The Washington herald., 1909-04-18
Arthur Was a GentLeman-BoSS;
4 Learned Man Yet Practical

OF marque and reprisal TO make war
on the administration Of which the =obby-
list was the second nominal officer.
Doubtless Gen Arthur would much
have preferred 10 have that cup pass
/ from him Although. characteristicaIly.
he made no sign Of reluctance, one on the
spot could not help seeing that his efforts
in behalf Of Conkling and the highly in
cidental and episOdicai Plat. who had re-
signed along with him IN the hope OF
being returned along with him, were per
tunctory, amounting mainly 70 an intro
ducuOn OF the retiring AMI On lriDg R0s-
cOe, who had exacted this serV Ice Of him
For Conkling Bes. in truth. what Carlyle
calls "devouring egotist' Thomas.
himself, by the way. was much OF ore IN
his own so different unel. and there was
no linn To his exactiOns- Arthur sub
nIitted % them 20 the verg- 90 self-re-
spect. oEt then refused % larry his sub
mission further. IN consequence % which
he also had TO quarrel intermediary vita
The masterfUl Conkiing. who. before many
months OF the new administration had
waned, was heard loudly denouncing
that man Arthur" as he had previously
been heard deaOuncing tina man Car
field and that nan. Biaine." Arthur
found il impossible, conpathiy Eita de-
cency, 10 please Conkiing-
Impossible 10 Please Blaine.
But you viii see thar II was ex hyoth-
esi impossible for Arthur, suddenly and
tragicaIly succeeding Garfield. 20 please
Blaine Frelinghuysen. or some other
staIwart and unmemmOr2ble n0nentlty.
was plainly destined 10 s'Ipersede Blaine
as head OF the Department Of State and
premier OF the new administration Nat
Gra'ly. Arthur was described ~ President
hy grace Of Guiteau. jlsJ as. twenty
years lefore. Andrew Johnson lad been
described as President by the srace Of
Wilkes Booth; just as twenty-five years
later. Theodore Roosevelt was described
in 0onq ess as p esident by The grace Of
that unspellabIc ana uupronogn, Liable
miscreant who murdered Mckinley. II
had been as reasonable 10 describe John
Tyler as President by The grace o. che
senile malady, wld e.e- IL was tdaI car
Red OF -TippecSn0e' Hdruson twenty
years before Wilkes Booths crazy shot,
o. Nillerd FIlmog-, by erace OF taa- "a
nous regale OF cherries and mil6 twas
il nOtz) that carried on odd Zacn- Tay-
Tor ten years before that shot. To be
sure, Harrison ard Taylor mad been as
innocent Of any policy whatsoever as
Garfield and Mckinley were possessed
with policies. Evidently. ,1ecessarIly
James G. Blaine. or MS wife. OF his Gid
ow, could not do justice 20 Chester A.
Arthur
Matthew ArnOId's Judgment.
Ike that disinterested aad casual ref
erence 20 Arthur in Matthew ArnoId-s
Letters Matthew was presented AT
the White House. with his daughter. in
the period OF Arthur's oHcIaI occupation
OF Il, the same occupation which Blaine
waited f1r
And died without the sight.
says Arnold. The President Is a good
looking man. with pleasant. easy man
ners. He told Lucy that. II NE would
stay on in Washington. ne would make
himself personally responsible for her
enjoying her winter there more than even
in New York" Anybody who knew Ar
thur can see and hear him saving that.
and must remember the pleasant. easy
manners which he mighs readily. and
would on better acquaintance. magnify
into distinct personal charm In Truth.
nobody could ask Tor a pleasanter com
panion at a dinner, or. as I have been
told on a salmon-fshlng excursion. such
as he annually took into Canada until he
was officially disabled from doing so bv
being President OF the United States and
Officially ineXtrsditabie.
There was nothing military in his hear
ing. in spite II his military title in the
early years Of the civil war. he had made
his debut IN the Quartermaster's Depart
ment Of the state Of New York. running
have heard him tell. some kind Of camp
or recruits or C0nscripts on City Hall
Park. and QuartermasJer general. or A.
= NJ O.. on Gov. Morgan's staff. and
general in that connection But lie was
always most accurately and lmpeCcabIy
grOomed' and turned OUT In hIs
Presidential time the saying was attril,-
ted 20 alr. Blaine that We had "a New
York dude In the White House" and Ar
thurs fauItless dress and fauitless nan
ners no doubt gave some color 10 the
gibe. The first President since James
Buchanan whose trousers did not bag az
the knee" was one of the gibes AZ his
outgoing. ! remember the comparatively
bucolic Grover Cleveland saying. soon
after Arthur's death. and concerning his
when he was the Incoming Chief Magis- I
trate-
He was so genteel-'
SOt a KnOyv-nOthinE.
But whether II was William Henry
Hurlbut or Mr. Blaine or Mrs. Blaine
who said II. II was very far from being
true that Chester Arthur knew moth
ms" True. he did not know as much as
William Henry HUrIbut himself But
who did? True. nevertheless. that ne /
was a man OF nOuesably wide and curl /
Gus reading, who had specialized in the /
French and English memoirs Of the eight [
eenth century. and. II 1 mistake not. in I
French as well IS iR English. Z was
upon the occasion OF his developing. quite l
without ostentation and in the enforced |
course Of conversation. some Of this ont 1
of-the-way knowledge ar one Of our little I
symposia az Sutherland's thai I asked 1
him how. with the demands Of his voca-
ton as a boss" he found time TO amass
so much knowledge 50 irreveiant 70 that I
function. his answer was that L was
his rule. when he returned home at night I
no matter what the hour. 10 do some 4
reading.
The discrimination with which he read +
was quite clear 10 everybody Eho came i
IN social contact with him. Quite nat
urally this aspect OF their boss was not 4
evinced 70 his fhenchmen- There were /
among the Republican machinisJs in New
York IN those DAYS some keen and cult \
waited men. ike that George Bliss already \
mentioned. But the captains OF ffties
were necessarily. as they always are in .
practical politics. rough lot The COM
mon notion IS that they can be managed !
only by a r0rgh-son;e Dick OF Charley 4
whose Mr." is evidently a misit But
Gen. Arthur was not AT all this kind Of a