Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/149

ARTHUR.ARTHUR. General Arthur resigned as quartermaster-general, his resignation taking effect Jan. 1, 1863. In 1862 he formed a law partnership with Henry G. Gardner, which in 1867 was dissolved, and General Arthur practised alone until Jan. 1, 1872, when the firm of Arthur, Phelps, and Knevals was formed. Despite an extensive law practice he retained his interest in city, state and national politics, and so strengthened his position through his membership with political organizations that he was regarded as one of the most prominent and influential leaders of the Republican party. He was for a time counsel to the city department of assessment and taxes, a position which he resigned. General Arthur was appointed by President Grant collector of the port of New York, Nov. 20, 1871. His term expired in 1875, and he was promptly re-appointed by the same administration, and his second confirmation by the U. S. senate was made without referring it to a committee. The Republican state convention of 1876, held March 22 at Syracuse, elected delegates most of whom were pledged to support Senator Conkling for the presidential nomination. Alonzo B. Cornell and Chester A. Arthur were his most active advocates before the National convention, and not until the seventh ballot was Mr. Conkling's name withdrawn, and sixty-one of the votes of New York given to Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, which secured his nomination. The election was not decided until the following March, 1877, when the electoral commission declared that Mr. Hayes was to be president. He selected for secretary of the treasury John Sherman, who deemed it important that the custom-house appointments should be in the hands of one more friendly to the Hayes administration than Mr. Arthur. Under the operation of civil-service reform, special agents and commissions were appointed by the new administration to make rigid and searching investigation into General Arthur's official conduct. The commission, known as the Jay commission, reported adversely, and Collector Arthur replied in a letter to Secretary Sherman, Nov. 23, 1877. On Dec. 6 Theodore Roosevelt was appointed collector, and L. Bradford Prince, naval officer; but the U. S. senate refused to confirm the appointments, and Arthur and Cornell held their respective offices until the adjournment of Congress, July 11, 1878, when they were suspended. Arthur had previously declined to resign as requested by Secretary Sherman, notwithstanding he was promised a foreign mission. A petition for his retention was signed by the judge of every court in the city, by all the prominent members of the bar, and by eighty-five per cent of the importing merchants in the collection district; but at General Arthur's urgent request it was not presented.

During his six years of office the percentage of removals was only two and three-quarters per cent per annum. All appointments, except two, to the one hundred positions commanding salaries of two thousand dollars a year, were made on the plan of advancing men from the lower to the higher grades on recommendation of heads of bureaus. The New York delegation to the Chicago convention, June, 1880, of which General Arthur was delegate-at-large, expected to see General Grant nominated for the presidency for a third term. It had no second choice, although several candidates, hopeful of Grant's defeat, were pushing their own names forward with energy and persistency. The state of Ohio, with the exception of General Garfield's district, had instructed delegates in behalf of John Sherman. After a determined contest, which lasted several days, and during which the Stalwart New York delegation stood firm and "302" in the convention voted repeatedly and persistently for General Grant, the convention was stampeded by the Sherman supporters flocking to the standard of James A. Garfield, and New York's favorite went down to defeat. In order to placate the "Stalwarts," rather than as an expression of the will of their successful opposition, Chester A. Arthur was unanimously named as the vice-presidential candidate, and Garfield and Arthur were elected President and Vice-President of the United States, in November, 1880. Mr. Arthur appeared as presiding officer of the senate at its extra session March 4, 1881. He ingratiated himself with the senators through his easy manner and kindly disposition. The senate was equally divided politically and he used his influence against his enemies when their names came before the senate for confirmation.

Upon the announcement of President Garfield's death, Sept. 19, 1881, Mr. Arthur, at the suggestion of the cabinet, took the oath of office as President of the United States, Sept. 20, 1881, before Judge James R. Brady of the New York supreme court, and immediately repaired to Elberon, where he met the cabinet and arranged for the funeral ceremonies. On September 22 he went to Washington, and in the Vice-President's room the oath of office was formally administered by Chief Justice Waite. President Arthur, as his first official act, appointed Monday, Sept. 26, as a day of mourning for the late President, and