IN THE HIGH SEAT.
Not titled rank nor storied pride of birth,
But free voice of the Nation
Hath raised him to the highest place of earth,
So fit to grace the station.
The morning of March 4, 1881, dawned—if such days may be said to dawn at
all—dark and gloomy. The snow, which had been falling and melting into a
very uncomfortable slush for days before, still continued. The “weather
clerk” prophesied more snow and rain; and altogether the promise of this
day was not good to the unnumbered thousands of Americans who had come
to Washington to see Garfield inaugurated. The weather was such as to
give a fresh impulse to the talk which is sometimes indulged about
changing the date of Inauguration Day to May 4th.
Nevertheless, fair weather or foul, blue sky or gray, the new
administration must begin. Shortly before eleven o’clock the military
escort of the President and President-elect moved up Pennsylvania Avenue
from the White House to the Capitol. It was one of the finest military
displays ever seen in Washington. Pennsylvania Avenue was lined with a
vast multitude, whose continual cheers made a sound which could be heard
afar, like the undying voices of the ocean waves.
President Hayes and President-elect Garfield rode in an open barouche,
drawn by four horses. The First Cleveland Troop, splendidly equipped and
drilled, marched before, as a guard of honor. Garfield looked weary. He
remarked during the morning that the preceding week had been the most
trying of his life. The effect of sleepless nights and deep anxiety was
plainly visible on his countenance. Thus, with one of the four grand
divisions of the immense procession as his immediate escort, heartily
cheered all along the line, at half-past eleven the new President
reached the Capitol.
Meanwhile the Senate Chamber and galleries had been rapidly filling with
a distinguished throng. The center of attraction was in the front seat
in the gallery, opposite the Vice-President’s desk, where sat the
President-elect’s mother and wife and Mrs. Hayes. The venerable woman
who sat at the head of the seat was regarded with interest by the whole
audience, as she looked down upon the scene in which her son was the
most conspicuous figure, with a quiet expression of joy that was very
delightful to behold. Next to her sat Mrs. Hayes. Mrs. Garfield sat at
her right, and was dressed very quietly. The three ladies chatted
together constantly, and the eldest set the other two laughing more than
once by her quaint remarks on the proceedings in the chamber below them.
The Senators and Senators-elect were all seated on the left side of the
chamber, and the prominent members of the body were eagerly watched by
the spectators. Among them were David Davis and Roscoe Conkling engaged
in earnest conversation. Near these two sat Thurman and Hamlin, two able
Senators whose last day in the Senate had come. The venerable Hamlin was
evidently in a meditative mood as the last minutes of his long official
life passed by, and was not inclined to be talkative. Thurman brought
out the familiar snuff-box, took his last pinch of Senatorial snuff, and
flung the traditional bandana handkerchief once more to the breeze.
Soon General Winfield S. Hancock, late Democratic candidate for the
Presidency, came in, accompanied by Senator Blaine. Hancock was dressed
in Major-General’s full uniform, looking in splendid condition, and
conducted himself in a manly, modest fashion, which called forth warm
applause, and commanded the respect of all spectators. Phil Sheridan was
heartily welcomed when he came in soon after and took his seat by
Hancock’s side.
After these, the Diplomatic Corps entered, presenting a brilliant
appearance; and following them soon came the Judges of the Supreme
Court. Then the Cabinet appeared, and immediately the President and
President-elect. Vice-President-elect Arthur came last, and was
presented to the Senate by Vice-President Wheeler. He spoke a few quiet,
appreciative words in that elegant way he has of doing things, and then
took the oath of office, after which, exactly at twelve—the Senate clock
having been turned back five minutes—the Forty-Sixth Congress was
adjourned without day.
The center of interest was now transferred to the east front of the
Capitol, whither, as soon as the new Senators had been sworn in, the
procession of distinguished people in the Chamber took up the line of
march.
A great platform had been erected in front of the building, and the
sight presented from it was a most striking one, for rods and rods in
front and to either side were massed thousands upon thousands of
spectators wedged in one solid mass, so that nothing but their heads
could be seen. It was indeed
ONE GREAT SEA OF FACES,
all uplifted in eager expectancy. In the center of the platform, at the
front, was a little space raised a few inches above the level of the
rest, upon which stood several chairs, the most noticeable being a
homely and antique one, which tradition, if not history, says was
occupied by Washington at his first inauguration, and which has
certainly been used for many years on such occasions.
In this chair Mr. Garfield took his seat for a few minutes when he
arrived, the others being occupied by President Hayes, Vice-President
Arthur, Mr. Wheeler, Chief-Justice Waite, and Senators Pendleton,
Bayard, and Anthony. The elder and younger Mrs. Garfield, Mrs. Hayes,
and one or two other ladies, were also given seats here. At about a
quarter of one o’clock General Garfield arose from the historic chair,
and took from his pocket a roll of manuscript, tied at the corner with
blue ribbon. Being introduced by Senator Pendleton, he proceeded to
deliver THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
“FELLOW-CITIZENS—We stand to-day upon an eminence which overlooks a
hundred years of national life, a century crowded with perils, but
crowned with triumphs of liberty and love. Before continuing the
onward march let us pause on this height for a moment to strengthen
our faith and renew our hope by a glance at the pathway along which
our people have traveled.
“It is now three days more than a hundred years since the adoption
of the first written Constitution of the United States, the Articles
of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The new Republic was then
beset with danger on every hand. It had not conquered a place in the
family of Nations. The decisive battle of the war for independence,
whose centennial anniversary will soon be gratefully celebrated at
Yorktown, had not yet been fought. The colonists were struggling,
not only against the armies of Great Britain, but against the
settled opinions of mankind, for the world did not believe that the
supreme authority of government could be safely intrusted to the
guardianship of the people themselves. We can not overestimate the
fervent love, the intelligent courage, the saving common sense with
which our fathers made the great experiment of self-government.
“When they found, after a short time, that the Confederacy of States
was too weak to meet the necessities of a glorious and expanding
Republic, they boldly set it aside, and in its stead established a
National Union, founded directly upon the will of the people,
endowed with powers of self-preservation, and with ample authority
for the accomplishment of its great objects.
