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Show Washington, 3 fu the consideration considera-tion of the nominations of Elwin A. Merritt lor collect )r of customs, and Silas W. Burl as naval ellicer lor the port of New York, by the senate, in executive session, lijyard submitted a motion that tho dours be reopened and all proceedings bo conducted in public. ivlmunds objected. Bayard Bay-ard made a long epaccb with muci eiuei-lueH in favor of confirming the iKm!natiuud. He referred to the lej'iuiony Ukeo by tliu iuveetigiitint: committee el which he was a member ilue years ugo, showing grnjs inaladnmit-Uuliuu iu the New Yutk eudUru huuse under (JjlleCtor Murphy. It was then and bad been H'uca a poiitiiul machine and euurce of corruption. He, therefore, heartily f.tvortd tho preei dent's declaration ot inteiuiou tj re- i farui the udmiuiBlrntiou by placing it on business principles, and to this end would vota for tho removal of Arthur and Corutll ai.d the confirmation confirma-tion of the pending nominations. nomina-tions. Edmunds ttrenuu-ly opposed the removal of General Arthur, the pending question bein; ou General Merrill's nomination only, and insisted in-sisted that no siifhcient cause had been shown to j.ifctity i'.. In the courses of his remarks ho cnnibaUed iho idea that, in order properly to administer the u flairs of the custom houtjo, H was necessary that a collector collec-tor should be a personal friend of ti:e prebidenl or ol the sucretiry of the treasury. It waa I lie duty ol au officer tu obey the In.v aud uuleos corruption or inelficieucy were proven, hu bhould be retained in office regardless ol mere personal feelings or partisan preferences. Vnornees opp'jaed the confirmation ol Merrill on the ground thai, ultuougu there were abuses to be corrected, ho whs nut satisfied that Merr tt was a lit man to be entrusted with their correction. Kernau took a aim iiar ground. The New York custom house hud baen run as a po Itlical mrtohiuc, but in his opinion there would be no improvement effected by placing it under the control con-trol of Merrill, who was a mere politician, poli-tician, with nothing in his record to commend him for the appointment. While, therefore, ho (Keruiin) was not willing to vole against Merrilt, he was not willing, on tho other hand, to endorse en-dorse him, aud consequently ho should dticline tj vote at all. Howe then took up and compared the charges and replies, and arrived at tho conclut-iou that there was nc good cause Bhown lor tho proposed removals. Cockrill, reviewing the controversy, said : Very grave charges have been made against Arthur, and iu return very aerious allegations against Secretary Sherman, Sher-man, the truth of some of which the secretary seemed to admir. He therefore, thought the oniy proper way tu deal with tho Bubject would be to recommit the nomination to tho committee on commerce with power to Bend lor persona and papers, and make a thorough investigation of custom bouse ullaiia, etc, under General Merrill's administration. He, therefore, submitted a motion to that eflect. Morgan, after making a Bpeech of much the same purport as Oockrili's, moved to postpone indefinitely in-definitely tho pending nominations on the ground that this would indicate indi-cate that the senate did not consider Merrilt the proper man for the place and would open a way for the pre&ident to Bend in auothtr name. Mitchell, occupying tho chair temporarily, ruled the motion out ol order, as it involved a final action and under the rules of tho senate, although a poet-' ponoment to a fixed date was permis-sable, permis-sable, tho final question on a nomination nomi-nation must always be: "Does the senate advise and consent to its con-Brmalion." con-Brmalion." A long dincusaion enucd on a parliamentary question and nearly all supported the decision of the chair. Morgan withdrew hia motion. Question then recurred on Cockrill'a motion to recommit, and Cunkling took the floor to close Ihe debato. He sen! to the clerk's desk General Arthur's letter to bim on the 1st inst., in reply fo Secretaiy Sherman's Sher-man's last communication, and after it had been read Coukling proceeded to make an hour's speech, very earnestly earn-estly opposing the confirmation, going over charges against Artnur anu Cornell Cor-nell to show they bad been thoroughly examined. Referring to the complaint com-plaint of the president and Secretary Sherman, that the New York custom house bad been used as a political machine for the benefit of the personal per-sonal and political friends of persons who controlled the sppointments, he read letters from Secretary Sherman and the assistant secretary addressed to collector Arthur iu which they requested re-quested appoint men la for their per-Bonal per-Bonal or political friends. Among them was one from Secretary Sherman Sher-man to Collector Arthur earnestly recommending a son ol Justice Bradley Brad-ley lor appointment, and closed by saying that be, tSberman), hoped, for manifest reasons, that it would be considered favorably. Conkling also read to the senate a letter written to Collector Arthur by the president, or hy the president's direction, recommending recom-mending for appointment as deputy collector, a gentleman, Mr. John G. Howard, who bad written President Hayes. Tbo dispatch here breaks off, the night report having finished. Eds. |