Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1841-12-16
PresiAent's Message.
WAsHiNcToN, Dec. 9TH, 1871.
10 Me Senate and House Of Representatives.


If the United States.
In coming together, fellow -citizens, 10 enter a.
gain upon the discharge of the duties with which
the People have charged us, severally, we find
great occasion to rejoice In the general prosperity
of the country. We are in the enjoyment of all
the blessings Of civil and religious liberty, with
unexempled means Of education, knowledge, and
improvement. Through the year which is now
drawing to close, peace has been in bor-
ders, and plenty in our habitations; and although
disease has visited some few portions Of the land
with distress and mortality, yet in general the
health of the People has been preserved, and we
called upon, by the highest obligations of du-
ty, To renew our thanks and our devotion to our
Heavenly Parent, who has continued TO vouch-
safe to the eminent blessings which surround
us, and who has sgnaly crowned the year
with his goodness. If we find ourselves increas-
ing, beyond example, in numbers, in strength, in
wealth, in knowledge, i'm every thing which pro-
notes human and social happiness, let us ever re-
member our dependence, for all these, on the pro-
lection and merciul dispensations Of Divine Pro-
violence.
Since your last adjournment, Alexander Nc
Leod, British subject, who indicted for
the murder OF an American citizen, and whose
case has been the subject of a correspondence
heretofore communicated to you, has been acquit-
ted by the verdict of an impartial and Intelligent
jury, and has, under the judgment ofthe Court,
| been regularly discharged.
ernment that the expedition which was fitted out
| from Canada ortho destruction of the steamboat
Caroline, In the winter of 1897, and which result
ted In the destruction of said boat and in the death
OF an American citizen, was undertaken by or
ders emanating from the authorities of the British
government, in Canada, and demanding the dis
charge OF Mcleod upon the ground that, if enga-
ged IN that expedition, he did but fulfil the orders
fhis Government, has thus been answered in
the only way in which she could be answered by
government, the powers of which distribu-
ted among its several departments by the funda-
mental law. Happily for the people of Great
Britain, as well as those Of the United States the
only mode by which an individual, arragned for
criminal offence, before the Courts OF either,
can obtain his discharge, is by the independent
acuon OF the judiciary, and by proceedings equal
ly familiar to tho Courts of both countries.
If in Great Britain power exists in the Crown
10 cause to be entered noNe prosequi, which is
not the case with the Executive power of the u
states upon prosecution pending in State
Court; yet there, no more than here, can the chief
Executive power rescue prisoner from custody
without an order of the proper tribunal directing
MS d'scharge.-The precise stage of the pro-
ceedings at which such order may be made, is
matter Of municipal regulation exclusively, and
not be complained of by any other Government.
In cases of this kind, a Government becomes no.
litcally responsible only, when its tribunals of
last resort are shown to have rendered unjust and
injurious Judgments in matters not doubtful. To
the establishment and calculation of this princi-
PEE no nation has lent its authority efficient
~ than Great Britain. Alexander Mcleod hav-
ing MS option either to prosecute writ of error
from the decision of the Supreme Court of New
ork, which had been rendered upon his appli-
cation tor discharge, to the Supreme Court of
tne United States, or to submit his case to the de-
cislon of jury, preferred the latter, deeming it
the readlest mode of obtaining his liberation, and
the result has fully sustained the wisdom of his
choice.
The manner in which the Issue submitted was
tsied VIII satisfy the English Government that
the principles OF justice will never fail to govern
the enlightened decision of an American tribunal
cannot fail, however, to suggest to CONGRESS-
'ne Proprety, and IN some degree, the necessity
oil making such provisions by law, SO far as they
may consutonally do so, for the removal at
thelr commencement, and at the option of the
party, oil all such cases as may hereafter arise
and which may involve the faithful observance
ana execution OF our international obligations
from the State to the Federal Judiciary This
government by our institutions is CHARGED with
the maintenance of peace and the preservation of
amicable relations with the nations of the earth,
ana ought to possess, without question, all the
reasonable and proper means of maintaining the
one and preserving the other. Whilst Just con-
ndence is felt In the Judiciary Of the States vet
this Government ought to be competent in itself
for the fnlflment of the high duties which have
been devolved upon it under the organic law. bv
the STATES themselves.
In the month of September, a party of armed
men from Upper Canada invaded the territory of
the United States, and forcibly seized upon the
person OF one Grogan, and, under circumstances
OF great harshness, hurriedly carried him beyond
the limits of the United States and delivered
him up to the authorities Of Upper Canada. His
immediate discharge was ordered by those au-
thoritles, upon the facts ofthe case being brought
to their know!edge-a course of procedure which
was 10 have been expected from a nation with
WhoEh we are at peace, and which was not more
due to the rights of the United States than to its
own regard for Justice The correspondence
which passed between the Department of State,
and the British Envoy, Mr.. Fox, and with the
Governor OF Vermont, as the facts had
been made known to this Department, are here.
with communicated.
regret that it is not in my power 10 make |
known TO you an equally satisfactory conclusion |
In The case oil the Caroline steamer, with the cir
cumstances connected with the destruction of |
which, In December, 1887, by an armed force fit
ted out In the Province Of Upper Canada, you are
already made acquainted. No such atonement
as was due for the public wrong done to the u.
States by this invasion Of her territory so wholly
rreconcilab!e with her rights as an independent
power, has yet been made. In the view taken
by this Government, the inquiry whether the ves-
sci was in the employment of those who were
Prosecuting an unauthorized war against that Pro-
vince, or was engaged by the owner in the bust
ness 81 transporting passengers to and from Navy
Island IN hopes ofprlvate gain, which was most
the case, in no degree alters the real
question at issue between the two governments.
MS Government can never cOuCede to any for