Year: 1873

.
Is the Governments Machinery OF the /


United States Fitted for the Ru1e OF /


Cassars IL


The machinery for carrying on the gov
ernment of the United States is peculiar-
ly adapted to the sway of CasaIism. The /
powers of the Presidential office would |
need no enlargement to make them abso-
lut5 if the tenure were prolonged. The |
Cabinet is not responsible Ministry,
directly answerable to the country, and |
likely 10 be turned out of office at any
moment BY an adverse vote of Congress,
bnt the mere. puPpet of the Presidents
will Mr. Fish is Grants chief clerk for
foreign affairs. General Belknap is his
principal war clerk. Mr.. Robeson keeps
an account of his ships and record Of
their movements. Mr.. Richardson is the
leading subordinate of the Treasury, SELL
ing gold and buying bonds and doing such
other things as he is ordered to do by the
Executive. The other officers hold simi-
lar relations to the President, and there
is no difference except a degree between
the heads of departments and the heads
of bureaus In every administration and
especially in times of great political ex-
eitement, even the Attorney General is
apt 10 construe the law in obedience. to the
Presidential whim, and II the. President
had power to keep him In office during
his life every enactment of Congress
would be found to fit the Executive pur-
pose. A great manufacturer, with mills
and machine shops, and banks and stores
and lines of transportation, does not con-
troll his vast enterprlses more absolutely
than the President controls the machinery
of the government of the United States.
Every Custom House officer in the coun-
try, every assessor and collector of inter-
nal revenue, every postmaster, every pet
ty feeder on public patronage, can be
reached by the President. as readily and
directly as Governor Sprague reaches his
cotton spinners and madder mixers. Even
the Supreme Court is not beyond the I'M
press Of the Presidential finger, and If the
term of Office of our Chief Magistrate
were for life, that august body would soon
feel the whole weight Of the Presidential
hand. No violent changes IN the Constl-
tuition are required for the reign of
Cesar. Not even Congress would need to
be abolished by a tyrant for, with chief
law clerk to construe Congress enactments
and Supreme Court to endorse his con-
stIuctions, it would not be necessary to
| incur the danger of destroying q body
that could exist without hurt. All these
considerations are of the most startling
character, and add to our fears of Cesar
ism which seems to be silently but
surely.


We are apt to speak in raptures of the
wisdom of the fathers and their statesman
ike foresight in framing the Constitution.
But we stanu aghast at their work when
we find how thoroughly fitted 1t Is for the
designs of an ambitious President. Ell
ther they believed that an American
D. 81, H., ~
ambition as distinguished Caesar and
Cromwell and Napoleon, or that the short
term of office allotted to our Chief Magis-
trates would be sufficient safeguard
against such ambition. 1t is idle to trust
the former of these hypothesis, for the
three names We have so often cited show
how hard it is when absolute power is
within ones grasp to put 1t away and
say


III not ketray the glory Of my names


IT'S not for me, who have preserved State,


TO buy an Empire at so dear rate.


The fact that time servers and politi-
clans speak of according a third term to
General Grant proves that the latter hy-
pothesis is equally untrustWorthy. There
was no danger in the past, because it was
always taken for granted that no one
woulo aspire to more than two terms of
the Presidential Office. But because no
politician IN the past was base enough to
propose a third term for Jefferson or jack
son it has not prevented bad men from
suggesting it for Grant. The magnanim-
| ity of the President and the patriotism
of the people, will prevent any such con-
summation now; but in the suggestion
itself is the proof of possible darger IN
the future. 1t is not every President who
can follow Washisgton's example, or
faithfully preserve the traditions of the
Republic. The man who can justly claim
to have preserved generally desires to rule
the State. History is full of instances
where the patriot of one day became the
tyrant Of the next Marc Antony, &C
cording to the poet, at least, proved that
Ceser was not ambitious, and yet every
ruler that Rome had after him was Cas-
sar. In our own day an Emperor wrote a
life of Cesar to justify his own and the
more brilliant Csesarism Of his uncle. Yet
neither Caesar nor Napoleon had such
means at his hard for making and perpet-
| uating his power as has every American
President. Successive re-elections through
the patronage of the government, the
corruptions of the politicians and the in
difference of the people seem all that is
necessary to make our Chief Magistrate
first an absolute then an hereditary ruler


A work called the Congressional Di-
rectory, published every year for the de-
lecJation of Congressmen and other per-
sons, whose names it contains, has list
of the principal officials in the depart
ment at Washington. Like the Army
/ Register. it includes only the line and
| staff-the heads of departments and bu-
reaus and their chief clerks-the rank and
1 4 L
many names the book contains and what
complicated machinery is necessary to run
| the government The Treasury Depart
ment has four comptrollers and six audi
/ tors. Each of these has a large staff of
assistants and battalion of clerks: and
they do not compose third part of the
official machinery IN the Treasury build
ing. The other departments are manned
with corresponding strength. The Navy
] Department, for instance, has as many
subordinates as would be required In time
Of war; while the Department has less
work to perform than the Light House
Board. The Custom Houses are organ
lied on the same liberal basis, and New
York City to-day swarms with federal of
fcials. All these, and ofice-holders of all
kinds. are practically the friends of the
imperial purple, especially since civil re-
form assured them of something like life
tenure to their places, and freed them in
| great measure from the fear of public opin-
ion. With them the party command is
their party cry. They know no political
duty but to obey. They would as soon
sing God Save the King" as "See, the
Conquering Hero Comes" They are the
fit instruments of tyTTany, and would feel
their officers all the same In the name CT
an Emperor as in the name of the people


1t may be urged that this government
machinery existed in the time Of Washing
ton, Jefferson, Jackson and Lincoln; if 1t
was good then, it must be good now if it
is dangerous now, it must have been dan
gerous then. But there is in this only
color Of truth. A thing may have the ele-
ments of danger always and yet be inno-
cuous for many generations Though the
organization of our government is highly
favorable to the sway of Csesarism there is
no harm while the spirit Of Cesarism is
absent. 1t Is only when power begins TO
sing slumber songs to liberty that we see