Show i iDoM RECOLLECTIONS I OF ALF A CENTURY Memories f PtesidehtArthur s Battles and Administration I r Dismissed From the New York Collecforship by His Party Power toI Become President Two Years T Later First Distrusted Later Honored as President J I j < < r > I I No man ever entered thc Presidency fjo profoundly amMvItTely distrusted an Chester Alan ArjhurJ and no one over rotlrctl from that highest civil < trust of the world moro soncitillj repotted alike by political fvlcdd and fde When the death of Garlleld called him to the succession by the mandate of the Constitution Con-stitution he was known outqldc of his immediate circle of personal friends asa as-a mere politician and not of the most creditable school His active participation participa-tion in politics In New York his factional fac-tional struggles which attracted the attention at-tention of the Nation his conlllct with President Hayes and Secretary Sherman Sher-man which resulted In hin removal from the Collectorshlp of New York charged with the abuse of his ofllclal l nbwer to serve political ends and hIs def nt In this fight with his own party Admlnlstratlon made It only natural that he should bo generally accepted As a politician who could not rise to the dignity of statesmanship and whol If charged with high political authority would pervert It to serve pcrsonal or partisan ends Those who knew i Arthur In his everyday every-day life and were attracted to him by his manly personal attributes fully appreciated ap-preciated the wrong that was done to him The whole record of his life shows that he was a man of positive conviction convic-tion of unswerving Integrity and was ever ready to sacrifice himself In demanding de-manding the maintenance of his faith Ha was born in the chilly mountains vVermont and like Garfield resolute reso-lute worked his way to the attainment attain-ment of a collegiate education In which ha < graduated with exceptional honors While devoting all his spare hours to teaching he was enabled his own efforts ef-forts to gratify his ambition for accomplished accom-plished scholarship and when quite a young man he engaged In the practice of iMVln New York city His first Important Im-portant case was one that an ambitious young lawyer Uooklng l to his own advancement ad-vancement would never have undertaken under-taken It was the memorable Lemmon slave case Thefeellng against the abolition abo-lition sentiment of that day was so violent I that Gerrltt Smith had been mobbed at Utica In attempting to forman form-an antislavery society and William Lloyd Garrison had been dragged through the streets Boston by a mob and found protection by lodgment In prison I V I > The Lommon slave CSO was thc first test made by Southern slave owners to force the recognition of the rlght to hold slaves in tran ltu in free States The compromise measures of 1850 tended to the establlshement of this theory and the Dred Scott decision which followed Ina few years was regarded re-garded by the Democratic leaders ass as-s llng the slavery Issue The Dred ScotL decision was foreshadowed In Bu chanans Inaugural address and the advocates ad-vocates of slavery extension believed I that they had then attained pot only the right to carry sljlveg Into the Territories Terri-tories but also to lake slaves in transit Into and through free States Jonathan Lemmon a wealthy planter of t Virginia brought several of his slaves Into New Yprk on their way to Texas and a writ of habeas corpus was issued by Judge Paine of the Superior court on the petition 9f a free colored citizen of the State alleging that the I i slaves were made free by being brought by their masters Into a State where slavery was unlawful The court decided that the slaves were free and the Lemmon slave case suddenly became came an Important political factor The Legislature of Virginia instructed Its District Attorney to carry the Issue to the highest court of New York where the freedom of the slaves was affirmed and Arthur then I the Junior counsel for the slaves personally appeared ap-peared before the Legislature and the Governor of New York and secured the intervention of the State to defend their freedom Arthur did not argue the case hut such men ns AttorneyGeneral Hoffman Culver Blunt and Evarts were engaged on the same side and Charles OConor Joined the AttorneyGeneral of Virginia Vir-ginia In support of the cause of the master He also brought the first nc lion against the street car lines of New YOrk for ejecting colored persons He rose rapidly at the bar and took a very active part In politics He served on trfe staffof Goy Morgan during the Civil war and deV ted himself assiduously assidu-ously to a very Important but generally unrecognized service that Is necessary 1m the achievements of our arm life was secretary nt the confidential New York meeting of a number of the Gay ornors of the loyal States In June 1S6 which resulted In the celebrated 1 toona conference that called upon the President to summon 300000 additional coldlers to the field His arduous duties In organizing and equipping the New Yprk soldiers were so faithfully per formed that hl thathisDemocratic successor paid tup highest tribute to his abllltv fA In eErIf