The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1841-12-11
PRESIDENTS
MESSAGE.
r. The Senate and House of Representa-
Hssj, Of Mg United States:

-
in coming together, fellow citizens, to
enter again upon the discharge Of the du-
ties with which the People have charged
us. severuily, we finds great occasion to
rel dice in the general prosperity Of the
country.-Nc are i'll the enjoyment Of all
the blessings of civil and religious liberty
with unexampled means of education,
knowledge, and improvement. Through
lhe..year which is now drawing to a close
peace has been in our borders, and plenty
i'll our habitaticns; and although disease
ha; visited some few portions of the land
with distress AID mortality, yet in general
tn, health Of the People has been preser-
vel, and we are all called upon, by the
highest obligations of duty, to renew our
hanks and our devotion to our Heavenly
aaren: who has continued to vouch sale
to ,sthe eminent blessings which sur
round us, and who has so signally crown
ed the year with his goodness. If we
find ourselves increasing, beyond EXAM
pie. in numbers, in strength, in wealth, in
knowledge, i'll every thing which pro-
.motos human and social happiness, let us
ever remember our dependence, for all
these, on the protection and mercilul dis
.pensalions OF Divine Providence.
Since your last adjournment, Alexander
Mcleod, Il British subject, who was indie
ted for the murder Of an American citizen,
and whose case has been the subject of a
correspondence heretofore communicated
to you, has been acquitted by the verdict
of an impartial and intelligent jury; and
has, under the judgment Of the Court.
been regularly discharged.
Great Britain having made known TO
this Government that the expedition
which was fitted out from Canada for the
Obstruction of the steamboat Caroline, in
the winte. of 1897, and which resulted
in the destruction Of said boat, and in the
death of an American cltlz ell, was under
taken by orders emanatlng from the au-
lhorities of the British Government, in
Canada, and demanding the discharge of
Mcleod upon the ground that, if engaged
in that expedition, he did but fulfil the
orders of his Government, has thus been
answered in the onl way in which she
could be answered 10y Government, the
powers OF which are distributed among
It's several departments by the fundamen-
lal law. Happily for the people of Great
Britain, rs well as those of the uuted
States. the only mode by which all indivi-
al, arraigned for criminal offence Before
the Couyts.of either, can obtain his dis
charge, is by the independent action of,he
Judiciary, and by proceedings equally ia
lni!iar to the Courts of both Countries.
II in Great Britain power exists III
the Crown TO cause to be entered nolkc
proSiqui, which is not the case with the
Executive power Of tbs United States u
pon prosecution pending in a state court;
yet there, no NOSE than hcrc, can the
Chief Executive power rescue Il prisoner
from custody without an order of the
proper tribunal directing his discharge
The precise stage of the proceedings at
which such order may be made, isa mat
ter of municipal regulation exclusively,and
MOTTO be complained Of by any other Go
vernmeua In cases of this kind, a Gov
eramont becomes politically responsible
only, when its tribunals Of last resort are
shown to have rend rcd uni ust and 'njuri-
oas Judgments in matters not doubtful. -
To the establishment and calculation of
this principle, no nation has lent its au-
thorlty more efficiently than Great Bril-
tain. Alexander Mcleod having his OPP
ton ether to prosecute writ of error
from the decision OF the Supreme Court
of New York, which had been rendered
upon his application for a discharge, to
the Supreme Court of the United States,
TO submit his case to the decision of ju-
ny, preferred the latter, deeming it the !
rcadicst mode Of obtaining his liberation,
and the result has fully sustained the wis
dom of his choice. The manner in which
the issue submitted was tried, will satisfy
the English Government that the princi-
plies of justice will never fail to govern
the enlightened decision of an American
tribunal. cannot fail, however, to sng-
gest to Congress the propriety; and in
some degree, the necessity, of making
such provisions by law, SO far as they
may constitutionally do so, for the reno
val at their commencement, and at the OPP
ton of the party, OF all such cases as may
hereafter arise, and which may involve
the faithful observance and execution of
our international obligations, from the
State to the Federal Judiciary. This
Government, by our Institutions, is char
gcd with the maintenance of peace and
the preservation of amicablc relations
with the nations Of the earth, and ought
TO possess, without question, all the rea-
sonablc and proper means of main tanning
the one and preserving the other, Whilst
just confidence is felt IN the Judiciary of
the States, yet this Government ought to
be competent III itself for the fuililment of
the high duties which have devolved upon