in the crowded activities of garfield's life, my readers may possibly have forgotten that he was a lawyer, having, after a course of private study during his presidency of hiram college, been admitted to the bar, in 1861, by the supreme court of ohio. when the war broke out he was about to withdraw from his position as teacher, and go into practice in cleveland; but, as a roman writer has expressed it, "inter arma silent leges." so law gave way to arms, and the incipient lawyer became a general.
when the soldier put off his armor it was to enter congress, and instead of practicing law, garfield helped to frame laws.
but in 1865 there came an extraordinary occasion, which led to the ohio congressman entering upon his long delayed profession. and here i quote from the work of major bundy, already referred to: "about that time that great lawyer, judge jeremiah s. black, as the attorney of the ohio democrats who had been opposing the war, came to his friend garfield, and said that there were some men imprisoned in indiana for conspiracy against the government in trying to prevent enlistments and to encourage desertion. they had been tried in 1864, while the war was going on, and by a military commission sitting in indiana, where there was no war, they had been sentenced to death. mr. lincoln commuted the sentence to imprisonment for life, and they were put into state's prison in accordance with the commutation. they then took out a writ of habeas corpus, to test the constitutionality and legality of their trial, and the judges in the circuit court had disagreed, there being two of them, and had certified their disagreement to the supreme court of the united states. judge black said to garfield that he had seen what garfield had said in congress, and asked him if he was willing to say in an argument in the supreme court what he had advocated in congress.
"to which garfield replied: 'it depends on your case altogether.'
"judge black sent him the facts in the case—the record.
"garfield read it over, and said: 'i believe in that doctrine.'
"to which judge black replied: 'young man, you know it is a perilous thing for a young republican in congress to say that, and i don't want you to injure yourself.'
"said garfield: 'it does not make any difference. i believe in english liberty, and english law. but, judge black, i am not a practitioner in the supreme court, and i never tried a case in my life anywhere.'
"'how long ago were you admitted to the bar?' asked judge black.
"'just about six years age.'
"'that will do,' black replied, and he took garfield thereupon over to the supreme court and moved his admission.
"he immediately entered upon the consideration of this important case. on the side of the government was arrayed a formidable amount of legal talent. the attorney-general was aided by gen. butler, who was called in on account of his military knowledge, and by henry stanbury. associated with gen. garfield as counsel for the petitioners were two of the greatest lawyers in the country—judge black and hon. david dudley field, and the hon. john e. mcdonald, now senator from indiana. the argument submitted by gen. garfield was one of the most remarkable ever made before the supreme court of the united states, and was made under circumstances peculiarly creditable to garfield's courage, independence, and resolute devotion to the cause of constitutional liberty—a devotion not inspired by wild dreams of political promotion, for at that time it was dangerous for any young republican congressman to defend the constitutional rights of men known to be disloyal, and rightly despised and hated for their disloyal practices."
i refer any of my maturer readers who may desire an abstract of the young lawyer's masterly and convincing argument, to major bundy's valuable work, which necessarily goes more deeply into such matters than the scope of my slighter work will admit. his argument was listened to with high approval by his distinguished associate counsel, and the decision of the supreme court was given unanimously in favor of his clients.
surely this was a most valuable début, and garfield is probably the first lawyer that ever tried his first case before that august tribunal. it was a triumph, and gave him an immediate reputation and insured him a series of important cases before the same court. i have seen it stated that he was employed in seventeen cases before the supreme court, some of large importance, and bringing him in large fees. but for his first case he never received a cent. his clients were poor and in prison, and he was even obliged to pay for printing his own brief. his future earnings from this source, however, added materially to his income, and enabled him to install his family in that cherished home at mentor, which has become, so familiar by name to the american people.
i can not dwell upon garfield's experience as a lawyer. i content myself with quoting, from a letter addressed by garfield to his close friend, president hinsdale, of hiram college, the account of a case tried in mobile, which illustrates his wonderful industry and remarkable resources.
under date of june 18, 1877, garfield writes
"you know that my life has abounded in crises and difficult situations. this trip has been, perhaps, not a crisis, but certainly has placed me in a position of extreme difficulty. two or three months ago, w.b. duncan, a prominent business man in new york, retained me as his lawyer in a suit to be heard in the united states court in mobile, and sent me the papers in the case. i studied them, and found that they involved an important and somewhat difficult question of law, and i made myself sufficiently familiar with it, so that when duncan telegraphed me to be in mobile on the first monday in june, i went with a pretty comfortable sense of my readiness to meet anybody who should be employed on the other side. but when i reached mobile, i found there were two other suits connected, with this, and involving the ownership, sale, and complicated rights of several parties to the mobile and ohio railroad.
"after two days' skirmishing, the court ordered the three suits to be consolidated. the question i had prepared myself on passed wholly out of sight, and the whole entanglement of an insolvent railroad, twenty-five years old, and lying across four states, and costing $20,000,000, came upon us at once. there were seven lawyers in the case besides me. on one side were john a. campbell, of new orleans, late member of the supreme bench of the united states; a leading new york and a mobile lawyer. against us were judge hoadley, of cincinnati, and several southern men. i was assigned the duty of summing up the case for our side, and answering the final argument of the opposition. i have never felt myself in such danger of failure before, all had so much better knowledge of the facts than i, and all had more experience with that class of litigation? but i am very sure no one of them did so much hard work, in the five nights and six days of the trial, as i did. i am glad to tell you that i have received a dispatch from mobile, that the court adopted my view of the case, and gave us a verdict on all points."
who can doubt, after reading of these two cases, that had garfield devoted himself to the practice of the law exclusively, he would have made one of the most successful members of the profession in the country, perhaps risen to the highest rank? as it was, he was only able to devote the time he could spare from his legislative labors.
these increased as years sped. on the retirement of james g. blaine from the lower house of congress, the leadership of his party devolved upon garfield. it was a post of honor, but it imposed upon him a vast amount of labor. he must qualify himself to speak, not superficially, but from adequate knowledge upon all points of legislation, and to defend the party with which he was allied from all attacks of political opponents.
on this subject he writes, april 21, 1880: "the position i hold in the house requires an enormous amount of surplus work. i am compelled to look ahead at questions likely to be sprung upon us for action, and the fact is, i prepare for debate on ten subjects where i actually take part in but one. for example, it seemed certain that the fitz john porter case would be discussed in the house, and i devoted the best of two weeks to a careful 're-examination' of the old material, and a study of the new.
"there is now lying on top of my book-case a pile of books, revisions, and manuscripts, three feet long by a foot and a half high, which i accumulated and examined for debate, which certainly will not come off this session, perhaps not at all. i must stand in the breach to meet whatever comes.
"i look forward to the senate as at least a temporary relief from this heavy work. i am just now in antagonism with my own party on legislation in reference to the election law, and here also i have prepared for two discussions, and as yet have not spoken on either."
my young readers will see that garfield thoroughly believed in hard work, and appreciated its necessity. it was the only way in which he could hold his commanding position. if he attained large success, and reached the highest dignity in the power of his countrymen to bestow, it is clear that he earned it richly. upon some, accident bestows rank; but not so with him. from his earliest years he was growing, rounding out, and developing, till he became the man he was. and had his life been spared to the usual span, it is not likely that he would have desisted, but ripened with years into perhaps the most profound and scholarly statesman the world has seen.