“Under this Constitution the boundaries of freedom are enlarged, the
foundations of order and peace have been strengthened, and the
growth in all the better elements of National life have vindicated
the wisdom of the founders and given new hope to their descendants.
“Under this Constitution our people long ago made themselves safe
against danger from without, and secured for their mariners and flag
equality of rights on all the seas. Under this Constitution
twenty-five States have been added to the Union, with constitutions
and laws framed and enforced by their own citizens to secure the
manifold blessings of local and self-government.
“The jurisdiction of this Constitution now covers an area fifty
times greater than that of the original thirteen states, and a
population twenty times greater than that of 1780. The trial of the
Constitution came at last under the tremendous pressure of civil
war.
“We ourselves are witnesses that the Union emerged from the blood
and fire of that conflict, purified and made stronger for all the
beneficent purposes of good government, and now at the close of
this, the first century of growth, with the inspirations of its
history in their hearts, our people have lately reviewed the
condition of the Nation, passed judgment upon the conduct and
opinions of the political parties, and have registered their will
concerning the future administration of the Government. To interpret
and to execute that will in accordance with the Constitution is the
paramount duty of the Executive. Even from this brief review it is
manifest that the Nation is resolutely facing to the front, a
resolution to employ its best energies in developing the great
possibilities of the future. Sacredly preserving whatever has been
gained to liberty and good government during the century, our people
are determined to leave behind them all those bitter controversies
concerning things which have been irrevocably settled, further
discussion of which can only stir up strife and delay the onward
march. The supremacy of the Nation and its laws should be no longer
the subject of debate. That discussion, which for half a century
threatened the existence of the Union, was closed at last in the
high court of war by a decree from which there is no appeal: that
the Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof shall
continue to be the supreme law of the land, binding alike on the
States and the people. This decree does not disturb the autonomy of
the States, nor interfere with any of their necessary rules of local
self-government, but it does fix and establish the permanent
supremacy of the Union.
“The will of the Nation, speaking with the voice of battle and
through the amended Constitution, has fulfilled the great promise of
1776 by proclaiming ‘Liberty throughout the land to all the
inhabitants thereof.’
“The elevation of the negro race from slavery to full rights of
citizenship, is the most important political change we have known
since the adoption of the Constitution of 1776.
“No thoughtful man can fail to appreciate its beneficent effect upon
our people. It has freed us from the perpetual danger of war and
dissolution; it has added immensely to the moral and industrial
forces of our people; it has liberated the master as well as the
slave from a relation which wronged and enfeebled both.
“It has surrendered to their own guardianship the manhood of more
than five millions of people, and has opened to each of them a
career of freedom and usefulness. It has given new inspiration to
the power of self-help in both races by making labor more honorable
to one and more necessary to the other.
“The influence of this force will grow greater and bear richer fruit
with coming years. No doubt the great change has caused serious
disturbance to the Southern community—this is to be deplored, though
it was unavoidable; but those who resisted the change should
remember that in our institutions there was no middle ground for the
negro race between slavery and equal citizenship. There can be no
permanent disfranchised peasantry in the United States. Freedom can
never yield its fullness of blessing as long as law or its
administration places the smallest obstacle in the pathway of any
virtuous citizenship.
“The emancipated race has already made remarkable progress. With
unquestionable devotion to the Union, with a patience and gentleness
not born of fear, ‘they have followed the light as God gave them to
see the light.’
“They are rapidly laying the material foundation for self-support,
widening their circle of intelligence, and beginning to enjoy the
blessings that gather around the homes of the industrious poor. They
deserve the generous encouragement of all good men.
“So far as my authority can lawfully extend, they shall enjoy full
and equal protection of the Constitution and laws. The free
enjoyment of equal suffrage is still in question, and a frank
statement of the issue may aid its solution.
“It is alleged that in many communities negro citizens are
practically denied freedom of the ballot. In so far as the truth of
this allegation is admitted, it is answered that in many places
honest local government is impossible if the mass of uneducated
negroes are allowed to vote. These are grave allegations.
“So far as the latter is true, it is no palliation that can be
offered for opposing the freedom of the ballot. Bad local government
is certainly a great evil which ought to be prevented, but to
violate the freedom and sanctity of suffrage is more than an evil,
it is a crime, which, if persisted in, will destroy the Government
itself. Suicide is not a remedy.
“If in other lands it be high treason to compass the death of a
king, it should be counted no less a crime here to strangle our
sovereign power and stifle its voice. It has been said that
unsettled questions have no pity for the repose of nations. It
should be said, with the utmost emphasis, that this question of
suffrage will never give repose or safety to the States or to the
Nation, until each, within its own jurisdiction, makes and keeps the
ballot free and pure by strong sanctions of law.
“But the danger which arises from ignorance in voters can not be
denied. It covers a field far wider than that of negro suffrage and
the present condition of that race. It is a danger that lurks and
hides in the sources and fountains of power in every State. We have
no standard by which to measure the disaster that may be brought
upon us by ignorance and vice in citizens when joined to corruption
and fraud in suffrage. The voters of the Union, who make and unmake
constitutions, and upon whose will hangs the destiny of our
government, can transmit their supreme authority to no successor
save the coming generation of voters, who are the sole heirs of
sovereign power. If that generation comes to its inheritance blinded
by ignorance and corrupted by vice, the fall of the Republic will be
certain and remediless. The census has already sounded the alarm in
appalling figures, which mark how dangerously high the tide of
illiteracy has arisen among our voters and their children. To the
South the question is of supreme importance, but the responsibility
for its existence and for slavery does not rest upon the South
alone.
“The Nation itself is responsible for the extension of suffrage, and
is under special obligations to aid in removing the illiteracy which
it has added to the voting population. For North and South alike
there is but one remedy: All the Constitutional power of the Nation
and of the States, and all the volunteer forces of the people,
should be summoned to meet this danger by the saving influence of
universal education. It is the high privilege and sacred duty of
those now living to educate their successors, and fit them, by
intelligence and virtue, for the inheritance which awaits them. In
this beneficent work section and race should be forgotten, and
partisanship should be unknown. Let our people find a new meaning in
the divine oracle which declares that ‘a little child shall lead
them,’ for our little children will soon control the destinies of
the Republic.
