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

| The president is as much Dound by the law as
private citizen, and no more contest its validity thar
any private citizen He may refuse to obey the law
so may private citizen but both do at their orn peril
and neither Of them settle the question of its validity
The President may law is unconstitutional but he
is the judge. Who is to decide that question? The
Judiciary alone possesses this unquesonabe and hither
unquestioned right The Judiciary the constitutions
tribunal Of appeal for the citizens against both Congress
and the Executive, in regard to the consttuonaty
laws 1t has this Jurisdiction expressly conferred upor
it, and, when it has decided the question, its judgment
must from the very nature Of all judgments that final
and from which there is appeal be conclusive Hther
to this opinion and correspondent practice have pre-
vailed in America with oil wise and considerable
otherwise there would be government of laws
but should all live under the government the rule the
caprces of individuals If depart from the observance
Of these salutary principles the Executive power becomes
at once purely despotic; for the President if the prn-
cpe and the reasoning of the message be sound, may
either execute not execute the laws of the land
cordng his sovereign pleasure He may refuse put
into execution law, pronounced valid by all the
branches Of the Government and yet execute another
which may have been by constitutional authority pro-
nounced void On the argument Of the message the Pre-
sident Of the United States holds under pretence
dispensing power the laws absolute claim
ed BY James the Second Of England month before he
was compelled to fly the kingdom. That which is now
claimed for the President is in TRUTH nothing less, and
nothing ese than the old dispensing power asserted by
the Kings of England in the Of siesthe very eli
indeed, Of all the preposterous pretensons Of the
Tudor and the Stuart races" =
When the message denies, it does the authority Of
the Supreme Court decide constitutional questions
it effects far as the opinion of the President and his
authority can effect complete change in Govern
m two
limitation po,cr into matters Of opinion, and then
strikes the Judicial Department efficient department. out
of our system. But the message by stops even
at this point Having denied to Congress the authority
Judging what powers may be constuonally conferred
on bank and having erected the judgment of the Pre-
sdent himself into standard by which try the cons
tutona character of such powers and having denounced
the authority of the Supreme Court and decided finally
constitutional questions the message proceeds to claim
for the PRESIDENT not the power of approval but the pr
mary power, the power Of originating laws The Pres
dent informs Congress that he would have them such
charter, if it had been properly asked for they
ought to possess He very plainly intmates that in his
opinion the establishment of oil laws of this nature at
least belongs to the functions of the Executive Govern
ment, and that Congress ought to have waited for the
manifestation of the Executive will before it presumed
touch the subject Such Mr. President stripped of their
Executive power in this most extraordinary paper
"Mr. President, we have arrived at q new epoch We
are entering experiments with the Government and
the Constitution of the country hitherto untred and Of
fearful and appalling aspect. The message calls US to
the contemplation Of future which little resembles the
past Its principles at with all that public opin-
ion has sustained and all which the experience of the
Government has sanctioned. II denies first principles II
contradicts truths heretofore recei0ed dipua5le. de-
mics to the Judiciary the Interpretation of aw and demands to
dipde NTH Congress the orgination of statutes extends
the grasp o. Executive preesion euery pocer of the Gov
ernment" "Such is this message. 1t remains,
now for the people of the United States to choose etee
the principles here apowed and Government These can
subsist together The the other must be reject
ed If the sentiments Of the message shall receive gene
raj appreciation, the Constitution will have persisted even
earlier than the moment which its enemies originally al
lowed for the termination of its existence 1t will not
have survived to its fftieth year"
EXTRACTS FROM Mr.. CLAY's REMARKS.
There some parts of this message that ought to
excite deep alarm, and that especially in which the
President that each public officer may in
| terpret the Constitution as he pleases."
| "Mr. President, l conceive, with great Difference
that the President has mistaken the puport Of the oath
to support the Constitution of the United States No
support it he understands IT, but to sup
port it simply TRUTH. All are bound to
obey the laws of which the Constitution is the supreme
but must they obey them they they understand
them? the obligation Of obedience is limited and con-
troled by the of information in other words
If the party is bound to obey the Constitution only he
understands it, what would be the consequence? The
judge Of an inferior court would dsobey the mandate
superior tribunal because it not in conformity to
the Constitution he understands It. custom house
partment because contrary to the Constitution
dersands t. an American Minister would disregard an
instruction from the President communicated through
the Department Of State because agreeable to the
Constitution he understands t. and subordinate officer
in the army navy would violate the orders of his su
perior because they not in accordance with the
Constitution he understands IT, We should have moth
ing settled nothing STABLE nothing fixed. There would
be general disorder and confusion throughout every
branch of administration from the highest to the lowest
ocers-universa notification; for what is the doctrine
of the President but that of South Carolina applied
throughout the Union The President independent both
Congress and the Supreme Court Only bound to
the laws Of the and the decisions of the other
far they conform to the Constitution of the Unit
States as he undersandsi Then it should be the duty
Of every President his installation into Office to care
fully examine all the acts in the statute book approved
by his predecessors and mark cut those which he was
resolved not to execute, and to which he apply
this species Of veto because they repugnant to
the Constitution, he understands IT. and after the ex-
praton of every term Of the Supreme Court he should