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Aprit, 21, I860.] The Leader and Sat/ur'...
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\ : Sill C11A.ELKS WOOD'S lVESl'OTlriM. ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The President's Motest. T He Most Seriou...
fore exceedingly desirable for the llepublicans to rake out , if they possibly can ,, any-such scandals , and thereby throw a discredit upon the Democrats , which may make up for their own loss through Joi-ix Brown ' s unhappy venture , as -well-as blacken several of " their " most active opponents . Knowing very well that such was the intention of the Republicans , who are this year in a majority in tlie House of Representatives , the . Democrats fought to the very last against , n Republican Speaker , because the rules of the House give that officer a power in the appointment of committees , and in certain other matters , which would materially aid any awkwardly virtuous Republican intentions . The Republicans , however , fit last carried their Speaker , and have lost no time in unearthing these transactions . They have already succeeded in showing up some most discreditable negotiations about the place of printer of the House , to which , although the office was not in his . appointment , "Mr . Buchanan' is proved , if _ the witnesses speak truth , to have heeu a party , one of the conditions of the arrangement being the . payment by the nominee of an animal subsidy to Mr . Buchanan ' s Washington organ . This ' newspaper , which is called The Constitution , and which is under the direct supervision of Mr . I 3 i : eirA > AN , is , we may observe , . remarkable for the foulness of its' language . At this discovery Mr . Buchanan has taken alarm , and , in order to stay if possible the investigation , lie lias indited the singularly weak , flatulent , and irrelevant protest which some of our readers have perhaps had the patience to read through .. . Mr . BiciiANAN- lias fastened . upon that portion of the resolutioirappointuig the . Committee of Investigation which ., specially naniiiig him , instructs the Committee 1 o inquire whether he or any officer of tlie Government has attempted to ¦ influence by improper means the passage ., of any law , or to prevent the execution of one already in - . the ' . statute book . He declares , that , as a corordinate -branch of . the Legislature , he is not responsible ; to the House of Representatives , biit to the . ' people , for whose sake indeed he . protests against this usurpation-of power ; and that if that House has any charge to bring against him , it ought to impeach . him before the Senate , as provided by the Constitution . We confess we cannot discover the validity of either of these contentions , for raising which he lias been likened bv some vehement admirers in this country to such a constitutional authority as " SmiEitS . ¦ ' The legislative and executive authoritv of the President are clearly enough defined by the Constitution of the United States . He is , as Mr . Buchanan ' says , nominally , completely independent of the House of Representatives , except so far as that body has the right to impeach him . But he . is equally , nay , far ln ' ore independent © f the people ; once elected , they cannot ( lispossess or punish him ; and it is mere " Buncombe , " therefore , for Mr , Buchanan to say that he . is solely responsible to the people . Besides , if lie be responsible to the people , by whom can the people act , to enforce , that responsibilitv , l > etlcr Mian by the men who represent them now , and who ' , as quite , lately elected , must be presumed to reflect their present judgment ? But although the President is , nominally , quite independent of tine House of Representatives , he cannot really be so . That House , if strongly opposed to him , can exercise the most galling control upon hinr and his odieers . It can stop the supplies , trout his recommendations with contoinpt , and show up all his shortcomings . Mr . Buchanan , however , takes up the most indefensible position , whou he insists that the House ought to inipeaeh him . [ t has , at present , no evidence before it upon which to justify that step . Allegations have been made to it of general corruption ii » the public- departments . One of those allegations includes the President and his subordinates ' . It has considered them of n sufficient ttubstunoO to justify inquiry . If tlio Committee report that these allegations are true , th « n it will bo a question for the House , whether the offence is such as to demand impeachment , or whether it , although of a sufficiently discreditable character , is of too littlo importance to authorize that step . The Committee may report that the charges ims unfounded . If so , Mr . Buchanan is . no further concerned . If they are reported proved , and impeachmont is resolved upon , ho will know well enough what the charges nro , and lmvc plenty , of timo to defend ' himself . Mr . Buchanan ' s constitutional doctrine would put the Constitution ut tho niorcy of tlio ¦ president , it would preclude the llouso of Iteprosentntivea from any interference with jiim , and indeed prevent his impeachment with any chaneo of success . Tho ikmse has a full rigid to inquiro into nny jobbery ov corruption in the . public service , ' , and if its inquiries nr « to bo stayed by the protection thrown ovor tho culprits by a Prosidgnl ,, it is thoncoforth open to that functionary to do Justus ho pleases . Mr . Buchanan has , porhnpa , not been much worse than his predecessor *; but ho hwa had tho ill luck to bo found out , and to huvo n House of Representatives of different politics . If ho wore as pure us ho protends to be ,
his protest would be a great . mistake . With Ins . ' experience of American politics , he ought to be . able to bear the annoyance of such aii inquiry , ' conscious it can do him no harm ; and when he allows his own organ to style the Speaker of the House of Representatives " an ignorant imbecile , with the tricks and manners of a buffoon , " he ought not to be so thin-skinned at the expressions employed by his . own opponents . If thtM'harges are , as is probable , Avell-founded , the protest , however unwarranted , may be regarded as a clever attempt to . stille inquiry , an attempt not unlikely to be successful , as Congress-men will not care to stay long at Washington this year . They must soon lie looking after the nominating conventions , or " stumping" their respective states . The whole contest between the . President-hud his . accusers is , no doubt , an electioneering one .. It has its origin in electioneering arrangements , and the object of the charge against him is mainly to damage the cause- of his puny in the forthcoming contest . How far it will succeed , next . November alone can tell ; but at any rate , the reputation of the " veil . Table . " . President has . received a damage 'which- no eulogiiiius of his partisans at home or abroad can ivpair .
