Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-06-27
Senatorial Courtesy Treason to
the Constitution.

ter of the States would be absorbed. The
other, a dread of excessive democracy,
tending to anarchy. The one, it was
thought, would end in monarchy.
The other, it was feared, would
expose the people to the duplici-
ties of pretended patriots. In both,
the liberties and general welfare of the
States were in danger of wreck; by one
despot, in monarchy; or by five hun
dred factious demagogues in an irres-
ponsible democracy. AL the delegates
agreed in the wish to organize general
government that should be adequate to
common defense, general welfare and
the security of liberty to themselves and
their posterity, but, as usual, they diff
fered as to the means by which these
results were to be attained.
1t was, therefore, difficult problem
to establish a general government that
should be supreme, and yet not destroy
the States, and with power, nevertheless,
to enforce its mandates. Hence, every
paragraph of the Constitution was care
fully prepared, keenly criticised, and
only adopted after the most careful
scrutiny. As the result of such profound
deliberation, the convention gave to the
country the most thorough system of
constitutional government known in
polity. A form of government in which
the separation of legislative, executive
and judicial powers is as marked and
distinct as is practical in their mutual re-
lations to government, and in which the
grants and distributions of powers are
well defined some emphatically so.
OF this last class-of dogmatic powers
lis the second clause, second section,
article eleven of the Constitution, which
says that the President of the United
States shall nominate, and by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate,
shall appoint Ambassadors, other public
Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the
Supreme Court, and all other officers Of
the United States, aO7,OSe appointments are
not herein Otber1OiSe provided for, and
a0hich shall be established By lGs0. Italics
are ours.
To the President, then, and TO the
President alone, does the Constitution
give the power (not the right, mark, ''to
nominate" and, the Senate consulted
and agreeing "to appoint the officers
as above. Being mandatory grant of
power to the President alone, it cannot
be shared with or waived in favor of
any other person or department of the
General Government; nor can Senators,
members of the second branch Of the
Legislative Department, claim any
latent or inherent ability or right to
direct or dictate the nominations, their
duty being confined to advising upon
them, after they have been submitted to
the Senate for consent or dissent, to con-
firmation and appointment. AS the
Representatives in Congress, how
ever, are the political opponents
of the sentiments of the people of their
respective States, and the Senators the
representatives of the States in their in
dividual political capacities, it has been
recognized always as wise and Courteous
for the President to consult il ormally
with the Representatives and Senators in
Congress in relation to the political APP
pointments to Office within their particu.
lar States But in doing so, the Presi-
dent yields to them no part of his con-
stitutional prerogative to nominate; nor
can they assume any positive influence
in determining the nominations. The
Constitution aims, IN the clause, section
and article quoted, to preserve the sepa-
ration between the legislative and execu-
tive functions, and thereby to secure, in
so much, the liberties of the people and
their general welfare, from corrupt bar
gains by which ambitious and unscrupu-
lous men may seek to obtain unconstitu-
tional and consequently dangerous
control of the government.
No Senator can, consequently, make
the tenure of his Senatorial Office de
pendent upon the exercise of the Presi-
dents power to nominate officers of the
United States, whose appointments are
established by law. And any action
upon such ground is not only unconsti-
tutional in itself, but a total subversion
of the political principles upon which
the government is constructed. 1t is
revolutionary in its very essence, as its
effort is to subject the constitutional
power of the President to the indi
vidual will of another, who, taking
advantage unduly of his official position,
basely sacrifices the good faith and
honor of the State he represents to the
qualification of his own selfishness. For
has not his State sworn by her people,
by her Legislature, and by her State
officers, to support the Constitution of
the United States? and does he not by
his course betraY them all2
Benedict Arnold sought to cover
his detection from the revolutionary
struggle by an elaborate defense
of his motives, for the benefit of his
country, as he had come to the conclu
sion that the war was hopeless one for
the colonies. But Messrs. ConkIing and
Plat make no plea as plausible for
abandoning the post Of duty to which
the State of New York had assigned
them, and for fleeing from further sup.
port of the Constitution Of their country
From Clover deep" they urge pusilla-
nimously, for their desertion, ''the viola
ton by the President, of a corrupt bar
gain for the nomination to United States
offices within the State of New York.
Has the Executive of this great gov
eminent fallen, indeed, so low as this
charge accuses? That President should
trade with the public offices in his dis
posal, and he sworn solemnly to faith
fully execute the Office of President of
the United States, and to the best of his
ability preSer0e, protect and defend the
o..