The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1846-06-09


candid man will deny that the position OF
Gen. Taylor was sufficient for those ends
and if he had remained in it, there is no reason
10 believe tina: the Mexicans would have dis
turbed him to this day. But whether that
position was or was not sufficiently comman-
ding to protect Texas, in the event of Mexi-
can hostilties, it did not authorize the Presi-
dent TO invade Mexico with an army; not
even if Mexico had commenced them, much
less whilst she preserved peace OF her part
Such invasion. in either state of the case, is
not defeuce, but aggressive war, and this
power the Constitution, in no case whatever,
vests in the President, but solely and exclu-
svely in the Representatives of the States and
ofthe People, in Congress assembled. When
our territory is actually invaded, have con-
ceded what all men know, that the Constitu-
ton and the laws authorize him, and make il
his duty, to repeL it with the military and ma
val force of the country. His power stops
there, and he can undertake no offensive ope-
rations whatever without the authority OF
Congress. This Limitation upon the Presi-
dent is one OF the constitutional bulwarks of
popular liberty; when il is overthrow the
fall of the citadel is inevitable, and despotism
rises upon its ruins,
part Of Texas, and was proper and law
frl for the President, ofhis own authority, to
take possession of it, and expel the Govern
ment of Mexico, why did not Mr.. Polk at
once boldly assume and execute that position,
by ordering Gen. Taylor TO occupy the left
hank of thltriver when he as first sent up
on this service! That, no doubt, was the
ult erior purpose with the administration, but
1t desired the gallant General TO share with il
the responsibility. In the order from the
War Department dated the 10th Of October
last will be found these passages:
You will approach as near The ,cestern
boundary Of 1'eraS (he Rio GranGe) as cir
cumstances will permit, having reference to
reasonable security &c. Ought your pres
ent position to be changed7 the forces which
are, or soon shall be, assembled under your
command be kept together or divided! and.
if divided, ,chdt positions are TO be taken. and
how aie they to be divided These are
questions which must in a measure be left to
yourjudgment,' &c.
The General would not act upon this hint.
The move was very grave one, and ITS di
rection belonged properly to the political
government of the county. In the next Or
der to Gen. Taylor from the War Department
the Secretary says:
Il am directed by the President to instruct
you to advance and occupy. with the troops
under your command, positions OH or near the
east bank of the Rio del Nore, as soon as it
can be conveniently done with reference TO
the season and the routes by which your
movements must be made
This deed Of usurpaiion Of the powers OF
Congress, of violation of the Constitution.
OF war upon a nation with which we were al
peace. Is done. The General in command
would not share it, and it took time and fire.
quent contemplation Of it TO nerve It's authors
10 It's enactment. Congress was at the time
OF this last order, and has been ever since, in
session. Why did not MIR. Polk send mess
age to the two Houses, setting forth the facts
OF The case, and recommending declaration
oil war IN iorTr, or the occ u ion OF the Mex
'can territory between the desert and the Rio
Grande with an American armyi which
would be war in fact. But this course would
not answer the purposes Of Mr.. Polk. lie
well knew that, though he had a large major
ity of friends 10 both Houses, and though it
might sanction the occupation Of Corpus
Christi. and Of the country between the
Nueces and the desert it never would author
lze him TO make war upon the unqUestiona-
bic territory of Mexico, between the Rio
Graude and the desert, and there subjugate
and expel her authority.
But the inquiry is not whether Congress
would have made this war! Not whether
Mexico has done us enough of wrong to have
justified Congress in making war upon her ?
The question is one of far greater and more
enduring importance, and fraught ultimately
with greatly more OF mischief than this little |
war with Mexico. II invo.vts the usurpa-
ton, by the President, ofone of the highest |
and most dangerous OF all sovereign political
powers, which our forefaibers with Jealous |
care withheld from him, and vested in the
Representatives of the State and the People |
and this whilst these r representatives. were III
session in his presence. Ii is an act so fla |
gitIous, and of such evil example, that an in |
dependent Congress, fai:hfulto its high trust, |
and resolved to maintain the constitutional |
partition OF the great power Of Government. |
would impeach its author. Every American |
freeman who will break away from the thrall |
of party, and who will speak the sentiments
of his own soul, will condemn it. What an
instructive lesson does Mexico herself afford |
us in this matter. For many long years she |
has known nothing but commissions and desc
iation. Her President overihrew her Con-
stituiion and trampled upon her laws, and
the bloody and still continuing conflicts Of her
successive Presidents and chiefs, who have
struck for the Presidency. have npheaved the
whole fabric of her social organization. Had
her Congress and her people possessed the
virtue and the courage to have preserved her
constitution and her laws, and to have en-
forced their due execution, what an amount
of anarchy, blood, and misery, woulJ have
been aveued from that unhappy country
Things with us have the same tendency. but
necessarily slower progress. The Presi-
dency, always backed by powerful party.
threatens TO absorb all the powers OF the
Government, and to break down every check
upon it. The Executive Government is, 10
every age and country, the great foe 10 popu
lar liberty; aud though its advance here
seems to many inconsiderable, yea, imper
cepiible, yet, five will compare the present
with the era of forty years ago, the most
careless will be struck with its great and
alarming strides. Its advance in the United
States has been much more rapid than in
Republics which have fallen under its blows