CHAPTER XLII. THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT.
When the Forty-eighth Congress met on the 3d of December, 1885, Senator Edmunds occupied the chair of the Senate as President pro tempore; Judge Davis, not having been re-elected Senator from Illinois, had vacated the chair on the last day of the preceding session. Senator Anthony, who had been elected to a fifth term, could not be sworn in as a Senator until after the commencement of that term, and was consequently ineligible. So Senator Edmunds accepted the position with the understanding that he would vacate it as soon as his friend from Rhode Island, by qualifying as a Senator, should be eligible for election.
When the Senate met, Senator Anthony was recovering from a severe illness, and it was not until the following week that he was able to appear in the Senate Chamber. He entered leaning on the arm of his colleague, Senator Aldrich, and as he took his accustomed seat, his attention was attracted by a large bouquet of flowers, bearing the name of a lady clerk who had been retained in place by his kind offices. The Senators soon crowded around him with their congratulations on his convalescence, and among the first were General Butler, of South Carolina, maimed in the Confederate cause, and General Miller, of California, who lost his right eye in the Union army at Vicksburg.
After prayers and the reading of the journal, Senator Aldrich rose, and was recognized by the Chair as the "senior Senator from Rhode Island." He announced the presence of his colleague, the Senator- elect, whose credentials had been filed, and asked that the oath of office might be administered to him. The presiding officer invited the Senator-elect to receive the oaths, and when Governor Anthony stood before him, he administered the regular oath of 1789, first taken by the parliamentary veteran in 1859, with the "iron- clad oath" that had been adopted in 1862. As the good old man stood with uplifted hand, every other member of the Senate rose, and stood until the obligation had been administered—a merited compliment to the Pater Senatus. No other man, save Thomas Hart Benton, had ever been sworn in five consecutive times as Senator.
Closing the book from which he had read the oaths, Senator Edmunds was first to shake his old friend's hand. Senator Anthony then resumed his seat, and nearly every Senator came to greet him, followed by the veteran officers of the Senate, who had always found in him a true friend. A few weeks later, Senator Edmunds resigned, and Senator Anthony was elected President pro tem., but the precarious state of his health forced him, in a speech prompted by a heart overflowing with gratitude, to decline the honor, and Senator Edmunds was recalled to the post of honor.
Senator Anthony had twice before been chosen President pro tem. of the Senate, and he had for a number of years past been the President in the caucus of Republican Senators. It is in the caucus of the dominant party that legislation is shaped, and unanimity of action in open Senate secured. Governor Anthony's tact and skill as a presiding officer had, doubtless, exercised a potent influence in harmonizing opposing views entertained by Republican Senators, and there was no Senator who could fill the chair, either in open Senate, in executive session, or in caucus, with more dignity and impartiality than he.
General McCook, an Ohio soldier, and an ex-Representative from New York city, was elected Secretary of the Senate, defeating George C. Gorham, who had been the candidate of the Republican caucus. The Republican nominee for Sergeant-at-Arms, Mr. Riddleberger, was also dropped, and Colonel Wm. P. Canaday, of North Carolina, was chosen. At the commencement of the next session, Mr. Riddleberger took his seat as a Senator from Virginia.
A Democratic tidal wave had swept over the country at the preceding fall elections, and the Democrats had a considerable majority in the House of Representatives. John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, who was elected Speaker, was a tall, well-made man, with a studious look in his eyes, and the winning manners of Henry Clay. He had a sweet voice, and his expositions of parliamentary law in the preceding sessions had elevated him to the front rank of statesmanship in the opinion of the House. His impartiality as a presiding officer was recognized by all parties, and his firmness of purpose could not be moved by corrupt intriguers or brawling sycophants. He was also fortunate in having a devoted wife, tall and graceful, whose attractive personal appearance was equaled by her well-balanced mind and her practical common sense. As Mrs. Edmunds was at that time absent from Washington, on the New Year's Day after her husband's election as Speaker Mrs. Carlisle was "the first lady in the land," and stood at President Arthur's right hand during the official reception.
Washington society was very gay during the closing year of President Arthur's Administration. The receptions to which invitations were given and those open to the public at the White House were largely attended, while there was a succession of balls, German masquerades, and receptions at the residences of diplomats, housekeeping Senators, officials, and citizens. Several entertainments were given "for charity's sake," which realized considerable sums, and the theatres also were unusually well attended.
The world-weary rejoiced when the matin chimes of Lent announced that the gay season was ended, but although gayety arrayed itself in sackcloth and sprinkled ashes broadcast, the sackcloth moved in the waltz as its wearer tripped over the ashes. There were successions of informal dancing parties, lunch parties, and card parties during the penitential forty days, and then came the post-Lenten festivities.
The giving of good dinners was, however, the distinguishing feature of Washington society during the Arthur Administration. The example was set at the White House, where, instead of dinners supplied by a caterer at two dollars a plate, with cheap wines of doubtful origin, a gastronomic artist served the delicacies of the season, cooked in the latest Parisian style, while the wines were of the rarest vintages, embodying the fervor of long Gascon summers, the warmth of Burgundian suns, and the delicate flavor of Xeres. Never had epicures so enjoyed themselves at Washington, and they rejoiced when they contrasted his dispensation with the barbaric repasts of former years, when "hog and hominy" was the principal dish, and tangle-foot whisky punch was the fashionable table beverage.
