The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-07-20
THE WAR ON CONKLING.
WHY HAYES REMOVED CoNKLENG's
FRIENDS FROM THE NEW
YORK OFFICES.
Sis Belief That the Potter Investigation
Committee Was Instigated By the New
Yark senator and His Friends.

New York that is necessarily OF interest tC
the people of New Orleans; but this particu.
lar case has certain surroundings which are
of general Importance. The first OF these cir
c1rnstanCes to suggest itself Is the fact that
it involves to O. considerable extent the fate Of
the ensuing campaign in this State and prob
ably cooks the senatorial goose Of Roscoe
Conkling beyond all peradventure. But this
feature of the matter has been exhausted In
every conceivable form of comment and dis
cussion for year past, and there Is nothing
new to be written or said about it, But the
manner In which the thing was done is SO
thoroughly characteristic of Hayes and SC
suggestive both Of his nature as q man and
his methods as an official that cannot resist
the temptation to make 1t the text of a homily
Ii there Is anything more strongly devel-
oped In Hayes than another, it is his propen-
sity to have an easy time. He loves power
very much as boy loves O new plaything,
and his chief idea OF official honor Is com
prised In the enjoyment Of manifestations in
the shape of receptions, with brass bands and
cold water lunches. AS to the duties and re-
sponsibilities Of office, Mr.. Hayes notions are
partly funny and partly absurd. The Sultan
OF Turkey Is not more capriciOus in
DISPENSING PATRONAGE
than he is, nor is the Seraglio influence more
patent at the Sublime Porte than Is the in
huence of the Webb family with its collateral
qualifications at the White House. Add to this
the various influences exercised by the va
rious Performers" In his Cabinet, all Of whom
are vehement In their demands, and dogmatic
In their opinions, and each of whom thinks
himself the handspring OF republican insti-
tutions-put all these things together and
you have painful situation for weak man
like Hayes. These things have thus far re-
suited In making what may be called
THE INNER POLITICAL LIFE OF THIS AD-
MINIsTRATION
the most contemplate ever known. Indeed
the position Of Mr.. Hayes has been from time
to time so AFFECT as to be beneath contempt
and subject to pity. Somehow or other, the
two wretchedest features of Hayes official
character, though notorious among the poll
tlcians who have contact with him, are but
little touched upon by the press and hence
comparatively unknown to the public at large
These are his duplicity and mendacity. When
Warmoth in his wrath at the failure of his
partner Lawrence to be reappointed Collector,
exclaimed that Hayes was a damneder liar
than Kellogg, he undoubtedly uttered great
truth, and in his bitterness builded wiser than
he knew.
Hayes is, to be plain about it,
THE MOST CONFIRMED LIAR THAT EVER TEN
ANTED THE WHITE HOUSE.
/ venture to say that during the sixteen
months of his Fraudulent Presidency he has
told more out-and-Out, up-and-dOwn lies than
all the other Presidents have told put to-
gether since the foundation of the Republic.
So notorious has he become In this respect
among the public men and hdbitttes of Wash
ington, that his promise to appoint any per-
son to an Office or to do any executive act is
held to be pTjHsa fncie evidence that some other
person will be appointed or some other act
done. ! could multiply instances until your
hair would stand up like the lightning rods
on Mark Twain's house, but have no desire
to exploit
except in SO far as may be requisite to the
conservation of the truth of history. In the
particular case under discus sion, to wit The
removal Of Conkling's friends from the New
York Custom~house, Hayes has distinctly
violated an obligation which he contracted
last winter with Mr.. Conklng through O
third party, who is intimate with both and
well known. in New Orleans. 1t Is not
necessary to go into the details of
this arrangement. Suffice to say that the
overtures came from Hayes not long after
Conkling had asserted his supremacy in the
Senate and had reference to certain matters
then pending which Mr.. Hayes considered of
vital import to himself and the decision of
which rested presumably in the hands of
Conkling. The overtures were made and &C.
cepted, and Hayes carried his points so far as
C0nkling was concerned. Subsequently the
celebrated Mines interview came out in
mad, but not mad enough to impel him to
break with Conkling while the latter was In a
position to make reprisals. Then came the
Potter resolutions and
THE INVESTIGATION.
Now, to show the utterly fallacv OF reason
ing that prevails In the councils Of the White
House, 1t may be remarked that Hayes re-
CARDS Conkling as the leading instigator Of
that movement! Nothing could be more
rankly absurd. The House was fairly whipped
into that investigation by the leading Demo
cratic newspapers of the country and Conk-
ling had no more TO do with it than Kellogg
had, for example. But Hayes took a notion
that COnkling was at the bottom of it all, and
hence every ghost that stalked the White
House In the distempered dreams of It's Frau
dulent tenant took upon itself the features
and habiliments of the lordly New Yorker.
Upon this childish hypothesis Hayes began
to mediate
But with characteristic dupllcity he held his
peace until his enemy's hands were tied, when
he could strike with that safety which Is SO
dear to men who are capable Of such perfidy
Congress adjourned, and Conkling came
home to Utica and began setting up his pins.
Hayes watched the operation until he thought
he saw chance to make q ten-strike, and
then he got In his work There is little doubt
that he has
BEATEN CoNKLING FOR REFLECTION
10 the Senate, but IL 50 he has elected DEM
ocrat In his stead-than which, by the way,
nothing Is further from his intention, for his
real object, so far as he has any, outside of
mere revenge upon Conkiing was to help the
namby-pamby faction of which George VIM
Curtis is the exponent, and which consists of
q small coterie of mutual admirants who di-
vide their time between hattering each other
looking down from immeasurable attitudes
on the rest of mankind and pouring soft saw
der down the plant back of Hayes. The effect
is already perceptible In the tone and temper
of the small Radical politicians here and else
where throughout the State; boding an inter-
necine strife which cannot fell to cost the
Radical party at least twenty Assembly dis
tricts, which they have carried regularly for
the last twenty years. A. G. b.
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mNSu WaH U,E nRmSrT