Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1860-12-19
SYNOPSIS OF THE
Presidents Message.
cEssIoN QUESTION.
ESPECIAL Dispatch ~ lhe Houston TelrgraIh,l

Especial Dispatch to the Houston Telrgrslhl
WASHINGTON, Dec. i.1Thc Pres
idents Message was read in the
Senate to-day, u large portion of II
is devoted TO the secession question
The following is complete synop'
sis:
The President, in relation TO So
cession, recommends: What in the
meantime is tho responsibility and
true position Of the EXecutivey-
He is bound by solemn oaths before
God aid the country to take care
that the laws be faithfully executed,
and from this obligation he can not
be absolvcd by any human power
But what if the performance OF this
duty, in whole or in part, has been
rendered .impracticablc by events
over which he could have exercised
no control? Such ut the present
moment is the case throughout the
State of South Carolina, so far rs the
laws of the United States TO secure
the administration Of justice by
means OF the Federal Judiciary are
concerned All the Federal officers
within its limits through whose
agency alone those laws can be car
ried into execution have already re-
signed, We no longer have Dis
trict Judge, n District Attorney, or
n Marshal. in South Carolina. In
fact, the wholSSmachincry Of the
Federal Government, necessary for
the distribution Of remedial justice
among the people, has been demol-
ished, and it would be difficultSJ
not'impossible, to replace it,
The only acts of Congress bear
ing upon this subject are those Of
the 18th February, 1895, and 3D..
March, 1907. These authorize the
President, after he shall have ascer-
tanned that the Marshal, with his
posse comitatus, is unable to execute
civil or criminal process, in any par
ticular case, to call forth and employ
the army and navy of the United
States, to aid him in performing this
service-having first by proclama
ton ordered the insurgents to dis
perse and peacefully retire to their
respective abodes within a limited
time.
This duty can not, by possibility,
be performed in a State where no
judicial authority exist to issue pro-
cess, and where there is no marshal
to execute it, and where, even if
there were such an officer, the en-
tire population would constitute one
solid combination to resist him. In
the meantime, inregard to the prop
erty of the United States, in South
this has been purchased
for fair equivalent by the consent
of the State, for the erection Of. forts,
arsenals, magazines, etc, etc, and
over these the authority to exercise
Executive Legislation has been cX-
pressly granted by the Constitution
to Congress. 1t is not believed
that any attempt will be made to
expell the United States from this !.
by force. Buff in this l
should prove to be mistaken, tfN
officer in command Of the forts has
received orders to act entirely upon
the defensive in such an emergency.
The responsibility for consequent
ces would rightfnlly rest upon the
head Of the assailants Apart from
the execution OF the laws, SO far as
this may be practicable. the Execu-
tive has no authority to decide what
should be the relation between the
Federal GoveHhmen and South Ca
rolina. He has been invested with
no such discretion; he possesses no
power to change the relations here
totore existing between them, much
less to acknowledge the independ-
ence Of that STATE. This would be
to invest a mere executive officer
with the power Of recognizing the
of the confederacy ex-
isting among our thirty-thrce SOW
ereign States 1t bears no resem-
blance to the recognition of for
eign de facto government involving
no such responsibility. Any. at
tempt to do this would, on his part,
be a naked actNof usurpation. 1t is,
my duty to submit to
Congress the whole question in, all
its bearings The course of events,
is 50 rapidly Fastening forward,
that the emergency may soon aris
when you may be called upon to de-
eide the momentous question wheth-
er you possess the power, by force
Of arms, to compel d State TO remain
in the Union.
/ should feel myself recreant to
my duty, We're | not to express an
opinion on this important subject.
The question fairly stated is has
the Constitution delegated to Con-
gress the power to coerce q State in
to submission which is intending TO
or has actually with
drawn from the Confederacy? If
in the affirmative, it must
be on the principle that the power
has been conferred upon Congress
to declare and make war against a
State.
After much serious reflection, |
have arrived at the conclusion that
no such power has been delegated
to Congress, or to any other depart
mont of thc Government. 1t is
upon inspection ofthe Con
stitution, that this is not among the
specific orr enumerated powers grant
I'd to Congress, and it is equally ap-
parent that its exercise is not nee
cssasy and proper for carrying into
execution any one of these powers.
So ar from this power having been