The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-12-13
WASHINGTON.
IHE WARS OF THE RADICAL
ROSES.
New York Custom uOnse SOmina-
items Considered-ConkII Cock
of the Walk-Roosevelt aud
Price Rejected - Her
ritt Confirmed,

nearly six hours, sdjourning only at 5
N. The entire session was devoted to
the New York Custom House nomius-
tions, two OF which, namely, those Of
Theo. Roosevelt, to be Collector, in place
OF Arthur, TO be removed, aud Bradford
Prince Us Naval Officer, wee Cornell, to
be removed, were reported from the
Committee on Commerce unfavorsbly,
The third. namely, f. A. Merritt, to bo
Surveyor Of Customs, in place OF Sharp
whose commission has expired, wss re-
ported with favorable recommen dstiOu
No opposition was msnitested to the lat
ter, but the contest in regard TO the two
proposed removals wss extremely ALL
mated and took wide range, covering
q discussion OF the rights, powers and du.
ties ofthe President N regard to removals
from cffice and the subject OF civil
service III general.
Mr.. Conkling, chairman of the Com
mittee on Commerce, opened the debate
with brief statement of the reasons
why, IN the opinion OF the msjority Ot
that committee, the two first named
nominations should not be confirmed
These were, IN brlet, that no charges,
either OF corruption or ineficiency, had
been msde against the preseOt inCum
bents, but on the contrary they were
coaceded TO be hones., faithful, gxpe-
rierC8d and able officers
Mr.. Bayard followed in al extended
argument, maintaining the right Of the
Executive TO make changes which, in his
opinion, would be TOR the benefit
OF the public service, he being re-
sp0nsibIe for the execution OF the laws
aud entitled TO select his agents, subject
to the confirmation of the Senate, but
without being obliged to furnish the
Senate with statement OF his reasons.
Mr. Herman then delivered speech Of
considerable length on the sans side OF
the question. His remarks were mostly
resd from manuscript.
General Gordon WAS the next speaker
He warmly commended the civil service
policy of Lhe President, and in regard 10
the pending nominations ne asserted en-
phstlcaliy thst the removals which they
contemplated were demanded by r proper
regard lor the purity of the service. He
charged that Cornell and Arthur had
disgrsCetully made use Of the power snd
patronage of their offices for merely
partisan and selfish purposes, end he in
Limatsd tina. it WAS time for ono man
DO yer in New York to be broken.
The debate then became general.
Messrs Hoar and Matthews spoke IN fa-
vor OF sustaining the scLion OF the Presi
dent in the exercise OF his constitutional
powers, and OF what they argued was his
sound public policy in removing the civ
II service from the domain OF partisan
control. M. Teller and others spoke
briefly in reply, arguing that IN the
present case, at least, the President had
departed from the principles OF civil SER
vice which he himself had announced,
namely, that faithful and efficient ser
vices should protect an officer from re-
moyal, etc.
Mr.. Conkling closed the debate in a
apeeCh of considerable length, and with
great vIgor and earn estness, replying
to the various arguments advanced
by the supporters Of the nominations.
and repelled with the utmost emphasis
the charges that had been made against
the official characters and conduct OF the
officers whom the President proposed 70
remove. he insisted that they had been
faithful, honest and efficient in every par
tcular, and challenged proof that a sim
gle charge had ever been made against
them, either by the mercantile commu-
nity, or bv the Secretary OF the Treasury,
or by the President himself. He also
defed any one to show, or to assert, that
his TConkling's1 action IN this whole
matter had been otherwise than fair,
open, courteous and above board. In
conclusion he cismed that the Senate
would alike be unjust to the faithful OH
cers. careless of its own prerogstlves and
duties, and unmindful OF the dictates OF
the true civil service policy if 1t failed to
vote that these nominations should be re-
j=cted.
A vote by ayes and nays was then
taken on the nomination OF Roosevelt,
and il WAS rejected by q msjority OF I, the
ayes being 26 and noes 81.
Tue nomination OF Prince was rejected,
upon another roll cal, by the same vote
In each case Senators Eaton, Dennis,
Whyte and Msxey (Democrsts) united
with q great body Of the Republicans
against the confirmation, and Senators
Burnside, Chrls.isncy, Conover, Dawes
Hosr and Matthews tRepuoiiuans) sided
with the mass OF the Democrats in favor o!
confirmation.
The nomination of Merritt was confirm
ed wIlhou. division. A motion was made
to remove the Injunction OF secresy from
the votes. out under the rules single
objection carried It over until tomorrow
when it will undoubtedly be adopted
Meanwhile, the following is believed tc
be- correc. statement of the votes sctusllJ
! cast bv those Seoators who were present
and not paired. The names OF severs
VINO sre mentioned above as having sep
araled from the majority OF their poiiti
! cal colleagues on tee question Of sustain
ing the President will 10: be found il
! this list, but their respective positions
we1e msde NANTES. by the announce
ment o psirs.
Those voting in favor Of his confirms
tioa were, according to the best inior'
ms.lon sttainsbie tonight, Aessrs. Bal
lev, Baird, Beck, Burnside, ChristiaDcy
/ Coke. Corover, DAVE, Eustis, Gordon
/ Grover, Harris Hereford, Hill, Hosr
Johnston, Jones of Florids, Kernsu
Lsmsr, NcCreery, Matthews, Morgan
Randolph and SaulsbuEy-Z5.
The negative was cast by Messrs. ALI
son, Annoy, Blaine, Booth, Bruce
Cameron of Pennsylvsnis, Cameron o
Wisconsin, Ctsffee, Con king Davis o
Illinois, Dorsey, Eston. Eimund., Ferry
Hsmlin, Howe ingalls,, Jones cf Nevs
ds, Kellogg, Kirkwood, Mcmillan
Mitchell, Morrill,, Oglesby, Paddock
Patterson, Plumb, Rollins, Ssrgen:
Saunders, Spencer and Teller-32.
1t Is said tha. the msjori!y against th'
confirmation Of Roosevelt sud Primo
would have bean two or thre
orester hut for the absence Of g.