FEBRUARY, 1819. Seminole War. H. OF R. lutions must be viewed; the direct and infallible demands of this Government, the indisputable tendency which they involve, of enfeebling the rights of this nation must and will be asserted arm of this Government, in our pending nego- and vindicated by a solemn appeal to arms. I tiation with Spain; of putting ourselves in the ask if, in such a crisis, it is either wise or pruwrong, and the Spanish Monarch in the right, on dent to pronounce, in the face of the world, that the interesting and delicate points which have so we have been the aggressors, and that war in its long agitated and endangered the peace of the most offensive and exceptionable sense has been two countries. I wish not to be understood as already commenced by General Jackson, under the attributing to honorable gentlemen, who advo- sanction of the President of the United States? cate the measure, such motives; they are, doubt I hazard nothing in affirming that such a deless, actuated alone by a sense of duty. I speak of parture from the established usages of nations is the effects which our proceedings are calculated without a parallel in the history of any country, to produce, without intending to cast the slightest ancient or modern. Under whatever circumimputation on those who entertain different opin- stances danger may threaten us from abroad, it ions. Sir, do we not know with what delight and is from this House that the energies of the people satisfaction the Minister of Spain looks on the are to be aroused and put in motion; it is our efforts which are made on this floor to inculpate province to sound the alarm, and give the imthe Executive of the United States, for having pulse which stimulates every portion of the committed against his immaculate master an act Union to a simultaneous and manly exertion of of hostility, in the entrance into Florida, and the its physical strength, to avenge the insulted honor temporary occupation of St. Marks and Pensa- and violated interests of our country. We are cola? With what avidity and pleasure he pe- the legitimate organ of public sentiment; and it ruses the able and eloquent arguments delivered is incumbent on us to animate and cherish a in the popular branch of the Government, in spirit of resistance to foreign encroachments support of the weighty allegations which he has among our constituents, by urging the justice of already exhibited of the hostile and unwarrantable our cause, and the necessity of their vigorous coconduct of the commander of our army, during operation in support of the constituted authori the late campaign against the Seminole Indians? ties, who are responsible to them, for the faithful And, sir, whatever may be the purity of intention, execution of the high and important duties with which I shall not presume to question, on the which they are intrusted. These are the means part of gentlemen who censure the course pur- by which we shall perpetuate our Republican sued by the commanding General, this debate form of Government, and transmit its blessings will afford a valuable fund, on which Spain will to future generations. But we are required on not fail to draw, on all future occasions, to show the present occasion to forget the wrongs of that the pacific relations which she has endea- which we have so long and so justly complained; vored to maintain have been violated, without to abandon, for a while, the lofty attitude of patrian adequate cause, by the United States. Shall otism, and to tell the American people, in anticipawe put it in her power to make this declaration tion of a rupture with Spain, that it is a war of to the civilized world, and establish the fact by aggression on the part of their chief Executive a reference to the Journal of the House of Repre- Magistrate, commenced in Florida without prosentatives? I hope and believe we shall not. per authority; that the Spanish Government can Sir, the nature of our free institutions imperi- consider it in no other light than premeditated, ously requires that, on all questions touching offensive war, made on them with a view of excontroversies with foreign Powers, every De- tending the territorial limits of the United States. partment of this Government should act in con- The expression of these opinions, by this body, cert, and present to the opposite party one undi- must cast a shade over the American name, which vided, impenetrable front. The observance of no lapse of time can obliterate; and, while we this rule accords with every dictate of patriotism; nerve the arm of the enemy, we shall approach and is the basis on which alone we can preserve the contest with an open denunciation against the a proper respect for our rights among the great President, who is charged with its prosecution to a family of nations. Internal divisions are often speedy and favorable termination. He is denied fatal to the liberties of the people; they never the cheering consolation of Union, in the Govfail to inflict a deep wound on the national cha-ernment over which he has been called to preside, racter; the lustre and purity of which it is our at a period of national peril, when every man primary duty to preserve unsullied, to