New-York tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1841-1842, 1841-09-27
Ii.

PRoyR, he SHALL. sIGS y; nut u net. n St6H
return Il. ,rith his obi-c,isn< 70 he House n,
,rlicL Il shall hare originated" Ii he APrKoyE.
he shall sign it; he n,ay 1t Is obvious d.apFrove,
FOR various reasons. Uue-. he approve, re j. not
bound to sign The Constitution doe- not say. II
the Scorctaric. approve, if The Cabinet approve,
bu, If he approve The President ought not GER
tainly to sign. il he disaPProye; no honest man
could advise him to do 30. Well the President
did no., ign ,hi, bill, but returned it with OBJ
iccions No member Of the President Cabinet
concurred in these objections; neither of them
was, therefore responsible for such ohjeciion.-on
the President alone rested thi, responsibility. For
the Presidents exercising in til, instance the right
to di-approvc a bin presented TO am the Heads Of
Department, did not deem ,hcm>cl'e, called upon
tore.gm political friends did not advise them
to resign. Ifthe Sccrc.a O. the Treasury had. in
the course pursued 5y the President found hi
plan. Of france and revenue so frustrated by the
President thai he could no, pursue them with adj
vantage to The Country. he might with propriefy
have resigned But he did not take this yiew Of
the subject. Mr.. Ewing retained hi> place.
Another Li.l .ya, ,hen passed tine House Of Rep.
rescuta,ives and the Senate and presented to the
President, which he did hot approve. but returned
i, with obi cclions. a. he lad returned The former
bill. On lhc return of the second bill, all the
heads Of Departments, except the Secretary Of
State, resign Mr. Ewing. III retiring, publicly
assigns his reasons.
Mr.. Ewing did not consider. he says, &" differ
cncc of opinion as 10 the charter of National
Bank sufficient reason for dis>ol.ns tho tie,
which existed between him and the Pra,d.ni. =
He alleges that he has been subjected to personal
iadigniry By the President. He SAYS Thi. bill
the scconil framed aud fashioned according to
your the President, own suggestions, in the inili
alive of which and aaothcr member of your Cab
met were made b.: you the agents and the neso'ia-
tors, was passed by large majoriiies through the
TIVE Houses Of Congress and sent 10 yo'i. and YOU
rcjcc,ed it. Important a was the part which had
taken, al your request, in the organization Of h,
bill. and deeply a, | vas committed for Your ac-
ton upon it. You never consulted me ON the sub
icc, Of the Veto Message. You did not even refer
to it in conversation, and the first notice had o
its contents was derived from r,uoor; and to ne.
at least. YOU have done uohns to wipe away tie
personal a@ignify orisi'.g ont of tie act"
Because Of thi, personal .adigni'y, ve are
fully authorized. from the contents of Mr. Ewius's
letter, TO say he sent in his resignation
Now. if the Secretary Of the Treasury Is the
Presidents officer. and not the peoples officer,
;hen, undoubtedly personal indiguiiy offered by
the President, might be considered inst ground
for e" scycring the lies between them Suppose
the President of the United States should commit
personal indgni,y upon Mr.. Ogden Hoffman, the
District Attorney for the Sonihern Dislic, Of New
York, ought Mr.. Hoffman therefore, 10 retire from
the prosecution of suits in which the people of the
United States are plaintiffs! Suppose personal
indgrity should be committed hy the President,
upon General ScO,t-oueht he, therefore, to throw
up his commission, a. COMMUNICATIVE of the
armies of the United States, Should he do So
would not the people be very likely to say the
General, "you officer, YOU should have
held on for the country; wanted YOU stay,
and therefore YOU was not justified in rcsigning."
Thi. doctrine OF rc>g ning please the President,
or because of indign,ics offered by him, when APP
Piled to any ether officer except head Of OF
the Executive department, would never be enter
ancd Tor II moment nor, in respect 10 head Of
department, wosd il be thought Of unless thc-,.
head. OF department; enormously lkcncd 10
Cabinet OF Ministers in England.
Oar Constitution and laws knew no such body OF
men as the Cabinet" We borrow this language
from England but even in Ensland. there !, no
such thing as a Cabinet known to the laws of
the realm. There is number Of persons, who
are prNy Counscllors and knewn to the laws As
such. These are all Sworn 10 keep the Kings
Coull>els, and violation OF their duty. in this
respect. Is highly penal offence. From among
these priyy Coansellors the great s.iicers Of
State are taken amounting to thirteen or fourteen
in number, and these are called the Cabinet, OF
the ministry
The hing or Queen docs lie, ordinarily (rcihaps
never) attend the meetings OF the Cabinet. But
the Sovereign sometimes assemblies all the pn,y
ccunsclers and meets them in person. Hi, com-
municotions TO this Council canuo; be revealed or
made public without the Sovereign, permission
Thus when the Queen convened (na, the Cabinet)
bu; the whole rrivy Council, for the purpose al
sisnying her intended marriage WIKI Prince A.
bert i, was Necessary for the Council To ask tie
enecn's permission to make TIE matter public
Communications between the head Of the Govern
ment and public function,rie. called into Csuu.i