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FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1SU.
("The excitement at Washington City is re
presented as unprecedented, and tending to mar
all wholesome legislation. It is much to be re
"retted that Mr. Boon, of Indiana, was prevail
ed upon to withdraw his resolution, submitted to
the House a few days since, proposing to adjourn
the latter end of this month. Had this resolu
tion passed, the members would then have seen
the absolute necessity of applying themselves
immediately to the unfinished business before
them.
Congress. The Senate were principally en
gaged, during the past week, in discussing the
propriety of entering the President's Protest on
their journals and the House of Representa
tives, in the consideration of various items in the
General Appropriation Bill. In the proceed
ings of Tuesday, we notice the following:
Mr. Archer moved an amendment, ap
propriating 825,000 for the purchase of
the original correspondence and other
papers of General Washington. After
some remarks from Mr. HALL, of North
Carolina, the report from the Committee
on Foreign Relations, recommending the
purchase, was read, and several docu
ments were also read with respect to the
value of the paper, and some conversa
tion took place, in which Messrs. Adams,
Cambreleng, and HALL, took part.
Mr. Archer then withdrew the amend
ment, with a view to offer it again, in
another form, hereafter.
views, to control, through him, the whole
action of the Government, (so far as it is
exercised by his Department) in defiance
of the Chief Magistrate elected by the
People and responsible to them.
But the evil tendency of the particular
doctrine adverted to, though sufficiently
serious, would bo as nothing in compari
son with the pernicious consequences
which would inevitably flow from the ap
probation and allowance by the People,
and the practice by the Senate, ot the
unconstitutional power ofarraiguing and
censuring the official conduct of the Ex
ecutive, in the manner recently pursued.
Such proceedings are eminently calcula
ted to unsettle the foundations of the
Government; to disturb the harmonious
action of its diiTerent Departments; and
to break down the checks and balances
by which the wisdom of its framers
sought to ensure its stability and useful
ness.
The Protest. The principal obnoxious fea
ture in ihe Protest of President Jackson, was
asserted by the opposition to be that part of it
which seemed to favor the construction that he
claimed for the Executive the absolute control of
the public monies, believing that those passa
ges were misconstrued or misunderstood, the
President addressed a second message to the Se
nate on the 2 1st ult. in which he expressly dis
claims the above construction, as will be seen by
the following extract:
I admit, without reserve, as 1 have be
fore done, the constitutional power of the
Legislature to provide by law the place
or places, in which the public money or
other property is to be deposited; and to
make such regulations concerning its
custody, removal, or disposition, as they
may think proper to enact. Nor do I
claim for the Executive any right to the
possession or disposition of the public
property or treasure, or any authority to
interfere with the same, except when
such possession, disposition, or authority,
is given to him by law; nor do I claim the
Tight, in any manner, to supervise or in
terfere with the person entrusted with
such property or treasure, unless he be an
officer whose appointment, under the
Cousfitution and laws, is devolved up
on the President alone, or in conjunction
with the Senate, and for whose conduct
he is constitutionally responsible.
We regret that the great length of the Protest
precludes its introduction entire into our col
umns, but we nevertheless ft-el constrained to
insert the concluding part of this eloquent and
patriotic document, which is as follows:
The dangerous tendency of the doc
trine which denies to the President the
power of supervising, directing, ond re
moving the Secretary of the Treasury, in
like manner with the other Executive
officers, would soon be manifest in prac
tice, were the doctrine to be established.
The President is the direct representa
tive of the American People, but the Sec
retaries are not. If tl0 Secretary of the
Treasury be independent of the Presi
dent in the execution of the lawSj tj,en j3
there no direct responsibility lo t'jle peo
pie in that important branch of this Gov
ernment, to which is committed the care
of the national finances. And it i3 jn ln
power of the Bank of the United Slale
pr any other corporation, body of men
individuals, if a Secretary shall be f0Jnd
... yiawuuu 10 promote weir
The honest differences of opinion
which occasionally exist between the
Senate and the President, in regard to
matters in which both are obliged to par
ticipate, arc sufficiently embarrassing.
But if the course recently adopted by the
Senate shall hereafter be frequently pur
sued, it is not only obvious that the har
mony of the relations between the Presi
dent and the Senate will be destroyed,
but that other and graver effects will ul
timately ensue. If the censures of the
Senate be submitted to by the President,
the confidence of the People in his ability
and virtue, and the character and useful
ness of his administration, will soon be
at an end, and the real power of the Gov
ernment will fall into the hands of a bo
dy, holding their offices for long terms, not
elected by the People, and not to them;
directly responsible. If, on the other
hand, the illegal censures of the Senate
should be resisted by the President, col
lisions and angry controversies might en
sue, discreditable in their progress, and
in the end compelling the People to adopt
the conclusion, either that their Chief
Magistrate was unworthy of their re
spect, or that the Senate was chargeable
with calumny and injustice. Either of
these results would impair public confi
dence in the perfection of the system, and
lead to serious alterations of its frame
work, or to the practical abandonment
of some of its provisions.