the latest ought to be invited to rally around the standard posterity. Can it be necessary to call to the re- of his country. Sir, how is this most novel collection of the Committee the peculiar and and extraordinary aberration from the legisladelicate posture of our relations with Spain? A tive functions of the House attempted to be exprotracted and difficult negotiation, on the sub-plained and justified? By gloomy pictures of a ject of boundary and spoliations, is still progressing between the Secretary of State and their accredited Minister, at this place; the result is yet extremely doubtful; it may, and I trust will, eventuate in a treaty satisfactory to the parties, on all the points in contest; but, if Spain should continue to reject the moderate and reasonable violated Constitution; pathetic appeals to humanity, in favor of a barbarous and unrelenting foe; and lamentations over the blighted honor and magnanimity of the nation. I, too, am a conservator of the Constitution; I venerate that stupendous fabric of human wisdom; I love my country, and will endeavor to rescue it from the odious imputations which have been so freely cast on it in the progress of this discussion. I admonish gentlemen, who manifest such ardent zeal to fortify the powers of this House against military usurpations, that they do not suffer that zeal to precipitate them into an error equally repugnant to a sound construction of the Constitution. The report of the Committee on Military Affairs, taken in connexion with the amendments proposed by the honorable member from Georgia, (Mr. COBB,) may be classed under two general divisions. 1st. Resolutions of censure, on the conduct of General Jackson, in Florida, for a violation of the orders of the President, and of the Constitution; and for the unlawful execution of the incendaries, Arbuthnot and Ambrister. 2d. Instructions to the Committee to prepare and report two several bills, the object of which is to divest this nation of some of the most essential attributes of sovereignty. I shall pass over the latter branch of this subject without observation; believing, as I do, notwithstanding the high respect which I entertain for the mover, that it is not seriously the intention of honorable gentlemen, by an act of legislation, to abrogate the rights of this nation, founded on the universal law of nature and of nations. Self-denial, though sometimes an amiable quality in an individual member of society, when applied to the whole community, renders it obnoxious to insult and oppression, and. is a voluntary degradation, below the rank of other sovereignties, to which no American ought ever to submit. Neutral rights, and the usages of war, are already well establishand understood by all civilized Powers; and it is not to be presumed that the interpolations which are proposed would be reciprocated, and constitute the basis of new principles of public law; we may prostrate our own dignity, and paralyze the energies of our country, but we shall find no nation so pusillanimous as to follow our disinterested example. FEBRUARY, 1819. atory, founded on a reference to the Constitution itself, and not on the undefined notions of expediency, in which gentlemen may indulge; and if it be not given, as I am very sure it cannot, we shall become the violators of that fair fabric of liberty, and erect a precedent more dangerous in its tendency, than the multiplied infractions which have been so vehemently alleged against General Jackson, admitting them all the force and latitude which the most enthusiastic censor could desire. Sir, it is high time to bring back this debate to first principles, and to test our jurisdiction over this case, by a recurrence to the structure of the Government of which we are a component part. Let us pluck the beam from our own eyes, before we seek to expel the mote which gentlemen seem to have discovered in the vision of General Jackson. The sages and patriots who established the foundation of this Republic have, with a wisdom and forecast bordering on inspiration, carefully marked and distributed the powers delegated in the Constitution to the Federal Government among the several departments, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary. No principle is better settled, or more generally conceded, than that the powers properly belonging to one of these departments ought not to be directly administered by either of the others. The violation of this maxim leads, by inevitable results, to the downfall of our Republican institutions, and the consolidation of all power in that branch which shall possess the strongest influence over the public mind. Upon the independent exercise of the powers confided to each department, uncontrolled, directly or indirectly, by the encroachments of either, depends the security of life, liberty, and property, and the stability of that Constitution which is the pride of our country and the admiration of mankind. The honorable gentleman from Georgia has adverted to the opinions of the immortal author of the letters of Publius, the late Chief Magistrate of the United Considering, therefore, these propositions as States; and the honorable Speaker has also inmerely nominal, intended