The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-03-03

Washington, Feb. 1s.-The Presi-
dent to-day transmitted message to
Congress as follows:
To the Senate and House Of Represen-
tatiUes;
The brief period which remains of
your present session, and the great mr.
gency and Importance of legislative ac-
ton before its termination, for the pro-
lection of American citizens and their
property whilst in transit across the
Isthmus between our Atlantic and Pa
Icifc possessions, render it my duty to
recall this subject to your notice. 1
have heretofore presented it in my an
ual message of December 1857 and
1858, to which beg leave to refer. In
the latter / stated that the Executive
government of this country in its inter-
course with foreign nations, is limited
to the employment of diplomacy alone.
When this fails it can proceed no furth-
er. 1t cannot legitimately resort to
force without the direct authority to
enter the territories of Nicaragua even
to prevent the destruction of the Tran
sit and protect the lives and property
of our own citizens on their passages.
1t is true that on sudden emergencies
of this character the President would
direct any armed force in the vicinity
to march to their relief but in doing
this he would act upon his own respon-
sibility under these circumstances.
earnestly recommend to Congress
the passage of an act authorizing the
President, under such instructions as
they may deem proper, to employ the
land and naval forces of the United
States IN preventing the transit from
being INSTRUCTED or closed by lawless
violence, and in protecting the lives and
property of American citizens travelling
through upon it-requiring at the same
time that these forces shall be with
drawn the moment the danger shall
have passed away. Without such a
provision, our citizens will be constant
| ly exposed to interference in their pro-
gress by lawless violence. A similar
necessity exists for the passage of such
an act for the protection of the Panama
and Tehuantepec routes.
Another subject, equally important,
demands the attention of the Senate, at
this or the next session of Congress.
The republics south of the United
States on this continent, have unfortu-
ately been in state of revolution and
civil war ever since they achieved their
independence As one or another par
ty has prevailed and obtained posses
sion of their ports open to foreign COM
merce, they have seized the confscated
American vessels and their cargoes in
an arbitrary and lawless manner, and
exacted from American citizens, forced
loans and other violent proceedings, to
enable them to carry ON hostilities.
The executive government of Great
Britain, France, and other countries,
possessing the war-making power, car
promptly employ the necessary means
to enforce immediate redress for similar
outrages upon their subjects. Not SC
the executive government of the Uni
ted States. If the President orders g
vessel-of-war to any of those ports to
demand prompt redress for outrages
committed, the offending parties arc
well aware that the commander could
do no more than demonstrate. He car
resort to no hostile act. The question
must then be referred to diplomacy
and, in many cases, adequate re
dress can never be obtained. Thus
American citizens are deprived of tn,
same protection under the flag of theil
own country which the subjects of 9th
err nations enjoy. The remedy for this
state of things can only be supplied by
Congress, since the constitution has
confided to that body alone the power
to make war. Without the authorit,
of Congress, the President cannot law
fully direct any force, however near i
may be to the scene of difficulty, or en-
ter the territory of Mexico, or Nicara
qua, or New Granada, for the purpose
of defending the persons and propert,
of American citizens. Even though
they may be voluntarily assailed, willis
passing in peaceful transit over thu
Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, or Panam:
routes, he cannot, without transcending
his constitutional power, direct Gun
to be fired into port orland seaman
or mariner, to protect the lives of ou
countrymen on shore, or to obtain re
dress for recent outrage upon thei
property.
The banditti which infest our neigh
boring republic of Mexico, Away
claiming to belong to one or other hos
tile parties, might make sudden des
cent upon Vera Cruz or the Tehuante
pee route, and he would have no powe
to employ force on ship-board in tn
vicinity for their relief-neither to pre-
vent the plumber of our merchants, no
} the destruction of the transit. In re
ference to countries where the Lawful
authorities are strong enough to enforc
laws, the difficulties here indicated cal
seldom occur but where this is not tn
case, and the local authorities do no
possess the will to protect our citizen
within their limits, recentexperience ha
shown that the Executive should itsel
be authorized to render this protection
Such a grant of authority thus Unite,
in its extent, could in no just sense b
regarded as a transferred the war-mak
ing power to the Executive, but onl
as an appropriate exercise of that pow
er by the body to whom it exclusivel
belongs. The riot in Panama in 1856
in which a great number of our eff