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VOLUME VII. CHER AW. SOUTII-CAROLINA, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 184?. NUMBER 43.
By M. MACLEAN.
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* *' * ?I"> onil chnriTfid rill
IQTcruiflineni win iu^ui^u, uu? ~.? b? ?
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editor on the business of the office.
CHANGE OF SEED.
There is an opinion nearly universal
among agriculturists that occasional
change of seed?or the introduction into
a particular soil or climate of seed from
a different region?is highly advantage^
ous in improving the races of plants. As
to the particular mode most proper in effecting
this change, however, there are
most opposite theories and opinions.
Some maintain that seed are best fr??m
plants produced on poor land to be planted
on rich?others go always for seed from
the richest soils. Some maintain that
plants of all kinds will mature earlier from
seed procured from the north?others directly
the reverse.
Jn the June number of the Former's
Register, we find a re publication of an
essay by l>r. Bronn, professor in one of
the German Universities, which contains
the most rational theory and explanation
of the benefits derived from changes of
seed we have yet seen. Seed have been
found to do better on a tenacious soil and
in a cold climate, which have been matured
in a warm climate and on udrv ami
loose soil, and vice versa?the two kinds
of soils and climates profiting equally by
tin interchange?provided always neither
be in so great an extreme as to prevent
the full developeinent and maturity of the
particular seed. This accounts for the
great diversity of opinion as to whether
* * " - ** . L . U
seed should be broug u irorn me uu<m o?
south?while all alike acknowledge ihc
benefit of some kind of interchange; us
m4)et who have tried a change from either
Quarter, have perhaps realized benefit, and
from the individual case insist upon a
general rule.
The principles which we glean from
Prof, lironn in explanation o! these facts
are as follows :
It is well known to cultivators of the
soil to be a general rule that cxtruordina-F^-dexsd?|>enient
of the woody fibre and
foliage of plants retards their pioduction
of seed and fruit, and that the formation
^*f fruit is hastened end improved by correcting
the tendency to a disproportionale
developcment of stalk. Thus fruit
trees which shoot vigorously are not
bearers?and pruned and dwnrt trees are
always most prolific. Cutting the bark
away from around a limb so as to retard
its growth of wood, too, is known to make
it produce more and better fruit. Trimming
closely vines, 6cc. is known to be
the only way such extraordinary crops as
arc sometimes seen, can be produced : and
the first cropof clover with a rapid grow tli
of foliage is known to yield but little seed
while the after crops, after this growth it
retarded by mowing, are the abundant
seed crops.
Von- nlnnlo. which rrrntt' on moist soil?
- r.~?, e
little exposed, are found always to show
a tendency for a disproportionate devcl?
opement of leaf and woody tibre?run rii njj
up rank and sappy with littleorno fruit
This may be seen in all swamps and low
and wet places as well as in more north
ern and less sonny latitudes. Plants or
the contrary which grow on situation'
well exposed and in dry and loose soil art
found to have a rather stunted growth o
stalk but a full dcvclopeinent of seed ant
fruit.
Assuming now that any peculiarity ol
growth ins plant after several generation.4
becomes fixed into a sort of habit, nr.vl wil
be preserved even 011 a removal to a ditT
erent Situation for a considerable time, wt
have the following rules for our guidance
11 : 1 .
in seiecnng ana cnanging seeu ;
1. Seed for a cold wet soil where the
tendency to woody growth is desired tc
be corrected, should be selected frotr
warmer and dryer spots.
2. Seed for dry and exposed soils whicl
naturally are little inclined to produce
wood or foliage, should be selected frorr
m colder and more moist localities.
3. Seed for such plants as are desircc
to be raised mostly for their wood o
their foliage should be selected entirely
from colder and wetter localities?sue!
are timber trees?and clover and tlx
grasses raised for forage.
