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He also had a taste for the administration of military affairs, and before the civil war was Judge-Advocate of the Second Brigade of the State militia. When Edwin D. Morgan became Governor of New York, at the beginning of 1860, he appointed Mr. Arthur to the position of engineer-in-chief on his staff, and he was afterward made Inspector-General, and then Quartermaster-General of the military forces of the State, an office which he held until the end of Governor Morgan's term, at the close of 1863. He conducted the duties of his office in equipping, supplying, and forwarding the immense number of troops furnished by his State, with such success that his accounts were audited and allowed at Washington without deduction, while those of some of the States were reduced by millions of dollars. It has also been said that while he had the giving of many large and profitable contracts, and the control of enormous purchases, with opportunities for making gains, which most men would have regarded as legitimate, he never profited a penny from the business under his charge, and left the office of Quartermaster-General poorer than when he took it. Presents offered to him were promptly rejected, and, if sent, returned. In 1862 there was a secret meeting of "loyal Governors," to discuss measures for providing troops, at which Mr. Arthur was present by invitation, being the only person taking part who was not the Governor of a State. Many instances are related of the notably vigorous administration of his military office.

In 1865 General Arthur returned to the practice of law, and built up a large business in collecting claims against the Government. He also drafted many important measures of legislation, and promoted their adoption both at Washington and at Albany. For a short time he was counsel of the New York Board of Tax Commissioners. Meantime he took an active part in local politics, and became known for his skill as an organizer and manager. On the 20th of November, 1871, he was appointed by President Grant Collector of Customs at the port of New York, an office to which he was reappointed in 1875. His second appointment was promptly confirmed by the Senate without a usual reference to a committee. President Hayes, after his accession to office in 1877, promulgated an order forbidding persons in the civil service of the Government from taking an active part in political management. Mr. Arthur was at that time chairman of the Republican Central Committee of New York city, and Mr. A. B. Cornell, who held the position of Naval Officer, was chairman of the State Central Committee, of the same party. Both gentlemen neglected to comply with the President's order by resigning their party positions, and were suspended from office in July, 1878. An attempt had previously been made to supersede General Arthur by removing him, and appointing his successor during

the session of the Senate, but the appointment was not confirmed. The successor appointed after his suspension in July was confirmed in office at the following session of the Senate. Two special committees investigated Mr. Arthur's administration of the Collector's office, and reported nothing on which a charge of official dereliction could be based. Both the President and the Secretary of the Treasury, in connection with his suspension, acknowledged the purity of his official acts. A petition for his retention in office, signed by all the judges of the New York courts, most of the prominent members of the bar, and nearly all the importing merchants of the city, was suppressed by Mr. Arthur himself. The only accusation made against him was that of disregarding the President's order in respect to active participation in political management. In a letter to Secretary Sherman, he produced figures showing that in the six years of his administration as Collector of New York, removals from subordinate offices amounted to only 2 per cent of the whole number, against an average of 28 per cent under his three immediate predecessors, and that all but two appointments in one hundred to important positions, commanding a salary of $2,000 and more, had been made by promotion from the lower grades of the service, on recommendation of the heads of bureaus. His reforms in the methods of conducting the business of the office were generally acknowledged.

On retiring from the office of Collector of the Port of New York, Mr. Arthur returned to the practice of law in that city, and continued to take an active part in politics, contributing materially to the nomination and election of Mr. Cornell to the governorship of the State. He was a zealous supporter of the claims of General Grant to the Republican nomination for the presidency in the Chicago Convention of 1880, being closely associated with Senator Conkling in the effort to secure that result, as he had previously been in the political affairs of the State of New York. When the movement to nominate General Grant was defeated, and Mr. Garfield was made the candidate, Mr. Arthur was nominated for the vice-presidency by acclamation, for the purpose of enlisting the hearty support of the Grant Republicans for the ticket, and securing, if possible, the vote of New York. He took an active part in the management of the canvass which followed, especially in his own State, acting as chairman of the Republican Central Committee. He presided in the Senate during the special session, which began on the 4th of March, with dignity and general acceptance. In the contest between the President and Senator Conkling, in regard to appointments in the State of New York, the Vice-President took no part, but, after the resignation of the New York Senators, he went to Albany and actively participated in the effort to secure their re-election. It was during this contest

that President Garfield received the shot that subsequently proved fatal, and it put an end to Mr. Arthur's electioneering efforts in behalf of Mr. Conkling. While the President lingered between life and death from July 2d to September 19th, the Vice-President refrained from all part in public affairs and the controversies of the time, only expressing on fitting occasions his own sincere share in the common grief and anxiety.

