Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-04-30

g.
recommendation Of being unjust ana
~unfounded, and was Of sufficient magni-
tude to pay well, its success was naore
probable, and its progress far more
rapid.
For all these abuses and mischiefs' the
South must answer at least equally with
the North. She cannot even plead mat
she but followed q bad example for she
waited for no State Of the North TO fur
nish precedents for the chief Of these
denominations. She governed in the
Union. almost without intermissiOn, IN
til 1861, and devoted all her energies to
the development Of the capacity Of q
popular form of government to breed
abuses; and to the solution of the prob
tlem with how small an amount OF abl-
ity the affairs Of a republic could be con-
Quoted. In that year the system at
tanned perfection, and placed LINCOLN
in the seat once occupied by WASHING
TON. GALBA and VITELLIUs, after DC
TAvIUs and TBERTUs, succeeded the
Great CESAR; but many years yet
elapsed before the LegiOns placed an IL
~literate Barbarian In the CEsAR's seat.
It is not until a country is in its last con-
WILSON'S, that the LTNCOLNs are hoisted
into Chief Magistrates. Yet this cleo
ton was but the natural fruit Of the sys-
tenn Of selection Of available men,
by nominating conventions, as can
didates for the Presidency; the in
auguration Of which system the
South might have prevented, or
at any time have put an end to; but
which, instead, If it did not invent il, it
did its worst to perfect and perpetrate.
The incompetent, the inefficient, the
worthless the small lawyers, the petty
politicians and the State-psupers, OF
those families that incOmprehensibly
have a hereditary right to hold office,
and whose youngest fiedglings set out in
chase Of one while the shells are yet
upon their heads,-all these insisted OF
having their representative nominated, if
it were possible, for President, as by him
alone and not by any WASHINGTON or
MADISON or ADAMS, they could hOpeto be
appreciated, and their services deemed
Of value to the country. When the
honour Of the Republics arms was at
stake, and its armies in Mexico were led
BY SCOTT and TAYLOR, WASHINGTON
would never have proposed t6plaee over
these soldiers, dc Lieutenant General,
that pretentiOus politician. THOMAS
] HART BENTON, Of Missouri. Nor would
I MADISON, or MONROE, or JOHN QUINCY
ADAMS, or AsDREw JACKSON have APP
pointed, when the country was at war,
CALEH CUSHING, lawyer and politician,
and MARSHALL Of Kentucky, nothing
except obese and stupid, TO be Brigadier
Generals, over officers OF the army
who had grown grey as Colonies.
L.fSC1LN might well have been ex-
pecte0 10 send CARL SCHCRZ, an
impudent ana noisy foreigner, as
Minister TO a foreign Co,,rt though it
was the Democratic party that had first
awaited itself Of his valuable services, /
and inflated him into Importance.
RYNDERs earned the right to demand Of
Mr.. BUCHANAN the Office Of Marshal Of
New York, in the same service. VII
son SHANNON was Minister to Mexico
once, and never heard Of afterwards
and fsrsign missions were generally a
sort Of Greeszl1h Hospitals, for col
lapsed politicians. The -segpsetable dull
ness Of the country, when adornse by
innocence of all knowledge Of foreign
Languages, has for thirty years been
largely represented abroad and when
these qualifications we're not sufficient,
it wa only necessary, in addition, for
the party to be entitled to commisera-
ton, because his unworthy and uBsppre-
ciative or u~agratefaI constituents had
dismissed him from the public service.
Judgeships were as desirable as Giplo-
matte appointments, and especially COW
eted by the incompetent. Accordingly,
in their bestoWal tie same rules were
observed, until. even on the Supreme
Bench, owls from thesoUtE SIT anG looked
grave, as well as owls from the North
A degree Of heaviness is semi-respectabIe
in a Judge; but brains ought not 10 be
JghC'[y dispensed with even there. What
Mr.. CAss, himself the most incorrigible
Of ofice-holders, once termed the inss-
tate lust for office has afflicted the
South as well - he North and the i'm
pudence Of inc0mpeteacy hss been as
great in Arkansas aHd Texas ss in Wis
cOnsin and Minnesota. All Of US have
seen the sJrangest specimens Of human
ity aspire TO and obtain even high office,
their chief recommendation being, that,
unEt fer any, they were peculiarly
unqualified for the particular ones they
In theory, the President makes ap-
pointments and as to the higher ones,
ne ought Of course to be responsible for
ne should know who are the leading in
t~elIects in the different States. He
appoints, in theory, "by and with the
and consent Of the Senate " but Z
he appoints to minor offices at the dicta-
ton Of one or more members OF Con-
gress, and the Senate consents 10 the
appointments, The higher appointments 1
arranged by a cabal. We kaqW that
General TAYLOR, who fell reluctantly yet q
lelplessly, into the hands OF 3 set of q
politicians, did not make a single APP c
DOinrment in his Cabinet, as he at first L
Intended and desired. He wss unable to D
withstand the pressure OF the politicians, {
who killed him in q few months; and b
Ie appointed 0ae Secretary, at least, Ii
whom he had never seen or heard Of. h
lie wanted TO appoint Mr.. Evans, Of a
Maine, to be his Secretary Of the Treas b
and Mr.. CRITrENDEN TO be his Sec "
etsry Of State. Nor had he any idea "
# making Mr.. Ewing a Secretary. He a.
ould command an army, and on bis old b
white horse unfinchingly face a bat C,
cry; but he surrendered in despair to h
he PhilistiBes, "Uatameable," ia ST
iOmer's words, as flies" aud who tc
warmed around him as thickly as the eI
and black tormentors rouRd our d
in the Western prairies, in the cC
.og-days. Sc
The Senate escapes censure for i'm 81
appointments, because it can hi
lead that the President dominates CO
,hom he pleases, and that it must con W
some u whom be appoints. 1t th
nould be made, in some degree, to share by
be responsibility. Every word in the al
constitution should have some weight, of
nd the Senate should ddUiss as well as co
to, Cabinet, diplomatic and or
appointments. For the rest,
leir consent alone might be required WI
as 10 all the former, the President al
be required 10 submit to the Sen vi
at least three names for each Office. We
be Senate should be at liberty to advise an
i'd consent TO the appointment Of one a
the persons so named, or to reject the Is,
hole; In which latter case three other m,
,mes should be submitted and this wi
.Ould berepeated until the Senate made rio
choice. in
Some latitude Of selection would thus sh,