Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-02-21
The Presidents Special Message.

from the President of the United States to
Congress, last Friday:
! To the Senate and House Of Representatives:
The brief period which remains Of your
present session, and the great urgency and
Importance of legislative action, before Its
termination, for the protection of American
citizens, and their property, whilst Ill transit
across the Isthmus routes between our Attain
tic and Pacific possessions, render it my duty
again to recall this subject to your notice. |
have heretofore presented it i'll my annual
messages, both of December, 1851 and 1898,
to which beg leave to refer. In the latter,
| state that 1.-The executive government OF
this country, i'll its intercourse with foreign
nations, is limited to the employment OF
diplomacy alone. When this fails, it can pro-
coed no further. 1t cannot legltimatcly re-
sort to force without the direct authority OF
Congress, except in resisting and rcpellnS
hostile attacks. 1t would have no authority
to enter the territories of Nicaragua, even to
prevent the destruction Of the transit and
protect the lives and property of our own
citizens OH their passage. 1t true that, on
a sudden emergency of this character, the
President would direct any armed force IN
the vicinity to march to their relief but i'll
doing this, he would act upon his own res
possibility.
Under these circumstances, | earnestly
recommend to Congress the passage of an act
authorizing the President, under such res
trictions as they may deem proper, TO employ
the land and naval forces of the United States
in preventing the transit from being obstruct-
ed or closed by lawless violence, and in pro-
tecting the lives and property Of American
citizens travelling thereupon, requiring ut
the same time that these forces shall he with
drawn the moment the danger shall have
passed away. Without such Il provision. our
citizens will be constantly exposed to inter
ruption in their progress, and to lawless
violence.
a similar necessity exists for the passage
of such an act for the protection Of the Pana-
ma and Tehuantepec routes"
Another subject, equally important, COM
manded the attention of the Senate ut the last
session of Congress.
The republics south of the United States,
on this continent, have, unfortunately, been
frequently in state of revolution and civil
war, ever since they achieved their indepen-
dence. As one or the other party has pre-
vailed and obtained possession of the ports
open to foreign commerce, they have seized
and confscated American vessels and their
cargoes in an arbitrary and lawless manner,
and exacted money from American citizens
by forced loans, and other violent proceed
ings, to enable them to carry on hostilities.
The executive governments of Great Britain,
France, and other countries, possessing the
war-making power, can promptly employ the
necessary means to enforce immediate redress
for similar outrages upon their subjects.
Not so the executive government of the Uni
ted States. If the President orders vessel
of war to any of these ports to demand
prompt redress for outrages committed the
offending parties are well aware that in case
of refusal the commander can do no more
than demonstrate. lie can resort to no hos
tile act. The question must then he referred
to diplomacy, and in many cases adequate
redress can never be obtained. Thus Ameri-
can citizens are deprived of the same protec
tion under the flag of their country which
the subjects of other nations enjoy. The
remedy for this state of things can only be
supplied by Congress, since the constitution
has confded to that body alone the power
to make war. Without the authority of
Congress, the Executive cannot lawfully d.
rect any force, however near it may be to the
scene of difficulty, to enter the territory Of
Mexico, Nicaragua, or New Granada, for
the purpose of defending the persons and
property of American citizens. even though
they may be violently assailed whilst pass
ing in peaceful transit over the Tehuantepec,
Nicaragua, or Panama routes. He cannot,
without transcending his constitutional pow
err, direct gun to be fired into port, or land
a seaman or marine to protect the lives of
our countrymcn on shore, or to obtain redress
for recent outrage on their property. The
banditti which infest our neighboring repub-
lie of Mexico, always claiming to belong to
one or other of the hostile parties, might
make sudden descent on Vera Cruz or on
the Tehuantepec route, and he would have
no power to employ the force on shipboard in
the vicinity for their relief, either to prevent
the plumber of our merchants or the dcstruc-
ton of the transit
| In reference to countries where the local
authorities are strong enough to enforce the
laws, the difficulty here indicated can seldom
happen but where this is not the case, and
the local authorities do not possess the physi-
cal power, even if they possess the will, to
protect our citizens within their limits, recent
experience has shown that the American Ex-
ecutive should itself be authorized to render
this protection. Such q grant of authority,
thus limited in its extent, could in no just
sense be regarded as a transfer of the war
making power to the Executive, but only as
an appropriate exercise of that power by the
body to whom it exclusively belongs. The
riot at Panama in 1856, in which great
number of our citizens lost their lives, fur
nishes a pointed illustration of the necessity
which may arise for the exertion Of this au-
thority
/. therefore, earnestly recommend to Con-
gress, on whom the responsibility exclusively
rests, to pass law before their adjournment,
comforting on the President the power to
protect the lives and property of American
citizens in the cases which | have indicated,
under such restrictions and conditions as
they may deem advisable. The knowledge
that such law exists, would Of itself 90 far
to prevent the outrages which it is intended
to redress, and to render the employment of
force unnecessary.
Without this the President may be placed
in a painful position before the meeting of
the next Congress. In the present disturbed
condition of Mexico, and one or more of
the other republics south of us, no person
can foresee what occurrences may take
place before that period. In case Of emer
gency, our citizens, seeing that they do