President Hayes has done a very weak thing. He wished,
in accordance with some etiquette about the territorial distribution of office, or for some other reason, to give the London Legation to a politician from Pennsylvania, and Mr. Pierrepont there- upon resigned. Instead, however, of selecting his own man, and recommending him to the Senate, he asked the Re- publican Senators to signify their choice, and he would nomi- nate him. The Republican Senators thereupon selected Mr. Cameron, the old leader of the party in Pennsylvania,—an able man, with sound views in polities, but steeped to the lips in all the tricks of the party wire-pullers. The President is, therefore, in a fix. If he rejects Mr. Cameron, he affronts men whom he desired to conciliate ; and if he accepts him, he will be under- stood to have given way to the professional politicians and to have abandoned Civil Service reform. He hesitates at present, and may possibly not yield, but the pressure on him will be very great. It seems clear that if he breaks with the professionals the party must be reconstructed, and the Democrats may win a serious victory before that can be done. The Working-mew's party de- taches a heavy vote from the Republicans, who, moreover, seem paralysed by the reluctance of their "regular leaders" to move while deprived of patronage, as they virtually are, by Mr. Ewe's order to office-bearers not to interfere in elections.
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