
"As a matter of course, in the collection of revenue,
under a wise and proper dispensation, the protection
which follows must necessarily be allowed. There
must be a margin for it : there is no question on that
point. The exercising of many powers given in bulk
to the Constitution carries with it incidents which are
unavoidable, though not expressly granted. Neither
the doctrine of protection, per se, nor free trade, has a
resting place in this country, in my judgment; but the
proper medium is to rest between the two, in the
exercise of the revenue power by Congress; by a 'judi
cious system of tariff,' as General Jackson termed it.
"A system of protection leads to monopolies, and

54 Augustus Hill Garland
such as are now pressing on this country beyond all
powers combined, to its detriment and its injury. It
may be covert; it may be secret; but it steps and
marches to that as certainly as water will seek its level.
"We should have a consistant tariff law, we should
have our tariff suit of clothes cut down more properly
to our dimensions at this time, rather than wear them
as they were ten or fifteen years ago. I want the whole
system revised and placed in a compact and digesti
ble form, so that it may show itself when it is read
and examined.
"I am not ready to agree that the ever-present pros
perity is due to the protective tariff. I have great
reason to doubt, if not to deny it. Nearly everyone who
has a hobby is willing to attribute prosperity to it. The
country has lived and always will live, in spite of all
this legislation."
Again, on March 23, 1882, Mr. Garland said: — "I
never could see, in my reading- and understanding of
the Constitution, how Congress could proceed to col
lect a tax except for revenue to meet the exigencies of
the government. I believe as sincerely as I believe
anything that a connected argument upon that subject,
from the first breath of Hamilton, on through Madi
son, down to the present time, taking all the public
men of the past, could be established beyond any qiies-
tion, to show that the sole and only power is to levy
that tax or tariff, and that revenue is the sole and only
purpose of its levying. It is for revenue, and for rev
enue only — the present tariff was made as a war meas
ure for the purposes of war, and necessarily had to be
unjustly discriminating toward certain industries and
interests." Mr. Garland again advocated a mixed commission to
examine the tariff, composed of members of the Senate
and House, with three outsiders, making nine in all.

Augustus Hill Garland 55
His purpose was that, when the results of the inves
tigation should be returned to Congress, there would
be some gentlemen on the floor of each House already
trained to explain it tO' the others. The aim, he thought,
ought to be to prevent the government from fostering
any enterprises with which she has no national, no
federal, concern. It was for the sake of improving pri
vate conditions and private fortunes. However, his
amendment as to the way the commission should be
made up was lost by a small majority of votes.
On February 9, Mr. Garland spoke again on the sub
ject of pensions, giving still clearer statements than
those in the speech on the subject, quoted from above.
This time he spoke on the resolution declaratory
against the repeal of the "Arrears of Pensions" Act. He
said, in part : —
"This resolution is a plain common-sense statement
of the proposition that if soldiers establish their claims
to pensions, the pensions shall run from the time when
their right or cause of action accrued, and that they
shall not be compelled to wait until their children and
their children's children are old and infirm before they
receive their pensions. This is of course a just statute.
I do not think Congress can seriously contemplate
the repeal of this law on account of the great expense
to the government, or on account of frauds occasioned
by many persons getting pensions who do not deserve
them;. If the right to the pension exists, it is not
worth while to talk of the cost, and especially since
on all sides it is admitted that we are fully able to
meet the expense. If frauds exist, let us try to find
and weed them out.
"Our Civil War certainly grew into one of gigantic
proportions, and became a public war, and controlled
by the principle of public wars. The Supreme Court
has constantly held that it was a war in which the

56 Augustus Hill Garland
existence of a country was at stake, and was to be
considered in principle as if it had been carried on
against Great Britain, France, and other powers com
bined. These soldiers, going into battle to gamble
their lives away against balls of fire, saved the coun
try — a. country of which all of our are citizens united
at this time; and the glory and prowess of these sol
diers are the glory and prowess of all parts of the land ;
and as one of the vanquished, as one of those who went
down in that conflict, I am not ashamed to acknowl
edge the propriety of voting these pensions. If they
were the victors over us, I yield because I believe no
other power on earth could have been the victors over
us. I know of none more deserving and more meritori
ous than the soldiers who fight the battles of this coun
try ; and there is not a soldier of the Confederacy that
I know of, but what is willing to see these men paid,
and freely and cheerfully so. That is the sentiment of
the country I represent. If the tide of battles had gone
in the other direction, if our flag had floated forward
instead of backward, we would have voted anything to
those soldiers who won that fight; and if our soldiers
are not pensioned, it is the fate of war. It is a risk
which they took with the rest of us; and they bear
their fortunes manfully in this, as they bared their
hearts to danger during the war. There is no pro
fession on earth that is not better paid than soldiery.
I cannot afford, for one, to turn back because there
may be frauds in the matter. If there be frauds it is
a sad commentary on the law-making power that we
cannot unkennel these frauds and strangle them."
Probably no words ever uttered by Mr. Garland in
the Senate of the United States are more touching
than his tribute to the dead senator from Wisconsin,
Matthew H. Carpenter, the brilliant lawyer who had
voluntarily and without remuneration helped M'r. Gar-

Augustus Hill Garland 57
land with his big case before the Supreme Court in
1866, and who had, on several occasions, befriended
Arkansas. Mr. Garland had said of him at that time :
"He was the very picture of striking manhood, his
star was rapidly rising to its zenith, and great and
brilliant intellectuality was stamped in unmistakable
characters upon his face."
At his death Mr. Garland's eulogium was touching
and beautiful, and full of allusions. We quote from
the closing paragraphs: —
"In cursory reading a little while ago, Mr. President,
I found a sentence, said to have been his pro
duction, which gives forth his view upon this thing
we call life. It is this: 'The loves and friendships of
individuals partaking of the frail character of human
life may be shortly summed up : a little loving and a
good deal of sorrowing; some bright hopes and many
bitter disappointments ; some gorgeous Thursdays and
many dismal Fridays; some high ambitions and many
Waterloo defeats, until the heart becomes Hke a char-
nal-house, filled with dead affections, embalmed in holy
but sorrowful memories : and then the cord is loosened,
the golden bowl is broken, the individual life is a cloud,
a vapor that passeth away.'
"Probably this was the inspiration of one of those
moments of sadness that at times come to us all. But
it is a faithful summary at the last. His life, with its
share of sorrows and trials and crosses, is full of good
examples and noble encouragement to the young men
of the land. Born and reared with no wealth, with no
previous family name or prestige to rest upon, alone
with his own great mind and energies, he rose from
the very ground-work of society, and became one of
the wonderful men of this wonderful age and country.
On more than one ocassion did he serve in her trou
bles the State that honors me with a seat here; and

58 Augustus Hill Garland
the people of that State have a kind and tender remem-
berance of him, which will not be dimmed with the
coming and going of the years. His loss to his coun
try is great, and to his friends and family beyond esti
mate ; but to all let the hope come that the tear-drop
of sorrow that is shed today will be caught up and
made to glow and sparkle in the rainbow of promise of
tomorrow — without which hopes life's burdens and
changes would be unbearable. His name and fame will
be treasured tenderly in the land, and 'his memorial
shall not depart away.' "
On the question of Chinese immigration Mr. Garland
made a speech of considerable length on March 3,
showing by argument and references to decisions of
the United States Supreme Court and district courts,
that the matter of legislating to exclude the Chinese,
was a matter for Congress and not the States to per
form. The acts of the States on the matter had been
declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, he
argued, and he quoted from, Justice Field, showing
that the matter was for Congress to act upon. He
thought that the amendment under consideration, pro
hibiting the further naturalization of Chinese, ought
to be adopted.
The bill to establish a Court of Appeals was dis
cussed at great length in the sessions of May 2nd to
5th, and Mr. Garland spoke on each of these days. He
stated that the purpose of these courts was, that they
were to be localized and the proceedings brought home
to the bosom and business of the people. The circuit
judges who were to hold these courts already existed
to some extent, and it was intended by the bill that the
courts should be held to a particular locality, so that
the judges might familiarize themselves with the juris
prudence, law and judicial policy of that particular sec
tion of the country. A proviso was introduced that no

Augustus Hill Garland 59
circuit or district judge before whom a case or ques
tion had been tried or heard in the district or circuit
court below, should sit on the trial or hearing of such
a case or question in the proposed appelate court. Mr.
Garland favored this, and said that it was simply an
oversight that it had not been put in the original bill.
He said : "The idea is not founded as much on the
pride of opinion of the judge as it is on a pure and
simple question of justice to the litigant who appeals.
When he appeals a case, as he would in this court, to
six judges, he opens his case in the appelate court with
one of the six judges against him, and to that extent
he is denied a fair trial. Jurisprudence is the adminis
tration of justice according to the law. In the best
days of Roman jurisprudence, they even tried all cases
under a fictitious name. An upright judge has nothing
in the world to^ do with knowing the parties in the
court below. If one judge has already expressed his
opinion, I do not care how able he may be, from Mar
shal down to the smallest man that ever disgraced a
bench, it is human nature at least for him to contend
for his own opinion."
On May 5, Mr. Garland spoke at great length,
and his speech must have cost him many hours
of work in preparation. He said that early in
his senatorial career he had introduced a bill to
change the Judiciary by establishing these inter
mediary courts, and that corporations in one State but
doing business in another, if sued by the latter, should
not have the privilege of removing the case to the
United States Supreme Court. He said : "The import
ance and gravity of the question cannot be overesti
mated. We are now dealing with a very weighty sub
ject, and the country is deeply interested in it. The
repeal of all jurisdiction of the United States Courts
over these municipal and quasi-municipal corporations

