The daily gazette., 1879-01-20
C0mkling On Grant.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17.-lt is perhaps
natural that Senator Conkling should be
one of the main props of the movement
TO make Grant the candidate for third
term, If he himself should not be in q
condition to expect nomination at the
hands of The Convention next year, as
now seems quite probable. The rela-
tions between them were Of the closest
confidence and of the most cordial friend
ship, especially during the second term
of Grantism, which far exceeded in enor-
mites those of the first.
There was no honor in the gift of his
Administration which Grant was not
willing and anxious to confer on the
Senator. He offered TO make him Chief
Justice, when the appointment was con-
ferred on the present incumbent, who
had never tried case In the Supreme
Court at the time he received this unex-
pected compliment, and who, intellectu-
ally considered, bears no comparison
with Mr.. Conkling. And the compari-
son might be we'll extended in profess
sional sense, with like advantage to the
latter. -
Although the technical rank of Am
bassador does not exist under our laws,
u
the clause relating to the President,
which says, ale shall nominate, and by
and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors S, other
public Ministers and Consuls." BY way
] of emphasizing his regard, he proposed
to make departure in diplomacy for
Mr.. Cooking, by nominating him as
Ambassador TO Great Britain. Having
declined life appointment on the Su-
preme Court, it did not require much
self-sacr flee to refuse this place, which
could have conferred no real distinction
on the Senator, and would have invited
harsh criticisms from its exceptional pre-
tension.
No man, in or ont Of the Cabi net stood
nearer to the unqualified trust of Grant
than Conkhng did, while he was Presi-
dent, or does now, when he is seeking
to break down the honored traditions
| which the fathers established in an abso-
lutte limit of two terms, and which no
| President from Washington to Grant
ever sought to exceed.
| If personal considerations alone were
to be consulted in connection with a
great public responsibility. Mr.. Conk-
hng's devotion to Grants ambition might
be Justified. But This third term propo-
sition carries with 1t the purpose of a
restoration of Grsntism, a return to the
past, and revival of all the Rings and
corrupt influences by which the country
was disgraced and the Treasury was
| robbed Of hundreds of millions. Secor
| Ro bes on, ,Landaulet Williams, Boss Shep-
herd, Belknap, Babcock. Zach Chand-
Ter, the whole tribe of elected carpet
baggers, the "solid South" of Republican
ljobDers and rotten Office eholders, the des-
perate speculators and schemers in an
nexation and war, crowds of thieving
contractors, Indian agents who stole an
nuities and supplies, ami that vast multi
tude of hangers-on who prowl about the
public departments seeking provend ARE
all loud for Grant. ,Johu A. Logan is
now running a, a candidate for the Sen
ate from Illinois on the platform of a
third term. backed by the old Whiskey
Ring, which he did so much to sustain
as a Senator before.
This Is the sort of company in whi sh a
Senator from the great State of New
York ought not TO be found, and this il
not the business in which he ought to be
engaged. A third term of the very best
President would be a most dangerous
precedent to inaugurate, but a third term
of Granfism, with all its grossDess, ,vrnal
ity, and fragrant violations of law, would
plunge the country into condition OF
chaos from which recovery would bt
} difficult.