Washington telegraph., 1855-05-23
TIE President ON Spanish, Outra.

The Washington Union, Notwithstanding
its retirement from the organship, generous
| ly comes to the rescue of the President in
| a long article, the object Of which is to show
that the Executive has gone Just far enough
in measures for the redress of recent Span
ish outrages, and not whit further This
document has an Enthusiastically official twist
and we cannot help believing it a by author
ity" pronunciamento, Just as much as though
it had Franklin Pierces signature at the
end of it. With this premise, we synopti-
cize the article thus The President never
had a doubt that the conduct Of Spanish of
fieers in stopping. boarding, and examining
our merchant vessels was aggressive and
violative of international law /; nor does he
consider it of any Importance to the issue
whether this stopping was brought about
by firing over or about or Unto" our
ships; the wrong consists in the assertion
of the right to visit, which is neither more
nor less than the right of search.
This. then, was a grievance, and one
which. as the Executive felt, called for the
interpostioH of all the power possessed by
him. both for the redress Of wrongs already
suffered and prevention of their repetition.
What was the extent OF the Executive pow
er in the premises The President could
not order she Gulf Squadron to proceed to
Havana and demand immediate reparation
of the Captain General Of Cuba, and, upon
his refusal, to blockade the ports of the is
land, or TO bombard its towns; these would
have been unequivocal acts. Of war. But:
The President has no power to make
war. When an-injury calls for redress, he
is bound to demand reparation and if it is
refused. and redress is only attaiDable by
resort to force, he must have the authority
Of Congress to proceed. unless the offend-
ing party is Of that lawless or piratical char
acter irresponsible 10 any Government ca
pable of making reparation, which makes his
punishment an exception to civilized rules
of proceeding" 80
Nor could the President order our squad
ron to hunt up the offending Spanish cruiser
and capture or sink her-because that would
be making reprisalS.
So much for the past what for the fu-
ture? Says the Union
1T is the duty of the Executive to pro-
tect our commerce and our national rights
on the high seas, and to these ends the Pre-
sident is furnished with navy and army,
and is made their commander Although
he may not constitutionality make war to
redress past injuries; but, if need be, he
may repel and prevent forcibe aggression
by forcible resistance, even though state of
hostilites should be the unavoidable conse-
quence. The right of self-defense belongs
as we'll to nations as individuals, and when
a necessary resort to it brings with it the
consequence Of war, it is war in the act of
the offending party, and involves no viola
ton OF Executive powers.
The only question of embarrassment in
such case is as TO the time when aggression
may be resisted by the Executive. 1t is
clear however, that so long as the aggres
sion continues, the resort to forcible means
of resistance or punishment is lawful. If
our naval or military force be present or
within striking distance when an aggression
takes place, whether upon our territory or
one OF our merchant vessels, the right and
the duty to interpose for protection, resist
ance and punishment is too clear to need ar
gument for its Illustration. It is equally
clear tNst if the naval or military force be
not actually present. but reach the scene Of
aggression before the aggressor has consum-
ated his outrage and retired from the place
the right to interpose exists, We should
maintain that, under peculiar circumstances
of aggravation and atrocity, naval or mill
tary commander would be justifable in.
looking up and furnishing the offender even
though the aggression should have been con