“My countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment concerning the
controversies of the past generations, and fifty years hence our
children will not be divided in their opinions concerning our
controversies; they will surely bless their fathers—and their
fathers’ God—that the Union was preserved; that slavery was
overthrown, and that both races were made equal before the law. We
may hasten on, we may retard, but we can not prevent the final
reconciliation.
“Is it not possible for us now to make a truce with time by
anticipating and accepting its inevitable verdict? Enterprises of
the highest importance to our moral and material well-being invite
us, and offer ample scope for the enjoyment of our best powers.
“Let all our people, leaving behind them the battle-fields of dead
issues, move forward, and in the strength of liberty and restored
union win the grandest victories of peace. The prosperity which now
prevails is without parallel in our history. Fruitful seasons have
done much to secure it, but they have not done all.
“The preservation of public credit and the resumption of specie
payments, so successfully obtained by the administration of my
predecessors, have enabled our people to secure the blessings which
the seasons brought.
“By the experience of commercial relations in all ages it has been
found that gold and silver afforded the only safe foundation for a
monetary system. Confusion has recently been created by variations
in the relative value of the two metals; but I confidently believe
that arrangements can be made between the leading commercial nations
which will secure the general use of both metals. Congress should
provide that the compulsory coinage of silver, now required by law,
may not disturb our monetary system by driving either metal out of
circulation.
“If possible, such adjustment should be made that the purchasing
power of every coined dollar will be exactly equal to its
debt-paying power in all the markets of the world. The chief duty of
a National Government, in connection with the currency of the
country, is to coin and declare its value. Grave doubts have been
entertained whether Congress is authorized by the Constitution to
make any form of paper money legal-tender.
“The present issue of United States notes has been sustained by the
necessities of war; but such paper should depend for its value and
currency upon its convenience in use and its prompt redemption in
coin at the will of the holder, and not upon its compulsory
circulation. These notes are not money, but promises to pay money.
If the holders demand it, the promises should be kept. The refunding
of the National debt at a low rate of interest should be
accomplished without compelling the withdrawal of National bank
notes, and thus disturbing the business of the country.
“I venture to refer to the position I have occupied on the financial
question during a long service in Congress, and to say that time and
experience have strengthened the opinions I have so often expressed
on these subjects. The finances of the Government shall suffer no
detriment which it may be possible for my administration to prevent.
“The interests of agriculture deserve more attention from the
Government than they have yet received. The farms of the United
States afford homes and employment for more than one-half of our
people, and furnish much the largest part of all our exports. As the
Government lights our coasts for the protection of the mariners and
the benefit of our commerce, so it should give to the tillers of the
soil the lights of practical science and experience.
“Our manufacturers are rapidly making us industrially independent,
and are opening to capital and labor new and profitable fields of
employment. This steady and healthy growth should still be
maintained. Our facilities for transportation should be promoted by
the continued improvement of our harbors and the great interior
water-ways and by the increase of our tonnage on the ocean.
“The development of the world’s commerce has led to an urgent demand
for a shortening of the great sea voyage around Cape Horn by
constructing ship-canals or railways across the Isthmus which unites
the two continents. Various plans to this end have been suggested
and will need consideration, but none of them have been sufficiently
matured to warrant the United States in extending pecuniary aid.
“The subject is one which will immediately engage the attention of
the Government with a view to a thorough protection of American
interests. We will argue no narrow policy, nor seek peculiar or
exclusive privileges in any commercial route; but, in the language
of my predecessors, I believe it to be ‘the right and duty of the
United States to assert and maintain such supervision and authority
over any inter-oceanic canal across the Isthmus that connects North
and South America as will protect our National interests.’
“The Constitution guarantees absolute religious freedom. Congress is
prohibited from making any laws respecting the establishment of
religion or prohibiting free exercise thereof.
“The Territories of the United States are subject to the direct
legislative authority of Congress, and hence the General Government
is responsible for any violation of the Constitution in any of them.
It is, therefore, a reproach to the Government that in the most
populous of the Territories this constitutional guarantee is not
enjoyed by the people, and the authority of Congress is set at
naught. The Mormon Church not only offends the moral sense of
mankind by sanctioning polygamy, but prevents the administration of
justice through the ordinary instrumentalities of the law.
“In my judgment it is the duty of Congress, while respecting to the
utmost the conscientious convictions and religious scruples of every
citizen, to prohibit within its jurisdiction all criminal practices,
especially of that class which destroy family relations and endanger
social order. Nor can any ecclesiastical organization be safely
permitted to usurp in the smallest degree the functions and powers
of the National Government.
“The Civil Service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis until
it is regulated by law, for the good of the service itself. For the
protection of those who are intrusted with the appointing power
against a waste of time and obstruction of public business, caused
by the inordinate pressure for place, and for the protection of
incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall, at the proper time,
ask Congress to fix the tenure of minor offices of the several
Executive Departments, and prescribe the grounds upon which removals
shall be made during the terms for which the incumbents have been
appointed.
“Finally, acting always within the authority and limitations of the
Constitution, invading neither the rights of States nor the reserved
rights of the people, it will be the purpose of my administration to
maintain the authority, and in all places within its jurisdiction,
to enforce obedience to all laws of the Union; in the interests of
the people, to demand rigid economy in all the expenditures of the
Government, and to require honest and faithful service of all
executive officers, remembering that offices were created not for
the benefit of the incumbents or their supporters, but for the
service of the Government.
“And now, fellow-citizens, I am about to assume the great trust
which you have committed to my hands. I appeal to you for that
earnest and thoughtful support which makes this Government in fact,
as it is in law, a government of the people. I shall greatly rely
upon the wisdom and patriotism of Congress and of those who may
share with me the responsibilities and duties of the administration,
and upon our efforts to promote the welfare of this great people and
their Government I reverently invoke the support and blessing of
Almighty God.”
[Illustration: JAMES G. BLAINE.]
The address was delivered in a deliberate, forcible manner. The
President’s appearance was dignified, and even imposing. That splendid
voice, with its magnetic power and fine tone, captivated his admiring
audience, who listened patiently throughout the entire thirty-five
minutes. At its close Garfield turned toward the Chief Justice who
advanced and administered the oath of office, the Clerk of the Supreme
Court holding a beautifully-bound Bible, upon which the oath was taken.