only to enlarge the vited our attention to that great Constitutional group, and give diversity to the picture, I shall lawyer. They triumphantly ask, what he would leave them without further animadversion, and say on the present question, were he a member proceed to investigate the resolutions levelled at of this House? I will not follow the example of the fame, the honor, and reputation, of General these gentlemen, by substituting declamation for Andrew Jackson; and, through him, at the Pres- historical truth, or vague surmises, and assumed ident, under whose orders he acted, and by whom premises, for record evidence; but, while I ache has been sustained and vindicated. Sir, I cord to the distinguished statesman and patriot, hold it to be the indispensable duty of every tri- whose exertions so eminently contributed to the bunal, whether legislative or judicial, to exam- establishment of this Government, and whose ine with caution and circumspection into its ju- exposition of its fundamental principles cannot risdiction and powers, on every question brought be too highly appreciated, all the merit of a usebefore it for adjudication; and this rule ought ful life, devoted to the public service, guided by more particularly to be observed in cases involv- wisdom, virtue, and integrity; I appeal with ing personal rights and interests, where the party pleasure and confidence to his able pen in supto be affected by the decision is not permitted to port of the position which I have advanced, and answer in his own defence. I ask, then, sir, has which I deem an important point in the case the House of Representatives, as a distinct and under consideration. In the view taken by Mr. separate branch of Congress, the Constitutional Madison, of the "meaning of the maxim which power to institute an inquiry into the conduct of requires a separation of the departments of powa military officer, and to sentence him to be er," he repels the arguments of the opponents to cashiered, suspended, or censured? I demand a the adoption of the Constitution, founded on the satisfactory and explicit response to this interrog-apprehension of Executive supremacy over the Legislative and Judiciary, which, it was contended, would ultimately render that branch the sole depository of power, and subject the people of this country to the despotic will of a single individual. Comparing the powers delegated to the Executive, with those granted to the Legislature, and the probable danger of an assumption by either of the functions appertaining to the other, he says: "In a Government where numerous and extensive prerogatives are placed in the hands of a hereditary monarch, the Executive department is very justly regarded as the source of danger, and watched with all the jealousy which a zeal for liberty ought to inspire. In a democracy, where a multitude of people exercise in person the legislative functions, and are continually exposed, by their incapacity for regular deliberation and concerted measures, to the ambitious intrigues of their Executive Magistrates, tyranny may well be apprehended, on some favorable emergency, to start up in the same quarter. But, in a representative Republic, where the Executive Magistracy is carefully limited, both in the extent and duration of its power, and where the legislative power is exercised by an assembly, which is inspired, by a supposed influence over the people, with an intrepid confidence in its own strength; which is sufficiently numerous to feel all the passions which actuate a multitude, yet not so numerous as to be incapable of pursuing the objects of its passions, by means which reason prescribes; it is against the enterprising ambition of this department that the people ought to indulge all their jealousy, and exhaust all their precautions. The legislative department derives a superiority in our Government from other circumstances. Its Constitutional powers being at once more extensive, and less susceptible of precise limits, it can, with the greater facility, mask, under complicated and indirect measures, the encroachments which it makes on the co-ordinate departments." H. of R. but in which the powers of Government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others." Sir, whenever these principles shall cease to be respected by the councils of this country, I shall consider the grand experiment which we have made in the administration of a Government of limited powers, founded on a written instrument, in which they are specified and defined, as altogether abortive, and as affording strong proof of the regal maxim, that man is incapable of self-government. If honorable gentlemen mean anything by the reverence which they profess to feel for the Constitution, I conjure them to look to its provisions, and forbear to adopt a measure in direct violation both of its letter and spirit. By article 2d, section 2, it is provided that "the President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into actual service;" and by the 8th section of the 1st article, Congress is vested with power to "make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces." Congress has long since fulfilled this duty; rules and articles of