Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1865-03-01


The President is again mistaken. When,
in his letter to Mr.. Seldom, declining to
: admit the propriety Of that gentleman's
determination to resign, he says that he
cannot acknowledge =" the existence OF
power or right in the Legislative Depart
ment of the government, or any part or
branch of it, to control the continuance In
) Office of those principal officers in each OF
the Executive Departments, the choice
of whom the Constitution has vested in
the Chief Magistrate, he entirely misstates
the question, and argues from point
which has no relevancy to the subject.
No one has been stupid enough to assert
, that Congress, or any portion Of Congress,
has any power to dismiss Cabinet officer.
No one has been absurd enough to deny
that the right to choose those officers is,
. by the Constitution, vested in the Chief
Magistrate-6ya and suith the ADVICE and
consent Of the Senate an important modi-
fcation which, doubtless, in the hurry of
writing, escaped the Presidents memory.
The President, therefore, i'll his letter to
Mr.. Seldom, took great deal Of pains to
prove proposition which no one disputed,
and to disprove point which no one as
serted. The letter of Mr.. Bocock, on be-
half Of the delegation from Virginia, indi-
Gates che exact nature of the issue which
the President has raised but which they
had no thought Of making. They intend
ed no Interference; much less by dicta-
ton. Nothing was further from their
thoughts than an attack on the dearly
cherished and desperately defended Exc
cutive prerogative of appointment. They
found tho country in condition of ex-
IRENE dependency and gloom. They OBJ
served symptoms which they considered
alarming, and which indeed had excited
the apprehensions of all thoughtful men.
They attributed the gloom and despon-
,dency and the concomitant alarming SYM
toms to a prevailing distrust of the. capaci-
| ty of the various Executive agents to whom
the management Of the different depart
| ments of the government was confded.
This distrust was 50 plainly pronounced
and so widely extended that it constituted
the indisputable public opinion of the
country-that very public opinion to
which the President declares himself at
all times willing to defer. To be sure he
speaks of a well-informed and enlightened
| public opinion as that to which he would
yield respect; but if he means that he is
to be sole and supreme judge of the de-
gree of information and enlightenment
necessary to form such opinion, he might
|. just as we'll have said that he would re.
gard nobody's wishes but his own, and
that the desires of the country were to be
at all times subordinate to- his views Oh
course Ire did not mean this. OF course
the delegation from Virginia could not
suppose that he would regard as offcious
and untimely the suggestions Of wise
prudence, and the counsels of the repre-
sentatives of one of the sovereign States
Of this Gonfederacy. These gentlemen
hint that more than once the advice O
the Executive has been rendered on sub
jects within the Legislative province ane
such advice has always been received will
;. due consideration and respect. They hae
right to expect at least fair reciprocity
of courtesy. 1t is not.known, we believe
that they ever refused to vote for mea
sure simply because it had the Executiv.
endorsement; or that they rejected tn
} Executive advice simply because it wa
; rendered to them in an. indirect and unot
fetal mode. Yet, when they intimate tla
, changes in the Administration might b
r expedient, and when q Cabinet officer
presrming allusion to be made to himself
3 tenders his resignation, the President al
r most refuses to accept it /; not, primarily
: because the change might not be benef
cial, but because somebody had asked tina
, it might be. This seems to be the mean
Q ing OF all that he has said on the subiec
J, although he argues ON those other an
3 totally irrelevant grounds, to which W
: have referred. If the President had re
n solved not to yield anything to the voic
o of the country simply because it is tn
/ voice of the country, and to reject goo
=. advice simply because it is given as az
y vice, he onght to have said so without eli
y cumloeution, and spared us the elaborat
: but inapplicable disquisition on the natur
IS of the British Constitution with which h
IL has favored us. The people Of this Co,
n federacy care very little about the power
Of the British Ministry or the Constitute
It, of the British Parliament; but they q
g. care very much to see onr own ,rovar,