The New York Herald Newspaper, June 1, 1872, Page 4

Arraignment of the President by the Senator. Nepotism and Cift-Taking Denounced. The Balance of Power in the State Invaded. His fnaugural---His Cabinet Domingo. dat Econ A Vitriol Sketch of Cront’s Antecedents, Ae- quirements, Tastes and Capacity. CAN A SOLDIER BE A STATESMAN? Tho Verdict of History, with Adminis- trative Illustrations. WHAT STANTON SAID. “FIle Cannot Govern This Country.” A Gift-Giving Cabinet---A Military - Ring at the White House. THE BAYONET IN ELECTIONS Direct Interference with Local Politics. The Defeated Aims of the Republi- can Party. “I Stood by Its Cradle—I Will Fol- low Its Hearse.” WASHINGTON, May 31, 1872. The following is the speech delivered by Senator Sumner, of Massachusetts, in the United States Senate to-day, in defence of his Position as a republican, as assailed in the report of the French Aris Sales Committee, and against the pretensions of the President as a candidate for re-election. It occupied four hours in delivery :— Mn. PresIDENT—I have no hesitation in deciaring myself a member of the republican party, and one of the straightest of the sect. I doubt if any Sena- tor can point to earlier or more coustant service in its behalf. I began at the beginning, and from that early day have never failed to sustain ita candl- ates and to advance its principles. For these I ave labored always, by speech and vote, in the mate and elsewhere; at first with few only; but at last, as success began to dawn, then with multitudes flocking forward. In this cause L never asked who were my associates or how many they would number, In the consciousness of right I was willing to be alone. To such a party, with which so much of my life {3 intertwined, J have no common ttiachment, ‘ot without regret cen Isce itautivr; not without a pang can Ise it changed from its original characicr, for such a change is death. Therefore do I ask, with no common feel- ing, that (he peril which menaces it may pass away. I stood by its cradle. Let me not foilow its hearse. ORIGIN AND OBJECE OF THE RECUGLICAN PARTY. Turning back to its birth I recail a speech of my Own at a State Convention in Mussachusetts, as far back as September 7, 1864, where 1 vindicated its principles and announced its name in these words :—“As republicans we go forth to encounter the oligarcity of slay The report records the applause with which this name was received by the excited inultitude. Years of conftict ensued, in which the good cause constantly gained, At last, in the summer of 1800, Abraham Lincoln was nomi- nated by this party a8 its candidate for the Prest- dency, aud here pardon me if I refer again to myself On my way home from the Senate I was detained in New York by the invitation of party iriends to speak at the Cooper Institute on the issues of the pendiny election. The speech was made July 12, and belleve was the earliest of the campaign, As ublished at the time, it was entitled:—‘Origin, ecessity and Permanence of the Republican Party.”” And to exhibit these was its precise object. Both the necessity and permanence of the party birdy asserted. A brief passage, which I take from ne REPORT IN THE NEW YORK HERALD, will show the duty and destiny 1 ventured then to hold up. After dweiling on the evils of slavery and corruptions {t had engendered, including the the whit & hy, slavery in all its p continues to” oxist as a polilital power, the republican party must endure. (Applause) If bad men conspire for. slavery, ‘ ou ple tor 4 holy war be risn now dominant in ‘the repnble weris driven fom vor an 4 when tle triumph is Wor imme dinte object of our organiza: on, the repab: y Will not dic, ty rived by its long contest md filled v ill be titted cHorts, with ne u gf Such, on the eve of the Presidential cléction, was my description of the republican party and iy aspiration for its future, It was not to die; bui, purited by long contest with slavery and filled with uigher life, we were to behold tt liited to yet other efforts and nobler aims for the good of mah. There ‘was nothing personal, nothing mean or petty. The republican party was necessary and permanent and always on an ascending plane. For such a party there was no death, but a higher life and no- ler aims. And this was the party to which I gave my vows. But, alas, how changed! Once country ‘was the object and nota man; once principle was a on the victorious bannerg and not a name THE REPUBLICAN PARTY SEIZED BY THE PRESIDENT. It is not difficult to inv te when this disastrous change, exalting the will of one mau above all else, became not ouly manifest but painfully conspicuou: Already it had begun to show itself in personal pr tensions, to which I shall refer soon, when sud- denly, and without any warning through the pub- lic press, or any expression troin pubiie opinion, the President, elected by the republican party, preoipitated upon the country an fil-considered and l-omened scheme for the annexation of a portion of the Island of St. pursuance of @ tfepty negotiated by a per. son of his own hold, styling himself aide-de-camp of the Prealdent of the Uuited States, Had this effort, however injudicious in object, been confined to ordinary and constitutional proceed- Domingo, in ings, with a proper regard for a co-ordinate branch | Te civilians as well as soldiers. of the government, it would have soon dropped out of sight and been remembered only as a blunder; but it Was not so—strangely and unaccountably. It was pressed for months by every means and ap- pliance of power, whether at home or abroad, now reaching iuto the Senate Chamber and now into the waters about the island, Reluctant Senators were subdued to its support. While treading under foot the constitution in one of its most distinctive re- iblican principles the President SEIZED THE WAR POWERS OF THE NATION, instituted foreign intervevtion and capped the climax of usurpation by menace of violence to the black republic of Haytl, where the colored race have commenced the experiment of self-govern- Ment ; thus adding manifest outrage of international jaw to manifest outrage of the constitution, while ‘he long-suffering African was condemned to new indignity. Ail these things, go utterly indefensible and aggravat therefore be iso: defenders on this ‘he Pres , Who was the original author of these wrongs, continued to maintain them and bi wd enn cour’ wy Ani) thus ful- ei ulation with the government of Baez, executed by iis aide de campe At last a we Senator, who felt it his duty to ex- hibit these plain violations of the constitution and of international law, and then in obedience to the irresistible promptings of bis nature and in harmony und i a hesitating agent of | | | if repabtio, 0 declared ican and to save the party from this conspiracy. ‘hia republican Senator, en- patriotic service, and anxious to save the colored people from outrage, was denounced on this foor a8 a traitor to the aie oa this was done by a Senator gee 2 r the party and be in intimate relations with the Presl- dent guilty of these wanna. Evidently the party was In process of change from that generous asso- ciation dedicated to human rights and to the guardianship of the African race. Too plainly it ‘was becoming the instrument of one man and his personal will, no matter how much he set at deflance the constitution and instru- mental law, or how much he insulted the colored people, The President was to be main- tained at all hazards, notwithstanding his aberra- tions, and ail who called thom in question were to be struck down. In exhibiting this autocratic pro- tenston, 80 revolutionary and unrepublican tn char- acter, 1 mean to be moderate in language and to keep within the strictest bounds. ‘The facts are indisputable, and nobody can deny the grozs viola- tion of the conatitution and of Laternational law, with the INSULT TO THE