Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-22

Ane MIaienium of Modest Patriots
The senate Dissatisfied win ,ha
Foreign Appointments.

The Senate Dissatisfied yVtf. "A,
Foreign Appointments.
Correspondence of the New York Herald.
WASHINGTON, April 18th
Senators will adjourn probably Of
| Wednesday, and will leave for thei
homes in anything but good humor
There is the greatest dissatisfaction
among them about the general dis
tribution Of the patronage; bu
more especially about the foreign
appointments, judging from the re
marks of individual Senators. /
the public could only put its ear t.
the keyhole of the Senate's door:
while in executive session, it would
hear growl boding no good to
more than one head of department.
All the Secretaries come in for abuse
from the Senator'S, not excepting
even the polite Boutwell,, or the d.
plomatic Fish. The former is
blamed probably because he has
seen fit to turn out of Office a num-
Der of female employees, particular
friends of Senators and members,
and the latter is denounced because
out of the limited number of ap-
pointments at his disposal he could
not accommodate everybody who
sought a diplomatic or consular
office. Nearly the entire batch Of
consular appointments has been
sent in and the committee has re-
ported favorably upon compare
lively small number, because they
have not been able to ascertain
where they come from or who
they are, much less to arrive
at any correct conclusion as to
their fitness or unftness for
their positions. In order to expe-
dite matters, the committee has par
celed the work out after the follow
ing fashion: Mr.. Chandler. the
chairman of the committee, looks
after all the nominations from the
Western States; Mr.. Corbett, of
Oregon, does the same thing for the
candidates from the Pacific coast;
Messrs. Kellogg, of Louisiana, and
Spencer, of Alabama, have charge
ofthe appointments from the South,
ern States Mr.. Conkling looks after
the Middle States, and Mr.. Backing
ham, of Connecticut, hunts up the
records of the New Englanders.
Every man is, of course, supposed
to know all about his own section,
or if his information does not ex-
tend beyond the limits of his own
State he can, and almost invariably
does, inquire of the Senator from
whose State the nominee halls.
Think of the amazement of some
members of the committee, who,
after turning over in their minds for
hours the name of some candidate,
and wondering who he might be,
goes to the Senator who represents
the State, and asks, "Who is John
Smith or Tom Jones ?" as the case
may be, to meet with the curt reply,
Don't know, sir; never heard of
him" II thought he was your APP
pointment, Senator" modestly per
sists the committeeman. "My APP
pointment! haven't got a for
eign appointment under.this admin
though / have asked for
several" "Well, then, what shall
we do with this man p asks the
committee man. "Reject him, re-
ject him, of course; l don't want
him charged to my account" This
is a specimen Of the daily expe-
rience of the members of the Com
mittee on Commerce in their search
for knowledge under difficulties. I'm
der these circumstances but one
thing can happen, towit: that a
large number of the nominations
now before the Senate for consular
will be rejected. The
fact that the Senators themselves
have not been consulted about these
does not contribute
towards putting them in
good humor about their eonfirma-
ton. 1t may benoticed that large
of the parties nominated
have been credited to the several
territories. Heretofore it has not |
been customary to select from the |
territories for foreign appointments
until the States had their quotas.
of the States have not even
been recognized with single APP
pointment in the selection made by
Mr.. Fish. 1t has been discovered,
however, that in the case of some
of the States which have received
more than their share, Illinois, for
instance, resort has been had to car
pet bagging in the territories, so
that the surplus of the friends of
Washburne and other powerful
men with the administration, might
be taken care of This may per-
haps account for the fact that some
States have not received their full
share, while others have none at
all.