Then occurred as impressive an episode as was ever seen in official
life. After the new President had been congratulated by ex-President
Hayes and Chief Justice Waite, who stood next to him, he turned around,
took his aged mother by the hand and kissed her. The old lady’s cup of
happiness at this moment seemed full and running over. It is quite safe
to say that nobody, not even Garfield himself, felt more enjoyment at
the spectacle of his elevation than this woman whose mind ranged from
the days of his obscure and poverty-stricken boyhood to his present
elevation, and nobody witnessed the sight but rejoiced at her happiness.
Mrs. Eliza Garfield is the first example of a President’s mother having
a home in the White House. And it was a pleasure to the people to know
that special arrangements had been made there for her accommodation.
Garfield next kissed his wife, then shook hands with Mrs. Hayes, and
speedily found the grasp of his hand sought by every body within reach,
from Vice-President down through Congressmen to the unknown strangers
who could manage to push within reaching distance.
[Illustration: WILLIAM WINDOM.]
Meanwhile the elements had begun to modify their rigors. The bright
sunlight breaking through the clouds, was reflected from the snow, and
nature seemed less cheerless. At last, the Presidential party, jostled a
good deal on the way, returned through the rotunda to the Senate wing of
the Capitol, and prepared for the ride to the White House. Taking their
place near the head of the procession, they passed up to the other end
of the Avenue, receiving on the way the applause of the multitude.
President Garfield and party then took position on a stand erected for
the purpose in front of a building near the Avenue, and from this point
reviewed the procession, which filed past for two full hours. There were
over 15,000 men in line, and the whole number of spectators was
doubtless over 100,000.
Immediately after review of the procession, President Garfield received
the Williams College Association, of Washington, with visiting Alumni to
the number of fifty, in the East Room of the Executive Mansion. Rev.
Mark Hopkins, ex-president of the college, eloquently presented the
congratulations of the Alumni. President Garfield made an appropriate
response, in which he exhibited considerable emotion. Afterward the
Alumni were presented to the mother and wife of the President. Twenty
members of President Garfield’s class were among the Alumni present.
[Illustration: ROBERT T. LINCOLN.]
The festivities of March fourth ended at night with a magnificent
display of fireworks, a great inaugural ball in the Museum building, and
numerous receptions at the houses of the most distinguished residents at
the Capital.
On the fifth of March, President Garfield sent to the Senate, then in
extra session, a list of nominations for his Cabinet. These were
unanimously confirmed. They were: Secretary of State, James G. Blaine,
of Maine; Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom, of Minnesota;
Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois; Secretary of the Navy,
Wm. H. Hunt, of Louisiana; Secretary of the Interior, S. J. Kirkwood, of
Iowa; Attorney-General, Wayne MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania;
Postmaster-General, Thomas L. James, of New York.
This proved an admirable selection. Its components are men who stand
well with the country, and whose services in other positions had given
sufficient evidence of honesty and capacity to recommend them to the
American people. And it involved no antagonistic elements.
[Illustration: WILLIAM H. HUNT.]
Again, this new Cabinet did not take its bias from any strong political
element. It was not a Grant-Conkling selection; nor even a Blaine
Cabinet. It was a Garfield Cabinet, in which the President was
unmistakably the central figure and the center of power.
James G. Blaine, Secretary of State, was leader of the group. His
prominent position in his party and before the country made his
nomination generally acceptable, and his long and intimate acquaintance
with affairs of state gave him the requisite experience. Undoubtedly,
Blaine is one of the most magnificently endowed men, in intellectual
power, now in public life.
Secretary Windom had a difficult place to fill in following John Sherman
as Secretary of the Treasury. Sherman had heartily recommended Windom
for the place, and he was probably the best choice that could have been
made. He had been an anti-third term man, of course, but was very
friendly with such Stalwarts as Conkling and Arthur, and was thus a good
factor in an administration which did not want to antagonize these men,
although not yielding to them.
The nomination of Robert T. Lincoln was very largely the result of
sentiment—but a very good sentiment. He had been a respectable lawyer,
who attended carefully to his business, and, under trying circumstances,
had conducted himself with discretion. It happened that he was a
favorite of Senator Logan, and that President Garfield desired to make
his Cabinet agreeable to the Senator; also, that young Lincoln had been,
according to his opportunities, a Third-termer, and it was the desire of
the President to conciliate the Third-termers, so far as it could be
done without giving his policy an unwarranted slant; and it happened
also that General Garfield, as we have seen from his addresses years
previous to this time, held the memory of Abraham Lincoln in the deepest
reverence, and felt a solicitude to make his own elevation to the
Presidency honor that memory. Under these circumstances, and from these
considerations, the appointment of Mr. Robert T. Lincoln to be Secretary
of War came naturally about.
[Illustration: DR. D. HAYES AGNEW.]
Hunt was appointed to represent the South.
Kirkwood was a man whom Garfield had long held in high esteem, and was
familiar with public business.
Wayne MacVeagh, though brother-in-law to Don Cameron, did not belong to
the Cameron political clan. He was chosen as a Republican of independent
proclivities, and a lawyer of whose ability there could be no question.
[Illustration: WAYNE MACVEAGH.]
Mr. James, Postmaster of New York City, was appointed Postmaster-General
for purely business reasons, and because he was not only believed to be
the best man for the place, but was one of the few first-class public
men in New York not fully committed to one or the other of the personal
or political factions of Republicans in that State.
Thus Garfield tried, and with a degree of success, to appoint a Cabinet
which should not give any one cause for organizing an opposition to the
Administration. He certainly had the good will of all Republicans, and
even his political enemies conceded that he started out under bright
auspices. The country itself was prosperous, and the most far-sighted
men joined the unreflecting multitude in predictions of a happy,
uneventful administration of four years, under the peaceful rule of a
popular President.
[Illustration: THOMAS L. JAMES.]