BLACK REPUBLIC. the whole caso boing more reprehensible, as also plainly more unconstitutional and more illegal, than anything alleged against Androw Johnson on his impeachment. Bellove me, gir, I should glad! leave this matter to the judgment already recordet if it were not put in issue again by the extraordl- nary efforts radiating on every line of office to place ita author for a second term as and, since silence gives consent, all these efforts are his ciorts, ‘They become more noteworthy when it is considered the namo of the candidate thus pressed has become a sign of discord and not of concord—dividing instead of uniting the republican PS. y—so that these extra- fined: efforts tend directly to the disruption of the party, all of which he witnesses, and again by Dis silence ratifies. “Let the party split,’ says the President, “I will not renounce my chance of a fscond term.” The extent of tis personal pres- 8 cre, and tie subordination of the party te tho will of an Individual, compel us to consider his preten- sions, These, too, are in issue:— PRESIDENTIAL PRETENSIONS, “On what meat doth this our Cwsar feed,” that he should assume so much, No kouor for victory in war can justify disodedience to the constitution and to law; nor cam it atord the least apology tor any peregpal immunity, privilege or license in the Prea- dential oflice. A President must turn into a king before it can be said of him that he can do no wreng. He is responsible always, As President he is the foremost servant of the law; bound to obey its slightest mandate. Ags tho eloct of the ple he owcs hot only the example of willing obedience, but a'so of fidelity and industry in the discharge of lis conspicuous ofice, with an abrogation of all self-seeklug; nothing for solf, but all for tue country; and now, #8 we rogard the career of this candidate, we find, toour amazement, how little it accords with thia simple requirement, Bring it to the touchstone and it fails, Not only are constitution and law disregarded, but the Presidential oilice it- self is treated as littie more than a play- thing. and a perquisite, When not the former, thon the latter, Here the de- tails are’ ampli showing how, from the heginning, this exalted trust has dropped to be a Personal indulgence; where palace cars, fast horses and seaside loiterings figure more than duties ; how personal aims and objects have been more promi- nent than the public interests; how the Presiden- tial office has been used to advance his own family on ascale of nepotisin dwarfing everything of the kind in our history, and hardly equalled in the cor- rupt governments where this abuse has most pre- vaiied; how in the same spirit ofiice has been con- ferred upon those from whoin he had received giits or benefits, tus making the rep y is personal obiizations; how p votion to hitaself rather than public or party ser- vice has been made the standard of favor; how the vast appointing power conferred by the constitu- tiou for (he general welfare has beon employed at il to promote his schemes, to reward hig to punish his opponents, and to advance his clection toa second term: how all these as- sumptions have matured in a personal government semi-military in character and breathing the mill- tary spirit, being a species of Crsarism or person- alism, abhorrent to republican institutions, where subservience to the Presidentis the supremo law; how in maintaining this subservience he has op- erated bya system of combinations having their orbits about lim so that LIKE THB PLANET SATURN he is surrounded by rings. Nor does the similitude end here; for his rings, like those of the planet, are held in position by sutellites. How this utterly un- republican Cesarism has mastered the republican arty and dictated the Presidential will, stalking into the Senate chamber itself, while a vindictive apne visits good republicans who cannot submit, How the President himself, unconscious that a Pres- ident has no right to quarrel with anybody, insists ious i Sapte 4 until he has become the great Pres- idential quarreler, with more quarrels than all other Presidents to; ether, and all begun and continued by himself. How h.s personal followers back him in quarrels, insult those he insults, and then, not departing from his spirit, cry out with Shakespeare, “We will have rings and ti ine and fine array ;” and finally how the chosen head of the republic is known chiefly for Presidential pretensions utterly indefensible in character, derogatory to the country and of evil influence, making personal objects a primary pursuit, so that, instead of a beneficent presence, he is a bad example, througn whom | republican institutions suifer and the people learn to do wrong. Would that these things could be forgotten, but since, through officious friends, the President Insists Sn a second term, they must be considered, nobody will vindicate thein, Itis easy to see that Cwsarism, even in Enrope, is at a discount; that personal gov ment has been beaten in that ancient field, and that Casar, with a Se at his heels, Is not the fit model for our republic. King George the Third of England, so pecullar for obstinacy and narrowness, had retainers in Parliament, who went under the name of the King’s friends, Nothing can be allowed here to justify the inquiry, “Have we a King George among us" or that other question, ave we a party in the Senate of the King’s friends?” PERSONAL GOVERNMENT UNREPUBLICAN, Personal government is autocratic, It is the one man power elevated above all else, and is therefore in direct confict with republican government, whose consummate form 1s tri-partite—executive, legisla- tive and judicial—aach independent and coequal. From Mr. Madison, in the Federatist,we learn that the accumulation of these powers in the same hands may justly be pronounced the very. definition of tyranny ; and so any attempt by either to exercise the powers of another is a tyrannical invasion, always reprehensible in proportion to its extent. John ms tells us in most instructive words that it is by balancing each of these powers against the other two, that the efforts in human nature toward tyranny can alone be checked and re- strained and any degree of freedom preserved in the constitution. Then, again, the same authority says that the perfection of this great idea is by giv- ing each division a power to defend itself by a nega- tive. In other words, each is armed against inva- sion by the others, Accordingly, the con- stitution of Virginia in 1776, conspicuous as a historical precedent, declared expressly that the Legislative, Executive and Judiciar departments shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly be- longing to the other, nor shall any person execute the powers of more than one of them at the same time, The constitution of Massachusetts, dating from 1730, embodied the same principle in these memo- rable words:—“The legislative department shall never exercise the cutive and — judical powers or either of them. The executive shal never exercise the legislative and judictal powers or elther of them. The judicial shall hever exercise eo Had Herd ben ous i of them—ta fhe end that it ma ind Aid ab Satan, ove not of men is the object of repub- ‘nment; nay more, it is the distinctive without which it becomes a tyranny. 