Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1846-08-20
CLOSING SCENES OF CONGRESS

In the Senate, Monday, August Ioth a..
veto Of the French Spollatioa Bill wa
read -
Mr. J. NJ. Clayton rose and said nws,h.
first instance, lie believed in the h,,pr, ~
this Republic, IN which the Preslden ofb.
! United States had interposed his veto to IN.
passage OF a bill which involved no cun.lnu.
I uonal principle, no question of conslituuon
al night, but which was founded entirely m
on the ground OF eIpediency 1t wa, m,
! first instance IN which an Executive te,,
had been applied to what nigh, properly.
considered = private bill, upon any ptoun.
whatever. II was the first instance in who
an Executive. Chief Magistrate, after nc.
knowledglng his imperfect acquaintance win
ihc.subjeoi, alter freely cohlossing that he hAI
not extended his examination very minuteIy
into the subject, had ven,ured the orlnlo,
that measure OF this description, which had
passed the two Houses Of Congress, was,
measure OF doubtful character and ourht nn,
10 become law; thus rendering any further
application on the part of those having claim,
within the provisions OF the act, during hi,
Administration, utterly hopeless This OMEN.
ed a new chapter-was the beginning of 4,
new volume in the history Of Executive pro.
ceedng, which, he would undertake to man.
tain, transcribed any thing that was eve,
heard OF before. or that was ever couiempla.
ted by the constitution. Mr. Madison, IN
giving his impressions in regard to this pow
er Of withholding the Executive assent from
bills which Ind passed Congress, declared
that its primary object was to enable the Ec.
ecuive to defend itself; and he allcrwald,
added. that unless 1t were for this and 10
prevent the passage of Unconstitutional meas.
urcs on tho part OF Congress it would never
have been tolerated. During the admins,
ration OF Mr. jefferson, there was not a sE
gle instance in which The veto power was
exercised; nor was 1t exercised during n,e
administration Of .he elder or younger Al.
ans. Mr. Jefiptsuns opinion he suppu,rj
might be referred TO on this subject a. tia, Of
the ancienl Democracy, one of whose car.
dnal principles was hostility To ENecuiiye
encroachmen, and curtalmen, OF Executive
power; modern Democracy, however. pro.
coed somewhat differently, seeking by al,
possible and practicable means to increase
the Executive power.
II mus, be abundantly evident thu, the IA.
, mers al the constitution never cnnlempiaici
extending the exerc so of the veto power IA
such cases as the one now before them H
3, II could properly he extended 10 such ca,e,
then i, might be extended Ia every case or,
= Of the President Of the United States In 70.
| wise the action Of Congress in reference
all private claims, il must occur Ia eyr,
man that duty would devolye upon hin.
which it would he impossible for him to p,,
form. No man could accomplish such a du
ty. IT the Presden, were the most bb,r.
Gus, the mos, industrious man tina, ever On.
tered public life, II would be lmpo, sible that
, he could thoroughly examine and understand
the merits OF one half the acts ,ha, pass
through Congress. The trainers Of the Con
stl'ution could never have intended TO i'm
pose upon him such duty az this Besides
none OF the facilities which Congress possess
Tor unds rstanding the cases, were given TO
MN. lie had no power Of sending for wit
nesses, or OF examining testimony. THIS
was the hrst instance, as he said before IN
which the power had been wGested hom its
legitimate uses and applied 10 4 case utter,
foreign to its application; and he hoped i
would be the last.
The President OF the United States, in hi,
veto message, rested his objections first up.
on the ground that the subject had been pre-.
scented 10 the Two Houses Of Congress at dif
ferent times, for period Of more than forty
years; and that there were two occasion,
within that time when there was surplus IN
the treasury; and inferred from Tins that the
claims were not just,or else the Government
would have recognised th' m a. those periods,
when there was surplus What sort Of
plea in bar was this 10 be set up by the Gov.
eminent against q claimant, that because
they had not paid II when they had money
therefore it must be presumed 10 be unjust
How would such plea sound between IN.
divdUals 10 a suit at law suppose that
man were To plead, not that he had paid tho
debt, but that twice since II had accrued be
had been able 10 pay, therefore II must have
been an unjust debt, otherwise he would have
paid ii. What would be thought OF such
plea as thsl And was the plea any better
when set up on the part OF the Government
I, was infinitely worse, because II Was
wrong practised upon lis own citizens, whom
il vas bound to protect The objection
made bv the President against the justice OF
the claims. then. and set forth as the proTl-
nent reason why he deemed Them Ia be qu"'
,lonable. or, TO use his own language, of
doubtful character, was one which could no'
! be sustained.
In one part ofthe message the objecuon
was that the claims were not Just, and there.
fore aughl not 10 paid and in another pan
that the government was called upon 10 pay
too much while IN another part sill tho
objection was that they were not called up
on to pny enough 10 those creditors WY
not let them decide that matter for them,
selves7 Ifthey were willing to give
discharge Of their whole clam, why .hoqA
the President object Another objection
was that the passage OF a bill Of this de'
cripIion would prevent the settlement o.
the new states Why i, would have so li
as he was capable OF understanding i pre-
cisely the opposite effect lie could nA
possibly conceive how there would be any
plausiblIny in such an objection a'ih,-
He was aware Of the anxiety Of The s''.
ate 10 despatch The remaining bosnf'
he knew that their hours were lims5 DC