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    : Sill CIIARLKS WOOD'S DESPOTISM.

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    Untitled Article

    Aprit , 21 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday 1 Analyst . 371

    Untitled Article

    fore exceedingly desirable for the llepublicans to rake out , if they possibly can ,, any- such scandals , and thereby throw a discredit upon the Democrats , which may make up for their ; own loss through Joi-ix Brown ' s unhappy venture , as well as blacken several of " their " most active opponents . Knowing very well that such was tlio intention of the Republicans , who are this year in a majority in the House of . Representatives , the Democrats fought to the very last against a -Republican Speaker , because the rules of the House give that officer a power in ¦ the . appointment of committees , and in certain other matters , which-would materially aid any . awkwardly virtuous Republican intentions . The Republicans , however , fit last carried their Speaker , and have lost no time in unearthing these transactions . They have already succeeded in showing up some most discreditable negotiations about the place of printer of the House , to which , although the office was not in his -appointment , "Mr . Buchanan' is proved , if the witnesses speak truth , to have been a party , one of the conditions of the arrangement being the payment by the nominee of an animal subsidy to Mr . Buchanan ' s Washington organ . This newspaper , winch . is-called The Constitution , and which is under the direct supervision of Mr . J 3 uciia >' an , is , we may observe , remarkable for the foulness of its language . At this discovery Mr . R ceil a nan has taken alarm , and , in order to stay if possible the investigation , he lias indited the singularly weak , flatulent , and irrelevant protest which some of our readers have perhaps had the patience to read through .. . Mr . BiciiANAX has fastened ... upon that portion of the resolution ; appointi . ug the Committee of Investigation which ., specially naniuig him , instructs the Committee 1 o inquire whether he or any officer of the Government has attempted to influence by improper means the passage . ., of any law , or to prevent "the execution of one already in - . the ' . statute book . He declares , that , as a corordinate -branch of . the Legislature , he is not responsible ; to the House of Representative ' s , but to the people , for whose sake indeed he . protests against tins usurpation-of power ; and that if that House has any charge to bring against him , it ought to impeach . him before the Senate , as provided by the Constitution . We confess we cannot discover the -valulity ofeither of these contentions , for raising which -he-lias been likened by some-vehement admirers in this country to such a constitutional authority as SmiEKS . The legislative and executive authoritv of the President are clearly enough defined by the Constitution of the United States . He is , as - Mr . Buchanan ' says , nominally , completely independent of the House of Representatives , except so far as that body has the right to impeach him . But he . is equally , nay , far more independent © f the people ; once elected , they cannot ( lispossess or punish . him ; and it is mere " Buncombe , " therefore , for IMi-. Buchanan to say that he ; is . solely responsible to the people . Besides , if he be responsible to the people , by whom can the people act , to enforce , that responsibilitv , l > eUcr Mian by the men who represent them now , and who ' , as quite , lately elected , must be presumed to reflect their present judgment ? But although the President is , nominally , quite independent of the House of Representatives , he cannot really be so . That House , if strongly opposed to him , can exercise the most galling control upon liinr and his odieers . It can stop the supplies , troal Ins recommendations with contempt , and show up all his shortcomings . Mr . Buchanan , however , takes up the most indefensible position , whou he insists that the House ought to impeach him . [ t lias , at present , no evidence before it upon which to justify that step . Allegations have been made to it of general corruption in tlio public- departments . One of those allegations includes the President and his subordinates . It has considered them of a sullicient substance-to justify inquiry . If the Committee report that these allegations are true , tlum it will bo a question for the House , whether the ofVV ; nc « i is such as to demand impeachment , or whether it , although of a sudiciontly discreditable character , is of too littlo importance to authorize that step . The Committee may report thnt the charges ims unfounded . If so , Mr . Buchanan is . no further concerned . If they am reported proved , and impeachmont is resolved upon , ho will know well enough what the charges nro , and lmvc plenty , of timo to defend ' himself . Mr . Buchanan ' s constitutional doctrine would put the Constitution ut tho niorcy of tho President . it would preclude the llouso of Representatives from any interference with jiim , and indeed prevent liis impeachment with any chance of tmccefts . Tho Ikmse has a full right to inquire into nny jobbery ov corruption in the public service , ' , and if its inquiries nro to bo stayed by tho protection thrown over tho culprits by a Prosidgnt , it is thonooforth open to Unit functionary to do Justus ha pleases . My . Buchanan Ims , porhups , not been much worse than his predecessors ; but lie lias had tho ill luck to bo found out , and to huvo a House of Representatives of iliflfcronb politics . If ho wore ns pure us ho protends to be , _

