Gazette of the United-States. (New-York [N.Y.]) 1789-1793, September 14, 1793, Page 537, Image 1
M BflN ■ *N A FIONA LPA P EH, PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS ANP SATURDAYS BV JQHW FENA'O, So. nrrH-STRE-f ' - - [No. 155 of Vol. IV.] FOR TJHF GAZHTTE. HELVIDIUS— No. IV. THE last papers conjoleated the view pro posed to be taken of the &Y£\iments in support of the new and aspiring doctrine, which ascribes to the executive the preroga tive of judging aiid deciding whether there be caules of war or not, in the obligatipfH of treaties; notwithftand'ng the expi-eis provi. lion in the constitution, by which the legiflu tui*e is made the organ of the national will, on questions whether there be or be not a caiiie for declaring war. If the answer to th*le arguments has imparted the convi&ion which dictated it, the leader will have pro nounced, that they are generally fuperficialj abounding in contradictions, never in the .least degree conclufrve to the mafn point, and hot conclusive against writer himfelf: whilfl: the doctrine—-that The'powers of treaty and war, are in their nature exe cutive powers—which forms the basis of those arguments, is as indefenfible and as danger ous, as the particular do&rine to which they are applied. But it i&noA to be fotjLPtten that these doc, trines, though ever so clearly disproved, or ever lo weakly defended, remain before the ""public a ft: iking monument of the principles and views which are entertained and propa? gated in the community. It is also to be remembered, that however the consequences flowing from such premises. may be riilavowed at this time or by this in dividual, we are t6 regard it as morally cer tain, chat in proportion as the do&rincs make their way into the creed of the government, and the acquiescence of the public,every pow er that can be deduced from them, will be de duced and exercised sooner or later by tkofe who may have an interest in so doing. The •character of human nature giver this falufary warning to every sober and refie&ing mind. And the history of government, in all its forms and in every period of time, ratifies the danger. A people therefore, who are so hap py as to poiTefs the rneftimable bleflTng of a free and defined conilitution, cannot lie too watchful against the introduction, nor too cri tical in tracing the consequences, of new principles and new conitru*tions, that may re move t >Ht la lid nrtrrks of f. Should the prerogative which has, been exa mined, be allowed in its molt limited sense, to? usurp the public countenance, the interval would probably be very {hort, before it would be heard from some quarter or other, that the prerogative either amounts to nothing, or means a right to judge and conclude that the obligations of treaty impose war, as well as that they permit peace. That it is fair rea soning, to fay, that if the prerogative exists at all, an operative rather than ail inert charac ter ought to be given to it. lii support of this conclusion, there would be enough to echo, 44 tl)at the prerogative in this adtivs sense, is conoe<sted with the execu tive in various capacities—as the organ of intercourse between the nation and foreign nations—as the interpreter of national trea ties" (a violation of which may be a cause of ■war) uas that power which js charged with the execution of the laws of which treaties make a part—as that power, which is charg ed with the command and application of the public Jorcc With additional force, it might he laid, that the executive is as much the executor ai the i»t:rpreter of treaties: that if by virtue of theJirJi chara&er it is to judge of the obliga . tions of treaties, it is by virtue of the fecond> equally authorised to carry tho.'e obligations into, ejfecl. Sliould there occur for example, a * a J~u> Jcderis x claiming a military co-operation ©t the United States, and a military for.ee (hould happen to be under the command of executive, it must have the fame right, as executw of public treaties tr> employ the public £»' ce, as it has in quality of interpreter of pub. he treaties to decide whether it ought to be cm. ployed. The cafe of a treaty of peace would be an auxiliary to comments of this fort. I ; t is a ■condition annexed to every treaty that an anfra&ion even of an important article, on °ne fide extinguishes the obligations on the other: and the immediate consequence of a dissolution of a treaty of peace is a restora tion of a (tare of war. If the executive is "to decide on the obligation of the nation with regard to foreign rations"—- 4i to p von ounce the txijling condition (in the sense annexed by tlie writci} of the nation with regard to them ; and to admonilh the citizens of their 'obligations and duties as founded upon that