Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1847-03-03

uAaFol result OF what mas happened, u Ap-
pears to that he would say that this Repu-
bic, boastng that it's liberties secured and
the various functions of It's Government bound
up in the chains of a written Constitution, has
torn that Constitution to tatters, scattered il TO
the breeZe, and resolved itself into-that old and
abused Constitution of England, a mere omnipo
tencc of Parliament.
No. He would rather fnt IN the events of
the last ten months. or the last vear that power
of this Governne mt which WAS evidently int nded
10 be th- controlling powcr-if there NAV be
said 10 be a controlling power belonging 70 a
/ Constitution, which divided out and parcciled
out It's powers with reference to the supremacy
of each in ITS own sphere-had gwen itself up =
voluntary slave to tina, alone, which, by the
trainers OF the Constitution. intended to be
the mere Executor and Ministerial officer TO the
will of tho other. Let any consider the
history OF the Senate of the I nted States from
the time it convened last year to this hour, and
say whether he can recognize in that body
component part of the Congress of the United
States Would not any man, on being Informed
that there exists war with neigh boring Re
pebiic--a which has taxed all the fiscal
ergies and patriotism of the country. to carry
forward for the last ten months. without making
the natural inquiry
s'Where in the Journals of Congress shall
find the causes of this war-to what record of
this body shall go TO ascertain what il s that
has driven this peaceful, this happy people from
the great pursuits of civil life, TO rush into all
the niseries of war; Let me see these Causes,
for read in the Constitution of this Govern
men;, that ongress-eomPosed of the Senate
and House OF Represe ntatives-aione, Congress
alone, and no other power under heaven can
never bring upon this country that direst, worst
and fatalest curse of humanity--wAR. 1t is by
their will alone that curse can be inflicted.
shall find, then, somewhere on the Journals of
Congress u statement Of the causes and reason of
the war;
If such an inquirer, Mr. President should look
into the archives OF this Senate, or into tho
chves Of tbs House Of Representatives, he would
be OBJ -aG 10 70 away ami tell the story to the
world that it was altogether misiake-that there
could be such Constitution that for in the
Journals OF neither HOUSE could he find an of
t'se Legislature which avoWed the reasons OF the
war--no such resolution soiemnly debated and
sotennly decided, assigning to the world--to the
tribunal Of Christie ndoin-the reasons which i'm
PEELED rs TO invoke this last and fatalest weapon
0: injured people for the redress OF it's wrongs
He will find it nowhere And although this
has been the cndition of the country for about
ten months, IT IS fact undeniabe. and history
must so record II, that mp to about five days ago
there has not been afforded to tho Senate of the
{ nited States hours discussion Of the
sons of this war. that tho Senator from South
Carolina was obliged to say, that up to this hour
he compelled to guess and imagine thoss rea-
sons. How has this war come upon u.s. How
is it that we have SO disappointed the hopes of
those great and good men that prescribed to
the path of our duty in this, one OF the most inn
portant acts, which Government can be called
upon to perform When they came to ascertain
II
function. of tho Government which they in,en-
ded should be- eternal and immortal, in writing
down in that instrument, that Congress alone
should have the power to declare war, they but
consulted IN that instance, as in every other, the
gathered wisdom of the Past
Whether they looked TO the level despotsms
of the ancient AsIatc worId-whethe they
looked to those feuda institutions which follow
ed upon the destruction of the Roman Empire,
+ where this power to make was parce ed out
in avarety of hands-or whe Their they look ed to
the stern tyrannies of Modern Europe, in any
and every of these instances they would
have found that the war-ma ing power, being in
the hands of one mantle war-making power
being in the hands of the monarch, the despot
the feudal lord, and the limited monarch had
been found in hostility to the rights, and destroy
ing the lives of millions of their subIugated peo-
pie, in ali the ages of the world. They deter
; mined, therefore, that the power to make war
should never be vested in the hands of any one
man. They declared that it should be with the
sovereign States and their Representatives alone
to say, whether the nation should seek this last
appeal for the redress of any injuries of which it
might have reason to complain. They provided,
however, that the President of the United
States, for the time being, should be the COM
mander-in- chief of the armies of the United
States.
They took very good care tina the army should
be exceedingly small, and they who had the most
fearful apprehe nsions of investing in one man
the power to command this army, always
lncuicated upon the minds of every the ne
cessty of keeping that army within limits Just
small as the necessity of the external rea-
tons of the country would possibly admit. 1t
has happened, Mr. President, that when little
disturbance your Indian frontier took place,
Congress was invoked for increase of your
military force. Gentlemen came here who had
partial service in the armies of the
United States.
They tell you that the militia of the country
is not to be relied upon--that it is only in the
regular army of the United States that you are
to find tho men competent to fight the battles of
| the country, and from time to time when that
necessity has seemed to arise, forgetting this old
doctrine that large standing army in time of
peace was always dangerous to human liberty.
we have creased that army from six thousand
up to about sxteen thousand men; and the other
| day, Mr.. Presdent--the other day we have Civ
| en- ten regiments more; and for not giving it
within the quick time demanded by master,
the commando rim chief, some minion-l know
not who, for have not looked into this matter
until this manufacturing upon the fy-blown
remnants that fall in the Executive shambes
and lie purifying there, has denounced as
Mexicans, and called the American Republic to
take notice that there in the Senate of the
United States body of men chargeable with in
observation-disclosures in heart-traitors to. the Uni
ted States
trust, Mr.. President, that our master will be
appeased by the facility with which, immediate
" after that rebuke of his minion, the Senate
acted upon the bill and gave him the army which
he required: trust that he will now forget that
law which, as c omnander-in- Chief of the Ar
my of the United States and President Of this
ing. he promulgated TO US in the message, and
/ r1.tlar ~ he nj GatT at