The influence of such proceedings on
the other Departments of the Govern
ment, and more especially on the States,
could not fail to be extensively perni
cious. When the judges in the last re
sort of official misconduct, themselves o
verlcap the bounds of their authority, as
prescribed by the Constitution, what gen
eral disregard of its provisions might not
their example be expected to produce!
and who does not perceive that such con
tempt of the Federal Constitution, by
one of its most important Departments,
would hold out the strogest temptation
to resistance on the part of the State sov
ereignties, whenever they shall suppose
their jut rights to have been invaded!
Thus all the independent departments of
the (jrovcrnmcnt, and the States which
compose our confederated Union, in
stead of attending to their appropriate
duties, and leaving those who may offend,
to be reclaimed or punished in the man
ner pointed out in the Constitution, would
fall to mutual crimination and recrimina
tion, and give to the People, confusion
and anarchy, instead of order and law;
until at length some form of aristocratic
power would be established on the ruins
of the Constitution, or the States be bro
ken into separate communities.
Far be it from me to charge, or to in
sinuate, that the present Senate of the U.
States intend, in the most distant way, to
encourage such a result. It is not of
their motives or designs, but only of the
tendency of their acts, that it is my duty
to speak. It is, if possible to make Sen
ators themselves sensible of the danger
which lurks under the precedent set in
their resolution; and at any rate to per
form my duty, as the responsible Head
of one of the co-equal Departments of the
uovernmcnt, ;iiat I have been compelled
to point out the consequences to which
ine discussion and passage of the resolu
'ion may lead, if the tendency of the
measure be not checked in its inception.
It is duo to the high trust with which I
have been charged; to those who may be
called to succeed me in it; to the Repre
sentatives of the People, whose constitu
tional prerogative has been unlawfully
assumed; to the Peoplo and to the States;
and to the constitution they have estab
lished, that 1 should not permit its pro
visions to be broken down by such an
attack on the Executive department,
without at least some effect ."to preserve,
protect, and defend" them. With this
view, and for the reasons which have been
stated. I do hereby Solemnly Protest a-
guinst the aforementioned proceedings
of the Senate, as unauthorized by the
constitution; contrary to its spirit and to
several of its express provisions; subver
sive of that distribution of the powers of
government which it has ordained and
established; destructive of the checks and
safeguards by which those powers were
intended, on the one hand, to be controll
ed, and on the other to be protected; and
calculated by their immediate and collat
eral effects, by their character and ten
dency, to concentrate in the hands of a
body not directly amenable to the Peo
ple, a degree of influence and power dan
gerous to their liberties, and fatal to the
constitution of their choice.
The resolution of the Senate contains
an imputation upon my private as well as
upon my public character; and as it must
stand forever on their journals, I cannot
close this substitute for that, defence
which I have not been allowed to present
in the ordinary form, without remarking,
that 1 have lived in vain, if it be necessa
ry to enter into a formal vindication of
my character and purposes from such an
imputation. In vain do I bear upon my
person, enduring memorials of that con
test in which American liberty was pur
chased in vain have I since periled pro
perty, fame, and life, in defence of the
rights and privileges so dearly bought in
vain am I now, without a personal aspi
ration, or the hope of individual advan
tage, encountering responsibilities and
dangers, from which, by mere inactivity
in relation to a single point, I might have
been exempt if any serious doubts can
be entertained as to the purity of my pur
poses and motives. Ifl had been ambi
tious, 1 should have sought an alliance
with that powerful institution, which e
ven now aspires to no divided empire.
