1863, immediately after the battle of Chickamauga, he went with
despatches to Washington, President Lincoln expressed a strong desire
that he should remain, and help to guide the affairs of the war in the
national Parliament. Such help as his was needed. Lincoln was beset by
timid and divided, and in some cases interested, advisers, and the
presence of a strong, fearless counsellor, as wise and experienced as
Garfield, was a great accession of strength.

Here his moral courage was soon put to the test. More soldiers were
urgently required, and two plans were laid before the country. One was
to offer a bounty to volunteers; the other plan was to pass a law
requiring every able-bodied man between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five to be enrolled.

Garfield's party favoured the former plan. Garfield himself approved the
latter. He said that, in such times as these, only the most worthless
men would want to be bought, the best would feel it a duty to serve their
country, and his vote was given in favour of compulsory enlistment. It
was a step that required courage, for it placed him in opposition to the
whole of his friends and supporters. But he said, "I must vote according
to conscience. My constituents may refuse to elect me again, but for
fear of that, I cannot trample on my convictions." By his eloquence he
was able to carry the law calling out half a million of men, and it was
not long before he convinced the whole country, as he had convinced
Congress, of the wisdom of his advice.

Garfield had long ago discovered that it was almost as dangerous to
refuse his friends as to oppose his foes. But the straight and simple
line he had marked out for himself was his sufficient guide. There was
one man, he used to say, from whose company he could never escape. He
must eat, walk, work, and sleep with him; and no matter whom he
disappointed besides, he was bound to gain and keep the respect of that
one individual, who was himself. It was a wholesome saying, and it
expressed the principles which guided all his public life.

While the war lasted, no man more resolutely opposed any kind of
concession to the rebels; but when it was ended, he was foremost in his
attempts to soothe the passions which the war had enkindled.

From one point, however, he never flinched; that was in the treatment of
the negroes. He had begun his career as their advocate, he continued it
as their protector and friend. When an officer