The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-07-11
THE REPU BLIC..
WASHIN GTON:
WEDNESDAY MORNING. JULY IL. ls4s
mo ENEMIES TO PUNISH"


columns of the Metropolitan fugleman a
congenial ruthlessness of denunciation,
have extracted from the centre Of SEN
tence, in the first Allison letter, the words
at the head of this article; and, after add
ing emo friends to reward" to strengthen
the construction they resolved to give
them, have made the forgery the ground
work of the shameless invectives which
are daily Illuminated against General TAY-
LoR. They construe the remark above
quoted, and the Interpolation they have
made upon it, into pledge that every
Locofoco office-holder would be retained
in place, and that the Wing party, pro-
scribed as it had been for twenty years,
should remain prescribed forever. Fol-
lowing out the design of this artful solu-
ton, they now pretend to regard the dis
missal of an officer as an impeachment Of
his honesty or violation of pledge. The
hypocrisy of this scheme TO keep the Ad-
ministration surrounded and embarrassed
by the agents of hostile party was made
transparent by the eagerness with which
the Opposition adopted and acted upon it.
The resignation of the old Cabinet was
wellnigh denounced as an act of proscnp-
ton. Mr.. Buchanan and his colleagues
barely escaped canonization; but they
alone were permitted to depart without a
badge of martyrdom. The first removals
made by the new Cabinet-those neces-
sary to admit to posts Of confidential rela-
ton individuals personally known to the
Secretaries-were decried as breaches of
every article in the decalogue, and from
that day to this the strain of invective has
flowed without ebb. The Secretaries of
the new Administration were required to
retain about their persons the confidential
advisers of their predecessors, and to carry
on the affairs of government with assist
ants of whom they had no knowledge of
any one man. Such were the demands
of the Opposition; and monstrous as they
will be acknowledged to be by all rational
minds, the President is traduced and de-
rided in every form of brutal and offensive
attack for not compelling his Cabinet to
submit to them.
1t is needless to tell any one familiar
with the tactics of the Union, that there is
no sincerity in its construction of General
TAYLoR's language, nor that the tears with
which it bedews the fate of its partizans
betray no real grief. To the Union, at
least, to consider the removal of an office
holder the punishment of an enemy, is a
novel mode of reasoning. That journal
has made distinct and different construc-
ton of the exercise of the appointing
power In 1915, il upholded its doctrine
in the following formulary:
"Al the Offices held at the will of the Executive
are supposed by the Constitution to be reached by
the renopaiing principle in the PREDICTION Of epey Chief
Magistrate IL he be chosen by the people to change
| the principles and measures Of his predecessor, in
| the conduct Of the Government, TO reform abuses,
and put il on new tack, HE HAS THE POWER
| MAINLY THROUGH CHANGING ITS AGENTS. The sail
ing Of the ship is not less In the hands Of those who
| trim the sails than in his who holds the helm.
Hence, II is supposed the people, IN choosing a
new President, may choose q new direction for the
public affairs, he has conferred upon him The unlimited
poicer Of changing The men through Uhom they are
managed On his induction into Office, every head
Of department resigns, as a matter Of course, his
! commission; and this act Of the first functonary oil
every class Of public service is, in effect, TO say
that every place under them is vacant II the Presi-
| dent chooses to consider IT, No sUBoRDNATE or
/ rIcER HOLDS MS PLACE But A PERMISSION EeUIyl-
LENT TO A REAPPoNTnEST; and the true theory OF
| our Government in regard TO the subsidiary Exec
/ utye functionaries is, that NONE SHOULD BIZ PER
/ afrIED TO REnAIs, OR, IN OTHER words, BIZ REAP
| POINTED, whom the President would not under the
| circumstances attending each case. APPOINT TO OF
rIcs He is just as responsible for retaining as for
appointing"
The first principle above laid down is,
that all Offices within reach of the Execu-
tive are vacated by every reelection, or,
as the Union more elegantly expresses it,
"are reached by the renovating principle
in the reelection of every Chief Magis.
trate."
The next is, that President elected by
the people to change the principles and
measures Of his predecessors must reform
abuses "mainly through changing the
T agents Of government"
The ''renovating principle" is so strong
{ ly insisted upon, that the matter-of-cours'
resignation Of the heads of departments i
equivalent TO saying that every place un
der them is vacant.
According TO the articles Of belief herr
4 contended for, the resignation of Mr.
/; Folks Cabinet vacated all the Office
3 of the Government within the gift of tn,
- ~. - l.