Weekly national intelligencer., 1848-01-22
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
THINGS IN CONGRESS.

Ir,dar nresent circumstances, we DO not expect
carorass 10 move otherwise than slowly.
The prominent incident of the past week has
boor ,be refusal by the President, on the claim Of
Executive prerogative, to answer call made upon
him by the House of Representatives Tor certain
information conaected with our Foreign Relations.
The question of the relative right Of the President
and the House of Representatives being now IN
der discussion in the latter body, in their hands we
Willingly leave it. Not that we have any doubt OF
the right of either House to ask, or OF the duty q
the President to comply with what appears 70 US 70
be very reasonable request, to be informed Of iIe
Instructions under which Mr.. SLIDELL was sent 10
Mexico as Minister OF the United States. but We
do see some difficulty in the enforcement OF the
right bv the House of Representatives. Impeach-
,nent Of the President, if il were not ltse an IN
practicable provision under almost any supposable
state Of things would be cumbrous and too slow
process Withholding the supplies for such a
cause would be an experiment OF some hazard.
And, as for sending the Sergeant-atArm OF the
House. with the Speakers warrant and posse
comitatus TO search for and take possession OF the
record in the Executive Department. that would be
at once civil war.
We dare say, however, that the House will find
some proper mode of asserting its right in The pre-
mises, il it be not able 10 enforce It.
With regard TO the reasons OF The Fresident ior
refusing the call of the House, II appears TO us that
in his desire to withhold the information asked he
has fallen into Two material errors: one OF which
is, the considering the course of President WASH
INGToN as being precedent for what he has now
IN wholly
unlike There were, in the former case, very good
reasons why the particulars of negotiation, IN
yoiving the Ministers of another Power as well as
those in our own Government, should not be dis
closed. Intercourse of confidential nature be-
tween two parties should not be unveiled TO the
public eve without the consent Of both. But,
in the case before US the disclosure could affect no
one but the President himself He has, besides
throwing wide open the correspondence between the
Mexican Agents and ours, already informed Con-
gress of part Of those very Instructions, and can
have no sufficient reason, appears to US, for with
holding The residue The whole affair has already
become subject for history rather than mystery,
and there should have been no hesitation, on the
part of the President in communicating to the
House, when called upon, whatever has not been
already told Of it.
The President, again, seems 10 take exception TO
the omission by the House Of Representatives oi
the ordinary qualification 10 the call, making it de-
pendupon the Executive opinion whether the grant
ing Of the information required would or would not
consist with the public interest. The omission of
that qualification, so far from being offence,
ought 10 have been considered BY the President as
a akindness, relieving him from any responsibility
or delicacy on the subject The House had decidet
that point for him, and he should have respected
that decision.
The opportunity for here briefly reviewing the his
tory OF the Sde Mission in reference to the known
aud unknown Of it is TOO fair to be resisted
Especially, as there some points of IL whicl
have hardly yet been brought forward with suffi
cient dstincness, our readers will excuse US 70
here sdverting TO them.
The refusal Of Mexico 10 receive Mr.. SLIDELI
as Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States
when he was sent in that capacity in the autumn 0
1s45, has, in all the representations by the Presi
dent TO Congress Of the causes Of the war, figured
SO largely that it may properly be said TO be III,
cause upon which the President finally rests his
justification for marching the army from Corpus
Christi TO the Rio Grande-in other words, for his
beginning war, which, at the most that can be
made OF II, Mexico, until our army sat down on the
Rio Grande, had no more than threatened and but
for that act, would have seriously engaged in.
That this march Of the army was founded upon the
Mission of Mr.. Slidel whether to sustain his
demands or to resent and retaate the refusal tc
receive him and his demands there can be no doubt
The President, for instance in his War Message o
May IL, ls45-overlooking or suppressing the
TACT that the Mexican Government had agreed &
receive q Commissioner" from the United State
"to settle the present dispute concerning thc
Texas question in peaceful, reasonable, and homo
rabe manner'-informed Congress that on the OIL
Of November, lsi5, Mr.. JoHN SLIDELL com
missioned by him as Envoy Extraordinary an
Minister PieniPoteniiary to Mexico and was en-
trusted by him with full powers to adjust Jot
the question Of the Texan boundary and Of IN
identification 10 our citizens :" adding, by wa,
Of explaining why he had so mixed up two question
having no relation 70 one another, that he could no
for a moment entertain the idea No. not he, not
withstanding his course was prescribed to him b,
the act Of annexation which required him to nego
tate for the settlement Of the boundary question