The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-08-21
BALTIMORE.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 81, 1861.

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When Mr.. LINCOLN says-or his advisers say for
bim-that he has q right 10 suspend or violate the
Constitution in order to preserve the Government
what is the plain English of his pretension? He
mems that the powers conferred on him by the
Constitution are not sufficient, and he must assume
other powers which the Constitution does not
confer. In olher words, he must govern the
country for the time outside of the Constitution.
Rot the Presidents constitutional officer. Out |
side Of the Constitution he has official existence.
Onts;de the Constitution lie is not President, |
for The Constitution alone makes him President;
defines what his functions and powers shall be,
and gives him ali the functions and powers he was
intended to have. 1t makes him an executive officer
OF limited authority. 1t intended him to be moth
ing more. When, therefore, he transcends the
constitutional limits ASST gned 10 him and assumes
indefinite powers, lie changes the form OF Govern
meut as eliectually as if he were TO proclaim him
self Sing. There is exaggeration at all in this.
Mr. LINCOLN is, upon his theory, the exclusive
Judge Of the necessity which authorizes him to
transcend the Constitution. He is also exclusive
ly to determine the extent to which 1t is necessa'
ry TO transcend it. He unites, therefore,
in himself, the two elements of abso-
lutte monarchy discretionary power, and
unrestricted power, vested in the same per-
son. How could he more e1ectually change
the form of government than by substituting these
for the limited functions which the Constitution
bestows on him. as the executive head OF Il re
puble2 ~.- a..
But this isslot all. Mr.. LINCOLN claims, that
when he thus assumes to govern outside of the
Constitution, by exercising powers which it does
not give him, no individual OR State has any right
to resist him, or even to question his action. 1t
is treason to take up arms against him. 1t is re-
bellion 10 oppose his authority. He may be
wrong he admits He may be liable TO i'm
peachmeut--but that is all. His action may be
wholly unconstitutional and unauthorized, and
may be so pronounced upon impeachment--but
impeachment, he says is The only remedy. If
Congress is on his side, and will not impeach him
or fad him guilty, there is no remedy at all.
Everybody must acqueSce, 10 matter though the
President transix the Constitution and the liber
ties within it, with spear. This is the sum
and substance of the famous opinion of Dir. At
torncy- General BATES upon the ha6eaS corpus
gravely argues that the Supreme Court of the
United States has decided, in at least two leading
cases If it be true-if Mr.. BATES be right-then
il is hard to tell what further attributes of
royalty our Republican President can require
He has the right TO transcend the Constitution
when he believes it. in his discretion, to be neces-
sary. Re has the right to determine for himself
how far the supposed necessity shall carry him.
He has then the right to punish anybody who
ventures to stand upon the Constitution and op-
pose him in the exercise of his discretion in either
particular. He may be impeached but he cannot
be resisted. What more, in the name of despot-
ism, can he ask, TO make him King? If be can
control the impeaching power, or the tribunal
that hears impeachments, or if he and they agree
what is he but King, and irresponsible, besides?
This is precisely what Mr.. BATES logic practically
comes to, and ifhe be right and we be wrong we
should be glad TO know what our forefathers
meant, when they declared thu. -,..." g..
1.-THE doctrine of resistance against art5,aTy
and oP 34g :.a is ses9 g
We are persuaded that their theory of this Gov
ernment- differed, somewhat, from that of Mr.
LINCOLN and blr. BATES. When they gave the
President no constitutional powers in any partic-
uIar case, it was their intention that he should
have no such powers, in that case. If they did
not cIothe him with authority to preserve the
Government, by invading the rights Of the States
and Of Individual citizens, it was because they
preferred that the Government should come TO an
end, rather than be preserved by such means and
at such sacrifices, They were under no obligation
or compulson to form the Government which they
embodied in the Constitution. They did it of
their own free will and mere motion. They gave
it what powers they chose TO confer, and refused
it what powers they chose to refuse. 1t was their
creature, and they endowed it with 1t faculties
they saw fit. They We're bound on.yy by the
powers they gave--they meant to repudiate and
preclude the powers they did not give. They had
the right to say, and they did in fact say, that
they were not willing 70 confer on the Govern
ment any prerogatives but those which they
enumerated and actually gave it, and that if it
could not get along with those it must not get
along at all and they, CT their pcsterily, must
cndeavor to agree on something else. Under such
circumstances, and in view of Constitution SO
formed 1t IS neither good sense nor good faith to
talk about the blessings of the Union and the
government and the necessity of preserving and
MAINTAINING them at all hazards, &C., &C., as an
excuse for exercising powers which the Consttr-
uon denies. The people, or any portion of them,
have the right to reply, that they are subject to
no government but the Government of the Con-
sutuuon, and recognize and want no benefits nor
blessings outside Of the Constitutions; that if the
Constitution does not suffice, it may be changed
IN the proper way, but it must not be invaded;
mat they had rather go back to the Articles OF
Coniederatlon, or have no Union of any sort,
than submit to the government of arbitrary |
power. " "''.'' p -"' g." gang
ouch we believe to be the rights of the people
under the system which the Constitution of 1851
was meant 10 perpetuate. Such we believe to he
The true spirit and principles of this Government
1t may suit dominant party or section 10 rann.
diate these, and to talk about maintaining tbe
Government and preserving the Union, bv vi,
lathg the Constitution, which is the charter Of |
the one and the bond of the other. But it is tho
lndeieasible and undeniabe right of the minority
and OF individuals, to plant themselves upon the
Constitution as the rock of their salvation and ~
claim that there is no legitimate government and |
can be no Union, except according to the Consti-
tuuon, and under and within it. .'...' --.... BE-.
: |
"heh the Individuals of any community can