war have been sanc tioned, and have continued to govern the Army from its organization up to the present time; in these the great principles of subordination and responsibility are graduated and established, from the Commander-in-Chief down to the most petty officer and common soldier. The President is placed by his country at the head of its physical force "to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion;" he is the ultimate tribunal to decide all questions touching The correctness of the reasoning and predic- the operations of the Army, and the conduct of tions of this great and good man, who is called the officers who compose it. If there be any by the honorable Speaker the father of the Con- power, clearly and exclusively belonging to the stitution, has been often demonstrated in the Executive, it is that which appertains to the govpractical operations of this body, and never more ernment of the Army and Navy of the United forcibly than on the present occasion. Scarcely States. Our whole system of laws recognises it; a session of Congress passes without some effort and until this extraordinary attempt to erect the to enlarge the scope of our powers by construc- House of Representatives into a court martial, tion or analogy; and unless these systematic ad- with a view to cast an indelible stain on the vances in this House to crush the co-ordinate character of General Jackson, without a fair and departments, by an unlimited exercise of author-impartial trial, in which he might confront his ity over all subjects involving the general welfare, be resisted with firmness and perseverance, they will, at no distant period, eventuate in the destruction of those salutary checks and balances so essential to the duration of our happy form of Government and to the security of civil and political liberty. I deprecate every measure calculated to establish a precedent, which, in its effects, may lead to such dangerous consequences. An enlightened statesman has said that the concentrating all the powers of Government in the legislative body is of the very essence of despotism; and it is no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. "An elective despotism was not the 'Government we fought for; but one which 'should not only be founded on free principles, accusers and be heard in his defence, no instance can be shown, since the foundation of the Government, where the President has been interrupted in the full exercise of his legitimate authority over the military officers under his command. The abuse of this power, or the improper direction and application of the public force, by the Chief Magistrate, or by any subordinate officer, with his privity and assent, in a manner, or for the accomplishment of objects dangerous to the liberties of the people, or subversive of the laws and Constitution of the Union, will find a ready and suitable corrective in this House, by an application of its power to originate impeachment against the President, Vice President, and all civil officers, for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. In this sense H. OF R. Seminole War. FEBRUARY, 1819. only can we be regarded as the grand inquest of precautions." But the Constitution, in this rethe nation, and not to the unlimited extent for spect, has received a construction almost contemnwhich gentlemen have contended. The power poraneously with its adoption. As early as the to impeach the President is expressly delegated; year 1792, a resolution was submitted, by a disall other civil officers are liable to the same scru- tinguished member from Virginia, in the House tiny, and the total omission, in the article of the of Representatives, requesting the President to military department, is, to my mind, conclusive institute an inquiry into the causes of the defeat evidence that they were never intended to be of the army under the command of Major Genesubject to the control of Congress, except in the ral St. Clair. The agitation produced by that usual course of legislation, under the power to momentous disaster seemed to demand an invesraise and support armies. And this opinion is tigation of the conduct of the commanding Genestrengthened by the clause of the Constitution to ral. A great public calamity is always calculated which I have referred, directing Congress to pro- to awaken feelings which, for a moment, usurp vide for the government and regulation of the the empire of reason, and lead to excesses which land and naval forces. The principle of official sober reflection would condemn. It was not, responsibility is to be found in every page of the therefore, wonderful, that a man of the soundest Constitution; not a vague, uncertain responsi- intellect, and most enlightened understanding, bility, but that which is unequivocal, certain, and should have felt it his duty to call the attention definite. We are answerable, at stated periods, of the President to a subject so deeply interesting to the people by whom we have respectively to the country, and to request an inquiry into the been chosen. The President is accountable to causes of that signal and unfortunate defeat. the nation at large at the expiration of his term The proposition was fully