The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-03-23


As the dominant party we ask il not. We join
our reyered head and chieftain, with heart and
hand, in this great reform. The practices SO
fresh in our recolections are SO abhorrent TO our
feelings, so destructive Of freedom, and so de-
moralizing, that we hope to see every public
functionary thrown overheard who shall be fair
ly convicted Of past or future offences Of this
kind.
"By making the President the sole distributor
Of all the patronage Of the Government says
General Harrison, ''the trainers of the Constitu-
ton do not appear TO have anticipated at how
short period il would become formidable in
sirument 10 control the free operations of State
Governments" We may add, of all forms of
the elective franchise.
The motion lately brought forward. by Mr.
Crittenden in the Senate, to make it impe-
rative on the President to dismiss from Office all
offenders of this class, was most suitable to be-
come a law. The objection made by his oppo-
nents, that such law is unconstitutional, is
without foundation, inasmuch as the principle
is corporate element of the Constitution, and
is an indispensable constituent Of every free Go
vernment. All free Governments assume, as a
fundamental principle, that the ofiice-holder is
the only person that requires watching, or which
free people are in danger Of Let any one
say, from what other quarter is there danger
1t is preposterous, then, to suppose that it is un
constitutional to guard against it. or TO enact pc
nalties for those abuses of trust which jeopardize
liberty-and SO small penalty as dismissal
the withdrawal of a confidence betrayed or per-
verted.
| The assumption of official station is, in the
very act, separation from the common mass,
and an elevation above it. The prerogatives Of
public functionaries and the rights Of the people
relating to them, as such, are distinct. The pub
lie officer is no more entitled to those rights
which relate to the creation and maintenance of
his functions than the people are to his official
prerogatives. As an officer, he is entirely pas
sive in regard to them, as the people are passive
in their relation to the use of his Office They
cannot use his rights, as public functionary,
neither can he use theirs which relate to him as
such.
Here, then, as we think, is the line, which
ought to be distinctly drawn and scrupulously
maintained viz. that as Office cannot create, so
neither can it perpetuate itself in free country;
that the official corps, in its essence, character,
and nature, is necessarily an object of jealous
concern. 1t will follow, therefore, that every
combination Of public officers to continue or per-
petuale their prerogatives as such, contrary to
the legitimate operation of free government,
is conspiracy against freedom, and that indi-
vidual action Of this kind in public servant, is
of the same character in its isolated condition.
This principle is indispensable to the safety of
every free State, and violation Of it, if tolera~
ted would soon lead to the destruction of free
dom.
1t was for the rescue and re-establishment Of
this principle, that the American People called
William Henry Harrison to the Presidency Of
the United States. They saw that office and
power were used to perpetuate themselves, and
conspired with his official corps to become mas
tiers Of the people in this great concern.
Public officers, as such, are neither the people,
nor part Of them, but the powers Of the peo-
pie. II was the lack of observing this distinc-
ton, on which those Senators who opposed Mr..
Crittenden's resolution, above referred to, based
their argument, and which, Mr.. Preston very
sarcastcally remarked, was honorable to them,
nasmuch as it evinced consistency They
might safely oppose the resolution, too while
passing out of power, because they had good
reason to know, that this abuse Of power was
not likely to be followed by those who were COM
ing in, who were willing by law to cut them
selves off. Moreover, the opposers of this mo-
ton seemed not to recognize the fact, that the
principle which they opposed, is already a cor
porate element of fundamental law, and that
the enactment proposed, was no more than Civ
ing it practical development adapted to the
circumstances of our history.
| Still farther: The law proposed by Mr.. Crit
tenden could not deprive public officers Of any
Of law but only went to abridge their chances of
being able to abuse their powers as administra-
tors of law.
| But these Senator'S were not only consistent
with their own practice in the past, and safe in
relying on the virtue of the Harrison admins
tration, but wary in their calculation of the
chances of the future.
THE ECONOMY OF THE EXTRA SEES
SION OF CONGRESS.
When merchant Of New York finds that he
has large stake in peril at Philadelphia, or Bal
timore, or Cincinnati, or New Orleans, or in
London, does he stop TO inquire about the expen-
ses of getting there to save it? A farmer has
sold his cattle to a drover, or his wheat to a -four
mi nj cfurer or in anv other yyav dismissed