Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-05-05
The Deadlock Broken.

sition in refusing to permit that body to
carry out the public business for which
it was specially convened, so that they
might perform their part of the contract
with the Mahone-G orham- Riddleberger
Tepudiationists. The Democrats have
given them a signal defeat, and won a
victory which must rebound to the future
benefit of the party, inasmuch as the
struggle, on their part, was based on right
aud principle. They insisted first that
the Senate should 60 on with its legiti-
mate business, and, second, that the
higher house of the United States Con-
gress should not be made trading place
for the accomplishment of infamous bar
gains. All good men in the country will
applaud them for taking these stands and
determinedly fighting for them.
Now that the deadlock which has so
long delayed public business has been
broken, Malone and his followers will
sink out of sight temporarily, if not
permanently, and the next matter which
will attract public attention will be the
struggle over certain Presidential nomi-
nations, chief of which will be that of
Judge Robertson for Collector of the
port of New York Mr. Conkling hopes
to carry his point, and defeat the
President in the matter of this
nomination in two ways: First.
ne relies on the primary feature of the
programme agreed upon in the Republi-
can Senatorial caCcus-in which he was
evidently the ruling spirit-that all
nominations now on the table shall be
referred to appropriate committees, and,
second, he relies on an appeal to the
courtesy Of the Senate" He is Chair
man of the committee to which the
Robertson nomination will be referred,
and If he sees that he cannot bury the
matter in that committee, and so prevent
action thereon at this session of the
Senate, he will call upon the Senators to
stand by him, and refuse to confirm the
nomination, because, it being to fill a
New York office, it does not meet the
approval of either himself or his col
league This is what he calls 'tthe
courtesy of the Senate"
That he will fail in his first scheme is
already virtually foregone conclusion.
Mr.. Garfield has, according to our Wash
ington correspondent, declared that Re
will not consent to any nomination being
laid over That is, if the Senate ad-
iourns without taking final action on
such nominations as he has sent to it,
he will Immediately again call it to-
gether and keep it in session until
proper action is taken. In this Mr.. Gar
field has decidedly the advantage of the
New York Senator, and it is hardly
probable that the other Senators will
consent to the latter thus keeping them
constantly in attendance at the national
capital merely for his selfish purposes.
That he should also fail in his appeal
to 'the courtesy of the Senate" scarcely
admits of discussion. That so-called
courtesy means nothing more nor less
than that the Senate shall usurp the con-
stitutional prerogatives of the President,
and control the Federal offices by refus-
ing to confirm any nominations to office
in any State, unless such nomination
shall first meet with the approval of the
Senator's from that State. This practice
arose during the administration of An
drew johnson, when a large Radical
majority in the Senate attempted to
render him powerless by its adoption,
since they could, in this way, prevent
any Federal Office from being filed by
any one Objectionable to them in purely
partisan sense. The power which the
Senate thus obtained in the country has
proven so great temptation to that body
that they have been unable to resist hold
ing on to the courtesy" doctrine ever
since; but it is doctrine revolutionary
in theory and unconstitutional in princi-
pie The sooner, therefore, the Demo
Gratis decide upon abandoning it, the
better.
Apart from this, however, it strikes US
that it is the height of impudence for
Mr. Conkling to appeal to Democrats to
show him courtesy. He has never shown
any to them either on the stump or in the
Senate, unless, perchance, he might, as
in the present instance, desire to use
them. Then he is ready enough to cajole
and flatter them until he has won them
to his side and carried his point, after
which he again treats them with disre-
spect and indignity until he once more
has need of their services. Why Dem
ocratic Senators should consent to be
made the tools of their arch enemy and
defamer is difficult for one outside the
Senate to comprehend. Why should
they kiss the foot which kicks them, in.
stead of manfully kicking back?
1t is to be hoped, therefore, that the
Democrats of the Senate will go into
executive session determined that, if no
other objection can be raised to Judge
Robertson than simply that Conkling
does not want him to be Collector of the
port of New York, they will vote for
his confirmation. BY so doing they will
be acting according to the spirit of the
Constitution, will inflict upon an enemy,
who is always stabbing at them, aserious
blow, and perhaps so weaken the Re
publican party in New York as to en-
sure its thirty-five electoral votes in 1884
to the Democratic nominee for the Presi-
dency.
Treasury statistics show that our ex-
cess of exports over imports for the