Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-01
Carl sChurz on French Arms Sales.


| SENATE.
WASHINGTON, May a1.-4The tSt and
tariff bill passed stoat 2:50 this morning
! and the Senate adjourned till II NJ.
On reassembling, Mr.. Sumner introduced
a long series Of resolutions recommending
arbitration as substitute for war in de-
! temining differences between nations.
Mr.. Summer then moved the sppropria-
ton bill be indefinitely postponed, and an
nonneed nls2s On this motion he intended
/ to MAKE a speech in vindicatlon Of himself.
/ The Senate not having consented TO give
him nearing on a more convenient oc-
casion be was obliged to take advantage of
this opportunity. As his speech would
! probably give rise to Others, he asked Qnani-
nous consent to offer resolution reScind-
ing the resolution to adjourn sine die Mon
day, Sd Of June,
Mr. Hamilton, of Indiana, objected an d
the resolution went ossYs
Summers Speech.
sumner opened his speech with the announce
meat thathe was member Of the Republican
party and cue OF the stTictesf CT tfe 5ett, had
never failed TO sustain it candidates and advance
its PRINCIPLES N3e without regret could he see
it suffer tof without a pang could he see it
changed from its original character, II such
changes is death. Therefore he asked with no
common feelingthat the peril which menaces it
may pass away. lie stood by its cradle
and was not willing to foIfcw its hearse.
Sumner then proceeded TO detail the rise and
progress Of the party anu mis- connection with it
as q party necessary and permanent and always
on the ascending plane, but alas, how changed.
Once principle was inscribed on the victorious
banners, and not a name only. 1t is not difficult
to indicate when the disastrous change, eXalting
the viii of one man above all else, became mani
fest. Already 1t had began TO show itself in per-
sOnal pretensiOns when the President elected by
the Republican party, preciPitated upon
i'll Omened scheme for the 1nhextion of portion
Of san Domingo; I'll pursuance of the treaty die
tated ~ one of his own household. 1t was
pressed for months by every means OF appliance
and power. Reluctant Senators were snbdued
for support, while, treading under feet The CON
stitution in one of its most distinctly Republican
principles, TIE President seized the war pow
ers Of tBe natstn, Instituted foreign intervention
ard capped the climax of usurpatiOnby menace
OF violence to the black republic of Hayti, thus
adding manifest outrage of international law
to a manifest outrage of the Constitution.
Mr.. Sumner would gladly leave this matter to
the Judgment already recorded, were it not put
10 issue again by the extraordinary efforts rada-
ting on every line Of Office, to place its author
for a second term of President, and
Since silence gives consent, all these ef5rts are
his efforts, They become more noteworthy when
it is considered that the name Of the candidate
thus pressed has become sign of discOrd and
not concord, dividing instead OF uniting the Re-
publican party, so that these extraordinary eff
forts tend directly TO the disruRtl6h of the party
all of which he witnesses, and again by his
silence rrtiies. Let the party split, says the
President, l will not renOunce my chance of
second term. The extent Of this personal pres
sure and subordination OF party to The. w'lAcs IN
individual compel us 70 censiuec 1i5 preteEsiOns.
These, too, are ir fete.
ON what Meat
doth lhis our Caesar feed that he should assume
50 much. No honor OF victory in the world can
justify disobedience to the stutiOn and to law.
