The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1868-05-14

IN tnat " declares tnat ne "Hhail nave
the power to grant reprievcs and par.
don" that cali legislative power
herein granted shall be vested in
Congress-" 10 that it declared that
'the President shall take care that the
laws be faithfully executed" in that
il declares that "eyery bill which
shall have passed the Congress aud
shall have received his spproval shall
become a law and finally in that It
declares
"If he does not approve it no shall
return it with his objections to the
House in which it shall have origin
ACTED, who shall enter the objections
at large on their journal and proceed
30 reconsider IT, IT, after such recon.
sidcration, two thirds of that House
shall agree to pass the bill, il shall be
sent, together with the objections, to
the other house, by which il shall like.
wise be recousidored, aud ir approved
by two thirds Of that House, il shall
become a law. Article |, Section I, ,
A law to whom2 10 all the people
Of tho United States, to every judicial,
to every executive aud legislative
officer of the United States, and of
every State, and must remain law
binding upon each and all, officials
and non officials, until repealed in
the mode prescribed by the Coustitu.
ton, or duly reversed by the courts.
1t is in vain that gentlemen say
that it is only laws which are consti-
tutional that are to bud the Execu.
tive. Why shrink from the logical
consequences of this bold avowal, and
aud not say at once that II is only
laws which the President approves
that are to bind the President? Is
the Executive above tho people2 Is
the servant greater than his master?
The creature greater than his creator2
l would do injustice to myself, |
would do injustice to the august tri-
bunSl before which l stand, would
do injustice to the matchless Consti.
tuition OF my country, to intimate
that any infraction of that Constitu.
tion, either by the executive, judicial,
or legislative departments of the Gov.
ernmeut of the United States, is
without remedy. That is not im.
piled by anything which | have yet
said, nor do intend to say anything
from which a conclusion so absurd
can justly be inferred.
III the Legislative department of
this Government invade the Cousti.
tuition by unconstitutional enactment, l.,
it is not for the President or for any
other citizen, official or unofficial, to
assume the right to violate the en-
actmeut and defy its authority. One
wrong cannot make another wrong
right. No greater wrong eau bo
committed, in my jugement, against
the Americnn people than for the
Executive thus to deny the plain
enactment of Congress, defy its au
thority, and violate its provisions.
The redress for unconstitutional log.
islatiou by Congress is FIRST in the
judicial department Of the Govern.
ment, subject always to the constitu.
tional limitations upon the power ol
that department, and finally in the
people themselves who create consti-
tutions, Congresses, and courts, aud
executive departments ofGovornment
CLOSE OF THE SPEECH.
Owing to its great length wC arc
compelled to omit the greater portion
of the speech, and here give the con.
cludiug remarks;
Senators you will pardon me, but
will detaiu you but a few moments
longer, for asking your attention to
another view Of this question between
the people and the Executive. / use
the words Of England's brilliant his
torian, when | say, chad not the leg
islative power Of England triumphed
over tho usurpations Of James, with
what a crash, felt and heard to the
furthest end Of world, would the
whole vast fabric of society have
fallen" May God forbid that any
future historian shall record of this
days proceedings, that, by reason Of
the failure of the legislative power OF
the people to triumph over the usur.
patious of the President, through the
detection of the Senate of the u. s.,
the just fabric Of American empire
fell aud perished from the earth.
That great revolution of 1858, in
England, was foreruDner of our ow n
Constitution. The declarative rights
to which have referred but reasssrt-
ed the Constitution Of England, not
found in any written instrument, but
scattered through the statues of cen
turtles. The great principles thus
reasserted by the declaration ofrights
in 1888 were, first that no law should
be passed without the consent Of the
representatives of the nation; no tax
should be laid; no regular soldiery
should be kept up; no citizen should
be deprived for a single day, Of his
liberty by arbitrary will Of the sover-
eign, no tool of power should plead
the royal mandate in justification for
the violation of any legal right of the
humblest citizen, and forever swept
away the assumption that the execu-
tive prerogatiye was above tho
fundamental law. These, then, were
the principles, Senators, involved
in that day in the controversy
between the people and their recus-
ant Sovereign. They are precisely
the principles this day involved in
this controversy between the people
and their recusant President. With
out revolution, Senators, like the
great Parliament Of 1858, you are
asked - reassert the principles Of the
Constitution of your country, not to
be searched for through statutes of
of centuries, but to be found in that
grand sacred writing given to us by