The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-03-19

l
States Such occasions certainly liable 10
occur, and have occurred. As TO the expe-
dency of employing the Veto power on con-
stilutional question, we are sure, that General
Harrison would be very cautious, as il is always
a matter of opinion, on which majority Of
both Houses of Congress would be very formi-
dable to conflict with and whose decision, II
wrong, has a constitutional corrective in the
Judiciary. General Harrison's notice OF Mr..
Madison's rule, in such cases, IS exactly TO the
point which would probably decide nine OF ten,
if not ninety-nine of hundred, OF the cases
likely to occur-and determine them on the
right side. To decide constitutional question
| by Veto is great responsibility, which no
prudent man would be willing to assume with
out much consideration. The supreme judi
ciary would seem to be the most competent, if
not the only constitutional tribunal for such
question, after il has been decided by the legis
lative branch Of the Government.
The practical operation Of the Federal Coz
ernmeat a matter Of history.
General Harrison suggests what is indeed
desideratum in the history of the Federal Gov
~.
operation in regard to those points on which
the most apprehension was originally felt,
with view to ascertain how far those appre-
tensions have been realized in fact, and whether
they come in the form anticipated. On this
point he says: Without denying that the re-
suit to which they (who feared ev) looked with
so much apprehension, is IN the irdy Of being
i -. a.. 4 "A. Il.
see the mode Of its accomplishment" Con-
soliddtion was the danger apprehended, by the
gradual encroachment Of Federal power on the
| rights of the States, and the gradual absorption
of those rights in great central, all-peryad-
ing and controlling agency But, as to matter of
| fact, the President says, "The General Govern
ment has seized upon none of the reserved rights
of the States" On the contrary, if we might
take the argument lately made in the Senate of
the United States, against Mr. Crittenden's re-
solution in favor of the distribution among the
States Of the proceeds of the public lands we
may infer that the great danger now is, that the
States viii swallow up the Union, and not that
the Union will swallow up the States. Although
we would not stake much for the soundness and
force Of this argument to effect the object in
tended, there is yet enough in it TO quiet all APP
prehensions of consolidation in this mode 1t is
evident there is now no alarm in any quarter as
to an influence or tendency of this specific cha
racter.
Union Of the Purse and the .S,oord.
Nevertheless, General Harrison distinctly in
Inmates, that ''tte result is IN the toay Of being
IL n ~
Here is virtually the announcement Of great
and alarming fact. What is it? AS we must
come TO it, the shortest way is the best: II is
the Independent Treasury, and the train of
measures that led to it. Every one knows that
the custody and control Of the public Treasury
was assumed BY General Jackson, and confirm
ed in the hands of the Executive by this final
and great measure The whole machinery of
the Sub-treasury was contrived to establish a
union Of the purse and the sword The design
is fairly inferred from the character and opera
ton of the measure.
Ihis measure a violation Of The Constitution.
AT least il is an unconstitutional stretch of
power, and junction of two agencies which
must endanger the liberties of any nation 1t
the Constitution to keep these agencies apart,
and in the hands of separate and independent
branches Of the Government British liberty
would never tolerate such a junction for mo-
ment. If the British Sovereign wants money,
he or she is obliged to ask, not Parliament, not
the House Of Lords, but the House of Commons,
the popular branch of the Legislature, and is
compelled to stoop to say, when granted, " Gen
lemen, thank YOU" Not penny can come
from the public treasury except through this
channel, and by this acknowledgment of depen-
dence. Nor has the sovereign, by any con-
nexon whatever, the charge Of the public funds,
and every supply for the royal household is
voted by the generosity, if you please, the cha
rity of the British public. There is not men
dcant in the streets of London more dependent
on the aims Of passengers than is the Sovereign
of Great Britain on the good feeling Of his or
her people.
And can it be supposed that the charter Of
liberties has any less of security in its provl-
sions in having cut off the connexion between
the hand that wieds the sword and that which
holds the purse-strings of the nation And vet
tut INDEPENDENT Treasury mas SseaphShNu oia
confirmed this connexion.
Hear what the historian Gbbon says: In
whatever state an individual unites in his per
son the execution of the la ws, the command of
the army, and the management Of the revenue,
that state may be termed MONARCHY" Hear
what General Harrison's Inaugural Address
says: "lf the opinion of the most approved wri-
tiers upon that species of mixed Governments,
which in modern Europe is termed MONARCHY,