60 Augustus Hill Garland
is demanded by the necessities of the time, and is in
strict account with the judicial system of the United
States, organized by the Constitution and the Act of
1789 in pursuance hereof." Here followed a list of
references to decisions of the Supreme Court in the
matter. The earliest decisions showed that corpora
tions are not "citizens" within the meaning of the Con
stitution, and hence cannot sue or be sued in a United
States Court. Subsequent decisions, however, contra
dicted these. Mr. Garland said : "We have these con
tradictory decisions before us, to determine whether
the one position is right, or the other. It is a decision
which comes at last by construction. Anyway, if Con
gress gave to the Federal Courts jurisdiction over such
cases as these, it can certainly take it away. Now,
what is the reason why these corporations made under
the State law, these quasi-municipal and municipal
corporations, should have a place in the United States
Courts ? They are made under the State Laws ; they
are purely parts and parcels of the State's machinery,
for the purpose of local government. Then why the
necessity of going into the United States Courts, when
you simply change your form? Upon any ground you
may take it, as a pure question of right, these institu
tions should never have a place in the Courts of the
United States. They should not be permitted to be sued
there or remove their suits brought against them in
the State Courts, when these suits are brought in the
particular location where they are created by the
States. I have thought on this question long and
deliberately and patiently, and I think that these
courts of appeal are necessary. With the vast increase
of the business of the judiciary, with the vast addition
of territory to the country, -with all these questions as
to public lands, questions of commerce brought about
by the railroads, telegraphs, and such, I do not believe

Augustus Hill Garland 61
that the present judicial force will be sufficient, even if
these courts are estabHshed." (Here followed an his
torical review citing opinions of men, bills to relieve
the Supreme Court of circuit court duties, and acts
extending the judiciary system, establishing new
courts, etc., etc. Letters had been flooding Congress,
asking for greater judicial force, etc.)
"Mr. President, think for a moment of the purpose
of the act. It is not to establish principles of law, it
is not to find the actual standard of right and wrong;
but it is simply to say what the law is in a given case.
It is not to write law-books for the profession; it is
not to encourage litigation. Judges should not write
law-books full of needless discussions. If I had my
way, I would take the opinions back to the time of
Coke, simply declaring that the facts in the case are
such and such in the law ; and I would not compel the
judges to search from Colorado to Arkansas and then
to New York, for some authority on the particular
case. The purpose of a court is to establish what
the law is in the particular case, and where the right is.
"I know that any bill of this sort will meet with
objections ; all bills do. This is something of a pio
neer experiment ; it is yet to be tested ; it is to be tried
in the crucible to see whether it will stand. After
long and laborious examination of the question, I
have laid before the Senate my honest convictions in
reference to the whole question.
"Lawyers in my State and all others are clamoring
for some relief. The Court of Appeals will take part
of the rapidly increasing business of the country from
the Supreme Court, and will act as a guard against
bad judges in the lower courts. This will bring relief
for some time to come — how long we cannot tell,
because the country is growing, and it is an illustration
at last of the fact that governments are not made.

62 Augustus Hill Garland
but grow as the country grows. I have stated hon
estly, fairly, and candidly to the Senate my views;
with the additions and suggestions I have stated on it,
I hope the bill now before the Senate will pass."
On May 22nd and 23rd, the Geneva Award Bill was
up again, and Mr. Garland spoke again at some length,
re-expressing his views, and enforcing the idea again
that the matter should properly be referred to the
Court of Claims, holding that that would be a legiti-
miate solution of the matter and one with which all
parties concerned would be satisfied.
On the bill to construct Mississippi River levees,
which he himself introduced, Mr. Garland spoke at
great length on March 15 and April 19. The bill
provided for an appropriation by Congress of $15,000,-
000. Mr. Garland argued that the matter was of .
national importance, and national in its nature. "The
Mississippi is an inland sea," he said. "When the
Southern States attempted to dissever themselves from
the Union, no more powerful argument than the hold
ing of the Mississippi prevailed against the success of
those States.
"If a levee system is kept up in one way in Arkan
sas, in other ways in Mississippi, Tennessee, and
Louisiana, it would be worse than no system at all.
If these States had the authority to do this, they could
not do it by conjunction or agreement, and hence are
not able to meet this exigency.
"The Federal government would not yield the pos
session of this great river, in spite of all the forces the
civilized world could muster and control ; and if this
river may be regarded in a certain sense as the prop
erty Oif the Federal government, why should it allow the
states to build levees on it? The loss by the great
flood of 1874, was the overflow of ten million acres of
land, in the rich cotton, sugar and corn country. The

Augustus Hill Garland 63
recent overflow will cause a loss of at least one-third
more, and will reach $30,000,000. When you come to
measure the damages, there can be no estimate. If
a failure of the cotton crop ensues from the overflow,
not even our financial committee can estimate the loss
to the whole country, not merely to Arkansas, Tennes
see, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri, but to all
commercial points and centers of business.
"It is necessary to proceed at once to give aid and
start the building of levees, because, when the water
recedes, thousands will have to wait three or four
weeks before they can break up the ground to begin
work ; and if the government starts the work it can
give employment to those thousands until that time.
I say it with a serious conviction in my mind, that the
splendid cotton country ranging from Crittenden
County, Arkansas, to New Orleans, will have to be
abandoned ultimately unless some assistance of this
sort be given. The people will have to go to the poor
hills. Fifty thousand people are houseless and shelter
less, driven out and exiled. A great many of these,
it is true, are colored people, v/ho are fitted for that
work by nature and by their calling in life, and in
whose good strong arm there is more honest work
than in any other known on the face of the earth.
These are people needing tO' be provided for. Is is not
time to do more than Congress has already generously
done, in voting for temporary supplies for these suf
fering people, to institute the work and commence giv
ing these poor men something to do immediately on
the going down of the water?"
When Mr. Garland's bill had been returned by the
Committee on Improvements of the Mississippi, that
committee recommended $5,000,000, only one-third of
what the bill asked for. Mr. Garland thereupon spoke

64 Augustus Hill Garland
again, long and earnestly, showing that five millions
was not enough: —
"The President (Mr. Arthur) turned his face toward
the sun in his message, in not mentioning sections of
the Rebellion, just as the great Lincoln did, when he
requested his band, after he had taken the sword of
Lee, 'to play Dixie; it is ours also.' He was not
afraid of the slanders ; he could hear that song played
which had stirred men to battle and caused valorous
hearts to kill his comrades. So President Arthur is
not afraid of any scarecrow of the Rebellion, and is
willing to restore the country ravaged by it.
"Is it economy to ask us to dribble on here from
time to time with a little appropriation, as though we
were clearing out a duck pond or a cat-fish pond in
Arkansas? Why help the men of these injured states?
Because they are citizens of this country. If, they
honestly fought for what they thought to be right,
they had been overcome and have quit. Here is a
great man standing at the head of the Republican
party who says so ; and whether either House of Con
gress allows it or not the country will applaud it
to the echo. 'Time at last makes all things even' : no
question of that. I make the appeal upon the direct
right, law, justice, morals, common sense and con
science. The money is there in the treasury, received
from the tax on the cotton from this great valley ; and
we ask you simply to give us part of it back. There
are sixty-eight million dollars in the treasury collected
from the Cotton Tax. Give us a mere pittance of one-
fourth. We are entitled to it. I have never belonged to
the school of strict constructionists. I have always
belonged to that school that fights for a sensible con
struction ; and this is the sensible construction given
by Mr. Calhoun. If you can give land, can you not
give money? It was reached by Congress in the acts

Augustus Hill Garland 65
of 1849 and 1850, and is reached by the Executive
today. "I want now to take all the chances there are under
the report of the commission, like the man did, who,
when he became seriously ill, sent for a preacher of
every denomination, that he might have all the chances
at going to heaven. I have on my table letters that
would draw tears of blood from the hearts of men, if
read, relative to the disastrous scenes which have
accompanied the overflow that has come upon this
country. We are poor. We may be poor through our
own mismanagement and mistakes and faults, but we
are poor. The States cannot build these levees now
as they did in 1850. We need one uniform, compact
system, and under the same authority, I beg Senators
opposed to a large appropriation to come now and take
a patriotic and magnanimous view of this whole sub
ject. We are not working for today ; nor for one sec
tion of the country ; but for all time, and all the people
of the earth. * * * The life of man is short, and events
come thick and fast, and hurry on. In ten years from
this day, if the appropriation of $15,000,000 is not
made, I predict that Congress will vote fifty millions
as cheerfully as they would vote five now. There is
an urgent necessity for this work."
However, a little later, when it was apparent that
Congress would not appropriate the full amount, Mr.
Garland withdrew his amendment asking again for fif
teen millions, saying that though he regretted to do
it, he would nevertheless content himself for the pres
ent with five millions.
During the next session of Congress (1882-3) Mr.
Garland managed to get three bills' to pass both
Houses. They were as follows :
A bill (S. Bill No. 2239) "granting right of way
for railroad purposes and telegraph lines through th?

