Part 33

Garfield possessed more political honors at one time than any other public man in the history of the country. After the November election of 1880, he was the Congressman from his district; he was United States Senator-elect, having been chosen by the Ohio Legislature in January of the same year, and he was President-elect. He had many elements of popularity, but was not a courageous leader like Blaine. He was not a strong, aggressive man, although able in debate and one of the most scholarly of our public men. He had a most difficult rôle to fill when he came into the Presidency. Conkling wholly distrusted him when Garfield was first nominated for President, as was clearly evidenced by Conkling failing to call upon Garfield when Garfield made his first visit to New York after the Chicago convention, although he stopped at the same hotel where Conkling was a guest. Later in the campaign Conkling was earnestly urged to visit Garfield, and he made the visit, resulting in the Conkling and Grant forces earnestly supporting Garfield’s election.

General Grant, for the first time in his life, took the stump to aid the Garfield cause; but even after having turned the tide in favor of Garfield’s election, Conkling knew that Garfield was not a self-reliant leader, and after the appointment of Blaine to the Cabinet, with whom Conkling had no relations whatever, private or official, Conkling had little confidence in Garfield fulfilling his pledges made to the friends of Grant. The open breach came when Garfield nominated Robertson for Collector of New York. Robertson was one of the New York delegates to Chicago who voted against Grant, and was one of the most aggressive anti-Conkling men in the State. This appointment was at once charged upon Blaine, but the evidence is conclusive that it was made by Garfield alone, without even a suggestion from Blaine, who certainly did not desire to precipitate a war between the administration of which he was Premier and so formidable a political factor as Conkling. It was simply Garfield’s blunder, made in haste, and it proved very clearly that he was not equipped to meet the political exigencies which confronted him. Conkling blundered even worse than Garfield. He petulantly resigned his seat in the Senate, in which his colleague, Senator Platt (now Senator from New York), joined him, although he had served but a fraction of a year of his full term.

Conkling confidently hoped to be re-elected by the New York Legislature, and he doubtless would have succeeded had not the presiding officer of the Senate, by a very shrewd and simple parliamentary act, postponed the election a week longer than Conkling expected. That delay was fatal, and a protracted and humiliating contest was made by Conkling and Platt, each week both losing prestige and support, until finally the Republicans of the New York Legislature were compelled to cast them both aside and elect new Senators. Vice-President Arthur stood manfully abreast with Conkling, his friend, in his battle at Albany for re-election, but after the failure on the 1st ballot there never was a time when the re-election of Conkling and Platt was possible. Conkling retired from politics utterly disgusted, located in New York, where he very rapidly acquired a lucrative practice, and his tragic death from exposure in the great blizzard of 1888 ended the career of one of the ablest of the statesmen of his day.

Arthur was the fourth Vice-President who succeeded to the Presidency by the death of the President, and he was the second whose honors had come to him by the assassination of his chief. The accession of Arthur created very general distrust in both business and political circles. He was little known beyond his factional conflicts in New York, having been removed from a leading Custom House office by Secretary Sherman. That removal was sustained by the Republican Senate in defiance of the power of Conkling. It was generally assumed that the administration of Arthur, under the lead of Conkling, would be one of political vengeance, and of necessity convulse the party and end Republican power in the nation.

Business interests were disturbed because they feared that Arthur would be a political President with little exhibition of statesmanship, but Arthur rose to the full measure of his responsible duties. While he moved with great caution, to avoid a breach with his own friends, he soon offended Conkling, and gradually won the confidence and respect of the nation to an extent that few Presidents have enjoyed. The Garfield administration had been started on lines that Arthur could not follow, and the retirement of the Garfield Cabinet, with the exception of Robert T. Lincoln, then Secretary of War, was soon accomplished. The prosecution of the Star-Route Postal frauds was the one thing on which Blaine and MacVeagh, the Attorney-General, had decided to make a creditable record for the administration, and while Arthur was quite as honest as Garfield, political necessities compelled him to discourage those prosecutions. Beyond that there was not a blemish on his administration of some three years and a half. He appreciated the fact that the President should be above the rule of faction, and in that he early offended Conkling. He nominated Conkling as Supreme Judge of the United States, but Conkling peremptorily rejected it, and thenceforth the relations between Arthur and Conkling were severely strained.