Washington City was greatly improved during President Arthur's Administration. The National Museum was completed and opened to visitors, the northern wing of the stupendous pile, the State, War, and Navy Department Building, was occupied, and that hideous architectural monstrosity, the Pension Office, was built. At the West End scores of elegant private houses were erected, varying in size from the palatial mansion built by Mr. Blaine to the rustic cabin of Joaquin Miller, and the small Queen Anne cottages, now so popular, and some of which are models of convenience and beauty. Many avenues and streets were repaved, others were planted with bordering lines of shade trees, and several of the large reservations were adorned with statues and fountains. The previously unfinished city, which Governor Shepherd had "lifted from out of the mud," became a national metropolis, in which the people of the country could take pride.
The dedication of the Washington National Monument, on the 22d of February, 1885, was a fit conclusion to President Arthur's official career. This work had been long in progress, as its record, engraved on its aluminum tip, shows. It is as follows: "Corner-stone laid on bed of foundation, July 4, 1848. First stone at height of 152 feet laid August 7, 1880. Capstone set December 6, 1884." The laying of the capstone was duly celebrated. The wind, at the top of the monument, was blowing at the rate of sixty miles an hour, and thousands of eye-glasses were pointed toward the little party on the scaffoldings at the summit. All on the upper platform, five hundred and fifty feet above the ground, spread a portion of the cement, and the capstone, weighing three thousand three hundred pounds, was lowered into place. The tip was then fitted and the work was done, which fact was duly announced by flying the flag at the top of the monument, and by the answering boom of cannon from various points below.
The day of final dedication was clear and cold, the ground around the base of the majestic shaft was covered with encrusted snow, and the keen wind that came sweeping down the Potomac made it rather uncomfortable for those who were assembled there. The regular troops and the citizen soldiery were massed in close columns around the base of the monument, the Freemasons occupied their allotted position, and in the pavilion which had been erected were the invited guests, the executive, legislative, and judicial officers; officers of the army, the navy, the marine corps, and the volunteers; the Diplomatic Corps, eminent divines, jurists, scientists, and journalists, and venerable citizens representing former generations, the Washington National Monument Society, and a few ladies who had braved the Arctic weather. After addresses had been delivered by Senator Sherman, W. W. Corcoran, and Colonel Casey, the chief engineer, President Arthur made a few well-chosen remarks, and concluded by declaring the monument dedicated from that time forth "to the immortal name and memory of George Washington." The cost of the structure has been nearly two millions of dollars, about half of which the Government has paid, the remainder having been secured by the Monument Association. After the exercises at the monument, a procession was formed headed by Lieutenant-General Sheridan, which marched along Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. The President's special escort was the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, chartered in 1638, which had come to participate in the exercises of the day. Two addresses were delivered in the House of Representatives at the Capitol—one (which was read by ex-Governor Long) by Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, who had delivered the address when the corner-stone was laid in 1848, and the other by Hon. John W. Daniel, of Virginia. In the evening the Ancient and Honorable Artillery attended a special reception at the White House, reciprocatory of courtesies extended by the corps to President Arthur, one of its honorary members.
Meanwhile there had been a Presidential campaign. The National Republican Convention met at Chicago on June 3d; on the 6th, James G. Blaine, of Maine, was nominated for President on the fourth ballot, receiving five hundred and forty-one of the eight hundred and nineteen votes cast, and General John A. Logan, of Illinois, was nominated for Vice-President without opposition. The National Democratic Convention met at Chicago on July 6th, and on the 11th Hon. Grover Cleveland, of New York, was nominated for President on the second ballot, receiving six hundred and eighty-four of the eight hundred and twenty votes cast, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, was nominated for Vice-President without opposition. The National Prohibition Convention met at Pittsburg on July 23d, and nominated for President ex-Governor St. John, of Kansas, and for Vice-President William Daniel, of Maryland. The National Greenback Convention met at Indianapolis on May 29th, and nominated for President General B. F. Butler, of Massachusetts, and for Vice- President A. M. West, of Mississippi.
The Presidential contest was disgracefully personal. The private characters of the two prominent candidates were mercilessly assailed, and political principles were apparently forgotten in the degrading desire to defame the nominees. The result turned upon the vote in the State of New York, which was very close. The shrewdest political manipulators were sent over the State to correct pretended irregularities, but it soon became evident that the Democrats had chosen the Cleveland electors by a decisive plurality. The official count showed five hundred and sixty-three thousand one hundred and fifty-four votes for Cleveland, against five hundred and sixty-two thousand and five votes for Blaine, twenty-five thousand and six votes for St. John, and seventeen thousand and four votes for Butler. The total vote in the United States was four million nine hundred and thirteen thousand two hundred and forty-seven votes for Cleveland, four million eight hundred and forty thousand eight hundred and twenty-five votes for Blaine, one hundred and fifty thousand one hundred and thirty-four votes for St. John, and one hundred and thirty-four thousand and twenty-eight votes for Butler.
