Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2): or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850Benton, Thomas Hart
History
Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2): or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850
Benton, Thomas Hart
United States -- Politics and government -- 1815-1861
"If he himself had had power, he would have voted for Mr.
Ewing's proposition to repeal the order, in terms which Mr.
Butler and the late President could not have misunderstood;
but power was so strong, and members of Congress had now
become so delicate about giving offence to it, that it would
not do, for the world, to repeal the obnoxious circular,
plainly and forthwith; but the ingenuity of the friends of
the administration must dodge around it, and over it--and now
Mr. Butler had the unkindness to tell them that their views
neither he, lawyer as he is, nor the President, could possibly
understand (a laugh), and that, as it could not be understood,
the President had pocketed it--and left it upon the archives of
state, no doubt to be studied there. Mr. W. would call attention
to the remarkable fact, that though the Senate acted upon this
currency bill in season, yet it was put off, and put off--so
that, by no action upon it before the ten days allowed the
President by the constitution, the power over it was completely
in his will, even though the whole nation and every member of
Congress wished for its repeal. Mr. W., however, believed that
such was the pressure of public opinion upon the new President,
that it must soon be repealed."
This amphibology of the bill, and delay in passing it, and this
dodging around and over, was occasioned by what Mr. Webster calls
the delicacy of some members who had the difficult part to play,
of going with the enemies of the administration without going
against the administration. A chapter in the first volume of this
View gives the history of this work; and the last sentence in the
passage quoted from Mr. Webster's speech gives the key to the views
in which the speech originated, and to the proceedings by which it
was accompanied and followed. "_It is believed that such is the
pressure of public opinion upon the new President that it must soon
be repealed._"
In another part of his speech, Mr. Webster shows that the repealing
bill was put by the whigs into the hands of certain friends of
the administration, to be by them seasoned into a palatable dish;
and that they gained no favor with the "bold man" who despised
flinching, and loved decision, even in a foe. Thus:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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