Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1881 — They Would Make Him an Elective King. [ARTICLE]

They Would Make Him an Elective King.

The moral which the Republican leaders and press have drawn from Guiteau’s attempt to kill President Garfield is peculiarly worthy of attention. It was, perhaps, to have been expected that Gen. Grant, who is a standing candidate for a third term of the Presidency, and is so far forth a standing menace to liberty and constitutional order, should improve the occasion to suggest changes of an imperialistic character. He has never appreciated the principles upon which our institutions are founded, and he very naturally turns to force, which he would wish to have substantially irresponsible, as the remedy for every evil, whether inherent or accidental, which the working of the system may disclose. • But Mr. Conkling is another sort of man. He is neither the blind creature nor the blind worshiper of organized force. He is a scholar and a lawyer ; and political science, especially political science as successfully illustrated by our republican experiment, has been the study of his life. Yet Mr. Conkling has deliberately proposed that the whole theory of the Federal constitution be subverted by a law making assault upon the Chief Magistrate treason—in other words, a law which would make the President the state. It seems hardly possible that he was in earnest or that he appreciated the scope of his proposition. He spoke under very distressing circumstances, and, feeling the necessity of exhibiting a special horror of the crime of Guiteau, he may have said more than he meant; and, if he stood alone in. the inclination expressed, we should look to see him correct himself at some future and calmer moment. But others have been as swift and as extreme as Mr. Conkling, including his political chief and many powerful Republican journals of both wings of the party. Some, like Grant and Conkling, wish the President to be made an elective King, to compass or imagine whose death shall be treason. Others desire to nave irim surrounded by a body guard, and to move about with perpetual magnificence. Others still would have the entire administration, at least so far as appointment to office is concerned, committed to a Ministry, as in England, to be followed, of course, by the maxim that the President can do no wrong, because he has no direct responsibility. But even these notions, unrepublican as they are, do not form the worst features of the discussion. From one end of the line to the other, the administration newspapers have raised a concerted howl that the attempted murder was the natural and inevitable consequence of the stalwart arraignment of the President for what they considered abuses of his power. This, if it means anything more than mere brutal spite, means that the liberty of controversy ought to be abridged; that the President must be placed beyond criticism ; and that the infamous Sedition law, which disgraced and ruined the administration of John Adams, ought to be revived and enforced in our day. In short, all these measures or suggestions of measures tend toward the separation of the President from the people and his identification with (he state. Instead of a public servant, with a few limited and defined functions, accountable to public opinion and to the

representatives of the people, tney would make of him a great personage, distinguishable from other sovereigns only by the circumstance that the tenure of his office would be theoretically terminated at the expiration of certain periods. Is it not about time to stop the flow of this monarchical nonsense?— New York Sun.

Bruin’s Kindness to a Little Outcast. In the winter of 1709 Pierre Traivant, a little fellow of about 10 years, having no longer parents or a house in Savoy, wandered to the province of Lorraine in search of a relative whom he heard lived near the palace of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine. One bitter night he applied to a poor woman for shelter. She told him she had no room for him in her house, but he might go into the barn. Adjoining the barn was a hut, where was kept a tame bear owned by the Duke. Ready to perish with cold in the empty barn, Pierre resolved to trust himself to the mercy of Bruin. Timidly he entered the hut and slowly approached the animal. Bruin, however, instead of doing him any harm, drew the shivering child between his paws and gently pressed him to his breast, till warm and comfortable he fell asleep. The next morning when he awoke, he found himself still held by the bear, his head resting on the animal’s warm fur. When he arose to go away the bear allowed him to leave, only following him with caresses as far as the chain would permit. The young Savoyard wandered all day about the city, but, finding no trace of his relative, returned in the evening to Marco’s hut, that name having been given to the bear. Marco received him with the same kindness, and for some time that was his nightly retreat. What was more remarkable, and added not a little to the poor boy’s joy, the bear regularly reserved part of his food for him. A number of days passed without his being discovered, then one of the servants came to bring Marco’s supper later than usual, and saw the sleeping child clasped to his breast. The bear refused to move in order to take the food, and rolled his eyes in a furious manner whenever the man made any noise that might waken the sleeper. The report of this extraordinary conduct soon spread at court, and reached the ears of the Prince. Some of the courtiers, in order to prove the truth of Marco’s hospitality, passed a night near the hut, and saw -with astonishment that the bear never stirred as long as little Pierre showed an inclination to sleep. When he awoke at dawn of day and found himself discovered, he was very much frightened and feared he would be punished. But the bear, caressing him with great fondness, tried to coax him to eat what he had saved from the previous night. Pierre was at first too alarmed to comply, but finally did so at the request of the courtiers, who afterward conducted him to the Duke. When Leopold heard the little Savoyard’s whole history, and how long the bear had befriended him, he ordered that the child should have a home at his court, and the best of care and training given him. No doubt he would have risen to a high position, if sudden death had not terminated his career a short time after.