Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-04-02

W the country, put ny thc tehuic VI iaithiui
services to him personally. And each one of
them now stands, Gf this claim of power is to
be tolerated) sheltered from all punishment,
for any act in which he may be authorised by
the Executive, however criminal that act may
make him in the eye of the law. As ifall the
Offices in the gift of Government were his
own private, personal property, the Execu-
tive confers them and takes them away ac-
cording to his own views of his own personal
and party interests; covered over with the
flimsy prctext of rotation in office; though
that principle is never found to touch any
one whose party services recommend him to
continued favor. This engine extends its in.
huence to the whole party by operating upon
the fears Of all those in office, and upon the
hopes Of all those who are out, and aspire to
be in. 1t is indeed an engine Of tremendous
power; and it will require desperate effort
on the part Of the People to break its force,
and free themselves from its chains.
The Protest before mentioned cntertains
the distinct avowal of this claim by the FIX
ecutive, to consider all officers except the
judges, not as the officers of the law, and a.
menabe only 10 the law,-but as his agents,
and amenable only to him.
Again: he claims to be arbiter to decide
upon the constitutionality of all laws whatcv-
er-not merely those which are brought to
him. for concurrence with the two Houses Of
Congress, but all laws which have heretofore
been passed from the foundation of the Go
vernment, to the time ofhis coming into pow
er; and whether they shall be executed or not
executed; and to control in their execution.
The Indian Treaties, which the Constitution
declares to be the supreme law of the land
by which certain rights were guaranteed to
certain tribes of Indians under the plghted
faith of the United States, he accordingly de-
cided to be unconstitutional, and refused to
enforce them assigning for his reason that
he was to execute the Constitution as he un-
derstood it; and set at naught the authority
of the Supreme Court for this purpose. In
deed, all the DEGREES Of that Court come un-
der his claim of power. For the Marshals, nc
cording to him are not the officers of the
Court, and amenable to the Court, but his a.
gents, and amenable to him. This claim of
power resolves the Constitution, the laws
and indeed the whole government, into his
will
j Again: under his claim to execute the
Constitution as he understands it, he virtual
ly claims the power to dispense with the
Constitution itself; and he has in fact dis
pensed with one Of its most important provis-
ions. Tho Constitution provides that the
public revenue shall be raised by the Re-
presentatives of the People that it shall be
kept in their treasury; and that it shall not be
drawn out but by appropriations to be made
by them. But Gen. Jackson, by an arbitrary
act of power, has taken the public revenue
from the custody of Congress and the law
and has-assumed it to himself; and it is now
in his keeping, as much so as if it all were
now in his own private personal bureau. He
has now in his hands the sword of the Coun-
try, and the purse Of the Country the latter
unrestricted by any law whateyer;-which
union Is the very definition Of despotism. He
builds this claim of power upon the pretext,
that the Constitution has made it one of his
Executive duties "to take care that the laws
be faithfully executed" Here in this instance
is direct violation of both Constitution and
law-and this, according to him, is "to take
care that the laws be faithfully executed"
Many other claims of unconstitutional pow
er by the Executive, might be specified; but
surely these may suffice for it would seem
to be impossible for any one who reflects, not
to see that even those powers consolidated
amount to a despotsrn, without limitation or
check.
Now il this despotism is to stand and to be
continued, what are its fruits to be upon the
business and prosperity of this country?-It
is easy to see that, guided by the notions
which have been profcssed for its guide, it
must sweep over this country as with the be-
som of destruction. To 60 into detail of
all particulars, would open too wide field
let few however be noticed: and these
trust will be enough, us some forctaste of
those bitter fruits, to enlist our souls in the .
coming contest, and to animate us to the
battle.
In the first place then, the time s to come,
and that shortly, when we are no longer to
have national currency, permanent in its
value, and to be permonent at all times, and
uniform in its value at all. We still have such
currency supplied to us by the National
Bank, and shall have till that Bank exnires-.l