Show FROM THE CAPITAL The Deadlock Over the Presidential Presi-dential Prerogative SENATOR EDMUNDS SPEECH Discord In the Democratic Banks Cleveland Growing Unpopular Salt Later Who have Axes to Grind WASHINGTON D C March 9 18SG From our Own Correspondent Weie it not for an occasional spat between certain members of both Houses of Congress the proceedings would be very uninteresting There are alwavs however a great many visitors visi-tors in Washington who with thi hundreds hun-dreds of hangerson in the city manage man-age to fill the galleries especially when a debate upon some important subject Is to commence This was the case yesterday It was expected that the long lookedfor debate on Presidential prerogative would take place and as a consequence the Senate galleries wcre filled by both sexes Mr Edmunds 1e ing the head and front of the opposition opposi-tion in this matter a good speech was expected from him upon this yexed political problem he being the mover of the resolution calling up the question The public however were doomed to disappointment Senator Edmunds having a cold and being too hoarse to I speak The question therefore went over until today In expectation of this therefore the attendance of strangers in the Senate galleries today wa again immense Indeed every gallery was crowded to the utmost discomfort dis-comfort many persons being compelled to stand This was noticably true of the reserved galleries to which admission admis-sion is only permitted by cards from Senators A f 2 oclock the resolutions from the judiciary committee were taken up These resolutions among other tuings condemn the Attorney General for refusing to transmit to the Senate the papers calledMor by the Sen t3cfree llf ot T ht ate and declare that refusal to be a violation vio-lation of the AttorneyGenerals official duty and subversive of the fundamental fundament-al principles of government and good administration As the rasolutijis were read by the chief clerk time moot absolute silence prevailed on the floor and in the galleries Mr Edmunds was in his place He sits in the first row of de ks a little to the left of the President of the Senate and next to Senator Logan and a few seats in front ot Senator Hoar SenatorEdmunds in appearance always puts me in mind of the late Hon W H Hooper He is not quite so tall but is stouter than Mr Hooper was in body He wears a long black coat nndothfrwisa dresses with care but in the most plain style Today To-day of course he was the centre of attraction at-traction Senator Edmunds from long experience and natural aptitude is a fine debater lIe is not a man who ever irises i-rises to any great eloquence on the contrary his style is the reverse of brilliant bril-liant ye is terse has the grand faculty facul-ty of being able to say what he has to say in the fewest possible words I should imagine he hates verbosity He is generally well prepared and never gets confused among his books or papers of reference He has very few I attitudes and yet is not a stiff speaker throwing in all the gestures necessary He has a full clear voice and is a pleasant speaker tolisten to He io very quick at repartee Tho memters of the csenate know this and arc correspondingly corre-spondingly careful how they handfe the Senator from Vermont He can also be very sarcastic and is bv no means destitute of it As the chairman of the committee on judiciary in the Senate Sen-ate he wields great power in the Senate is fiftyeight years old butlooks none too robust for a man only tbit age Today tried to excel himself His speech had evidently been prepared I with great care He spoke for two hours and a half yet the audience notwithstanding not-withstanding the crowded state of the galleries and the insufferable heat sat and stood the speesh out wllli great patience He was ironical at times sarca ticat others witty at others his wit calling forth frequent applause and keeping the spectators in good humor After his speech the Senate adjourned at 5 oclock Mr Pugh of Alabama will reply tomorrow In the evening Senator and Mrs Edmunds attended the Presidents reception and were cordially cor-dially received Passing from the episode todays speech I may say that there is undoubtedly un-doubtedly a great deal of discord in the rankeofthe Democrats in Conurpj This has Steen brought about by disagreements dis-agreements with the President and lack ol harmony on the tariff and silver questions as also the civil service law and many appoi t nenls which the President has seen fit to make Iti hoped that the debate upon the Presidential Presi-dential prerogative question will lead to some lasting goodr some thorough understanding un-derstanding while this quarrel continues con-tinues the work of the session is being seriously neglected Opinions wide differ as to the stand the President ha takenin this case Upon the day that he sent in his message to the Senate justifying his action in the premises many and loud were the criticisms made upon him One faction maintained main-tained that the President had done right another that there was no gool reason for withholding the puum m question Under the civil service law if an officer is removed before the expiration I ex-piration his time it is presumed of course that the removal has taken place for cause If said officer has always bcr e u reputable character and heis removed before his term of ofllcs is finished it is only natural that he should feel agrieved f the papers forming form-ing the basis of hisr removal are withheld with-held feel that a stigma rests upon his character in some shape or form It is by many considered an unfortunate thing that the rresident committed I himself so thoroughly to the civil ser He has been hampered there vice law re I by i he charge of being au offensive I partisan again as a cause of removal re-moval is very objectionable for the I moment a man is removed from office by one party as anoffensive partisan the man put In hIS place by another I party will be equally offensive This I requires no argument But look at ItI in any light the civil service law is a j grand humbug and may possibly be jepealed before long One thing too is certain President Clevelafid has not strictly confined himself to the civil service law in every instance For example ex-ample the people of the District of Columbia feel very much incensed at the appointment of Mr Matthews of Albany to be recorder of deeds Mr Matthews is a colored mannone the worse forthat but the people did not expect Mr Cleveland judging bythe rule he has laid down in regard to filling fill-ing the District offices to appoint a man alLthe way from Albany to fill an office that should have been filled y some one in the District There has been some talk about holding a mass meeting to resist the appointment but I scarcely think such a meeting will take place Nevertheless with a great many of his own party President Cleveland is unpopular and the lack of harmony on the tariff and silver questions ques-tions civil service law etc will only I am afraid widen the breach Indeed if this unharmonious state of affairs c ntii u 8 many Democrats fearthe result re-sult of the election to be held next fall which will decide the complexion of the next House The Democratic majority in the House is not so large but it might drop to a minority As I have already said much lime has Leen wasted this session With the exception ex-ception of the Blair educational bill no important national legislation has been enacted As for the silver question 1 believe it will end in talk and will never come to a vote This policy will be adopted to avoid disruption in the party The tarriff question will also tome up in time and with such difference differ-ence of opinion as exists upon that subject sub-ject it is hard to forshadow the outcome out-come The tariff question however has got to be met and it will be well if the party can unite upon it in someway some-way or other so as to save disruption About half a dozen Salt Lakers are still in this city It is fair to presume that each has an axe to grind Jons IRVINE |