Arthur was the one of the four Vice-Presidents succeeding to the Presidency who did not change the policy of the administration. He gradually won the esteem of all parties in the land by his dignity, courtesy, and manliness in every emergency that confronted him. He was one of the most genial and delightful of all the Presidents who occupied the White House, and he would doubtless have been nominated for President in 1884 but for the fact that Blaine had that honor safely mortgaged. Arthur was desirous of a nomination, but Blaine was so strong with the leaders and also with the rank and file of the party that he won an easy victory over the President.

The opposition to Arthur in the Republican convention of 1884 was not inspired by hostility to him or to his administration. It was simply the overwhelming Republican sentiment of the country that demanded Blaine as the party candidate for President. I had met President Arthur frequently during his Presidential term, although I never had any political or personal interests to serve. It was always a pleasure to call upon him and enjoy the dignified and cordial welcome he ever gave to visitors. I last saw him on the night of the Cleveland inauguration day, that closed his Presidential term. He was the guest of honor at a dinner given by Senator Cameron, and I was painfully impressed with what I then assumed to be the keen disappointment of Arthur at his retirement from the Presidency. He seemed greatly depressed in spirit and to lack his usual genial and fascinating qualities. It was not long after, however, when it became known that he had retired from the Presidential office the victim of a fatal disease, that exhausted his vitality. He lived a very quiet life, beloved by all who knew him and respected by the whole nation during the brief period between his retirement and his death.

THE CLEVELAND-BLAINE CONTEST

1884

The Presidential campaign of 1884 was opened on June 5 by the Republican National Convention at Chicago, which nominated Blaine after the Arthur administration had made a feeble struggle against him. Strange as it may seem, Blaine took much less interest in his nomination at that time than he had in his contests of 1876 and 1880. He was painfully impressed by the conviction that he was fated not to be President, and he feared his defeat. A recent article by ex-Governor Boutwell, of Massachusetts, who was then in Congress with Blaine, stated that a short time before the meeting of the convention, when Blaine knew that the nomination was within his own hands, he told Boutwell that he was glad to have some votes in the convention, but that he did not wish the nomination. He desired to defeat President Arthur, and urged Boutwell to organize for the nomination of General Sherman for President and Robert Lincoln for Vice-President.

I saw Blaine frequently during the months preceding the nomination, and he never exhibited any special gratification at the fact that he could then, for the first time, surely attain the leadership in his party for which he had so long struggled; but he had not the courage to decline it. The nomination came to him, and though he did not heartily welcome it, he was justly proud of it.

The contest between Cleveland and Blaine was one of the most spirited and earnest of our national political struggles. The assassination of Garfield and the factional troubles which arose under Garfield, and continued to some extent under Arthur, greatly disturbed Republican tranquillity, and in 1882 the Democrats won all the debatable States and carried the popular branch of Congress. Grover Cleveland in that year became a national political factor by his election as Governor of New York by nearly 200,000 majority. Blaine had the vital Republican element very earnestly in his support, but had to confront the implacable opposition of many of the ablest leaders of his party. He had already been a candidate before two Republican conventions, in which his enemies had defamed him without limit, and the Grant influence was as vindictive, although not so powerful, in 1884 as it was in 1876 and 1880.

The Republican National Convention met at Chicago on the 3d of June, and ex-Representative John R. Lynch, of Mississippi (colored), was made temporary president, and ex-Senator John B. Henderson, of Missouri, permanent president. The friends of President Arthur, largely representing Federal officials, made a very earnest battle for their chief, but it was a Blaine convention from start to finish. Many questions of party policy and rules were discussed and a platform adopted during the first three days of the convention, and it was not until the evening session of the third day that Presidential candidates were presented. On the morning of the fourth day, the convention proceeded to ballot, resulting in the nomination of Blaine, as follows:

═════════════════════════════════╤════════╤═════════╤════════╤════════ │ First. │ Second. │ Third. │ Fourth. ─────────────────────────────────┼────────┼─────────┼────────┼──────── James G. Blaine, of Maine │ 334-1/2│ 349 │ 375 │ 541 Chester A. Arthur, of New York │ 278 │ 276 │ 274 │ 207 George F. Edmunds, of Vermont │ 93 │ 85 │ 69 │ 41 John A. Logan, of Illinois │ 63-1/2│ 61 │ 53 │ 7 John Sherman, of Ohio │ 30 │ 28 │ 25 │ ―― Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut │ 13 │ 13 │ 13 │ 15 Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois │ 4 │ 4 │ 8 │ 2 William T. Sherman, of Missouri │ 2 │ 2 │ 2 │ ―― ═════════════════════════════════╧════════╧═════════╧════════╧════════

