The Cleveland Era, A Chronicle of the New Order in Politics | Page 8

themselves as those who had made a proud
record of constancy.
The Democratic national convention nominated General Hancock,
which was, in effect, an appeal to the memories and sentiments of the
past, as their candidate's public distinction rested upon his war record.
The canvass was marked by listlessness and indifference on the part of
the general public, and by a fury of calumny on the part of the
politicians directed against their opponents. Forgery was resorted to
with marked effect on the Pacific coast, where a letter--the famous
Morey letter--in which Garfield's handwriting was counterfeited, was
circulated expressing unpopular views an the subject of Chinese
immigration. The forgery was issued in the closing days of the canvass,
when there was not time to expose it. Arrangements had been made for
a wide distribution of facsimiles which exerted a strong influence.
Hancock won five out of the six electoral votes of California and came
near getting the three votes of Oregon also. In the popular vote of the
whole country, Garfield had a plurality of less than ten thousand in a
total vote of over nine million.
The peculiarities of the party system which has been developed in
American politics, forces upon the President the occupation of
employment agent as one of his principal engagements. The contention
over official patronage, always strong and ardent upon the accession of
every new President, was aggravated in Garfield's case by the factional
war of which his own nomination was a phase. The factions of the
Republican party in New York at this period were known as the
"Stalwarts" and the "Half-Breeds," the former adhering to the
leadership of Senator Conkling, the latter to the leadership of Mr.
Blaine, whom President Garfield had appointed to be his Secretary of
State. Soon after the inauguration of Garfield it became manifest that
he would favor the "Half-Breeds"; but under the Constitution
appointments are made by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate and both the Senators from New York were "Stalwarts."
Although the Constitution contemplates the action of the entire Senate
as the advisory body in matters of appointment, a practice had been
established by which the Senators from each State were accorded the
right to dictate appointments in their respective States. According to

Senator Hoar, when he entered public life in 1869, "the Senate claimed
almost the entire control of the executive function of appointment to
office.... What was called 'the courtesy of the Senate' was depended
upon to enable a Senator to dictate to the executive all appointments
and removals in his territory." This practice was at its greatest height
when President Garfield challenged the system, and he let it be
understood that he would insist upon his constitutional right to make
nominations at his own discretion. When Senator Conkling obtained
from a caucus of his Republican colleagues an expression of sympathy
with his position, the President let it be known that he regarded such
action as an affront and he withdrew all New York nominations except
those to which exception had been taken by the New York Senators,
thus confronting the Senate with the issue whether they would stand by
the new Administration or would follow Conkling's lead.
On the other hand, Senator Conkling and his adherents declared the
issue to be simply whether competent public officials should be
removed to make room for factional favorites. This view of the case
was adopted by Vice-President Arthur and by Postmaster-General
James of Garfield's own Cabinet, who, with New York Senators
Conkling and Platt, signed a remonstrance in which they declared that
in their belief the interests of the public service would not be promoted
by the changes proposed. These changes were thus described in a letter
of May 14,1881, from the New York Senators to Governor Cornell of
New York:
"Some weeks ago, the President sent to the Senate in a group the
nominations of several persons for public offices already filled. One of
these offices is the Collectorship of the Port of New York, now held by
General Merritt; another is the consul generalship at London, now held
by General Badeau; another is Charge d'Affaires to Denmark, held by
Mr. Cramer; another is the mission to Switzerland, held by Mr. Fish, a
son of the former Secretary of State.... It was proposed to displace them
all, not for any alleged fault of theirs, or for any alleged need or
advantage of the public service, but in order to give the great offices of
Collector of the Port of New York to Mr. William H. Robertson as a
'reward' for certain acts of his, said to have aided in making the
nomination of General Garfield possible.... We have not attempted to
'dictate,' nor have we asked the nomination of one person to any office

in