New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-08-16
THE RIVER AND HARBOR BILL.
Mr.. SEwARD's SPEECHES IN TIE SENATE
ON SATURDAY, JULY %. 1854.

and approved TO allow the President 70 suspend any
part of the expenditures provided by the bill, an
arrangement intended TO prevent veto
Mr.. SEWARD and said
think Sir if this bill shall pass with the Amendment
proposed that IL will be not only anomalous OH,
but qgi'e ferogatory 20 the Constitution 81 me
United States The Constitution provides distinctly IN re-
gard TO this BILL does in regard 70 al other bills that
the President may dsappoye and reject on the ground
ether Of uncOnsiiuionaty or OF ne1pedency but tne
President approve the bill REJECT me DiI nov IN
parts and BY pc ceneal but as whole And he mast let
The whole become a law send the whole back 70 the
House in which it originated with his for rejection
that Congress may either acquescs or oyerfue mem ana
pass the bin by vote of two'hrds OF ootn houses OF
Constitution of the United Stateg confers
the Precedent, and it Is all the legislative
poyer that compaibly with the Constitution he
can exsrcise Congress caunot enlarge the legislative
power thus vested IN the President by the Constitution
Dor Congress modify il in any way If then We act
according the Coz stituon must pass our law'
siderstely deliberately, completely upon orr own re-
,popsib ity and send them completed and perfected
for him. not amend or ahr them, but to approve
dfapprove them absolutely and each whole, not in
detached paris upon his responsibility end in case
Of dsapproTa 10 remit them 70 within ten days of our
constitutional reconsideration, not in detached parts, but
az a whole.
While these the provisions Of the Consultation Of the
United States and the on provisions bearing on me Secu
tive participation in tho legislative po"er here blu win
smendUent proposed which provides for coneHlng on
the President and altogether different veto power,
rot known TO the Constitution AZ all By tins new pr0Vi'
sic the President would be authorized Ia approve Of the
bill and suffer become law end yet after approx
no II 10 carr, into effect only such parts Of il should
please him. omit carry into efectsuc other parts
~ should not please him Moreover, by virtue OF this new
troyfoD be might approve the whole bill and so give 1T
The effect Of law, and yet after such approval he might
emit 10 execute every part that say The whole of the
sw. By passing the bill in this shape shall contesedy
pass an imperfect and incomplete bill and send It T. the
President TO complete and perfect IT, which would be
altogether IN deIogetlon OF the Constitution. Inls
eourse would be Objectionable because, first, it
would be Oh part to shk the constitutional response
bilty resting us, ard divide that possibility with
the President; and secondly because il would be at
tempt TO confer new legislative authority the President
without warrant in the Constitution. There IS another
and practical view take of the subject TO which eau
the attention Of the friends Of system of Internal Inn
provemens suppose may be assumed here that this
aueudm, has been offered after consultation and agree
with tho President " the United States with the Ex
ecutive Administration suppOe 1t may be assumed That
those friends of this bill who bring forward the amendment
andsuppor it, do under an expectation mat by adopting
it and incorporating it in the bill, may propiate the
Executive and prevent general veto from meeting
the enactment. suppose they have come down much
from the general principle policy OF the bill or TO make
this aaugemen which amounts to bargain between the
Senate of its members and the President OF the
United States the President says If you pass this bill
" as it came from the House Of Representative, will
" veto it, But if you ri modify It with words which |
give you will sign and approve it, Wei, Sir have
come here support the Constitution Of the United States
as u.s. and 20 exercise full freedom of legislation as
Senator independently of the President. l never
here to egeatc in words dictated to me from the
- White House. end never viii legislae in words which
dictated by the President of the United States If
those friends Of this who have agreed 10 this
Tsngemen compromise prepared to do IT. they may
take TIE responsibility Of doing So But my interest IN
this bill has gone, If III order to obtain the ap
proval Of the President for the Improvement of rivers and
harbors the safety Of the lives and property
Of citizens must sink the dignity of the Senate and lower
the dignity of Congress the feet of the President of the
United States. Sir: Let me tell gentlemen what will
come next They know full wei that the way they got
this b TIE only way they could get it from the House Of
Representatives, the way in which such bills have
always been gotten heretofore through the exercise of
fair Consideration by that House of all the localities and
all the Districts represented and by the framing OF
bill which would obtain the support of the whole House.
They knew full well that by this equal consideration
the bill passed. while without il no bill for any
Of the particular works separately could have been
passed at all. We have had that experience
perepce hereafter Now the Senator Michigan Mr.
stuart and for anything know, the Senator from Louis
mr. Benjamin. when they shall have got this bill
through and thus have submitted all the various appro.
prstons contained in it to the President may be able to
so demean themseves-or so deport Themselves with
draw the word "demean respecting the particular works
that they interested in representatives to
tie appreciation of them by the President of the United
States. They may go to him and say Please your Elk
ceency President of the United States let the appro
pratons the rivers and creeks and harbors in Mch
gan or for the Improvement OF the Port OF orleans
stand" and they may proptate the Executive and
those appropriations while those of who cannot
commend themselves to the favorable
consideration of the President OF the United States will find
them stricken out of the law by. his hand after the
bin shall have become a law. We have got from the
House of Representatives bill which in its policy is
catholic general, complete Of Improvement
OF rivers and harbors throughout the United States Now
when Senators modifying this bill their
particular measures, and allow measures in which
ohe interested 10 be lost how do they expect get
aongi Sir, day of retrbution will come. Next year
they will want new appropriations for their works. DO
they expect that will vote for their measures when they
thus abendon ours by putting them to death by pecemea
through the agency of the President of the United States
instead Of submitting ali equally and altogether in the old
and constitutional way to the President of the United
States
Replies having been made to the above, Il second
speech delivered the same day by the Senator
from New.York. Mr.. SEWARD said:
Mr. PRKsInrSr-There two points in the answers
which have been made by the honorable Senator'S Mr..
Stewart and MIR. Benjamin. in which they labor under
msapprehenson One Is, in supposng that have made
imputations against the Committee on Commerce, or
against them members of the Committee Every Sem
ator who remembers what said will recollect that said
nothing about the Committee Commerce, the men,
bes OF this Committee any person in his character or
position a member of the Committee Commerce 1
spoke vi the friends of the b-of those friends being
OF two classes. One class those friends of the bill who
willing to adopt THE amendment lin which class the
honorable Senators who have replied to have arrayed
themseyes and the other class, those chiefly this side
Of the chamber, who, approving the bill dsapprove the
amendment. That is all said nothing in reference to
the Committee ON Commerce shall not follow the
ample of the honorable Senators, by vindcating |
myself member of the Committee on Com /
merce. l shall still less follow the example by /
mpeaehing their conduct members Of the Committed.
That one OF the points, The other is this The honora-
bic Senator from Michigan Mr.. Stewart seeks to draw
me into some personal explanation in regard TO myself
my VIEWS my aims, my hopes said here five years ago
that did not know man in the country who worth
five minutes of the Senate Of the United States
STILL i, therefore, never have spoken of myself for five
minutes altogether and will. Now Sir | made |
charges the honorable Senators charac
individuals their characters "a members of the
Committee, to which they and alike belong did say
that supposed we were authorised to assume that this
amendment proposed to be put in by those who being
friends of bill favored the amendment for the purpose
of avoiding an Executive Veto IL that denied The
bNa trnVa sstann