8 forins, arid gesence, Therefore personal government in ail especially When it seeks to sway the action of any other branch or overturn its constitutional nega- tive, is hostile iid the first bs of republican institutions and an unquestionable bea a) That our President has offended in this way is unhappily too apparent, The President is a civilian. To com. preheud the personal government that has been in- stalled over us we must know its autho HIS PICTURE OF THE PRESIDENT. His picture is the necessary frontispreco—not as a soldier, let it be borne in mind—batas a civilian. The President is the titular head of the army and navy of the United States; but his office ig not military or naval. Aa if to exclude all ques- tion, he is classed by the constitution among civil oilicers; therefore, a3 a civilian is he to be seen. Then, perhaps, we may learn the secret of the policy so a ie {) republicanism in which he perseveres. To appreciate his peculiar character a8 a civilian it is important to know his triumphs as a soldier; for the one is the natural complement of the other. The successful soldier Is rarely changed to the successful civilian, There ms an incompatibility between the two, moiliiied by the extent to which one has been allowed t Spetnas the other. One always a soidier cannot late In life become a statesman, One always ® civilian cannot iate in life become a soldier. Edu- cation and expericnce are Yéeded in edch, WASHINGTON AND JACKSON In the large | training and experience of antiquity the soldier and civilian were oiten united, | times this has been rare, The camp is peculiar in | the influence it exercises. itis in itself an educa- tion, but itis not the education of the statesman. To suppose that we can change without prepara- tion from the soldier tothe statesman is to assume that training and expertence are of less man may be born a statesman, but can fit himself for a soldier only by four years at West Point, care- ful selentific study, the command of troops and ex- perience in the tented fick. And is nothing reguired for the statesman? A STATESMAN, Is his duty so light? His study 4s the nation and its Jaw for authority and to the loftiest truth for rules of conduct. No pgs og apd or virtue disei- plined by habit can wo great The ilot is mot accepted in his trust until he knows the signs ofthe storm, the secrets of navi- gation, the rocks of the coast, all of which are learned by careful study, with charts and sounding, by coasting the land and watehing the crested Waves. Hut can leas be expected of the other pilot who is to steer the ship of State which contains tait fs extubived. oy Mf, Buckle in his Temarkabic man 18 ex’ yy Mr. Bucl work on the “History of Civilization.” Writing as But in modern | consequence for the one than the other; that a | welfare; turning always to history for exauiple, to | a phi devoted to ot azine Bt tions naan hed were likewise the most eminent polit he | cep shows the reasom when he — that, midst of the hurry and cam) these eminent men cultiv: min highest point that the os nae the would allow,” The secret was culture not confined to war. In modern Europe few soldiers have been more conspicuous Gustavus Adol- hus and Frederick, sometimes called the reat; but we learn from our author that both failed iunominguely, in. their domestic showed themselves as short- Policy and sighted in the arts of peace ag they were sagactous in the arts of war, Tho i ment of Marlborough is pointed, while protraying him as “The greatest conqueror of the age, the hero of a hundred fights, the victor of Blenheim and Ramillies,” the same philosophical writer describes him as “a man not Oniy of the most idle and frivolous pursuits, but so miserably ignorant that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries, while his politica Were compounded of sellisiness and treachery.” Nor was Wallagton an exception. Though shining in the fleld without a rival, and remarkable for integrity of purpose, an unflinching honesty and high moral feeling, the conqueror of Waterloo is desoribed a8 “nevertheless ut! ei unequal to the complicated ex- mronee of political life.” Such are the examples of history ; cach with its warning. It would be hard to find anything in the native endowments or in tho training of our chieftain to make him an illustrious exception. At least nothing of this kind is recorded. Was nature more generous with him than with Marborough or Wellingion, Gustavus daorpnns, or Frederick, called the Great? Or was his experience of life a better preparation than theirs? And yet they falied, oxcept in war. It ts not known that our chieftain had any experience as a civilian until he became President; nor does any partizan attri- bal to him that double culture which in antiquity lo THE SANE MAN SOLDIER AND STATESMAN. Tt has been often said that he took no note of pubite altuirs, never voting but oncoin bis life, and hen for James Buchanan. After leaving West Point he became a captain in the army, but soon abandoned the service, to appear at @ later day us a successful general. ere 8 NO reason to belicve that he employed the intermediate period .n any way calculited to improve him asa statesman. One of hia unhesitating supporters, my colleagre Mr. Wilson, in a speech intended to commend hin for re-election, sxys:—“Before the war we knew nothing of Grant.’ He was earning a few hundred dollars a year by tanning hides in Galena, By the war lie passed be President. nd such was his preparation to govern the great republic, making it an example to mankind, Thus ho learned to deal with all questions, domestic and forcign, Whether of peace or war, to declare con- stitutional law and international law, and to ad- minister the vast appointing power,creating cabinet oficers, judges, forelgn ministers and an uncounted army of oitice holders. To these things must be fp tiuat when this soldier first began as civillun 0 Was, ALREADY FORTY-SIX YBARS OLD. At this mature age—close on half a century— when habits are irrevocably fixed, and the mind has hardened against what is new—when the char- acter has taken its permanent form, and the whole man is rooted in his own unchangeable individual- ity, our soldier entered abrupt! m the untried lile of a civilian in its most exalt sphere. Do not be surprised that, like other soldie he failed; the wonder would be had he succeeded. Harvey was accustomed to say that nobody over forty ever accepted his discovery of the circulation of the blood; but he is not the only person who bas recognized this period of life as the divid- ing point, atter which it is diMoult to learn new things. Something like this ls embodied in the Freuch saying—that at forty @ man has given his Measure. At least his vocation is settled—how completely is seen, if we fnppose the statesman, aftcr traversing the dividing point, abruptly changed to the soldicr. And yet at an age nearly seven years later, our solttie recipitately chailged to he Sh eta tbs staan metamor- phosis cannot be forgotten, when he seeks to coni- prehend the strange pretensions which ensued. It is easy to sce how some very moderate experience in civil life, PARE | of course the lesson of sub- ordination to republican principles, would have prevented indefensible acts. TESTIMONY OF THE LATE EDWIN M, STANTON. Something also must be attributed to individual pels and here | express no opinion of my own, I shall alow another to speak, in solemn words echoed from the tomb. On reaching Wash- ington, at the opening of Congress, In December, 1369, I was paiiied to ra! thas Mr. Stanton, lately Secretary of War, was In falling health, Full of gratitude for bis unsurpassed services, and with a sentiment of friendship quickened by common po- ditical sympathies, I lost no time in seeing him, and repeated my visits until his death, towards the close of the same month. My last visit was marked by a communication never to be forgotten. As I entered his bedroom, where I found him reclining on a sofa, propped by pillows, he reached out his hand, already clammy cold, and in reply. to my inquiry, “How are you?” he answered, ‘Waiting for my furlough.” ,'Then at once, with singular solemn! th he said, “I have something to say to you.” When I was seated he pence a: without one word of introduction: “I ‘now Genéral Grant better than any other person in the country can know him, It was my duty to study him, and I did so night and day, when lsaw him and when I did not see him, and now | tell you what I know: HE CANNOT GOVERN THIS COUNTRY.” The intensity of his manner and the positiveness of his judgment surprised me, for though I was aware that the late Secretary of War did not place the President very high in general capacity | was not prepared for a judgment so strongly couched. At last, after some delay, occupied in meditating his remarkable statement, I observed, “What you say is very broad.” “Itis as true as it is broad,” he replied omptly. I added, “You are ly. Why did you wait till this late time? Why did you not say it before his nomination?” He answered that he was not consulted about the nomination and had no opportunity of ressing his opinion upon it, besides being much pied at the time with his duties as Secretary of War and his contest with the President. 