The nomination of Blaine was made unanimous with great enthusiasm. The convention then adjourned until evening, when General John A. Logan, of Illinois, was nominated for Vice-President on the 1st ballot, receiving 779 votes to 7 for Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin, and 6 for Walter Q. Gresham, of Indiana. General Logan was regarded as one of the most prominent of the Grant leaders, and it was considered good policy to unite the two elements of the party by giving him second place. His nomination was also made unanimous, and cheered to the echo. The following platform was unanimously adopted:

1. The Republicans of the United States, in national convention assembled, renew their allegiance to the principles upon which they have triumphed in six successive Presidential elections, and congratulate the American people on the attainment of so many results in legislation and administration by which the Republican party has, after saving the Union, done so much to render its institutions just, equal, and beneficent, the safeguard of liberty, and the embodiment of the best thought and highest purposes of our citizens. The Republican party has gained its strength by quick and faithful response to the demands of the people for the freedom and equality of all men; for a united nation, assuring the rights of all citizens; for the elevation of labor; for an honest currency; for purity in legislation; and for integrity and accountability in all departments of the Government. And it accepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reform.

2. We lament the death of President Garfield, whose sound statesmanship, long conspicuous in Congress, gave promise of a strong and successful administration, a promise fully realized during the short period of his office as President of the United States. His distinguished services in war and in peace have endeared him to the hearts of the American people.

3. In the administration of President Arthur we recognize a wise, conservative, and patriotic policy, under which the country has been blessed with remarkable prosperity; and we believe his eminent services are entitled to and will receive the hearty approval of every good citizen.

4. It is the first duty of a good Government to protect the rights and promote the interests of its own people. The largest diversity of industry is most productive of general prosperity and of the comfort and independence of the people. We therefore demand that the imposition of duties on foreign imports shall be made, not for revenue only, but that, in raising the requisite revenues for the Government, such duties shall be so levied as to afford security to our diversified industries and protection to the rights and wages of the laborers, to the end that active and intelligent labor, as well as capital, may have its just reward, and the laboring man his full share in the national prosperity.

5. Against the so-called economical system of the Democratic party, which would degrade our labor to the foreign standard, we enter our most earnest protest. The Democratic party has failed completely to relieve the people of the burden of unnecessary taxation by a wise reduction of the surplus.

6. The Republican party pledges itself to correct the irregularities of the tariff and to reduce the surplus, not by the vicious and indiscriminate process of horizontal reduction, but by such methods as will relieve the taxpayer without injuring the laborer or the great productive interests of the country.

7. We recognize the importance of sheep husbandry in the United States, the serious depression which it is now experiencing, and the danger threatening its future prosperity; and we therefore respect the demands of the Representatives of this important agricultural interest for a readjustment of duties upon foreign wool, in order that such industry shall have full and adequate protection.

8. We have always recommended the best money known to the civilized world, and we urge that an effort be made to unite all commercial nations in the establishment of an international standard which shall fix for all the relative value of gold and silver coinage.

9. The regulation of commerce with foreign nations and between the States is one of the most important prerogatives of the General Government, and the Republican party distinctly announces its purpose to support such legislation as will fully and efficiently carry out the constitutional power of Congress over interstate commerce.

10. The principle of the public regulation of railway corporations is a wise and salutary one for the protection of all classes of the people, and we favor legislation that shall prevent unjust discrimination and excessive charges for transportation, and that shall secure to the people and to the railways alike the fair and equal protection of the laws.

11. We favor the establishment of a national bureau of labor; the enforcement of the eight-hour law; a wise and judicious system of general education by adequate appropriation from the national revenues wherever the same is needed. We believe that everywhere the protection of a citizen of American birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption, and we favor the settlement of national differences by international arbitration.

12. The Republican party, having its birth in a hatred of slave labor, and in a desire that all men may be truly free and equal, is unalterably opposed to placing our workingmen in competition with any form of servile labor, whether at home or abroad. In this spirit we denounce the importation of contract labor, whether from Europe or Asia, as an offence against the spirit of American institutions, and we pledge ourselves to sustain the present law restricting Chinese immigration, and to provide such further legislation as is necessary to carry out its purposes.