Four days after his inauguration, a company of fifty ladies, members of
the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, called at the White
House to present a portrait of Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes, just completed by
Mr. Huntington. It will be remembered that Mrs. Hayes had won the
approval of many good people by declining to put wine on the table at
the White House. These ladies now desired to impress on the new
incumbents the desirability of continuing that policy. In responding to
the presentation speech, President Garfield received the portrait, and
referred to the temperance question thus:
“Nothing I can say will be equal to my high appreciation of the
character of the lady whose picture is now added to the treasures of
this place. She is noble, the friend of all good people. Her
portrait will take, and I hope will always hold in this house, an
honored place. I have observed the significance which you have given
to this portrait from the stand-point you occupy, and in connection
with the work in which you are engaged. First, I approve most
heartily what you have said in reference to the freedom of
individual judgment and action, symbolized in this portrait. There
are several sovereignties in this country. First, the sovereignty of
the American people, then the sovereignty nearest to us all—the
sovereignty of the family—the absolute right of each family to
control its affairs in accordance with the conscience and
convictions of duty of the heads of the family. In the picture
before us that is bravely symbolized. I have no doubt the American
people will always tenderly regard their household sovereignty, and
however households may differ in their views and convictions, I
believe that those differences will be respected. Each household, by
following its own convictions, and holding itself responsible to
God, will, I think, be respected by the American people. What you
have said concerning the evils of intemperance, meets my most hearty
concurrence. I have been, in my way, and in accordance with my own
convictions, an earnest advocate of temperance, not in so narrow a
sense as some, but in a very definite and practical sense. These
convictions are deep, and will be maintained. Whether I shall be
able to meet the views of all people in regard to all the phases of
that question remains to be seen, but I shall do what I can to abate
the great evils of intemperance. I shall be glad to have the picture
upon these walls; I shall be glad to remember your kind expressions
to me and my family; and in your efforts to better mankind by your
work, I hope you will be guided by wisdom and that you will achieve
a worthy success.”
President Hayes had left the new administration a heritage of hatred
from the stalwart element of the Republican party. It was President
Garfield’s chief wish, politically, to heal up the chasm which the past
had opened, and not to recognize one faction more than another.
Notwithstanding these purposes, the deadly breach which had yawned apart
during the Hayes administration, was an ominous thing. The defeat of the
Stalwarts at Chicago, by Garfield, naturally tended to transfer their
hostility from the outgoing to the incoming President. For months before
the inauguration, the embarrassment which threatened Garfield was
foreseen by the country. On the one hand were the men who had nominated
him in the Chicago Convention,—men who, risking every political
prospect, rebelled from the command of their leaders, such as Conkling,
Cameron, and Logan, and defeated Grant. To such, Garfield owed his
nomination. On the other hand was the stalwart element, still bruised
and sore from the defeat at Chicago. Yet they had entered heartily into
the campaign. They had swallowed their chagrin, and outwardly, if not
inwardly, submitted with good grace to their defeat, and wheeled into
line of battle for the fall election. To these men, Garfield was largely
indebted for his election. In his administration, how could he recognize
either one of these elements without arousing the antagonism of the
other? This was the riddle which he must solve.
The breach between the two was as deadly as ever. The Cabinet was a
compromise, but the Grant men were afraid of it, with Blaine so near the
throne.
For a few days after the inauguration, the surface of the sea was
tolerably smooth; but acute political mariners prophesied rough weather.
The two wings of the party in New York were waiting to fly at each
other’s throats at the first opportunity. The balance of power between
the two elements was the official patronage of the President. Into whose
lap the plum was thrown, to that wing belonged the ascendancy.
Senator Conkling’s chief political purpose was to chastise the men who
had deserted his standard at Chicago. This he could best accomplish by
controlling the Federal patronage himself; but failing in that, his next
object was to cause the patronage to be distributed to neutrals, thereby
preventing it from becoming an element at all in the fight.
Senators Conkling, Logan, and Cameron, as well as Sherman and Blaine,
were visitors at the White House, and left in pleasant humor. In the
eyes of the country it seemed plain that Conkling had made the
disposition of the New York patronage the price of his friendship to the
new administration. Every body was on tiptoe to see what the President
would do. On March 22d, he sent to the Senate, for confirmation, the
names of Stewart L. Woodford, to be United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, and Asa W. Tenney, for the Eastern
District; Lewis F. Payne, to be United States Marshal, for the Southern,
and Clinton D. McDougall, for the Northern District of New York, and
John Tyler, to be Collector of Customs at Buffalo.
This move was interpreted by the country to mean a great victory for
Conkling, and that the New York patronage was controlled by him. Other
nominations, in Conkling’s supposed interest, were those of James in the
Cabinet, and Morton, Minister to France.
But on the following day, President Garfield nominated, for Collector of
the port of New York, William H. Robertson. In New York, and more or
less throughout the country, this was a great surprise. But it was not
an objectionable nomination. Then it was Robertson who headed the break
in the New York delegation at Chicago. He had risked much; he had been
very largely instrumental in nominating Garfield. Gratitude is a noble
quality of human nature, and the President was a man of generous motives
and impulses. The general expression from the country upon the Robertson
nomination was one of approval. To disinterested people, far away from
the heat and dust of the battle, it was, coupled with the nominations of
the preceding day, plainly a declaration of an intention to recognize
each branch of the party in New York. Weaker men would have recognized
neither, giving the offices to neutrals, and pleasing nobody. Mere
partisan men would have recognized one faction only. Garfield tried to
recognize both. A deeper significance also lay in the Robertson
nomination. Whether Garfield meant it or not, it was, in a sense, a
declaration of independence. Garfield, with his lion-like courage, his
intellectual powers, his moral greatness, could not, in fact or in
appearance, allow his administration to be manipulated by outside
influence. It was said that Mr. Blaine was the author of the Robertson
nomination; that it was his revenge on Conkling. Garfield said
repeatedly, even on the bed of pain, that it was his own in every sense,
and that Blaine had not known that it was intended to be made.
Whatever President Garfield intended by the nomination of Robertson,
Senator Conkling treated it as a declaration of war. In their views of
what followed, men will differ. It is not for these pages, penned so
soon in the darkness of an awful assassination, to do more than relate
the facts, though it is impossible for a biographer of the dead to do
other than sympathize with him. Senator Conkling said that Hayes had
never done a thing so terrible. He said that the nomination of
Robertson, the most objectionable man possible—without consultation with
the Senators from New York, or without their being informed of the
intention to make a change in the most important office in the State,
was a grievous personal and political wrong. He said that the long
dispute as to whether a small faction of New York Republicans, or
four-fifths of the party in the State, as represented by him, were to be
treated by the Administration as the Republican party of New York, had
at last to be settled finally and forever.
