XXIV. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES A. GAR FIELD (1881) AND OF CHESTER A. ARTIIL•R (1881 1535). Cabinet.—Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, Maine, March 5. 1881 ; Frederick T. Fre linghuysen, New Jersey, December 12, 1881. Secretary of the Treasury, William 11. Windom, Minnesota, March 5, 1381; Charles J. Folger, New York, October 27, 1381. Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln, Illinois, March 5, 1881. Sec retary of the Navy, W. H. Hunt, Louisiana, )larch 5, 1881; William E. Chandler, New Hampshire, April 12, 1832. Secretary of the Interior, S. J. Kirkwood, Iowa, March 5, 1881 ; Henry M. Teller, Colorado, April 6, 1832. Attorney-General, Wayne MacVeagh, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1881; Benjamin H. Brewster, Pennsylvania, December 16. 1881. Postinastc-r-General, Thomas L. Jamey, New York, March 5, 1881; Timothy O. Howe. Wisconsin, December 20, 1381 ; IV. Q. Gresham, Indiana, April 3, 1883: Frank Hatton, Iowa. October 14, 1834.
The politicians in the Republican Party who had favored the election of General Grant for a third term of the Presidency, popularly known, particularly in New York, as 'Stalwartg,' had not been pleased with the nomination of Gar field, and in the Presidential campaign they had been induced to give his candidacy their support only on a general understanding that the candidate if successful would give them a liberal share of patronage. The new President had in various ways shown his desire to conciliate both wings of the party: lie had held many confer ences with the leaders of each, and his first nomi nations were apparently dictated by a desire to conciliate the 'Stalwart.' But his appoint ment of William II. Robertson. who had been instrumental in securing the President's nomina tion at Chicago, to the post of Collector of the Port of New York, aroused the opposition of the Senator from that State, Roscoe Conkling (q.v.), a leading 'Stalwart.' Finding that his opposi tion was ineffectual. Conkling and his colleague, Thomas C. Platt (q.v.), resigned their seats in the Senate, Nay 111, 1881, and appealed to the New Yo•k Legislature for reflection as a justifi cation of their course. The appeal was unsuccess ful and a bil ter contest, lasting until the latter part of July, ended with the election of Miller and Lapham to the Senate. Meanwhile the Presi dent's appointments had been confirmed. The new Postmaster-General had discovered colossal frauds in the Star Route Service of the Postal Department, and an effort was made to bring the criminals to justice. (See STAR-ROUTE FRAUDS.) The diplomacy of Secretary Blaine in regard to the war between Chile and Peru and the Panama Canal (q.v.) excited considerable newspaper criti cism.
On July 2d President Garfield was shot by an assassin, a disappointed office-seeker, Charles J. Gniteau, and after lingering for seventy-nine days between life and death died, on September 19th, at Elberon, N. J. (See GARFIELD, JAMES A.) On the same day in New York, Vice-Presi dent Arthur took the oath of office as President.
Among the national events of 1882 were the passage by Congress of the Anti-Polygamy Bill, March 22d ; the Apportionment Bill, increasing the number of Congressional Representatives to 325; and the Anti-Chinese Bill, suspending Chi nese immigration for twenty years. The last
was vetoed by the President, who, however, signed a subsequent bill limiting the term of suspension to ten years. Among the several State elections of this year, one at least had a na tional significance. In New York the lukewarm ness of that wing of the Republican Party which had sympathized with General Garfield in his contest with the leaders of the faction to which Arthur was allied, and the indignation of the `Independents' at the political methods pursued by President Arthur to secure the nomination and election of his friend, Charles J. Folger, as Gov ernor of the State, resulted in the election of the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland (q.v.), by the immense majority of 192,000 votes. The vic tory of the Democrats in Pennsylvania was also looked upon as to some extent a rebuke of the Administration, and especially of machine methods in politics. The question of civil-service reform was now pressed with renewed eagerness by its advocates; and the so-called Pendleton Bill, which had already passed the Senate, passed the House in January, 1883, and was signed by the President. See CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM.
The Republican National Convention of 1884 met in Chicago during, the first week of June and the fourth ballot resulted in the nomination of James G. Blaine (q.v.) for the Presidency, and of John A. Logan, of TIlinois, for the Vice-Presi dency. The nomination of Blaine was secured in spite of bitter organized opposition of the 'Independent' faction in the Republican Party, popularly known as 'Mugwrimps' (q.v.). The papers which represented the views of the 'In dependents' withheld their support from Blaine, and indicated that they would cast their in fluence on the side of the Democratic candidate, in case some statesman of tried incorruptibil ity were chosen by the Democratic convention. It was generally understood that either Grover Cleveland or Thomas F. Bayard would be ac ceptable to them. When the convention met in July these two were the leading candidates on the first ballot. On the second ballot Cleveland secured the necessary two-thirds majority, and was declared the nominee. Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, was nominated for Vice-President.
Tickets were put in the field by the Prohibition ists (see PROHIBITION), who nominated John P. St. John, of Kansas, for President, and William Daniel, of Maryland, for Vice-President; and by the Anti-Monopoly and Greenback Labor parties, both of which nominated Gen. Benjamin F. Butler (q.v.), of Massachusetts, for Presi dent. The campaign which followed developed unusual excitement, party rancor, and personal recrimination. The election was unexpectedly close, and the result for a few days hung in doubt over conflicting returns in the pivotal State of New York; but the official count gave a plu rality of 1047 to Cleveland, who received 219 electoral votes, while Blaine received 1S2, and a popular vote of 4,874,936, while Blaine received 4,851,981. St. John had a popular vote of 150, 369, and Butler a popular vote of 175,370.