Professor Bronn thinks, were these rulei
neglected, and seeds continually plan
ted on the same kind of soil as that whicf
produced them?that cultivators of colt
and most regions would gradually have
their crops maturing later and later ant
with more and more stalk and foliage un
til they would be no longer profitable?
and that cultivators of dry and warm re
gions would have their crcns seeding
gradually sooner and sooner and the stalks : ti
and foliage becoming more and more tl
stinted until the stalk would he insuffiei- tl
ent to furnish nutriment to the seed and v
both would languish. i v
An illustration of the tendency of dry d
and warm soils to produce seed and of a
wet and cold ones to produce folinge and i n
woody fibre may be seen in the difference j tl
in the growth of many garden plants in | 1
winter and summer. Turnips, lettuce, g
aninarh. cress, mustard, dec. planted in c
,
the fall sons to have a winter growth, f p
produce abundant herbage and foliage, o
But planted in summer there only come n | p
few stunted leaves and they almost ini- ? t;
mediately run to seed. From this, then, r
we would suppose that the desired result j v
in interchanging seed from different sec. ! tl
tions, could with such plants as will ad- j o
mit of winter cultivation be equally as | o
well attained in exchanging the seed of ) t
winter and summer growth. Thus, if < fi
we wished to select a seed of oats, rye or > &
wheat which would produce a quick head j d
and an early crop of grain, we would e
choose seed from a crop which had been ' ?
planted rather late and matured in sum- t
mer. Or if we wished a heavy ciop of v
foliage and wished it to remain long on j t
the ground without seeding, we should j s
select from such crops as had remained
on the ground and grew through the win- c
ter?thus having given it the cold wet, v
soil, favorable to the production of foliage j s
and stalk. This position we believe to c
be sustained by the experience of all who , a
have tried the two kinds of grain. The 1 c
same result too could be obtained by the i j
fanner in selecting seed from the wet and c
dry spots respectively of his farm for in- t
terchange; as the difference in the growth (
on such spots will be found equivalent to j t
the difference in the growth of many de- ^
grces of latitude.?S. W. Farmer. t
t
Mississippi Almonds.?We are indebt- I i
ed to our friend and brother craftsman, j <
M. Shannon, Esq., of the Vicksburg, ! <
Whig, for a present altogether novel to us t
?it being a handful of soflshelled Al- t
monds, the produce of his own garden. c
Mr. Shannon informs us that he has I i
hut one tree?that its growth is tolerably , r
thrifty, but that the greater part of the i
fruit drop off before maturity. This year j t
he has gathered more than a pint of the j
shelled fruit ? last venr, half that qunnti. ! i
ty. Those of last year, after being dried, J c
were as fine as any ever imported, lie t
i had also a tree of the hard or bitter Al- s
mond, which flourished as finely as any f
peach tree?was loaded every year with f
fruit that ripened well?but, as they were
of little use, and brother Shannon had .
hut little ground to spare, he dug it tip.
Almond, as every one perceives, dillers
hut little from a peach-stone?and the
skin covering it is very much like the <
pulp of a peach, except that it is thin.?
These, at least, which we have received
have but a thin coat, with a slight fuzz on
the surface?considerably withered, and,
when pulled off it has much the appear
anccnnd smell of dried pencil suits, but is
- hitter to the taste. The tree, too, reu
semblcs a peach tree so much that (he I
difference can hardly be perceived. It i
can be budded on a peach stock as easily ?
as one peach can be budded on another. <
In the system of Linnaeus, the almond i
and peach both belong to the same family
: or genus?a genus that goes under the I
1 name Amygdalus. We arc necessarily I
' indulging in hard words. It sometimes 1
1 looks like pedantry ; but, as a little efy- ;
? mological definition may help some of I
' our readers to trace the resemblance be- I
' tween the peach and the aln'ond, we hog I
leave here to revive some of our school-j
5 hoy sports. Amygdalus, the generic j i
name for these trees, has reference to the j
' appearance or looks of the shell. The <
> shell of a peach stone or almond, after
the pulp of the one or the green husk of i
the other is removed, presents (he appear'
a nee of small fissure, lacerations, oi
' scratches. This suattested the name
5 which thogreat Swedish naturalist gave
* it, and which we now explain. Amyg^
dultis is a Greekwordnlerived from anysso i
1 ?a verb, which signifies to scratch with j
claws, or nails?radere unguibus.