It 1 had been venal, l should have sold
myself to its designs had I preferred
personal comfort and official ease to the
performance of my arduous duty, I
should have ceased to molest it. In the
history of conquerors and usurpers, nev
er, in the fire of youth, nor in the vigor
of manhood, could I find an attraction to
lure me from the path of duty; and now,
I shall scarcely find an inducement to
commence their career of ambition, when
gray hairs and a decaying frame, instead
of inviting to toil and battle, call me to
the contemplation of other worlds, where
conquerors cease to be honored, and u-
surpers expiate their crimes. The only
i : i r i i r-
nmumun i can reel, is to acquit myselt to
Him, to whom I must soon render an ac
count of my stewardship, lo serve my
fellow-men, and live respected and hon
ored in the history of my country. No;
the ambition which leads me on, is an
anxious desire and a fixed determination,
to return to the people, unimpaired, the
sacred trust they have confided to my
charge to heal the wounds of the con
stitution, and preserve it from further
violation; to persuade my countrymen,
so far as I may, that it is not in a splen
did Government, supported by powerful
monopolies, and aristocratical establish
ments, that they will find happiness, or
th eir liberties protection: but in a plain
system, void of pomp protecting all, and
granting favors to none dispensing its
blessings like the dews of heaven, unseen
and unfelt, save in the freshness and
beauty they contribute to produce. It is
such a Government that the genius of our
People requires such an one only under
which our States may remain for aces to
come, united, prosperous, and free. If
the Almighty -Being who has hitherto sus
tained and protected me, will but vouch
safe to make my feeble powers instru
mental to such a result, I shall anticipate
with pleasure tho place to bo assigned
ine in the history of my country, and die
contented with the belief, that I hiUt
contributed, in some small degree, t0 jn.
crease the value and prolong the dur:i.
tion, of American Liberty.
To the end that the resolution of thc
Senate may not be hereafter drawn iIltl)
precedent, with the authority of silen?
acquiescence on the part of the KxecutiV(.
Department; and to the end, also,
my motives and views in the Executive
proceedings denounced in that resolmi0n
may be known to my fellow-citizens,
the world, and to all posterity, I respect
fully request that this Message and pro.
test may be entered at length on )c
journals of the Senate.
ANDREW JACKSOX
April 15th, 1834.
Mr. Brown, of North Carolina.
the course of some remarks, Mr. CJ;,V
said, that some years ago, a travellerfroii
Kentucky, met another from Buncombe
North Carolina. In reply to the ques
tion of what news? the Kentuckian said
that there had been an extraordinary re
vival of religion in the State, and iJlat
some people believed that his Sntannis
Majesty had been driven out of the State"
All! said the other, and where is lie gona
to! To Buncombe, N. Carolina, said tl0
Kentuckian. This drew up Mr. Brown,
who took the occasion to remark, that
inasmuch as Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun
were found acting together, on the sub
ject of the removal of the depositee, he
took it for granted that his Satannic Ma
jesty had deserted Buncombe and ac
complished the miracle of uniting those
gentlemen on this measure, as nothing
less than his power could accomplish
it. Wash. Tel.
CTThe National Intelligencer of Fri
day last says: "John II. Eaton has been
appointed by the President of the United
States, with the advice and consent of the
Senate to be Governor of the Territory
of Florida, to succeed Governor Duva!,
whose term of service lias expired.
The nomination, made to the Senate
some days ago, was confirmed yester
day." tt?From the following article which
we find in the Baltimore Gazette, Judge.
M'Lean may be regarded as a candidate
for the Presidency, inasmuch as he lias
been nominated for that office in dilTerent
parts of the country, and his friends still
exhibit a determination to urge his claims
to the confidence of the people:
"A letter from Judjic M'Lean,in rela
Hon to the next Presidency, has recently
been published. It is dated at Washing
ton the 27th of March, and is in reply to
a letter addressed to him by the editor ot'
an Ohio paper, informing him of a report,
extensively circulated, that he had ex
pressed a determination not to be a can
didate for the presidency in opposition
to Mr. Van Buren, and requesting him
to say whether he intends to become a
candidate for the presidency regardless
of the d ecision of a national convention.
The Judge states that the report men
tioned is without the shadow of founda
tion. Whether he shall become a can
didate or not, will depend entirely on the
voluntary action of the people. He is
opposed to any national caucus or con
vention for the purpose of nominating a
candidate for the Presidency, as it is con
trary to the usages of the democratic par
ty, and has a direct tendency to place the
political power of tho country in th&
hands of a few individuals. His course,
therefore, will in no degree be influenced
by the contemplated national convention.
In order to keep the election of Presi
dent out of the House of Representatives,
he has always been in favor of so alter
ing the constitution as to send the elec
tion a second time to the people, if then?
should be a failure to elect on the first
attempt."
"The Posthumous Speech." As i F tlie
world were not sufficiently filled with the
speeches which have been delivered in
Congress, we are now to be inundated
with those which have never been spo
ken. Among those who have been It
boring in the conception, is Mr. John Q
Adams; and ho has safely delivered his
favorite bantling irt the N. Intelligencer