New-York tribune., 1881-10-04
NEw-yoRK TRIBUNE TUESDAY, OCTOBER a.

the rule of their relations to his personal ambi-
ton. They had hoped once to satisfy him with
high honOrs they had endeavored to make it
entirely pleasant for him by submitting TO his
absolute will with hardly murmur; they had
prostrated themselves before him and begged
him to do them the favor to walk on their
stomachs while they applauded ; they had sur
feited him with the sweetmeats of power, and
hoped all the time that it was within the pos
sibilities to content him.
And all these efforts failing, they did entertain
the hope that after he had bounced out of the
Senate in great huff. saying he would have no
more OF public lite, and the people had calmly
answered, "Very well, You needn't" there
would be little cessation of him. Nobody
desired that the coming State Convention should
be classified under his name nobody "lugged
him in." But he himself forced the issue.
When Mr.. COnkling presented himself as a
candidate for delegate to the State Convention
Or when he consented to the use of his
name," if he likes that phraseology better
everybody who knew anything about current
politics knew that it meant business; that it
did not by any means signify that deposed
Maj General was about to enlist as IA private,
but rather that Il man of reckless and Unsuitable
ambition was still pursuing his purpose. 1t
was in this way that he was" Jagged in," and
he did all the Juggling himself. Not one Re-
publican in a hundred in the whole State had
the slightest desire that he should attend the
Convention; on the contrary, the vast majority
consented cneerfully that he should remain in
retirement. Pushing himself forward then,
and all men knowing the purpose of it, it vas
unavoidable in the light of recent events that
he should be the cause of dissension. He
tf,h ha IT,h hnc, ,inI
in politics to make it possible for him to come
into convention and take n second place, or to
come in without making what he has never
failed to make whenever he appeared--a quar-
rel. 1t went without saying, when it was an-
nounced that he was candidate for delegate,
that he intended mischief. So he lugged him
self in, and forced his name upon the public as
an issue within the party.
But his organs are very much shocked be-
cause those who oppose his supremacy call
themselves "Gariied Republicans" In the
name of cOmmOn sense, how should they desg-
nate themselves when the issue is what it is 7
Is not this the same old quarrel Did it not
begin with Mr.. Conklings ga lntlet thrown
down to the late PresideutY Is it not the same
that he lost in his appeal to the Senate And
the, same that he sustained what most people
would consider final defeat upon when he APP
pealed from the President and the United
States Senate to the Legislature Of his own
State, and lost it there WHAT was this fight
when it came few months ago To the New
York Legislature Nothing more nor less than
what may be defined in the tcrse statement of
the law reports rs "Conllling versus Garfield"
And the anti-COnkling Republicans are Gar
field Republicans y; no name fits them so well
They began the business to which Mr.. Conllling
challenged them under that name, and with the
utmost propriety they continue it,. And this
thing may as well be understood first as last:
that President Gariieds opponents, shall
not by any false sentimentalisIn fright
en- the dead Presidents friends from
using his name in the prosecution of the
iight-if it is to be flght-in which he was
most deeply interested. The late Presidents
friends are. IA he himself was, disposed toward
harmony and peace. They call themselves
" Garfield Republicans because in the cause
less quarrel which Mr.. Conking forced that
term defined and continues To define them
Ant-ConlIng" is a term of variable meaning
and must be, so long rs Mr.. Conkling lives
except in so far as it means devotion to a
leader right or wrong Garfield is dead.
They who call themselves 10y his name attach
beyond possibility Of change. In this particu-
lar MIR. Conhlings friends have no right to COM
plain either that the quarrel goes upon its
merits, or that against them the dead Cid sits in
his saddle.