ce.

The illness of Garfield dragged on through eleven weeks in the summer of
1881, with bulletins one day up and the next down. The strain told on
every one in the Administration. The prospect of Arthur's succession
called attention to the fact that the Vice-President is rarely nominated
for fitness, but is chosen at the end of a hot convention, in
carelessness, or to placate a losing side. It led soon to the passage of
an adequate Presidential Succession Act. The death of Garfield threw the
control to the Republican faction that disliked him most.

Blaine, the head of Garfield's Cabinet, was most directly affected by
the catastrophe. He had stepped from the Senate into the State
Department at Garfield's request. While he was a receptive candidate for
the Presidency this post suited his needs and gratified his taste. He
loved business and liked to associate with men. He had a diplomatic
vision that led him to formulate a more constructive policy than most
Secretaries have had.

With England, Blaine found negotiations upon the Isthmian Canal pending,
having been taken up by Hayes. His attitude in his notes of 1881 failed
to meet the approval of Great Britain, and ignored obligations that the
United States had long before accepted. But it pointed to an American
canal and was part of his larger scheme. His America was inclusive of
both continents, and drew him to hope for larger trade relations in the
Western Hemisphere. With the approval of Garfield he had started to
mediate in South America, in a destructive war between Chile and Peru.
He had on foot, when Garfield died, a scheme for a congress of the
American States in the interest of a greater friendliness among them.
The invitations for this gathering had just been issued when Arthur
reorganized his Cabinet, brought F.T. Frelinghuysen in as Secretary of
State, and let Blaine out. There was no public office ready for him at
this time, so he retired to private life and the historical research
upon which his _Twenty Years of Congress_ was founded. Jefferson Davis
had just brought out his _Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government_,
while the Yorktown centenary, like the centennial of independence, had
stimulated the market for historical works.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The United States Census of 1880 is more elaborate and reliable than its
predecessor of 1870, and may be supplemented to advantage by H.V. Poor,
_Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 18