tions of the democratic party, as illustrated by the teachings and examples of a long line of democratic statesmen and patriots, and embodied in the platform of the last national convention of the party.

2. Opposition to centralization, and to that dangerous spirit of encroachment which tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism; no sumptuary laws; separation of the church and state for the good of each; common schools fostered and protected.

3. Home rule; honest money, consisting of gold and silver, and paper, convertible into coin on demand; the strict maintenance of the public faith, state and national; and a tariff for revenue only; the subordination of the military to the civil power; and a general and thorough reform of the civil service.

4. The right to a free ballot is a right preservative of all rights; and must and shall be maintained in every part of the United States.

5. The existing administration is the representative of a conspiracy only; and its claim of right to surround the ballot-boxes with troops and deputy marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the elections, and the unprecedented use of the veto to maintain its corrupt and despotic power, insults the people and imperils their institutions. We execrate the course of this administration in making places in the civil service a reward for political crime; and demand a reform, by statute, which shall make it forever impossible for a defeated candidate to bribe his way to the seat of a usurper by billeting villains upon the people.

6. The great fraud of 1876-7, by which, upon a false count of the electoral votes of two states, the candidate defeated at the polls was declared to be President, and, for the first time in American history, the will of the people was set aside under a threat of military violence, struck a deadly blow at our system of representative government. The democratic party, to preserve the country from the horrors of a civil war, submitted for the time, in the firm and patriotic belief that the people would punish the crime in 1880. This issue precedes and dwarfs every other. It imposes a more sacred duty upon the people of the Union than ever addressed the consciences of a nation of freemen.

7. The resolution of Samuel J. Tilden, not again to be a candidate for the exalted place to which he was elected by a majority of his countrymen, and from which he was excluded by the leaders of the republican party, is received by the democrats of the United States with deep sensibility; and they declare their confidence in his wisdom, patriotism, and integrity unshaken by the assaults of the common enemy; and they fur. ther assure him that he is followed into the retirement he has chosen for himself by the sympathy and respect of his fellow citizens, who regard him

as one who, by elevating the standard of the public morality, and adorning and purifying the public service, merits the lasting gratitude of his country and his party.

8. Free ships, and a living chance for American commerce upon the seas; and on the land, no discrimination in favor of transportation lines, corporations, or monopolies.

9. Amendments of the Burlingame treaty; no more Chinese immigration, except for travel, education, and foreign commerce, and, therein, carefully guarded.

10. Public money and public credit for public purposes solely, and pub. lic land for actual settlers.

11. The democratic party is the friend of labor and the laboring man, and pledges itself to protect him alike against the cormorants and the

commune.

12. We congratulate the country upon the honesty and thrift of a democratic Congress, which has reduced the public expenditure $10,000,000 a year; upon the continuation of prosperity at home and the national honor abroad; and, above all, upon the promise of such a change in the administration of the government as shall insure a genuine and lasting reform in every department of the public service.

CHAPTER XXII.

GARFIELD'S AND ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRATION.

1881-188-.

GARFIELD'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

The inauguration of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur, as President and Vice-President of the United States, took place on the 4th of March, 1881.

In his inaugural address the President advocated the regulation of the civil service by law, universal education as a safeguard of suffrage, the refunding of the national debt at a lower rate of interest, without compelling the withdrawal of the national bank notes, and the adjustment of our monetary system, so that the purchasing power of every coined dollar will be exactly equal to its debt-paying power, in all the markets in the world. He advocated the prohibition of poligamy, and promised equal protection of the laws for all citizens, without distinction of race or color.

His cabinet nominations were made and confirmed the day following the inauguration. He selected James G. Blaine, secretary of state; William Windom, of Minnesota, secretary of treasury; William H. Hunt, of Louisiana, secretary of the navy; Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois, secretary of war; Wayne McVeagh, of Pennsylvania, attorney-general; Thomas L. James, of New York, postmaster-general; and Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa, secretary of the interior.

EXTRA SESSION OF THE SENATE.

The necessity for an extra session of the Senate was made known by President Hayes, in a proclamation, preceding the

close of his term of service. In accordance with this call, the Senate met in extra session on the 4th of March, 1881. The parties were so evenly divided that business involving political questions could not be rapidly transacted. This evenness of the parties resulted in a dead-lock that was not broken without weeks of bitter partisan discussion. That which clogged the work of the Senate was the question of organization. The republicans desired new officers, chosen from their own party; the democrats wished to retain the old officers, who were members of their party. Senator David Davis, of Illinois, was classed as an independent. When he voted with the republicans they were enabled to carry their measures by the casting vote of the Vice-President, their presiding officer. When Mr. Davis voted with the democrats, the vote of the Vice-President was of no avail to the republicans. On the question of organization the view of Mr. Davis accorded with that of the democrats. The dead-lock was not broken until a sufficient number of recently chosen republicans entered the Senate to overcome the slight advantage of the democrats.

During this session much was said by the senators and the press on "senatorial courtesy," a privilege of the Senate, which, according to courtesy and custom, leaves to the senators of a state the right to say who shall be appointed from their respective states, provided the senators are of the same party as the President. One wing of the republican party, headed by Senator Conkling, put great stress upon this custom, while the other wing, supporting the administration, set it at naught.

President Garfield sent in the names of five persons whom he had nominated for important positions in New York. This had been done at the suggestion of Senator Conkling, who had been invited by the President to name his friends. While this was satisfactory to the senator and his adherents,

it called forth loud protests from those who did not believe that so many nominations should be selected from the friends of Mr. Conkling. For the collector of customs at New York no nomination was at first made, General Edwin H. Merritt being the incumbent.

To allay the dissatisfaction occasioned by the five nominations, and, perhaps, to quiet the rapidly developing spirit of faction in New York between the Grant and the anti-Grant partisans, President Garfield, on the 23d of March, sent in the name of Judge William H. Robertson for the New York collectorship. The Judge had opposed the unit rule at Chicago, disavowed the instructions of the New York convention to vote for General Grant, and headed the Blaine delegates from that state, and on the withdrawal of the latter, used his influence for the nomination of Garfield. He was not, therefore, in political accord with Senator Conkling. The latter now endeavored to secure the confirmation of his friends, and defeat that of the Judge, who was his political enemy. This effort influenced the President to withdraw the nominations that had been suggested by the Senator, thus leaving for confirmation before the Senate, for a time, the name of Judge Robertson alone. Against this withdrawal the New York senator and the Vice-President remonstrated in a letter to the Executive, but he did not recede from his position. Whereupon Senator Conkling endeavored to defeat the nomination of Robertson under the plea of the "privilege of the Senate," as to senatorial courtesy. There were arrayed against him the influence of Mr. Blaine, the secretary of state, and a sufficient number of senators to counteract the influence of Conkling. Seeing that the confirmation of the Judge could not be prevented, Senators Conkling and Platt sent in their resignations, which were read to the Senate. These were prepared without consultation with intimate friends, and created great excitement

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