The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1840-02-27
le corps who hold office ut his plea.

the corps who hold office ut his pIe1
= sure. a fsq z -
n We will, after little reflection
e perceive that This resolution not onl
8 only unqunlifiedIy condemns YOU
e Senators Tor their vote. but necesss
r'ly the conduct and opinions Of oil
, ers whom the country has most dc
! lighted to honor.
!, The only reason assigned in Won
. resolution why this bill was uncon
stitutional is, that it abridged the free
: dom Of speech. s,
j II you are correct, how dare Mr.
Jefferson ''lhe Apostle of Liberlv,'
IN his letter TO Governor McKean
use the language he did on this sub
Jet! Still more, when he came int
! Office as President, why did he dare
Tissue his circular letter, prohibiting
this class Of officers, on pain of dis.
m'ssal, from interfering in elections
farther than to give their own votes?
tie was sworn to support The Con.
st'tut"n, and if Congress abridses
the freedom of speech, secured bv
the Constitution, by the enactments
! proposed in this I'LL, It follows clear
~ that the President in his circular
violated the same provision, bv pro-
nnunclny the like penalty for the like
offence! si .s's ...s..,' t..f -
ldeiv any person to condemn the
one wIthou, condemning the other;
unless indeed, we suppose there is a
class of politicians who believe the
Constitution does not, and ought no,
TO impose any restraint upon the
President - "a. og - ga
| fear such a sect has lately sprung
up, and IS increasing. 1t cannot be
too speedily suppressed. fa 1.aT en-
The late President, General Jack
son, in his inaugural address, when
''he was fresh from the people, in
culcated the slme doctrine with Mr.
jefferson. TO prevent the patron
age OF the governmen,nent from be-
ln5 brought into conflict with the free
dom OF elections, was Il duty insert
bed IN characters too legibIe to he mis-
understo"d, &c. WAS the strong Ian.
guage he then used. How was this
duty to be discharged? Did we not
one and all, believe he would dis.
charge it as Mr. Jefferson had done?
II, then, these Presidents could, with
out violating the Constitution, pro-
hlbt these officers from interte rinr in
elections, why could not Congress
by It's enactments prohibit them like
wise? ''"5 yer
NJ satisfactory answer can be Civ
en- to this question. 4.. Vi.
The President already had the pow
er vested in him to dismiss these Of
ticers at his pleasure; ana Congress
unquestionabl y had the power to limit
his discretion, by specifying the cases
In which he should exerc Sc it. II,
then, my colleague and | erred on this
question OF power, with great deIer-
encc | submit, that the company with
which our opinions were associated
ought, ut least, 10 have sofiened the
asperlty of tile language in which our
condemnation was pronounced. II
there was any one subject above all
others. upon which | believed nv col.
Ieague AMI | could not mistake the
sentiment of our constituents, it was
that embraced in that bill. {; rg.f I
Toaprerent the President through
those Officers, mountaineering in cleo
tons was IL theme upon which the
lriendsoi.the late President Garkson)
had dwell slne most. fbotIl in and oui
0! G nyress. In 1895, Il committee
otithe Sena OF winch was :; very
humble member, through their chair
man had made Il most able report, the
principles Of which were appauIed
by the whole party, and by our State
in PARTICULAR. Upon them, mainly,
General Jackson came into power;
he gave them his solemn sanction in
his inaugural address, in presence ol
thousands ut witnesses. | had been !
twice elected after my opinions were
well known upon lnis subject, AMI /
now, when endeavor faithfully to /
carry them out,5 to be unquaIifedly t
condemned Tor doing SO, and tia,
by those who then aproiess-d to think
us | sincerely did, was what / did MT
lam sure that, upon this
subject, my practice has correspond
ed with my professions. Sill, |
should feel degraded if were to pro-
nounce any old associate il traitor, or
llkenhim to Benedict Arnold, because
at tins time he disagrees with me III
opinion. a..s.'f. III
Tley are greatly mistaken who
suppose the object OF this bill was 10
take from this class OF officers an, |
right Whatever. Precisely the re-
verse was the intention. 1t was to
en,ancipa'e them from tie ss!ayish
bondage in which they were heidi
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