Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-06-15
PARTISAN PLOTS.
A Terrible Blow. at the Half Breeds by
the StaIwart Faction.

Washington Correspondence Boston Post.
1t is one of the curiosities of politics
that the Republicans are admitting that
GARFIELD sold seat on the Supreme bench
to Jay Gould for $4,000 and that White
law Reid was the broker. The commits
sion was the appointment of Robertson
Collector Of the Port of New York. 1t is
a story of hideous corruption, and it is
singular that party leaders like George {.
Gorham and Frank Hatton should open
the sore. Apparently their faith in the
strength of their party and of its power to
noodWink the people is so great that thew
feel themselves safe in confessing any
crimes by which their candidates have
secured office. Mr.. William E. Chandler,
probably, does not feel badly about the
revelation, for he has ceased to belong to
the Blaine wing of the party, and the
Blaine wing, as is known, lives on the
memory of Garfield and is the inheritOr
of Garfeld's alleged policy. Mr.. Chan
dler, personally, did not probably object
to the sale of justiceship if he knew it.
but he would be delighted to use the reve-
lation now if it would injure the half
breeds and help the stalwarts. He
wouldn't care, perhaps, if he were mixed
up in the transaction, so long as it didn't
hurt the prospects of the friends who are
bound to take care of him.
1t is not at all probable that the Presi-
dent approves of taking up the sins of his
predecessor, but Mr.. Arthur is still a pOl-
itician with peculiarly strong talent for
manipulation. He trusts his Lieutenants.
Chandler, Hatton and New, to play all the
old tricks in which he has an abiding
faith, but in which he cannotnOw indulge
on account of his position. Mr.. Arthur
moreover, if not a better, is a wiser poll
tician than he was year ago. He has a
little stronger faith in the popular belief
in political decency than his New York
education gave him. He strOve in the
mire of the metropolis so long that he
fancied the whole country was muddy as
to its morals. He has found out that he
was mistaken, and that the yeOmanry of
the North and West do not like machine
politics unless they are deity screened
from the public vision by clean, white
covering of cant and hypocrisy, some
thing like that used by the two gentlemen
from Ohio. He himself has very decent
notions about the government, and be-
lieves that it ought to be run as we'll as
the eXlgencies of politics will permit. He
is making a good President, and the
White House has healthier and more
manly tone under him than it has had
before for a long time. The men whom he
appoints to office are generally reputa-
bic, barring most of the Cabinet, and,
what is OF more Importance from the
Chandler point of view, the President is
growing more popular every day. There
is no stronger man IN his party to-day
than Mr.. Arthur himself, and there are
some signs that his friends and defend
ants are beginning to recognize it.
There is something going on in admins
trative circles. The adherents of the
President are certainly feeling their way
with an eye to a denomination of their
chief. ''Feelers," in the expressive Ian
guage of 1.-THE boys" are being put out.
1t is said that letter printed in the New
Haven Palladium, announcing the Presi-
dents Discrimination to be his own sue
cessor and his desire to simply leave a
good record as chief executive, was
one of the feelers. The discovery
was telegraphed from here to the
Baltimore american, and the dis
patch appeared simultaneously in
Chambers and HattOn's newspaper
venture, the National Republican. All
this means that Mr.. Arthur S friends have
judiciOusly kept him out of the field in or
der that his boom may be fresher when
the time demands freshness. They do not
propose to tire their horse out by scoring.
Mr.. Arthur is wiser than his friends, and
Mr.. Iieid is wiser than some people think
him. Mr.. Reid has grown tired of seeing
the Tribune with the losing men in the
inner and bad smelling side of Republic
can politics. He is willing to give Mr..
AIIHuI HIS ouppOIb IL uC Call nave lUdJ re-
cognitiOn as a political mentor. to which
he considers himself entitled. He is now
negotiating with Col. George Bliss, and
unless Mr.. Blaine jumps quickly he will
find himself without his New York ''Or-
gam" The New York and star route law
yer is engaged in convincing Mr.. Reid
that Mr.. Arthur himself is not out of the
race, and that by his care and conser-
vatism he is winning the affections of that
large class of voters whose virtue and
credulity have for a long time made them
the easy prey of the half breeds. When
the respectable and commonplace masses
fall out of line, it will be bad for the half
breeds. Mr.. Arthur is capturing them by
actually doing what the half breeds have
always pretended to be doing, while really
engaged in those peculiar tricks and
wickedness which made the few short
months under Garfield so very bad. The
Arthur column, to use the tongue of ''the
boys once more, is on the move, and
when the popular uprising comes the cen
trail figure will be in the hands of his
cOuntrVmen.