Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1840-08-22

nsatible thirst for power. In 1888 the President
seized the Treasury Of United States and from
that day to this it has continued substantially I'M
der his control The seizure was effected by the
removal Of one Secretary Of the Treasury, under
stood to be opposed to the measure, and BY the
dismissal of another, who refused to violate the
law of the land upon the orders Of the Presi-
dent.
1t is, indeed said that not dollarin the Trea-
sury can be touched without previous appro-
praon by, law, nor drawn out Of the Treasury
without the concurrence and signatures Of the
Secretary, the Treasurer, the Register and the
Comptroller, But are not all these pretended
securities idle and unavailing forms! We have
seen that, by The operation Of the irresponsible
power of dismission, all those officers are redu-
ccd to mere aut rmata absolutely subjected TO the
will Of the President. What resistance would
any Of them make, with the penalty Of dismiss
ion suspended over their heads, to any orders Of
the President to pour out the treasury Of the U.
States, whether an act Of appreciation existed or
no2 Do not mock US with the vain assurance of
the honor and probity Of President, nor remind
us Of the confidence which we ought to reposo in
his imagined virtues. The Prevailing principles
ofour system Of government-or all free govern.
ment-is not merely the possibility, but the
absolute certainty ofinfdelity and treachery, with
even the highest lunctionary OF the State; and
hence all the restrictions, securities, and guar,
antics which the wisdom OF our ancestors or the sad
experience Of history had inculcaed, have been
devised and thrown around the Chief Mags.
! trate.
Here, friends and fellow citizens, let US pause
and contemplate this stupendous structure OF Exc
cutive machinery and despotism which has been
reared in our young Republic. The Executive
branch of the government is unit, throughout
all its arteries and veins there is to be but one
heart, one head one will. The number of the
subordinate Executive officers and dependents in
the United States has been estimated, in an Off
cial report, founded on public documents made
by Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. CAL
HoUN,) at one hundred thousand. Whatever it
may be, all of them, wherever they are situated
are bound implicitly to obey the orders Of the
President. And absolute obedience to his will
is secured and enforced by the power Of dismis.
) sing them, at his pleasure, from their respective
f places To make this terrible power OF disnission
more certain and effcacous, its exercise is GOV.
cred up in mysterious secrecy, without exposure,
without the smallest responsibility The Con.
sttGtion and laws Of the United States are 10 be
executed in the sense in which the President un-
derstands them, although that sense may be at
variance with the understanding Of every other
man in the United States. 1t follows, as q
necessary consequence from the principle dedu-
ced by the President from the constitutional in
junction as to the execution Of the laws, that il
an act OF Congress be passed, in his opinion con-
tra!y Of the Constitution or if decision be pro-
nounced by the courts in his opinion, contrary
TO the Constitution or the laws that act or decision
the President is not obliged to enforce, q he could
not cause it TO be enforced, without violation,
as is pretended, Of his official oath. Candor re-
quires the admission that the principle has not yet
| been pushed in practice to these cases. but il
maniiesty compartments them; and who doubts
that, il the spirit Of usurpalion is not arrested and
rebuked, they will be finally reached! the
march Of power is ever onward As times and
seasons admonish, it openly and boldly, in broad
day, makes its progress; or, if alarm be excited
, by the enormity OF its pretensions, it silently and
5 secretly, in the dark Of the night, steals its de
vious way. 1t now storms and mounts the
t ramparls of the fortress of liberty; it now sap:
2 and undermines its foundations. Finally the
command Of the army and navy being already in
the President, and having acquired perfect con
troll over the Treasury Of the United States, he
t has consummated that (rightful union of purse anc
f sword, so long, so much, so earnestly deprecated
by all true lovers of civil liberty. And our pre-
z sent Chief Magistrate stands solemnly and volun
tarily pledged, in the face of the whole world, tC
follow in the footsteps and carry out the measures
and the principles Of his illusGlOus predecessor
r The sum of the whole is, that there is but one
power, one contro, one will in the State. Ali i.
, concentrated in the President. He directs, orders
v commands the whole machinery Of the State -
Through the official agencies scattered Throughout
the land, and absolutely subjected to his will, HI
executes according to his pleasure or caprice, tn,
whole power Of the Commonwealth, which has beer
: absorbed and engrOSsed by him. And one sole pre-
. dominates in, and animaes the whole OF, this vas
g community. If this be not practical desPotism
am incapable Of concGiving defining it. Names
are nothing. The existence or nOn-eXStence o
arbitrary goYernm mt does not depend upon the it'll,
or denomination bestowed on the chief but upOI
the Quantun Of power which he possesses IN,
} wieIds AuOcrat, sultan, emperor, DICTATOR king
= duge, president, are all mere names, in which tn
power respectively possessed by them is found, bu
[ is to be looked for in the CONSTITUTIONS or in TIN
established usages and practices Of the severa
/ States which they govern and control If the An
torrat of Russia, to he called the President
all the Russas, the actual power remaining IN
;, changed his authority, under his new denomination
> would continue undinnshel; and if the PresiIen
J. Of the United States were to receive the title OF th
: Aulucrat Of the United States, the amount Of hi
e authority would mol be increased without an aega
q tion of the Constitution.
General Jackson was bold and fearless rea PEI
carrying wide row, but he did not gather tn
, whole harvest, he left some glelnings to his faith
., tul successor, and he seems resolved to sWCe
q clean the field of power. The duy Of inculcatiu
on the official corps the active eN.rion of their per
t, sona and official Influence was Ieft By him TO
Y enforced by Mr. Van Barren in all popular election,
n 1t was not sufficient that the official corps wa
t,;t la, ,,,,t,, IL, Il