e him familiar to all the people. He represented the
liberal and progressive spirit of Republicanism without being visionary
and impractical, and his nomination was accepted as placing the party
on advanced ground.

General Arthur was a graduate of Union College and a member of the
New-York bar. He was prominently connected with Governor Morgan's
Administration during the war and gained great credit for the manner in
which he discharged his important duties as Quartermaster-General of
the State. He subsequently held for several years the responsible
and influential position of Collector of Customs for the port of New
York. During the period of his service he collected and paid into
the Treasury more than a thousand millions of dollars in gold coin. He
had wide acquaintance with the public men of the country and had long
enjoyed personal popularity. As a citizen of New York and a
conspicuous advocate of President Grant's nomination his selection
met with general favor.

The Democratic Convention met at Cincinnati on the 22d of June (1880).
The preliminary canvass and discussion had not indicated a prevailing
choice. The only definite policy anywhere suggested was that the
position of the Democratic party demanded the renomination of Mr.
Tilden for the Presidency, and that a failure to present him as a
candidate would be equivalent to withdrawing the allegation and
argument of the Electoral fraud. But to this plan the forcible answer
was made that the discreditable attempts of Mr. Tilden's immediate
circle upon the returning boards of the disputed States had compromised
his candidacy and injured his party; and on this ground a strong
opposition was made to his nomination. Mr. Tilden himself settled
the question by writing and extended and ingenious letter a few days
before the Convention, declining to be a candidate. Their immediate
choice being unavailable, his New-York followers made a strenuous
effort to control the nomination, first for Henry B. Payne of Ohio,
and next for Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania. The candidates were
numerous, but the leading places were held by General Hancock and
Senator Bayard.

The Convention was promptly organized with Judge Hoadly of Ohio as
temporary chairman, and Senator Stevenson of Kentucky as permanent
President. A ballot was reached on the second day. The South was
almost evenly divided between Bayard and Hancock. New England
preferred Hancock to Bayard. The We