He continued prominent in the practice law and In all politi cal movement until 1S71 when he was appointed Collector of the Port of New iprk by President Grant and con firmed by the Senate without objection F9ul years later In J875 he was Ieap nqlnted > T and confirmed at once without referring the nomination to a committee a courtesy that Is very rarely ex tonded to any excepting those who have been members of the Senate w Arthur was a devoted friend of Conk ling as was also Alonsso 13 Cornell then naval oOlce of New York 1lI1d In 816 this Conkling made his great battle for t t PrcsldenlhilJ1etmlnatlon Conldlng was one oC the Greatest Republican leaders and no man ever had more do voted followers Veis among them wore Arthur > and Cornell andater after the 1erce battle betwecn Blaine BrlsloW and tho Administration forces Conk llnga supporters wont to Hayes and Grave him the nomination Cornell was prominent for candidate Governor the same year wlth jE vartg and Morgan ns competitors Evarls rcprcBentlnV the reform RemuhlIcnns l under the leader ship ° f Curtis Cojncir withdrew and Kayo Morgan the nomination and Hries called Evarls to the head or his Cabinet Evarl Presented the Re P blIcansentlmcnt sentlmqnt that was at varl nnce with the alms and purposes ot Co31Lng arid aslIaycH favOred ex remc chU service reform Collector Arthur and Naval Ornce Cor nell by theIr acttvo parlIClpolIpn in phItlcs 1ad openly offended the reform civil servIce pOlicy It was not charged that they had been tlithl ss In their official l dut1cs but H Hoye who was 111 Meal In GCrVIC r morm orm radical joined EQr gln Arthur and Cornell an assault upon I A I commission wa < J appointed to In vesUgate the rnal1ogcl11lnt ot the cus tomhonse and it reported Arthur and Cornell a < J offenders against the cIvIl ervlccpoltcy or the ldmlnlstratlon The Presldent thereupon Tlomlr111leel Theodoro Roosevelt for Collector and J radfordPrlncQ for Naval 001cel but Conkling came to the rescue of his Cr1Wd AIlct tweeted J the new nomlna J tions When Congress adjourned some I months later the President suspended Arthur and Cornell and appointed Edward 4 Ed-ward A Merritt as Collector and Silas W Burt as Naval Officer and their nominations were sent to the Senate when it met the following December Secretary Sherman sent to the Senate a detailed statement of the reasons which led to the removal of Arthur and Cornell to which Arthur replied In defense I de-fense of his administration and after a controversy of three months Conkllng I was unhorsed by the confirmation of Merritt and Burt This battle ended Ion I-on the 3rd of February 1870 and on the I 3rd of September following Cornell I was nominated Republicans far Governor of the < State and triumphantly elected and one year later Arthur was nominated for Vlc PrC31lent at Chl cargo elected and thereby became l i President of tlib United States tf U 4 Thad met Arthur only in a casual way at national contIoXTh and Several Sev-eral times In New York until tho meeting meet-ing of thc Republican convention at Chicago In 1SSO where ho was nominated nomi-nated for Vic Pxesfdent The gesMons of that convention extended some ten days andi It was one 5f the most Imposing spectacles I haic ever witnessed wit-nessed It was the great battle bp I I tween Grant and Blame and the ablest I leaders of both sides I were sumhioned 1 to the conflict ArthUr was second In I I the New York delegation and acted I as chairman in the absence of Conk ling He had not the remotest I Idea that he might be named for VicePres ident He was hojutjiy devoted to his chief Conkllng and to Conkllrigs Grant and they were confident of V Inning In-ning the battle until they were defeated de-feated In the preliminary struggle on the rules whereby delegations In I structed by their respective rcs to vote as a unit given thc right to vote their Individual preferences regardless I re-gardless of their home Instructions I Had this rule not prevailed Grant would have been nominated It lost him many votes especially In New York and Pennsylvania arid Robertson Robert-son who was appointed to the Collec torshlp by Garfield and made an Impassable Im-passable chasm between Conkllng and Cnrflol3r led the minority qf tho New York delegation In l dcllaricc of Conkling and polled onefourth or more oC the delegation for Blaine a t Conkllng was not an approachable man except to his few very intimate acquaintances ahd the newspaper men found Arthur who was entirely fami liar wllh the inner movements of Conk ling not only a most agreeable companion com-panion but ready to furnish them all the Information that hc was warranted war-ranted In giving out I had frequent < < conferences wIth him durIng thaU long struggle jlnd my prejudices ngainst him were greatly tempered by the manly qualities he always oxhfhlttid No one could be in close touch with him at any time without seeing that hc was a man of great ability ot severe modesty mod-esty and thoroughly slralghtforwerd 4n all his political movements During 1 the whole proceedings of the convention conven-tion Conkllng was offensively Imperious Imperi-ous He never announce the vote of his State without giving the minority vote with a sneer or with an