Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1841-03-24

i 0f other countries, that $500 II 81
| whomsoever 81 BY whatever pfefenee iinposeos
are as fatal to il as iron bonds g qesposs -
The presses iii the necessary employ g =
THE Government should never pc usyu AZ
clear the guilty, or to varnish cI,'llo. e.
| decent aud manly examination ofthe acts OF
The Government should be not only tolerated
but encouraged. -. -,
Upon other occasions, ! have. gwen my
!. ION At some length, upon the Improperly
II executive interference in the Legislation OF
CONGRESS That The article in the consiItu-
| t;on making ii the duty of the President 10
communicate information, and authorizing
him ~ recommend measures, was asnot
| ;ntnndad 10 make him the source in le-
g;slatiou. and, IN particular, that he should
never be looked to for scheme OF finance. II
would be very strange, indeed, that the Con-
stitnt;on should have strictly forbidden enc
branch &c the legislature from interfering in
the origination Of such bills, and that it
sbonld he considered proper that an altogeth-
or different department of the Government
| sbonld bn ne1mitted TO do so.--Somc of our
hest nolitical maxims and opinions have been
drawn from our parent Isle. There are others
| However. which cannot be introduced in our
system without singular incongruity and the
production of much mischief And this con-
ceiye 10 be one. No matter in which of the
Houses of Parliament bill may originate, nor
| bv whom introduced, a minister or menu
| Der of the opposition, by the fiction oflaw, or
rather of constitutional principle, the Sover-
eign is supposed to have prepared IT agreeably
| to his will, and then submitted 1t to Parliament
| for their advice and consent. Now the very
reverse is the case here, not only with regard
10 the principle, but the forms prescribed by
the Constitution. Tie principle certainly
assigns TO the only body constituted by the
Constitution (the legislative body the power
to make laws, and the forms even direct that
| the enactment should be ascrbed to them
| The Senate, in relation TO revenue bills, have
the ri ght 10 propose amendments, and so mas
the Executive, by the power given him to re-
move them to the House of Representatives
with his objections. 1t is to his power, also,
TO propose amendments in the existing revenue
laws, suggested by his observations upon their
defective or injurious operation. But the de-
liberate duty of devisng schemes of rel enue
should be left where the Constitution has
placed immediate representatives ofthe peo-
pie. FIR similar reasons, the mode ofkeepng
the public treasure should be prescribed by
them, and the farther removed it may be from
the control fthe Executive, the more whole
some arrangement, and the more IN accord
ance with republican principle.
Connected with this subject is the charac-
ter of the currency. The idea OF making it
exclusively metallic, however well intended,
appears to me to be fraught with more fatal
consequences than any other scheme having
no relation to the personal rights OF the cit-
Zens, that has ever been devised. If any SIM
gle scheme could produce the effect of arrest
ing, at once, that mutation of condition by
thousand of our most INDECENT fellow citizens,
by their industry and enterprise, are raised to
the possession of wealth, that is the one. II
there is one measure better calculated than
another to produce that state Of things so
much deprecated by all true Republicans, hy
which the rich are daily adding to their boards.
add the poor sinking deeper into penury, it is an
exclusive metallic currency. Or fthere is-a
process bywhich the character of the country
for generosity and nobleness of feeling, NAV
be destroyed BY the great increase and neces-
sary federation Of usury, it is an exclusive me-
tabc currency.
Amongst the other duties ola delicate char
acter which the President is called upon to
perform, is the supervision of the government
ofthe Territories Of the United States Those
ofthem which are destined 10 become men,
bets of our great political family, arc compen-
stated by their rapid progress from infancy to
manhood. for the partial and tempory depriva-
ton oftheir political rights II is IN this District
where the American citizens are to be found,
who, under settled policy are deprived Of
many important political privileges, without
any inspiring hope as the future. Their only
consolation under circuns ances Of such depri-
walton, ir that of the devoted exterior guards
OF acamp-that their sufIerinps secure tran
on nd eaf.f -
their countrymen who would subject them t.
greater sacrifices, to any other humiliations
than those essentially necessary 10 the securi-
| ty of the object for which they were thus sep
arated from their fellow-citizens Are their
rights alone to be guaranteed by the applica-
| ton of those great principles upon which all
our Constitutions are founded. We are tod
| by the greatest of British orators and states
men, that, at the commencement of the War
of the Revolution, the most stupid men in
| English spoke of .'their American SUBJECTS
Are there indeed citizens Of any of our States
who have dreamed Of their subjects in the
District of Columbia! Such dreams can
never be realized by any agency of mine.
| The people orthe District of Columbia are
not The subjects of the people of the States,
but free American citizens. Being in the
| latter condition when the Constitution was
| formed no words used in that instrument
could have been intended to deprive them oil
that character If there is any thing in the
great principle of I'nialenable rights, so en-
phaticaly insisted upon in our Declaration OF
Independence, they could neither make, nor
the United States except, surrender of their
liberties, and become The subjects, in other
words, the slaves, of their former fellow citi-
zens. Ifthis be true.
(and it viii scarcely be denied by any one
who has correct idea of his own rights as
an American citizen the grant to Congress
ofeXcluslve jurisdiction in the District of Col.
umbia can be interpreted, so far as respects
t he aggregate people of the United States, as
meaning nothing more than to allow to Con.
gress the controlling power necessary to afford
free and safe exercise of the functions as.
signed to the General Government by the
Constitution. In all other respects, the legs-
ton of Congress should be adapted to then
Epecullar position andwants, and be conforma.
bic with their deliberate opinion Of their own
interests.
have spoken of the necessity of keeping
the respective departments of the Govern,
ment, as well as all the other authorities o.
our country, within their appropriate orbits
This is matter of difficulty in some cases
as the powers which they respectively claim
are often not defined by any distinct lines
Mlschlevous, however In their tendencies. as
collisions of this kind may be those which arise
between the respective communities which
Tor certain purposes, compose one nation, are
much more SO; for no such nation can lono
exist without the careful culture ofthose feel.
ings of confidence ard affection which are the
effective bonds of union between free and con.
federated States. Strong as is the tie ofinter.