Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-27

cause and laid his fortunes on its altar.
Alonzo Cornell, the heir to a great name,
near to Conkling, whom he followed with a
fidelity that should have outridden the
storm of any political misunderstanding;
Woodford, from Kings, soldier and orator,
with the finish of Chesterfield united to q
kind and winning nature. These and other
names come to me as 1 write, and even as /
might write for many a column. They gath
cred about Conkling. They made him Sem
ator, leader. They would have made him
President of the United States.
Yet the storm was to come in its fury, to
rend them all, and to rend none that meant
so much as the ties which bound the for
tunes of Conkling and Arthur. The aliena-
tion from Arthur was an especial grief to
those who knew the men. / was happily
absent from the United States at the time,
and never heard of it except as rumor. OF
Arthur l may not write at this time, al
though should ever welcome the opportu-
nifty of bearing nv poor tribute to his name.
We shall know him some day as he was,
the
FIRST GENTLEMAN OF HIS TIME
We shall know that blending of chivalry,
humanity, knowledge and courage, which
never came into your life without increas-
ing admiration for his character. We shall
know that fine courtesy which never waited
when it could anticipate; ever gentle to
women, to children, to the humblest sup
plication. We shall know that devoted
heart, its love for those to whom his love
was heritage and benediction, and how
the sorrow that fell as thunderbolt from
an all too radiant summer sky upon the
gentlest and most gracious of homes
brought a grief that never found.
consolation. We shall know that when
the bullet of the assassin crashed into the
iovouS life of an eager bounding, unsus-
pectinS President, on the holiday wing to
fields and stream, it carried agony unspeak-
able to the lofty spirited gentleman who
would gladly have given his own life to
have warded the impious doom. We shall
know his steady devotion to duty; how he
arose to every requirement of the Presi-
dency: how the courage of the political
leader guarded and governed the conscience
of the Chief Magistrate, how he was every
hour, every moment the President. We
shall know that under him the civil service
found its truest exemplifcation and that no
tempting of political ambition could answer
even with finger touch the resentment of
officials who, like Collector Robertson, used
their patronage to his political overthrow.
We shall know the conservative patience
with which he met the pathetic problems i'm
posed by the nations grief over his prede-
cessor's fate. We shall know with what a
self denial of personal ambition, political
resentment or revenge, he overcame
the distrust of the country, elimi-
mated the apprehensions of those even of
his own party who saw in his advent SO
many misfortunes-how he inspired the con-
tidence which averted disastrous business
eho1t bo do
tellig mt scholarship, the knowledge of
books as well as of men, which made him
the most valuable as he was the most agree
able of companions. We shall know the
genius the tact, the superb, patriotic com
mon sense which made his term of Office the
most tranquil of administrations.
WHAT KILLED CHESTER A. ARTHUR
We shall know the many disappof,tments
which came with the refusal by his party of
the denomination which he had won by
his magnanimity and justice; how it sunk
into his heart, and as those nearest to him
have told me prematurely bore him into the
grave We shall know, when the time and
history and the just judgment of his fellow
citizens have spoken, that there was a man
who deserved we'll of his country and man. |
kind, and that Chester A. Arthur should !
have grateful remembrance among the |
of our Presidents, even as the |
of Garfield, Jefferson and Adams. |
left the United States for China in the |
early months of 1882. and yeaIs were to |
pass before l was to see Conkling. I left |
him in the unhappy tumult of the Garfield |
war, the strong man raging from one side |
to the other in the arena; breathing def
ance, anger, death. When l returned his |
manner had changed Time was telling on
him. He had plunged into severe intel
lectual labor, and for the first time in his |
life was earning a large income. And |
money meant such an atmosphere of inde
pendence to this proud, strenuous man.
Party feeling was turning toward him. His
seemed to be growing fond of |
him. His vanities, his faults, his whims |
md mannerisma, were after all-were they |
.Ons of virtues not too often |
seen in American public life; tn. faults of |
superb, high principled, rarely gifted
eader2 There were Republicans who re-
,alled the early days of their ascendancy,
md who had grown weary of government /
~ mObs of drunken adventurers; weary of
he buying and selling of nominations, and
Who turned toward the man who was ever
90 stately to bend to an ignoble expedient.
BELIEVED IN COMBINES FUTURE.
Time served to bring recognition, and in
measure vindication, and he had only, so
lis friends believed, to wait until his party
eturned to him-returned bringing honors
which he had won by his genius and lost by
lis integrity. fancy Conkling was COM
ng into sympathy with the mood about
he felt it; that he once more
ould throw open the morning window and
eel that there might be airs from heaven
nd not inevitably blasts from hell.
"What, paint my picture!" as he said to
Carpenter. the artist, on one of those sad,
fairfield days. "What-paint my picture?
Who can conceive of such thing! would
hat every vestige of me were banished
rom the earth-that my very name might
'ass from men,"
The tempest-tossed, tumultuous soul
When l returned, this mood, which 1 had
o often seen, had passed away. There were
unny days; no allusions to the angry past;
deep interest in politics, in the detail of
vents, the movement and drift of political
ction. The warhorse seemed to hear the
Ioise of the battle and the fighting, even as
n the old days. be was opposed to the
andidature of Colonel Grant, now our Min
ster to Austria, for Secretary of State, on
he ground that he would not receive loval
upport from the antagonists of General
irant. The canvass, however, although
LhidNoIdDlC " bIc SoIOnel, bllOWeu JlaG the l.
republican vote had been given with heart
ness and sincerity. Hewas impatient with
cleveland, for some cause that do not re-
all; hoped he would be known as the f'Cen-
ennial President" if for no other reason
han that Cleveland was as much as the coun-
~ could stand in hundred years. At the
anne time he retained his membership of
be Manhattan Club.
CoNKLIEG AND SHERIDAN.
found him deeply interested in the sue
ession to Cleveland He accepted Mr..
laine's Florence letter in the spirit in !
hich 1t Eas written. ranaI dnd Rlninn ns n | .