The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-09-11

States" The sentence which precedes this IN
the Message relates TO the graduation law, that
which follows il, TO the Florida war; and there
Is not another sentence or word in the Message
which relates 10 the Secretary's plan for organi-
zing the militia; so that the charge OF gdrbhng,
expressing, and faisitying, rests on the omis-
| sion OF the words . TO your consideration and
the difference complained of is, that Of strongly
recommending plan TO an individual and strong
| ly recommending 1t to his consideration. Ac-
cording to Webster, the word 'reconimend'
means 10 praise 10 dnother--to offer or com
mend 10 d1other's notice, or kindness by faror-
able representdtions--fo make dcceptabie--to
commit NTH prayers" Let US take the sen
tence as the President penned it, and substitute
for the word 'recOmmend" any Of the signifca-
tons Of that word aforementioned:
| cannot too strongly praise TO your conside-
ration the PLAN &c.
cannot too strongly, by Favorable represen-
tdtioas, commend 10 the notice, or kindness, Of
your consideration, the plan, &c.
| cannot too strongly make acceptable to
your consideration the plan, &c.
cannot too strongly commit NTH prayers
TO your consideration the plan, &c.
| Now, strike out the words q TO your consider
| ation,n and insert the words ''to you,n and tell
us the difference which would be thereby effected
| in the meaning of the sentence And yet il is
| upon this different mode of expressing the same
idea that the President has ventured TO charge
US with the intentional suppression Of the words,
''to your consideration
Suppose man to be afflicted with a sore dis
ease and some doctor in whom he has not en-
| tire confidence, should prescribe a remedy -
the family physician is called in, Analyses the
compound, and finds it to be deadly poison.
Instead Of exposing the empyrick, he says to his
patient, 8 / cannot too strongly recommend to
your consideration the potion of that gentleman"
His patient takes it, and dies. Is the physician
not murderer? If the plan Of the Secretary be
as deleterious as the People have pronounced it
to be, the President may take his choice between
the alternatives which he presents to the citizens
| who have subscribed their names to statements
which he calls absurd and preposterous, and
either confess his own ignorance and unftness
for his high office, or his having presumed on the
| ignorance Of others
Again: 1t is only by virtue of an express pro-
vision of the Constitution that the President can
NEEDLE with the deliberations of Congress, and
exert the influence of his office in originating
laws: and he does this upon his responsibility
for the necessity and erpediency of the mea-
sures which he recommends to the consideration
of Congress. Article q section 3, of that instru-
ment, declares that ''he shall, from time to time,
give TO Congress information of the state of the
| Union, and recommend to their consideration
such measures as he shall Judge necessary and
erpedient.' Whenever, therefore, in the per
Torrance of his constitutional duty the Presi
dent recommends measure to the considera.
ton of Congress, it is because he Judges il s'ne
cessdry and erpedient." And, if he did moi
think the plan Of the Secretary necessary and
expedient he violated his oath of office when he
'sstronglv recommended to their consideration
the plan of that ofhcer.n 1t is upon this mise
rable bubble, founded upon an accidental omis-
sion, which did not change in the slightest de
gree the sense of the extract--a bubble which
would cast ridicule upon the lowest pettifoggei
-one which we would not have condescended
10 notice had ii come from any other quarter
that the President of the United States has step
ped out of his way to write and publish to the
| American peope-of portion of that people
who had calmly and respectfully canvassed his
measures-such language as the following
"We have been compelled to see, not, should
think, without shame and modification on the
part ofevery ingenious mind, whatever may be
its political preferences, the names ofrespectable
citizens subscribed TO statements that had, in
my annual Message, expressed my appreciation
of plan, which not only never had been sub
mited to me, but was not ever matured until
more than three months after the Message was
sent to Congress: and an attempt to prove the
unfounded assertion by the publication of a
edrbied extract from that document, with its true
meaning fdlsifedby the suppression Of a materi
al part. we VIII IOuOW MS exam PIE Nv cIa-
racterizing his conduct in terms which il would
warrant No. We belong TO different school
of manners as well as morals from that in which
he has taken his degrees, and will not stoop to
! handy epthets with Martin Van Buren,, Presi-
dent of the United States.
Let us look little into the Presidents logic
He says that his Message was garbed and a
part suppressed and thereby its true meaning
was falsifed. We have seen that the only words
,Inrnt
give TO these words all the force which even the
Imagination can impart TO them, and how do
they alter the meaning of the sentence? In no
possible way but as qualifying his recommends
| ton. They bear upon the question OF degree
Iforce-earRestnesS; or, at most upon the ques-
ton of recommendation or no n,endation,
and not upon the question, lrhdt did he recon-
mend? The only question on which the mes
sage was ever quoted is, whether or no the Pre-
| sident endorsed the plan recommended by the
Secretary in his November report, of which he
spoke in his message; and the words, '.to your
consideration bear upon that question only
| Yet the President complains that, by their sup
preston, we have 50 falsi6ed his meaning as 10
make him recommend thing which did not
exist until more than three months afterwards,
and thus would make the words, "to your CON
sideration, mean the thing recommended, Ad-
mirabe logician, We argued that he was con
nusant ofthe details reported on Goth March, not
from the premises of the President but from the
fact that the Secretary had said, in his Report
that he was then prepared to submit plan of
them 10 him. And so we argue now: and you
may judge now, as you judged then, whether the
argument is weak or forcibe.
In the polite language of the vocabulary of the
palace, we have also been charged with betray
ing ignorance ourselves, or presuming upon the
ignorance of others in our commentaries upon
the first section of the proposed plan, which, in
cypress terms, requires the militia TO furnish
their own arms. We have anticipated this, and
all the other grounds taken by the President, in