The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-12-07
CONKLING DEFENDS GRANT.
A MASTERLY MAIDEN SPERCH NY DAN
VOORHEES or INDIfNA.
Tho Position OF the Democrats Toward the
Fraudulent President Explained by Nor
t0n's Successor-The Tennre Of Omce Act.

Fraudulent President Explained by Nor
tons successor-The Tenure OF once Act.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 6-Thc Senate held a
very interesting executive session o-day. The
President. in rcnominatinG persons who had
been appointed 10 Offices in tho recess. vice
others suspended. did not name them as sue
cessors OF the original incumbents. but rs thcr
own successors For instances: Alexander Reod
WAS appointed in the recess to be Postmaster OF
Toledo. vice Capt Bowling. suspended and in
the extra session his name wns sent to the Sem
ate The Senate failed. as In II host OF other
cases. to act upon the nomination. and under
tho Tenure OF ONCE act he was required TO
make new nominations. The law says:
The President shall. within thirty days arcr the com
mcnccmcn Of each session of the scnac except for any
Office which IN opinion ought not to be nllci. nom
Nthc meeting OF the senate whether temporarily nllrd
T & nSs ana s, ~ ,s .Sne OF s .SSrs % ana
and consent To an appointment IN the pacc of any su-
shall noinac smo,crs rr.cn IS soon a. practicable 10
the same sc ssion OF the Senate Tor the Office
The nominations of Reed and othors appoint
ed in the rocess were not ated upon Ivy the
Senate. and hence thoir predecessors. who
were suspended. resumed the ofiiccs. Tho
question ns 10 whether the incumbcnts who had
been appointed in this way. and who wep, not
confirmed. should turn over Offices to thoir sus-
Attorney General and he dccilcd that under
the law they must. and accordingly the heads
Of the different departments on Monday night
telccraphcd to all such officials to vacatc and
rcinsta,r those who had been removed. To tho
ordinary mind II would soon that this placed
the officers In precisely tho same position they
occupied before they were suspended andthat.
in making nominations TO the Senate now. tho
President must name the nominee" IA the
successor OF the actual incumbent But this was
not done.
Take the case Of the Postmaster at Toledo.
Reeds name was sent to the Senate day for
that office. not vice Dowling but vice Reed
The form did not even run vice Reed whom
the Senate fniled to confirm.
Az soon IA the nominations were read 10 the
Senate to-day this pccniarity in the case Of
Reed and others was noticed. and the long dis
cussion above referred to aruae. senators
Thurman. Noorhors. Conkling. Matthews. and
Davis Of Illinois made speeches. senator
Thurman held that tho Tenure Of Of1ice
att was unconstitutional. and said that
Democrats did not attach very great i'm
pE9rtance 20 nice question OF this kind;
patronage. save to do what they could to pre-
vent bad men from being imposed upon the
there was very great demand for apurinca-
ton OF the civil service. and said something
prevail. IL was. however not the province Of
Democrats to interfere in the quarrel which
existed between the President and he
tribution OF patronage They were made
the constitutional advisers of the rres-
and they could not shirR thn, r..upons w b,,,y biy
They would vote TO confirm good mon aud 10 re-
let bnd nominal ions ami icav.th the Ecpunllcans
10 settle their family quarrcls among them
selves. senator tonh ling picked Thurman up
on some Of his remarks about the civil service
isticnlly able spoech"s. He defended tho al
mlnistration OF Gen. Grant and insisted that
TN ds stories about general eorrqifion Of publ;
sharply upon Thurman's declama,ions about
the constitutionality OF the Tenure of ONCE act
and his not caring about its violation.
Matthews had something To say in answer
to all accounts mnde a very indiscrcet spe",.H
He Claimed thu, both parties had comm.ndei
and endorsed the Presidents civil service
policy and that senator Thurman was Sinking
uphold and sustain the efforts u the chief EN-
ecutive to purify the service. senator voorhees,
replied to both Conkling and Matthews IN II
speech that ls euloSHed 10y Democrats and Re-
puhlicnns alike. IL wis his maiden efurt in
the senate and he was at the beginning. a lttle
nervous and Hurried; but soon recovered
his eluanmiiy and made an excellent
prcscutatlO on OF the DrmOcru'ir attitude toward
the Administration. III" said that the President
belonged To- tha Republican uarty. and the De-
mocracy had no desire 10 relieve i OF the pri2e
II had won hy such questionable nrtiods
factious opposition To- the Administration.
they could not in sef-rcspect Or party
duty. aud must vote to confirm or r.lcct APP
Goih,men's eG, IN SO d3ins ,hey eNerisei
pointccs, and not with reference to any quarrel
that might ex st between the Pres ident aud the
nothing TO ask Of the Administration. self
rcspot would forbid that He could
not vote to G2nnTm ,2 ,ror, annoin'ee,
any particular senator on the other side. In
reply'to Conking's defence OF Grants Admins
tratiOn and the public service under him. kOOr-
hoes said that It was late day TO criticise whnt
Democrats had said about the prevalence OF
%bSn Sntr S hnt f%e % s1 Ths
fore the senate for member Of the Cab-
net, Nothing that any Democrat had ever
said was worse than the public declarations
der Grant Mr.. VOORHEES, quoted from a pc, 'ch
made by schnrz q, the Cincinnati Conyen''on in
fountain OF corruption overiiowW. and con.
iaminating. public morals, Yet the. Senator
the confirmation Of Schur>. Then was The
time. when Mr., Schurzs .iame WINS before tho
Senate. T. rohukc these So-callei stals SANDERS
moval oi Jones, aJ| snid il was a plain viola
tlon OF ne Tenu;e Of ONCE act. He was picked
fact that no had not opposed Smiths confrma.
ton, but lad voted for it,. Then was tho time.
M%sssTs Gnass ro"xd said to hayo Objected that
Tenure Of Once law. Davis replied somewhat
testify that he bad stated his REASONS at the time
lor not opposing tnt cOnnrmNtion oil Smith.
He acted in Difference to the known wishes II
both parties In the STATE. and because thor" was
no reoson that he could See for making the ssn1
on TIA Infringement Of the law senator
Oglosby supported Davis, and concurred with
him IN all he said
Matthews. In His speech. made n defence Of
the President in suspendinR Bowling and nom
mating Rood as il was proper that he should
bccag7e Reed hat supported Matthews and Sc
cured his election 10 the Senate. Thurman had
made the point that bowling was removed In
violation Of the Tenure Of ONCE act and said
that Reeds appointment could not be- justified
ON any other than purely political grounds, III
II wns left tu q vote Of the people OF Toledo, II
would be decided by an overwhelming majority
that bowling should be. retained. Mat
thews criticised Thurman for instancng the
Reed case. when the nomination was not
before the Senate. and charged that bowling
had sent dcs spatches here 10 influence Senators.
signing thereto the names Of men who
knew nothing OF their names being used, He
wanted 10 know If man who forged peoples
names To telegraph dispatches was III 20 DO
Postmaster
The senate reached no. conclusion, but II is
very evident that bettor feeling exists between
Democrats and anti Administration Republi-
cans than NJ any time since Oci, Is.
Mr.. Burnside iltcp., II. l. submitted rcsolu-
ton calling upon Rutherford Is. Hayes for GER
tain diplomatic correspondence In relation 10
the Franco German war, Agreed to.
Mr.. Allison lltop., Ia) moved 10 make the
House bill 10 authorize the coinage Of silver
dollar the order for Monday Of next week. and