The time came, and he was elected to the United States Senate in place of Judge Thurman, who had ably represented the State in the same body, and had been long regarded as one of the foremost leaders of the Democratic party.  But his mantle fell upon no unworthy successor.  Ohio was fortunate in possessing two such men to represent her in the highest legislative body of the nation.

Doubtless this honor would have come sooner to Garfield, for in 1877 he was the candidate to whom all eyes were directed, but he could not be spared from the lower House, there being no one to take his place as leader.  He yielded to the expressed wishes of President Hayes, who, in the exceptional position in which he found himself, felt the need of a strong and able man in the House, to sustain his administration and help carry out the policy of the Government.  Accustomed to yield his own interest to what he regarded as the needs of his country, Garfield quietly acquiesced in what to most men would have been a severe disappointment.

But when, after the delay of four years, he was elected to the Senate, he accepted with a feeling of satisfaction—­not so much because he was promoted as because, in his new sphere of usefulness, he would have more time for the gratification of his literary tastes.

In a speech thanking the members of the General Assembly for their support, he said: 

“And now, gentlemen of the General Assembly, without distinction of party, I recognize this tribute and compliment paid to me to-night.  Whatever my own course may be in the future, a large share of the inspiration of my future public life will be drawn from this occasion and from these surroundings, and I shall feel anew the sense of obligation that I feel to the State of Ohio.  Let me venture to point a single sentence in regard to that work.  During the twenty years that I have been in public life, almost eighteen of it in the Congress of the United States, I have tried to do one thing.  Whether I was mistaken or otherwise, it has been the plan of my life to follow my conviction at whatever cost to myself.

“I have represented for many years a district in Congress whose approbation I greatly desired; but, though it may seem, perhaps, a little egotistical to say it, I yet desired still more the approbation of one person, and his name was Garfield. [Laughter and applause].  He is the only man that I am compelled to sleep with, and eat with, and live with, and die with; and, if I could not have his approbation, I should have had companionship. [Renewed laughter and applause].  And in this larger constituency which has called me to represent them now, I can only do what is true to my best self, following the same rule.  And if I should be so unfortunate as to lose the confidence of this larger constituency, I must do what every other fair-minded man has to do—­carry his political life in his hand and take the consequences.  But I must follow what seems to me to be the only safe rule of my life; and with that view of the case, and with that much personal reference, I leave that subject.”