Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1881-08-26
The Presidential Succession.

In view of the low state of physical and
mental prostration to which the President
has been reduced by the dangerous wound
he has received, and the doubtful indica-
items of his early restoration to health,
considerable interest is being manifested
in political circles, and an extensive dis
cussion is curreHt through the press as to
whether the present is such an emergency
as will justify the Vice President in as
suming the functions of the Executive of
fee. The New York city papers of Sat
urday last contained reports of confer
ence at the house of the Vice President in
that city on Friday, between yMr. Arthur
and a number of his stalwart friends, in
Guiding Gen. Grant, Mr.. Conkling, Sena-
tors Logan, Cameron and Jones, and 9th
ers. The object of the meeting was stated
to be to consider the propriety of Gen.
Arlhur's immediate assumption of the du-
ties of the Presidential Office, under that
clause of the constitution which provides
"In case of the removal of the President
from office or of his death, resignation or
inability to discharge the powers and du-
ties of said office, the same shall devolve
on the Vice President"
1t was stated that the prevailing, opin
ion among the gentlemen named and
Others present was favorable to the imme
diate assumption of .he Presidential of
fee by the Vice President, and that such
was the tenor of tkeir counsel. Thi.
statement appears to find general credence,
and has caused public opinion to be
cenfered upon this question.
The clause Of the constitution above
quoted leaves no room to doubt that it
was contemplated by the trainers of the
constitution that, whenever the Presi-
dent should become, from any cause. una
able to discharge the powers and
duties of the executive Office, that its
functions should devove upon the Vice
President. No law seems to have been
ever passed by Congress, however, to de-
fine the nature and extent of the physical
or mental incapacity en- the part of the
President which should constitute the in
ability to discharge the powers and duties
of his office as contemplated by the con-
stitution or the methods and means of as
certainining and determining the same
In the absence of any such legislative en-
actment, defining this "inability' provi
sion of the constitution, the question be-
comes qui.e nice and interesting one,
and one which, under certain circumstan
ces, might seriously disturb the peace of
the country.
Many leading men of the country ex-
press the opinion that no such inability
as was contemplated by the Constitution
exists in Mr.. Garfeld's present illness
Ex-senator Mcdonald of Indiana, who is
considered high authority on constitu
tional questions, has been interviewed up
on this question by a correspondent of
the Chicago Times, and is reported as say
ing that he could not see any possib
construction that could be placed upon
the clause of the constitution that related
to anything but mental inability. So long
as the President was mentally able to con-
slider the propositions submitted to him,
mere physical inability could not legally
prevent him from performing executive
acts. That there is no legal difficulty in
the way of man authorizing another to
write his signature for him, and that Mr..
Blaine or any member of the cabinet, his
private secretary or any clerk might he
legally deputized by the President, so
long as his mind remains clear, to sign
James A. Garfield to any needed document.
If the President should remain in sick
bed during the four years of his admins
traiion, Mr.. Mcdonald does not see how
the Vice President could be called upon
to perform any Executive act, except by
the President himself as representative
Of the latter.
While this opinion is certainly entitled