    his protest would be a great . mistake . A \ -itit liis experience of American politics , he ought to be . able to bear the annoyance of such aii inquiry , ' conscious it can do hiin . uo harm ; and when he allows his own organ to style the Speaker of the House of Representatives " an ignorant imbecile , with the tricks and manners of a buffoon , " ' . he ought not to be so thin-skinned at the expressions employed by his . own opponents . If thcM'harges are , as is probable , well-founded , the protest , however unwarranted , may be regarded as a clever attempt to . stille inquiry , an attempt not unlikely to be successful , as Congress-men will not care to stav long at Washington this vear . Thcv must soon ho looking after the nominating conventions , or " stumping" their respective states . The whole contest between the President-and his . accusers is , no doubt , an electioneering one .. It has it ' s origin in electioneering arrangements , and the object of the charge against him is mainly to damage the cause- of his puny in the forthcoming contest . How far it will succeed , next . November alone can tell ; but at any rate , the reputation of the " vim . Table President has . received a damage 'which- no eulogiinus of his partisans' at home or abroad can ivpair .

    Untitled Article

    ALL irresponsible ; . power is naturally and necessarily-despotic .-It is exercised in families , vestries , companies , ' and public offices , a . 3 on thrones . A . deep , though '' perhaps instinctive conviction of this truth made the pnb-lu : ' very earliest-, in 1 So S ' , in substituting for India a responsible Government .- through Parliament , for . the old Board" of Control and the C . mipaiiy . All "kindly and well-meaning people . saw with disgust and horror , in the Indian . mutiny , the . consequences of a privileged Government , responsible neither to the Hindoos nor the ICugli . sh , and an immense majority of them required' that flu ; ( lover ' ninent should be transfered to the Crown , and plaerd in the bauds of Ministers directly responsible to Parliament . . They indulged the pleasing vision of organizing in India separate Governments , for different districts or presidencies , controlled by one general Government at Calcutta , acting only as it . was ordered to act by tlio people and Parliament of England . They aspired to give something like local and' district control to the . separate communities of . lliiulostan , and make them all submissive to -oho lu-ad , combining them in one system of freedom with themselves . A beautiful vision , which the first important ' proceeding eniiccming civil affairs of tlio new administration for India has ' ruthlessly dissipated . Like most political hopes , it was merel y a deceitful . vision . All experience has demonstrated that ( xovermnent fun by no single aet so powerfully iufluence the fate of a . community , . and inilTct on it such lusting and wide-pervading injuries , as by tampering with the currency—the subtle blood of trade , tlu mutual and reciprocal measure wherever division of labour prevails —and where does it not prevail ? — of the mutual services men perform for each other . To tamper with it surreptitiously imposes on us a false measure . It distorts judgments , vitiates eoniiuels , and falsities the means of mefiiig out reward . The evils of such a course , too often pursued , by men in authority , wen ; wry distinctly and emphatically noticed by J > r . Smith ; and . subsequent to the time when ho wrote , tlio issue of a state ' paper currency under the pressure of war by our then American colonies , of nssignals by the revolutionary ( Xoveriinient of I'Vanec , mid of various kind ' s- of notes * by the Governments of Russia , AuhI rin , mid Prussia ., confirmed and -strengthened his reinnrks . The state paper money of-. Russia fell , Mr . M "< : Cij , i , ocii says , 1-00 per cent , as compared with silver ; and we nil know thai niueli mischief was done by the state paper money Unit existed hens between 1 800 and 18 1 ( 1 , though flu ; . depreciation probably nevoi exceeded 13 per cent . By no instrument , then , nt tin coinnmiid of Government can so much evil be oHVetddus by n eurn ne \ <» l' Stain paper . Nevertheless , this lirst important net of Sir Ciiakuis Wood , the Secretary Ibr India , is to plan , wilh Mr . Wiwon nnd the ( Governor of tho Hank of Kiiglnnd , in secret conclave ,, without , as it appears , consulting even the Jndiiln ^ ( . ' uiineil , tho introduction of n State paper eiirreney into India , The plnu is ready cut and dry : the notes are prepared , and by ( lie time tho Purliament is about to adjourn , wil . hoiit one eoininuuienliou made to it , without ils advice or sanction being asked , I but . iiiohI . important step is to be tnkeii . 'I ' o us I bo proceeding nppears more like a conspiracy of despots , or of the cnm . ' oelorrf of u British Ban . H , than the avowed and open conduct ol ' thc respon . siblu ministers of a freo )) eople . If Ilio inoiisure bo a good oile h't it bu nnnounood and discussed in I ' nrlininenf ; but in tlm niuno of righteousness , let us not allow a Hyafoin of asHlguiils to he imposed on India by Sir Ciiaki . ks \ V of ) i ) mid Mr , Wji . son . Tho publics mny cure nothing about sneli a proceed lug , but from tho things t ' licv lenst cure nlxmt when done eomes , in tliu

    : Sill Ciiarlks Wood's Despotism.

    : SIR CliAELKS WOOD'S DESPOTISM .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 21, 1860, page 371, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2344/page/7/