cannot do anything until you dispose of Lamar.'" Mr.Lamar, who had entered the Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior, was nominated for associate justice of the Supreme Court on December 6, 1887.He had been an eminent member of the Senate, with previous distinguished service in the House, so that the Senate must have had abundant knowledge of his character and attainments.It is impossible to assign the delay that ensued to reasonable need of time for inquiry as to his qualifications, but Senator Cullom relates that "the nomination pended before the Judiciary Committee for a long time." Soon after the personal appeal, which was made by the President to every Senator he could reach, action was finally taken and the appointment was confirmed January 16, 1888.
Senator Cullom's reminiscences also throw light upon the process by which judges are appointed.President Cleveland had selected Melville W.Fuller of Illinois for the office of chief justice of the Supreme Court.According to Senator Cullom, Senator Edmunds "was very much out of humor with the President because he had fully expected that Judge Phelps, of his own State, was to receive the honor....The result was that Senator Edmunds held the nomination, without any action, in the Judiciary Committee for some three months." Senator Cullom, although a party associate of Edmunds, was pleased that the President had selected an Illinois jurist and he was determined that, if he could help it, Edmunds should not have the New Hampshire candidate appointed.He therefore appealed to the committee to do something about the nomination, either one way or the other.The committee finally reported the nomination to the Senate without recommendation.When the matter came up in executive session, "Senator Edmunds at once took the floor and attacked Judge Fuller most viciously as having sympathized with the rebellion." But Cullom was primed to meet that argument.He had been furnished with a copy of a speech attacking President Lincoln which Phelps had delivered during the war, and he now read it to the Senate, "much to the chagrin and mortification of Senator Edmunds."Cullom relates that the Democrats in the Senate enjoyed the scene."Naturally, it appeared to them a very funny performance, two Republicans quarreling over the confirmation of a Democrat.
They sat silent, however, and took no part at all in the debate, leaving us Republicans to settle it among ourselves." The result of the Republican split was that the nomination of Fuller was confirmed "by a substantial majority."Another nomination which caused much agitation at the time was that of James C.Matthews of New York, to be Recorder of Deeds in the District of Columbia.The office had been previously held by Frederick Douglass, a distinguished leader of the colored race;and in filling the vacancy the President believed it would be an exercise of wise and kindly consideration to choose a member of the same race.But in the Washington community, there was such a strong antipathy to the importation of a negro politician from New York to fill a local office that a great clamor was raised, in which Democrats joined.The Senate rejected the nomination, but meanwhile Mr.Matthews had entered upon the duties of his office and he showed such tact and ability as gradually to soften the opposition.On December 21,1886, President Cleveland renominated him, pointing out that he had been in actual occupation of the office for four months, managing its affairs with such ability as to remove "much of the opposition to his appointment which has heretofore existed." In conclusion, the President confessed "a desire to cooperate in tendering to our colored fellow-citizens just recognition." This was a shrewd argument.The Republican majority in the Senate shrank from what might seem to be drawing the color line, and the appointment was eventually confirmed; but this did not remove the sense of grievance in Washington over the use of local offices for national party purposes.Local sentiment in the District of Columbia is, however, politically unimportant, as the community has no means of positive action.** It is a singular fact, which contains matter for deep consideration, that the District of Columbia, the national capital, is the only populated area in the civilized world without any sort of suffrage rights.
