Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1854-10-14

viii be the right and duty OF the PRESIDENT 70 send MS
protest to the Court ask the Judges to register il in their
order book lay appeal from their Judgment to the
American people, and referring to the exemption Of the
Judges from responsibility by Of their tenure Of
Office during good behavior suggest corrective Of the
evil"
at is unnecessary pursue the argument further.
This resort to his official OATH Of duty and
grant Of por is claim to power illmitabe, uncontrol-
liable monstrous. | only impute it to that in
toxcaen Of mind which the possession of power is
apt to produce and to thatust for and power
which has but too ofen in the history Of nations, rem
dered the avortes Of the people their bane and
EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH OF Mr. BIBB.
"R this doctrine prevails, that the President has
legal ubiquity; that all officers but his instruments;
that he and in the person of every
officer holding during good behavior, appointed
by him directly or by the heads Of Departments or
others; and that he has right to command them to do
this do that then indeed he has most fearful
power. The laws act cease to act as he wills; the
decision of courts stands still If he 80 wills The army
and navy, the array of civil officers,
agents. and contractors registered in the Blue Book with
others whose there not forgetting Govern
ors and Judges Of Territories and justices Of the peace
all, all are to at the will Of man. He makes
and unmakes at his pleasure This is my will and that
is your duty take the responsibility; obey me,
dismiss you and supply your place by whose opinions
are well known to me- Can it be true-does any free
believe it to be true that oil officers to the
power Of removal also subject to the order and d
recon Of the President in the exercise of the duties and
trusts which their Offices impose, and which they
bound by oath execute faithfully Is the President
the sole interpreter of the Constitution andaws for them
Are they but his instruments and agents Of
his choice to aid him? This prerogative power far
exceeds any possessed by the King Of England; for
there it is established maxim that shall dare
assist the Crown in contradiction the laws Of the land
The sacred majesty Of royalty itself cannot absove the
officer from his oath and his responsibility to the laws
Our officers officers of the lau, not of the President
Governmental Government Of laUs, not Government at
the uiu of one man."
"Whence did the writer's Of this protest derive their
notions of unqualified power of responsibility Of officers
to the President of his responsibility for them and his
custody public property and money appropri
ate function Of the Executive Department in this and in
all other Govsrnments Not from elementary treatses
upon free Governments and civil liberty Not from the
pure fountains Of American Constitutions Not from the
writings and speeches Of the patriots and sages who have
been distinguished in the United States in settling the
foundations Of the State and Federal Governments"
They might have learned from the speeches and writ
that Government is well constituted unless the laws
prevail above the commands Of men; that they
counted but little better than brutes who do prefer
Government Of laws before the fuctuatng irregular will
Of one man.
They must have studied the dark ages Of high toned
prerogative Of nonresstance and passive obedience
and become infected with the divine right Of Kings, and
enamored Of the writings of Fllmer and such like. The
President who assert before the Senate and the peo
pie such claims the custody and management of the pub
lie property and money coupled with such claims to ODE
dence from the civil officers, must be ill-advised
intoxicated with adulaon and love Of power to have
overlooked the elementary principles of civil liberty and
the spirit the people"
The debate on that side of the question from
which these fragments are taken as samples Of the
whole terminated in the adoption of the following
resolutions which marked very distinctly the sense
of the Senate upon the merits Of the Protest" and
of its doctrines:
Resolvsd That the Protest communicated to the Sc
nate the 18th instant by the President of the United
States asserts belonging to the President which
inconsistent with the just authority of the Houses
of Congress and inconsistent with the Constitution Of the
United States
Resolped That while the Senate is and ever win be-
rcauy w receiVe from the IreSluent Oil 6ucn messages
and communications the Constitution and Laws and the
usual of business authorize him to transmit to it.
yet it cannot recognise any right in him make formal
protest against votes and proceedings of the Senate
carng such votes and proceedings be illegal and
CONSTITUTIONAL and requesting the Senate to enter such
protest on It's Journals.
Resolud That the aforesaid protest is breach of the
privileges of the Senate and that it be not entered on
the Journal.
Resolud That the President Of the United States has
right to send protest to the Senate against any of
proceedings"
The vote upon each Of these resolutions was yeas
q, nays Is.
And thus ended theconfict Of authority between
President JACKSON and CONGRESS, the direct
struggle, on the part Of Congress, being almost
necessarily confined to the Senate, the body to
whom the Veto Message containing the claims
Of Executive prerogative was addressed The sense
Of the House Of Representatives upon the question
was, if the reader will remember, very plainly
disclosed in its vote declaring in direct opposition
to the Presidents suggestion, that the public de-
posites might safely be continued in the Bank of
the United States.
We have thus shown to our readers what opinion
the Legislative Department of the Government en-
tertained and unequivocally expressed of the pre-
tensions set up by President JACKSON of right to
support the Constitution as he understood it of
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