66 Augustus Hill Garland
lands of the United States included in the military res
ervation at Fort Smith, Ark." Introduced by Mr. Gar
land and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs,
reported back and passed the Senate, considered and
passed by the House, examined and signed, and
approved by the President.
A bill (S. Bill No. 2305) "authorizing the cornniis-
sioner of the Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust
Company to examine certain claims against said com
pany and to pay certain dividends barred by the act of
February 21, 1881, and for other purposes." Introduced
by Mr. Garland and referred to the Committee on
Finance, reported back, amended, and passed by the
Senate, passed by the House, examined and signed, and
approved by the President.
A bill (S. Bill No. 2412) "to encourage the holding
of a World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Expo
sition in 1884." Introduced by Mr. Garland and
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, reported
back, amended, and passed by the Senate, passed by
the House, examined and signed, and approved by
the President.
In the early part of the session Mr. Garland spoke
at considerable length favoring the act providing for
a uniform bankruptcy law in the United States. We
shall not give all his argume^nts here, as they would
perhaps be tedious and uninteresting. They are marked
by a wealth of citations from history, cases in courts,
etc. ; and show a great deal of study and detailed labor
on the subject. The debate lasted practically a month.
Mr. Garland said, in his concluding speech : "I believe
there is a general necessity in this country for a stand
ing and fixed bankruptcy act. The jurisdiction was
given to Congress, and in view of what the different
States have done. Congress has seen proper from time
to time to pass bankruptcy acts, so that the creditor

Augustus Hill Garland 67
from Georgia, the creditor from Arkansas, and the
creditor from Ohio may all stand on an equal foot
ing when they come into the court to have an estate
of an irtsolvent distributed. That there is no great
pressing demand for a bankruptcy act now, I do
believe; but if you put it upon that ground simply,
it is the very reason why the man in the song of the
'Arkansas Traveler' did not cover his house. He
could not cover it when it was raining, and he didn't
want to cover it when it was not raining, because then
it didn't need it. If we wait until we get a stampede,
cry, demand, and rush for such an act, the result will
be that we shall get a patch work as we did in 1867;
so that in six or seven years there will not be a show
left of the original act, and we shall not even know
out of what material it has been made. Now is the
time to make the act, in time of peace, while there is
no commotion and no distress in the country for such
a special act."
In arguing for Civil Service Reform, on December
23, Mr. Grant went into considerable detail to
show the restless state of the country. He said :
"If I had to interpret and summarize what was the
cause of the verdict rendered by the people in the
recent election, I would say that the country has
become tired and restless and sore under the manage
ment of it in the harness and armor of war instead of
that of peace. The country is like a man that is aged,
lying upon one side for hours, who becomes restless
and turn over on the other side so that he may enjoy
his sleep and comfort further. It is like David
equipped in the armor of Saul; it is encumbered and
oppressed, and must necessarily sink under it. The
legislation that was originated in time of arms to save
the life of the country, as was said, is now the legisla^
tion for this time of peace ; and that is the complaint of

68 Augustus Hill Garland
the country. This restlessness is not merely local, nor
confined to one State. It is electricity all along the
line; and —
'From peak to peak, the rattling crags among,
Leaps the live Thunder ! Not from one lone cloud.
But every mountain now hath found a tongue.
And Juno answers, through her misty shroud.
Back to the Gorgeous Alps, who call to her aloud !'
"If there is no party adequate to the country's
demand, it will create one. It may not be the Repub
lican party nor the Democratic party. Octavious had
a pary at one time in Rome, and Anthony had a party;
but Rome had no party. It may be that here the inter
ests of the country have no party. The verdict of the
election may impart that, and if the Democratic party,
now that it has these successes, addresses itself seri-
pusly and earnestly to this work, it will receive the
applause and approbation of the country. If it does
not it will not, and the country will seek a party which
will accommodate itself to its demands."
A little later Mr. Garland said, referring more
directly to the bill : "It is a mistaken idea that we can
introduce a reform in this matter or any other, without
hurting or affecting somebody. If we stood still and
waited for the time to come to introduce reforms
when nobody could be affected by them, we should
never have one. The very demand and clamor for
reform arises from the fact that some of the govern
ment officials need cleaning out. I for one believe
that there are more employees in the government than
there^ ought to be. I should like to cut down what I
conceive to be the supernumerary of officials through
out the departments, who were put there by the neces
sities of war."

Augustus Hill Garland 69
In the session of 1883-4, Mr. Garland was again
appointed on the Judiciary Committee, the Committee
on Territories, and the Committee on Epidemic Dis
eases ; and was also placed on the Committee on Revo
lutionary Claims. During this session he was called
several times to take the Vice-President's chair.
Out of the great raft of bills introduced by Mr. Gar
land at this session, only one got through both Houses
of Congress, though many passed the Senate. It was
a bill (S. Bill No. 1369) "to prevent and punish the
counterfeiting within the United States of notes,
bonds, or other securities of foreign governments." It
was introduced by Mr. Garland and referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary, reported back, passed the
Senate, passed the House, examined and signed, and
approved by the President.
Many of the petitions that he had presented irt
former sessions, and which had failed to be acted on
and granted, he presented again in this, his last, ses
sion of the Senate.
Mr. Garland favored the bill providing that Con
gress give relief by appropriation toward eliminating
the foot and mouth cattle disease in Kansas. He spoke
on this bill March 14, 1884. He believed that Con
gress had the constitutional power to give this aid. He
said, in part :
"You present me a calamity that is general in its
character, and threatening to the country, that the
local and domestic authorities cannot meet, and I
vote to afford relief with as clear a conscience as I ever
voted for any measure. If I did not believe we have
the constitutional power there is no sympathy in my
bosom — I believe I am as sympathetic as most men— ^
that would induce me to violate the oath I took at
yonder desk to support the Constitution. I act accord-

70 Augustus Hill Garland
ting to my interpretation of that instrument which I
have sworn to support.
"Here is an industry now that is threatened with
a prostration which will be worse than the failure of
crops to the people who suffer from it; and it is not
worth while to say, 'wait till the blow is struck and
calamity done ; then relieve it.' The sound of the fire
bell is unpleasant, especially when you have to get up
at night to go out and suppress the fire and endeavor
to save life and property. We had better take precau
tions in advance, and not wait till these people come
crippled here and say, 'Our industry is gone.'
"The power comes under the 'general welfare' clause
of the Constitution. Where do you get the authority
to build a Library Building? To erect the statues of
great men, whose reputation in life has been won in
killing their human brethren? Where did you get the
power to give relief to the sufferers from the Missis
sippi flood ? You got it under this clause, and nowhere
else. Judge Story does not say that the 'general wel
fare' power in the Constitution rests upon any other
power or is connected with it; it is an independent
power. I read from the Constitution of the Confed
erate States where that was omitted for the express rea
son, as gentlemen of that school believed, that that
power ought to rest upon other powers and be depen
dent on them ; and they incorporated in that Constitu
tion what is considered a fair and just interpretation
of the Constitution of the United States upon this
question. "Judge Story, in adopting the language of Monroe
and other presidents, adopts the language, first, begin
ning with Mr. Hamilton in his report on manufactures
in 1791, and even that of Mr. Jefferson himself, who
was the father of what we understand as the 'States'
Rights' School, who worshiped States' Rights as

Augustus Hill Garland 71
devotedly as ever the Persian bowed -before the eternal
fires of the sky.
"This matter of eliminating this cattle disease is
public or it is nothing. It is either a myth, a ghost,
or it is general and public in its character. We have
construed the Constitution, we have applied it time
after time, year after year. It is now too late to say
that we cannot apply it in this instance, when our
country is threatened with a cattle disease. It is too
late to question the authority. It is there, written in
the text, for what is understood as the text is a part of
it. It is written in the precedents which have become
part of the law of the country.
"When we deal with this subject it branches into
questions affecting commerce between the States. If
we could, by some organic power, say that the cattle
of Kansas alone would be affected by this measure,
and none of any other State, we might get a resting
place for the argument, but that cannot be done
because it is a contagious disease.
"I have attempted to show that we have the author
ity to give help, under a fair, legitimate construction
of the constitution; and by the precedents of former
acts, it is put beyond any cavil or dispute."
Probably Mr. Garland's greatest speech in the Sen
ate of the United States was his masterly argument
of March 24, toward the close of the session, upon
the bill (S. Bill No. 398) "to aid in the establishment
and temporary support of common schools." The
speech of Mr. Garland was on the amendment to the
bill, (and involving substantially its merits) of Mr.
Harrison of Indiana, In this great argument, we think,
more than in any other debate in which he partici
pated, he added the power of his great abilities as a
constitutional lawyer to his ever-great earnestness and
enthusiasm. The bill provided for the making of

72 Augustus Hill Garland
appropriations by Congress for the extermination of
illiteracy in the states. It proposed to give $15,000,000
at once for the purpose, and diminish it by $1,000,000
every year for ten years, when it should cease. The
money was tO' be distributed among the states in pro
portion to the number of persons within the school age
in each, who were unable to read and write. It
required that each State should spend of its own rev
enue one-third as much as it should receive from the
United States; and then limited the amount to be
expended to the support of normal schools to one-
tenth of the amount received. It left the states free,
under those restrictions, to expend the money accord
ing to their own judgment. Mr. Garland spoke at
great length, favoring the bill, and we quote from him
at length, owing to the general importance of the
matter to the whole country, and the fact that much
of his remarks are about the condition of his State. He
said :
"In the discussion of the bill two questions nat
urally arise ; first, the power to pass such a bill as this,
and second, the policy of it. I do not require the thir
teenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to enable
me to find the power of Congress to do this. I am sat
isfied that we had the power before the amendments
were enacted. The point was decided by the Supreme
Court, long before the amendments were ever dreamed
of, in the case of Cooper vs. Roberts.
"Again, if Congress can grant lands for schools, it
can certainly grant money itself. No fine-spun theory
can bring an argument to show a distinction in the
power to make the grant, as between money and land."
(Here he cited cases of history before the amendments
were enacted, to show that it had been the precedent
and policy of the government to make appropriations

