The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-24
SPIRIT or TEn PRESS.
Editorial Opinions Of the Leading Journals
upon Current Topics Compiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph.
THE SAN DOMINGO FRACAS IN THE
SENATE

THE SAN DOMINGO FRAOAS IN THE
SENATE.
From the N. Y. World
General Grant has chosen to stake his per-
sonal credit, and the credit of his adminis-
tration on a measure which, at the last ses-
sion. received the deliberate condemnation
of the Republican Senate. That treaty Is
the proper constitutional method OF acqulr-
ing foreign territory was conceded by him.
self and his advisers, when he negotiated,
with their sanction, the treaty for the annex
alton of San Domingo. The Constitution
makes the Senate the final judge of treaties.
General Grants San Domingo treaty came
before that body for ratification; bat, not
content to leave the question rest on its
merits. he exerted his personal influence aud
kept busy lobby agents at work to prevent
its rejection His efforts were of no avail.
The treaty fell through The public judg-
ment endorsed the decision of the Senate.
No voice of complaint or remonstrance was
raised by any respectable newspaper or any
considerable public man. In the elections OF
the wear Just closing the bject was not
alluded to, having been consigned, by the
consent of both parties, to 'the tomb of all
the Capulets." 1t was regarded as one of the
many abortive WITNESSES OF raw, lnexpe-
rienced President.
But General Grant having made his mark,
and done striking things In the late war,
coveted some kind of distinction as the head
of the Government The debt-paying policy
was Boutwell's his action on Cuba th warted
the popular wishes if the Alabama claims
are settled the credit will be awarded to
Secretary Fish and the negotiator; aud the
President, as a candidate for reelection,
wished to have at least one achievement of
his own to stand upon His stolid mind
could find nothing better than his baffled
scheme for the annexation of San Domingo
and SO, in his annual message, he surprised
the country by an attempt to galvanize it's
corpse into life. He devoted more space to
it than to any other topic and proposed to
flank the treaty making power by annexing
San Domingo by joint resolution.
His conscious weakness in this dodge was
disclosed by several symptoms. He intrigued
with Senators to procure reorganization of
the Committee on Foreign Relations, a ma
jority of whom were known to be opposed to
his pet scheme. This intrigue was foiled.
The caucus of Republican Senators were
brought to see that if they put off Schurz, or
put off Patterson, Sumner, the chairman,
would throw up his place on the committee;
which would be a damaging blow to the ad-
ministration and the Republican party. If
the President had kept still, this failure to
change the committee would have ended the
scheme, as the Senators who were not hostile
regarded it with indifference. Bat General
Grant has been often snubbed and
sighted that he could not rest. From the
very first day Of his administration, every
thing he has proposed out of the customary
routine of appointments has met with rel
tion or neglect. Congress refused to repeal
the law of 1889 to enable Mr.. Stewart to be
Secretary of the Treasury: it refused to
repeal the Tenure of Office act; it treated the
wild financial recommendations of his first
annual message with silent scorn; it disre
garded his special message urging the passage
of Lynch's navigation bill aud, at the
close of the last session, it refused to
consider his recommendation to permit Ame.
rican registers to be given to foreign-built
ships. The official head of a nation was never
before so thwarted and belittled. Smarting
under these accumulated huniliations Gene
raj Grant determined to make stand on the
San Domingo job, and ''either make spoon
or spoil horn" by stalking his credit and in
fiuence on his success.
Finding him thus determined and despe
rate, and foreseeing the damage a confic
would bring on the Republican party, certain
judicious friends have been trying, for two
or three weeks, to bring about a reconcilia
tion between the President and Mr.. Sumner
Grant was sore and pig-headed, Sumne
stood on his dignity; SO these peace-makine
go-betweens only made matters worse
Finally the smothered volcano burs
forth in a burning eruption of lava. Sum
ner's personal explanation, founded on tn
article in the Washington Patriot, was th
lurid, lambent fame that played about tn
summit, attracting the attention of beholders
and heralding the belching forth of the red
hot food. This was in the morning. In tn
afternoon the pent-up streams were vomite
forth, and during the whole December nigh
the longest night in the year-the volcan
continued to belch and blaze. 1t was nearl
o'clock before the debated ended, and
vote was had on Senator Morton's resolution
1t passed, and its passage marks an era i
our national politics. 1t Is the death-knell O
the Republican party.
In the first place, it raises an absorbin
issue entirely disconnected from the ques
tions on which parties have heretofor
divided. Those questions have becom
effete when SO hot a quarrel can arise on
mere topic of yesterday In the next place
it opens breach between an original dyed
in-the-wool Republican prominent in th
history of the party on one side and a leade
who never acted with it till he became il
candidate for Office since the war. The priI
ciples of the party have become obsolet
when the dispenser of its spoils can carry th
Senate against the leading representative {
its principles. Thirdly, the fierce QUAR-,
thus begun cannot be healed Grant is n,
turally stubborn, Sumner rancorous and oil
stinate; the one feels strong in his patronag,
the other in his industry and power of al
pealing to public opinion. AS neither
made of yielding materials, they are certai
between them to disrupt the Republlca
party. If Grant gets the nomination, Sun
ner, Schurz, and multitude of sympathetic
associates who do not yet openly come in
the quarrel will take good care to prevent b
nd