Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-05-23
A PURELY POLITICAL ISSUE.

II is not exactly just that the issue
between GARFIELD and CoSKLISG should
be decided solely upon its legal aspects
That is not the issue they have made
CoSKLISG has made Senatorial assump,
tions which he cannot sustain, but he
was drawn INTO such position by ex-
press invitation and promises OF the
President who thereby hoped to cajo!e
and dragon the Senate into confirming
the nominations OF persons not fit
for the public service for purely
partisan and personal purposes. When
he nominated such men as MATTHEWS,
CHANDLER and ROBERTSON it was un
derstool to be for political and personal
considerations received and expected,
and without due regard to their fitness
or the public appreciation. Therefore
he led CoNKLISG and his friends to be-
lieye that in consideration OF their en-
dorsement OF such nominations as these
they would receive like iavors in other
nominations made for like political pur-
poses alone.
Having proposed political trade, pure
and simple, GARFIELD and CoNKLING
should be judged in this case, not upon
the proper exercise OF their official pre-
negatives, but by the terms OF their po-
Iilical barter. The high and untram-
ueltd prerOgative which the President
possesses should have kept him true 10
a higher and more patriotic principle OF
selection, but when he abused it
he in great measure, il net
entirely, excused and warranted
the Senatorial assumption which
CDNELING espoused. So far as the legal
'titus of the parties is concerned, il that
alone were at issue, it is very clearly de.
fined. Chancellor KENT, in his Com.
meataries, marks the distinctions and
limitations OF the concurrent power OF
the President and Senate in the matter
Of appointments, in the following clear
and terse paragraph:
The President is the efficient power in
the appointment of the officers of gov.
eminent. The appointment of
the subordinate officers OF government
concerned in the administration of the
laws belongs, with great propriety, to the
President, who is bound to see that the
laws are faithfully executed, and who is
generally charged with the powers and re-
sponsibility OF the vedepartment
The association OF the Senate with the
President in the exercise of this pn yer
is an exception to the general delegauo
ofexecutive authority, and, il he wei,
not expressly invested with the exclu-
siye right Of nomination in the instances
before us, the organization of this de-
par.ment would be very unskiliul, and
thegoyernmsnt degenerate into system
OF cabal, favoritism and intrigue. But
the power OF nomination is, for all the
useful purposes Of restraint, equivalent
to the power of appointment. 1t i'm
poses upon the President the same lively
sense OF responsibility, and the same
indispensable necessity OF meet.
ing the public appreciation
or censure. This, indeed, forms
the ultimate security that men in pub.
lie stations will dismiss interested con.
sidergtions, and act with s:eady, zsal-
Gus and undivided regard for the pablje
welfare. The advice and consent of the
Senate, which are requisite to render the
nomination effectual, cannot be Attend
ed, in the nature of the case, with very
mischievous effects. Having no agency
in the nomination, nothing but simple
consent or refusal, the spirit OF personal
intriffue and personal attachment must
be pretty much extinguished, from q
want OF means to crafty it On the
other hand, the aduice Of so respectable
q BODY Of men will add still further in.
ducements to coolly reflected conduct
in the President, and will at all times be
q check on his own misiniormation or
error.