Augustus Hill Garland 73
— that the power always existed and was never ques
tioned.) "If education is left with the states, it will never be
carried on fully, or at least not for years to come. I
believe every Southern state has come with proper
guards to its Constitution and its statutory laws on
the subject; but on account of the misfortunes to
which they have been subjected, because of the pov
erty and great debts many of them bear, they can
not meet the exigency of the case. But that they
have shown a willingness to do so as far as they can,
in most cases, there can be no doubt. What is the
problem before us? Illiteracy is the disease to be
cured; this is the poison to be extracted, and it is
right and proper to base the contribution upon that.
You can fix no' other standard so reasonable and fair.
I feel assured in saying that without some safeguard
on this subject not one of the Southern States could
have been 'received back,' as Mr. Lincoln termed it,
into practical relation with the other States of this
Union. If one of these States had lingered or hesi
tated in the matter of education, it would not have
been received back into the community of States.
When the battle for the political life of the State of
Arkansas was being fought, when the balance stood
wavering here, persons unable to decide what should
be its fate, gentlemen in the highest positions as offi
cers of this land wrote to me to let them see our
school law; and when I transmitted it there was no
loinger any doubt as to the fate of that struggle which
was then going on for the political entity of the State
of Arkansas.
"It was intimated that the proposed appropriation
appeared to be in the name of the colored people, while
in fact the whites would get the most of it. That is a
mistake; there is no distinction there; the white and

74 Augustus Hill Garland
colored children share the contribution alike. They
go into separate schools as a matter of course, which
the courts in the different states have decided to be
constitutional. "The ratio of the payment of taxes in Arkansas is
much greater than the white population to the colored.
If I were nowi about to utter my last words, I should
frankly say that there is no prejudice against the edu
cation of the colored children there, on the part of the
educators, so far as I know. We may dispute as much
as we please about the theoretical question, the oft-
repeated one, whether the colored man can be edu
cated; but in my judgment it is something that will
never be settled. I know in many instances -colored
people have been educated, and I know that as citi
zens they have the franchise in their hands, and have
a right to the honors of this government; and this
being so, an effort should be made in the direction of
elevating and improving them. If they are to be citizens,
they should be made the very best citizens. They should
know the value of the ballot that is put in their hands :
they should know the value of civil rights. And for one,
as I took the stump in favor of the present Constitution
of Arkansas (the constitution of 1874), and was the
first governor under it, I did not mean to humbug
anybody then, nor do I mean to do so now. I want
all races in the country to be brought up to the very
highest phase of education, to the very front rank of
knowledge. I do not believe, so help me Heaven, that
there is any prejudice on the part of the educated
classes in the State of Arkansas, to which my knowl
edge is principally confined, to the education of the
colored people, as far and as much as the means given
to them will enable them to do so. If we have done
our best and are continuing to do so now, with this

Augustus Hill Garland 75
accumulated mass of population upon us, it seems to
me there is but one duty, and that is to vote this aid.
"Mr. President, looking at the subject for myself,
with all the lights that surround me, I do not know
how my friends on the other side can say sincerely to
the colored man, 'We want to educate you, and yet
will not vote for this bill or something similar to it.' I
do not know how they can make it clear to him that
they are sincere when they withhold this effort to help
him for ten years longer, until the States get upon a
sound footing and wipe away the rubbish now resting
upon them, and become self-sustaining.
"I look upon this measure as being the most import
ant one that has been before Congress for many, many
days; and for my State, I look upon it as being the
most important bill to us that has been proposed here.
We are struggling there with conscientious energy
and with a high purpose to accomplish these ends. But
by reason of circumstances not within our control, we
are not able to meet the requirements of the time.
Many of our schools hold sessions of only two or three
months in the year. If this aid be given us, much good
will be accomplished. We can meet in a reasonable
and honorable way this great exigency. Are we
together upon the great question of the day? Cer
tainly, in the name of Heaven, after nearly twenty
years of peace, we ought to be a unit upon some one
question, and not be standing in the shadows of the
past and fighting our battles over again, but be doing
something for the advancing and fast approaching
future. If we are really sincere, let us manifest our
sincerity, and of all things it would be to me the best
and proudest day since I have been here, to see this
measure meet the entire approval of the Senate.
"In conclusion, I implore both sides and all sides
to come together and vote for this bill and be a unit

76 Augustus Hill GarlaInd
upon it, as we have been talking about it and promis
ing it for years past."
And the bill finally passed the Senate in an amended
form; but it got no further.
* * * 5k
The above excerpts from the Speeches of Augustus
H. Garland, though affording a poor ground upon
which an estimate of his work in the Senate that
would begin -to do him justice can be based, will yet
convey to the reader some idea of his thoroughness
of attack, wealth of legal information, ability in pre
sentation of facts, and earnestness of effort. Many
short debates with Senators show his ability as a ready
thinker, but of course have to be omitted. On many
occasions he cleared up technical disputes and ques
tions involving rules of order, or questions of legiti
mate procedure. His arguments served nearly always
to straighten out the point under discussion, and to
the evident satisfaction of those holding different
views. He always had the rules of order at his finger's
ends. With this he had a wealth of knowledge of pre
cedents established by previous acts or procedures of
Senate and House. He was ferquently referred to by his
colleagues as "the able lawyer." Ex-Senator Berry of
Arkansas says of him that he "was regarded by all
Senators who served with him as one of the ablest
lawyers who had served in the Senate since the war.
He was universally liked, conservative in his views,
and never got excited. He was likely to take just as
fair a view of all possible questions as anyone."
Nothing is better evidence of the standing of Mr.
Garland at Washington, than the personal testimony
of men associated with him there, as that just quoted.
Another gentleman who knew him, there, the late Ex-
Senator Jas. K. Jones, says of him : "He never sought
to attract public' attention to himself, and seemed to

Augustus Hill Garland 77
shrink from the public gaze. His speeches in the Sen
ate show that his object was always to convince those
to whom he spoke ; and he never spoke over the heads
of Senators to the people at large. He was a lawyer
and a student, and had as little in him of what the
word 'politician' is usually understood to mean, as
any man I ever saw." He is said by some to have stood
higher in the estimation of the Republicans, then in
control of the Senate, than any other man from the
South. He was regarded as being more of a patriot
than a partisan ; and his speeches, delivered with the
rugged force characteristic of his temperament, carried
great weight in consequence. By common consent,
he was held to be one of the ablest exponents of the
Constitution that ever sat in the Senate. He was on
several occasions called to. the Vice-President's chair
to preside over the proceedings of that body.

Augustus Hill Garland 79

SECTION III
In 1884 there came a call to Senator Garland to lay
down his position of representing merely his State,
and assume representation for the nation. President
Qeveland appointed hjm Attorney .General of theUnited
States. This was a marked honor for Mr. Garland,
and for his State as well ; for this is the first and only
time that Arkansas has been represented in the Presi
dent's Cabinet. Not only that, but Mr. Garland
enjoyed the distinction of being the first man from the
South to sit in that body, after the War. When news
of his appointment was received by his brother Sena
tors, it seemed to give general satisfaction on all sides,
and all thought that the President had made a wise
choice. At this time Mr. Garland was considered one
ef the five most prominent Democratic leaders in the
Senate. When he resigned and accepted the Presi
dent's invitation to sit in his special council of advis
ors, it was felt all over the country that a man of rare
ability had been added. He was a most prominent
figure at Washington. His marked eccentricities of
manner and method (of which we shall speak later),
together with his great legal ability and capacity for
making and holding friends, combined to attract to
him an attention that was always a tribute to his high
qualities. Mr. Garland took up his official duties on March 6,
1885, and continued in office until 1889, when Har
rison was elected to the Presidency. The pages fol
lowing which contain some of his official opinions as
Attorney-General, may not give that same interest that

80 Augustus Hill Garland
clusters around his magnificent speeches in the Sen
ate. We have tried to pick out from the great raft of
opinions given to the President by him, only those on
the most important questions.
PARDON— LAWTON'S CASE.
Lawton, having been commissioned a lieutenant in
the United States Army and taken an oath as such
officer to support the Constitution, afterwards bore
arms against the United States in the War of the
Rebellion, but on February 6, 1867, received a full par
don from: the President. Mr. Garland said, in reply to the
President's letter: "The question for my opinion is,
whether it was the intention of the fourteenth amend
ment to take away rights which previous pardons had
restored; or in other words, whether its purpose was
to cast a reproach on the Executive Department of
the government by repudiating, as unworthy of credit,
its acts of questionable validity, by destroying rights
which had undoubtedly been vested under these acts,
and by violating the national faith, so pledged.
"Applying the sound rule of interpretation given in
the Supreme Court in various cases, to the third sec
tion of the fourteenth amendment, I am of the opinion
that the consequences of allowing its general words
of exclusion to operate without limitation in favor of
persons in the situation of Lawton, would be injustice
and a disregard of the public faith, which nothing
short of the most explicit and controlling language
should authorize.
"I am of the opinion that Lawton is not affected
by the amendment, because at the time it was ordained
the offences upon which the disability imposed is
based, could not have been imputed to him, for the
reason that he had by virtue of his pardon become
a 'new man' and 'as innocent as if he had never com-

