South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1834-11-29

v
the plain words of the Constitution 4:
this was admitted by the recorded votes
Of every friend Of the administration in
the Senate /; and no man, indeed, had
had the hardbood TO deny it. So long
as the President was uniformed Of the
fact, MIR. l.. would maintain, 10 oppo-
siiion to his protest, that he was not,
and that the Postmaster General alone
was, responsible for the act-but the
President, being fully and exactly in
formed Of it, and yet persisting TO re.
tain the officer in his place, gave his
sanction to the proceeding, and made
it his own. Did those who acknowl-
edged the act to be unconstitutional,
yet approved. Or, could the Presi-
dent make it constitutional by his sane
ton Or were his friends reconciled
to it, because it was a trivial affair, not
worth his or their serious care If the
Executive might violate the Constitu.
ton in one article, with patriotic mo-
tives, why might he not with patriot.
ic motives, too, overturn the whole
Constitution, and give US, what he
might think, better one ? If the
Postmaster General might borrow mo.
ney for the use Of his department, with
the Presidents appreciation or sane
ton, why might not any other Execu'
live officer, under the sanction of pres
identiai authority, borrow money for
the use Of his department 7 And what
would hinder the Executive from dis
pensing with the exercise, for the time
being, Of the power of Congress to
borrow, or to raise, money :
A republican people, Mr.. L. said,
could never remit their vigilance over
their free institutions, in single in
stance, or for a single moment, without
endaogeriDg the stability Of the whole
fabric.
The next thing we should probably
hear maintained.-the foundation for it
was already laid-would be, that the
judicial power oflhe Senate, as court
of impeachment, was, in effect, limi.
tation on its legislative authority-and
that, therefore, it could not inquire in.
to any abuses Of any Executive de.
parment, because, by possibility, those
abuses might be the subject Of i'm.
peachmen,--as if it were possible to
legislate for the correction of abuses,
without knowing what the abuses were,
and understanding the manner and
nature Of them and as if the Senate
were really incompetent to such legis.
lation I!
But, MIR. L. said, there was one pow.
er vested in the Senate by the Coosti-
tuition, of nature so simple, that, UNI
til lately, there had never been any
dispute raised about the exercise OF it,
even in times of the highest excitement
he meant the concurrent power Of
the Senate 10 appointments to Office
1t was the province of the President TO
select and nominate, and the province
of the Senate to confirm or reject, &C.
cording 10 their sense, respectively, Of
what the public good required /; and,
as the Presiden, was prefec,ly free, in
making his selections, to reject any APP
plicant without assigning his reasons,
SO each and every Senator was equally
free TO confirm or reject the Presidents
nomination, without giving his reasons
to any human being for his vote.-The
function, he should think, was some.
times no very agreeable one to the
President-he knew it was often an I'm.
pleasant. one to the Senator /; but it was
not, for that reason, to be avoided. 1t
very often happened, that the most un-
reserved man placed in the Senate,
might forbear TO give the reasons of his
own opinion, even to his brother Sens.
tors in secret session-every Senator
was obliged to act upon such evidence
as satisfied his own mind-and il might
be, and often was, right and proper in
itself, and but justice towards the no.
minee, to confne his reasons, or some
particular reason, 10 his own BOSOM
MI. l.. believed, That the first occasion
Save one) on which these principles
had been questioned, was that of the
late nomination of Mr.. Stevenson as
Minister to London-and that he was
the very frs. man, not who had incur.
red personal hostility, but towards
whom personal hostility had been o.
penly ayowed, for his vote on such an
occasion and that Mr.. Slevenson's
friends we're the only persons who had
ever ventured TO avow their hostility
towards another for giving vote COM
trary to their wishes. M. l.. had no
fault to find with any one who voted
for Mr.. Stevenson-least of all, had