offensive remark On several occasions when Conkllng was otherwise engaged Ar thtir acted as chairman and in an noundlng the vote his courteous man I ncr was a most agreeable contrast to the offensive methods of his chief When defeat came for the Grant forces Lonkling was Irreconcilable and con temptuously refused to consider the question Ofpl presenting Grant man for second place on tHo ticket The more considerate men in the delegation finally took hold of the question and named Arthur for VicePresidentthe one man to whom Conkllng could not possibly J l object He gave his passive assent but took no further active put In the pro eIJInss of the convention Arthur was nominated practically withouta rontest as he was known to be the moot prominent representative 01 the Grant forces next to Conkling in New YOrk > When Garfield and Arthur were In augurated President and VicePresi dent It was generally expected that there would hc harmony between the Garfield Jndi Conkling elements nnd Arthur certainly dId everything Ir his poor to maintain It hut Conkling waR ever suspIcIous of nntiplci10ue ° Garflold and when he ilnally slapped Conkllng In the lace by v thc nomination of Robertson to the ew cork Sollcctorshlp It became a war to the death Conkllng was Just the man to fight such a battle regurd less of consequenc63 with his oars nrTmL to every sllteestion of com promise 1its S attempted to assert hIs power over the President by resignIng l 1lsscaJ In the Senate c1dpcndin upon the New YOrk Leglslnllue for Ieelec tlon hut he there met only keen elI ap Plontment and cllBHslrous defeat and the loncontlnucd battle practically ended on the day that the assassins bUllet prostrated PresIdent Garnilcl Arthur hud manfully stood by his fHend l In his hopeless the heassassin had intervened struggle bet ween untH contending gladiators and vhen the inigecly of the Washington depot ended In the death of Gamefe at Long Branch Arthur quietly in illQd tile New lork Chief Justice to his home to iicln nlatei to him the oath of office of President of the United States I shall nevcr forget the dav July 2 1SS1 when sitting on a veranda at tht 5unnnlto the AlleghcnleM a tale graph boy ran lIdl wildly among the visit ors who WQIC enjoying brceVe the < cOool l brCe1 R announcIng iaPrc8ldeni lS KnUnShSr Garlleld had been shot u l the raiiioad l depot In sur1 a8hlngton and that he < could not Thc horror Of the cond 1 n i nslnltlon oC the Pl > e Irtent of the 1nlted teen states within a Period of slx the years wus mpy wpalllnir and public dlstlu l that attached to VoePresldem Arthur seemed to leave the dark pall lion thfithUngl I the Nn wlLhom even n sIlcr lining The dath of GarJleld meant according to hegeneral eneraI nCcemtl1t1C1n of the pUbll IL radical political or Cartlenal ton rcvohf and it wns generally a6Sijmccl It that made Cotkllng PIe hlpnt In fact mlfiRlve Arthur was j > rlisumc1r to be his sub 5 follow w ThIs distrust was cas1lably jUStified b by Arll1lr devotin1 to manly war CtInltllng Ho was at open with the PIesldojlll censured and he was for degrading the o01cc or VlcePrelcInt to the poitfon of np pearlng ture ns n before solicitor thc Ne w Yqrk Legiia oC olc for ling 01 Cck Valucs WIe at once Mcriotlsly disturbed and tholc wis general ap prehenfilon that the Republican would he pnlt tlo disintegrated by the Vlpdc master of faction In tlC adnHnls tratl6n oC the Goernthent Conkhng had ninny wounds tu re1cncrc tudt was Icasollable to BSU zuc that Arthur would be hIs willIng instrument his in nH ICscnlful JJUIJofie 1 < 10111 the 1ty linn rtHur became President of the UrittMSiatds 1 nil the I I Inherent great qualltloa of the man i asserted alphc7Mh08 IVImon he nr rived at Washington tlc omi of onice was again administered to him by I I Chief Justice Waite and he gave out a brief Inaugural address that did much to quiet tho general apprehensions apprehen-sions of the country The closing sentence sen-tence of that addrops was In the following follow-ing wcllconslderod word hlrn h maintained with unfaltering fidelity Summoned to these high duties and responsibilities and profoundly l conscious con-scious of their magnitude and gravity F assume the trust Imposed by the Constitution Con-stitution relying for aid on Divine guidance and the virtue patriotism and Intelligence ol thA American poo pic Our American Presidents have left many monuments of heroism before i which the heroism of military chief talnct must pale Jeffersons acquisition acquisi-tion of Louisiana that was accomplished accom-plished against the general sentiment of his own part and of the country Jacksons Incisive dealing with nullification nullifi-cation Jn South Carolina Lincolns immortal im-mortal Emancipation Proclamation and Clevelands patriotic suppression of I anarchy by the military power of the Government all stand out In distinct proof that Peace hath her victories more renowned than war but I doubt whether any President eVer performed a mOle heroic role In simple obedience I I to public duty and against such op I nresulve complications than President I Arthur exhibited In asserting himself ns President wIth duties higher and holler than the interests of oven thc dearest friend The first