1 followed by say- ing:—“But you took part inthe Presidential elec- tion and made a succession of speeches for him in Ohio and Pennsylvania.” “1 spoke,” said he, ‘but Inever Introduced the name of General Grant. I spoke for the republican party and the republican cause.” Thiswas the last time Isaw Mr. Stanton. A _tew days later I followed him to the grave where he now rests. As the vagaries of the Presi- dent became more and more manifest, and the Presidential oftice seemed more and more a ra thing and perquisite, this dying judgment of the great citizen who knew him so well haunted me night and day, and { now communicate it to my country, feeling that it is a legacy I have no right to withhold, Beyond the intrinsic interest from its author, it is not without value as testimony in considering how the President could ave been led into that Quixotism of personal preten- sion which it is my duty toexpose. Pardon me if L repeat it that is my dnty to make the exposure, spreading before an the proofs of that personal government which will only pass without censure when it passes without observation. Insisting upon re-election the President challenges inquiry and puts himself upon the country. But even if his pressure for re-election did not menace the tranquillity of the country it is important that the personal pretensions he has set up should be ex- posed, that no President hereafter may venture upon such ways and no Senator presume to defend them. The case is clear as noon, TWO TYPICAL INSTANCES. In opening this catalogue I select two typical in- stances—nepotism and gift-taking oMcially com- | pensated—each absolutely indefensible in the head of a republic, most pernicious in example, and showing be; oud sooans that surpassing egotism ec thi whtch chai Presidential office into a personal instrumentality not unlike the trunk of an cle- phant, apt for all things, small as well as great, from provision for a relative to pressing a treaty on a reluctant Senate or forcing a relation on a re- luctant people. NEPOTISM OF THE PRESIDI Between these two typical in: which to place foremost; but since the nepotism of | the President is a ruling passion, revealing the pees meee. of his nature; since it is main- tained by him in utter unconsciousness of its oifen- an unhappy mistake, he continues to uphold it; since it has been openly defended by Sena- ; tors on this floor, and since no true | patriot, ane ue tov en agra with pissing can doubt that It ought e arlyen yy ssin, and svorn irom all Wobabliliy a eRe thea with this undoubted abuse. There has 10 call of Congress for a return of the relations holding office, stipend or rian opportunity under the Presitent. The country is leit to the press for information on this important subject. there is any exaggeration the President is in fault; since, knowing the discreditable allegations, he has not hastened to furnish the precise facts, or at least his rtizans have failed in not callin, for the oficial information. In the which they have shown in this Chamber. It is evi- dent that any resolution calling for it, moved by a | Senator pot Known to be for his re-election, would meet, with oppesl mn; and an efiort to vindicate republican institutions would be denounced as an assault on the President. But the newspapers have placed enough beyond h odemeg for judgment in this | extraordinary case, although thus far there has heen no attempt to appreciate it in the light of history, One list makes the number of bencfictari as maby as forty-two, being, probably, every person known allied to the President by blood or mar- riage. Persons seeming to speak for the President, or at least after careful inqul we have denied the | acouraey of this list, reducing It to thirteen. It | will not be questioned that there is at least A BAKERS DOZEN IN THE CATEGORY, Thirteen relations of the President billeted on | the country, not one of whom, but for this re- lationship, would have been brought forward, the whole constituting a case of nepotism not unworthy of these worst governments, whose oflice | is a family session, Beyond the list of thirteen ore other revelations showing that this strange abuse did not stop with the sident's | relatives, out that these relations obtained appoint- ments for others in their circle, so that every rela- tion became centre of influence, while the Prest- dential family extended indefinitely. Only one President bas appointed relations and that was John Adams, bat he found public opinion inspired by the example of Washington so strong against it that alter slight experiment he replied to an ap- plicant:—You know It is impossible for me to ap- fate ay own relations to anything without draw- og forth a torrent of obloquy.” The judgment of the country found voice in Thomas Jefferson, who, in & letter wiltton shortly after he became President sive character; since, instead of blushing for it as | himself infinitely by his conduct on this But John Adams, besides Srasierriog Bs son John diplomatic post to an- gainer pointed only tw relati Pray, sir, other, a) wo ons, A what words would Jefferson use if he ‘were here to g on the open and multifa- rious _nepet of our President. It was sald that popes were not to neglect their own blood ; that they should not show themselves worse than the beasts, not one of whom fatled to caress his re- lations, and the class of bears and lions, the most ferocious of all, was cited as authority for this re- cognition of one’s own biood. All this was soberly sald, and it is doubtless truce, Not even & pope can neglect his own blood; but help and charity must bo at his own ex- nse, and not at the expense of his country. in appointments to office, merit and not blood the only just recommendation; that nepotism has ceased to lord itseifin Rome; that no pontiff billets his relations upon the Church; that the appointing power of the Pope ig treated us @ public trust and not a8@ personal perquisite. This is the present testimony with regard to that government which knows from experience the baneful character of this abuse, AMERIOAN AUTHORITIES ON NRPOTISM. ‘The nepotism of Rome was little known in our country, and I do not doubt that Washington, when Socliatag. ea make the Presidential office a personal perquisite, was goverred by that instinct of duty and patriotism which rendered him so pre-eminent. qian all the perils of a seven years’ war he had battled with that kingly rule which elevates a whole family without regard to merit, fastening all upon the nation, and he had learned that this social system could find no place in @ repub- lc, Therefore he rejected the claims of relations and in nothing was his example more beautiful. To Nis latest bio; opty Washington Irving records him as saying, ‘4 r asi know my own mind I would not be tn the remotest degree influenced in making nomIAA TOD by motives arising from the ties of family or blood.” Then in he declared his purpose ‘ to discharge the duties of office with that impartiality and zeal for the public which onnne never to