If "Eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary and no more."
President Arthur's inaugural address is one of its best examples. He
was placed in a position of the gravest difficulty. He had been
nominated for Vice-President as a representative of the "Stalwart"
Republicans when that element of the party had been defeated in
National convention by the element then described as "Half-Breeds."
After the assassination of President Garfield by the "paranoiac"
Guiteau, the country waited with breathless interest to hear what
the Vice-President would say in taking the Presidency. With a tact
which amounted to genius, which never failed him during his
administration, which in its results showed itself equivalent to the
highest statesmanship, Mr. Arthur, a man to whom his opponents had
been unwilling to concede more than mediocre abilities, rose to the
occasion, disarmed factional oppositions, mitigated the animosity of
partisanship, and during his administration did more than had been
done before him to re-unite the sections divided by Civil War.
He was born in Fairfield, Vermont, October 5th, 1830. His father,
Rev. William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, born in Ireland, gave him
a good education, sending him to Union College where he graduated in
1848. After teaching school in Vermont, he studied law and began
practice in New York city. Entering politics as a Henry Clay Whig,
and casting his first vote in 1852 for Winfield Scott, he was active
as a Republican in the Fremont campaign of 1856 and from that time
until elected to the Vice-Presidency took that strong interest in
public affairs which led his opponents to class him as a
"professional politician." During the Civil War he was
inspector-general and quarter-master general of New York troops. In
1871 President Grant appointed him collector of the port of New York
and he held the office until July 1878. when he was suspended by
President Hayes. Taking an active part in the movement to nominate
General Grant for the Presidency to succeed Mr. Hayes. he attended
the Republican convention of 1880, and after the defeat of the Grant
forces, he was nominated as their representative for the
Vice-Presidency. He died suddenly in New York city, November 18th,
1886, having won for himself during his administration as President
the good-will of so many of his political opponents that the future
historian will probably study his administration as that during
which the most notable changes of the decade were made from the
politics of the Civil War period.