condition of things"—" to judge what are the reciprocal rioht* and obligations of the United -States, and of ali and each of the powers at Tvar •' —add, that if the executive moreover Jfc)fTei7es all powers relating to war vctJlr 'tQly within the power to dcciarc mar, which any pu p*l of political casuistry, could diftinguifti from, a raero xcUiffe into a war, that hedbttn *tcbined r With this {lore of materials and the example j*iven of the use to be made of them, "would it be difficult to fabricate a power in the executive ;o phmjre the nation into war, Saturday, September 14, 1795. wherever .1 treaty of peace might happen to be infringed ? But if any tl flicnlty fliouTfl a,rife, there is another mode charked put by which the end might clearly he brought about, even without the violation o>f the treaty of peace ; especi ally if t,he other party should* happep to change its governmeju at the crisis. The executive, in that cale, could ftfpcnd the treaty of peace by rrfufnig to receive an aribajj'idu r si oni the >iitr government, and the State of war civ?+#> \f courfc. This is a fampleof the ijfe to which the extraordinary publication we are reviewini, might be turned. Some of the inferences could not be repelled at all. And the teaft regulav of them must go Imoothly down with those, who h:d fXvallowed the gwfs sophistry ~ which wrapped up t-he original dole. view t!>at Gan be taken of this fubjeft, adin->n.iflies the public, of the i.eccf fity of a rigid adherence to the tfinple, tlie re ceived and the fundamental dodtrini? of the confti tat ion, that the power to declare war including the power of judging of rhe icauffes of war isjuliy a-nd xxcfufneh vested in the le giflatufe : tbar the. pjcet utive has no right, in any cafe to decide the q.ieftion, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war : that the right of informing 'ConfrreT';, whenever such a q\reflion seems to call for a decision, is all the /ightwhich the corftitution has deemed requisite or proper • and that for such more than for any other contingency, this right was fpecialiy <>;iven to the execu tive. In no part of the eotiflifusion is more wis dom to be found than in the clause which con hdqs the que ft i«n of war or peace to the le giflatuie, and pot to the executive depart ment. Beside the objection to such, a fixture of heterogeneous powers : the trust and the temptation would t e too great for any one man : not such as nature may offer as the prodigy of many centuries, but such as may be expe&ed jn the ordinary fiicc</fions of ma gi ftracy, \V#r is in fact the true uurfe of executive ag: audizement. In war a plfyifTcal force is to'be created, and it is the executive will which is to d'we-ft it. In war the public treasures. are to be unlocked, and it is the ex ecutive-band whic':. i.s to difptijfe them. . In war the honors and .emoluments of office are to be multiplied ; and it is the executive pa tronage under which they are to be enjoyed. It is in war, finally, that laurels are to be*ga| theied, and it is the executive brow they to enxircle. The flji ongbfl: paflions, and mcft dangerous weaknefTes of the human breast ; avarice, vanity, the honorable or venial love of lame, aie all in confpiracy'a gainft the desire and duty of peace. Hence it has grown into an axiom that the executive is the department of power most diftinguifhed'by its propensity to war : hence it is the p raft ice of all dates, in proportion as they aie free, to disarm this propertfity of its influence. As the bed p r aise then that can be pronoun ced on an executive magiftrr.tr, is, that he is the friend of* peace ; a praise that fifes in its value, as there may be .» known capacity to (hine in war: so it mull be one of the molt sacred duties of a free people, to mark the firlt omen in the society, of principles that may ftimnlate the hopes of other magistrates of another propensity, to intrude into qi:ef tions on which its gratification depends. If a free people lie a wife people alio, they will not forget that the danger of surprise can never be so great, as when the advocates for the prerogative of war, can iheatlie it in a symbol of peace. The constitution has manifefted a fmiilar prudence in refufing to the executive the Jole power of making peace, The trust in this instance also, would be too great for the wis dom, and the temptations too ftroug.fnr the virtue, of a fugle citizen. The principal real'ons on which the constitution proceeded in its regulation ot the power of treaties, in cluding treaties of peace, are so aptly fur nidled by the work alrecdy quoted more than once, that I fliall borrow another comment from that source. "However proper or fafe it may be in a ; ovenuncnt where the executive magistrate s an hereditary