Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1836-04-28
[vol. XxXvIT---No. 10.

appreciation OF the President, and that
the act must be regarded as law. The
answer certainly could not be refuted
Dy an appeal TO any authentic written
evidence. | beseech gentlemen TO re.
fleet upon the possible consequences of
this "avenging" process Of expuno;no
what doubts It may bring upon the
evidence Of our proceedinr-how i
may, perchance, have tho effect Of
giving authority to acts as laws
which, in truth have never been pus.
sed.
In Bioren's edition Of the Constitu.
ton and laws ofthe United States. pub.
llshed by authority, and daily rcsorted
to Tor evidence of the law, in all our
Courts Of Justice, there is found 18th
amendment ofthe Constitution, ordain.
ing that " if any citizen of the United
States, shall accept, claim, receive, or
retain any title ofnobility or honor. or
shall, without consent of Congress- ac.
cept and retain any present, pension.
office, or emolument, ofany kind what.
soever, from any emperor, king, prince
or foreign power, such person shalI
cease to be citizen ofthe United States
and shall be incapable of holding apy
ONCE OF trust or profit under them, or
either OF them" But wo all know
that this is not part of the constitu.
ton, that 1t has not been ratified bv n
sufficient number Of the states to mako
It SO. And see that in the copies of
the constitution printed under the SUI
perlntendence of the Secretary. and
furnished to the members of the Sen.
ate, II has been. very properly, wholly
omitted. Now suppose that any man
should receive and retain a present
from foreign potentate suppose. for
example, that my honorable colleague.
(there IS no want ofcourtesy in making
the supposition, since no one can be.
iieve the case possible in point offnot,)
had during his embassy to France. re.
ceIved a present from Louis Philippe.
and retained it for his own use, and
his citizenship and capacity for public
ofiice should be drawn in question, and
impugned on that ground, and the fac,
should be proved by incontestible evil
dence, ask him to tell me what
ought to be thought of the Judges who
should take and apply to his case that
18th amendment Of the constitution.
printed in Biorcn's edition Of the laws.
published by authority, and deny him
all recourse TO the evidence which the
journals ofthe Legislatures would af.
lord, that this provision is not a part
OF the constitution
Our business is 10 ascertain the
meaning of the phrase used in the con.
sti'ution, which expressly requires us 10
Keep journal Of orr procedures
Gentlemen say this only requires us to
make ajournaI, and to print and pub.
llsh it, but not, after having made and
published it, to preserve it also. To
give even plausible color to this con.
structlon, gentlemen should at least
have shown that there can be no pos
slble use in preserving the original
mani .rript journal after the publica-
ton of the printed copies. But this
they have not attempted, nor (appa-
rently) even thought of. Isay that to
Keep a journal means, TO make ono, and
to preserve the very journal made and
| have shown the reason, the use, the
necessity for doing SO.
4
My honorable colleague saws that
the constitutional roquisition to keep a
journal Of our proceedings is mere mat.
ter of inducemcnt to the requisition
Immediately following in the same SEN
tence, 10 publish the same from time to
time; so that we are bound to Keen.
only for the purpose OF publishing, and
when we have published our whole duty
Is fulfilled. Indeed he finds two posi-
tive injunctions in the Constitution re.
spectIng the same thing, and thinks he
may absolve himself from the obiga.
ton of the first, by comply ing with the
last !! This. is a novel specimen of that
kind of ingenuity by which constitu.
tons and laws have been made to mean
anything, every thing, nothing.
The verbal criticism into which
have entered may have appeared to
some gentlemen trivial, and to many
supurfuous; but ! hope it will be re-
membered that have entered into il
only for the purpose Of exposing the
fallacy Of other verbal criticisms, by
which the plain meaning of the plain
words Of the Constitution has been OBJ.
fnscated, and the duty it imposes
sought TO be avoided. III have ascer-
tanned the true meaning of the consti-
tutlonal provision, that "each House
shall keep a jcurnal ofits proceedings"