Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-05-21


TO adopt the conclusion, "either that the Chief
Magistrate was unworthy of their respect, or
that the Senate was chargeable with calumny
and injustice" There can be no doubt which
branch of this alternative was intended to be
applied The President throughout the Protest,
labors to prove himself worthy of all respect
from the People. Finally, the President says,
cit is due to the high trust with which have
been charged; to those who may be called to
succeed me in it; the Representatives OF the Peo-
pie whose constitutional prerogative has been
unlawfully assumed; to the People and to the
States; and to the constitution they have estab-
lished, that should not permit its provisions to
be broken down by such an attack on the Exc
cutiYe Department, without at least some effort
| to preserve, protect and defend Them F"
These are the opinions which the President
expresses in the Protest, Of the conduct of the
Senate. In every form, and every variety OF
expression, he accuses it of violating the express
! language and spirit of the Constitution; of en-
croaching not only on his prerogatives but those
of the House of Representatives; of forgetting
! the sacred character and impartiality which be-
long to the highest Court of Justice in the Union;
of injustice, of inhumanlty, and of calumny.-
And we are politely requested to spread upon
our own journal these opinions entertained Of
us by the President, that they may be perpetual
| ly preserved and handed down to posterity!-
The President respectfully requestsit! He might
as well have come to us and respectfully re-
auested us to allow him to pull our noses, or kick
us, or receive his stripes upon our backs. The
DEGRADATION would not have been much more
| humiating.
The President tells us, in the same Protest,
that any breach or violation of the Constitution
and laws, draws after it, necessarily implies vo
| ltion and design; and that the legal conclusion
is, that it was prompted by improper motives
and committed with an unlawful intent He
pronounces, that the Senate, in the violations
of the Constitution, which he deliberately i'm
putes to it. is guilty; that voliton and design,
on the part of the Senate, is necessarily i'm,
piled; and that the legal conclusion is, that the
Senate was prompted by improper motives,
and committed the violation with an unlawful
intent. And he most respectfully and kindly
solicits of the Senate, to overlap the restraint
| Of the Constitution which limits its journal to
the record of its 0wn proceedings, and place
alongside Of them, his sentence Of condemna-
ton of the Senate.
That the President did not intend to make
the Journal of the Senate medium of convey
ing his sentiments to the People, is manifest
He knows perfectly well how to address to them
| his appeals And the remarkable fact is esta-
blshed, by his private Secretary, that, simulta-
| neously with the transmission to the Senate Of
his Protest, duplicate was transmitted to the
Globe, his official paper, for publication, and it
was forthwith published accordingly For what
avow the belief but one is compelled to think it
was only sent in spirit Of insult and defiance
| The President is not content with indicating
his own rights. He steps forward to maintain
the privileges of the House Of Representatives
also. Why? Was it to make the House his al
y, and to excite its indignation against the Of
| Tending Senate? Is not the House perfectly
competent to sustain its own privileges against
every assault? | should like to see, sir, reso-
luton introduced into the House, alleging a
breach Of its privileges by a resolution of the
Senate which was intended to maintain, unvio-
lated, the constitutional rights Of both Houses
in regard to the public purse, and to be present
at its discussion.
The President exhibits great irritation and
Impotence at the presumptuousness of reso-
| luton which, without the imputatiOn Of any bad
| Intention or design, ventures to allege that he
has violated the Constitution and laws. His
constitutional and official infalibty must not
be questioned. To controvert it, is an act of fin
justice, nhumanity, and calumny. He is treat
ed as criminal and, without summons he is
| prejudged, condemned, and sentenced. Is the
| President scrupulously careful of the memory
fthe dead or the feelings Of the living, in res
pect to violations of the Constitution? If VIC
lation by him implies criminal guilt, violation
by them cannot be innocent and guiltless And
how has the President treated the memory off
the immortal Father ofhis Country? That great
man, who, for purity purpose and character, |
wisdom and moderation, unsulied virtue and |
unsurpassed patriotism, is without competition |
in past history, or among living men, and whose
equal we scarcely dare hope will ever be again
presented as blessing to mankind; how has
he been treated by the PRESIDENT Has he not
again and again pronounced that, by approx
ing the bill chartering the first Bank of the Uni
ted States, Washington violated the Constitu-
ton of his country? That violation, according
to the President, included volition and design,
was prompted by improper motives, and was
committed with an unlawful intent. 1t was the
more inexcusable in Washington, because he
assisted and presided in the Convention which
formed the Constitution. If it be unjust to ar
ralgn, try unheard, and condemn, as guilty, a
living man, filling an exalted office, with all the
splendor, power, and influence which that office
possesses, how much more cruel is it to disturb
the sacred and venerated ashes of the illustri-
Gus dead, who can raise no voice, and make no
Protests, against the imputation Of high crime?
What has been the treatment Of the President
towards that other illustrious man yet spared
to us, but who is lingering upon the very verge
of eternity? Has he abstained from charging
the Father of the Constitution with criminal in