Augustus Hill Garland 81
mitted the offence.' The effect of the pardon was
to close the eyes of the law to it."
It will be recalled that the above case is somewhat
similar to Mr. Garland's own position in 1867, when
he argued the famous case of Ex Parte Garland in
the Supreme Court of the United States.
Mr. Garland's opinion was asked for on the ques
tion whether an Indian, in the Territory, possessing
otherwise the requisite attainments, but a member of
one of the tribes there and not a citizen of the United
States, could lawfully be appointed and qualify as post
master of any of the several classes. He said :
"Excepting as regards the offices of President and
Vice-President and membership in Congress, the Con
stitution is silent on the subject of eligibility to office
under the general government. Disqualifications are
declared under particular circumstances, but there is
no requirement in order tO' be eligible to office, other
than an oath to support the Constitution. Hence,
whether an Indian is eligible to the said office, depends
on whether his status, civil and political, is at the time
such that he can give the required bond and take the
prescribed oath. Nothing in this oath precludes a
foreign-born resident of the United States, who has
not yet been naturalized, from taking it. Want of
citizenship is not of itself an obstacle.
"But the condition of the Indian is peculiar. He is
treated by our government as belonging to a separate,
though independent, political community, and is not
ordinarily dealt with by the general government as
an individual, but as a member of a tribe. Unless
clearly warranted by the provision of some treaty or
istatute, an act which thus interferes with the tribal
relation, must be deemed to have no sanction in our
laws. "I therefore think that an Indian, while a member

82 Augustus Hill Garland
of a tribe and subject to tribal jurisdiction, is not in
legal contemplation competent to take the oath
referred to."
The question was asked, whether the head-money
tax of fifty cents, levied by the act of August 5, 1882,
entitled "an act to regulate immigration," was demand-
able for passengers coming into our ports not as immi
grants, but transiently, or tourists.
Mr. Garland said : "The question is, did Congress
intend that the term 'passengers' should be taken in
its most extended occupation, or in the restricted sense
of immigrants coming for permanent abode?
"That Congress has power to lay an import of this
kind has been recently decided by the United States
Supreme Court in the 'Head-money Cases.' But this
case involved only the constitutionality, and not the
interpretation, of the act.
"Whenever Congress refers to persons entitled to
its benefits, whether partakers of its bounty or objects
of its protection, it invariably describes them as 'immi
grants' and not as 'passengers.' On the other hand,
when the statiite would provide a protection against
the introduction of convicts, lunatics, idiots and pau
pers, it declares that there shall be an examination into
the condition of the 'passengers' using a term intended
to include all other itinerants, as well as im,migrants.
I see nothing in the statute that leads me to believe
that the word 'passengers' was intended to be taken
in the restricted sense of immigrants, and it compre
hends all itinerant persons."
GRANT TO GARLAND COUNTY, ARK.
Mr. Garland's opinion will fully explain the nature
of the case :
"Under the circumstances existing in this case, and
for reasons stated, the institution of proceedings on

Old Law Office of Judge Hubbard (still standing), Washington, Ark.

Augustus Hill Garland 83
behalf of a certain land (part of the Hot Springs Res
ervation), granted to Garland county, Arkansas, for
the site of a public building, would not be warranted.
"It is requested that 'legal proceedings be insti
tuted, with a view to recover to the government the
title and possession of the land, should the failure of
the county authorities to carry out the purposes be
regarded as operating to nullify the grant."
"While it is clear from the language of the grant
that Congress intended to devote the land to the speci
fic purpose ; viz., ' to be used as a site for the public
building of said county'; yet, whether this annexes a
condition to the grant, or creates a mere trust, is not
so clear. If a condition, upon breach thereof the grant
would be liable to forfeiture ; if a trust, the same result
would not follow upon a breach.
"In the former case, I submit that in the absence of
any law of Congress declaring the forfeiture or direct
ing the institution of proceedings to that end, no
authority exists to bring a suit in behalf of the United
States to recover the land on the ground of failure
to perform the condition. In either case, it would
seem unnecessary to consider the subject of proceed
ings to enforce the trusts, as it appears that a suit has
recently been brought to amend the aforesaid lease
and recover control of the property, that it may be
devoted to the purpose for which it was donated. These
considerations lead me tO' think that, under the exist
ing circumstances, I would not be warranted in insti
tuting proceedings of any kind in behalf of the United
States, touching the premises."
HOT SPRINGS RESERVATION— ARKANSAS.
"The Secretary of the Interior has power under the
act of December i6, 1878, to lease sites upon the Hot
Springs Reservation for the term of five years, and to

84 Augustus Hill Garland
relet the premises for the same term, from time to time,
as the leases expire."
Upon the facts stated Mr. Garland advised : "That
the Secretary may accept the surrender of a lease of
a bath-house site heretofore made to Smithmeyer,
and cancel the same, and then enter into a new lease
of the premises to the same party for the term; of
five years.
"During the term of the lease, and while the tenant
is in possession under the same, he may remove from
the premises whatever improvements he has erected
thereon for the purposes of trade, whether machinery
or buildings ; but if h^ leases the premises -without
removing such improvements, and the government
should take possession, they would become the prop
erty of the latter."
MAIL CONTRACTS— DOUBLE PAYMENTS.
Hanger, of Little Rock, and others, were mail con
tractors for certain routes in the State of Arkansas,
service upon which was discontinued May 31, 1861, up
to which time, from January i, 1861,, they were paid by
the government in full what was due them. After
wards they collected from the State of Arkansas for
the same service (January i, to May 31, 1861), certain
amounts, which were paid out of moneys belonging
to the United States, which had been seized by the
State. Mr. Garland advised: "That the contractors are
under legal liability to make restitution to the United
States of the amounts so collected, but that their sure
ties cannot be held responsible therefore, upon the
undertaking of the United States."

Augustus Hill Garland 85
CLAIM OF A PARTICIPANT IN THE
REBELLION.
In i860, Eggleston, a naval officer, became entitled
to a share in the proceeds of a captured slaver, the
amount of which was certified to the Treasury Depart
ment by the Secretary of the Navy, but remained at
the time unpaid.
In this case Mr. Garland advised: "That by force
of the joint resolution of March 2, 1867, 'forbidding
accounting officers settling claims existing prior to
April 13, 1861, in favor of participants in the late insur
rection or rebellion- against the United States ; pay
ments of such shares cannot now be made, notwith
standing the President's proclamation of amnesty of
December 25, 1868, and to authorize its payment, an
act of Congrss, if necessary."
ATTORNEY GENERAL.
It was Mr. Garland's decision : "That the Attorney
General of the United States (himself) will not inter
pret a regulation of practice made by the Commis
sioner of Patents for his own guidance and that of his
subordinates for the conveniently intelligent and
orderly disposal of the business of his office. Such
regulations, which the heads of bureaus and depart
ments can make, modify or amend at will, or enforce
or waive, as seems expedient, may well be left for their
interpretation to the head of the department or bureau
to which they pertain."
Charles E. Holmes had entered the military service
in August, 1862, as a volunteer, to serve for three years ;
he subsequently deserted ; but he afterwards voluntar
ily returned to service under the President's proclama
tion (of pardon) of November 11, 1865, and was mus
tered out of service along with his company on July 2,
1865.

86 Augustus Hill Garland
Mr. Garland advised: "That the time which had
elapsed between his desertion and his return (with
payment therefor) should not be credited to him in
a discharge or otherwise, but he is entitled to have
his actual service credited to him in an honorable
discharge." An opinion of some importance and interest which
Mr. Garland gave, was with reference to the protec
tion of the law afforded to foreign consuls, resident in
the United States.
He advised : "That a foreign consul, a resident of
the United States, must look for protection to his per
son and property to the laws of the State in which he
resides. The laws which protect the President of the
United States in his person and property, are the same
as those which protect the humblest citizen ; and if fhe
personal or property rights of that high functionary
should ever be violated in the City of Cincinnati, he
would have to look for protection to the laws of the
State of Ohio. Certainly a foreign consul cannot
justly complain because he is not better protected than
the highest officer of the government of the United
States." On the general subject of the ownership of real
estate in the Territories by aliens, on a case which
came up, Mr. Garland gave the following opinion, ,
which will explain the case in question : —
"The provision of the act of March 3, 1887, Chap.
340, restricting the ownership of real estate in the
Territories to American citizens, etc., applies to mines,
these being real estate.
"But stock in a corporation is personalty, and con
sistently with these provisions an alien may hold
shares of stock issued by an American corporation
owning mineral lands in the Territories ; yet where the
holding by aliens exceeds twenty per cent of its stock, .

Augustus Hill Garland 87
such corporations can neither own, nor hold hereafter,
acquired real estate,' while such holding by aliens in
excess of twenty per cent continues.
"So an alien may hereafter advance money for the
purpose of developing mining property in the Terri
tories; but he cannot thereby acquire any interest in
such real estate. An alien may lawfully contract with
an American owner to work mines by a personal con
tract for hire, on a bona-fide lease, for a reasonable
time." In a case concerning the Kansas and Arkansas Val
ley Railroad Company, Mr. Garland advised : —
"That under the act of June i, 1866, Chap. 395,
authorizing said railroad company to construct a rail
road through the Indian Territory, the company has
no right to go beyond the limits of the right-of-way
therein prescribed, for the purpose of taking timber
or other material for the construction of such railroads.
"The courts named in the eighth section of that act
have jurisdiction over the controversies between said
company and the Cherokee Nation growing out of the
taxing timber or other materials by the former, beyond
said limits. But the right of the Cherokees to go into
Court does not diminish in any degree the duty of the
Executive Department of the government to use its
power for their protection by ordering the encroach
ments of the railroad company to be stopped."
Mr .Garland gave three important opinions relative
to the general subject of "Retired List of the Army."
The facts of each case are herewith given, together
with the opinions, in their order.
(I)
Isaac Lynde, a major in the Seventh Infantry, was,
by direction of the President, dropped from the rolls
of the Army November 25, i86i ; and H. W. Waller, a

88 Augustus Hill Garland
captain in the Fourth Infantry was, with the ad-vice and
consent of the Senate, appointed major in the Seventh
Infantry, in Lynde's place. Afterwards, on November
27, 1866, the President revoked the order dropping
Lynde, and directed that he be restored to his former
commission, to fill a vacancy of major in the Eigh
teenth Infantry, to date from July 28, 1866; and at the
same time, by direction of the President, Lynde was
placed on the retired list as major.
Mr. Garland advised : "That the action of the Pres
ident on November 27, 1866, was ineffectual to restore
Lynde to the Army and place him on the retired list,
and he is not entitled to be borne thereon."
(2)
Charles B. Stivers, a captain in the Seventh Infan
try, was summarily dismissed from the service by
direction of the President, July 15, 1863, and notified
thereof. Afterwards, on August 11, 1863, the order of
dismissal was revoked; whereupon Stivers, the
vacancy not having been filled in the- meantime,
returned to the position from which he had been dis
missed and continued to serve therein until December
30, 1864, when, upon the finding of a retiring board,
he was retired under the provision of the Act of Aug
ust 3, 1861.
Mr. Garland advised: "That the dismissal of July
25, 1863, created a vacancy which could not otherwise
be filled than by appointment, with the advice and con
sent of the Senate; that the subsequent revocation of
that order on August 11, 1863, was ineffectual to
restore Stivers to his former position in the Army;
that afterwards, when he was put on the retired list,
he was not a commissioned officer of the Army; and
that, accordingly, he is not entitled to be borne on such
list."