' Amygdalus, then, is the generic name, <
' because the seed has the appeurance of
' being scratched.
Amygdalus Pcrsica is the systematic
i o - .
5 name ofthe common peach tree?so called j
5 because they came originally from Persia.
Amygdalus communis is the systematic ,
* name of the common almond tree. It is
) a native of Burbary. In that country. '
1 this same tree produces both the bitter al- I
mond (Amygdala amara) and the sweet \
1 almond, (Amygdala dulcis.)
We should like to get a few buds, if J
1 friend Shannon could spare a dozen or so ;
for ourselres and a few neighbors.
3 S. W. Fanner. I
r I
r d tu. . . |
CULTURE Ut LUt. IJ AVH- i. Ill; ilium lAimsiti; I,
1 Teach Orchard which has come to my knowledge,
' is that telonging to Messrs. Isaac Reeves and Jacob
Ridgeway, of Plvladelphia. It is situated 45 J
3 miles below the city, on the river Delaware near |
" Delaware city, and contains two hundred acres
1 of trees, in different stages of growth. In 1839, j
' they gathered from the orchard 18,000 bushels of 1
J first rate fruit from 170 acres of trees, whereof |
^ only 50 acres were then in full bearing. When ; 1
" the fruit has attained the size of a small musket
" ball, it is thinned. One of those gentlemen inform, j I
' ed inc that of the small size they had gathered !
> in that year 700 bushels, by measure, of the imraa. J 1
tire fruit. By the judicious arrangement, while
tie amount of fruit was but little diminished, citier
in weight or measure?its size and beauty
/ere thus greatly improved, so that their fruit
.'as the handsomest in Philadelphia market, and,
uring the best of the season much of it was sold
t from 84,50 to ?6 the basket, of three pecks in
neasure. Since that period they have increased
heir orchards, which now comprize 300 acres.
Their trees are usually transplanted at a year's
xowth from the bud?they usually produce a full
rop of fruit in I he fourth year, after being trans,
lanted, and from some of their trees, two bushels
f fruit have been gathered in a single year. They
refer a dry soil, light and friable, on a foundaion
of clay or gravelly; a good, but not a very
ich soil. Like all other good cultivators, the
rhole land is always kept in good cultivation. For
he first two or three years, corn is raised in the |
rchard, but afterwards the trees are permitted to
ccupy the whole ground, nothing being suffered
o grow beneath their shade, as this would rob the
ruit of its nounshment. In Delaware, where the
oil is good, twenty feet asunder is the suitable
istance recommended for the tree; while on the
astern or Atlantic side of New Jersey, sixteen or
eventeen feet is deemed sufficient by some of
heir most expcrinced cultivators on good soils ,
vhile farther north, or on poorer soils, a less dis.
ance will suffice. Even ten feet asunder, anwers
well in the latitude of Boston.
The blossoms of the Peach tree, as well as those
>f the Cherry, are sometimes liable to be cut off by
vinter, or by spring frosts, which occur after the
ap has arisen ; the danger in this case being
;aused by unusually warm weather, cither during
in open winter, or during the progress of a very
larly spring, which causes the tree to advance
>rematurely. Those being more especially expos,
id which are in warm and sunny positions, while
hose trees which are situated on the north sides
>f hills, the most exposed to cold winds, and on
he north sides of fences and buildings, almost invariably
escape. In Switzerland, it has been staed
that a mound of earth is sometimes placed
>vcr the roots of trees in autumn, as a protection
rom winter frosts, which is removed in spring.?
Completely to protect the trees, and to ensure a
:rop of fruit in all situations and seasons, set the
lurface of the earth beneath the tree, from the
lepth of eight to twelve inches, either with leaves
>r with coarse strawy manure, or with coarse hay,
n January and February, and when hard frozen.
This will preserve the ground in a frozen state,
tnd effectually retard the progress of the tree till
he danger is past, and to a late period in spring.
The peach flourishes and ripens well its fruit,
isually wherever and as far north as the Indian
:orn or maize will produce a certain crop. But
>y attending to the above directions, we are per.
uaded that it will succeed and flourish, producing
ruit perfect and mature, and abundantly even still
urther north. It is eminently deserving of trial.
