The English Constitution, as it existed between 1760 and 1787, was the
model of the American, but parts of it were inapplicable to the
conditions in which the thirteen Colonies found themselves, and where
the model failed the Convention struck out anew. The sagacity of the
American statesmen in this creative work may well fill Englishmen, so
Sir Henry Maine wrote, "with wonder and envy." Mr. Bryce's
classification of constitutions as flexible and rigid is apt: of our
Constitution it may be said that in the main it is rigid in those
matters which should not be submitted to the decision of a legislature
or to a popular vote without checks which secure reflection and a chance
for the sober second thought, and that it has proved flexible in its
adaptation to the growth of the country and to the development of the
nineteenth century. Sometimes, though, it is flexible to the extent of
lacking precision. An instance of this is the proviso for the counting
of the electoral vote. "The votes shall then be counted" are the words.
Thus, when in 1876 it was doubtful whether Tilden or Hayes had been
chosen President, a fierce controversy arose as to who should count the
votes, the President of the Senate or Congress. While many regretted the
absence of an incontrovertible provision, it was fortunate for the
country that the Constitution did not provide that the vote should be
counted by the President of the Senate, who, the Vice President having
died in office, was in 1877 a creature of the partisan majority. It is
doubtful, too, if the decision of such an officer would have been
acquiesced in by the mass of Democrats, who thought that they had fairly
elected their candidate. There being no express declaration of the
Constitution, it devolved upon Congress to settle the dispute; the
ability and patriotism of that body was equal to the crisis. By a
well-devised plan of arbitration, Congress relieved the strain and
provided for a peaceful settlement of a difficulty which in most
countries would have led to civil war.
In the provisions conferring the powers and defining the duties of the
executive the flexible character of the Constitution is shown in another
way. Everything is clearly stated, but the statements go not beyond the
elementary. The Convention knew what it wanted to say, and Gouverneur
Morris, who in the end drew up the document, wrote this part of it, as
indeed all other parts, in clear and effective words. It is due to him,
wrote Laboulaye, that the Constitution has a "distinctness entirely
French, in happy contrast to the complicated language of the English
laws." Yet on account of the elementary character of the article of the
Constitution on the powers of the President, there is room for
inference, a chance for development, and an opportunity for a strong man
to imprint his character upon the office. The Convention, writes Mr.
Bryce, made its executive a George III "shorn of a part of his
prerogative," his influence and dignity diminished by a reduction of the
term of office to four years. The English writer was thoroughly familiar
with the _Federalist_, and appreciated Hamilton's politic efforts to
demonstrate that the executive of the Constitution was modeled after the
governors of the states, and not after the British monarch; but "an
enlarged copy of the state governor," Mr. Bryce asserts, is one and the
same thing as "a reduced and improved copy of the English king." But, on
the other hand, Bagehot did not believe that the Americans comprehended
the English Constitution. "Living across the Atlantic," he wrote, "and
misled by accepted doctrines, the acute framers of the Federal
Constitution, even after the keenest attention, did not perceive the
Prime Minister to be the principal executive of the British
Constitution, and the sovereign a cog in the mechanism;" and he seems to
think that if this had been understood the executive power would have
been differently constituted.
It is a pertinent suggestion of Mr. Bryce's that the members of the
Convention must have been thinking of their presiding officer, George
Washington, as the first man who would exercise the powers of the
executive office they were creating. So it turned out. Never did a
country begin a new enterprise with so wise a ruler. An admirable polity
had been adopted, but much depended upon getting it to work, and the man
who was selected to start the government was the man of all men for the
task. Histories many and from different points of view have been written
of Washington's administration; all are interesting, and the subject
seems to ennoble the writers. Statesmen meeting with students to discuss
the character and political acts of Washington marvel at his wisdom in
great things and his patience in small things, at the dignity and good
sense with which he established the etiquette of his office, at the tact
which retained in his service two such irreconcilable men as Jefferson
and Hamilton. The importance of a good start for an infant government is
well understood. But for our little state of four million people such a
start was difficult to secure. The contentions which grew out of the
ratification of the Constitution in the different states had left bitter
feelings behind them, and these domestic troubles were heightened by our
intimate relations with foreign countries. We touched England, France,
and Spain at delicate points, and the infancy of our nation was passed
during the turmoil of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. In
our midst there was an English and a French party. Moreover, in the
judgment of the world the experiment of the new government was
foredoomed to failure. Wrote Sir Henry Maine, "It is not at all easy to
bring home to the men of the present day how low the credit of republics
had sunk before the establishment of the United States." Hardly were
success to be won had we fallen upon quiet times; but with free
governments discredited, and the word "liberty" made a reproach by the
course of the French Revolution, it would seem impossible.
Washington's prescience is remarkable. Recognizing, in October, 1789,
that France had "gone triumphantly through the first paroxysm," he felt
that she must encounter others, that more blood must be shed, that she
might run from one extreme to another, and that "a higher-toned
despotism" might replace "the one which existed before." Mentally
prepared as he was, he met with skill the difficulties as they arose, so
that the conduct of our foreign relations during the eight years of his
administration was marked by discretion and furnished a good pattern to
follow. During his foreign negotiations he determined a constitutional
question of importance. When the Senate had ratified and Washington,
after some delay, had signed the Jay treaty, the House of
Representatives, standing for the popular clamor against it, asked the
President for all the papers relating to the negotiation, on the ground
that the House of Representatives must give its concurrence. This demand
he resisted, maintaining that it struck at "the fundamental principles
of the Constitution," which conferred upon the President and the Senate
the power of making treaties, and provided that these treaties when made
and ratified were the supreme law of the land. In domestic affairs he
showed discernment in selecting as his confidential adviser, Alexander
Hamilton, a man who had great constructive talent; and he gave a
demonstration of the physical strength of the government by putting
down the whisky rebellion in Pennsylvania. During his eight years he
construed the powers conferred upon the executive by the Constitution
with wisdom, and exercised them with firmness and vigor. Washington was
a man of exquisite manners and his conduct of the office gave it a
dignity and prestige which, with the exception of a part of one term, it
has never lost.
Four of the five Presidents who followed Washington were men of
education and ability, and all of them had large political training and
experience; they reached their position by the process of a natural
selection in politics, being entitled fitly to the places for which they
were chosen. The three first fell upon stormy times and did their work
during periods of intense partisan excitement; they were also subject to
personal detraction, but the result in the aggregate of their
administrations was good, inasmuch as they either maintained the power
of the executive or increased its influence. Despite their many mistakes
they somehow overcame the great difficulties. Each one did something of
merit and the country made a distinct gain from John Adams to Monroe.
Any one of them suffers by comparison with Washington: the "era of good
feeling" was due to Congress and the people as well as to the executive.
Nevertheless, the three turbulent administrations and the two quiet ones
which succeeded Washington's may at this distance from them be
contemplated with a feeling of gratulation. The Presidents surrounded
themselves for the most part with men of ability, experience, and
refinement, who carried on the government with dignity and a sense of
proportion, building well upon the foundations which Washington had
laid.