Nor can it afford the least RpoleEy for any i'm
munity, privilege or license III the Presidential
office. A President must turn into, q Kirg
before Il can lie said Of him thai he can
do no wrong. lie is TeSponeipie always as Pres
ident. He is 8 serve3s of the law, bound 10 obey
the slightest niandate. As the elect of the peO-
pie Re owes not only an example of willing Obe-
charge of his conspicuous 1fice, with
an abnegstion of 9n seh-seeking, nothing
for self but, sn for country. And
now as We regard the career of this candidate
Ve efd to our amazement how little it accords
With this simple requirement. Bring it to the
touchstOne and it fails. Not only are the Consti-
tial Office itself is treated little more than
play thing and perquisite, when not the former
the latter. Details are ample showing how from
the beginning this exalted trust has dropped to be
personal indulgence, where
Palace Cars, Fast Horses
and seaside loiteriRgs .hguTe hAore than duties;
how personal aims and objects have been more
prominent than public interests, how the Presi-
dentisl efs. .ee has been used TO advance
His own Family
on a scale of nepOtism dwarfng everythidg Ofthe
kind in our history, end hardly equalled in the
corrupt governments where this abuse has most
prevailed; how, in the same spirit, Office has
Been conferred upon those from whom he had
received gifts or benefits, thus making the cOun-
try repay his personal obligations; how personal
devotion to himself, rather than public or party
servtc5 has been made the standard of favor; how
the vast appointing power conferred by the Con-
stitutiOn for the general welfare, has been EN-
plOyed at his will to promote his schemes, to re-
ward his friends, to punish his opponents and to
advance his election to second term; how all
these assumptions have maturediD personal gov
ernnhcnt semi-military, in character and breath
ing military spirit, being species
OF persOnalism abhOrTent to Republican institu-
tiOns when subserviency to tire President is the
Supreme law; how in maintaining this sdbser-
vience he has operated on system of combina-
tiOns having their orbits about him, so that like
The Planet Saturn,
he Is surrounded by rings-nOr does the simili- |
tude end here, for his rings like those of the
planets, are held in position by satelites-how |
this utterly yunrepublican CPsarism has mastered |
the Republican party, and dictated the Presden- |
dental will standing into the Senate Chamber |
itself, while yindictive spirit visits good Re- |
publicans who cannot submit; how the President |
himself unconscious that the President has no |
right to quarrel with anybody, he visits uron |
quarrellng until he has become
The great Presidential QuRrreIer.
with more quarrels than all the other Presidents |
together, and all began and continued by himself
how his personal followers back him in his |
quarrels; insult those he insults and then not |
departing from his spirit cry out with Shakes /
peare.
We will have rings and things
And fine array"
and finally how the chosen head of the Republic |
is known chiefly for Presidential pretensions ut
terly indispensable in character, derOgatory to |
the country and full Of evil influences, making |
personal obj ects primary pursuit, that in |
stead of benefcent presence he is a bad exam /
pie, through whom Republican institutions suf- /
fer and the people learn wrong. Would that /
these things could be forgotten, but since through
oficiOus friends the President insists upon q /
second term, they must be considered. 1t is easy
to see that CRzarism, oven in Europe, is at a |
discount, that personal government has been /
beaten In that ancient field, and that Cazar,
A Senate at His Heels,
is not the fit model for our Republic. King
George III Of England, so peculiar for Obstinacy
and narrOWneSs, had retainerS in parliament who /
went under the name of the Kings friends.
Nothing can be allowed here to justify the en-
quiry,
Have we a King George Among Us?
or that other question, Have we a party in the
Senate of the Kincs's end? Personal government
is autOcsatic and in direct conflict with Tepubli-
can government. Nay more, it is the destruc-
tive essence, without which it becomes tyranny.
personal government in all its forms,
and eSpeciR ly when II seeks to sway the action |
OF any other branch or Oyerturn its constitutional
negative, is hostile to the first principles
Of republican institutions and an unquestiOn-
able outrage. That our President has
offended in this way is, unhappily too
apparent. A President is n civilian. TO COM
prehend the personal government that has been
installed over us we must know its author. His
picture is a necessary frOntispiece, not as a sol
dier let it be borne in mind, but as a civilian.
To appreciate his peculiar character as a civilian
il is important to know his triUmphs as a soldier,
for one is the natural compliment of the other. |
The successful soldier is rarely changed TO a sue
cessful civllisn. There seems an incOmpatibiity
between the two, modified by the extent to which
One always a soldier cannot late in life become a
statesman. One always civilian cannot late in
life become soldier. In modern Europe few
soldiers have been more conspicuous than
GnstaVus AdO1phus
and Frederick, sometimesA called the Great. But
we learn that both failed ANONYMOUSLY in their
domestic policy, and showed themselves as short
sighted in the arts Of peace as they were saga
cOuS in the arts of war. The Judgment of
Marlborough
is painted while pOrtraying him as the greatest !
conqueror of the age, the hero Of hundred
fights the victor of Blenheim and ROmselles |
The same philosophical writer describes him as a
man not only of the most idle and frivolous pur-
suits, but so miserably ignorant that his def
ciencies made him the ridicule of his cOntempO-
rares, while his politics were compounded Of |
selfishness and treachery. Nor was
Wellington