Kenrick's New American Orchardist.
PROTEST AND REPORT
OF HON. THOMAS W. GILMER,
'Jnc of the Select Committee to whom iras
referred the message of the President,
returning, with his objections, the bill
44 To provide revenue from imports, crwZ
fo change, and modify existing lairs imposing
duties on imports, rt/ii /or o/tar
purposes.
The undersigned. a member of the select
committee, to whom the objections of
the President to the bill entitled a bill
' To provide revenue from imports, and
change and modify existing laws imposing
Juties on imports, and for other purposes,"
were referred, being unable to concur in
the views of the majority of the committee,
would assign some of the reasons
which have influenced him in corning to
i different conclusion. He cannot refrain
from inquiring for what purposes
this committee has been raised, and protesting
ngninst the unprecedented and
extraordinary course which a majority of
the House of Representatives have determined
to pursue on this occasion : a course
certainly opposed to all the established
usages of our government, and as the Undersigned
believes, in conflict with the
provisions of the constitution,
Th? Inncmatre of the constitution is as
O " O
follows: 44 Every bill which shall have
passed the House of Representatives and
the Senate, shall, before it becomes a
law, be presented to the President of the
United States; if he approve he shall sign
it, but if not he shall return it, with his
objections, to the House in which it shall
have originated, who shall enter the objections
at large on their journal and proceed
to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration,
two thirds of that House shall
agree to pas9 the bill, it shall be sent, together
with the objections, to the other
House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered,
and if approved by two-thirds
of that House, it shall become a law."
The bill in question having passed both
Houses, was sent to the President, by
whom it was returned to the House of
Representatives, where it originated.?
Instead of proceeding, (as the Constitu- ;
lion directs) " to reconsider it," the bill is
laid on the table, and the President's objections
nre referred to a select committee.
In ordinary Parliamentary proceedings,
where a Bill has passed either
House of Congress, and a motion is made
to reconsider the same, pending such motion
the hill itself, having once passed, is
not before that House for any general
purpose, and can only be brought again
within the power of the House by a reconsideration
of the vote on its passage.
A motion, therefore, to commit, to postpone,
or to lay 9uch bill on the table, could
not attain its object, and therefore could
not be made. In this case, the bill had
passed both Houses, and could not again ?
come under the action of cither, except <
by the express provision of the Constitu- I
tion. That provision is mandatory and j i
explicit. It prescribes the only legisla- I 1
live action which can take place on the j I
President's ohjections and the bill. The j <
House is dijected " to enter the objections I
at large on their journal, and proceed to j j
reconsidor it" (the bill). j 1
The question of reconsideration, there- j I
fore, is raised by the Constitution. It is i 1
a reconsideration of the bill, not merely i
of the vote on its passage. It is the only <
question which is raised in reference to i
the bill, and it is one which the House is <
not at libertj'to evade or suppress. The <
objections which the Constitution re- s
quires the President, if he does not approve,
to assign, do no more than suspend i <
the bill, which, without them, would be- <
come a law. and which, notwithstanding I
them, may become a law, if on the re- <
consideration, which is not only permitted
but prescribed, it is "approved by two- I
thirds." The constitution, therefore,
clearly contemplates that when a bill is <
returned with objections by the President,
it shall be subjected to the test of another
vote. The importance attached to this
requisition by the wise and patriotic framers
of the constitution, may be inferred
from the provision that 44 in all such cases,
tho votes of both Houses shall be determined
by yeas and nays."
If tho Federal Executive had been invested
with an absolute instead of a qualified
veto, there would have been no necessity
for these precautions to insure a
vote on the reconsideration. Congress
are no more at liberty to fail or refuse to
reconsider the bill returned with objee,
tions, thin the President would be to decline,
to approvo, or return it with his
objections. The bill cannot be altered
in any respect, by one or both Houses.?