A contrast between France and the United States leads to curious
reflections. The one has a past rich in art, literature, and
architecture, which the other almost entirely lacks. But politically the
older country has broken with the past, while we have political
traditions peculiar to ourselves of the highest value. For the man
American-born they may be summed up in Washington, the rest of the
"Fathers," and the Constitution; and those who leave England, Scotland,
Ireland, Wales, Germany, and Scandinavia to make their home in America
soon come to share in these possessions. While the immigrants from
southern Europe do not comprehend the Constitution, they know
Washington. An object lesson may be had almost any pleasant Sunday or
holiday in the public garden in Boston from the group of Italians who
gather about the statue of Washington, showing, by their mobile faces
and animated talk, that they revere him who is the father of their
adopted country.
During these five administrations, at least two important extensions or
assertions of executive power were made. In 1803 Jefferson bought
Louisiana, doing, he said, "an act beyond the Constitution." He was a
strict constructionist, and was deeply concerned at the variance between
his constitutional principles and a desire for the material advantage of
his country. In an effort to preserve his consistency he suggested to
his Cabinet and political friends an amendment to the Constitution
approving and confirming the cession of this territory, but they,
deeming such an amendment entirely unnecessary, received his suggestion
coldly. In the debate on the Louisiana treaty in the Senate and the
House, all speakers of both parties agreed that "the United States
government had the power to acquire new territory either by conquest or
by treaty."[164] Louisiana, "without its consent and against its will,"
was annexed to the United States, and Jefferson "made himself monarch of
the new territory, and wielded over it, against its protests, the
powers of its old kings."[165]
The assertion by the President in 1823 of the Monroe Doctrine (which Mr.
Worthington C. Ford has shown to be the John Quincy Adams doctrine) is
an important circumstance in the development of the executive power.
President John Quincy Adams was succeeded by Andrew Jackson, a man of
entirely different character from those who had preceded him in the
office, and he represented different aims. Adams deserved another term.
His sturdy Americanism, tempered by the cautiousness in procedure which
was due to his rare training, made him an excellent public servant, and
the country erred in not availing itself of his further service. The
change from the _regime_ of the first six Presidents to that of Jackson
was probably inevitable. A high-toned democracy, based on a qualified
suffrage, believing in the value of training for public life and
administrative office, setting a value on refinement and good manners,
was in the end sure to give way to a pure democracy based on universal
suffrage whenever it could find a leader to give it force and direction.
Jackson was such a leader. His followers felt: "He is one of us. He is
not proud and does not care for style."[166] The era of vulgarity in
national politics was ushered in by Jackson, who as President introduced
the custom of rewarding political workers with offices, an innovation
entirely indefensible; he ought to have continued the practice of his
six predecessors. The interaction between government and politics on the
one hand and the life of the people on the other is persistent, and it
may be doubted whether the United States would have seemed as it did to
Dickens had not Jackson played such an important part in the
vulgarization of politics. Yet it was a happy country, as the pages of
Tocqueville bear witness.
Jackson was a strong executive and placed in his Cabinet men who would
do his will, and who, from his own point of view, were good advisers,
since they counseled him to pursue the course he had marked out for
himself. Comparing his Cabinet officers to those of the Presidents
preceding him, one realizes that another plan of governing was set on
foot, based on the theory that any American citizen is fit for any
position to which he is called. It was an era when special training for
administrative work began to be slighted, when education beyond the
rudiments was considered unnecessary except in the three professions,
when the practical man was apotheosized and the bookish man despised.
Jackson, uneducated and with little experience in civil life, showed
what power might be exercised by an arbitrary, unreasonable man who had
the people at his back. The brilliant three--Webster, Clay, and
Calhoun--were unable to prevail against his power.
Jackson's financial policy may be defended; yet had it not been for his
course during the nullification trouble, his declaration, "Our Federal
Union: It must be preserved," and his consistent and vigorous action in
accordance with that sentiment it would be difficult to affirm that the
influence of his two terms of office was good. It cannot be said that he
increased permanently the power of the executive, but he showed its
capabilities. It is somewhat curious, however, that Tocqueville, whose
observations were made under Jackson, should have written: "The
President possesses almost royal prerogatives, which he never has an
opportunity of using.... The laws permit him to be strong; circumstances
keep him weak."
The eight Presidents from Jackson to Lincoln did not raise the character
of the presidential office. Van Buren was the heir of Jackson. Of the
others, five owed their nominations to their availability. The evil
which Jackson did lived after him; indeed, only a man as powerful for
the good as he had been for the bad could have restored the civil
service to the merit system which had prevailed before he occupied the
White House. The offices were at stake in every election, and the
scramble for them after the determination of the result was great and
pressing. The chief business of a President for many months after his
inauguration was the dealing out of the offices to his followers and
henchmen. It was a bad scheme, from the political point of view, for
every President except him who inaugurated it. Richelieu is reported to
have said, on making an appointment, "I have made a hundred enemies and
one ingrate." So might have said many times the Presidents who succeeded
Jackson.
The Whig, a very respectable party, having in its ranks the majority of
the men of wealth and education, fell a victim to the doctrine of
availability when it nominated Harrison on account of his military
reputation. He lived only one month after his inauguration, and Tyler,
the Vice President, who succeeded him, reverted to his old political
principles, which were Democratic, and broke with the Whigs. By an
adroit and steady use of the executive power he effected the annexation
of Texas, but the master spirit in this enterprise was Calhoun, his
Secretary of State. Polk, his Democratic successor, coveted California
and New Mexico, tried to purchase them, and not being able to do this,
determined on war. In fact, he had decided to send in a war message to
Congress before the news came that the Mexicans, goaded to it by the
action of General Taylor, under direct orders of the President, had
attacked an American force and killed sixteen of our dragoons. This
gave a different complexion to his message, and enabled him to get a
strong backing from Congress for his war policy. The actions of Tyler
and of Polk illustrate the power inherent in the executive office. It
might seem that the exercise of this authority, securing for us at small
material cost the magnificent domains of Texas, California, and New
Mexico, would have given these Presidents a fame somewhat like that
which Jefferson won by the purchase of Louisiana. But such has not been
the case. The main reason is that the extension of slavery was involved
in both enterprises, and the histories of these times, which have molded
historical sentiment, have been written from the antislavery point of
view. It seems hardly probable that this sentiment will be changed in
any time that we can forecast, but there is an undoubted tendency in the
younger historical students to look upon the expansion of the country as
the important consideration, and the slavery question as incidental.
Professor von Holst thought this changing historical sentiment entirely
natural, but he felt sure that in the end men would come round to the
antislavery view, of which he was so powerful an advocate.
