The daily gazette., 1882-03-15
THE QUARREL GLOWING MORE
ea VIOLENT.
A. STUPENDoUs BLUNDER.

IL would not be fair, perhaps TO hold
any administration responsible for the
mistakes of It's superseryiceable friends,
and particularly OF its newspaper friends
Its representatives In the press. An ad-
ministration, however, whose special
newspaper supporters join with absolute
unanimity in the perpetration Of what
every dispassiOnate man must $50 to be
blunders is entitled to pubic sympathy.
The newspapers which thus far IN Presi-
dent Artbul's administration have load
ed him down with such effuslve demou-
tratioDs of their friendship as have served
pretty ehectuaily to induce their betters
to hold aloof are just now engaged, as it
seems TO us, In the commission Of the
mi 81 fatal political mistake possible to
he conceived Of. And unfortunately for
the administration these officlous organ
lists bave SO bu1dled round 1t that at the
same time that they have kept away
more reputable people by the lndecen
cy oftheir manners they have seemed to
possess thems ,lves of exclu i've authority
to speak for 1t aud Ia IL behalf. We do
not hold the President entirely RESPONSE
BILE for tbs 1t is Que of the fruits If the
peculiar political complications Of the
past ten years: legacy f'om the CIR ant
legime aud the thIrd-term conspiracy.
We have never concealed f.om oar
slve. or our readers the peculiar en-
baFassment which inevitably attended
the accession of President Arthur. For
many Of them we presume he would
not deny that be is himself responsible,
aud we doubt not that II be could have
foreseen what was to happen he would
have avoided them.
The administration is peculiarly
unfortunate in its Inheritance of the
support of certain newspapers which
were not only conspicuous in their
thick-and-thin support of Mr.. Conk-
ling against the Garfield administra-
ton, but were Extensively hostile to
President Garfield aud constantly
disgusting the public by the indecency
and brutality of their assaults upon
his personal character. This inherit.
ance made more embarrassing by the
monopoly which they claim OF repre-
sentiDg authoritatively, President
Arthur and his administration, is lIa-
ble to become absolutely disastrous
through the egregious blunders for
which they are trying to make the
administration responsible. What,
for instance could be more insanely
foolish as we'll as wiokedly cruel and
brutal than the attempt which they
all seem co be engaged in at present
to blacken the character and defame
ths memory Of the man over whose
suffering sick bed the nation hung
with fearful sympathy SO long, and Al
whose open grave hardly six months
aga the whole people bent in the
agony of a commsn bereavement and
a universal griefP What possible
purpose is there to be answered by
this outbreak of malevolence I Ap-
Darently none whatever except to
justify the action Of the men who not
quite year ago began the causeless
war against an administration of their
own choosing upon the pretext that
they were not awarded all they desired
in the distribution of the Offices.
Could there be greater folly2 Is it not
plain enough that of all things in the
world the most to be desired q that
that quarrel the circumstances that
led to 1t, the conditions under which
it went on, the tragic consequences,
the salient features, in fine, Of the
whole transaction, should be per-
mitted to fade from memory at least
that the recollection of them should
not be deliberately Kept alive and the
embers of the fatal faction quarrel
| famed
But these men will not be content to
let the world forget; to let the dead have
rest; to leave the public have q little
peace. They lack the sense to appreei-
ate the situation or comprehend public
sentiment. The success of President
Arthur's administration and his renom-
ination, If he desires 1t, Id 1884, depend
not on the Conkling fight being remem-
bered and Conkling himself being vim
dicated against the memory OF the dead
Garfield, but upon the quarrel being
forgotten; upon the fActional issue dis
appearing; upon Presiden Arthur's abil-
ity to smooth over The rough places
which his own friends have made, and
establish harmony Ii the party. The
sole argument that we have yet heard
10 justification Of the late nomination Of
Mr.. Conkling 20 the Supreme Court
Bench was that 1t would take that gen.
tleman out of active politics, be q full
discharge of the Presidents obligations
to him, whatever they were, and by
eliminating his implacable temper and
arrogant, overbearing manners from the
Political situation, clear the way for the
establishment of harmony and peace in
the party. 1t is not impossible that
this may have been the Presidents pur-
poss. If 1t was, 1t does something to
redeem an appointment which seems to
US otherwise ipexcusAble. It shows at
least desire on the Presidents part to
remove the causes which have so long
disturbed the harmony of the party.
Bot If this we're bis object, the strange
conduct of some of the newspapers
which are most officlous and offensive
in their efforts to be considered bis
organs and mouthpieces goes far to de-
feat it. For they are taking precisely
the opposite course in their attempts to
keep alive the memory of the events
which preceded Presiden Garfleld's muir
der aud their foolish and wicked as
saults upon the name and fame Of the
dead President. The wonder Is that
these men can be 80 blinded by their
own spite and malice as not to sac that
they are iDjuring their own cause. 1t
is almost inconceivable that persons pos
sessed of ordinary intelligence can be
guilty of such iReffable perversity and
folly.
Life is not really lived that cannot be