The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-06 00:00:00

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PKICF 4d.
STAMPED sd.

TIIA.DDEUS STEVENS' FORMER OPINIONS

The opinions of Thaddeus Stevens have formed
the subject of the last paper of an interesting series
by Edward A. Pollard in the Southern Home Jour-
nal, entitled " The Living Politicians of the Day."
Referring to Mr. Stevens's early opinior44, the author
says, "In the year 1837 a Convention was called
in Pennsylvania to reform the State Constitu-
tion ; and happily there occurred in that body
a controversy similar or analogous to that
which now divides Congress, as to the power
of the President of the United States to con-
trol his Cabinet., or, in plain phrase, to regu-
late his political househo:d. Thaddeu-s Stevens sat
in that Convention ; and when an amendment was
proposed to restrict the power of the Governor in
the appointment of officers, he al tide a zealous and
flaming speech in opposition to it. The follow-
ing are some of the passages of that speech :
" Having reluctantly but inevitably come to
the mournful conclusion that all the vital
parts of this venerable and hitherto venerated
Constitution of ours are given over to immo-
lation, as a sacrifice to tle restless spirit of
change which has taken possession of this Conven-
tion, I do not address you on this occasion with the
hope of staying the hand 3f destruction which is
raised against it ; but simply to offer reasons which,
to my mind, are all-powerful fcr resisting the
depredations which are making upon this article
of the great charter of our rights. * * Why
take the appointment of the Heads of the De-
partments, Surveyor-General, Attorney-General,
Secretary of the Land Office, and Auditor-General,
from the Governor? They are essentially a part of
his Cabinet. His own comfort, and the comfort of
each of them, as well as the public interest, require
that there should be peifect harmony and unity of
views and action among them. But if you take the
appointments from the Governor, it may and pro-
bably often will happen that he will be of one party,
and entertain one set of principles, and they be of
another party, and hold entirely opposite principles;
discord and opposition must then disturb their
counsels, and injure the interests of the State.
* * * * The Governor and the Senate would
either be of the same political party or hostile par-
ties. If of the same party, the Senate would be no
check upon the Governor, as there would be perfect
concert before the nomination, and therefore this
supervising power would be useless. If they were
of hostile parties, constant and bitter collisions would
exist between them, which would greatly disturb the
faithful discharge of their other duties. * * This
work of ruin seems not to be exclusively con-
fined to one party. True, all the members
of- the one party, whatever might have been
their views when they came here, now act
in perfect concert in stabbing the Constitu-
tion. They cunningly enough suppose that if this
amendment prevails, they can always secure the
spoils of office, either through the Governor or the
Senate, as they may always fairly calculate in hav-
ing one of them in their favour. For, when the
burdens heaped upon the people by that party be-
come so heavy that they can no longer be borne,
and their Governor is hurled from power, the Senate
is not always also changed. Thus patronage
being their object, they act unitedly. While many
gentlemen of the other party, with an ostentatious
magnanimity and a childish simplicity, either from
the mistaken dictates of conscience, or to show

their perfect independence and freedom from party
trammels, join them in their headlong course.
The struggle here, therefore, is a vain one. But I
have full confidence in a steady and disinterested
people ; disinterested as to the fate of parties, hut
deeply interested in the welfare of the State, and the
protection of the lives, the liberty, and the property
of its citizens. Send forth to them this mangled, muti-
lated, and deformed constitution, and they will put
their seal of condemnation upon it ; and they will
still live and prosper under the well-tried charter
which their wise and honest fathers left them."