LESE-MAJESTE
Because a passing steamer did not regard it necessary to give a tow to the Sylph the other day some of the frenzied Republican newspapers of the North seem to think there will be trouble with the skipper of the afore-mentioned steamer when T. Roosevelt gets back to civilization.
For the Sylph, they claim, is the President’s yacht, and certainly there must be punishment, prompt and dire, for any rover of the high seas who dares show lack of deep concern over her.
Lèse-majesté with a vengeance!
Of course, it does not occur to the frenzied Republican press that the Sylph is not the President’s yacht; that she is a vessel of the navy, kept in commission at public expense, and should be used only for public purposes; and that the President has no possible warrant in law for keeping her at Washington or taking her out to sea for the personal pleasure of himself or the members of his family.
If the Sylph is not needed in the active service of the country she ought to be taken out of commission; if she is needed by the navy she should be so used. In either event she is not the President’s yacht, nor should she be utilized as such at public expense.—Atlanta Constitution.