The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-07-27
THE PRESIDENTS Rule OF ACTION
Mugwump Editor Graciously Pleased to
Approve of the Rnle.


Approve of the Rnle.
George William Curtis in Harpers Magazine
One OF the rumOrs which have lately
echoed through the press was the state
rule of action was to please himself The
report was greeted in manner which indi-
Gated either that the remark was thought
to be monstrous In itself, or an extraordi-
nary expression of the spirit in which his
official duties were to be performed IL
was Immediately announced, in half
indignant tone. that the President had not
made the remark. But if he had made it,
would it have been fairly open TO censure,
as If he had laid down false rule of indl-
vidual conduct, or had totally miscon-
ceived the obligations of his officef
Whom should a man please In his official
action if not himselff Who else should
rightfully direct his decision when he is in
dividual1y responsiblef There is no ques-
ton of discretion. of course, when he en-
cages specifically to do certain thing. If
1t be the official duty of sheriff to execute
criminals legally condemned to death, a
man who takes oath TO discharge the
duties of the Office consciously engages TO
execute criminals as the law ordains, and
he cannot refuse to do it because he is op-
posed to capital punishment. If he be SD
opposed, he cannot honorably take the Of
fetal oath, or f, having honorably taken
1t, his views change. he must resign the Of
flee. But even in this case, whether, not
objecting. he executes the law. or. object
himself That is TO say, he does as his con.
science commands.
The official oath of the President is gen.
eral. and does no require specific acts He
must execute the office of President. But
the manner of execution is left largely TO
his discretion, and if the law requires what
in his Judgment, should not be done, he also
must please himself by resigning. The re-
mark attributed to the President, however,
did not involve these extreme cases. 1t
meant only that in the exercise of his dis
cretiOn he should follow his own view and
sense Of duty after duly enlightening his
mind with the views of others And if
there be sounder rule of conduct.
it has not yet been revealed. The
views of others. especially when they are
wise counselors, every sensible man will
weigh carefully; and when the interest is
common interest, as In the case of party
leader and his party, he will consider his
duty with extreme deliberatIon. But. ex-
cept where there has been specific and au-
thoritative party expression, he must nee
essarily Judge for himself what is the party
| feeling.
The prn ciple of action involved is uni
versal. The assumption that view is just
and true because it is held by great many
people is fatal 20 human welfare. 1t is he
who sees further than other people who
forecasts the true path of progress. Goethe
was called a HDerator of humanity because
he fostered the spirit of self-dependence,
and discouraged the habit of leaning upon
the majority; and no wiser or more Ameri-
can word was ever spoken in this country
than that OF the seer who said of the
scholar to company of scholars more than
| fifty years ago, Let him not quit his belief
| that pop-gun is a pop-gun, although the
| ancient and honorable of the earth affirm
| it to be the crack of DOOM" This was only
| another form of saying that you must
please yourself And what else Is the sig
nificance of the familiar words of Shak
| speare:
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And 1t must follow, az the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Whatever the inventor of the report of
| the Presidents remark may have intended,
| he put into the Presidents mouth an ap-
| prevail of the highest rule of conduct. Yet
| it is barely possible that man might not
be elected President of whom it was uni
| versally believed that he would please him.
self in his official action. If however, such
man were elected, and his action were
conformed to that rule, his hold upon the
be SO strong that it would have the effect
| of political revelation. 1t would pot be-
| however, without precedent in our history.
| 1t was because Washington's beneficent
| career had illustrated his absolute fidelity
to that rule, and because of the universal
| conviction that nothing could disturb it.
| that he was borne by the hearts as well
as by the votes of the people into the pres
idency.
The disposition of public men to fawn
| upon the mob under preten Sc of reverence
ing the people, the tone of former candi-
date for the presidency in saying that he
| had ceased to be himself and was merged in
the platform, are not signs of vigorous
and manly political life, but of a servile
| adulation like that which crawls upon its
belly before some puny king of Siam. The
| protest against an alleged remark of the
| President that in his official conduct he
should please himself. that is to say, seek
| the satisfaction which springs from the
| conscientious discharge of duty-a protest
| proof of an undue sense of personal i'm
pOrtance-was really censure of remark
which in its true spirit every President
mi ght well make the rule of his official con-
conduct.