Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-06-05
The Failure of Arthur's Admins
traIiOn.
Chicago Tribune. eth (Republican),


The administration is rapidly losing
caste. 1t does not command the conf
dence or respect of the Republican party
or any other party. If it were to go to
the people, as is the custom IN England,
it would not carry single State. The
decay of its power has been much quicker
and more complete than anybody sup
posed it would be when Arthur was in
augurated. The general disposition then
was to give him ga fair trial. The
national calamity which made him Presi
dent was not, as everybody said, of his
ordering or seeking. He could not help
being Garfield's successor. Common
fairness seemed to demand, therefore,
that he should be judged by his acts.
and not in accordance with precOnceived
notions of his character or his fitness for
an exalted station. 1t was thought a
year might be required to decide
what kind of President Arthur would
make. Eight months have, however.
proved to be quite sufficient. 1t is ven.
turing nothing at all to say now that his
administration is disappointing to those
who wished to be his friends. The
causes of this disappointment have been
three: First, he has sought to stall
wartize the public offices and seize par
tisan advantage from Garfeld's death.
This purpose wa at first concealed, but
there has never been any doubt about it
since the nomination of Conkling for the
Supreme bench. This was followed up
nv the nomination of WOrthingtOn as
Collector of the Port of Boston. The
Massachusetts Senators were disposed to
be friendly toward the administration
on account of the nomination of Judge
Gray. They were for time the best
friends Arthur had in the Senate They
can never forgive the affrOnt offered
to them in the nomination of WOrlhing-
ton. They had the support, moreover.
of Hawley of Connecticut, Aldrich of
Rhode Island, Miller of New York.
Mitchell of Pennsylvania, and Sherman
Of Ohio. The administration had 10 de-
pend for support in this contest on the
chsrity of such staunch Blaine men as
Hale of Maine, Allison of Iowa, and
COnger of Michigan. The friendship of
these Senators for Arthur is but skin
deep. 1t will be terminated long before
the next convention is called.
New York is the Presidents own State,
and the revolt against him there is for
midable. Senator Miller las declared
war. The administration has begun to
enforce its long mediated policy of turn
ing all Garfield Republicans out of office
and putting in their place members of
the defunct machine. Thursday the
names of two adherents of John F.
Smyihe, the OdiOus boss of ALBANY, were
sent into the Senate for the offices of
Collector of Internal Revenue and Sur
veyor of Customs of that district. OF
these nominations the New York Times
remarks:
''If the President imagines to stand well with
the county, it is necessary to appear IS the au
thor of My policy or the champion of My
party we think he has made erievous blum
Ger. if his policy il to consist of turning ore
set of men out Of office and putting another in
merely to sati-fV the demands of his personal
adherents-if his party is to consist solely Of
Arthur men as distinguished from those who
are only Repuhican-then he will show that the
blnnders OF his predecessors who reached the
Chief MagiStracy by Vice Presidential succ-s-
sion have yielded him neither instruction nor
warning"
These are strong words to come from
the influential Republican organ which
supported Grant for third term in 1880,
and was a warm friend of Arthur during
all his embroilments with the Hayes ad-
ministratiOn. 1t is evident that if Ar
thur persists in his new policy in New
York his overthrow there will be even
more complete and sigma! than that of
Conkling was. He has not only the
forces that opposed Conkling to contend
with, but in addition he must meet the
avowed hostility of Cornell and the po-
litical machinery which is now in the
hands of his opponents.
7, hn rawxo1k
sumed even larger proportions. The In
dependent convention censured the adj
ministratiOn. 1t held Arthur responsible
for the evil work of Cameron since the
assassination. and politically declared its
want of confidence in both the master
aud the man. The Independents may
not be able TO poll as many votes as the
regulars, but they can prevent the con-
summation of the bargain which has
heen made between Cameron and the
President.
In all New England and the Middle
States there is no large constituency sup
porting the administration. In the West
its case is still worse. Ohio, the home
Of Garfield has no affection for his sue
cessor Illinois, where Garfield was
nominated, cannot so soon forget him.
Michigan, Indiana. Iowa, Nebraska.
Kansas and Wisconsin. which were for
Blaine, are not gratifiod by the appoint
ment of Frelinghuvsen to succeed him.
Arthur never was known or liked in the
West. If he has no Eastern support his
case is hopeless.
A second cause of the weakness of the
administration is its inefflciency. not to
say imbecility It's foreign policy has
been a spectacle for gods and men. In
its abandonment of Peru. its trucking
to Great Britain, and its definite desertion
of the American policy, it has reversed
all that was most honorable and digni
fed in the brief administration of foreign
affairs under Garfield. 1t has done moth
ing in finance, or in the Interior Depart
ment, or in any other branch of the gov
erument to arouse the admiration of the |
country. The principal places in the
Cabinet have been filed with statesmen |
of a by gone generation, and its move |
menfs have been marked by nothing but |
lethargy and dullness 1t has been a |
dawdling administration, showing little |
genuine interest in great public ques- |
tions, and quite content to glide along |
smoothly in the grooves of a safe routine. |
Third, the personal conduct of the /
President has not been of a nature to |
gain for him many new supporters of |
the better GLASS. 1t is notorious in Wash. |
ington that he takes his chief pleasure in |
social entertainments, in respect to which |
he has a catholic mind. Public ques-
tions perplex when they do not bore him.
He is very much of a sybarite. Late |
hours at night do not peculiarly fit him |
tn Give his whole attention to the busi- |
ness of the people in the morning There
never was a President of the United
States before who had the faculty for
shedding responsibility and care about
public questions SO completely as Ar
thur does. He has adopted the methods
of royal parsonage, whose chief duty
and privilege it is to amuse himself, and |
who may take secondary interest in