Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-06-01

Is as noon. In opening this catalogue,
3 seteut two typical instances of nepetisr
Il aud glfl-taklng officially, compensate
e EACH
/ ABSOLUTELY INDEFENsfBLE.
: IN the head of the Republic, most pei
!. iiieiotis HI example, and showing beyon
e Question that stirpassing egOtisfn whic
. changed the presidential office into
- personal instTumentality, not unlike tn
!, trunk of an elephant, for all thing
= small as well as great, from provision 70
a relative to pressing a treaty on a rC
. luctant Senate, or forcing a relation on
{ reluctant people. Between these tw
: typical instances ] hesitate which t
q place foremost, but since the nepOtisn
. of the President is the ruling passion
! maintained by him in utter un
consciousness Of its offensive character
since instead of blushing for it as an un
!. happy mistake, he continues TO uphol'
it; sinceit has been defended by Senator
: on this floor; and since, upon proof Q
bribery and corruption, it is said, that a
last, after considerable delay the Pfesi
dent has consented TO his removal
! leave, for the present, this enormOu
pretension of nepOtism swollen to ell
: phantiases, which as nobody can defend
pass TO the gift-taking, which, witt
our President, has assumed an unprece
dent form. Sometimes public men
even in our country, have taken gifts
S but it is not known that any President
] has ever before repaid patriotism with
t office. For public man to take gifts i:
r reprehensible. For the President TO
SELECT CABINET COUNsELLORs
aud other officers among those from
whom he has taken gifts, Is an anomoly
r in Republican annals. An ancient
patriarch forbade the Greeks bringing
him gifts, and his words have become
a prOverb: "But there are Greeks bear
ing gifts elsewhere than at Troy" Pub
lie men can traffic with such only a
their peril. Their prayer should be
LEAD us not into temptation" The
President nOtoriously has taken gifts,
while in the public service, some, at
least, after he had been elected Presi-
dent. Until the Galena tanner of few
hundred dollars a year, to borrow the
word of my colleague, one Of his
supporters, is now rich in houses, lands
and stock, above his salary, being prob
ably the richest President since George
Washington. He has appointed to his
cabinet Greeks bearing gifts, without
seeming to see the indecorum if not the
indecency of the transaction; anda least
two if not three of these Greeks having
no known position in the Republican
party or influence in the country, have
been selected as cOUnsellors in national
affairs and heads OF great departments of
Government. Nor does the case Of the
FIRST SECRETARY OF STATE
appointed as a compliment, different in
character from the other three. The
President, feeling under personal obliga-
ton to AIr. Washburne for important
support, gave him complimentary
nomination, with the understanding that
after confirmation he should forthwith
resign. / cannot forget the indignant
comment of the late Fessenden, as we
passed out of the Senate chamber, i'm
mediately after the confirmation; ne
said he never heard before of a man be-
ing nominated Secretary Of State as a
compliment. But this is only another
case of public service subOrdinated to
personal considerations. Not only in the
Cabinet, but in other offices there is rea-
son to believe that the President has been
under the influence of patrons. Why
was he so blind as to Thomas Murphy's
custOmhouse of New York? With all
its capacity as a political engine, it was
handed over to this agent, whose want
Of recognition in the Republican party
was out-balanced by the Presidents
favor, and whose gifts have become
NOTORIOUS.
When the demand for his removal
was irresistible, the President accepted
his resignation with an effusion natural
toward a patron, but without iustifca-
ton in the character of the retiring Off
Ger. have now completed a survey of
two typical instances of nepOtism and
gift-taking officially compensated, In
which we are compelled to see the Pres !
ident in these things. He shows himself
there in no portrait drawn by a critic or |
enemy-it is original. He stands |
forth saying, behold the generosity. / |
practice to my relations at the expense |
of the public service. ] also take gifts. I
Then my way of rewarding patrons is |
at the expense of the public service. |
We see that the presidency, instead of
trust has become a perquisite. A Pres
ident that can do such things, and not
recognize at once the error he has COM |
mitted, proves the supereminence of |
egotism and the rtupid violations of the |
constitution and
INTERNATIONAL LAW
and municipal law, to say nothing of
reT ubliean government in its primary |
principles. The expectations of the |
party that had elected him are set at |
naught and the safeguards of constitu-
tional government are subOrdinated to |
the personal pretensiOns of one man. |
Marked among the spectacles which
followed, and kindred in character with |
the appropriation of cabinet as individ-
ual property, was the appropriation of
the offices of the country.
Senator Summer here repeated the
charges of Nepotism in appointing rela-
tives to Office, and criticized in severe
terms the conduct of the President in
sending a message to Congress, March
6, 1869, asking them to set aside the fun
damental law in order that Stewart
might enter upon the duties of Secretary
Of the TreasuTy-he [Stewartl being one
of those from whom the President had
gifts. He next spoke of the
MILITARY RING
at the White House, and said
the Executive Mansion assumed that
all We're subordinate to the Presidential
will, and tins is a personal government.
Add to this his insensibility to the
honest convictions of Others, and you
have a characteristic incident of this
pretension. Lawyers cite what are
called leading cases; few Of these
show that the Presidents will is in con-
slant operation, with little regard to
or reason, so as to be a caprice (
# il were not pretendedly initiating
hopes in nepotism. The President has |
inflated them in Ostentatious assump- ,
ion of infallibility. Other Presidents /
nave entered upon Office with certain
and distrust, but our soldier !
introduces in civil life a new /
nan, entering upon the sublimest duties, {
before which Washington and Jefferson
lad shrunk. He said in his inaugural
the responsibilities of the position /
eel, butaccept them without fear" The |,
leXt step after the inaugural address was
he selection of a cabinet, and in his Sc ;
ection the general disappointment was :
,nly equalled by general wonder. All !
radition, usage and propriety We're !
discarded by the President. To the
lishonOr of the civil service, and
n total disregard of precedent, the
resident surrounded himself with Off t,
ers of the army, substituted military !
orms for those Of civil life, detailing for
he service members of his late staff, '
Though Congress has shown its purpose d,
o limit the employment of military Off
ers in civil service by three different
tatutes.
GRANT CONDEMNED.
Sumner condemned the President for {
he taking away from their proper du-
les of officers of the army, to make them I
residential secretaries in defiance oflaw; I
he subOrdination of the War Depart {
nent to the General in Chief; the at c
ampt to devolve the duties of the I
Jayy Department upon a deputy, $
D that orders were to be signed
Y A. f. Borie, Secretary Of the Navy, o
er d. ID. Porter, Admiral; the effort to t