New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1858-01-16
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE ON THE sEIz-
HIRE nE WALKER.

qucHtiHN tue fEcSlueht 70 lufitleu tuc
and other information connected with the arrest Of
General Walker and his associates on the coast o.
Central America that fnnctionary on the 7fh instant
submitted message on the subject. together with
the instructions correspondence. ETC., called for.
The document Is tissue Of special pleading, based
. upon the following false assumptions That General
walker IS merely an irresponsible adventurer; that
he and his associates had rights to claim In Mica
rac,a that the movement they had set on foot was
directed against the peace and welfare Of that State
for purposes Of rasage and plumber that il is
neither the object nor tendency Of such expeditions
TO Americanize Central America and that should
another expedition Of similar character evade the
vigilance OF officers and proceed thither, q it
would be fatal at least for season. TO the peaceful
settlement of those countries and to the policy Of
| American progress" These are the main points
urged in Justification Of the arrest OF Walker and his
men, but the space occupied in celebrating them
forbids the publication of the document entire In
columns this morning. In regard to the manner in
which that arrest was made, the President says that
Com. Paulding committed grave error,n but that
1t was done from pure and patriotic motives, and
the sincere conviction that be was promoting the
interests and indicating the honor Of his country"
So far as Nicaragua was concerned she had sus-
tanned no injury by Psnldngs act but had been ben
Gifted thereby. s'she alone would have any right to
complain Of the violation Of her territory Mr. Blu
c,anan here affects to be unconscious that the people
OF this country have right to complain of the au.
dacity Of naval officer in presuming TO appropriate
to himself aud exercise powers belonging only to
Congress, by invading foreign soil and committing
an overt act Of war. Congress alone possesses the
war-making power, and the President himself cannot
lawfully involve the nation In hosties without It's
consent. What then, must we think of a naval
officer who grasps the thunderbolt himself and upon
an occasion, too, when the proprety of his inter.
ference at all was doubtful in bis own mind. and
when his instructions III those published are the
only ones) did not afford the shadow of a pretext
for his high-handed proceedng2 A fine precedent.
truly, to be established by naval officer who is re.
sponsbe only TO the extent Of his commission for the
very grave consequences that might follow his hot
headed actl His error, says President Buchanan,
consisted in exceeding his instructions" etc., and
" under these circumstances, when Marshal Rynders
presented himself at the State Department with Gen.
Walker in custody, he was informed that the Execu-
tive Department did not recognize the General as a
prisoner"
So the President, in fact declares the act Of Paud
ing unauthorized, admits the arrest of Walker illegal
reads homy upon the propriety of strict obedience
to law and conformity to instructions on the part Of
all officers, civil and military-but refuses to punish
or reprimand the officer whose conduct be condemns
refuses to repair the wrong he admits to have been
committed, and thus by his action contradicts bis
own enuncation Of principle and stultifes himself.
We viii give brief synopsis Of this message, from
the point at which Commodore PauIdng's connection
with the matter is dropped-premising that we en-
tifely concur in the sound international doctrines
enunciated by Mr.. Buchanan, but that in his appica
ton of them to the present he proceeds as we
baye already stated, upon entirely false assumptions
He states that though disappearing the action of
Pauding, be Is none the less determined to execute
the neutrality laws, and he quotes Mr. Monroe's mes
sage Of 1872 to show his conception of the import
of those laws and Of his duty to enforce them.
The crime of launching private military expeditions
against governments with which are at peace en-
gagged the attention Of most eminent statesmen in
the time of the Administration Of Gen. Washington,
and on the occasion of the French revolution The
act of Congress of the 9Th Of june 1884, removed all
difficulties which had Heretofore existed on this ones
ton. The law 1t now stands not only renders
criminal the expedition "set on FOOT in the United
States but coner the power of preventing its being
carried on TO the consummation after it has left our
shores, and therefore, had Commodore Paulding
seas he would have fulfilled the intention of the law
and performed praiseworthy act So says President
Buchanan.
IL motives OF duty, he says are not sufficient TO re-
strain us from engaging in such lawless enterprises,
our evident interest ought to dictate that policy.
These expeditions are the most eectual mode of re-
tarding American progress, although their avowed
object is to promote it. Should events take their
natural course, it is beyond question the destiny of
our race to spread this continent and nothing
has retarded this consummaton so much as the I'M
lawful expeditions which have been fitted out in the |
United States to make war upon the Central Ameri-
can States.
The crime Of fbusterism he says, (notwithstand- |
ing the 0stend manifesto) deserves the severe pun
ishment prescribed by the laws. 1t violates the
principles Of Christianity, morality and humanity,
and is an invitation to lawless men TO enlist under the
banner of an adventufer, to rob and murder unofend
ing citizens of neighborng States. 1t usurps the
war-making power, and makes the Government, at |
least in the eyes of the world an accomplice in its
crimes unless It he Government adopt all the means
necessary to prevent and punish it, If fibusteripq
must be done, Mr.. Buchanan thinks that it would be
far better that the Government itself should get M
the expeditions.
As the leading power on this continent we desire
to protect the transit routes the Isthmus not
only for our own benefit but for the benefit Of the
world, and thus open free to Central America
and through il to our Pacific possessions.
The message concludes with the following declara-
ton, which is no doubt correct but which, we con,
tend has, like almost the entire argument in this
document, no application to the present case:
The truth is, that no Administration can success.
fully conduct the foreign affairs of the country in
Central America, or anywhere else il it is TO be in
tertered with at every step by awess military expe-
dtions set on foot " in the United States.
Coon THINGS TO KELP LIFE ALoNG-If it be true
that the course Of true love run smooth we are
sure tat the Of true cng will smooth TO tho,e who
lay in their eomesbes at Charles R. Raiey Co.'S No II
Iehoupitoulas street and No "a Gfayer street. Always sup
piled with every possible article In the staple fancy grocery
aud wine and liquor ne the house worthy the patronage Of
those VIE essay to live well and tines reve in an extra
Hush Of the freshest and choicest good things from different
parts Of The world Retail Dealers caterers and housekeeper
are respectfully referred to the lat OF supplies advertised
in to days Crescent
NJ A r RIED:
M. ~ NJ