Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-04-29
MAJ. DowNING's CORRESPONDENCE
SENATE CHAMBER,
washington. 23d April, 1884.

washington, ZoQ April, jOo4.
TO ma old friend Mr. Dpight OF the Nep YORK.
Daily .4drertiser.
Mr. Clay, and Mr.. Webster, and Mr.. Preston,
and all the folks Of the Senate who were absent
when the Gineral sent that Proclamation, he
called " Protest have got back agin and the
very day they took their seats, the eiineral had
another hatchin spell, and jest as the Senators
was going to examine into the natur Of the first
"Protest" Major Donaldson brought up another
one from the Gineral, pritty nigh agin the first;
sand my notion is, if the Senate holds on a spell,
the Gineral will go on now hatchin out Protests
agin Protests till folks all about the country will
begin to look into the Constitution themselves,
and see what is written there, and when they do
that-they'l find out it will take good many
Protests to convince them that the GineIal
knows more about it than the folks did who,
made the Constitution. The hull matter now is
pretty much in nut shell, and if you'll jestkeep
YOUR eve ont I'll crack it for you.
You see the Gineral got a notion, and he
hangs TO ityet, that every thing that belongs to
the Government is his'n because he thinks he is
1.-THE Government and the ony way to ac-
count for this is, that one day when he was read
in about the powers and rights OF the . Giner0t
Governments one of the crooked hairs of his
eyebrow got in betwixt the glasses OF his spec
tices, and somehow made him think there was
kinder betwixt GneraL and Government,
and so he thought it was The Ginerafs Gov
ernment;n and as have said afore, when he
once gifts notion, he hangs TO it like all natur.
Howsoever,. as was saying, the Gineral said
in his first {" Protest" that Congress had no
right to name him for anything he might do with
the money, or any other property OF the Govern
qnent. Well don't know yet who it was who laid
the nextegg in his nest, but some one in lookin
into the Constitution found something like this
-" The Congress shall have power to dispose
ofand make all needful rules and regulations
respecting the Territory, or other property be-
longing to the United States" And there IS
another ugly line in the Constitution that would
take good many hatchins to show that Con-
gress haint got somethin to say upon prltty much
most matters that the constitution has put under
its charges for after pintin out the polcers that
Congress haS,-Such as TO lay and collect taxes;
TO provide for the common defence andwelfare;
TO borrow money; and to do pr.tty much ev-
cry thing that all the people would require to
be DONE as you'll see in the Sth section of the 1st
article, it winds up by sayin that Congress
shah have the power /" To make all LAOS for
carving into execution the foregoing powers,
and all other powers vested by this constitu-
sc ton in the government of the United States,
" or IN oay department or officer thereof"
Now, this means Soeethi7,, or it means nothin;
and my notion is, that there amt rothin in that
Constitution that don'tmean Sonlettin; and afore
the Gineral gifts threw he'll find it will turn out
So
The more / look into the Constitution, the
more think that the folks who made it-ev'ry
one on 'em had his eye teeth cut. If they had
known that the people would always make Jist
SIGH man as the Gneral President, then, pre-
haps, the Constitution wouldn't ben much lon
ger than the jint of the Ginerals inger-and
somethin after this fashion
There shall be Congress, composed of two
bodies, one calpd the House of Representatives
and the other the Senate; and Congress shall
make all the laws
chon no nd no have
the appintin of all the officers fthe Senate agrees
to it; and if they don't agree to it, the President
may wait till they go home, and then appint who
he pleases, to execute the laws as ne understands
'em
There that is pretty much all that would ben
necessary, but some how our old folks got a no.
ton in their head that seeing they had just ben
fightin agin Government where one man had
nigh upon the hull power " TO reward his friends
and punish his enemies" they would fix things
SO that this couldn't be if the people would keep
a sharp look out, and so they made conStitu-
ton; and the ony way | can account for their
bein so particular in writin down every thing so
that no one can get round it no way, and printing
out how every thing is to be done, is that there
was some folks among EN-, (such as Washing
ton, Adams, Madison, Jefferson and such like,
who help'd make it too) and who might some
how crawl into side door and git some advdn-
tage over the rest on EN-.
ell now seeing the ConSlltuuon Is as IL Is
my notion is the Gineral must be regulated by
it pritty much as the other Presidents before him,
unless the folks about him find out some way to
git round it as the foreign importers are all the
while tryin to git round the tarifflaw.
Now am amazingly puzzled to know what the
Gineral means when he says, he allows that Con-
gress has the right to pass laws, and rules and
regulations regarding the money and other pro-
perry of the Government unless that property
and money is by the laws to be put in charge of
persons appointed by him, and then the Gineral
says that Congress haint got nothing more to do
with it. This is pritty much the hull matter in
dispute between the senate and the Gineral.
The same thing once was tried by tailor
here list arter / come here. sent him some
cloth and some buttons to make me new reg-
mental coat jst arter the fashion of the old one,
which sent as pattern, and telld him to cut
it and make it jist so. Well he took notion
to have his own way, and when he sent the coat
home along with the old one, II warnt no more
like it than swallows tail is like partndge's
TAIL and sent it back and raised all natur
aboutit. and the critter come and telPd me as he
responsible for the cut of the coat and selec-
ted the woman who cut it out, had no right to
A. knnkAF .VnC