“The genuineness of his patriotism, the integrity of his purpose, and the wisdom of his conduct, changed general distrust to universal confidence, reëstablished popular belief in the adequacy of our constitutional system in all emergencies, and restored an abiding trust in the perpetuity of our government. He himself greatly aided to make true the memorable words of his first inaugural: ‘Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions remain unshaken.’”
CHAPTER VII
FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER
CLEVELAND
March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1889
THE fourth of March, 1885, dawned fair and warm, the finest weather ever known in the history of the city of Washington on Inauguration Day. Cleveland luck had captured the weather. The city seemed to respond to the spring air, and block after block blossomed with fluttering banners, waving flags, and tri-coloured bunting. Huge lithographs of Cleveland and Hendricks were displayed in store windows, as well as from the windows of residences. The usual tribe of vendors of canes, buttons, noise-makers, and such, seemed to have multiplied their numbers until they were thick upon every block of the line of march.
The railroads and the Potomac River boats had poured into the city more than half a million people, and hotels and boarding houses overflowed their most elastic limits, while hundreds of private houses not entertaining friends and relatives responded greedily to the quadrennial opportunity to profiteer. Never before or since has there been so general a representation of all of the states as composed the military and political organizations in the parade that attended the ceremony of Mr. Cleveland’s induction into office.
Members of the Senate Committee of inaugural arrangements called on the President-elect at the Arlington Hotel in President Arthur’s carriage, and, with Mr. Cleveland, returned to the White House afterward. When the march to the Capitol began, these, with President Arthur, occupied the first carriage, and Vice President-elect Hendricks followed in the second. They were escorted by the first division of the inaugural parade, with the Seventh Regiment of New York leading. Pennsylvania sent 8,000 state militia, reaching almost from the Treasury to the Peace Monument, a moving field of blue. These were followed by the Richmond Blues, led by General Fitzhugh Lee, later elected Governor of Virginia. The Grand Army and countless other patriotic and civic organizations and marching clubs added their units to this wonderful pageant. General Henry W. Slocum, as Grand Marshal, led the procession briskly through a record-breaking throng drawn by the great enthusiasm over the return of the Democratic party to power after twenty-four years.
Vice President-elect Hendricks received the oath from the President pro tempore of the Senate, Mr. Edmunds; the new senators were sworn in as usual, and the President-elect deviated from the usual procedure by making his inaugural address before taking the oath. This address was received with absorbed attention and, when published, produced a great deal of comment in which criticism and approval were given in full measure, especially as Mr. Cleveland was the first President actually to deliver his address, the others having read their manuscripts. Since he had a natural ability readily to memorize his own writings, he had no need of carrying a manuscript.
As he concluded his remarks, he turned to Chief Justice Waite, who administered the oath.
President Arthur had provided one of his usual delightful luncheons, after which President Cleveland went to the stand to review the marvellous pageant assembled in his honour, comprising 25,000 men whose passing consumed more than five hours. Dusk was closing down upon the city when the last group swept past and saluted.