, 1867-05-10
Responsible Government.

The Round Table, in an able article, philos-
ophires upon the tenure of Office bill, which has
somaterially 80 changed the status Of tie Executive
ofiee. Il comments upon the English form of
government, under which the Royal Executive
has become sham, its power having become
absorbed in the Legislature. 1t proceeds:
I'VE started here with rejecting all shams,
and there is nothing Of which we have been
more proud than our substantial and powerful
Executive. We threw aside with disdain the
maxim that the king can do no wrong;' and
ayowed our intention to bold our king respon-
sible in his own person for whatever he or his
chosen servants should do; responsible net only
at fixed periods to the popular judgement, but
answerable at any time to court which we
provided for trying and condemuing him just as
any other criminal is tried and condemned
The vicarious responsibility of the kings minis
isters for the kings crimes was not a-remedy to
suit the Straightforward men who put together
our Government
"By simple law of the late Congress all this
has been changed. A responsible executive in
the American sense, no longer exists, and res,
ponsible government Of the English fashion has
been partially brought into use. Heretofore the
President has been looked upon as answerable
for all matters Of administration, and has, as a
matter of justice in view of such responsibility,
been left free to choose his own chief clerks
The Cabinet ministers were required as was the
case with other officers, to have their appoint
ments confirmed by the Senate but in practice
the Senate, in view of the direct responsibility
Of the President for all administrative matters
refused to put any restraint upon his free choice
for these high appointments. Practically, our
President has chosen bis own ministers Now,
he cannot remove one of his Cabinet, no matter
how insubordinate, no matter how incompetent
be may prove to be conducting bis department
unless the Senate consents to such removal
Mr.. Seward may take it into bis head to suub
Louis Napoleon so rudely that be cannot decline
war The Secretary Of the Navy may send the
whole fleet of monitors to the arctic regions to
hHd out if they will float in the polar ocean;
the Secretary of the Treasury may compromise
away the whole custom house revenue; the At
torney General may direct noHe prossgui against
every indicted criminal; the Secretary of the
Interior may excite all the Indian tribes into
war by robbng them of their pensions and lands;
the whole Cabinet may quarrel when they meet,
like cats and dogs; the Secretary of War may
even be provoked to tweak the nose of the
President in Cabinet session, and yet the Pres
ident, in the absence of the Senate, can apply
neither restraint nor remedy. 1t is manifest
that the direct responsibility to which the Anne
rican people have heretofore held their chief
executive officer, can no longer with justice, be
enforced. If the Army should be mismanaged
or be, in any way, unlawfully employed, the
Secretary of War, through whom orders go, has
il in his power to obsIruct and hinder the Press
idents action, and therefore is justly to be held
answerabe if he does not do so. Diplomatic
correspondence being all in the name of the
Secretary of State, the whole tone and course
of it is now under bis absolute control, and
blunders therein cannot be charged. upon the
President For anything that may be done
hereafter, since the passage of the bill regulat>
ing the tenure of office, the President cannot
fairly and justly be impeached, unless some
one or all Of the Cabinet ministers be impeachcd
with him"
The journal we have quoted further says:
"They (CongresS) have tried, by making the
Cabinet independent of the President, to intro~
duce here the so-called responsible government
Of England. They have failed to do SO because,
although the Cabinet ministers are no longer
under the control of the President, they are
equally beyond the control of Congress While
the President cannot remove them, so also Con-
gress has no power to put them out of Office,
except by the slow process of impeachment.
Practically the members of the Cabinet are now
not responsible to any one.