discussed, and finally of service; and, in the meantime, we hold a salu- rejected by a large majority, on the ground that tary check over his ambition, if he evince such a it was an unwarrantable interference with the disposition, by means of impeachment. In like Constitutional functions of the Chief Magistrate. manner the whole civil department may be pun- The substance of the debate may be found in the ished for a wanton prostitution of their official newspapers of that day; and among those who functions. The military and naval officers who objected to the measure are the names of Madicommand our army and navy are responsible di- son, Ames, Baldwin, and many others who parrectly to the Executive, who is their chief, and, ticipated in the formation of the Constitution, through him, indirectly, to the Representatives of and who were, consequently, better qualified to the people. Every link in the chain is essential give to it a sound interpretation. A committee to the beauty and symmetry of the whole; and, was subsequently appointed to inquire into the if preserved unbroken, affords the most ample expenditure of the public money in that camsecurity against any usurpation of power without paign, and other subjects of a general nature, a prompt and efficient remedy to detect and re- connected with the legislative duties of Congress. strain it. It is now proposed to make this House Again: in the year 1810, a committee was raised the focus of every power granted to the Federal to inquire into the conduct of General James Government; to mount the ramparts which sep- Wilkinson, in relation to a variety of charges arate the departments, and compel every man which had been publicly made against him; they who holds a commission to bow with submission were authorized to send for persons and papers. to the gigantic strength of this numerous assem- The General was notified of their sittings, albly. Those whom we cannot impeach we will lowed to attend in person before them, to crosscensure, and record their names as fit objects for examine the witnesses, to confront his accusers, the scorn and detestation of posterity. Already to exhibit evidence in his defence, and make such we hold the purse and the sword of the nation. explanations as he might think necessary to a All legislation must receive our concurrence, in vindication of his conduct. The committee, after connexion with the President and Senate, before a very laborious investigation, simply reported it has the force and effect of law. The treaty- the facts to the House, who resolved that the making power may be controlled by us where an same be transmitted to the President of the Uniappropriation is required to fulfil the contract-the ted States. No opinion was expressed or intijudiciary is at our feet, both in respect to the ex-mated, as to the guilt or innocence of the Genetent of its jurisdiction and the liability of its mem- ral; no request was made of the President to bers to the summary process of impeachment institute a court martial, but he was left to the the President and heads of department, foreign exercise of his own discretion, unbiassed by the Ministers, and the whole catalogue of civil offi- slightest indication of the impression which the cers, stand in awe of our frowns, and may be development had made on the House of Reprecrushed by the weight of our authority. I ask, sentatives. The result, we all know, was, that a then, sir, if the officers of the Army and Navy are general court martial was immediately convened, rendered subservient to us as a censorial, inquisi- and General Wilkinson was honorably acquitted: torial body, whether it will not amount to the both principle and precedent, therefore, combine very definition of despotism." Yes, sir, we in recommending a rejection of these resolutions, shall, if these resolutions pass, bear testimony of which claim for this House a power, not merely the soundness of the political axiom, that it is to request another department to perform a par"against this department that the people ought ticular duty, but assume the right to adjudicate to indulge all their jealousy, and exhaust all their the case, and sentence an officer to irretrievable FEBRUARY, 1819. Seminole War. infamy, without a hearing, and without appeal, save only to his God and the purity of his own conscience. H. or R. ally decide, the means necessary to carry its decision into execution can never be withheld or questioned. Sir, I have been not a little amused at the evasive contortions of honorable gentlemen, who, to avoid the perplexing difficulties by which they are enveloped, gravely affirm, that Permit me, sir, to present to the view of the Committee some of the unavoidable consequences which will flow from this premature and unauthorized proceeding. We announce to the Pre-neither the report of the Military Committee, nor sident, and to the nation, that General Jackson, the resolutions respecting the seizure of the posts in the prosecution of the Seminole war, has vio- of St. Marks and Pensacola, and fortress of Balated his orders and broken the Constitution of rancas, contain a censure of General Jackson; his country, and that, in the trial and execution of that