The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-03-05

first over Grant and Blaine and Sherman
in convention, and afterward over Han
cock At the polls. His inauguration was
Rraced by the presence OF two OF his
rivals. Sherman and Blaine attending as
senators, while Blaine became his chief
subordinate. If he could have looked into
the future, il 10 doubtful whether the
glory of success and the brief month or
two Of power would have compensated for
the sudden stroke of the assassin and the
weary weeks Of q deathbed with . world
waiting for the result. The kiss he gave
his aged mother before his assembled
countFymen was Garfieid's first act after
he became president. . republican substi-
tute for the kiss of feaity which subjects
offer their sovereign at coronation. The
subjects kneel to their lawful monarch,
but Garfield stopped dsferentially and sa-
luted plain old woman Of the people Who
looked up at her son-the president
Arthur was next In the procession Of
American potentates who have passed for
ever from capitol and crowd and oil the
trappings and realities of power to take
their place in history. He. like Johnson,
followed an assassination, and his eleva-
ton was ~ much unexpected and unde-
sired by himself a. by the country at large.
After Garfield was struck hs fingered for
months. during which Arthur contem-
plated the situation with horror and en-
barrassment | know personally how
shocked he was at the blow that made him
president But fate pressed her cup of
awful grandeur to his lips, and it was not
to bs put away. Garfield died unexpect-
eddy at the last when Arthur was in New
York, and the state could not remain with
out head while he was travelling to Wash.
ington. Accordingly Judge Brady of New
York, an old time friend of the vice-presi-
dent, waited upon his former comrade at
his modest house in Lexington avenue and
administered the oath which made the ex-
collector Of customs the peer of the
mightiest monarchs on earth.
He hurried on to pay the last honors to
the predecessor whose death made way
for his own elevation. The cold form of
him who had 80 lately been first in the
land was carried to the capitol with august
obsequies. but the new man was the Gym
osure of every eye. He walked first after
the coffin - chief mourner. while his old
master, Grant, followed. Blaine, who had
looked down on him for years, but was
now IN his cabinet: Conkling, his lifelong
leader; Sherman and Hayes, who had ex-
PEELED him from Office, all took their places
behind him. The funeral of Garfield was
the real Inauguration OF Arthur.
Cleyeland's first inauguration was the
signal for the return OF the Democratic
party to power after twenty-four years;
the return also Of Southerners and seces-
sionists TO Office and to Washington City.
Their appearance was by far the most sig
nificant feature of the occasion-the men
who had once expected to enter the capital
as conquerors now came to carry away the
spoils of peace instead of war; the prodi-
gal son, hungry with Confederate husks,
laundering after the fatted calf of the
Federal fold. Cleveland's rival did not
attend him at tho ceremony to share his
danger or to carry his hat, but like good
citizen Blaine accepted the result and
called on the victor at the White House
before the Ides Of March were gone.
The last of the inaugurations to be re-
called was that Of Harrison. when the short
lived reign Of the Democrats expired.
and Republicans once moro came into
possession Of the government. Mr.. Cleve-
land sat by Harrison's side in an open
carriage as they drove to the capitol. and
as it rained hard, he held an umbrella
over his successful rival, while Harrison
bowed to the crowd and accepted congrat-
ulations ON either hand. 1t must have
been hard duty to perform. but if Cleve-
land could have foreseen the 4th of March,
1898. he would have been consoled.
The young wife of the outgoing presi-
parlors. was landing at . window over
the great porch watching her husband
enter the carriage with his successor and
drive away from the presidency. If her
eyes were q little dimmed as they fol-
lowed him till he was lost in the crowds
gathered to greet the new chief of the
nation, they are dried today, and none,
even Of those who opposed Cleveland
hardest, will grudge the lovely lady the
satisfaction of her return to the station
she adorned. ADAM BApEAU