suifer connections of blood or friend- ship to mingle so as to have the least sway on de- public nature.” This excel- lent rule of conduct is illustrated by the udvice to his successor, with regard to the promotion of his son, John Quincy Adams, After giving it as his opinion that the latter was the most valuable character wo had abroad and pro- mising to be tho ablest of allour diplomatic corps, cisions of a Wasnington declares, “If he was now to be brought into that life, or into any other public walk, I could not upon the principle which has reguiated my own conduct isapprove of the caution which {3 hinted at in the letter.” Considering the importance of the rule it were better had 1 prevailed over parental regard and the extraordinary merits of the son, Tu vindicating his conduct ot a later day John Adams protested against what he called “QR HYPER-SUPERLATIVE VIRTUR” of Washington, and inserted:—“A President ought not to ap} point ® man becanse he is his relative, nor ought he refuse or negiect to appoint him for that reason.” With absolute certainty that the President is above ail prejudice of fuinily, and sensitive to merit only, this rule is not unreason- able. But who can trusted to apply it? Jefferson developed and explained the true prin- ciples in a manner worthy of republican Lostitu- tions, Inaletter to o relation immediately after becoming President he wrote:—“The oublic will never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit alone, un- influenced by family views; nor can they évet bod with approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust to thelr Presidents for public purpose divided out as familly property.” Mr. Adams di fect as himself inflnitely by his conduct on this sub- ject, aa Washington had done himself the greatest honor. With two such examples to proceed by I should be doubly inexcusable toerr. After his re- tirement from the Presidency, in a letter to a kins- man, he asserts the rule again:—“Toward acqulr- ing the confidence of the people the first measure ¥. to satisfy them of his disinterestedness, and that e is directing their affairs with a single eye to their good, and not to build up fortunes for himself and family, and especially that the officers ap- pone to transact their affairs are pppoluted echuse they are thé fittest men, not because they are his relations, So prone are they to sus- Picion that when a@ President appoints 4 relation of his own, however worthy, they will believe that favor and not merit was the motive. I therefore laid it down as a law of conduct for myself never to give an appointment to a relation.” That state- ment is unanswerable. The elect of the people must live so as best to maintain their interests and elevate the national sentiment. This can be only by an example of unselfish devotion to the ublic weal which shail be above suspicion, A resident suspected of weakness for his relations is already shorn of strength. In saying that his pre- decessor “degraded himself infinitely by his con- duct on this subject” Mr. Jefferson shows the rigor of his requirement. Besides the transfer of his son, John Quincy Adams, from one diplomatic mission to another, John Adams is respon- for the appointment of his son-in- Colonel Smith, as Surveyor of the Port of New York, and his wife’s nephew, William Cranch, a8 Chief Justice of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia; both persons of great abilities, and the former serving through the war with high applause of his superiors. The public sentiment appears in the condemnation of these appointments, In refusing another of his relations John Adams wrote:—‘You know it is impossible for me to appoint my own relations to anything without drawing forth a torrent of obloquy.” But this torrent was nothing but the judgment of the American people, unwilling that republican institutions at that early day should suffer. Thus far John Adams stands alone. If any other President has made ap- pointmenss from his own family it has been in so petty & stale as not to be recognized in history, John Quincy Adams, when President, did not follow his father, An early letter to his mother foreshad- ows a rule not uulixe that of Jetferson: T hope, my ever dear and honored mother, that you are fully convinced trom my letters which you have betore this reecivea that upod the contingency of my father’s being placed in the First Magistracy I ‘shall never give him ‘any trouble by solicitation tor office of any kind. Your late letters repeated so many times that I shall in that case have nothing to’ expect, that I am afraid you have imagined it possible that I might form expectations from such an event. [had hoped that my mother knew me better; that she did ne the justice to believe that have not been so totally re- gr sor forgetful of the principles which my education tilled, nor so totally destitute of a personal sense of age cae as to be susceptible of a wish tending in that jon. To Jefferson's sense of ae duty John Quincy Adams added the sense of personal delicacy—boti strongly against the appointment of relations. To the irresistible judgment against this abuse a recent moralist of loity nature— Theodore Parker— imparts new expression when he says:—‘It is a dangerous and unjust practice.’ This is simple and monitory. PRESIDENTIAT, APOLOGIES FOR NEPOTISM. Without the avglanche of testimony against this Presidential pret@nsion, it is only Necessary to lance at the defences sometimes set up. For such is the insensibility bred by Presidential example, that even this intoleravle outrage is not without voices speaking for the President. Sometimes it is said that his salary, being far from royal, the peo- ple will not scan closciy an attempt to help relatives; which, being interpreted, means that the President may supplement the pettiness of his salary by the appointing power. Let John Adama, who did not hesitate to bestow office upon a few relations of unquestioned merit, judge these pre- tensions. I quote his words :=="Every public man should be honestly Veg for his services, but he should be restraimcd from every perquisite not Pty known to the laws, and he should make no claims upon the gratitude of the oe nor ever confer an office within is patronage upon a son, a brother, a friend, upon pretence that he is not paid for his services by the profits of his office.” It isimpossible to deny the soundness of this requirement and its com- pletencss as an answer to one of the Presidential apologists. Sometimes the defender is more anda- cious, insisting openly upon the Presidential pre- rogative wt out eee until we seem to hear in e aggravated Jorn the gbnoxious ory ™ ¥ see i to TILE FICE BELONG Nie SPorts.” I did not suppose that this old cry could be re- vived in any form, but since it is heard again I choose to expose it; and here I use the language of Madison, whose mild wisdom has illumined so much of constitutional duty. In_ his judgment tho pretension was odious that oMces’ and emolu- ments were the spoils of victery, the per- pe Pa vein Phd Petia 4 bn Mate fo ie Presivenc sin Wordsiiot to be ant Ang moment, “The if principle if avowei ‘Without the practice or prac- tized without the avowal, could not fail to degrade any administration—voth together completely so.” These are strong words, The rale in its early form could not fail to degrade any admimstrationys but now this Gegading Tule is extended and we aré tot that to the President's family belong the spoils, Another ae vouchsafed, even on this door, is thatif the President cannot appoint his relations they alone of all citizens are excluded from oftice, which, it ig said, shouki not be. But is it not for the pub- He good that they should be excluded? Such was wisd judgment of Jeiferson and such is the testimony from another quarter, That eminent relate, Bishop Butler, who has given the English iterature