The Illinois free trader. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1840-1841, 1841-03-19

'~Oi's iN~S'
The influence of the Executive, in cen
trolling the freedom of the elective fran
chise, through the medium of the public
officers, can he eiicctually checked by
renewing the prohibition published by
Mr.. Jefferson, forbidding their interference
in elections further than giving their own
independence secured by an assurance of
perfect immunity, in exercising this sacred
Of freedom under the dictates Of
their own votes, and their own unbiased
Never, with my consent,
shall an officer Of the people, compensated
for his services out of their pockets, be-
come the plant instrument Of Executive
will.
There is no part of the means placed in
the hands of the Executive which might
be used with greater effect, for unhallow-
cd purposes, than the control of the public
press. The maxim which our ancestors
derived from the mother country, that
"the freedom OF the press is the great bull
wark Of civil and religious liberty" is one
OF Tie most precious legacies which they
have left us.LWe have learned, too, from
our own, as well as the experience Of 9TH
er countries, that golden shackles, by
whomsoever or by whatsoever pretencc
imposed, are as fatal to it as the iron bonds
of despotsm. The presses in the neccs-
sary employment Of the Government
should never be used 'to clear the guilty,
or to yarnish crime A decent and
manly examination into the acts of the
Government should not only he tolerated
but encouraged.
Upon another occasion | have given my
opinion at some length, upon the impro-
priely Of Executive interference in the
legislation of Congress. That article in
the Constitution making it the duty Of the
President to communicate information,
and authorizing him to recommend inca
surcs, was not intended to make him the
source in Legislation, and, in particular,
that he should never be looked to for
schemes of finance. 1t would be very
strange, indeed, that the Constitution
should have strictly forbidden one branch
of the legislature from interfering in the
originaton Of such bills and that il should
be considered proper that different de-
partmcnt Of the Government should he
permitted to do so. Some of our best DO.
litlcal maXims and opinions have been
drawn from our parent Isle. There are
others. however, which cannot be intro
duced into our system without singular in
congrnity and the production Of much
mischief. And this conceive 10 be one.
No matter in which of the houses Of Par
lament bill may originate, nor by whom
introduced, minister or a member of the
opposition, by the fiction of law, or rather
OF constitutional principle, the Sovereign
is supposed TO have prepared it agreeably
TO his will, and then submitted it to par
Lament for their advice and consent.
Now the very reverse is the case here,
not only in regard to the principle, but the
forms prescribed by the Constitution,
The principle certainly assigns to the onIy
body constituted by the Constitution (thc
Legislative body the power to make laws,
and the forms even direct that the enact
ment should be ascrihcd to them. The
Senate, III relation to revenue bills, have
the right to propose amendments; and so
has the Executive, by the power given
him TO return them to the House of Rep
resenlallvcs with his objections. 1t is in
his 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 revenue
should be left where the Consti has
placed it--with the immediate represcn.
iatlvcs of the people. For similar rea-
sons, the mode of keeping the public trea-
sure should be prescribed by them, and
the farther removed it may be from the
control of the Executive, the more in ac-
cordance with republican principle.
Connected with this subject is the
character of the currency. The idea of
making it exclusively metallic, however
well intended, appears 10 me, to be fraught
with more fatal consequences than any
other scheme, having no relation to the
personal rights Of the citizens, that has
ever been devised. Ifany single scheme
could produce the effect of arres,ing, at
once, that mutation of condition by which
thousands of our most INDECENT fellow citi-
zens' by their industry and enterprise,
are raised to the possession of wealth, that
Is one. If there is one measure better
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