I have now completed the survey of the two typical instances--Nepotism,
and Gift-Taking with repayment by office--in which we are compelled
to see the President. In these things he shows himself. Here is no
portrait drawn by critic or enemy; it is the original who stands
forth, saying: “Behold the generosity I practise to my relations at
the expense of the public service! also the gifts I take, and then
my way of rewarding the patrons, always at the expense of the public
service!” In this open exhibition we see how the Presidency, instead
of a trust, has become a perquisite. Bad as are these two capital
instances, and important as is their condemnation, so that they may not
become a precedent, I dwell on them now as illustrating character. A
President who can do such things, and not recognize at once the error
he has committed, shows that supereminence of egotism under which
Constitution, International Law, and Municipal Law, to say nothing of
Republican Government in its primary principles, are all subordinated
to the Presidential will; and this is Personal Government. Add an
insensibility to the honest convictions of others, and you have a
natural feature of this pretension.
Lawyers cite what are called “Leading Cases.” A few of these show the
Presidential will in constant operation with little regard to precedent
or reason, so as to be a caprice, if it were not a pretension.
Imitating the Popes in Nepotism, the President has imitated them in
ostentatious assumption of Infallibility.