[ Cleveland 563,154 in New York, 4,913,247 overall
Blaine 562,005 4,840,025
St. John 25,006 150,134
Butler 17,004 134,028 ]
President Arthur's numerous friends contemplated his departure from the White House without regret, and were confident that his Administration would present a creditable appearance on the pages of impartial history. Utility to the country had been the rule of his official life, and he attained that high standard of official excellence which prevailed in the early days of the Republic, when honesty, firmness, and patriotism were the characteristics of public men. He saw himself deserted by influential early associates because he would not avenge their political grievances, while those whom he protected ungratefully repaid him by defeating the election of his friend, Judge Folger, as Governor of the State of New York —a treacherous demonstration of partisan bigotry, which killed the Judge as certain as the assassin's bullet killed Garfield. Under President Arthur's lead, the Republican party, disorganized and disheartened when he came into power, became gradually strengthened and united before the Presidential election, in which it was very near being victorious.
President Arthur, in his desire to administer his inherited duties impartially, made himself enemies among those who should have been his friends. Before President Garfield was interred, General Grant asked that his own personal friend, General Beale, might be appointed Secretary of the Navy, and he never forgave President Arthur for not complying with his request.
The removal of Judge Robertson from the New York Custom House would doubtless have been acceptable to Roscoe Conkling, but it was not made, and the ex-Senator, after refusing the tendered appointment of a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, turned his back on his former friend. Appointments which had been promised by Mr. Blaine, when President Garfield's Secretary of State, were invariably made, although the recipients had personally abused President Arthur, yet the "Garfield Avengers," as the officious friends of the martyr President chose to style themselves, never alluded to his successor except as the man who had profited by the assassination. Slander, calumny, and falsehood were resorted to by the press to deceive the people by giving them an untrue idea of their Chief Magistrate. His private life was invaded, his social relations were violated, his most patriotic actions were sneered at, and he was made the object of obloquy and vituperation by that faction of the Republican party opposed to his policy.
I well remember with what sadness and indignation he referred to the manner in which he had been treated when I had been selected by him to write a campaign life of him, which was to have been published by his friends had he been nominated for the Presidency in 1884. There were several matters about which he had been mercilessly abused for which I found ample explanations exonerating him. One was his going to Albany in 1881, when he was Vice-President, to labor for the re-election of Messrs. Conkling and Platt. I had ascertained that he had done this in return for a visit made to Ohio during the preceding campaign by Mr. Conkling to speak in favor of the election of General Garfield. This had been on the personal solicitation of Mr. Arthur, and it would have been ungrateful for him to have declined an appeal to aid Mr. Conkling in an hour of need by a visit to Albany. When President Arthur read what I had written on this subject he said pleasantly: "That is all true, but I must ask you not to publish it." Never have I seen a public man so determined not to criminate others, even in self- justification.
During his Presidential term Mr. Arthur did what friends and fortune can do for no man, and what neither friends nor foes could take from him. "He won a fame for which he himself fought, and from which no man's censure could detract." While he was emphatically "the first gentleman in the land," giving unequaled receptions, dinners, and evening entertainments with lavish hospitality, he was, as he used to cheerily remark, "a night-bird," and his favorite enjoyment was to have two or three personal friends eat a late supper with him, and then chat with them far into the "wee sma' hours." His thorough knowledge of prominent men and politics during the preceding quarter of a century enabled him to entertain his listeners with graphic descriptions of remarkable scenes, piquant but never indelicate anecdotes, keen sketches of men and women, and interesting statements about the workings of political machinery, especially in the State of New York.
Unfortunately, President Arthur, before he left the White House, became impressed with the idea that the people had misunderstood his official conduct, and that his sacrifices of friends and of fortune in the Administration of the General Government had not been appreciated. When he was at last relieved from executive cares his robust constitution had been undermined, the ruddy look of health left his cheeks, and his stalwart form wasted away, until (as this work is passing through the press) his sad heart found its peace, and his remains were laid, without pomp, by the side of those of his beloved wife in a rural cemetery near Albany, N. Y.
An appreciative and elegant biographer of this lamented ex-President writes thus: "Flos Regum Arthur the Laureate heads the noble dedication of his Arthurian legends to the manes of Albert. Not 'flower of kings' shall history call this Arthur of ours, and yet must she accord him some attributes of his mythic namesake—a high and noble courtesy to all men, small and great; an unflinching, uncomplaining loyalty to friends who turned too often ingrate; a splendid presence, a kindly heart, a silent courage, and an even mind. These things go no small way toward the making of America's first gentleman."
[Facsimile] W.W. Corcoran WILLIAM W. CORCORAN was born at Georgetown, D. C., December 27th, 1798; he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and then in banking, becoming the Government banker during the Mexican War. Since he retried from business in 1854 he has founded and endowed the Louise Home for gentlewomen in reduced circumstances, the Corcoran Art Gallery, and the Oak Hill Cemetery, on Georgetown Heights, while he has contributed liberally to the Columbian College, the University of Virginia, the William and Mary College, and the churches and orphan asylums of Washington, besides numerous private charities.