The New York herald., 1873-09-22
AZ 1t Was and Is-An Anomaly I'm
= Representative Government

of present political events that the Presiden-
tial Office first developed its worst capacities
under Andrew jackson. That resolute and
daring man showed what courage could do
with an Office intended by the Fathers to be
the chief magistracy of republic governed
by law and constitutional enactments. We
then saw that the President could be as pow
erful as q monarch that he could use his
patronage as he would his horses and his
treasure jackson established the debasing
principle that the government was the prop
erty-the ''spoils, to use more comprehen-
sive and familiar word-of successful party.
From the results of that extraordinary and
selfish pronunciamento the Republic still
suffers Mr.. Tyler's irritating maneuvres
MIR. Folks invasion of Mexico against law
and without provocation Mr.. Pierce's igno-
minious peridy towards the Missouri COM
promise; Mr.. Buchanan's prevention Of
Kansas freedom and his humiliating abase-
ment to South Carolina treason Mr.. Lin
coins necessary, if at times petulant and un-
discerning, despotism, and Mr.. johnson stub
born and wild manifestation Of the powers Of
his Office, ore only SO many striking lessons of
the necessity of dealing with the Office of the
Presidency SO as to make it more in harmony
with repubicanism. AS we consider the
exaggerated and growing power of this Office
to be one of the gravest causes of C@sarism as
now rampant in the Republic, 80 also do we
find other dangers in the Senate
In constructing the constitution our fathers
had England for model We see the English
| wi in Of t,o
ship is reflected in the Presidency the House
of Lords in the Senate. Jefferson is credited
with the homely saying that the Senate and
the House were like cup and saucer By the
time the tea was poured into the saucer it was
cool. The Senate was to be the saucer in
which any passionate legislation of the House
would be Gained and stilled. The excesses of
the French Convention strengthened our
fathers in the conviction that order would not
be safe at the mercy of turbulent assembly.
In those days, be it remembered, it was states
manship to dread the people. The Norman
English arIstocracy had not forgotten the ira
ditions which made the Saxons their kernes
and knaves and gallowgasses The people
could only print and speak under terror Of the
pillory, and, in this century even, man as
kind and true as Leigh Hunt was imprisoned
for sneering at a gorgeous scoundrel like
George ~. The House of Commons was as
secret as Freemasons' lodge and the legend
of its secrecy still fingers and may be called
into life any day by the will of one member
Our fathers felt that without conservative
influence, like the House of Lords, liberty
would be at the mercy of license and
disorder. There would be no knowing what
manner of men might stream into the
chambers of the Commons. So the Senate
was created. 1t was not directly responsible
to the people. Although it could not create
taxation, yet it showed every other power pos
sessed by the House, with express and valuable
powers of its own. 1t could share in treaty
making and control the patronage of the
President. In other words, the Senate had
nearly all the powers of the Commons, and
had q veto upon nearly every act of the
President.
In England, the model of our laws the
power Of the Commons has increased that
of the Lords has decreased. One shows the
power, the other the pageantry of the English
people. A corresponding movement has been
Der of Peers under the monarchy and the
Senate under Napoleon were little more than
social clubs. Wherever representative par
liamentary government has found growth the
popular branch has always absorbed and re-
tanned power In this country the reverse is
the truth. It is interesting to consider the
cause of this anomaly, its bearing upon the
stability of our institutions and its promises
for the future, and especially its relation to
the rise and progress of C@sarism in our
politics
The Senate attained its aristocratic pre-
eminence under the dominion of the slave
holders. When the States were few in num-
Der the Senate was small body, and as the
term of Office was longer and there were no
necessities of frequent appeals to the people,
men of eminence craved its membership But
it made no definite impression upon the coun-
try as an Independent power until the ad-
ministration of Mr.. johnson. Before that
time the Presidency was in many respects
Independent of the Senate-that is to say, the
President had the power of absolute removal
power which no longer exists. In the strug-
gle between Mr.. Johnson and Congress o
series of laws were passed nominally to re-
strain the President, and, as it were stereo-
type the results Of the war; BY these laws
the President could not command the army
nor control his Cabinet, nor remove the pet
tiest revenue clerk without permission of the
Senate. The President could not oppose the
Senate, and 80 deliberately purchased it. We
do not soy he went into the Chamber and paid
money like railway agents; but republican
Senators were told that if they would consent
to the confirmation of certain nominees of the