one of its most masterly productions, Known as “Butler's Analogy,” after his ele- vation to the See of Durham, with tts remark- | able patronage, was so seli-denying with regard | to his family, that a nephew said to him, “Me- thinks, my lord, it is a misiortune to be related to you.” Golden words of honor for the English | Bishop! But none such have been earned by the | American President. Assuming that, in case of positive merit designating a citizen for a par- ticular post, the President might appoint a relation, it would be only where the merit was so shining that his absence — would be noticca, At least, it must be such ag to make the citizen a candidate without regard to family. But no such merit is attributed to the beneficiaries of our President, some of whom have done little but Lise 3 scandal upon the public ser- | vice. At least one is tainted with fraud, and an- other, with the commission of the republic abroad, has been guilty of indiscretions inconsistent with his trost. a New originally in open defiance of republican principles, they have been retained in office after their unfitness became infully con- spicuous, By the testimony belore a Congressional committee ONE OF THESE, A BROTHER-IN-LAW, was implicated in bribery and corruption. It is said that at last, alter considerable deit the President has consented to his removal. I leave for the present this enormous pretension of hevotiss swollen to elephantiasis, which nobody NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1872—TRIPLE ‘SHEET. r to Which liag Taamntoell "ua unsrovodontea’ fore REPAID THR PATRON WITH OFFIOR. man to take gifts is reprehensible. For to select Cabinet Councillors and other from among those from whom he has taken gifts ts an spomsly in repubuoan annals. Observe, Aa Speak of It gen! y,anwilling to exhibit the : lon which such a ential pretension is culated to arouse. The count, judge it and ere have been characters in oficial ancient or modern constant against a aa ar ures, where it ls sald:—"Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not ct pel neither ines a gilt, for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise”—here is the inhibition and also the reason, which a slight observation shows to be true. Docs not a gift blind the eyes of the wise? The influence of gifts is represented by Plutarch in the life of a Spartan King, for he thought thoso 8 Of entrapping men by gifts and presents, which other kings use, dishonest and artificial, and it seemed to him to be the most noble method and most suita- ble to a king to win the affections of those that came near him by personal intercourse anit agree- able conversation, since between a friend and a mercenary the only distinction is that we gain the one by our character and conversations and the other by our money. What is done under the in- fluence of gifts is mercenary. But whether from ruler to subject, or from subject to ruler, the gift is equally pernicious. An ancient patriarch feared the Greeks bearing gifts, and these words have be- come a proverb, but there are GUREKS BRARING GIFTS ELSEWHERE than at Troy. A public man can traffic with such only at his peril, At their appearance the prayer should be suid, “Lead us not into temptation.” the best oxen bee testify. Thus, in the autoblo- fraphy. of Lord Brougham, posthumously published, appears that at a great meeting in Glasgow five hundred pounds were subscribed as a gift to him for the public service, to be put in such form as he might think best. He hesitated, He required, he records, much consideration, as such gifts were Hable to abuse. Not content with his own judgment, he assembled his friends to discuss {t, Lord Holland, Lord Erskine, Romilly and Baring, and he wrote Karl Grey, afterward Prime Minister, who replied as fol- lows:—“Both Granville and I accepted a piece of plate from the Catholics tn Glasgow—of no great value, indeed—after we wore turned out. If you still fecl scruples, I can only add that it 1s imposs.bie to err on the side of delicacy with respect to matters of this nature.” It ended in his accepting a small foe inkstand, In our (i Washington keeps iis lofty heights, setting himself AGAINST GIFT-TAKING AS AGAINST NEPOTISM, In 1735, while in private life, two years after he ceased to bo commander-in-chfef of our armies and four years before he became President, he could not be induced to accept a certain amount of canal stock offered him by the State of Nie oe ap- pears in an official communication. ‘It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Assembly, without a diseonting voice, complimented you with fifty shares In the Potomac Company and 100 in the~ James River Company. 4 Fully to appreciate the reply of Wash ng Ly it must be borne in mind that, according to Wash- ington Irving, his DingTARE some degree of econ- omy was necessary, for his financial afiairs had suf- fered during the war, and the products of his es- tate had fallen off. But he was not tempted. Thus he wrote:—‘‘How would this matter be viewed by the eye of the world, and what would be its opinion when it comes to be related that George Washing- ton accepted $20,000 under whatever pretence and however customarily these gifts are made in other countries? IfLaccepted shouldI not — HENCRFORWARD BE CONSIDERED AS A DEPENDENT? Inever for a moment entertained the idea of ac- cepting it.” How admirably he touches the point when he asks:—“If 1 accepted this should I not henccforward be considered as a dependent?’ Ac- cording to our Scripture the gift bunds the eyes, According to Washington it makes the receiver a dependent. In harmony with this sentiment was his subsequent refusal to be President, as is re- conned. Gd ae fed Titer. Be was pace: ingly careful about committing himself, would re- ere tay wr ive no favors of any scrupulously a for everything. A © house was set apart for him on Ninth street, on the grounds now covered by the Pennsylvania University, which he refused toaccept. By such instances, brought to light re- cently and shining in contrast with our times, we learn to admire anew the virtue of Washington, It would be easy to show how in all ages the refusal of gifts has been RECOGNIZED AS THE SIGN OF VIRTUE, if not the requirements of duty. The story of St. Louis of France is beautiful and suggestive. Leay- ing on a crusade he charged the Queen Regent, who remained behind, “‘not to accept presents for herself or her children.” Such was one of the in- junctions by which this monarch when far away on a pious expedition impressed himself upon his country. My own strong convictions on this Presi- dential pretension were aroused in a conversation which it was my pevioge to icy, with John Quincy dams, as he sat his sick chamber at gon’s house, in Boston, a short time before he fell at his post of duty in the House of Reprocatstivess In a voice trembling with age and with emotion he said that ‘no public man could take gifts without FP eovil and he confessed that his own judgment had been quickened by the example of Connt Komanoff, the eminent Chan- cellor of the Russian empire, who, after receiving costly gifts from foreign sovereigns with whom he had negotiated treaties, felt a difMculty of con- science in keeping them, and at last handed over their value to a hospital, as ho related to Mr. Adams, then Minister at St. Petersburg. The latter was impressed by the Russian example and through his is 8 career a8 Minister abroad, Secretary of State, President and Repre- sentative always refused gifts, unless a book or some small article in its nature A TOKEN AND NOT A REWARD OR BRIBR. The constitution testifies against the taking of gifts by officers of the United States when it pro- vides that no persons holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present or emolument from any king, prince or foreign State. The acceptance of