Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1863-04-04
3(listcilann.
The Administration and the Government.

Not unffrqucntly men, of suspicious loyal
ty, can be heard to say that they are warm
friends of the Government of the United
States, but are opposed "to the Administra
tion;' drawing some exprrssblc and incom
prehrnsihlc distinction between the two,
which .justiiirs them in decrying and de-
nounciny every effort made by the Govern
mcnt to save itself from absolute annihilation
If every feeling OF love OF country was not
wholly dead in the breasts of these per-
sons, and if every impulse Of patriotism with
them was not utterly extinct, it might be
worth while to ask them how they make this
distinction, and if they are not satisfying
their ears and conscirnccs with empty words
A sheriff, armed with Il judicial writ, is of
course not the law which authorized the iss,,-
ance of that writ but he is such Il part Of it,
that if he is prevented from executing it, the
law is imperative and is virtually extin-
gushcd. so with the President of the Uni
ted States. lie is neither the law or the
Constitution OF the country. But he is the
chief and exclusive executive of both, and if
you prevent him from performing the finnc-
tions of his office, which arc not, and cannot
be performed by any one else, do you not as
absolutely destroy the laws and the Constitu-
tion, which together make the Government,
rs if you took up arms and overturned by
blows the whole fabric! No President or
Congress constitutes the Government really,
but they stand in such relation to it, that if
their acts are thwarted and rendered inoper,-
tive, the Government. to say tho least, is
placed in allegiance, which is another name
for anarchy and death. AS nation we can
not exist without Il Constitution and laws;
nor can we exist without accredited and rcs-
pected agents to carry such enacnents into
effect. 1t is idle for Bill Of Rights to de-
clare that a person shall not BE- tried twice for
the saine offence, or that he shall not b. de-
prived of rights inherently inalienable with
out duo process of law, unless there is some
chosen and designated executive, competent
to enforce such declarations. The sheriff. in
the instance named, has right to demand
peremptorily the service Of every man in his
county, and in the event that he is then una
ble to execute his writ, he is entitled to the
service and assistance of every man in the
State which it still insufficient, means are
provided by which the whole power Of the
Federal or National Government can be
brought to his assistance in Executing tho
writ Surely the President Of the country ns
Micf:Executive, has powers at least equal to
those Of the sheriff in all cases where his au-
thority is opposed. The law in both these
cases requires particular and specific officer
to perform certain executive acts. No other
officer can perform them. If his efforts to
perform them are SO resisted that he cannot
succeed, there is the practical end Of the law
itself
The duty of the President may be gener-
ally summed up in the expression, that he
must take care "that the laws are faithfully
executed" Suppose he is resisted in any
way, SO that he cannot p" faithfully execute