In opening this catalogue I select two typical instances,--Nepotism,
and Gift-Taking with repayment by office, each absolutely indefensible
in the head of a Republic, most pernicious in example, and showing
beyond question that surpassing egotism which changed the Presidential
office into a personal instrumentality, not unlike the trunk of an
elephant, apt for all things, small as well as great, from provision
for a relation to forcing a treaty on a reluctant Senate, or forcing a
reëlection on a reluctant people.