Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C., March 15, 1869.
Robert Martin Douglas, Esq.:
Sir,—You are hereby appointed Assistant Private Secretary to the President, to date from the 15th March, 1869.
By order of the President,
Horace Porter,
Brevet Brigadier-General, Secretary.[123]
Mark the words, “By order of the President,” and then the signature, “Horace Porter, Brevet Brigadier-General, Secretary.”
The Presidential pretension which I exhibit on the simple facts, besides being of doubtful legality, to say the least, was of evil example, demoralizing alike to the military and civil service, and an undoubted reproach to republican institutions in that primary principle, announced by Jefferson in his first Inaugural Address, “the supremacy of the civil over the military authority.”[124] It seemed only to remain that the President should sign his Messages, “Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United States.” Evidently a new order of things had arrived.
Observe the mildness of my language, when I call this Presidential pretension “of doubtful legality.” The law shall speak for itself. Obviously it was the same for our military President as for his predecessors, and it was recent also:—
“The President is hereby authorized to appoint a private secretary at an annual salary of $3,500, an assistant secretary at an annual salary of $2,500, a short-hand writer at an annual salary of $2,500, a clerk of pardons at an annual salary of $2,000, and three clerks of the fourth class.”[125]