New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-01-01

The Democratic senators are drCadiully cha
sl,ncd when they reflect upon their own be
navior in The matter of the Ncw-l ork ap-
pomtmcnts. When the names of McssIs
Roosevelt and Prince came up for confirmation,
few Of the Democrats agreed with the Re
publican majority in thinking that they ought
20 be rejected, because there was no good
cause for turning mt the pItS"n; Incumbcnt'
The reason was Unassaabe. aud the action OF
the Senate, however unfortunate in some OF It's
aspects, WAS in strict compliance with the rules
81 Civil Service reform, as they were laid down
IN the Inauguia Address. BIT now it has oc-
Cured to the Democrats that in following
their convictions they committed tactical
ilundcr. 1t Is very true that Mcssrs. Arthur
and Cornell do not deserve removal, but ii
would bc good thing for the Democratic
party, nevertheless to have them removed,
and convictions should yield to party interests.
rhcy accordingly request the President TO
give them another chance and promise that
if he will send back the names of Mcssrs.
Roosevelt and Prince, the one Democrat who
voted against them, and the seven or eight
who abstained from voting, will rally to their
support and rush them III.
But the repentance Of the Democrats comes
too late. We can hardly imagine that the
President means 20 Oblgc them. Their mo-
tives are too clear. Whatever strengthens Mr..
Conkling of course is poison TO them, for he
is at this moment the most formidable of the
Republican leaders. We do not like his meth
DDS of political warfare we have often had
occasion to quarrel with him i'll the past, and
we dare say we shall have to cIiticise him
pretty frankly in the future but we do not
purpose shutting our eyes to facts. lie
must be blind who cannot see that
the control of the State of New-York IS one
OF the great objective points in the next pO-
,itical campaign, and that, affairs now stand,
the influence OF Senator C0nkling is what the
Democracy chiefly breads. Surely, if we needed
any lesson in the importance of harmony
among ourselves, and the folly of an acrImo-
NOUS and useless contest we might find it IN
the anxiety Of our adverSalies that this antag-
onism between the President and the Senate
should be pcrpetuated.
The friends of reform must remember that
there is nothing scandalOus III tie records of
the present Collector and Naval Officer at this
port to require that they should be removed
as III example, and when the Senate refuses
TO advise and consent to their dismissal, ii
merely exercises its constitutional night. We
may suspect the motives Of individual Sena-
tc.s, and imagine that tie vote of this one
was controlled by personal ambition, OF that
other b. personal resentment; but the Pres
idrnt has to deal with official acts, not
with private motives, and lie must
see that the action of the Senate in this mat
ter is unassailablc. He exercised his proper
functions in a dccOrOus aud reasonable man
ncr when he asked the consent of the Senate
10 the removal Of these officers; the Senate
also e.eccs, its legitimate functions i'll refus-
ing it. There the affair ought to stop. Mr..
HAYES has show neither disappointment nor
irritation and has thus far done nothing to
Turn a mere difference Of opinion into a quar-
Tti. But if b. should take the advice of the
Democrats and renew the rejected nomina-
t.o.,, vi;l he cy,,gg tatiOn of carrying them
against his OWL uarty by Democratic aid,
the situation would De entirely clan ged. He
would then be in the attitude of attacking
his own party, and allying himself with the