The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-06-03

the Presidential family extended indehn.
imlys MIR. sumner here quoted IRON
American authorities on ncpotisiIl, ant
baid that but one President (A6ans) hat
ever appointed relatives TO office, and that
public sentiment condemned these ap
pointments
Mr.. Sumner then answered the apollo.
gists OF the President, and continued, as.
Stunning that 10 Rcase Of positive merit
designating citizen for n particular post
the President might appoint relation, Il
would be only where merit was so shining
that his absence would be noticed. Al
least II might be such Us to make q citizen
Q candidate without regard 10 family.
Butno such merit Is attributed 10 the
behefciaries Of our President, some Of
whom have done little but bring scandal
upon the public service. At least one l.
tainted with fraud, and another, with q
commission OF the republic abroad, has
been guilty oil indiscretions inconsistent
with his trust. Appointed originally in
open defiance Of Republican principles,
they have been retained in office after
their untitncss became painfully conspicu.
Gus. By testimony before a Congressional
committee one Of these, ,brother.in. law,
was implicated in bribery and corruption.
It's said that at last, after considerable
delay, the President has consented to his
removal. = R'IE4
GIFT TAKING.
Here l leave for the present this enor-
nous pretension Of nep0tism, swollen to
e!sphantiaSiS, which nobody can defend.
| pass to gilt taking, which, with our
President, has assumed an unprecedented
form. Sometimes public men, even of our
country, have taken gifts, but 1t Is not
knoYnthat any President has before re-.
paid, the patron with office. For public
man to take gifts Is reprehensible. For a
President to select q Cabinet OF counselors
and other officers among those from whom
he has taken gifts, is an anomaly in Re-
publican annals. An ancient patriarch
feared the Greeks bringing gifts, and these
words have become nroverb. But
there are Greeks bearing gifts elsewhere
than at Trey.
a public man can traffic with such only
at his peril. The prayer should be said
"Lead US not into temptation" The
President VIGOROUSLY has taken gifts while
In the public service, some at least after
he had been elected President; until the
sGalena tanner of u few hundred dollars
yeaT, to borrow the word3of my icolleaguc
one OF his supporters. ls now rich in
houses, lands and stock, above his salary,
being probably the richest President since
George Washington. lie has appointed
TO his Cabinet Greeks bearing gifts"
without seeming to sec the indCcorum, II
not the indeccncy Of the transaction. Al
least two If not three OF these "Grecks,"
having no known position in the Repub-
lican party, or influence in the country,
have been selected as counselors in the
national affairs and heads Of great depart.
ments OF the government. Nor does the
case OF tho first Secretary OF State, ap.
pointed as o compliment, differ in charac.
ter from the other three. The. President,
feeling under personal obligation to Mr.,
sWashburne for important support, gave
him complimentary nomination, with
the understanding that after confirmation
he should forthwith resign. l cannot
forget the comment of the late Dir. Fes.
sender as we passed out Of the Senate
Chamber Immediately after the confrma.
ton. %Who," said he, "eYer heard before
Of man nominated Secretary OF State
merely as q compliment"
But this is only another case Of the pub.
lie service subordinated to personal con.
siderations. Not only in the Cabinet, but
in other offices, there is reason 10 believe
that the President has been under the in
fuence oil patrons. Why was he SO blind
as to- place Thomas Murphy in the, Gus.
tom-house ofNew Yorll, which, with all
its capacity as o political engine, was
handed over to this agent, whose want Of
Iecognitionin the Republican party was
dntbalanced by the Presidential favor,
and whose gifts have become notorious
And, when the demand for his removal
was irresistible, the President accepted
his resignation with an eiFusion OF senti-
ment natural toward q patron, but with.
out justification in the character Of the
retiring officer.
l have now completed the survey Of
two typical instances Of nepotism and
gitt.taking officially compensated, in which
we are compelled to see the President.
In these things he shows himself. There
is no portrait drawn by critic or enemy.
tits the original, who stands forth saying,
"Behold the generosity l practice TO my
relations at the expense OF the public ser
vice; also the gifts l take, and then my
way OF rewarding patrons, always ut the
expense OF the public service" In the
open exhibition we see how the Presi-
dency instead of o trust hos, become o.
perquisfte. That the President that can
dosuch things and not recognize at once
the error he has committed, shows the
super. eminenCe Of egotism under which
the Constitution, international law, and
municipal law, to say nothing Of republic
can government, in its primary principles,
are all subordinated to the Presidential
will, and this is personal government:
Add an insensibility to the honest Convic.'
tons oil others, and you have q character.
istic incident Of this Pretension. y
Lawyers cite what are called leading
cases. A few Of these show tho Presidcn.
tial will in constant operation, with little
regard to precedent or reason, so as to be
q caprice, II it were not pretenSions, initia.
ting hopes in nepotism. The President
hasinitiated them in ostentatious assump.
honsot infallibilitya FAAf - "a 4
4 Other Presidents hare entereduponthc
office with q certainmodesty and distrust,
but our soldier, absolutely untried In civil
life, entirely new man entering upon the
sublimest duties, before which Washing.
ton and Jefferson had shrunk, said in his
inaugural: 1.-THE responsibilities of the
position l feel, but accept them without
fear" = j
Thenext step after the inaugural ada
in his selection Of Cabinet the general
disappointment was only cuualed BY the
general wonder. Ali tradition, usage
and propriety were disregarded, The
just expectations. of the party that had
elected him wehf, Dot Mt nottthf md Tho