Weekly national intelligencer., 1848-06-03

fully raised unlawiuly TO theNuse of armies, to
make them to that extent independent for their sup
port of that power 1.-THE Legislative on which alone,
by guarded provision, the Constitution has made
them dependant.
The preceding enumeration, formidable as it ap-
pears to be, is far from comprehending all the usur
pations and presumpiions Of power by the Execu-
tive arising out of his original sin Of the war; Those
comprised in the Proclamation prepared by order
of the President printed here and sent to General
Taylor to be distributed in Mexico, are of them
selves enough to found an impeachment upon, if
of President, or a Presidents Minis
ter, were in this Government within the range of
practical possibility. Yet, whilst the Democratic
Party in Congress had maorties in both Houses, no
inquiry was permitted to be made into any of the
abuses of power by the Executive. And when such
inquiries have been made by the present Whig
House of Representatives, they have in almost all
important cases been made in vain. We refer TO
such cases as that of the call for Mr.. Sldell's in
sructions, for the particulars of the negotiation with
Santa Anna before the war, &c. Up to this mo-
ment, for example, Congress is kept in ignorance,
though the information has been called for, what
disposition has been made, by the President, of
the money levied and collected in Mexico by his sole
arbitrary authority. Thus has the President seized
upon not only the sword but the purse of the nation,
both of which the Constitution forbds him to handle
or to touch. He has, in one word, in the name and
under the ensigns Of Democracy, assumed all the at
tributes of Monarch, as much an usurper, in
doing so, as that Mexican tyrant whose usurpa-
tn la;,
ed TO the Mexican people as the main ground Of our
invasion of the territories of that Power.
Such is the strctness Of his adherence to sound
Democratic principles" by which, according to the
"platform," Mr. Polk has entitled himself to all
honor and glory So strictly have the grants Of
power in the Constitution been construed by the
Executive department of the Government under
Democratic sway! Such are the " fruits of the
election of Mr.. Polk, which have '' fulfilled the
hopes Of the Democracy of the Union ~ Such
are the " great reforms" the permanence of which
at the coming election, it would, in the opinion of
the Baltimore Convention, " be fatal error to risk
in the hands of their known adversaries."
How proudly may not the WIG party hold up its
head at this acknowledgment, from such source,
GREAT REFORMS
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS AND THE VETO.
These two subjects, of separate resolutions ofthe
Convention, connect themselves too naturally to be
separated We place them therefore together
s'Tha the constitution does not confer upon the General
Government the power and carry general
system Of internal Improvements"
H..
President the qualified power &c. under restrictions
and responsibilities amply sufficient guard the public in
eres, suspend the passage of bill whose merits cannot
the approval of twohds of the Senate and House
Representatives until the judgment of the people be OBJ
tanned thereon, and which has saved the American people
from the corrupt and ranncal Nominations of the Bank Of
the United States, and from corrupting system Of general
internal improvements"
The first of these propositions applauds the prin-
ciple of the Veto power-a power which in our
constitution is an incongruity and an anomaly,
nearly analogous to those powers, not to be found
in the constitutions which, as we have shown, have
been SO literally exercised by our Democratic Pre-
sident This ayowed affection for the only arbi-
trary feature of our Government is in character
with the sweeping endorsement, in other parts of
the Manifesto, of all the acts which, in the name
of Democracy" go to establish the One-man
power, the Monarchca principle, supreme in this
Government. More arbitrary power has been
welded by the Chief Magistrate of this republic
during the last three years than any Sovereign in
Europe would at the present day dare to exercise.
Within the last year thrones have crumbed into DUST
and empires tottered 10 their foundation under the
whirlwind Of popular fury excited by less just pro-
vocation than the exercise of the Veto power by
the present Democratic Administration upon the
bill for such improvement of the Lake, River, and
Harbor navigation as is neither within the province
nor the capacity Of the State Governments. If
there be any one question in the whole range of
national legislation which is more vital TO the inte
rests OF one-haf of the States and more than one
half of the peope-which, by its magnitude and
difusive influence, towers above and casts into the
shade every other question Of domestic policy il is
that question of " Internal improvements" which
the Baltimore Convention has kicked from its Plat
form, and driven out of its doors with reproach and
oboquy. By recent publications in the National
lntelligencer, it has been shown that the nett mo-
neyed value of the commerce of the Western Lakes
has amounted in single year to ttco hundred and
fifty millions Of dollars and that the population
depending upon the Western Lakes and Rivers, as