From Taylor to Lincoln slavery dominated all other questions. Taylor was
a Southern man and a slaveholder, and by his course on the Compromise
measures attracted the favor of antislavery men; while Fillmore of New
York, who succeeded this second President to die in office, and who
exerted the power of the Administration to secure the passage of Clay's
Compromise and signed the Fugitive Slave Law, had but a small political
following at the North. Pierce and Buchanan were weak, the more positive
men in their Cabinets and in the Senate swayed them. For a part of both
of their terms the House of Representatives was controlled by the
opposition, the Senate remaining Democratic. These circumstances are
evidence both of the length of time required to change the political
complexion of the Senate and of the increasing power of the North, which
was dominant in the popular House. For the decade before the Civil War
we should study the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme
Court, the action of the states, and popular sentiment. The executive is
still powerful, but he is powerful because he is the representative of a
party or faction which dictates the use that shall be made of his
constitutional powers. The presidential office loses interest:
irresolute men are in the White House, strong men everywhere else.
Lincoln is inaugurated President; the Civil War ensues, and with it an
extraordinary development of the executive power. It is an interesting
fact that the ruler of a republic which sprang from a resistance to the
English king and Parliament should exercise more arbitrary power than
any Englishman since Oliver Cromwell, and that many of his acts should
be worthy of a Tudor. Lincoln was a good lawyer who reverenced the
Constitution and the laws, and only through necessity assumed and
exercised extra-legal powers, trying at the same time to give to these
actions the color of legality. Hence his theory of the war power of the
Constitution, which may be construed to permit everything necessary to
carry on the war. Yet his dictatorship was different from Caesar's and
different from the absolute authority of Napoleon. He acted under the
restraints imposed by his own legal conscience and patriotic soul, whose
influence was revealed in his confidential letters and talks. We know
furthermore that he often took counsel of his Cabinet officers before
deciding matters of moment. Certain it is that in arbitrary arrests
Seward and Stanton were disposed to go further than Lincoln. The spirit
of arbitrary power was in the air, and unwise and unjust acts were done
by subordinates, which, although Lincoln would not have done them
himself, he deemed it better to ratify than to undo. This was notably
the case in the arrest of Vallandigham. Again, Congress did not always
do what Lincoln wished, and certain men of his own party in Congress
were strong enough to influence his actions in various ways. But, after
all, he was himself a strong man exercising comprehensive authority; and
it is an example of the flexibility of the Constitution that, while it
surely did not authorize certain of Lincoln's acts, it did not expressly
forbid them. It was, for example, an open question whether the
Constitution authorized Congress or the President to suspend the writ of
_habeas corpus_.
It seems to be pretty well settled by the common sense of mankind that
when a nation is fighting for its existence it cannot be fettered by all
the legal technicalities which obtain in the time of peace. Happy the
country whose dictatorship, if dictator there must be, falls into wise
and honest hands! The honesty, magnanimity, and wisdom of Lincoln guided
him aright, and no harm has come to the great principles of liberty from
the arbitrary acts which he did or suffered to be done. On the other
hand he has so impressed himself upon the Commonwealth that he has made
a precedent for future rulers in a time of national peril, and what he
excused and defended will be assumed as a matter of course because it
will be according to the Constitution as interpreted by Abraham Lincoln.
This the Supreme Court foresaw when it rendered its judgment in the
Milligan case, saying: "Wicked men ambitious of power, with hatred of
liberty and contempt of law, may fill the place once occupied by
Washington and Lincoln, and if this right is conceded [that of a
commander in a time of war to declare martial law within the lines of
his military district and subject citizens as well as soldiers to the
rule of _his will_] and the calamities of war again befall us, the
dangers to human liberty are frightful to contemplate." No one can deny
that a danger here exists, but it is not so great as the solemn words of
the Supreme Court might lead one to believe. For Lincoln could not have
persisted in his arbitrary acts had a majority of Congress definitely
opposed them, and his real strength lay in the fact that he had the
people at his back. This may be said of the period from the first call
of troops in April, 1861, until the summer of 1862. McClellan's failure
on the Peninsula, Pope's disaster at the second battle of Bull Run, the
defeats at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville lost Lincoln the
confidence of many; and while the emancipation proclamation of
September, 1862, intensified the support of others, it nevertheless
alienated some Republicans and gave to the opposition of the Democrats a
new vigor. But after Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July, 1863, Lincoln had
the support of the mass of the Northern people. Whatever he did the
people believed was right because he had done it. The trust each placed
in the other is one of the inspiring examples of free government and
democracy. Lincoln did not betray their confidence: they did not falter
save possibly for brief moments during the gloomy summer of 1864. The
people who gave their unreserved support to Lincoln were endued with
intelligence and common sense; not attracted by any personal magnetism
of the man, they had, by a process of homely reasoning, attained their
convictions and from these they were not to be shaken. This is the
safety of a dictatorship as long as the same intelligence obtains among
the voters as now; for the people will not support a ruler in the
exercise of extra-legal powers unless he be honest and patriotic. The
danger may come in a time of trouble from either an irresolute or an
unduly obstinate executive. The irresolute man would baffle the best
intentions of the voters; the obstinate man might quarrel with Congress
and the people. Either event in time of war would be serious and might
be disastrous. But the chances are against another Buchanan or Johnson
in the presidential office.
If the Civil War showed the flexibility of the Constitution in that the
executive by the general agreement of Congress and the people was able
to assume unwarranted powers, the course of affairs under Johnson
demonstrated the strength that Congress derived from the organic act.
The story is told in a sentence by Blaine: "Two thirds of each House
united and stimulated to one end can practically neutralize the
executive power of the government and lay down its policy in defiance of
the efforts and opposition of the President."[167] What a contrast
between the two administrations! Under Lincoln Congress, for the most
part, simply registered the will of the President; under Johnson the
President became a mere executive clerk of Congress. In the one case the
people supported the President, in the other they sustained Congress.
Nothing could better illustrate the flexibility of the Constitution than
the contrast between these administrations; but it needs no argument to
show that to pass from one such extreme to another is not healthy for
the body politic. The violent antagonisms aroused during Johnson's
administration, when the difficult questions to be settled needed the
best statesmanship of the country, and when the President and Congress
should have cooperated wisely and sympathetically, did incalculable
harm. Johnson, by habits, manners, mind, and character, was unfit for
the presidential office, and whatever may have been the merit of his
policy, a policy devised by angels could never have been carried on by
such an advocate. The American people love order and decency; they have
a high regard for the presidential office, and they desire to see its
occupant conduct himself with dignity. Jackson and Lincoln lacked many
of the external graces of a gentleman, but both had native qualities
which enabled them to bear themselves with dignity on public occasions.
Johnson degraded the office, and he is the only one of our Presidents of
whom this can be said. Bagehot, writing in 1872, drew an illustration
from one of the darkest periods of our republic to show the superiority
of the English Constitution. If we have a Prime Minister who does not
suit Parliament and the people, he argued, we remove him by a simple
vote of the House of Commons. The United States can only get rid of its
undesirable executive by a cumbrous and tedious process which can only
be brought to bear during a period of revolutionary excitement; and even
this failed because a legal case was not made against the President. The
criticism was pregnant, but the remedy was not Cabinet responsibility.