Tho House to which it is returned is not
at liberty to separate the objections from
tho bill. They are to be entered on its
journal, and the bill, if two thirds shall
pass it, is to be sent, together with the
objections, to tho other House. Before
any bill can become a law, it must be 44 presented
to the President." If he approve,
it is n law ; if he return it, he is bound to
kIhOs his objections, and Congress are not
permitted to convert the qualified power
of the Executive to subject a bill to ano
ther direct vote on the yeas and nays, inio 1
an unqualified and nbsolute veto, as they
may effectually do by refusing to proceed f
to the reconsideration, or by silently acquiescing
in the President's objections I
without ano.hcr vote. The objections of
a President operate as a cheek on the unconstitutional
or inconsiderate legislation
of a mere niajoiity in the first instance,
and two thirds on the reconsideration are
as effectual a check on the veto.
Under the constitution, * each House
may determine the rules of its proceedings,"
but in this particular case, the constitution
itself has determined the rule of!
proceeding. The question is whether the j
rule is paramount and indexible, or whe- i
ther, like ordinary rules, it can be modified,
suspended or abrogated. Does the recon- '
sidgration enjoined by the Constitution j
give the House a more extensive power i
over the bill than it had under its own j
rules after its passage ? It is not denied
that the reconsideration involves the J
merits of the hill, as well as the force of
the Executive objections, nor that delib- j
cration and discussion are essential. It j
is maintained, however, that the action of j
the House is prescribed, and that it is
limited to a single object, and that is the
reconsideration of the bill as it passed
both Houses, and as it was returned from j
the Executive with his objections. If it j
can be laid on the table, or postponed or !
committed, it may be withdrawn from the j
reconsideration of'the House by the vote
of a mere majority. That same majority
may refuse to take it up again and thus :
prevent a vote on the reconsideration.
In this instance n majority have laid the j
hill on the table, and have refused to take >
it up. It depends on the will of that majority
whether it shall he taken up and
reconsidered at all. They have then
claimed?and by force of numbers exercised?an
authority which may altogether
disregard and dispense with the positive
requisition of tho Constitution. They j
have separated them from the objections. |
The former may or may not be brought j
to a direct vote on its merits with the
yeas and nays. It may be expedient for
the bare majority of four, by which it originally
passed, to permit that bill ioslum- |
her forever under the indirect vote to lay
on the table, a vote which does not involve |
the merits of the bill, nor meet the rcquisitionsof
the Constitution. The power
to lay on tho table is a power which can
also commit to a select or standing committee,
or to a committee of the whole,
where the yeas and nays cannot be had, i
...LiaU ? r\ A mini If Kni'nn/l I
or wiuwii wmi puaipuuw niu&uuuvij uvjuhu
the session. The power assumed in these
different modes is the same. It is the
power to control tho constitution by arbitrary
rules and bv the party vote of a
bare majority of one House of Congress.
Tho me?sncre rnnfjiinin<r the President's
. _..e_ 0
objections has been referred to this committee.
The powor of the committee does
not extend beyond the subject referred.
Reasons or recommendations may be reported
in answer or in connection with
the objections, but it is not competent for
this or any other committee constitution
illy to report any measure which will i
>bstruct the reconsideration of the bill,
riio committee can then neither suggest
ior accomplish any practical object of
egislation consistent with the Constitu.
ion. They cannot report an original bill
ir any amendment to the biil now on the
able. They may recommend an im. j
jeachment or a censure ot the President,
)ut if this recommendation assumes the
form of a resolution, the question in the
House is on the report of the committee
ind not on the bill. As two questions 1
:annot bo voted on at once, this question j
nust either supersede the reconsideration ;
}f the bill, or it must interpose a new |
question not contemplated by the Con- !
ititution.