The situation was one of intense interest. Popular opinion supported the
President, though not a few took the side of Conkling. The latter,
together with Platt, the junior Yew York Senator, resolved to fight the
confirmation of Robertson. They believed that, with the Senate evenly
balanced, they could, with the help of the Democrats, prevent
Robertson’s confirmation. It was a battle of giants. Men wondered
whether, when war was declared, Garfield would strike back or not. The
Stalwarts offered only one way of compromise—the withdrawal of
Robertson’s nomination. But the President was firm. Efforts were made to
induce Robertson to ask the President to withdraw his name in the
interest of harmony. But he scouted the idea. The State Senate of New
York, of which Robertson was the presiding officer, passed a resolution
in support of the Administration. On behalf of the President’s action it
was claimed, that it was his constitutional right to nominate; that the
New York Senators overstepped their prerogative in attacking his action;
that the office of Collector of the Port was a national office, and not
rightfully a part of the local patronage; that the Executive should
select the man through whose hands passed nine-tenths of the tariff
revenues of the country.
There had been a dead-lock of the Senate over the nomination of its
officers, and this still continued, and the President was, in
consequence, embarrassed by the failure to act on any of his
nominations. It began to be thought that this delay, covered by the
pretense of securing Mahone, of Virginia, to the Republicans, was really
a scheme to prevent any action on the President’s nominations.
Meanwhile, the administration had to deal with problems more important
to the country than the Robertson nomination. Two hundred millions of
six per cent. bonds were shortly to become redeemable. It was every way
desirable that the bonds should be redeemed and the rate of interest on
the public debt reduced. To issue bonds under the existing laws, in
order to raise money to redeem the six per cents., would require the new
bonds to be issued at four per cent. for thirty years, or four and a
half per cent. for twenty years. These rates of interest were too high,
and the time for the bonds to run too long. In case the Government
acquired the means to pay them off before they were due, still the
interest would keep running. There were grave objections to calling an
extra session of Congress. Garfield and the country were afraid of the
unsettling influence of our national legislature. Early in his
Congressional career, Garfield had said, “if the laws of God were as
vacillating as the laws of this country, the universe would be reduced
to chaos in a single day.” Above all things, the business of the country
demanded a rest from congressional tinkering.
When powerful, and it was thought overwhelming influences pressed upon
President Garfield the policy of an extra session of Congress, he sent
to the Secretary of the Treasury a call for full information as to the
powers he had under existing laws. It was a wise conclusion that it
might be easier to hunt up old laws than to have new ones made. Whatever
the old laws permitted was certain, but a fresh Congress is uncertain,
especially on finance.
The Secretary found that there was no law to prevent the Government from
using its credit and business foresight in handling and refunding its
indebtedness. The plan which President Garfield and Secretary Windom
evolved was absolutely original and proved to be the highest
statesmanship. Garfield was at home on questions of finance.
A circular was issued to the holders of the six per cents., saying that
after the following July 1st, interest would cease, and the bonds be
redeemed as fast as presented. If, however, the holders preferred to
retain the bonds, and receive three and a half per cent., at the
pleasure of the Government, they could do so.
As the event showed, hardly any bonds were presented for redemption. And
without any legislation the interest on that portion of the public debt
was reduced from six to three and a half per cent., and all that without
the expense of a new issue of bonds, or the disadvantage of a debt not
maturing till long after the Government would probably be ready to pay
it. This financial feat attracted the attention of European States, and
was pronounced one of the most masterly financial schemes of history.
While the Senate was still at a dead-lock over the offices of Secretary
and Sergeant-at-Arms, and the Robertson quarrel grew blacker and
blacker, President Garfield and his cabinet found time to commence an
investigation of the alleged gigantic frauds in the post-office
department. It promised to engulf and destroy some of the best workers
of the Republican party, but the President, in spite of terrific
pressure, and in spite of the battle raging over the Robertson matter,
set his face like brass against all corruption. The Star Route
contracts, though they may not fall within reach of the law, were of the
following character: In lonely mountain districts of the West, where a
mail for miners’ camps would be needed about once in two weeks, a
contract would be let for carrying the mail at say $500 a trip, making
the cost for the line for the year about $13,000. Then, under pretense
of the need of more mails on account of the development of the West,
Congress would be induced to order a daily instead of a biweekly mail.
By this “expediting,” the contractor was enabled, under the old rate of
$500 per trip, to make $150,000 a year out of the line. Many times the
mail bags in these “expedited” routes are said to have been empty as
they were carried through the mountains. Postmaster-General James and
Attorney-General MacVeagh were the principal prosecutors of the
investigation.
Meanwhile, the storm raged with ever-growing fierceness around the
President. The Republican Senatorial caucus sent committee after
committee to him to induce the withdrawal of Robertson’s name. He was
subjected to every possible pressure and influence, but Grant himself
never held a position with greater firmness. Conkling, however, proposed
and carried through the Republican caucus the following plan, by which
the dead-lock was to be broken temporarily, allowing the Senate to go
into executive session: _All nominations that were not opposed by one
Senator from the nominee’s State were first to be acted upon._ The rest
could take care of themselves. This admitted about every one except
Robertson to the consideration of the Senate. The plan was popularly
supposed to mean the confirmation of all unopposed nominations,
including those of Senator Conkling’s friends, and then either an
adjournment _sine die_, or a breaking of the quorum, by absentees, so as
to prevent any action on Robertson’s name till December. This would be a
victory for the New York Senator.
But the President, though possessing too much self-respect to make this
a personal controversy, was yet brave and strategic. Shortly after the
Senate went into executive session, the President’s private secretary
arrived with a message which fell like a thunderbolt on that body. The
message withdrew the nominations of Senator Conkling’s friends. It was a
checkmate. The plan of the caucus was foiled. President Garfield
assigned as his reason simply that the discrimination which was
attempted, in acting on all the nominations from the Stalwart element
and refusing to act on the solitary representative of the opposite
element, was wrong and unfair. He said that the President’s duty was to
nominate, and that the Senate’s sworn duty was to _confirm_ or _reject_.
