Looking at his daily life as it becomes known through the press
or conversation, his chief employment seems the dispensation of
patronage, unless society is an employment. For this he is visited
daily by Senators and Representatives bringing distant constituents.
The Executive Mansion has become that famous “Treasury trough”
described so well by an early Congressional orator:--
“Such running, such jostling, such wriggling, such clambering over
one another’s backs, such squealing, because the tub is so narrow
and the company is so crowded.”[172]
To sit behind is the Presidential occupation, watching and feeding the
animals. If this were an amusement only, it might be pardoned; but it
must be seen in a more serious light. Some nations are governed by
the sword,--in other words, by central force commanding obedience.
Our President governs by offices,--in other words, by the appointing
power, being a central force by which he coerces obedience to his
personal will. Let a Senator or Representative hesitate in the support
of his autocracy, or doubt if he merits a second term, and forthwith
some distant consul or postmaster, appointed by his influence, begins
to tremble. The “Head Centre” makes himself felt to the most distant
circumference. Can such tyranny, where the military spirit of our
President finds a congenial field, be permitted to endure?
In adopting him as a candidate for reëlection we undertake to vindicate
his Presidency, and adopt in all things the insulting, incapable,
aide-de-campish dictatorship which he has inaugurated. Presenting his
name, we vouch for his fitness, not only in original nature, but in
experience of civil life, in aptitude for civil duties, in knowledge
of republican institutions, and elevation of purpose; and we must
be ready to defend openly what he has openly done. Can Republicans
honestly do this thing? Let it be said that he is not only the greatest
nepotist among Presidents, but greater than all others together, and
what Republican can reply? Let it be said that he is not only the
greatest gift-taker among Presidents, but the only one who repaid his
patrons at the public expense, and what Republican can reply? Let it
be said that he has openly violated the Constitution and International
Law, in the prosecution of a wretched contrivance against the peace
of San Domingo, and what Republican can reply? Let it be said, that,
wielding the power of the Great Republic, he has insulted the Black
Republic with a menace of war, involving indignity to the African
Race, and what Republican can reply? Let it be said that he has set
up Presidential pretensions without number, constituting an undoubted
Cæsarism or personal government, and what Republican can reply? And let
it be added, that, unconscious of all this misrule, he quarrels without
cause even with political supporters, and on such a scale as to become
the greatest Presidential quarreller of our history, quarrelling more
than all other Presidents together, and what Republican can reply? It
will not be enough to say that he was triumphant in war,--as Scipio,
the victor of Hannibal, reminded the Roman people that on this day
he conquered at Zama.[173] Others have been triumphant in war and
failed in civil life,--as Marlborough, whose heroic victories seemed
unaccountable, in the frivolity, the ignorance, and the heartlessness
of his pretended statesmanship. To Washington was awarded that rarest
tribute, “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his
countrymen.”[174] Of our President it will be said willingly, “first in
war,” but the candid historian will add, “first in nepotism, first in
gift-taking and repaying by official patronage, first in Presidential
pretensions, and first in quarrel with his countrymen.”
Anxiously, earnestly, the country asks for reform, and stands tiptoe
to greet the coming. But how expect reform from a President who needs
it so much himself? Who shall reform the reformer? So also does the
country ask for purity. But is it not vain to seek this boon from one
whose Presidential pretensions are so demoralizing? Who shall purify
the purifier? The country asks for reform in the civil service. But how
expect any such change from one who will not allow the Presidential
office to be secured against its worst temptation? The country desires
an example for the youth of the land, where intelligence shall blend
with character, and both be elevated by a constant sense of duty with
unselfish devotion to the public weal. But how accord this place to
a President who makes his great office a plaything and perquisite,
while his highest industry is in quarrelling? Since Sancho Panza at
Barataria, no Governor has provided so well for his relations at the
expense of his country; and if any other has made Cabinet appointments
the return for personal favors, his name has dropped out of history.
A man is known by his acts; so also by the company he keeps. And is
not our President known by his intimacy with those who are by-words of
distrust? But all these by-words look to another term for perpetuation
of their power. Therefore, for the sake of reform and purity, which are
a longing of the people, and also that the Chief Magistrate may be an
example, we must seek a remedy.
