the Attorney-General to produce
the papers was adopted by thirty-two ayes to twenty-six nays--a strict
party vote; but the resolution declaring it to be the duty of the
Senate in all such cases to refuse its consent to removals of suspended
officials was adopted by a majority of only one vote, and two Republican
Senators voted with the Democrats. The result was, in effect, a defeat
for the Republican leaders, and they wisely decided to withdraw from the
position which they had been holding. Shortly after the passage of the
resolutions, the Senate confirmed the nomination over which the contest
started, and thereafter the right of the President to make removals at
his own discretion was not questioned.

This retreat of the Republican leaders was accompanied, however, by a
new development in political tactics, which from the standpoint of party
advantage, was ingeniously conceived. It was now held that, inasmuch as
the President had avowed attachment to the principle of tenure of
office during good behavior, his action in suspending officers therefore
implied delinquency in their character or conduct from which they should
be exonerated in case the removal was really on partisan grounds. In
reporting upon nominations, therefore, Senate committees adopted the
practice of noting that there were no charges of misconduct against the
previous incumbents and that the suspension was on account of "political
reasons." As these proceedings took place in executive session, which is
held behind closed doors, reports of this character would not ordinarily
reach the public, but the Senate now voted to remove the injunction of
secrecy, and the reports were published. The manifest object of these
maneuvers was to exhibit the President as acting upon the "spoils
system" of distributing offices. The President's position was that he
was not accountable to the Senate in such matters. In his message of the
1st of March he said: "The pledges I have made were made to the people,
and to them I am responsible for the manner in which they have been
redeemed. I am not responsible to the Senate, and I am unwilling to
submit my actions and official conduct to them for judgement."

While this contest was still going on, President Cleveland had to
encounter another attempt of the Senate to take his authority out of his
hands. The history of American diplomacy during this period belongs to
another volume in this series,* but a diplomatic question was