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the question of slavery, and gave his influence and aid not only to general movements in favor of the slave, but in several conspicuous instances was of personal and individual help to the cause, being associated as counsel in those important cases which long before the war settled in New York state the principle of law that no man could bring slaves into that state and still hold them in bondage. From boyhood he was an earnest politician, admiring Henry Clay as the young men of his generation so enthusiastically admired him, and casting his first vote for Scott in 1852. He was a delegate from New York city to the convention at Saratoga, which, in effect, founded the Republican party of the Empire state. He took an active and eager part in the stirring canvass of 1860, gaining the esteem and friendship of Governor E. D. Morgan, who appointed him engineer-inchief on his staff. When Fort Sumter was fired upon in April, 1861, Mr. Arthur was summoned to Albany by Governor Morgan, who asked him to assume the duties of quartermaster-general and open a branch department in New York city for quartering, subsisting and equipping the men. enlisting in the Nation's defense. Notwithstanding the difficulty of the task and his lack of preparation for it, Mr. Arthur did not hesitate to assume the responsibility, and during the four years of the war performed a service of the most arduous labor, and gave such evidence of executive ability and patriotic zeal as to command the admiration of all and bring forth the most sincere acknowledgments of those higher in authority than himself, who were compelled to depend upon him in many hours of pressing need. Some of his most important services in that position have been thus briefly described: "At the time the rebel ram Merrimac was reported to be making havoc with the Federal war ships at Hampton Roads, a rumor arrived that she was coming to New York to shell the city. A dispatch came from General McClellan declaring that it was necessary to put the defenses of the city in the best possible condition. The forts were in an inefficient condition, filled with raw recruits, and without powder A schooner arrived from Connecticut, loaded with powder, and General Arthur at once sent it down to the forts. He consulted with Mayor Opdyke about means of defense, and opposed a hasty proposition to sink obstructions in the channels. The scare was over the next day, but another came when Mason and Slidell were seized and the possibility of war with England loomed up. The result was that Arthur, as engineer-inchief, was charged by Governor Morgan with the supervision of the task of putting the forts in an efficient condition, which he proceeded to do with the utmost energy. A large amount of timber was bought for the construction of a barrier across the entrance to the harbor, and after the prospect of a foreign war disappeared it was not needed. It threatened to cause trouble, but General Arthur secured the passage of a bill by the legislature authorizing the sale of unused war material, and then sold the

timber at a profit. He made a thorough inspection of the forts and defenses of the state, and submitted an admirable report thereon to the legislature in 1862. As inspector-general, he made a visit to the New York troops in Maryland and Virginia, in the spring of 1862. New York's quota of the three hundred thousand volunteers called for July 1, 1862, was nearly sixty thousand, and General Arthur devised a system of recruiting and caring for the troops by establishing a camp in each senatorial district, The work was carried on with the utmost system and regularity under his direction. He had barracks constructed at the lowest cost, and saved large sums in contracts for transportation. On the incoming of a Democratic state administration, General Arthur's duties in connection with raising, equipping and forwarding troops ceased, and he received a high compliment from his successor, who found a 'well organized system of labor and accountability.' . . There has never been the least question made of the remarkable efficiency, economy and integrity of General Arthur's military administration in this state, during the three most exciting years of the war. It had been his desire from the first to serve in the field. He was elected colonel of the Ninth regiment early in the war, and desired to accept the command, but Governor Morgan insisted upon his retaining the more important duties of his official position. Again, when four regiments were raised by the efforts of the Metropolitan police commissioners and formed into the Metropolitan brigade, the command of the brigade was offered to him and he applied to the governor for permission to accept. Governor Morgan replied that he could not be spared from the service of the state, and that he would perform more valuable service to the country by retaining his post of duty here. At the secret meeting of loyal governors in 1862 to discuss measures for providing troops, General Arthur was the only person present by invitation who was not governor of a state. He retired from the military service of the state at the beginning of 1864. a poorer man than when he accepted what was supposed to be a purely ornamental office on Governor Morgan's staff."

