The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1842-09-16
PROTEST OF THE PRESIDENT.
TO The House of Representatives:

To The House Of Representatives.
By the Constitution Of the United States i! is pro-
vidcd, that " every bill which shall have passed
the House Of Representatives and The Senate shall,
before il become Il Jaw, be presented TO the Pres.
dent Of the United States; il he approve, he daN
sign it but il not, he shaH return it, with his OBJ
lccions, 10 that House in which it shall have orig-
mated. who shall enter the objections ut large upon
the Journal, and proceed TO reconsider it,"
In strict compliance with the positive obligation
thus imposed upon me by The Constitution. not
having been ube TO bring myseilo approve bill
which originated in the House Of Representatives
entitled An act TO provide revenue from imports,
and TO change and modify existing law imposing
duties on imports, md for other purposes" re-
turned the same to the House, with my objections
to its becoming law. These objections, which
had entirely satisfied my own mind Of the great
inpoIicy, if not the unconsitullonaIiiy, Of the
measure, were presented in the most respectful
and even dcicren,ia. terms. | would not have
been 50 far fnrgelful Of what was due from one dc.
partnlent Of the Government 10 another, as 10 have
intentionally employed, in my official intercourse
with the House, any language thu, could be- in the
slightest degree, offensive to those TO whom it was
addressed. IT, in assigning my objections TO the
bill, had so far forgotten what was due to the
in passing the bill, should owe, not only to that
House, but TO the country, my most profound
apology. Such departure from proprc,y ia, how
ever, not complained Of in any proceeding which
the House has adopted II has, on the contrary,
been expressly made subject Of remark, and al
most of complaint. that the language in which my
dissent was couched was studlously guarded and
cautious.
Such being the character Of the official conmu
nicaton in question, ! confess was wholly un-
prepared for the course which has been pursued in
regard TO ii. In the exercise of the power 10 resu-
late lis own proceedings the House, for the first
ime it is believed, in the history Of the Govern
ment, thought proper 10 refer the Message 10
Select Committee of its own holy, for the purpose
Gas my respect for the House would have compel
cd me to infer) Of deliberately weighing the OBJ
iections urged against the bill By the Executive.
with view TO its own Judgment uDon the ques-
ton Of the final adoption or rejection of the meas
ure.
Of the temper and feelings in relation to myself
Of some of the members selected for the PERFORM
ance Of this duty, ! have nothing to say That
was n matter entirely within the discretion Of the
House of Representatives. But that Committee
taking different view Of It's duty from that which
should have supposed had led to its creation, in
Stead OF cOhlinng tSeli TO the objections urged a.
gains, the BILL awaited itself of the occasion for
mlily TO arragn the motive, of the President
for others of his acts since his induction into office
In the absence Of all proof, and, as am bound to
DECLARE against all law or precedent in parliamen-
tary proceedings, and at the same time, in man
ner which it would be difficult to reconcile with the
comfy, heretofore sacredy observed in the inter-
course between Independent and coordinate de-
partmenls Of the Government, il has assaed my
whole official conduct, without shadow Of pre-
tex, for such assault, and, stopping short Of iu-
parchment, has charged me, nevertheless, with
offences declared to deserve impeachment. Had
the extraordinary report which the committee thus
made to the House been permitted 10 remain
wi,hou, the sanction ofths latter should no, have