Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1860-10-13
CAPTAIN MEIGS AND THE ADMINS.
TRATION.


We put Captain Meigs first. because he APP
pears to be n very superior man to either the
president or the Secretary of War. The diff.
Guilty between them arises as follows
Congress found from experience, that the &C.
casion of constructing the extensive public
works that are now going on in the District of
Columbia, was being used for political purpos-
es, and for layishing public money among ia
vortes. Both the president and the secretary
of war seemed to think that this was a proper
use of the public funds; and that it was decent
and suitable to the dignity of their position to
make use Of great national work for low
party purpose. These men do not appear to
entertain any higher idea of craftsmanship than
this. Congress- therefore, felt compelled to
provide that the sum which they appropriated
for certain Of these works should be disburscd
not under the direction of the President or Sec
rotary Of War, but under that of Captain Meigs
upon whose honesty, intelligence and broad ma
tional views they could rely The president
protested against the bill butneveriheless signed
It.
This act Of Congress, designating an officer of
the army to execute certain measure, was
nothing short of an act of command for the
detail of army officers to perform certain du-
ties is purely military act, and as such belongs
of right to the Commander in Chief of the ar
my But the constitution has given the COM
mand ofthe army TO the President; and hence.
the act in question, was unconstitutional, and
the President consented to an unconstitutional
measure in giving it his signature He surren-
dered the power with which the constitution
had invested him, and thus proved recreant to
his trust. He ought, rs President of the Uni
ted States, to have refused to have signed the
bill but he preferred the lower position fma.
king it party question. For IL he had refused
to sign the bill, the onus Of stopping the appro-
priation ier a great national work might ap-
pear to lie with him, and rather than give Con-
gress this apparent advantage, he signed away
his own Legitimate power, which had been be-
slowed upon him By the nation Tor the uses Of
the nation, and not for small party ends. In
short, the president PLAYED the part Of a pcl-
tician instead of the statesman, u part which
was congenial to his character and which has
marked him as public man throughout his
whole life.
Nor would the matter have been different
had Captain Meigs been civilian instead of an
army officer, for the execution of Law pertains
necessarily to the executive and includes his
power of selecting agents. The appointment
of officers and agents of all kinds for executing
tie laws of the country, belongs to the Presi-
dent and the Senate, and not to Congress.
The difficulty which is now pending, arises
from an attempt on the part of the President
to recover the power which he SO improperly
signed away. He attempts to do as command
er of the army what he failed TO do as President
of the United States He now orders Captain
Meigs to disburse money, after having rem
dered it'impossible, by signing the bill. for the
Captain to do 500 for by the bill the Captain is
accountable to the Treasury and not to the
Presiden, for his disbursements. The Presi-
dent by his vsscilating. unmanly course, impells
the Captain 20 either disobey an order or in
fringe low; and this is pretty good illustra.
ton of the difficulties into which the agents of
such a weak and perverted government as the
slave-power furnishes us with, are constantly
driven. No honest man can serve it with sat
isfaction, or with any safety to his honor. Cap
tain Megs' case is very simple one in COM
parison with many that are occurring almost
every day. BY returning the money to the
treasury and complying with the Presidents
order to go to Florida, he can escape the con-
sequences of struggle with power without
disparagement to his own good name as mer-
itorious officer. Other agents cannot escape so
easily; they must surrender either their integ-
rity and sense of right, or their position.
We have before alluded to the danger to Off
GERS and to the militury service in permitting
the Secretary of War (of late years low poll
tician) to NEEDLE with the command of the ar
my. The case of Captain Meigs furnishes an
apt Illustration of the power which is possess
ed by an incapable Secretary of War, either of
crushing the most meritorious officer in the
service, or compelling him to leave it. The
Constitution never designed that the mere mil-
itary command of the army should be exercised
even by the President, and least of all by a
Secretary Of War. 1t would be about as i'm
proper for Congress to designate the Secretary
of War as a disbursing officer as it would be to
designate Captain Meigs and yet Congress
has, in one or more eases, invested the Secre-
tary of War with especial power-with func-
ton belonging alone consttutionally, to the
President.
This kind of looseness, leading inevitably to
ruinous consequences, has been entaled upon
us by long reign of dem ocratic power welded
for the purposes and designs of slavery. The
use which the administration has sought to
make of the national works in the district of
Columbia for party ends, characteristics the uses
to which the Supreme Court, the Army the
Navy, the Post Office, the Customs, and every
other national establishment has been and is
constantly being put. Every thing national is
wrested from its original purpose and perverted
IN the uses of slave institutions