dent supported Senators Conkling and Platt in their opposition to the confirmation. On 28 March he headed a remonstrance, signed also by the senators and by Postmaster-General James, addressed to the president, condemning the appointment, and asking that the nomination be withdrawn. When the two senators hastily resigned and made their unsuccessful contest for a reelection by the legislature of New York, then in session at Albany, he exerted himself actively in their behalf during May and June.
President Garfield was shot 2 July, 1881, and died 19 Sept. His cabinet announced his death to the vice-president, then in New York, and, at their suggestion, he took the oath as president on the 20th, at his residence, 123 Lexington avenue, before Judge John R. Brady, of the New York supreme court. On the 22d the oath was formally administered again in the vice-president's room in the capitol at Washington by Chief-Justice Waite, and President Arthur delivered the following inaugural address:
“For the fourth time in the history of the republic its chief magistrate has been removed by death. All hearts are filled with grief and horror at the hideous crime which has darkened our land; and the memory of the murdered president, his protracted sufferings, his unyielding fortitude, the example and achievements of his life, and the pathos of his death, will forever illumine the pages of our history. For the fourth time the officer elected by the people and ordained by the constitution to fill a vacancy so created is called to assume the executive chair. The wisdom of our fathers, foreseeing even the most dire possibilities, made sure that the government should never be imperilled because of the uncertainty of human life. Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions remain unshaken. No higher or more assuring proof could exist of the strength and permanence of popular government than the fact that, though the chosen of the people be struck down, his constitutional successor is peacefully installed without shock or strain, except the sorrow which mourns the bereavement. All the noble aspirations of my lamented predecessor which found expression in his life, the measures devised and suggested during his brief administration to correct abuses and enforce economy, to advance prosperity and promote the general welfare, to insure domestic security and maintain friendly and honorable relations with the nations of the earth, will be garnered in the hearts of the people, and it will be my earnest endeavor to profit and to see that the nation shall profit by his example and experience. Prosperity blesses our country, our fiscal policy is fixed by law, is well grounded and generally approved. No threatening issue mars our foreign intercourse, and the wisdom, integrity, and thrift of our people may be trusted to continue undisturbed the present assured career of peace, tranquillity, and welfare. The gloom and anxiety which have enshrouded the country must make repose especially welcome now. No demand for speedy legislation has been heard; no adequate occasion is apparent for an unusual session of congress. The constitution defines the functions and powers of the executive as clearly as those of either of the other two departments of the government, and he must answer for the just exercise of the discretion it permits and the performance of the duties it imposes. Summoned to these high duties and responsibilities, and profoundly conscious of their magnitude and gravity, I assume the trust imposed by the constitution, relying for aid on Divine guidance and the virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of the American people.”
He also on the same day appointed Monday, 26 Sept., as a day of mourning for the late president. On 23 Sept. he issued a proclamation convening the senate in extraordinary session, to meet 10 Oct., in order that a president pro tem. of that body might be elected. The members of the cabinet were requested to retain their places until the regular meeting of congress in December, and did remain until their successors were appointed, except Sec. Windom, who, desiring to become a candidate for senator from Minnesota, resigned from the treasury 24 Oct. Edwin D. Morgan was nominated and confirmed secretary of the treasury, but declined the appointment; and Charles J. Folger, of New York, was then nominated and confirmed, was commissioned 27 Oct., and qualified 14 Nov. He died in office, 4 Sept., 1884. The other members of the cabinet of President Arthur, and the dates of their commissions, were as follows: State department, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, 12 Dec., 1881; treasury, Walter Q. Gresham, of Indiana, 24 Sept., 1884; Hugh McCulloch, of Maryland, 28 Oct., 1884; war, Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois, 5 March, 1881 (retained from Garfield's cabinet); navy, William E. Chandler, of New Hampshire, 12 April, 1882; interior, Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, 6 April, 1882; attorney-general, Benjamin H. Brewster, of Pennsylvania, 19 Dec., 1881; postmaster-general, Timothy O. Howe, of Wisconsin, 20 Dec., 1881 (died in office, 25 March, 1883); Walter Q. Gresham, 3 April, 1883; Frank Hatton, of Iowa, 14 Oct., 1884. Messrs. Frelinghuysen, McCulloch, Lincoln, Chandler, Teller, Brewster, and Platton remained in office until the end of the presidential term, 4 March, 1885.
The prominent events of President Arthur's administration, including his most important recommendations to congress, may be here summarized: Shortly after his accession to the presidency he participated in the dedication of the monument erected at Yorktown, Va., to commemorate the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at that place, 19 Oct., 1781. Representatives of our French allies and of the German participants were present. At the close of the celebration the president felicitously directed a salute to be fired in honor of the British flag, “in recognition of the friendly relations so long and so happily subsisting between Great Britain and the United States, in the trust and confidence of peace and good-will between the two countries for all the centuries to come, and especially as a mark of the profound respect entertained by the American people for the illustrious sovereign and gracious lady who sits upon the British throne.” On 29 Nov., 1881, an invitation was extended to all the independent countries of North and South America to participate in a peace congress, to be convened at Washington 22 Nov., 1882. The president, in a special message, 18 April, 1882, asked the opinion of congress as to the expediency of the project. No response being elicited, he concluded, 9 Aug., 1882, to postpone indefinitely the proposed convocation, believing that so important a step should not be taken without the express authority of congress; or while three of the nations to be invited were at war; or still, again, until a programme should have been prepared explicitly indicating the objects and limiting the powers of the congress. Efforts were made, however, to strengthen the relations of the United States with the other American nationalities. Representations were made by the administration with a view to bringing to a close the de-
