The Daily state register. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1870-1872, 1871-04-06
WHAT CONSTITUTES fHI GOVERN.
NEUTl

a. INC 1c1lsAA VI tuclI power, ItepuD
licans were wont to consider the Presi.
dent the Government; when Andrew
johnson became President and refused
to lead OIL follow in the vindictive line
OF policy marked out by the Radicals,
the party fell back and claimed that
Congress was the Government. Any
thing for Capitalization and change.
To reach perfection in Republican
government is not enough for the
fanatics who have always ruled the
Republican party, and always will;
they must ''~progress," ever if in that
progression they trampie representa-
tive government into the dust. In the
one cas- as in the other, the Democrat
ic party throughout the country OPP
posed this tendency to Capitalization,
and already the statesmen of the Re-
publican party as we'll as the ablest
writer's on that side are reiterating
Democratic arguments used against
Lincoln in his usurpations as we'll as
against the United States Senate when
it attempted to assume the functions
of President when Andrew johnson
was in Office.
Referring to the removal of Sumner
from the craftsmanship of the Com
mittee on Foreign Affairs, because of
his opposition to Grants San Domingo
annexation scheme, the Chicago Tri-
bane, the ablest and most influential
Republican journal of the West, says:
The proceeding is of vital importance
to the Republican party and deeply
affects the independence Of the legisla-
tive department Of the Government.
Shall the American Senate yield its in
dependence of Executive control and
become a mere adjunct of the Execu-
tive branch of the Government? Shall
the Republican party the re-
spOnsibility of surrendering legisla-
tive freedom? Shall the great party
which owed its origin to the national
demand for ''free men, free soil and
free Speech" now proclaim that free
speech shall exist no more and that i'm
the American Senate no difference
" vi LII AAcCutlNC ldil DC W hlcu.
Fifteen years ago free speech was as
sailed in the Senate by a blow from a
murderOus weapon, and the outrage
excited the indignation of the country
and of the friends of freedom the
world over. To-day the same victim
is assailed, and, for words of honest
spoken in his place OF de-
bate. Once admit that the Senate
must be governed in the selection of
its officers by the President, and that
body ceases to be anything but a mere
bureau for recording Executive de-
creeS. No such claim was ever made
ny any other President, even in the
EXTREMIST times.
Yet Grant, in making this claim, is
but following out the general bent of
the Republican party, if not following
a we'll defined precedent set by the
Radical legislative department of the
Government. In Johnson's time the
legislative branch of the Government
assumed the whole power, and said
that the President, while he was re-
sponsible for the acts of his subordin-
ates, had no right to remove thefn-in
fact, that the Office of President was a
sinecure. The whole Republican par
ty Endorsed the Senate then, as they
did Lincoln when he assumed and ex-
ercised the functions of Congress and
had his acts legalized by that body
afterward. Under Lincoln's admins
.tration, the President was the Govern
ment: under Johnson, Congress was,
and now Grant thinks it is time for
the President to be the Government
again. All this is progress" and that
is the chief end of the Republican
party representative Government
with coordinate powers being a sec
Ondary consideration.