Augustus Hill Garland 89
(3)
James T. Leavy, a first lieutenant in the Seventh In
fantry, having been found by a retiring board "incapa
citated from active service on account of insanity, which
insanity is not incident to the service," was by direc
tion of the President, retired July 31, 1868, on pay
proper alone under the act of August 3, 1861. At Leavy's
request the order of retirement was by direction of the
President, on June 23, 1869, so amended as to wholly
retire him from service with one year's pay and allow
ances. On April 2, 1878, by direction of the President,
the order of June 23, 1869, was declared void, on the
ground that Lea-vy was insane when he requested it;
and he was restored to the retired lists in accordance
with the original order.
Mr. Garland advised: "That after the President
had once acted upon the finding of the retiring board,
by placing Leavy on the retired list with pay proper
alone under the act of August 3, 1861, his power over
the case was exhausted, and the subsequent order
wholly retiring Lea-vy was void for want of authority
thus to retire him, and that therefore Leavy is entitled
to be borne on the retired list conformably to the order
retiring him to pay proper alone under the Act of
August 3, 1861."
An interesting case upon which Mr. Garland
gave advice, and with which we shall conclude our
brief treatment of his opinions as Attorney General,
comes under the head of "Double Pensions." A per
son to whom pension was granted as the widow of
a soldier in the War of the Rebellion, was also
granted a pension certificate as the widow of a soldier
in the War of 1812; and drew pensions upon both
certificates from March 9, 1878 to December 3, 1883.
The Commissioner of Pensions, on discovering this,

90 Augustus Hill Garland
required her to make an election; and she, having
elected to hold the first mentioned certificate, he
ordered the amount which had been paid to her on the
other certificate to be withheld in installments of six
dollars per month from payments thereafter, and
issued an order to the Pensions Agent accordingly.
Mr. Garland advised: "That the order made in
this case, being within the general jurisdiction of the
Commissioner, is obligatory on the Pensions Agent,
and that the accounting officers of the Treasury have
no power to disallow payments made by the agent
pursuant thereto.
"It is not within the province of the accounting offi
cers of the Treasury, upon hearing of any order made
by the Commissioner of Pensions to a pension agent
for the payment of pensions, to notify such agent of
what their decision will be upon his account when
rendered. "In the case stated, the whole of the monthly pen
sion under the certificate which the pensioner elected
to hold should be withheld until the amounts so with
held shall equal the sum paid the pensioner under
the other certificate." * * * *
Mr. Garland's career as Attorney General was
slightly crippled by the vials of slander heaped upon
him by inimical newspapers, etc., because he owned
three hundred dollars of Pan-Electric telephone stock.
He had just entered his acceptation of President
Cleveland's offer to go into the Cabinet, when these
newspapers began to circulate a slander as unfounded
as untruths can ever be. He had bought a few shares
of this company's stock while a Senator, and others
who had done the same were Isham G. Harris of Ten
nessee and Joseph E. Johnston of Georgia. Now the
Bell Telephone Company was a wealthy concern, and

Augustus Hill Garland 91
with its countless thousands determined to try and
choke out the smaller Pan-Electric Company; and it
was therefore to its interest to fight all the men con
nected with it, by the false slander of good men.
Because of Mr. Garland's special prominence, most of
the accusations fell on him. But when he found that
he was the subject of all these charges, he went
frankly to President Cleveland, as only a manly man
could dO', and laid the whole matter before him, offer
ing to resign on the instant if the President should
think it best. Cleveland took it under advisement,
and then told Mr. Garland that his holding of the
stock was in no way incompatible with his holding
the office of Attorney General.
The House of Representatives took the matter
under investigation, urged on by the Bell Telephone
interests there; but it resulted in the entire vindica
tion of Mr. Garland and the others. This statement
is based on a careful study of the proceedings of the
Committee appointed by the House of Representa
tives "to investigate charges against certain public
officers relating to the Pan-Electric Telephone Com
pany and to suit by the United States to annul the
Bell Telephone patents." The committee was com
posed of Mr. Boyle, of Pennsylvania, Mr. Gates of Ala
bama, Mr. Eden, of Illinois, Mr. Hall, of Iowa, Mr.
Hale, of Missouri, Mr. Ramey, of Massachusetts, Mr.
Millard, of New York, Mr. Hornback, of Kansas, and
Mr. Moffatt, of Michigan.
Later years have only strengthened the decision of
the committee. Mr. Gariand could not have been
justiy criticised ; but slander can be circulated on the
bravest, and it sometimes takes a long statement to
clear those bravest to the public satisfaction. It gives
newspapers, if inimical, the opportunity to say some
thing to their liking. But while Mr. Gariand's repu-

93 Augustus Hill Garland
tation suffered some among strangers, and very
slightly among some former friends — the thing which
hurt him most — yet he retained the fullest confidence
of those who knew him well. Honest, fearless, reso^-
lute, he did liot shirk a duty or responsibility to
avoid criticism.
From 1889, when Mr. Garland retired from the
office of Attorney General of the United States, until
his death in 1899, he practiced law at Washingfton.
Nearly all of his practice was before the Supreme
Court. In these later years public office had no charm
for him and he preferred to settle down to the quiet
practice of the law. It is authentically stated that he
was several times, the principal one perhaps being at
the death of Justice Wood, in May, 1887, offered a
place on the Supreme Court bench, but refused on
account of his advanced age and declining health. He
was also asked to take a place on the Interstate Com
merce Commission, but again refused. His services
were much in demand at Washington by those who
sought a correct interpretation of the organic law of
the land. He was a power before the United States
Supreme Court. He was said to be one attorney who
always made clear to the Court the law in the case
he argued. In some of the cases which he presented
to that body he obtained decisions in accordance -with
his views, the result having had their effect upon all
citizens of the Republic ; and never to their detriment.
His influence at Washington was far-reaching. He
wrote a little book in 1898, one year before his death,
entitled, "Experiences in the Supreme Court," in
which he tells of the cases in which he had partici
pated before that tribunal. Probably his two most
notable achievements in the law, were the cases of
Ex Parte Garland, of which we have already given a
full account, and the case of Osborne vs. Nicholson,

Augustus Hill Garland 93
in which the validity of contracts for slaves was estab
lished. Mr. Garland was in very poor health for several
years preceeding his death, and some months before
the end had been confined in the Hospital for several
weeks. His friends noticed when he was able to be
out again that he had failed rapidly and was growing
feeble. A few weeks before he died he was taken ill
with the grip, and had suffered from its effects very
much. He doctored himself by taking popular reme
dies, and did not consider his case serious enough to
call in a physician. The day before his death, while in
the Supreme Court room, he had laid his hand on his
head and complained of being very ill.
On the morning of January 26, 1899, before going into
the Supreme Court room, he spent some time in the
Qerk's office, and remarked to one of the officials that
he was not feeling very well, and thought he would go
to Fortress Monroe on the following Monday to take
a rest. But he did not regard his condition at the time
as being at all serious.
The strange manner of Mr. Garland's death while
pleading a case before the Supreme Court of the
United States, is known to all. There is no late paral
lel to the manner in which he received the final sum
mons, except the case of Wm. H. Windom, former
Senator from Mississippi and Secretary of the Treas
ury, who succumbed to apoplexy some years before,
at the conclusion of a speech delivered at the annual
banquet of the New York Chamber of Commerce. Mr.
Garland was stricken with apoplexy while addressing
the court, at fifteen minutes past twelve in the after
noon, and died within ten minutes. The occurrence
came with startling unexpectedness, changing the
usual calm and dignity of the Court into temporary
confusion, while the dying man was carried from the

94 Augustus Hill Garland
chamber in a futile effort to alleviate his condition.
When the Court convened at noon Mr. Garland
resumed an argument in the case of Lawson vs.
Moore, which had begun the day before. There was a
full bench, with the exception of Justices Brewer and
White. Mr. Garland spoke calmly, and with no evidence
of agitation or effort. He had read from: a law volume
and had followed with the sentence. "This, your hon
ors, is our contention." As the last word was uttered
he was seen to raise his hand and then gasp. He tot
tered and fell sideways, striking against a chair and
overturnjing it as he fell heavily to the floor. His associ
ate in the case, Mr. Frank Mackey, was at once by his
side. A deadly pallor had overspread his face, giving
place to a purple which foretold the gravity of
the attack. He was carried from the chamber across
to the room of Chief Clerk McKinney, and all that was
possible was done to save his life. Within ten minutes
from the time of the stroke Mr. Garland breathed his
last. Word of the tragedy was soon noised through the
Capitol, and Senators and Representatives hurried to
the Court room. The two Senators from Arkansas, Mr.
Berry and Mr. Jones, were among the first to view
the body, and following them was a long line of per
sons high in legislative and legal circles, who had been
associated with Mr. Garland at various times in his
, long and notable career of public services.
Thus did "that mysterious monarch, that with the
self-same tread knocks at the doors of King's palaces
and poor men's huts," invade the sanctuary of justice
for Augustus H. Garland. No spot in all our land is
so replete with solemn memories as that on which he
fell. Here were solved by the calm light of reason and
unbiased equipoise of the law, many of the most
momentous questions that have ever been submitted