Whatever may be the merits or demerits of our polity, it has grown as
has the English; it has fitted itself to the people, and cabinet
government cannot be had without a complete change of the organic act,
which is neither possible nor desirable. The lesson was that the
national conventions should exercise more care in naming their
vice-presidential candidates; and these bodies have heeded it. When
Grant, popular throughout the country, nominated by the unanimous vote
of the Republican convention, became President, Congress restored to the
executive a large portion of the powers of which it had been shorn
during Johnson's administration. Grant had splendid opportunities which
he did not improve, and he left no especial impression on the office. In
the opinion of one of his warm friends and supporters he made "a pretty
poor President." An able opposition to him developed in his own party;
and as he was a sensitive man he felt keenly their attacks. Colonel John
Hay told me that, when on a visit to Washington during Grant's
administration, he had arrived at the Arlington Hotel at an early hour
and started out for a walk; in front of the White House he was surprised
to meet the President, who was out for the same purpose. The two walked
together to the Capitol and back, Grant showing himself to be anything
but a silent man. Manifesting a keen sensitiveness to the attacks upon
him, he talked all of the time in a voluble manner, and the burden of
his talk was a defense of his administrative acts. It is impossible in
our minds to dissociate Grant the President from Grant the General, and
for this reason American historical criticism will deal kindly with him.
The brilliant victor of Donelson, the bold strategist of Vicksburg, the
compeller of men at Chattanooga, the vanquisher of Robert E. Lee in
March and April, 1865, the magnanimous conqueror at Appomattox, will be
treated with charity by those who write about his presidential terms,
because he meant well although he did not know how to do well. Moreover,
the good which Grant did is of that salient kind which will not be
forgotten. The victorious general, with two trusted military
subordinates in the prime of life and a personnel for a strong navy,
persisted, under the guidance of his wise Secretary of State, Hamilton
Fish, in negotiating a treaty which provided for arbitration and
preserved the peace with Great Britain; although, in the opinion of the
majority, the country had a just cause of war in the escape of the
Florida and the Alabama. After the panic of 1873, when financiers and
capitalists lost their heads, and Congress with the approval of public
sentiment passed an act increasing the amount of United States notes in
circulation, Grant, by a manly and bold veto, prevented this inflation
of the currency. The wisdom of the framers of the Constitution in giving
the President the veto power was exemplified. Congress did not pass the
act over the veto, and Grant has been justified by the later judgment of
the nation. His action demonstrated what a President may do in resisting
by his constitutional authority some transitory wave of popular opinion,
and it has proved a precedent of no mean value. Johnson's vetoes became
ridiculous. Grant's veto compensates for many of his mistakes.
Said Chancellor Kent in 1826: "If ever the tranquillity of this nation
is to be disturbed and its liberties endangered by a struggle for power,
it will be upon this very subject of the choice of a President. This is
the question that is eventually to test the goodness and try the
strength of the Constitution, and if we shall be able for half a century
hereafter to continue to elect the chief magistrate of the Union with
discretion, moderation, and integrity we shall undoubtedly stamp the
highest value on our national character." Just fifty years later came a
more dangerous test than Kent could have imagined. Somewhat more than
half of the country believed that the states of Florida and Louisiana
should be counted for Tilden, and that he was therefore elected. On the
other hand, nearly one half of the voters were of the opinion that those
electoral votes should be given to Hayes, which would elect him by the
majority of one electoral vote. Each of the parties had apparently a
good case, and after an angry controversy became only the more firmly
and sincerely convinced that its own point of view was unassailable. The
Senate was Republican, the House Democratic. The great Civil War had
been ended only eleven years before, and the country was full of
fighting men. The Southern people were embittered against the dominant
party for the reason that Reconstruction had gone otherwise than they
had expected in 1865 when they laid down their arms. The country was on
the verge of a civil war over the disputed Presidency--a war that might
have begun with an armed encounter on the floor of the Senate or the
House. This was averted by a carefully prepared congressional act, which
in effect left the dispute to a board of arbitration. To the statesmen
of both parties who devised this plan and who cooperated in carrying the
measure through Congress; to the members of the Electoral Commission,
who in the bitterest strife conducted themselves with dignity; to the
Democratic Speaker of the House and the Democrats who followed his lead,
the eternal gratitude of the country is due. "He that ruleth his spirit
is better than he that taketh a city." The victories of Manila and
Santiago are as nothing compared with the victorious restraint of the
American people in 1876 and 1877 and the acquiescence of one half of the
country in what they believed to be an unrighteous decision. Hayes was
inaugurated peacefully, but had to conduct his administration in the
view of 4,300,000 voters who believed that, whatever might be his legal
claim, he had no moral right to the place he occupied. The Democrats
controlled the House of Representatives during the whole of his term,
and the Senate for a part of it, and at the outset he encountered the
opposition of the stalwart faction of his own party. Nevertheless he
made a successful President, and under him the office gained in force
and dignity. Hayes was not a man of brilliant parts or wide
intelligence, but he had common sense and decision of character.
Surrounding himself with a strong Cabinet, three members of which were
really remarkable for their ability, he entered upon a distinct policy
from which flowed good results. He withdrew the Federal troops from the
states of South Carolina and Louisiana, inaugurating in these states an
era of comparative peace and tranquillity. Something was done in the
interest of Civil Service Reform. In opposition to the view of his
Secretary of the Treasury and confidential friend, John Sherman, he
vetoed the act of 1878 for the remonetization of silver by the coinage
of a certain amount of silver dollars--the first of those measures which
almost brought us to the monetary basis of silver. His guiding principle
was embodied in a remark he made in his inaugural address, "He serves
his party best who serves the country best." He and his accomplished
wife had a social and moral influence in Washington of no mean value.
The Civil War had been followed by a period of corruption, profligacy,
and personal immorality. In politics, if a man were sound on the main
question, which meant if he were a thorough-going Republican, all else
was forgiven. Under Hayes account was again taken of character and
fitness. The standard of political administration was high. While Mrs.
Hayes undoubtedly carried her total abstinence principles to an extreme
not warranted by the usage of good society, the moral atmosphere of the
White House was that of most American homes. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes belonged
to that large class who are neither rich nor poor, neither learned nor
ignorant, but who are led both by their native common sense and by their
upbringing to have a high respect for learning, a belief in education,
morality, and religion, and a lofty ideal for their own personal
conduct.
The salient feature of Garfield's few months of administration was a
quarrel between him and the senators from New York State about an
important appointment. Into this discussion, which ended in a tragedy,
entered so many factors that it is impossible to determine exactly the
influence on the power of the President and the growing power of the
Senate. One important result of it shall be mentioned. The Civil Service
Reform Bill, introduced into the Senate by a Democrat, was enacted
during Arthur's administration by a large and non-partisan majority. It
provided for a non-partisan civil service commission, and established
open competitive examinations for applicants for certain offices, making
a commencement by law of the merit system, which before had depended
entirely upon executive favor. It was a victory for reformers who had
been advocating legislation of such a character from a period shortly
after the close of the Civil War; for it was at that time that a few
began the work of educating public sentiment, which had acquiesced in
the rotation of offices as an American principle well worthy of
maintenance. Consequences far-reaching and wholesome followed the
passage of this important act. Grant had attempted and Hayes had
accomplished a measure of reform, but to really fix the merit system in
the civil service a law was needed.