It is not maintained that the reconsid- j
iration enjoined by tho constitution pre- j
eludes discussion in any form ; but that j
the reconsideration of the bill, with the 1
objections, is imperative, and that it is not
within the legitimate power of Congress, 1
by any sort of parliamentary device, to I
avoid it, or to alter or modify the direct j
question presented by the Constitution,
by qualifying or connecting it with any j
extraneous question. If it be true, then, !
that this committee can report no mca.
sure to the House affecting the bill which
the House is required to reconsider, nothing
remains which they can do but pre- j
sent, in the shape of a report, arguments !
which could be as well, if not better, pre- !
sented in debate. This is the most innocent
design which can be imputed to this
movement. It is to embody in a more
imposing form, and to present from a now
nnint of attach, nrincioles and precedences
which have always been hostile to the j
true spirit of the Constitution. Under)
the specious pretext of defending Congress
from what is imagined to he an atO
D
tack on their constitutional rights, it is
sought to strip the other departments of I
government of powers which the Consti- |
tution has confided to them, to remove |
every constitutional obstruction to the arbitrary
will of Congress, to destroy the
equilibrium of our well considered system
of government, and to assume unlimited .
jurisdiction not only over the co-ordinate
branches, but over the states and the people.
Encouraged by the present embarrassed
condition of the country and our public
nHairs, deriving fresh political hopes from
the general gloom and despondency which
their own proceedings havo cast over the
Union, it is attempted to extort from the
sufferings of the people some sanction for
principles of government which their
judgment has never failed to repudiate.
The history of government abounds in
examples of conflicts between the several
departments.?It hassometimeshappened
that all the departments combined to overthrow
the Constitution, and but for the
intelligence of the people and the controlling
power of the suffrage in restoring
the supremacy of the Constitution over
the Legislature, the Executive, and the
Judiciary, such combinations must have
been fatal to our Constitutions. While
it is the privilege and the duty ot
every citizen to arraign either departments
of the government, or any
public officer for infidelity to the Constitution
and the laws it is neither wise, just
nor patriotic for one of those departments
to impair the Confidence or the harmony
which should subsist between the separate
brunches of the public service by fermenting
prejudices and discord. They are all
agents of the people. Their duties are
prescribed by a law which all acknowledge
as supreme.
Without enquiring into tho motives
which induced the framers of the Constitution
to distribute the powers of our government
us they have been dono, and to
confer tho particular power iri question on
the Executive, and without reviewing the
actual experience of the Government as
to what (from a supposed analogy not at
all obvious to certain powers in other Gov.
ernments,) is commonly called the veto
power, it is natural that the mind should
approve or condemn the exercise of this
power, according to its interests, opinions
or prejudices on the subject to which it is
applied. This is true, not only as to this,
but as to all other powers of government.
Zeal, in the pursuit of some cherished object
of interest or ambition, induces some
men, not only to complain when they are
thwarted by what they believe to be an
improper exercise of power, but to make
war on the established forms of government,
and to seek by revolution or radical
change what they cannot lawfully obtain.
Tho disposition which has been recently
manifested, to some extent, to disturb
the well-adjusted checks of the constitu- i
tion by claiming powers for Congress
which that instrument doos not conter.or
by denying to a co-ordinate branch ot the
Government powers which it does confer, j
in order to establish a particular system |
of party policy or carry an election, must j
be regarded with deep regret and serious ;
'?- *r*A/M?fo t KAoa u/Kncn
apprehension oy mo- pwj;
province it is to judge and who, free from
bias of mere party politics can think, and j
feel, and act under the superior influences j
of patriotism, and Government has survived
the shock of many severe political
contests, because hitherto these contests,
involved only a dift'eienco of opinion as
to the principles and policy of the Government
as organized. It has been deemed
unwise, as well as dangerous, to exasperate
local or general prejudices against
the acknowledged forma of the Government,
and to enlist the spirit of revolution
as an auxiliary tothe spirit of party. It
has been lately proposed to abolish the
powers resulting to the Executive from
the clause of the Constitution already
cited. There is no evidence of any disposition
to second this purpose, either an
the part of Congress itself, or on the part
of the states. Despairing of any peaceful
change, it is, however proclaimed that
this power is so dangerous to liberty as jo
justify an appeal to arms.
This is urged by those who desire t(^
secure the enactment of measures be*
lieved. probably, by a majority of the peo-.
pie of the United States, and certainly
by the present Executive, to be either
unconstitutional or grossly inexpedient
1 ?p k??: ? ?k ~ ~k?r~_
miu Iiijui iuu."?* i u ?iu\aiii imu Liiauci iui
a national bank, when there are few bold
enough to believe that any prudent mar*
would hazard his capital, or K13 confidence),
under the charter, or still farther to irapoverish
an already empty and indebted
Treasury, it is proposed to abolish, by a*
mending the constitution, or by revolu*
tion, one of the checks by which the Ex*
ecutive department is authorised to arrest
the unconstitutional measures of Congress.
