The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-03-20

prerogatiye by the President Of the United
States. Such occasions are certainly liable to
occur and have occurred. AS TO the expe-
diency of employing the Veto power on con-
stitutional question, we are sure, that General
Harrison would be very cautious, as it 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, if
wrong, has constitutional corrective in the
Judiciary. General Harison'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 a 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 it has been decided by the legis-
Ialive branch Of the Government.
The practical operation of the Federal Cor
ernntent as a matter of history
General Harrison suggests what is indeed
desideratum in the history of the Federal Gov
eminent, viz. an accurate expose of its practical
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
point he says Without denying that the re-
suit to which they (who feared evil) looked with
so much apprehension, is IN the nay Of being
realized, il is obvious that they did not clearly
see the mode of its accomplishment" Con-
solicitation 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 one great central, allpervad-
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 inNfavor 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 will 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 .Sloord
Nevertheless, General Harrison distinctly in
Inmates, that ''the result is IN the aoay Of being
realized" though not in the mode apprehended.
Here is virtually the announcement Of a great
and alarming fact. What is it As we must
come to it, the shortest way is the best 1t 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
union of the purse and the sword. The design
is fairly inferred from the character and opera
ton of the measure.
This measure a pioIation Of the Constitution.
At least it is an unconstitutional stretch Of
power and junction of two agencies which
must endanger the liberties of any nation. 1t
will not be denied that it was the intention of
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 junction for mo-
ment. If the British Sovereign wants money,
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-
nexion 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
dicant 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
our Liberties has any less of security in its provi
sions, in having cut off the connection between
the hand that yields the sword and that which
holds the purse-strings of the nation2 And vet
the Independent Treasury has established and
confirmed this connection.
Hear what the historian Gibbon says "In
whatever state an individual unites in his per.
son the execution of the laws, 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; eff the opinion of the most approved wri-
tiers upon that species of mixed Governments,
which in modern Europe is termed MONARCHY,
in contradistinction to DEsPoTIsM, is correct,
there was wanting no other addition to the pow
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