Regarded by the lovers of good government as a machine politician,
Arthur happily disappointed them by breaking loose from his old
associations and pursuing a manly course. He gave the country a
dignified administration; but, even had he been a man to impress his
character upon the office, conditions were against him. His party was
torn by internal dissensions and suffered many defeats, of which the
most notable was in his own state of New York, where his Secretary of
the Treasury and personal friend was overwhelmingly defeated for
governor by Grover Cleveland.
The unprecedented majority which Cleveland received in this election and
his excellent administration as Governor of New York secured for him the
Democratic nomination for President in 1884. New York State decided the
election, but the vote was so close that for some days the result was in
doubt and the country was nervous lest there should be another disputed
Presidency; in the end it was determined that Cleveland had carried that
state by a plurality of 1149. Cleveland was the first Democratic
President elected since 1856; the Democrats had been out of office for
twenty-four years, and it had galled them to think that their historic
party had so long been deprived of power and patronage. While many of
their leaders had a good record on the question of Civil Service Reform,
the rank and file believed in the Jacksonian doctrine of rewarding party
workers with the offices, or, as most of them would have put it, "To the
victors belong the spoils." With this principle so fixed in the minds of
his supporters, it became an interesting question how Cleveland would
meet it. No one could doubt that he would enforce fairly the statute,
but would he content himself with this and use the offices not covered
by the act to reward his followers in the old Democratic fashion? An
avowed civil service reformer, and warmly supported by independents and
some former Republicans on that account, he justified the confidence
which they had reposed in him and refused "to make a clean sweep." In
resisting this very powerful pressure from his party he accomplished
much toward the establishment of the merit system in the civil service.
It is true that he made political changes gradually, but his insistence
on a rule which gained him time for reflection in making appointments
was of marked importance. It would be idle to assert that in his two
terms he lived wholly up to the ideal of the reformers; undoubtedly a
long list of backslidings might be made up, but in striking a fair
balance it is not too much to say that in this respect his
administration made for righteousness. All the more credit is due him in
that he not only resisted personal pressure, but, aspiring to be a party
leader for the carrying out of a cherished policy on finance and the
tariff, he made more difficult the accomplishment of these ends by
refusing to be a mere partisan in the question of the offices. In his
second term it is alleged, probably with truth, that he made a skillful
use of his patronage to secure the passage by the Senate of the repeal
of the Silver Act of 1890, which repeal had gone easily through the
House. It seemed to him and to many financiers that unless this large
purchase of silver bullion should be stopped the country would be forced
on to a silver basis, the existing financial panic would be grievously
intensified, and the road back to the sound money basis of the rest of
the civilized world would be long and arduous. His course is defended as
doing a little wrong in order to bring about a great right; and the
sequence of events has justified that defense. Harm was done to the
cause of Civil Service Reform, but probably no permanent injury. The
repeal of the Silver Act of 1890 was the first important step in the
direction of insuring a permanent gold standard, and Grover Cleveland is
the hero of it.
The presidential office gained in strength during Cleveland's two terms.
As we look back upon them, the President is the central figure round
which revolves each policy and its success or failure. At the same time,
it is his party more than he that is to be blamed for the failures. He
made a distinct move toward a reduction of the tariff, and while this
failed, leaving us with the reactionary result of higher duties than
ever before, it is not impossible that the words, actions, and
sacrifices of Cleveland will be the foundation of a new tariff-reform
party. Allusion has been made to his soundness on finance. His course in
this respect was unvarying. Capitalists and financiers can take care of
themselves, no matter what are the changes in the currency; but men and
women of fixed incomes, professors of colleges, teachers in schools,
clergymen and ministers, accountants and clerks in receipt of salaries,
and farmers and laborers have had their comfort increased and their
anxieties lessened by the adoption of the gold standard; and to
Cleveland, as one of the pioneers in this movement for stability, their
thanks are due.
In the railroad riots of 1894 Cleveland, under the advice of his able
Attorney-General, made a precedent in the way of interference for the
supremacy of law and the maintenance of order. The Governor of Illinois
would not preserve order, and the President determined that at all
hazards riotous acts must be suppressed and law must resume its sway. In
ordering United States troops to the scene of the disturbance without an
application of the Legislature or Governor of Illinois he accomplished a
fresh extension of executive power without an infraction of the
Constitution.
In his most important diplomatic action Cleveland was not so happy as in
his domestic policy. There are able men experienced in diplomacy who
defend his message of December 17, 1895, to Congress in regard to
Venezuela, and the wisdom of that action is still a mooted question. Yet
two facts placed in juxtaposition would seem to indicate that the
message was a mistake. It contained a veiled threat of war if England
would not arbitrate her difference with Venezuela, the implication being
that the stronger power was trying to browbeat the weaker one. Later an
arbitration took place, the award of which was a compromise, England
gaining more than Venezuela, and the award demonstrated that England
had not been as extreme and unjust in her claim as had been Venezuela.
It is even probable that England might have accepted, as the result of
negotiation, the line decided on by the arbitrators. But, to the credit
of Mr. Cleveland and his Secretary of State, Mr. Olney, it must be
remembered that they later negotiated a treaty "for the arbitration of
all matters in difference between the United States and Great Britain,"
which unfortunately failed of ratification by the Senate.
It is a fair charge against Cleveland as a partisan leader that, while
he led a strong following to victory in 1892, he left his party
disorganized in 1897. But it fell to him to decide between principle and
party, and he chose principle. He served his country at the expense of
his party. From the point of view of Democrats it was grievous that the
only man under whom they had secured victory since the Civil War should
leave them in a shattered condition, and it may be a question whether a
ruler of more tact could not have secured his ends without so great a
schism. Those, however, to whom this party consideration does not appeal
have no difficulty in approving Cleveland's course. It is undeniable
that his character is stamped on the presidential office, and his
occupancy of it is a distinct mark in the history of executive power.
Harrison occupied the presidential office between the two terms of
Cleveland, and although a positive man, left no particular impress upon
the office. He was noted for his excellent judicial appointments, and he
had undoubtedly a high standard of official conduct which he endeavored
to live up to. Cold in his personal bearing he did not attract friends,
and he was not popular with the prominent men in his own party. While
Cleveland and McKinley were denounced by their opponents, Harrison was
ridiculed; but the universal respect in which he was held after he
retired to private life is evidence that the great office lost no
dignity while he held it. During his term Congress overshadowed the
executive and the House was more conspicuous than the Senate. Thomas B.
