Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1848-12-09
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1913,
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.


So much space is occupied in our columns to-
day by the voumnous Annual Message of the
President TO Congress- that, were we disposed to
review il before our readers have had any opportu
tunity to look il over, no. space is left to us for the
purpose. We have only room to say, what every
reader must readily perceive, that more than one.
hall of the unwieldy body of this Message is made
up of elaborate political dispositions, which are
entirely out of place where they are. The Consu
tu!ional provision, which authorizes communities
.tions by the President TO Congress, is expressed
in terms which preclude all idea of mere party
essays and Trades such as these which fill the las
five columns Of the Message, arraigniug every I'D.
minsiration of the Government from that of Gen
WASHINGTON (which had neatly expired before
the PRESIDENT himself was born down to the
present day, with the exception of his own and
that OF his three immediate predecessors, which,
for the sake of unity and identity, we shall term
the Te,o Dynasty. We do not by any means
question the right of the President to place before
Congress elaborate essays on the nature OF Gov
eminent in general and of our own Constitution in
particular but we deny that he has any more right
to do SO than any other individual in the commu-
nifty, and especially for the purpose OF casting mpu-
tatons, he has done, upon the integrity and patriot
ism Of hose great men of our Revolution, of whom
hardly one is now alive to repel he wanton outrage.
The honored dead at least might have been spared
The SANDER, from such source, Of having conpired
10 Withdraw powerfrom the States and the People,
" and 6y construction 10 approximate or Gorera-
sneRt 10 the European modeia,' &c. And by
rhom IS this unlounded reproach hazarded! BY a
President who, in contempt Of all the rights Of
tie People. as represented in Congress, made Ur
upon neighboring nation, under his own mere
power Of Commander Of the Army and Navy, and
usurped variety of other powers, having no war
rant in The Constitution eUsn by construction one
of which this Message itself very coolly discloses
10 Congress, in the passage informing them OF the
amount of'' military contributions collected in Mex-
co., tie sums of such money diSJused by lis or
der, the. amount received into the Treasury, and
the supposed sums yet remaining in the hands
of Collectors of his own appointment; all which
powers have been usurped by him without autho-
rity Of Law or Constitution, and solely Jy con-
strUciion, thus approyimating Ito use his own Ian
guage) this Government 10 the European models
as !hoagh he were our Sovereign Lord and King
All these mere party topics including the argument
worthy Of Minister Of the. English Stuarts
or of the French Bourbons in favor Of the arbi-
trary Of the Veto power, are, repeat, wholly
misplaced in the Message, and can be regarded
with no greater tbu with rather le5s) res pect than
would the republication, at this day, of al equal
number OF columns Of the electioneerng editorials Of
the government paper during the late Election.
Upon such arbitrary doctrines as these the People
have set the seal of their condemnation, a. well
as upon the Administration which has upheld them.
and which now, though wrthng in the agonies Of
approaching dissolution, cngs 10 them with more
dlan parental fondness.
Upon the business part Of the Message we have
little remark al present 10 make. The particulars
will, we presume, receive the requisite considera
ton at the hands OF Congress, and from US here
after more attention than we can now bestow.
Ii is gratifying and consoling reflection for the
opponents of the Executive misrule of tie last
three or four years. that in the course OF events the
President has himself not only been compelled 10
abandon his purpose of oyerrunning and annexing all
Mexico SO openly avowed in his Annual Message Of
wear but has sobered downhs rage for pene-
.trating into the vitas ofhat country such level
of common sense as TO implicitly subscribe to the
conviction, to which all the efforts Of the Wings
had hitherto failed 10 bring him, bu, which is now
fairly confessed in his Message. that Tranquil
lily AT HONE, AND PEACEFUL RELATIONS ABROAD,
CONSTITUTE THE TRUE PERMANENT POLICY or OUR
COUNTRY" and that WAR, the scourge Of Nations,
sometimes becomes inevitable, but as aluays 10 be
aUoided when IL ran be done consistently NTH The
rights and honor Of the Nation
These are truly Christian and Humane sent.
nents. We are proud to be able to add, that they
are cardinal principles Of the WINGS, whose heart:
this homage to them, though at so late hour, by
the Chief Magistrate Of the Nation, must fill witt
joy and gladness.
As for the Domestic topics which most intercs
the People, we find in the Presidents Message
that, in addition TO firm adherence to the presen
"Free.trade" Tariff, and TO the Subtreasury, which