See for one moment how pernicious must be the Presidential example.
First in place, his personal influence is far-reaching beyond that of
any other citizen. What he does others will do. What he fails to do
others will fail to do. His standard of conduct will be accepted at
least by his political supporters. His measure of industry and his
sense of duty will be the pattern for the country. If he appoints
relations to office and repays gifts by official patronage, making
his Presidency a great “gift-enterprise,” may not every office-holder
do likewise, each in his sphere, so that nepotism and gift-taking
with official remuneration will be general, and gift-enterprises be
multiplied indefinitely in the public service? If he treats his trust
as plaything and perquisite, why may not every office-holder do the
same? If he disregards Constitution and Law in the pursuit of personal
objects, how can we expect a just subordination from others? If he sets
up pretensions without number repugnant to republican institutions,
must not the good cause suffer? If he is stubborn, obstinate, and
perverse, are not stubbornness, obstinacy, and perversity commended
for imitation? If he insults and wrongs associates in official trust,
who is safe from the malignant influence having its propulsion from
the Executive Mansion? If he fraternizes with jobbers and Hessians,
where is the limit to the demoralization that must ensue? Necessarily
the public service takes its character from its elected chief, and the
whole country reflects the President. His example is a law. But a bad
example must be corrected as a bad law.
To the Republican Party, devoted to ideas and principles, I turn
now with more than ordinary solicitude. Not willingly can I see it
sacrificed. Not without earnest effort against the betrayal can I
suffer its ideas and principles to be lost in the personal pretensions
of one man. Both the old parties are in a crisis, with this difference
between the two: the Democracy is dissolving, the Republican party is
being absorbed; the Democracy is falling apart, thus visibly losing
its vital unity,--the Republican Party is submitting to a personal
influence, thus visibly losing its vital character; the Democracy is
ceasing to exist, the Republican Party is losing its identity. Let the
process be completed, and it will be no longer that Republican Party
which I helped to found and have always served, but only a personal
party,--while instead of those ideas and principles which we have been
so proud to uphold will be Presidential pretensions, and instead of
Republicanism there will be nothing but Grantism.
Political parties are losing their sway. Higher than party are country
and the duty to save it from Cæsar. The Caucus is at last understood
as a political engine moved by wire-pullers, and it becomes more
insupportable in proportion as directed to personal ends. Nor is
its character changed when called a National Convention. Here, too,
are wire-pullers; and when the great Office-Holder and the great
Office-Seeker are one and the same, it is easy to see how naturally
the engine responds to the central touch. A political convention is
an agency and convenience, but never a law, least of all a despotism;
and when it seeks to impose a candidate whose name is a synonym of
pretensions unrepublican in character and hostile to good government,
it will be for earnest Republicans to consider well how clearly
party is subordinate to country. Such a nomination can have no just
obligation. Therefore with unspeakable interest will the country watch
the National Convention at Philadelphia. It may be an assembly (and
such is my hope) where ideas and principles are above all personal
pretensions, and the unity of the party is symbolized in the candidate;
or it may add another to Presidential rings, being an expansion of the
military ring at the Executive Mansion, the senatorial ring in this
Chamber, and the political ring in the custom-houses of New York and
New Orleans. A National Convention which is a Presidential ring cannot
represent the Republican Party.
Much rather would I see the party to which I am dedicated, under the
image of a life-boat not to be sunk by wind or wave. How often have I
said this to cheer my comrades! I do not fear the Democratic Party.
Nothing from them can harm our life-boat. But I do fear a quarrelsome
pilot, unused to the sea, but pretentious in command, who occupies
himself in loading aboard his own unserviceable relations and personal
patrons, while he drives away the experienced seamen who know the craft
and her voyage. Here is a peril which no life-boat can stand.
Meanwhile I wait the determination of the National Convention, where
are delegates from my own much-honored Commonwealth with whom I rejoice
to act. Not without anxiety do I wait, but with the earnest hope that
the Convention will bring the Republican Party into ancient harmony,
saving it especially from the suicidal folly of an issue on the
personal pretensions of one man.