Year: 1879

| AM piilb 10 Ntll DONtiluls anu IL
is now to be seen whether the Demo-
cratic tire-eaters in Congress and in the
press can lash their party into fury, and
! carry out the threat of Messrs. Thur
man and Beck and Blackburn to ad-
journ without making the necessary
appropriations for the Government. II
would be mad blunder; but the whole
| Democratic policy has been nothing
else. II is the party tradition. 1t was
incredible that in the midst of the war
the Democrats should count upon the
cowardice of the people to the point of
declaring the war failure, but they
| did it. There has been no folly too
plain for their avoidance, and while it
is improbable, it certainly is not impos-
sible, that they may attempt to adjourn
and leave the Government to starve.
But let the intelligent reader under
stand exactly what this would mean.
The plea would be that the President
would not agree to do what Congress
wished. But the President has done
nothing that the Constitution does not
require of him. The simple fact would
then be that Congress had disorganized
the Government because it could not
constitutionally change a law. 1t is
not the duty of the President to do
what Congress wishes if he does not
| approve, but it is his duty to veto their
action if it seems to him Objectionable.
He is the servant of the people, as Con-
gress is. He is bound by his oath, as
members of Congress are. The people
have defined his duty in the Constitu-
ton, as they have defined the duty of
Congress. In the Constitution the
people have provided how laws shall
be passed, and how they shall be re-
pealed; and should Congress attempt
to have its way over the Constitution
by starving the Government, it would
betray the people and plunge the
country into anarchy.


The President in doing his constitu-
tional duty is not asserting his own per-
sonal power, for he has none. He is
asserting the lawful power of the peo-
pie. He as much as Congress is the
representative of the people. His Off
cial functions are executive, while
those of Congress are legislative, but
the people, in The Constitution, have in
structed him to interfere in their behalf
when in his judgment the legislation of
Congress is prejudicial to their welfare;
and on the other hand, they have au-
thorized one House of Congress to i'm
peach and the other to try the Presi-
dent if; in the Judgment of the House
of Representatives, he violates his duty.
If, therefore, by his late vetoes the
President has violated his duty, let the
House impeach him. If it has no rea-
son for impeaching him, it confesses
that he has not violated his duty; and
on what plea will it disorganize the
Government, when by its own admission
the President has only done his dutyP
If Congress believes that military inter-
ference at the polls is possible under
existing laws although it is notorious
ly impossible-it may rightfully vote to
change the law. But if the change be
vetoed, it can be made constitutionally
only by two-thirds vote. If that fails,
there is no constitutional way of chang
ing the law but by appealing to the
country, and securing a. constitutional
majority to overcome the veto. This,
of course, is the legitimate course. The
starving policy is practically revo-
lutionary.


Should the evil genius of the Demo-
cratic party persuade it to this course,
there is no doubt whatever of the iudg-
ment of the country. The "regula-
tion'' Democratic cry would be, "No
bayonets at the polls" But happily
neither the regulation" Democratic
nor Republican cries carry the country.
1t is the patriotic and intelligent and
independent class of voters which now
gives the victory to one side and now to
the other; and how that class would
vote upon such question as this is not
in the least doubtful. The first effect
of stopping the supplies-that is to say,
of refusing authority to the Treasury to
pay out money-would be to shut up in
the Treasury vast part of the money
of the country, which is constantly paid
in for duties, and preventing its circu-
latiOn. The poor man, the laboring-
man, as usual, would feel the pressure
first, and he would see the cause plainly
in the refusal of Congress to grant au-
thority to pay it out. He would be quite
shrewd enough, also, to see that Con-
gress had prohibited the circulation of
money among the people because it
could not change law cOnstitutiOnally.
All this wretched business, which has
thoroughly disgusted the country, hon
orable Democrats and Republicans
alike, is the first performance of Con-
gress Democratic in both branches. If
there were also Democratic Executive,
we should have seen the remarkable
spectacle of the first Administration
after the war which was controlled by
the late Copperheads and late rebels
striking at the army of the United States
in a bill founded upon the doctrine of
the secession, and defended by the same
arguments that Jefferson Davis urged
to justify rebellion. This is a fact which
should goVery far toward the indefinite
postponement of Democratic Restora-
tion.-Harper's Weekly


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