they are harmless, inoffensive expressions Arbuthnot and Ambrister, he has been guilty of of opinion, upon the passing events relating to the horrid crime of official murder. We, on the the state of the Union. I put it to those gentlepart of the whole people, become the informers, men-for the argument has been resorted to by and thereby impose on the President, as com- all who have spoken-whether, if I were to admander-in-chief of the army, the indispensable dress either of them in conversation, and say, in obligation to adopt one of two alternatives the language of the propositions before the Comeither to dismiss from the service that officer, mittee, "Sir, you have violated the Constitution under our denunciations, or to assemble a regular of the United States, and of course you are court martial to investigate these charges, ac- perjured. You have sentenced to death, and cording to the forms prescribed in the laws en- 'executed, two of your fellow men, without a acted for the government of the army of the fair trial, and contrary to all law, human and United States. The latter course, being the one divine; consequently, your hands are stained best adapted to the attainment of justice, would,' with their blood," would they calmly reply, that in all probability, be pursued. He details a court my expressions conveyed no censure on them, martial, composed of high-minded military men ; and were not repugnant to their feelings or chacharges and specifications are exhibited; and the racter, nor inconsistent with contemporaneous General, for the first time, is allowed to answer assurances of my high respect and consideration? to them-guilty or not guilty. He is put on his Common sense revolts at conclusions so ridicutrial, and at the very threshold he is informed lous, drawn from such premises. Add to this that he has already been found guilty by the high- the express charge of a violation of orders, which est tribunal in the Union-the Representatives the President, it seems, is not competent to deof the American people. He, nevertheless, pro- termine for himself, and I may venture to defy ceeds in his defence, and is ultimately convicted, any gentleman to cover a military officer with and cashiered. Would not history record such more odious epithets, or more vindictive censure. a conviction as the result of our prejudication of No man, however elevated his station, can withthe case? Would not the whole world attri-stand the overwhelming force of such an assault bute the downfall of this man to the mon- on his reputation, coming from this august body, strous persecution and flagrant injustice of that after mature and solemn deliberation. The exungrateful country which he had so nobly de-alted mind of General Jackson would prefer even fended? Yes, sir, to the latest posterity we should be regarded as having passed an ex parte decree of condemnation, which the court martial were bound to register, to secure themselves from similar animadversion. But let us suppose that, unawed by the imposing dictum which we shall have pronounced, the court martial acquit the General of the several charges and specifications on which he has been arrested. We should then have the military of the country arrayed against this body: we, acting under the solemn obligation of our oaths, declare, that General Jackson has been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors; we are unable to tear from him his epaulets; and, when tried by his peers, our opinions are scouted, and he is maintained in the high rank from which we would have degraded him. In such a controversy, the only arbiter is force. Sir, take either horn of the dilemma, and we have abundant reason to shun the consequences which must follow the adoption of the proposed resolutions. Our total inability to enforce the will of the majority, demonstrates most clearly the absence of the right to express that will; for, whatever any branch of the Government can constitution death to this fatal blow, aimed at that which is more dear to him than life-his well-earned fame and irreproachable honor. Sir, the immortal Washington was charged with a violation of the Constitution, in drawing money from the Treasury to pay the militia who served in the campaign against the insurgents in 1794, without an appropriation made by law; but at that day the secret of our power to censure had not been discovered, and the transaction passed without animadversion. It has remained for us to put in motion this new engine of inquisitorial crimination, and to wield it against a man whose arm was never extended but in defending the liberty and safety of his country against the complicated enemies by whom it has been assailed, and whose pure and unblemished patriotism, combined with his invincible valor, fortitude, and perseverance, have shed over his brow a resplendent ray of glory which neither clouds nor tempests can obscure, so long as virtue shall predominate over the envious and malignant passions of the human heart. Yes, sir! we are importuned to execrate the bloody deeds of the Seminole war, to chant requiems over the tombs of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, and to mourn over the wreck of our fall |