a present or emolument from our own was left without constitutional inhibition, to be constrained by the public conscience and the Just aversion to any semblance of bargain and sale or bribery in the public service. The case of our President is exceptional. Notoriously he has taken gins while tu the public service, some at least after ie had been clected President, until the Galena tanner of a few hundred dollars a year, to borrow the words of my colleague, Mr. Wiison, one of his supporters, “is now rich in houses, lands and stock above his salary,” being probably the richest President since George Washington. ey he has appointed to his Cabinet several, among these Greeks bearing gifts, without seeming to see the indecorum, if not the indecency of the transaction, At least two, if not three, of these Greeks, haying no known position in the republican party or influence in .the country, have been selected as his counsellors in national affairs and heads of great departments of govern- ment. Again dol repeat the words of our Scrip- tures:—“A gift doth blind the eyes of the wise.” Again the words of Washington:—“If I accepted this should I not henceforward be considered a de- pendent?’ Nor does the case of the first Secretary of State diifer in character from the other three. ‘The President, feeling under PERSONAL OBLIGATION TO MR. WASHBURNE for important support, gave him a complimentary nomination with the understanding that, after con- firmation, he should forthwith resign, I cannot forget the Indignant comment of the late Mr. Fes- senden as we passed out of the Senate Chamber immediately after the confirmation. “Who,” said he, “ever heard before of a man nominated Secre- tary of State merely as a compiiment.” But this is only another case of the public service subordinated to personal considerations. Not only in the Cabinet but in other offices there is reason to believe that the President hay been under the Iniluence of pa- trons. Why Was he so acer tahoe é BLIND TO THOMAS MURPHY ? The Cnstovi Tose gf New York, with all its capacity as a political engine, was handed over to this agent, whose want of recognition in the re- ublican party was outbalanced by Presidential ee an / ee Ca have peer ean when the gemand moval was irresis- tible the resident WetePhell hid Pestgnation with an effusion of sentiment natural toward a patron, but without justification in the character of the retiring oiicer. Shakspeare, who saw intuitively the springs of human conduct, touches more than once on the operation of the gift. “I'll do thee service for rg Abode Bhi Bia giopcester to War Hk ‘Then again how truly 8) Lora, w] id Ol imon, “Ne to him but breeds he are urn exceeding all use of quittan Hi a Buch were the returns made by the President. Thus much for gift taking reciprocated by office. H incident is original, and without precedent in 0 history. THE PRESIDENCY AS A PRRQUISITE. Ihave now completed the survey of the two typ- ical instanees, nepotism and gift-taking ofMially compensated, in whieh we are compelied to see the President. In these things he shows himself, Here is no portrait drawn by eritic or enemy. It is the original who stands forth, saying:—‘Behold the generosity I practice to my relations at the expense Of the public service; also the giits I take and then my way of rewarding the the patrons, always at the expense of the public service.” In this open exhi- bition we see how the Presidency, instead of a trust has become a perquisite. Bad as are these two cap- ital instances, and important as is their condemna- tion, so that they eid not become a precedent, I dwell on them now asillustrating the administration A President that can do such things and not recog- nize at once the error he has committed, shows that supereminence of egotism under which the constitution, international law and municipal law, to say nothing of republican government in its primary inciples, are ail subordinated to the Presidential will; and this is personal government. Add an insensidility to the honest convictions of others, and you have a characteristic incident of this pretension. hi "tre called. ‘leading cases.” A are led ‘1 5 tev or these stow ‘the Presidentiai wilrin constant operation, with little re; wd to precedent or gon, 80 as to be a caprice if it were not a prete sion. Imitating the 3 in nepotism, the Presi- dent has imitated them in ostentatious assumption of infi : ve envered tipon, thelt off its have entered upon tieir ofice witha bartain modesty and distrust. Washington, this inaugural address, deciared his “anxieties,” the his sense of “the maguitude and dimeulty the trust," awakening a distrustful sorutiny into his qualiications. Jeifer- son, in hts famous. inaugural, so replete with political wisdom, alter deciaring his “sincere cou- Sciousnoss that the task is above his talents,” says: *{ approach it with those anxious and awful pre- sentiments which the greatness oi the charge and the weakness of my Dower: justly inspire 1 humble myself before the magnitud» o! the un ing.” Our soldier, absoli untried in cival Life, entirely a new man, entering upoa tie duties, before which W: ton and Jo shrung, said in his “The responsibilities of the ition [ fe ecept them without reat predecessors, with ample preparation for the responsibitities, had shrunk back with fear. He had none, Hither he did not sce the reaponsi- bilities, or the Omaar had begun to stir in bis bosom. In either case he was disqualified, SELECTION OF His CABINET. Next after his inaugural address his firat oNcin act was the selection of his Cabinet, and here tac general disappointment was equalled by the gen- eral wonder, as the President was little known, ¢ cept from the victories which had commenasd him, It was not then seen how completely charactor- istic was this Initial act. Looking back upon it wo recognise the pretension | by which all tradition, usage and propriety were discarded; by which the just expectations of the party that had elected him were set at naugh and the safeguards of constitutional government were subordinated to the personal pretensions of one man. In this Cabinet were persons havin, small relations with tie republican party ‘and little position in the country; some abso- lutely without claims fom public service, and some absolutely disqualified by the glita they had made to the President. Such was the political phenomenon presented for the first thne in American history, while reported say- inzs of the President showed the simplicity with which he acted to a committee, whon ho ribed his Capinet ag his family, with which no stvanger could be allowed to interfere; and to a member of Congress he announosd that he selected his Cabinet to suit himself and novo else — being good rules unquestionab! for tho organization of a househol and the choice of domostics, to which tho Cabinet seem to have been likened. This personal government flowered in the Navy Dopartinent, Where a gift-bearing Greck was suddenly changed toa Pecreaty: No less a personage than the grand old Admiral, the brave yet modest Farragut, waa reported as asking on the 6th of March—the very day when the Cabinet was announced, in unaltected ignorance, “DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING oF born” But yot this unconspicuous citizen, bearer of gifts to the President, was constituted the usval sups- rior of that historic character. If others were less obseure, the Cabinet, as a unit, was none the lesa notable as the creature of the Presidential will, where chance vied with favoritism as arbiter. All this is so strange, when we consider the trua idea of a Cabinet! Though not naied in the constitution, by virtue of unbroken usage among and in sarmony with con- stitutional governments everywhere, the Cabinet has become a constitutional body hardiy less than ifexpressly established by the constitution