The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1867-03-21

NeSUOiiSiDle NUvcTAAiAS'A"
We have been taken to task for call
ing attention to signs that our govern
ment is dcgcncrating out of its own
forms and limits, and shaping Itself ih'o
conformity with other principles than
those with which it started into cxls'
tence. Responsible government says
the New York Round Table is the
used by the English for defining their
peculiar way Of administering pnbllc
affairs. They have a fashion OF keep
ing the forms of old things long after
the substance has disappeared. Ihey
have u king or queen, in whom they
claim the executive power is vested
AID they take care to do all outward
reverence to this 80 called executive
But they know, and no II knows 1T
better than the king himself, That the'r
ROYAL executive is Il sham. II is but q
few wears since Sir Robert Peel, as
prime minister, publicly dictated to the
Queen certain changes in what may he
called the higher class Of her body-ser-
wants. The first servant Of the crown
in ENGLAND is master Of everything,
master of the helpless wearer OF the
crown This first servant Of the crown
is himself subject only to Parliament,
and to it be is absolutely subject. The
English executive, as a separate power
in government, long since disappeared
by its absorption into the legislature
} We started here with rejecting al
sl,ams, and there is nothing Of which
We have been more proud than o"'
substantial and pow erfi * %,cutivc. We
l threw aside viii li5dain the maxim ina
>, fine king can do no wrong;' and
ovowcd our intention to hold II king
RESPONSIBLE in his own person for what
| ovor bn or his chosen servants should
do responsible not only at fixed pc
RODS to the popular judgment, but an
swcrable at any time to q court whlct
= We provided for trying and condemnlne
= him just as any other criminal is trIee
1 and condemned. The vicarious re
sponsihility Of the kings ministers iol
fine kings crimes was not Il remedy 10
e suit the straightforward men who pu'
together our government.
by Il simple law Of the late Congress
: all this has been changed. A respon-
t siblc executive, in the American sense
5 40 longer exists, and responsible gov
crnmynt of the English fashion has
t been partially brought into use. Here
| toforc, the President has been looked
5 upon as answcrnble for all matters OF
I administration, and has, as a matter o.
! instico in view OF such responsibility
1 been left free to choose his own chic
, clerks, The cabinet ministers were re
ouirel, as was the case with other OH
, GERS, to have their appointments con
irmed by the Senate; but i'll practlc'
the Senate, in view Of the direct re
sponsibility of the President for all AL
} ministratiye matters, refused to pu
/ any restraint upon his free choice TO
these high appointments. Practically
; our President has chosen his own nil
} listers. Now, he cannot remove an,
, one of his cabinet. no matter how II
subordinate, no matter how incompt
tent he may prove to be, no matter no
I dishonesty he may be conducting III
| d%cpartment, unless the Senate consent
! to such removal. Mr.. Seward ma
-. take it into his head to snub Louis M
9 polcon SO rudely that he cannot dccllr
, war: the Secretary of the Navy ma
l send the whole fleet of monitors to I'll
4 arctic regions to find out if they wi
d float in the polar ocean the Secretal
II Of the Treasury may compromise aw;
l. the whole custom house revenue; IL
Attorney-G General may direct nofte pro
l. emf against every indicted crimina
q the Secretary of the Interior may e
cite all the Indian tribes into war
! rohhing them Of their pensions al
=, lands. the whole cabinet may QUAR-
c. when they meet, live cats and dog
n. the Secretary Of Wal may even be pr
.d4yokcd to tweak the nose of the Pre-
dent in cabinet session, and yet t
- President, in the absence Of the Sc
I'd ate, can apply neither restraint Il
remedy. 1t is manifest that the dire
IL responsibility to which the Americ
i, people have heretofore held their ch
!" executive officer can no longer, VI
We iusticc, be enforced. Ii the army shot
I'd De ~mismanaged or he tn any way
ps lawfully empltoyod, he Secretary
War, through whom orders go, has
in His power TO ohstruct and hinder
"' Presidents action, and therefore isju
" to be held answerable ifhe does
". 10 so. Diplomatic correspondent
being all in the name of the Secrets
IN of State, the whole tone and course
r. it is now under his absolute cOutr
ur and blunders therein cannot be charg
j.. upon the President. For anything ii
NAV be done hereafter, since the p
!" sage ofthc bill regulating the tenure
bic office, the President cannot fairly a
bF Justly be impeached, unless some Q
a or ak of the cabinet ministers be
npnchpl with him.