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.”