13. Reform of the civil service, auspiciously begun under Republican administration, should be completed by the further extension of the reformed system already established by law to all the grades of the service to which it is applicable. The spirit and purpose of the reform should be observed in all executive appointments, and all laws at variance with the objects of existing reformed legislation should be repealed, to the end that the dangers to free institutions which lurk in the power of official patronage may be wisely and effectively avoided.

14. The public lands are a heritage of the people of the United States, and should be reserved, as far as possible, for small holdings by actual settlers. We are opposed to the acquisition of large tracts of these lands by corporations or individuals, especially where such holdings are in the hands of non-resident aliens, and we will endeavor to obtain such legislation as will tend to correct this evil. We demand of Congress the speedy forfeiture of all land-grants which have lapsed by reason of non-compliance with acts of incorporation, in all cases where there has been no attempt in good faith to perform the conditions of such grants.

15. The grateful thanks of the American people are due to the Union soldiers and sailors of the late war; and the Republican party stands pledged to suitable pensions for all who were disabled, and for the widows and orphans of those who died in the war. The Republican party also pledges itself to the repeal of the limitation contained in the Arrears act of 1879, so that all invalid soldiers shall share alike, and their pensions begin with the date of disability, and not with the date of the application.

16. The Republican party favors a policy which shall keep us from entangling alliances with foreign nations, and which gives us the right to expect that foreign nations shall refrain from meddling in American affairs—the policy which seeks peace and trade with all powers, but especially with those of the Western Hemisphere.

17. We demand the restoration of our navy to its old-time strength and efficiency, that it may in any sea protect the rights of American citizens and the interests of American commerce. We call upon Congress to remove the burdens under which American shipping has been depressed, so that it may again be true that we have a commerce which leaves no sea unexplored, and a navy which takes no law from superior force.

18. That appointments by the President to offices in the Territories should be made from the _bona fide_ citizens and residents of the Territories wherein they are to serve.

19. That it is the duty of Congress to enact such laws as shall promptly and effectually suppress the system of polygamy within our Territories, and divorce the political from the ecclesiastical power of the so-called Mormon Church, and that the law so enacted should be rigidly enforced by the civil authorities, if possible, and by the military, if need be.

20. The people of the United States, in their organized capacity, constitute a nation, and not a mere confederacy of States. The National Government is supreme within the sphere of its national duties, but the States have reserved rights which should be faithfully maintained, and which should be guarded with jealous care, so that the harmony of our system of government may be preserved and the Union kept inviolate.

21. The perpetuity of our institutions rests upon the maintenance of a free ballot, an honest count, and correct return. We denounce the fraud and violence practised by the Democracy in Southern States, by which the will of the voter is defeated, as dangerous to the preservation of free institutions; and we solemnly arraign the Democratic party as being the guilty recipient of the fruits of such fraud and violence.

22. We extend to the Republicans of the South, regardless of their former party affiliations, our cordial sympathy, and pledge to them our most earnest efforts to promote the passage of such legislation as will secure to every citizen, of whatever race and color, the full and complete recognition, possession, and exercise of all civil and political rights.

The Democratic National Convention met at Chicago on the 8th of July, and was temporarily organized with Richard D. Hubbard, of Texas, as chairman. The first day of the convention was unusually boisterous. The Tammany delegates, under the lead of John Kelly, were in a minority in the delegation, and under the Democratic unit rule their votes would be cast for Cleveland, to whose nomination they were bitterly opposed. A desperate struggle was made to break the unit rule, and thus release Tammany from the support of Cleveland. The proposition was very largely defeated, and during the balloting the Tammany people made various and ineffectual efforts to have their votes recorded. On the morning of the second day, William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin, was made permanent president, and the presentation of candidates for President followed, after which the platform was adopted and one ballot had for President, and on the following morning the 2d ballot was had, resulting in the selection of Cleveland.

Cleveland’s nomination was accomplished solely by the earnest and skilful management of his cause by Daniel Manning, who was Secretary of the Treasury during half of Cleveland’s first administration. Cleveland was a reluctant candidate, for he was not confident that he could be nominated, and doubted if he could be elected if nominated; but Manning gathered about him a very powerful organization, and under the unit rule carried the New York delegation solid for Cleveland, though Tammany, under the lead of John Kelly, stoutly opposed him.