 One of President Garfield 's more wearying duties was seeing office seekers , and he saw Guiteau at least once . White House officials suggested to Guiteau that he approach Blaine , as the consulship was within the Department of State . Blaine also saw the public regularly , and Guiteau became a regular at these sessions ; Blaine , who had no intention of giving Guiteau a position for which he was not qualified nor one he had not earned , simply stated that the deadlock in the Senate over Robertson 's nomination made it impossible to consider the Paris consulship , which required Senate confirmation . Once the New York senators had resigned , and Robertson had been confirmed as Collector , Guiteau pressed his claim , and Blaine told him he would not receive the position . 
