The Yazoo Democrat., 1854-05-24
The Veto Message.

President. is an act that will commend itself
g every democras in the land, who has the
slightest regard for the administration ofqoy-
ernment according to the plain intent and
meaning of the Constitution of the T. States
The independence and manliness evinced by
the Executivein the negative message, and the
ability and force with which he has given his
news upon this question to Congress and the
country cannot fail to impress this fact upon
the mind Of the.seader that an honesty Of
purpose is the ruling principle which promp-
ted its dictation. Let this negative power
be denounced in whatever way it may, a
calm and dispassionate reflection upon its
importance, cannot but convince the mind
that such a restraint ia necessary to be placed
on legislation somewhere, and until another
power is designated to WELD it, its fittest
ttssiace is in the chief magistrate.
The propensity Of the legislative depart
ment to intrudo upon the rights, and absorb
the powers of other departments has been
frequently observed, and from the necessity
of check upon this assumption of power
results the propriety Of a negative, upon the
acts of the Legislative branches.
It seems to be the mission of the Demo
cratic party, says the Richmond Eaqssirer, to
come into power in crises of extreme peril to
the Constitution, and by the agency of the
Executive veto to arrest the tide of Federal
corruption in the last moment of resistance
to its power. The brightest chapter of the
history Of the Democratic party, and indeed
of the country, is that which perpetuates the
memory Of the manly resistance Of Demo
cratic Presidents to measures Of Federal en-
croachment. We owe it to the frmness and
virtue Of Jackson, Tyler, Polk and Pierce
that Our system of government has not been
oveEhrown, and our hopes of republican lib
erty extinguished in anarchy and civil feud.
The veto Of the Lunatic Land Bill is a
most salutary blow for the Democratic party.
In the absence of any dispute about princi-
pies, many individuals, with strong afec-
ton for the majority, have got into the habit
Of cooperating with the Democratic party
without the laest sympathy with its creed or
character. Such recruits are a source Of
confusion and weakness, ma they have al
ready inflicted considerable damage on the
organization Of the party, besides to some
extent debauching its principles To such
the veto Of the Lunatie Bill is a notice to
quit The President mas taken his stand up
on principle, and while the honest and true
rally to his support, the selfish and insincere
VIII relapse into their original condition Of
darkness and corruption.
The following warm and emphatic COM
mendation Of the Presidents Message, by
Mr.. Hunter, exhibits the light in which the
true men Of the party regard the veto of the
Lunatic Bill:
Mr.. President, cannot permit the present
occasion to pass away, without expressing my
profound qualification at the course which the
President of the United States has pursued IL
OF the people are due TO him for arresiing O
measure which, as | am happy to believe, has
few parallels in the past history of legisla-
tion, and for interposing himself between the
Constitution of the country and a blow, the
mischievous effects OF which it would have been
Sir, the man who saves and preserves the bar
rier which the Constitution has inteEposed be-
tween the Jurisdiction Of the General and the
State Governments. renders service which en-
titles him to the grateful appreciation of the
American people, for he makes good the only
conditions upon which the experiment Of free
government which IRE are now trying, can re
suit happily and successfully. Sir, it may be
that IT Is an ideal barrier, an abstraction 1t you
will but venture TO say. that behind its boun
daries lie, covered and protected. more human
happiness and human prosperity, than ever
were defended by Tamparts OF brick and stone.
And. sir he who succeeds in successfully deien
ding and protecting these, the moral deiences OF
a country. is entitled more to the thanks of the!
people than the mere man of war who holds
and maintains it's military llLes.
Il is, in my opinion, the danger OF the times,
that in our eager pursuit after wealth and al
those material objects in which we take so keen
an interest, we are prone TO forget the moral ba
ses upon which rest ON happiness and our Sc
curity. ! must be permitted to say, that in the
whole course of my experience in legislative life,
/ think IhGve never known period in which less
regard is paid to the limitations imposed by
the Consti tuition upon the powers of this Gov
ernment. Nor need 60 further for an illustra-
ton of that proposition than TO the very bill
which Is now under consideratio n-a bill which
10 make the States the agents of thet
General Government which resumes to say up
on what conditions they shalt execute their own
local and municipal powers, and those condi- J
tions to be prescribed BY this Federal Govern |
ment-a BILL which is founded, If upon any
principle at all, upon the assumption that the
right to dispose Of the public lands is an unlim /
tied power vested in this Government, or that |
it is limited only By the positive prohibitions
49, L. IL