The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-03-10

was reared by pious architects and for whose sancy
poured forth the prayers of the oppressed and free
All changes are dangerous for even those which are
good lead 10 others that bad. If there be any
| qualities which our Government needs, and upon
which its and usefulness depend, they ale per
manence, continuity, duration. Aspiring TO 'Ee im
mutability of the Modes and Persians, would almost
follow their example and require that he who proposes
TO change the fundamental law should come into me
c ptol with halter round his neck, SO that II NE
amendment rejected, he might be pun'sneu ~,
| his rashness in presuming to alter cons'''u''o"
/ which wiser men had framed o
Mr. Chairman We are Told that 'he 'e'" 49,
il the monarchical feature Of our Government Ohe
of the Senators from Kentucky, (Mr. C'ay) mas Sug-
malised it the manPoner, when sn IY :, ~
medatey swept from the O9nsn; i', ,ps Iin;,sJ
| take issue Who is the President OF the oh"eu
S,aes9 Is he private person. whose Individual WIN
| i The law of the naon1 Is he placed IN his high
station by descent chance Is he not elected by
,b ee votes of majority of the people THE United
Stales Heis the Constitutional organ tthe whole
county and in his person Embodied the sentiments
| of the Union Members of Congress are chosen from
personal popularity private interest, and variety OF
| local causes the Chief Magistrate is elected exclu
sively with a view to his opinions upon those great
questions of public policy that divide parties and ag
| tate the Union He is in a peculiar and emphatic
sense the representative of the nation and until the
people express different opinion at the polls, his
voice is the voice of the country. Before treacheiy
is imputed to the elected good faith should be observed
by the electors After having voted for President
| and Vice President who was not fairly committed
upon what is pronounced their cardinal measure,
| a portion of the Wing members of Congress arraign
the Chief Magistrate for the violation of pledges which
| he never made and satisfied with the destruction
of theil party threaten to destroy the Consu,u-
ton OF their country ! am amazed al the Jolly py
which this whole rupture from the beginning TO the
| end, marked. am alarmed al the extent 10
which every thing in Congress Is made to bend To the
| succession am startled al the radical and disorga-
nzing doctrines the majority has espoused, and which
a. n. nNIaa
it has heretofore proessed The question now Is not
| how the Constitution shall be construed hut whether
il shall be suffered stand; not how the Government
shall be administered but whether its foundation shall
be undermined. At such juncture scoin to min
ole ia the squabbes of party bndy follow the tor
tunes Of any political leader. unfold the broad ban
ner of the Constitution and beneath its ample folds IN
wife the honest and patriotic of all parties to rally
| And amidst the stars and stripes with which It Is
adorned let those words dear to every American heart
be inscribed in letters of living light: THE CON
/ STITUTION AS 1T is, LET 1T STAND
NOW AND FOREVER.
| Mr. Chairman: They who look only at the sur
face of things and are easily led asiray by appear
ances are fond of drawing acomparison between Eng
land and America and contrasting the dlsuse of the
Veto in that country with its frequent exercise in
this. It is true that no King of England has exerted
this high prerogative since the reign Of William Ill
| The Majesty OF Britain sits upon the throne by he
reditay right and not by election from the people
| Sometimes man and sometimes woman, at one pc
Rod infant and at another dotard the Executive
OF that country has but little acquaintance with the
interests less sympathy with the feelings and no re-
sponsbility the opinions of the people II his mega
tive could forbid the passage OF laws by the represen-
atives of the Poop the will of one man would IN
deed prevail against the voce of the nation. dis pow.
in theory absolute but in practice is never ex-
erted He is mere pageant to whom is entrusted
that power which must be deposited somewhere, but
who as he is no. responsible for his ac,s, Of
allowed to be free agent who cannot select his
minister's and who although he has the right Of
using the sword, finds that without the purse, which
the people keep in their own grasp II falls from his
neryeess hand. The Parliament has found it very
convenient to leave unlmpaired such prerogatyes as
necessary for the harmless splendor Of royalty,
but has always trowned upon the exercise OF pow
err which might deny their omnipotence. All
the most celebrated writers the Constitution have
declared that the beauty of the system in theory and
its excellence in practice consist in preserving the
long established powers OF each department uli-
impaired and preventing one from encroaching
upon the other. De Lome will show that power
parceled out and diffused is well sup
pressed and regulated as when 1t IS confined to
sole indiylsibe seat, which keeps the nation united
and awake tina, names do not alter things and that
the representatives of the people, when invested with
independent authority will become their masters
Blackstone points to the reign of Charles the First,
when the rampars OF the Constitution broken
down by the Long Parliament, when Church and
State overturned, when the evils aggravat,
ed which the reormers pretendedto remedy, and when
the same men who, until that time had talked Of no
thing but the liberty and the great charter, openly
trampled both under foot. The President of The
! United States differs from British Royalty in the
tenure Of his office in his political responsibility, and
in being substantive department, coordinate with
each of the others, and check upon both. That
which the British government was designed to be IN
theory ours proved 10 I've in practice; government
secured by the balance of power and the balance OF
interest. The noble panygerlc which Sir William
Blackstone pronounces upon the checks of the British
| C,nr tifttfin and htrh haah hon Hapa al ly
able writer to be fabulous invention, and mytho-
logical account ii not faithful picture of the English
Monarchy is at least an accurate portrait OF our own
! Republican Government In that immortal fabric of
wisdom which reared by the Federal Constitution
which will forever stand monument of the pa
triosm and foresight of its founders, and which Con
tains within itself cement that hardens with time,
the world behold the achievement of work which
| the philosophers and statesmen of other climes and
ages had only iancej and dreamed Of Here is
civil policy which supports and Is supported-regu-
ates and is regulated by The rest, and where in the
language of the commentators, the several depart
nents like three distinct powers in mechanics mpel
the machine of governm mt, in different direction
from each and partaking OF a-a direction which
stitutes the true line OF the liberty and happiness OF
| the community. After it has passed through the
stormy tests and trials of more than huff
ury after it has withsood the assaults Of local jea-
lousy, personal ambition sectional hate, domestic dis
sensons and foreign hostility let II not be undermined
| by the dangerous hand Of innovation, Let not its
friends and the friends OF freedom be reduced to the
| pltiabe condition of the Hollander who trusting To
the national mounds looks unmoved upon the rising
surge and raging storm, but shuddets at the worm
that penetrates the Dykes which alone protect his
country from the foaming
| Mr.. Chairman The basis Of all free government
| is the entire separation Of the different branches OF
which it is composed. In spite of the chmericai
dreams and Utopan plans of ii ose who have abored
| to draw the picture Ct perfect Commonwealth, in
spite of the influence which the opinions Of Moore,
| n Hume .ncEp MILAN nd n franklin have py
erted upon mankind the world unscduccd by vision
airy schemes and unawed by the usre Of great names,
has long since recognized this principle the
| stone of republican freedom. When Edmund Rat
doph submitted his plan Of Constitution to the + de-
raj Convention, one Of the first and most Important
! Iru .ii.a. 80 ~. ~. ..I..al ~ li N sS.l ,l.