The death of President Garfield was an nounced to him in New York by a telegraphic dispatch from the members of the Cabinet, who expressed the wish that he would repair to Long Branch the following morning. In accordance with the advice of his friends, he took the oath of office at his own house in New York before one of the judges of the State Supreme Court, at about two o'clock in the morning of September 20th. After visiting Long Branch and accompanying the remains of the dead President to Washington, Mr. Arthur was sworn into office in a more formal manner before the Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court on the 22d, and delivered a brief address in which he expressed his sense of the grave responsibilities devolved upon him. The same day, as his first official act, he proclaimed a general day of mourning for his predecessor. A special session of the Senate was called, to begin on the 10th of October, for the purpose of choosing a presiding officer and confirming such appointments as might be submitted. The members of the Cabinet were requested to retain their places until the regular meeting of Congress in December. Only Secretary Windom, of the Treasury Department, who desired to become a candidate for the Senate from Minnesota, insisted on his resignation. Chief-Judge Folger, of the New York Court of Appeals, was chosen as his successor, after ex-Governor E. D. Morgan, of the same State, had declined the appointment, though it had been submitted to the Senate and promptly confirmed. The new President took a proiinent part officially in the Yorktown celebration on the 19th of October, delivering an appropriate address.

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS. The Sun. The "American Journal of Science" for June, 1881, contains a discussion of the American photographs of the transit of Venus in 1874, by Professor D. P. Todd. The mean equatorial, horizontal parallax of the sun derived from these photographs is 8.883", corresponding to a distance of 92,028,000 miles.

Solar Activity.-The "Comptes Rendus," vol. xciii, No. 8, gives the result of M. Tacchini's solar observations up to August 1st. The number of spots and prominences continues to increase. At no time between January 1st and July 31st was the sun's disk found free from spots. The daily record of their numbers has indicated several well-marked epochs of special solar activity. Whether these secondary max

ima are accidental, or whether their occurrence is in accordance with an undiscovered law, is a question to be decided by future observations. The dates of these periods are: January 17-21, March 9-20, April 2-9, April 16-25, May 5-9, May 23-31, June 12-18, June 25-July 10, and July 24-August 4. M. Tacchini observes that these epochs are frequently separated by half a solar rotation.

New Minor Planet.-On the night of May 18th, Dr. Palisa detected a new minor planet, the 220th of the group. This is the only planetoid discovered during the year. Its light at the time of discovery was extremely feeble, the apparent magnitude being 13.5.

Jupiter's Spots.-Within the past year Professor Hough, Director of the Dearborn Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, has given special study and attention to the spots of Jupiter. A discussion of all the measures of the great red spot, commenced in the autumn of 1879 and continued through 490 days, gives a mean rotation period of 9h 55m 35.2. But individual observations seem to indicate a motion of oscillation of the spot itself; the displacement in longitude amounting to 3,200 miles. The observations of small spots during two months indicated an average drift in longitude of about three miles per hour. The rotation period derived from observations of a small white spot almost exactly on the equator was 9h 50m 0.56. If the great red spot, therefore, be regarded as fixed, the mean drift of the equatorial parts will be 265 miles per hour in the direction of the planet's rotation. The true diameter of the equatorial white spot measured about 2,800 miles. These observations, it must be confessed, leave the true rotation period of the planet somewhat uncertain. As they indicate, however, but slight deviations from permanency in the position, form, and dimensions of the red spot, the period can differ but little from 9h. 55 35

Comets. The sixth comet of 1880 was discovered December 16th, by Dr. Pechüle, of Copenhagen. Its motion is direct, and the elements of its orbit resemble those of the comets of 1807 and 1881 b.

The first comet of 1881 was discovered May 1st, by Dr. Lewis Swift, Director of the Warner Observatory, Rochester, New York. Its elements have no marked resemblance to those of any known comet.

On the night of May 22d, Mr. John Tebbutt, of Windsor, New South Wales, discovered a comet which proved to be one of more than ordinary interest. The same body was independently detected a few days later by Dr. B. A. Gould, at Cordoba, South America. It was observed at many places in Europe and America on the morning of June 23d, and was conspicuously visible to the naked eye from June 23d to August 1st. Its tail could be traced to a distance of 12° or 13° from the nucleus, the true length being nine or ten millions of miles. Its orbit resembles that of the comet

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