Upon his return to civil life, Mr. Arthur returned to the practice of his profession, and soon built up a large practice in collecting claims against the government. His connection with Mr. Gardiner continued until the latter's death in 1866, when he carried on the business alone for some time, and afterwards became the senior member of the firm of Arthur, Phelps, Knevals & Ransom. He had all this time been an active worker in politics, in aid of the Republican party, and entered with great zeal into the canvass for the election of General Grant to the Presidency in 1868. In November, 1871, without solicitation on his part, he was ap pointed by Grant to the position of collector of New York. When he was re-appointed in 1875, such was the confidence of the senate in his integrity and administrative ability, that he was unanimously confirmed with

out reference to a committee-a compliment not often conferred upon an appointee. It was while in this position that he came in conflict with President Hayes regarding the civil service order of the latter, and furnished one of the most interesting incidents in the growth of that reform. When the order was promulgated, in 1877, Mr. Arthur held the chairmanship of the Republican central committee of the city of New York, while naval officer A. B. Cornell was chairman of the state committee. Neither complied with the order by resigning this political trust, and in July, 1878, both were suspended from office by order of the President. During the preceding session of congress an attempt had been made to effect Mr. Arthur's removal by the appointment of his successor, but the appointment failed of confirmation, while the successor appointed after his suspension was confirmed at the following session of the senate. The administration of the collector's office had been investigated by two special committees during his incumbency, who reported that nothing had occurred therein upon which any charge of dereliction could be based, while at the time of the suspension both President Hayes and Secretary Sherman acknowledged the purity of his official acts. In stating his case to the secretary of the treasury, Collector Arthur made the following points: "The essential elements of a correct civil service I understand to be: First, permanence in office, which of course prevents removals except for cause; second, promotion from lower to higher grades, based on good. conduct and efficiency; third, prompt and thorough investigation of all complaints and prompt punishment of all misconduct. In this respect I challenge comparison with any department of the government, either under the present or under any past National administration." In connection with this he presented figures showing that in the six years of his administration as collector, removals from subordinate offices amounted to two and one-half per cent. of the whole, against an average of twentyeight per cent. under his three immediate predecessors, and that all but two appointments in one hundred to important positions commanding a salary of two thousand dollars or more, had been made by promotions from lower grades of the service, on recommendations of the heads of bureaus.

When he again returned to private life, Mr. Arthur resumed the practice of law, at the same time taking an active interest and a personal part in the political affairs of his state. He was one of the main instruments by which Mr. Cornell became governor in 1879, and was chairman of the Republican state committee during the canvass of that year. In 1880 he was one of the four delegates-at-large sent by New York state to the Republican National convention at Chicago, and formed one of the men who stood unshaken for Grant from first to last, through thirty-six ballots. When Garfield was named for the first place upon the ticket, the second

place was conceded to New York and the Grant faction, and after a short period of consultation in the New York delegation, General Arthur was presented as their choice. Upon the first vice-presidential ballot he was nominated by 468 votes out of a total of 751, when the nomination was immediately made unanimous by acclamation. Under date of July 15 he wrote a letter of acceptance, in which, among other sound sentiments modestly stated, he said: "I accept the position assigned me by the great party whose action you announce. As a great part of its work of reconstruction, the Republican party gave the ballot to the emancipated slave as his right and defense. A large increase in the number of members of congress and of the Electoral college, from the former slaveholding states, was the immediate result. The history of recent years abounds in evidence that in many ways and in many places-especially where their number has been great enough to endanger Democratic control—the very men by whose elevation to citizenship this increase of representation was effected, have been debarred and robbed of their voice and their vote. It is true that no state statute or constitution in so many words denies or abridges the exercise of their political rights, but the modes employed to bar their way are no less effectual. . . The resolution referring to the public service seems to me deserving of approval. Surely, no man should be the incumbent of an office the duties of which he is for any cause unfit to perform, who is lacking in the ability, fidelity or integrity which a proper administration of such office demands. The efficiency of

such regulations has been distrusted, mainly because they have seemed to exalt mere educational and abstract tests above general business capacity, and even special fitness for the particular work in hand. It seems to me that the rules which should be applied to the management of the public service may properly conform, in the main, to such as regulate the conduct of successful private business. Original appointments should be based upon ascertained fitness. The tenure of office should be stable. Positions of responsibility should, so far as practicable, be filled by the promotion of worthy and efficient officers. The investigation of all complaints and the punishment of all official misconduct should be prompt and thorough.

I will add that, by the acceptance of public office, whether high or low, one does not, in my judgment, escape any of his responsibilities as a citizen or lose or impair any of his rights as a citizen, and that he should enjoy absolute liberty to think and speak in political matters according to his own conscience, provided only that he honorably, faithfully and fully discharges all his official duties."

In relation to the question of National finance, General Arthur declared that "the principles which should govern the relations of these elements of the currency are simple and clear. There must be no deteriorated coin, no depreciated paper, and every dollar, whether of

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