Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1810-06-04


X, oftsc 4 .c,Hronts. Of bc.h substanra s i''rH1i
, Tor OF which, exclusively Of The others dave
he members no right to examine the sub
ect for themselves, and form n orinon
} ..hctber the papers communicated GO or do
rot belong to tie proper sphere Of the trea-
" making power And iFthe House neg
iects to make decision involving such an
i Icinion, are individual members precluded
from K, as il respects the regulation OF their
Town conduct AS il is mere matter OF
opinion how far the House OF Representa-
tives possess any constitutional power OF CO.
generating with the President and Senate in
tie formation Of treaties, is not every mem
Der to Judge for himself how tar lie Is
bound to respect the opinion OF the eNecu-
tive upon that subject Is it not the bet
ter opinion, even upon the principles OF the
democrats themselves, that the House OF
Representatives have no precious agency
whatever in the matter of treaties, but a
power, and that 10 be exercised in extreme
cases only, of checking the President and
Senate, when they make treaties destruc-
tive to the State, by refusing 10 make the
appropriations necessary TO carry such trea-
ties into effect And if this be correct,
what power has the President TO commune
cate to the House documents respecting
treaty contemplated or commenced, & what
right has the House 60 act upon them ~
that character If such powers and rights
exist, are they unlimited IN duration as well
as in extent Are they to operate upon par
ticular cases, not only in the present, but
through every future age Some OF these,
as DR.. FRANKLIN said to the House of
Lords, are deep questions All of them are
momentous. 1t would be absurd to contend
that the right of imposing secrecy upon
member of Congress ceases to operate up
on that member, when he ceases to be
member In that case, it would only be ne
cessary for member TO resign his seat, to
become entitled to the privilege OF publish
ing the whole of the secret journals of the
body to which he belonged. No. Let rea-
sonable constructions be made in all doubt
full cases. So far as the right to impose the
injunction of secrecy is fairly warranted by
the constitution, it must be admitted that
the duration of the obligation resulting from
the exercise OF that right, must depend up
on the pleasure of the body by whom il is
thus constitutionally exercised. And it is
certain that each House of Congress does
lPossess the right of keeping secret jour-
nal of its proceedings. Its power to conceal
political documents, relative to the "com.
mon defence and general welfare" is quite
another thing. Documents, especially ex-
ecutive ones, are not regularly part of the
journal. When printed for the use of the
members, they are printed in distinct sheets,
unconnected with the journal, and never
considered as part of it, not considered e.
ven rs appendices to it. If the President
communicates papers professedly relating
to the intended originatlon of treaty, which
papers are not entered on the secret Jour-
nal, what have they TO do with the constitu-
uonal power OF the House to keep a secret
journal OF IFS proceedings What natural
connection have they with the secret jour
nal rather than with The public one How
can they be considered as proceedings"
OF the House at all ? How, indeed, can the
House proceed to act constitutionally upon
them Did the democrats ever pretend,
/ even IN the days Of the famous British trea-
ty, That the House of Representatives could
claim right OF cooperating with the Pres
ident and Senate in the origiaation of
treaty, especially treaty totally unconnec-
ted with the legislative power to regulate
commerce Or, if the House could not
claim the right, that the President could
communicate il 10 them
From this view of the subject it appears
easy TO establish, most unanswerably and
conclusively, that the President possesses
NO INSTITUTIONAL POWER, III any case
zDhafever, to impose any injunction of secre-
cy upon The members of tie House of Rep
resentatiyes.