Judge Thomas M.
Cooley, then, probably the most eminent authority on constitutional law, wrote a letter expressing "unqualified satisfaction with every step" taken by the President "in vindication of the national authority." Both the Senate end the House adopted resolutions endorsing the prompt and vigorous measures of the Administration.

The newspapers, too, joined in the chorus of approval.

A newspaper ditty which was widely circulated and was read by the President with pleasure and amusement ended a string of verses with the lines: The railroad strike played merry hob, The land was set aflame; Could Grover order out the troops To block the striker's game?
One Altgeld yelled excitedly, "Such tactics I forbid; You can't trot out those soldiers," yet That's just what Grover did.
In after years when people talk Of present stirring times, And of the action needful to Sit down on public crimes, They'll all of them acknowledge then (The fact cannot be hid) That whatever was the best to do Is just what Grover did.
This brief period of acclamation was, however, only a gleam of sunshine through the clouds before the night set in with utter darkness.
Relations between President Cleveland and his party in the Senate had long been disturbed by his refusal to submit to the Senate rule that nominations to office should be subject to the approval of the Senators from the State to which the nominees belonged.

On January 15, 1894, eleven Democrats voted with Senator David B.Hill to defeat a New York nominee for justice of the Supreme Court.

President Cleveland then nominated another New York jurist against whom no objection could be urged regarding reputation or experience; but as this candidate was not Senator Hill's choice, the nomination was rejected, fourteen Democrats voting with him against it.