Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-09-12
WHO is THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

The National IHtelligencer in an able
article discussing executive power, and
the relation of the General of the army
to the execution of laws purely civil,
says:
General Grant knows that his relation to
Congress is no more official than that of
any other citizen. Ali laws passed by them,
in pursuance of the constitution, bind him,
in common with all his fellow>citizens, as
the supreme law of the land. But he has
no more power, as General of the army,
to expound them, than any soldier or citi-
zen, high or low, has. When he finds out
what they are, he must, like all of us, obey
| them but in finding them out, he must
accept the interpretations that bind all other
citizens. Laws are generally plain enough.
| Sometimes they are obscure; then, if prac-
ticable, judicial Interpretation is pro-
cured. If that is not practicable, as happens
In nearly all cases, that is no reason whv
the law shall not go into effect. But in such
cases the practice is to consult the law Off
Ger Of the government, and then adopt his
opinion. Nine or ten volumes exist of
opinions of Attorneys General. Every one
of them was a ruling Of doubtful law, and
if accepted by the President, became the
law itself for the case it covered, and all
ether cases like it. 1t is only the opinion of
a lawyer. But men are put to death on the
galloWs upon the opinion of a Jury, and it
IS well known that of all firm and fixed
things in jurisprudence, nothing is SO
sacredly held to be certainly right as the
verdict of jury, just because it was rem
dered by a jury, not because a jury must
necessarily have rendered it rightly. Those
who upbraid General Grant for his fidelity
in obeying orders, would have him too
ignorant to know what institutions he
fought for.
But, they say, the act of Congress- vests
in General Grant the performance of civil
duties, and to that extent have made him
civil officer, and that it is in that character
that he should be contemplated, with refer
ence to current political issues and topics.
Suppose that civil duties have been charged
upon the General of the army, the cues
ton is, then, to what branch of the govern
ment do they belong? If they are legis-
lative, then Congress has made legisla-
tor out Of him, which nobody could pre-
tend that they could do; but if they are
executive duties, what becomes of the |
Presidents responsibility "He shall |
take care that the laws be faithfully ex-
ecuted, F." says the constitution. How shall |
he exercise that care" unless he has the |
authority? But, say these ingenious agi- |
tators, he need not execute so much of the |
authority as Congress has vested in the |
of the General army. Just so. But, then, by |
what authority does the General exercise |
the power? BY authority of the United |
States, or of some other country We sup. |
pose it must be by authority of the United |
States at least, if anybody expects the |
present General of the army to accept the |
power Then it is some of the executive |
power of the United States" That power |
is not necessarily all vested in one person
and some of it might have been vested in
the General, and some in the President. |
But what would the General think of such |
when he reads in the constitu-
ton that all the executive power Of the |
United States shall be vested in a Presi- |
dent Of the United States of America" |
That ends il to honest men.