The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1840-11-05

PoWer III tne executive. But il
remains to be proved, whether it would
not even have been better had thew oiven
E less power to the executive than has been
glven' rather than to have hazarded
the augmentation of executive influence
SO dangerous to liberty and so iniur;ous
to the public at large. cloud and con.
tInued cheering, and cries of ".hat's good
; States Rights doctrne.'')
Because, my friends, executive power
:, is that power which confers favors on SO
many, it bestows all the patronage Of the
government on whom it pleases. And il
we look to the patronage of the execu.
tive, we shall see how alarmingly it has
increased of late years. We find the
expenditure of the office-holders i'm.
mensely increased; we find the same tc
be true of the diplomatic department
and of all the departments. 1t is so in
the post Office department-and in the
commercial department, you will find il
to be true to frightful extent. Take
the largest city in the Union as an ex-
ample. And in the public service of the
customs at Newly rk, you will find that
executive patronage has increased three.
fold within very short period. My
i friends, there is constant increase in
the power of the present government in
6estoacing Office. Then, on the other
hand, there is the vast power it possesses
in removals from office. And that this
power has been exercised most remorse-
lessly sometimes, you are but too well a.
ware. Loud cheering, and cries of
! ''True.")
! And, in my opinion, unless called for
! by due regard for the public interests,
this power of removal from office should
never be exercised (Cheers.) And Vir-
ginia proved and generous Virginia,
more than any other State in the
Union, has disavowed and condemned
this doctrine of removals from office, for
opinions sake. (Cheers.) And | wish
to do honor to Old Virg uia for this.
Cheers. Because she has ever less
practised this power than the other States,
where the spoils doctrines exist. Tire.
mendous cheering.)
But there are other parts of this pow
, er which are exercised with a remorse-
less hand. And what l now say, | de-
sire to say for myself on this head. 1t
may be thought presumptuous in me to
say what do, Notwithstanding the great
authority of one of your most ilustrious
men--a man who knew more of the
Constitution than any other man that
ever breathed--who saw it in its cradle
who held it in his arms and nursed it
in its infancy-who presented the child
OF his creation to the people, and had the
satisfaction to see them adopt it as their
own cheers land who lived long e..
nough to see and to enjoy the honors
arising from it; and who went down to
his grave in the fullness of time, amid
thousand blessings, which he saw spring
from it, and which, morning and evening,
he had prayed to his God might come
from it. Tremendous cheering
| And yet this great and good man sub
scrbed to the doctrine which has since
been carried out so shamelessly by men
who had none Of his purity or patriotism.
differ in opinion from him as he ex-
pressed himself in 1890, which he did to
this effect: that the power of removals
from Office does exist as an independent
power of the executive. l wish that he
had taken another view of the subject. i
will not say that he was wrong. | will not
be so presumptuous as that, for respect
his memory too highly. Cheers. But
I wish that he had taken another view of
that particular subject.
And wish to show you that this is
not the first time that | have thus ex-
pressed my opinion on this subject; in
1884 I fully and freely expressed my
opinions on it, and they have been con-
frmed by recent experience. What does
this power do, or rather, what does it not
do! 1t plays upon the hopes of men. 1T
plays upon the fears of men. 1t plays
upon the daily bread of men. Ii plays
upon the hourly living Of men. And all
this does give to that power most unna-
tural and tyrannical influence.
Again, this power never ceases to exert
its baneful influence. 1t acts constantly,
and it acts with a tremendous unity of
purpose. They that are IN, have but one
united object, that is, to keep all others
out.
And those partizans that are not in the
offices or employ Or pay Of the govern.
ment, have but one strong concentrated
desire, and that is, to get IN. On the
contrary, the energies of the opposition
are generally spread all over the country,
split up into small patriotic bands, some
seeking one thing, and some another \
having no union of action between them.
And thus the executive, so constituted,
and so concentrated, keeps out and keeps
down, and successfully opposes, rules,
and rides over all those who would be so
much more formidable, tina. they would
be irresistible, were they but united, with
one concentrated purpose of action
Cheers.
What do we see! What have we not
seen! We have seen an administration
continually in a minority--frst in one
branch of the national legislature
and then in another branch of the,
legislature, and yet that has been suc-i