Reed was speaker and developed the power of that office to an
extraordinary extent. McKinley was the leader of the House and from long
service in that body had become an efficient leader. The election of
Harrison was interpreted to mean that the country needed a higher
tariff, and McKinley carried through the House the bill which is known
by his name. Among the other Representatives Mr. Lodge was prominent. It
was not an uncommon saying at that time that the House was a better
arena for the rising politician than the Senate. In addition to the
higher tariff the country apparently wanted more silver and a determined
struggle was made for the free coinage of silver which nearly won in
Congress. In the end, however, a compromise was effected by Senator
Sherman which averted free silver but committed the country to the
purchase annually of an enormous amount of silver bullion against which
Treasury notes redeemable in coin were issued. This was the Act of 1890
which, as I have mentioned, was repealed under Cleveland in 1893. It is
entirely clear from the sequence of events that the Republican party as
a party should have opposed the purchase of more silver. It could not
have been beaten worse than it was in 1892, but it could have preserved
a consistency in principle which, when the tide turned, would have been
of political value. The party which has stuck to the right principle has
in the long run generally been rewarded with power, and as the
Republicans, in spite of certain defections, had been the party of sound
money since the Civil War, they should now have fought cheap money under
the guise of unlimited silver as they had before under the guise of
unlimited greenbacks. But the leaders thought differently, and from
their own point of view their course was natural. The country desired
more silver. Business was largely extended, overtrading was the rule.
Farmers and business men were straitened for money. Economists,
statesmen, and politicians had told them that, as their trouble had come
largely from the demonetization of silver, their relief lay in
bimetallism. It was easy to argue that the best form of bimetallism was
the free coinage of gold and silver, and after the panic of 1893 this
delusion grew, but the strength of it was hardly appreciated by
optimistic men in the East until the Democrats made it the chief plank
in the platform on which they fought the presidential campaign of 1896.
Nominating an orator who had an effective manner of presenting his
arguments to hard-working farmers whose farms were mortgaged, to
business men who were under a continued strain to meet their
obligations, and to laborers out of employment, it seemed for two or
three months as if the party of silver and discontent might carry the
day. After some hesitation the Republicans grappled with the question
boldly, took ground against free silver, and with some modification
declared their approval of the gold standard. On this issue they fought
the campaign. Their able and adroit manager was quick to see, after the
issue was joined, the force of the principle of sound money and started
a remarkable campaign of education by issuing speeches and articles by
the millions in a number of different languages, in providing excellent
arguments for the country press, and in convincing those who would
listen only to arguments of sententious brevity by a well-devised
circulation of "nuggets" of financial wisdom. McKinley had also the
support of the greater part of the Independent and Democratic press.
While financial magnates and the bankers of the country were alarmed at
the strength of the Bryan party, and felt that its defeat was necessary
to financial surety, the strength of the Republican canvass lay in the
fact that the speakers and writers who made it believed sincerely that
the gold standard would conduce to the greatest good of the greatest
number. It was an inspiring canvass. The honest advocacy of sound
principle won.
Under McKinley the Democratic tariff bill was superseded by the Dingley
act, which on dutiable articles is, I believe, the highest tariff the
country has known. The Republican party believes sincerely in the policy
of protection, and the country undoubtedly has faith in it. It is
attractive to those who allow immediate returns to obscure prospective
advantage, and if a majority decides whether or not a political and
economic doctrine is sound, it has a powerful backing, for every large
country in the civilized world, I think, except England, adheres to
protection; and some of them have returned to it after trying a measure
of commercial freedom. McKinley and the majority of Congress were in
full sympathy, and the Dingley act had the approval of the
administration. But the change in business conditions which, though long
in operation, became signally apparent after 1893, wrought in McKinley,
during his four and a half years of office, a change of opinion. Under
improved processes and economies in all branches of manufactures the
United States began to make many articles cheaper than any other
country, and sought foreign markets for its surplus, disputing
successfully certain open marts with England and Germany. In McKinley's
earlier utterances the home market is the dominating feature; in his
later ones, trade with foreign countries. In his last speech at Buffalo
he gave mature expression to his views, which for one who had been a
leader of protectionists showed him to have taken advanced ground. "We
find our long-time principles echoed," declared the _Nation_. McKinley's
manner of developing foreign trade was not that of the tariff reformers,
for he proposed to bring this about by a variety of reciprocity
treaties; but it was important that he recognized the sound economic
principle that if we are to sell to foreign countries we must buy from
them also. That McKinley had a strong hold on the country is
indisputable from the unanimous renomination by his party and his
triumphant reelection, and it was a step toward commercial freedom that
he who more than all other men had the ear of the country and who had
been an arch-protectionist should advocate the exchange of commodities
with foreign lands. Economists do not educate the mass of voters, but
men like McKinley do, and these sentences of his were read and pondered
by millions: "A system which provides a mutual exchange of commodities
is manifestly essential to the continued and healthful growth of our
export trade. We must not repose in fancied security that we can forever
sell everything and buy little or nothing. If such a thing were possible
it would not be best for us or for those with whom we deal." It is
useless to speculate on what would have been the result had McKinley
lived. Those who considered him a weak President aver that when he
encountered opposition in Congress from interests which were seemingly
menaced, he would have yielded and abandoned reciprocity. Others believe
that he understood the question thoroughly and that his arguments would
in the end have prevailed with Congress; yielding, perhaps, in points of
detail he would have secured the adoption of the essential part of his
policy.
After his election McKinley became a believer in the gold standard and
urged proper legislation upon Congress. It is to his credit and to that
of Congress that on March 14, 1900, a bill became a law which
establishes the gold standard and puts it out of the power of any
President to place the country upon a silver basis by a simple direction
to his Secretary of the Treasury, which could have been done in 1897. As
it has turned out, it was fortunate that there was no undue haste in
this financial legislation. A better act was obtained than would have
been possible in the first two years of McKinley's administration. The
reaction from the crisis following the panic of 1893 had arrived, made
sure by the result of the election of 1896; and the prosperity had
become a telling argument in favor of the gold standard with the people
and with Congress.
McKinley was essentially adapted for a peace minister, but under him
came war. Opinions of him will differ, not only according to one's
sentiments on war and imperialism, but according to one's ideal of what
a President should be. Let us make a comparison which shall not include
Washington, for the reason that under him the country had not become the
pure democracy it is at the present day. Of such a democracy it seems to
me that Lincoln is the ideal President, in that he led public sentiment,
represented it, and followed it. "I claim not to have controlled
events," he said, "but confess plainly that events have controlled me."
During his term of office he was one day called "very weak," and the
next "a tyrant"; but when his whole work was done, a careful survey of
it could bring one only to the conclusion that he knew when to follow
and when to lead. He was in complete touch with popular sentiment, and
divined with nicety when he could take a step in advance. He made an
effort to keep on good terms with Congress, and he differed with that
body reluctantly, although, when the necessity came, decisively. While
he had consideration for those who did not agree with him, and while he
acted always with a regard to proportion, he was nevertheless a strong
and self-confident executive. Now Cleveland did not comprehend popular
opinion as did Lincoln. In him the desire to lead was paramount, to the
exclusion at times of a proper consideration for Congress and the
people. It has been said by one of his political friends that he used
the same energy and force in deciding a small matter as a great one, and
he alienated senators, congressmen, and other supporters by an
unyielding disposition when no principle was involved. He did not
possess the gracious quality of Lincoln, who yielded in small things
that he might prevail in great ones. Yet for this quality of sturdy
insistence on his own idea Cleveland has won admiration from a vast
number of independent thinkers. Temperaments such as these are not in
sympathy with McKinley, who represents another phase of Lincoln's
genius. The controlling idea of McKinley probably was that as he was
elected by the people he should represent them. He did not believe that,
if a matter were fully and fairly presented, the people would go wrong.
