New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-10-19
THE POLITICAL HORIZON.
SENTIMENTS OF CONGREssNEN

CoNFTDENr-THE PRESIDENTS VIEWS
lFRom REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRBusEl
WASHINGTON, Oct 17.-Pe0ple who are not active
politicians, and who take only mild interest in the
result OF elections when they think there are no
great principles at stake, can hardly imagine how
disturbed the Republican Congressman feel about
the triumph of the Democrats in Ohio. Many of
them have become woful Jeremiahs, prophesylng
the utter downfall and complete ruin of their party
and the certain victory of their opponents not
only III 1880 but in all Of the subsequent elections
to the end of the century. They magnify q
Democratic majority of twenty-odd thousand in
State peculiarly tickle In its politics and in time
OF exceptional apathy, into q terrible handwriting
on the WALL foretelling their destruction. OF course
they will get over these "doleful Dumps after
while. but now that they are in tho depths Of them
they are interesting subjects for the journalists
spectrOscope. They lack moral Drawn and bone
They are altogether too sensitive. The Democratic
party has taken defeat piled defeat for nearly
twenty years. and after each successive buffeting it
has come up smiling and resOute for the next con-
test but the moment the Republicans fear they are
going to lose their hold on the General Government
they have no more courage than sea-slck man
when he imagines that tho whole universe is out of
gear and is deyotlng it's energies to making him un-
comfortable.
Most Of the dsheartened Congressman charge the
whole blame of the defeat upon the President.
Some dwell upon the Southern policy as the chief
cause, and all say the Civil Service order hurt the
party badly Among those who talk most about the
effect of the Presidents course toward tho South
there are three kinds of opinion, some members
thinking that his course was wrong, and ought not
to have been pursued, Others holding that it was an
unfortunate necessity, and still Others maintaining
1t was right, as well as inevitable, and that
although its effect upon tho party was
to weaken it at first, any other course would have
injured it far more The first class of men are sad
and mad BOTH The second are sad, but not mad.
Aud the third, though by no means glad, are in a
state Of philoSophic equanrmity They say that the
military epoch in the South had to pass away, and
that it was far better for Republican President to
cut it short than for the Republican party to seek
to proong it, and finally to be driven from power on
that issue. They further say that it is inevitable
that many honest and Jealous Republicans should
feel dissatisfied about the Presidents action but that
the edge of their resentment will DO fast dulled by
time and reflection.
On the question Of the wisdom of the Civil Ser
vice order. there is much less difference of opinion
That it was bad policy to issue such sweeping
order, all Republican Senators and Representatives.
with whom | have talked agree. Some think the
order is wrong in principle, Others say it goes in the
| ~
was necessary was for the President to remove Office
holders who were making themselves obnoxious by
managing conventions and caucuses so rs to defeat
the popular will few examples of this kind would
have moderated the partisan zeal of the Whole body
Of Federal appointees With all tho talk of
the past ten years about Civil Service reform,
it is plain that the average Republican Congressman
is not much advanced beyond the old idea that
the Offices the chief incentives to political strife
and that those who have got them have good q
right to fight to keep possession as those who are
out Of place have to fight to get in. According TO
this view, it is absurd to say that may strug-
gle for years to get an Office but as he sue
cecds he must refrain from all efforts to defeat the
men who trying to drive him out. 1t is of
course an oyersrained construction Of the order to
say that it prohibits OiicehOders from being active
for their party at elections but the effect of It, as
shown IN Ohio, is that postmaster or other Official
who is forbidden to serve on n town or county
mttee. not disposed to exert himself at the polls
hear a good deal of criticism of the general pol
icy Of the Administration regard TO civil appoint
ments, brought out, no doubt, by the prevalent
discomfort and Encouragement 1t Is sad that the
reform so-caled is not thorough and not altogether
genuine. The letters of Gail Hamilton, recently
published in THE TRIBUNE, are quoted or echoed,
with supplementary remarks on recent Cabinet ac-
III
placed on the supreme Bench because he il the best
Southern Republican iurist, but because he led the
Brstow forces over to Hayes IN the Cincinnati Con-
yentOn that MIR. StOughtOns appointment to the
Russian mission like Mr. KassOu's to Austria, looks
like recognition of his services in defending lrcs
dent IIayess right before the Electoral Commission
and that the offer of the English mission to the
PENNSYLVANIA politicians, if they Will agree upon
man, Is a surrender to Old methods of appointment
such as even General Grant seldom made. As long
as the Administration descends to what Is called
practical politics" and seeks to cOncato Senator'S
or obge friends in making the principal appoint
ments why, il is asked, should il disOTganlZe the
party by prohibiting the holders OF the little places
from doing the work which has always been eA-
pecged OF themf
1t is somewhat surprising TO find that number of
the most prominent Republican leaders believe that
the doom of their party sealed and that its speedy
dissolution must result from the antagonistic opn-
ions prevailing in its ranks to the course OF the
President. These gentlemen are, as a rule, active
party men, who have always stood by the organiza-
ton. and who think that machinery is necessary to
the existence Of parties, and that patronage is
great power that ought to DO made
the most OF to win campaigns. They
would not like their names printed to
hack up their opinions, and the correspondent who
Il sufficiently intimate with them to get an unre-
served expression of their sentiments IS always eau
toned not to publish what they say. fnt Ill the
brefest compass their view is that the President
has sacrificed the Republican party to protect MS
title; that ths party is without leader, and Is ia
tally divided in conyic,lons that Its nara workers
are dsboartened and md leTent and that 1t has lost
It's solidIty and purpose, and is likely to drop to
pieces and give place to ephemeral organizations,
pOwerless TO resist the compact ana VICTORIOUS
Democracy This dismal view, so widely enter
tanned just now is the outgrowth rather OF feeling
than OF judgment.
Republicans VINO not intense partisans, and
who look the situation in cooler temper do not
share in 1t. They say that the natural condition OF
potics is one of constant change, and that no party