A double innovation is meditated against
the constitution, and violence is invoked
to annul one of its Executive barriers, because
it is an obstacle to the encroach*
ments of the Legislature. If the veto
power, as it is called, were abolished ia
the Executive, it would remain in the Ju?.
diciary, unconstitutional legislation might
still be arrested there, and it would not
be in the power of the two thirds to control
the decisions of the Supreme CourL
Hence it is, perhaps, that distrust has been
recently expressed as to the competency
of that Court to decide on questions which,
havo, unfortunately, arisen as to the authority
of the Government to collect any.
revenue since the 30th of June last.
The object of those who believe that;
certain measures of party policy are oC
more consequence than the present organ*
ization of our government c&n only bo
n 11 tr <ipn.-ir>u\lidliPil 111/ !\ 1?r A(7n I r?nr (Km
pfll HUIIJ UW?'III|?M*I?IVM ?IIV
? veto of the Executive. Thero remains,,
bo-ules the veto of the judiciary, the vetoof
the people. All the powet&of our Gov-,
eminent, into whatever hands they may
be distributed. in??* W *ertj?WJd under
responsibility to the laws and. to popular
opinion. When a President returns a bilt
to eitiier house of Congress, with Ids oU
jeetions, he is responsible to the law, to.
all its penalties; and, like every Ropresentativo
of a state or a district, he is re-,
sponsible also to the people. These are
the great checks of our system, und they
are serving the most important end for
which they have been established, whea
they restrain the licentious ambition
j which is chafed only by constitulions, by
laws, or by the popular will.
For the lirst time in the history of our
j institutions they arc exposed toi a novel
! experiment. It is nevertheless, one contemplated
by the constitution. It is to be
tried under very peculiar circumstances.
It remains to be seen whether a Vtce
| President, called in the regular order of
events to the chief Executive oHice, can
j administered the Government without a
party pledged in advance to approve or to
! oppose his administration ; or, in other
words, whether the vigor and security
of our Government abides in the constitution
and laws, or in a mere party. With
regard to the constitutional convictions
of the present incumbent of the Executive
office on some of the subjects to which
they have been applied, it is undoubtedly
true that they were well known to those
by whom he was nominated and elected
to the second officeofthc Government,
1 * i* _ L I
ana uv many oi wnom ne is now unlerly
denounced,for being, what they, in
election, proclaimed him to be. With
regard to the exercise of the veto power,
in this instance, n recurrence to a few
fact9 of public notoriety and recent date,
will enable an impartial public to decide.
Before the death of the late President,
his proclamation had issued convening
Congress in extra session. The necessity
of this was alleged to exist in the stato of
our finances. Congress assembled on tho
! 31st May, 1841. It has been in session,
with the interval of rather more than two
months, ever since.?Various expedients!
were resorted to, during the extra session,
! to enable the Government to meet its en*
I gagements and defray its ordinary cur*
rent expenses. Since that period tho pay
of the army, the navy, and tho civil list
have been frequently suspended, from tho
utter destitution of the Treasury. 1,04ns,
authorized by Congress, have failed to be
negotiated on any terms. Treasury
notes of Government have depreciated
and been returned by the needy public
i*.? 1? L1 j :
creuuor unuer pruicM. r^very ucvice m
sustain the sinking credit of the (j!overn?
cnent short of a direct lax, has failod and
at a period when our foreign relations
were eminently precarious.
The distribution of the proceeds of the
public lands from the Treasury of the
United States to the Treasuries of the
states, was among the earliest measures
urged at the extra session. A loan of
612,000.000 had been authorized for the
- ? ? fcf I rit
reliefot the [National treasury, nut not
negotiated, when a bill describing tho
proceeds of the public lands passed Doth
Houses of Congress, and, with the appro*
bation of the Executive, became a law.
It contained a clause, without which it