Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1841-03-18

| the banking institutions. 1t is not the dl
vorce which is complained of, but the un-
hallowed Union Of the Treasury with the
Executive Department, which has created
such extensive alarm. To this Danger to
our Republican Institutions, and that Gre
ated by the influence given 10 The Execu-
tive through the ins,rumcntality of the fed
eral officers, propose to apply all the
remedies which may be at my command.
1t was certainly great error in the franz
ers of the Constitution, not to have made
The officer at The head of the Treasury
Department, entirely independent of the
Executive. He should at least have been
removable only upon the demand of the
popular branch Of the Legislature. have
determined never to remove a Secretary
of the Treasury without communicating
all the circumstances attending such re-
moval TO both Houses Of Congress. The
influence Of The Executive in controlling
the freedom of the elective franchise thro'
the medium of the public officers, can be
effecrually checked by renewing the pro-
hibiiion published by Mr.. Jefferson, for
bidding their interference in elections fur
ther than giving their own votes; and
their own independence secured by an as
surance of perfect immunity, in exercising
this sacred privilege Of freemen under The
dictates Of their own unbiased judgments.
Never, with my consent, shall an officer
Of the People, compensated for his seryi-
ces out of their pockets become the plant
instrument Of Executive will.
There is no part of the meaus placed in
the hands Of The Executive which might
be used with greater effect, for unhaIlow-
ed purposes, than the control of the public
press. The maxim which our ancestors
derived from the mother coun,ry,i ,ihat "the
freedom of the pross is the great bulwark
of civil and religious liberty" is one Of the
most precious legacics they have left us.
We have learned 100, from our own as
well as The experience of o!her countries,
that golden shacklcs, by wholnsoevcr or
by whatever prctcnce imposed, are as ia
tai to il as Ihe iron bonds of despotism.
The presses in the necessary employment
of the Government, should never be used
"to clear the guilty, or Hrnish crimes" +"
A decent and manly examination Of The
acts ottle Government SHOULD be not only
tolerated hut encouraged.
Upon another occasion have given my
opinion, at some length, upon the impro-
priety OF Executive interference in the le-
gislation Of Congress. That,h article in
the Constitution making it the duty of the
President 10 communicate information,
and authorizing him to recommend meas
ures, was not intended to make him the
source Of legislation, and in particular that
he should never be looked TO for schemes
of inance. 1t would be very strange, in.
deed, that the Constitution should have
strictly forbidden one bran of the Lcgis.
lature from interfering in & organization
Of such bills, and that it should he consid-
cred proper that all altogether different de-
partmen of the Government should be
permitted TO do so. Som. of our best po-
litical maxims and opirions have been
drawn from our parent Tile. There are
others, however, which caSnol be introdu-
sfd ed qHR sYsssq Hs T5hRspsa ns9s
chief. And this conceive to be one. No
! matter in which of the Houses Of Parlia-
ment a bill may originate, nor by whom
introduced a minister, or n amenber ofthe
opposition, by the fiction oflaw, or rather
constitutional principle, the Sovereign is
supposed 10 have prepared it agreeaby to
his will, and then submitted il to Parlia-
ment for their adviceiand consent.
Now, the very reverse is the case here,
not only with regard to the principle, but
the forms prescribed by the Constitution,
(the legislative bot!y,) the power to make
laws, and the forms even direct that the
enactment should be ascribed to them.
The Senate in relation to Revenue bills,
have the right TO propose amendments I,
and so has the Executive, by the power
! given him to return them olhe House G!
Representatives, with his objections. II is
in bis power, also, to propose amendments
in the existing revenue laws, suggested by
his observations upon their defective or
injurious operation. But the delicate duty
of devising schemes OF revepue Should be
left where the Constitution lad placed ir--
with the Immediate representatives of the
People. For similar reasons, the mode Of
keeping the public treasury should be pre-
scribed by them; and the farther removed
! it may be from the control Of the Execu-
live, the more wholesome The arrange.
mcut, and the more in accordance with
Republican principles.
Connected with this subject is the char
acler of the currency. The idea Of max
Ing it exclusively metallic, however well
intended, appears to mo 10 oe fraught
with more fatal consequences than any
other scheme, having no rla,ion to the
personal rights Of the citizens. that has
ever been devised. If anysingle scheme
could produce the effect Of arresting, at
once, that mutation Of condition by which
thousands of our most indigsnt fellow-ci!i-
zens, by their industry aud enterprise, are
raised 10 the possession Of wealth, that is
the one. IL there is one measure better
calculated than another to produce that
state of things so much deprecated By all
true republicans by which the rich are
daily adding TO their boards and the poor
sinking deeper into penury,it is an exclu-
sive metallic currency. Orilthere is pro-
cess by which the characterofth the country
for generosity and noblenessoffeeling may