The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-06-28

resting Oh the authority Of MI Folk.
Tie Wing tells us that the people Of Cali
(ornia were not bound to follow the advice
ofGensrsl Taylor unless they thought proper;
and, therefore, no complaint Of Interference
can be made. Why, If the President were
to advise the Supreme Court what to decide
or when to act, that tribunal might follow the
advice, or not, as it pleased but, is that a
defense in such case3 The Wing says
(" There is no usurpation of civil power, for
there is no compulsion. How can simple
recommendation, with no wish or authority to
compel, be tortured into dictation I" Sup
pose the President were to recommend GER
tain candidates to the people in the States
for election to Offices, State or Federal I
Suppose he were to nominate his successor 7
would the Wing contend in such cases, as
in the present, that :" a simple recommenda-
lion, with no wish or authority to compel,
cannot be tortured into dictation.n Why,
this is very poor Wing doctrine, or Demo-
cratic doctrine either; and its assertion is one
Of the many melancholy proofs, daily pre-
sented, Of the tendency to abandon consisten-
cy and the Constitution in support Of party.
The Wing goes 50 far as to compare the or
ders issued by the Executive to the civil and
military governors Of California and New
Mexico, to the Presidents recommendations
to Congress, which the Wing says are made
BY" virtue of his Office" Now, W . thought
the President could do nothing by !" virtue
Of his Office" His recommendations are
made by express authority Of the Constitu-
ton, and in addition to them, he exercises,
by the same instrument, another Legislative
veto The President might
have recommended to Congress to cooper
ate with or invite the people Of California
and New Mexico to become States. He
might have vetoed any bills passed in oppo-
sition to such policy. This would have been
an appropriate and constitutional method Of
proceeding. But, instead of sending his re-
commentator to Congress, he sends it to
hose Territories. Instead of being debated
and decided in Congress, the plan is executed
by military officer, in conjunction with thu
inhabitants Of Territories, one Of which is
alien in language and opinion from ours.
~.
The Wing says the people Of those Ter
ritories had right, by treaty, to admission
as States. Yes-but in the treaty the time
of admission is expressly reserved for Con-
gress to determine. And the President well
knew, as the Wing does, that the terms Of
the treaty and the debates on it, indicate NJ
desire or expectation Of the admission o.
either Territory at this early date, but, oil
the contrary, are hostile to such policy
So that this Executive interference is uncon-
stitutionalis an Interference withthe duie.
Of Congress, and in opposition to its ex-
pressed opinions. 1t brings suddenly into
debate questions which distract and may d.
vide the Union, when there was no necessity
for such discussion now, and might have been
none hereafter. 1t enables or seeks to enable
a newly acquired population, Of alien Ian
guage, customs, and opinions, to exercise q
much greater power, Gin New Mexico thu
exclusive power) Of determining for all time
the institutions Of those two regions, than il
could otherwise have done. 1t enables OF
seeks to enable one section Of the Union te
wrest from another its share Of a vast Terri
tory, belonging in common to both, when
the same thing had been proposed by the
Wilmot Proviso, and had been substantially
crushed by the determined resistance ofthe
South.
\ We have ascribed this disastrous policy
to the President, as he alone is responsible.
But we must be permitted to say that we
cannot believe that General Taylor has pro-
posed or adopted this policy with a full view
of its consequences. We cannot believe tina.
a man born in Virginia, reared in Kentucky
and resident Of Louisiana, whose laurels were
won in fields where mingled the blood Of the
sons Of all these States, as well as Of others
could tarnish his fame, and incur the most
fatal of all curses mothers curse-the
curse Of Virginia, that must result from
an attempt to exclude and degrade her sons,
the sons Of the South, from the occupancy
Of a territory they had acquired-to exclude
them on the ground they were less worthy
than the Mexican occupants
In late debate in the House of Representatives.,
on the California bill, Mr.. Morse Of Louisiana, is
thus reported:
"Mr. Morse did not want complimentary
vote. He desired something substantial. The
Union was not worth a straw SO long AS differ
ence exists between the slaves of the South and
the horses and carriages of the North property,
He wanted no milk and water cOn1prornises -