Augustus Hill Garland 95
to mortal tribunal. This was for a long time the
senate Chamber of tiie United States, and here were
delivered the great speeches of Clay, Webster and Cal
houn. This was undoubtedly the fittest place for the
ending of so great a life.
Mr. Garland closed his earthly career in the presence
of what he had often called the highest and purest
tribunal upon earth. The late Ex-Senator James K.
Jones said of the manner of his death : "I am sure
that if Mr. Garland had been consulted, the manner
of his death was exactly what he would have pre
ferred." Just after Mr. Gariand's death, former Judge
¦Henry W. Scott of New York recalled a conversation
held with him in Washington some two months
before. "You have expounded many great constitu
tional questions in this tribunal," remarked Judge
Scott, "You may yet die in the harness." In reply
Mr. Gariand said, "It has been over forty years since
I argued my first case. Nothing would please me bet
ter, when my time comes to die, than to be stricken
right here in this court room in the midst of an argu
ment. That would be a fitting climax to my career."
It was almost on the same spot where this conversation
occurred, that M.r.^ Gariand fell dead while arguing his
case. The Arkansas jurist died a husbandman, fall
ing between the handles of his plow, a pilot dropping
lifeless at his wheel, a philosopher breathing his last
among his books. He died at his work, in the highest
forum of the American lawyer's fame.
Mr. Garland's body was embalmed the evening of
January 26, remaining at the undertaker's that night.
The next morning it was removed tO' the Colonial
Hotel and rested until Saturday morning, when the
funeral train started for Little Rock, which place it
reached on Monday following. The body was interred
at Mount Holly Cemetery, where his wife, who died in

96 Augustus Hill Garland
1877, and his daughter. Miss Daisy, who dfied at
Washington, D. C, were buried.
In former years Mr. Garland had mixed freely with
the people, and everybody knew and loved him. All
of his early associations were with Arkansans ; and
though he was occupied at the nation's capitol almost
constantly since his entrance to the Senate in 1877, yet
he still retained up to the end his citizenship in his
State, and loved to return and be welcomed by his peo
ple at home. During his. long service in public life,
he had a hold on the affections of his people which
could not be shaken. At the time of his death no
citizen of Arkansas was held in higher esteem than
he. Loved and respected by the people of the State,
and honored by the nation, in every position he occu
pied he acquitted himself of his duties like a patriot.
It was therefore no wonder that his memory received
such homage when his people were given a last oppor
tunity to demonstrate their respect for the great states
man by performing in appropriate manner the offices
due the dead. Mr. Garland was popular with all classes.
The humblest citizen was his friend and admirer, and
none exhibited grief more sincere at his bier than the
artisan and the wage-earner. Among the visitors at his
funeral were prominent men from all parts of the
State, who had journeyed there on the special mission
of paying tribute to the distinguished dead. The
dreary weather in no wise held back the people. The
large attendance was emblematic of the high esteem
in which all Arkansas held Mr. Garland, and of the
popular appreciation of his eminent services to the
State. Many colored people called to take a last look
at the face. Not a few of them were typical old South
ern negroes, who gratefully remembered occasions
when Mr. Garland had spoken kindly to them'.

Augustus Hill Garland 97
The above attempt at faithful account of the public
record of Mr. Garland has been made with the con
sciousness that it would be superfluous to try to com
press into a brief compass anything but the princi
ple event of the life that forms a part of the history
of the State of Arkansas, and the country at large —
a life comprising a remarkable series of triumphs over
difficulties and obstacles that often seemed insup
erable. Mr. Garland lived very much in the public
eye. A considerable part of his life was spent in a
very strong period of our history, during which time
he was constantly taking a prominent part in State
and national affairs. In his position he was neces
sarily exposed to criticism on the part of political ene
mies and inimical newspapers ; but under the most try
ing conditions the fairness and uprightness of his
intentions shielded him from reproach. He could never
be accused of having any personal aim in view, but
was always devoted to the duties of the hour, with the
confiding belief that deeds well done will generally
bear their own good fruits. He performed the various
tasks confronting him with entire singleness of pur
pose. He was always jealous of the honor of his
State; and, in 1880, he spoke in nearly every county,
opposing with all his might the Fishback Amendment,
which repudiated the "Holford Bonds," which were for
years a source of trouble to the State. He believed
that it was neither honest nor honorable for the State
to refuse to pay these bonds. (See Shinn's History.)
We have reserved for this place to say something
of Mr. Garland's personal appearance and character
istics. In person, he was well-built and tall. His
head was large and his face round and smooth-shaved,
and animated with black and most expressive eyes.
His smooth and excellent features indicated an amia
ble disposition. Strength and dignity were portrayed

98 Augustus Hill Garland
in his very countenance. Like most great men, his
tastes were simple and his manners plain. He was al
home anywhere, whether in the dignified precincts of
the Federal Supreme Court, in the Senate, in the pres
ence of the autocratic President of the United States,
or in the modest unpretentious surroundings of "Hom
iny Hill," his twelve thousand-acre plantation home,
situated twelve miles from. Little Rock. In his per
sonal traits, Mr. Garland was one of the most amia
ble Democratic men that ever entered public life.
While serving as Attorney General, he lived in an old
frame house with large grounds, on Rhode Island Ave
nue, near Fourteenth Street. Visitors to his residence
on summer evenings would find him usually with his
coat off, enjoying relaxation, walking about his lawn
or sitting ' in the shade, looking like a prosperous
farmer after a hard day's work. He often told his
friends that "Hominy Hill" in Arkansas was a more
delightful place than the most elegant house at the
national capital. Mr. Garland's gaunt figure, strong
face, old-fashioned rolling collar, long broad-cloth coat
and wide sombrero, made him a conspicuous figure at
Washington. He was a familiar personage at the cap
ital for more than twenty years. Mr. Garland was a
charming character, and his many friends were
devoted to him not because he was a great man, but
because he was true and possessed those traits of char
acter indispensable to noble manhood. His wife had
died in 1877, but his mother lived with him at Wash
ington. She is said never to have seemed fatigued
in the entertainments of her son's visitors and friends.
She always received them with the same cordiahty as
though they were calling on them in their simple
home in Arkansas. They constituted a most open-
hearted and affectionate family. Warm and earnest in
their friendship, genial in companionship, no one ever

Augustus Hill Garland 99i
visited them who failed to take away and carry always
kind remembrances of them. Mr. Garland's tastes
were simple and inexpensive, and he cared nothing
for wealth. His principal care was to keep always and
scrupulously out of debt.
Mr. Garland was a man of many eccentricities. In
a way he was as eccentric as Samuel Houston or
Andrew Jackson. He habitually refused to wear a
dtess coat, and more especially so after the death of
his wife. When he accepted President Cleveland's
offer to go into the Cabinet, he made it a condition
that he should not be required to participate in any
of the social functions. And this pledge was kept,
for during the four years in which he was Attorney
General, he never appeared at any of the official enter
tainments. During his entire life at Washington, he
never accepted nor offered formal hospitality. But he
often dropped in to dinner with a neighbor, or asked
a friend to go home and take "pot luck" with him. A
written invitation was always declined, no matter what
it was nor from whom it came. He abhorred conven
tionalities ; but this did not prevent him from^ being
acknowledged by his peers in the legal profession as
being one of the most capable men who ever filled the
place of Attorney General. He used to say that his
idea of hospitality was a cob pipe and a jug of whis
key. He took the ground that no true Democrat ever
took liquor out of a bowl or glass. But curiously
enough, he was a total abstainer from all spirit and
malt liquor. When someone asked him how he could
cultivate a habit so much at variance with his princi
ples, he said: "I used to drink as regularly and fre
quently as any one. But one day while walking
through the cemetery at Little Rock, I saw the new-
made grave of a bright man, who had been a friend
from boyhood. I suddenly realized what brought him

100 Augustus Hill Garland
there, and I remembered that several others of our
age had gone before, from the same cause. It occurred
to me that I had drunk quite as much liquor as they,
and that I had had my share."
Another of his peculiarities was his intense hatred
of doctors. He used to say that until he broke his leg
(about a year before he died) he had never paid a doc
tor's bill nor paid a cent for medicine. He believed
that the medical profession was a sort of humbug;
that no man was ill unless he abused himself ; and that
he could be cured by correcting that abuse. While
he was Attorney General he was inflicted by a swelling
of the jaws. He got a notion that he had been poi
soned in some way, and his associates persuaded him
to go to a doctor. The physician looked him over and
remarked: "There is nothing serious the matter with
you. You have only a mild case of mumps." "Hell,
mumps !" exclaimed Mr. Garland in a rage. He
stamped out of the office in high indignation, but by
the advice of friends remained in the house two or
three days, to avoid catching cold until the swelling
had gone down.
Mr. Garland was a practical joker, a thorough judge
of human nature, and a very keen observer of the ridic
ulous and artificial in men. Association with him was
a constant round of pleasant and instructive past-time.
To great qualities of mind he added an unstudied dig
nity, the gentleness of a woman, and the charm of
spontaneous humor. He was playful as a boy, and
fond of candy as a school-girl. He was very hard to
practice a joke upon. Oh one ocasion some of his
friends in the Senate, knowing Mr. Garland's love of
chocolate candy, a sack of which he nearly always
had upon his desk, procured some blocks of soap
resembling candy, and placing them upon his desk,
waited until he should come in and eat them. Mr.

