Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-07-08

responsibility for the maintenance OF the
deadlock upon his supporters. There can
be no doubt that they are acting under mis-
instructions. 1t is certain that il he had
bsen the high-minded man his credulous
friends attempt to represent him he would
instantly have withdrawn from the contest
on hearing of the Presidents assassination.
On this point there is 10 room for argument.
Any man in his position not eaten up with
self.conceit and malevolence as he is, would
have seen the necessity of retiring at that
iuncture. But Gonkling, being narrow
minded and unscrupulous machine politi-
clan, and nothing more, only saw in the
new state of affairs a better opportunity
for himself than had before offered, and
therefore he instructed his henchmen iu
the Legislature to hold out.
Mr.. Conkling is decidedly responsible
for the continuance of the deadlock. The
plain and the only Interpretation of his
conduct is that Notwithstanding his hypo-
critical canting professions of sympathy
and grief over the shooting of the Presi-
dent, he is deliberately waiting to see if
Garfield is going to die, to the end that
if that disaster happens he may be able
to make the most of it. No doubt this is
both shocking and rovoltipg, but it is i'm
possible to deduce any other conclusion
from the facts as they appear. Conk.
ling is Watching the coarse of events at
the White House with the instincts of a
vnlture waiting until life is extinct in its
destined prey There is no delicacy or
generosity in the mans character. He is
coolly estimating the chances OF the Presi-
dents death, and he is holding his forces
together so as 70 be prepared for whatever
may happen. In the attempt to murder
the President he has recognized his own
last opportunity, and he is not the man
to surrender it for any elevated consider
ton, The position he occupies at this
moment is consequently the most despic-
able conceivable. If the President recov-
ers he has nothing to hope for, and if it is
shortly pronounced that tie crisis has
been safely passed it is highly probable
that he VIII reluctantly accept the situa-
tion, and give up struggle in which the
last remnants of his reputation have been
sacrificed.
It is however impossible to understand
what the men expect who are supporting
his claims at Albany, in the event that
their desperate speculation upon the Presi.
dents death fails Conkling it may be
said, is already political corpse, but these
members have had futures before them in
many instances, and they are sacrificing
those futures now in the most reckless
way Hereafter it will be impossible for
them to explain their present obstinate
adherence TO Conkling. Their motives are
altogether too discreditable to be acknowl-
edged, and far too clear to be denied,
however. 1t will be notorious that they
held on in the hope that the death OF the
President would put Conkling once more
in power. and that thus they have been
deliberately seeking to benefit themselves
through the crime of the assassin. This is
the most odious and abominable exhibition
of machine politics that has ever been
made It shows what kind OF men they
are who find their way into public life un-
der the spoils system. Nothing SO shame
full has ever before occurred in the history
of the republic as the present behavior of
these New York stalwarts," in fact.
1t is needless TO say that in the event ot
the Presidents recovery--for which all
good men must hope with double energy
because Of this disgraceiul exhibition
they will be damned beyond redemption.
Having staked everything upon gam
b!ers cast, and lost, they viii have no re.
course but to follow their leader into pri-
vata life, accompanied by the hearty con-
tempt and loathing of their countrymen
throughout the Union. They might have
saved then selves had they been capable of
one noble impulse, but it is the Nemesis
of corruption that its tools are never able
to rise to the hight of the occasions which
might purify and reclaim them. They
have sold themselves to the spoils system !
and the machine, and they must fulfill
the terms OF the unholy contract. Their
collapse in the event of the Presidents |
recovery will be sudden and utter, but it |
will be hailed with JOY by the nation, and
they will never again have the opportunity
to speculate on the death Of President in
the interest of machine leader.