At times he felt he should wait for their sober, second thought, but if,
after due consideration, the people spoke, it was his duty to carry out
their will. Unquestionably if the Cleveland and McKinley qualities can
be happily combined as they were in Lincoln, the nearest possible
approach to the ideal ruler is the result. One Lincoln, though, in a
century, is all that any country can expect: and there is a place in our
polity for either the Cleveland or the McKinley type of executive. So it
seemed to the makers of the Constitution. "The republican principle,"
wrote Hamilton in the _Federalist_, "demands that the deliberate sense
of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they intrust
the management of their affairs." "But," he said in the same essay,
"however inclined we might be to insist upon an unbounded complaisance
in the executive to the inclinations of the people, we can with no
propriety contend for a like complaisance to the humors of the
legislature.... The executive should be in a situation to dare to act
his own opinion with vigor and decision." It is frequently remarked that
no President since Lincoln had so thorough a comprehension of public
sentiment as McKinley. This knowledge and his theory of action, if I
have divined it aright, are an explanation of his course in regard to
the Spanish War and the taking of the Philippines. It does not fall to
me to discuss in this article these two questions, nor do I feel certain
that all the documents necessary to a fair judgment are accessible to
the public, but I can show what was McKinley's attitude toward them by
reporting a confidential conversation he had on May 2, 1899, with Mr.
Henry S. Pritchett, president of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, who made a record of it the day afterward. The President,
Mr. Pritchett relates, spoke of the "war and of his own responsibility,
and the way in which he has gradually come to have his present position
with respect to the Philippines. The talk was started by my reminding
him of the fact that just a year ago that morning, on May 2, 1898, I had
come into his room with a map of Manila and Cavite on a large scale--the
first time he had seen such a map--and from this he drifted into a most
serious and interesting talk of his own place in the history of the past
twelve months. He described his efforts to avert the war, how he had
carried the effort to the point of rupture with his party, then came the
Maine incident, and, finally, a declaration of war over all efforts to
stem the tide. Then he spoke of Cuba and Porto Rico and the Philippines,
related at some length the correspondence he had had with the Paris
Commission, how he had been gradually made to feel in his struggling for
the right ground that first Luzon and finally all the Philippines must
be kept. He then went on to indicate his belief that Providence had led
in all this matter, that to him the march of events had been so
irresistible that nothing could turn them aside. Nobody, he said, could
have tried harder than he to be rid of the burden of the Philippines,
and yet the trend of events had been such that it seemed impossible to
escape this duty. He finally came to speak with more emotion than I have
ever seen him exhibit, and no one could doubt the sincerity of the man."
Of McKinley's achievements in the field of diplomacy Secretary Hay in
his memorial address spoke with knowledge and in words of high praise.
Sometimes the expression of a careful foreign observer anticipates the
judgment of posterity, and with that view the words of the
_Spectator_,[168] in an article on the presidential election of 1900,
are worth quoting: "We believe that Mr. McKinley and the wise statesman
who is his Secretary of State, Colonel Hay, are administrators of a high
order. They have learnt their business thoroughly, hold all the strings
of policy in their hands."
Opinions will differ as to the impress McKinley has left on the
presidential office. It is the judgment of two men of large knowledge of
American history and present affairs that no President since Jefferson
has been so successful in getting Congress to adopt the positive
measures he desired.
Of the administration of Theodore Roosevelt it would be neither proper
nor wise for me to speak in other terms than those of expectation and
prophecy. But of Mr. Roosevelt himself something may be said. His birth,
breeding, education, and social advantages have been of the best. He
has led an industrious and useful life. As an American citizen we are
all proud of him, and when he reached the presidential office by a
tragedy that nobody deplored more than he, every one wished him success.
His transparent honesty and sincerity are winning qualities, and in the
opinion of Burke especially important in him who is the ruler of a
nation. "Plain good intention," he wrote, "which is as easily discovered
at the first view as fraud is surely detected at last, is, let me say,
of no mean force in the government of mankind." To these qualities, and
to a physical and moral courage that can never be questioned, Mr.
Roosevelt adds a large intelligence and, as his books show, a power of
combination of ideas and cohesive thought. Moreover, he has had a good
political training, and he has the faculty of writing his political
papers in a pregnant and forcible literary style. He is fit for what Mr.
Bryce calls "the greatest office in the world, unless we except the
Papacy." His ideals are Washington and Lincoln. "I like to see in my
mind's eye," he said, "the gaunt form of Lincoln stalking through these
halls." "To gratify the hopes, secure the reverence, and sustain the
dignity of the nation," said Justice Story, "the presidential office
should always be occupied by a man of elevated talents, of ripe virtues,
of incorruptible integrity, and of tried patriotism; one who shall
forget his own interests and remember that he represents not a party but
the whole nation." These qualities Theodore Roosevelt has. Whether he
shall in action carry out the other requirements of Justice Story may
only be judged after he shall have retired to private life.
Mr. Roosevelt merits the encouragement and sympathy of all lovers of
good government, and he is entitled, as indeed is every President, to
considerate and forbearing criticism. For, ardently desired as the
office is, it is a hard place to fill. Through the kindness of President
Roosevelt, I have been enabled to observe the daily routine of his work,
and I am free to say that from the business point of view, no man better
earns his pay than does he. Mr. Bryce remarks that a good deal of the
President's work is like that of the manager of a railway. So far as
concerns the consultation with heads of departments, prompt decisions,
and the disposition of daily matters, the comparison is apt, if a great
American railway and a manager like Thomas A. Scott are borne in mind.
But the railway manager's labor is done in comparative privacy, he can
be free from interruption and dispose of his own time in a systematic
manner. That is impossible for the President during the session of
Congress. Office-seekers themselves do not trouble the President so much
as in former days; they may be referred to the heads of the departments;
and, moreover, the introduction of competitive examinations and the
merit system has operated as a relief to the President and his Cabinet
officers. But hearing the recommendations by senators and congressmen of
their friends for offices consumes a large amount of time. There are, as
Senator Lodge has kindly informed me, 4818 presidential offices
exclusive of 4000 presidential post offices; in addition there are army
and naval officers to be appointed. The proper selection in four years
of the number of men these figures imply is in itself no small labor; it
would by a railway manager be considered an onerous and exacting
business. But the railway manager may hear the claims of applicants in
his own proper way, and to prevent encroachments on his time may give
the candidates or their friends a curt dismissal. The President may not
treat senators and representatives in that manner, nor would he desire
to do so, for the intercourse between them and the executive is of great
value. "The President," wrote John Sherman, "should 'touch elbows' with
Congress." There are important legislative measures to be discussed in a
frank interchange of opinion. Senators and representatives are a guide
to the President in their estimates of public sentiment; often they
exert an influence over him, and he is dependent on them for the
carrying out of any policy he may have at heart. While the encroachments
on the President's time are great, I am convinced that no plan should be
adopted which should curtail the unconventional and frank interchange of
views between the President and members of the National Legislature. The
relief lies with the public. Much of the President's time is taken up
with receptions of the friends of senators and representatives, of
members of conventions and learned bodies meeting in Washington, of
deputations of school-teachers and the like who have gone to the capital
for a holiday: all desire to pay their respects to the Chief Magistrate.