lesson that he had to tench wus that he and not Conkling was President f and he did It In the most unostentatious way possible possi-ble resulting In the alienation of the friendship l of his recent chief He changed his Cabinet with the exception of Secretary of Var Lincoln and IIP could not do less with a Cabinet that had Blalne at tho head and In which AltOIl e GenerAl MfacVcagh was an Important Motor but he never swerved roml the acceptance of the wholft responsibility re-sponsibility Imposed upon him by a great national beieavcment arid l no other President has surpassed hlrh In unswerving fidelIty to every public duty He publicly testified his appre clatipn I of Conkllng by nominating him as Justice of the Supreme court but he doubtless did it with the full knowledge knowl-edge that It would not be accepted It wag declined pf course and thereafter Conkllng was without Interest In the Administration of the President who had so long been his protege and faithful I faith-ful supporter Almost any man even In the Prciil dency would have temporized with such an exacting dictator as Conkllng by his side and thereby lost the confidence confi-dence of the country without serving his friend but Arthur quietly devoted himself to winning the approval of the Nation by thoroughly deserving It Fiom that line he never departed he was therefore eminently successful FTc was one of the inost delightful of our Presidents to visit at the White House and while always maintaining I every degree of dignity that should obtain ob-tain In the office he welcomed visitors with open heart and all who met him learned not only to respect but to lovc him Slowly but surely he grew In public trust and long before hc retired from his high office he commanded not only 1 the unbounded confidence of the great business Interests of the country but the universal respect < < of the whole people regardless of their political faith Like all men who have cached the Presidency with very rare exceptions excep-tions he dcshed to succeed himself but Blalne had thc enthusiastic support sup-port of the Republican people had been defeated In two national conventions conven-tions when he was the second highest candidate and wh > n his friends believed be-lieved that he should have been successful suc-cessful and Arthur fell In the Chicago convention of 1SS1 1 not because his administration ad-ministration was not heartily approved by his party but because the Plumed Knight of Maine could not longer be postponed as the party candidate with the consent of the more vital elements of the paity organization a a WHether Arthur could have been elected in 1SS4 when Blalne was defeated de-feated is an open question Conkling defeated Blaine hy throwing the controlling con-trolling State of Ncw York against him and It Is quIte lIkely that he would In like manner have defeated Arthur Blaine madeTthe most remarkable campaign cam-paign for himself that had eer been made by any Presidential candidate excepting Douglas and that has ever been made since excepting the two brilliant hut fruitless campaigns of Bryan and It is quite probable that Elaines magnetic personality and bill liant campaigning brought himself nearer an election than could have boen accomplished by Arthur When Bliine was nominated Arthur promptly prompt-ly I telegraphed to Blaine bin hearty congratulations con-gratulations and gave a cordial 1 and faithful support to the party candidate candi-date but Blalne was doomed to he the first In the line of Republican candidates candi-dates fnr the Presidency to he defeated in the period of nearly a quarter of a century I last saw Arthur on the evening of tho day on which he retired from thc Presidency He was the guest of honor at a dinner given by one of his Sena tonal friends and I was painfully Impressed Im-pressed by the fact that on that occasion occa-sion he lacked the delightful compan lonablo qualities which he usually exhibited ex-hibited He was too much of a philosopher philoso-pher to exhibit depression because his days of power were ended and Inter In the evening when most of the company com-pany had departed I spoke of It to the host who then Informed me that Arthins health was seriously If not hopelessly broken and that he was sufferIng frpm what was believed to bean be-an Incurable malady He returned to NevviVoik and announced that he could be consulted on legal questions at his office but his vitality gradualy wasted away and he was rarely seen on public pub-lic occasions On the 18th of November Novem-ber 1SSG less than two years after he left Washington he died suddenly of apoplexy and ho fell In the race universally beloved and lamented Arthur entered thc Presidency as a widower his wife having died In January of the year In which he was elected VlcePrcsldent but his sister Mrs Mary A McElroy was mistress of the White House during tho social portions of the year and acquitted herself with exceptional ability She was quiet and unassuming In her socIal so-cial life as was her brother In his great office and the hospitality of the White House was dispensed with that gentle dignity that only a highly accomplished ac-complished and thoroughly womanly I woman can display A K MCLURE |