To refuse to do either was surpassing their prerogative. To show how
consistent the President was in this struggle, with views held long
years before he ever thought of the Presidency, we insert an extract
from an article by him on “A Century of Congress,” in the _Atlantic
Monthly_, for July, 1877:
CONGRESS AND THE EXECUTIVE.
“In the main, the balance of powers so admirably adjusted and
distributed among the three great departments of the Government have
been safely preserved. It was the purpose of our fathers to lodge
absolute power nowhere; to leave each department independent within
its own sphere, yet, in every case, responsible for the exercise of
its discretion. But some dangerous innovations have been made.
“And first, the appointing power of the President has been seriously
encroached upon by Congress, or rather by the members of Congress.
Curiously enough, this encroachment originated in the act of the
Chief Executive himself. The fierce popular hatred of the Federal
party, which resulted in the elevation of Jefferson to the
Presidency, led that officer to set the first example of removing
men from office on account of political opinions. For political
causes alone he removed a considerable number of officers who had
recently been appointed by President Adams, and thus set the
pernicious example. His immediate successors made only a few
removals for political reasons. But Jackson made his political
opponents who were in office feel the full weight of his executive
hand. From that time forward the civil offices of the Government
became the prizes for which political parties strove; and,
twenty-five years ago, the corrupting doctrine that ‘to the victors
belong the spoils’ was shamelessly announced as an article of
political faith and practice. It is hardly possible to state with
adequate force the noxious influence of this doctrine. It was bad
enough when the Federal officers numbered no more than eight or ten
thousand; but now, when the growth of the country and the great
increase in the number of public offices occasioned by the late war,
have swelled the civil list to more than eighty thousand, and to the
ordinary motives for political strife this vast patronage is offered
as a reward to the victorious party, the magnitude of the evil can
hardly be measured. The public mind has, by degrees, drifted into an
acceptance of this doctrine; and thus an election has become a
fierce, selfish struggle between the ‘ins’ and the ‘outs,’ the one
striving to keep and the other to gain the prize of office. It is
not possible for any President to select, with any degree of
intelligence, so vast an army of office-holders without the aid of
men who are acquainted with the people of the various sections of
the country. And thus it has become the habit of Presidents to make
most of their appointments on the recommendation of members of
Congress. During the last twenty-five years, it has been understood,
by the Congress and the people, that offices are to be obtained by
the aid of Senators and Representatives, who thus become the
dispensers, sometimes the brokers, of patronage. The members of
State legislatures who choose a senator, and the district electors
who choose a representative, look to the man of their choice for
appointments to office. Thus, from the President downward, through
all the grades of official authority, to the electors themselves,
civil office becomes a vast corrupting power, to be used in running
the machine of party politics.
“This evil has been greatly aggravated by the passage of the Tenure
of Office Act, of 1867, whose object was to restrain President
Johnson from making removals for political cause. But it has
virtually resulted in the usurpation, by the Senate, of a large
share of the appointing power. The President can remove no officer
without the consent of the Senate; and such consent is not often
given, unless the appointment of the successor nominated to fill the
proposed vacancy is agreeable to the Senator in whose State the
appointee resides. Thus it has happened that a policy inaugurated by
an early President has resulted in seriously crippling the just
powers of the Executive, and has placed in the hands of Senators and
Representatives a power most corrupting and dangerous.
“Not the least serious evil resulting from this invasion of the
Executive functions by members of Congress is the fact that it
greatly impairs their own usefulness as legislators. One-third of
the working hours of Senators and Representatives is hardly
sufficient to meet the demands made upon them in reference to
appointments to office. To sum up in a word: the present system
invades the independence of the Executive, and makes him less
responsible for the character of his appointments; it impairs the
efficiency of the legislator by diverting him from his proper sphere
of duty and involving him in the intrigues of aspirants for office;
it degrades the civil service itself by destroying the personal
independence of those who are appointed; it repels from the service
those high and manly qualities which are so necessary to a pure and
efficient administration; and, finally, it debauches the public mind
by holding up public office as the reward of mere party zeal.
“To reform this service is one of the highest and most imperative
duties of statesmanship. This reform can not be accomplished without
a complete divorce between Congress and the Executive in the matter
of appointments. It will be a proud day when an Administration
Senator or Representative, who is in good standing in his party, can
say, as Thomas Hughes said, during his recent visit to this country,
that though he was on the most intimate terms with the members of
his own administration, yet it was not in his power to secure the
removal of the humblest clerk in the civil service of his
government.”
It is easy to see the principle which lay behind the nomination of
Robertson independently of the New York Senators, and the demand that it
should be acted upon by the Senate. It is idle to say that Mr. Blaine or
any other man made the President his tool. President Garfield’s policy
was the logical outgrowth of his opinions, and it was he who, opinions
and all, was elected by the people.
The withdrawal of the other nominations, it was conceded, defeated the
New York Senators. The country watched the situation with interest, if
not anxiety. The next move of Conkling was anxiously expected. It came.
On May 16, 1881, Vice-President Arthur handed the Reading Clerk a little
sheet of note-paper containing these words:
WASHINGTON, May 16, 1881.
_Sir_: Will you please announce to the Senate that my resignation as
Senator of the United States from the State of New York has been
forwarded to the Governor of the State.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,
ROSCOE CONKLING.
To Hon. C. A. ARTHUR.
He read it in the monotonous sing-song, uninflected way of which he is
master, but before he had finished all eyes were upon him, and all ears
were opened to receive the announcement. Astonishment sat on every face.
Each man looked to his neighbor in questioning wonder. A murmur of
surprised comment crept around the chamber. Then some incredulous
Senators demanded a second reading of the momentous missive. Once more
the clerk chanted its contents, while the incredulous ones, convinced
against their will, drank in the simple statement of the startling fact.
Then the Vice-President handed the clerk another note of like tenor,
running thus:
SENATE CHAMBER, May 16, 1881.
