The Portland daily press., 1879-01-21
Department.
NEW YORK, January IS, 1879

IOhhJ 1919,
The talk about the New York appointments
has been resumed this week, and as usual
there is good deal Of speculation as to what
has been said and done about them in Execu-
tive session. One morning paper published an
entirely new and original programme OF plan
of action that was to settle the whole question
10 manner perfectly satisfactory to all parties.
1t was In this wise: The nominations of Gen.
erals Merritt and Graham were to bs rejected;
Gen. Arthur and Mr.. Cornell were to be REIN
stated; they were thereupon to resign at once;
the names of the rejected candidates were to be
sent in again; they were to be confirmed with
out obiection, and the whole controversy was
thus to be amicably and finally settled.
Now it is passing strange that any body
should be credulous enough to give serious
heed to so preposterous a story as this. But
the Sairey Camps and Betsey Prigs of the
press who serve up q dish OF reading matter in
the afternoon out of the bits that fall from the
tables of their morning contemporaries seized
upon this morsel with avidity and dispensed It
IS an uncommonly dainty relish. They were
dreadfully shocked OF course. The sreformers'
of the period are swift to sscribs bad motive
to every human action; 1t didn't seem to have
occurred to them that there could bs any doubt
about the tale itself, and they scented q bar
gain at once, and forthwith set about belabor-
imagined to be identified with 1t.
1t is sufficient to say that the confirmation
of Merritt and Graham Will he vigorously
opposed because they were nominated in def
ance OF the Senate and in gross violation Of the
principles which should govern the civil ser
vice. Ii is bad enough to abuse patronage by
dealing it out TO favorites; the office Of the
country were never meant to be used as dice
for rafflng for posts of eminence with; IL an
incumbent is honest and capable he ought to
be retained. But if there is to be any proserip-
tion 1t isn't worth while to make the offensive
ness of it more conspicuous By practicing 1t a.
an accompaniment of the most vehement pre-
tensions of political rectituds and disinterested-
ness. The President came into office with .
tremendous flourish of trumpets. His follow
ers were not satisfied with Wanting his purity;
they cast reflections on the men who had pre-
ceded him; they thanked God tha. we were
emerging out of darkness into light; they drew
contrasts between the past and the present,
and asked people to observe how much clearer
and rarer the atmosphere of Washington
society was under the new than under the old
regime. And amidst all this clatter of self
appreciation, they were trading and dickerine
in che spols of place with as little compu notion
as huckster would feel at vending his cab
bsges in the market stalls.
When the first effeort was made to capture
the New York Custom House 1t was 8 plain,
att q oor orad; ;taIIa toh haa
since there wasn't the slightest ground for
making change, and no public benefit could
in any event, accrue from il, bat there was no
MISUNDERSTANDING sneaking about it. The
administration measured strength with the
Senate and was beaten. There the matter
should have rested. Tue appointment of new
men after the Senate had adjourned was neither
frank nor fair. 1t was taking Advantage Of
the absence OF coordinate branch Of the gov
ernment to accomplish an end that could not
have been attained if they had remained in ses-
sion. Senators cannot be expected to allow
themselves to be treated in that discourseous
way. 1t was inevitable that when they re-as-
sembled they would defend their prerogatiye,
The popular impression is that there is only one
Senator who has vital interest in the subject,
and that it is with him, In great measure, a
personal question. This is Q mistake. The
principle involved has wider scope We have
heard first and last great deal of chaff about
the usurpations Of the Senate. Weak minded
and self willsd executives have from tima to
time arrayed themselves in antsgonism to that
body. There never has been but one inst ,nce
In history where the one man prevailed over
the council in which the Constitutional authori-