MR COMKLING AND PRESIDE'T ARTHUR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 254, 25 October 1881, Page 4

MR COMKLING AND PRESIDE'T ARTHUR.

Scribner's Magazine for August coptfcins the io'l<'>«ing, with regard to (he eucceeffir o' G cere! Gaifibld, and bis "brss":— Mr Coikliog, though lees gross »nd less corrupt in big methods (ibari Boss Tweed), bss been never b poliricßi lecder, bat always essentially & * boss.' He bfla nf ver deserved eny higher or better came than this, and bis repu;ation ss a man of great political power is as unreal 8 thing as e?er existed ia ibe realms of myth srd moonshine. He has never been a man of ifie*B. He baa ehown a good deal of skill in manipulating ibe machinery of politics, in mscaain^ Bppointments to office, in working ap (he details of a carrppigD, but b 9 hog never led the people in r.oliucai ideas, or tsught tlem anything. By force of a strong end sn aggre? »i*e self conceit, be baa managed to m«k^ a good many tiine-3eryine pfople afraid of biro, and to keep up hie powr-r with tbeo>, but he is Dot and never wf>s snyiWaz better or bigger than a po'iticpl dosp. When Robertson was cconinateri for collector of New York, the legislature of th» Ftaie, o< which ho was n much-esteemed member, imcnedieuly tndors-d she »omin«ticD as ore tree! fit (o be trade. Mr CcnfeliD2 (-ifttr rfgitiniDt) camQ back to tbia leyielatnrG to be re-elected or> this veiy issue between himself and the administration. The Prfei^ect msdp the sppointmenf, the Jeeislature immediately endorsed if. Mr Conkling opposed if, pot angry with the Senate, resigned, and came back to the legislature to be returned, as an endorsement of bis fight with the President and the Senate. That he could find SO men who were ready, at bis biidio?, to swallow their own words and humiliate themseivfs before the State and the nation by voting for his reelection shows how great hie power was. Nsy, more than <his, that he cculd coerce tbe Vice PrfeideDt (Arthur) of tbe United StatfP, into letving his high seßt. and ignoring the decencies and proprieties of his posiiior?, and going to Albany to assist ie gerc'Jnt' back to Wfißhjnetoo b Conple of rmppß-ffs to right 'h^ bend of an ft^triicifirEtion of which himself wbb an important trennher— th' alifrn^tivp of ih** Prfpj'fct Mmef-lf — deraons'rfif'p the miser i?rr us h'ld wbib boMiFm bed given Mr Conkliag upon all whom he held to be !ur rfeHore. We Btppoae it is true h tMr Arthur was non mated to the Vic*-Pre<H^ney of Chic gn in order to con- ilinie Mr CorkliDg. It is probaMy tru* 1 that in cnnß'q!!Prce of the conre Biort Mr C^rklirjg Bseistpd ir tbe campusjn, anri that directly and irjdirert'y Mr Arhur owes bis election to the boBB. But tow malign most be ' the power that would compel a nnsn o Ordinary feneibilitieß in the Vicf-^ President's pesi ion to turn his ba<k on the Preeident, offfnd tbe poblic senti- I men* of Lib own State, trample upon the good will of the body over which he preside?, etill etiogicg with Ihe j"d80lt offered it by the retiring senator?, and mingle in the canvass instituted to save biß boss f?om political death ! Nothing more icdecect thnn this per formacce Bta?nß the annals of party warfare in tbe United »Ststep. Let ue hope that any icetitufion which is capable of producing co foul a birth as tbia ie for ever deac?. With Conkling, his resignation wss a case of actcal political suicide, With Arthur it^ is a caae of indecency for which it will take years of honest service to Btcne. For one it is defeat, frr tbe other shame and voluntary humiliation. '