Augustus Hill Garland 101
Garland saw the luscious blocks laying before him
when he entered the chamber, and immediately began
eating one. But Senators who were waiting for him
to go to the door to cast out the offending "chocolate,"
were disappointed. Mr. Garland, noticing the joke,
quietly sat in his place, chewed it, and as quietly
swallowed, just as though nothing out of the ordinary
had happened; thus turning the joke on his friends.
Mr. Garland was very fond of the quiet sport of
angling. He also loved to hunt with his friends. Law
yers used to travel by the military road from Little
Rock to Arkadelphia, and Mr. Garland with his friends
would stop -at the old "Brick House" on the Caddo
river near Arkadelphia and pitch camp there ; though
generally he himself would come on to Arkadelphia,
and stay with his relatives. He often came down from
Little Rock to go hunting and fishing with some of
his friends.
Mr. Garland was a man of very strong family rela
tions, and the center of all his thoughts was the
domestic hearthstone. His later years were much sad
dened by the suicide of his daughter, which has never
been fully explained. The sorrow over the loss of his
wife, who passed away at Christmas time in 1877, he
carried with him through the rest of his life. Many
sorrows and bereavements fell to his lot during the
years just preceeding his death. He was just recover
ing from a painful accident caused from falling on the
ice. For months he lay upon his back and "reckoned
he never was going to, get well." In his last years he
paid many sad tributes to humanity, full of depth of
thought, and a pathos that was profound. His clos
ing of life was marked with domestic afflictions which
his affectionate nature would not permit him to forget,
and whose bitterness time could not alleviate. We
recall from the Congressional Record several instances

102 Augustus Hill Garland
when, in the Senate, he referred to his family joys and
sorrows, in a passing way. And yet he looked up
through sorrow to joy, and would not permit hintself
to be overwhelmed by any disaster. On one occasion
he said in the Senate, "It will not do, in the hurried
march of events of human life, to linger too long at
the graves of departed friends. Probably we all do
too much of that." His was a faith that necessitated
a hereafter in which all the disappointments of this
world are healed, and all its sorrows palliated.
Augustus H. Garland was in many respects the
greatest man that Arkansas ever produced. In some
ways his life is a parallel to that of Washington.
Born in 1832, just one hundred years after the birth
of the "father of his country," he likewise died in 1899,
a century after the great Virginian's passing. Gar
land was to Arkansas something of what Washington
was to the nation. His aid in making real the recu
peration of the State under his administration as the
first governor under the new constitution, and caus
ing it to be finally and fairly started upon its upward
course of prosperity and peace, bears an unusual anal
ogy to the great mission of Washington to the infant
Republic. Like Washington, in a lesser degree to be
sure, he represented both his State and Nation, and
in no position given him was he ever found wanting.
Knowing no creed, he yet loved his fellow man, and
demonstrated it at the very time when it tried mens'
souls to do so. Like Washington, he took all his pub
lic offices practically without opposition, and as respon
sible gifts. Whenever he manifeted a willingness to
serve, his nomination followed, almost by acclamation.
The great estimate of his abilities and personal merit
is sufficiently attested by the fact that he never at any
time encountered any serious opposition. Few men in
public life have been more highly honored, and few, if

Augustus Hill Garland 103
any, maintained so strong a hold on a constituency.
Occupying many and exalted positions in public life,
and filling them all to the satisfaction of the public,
he was modest and unassuming at all times, and under
all circumstances a plain, matter-of-fact, practical man,
and not the least puffed-up by the honors which had
been showered upOn him. The high places to which
he was often called by the voice of his fellow-citizens
furnishes good evidence that he secured and main
tained through life that cordial appreciation aroused
and sustained by the union of mental vigor and per
sonal worth. And he performed the various tasks
with unswerving singleness of purpose and conspicu
ous talents. Arkansas loved him, because he was one
of the truest friends the com'monwealth ever had. The
quarter of a century in which he served his country as
a statesman was a period in our country's history
which is rich and important in great events ; a period
which in industrial development, in expanding com
merce, in the advancement of education, in the better
ment of civilization, was more eventful than any like
period in our national history. As Governor, in the
Senatorial halls, in the President's Cabinet, before the
Supreme Court, everywhere he stood as the embodi
ment of
"That providence which in a watchful State,
KInows almost every grain of garnered gold ;
Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deep.
Keeps pace with thought, and almost like the gods
Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.
There is a mystery in the soul of State,
Which hath an operation more divine
Than breath or pen can give expression to."

104 Augustus Hill Garland
There was but little in Mr. Garland's nature that
was dogmatic. Though he held consistently to opin
ions which he had from mature deliberation, yet he
was so tolerant of others' views that he was excep
tionally free from that extreme partisan spirit which
is often considered necessary for those who desire
political success. He always enjoyed the support of
his o-wn party, and often got that of his adversaries.
From first to last he was more of a la-wyer than poli
tician, using the word in its popular sense. He believed
in the principles of his party, yet he was never a parti
san in the sense that he was not in touch with the
people's welfare, irrespective of party prejudice. He
never wavered in his allegiance to his profession.
Unlike most lawyers who turn from the forum of the
court roomi to engage in political battles, he always
maintained an unbroken intercourse with the courts at
bar, and still found an unabated pleasure in the writ
ings of a long line of illustrious jurists. These were
the companions of his solitude. After the great
authors of jurisprudence, he loved to read the fathers
of the Constitution. That instrument was always
the rock upon which his feet rested. Mr. Garland -was
not at any time a great general or miscellaneous
reader of literary work, but he had a few: favorite
authors whom he would read and reread with ever-in
creasing admiration and affection. Nevertheless he
gathered during his life-time a library of some three
thousand well-chosen volumes, exclusive of his law
library. In this he took great pride. After his death
this library was put on the market and the books were
widely scattered, some going to the libraries of Hen-
drix and Ouachita Colleges., but the larger part, and
especially his rare books and those containing autoi-
: graphs of celebrities, went to New York.

Augustus Hill Garland 105
Mr. Garland never was a conspirator; nor did
he ever entertain a thought in public life that was not
for the good of Arkansas. He never shirked a respon
sibility when the honor of his State was at stake. Sen^
ator Hoar, with whom he had engaged in many a
debate over matters in the Senate of the United States,
said upon motion of Senator Jones that that body take
a recess in order that Senators might attend Mr. Gar
land's funeral: "Mr. President, it will perhaps not
be inappropriate for some gentleman on this side of
the chamber to express the great affections which his
old associates here felt for this eminent gentleman
who died so suddenly in the heigth of his intellectual
vigor, in the capitol itself. He was a model of the
Senatorial character; an admirable la.wyer; a states
man whose vision and interest comprehend the
whole country, without distinction of section or party ;
a man full of patriotism and unimpeachable personal
integrity; a model not only of the character of the
Senator, but of the character of the gentleman." The
above is an admirable summary of what might be
termed a practical view of Mr. ¦ Garland's life and
character. That he had faults and made mistakes is
simply to say that he shared in the common infirmi
ties of humanity; but they were far outweighed by
clear judgment, a mind of unusual strength, and many
shining virtues which greatly endeared him to those
he represented. He was a manly man, ever-approach
able, though possessing great courage in his con-vic-
tions ; and while urging them with a zeal born of hon
est belief, he had the inestimable faculty of winning
adherents by strength of presentation, blended with
suavity of manner. He -was conspicuous in the fact
that his broad soul expanded with tender and affec
tionate regard for the poor and humble.

106 Augustus Hill Garland
The world would be poor indeed without the memo
ries of its mighty men. In honoring great men, a
nation or state but honors itself ; for great men are the
index-fingers of the country's greatness. They form
the channels through which we pass ; they shape our
destiny. Above, all citizens of a country like ours, or
any country for that matter, should honor the brave
and independent spirit, and the man of great integri
ty. The very character of a civilization comes to
flower and fruit in the wealth in its literature of trib
utes to its mighty dead. Mr. Garland stood at the
very summit of his power when stricken down — the
peer of the greatest. An orator always logical and
intense, sometimes even picturesque, he, had always
the "indefinable something" men call presence. He was
an absolutely honest man, and one whose principles
could not in any way be bought. He believed that
betrayal of trust is the death of the nation. In Con
gress at a time most trying in our history, when men
in high places were being contaminated, he went in
and came out without charge or suspicion on his char
acter. Above all, he kept ever and always the company
of his self-respect. Faithful and incorruptible, he was
an ideal statesman, and representative. He was proud
of his State, and his State is justly proud
of him. He gave to his country his highest service,
his deepest thought. Let the country therefore honor
him with monumental shafts — fit emblems of struc
tures already built in human estimation by the inten
sity of conviction and unswerving courage of the man.
The public career of Augustus H. Garland: is a rich
volume of true greatness. His record is a part of the
history of his country. We trust it will ever be an
inspiration to youth and admiration to age. His career
is closed. His passing repeats "the old story that is

Augustus Hill Garland

107

retold in every flower that blooms and every leaf that
falls — that all our strivings, ambitions, contentions,
victories, have for their exhibition only a narrow and
temporary stage ; and the actors themselves, and the
objects for which they contend, are alike but for a
day."

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