itself. Its members, besides being the hoads of great doe- partments, are the counsellors of the President, with the ea advise him of all matters within the spere of his office, being nothing less than the great catalogue in the preamp! stitution beginning with du to Union and ending with uty to se- cure the es of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Besides conspicuous fitness for the exalted responsibilities. as head of a depart- ment and as counsellor, a member should have such acknowledged position in the country that his resonce inspires confidence and gives strength to ‘he administration. How little these things were regarded by | the President peo Ok 2 Bat jeeay etignably. ths Présidcht © hi a discretion jo APpoiatment of his Cabinet, but it is constitutional discretion regulated by regard for tho interests of the country and not by mere personal will—by statcamanship and not by favoritism. A Cabinet is a national institution and nof a Presidential perquisites, unless our President is allowed to copy the example of Imperial France. In all constitutional governmonts the Cabinet is sclected on ee) reasons and with a single eye to the public service. It is not in any respect the fami of the sovercign nor is it “to cee himself and nobody else." English monarchs have often accepted statesmen personally disagreeable, when they had become re- presentatives of the prevailing party, as when eorge the Third, the most obstinate of rulers, Stee ery Fox, and George the Fourth, as preju- diced as his father was obstinate, accepted Can- ning, each bringing to the service commanding abilities. By such instances in a constitu- tional government is the cabinet fixed as & constitutional and not a personal body. It ts only by some extraordinary hallucination that the President ofa republic dedicated to constitu- tional liberty can imagine himself invested with a transforming pase ive above that of any Eng- lish sovereign, by which his counsellors are changed from public officers to personal attendants, anda great constitutional body, in which all citizens have a common interest, is made a perquisite of the President. APPROPRIATION OF THE OFFICES, Marked among the spectacles which followed and kindred in character with the appropriation of the Cabinet as Individual property, was the padre’ tion of the offices of the country, to which I refer in this place, even at tition. Obscure and undeserving retainer: marriage connections, personal __ relatives, army associates, friends of unknown fame, and notable one as personal friends or friends of his relations evidently absorbed the Pres- idential mind during those months of obdurate reticence, when @ generous people supposed the Cabinet to be the all-absorbing tnonght. Judging from the fact it would scem as if the chief and most spontaneous thought was how to exploit the appointing power to his own _ per- sonal behoof. At this period the New York Custom House presented itself to the imagination and a letter was written consigning a military dependent to the generosity of the Collector. You know the rest. Dr. Johnson, acting as executor in selling the distillery of Mr. Thrale, said, “We are not selling a parcel of tubs and oats, we are sellin; the ten tialit; of growing rich, beyon of the oon- 0 the expense of repe- the dreams of avarice.” If the President did not use the founding phrase ot the great English moralist, it {3 evident that his military dependent felt in that letter all the potentiality advertised in the earlier case, and he acted accordingly. It is not necessary to say that in these things there was a departure from the requirements of law, whether in the appoint- ment of his Cabinet or of personal favorites even in return for personal benefactions, although it was jainly unrepublican, offensive and indefensible. jut this same usurping spirit, born of an untutored egotism, brooking no restraint, showed itself in another class of transactions, to which I have already referred, where law and constitution were little regarded. ASSAULT ON TIE SAFRGUARD OF THE TREASURY. First in time and very indigenous in character was the Presidential attempt against one of the sacred safeguards of the Treasury—the original workmanship of Alexander Hamilton—bveing noth- ing less than_the act to establish the Treasury De- partment. Here was an important provision, that no person appotS to any office instituted by the act shall, directly or indirectly, be con- cerned or interested in carrying on the business of trade or commerce, and any person so offending was declared guilty of a high misdemeanor, and was to forfeit to the United States $3,000, with re- moval from oi!ice, and forever thereafter to be in- capable of holding any office under the United States. From the Leg gets this statue had never been questioned until it had acquired the character of fundamental law. And yet the President, by @ special message, dated March 6, 1869, being the sec- ond day of his first service as a’ civillan, asked Con- gress to set it aside, so as to enable MR. STEWART, OF NEW YORK, @lready nominated and confirmed as Secretary of ihe greys to enter upon the duties of this Ofticé, g@éntieihan was unquestionably the largest 9 lo DAg franggct it i our cet RA ER ead ewe ig auch iikat tude as to kn 4 the Custom House. Ifthe statu was anything but one of those cobwebs which catch the weak but yield to the rich, this was the occa- sion for it; and the President should have yielded tono temptation against it. The indecorum of his efforts stands out more patnrey eminent when it is considered that the merchant for whom he wished to set aside @ time-honored safeguard was one of those from whom he had received gifts. Such wad the Scoommodats dig eon the Senate that a oill exemptin; ‘he ke at th efactor from the seatiol of tl ts be estey iene romptly, i trodyoed and even read twice, until, as {' feemed Anat ‘6 pass, I felt it my duty to object to its coi? sideration, saying, Lmgiees F to the Gode:—T think it ought to be most profoundly considered be- fore it is acted on by the Senate.” This objection atised its postponement. ‘The country was startled. Sy telegraph the general anxiety was communi- cated to Washington, Atthe next meeting of the Senate, three days later, the President sent a mes- sage requesting permission to withdraw the nomi- nation. Such was the impression produced by ener disregard of the law to promote his personal desire, THE MILITARY RING. ‘The military spirit which failed In the effort to set agide a fundamental law asif it were a transient order, was more successful at the Executive Man- sion, Which at once assumed the charac- ter of military headquarters, To the dis- honor of the civil service and in total dis- regard of precedent, the President surrounded himself with officers of the army, and substituted military forms tor those of civil life, detailing for this service members of his late staif, This Presi- dential pretension, which ia continued to the pres- ent time, is the more unnatural when it is con- sidered that there are at least three different stat- utes in which Congress has shown its purpose to limit the employment of MILITARY OFFIONNS IN THE CIVIL SERVICE, As long ago as July 5, 1898, tt was explicitly pr& vided that no army officers should be separated from their regiments and corps for employment on civil works of internal improvement, or be allowed to engage in the service of incorporated companies; nor any line officer to be acting paymaster or dis- bursing agent for the Indian Department, if such extra employment required that he separated from his regiment as company, or other- wise interfere with the performance of military duties proper. Obviously the will of Vongress ia here declared that ofllcers should not be allowed to lewve their posts for any service which might tnter~ CONTINUED ON TENTH PAGE. o