Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-12-30
DECEMBER 80, 1868.
QDbio Statesman. ''Ill IN
WENDELL pHILLuPs.

. =
His. Christmas Present TO the Press-
/ dent Elect-He opposes the Repeal
/ of the I enure OF office Bill, and
/ CRACKS the Whip over the Ears of
Conserving COngressmen.
IFrom the Anti Slavery Standard of the oath in
-Aw ffa II stant.1
We are wholly opposed to the repeal
of the civil Office tenure act For what
reasons General Butler proposes it we
cannot guess. But there are the strong
est streasons for keeping it on the statute
book. 9iii.s > 54fs o5 si
! t7The experience of the war has taught
us some military lessons and many civil
ones. Especially it has shown US that
a President can never be impeached.
Patronage, which we thought meant GUS
tom houses and post offices, is found to
rule the Senate. Spite, bred of gossip,
which was laughed at as tea-table
foible,ris seen to poison even prairie and
buckeye Senators. Nepotism is not
monopolized at Rome. The APine-tree
State produces an article in that line
fully equal to the italian. While. the
hot purpose of the war was yet unchill-
ed, we tried,in vain to impeach the very
tool of Jefferson Davis This lesson
has been dearly bought. Let us see we
profit by it. ~ slw ssTisss s.it 10 ia 4
What corruption effected for johnson
in enabling him safely to defy the Con
stitution, loving trust in Lincoln's "hon-
esty" effected in his case. Hence the
war has shown us that, in critical emer-
gencies, we have no Constitution. The
long list of precedents in this line, be-
ginning with Jefferson's purchase of
Louisiana and closing with Kansas, gets
its climax in our war experience of Pres
idents. We will not say now that there
are grave reasons for the abolition of the
office. But we may say now that all
the curbs which grave public disgust
with Johnson has enabled us to put on
the Presidency should he retain as valu-
able checks, which once removed may
never be possible again.
1t is not often that we have Con-
gress largely opposed to the Executive.
It is rarer' still to have an Executive OF
such unabashed and shameless corrup-
tion as to call forth national rebuke
emphatic enough to embolden Congress
to go to the very extreme verge of its
power for checking him. These two
rare circumstances have combined. the
last four years, to give us an immense
gain the direction of crippling Exec.
utive patronage. The Statute Book, as
it stands now, will enable an honest
Congress to make future Reverdy John
sons and Pitt Fessendens impossible.
The sentimental mush of magnanim-
ity has largely demoralized the national
conscience. There is an instructive
sense of justice in the commonest ma
ture which repudiates, as immoral, the
policy that leaves Forrest and Davis at
liberty on this continent. The man who
has schooled himself into approving it
has .demoralized himself Greeley and
Beecher have done good things in years
past. 1'-t 10 90 .i''' ~ ~
But all they have done has never
lifted the nation so much as their childish
and immortal prattle about magnanimity
has sunk it in moral sensibility ane
power, This war has educated tn.
masses in justice. How much the escape
of johnson has corrupted political lif;
time will show Congress is nearer t.
popular impression and control. There
fore, all the Legislative has conquered
from the Executive during this epoch ii
to be jealously kept-no need to fea
that we shall curb the President tot
much. A power which could secure tn,
confirmation of Rousseau and Reverdy
johnson has certainly strength enough
To know from what regiment of rogue.
this law has saved us, ask the police lis
and the whiskey ring. s -
The tendency, of all free States is t.
depress the executive and enlarge tn
authority of the Legislative element
Progress in that direction seems almos
synonymouswith growth in liberty. Th
civil Office tenure act is a large stride
Let it be carefully kept, and let us pas
further on in "that line, if it takes tn
whole summer" of our national exist
ence. 4so WENDELL PHILLIPS.