Undoubtedly, if he could have a quiet talk with most of these people, it
would be of value, but the conventional shaking of hands and the "I am
glad to see you" is not a satisfaction great enough to the recipients to
pay for what it costs the President in time and the expenditure of
nervous force. He should have time for deliberation. The railway manager
can closet himself when he likes: that should be the privilege of the
President; yet on a certain day last April, when he wished to have a
long confidential talk with his Secretary of War, this was only to be
contrived by the two taking a long horseback ride in the country. It is
difficult for the President to refuse to see these good, patriotic, and
learned people; and senators and representatives like to gratify their
constituents. The remedy lies with the public in denying themselves this
pleasant feature of a visit to Washington. One does not call on the
president of the Pennsylvania Railroad or the president of the New York
Central Railroad in business hours unless for business purposes; and
this should be the rule observed by citizens of the United States toward
the President. The weekly public receptions are no longer held. All
these other receptions and calls simply for shaking hands and wishing
him God-speed should no longer be asked for. For the President has
larger and more serious work than the railway manager and should have at
least as much time for thought and deliberation.
Moreover, the work of the railway manager is done in secret. Fiercer by
far than the light which beats upon the throne is that which beats upon
the White House. The people are eager to know the President's thoughts
and plans, and an insistent press endeavors to satisfy them. Considering
the conditions under which the President does his work, the wonder is
not that he makes so many mistakes, but that he makes so few. There is
no railway or business manager or college president who has not more
time to himself for the reflection necessary to the maturing of large
and correct policies. I chanced to be in the President's room when he
dictated the rough draft of his famous dispatch to General Chaffee
respecting torture in the Philippines. While he was dictating, two or
three cards were brought in, also some books with a request for the
President's autograph, and there were some other interruptions. While
the dispatch as it went out in its revised form could not be improved, a
President cannot expect to be always so happy in dictating dispatches in
the midst of distractions. Office work of far-reaching importance should
be done in the closet. Certainly no monarch or minister in Europe does
administrative work under such unfavorable conditions; indeed, this
public which exacts so much of the President's time should in all
fairness be considerate in its criticism.
No one, I think, would care to have abated the fearless political
criticism which has in this country and in England attained to the
highest point ever reached. From the nature of things the press must
comment promptly and without the full knowledge of conditions that might
alter its judgments. But on account of the necessary haste of its
expressions, the writers should avoid extravagant language and the too
ready imputation of bad motives to the public servants. "It is strange
that men cannot allow others to differ with them without charging
corruption as the cause of the difference," are the plaintive words of
Grant during a confidential conversation with his Secretary of State.
The contrast between the savage criticism of Cleveland and Harrison
while each occupied the presidential chair and the respect each enjoyed
from political opponents after retiring to private life is an effective
illustration of the lesson I should like to teach. At the time of
Harrison's death people spoke from their hearts and said, "Well done,
good and faithful servant." A fine example of political criticism in a
time of great excitement were two articles by Mr. Carl Schurz in
_Harper's Weekly_ during the Venezuela crisis. Mr. Schurz was a
supporter and political friend of Cleveland, but condemned his Venezuela
message. In the articles to which I refer he was charitable in feeling
and moderate in tone, and though at the time I heard the term
"wishy-washy" applied to one of them, I suspect that Mr. Schurz now
looks back with satisfaction to his reserve; and those of us who used
more forcible language in regard to the same incident may well wish that
we had emulated his moderation.
The presidential office differs from all other political offices in the
world, and has justified the hopes of its creators. It has not realized
their fears, one of which was expressed by Hamilton in the _Federalist_.
"A man raised from the station of a private citizen to the rank of Chief
Magistrate," he wrote, "possessed of a moderate or slender fortune, and
looking forward to a period not very remote, when he may probably be
obliged to return to the station from which he was taken, might
sometimes be under temptations to sacrifice his duty to his interest,
which it would require superlative virtue to withstand. An avaricious
man might be tempted to betray the interests of the state to the
acquisition of wealth. An ambitious man might make his own
aggrandizement, by the aid of a foreign power, the price of his
treachery to his constituents."[169] From dangers of this sort the
political virtue which we inherited from our English ancestors has
preserved us. We may fairly maintain that the creation and
administration of our presidential office have added something to
political history, and when we contrast in character and ability the men
who have filled it with the monarchs of England and of France, we may
have a feeling of just pride. Mr. Bryce makes a suggestive comparison in
ability of our Presidents to the prime ministers of England, awarding
the palm to the Englishmen,[170] and from his large knowledge of both
countries and impartial judgment we may readily accept his conclusion.
It is, however, a merit of our Constitution that as great ability is not
required for its chief executive office as is demanded in England. The
prime minister must have a talent for both administration and debate,
which is a rare combination of powers, and if he be chosen from the
House of Commons, it may happen that too much stress will be laid upon
oratory, or the power of making ready replies to the attacks of the
opposition. It is impossible to conceive of Washington defending his
policy in the House or the Senate from a fire of questions and
cross-questions. Lincoln might have developed this quality of a prime
minister, but his replies and sallies of wit to put to confusion his
opponents would have lacked the dignity his state papers and
confidential letters possess. Hayes and Cleveland were excellent
administrators, but neither could have reached his high position had the
debating ability of a prime minister been required. On the other hand,
Garfield, Harrison, and McKinley would have been effective speakers in
either the House or the Senate.
An American may judge his own country best from European soil,
impregnated as he there is with European ideas. Twice have I been in
Europe during Cleveland's administration, twice during McKinley's, once
during Roosevelt's. During the natural process of comparison, when one
must recognize in many things the distinct superiority of England,
Germany, and France, I have never had a feeling other than high respect
for each one of these Presidents; and taking it by and large, in the
endeavor to consider fairly the hits and misses of all, I have never had
any reason to feel that the conduct of our national government has been
inferior to that of any one of these highly civilized powers.
[164] Henry Adams, II, 113.
[165] _Ibid._, 130.
[166] Sumner's Jackson, 138.
[167] Twenty Years of Congress, II, 185.
[168] July 14, 1900.
[169] See also the _Federalist_ (Lodge's edition), 452. Bryce,
Studies in History and Jurisprudence, 308.
[170] American Commonwealth, I, 80.