the entire period in the respect of his
associates and in the confidence of the constituency that has so
frequently honored him. In the Senate the ratio of change, owing to
the longer term of office, has been less; but, even in that more
conservative body, rotation in membership has been rapid. In the
twenty years nearly two hundred and fifty senators occupied seats in
the chamber. Of the whole number, Henry B. Anthony of Rhode Island,
warmly remembered by both political parties, was the only senator whose
service was unbroken from the opening to the close of the period. Two
others were in Congress for the whole time, but not continuously in
either House. Justin S. Morrill served six years in the House and
fourteen in the Senate; Henry L. Dawes served fourteen years in the
House and six in the Senate. For the entire period both were
consistent upholders of Republican ideas and Republican politics.--James
A. Garfield who was a member of the House for eighteen of the twenty
years was, in November, 1880, by a singular concurrence of circumstances
placed in an official position altogether without precedent. He was at
the same time Representative in Congress, Senator-elect from the State
of Ohio, President-elect of the United States.

The National Government has in these twenty years proved its
strength in war, its conservatism in peace. The self-restraint which
the citizens of the Republic exhibited in the hour of need, the great
burdens which they bore under the inspiration of patriotic duty, the
public order which they maintained by their instinctive obedience to
the command of law, all attest the good government of a self-governing
people. Full liberty to criticise the acts of persons in official
station, free agitation of all political questions, frequent elections
that give opportunity for prompt settlement of all issues, tend to
insure popular content and public safety. No Government of modern
times has encountered the dangers that beset the United States, or
achieved the triumphs wherewith the Nation is crowned.

The assassination of two Presidents, one inaugurated at the beginning,
the other at the close of this period, while a cause of profound
National grief, reflects no dishonor upon popular government. The
murder of Lincoln was the maddened and aimless blow of an expiring
rebellion. The murder of Garfield was the fatuous impulse of a
debauched conscience if not a disordered brain. Neither crime ha