The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-03-23

am not certainly the Senator from Michigan,
fMr. CAss1 He must know-he does know-that
we would not vote for IL, II, on the contrary, we
did not confidently believe from his past eondue and
the absence OF any plain recantation In the Mes
sage, thst this notice will be used a means Of
pursuing the pending negotiation upon the basis Of
com PROMISE as moral instrument 10 help, and 10
hinder IT, as il has been heretofore conducted by him
self and his predecessors, And, yet is there Sem
ator here 10 speak TO and say that he is author
lied 20 tir.dseeips us;- indeed we have been thus
deceived No answer Then there Is no one Then
the President has authorized nobody 10 speak for
him. and confirm this senatorial Interpretation OF his
Message as made by the "true friends OF Oregon"
do believe he would have done that, and more
than that, rather than deceive and beray many OF
this Senate. | am therefore friend enough TO the
President 10 doubt and 10 deny this false construcon
and faitbfulness TO my trust as Senator compes
me TO do il, as from my heart do this day, openly,
before the American Senate. IL any one here be
new authorized 20 speak for him. let him speak.
come to one other act Of OMISSION, which mem
ton without the slightest intentional dseourtesy TO
the honorable Senator from Ohio, Mr. ALLEsl but
the facts well known TO the Senate; and the
sion to which | aiiude bears too strongly upon the
point before me to be altogether pretrrmitted Mr.,
President my subject is important for me TO sac.
rhce truth and argument 10 any false decacy. IL 10
question Of dollars and cents; but it is regard
it, and this Senate looks at il, question Of peace
or war-honor or dishonor to my country. The
chairman OF the Committee on Foreign Relations,
then, has always been regarded, in the practice OF
legislative bodies, depositary Of the Executive
purposes and opinions, pvipaie well public IN
far as they are connected with our foreign rela
tons. do not say he is required or expected 10
tell the Senate anything onfdsnially entrusted 70
him. By no means. Not at all. But heretofore
il has sufieed IL he met imprudent inquiries by an
srprsssips siisnee-by his simple nexpained waiver
4 -.
we were about. How is IL in this matter The
honorable chairman, with most slarming en-
phass, more than once, when he was stimulated
by no question from others, but Of his own head
and imaginaiion-l grant you, Of his own "cleat
and unquestioned" right-has assumed to construe
the Message for Us, as a record by which the Pres.
dent had both pledged himself and notified the Senate
that there would be further negotiation for a
compromise. | hoped he was mistaken, and al
ways believed he was. This has been iterated and
reiterated In the Senate by the honorable chairman
and other senators; and it has gone 10 the world,
where Il will be hastily taken up by thousands, as
though it had been an AUTHORIZED exposition
Of the views and inteRtions Of the Administration
More recently, the Honorable Chairman proclaimed
that the Presidents opinions and views had under.
gone "no shadow ofiurning:" but, in answer TO a
direct inquiry pat 10 him the floor Of the Senate
by the honorable Senator from Maryland lMr.
JOHNSON it, was distinctly admitted by himself
the sources from which he derived any authority
thus TO commit the President against negotiation.
In word: that the Honorable Chairman's speeches
but differences efthe Senaforno authorized in.
terpretations by the chairman. From the "records
ALONE" Mark that! u
The Honorable Chairman of Foreign Affairs,
them il appears, has not obtained and does not pos
sess, eonfdsnfiaAy, the views and purposes OF the
President; and what he has given us was the logic
Of his mind, not authorized dctum Of his Office
After his own declaration in the Senate it would DO
doing him great IN Justice TO insnuate or to suspect
otherwise, or that he meant anything else. icy
Here, then, we Committee Of Foreign Affairs
in the Senate for more than two months in posses
sion Of a great subject, and with these identical
'records" referred TO them for consderation-early
notice asked fora resolution reported, and speech
delivered--but no communication has besn made
to the chairman intmating that his senatorial con-
sruction Of the Presidents meaning is true or false
1.-THE construction be NOT t~s we see a reason fot
the Presidents silence. However painful to hiu,
personally, he owed it to all the properties Of his
public station and to the service of the Repub.
lie, not to speak beforehand Of his future purposes
in negotiation through the Chairman, or anybody
else. IL the construction, however, be true, the duty
Of the President would be plain one to himself to
the Senate, and to the Nation. He should have att
orized that committee to set the country right at
once, by confirming the senator's Interpretation 10
the letter, and bringing the Senate TO mind about
Wndt IL IL ne MEANS, ana what IL Is ne wants with
notice after having determined TO 60 for GAN Of Ore
gon"-"No compromise"-"No negotiation ~ TO
my mind, it appears, therefore, that this omission to
make the customary confidential disclosures to the
Chairman Of Foreign Affairs, lie pregnant with in
ferences. More especially as we know that senator
to be the personal and political friend of the Presi-
dent, but one who has committed himself and would
seem inclined, must say, to carry the Administra-
ton with him, either before or behind, against all
compromise, and, consequently, against all negotia-
ton do not say, that these misconstructions are
wful. never harboreda thought that they were
But again, Mr.. Presidents IF the Administra-
ton wished to stop all negotiation on their part
nothing was easier than for the President Of the
United States to do all that without coming to
Congress at all. BY the general law of nations and
of common sense, we know that this convention Of
1927 might have been abrogated by the mutual con,
Sent OF the parties to it. That is precisely the mode
in which new treaty annuls an existing conveH-
ton. Beyond all controversy, the President, in
virtue Of his constitutional power to propose nsgo-
tiaton and to make treaties with foreign Govern
ments, had authority, without the knowledge Or
consent of Congress, to mako proposition 70 the
British Minister to aRnul the convention of 1927,
by the mutual consent of both Governments, and
there to stop. think it is highly probable that
this proposition might have been accepted. But
what fit had no4 Is there senator who doubts
that such a proposition, whether agreed to or not
by Great Britain, would have terminated and Of
itself have put an end to the pending negotiation for
a compromise; and that the British Minister, if he
had not taken leave of the country, would have
been obliged to take short leave Of this subject Of
Oregons Vs.. ..... -. t.....r.f
Why, then, was it not done' Why was it not
attempted "in that manner" Why was that more
ready and direct manner of terminating the nsgo-
lion for compromise and abrogatng the convention
Of 1897 omitted atogether' There is no answer
consistent with the republican integrity and manly
patriotism Of our President except that which
have already insisted upon:--That he did not wish
to put a stop to negotiation on his part. That he
stands upon the line of 49o Compromise by the
side Of the nations honor as he understands it,
That he stands there to-day, he did last Decem-
Der, with the crown Of peace upon his head, and
he has not asked to be clothed in the panoply of
,oar. That he wants peace, honorable peace--not
war, dishonorable war; ar $50 d.. a
'... ... TO BE CONTINUED.
@." ".'" From the Public Ledger. .