The northern tribune. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1847-1855, 1847-12-02

ual. Either Congress, or the President, must
have the right of determining upon the OBJ
jects for which war shall be prosecuted.
There is no other alternative. If the Presi-
dent possess it,and may prosecute it for objects
against the will of Congress, where is the
difference between our free government and
and that of any other nation which may be
governed by an absolute Gear, Emperor, or
Kings
Congress may omit, as it has omitted in the
present war, to proclaim the objects for which
1t was commenced or has been since prosecut-
ed; and in cases of such omission the Presi-
dent, being charged with the employment and
direction of the national force, is necessarily
left to his own judgment to decide upon the
objects. to the attainment of which that force
shall be applied. But, whenever Congress
shall think proper to declare, by some anthem
tic act, for what purposes war shall be COM
menced or continued, it Is the duty of the
President to apply the national force to the
attainment of those purposes. In the instance
of the last war with Great Britain. the act of
Congress by which it was declared was pre-
coded by message of President Madison,
enumerating the wrongs and injuries of which
we complained against Great Britain. That
message, therefore, and without it the we'll
known objects of the war, which was war
purely of defence, rendered it necessary that
Congress should particuarize, in the act, the
| specific objects for which it was proclaimed.
The whole world knew that it was a war wag-
ed for Free Trade and Sailors Right.
1t may be urged that the President and
Senate possess the treaty making power, with
out any express limitation as to its exercise;
that the natural and ordinary termination of a
war is by a treaty of peace; and therefore.
that the President and Senate must possess tho
power to decide what stipulations and condi
tons shall enter into such a treaty. But it is
not more true that the President and Senate
possess the treaty making power, without lin
itation, than that Congress possesses the war
making power, without restriction, These
two powers, then, ought to be SO interpreted
as to reconcile the one with the other; and
in expounding the constitution, we ought to
keep constantly in view the nature and struc-
turc of our free governm ent, and especially
the great object of the Convention, in taking
the war making power out of the hands of a
single man and placing it in the safer custody
of the representatives of the whole nation
The desirable reconciliation between the two
powers is effected by attributing to Congress
the right to declare what shall be the objects
Of the war, and to the President the duty OF
endeavoring to obtain those objects, by the di-
rection of the national force and by diplomacy.
l am broaching no new and speculative the
DRY. The Statute book of the United States is
full of examples of prior declarations by Con-
gress of the objects to be attained b. negotia-
tons with Foreign Powers, and the archives OF
the Executive Department furnish abundant
evidence of the accomplishment of those OBJ
ects, or the attempt to accomplish them, oy
subsequent negotiation. Prior to the declara-
ton of the last war against Great Britain, in
all the restrictive measures which Congress
adopted, against the two great belligerent
Powers of Europe, clauses were inserted IN
the several acts establishing them, rendering
to both or either of the belligerents the aboli-
ton of those restrictions, if they would re-
peal their hostile Berlin and Milan DEGREES and
orders in Council, operating against our COM
merce and navigation. And these acts OF
Congress were invariably communicated. thro'
the Executive, by diplomatic notes, to France
and Great Britain, as the basis upon which it
was proposed to restore friendly intercourse
- IL aftor th, Of thu