Aprit, 21, I860.] The Leader And Sat/Ur'...
Aprit , 21 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Sat / ur'day ' Analyst . 371
\ : Sill C11a.Elks Wood's Lvesl'otlrim. ...
\ : Sill C 11 A . ELKS WOOD'S lVESl'OTlriM . ALL irresponsible power is naturally and necessarily < li-. sjjotitr . it is exercised in families , vestries , companies , ' and public offices , a , 3 on thrones ; . A . dee ]) , though '' perhaps instinctive conviction of this truthmade the public ' very . earliest in . 185 3 , in substituting for India a responsible Government .- through Parliament , for the old Board" of Control and the O . mipany . All "kindly and well-meaning people . saw with disgust and horror , in the Indian . mutiny , the . consequences of a privileged Government , responsible neither to the Hindoos nor the ICugli . sh , and an immense majority of them required that the ( ioverinuent should be transfercd to the Crown , and plaeed in the bauds of Ministers directly responsible to Parliament . . They indulged the .. pleasing vision of organizing in India separate Governments , for different districts or presidencies , controlled by one general Government at Calcutta , acting only as it . was ordered to act by the people and Parliament of England . They aspired to give something like local and district control to the . separate communities of ilindostan , and make them all submissive to one head , combining them in one system of freedom with themselves . A beautiful vision , which the first important ' proceeding- enneeming civil affairs of tho new administration for India has ruthlessly dissipated . Like most political hopes , it was merel y a deceitful . vision . All experience has demonstrated that . Government fun by no ' single aet so powerfully iufluence the fate of a . community , . and inilict on it such lusting and -wide-pervading injuries , as by tampering with the currency—the subtle blood of trade , the mutual ami reciprocal measure wherever division of labour prevails —and where does it not prevail ? —of the mutual services men perform for each other . To lumper with it surreptitiously imposes on uh m false measure . It distorts judgments , vitiates eonfincls , and 'falsifies the means of niefing out reward . The evils of such a course , too often pursued , by men in authority , weir very distinctly and einphiitieally noticed by Dr . Smith ; and . subsequent to the time when he- wrote , tlie issue of a state ' paper currency under the pressure of war by our then American colonies , of nssignals by the revolutionary G . overunienL of Krunee , and ot various kind ' s- of notes by the Governments of Russia , Aust rin , mid Prussia ., confirmed and strengthened his remark * . The state paper money of Kns * iu fell , Mr . McCijj . ocii says , 1-00 per cent , as compared with silver ; ami we nil know thai much i mischief was done , by the state paper money Unit existed hens between 1800 and 18 1 ( 1 , though tin ; depreciation probably never exceeded 13 per cent . By no instrument , then , nt tin coiiiiuinid of Government can so much ' evil be effected as by a eurn ne \ of Slatepaper . Xcvcrthcle . ss , . the firnt important net . of Sir (! ii . mu , i : s Wood , the Secretary for India , is to plan , wilh Mr . Wilnon nnd the ( Governor oV the Hank of Knglnml , in seeivl . emieluve ,, without , as it nppenrs , eon . snll in ^ even the Jndiiln ( . ' unneil , the introduction of a Stuto paper eiirreney into India , The phin is ready cut and dry : the notes nre ]) repared , nnd !)>• _ I ho time the Parliament is about to ndjoimi , without one eoimnuuieiilion nuub to it , without ils advice or sanelion beinu ; i » Hki : d , I but iiiohI . important step is to be Inkeii . To us I be proceeding appear * more like a eonspiniey of ib ^ putH , or of the unucnelorrf of u I 5 rit , ish Ban . H , than the avowed and open conduct of the roxpoMHiblti , ministers of n freo people . II' the measure bo u good oile let , it , hu nnnounood and disetiftsed in I ' nrlinnient , ; but in tlm niinic ot righteousness , lot us not , allow a HysUnn of nsHlgiinU to be inipfised on India by Sir Ciiaki . ks VVood nnd Mr , Wji . son . Tho publio m ivy euro nothing about , biicIi u proceed ing , but fi'O . UH tho thing's tiiey len ^ t cure tiliotit * when < lnjie eumes , in tliu
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 21, 1860, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21041860/page/7/
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