Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1848-08-10
VOL. XIII, NO. 39.---WHOLE NO. 2lS2.

"e,SomS S'eot chunge IRON IT'S true the
org" Sir, if he had been forty wears in
these halls, instead of the tented field. he
could not have more thoroughly understood
the true theory of this Government and its
actual. and inevitable tendency, as now adj
mlnistered. 1t is evident he has, in the si-
lent hours allowed him in the camp, by the
watch-fre in the night, or amid the intervals
OF battle and military service, deeply studied
the genius of our Government and its prac-
teal administration.
Sir, 1t would consume more time than is
necessary Tor my purpose, to show how of
ten the VIII OF the people, expressed by their
representatives in Congress, has been de-
feated by the iron will of President and
especially by the exercise of his monarchial
negative on the laws. In the language of
distinguished statesman, " the extreme med
icine of the Constitution has become our dai.
ly food" Every man who remembers the
history of the last twenty years, will bear
me witness, that in this respect, the modern
Democracy have driited to returnless dis
lance from the old landmarks of republican,
ISM The Executive prerogative is no lon
ger the object of attack, but its advocates
have been the unceasing assailants of the
rights OF the people, and of the popular
branch of the Government. "The power
of the crown has increased is increasing.
and ought to be diminished" He has bro
ken down the power of the people to i'm
prove their rivers and Northumberland a
new and untried system of currency in des-
pite of their expressed opinion-and even
gone so far as to deny the right of Congress
to pay private claim to all American citi-
zen. | refer to the claim for French spoil
atoms on our commerce prior to 1900, for
the liquidation of which bill passed both
Houses of Congress two years ago-a bill,
the principles of which he never understood
"a bill, to which, it is papable, he never
gave weeks attention in his life, though
Congress passed it, after having held it I'M
der consideration for period of nearly fifty
years. The Government has ceased to be
government Of the people, and has become
government of one man. Power, says
Junlus, is continually stealing from the many
to the few, and | may add, from the few to
one The one-man power is the subject of
unceasing eulogy among some of the advo-
Gates OF the Baltimore convention platform,
and one of the delegates lately made speech
TO show its superiority in concentrating all
responsibility in one head instead of divi-
ding it among many, thus frankly avowing
his preference for the monarchial to the re.
publican principle.
We must arrest this tendency to monar.
chy If we intend to remain a Republic
When you talk to me about Wing princi-
pies, tariffs, the currency, internal improve
ments, land bills, and public economy, Itell
you that, although l am Wing, have al
ways been Wing, and expect to die Wing,
yet hold that, in comparison with the great
principle now at issue between Lewis Cass
and Zachary Taylor, the other principles of
any party ever yet known in this country
sink into insignilicance. l am called upon,
in the election of Zachary Taylor, to vindi-
cate the great right of man to selfgovern-
ment, and the right of the people, through
their Representatives in Congress, to make
laws. | am called upon to deny the right
of the President of the United States to as
sumo the position of legislator and when
ever the day shall come that his right to leg
islate shall be acknowledged, that moment
the republican character of our Government
ceases to exist. You may call it what you
please-you may style the man at the head
of the Government President, as Bona
parte was, in the first instance, STYLED the
FIRST Consul, and afterwards Emperor of
the Republlc-but to all intents and purpo-
ses your Republic is at an end. 1t becomes
monarchy-an elective monarchy-the
meanest and most despicable form in which
that government can exist.
Here then is the principle upon which I
make issue with the honorable gentleman
frnu tho
dental campaign. mean to stand by Gen.
Taylor as the representative of the right of
man 10 selfgovernment. / mean to support
him because he has boldly and nobly pro-
claimed himself, before the country, as the
champion of this great principle, that the
majority should govern. In all those cases
where bill passed by Congress is clearly
and maniiestly unconstitutional, or has been
passed in haste, and without due considera-
ton, he will be prepared to apply the veto.
He is ready to apply it to sustain the Union
of these States against any dangerous in
fraction of the Constitution. But he will
permit the people of the country to govern
themselves. He will suffer the Reprenenta-
tives of the people and the States, in these
halls, 10 make the laws. He will not set
himself up as an essential part of the legis-
lative power Of the nation. He will, when
he reaches the Presidential chair, stand by
the great principles avowed on this subject
by Madison and his compatrots of 1857,
and utterly repudiate the kingly mpxim prac-
tised upon in the present day" Sic r0lo,
SIC jubeo, sic peto. Stet pro rafioae rolnn-
fas.?
propose to look little further into this
subject desire the Senate and the people
of the country to understand what kind of
government was sought to be established by
those who introduced the veto power into
the Constitution of the United States, and
the kindred principles which actuated them
In Madison's papers, we find copy of tho
Constitution which Colonel Hamilton, the
father of the veto, intended to propose. Here
are three OF its provisions
ARTICLE l.-Sec. l. The legislative
power shall be vested in two distinct bodies
of men, one to be called the Assembly, the
other the Senate, subject to the negative
hereinafter mentioned.
"ARTICLE lV.-Sec. 10. The President
shall have right to negative all bills, reso-
lutons, or acts of the two Houses of the
la,,,l,tura about m he nassad into Ian.