_Sir_: I have forwarded to the Governor of the State of New York my
resignation as Senator of the United States for the State of New
York. Will you please announce the fact to the Senate?
With great respect, your obedient servant,
T. C. PLATT.
To Hon. C. A. ARTHUR.
This was read amid the increasing hum of astonishment in the galleries
and on the floor. Mr. Hill, of Georgia, had the cruelty to suggest that
the officers ought now to be elected. Then Mr. Burnside, endeavoring
very hard to look as though nothing unusual had occurred, rose nervously
and presented the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, recommending
the adoption of the Morgan-Monroe Doctrine resolution, which he gave
notice he would call up to-morrow. His carefully prepared report was
read, but nobody paid the slightest attention to it. All were absorbed
in the consideration of the step taken by Conkling, its meaning, and its
probable effect.
Three days after, William H. Robertson was confirmed Collector of the
Port of New York, with scarcely a dissenting voice.
No more exciting and stormy experience ever fell to the lot of any
Administration than that which marked the first seventy-five days of
Garfield’s. The first days in the Presidential chair are full enough of
embarrassment without a tremendous struggle with a powerful element of
the incumbent’s own party. A new President feels that fifty millions of
people are watching him critically. From the privacy of the citizen’s
life, the new President passes into the most glaring sunlight. He is
surrounded by hundreds of detectives and spies, and subjected to the
most impudent scrutiny. Things which all his life have been sacredly
private, the sweet affections of the fireside, care for parents, anxious
consultations with the wife, training of the children, all suddenly
become public property. The number of coats he wears, the size of his
hat, the purchase of a new pair of gloves, the dresses of his wife, a
walk or drive, attendance at church, all these things are spread before
the eyes of the world in the most exaggerated and distorted form.
If a member of the Cabinet calls and remains in private consultation for
two hours, the President is said to be the cat’s-paw of secretary
so-and-so. If the same secretary calls again and remains but five
minutes, it is reported that a disagreement has occurred, and the said
secretary’s resignation will be demanded. If the President, worn out and
disgusted with the besetments of office-seekers and the malignant
attacks on his character, slips away from the cares of State for a day
or two, he is said not to be earning his salary. If he does not take up
with every whispered scandal, and call upon Congress for a committee of
investigation, he is openly charged with corruption and a disposition to
cover up frauds. If, on the other hand, he does ask for an
investigation, he is said to be using his official power to injure his
enemies. The strain, the worry, the insults, the outrages, the scrutiny,
the misconstruction, which a new President has to undergo are enough for
one human heart to bear. Add to this such an unparalleled battle as that
into which Garfield was forced almost from his inauguration day, and one
would think the burden hard to increase.
But this was not all he had to endure. In the midst of the storm, his
wife, from whom he had so long drawn consolation and support, was
stricken down with the most malignant form of typhoid fever. Dr.
Boynton, her home physician, was hastily summoned from Ohio. But the
sufferer grew worse. This was a calamity which no courage, no calm
conservatism, no intellectual resources, no popular support, could
remedy. Up to this time the President had kept heart bravely, but the
mighty shadow which seemed about to darken his life forever, was too
much for his great, loving soul. Hurrying away from the crowded office
of State, he sought the sufferer, sat by her side hour after hour,
denying himself necessary sleep, and nursed her with the most devoted
care. Every day the papers told of the critical condition of the
President’s wife, and it seemed that her death was an assured and
grievous calamity. The people’s hearts swelled with sympathy for the
suffering husband. Day after day the story of his silent watching at the
bedside of the wife brought tears unbidden to the eye. But the calamity
which seemed impending was turned aside. On the 20th of May, Dr. Boynton
announced a slight change for the better, which proved permanent. Days
and weeks were required before Mrs. Garfield could leave her bed, but
the shadow gradually lifted.
On the same day that her improvement was announced, the Senate of the
United States adjourned. The President had sustained himself. No man
ever stood higher in the hearts of the people. After his victory, he had
returned to the Senate all but one of the nominations of Mr. Conkling’s
friends, which had been withdrawn in order to force action one way or
the other upon Robertson’s name. As for Senators Conkling and Platt,
after their resignations, they presented themselves to the New York
Legislature, then in session, as candidates for reëlection. The story of
the memorable struggle at Albany is beyond the scope of these pages.
Vice-President Arthur, being so closely attached to Conkling, was, of
course, completely out of harmony with the administration. He was
attached, heartily and honestly, to the other side. At one time he said
he would resign the Vice-Presidency if he thought it would benefit Mr.
Conkling. But the calm level of popular opinion to which President
Garfield was so fond of referring, was overwhelmingly with him. The
prospect was, for the first time, comparatively bright. As the weeks
passed, Mrs. Garfield grew steadily better. The President was wearied by
the arduous duties of the past three months, and needed a vacation. A
time or two, in early June, he took his children for an afternoon trip
to Mount Vernon. His face grew brighter and his step more elastic. As
the struggle at Albany proceeded, the Administration steadily rose in
public esteem, until the admiration of the people knew no bounds. The
President paid especial attention to his Departments. The Star Route
cases were pushed with tremendous vigor. Irregularities in the Treasury
and Naval Departments were dealt with most heroically. Altogether the
sky was clear, and men looked forward to the future with confidence.
Mrs. Garfield’s health being still precarious, the question of where to
spend the summer was carefully and thoughtfully discussed.
On the 19th of June, the President and Mrs. Garfield, accompanied by
their daughter Mollie, and their two sons, Irvin and Abram, Colonel
Rockwell and Dr. Boynton and wife, left Washington for Long Branch.
The President, with a loving husband’s care, secured pleasant rooms in a
quiet hotel for his wife, where she would get the full benefit of the
sea breezes. On the 27th of June he returned to Washington to hold a
cabinet meeting. The session was long, but characterized by great
cordiality. The whole situation was gone over, and the President and his
Cabinet separated for the summer, as they thought, with kindly hope and
a multitude of good wishes for each other. The President was to return
to Long Branch, meet his wife and family, and commence a carefully laid
out summer trip, including a visit to Williams College. The journey to
Long Branch was not taken till two months later, and the remainder of
the trip never was and never will be taken.
[Illustration: THE GARFIELD FAMILY.]