monarch to commit to h;m tie entire power of making treaties, it wouM >e utterly unfafe and improper to entrust that lower to an elective magistrate of four years Juration. It has been remarked upon ano ther occasion, and the remark is ququeftinna biv jufV, that an hereditary monarch, though of'ei the onprefTor of his people, has person ally too much at stake in the government to be in aov material danger of being corniced bv foreign powers. But that a man raised frora the Ration of a private citizen to the rank us chief magistrate, pol&tl'ed of but a mode rate or slender fnitune, »nd looking forward to a period not very remote, when he may probably be obliged to return to the Hation from which he was taken, might ftmetimes be under temptations ta faerjficr hi* duty to his interest, which it would require fnperla tive virtue ro,wi,ihftand. Anavariciocs man yiiglit be tcmyted lo betray ite intercuts ol 537 *}•>'.J t the state to the acquisition of wealth. An ambitious man might piake his own aggran dizement, by the aid of* a foreign potver, the price of his treachery to bis roKffitYip fit's.— I he hiUorv of human condnft doe* not war rant that exalted opinion of human virtue, which would make it wife in a nation, to com mit interests of-, fq delicate and ;\io,i?!tiitous a kind as those which concern its mtcrcourfe with the reft of the wo»M, to the fi',c difpoial of a magtftrate, created and circnmftanced, as would be a PrefuJent of the United States." I Hull conclude this paper and this branch of the (uhjeft, with two reflexions, which na turally arise from this view of the Conftitn tiojj. The firft is, that as the pcrfonal interest of t an hereditary monarch in the government, is the only security against the temptation ihci ! dent: to a commitment of the delicate and \ momentous interests of the nation which con | cerri itr intercom f w.th the reft of the world, to the disposal ofafmgle ma gift rate, it is a plain consequence, that every addition that may he made 10 the ycwV,agenpy arid influence of'the Executive, in the iutercouefe of the «a tf#n with foreign nations, is an increase of the dangerous temptation to wh'ch an dcft 'tve avc temporary magistrate is expoi'ed ; and an argument andadvance towards the security af forded by the per Tonal interefiis of'dnhereditary magistrate. Secondljv As the confiltution has not per mitted the Executive finkfi to conclude ar judge that peace oug'it to be made, it be interred from that circuirftancfr alone, that it never meant to-»iveit jtrrg/y, to judge and co.nckufe' that war ought not to be made. The trull would be precifcly iin.i lar and equivalent in the two cases. The right to fay that wir nfcght riot to go on, would be no greater than the right to fay that war ought to begin. Every danger of error or corruption, incident to Juch a prerd gative in one cafe* is incident to it in .the other. If the Constitution therefore has deemed it unfafe or improper in the one cafe, it must be deemed equally so in the other cafe. ' HELVIDIUS. - * United States. EROCEJETHNGS xrMivetothr. PRESIDENT'S yHOCLAMA.TI.9N oj NEUTRALITY. AT a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Duxbury, on Monday the 19th inft. a letter con taining the doings of the merchants and others concerned in trade, re fidingin the town of Boston, was read, and also the Proclamation of the President of the Uniied States, of the 22d of April lall ; and upon cbnfidering the fame it was gnani m oufly Voted, That the said Proclama tion of the President appears to us founded in wisdom, jullice, and good policy ; and calculated to promote the peace, inteieft, and happineU of oiir country. Voted, That we will exert onr felves to expose to public view, and bring to legal punishment, all those who may pursue nical'ures calcula ted to diflurb the public tranquili ty, or contravene those impartial principles of neutrality and good faith, towards the European na tions at war, which it is both the in terest and duty of the citizens of these United States to maintain in violate. Voied, That the Moderator of this meeting be reqneited to tranf mit a copy of the above votes to the Hon. Thomas Ruflel, Esq. President of the meeting of the merchants and others of the town of Bolton, and to nflure him that we received the communication of the doings of their meeting with fari»fa<ftion ; and that we will most cheerfully unite with them in - carryiogthe oh je<s\ of them into full and complete execution. By order of ths [aid viteiing, JAMES BRADFORD, Mideratir dugufl 20th, 1793• AT a meeting of ,the merchants and others, inhabitant* of the town of Gloucester, in coufeq'tenee of a circular letter from the met chants pUXB V R V ( Majfachnfetti) Gloucester (Majf.) T, PHILADKLPKIA [Whole No. 457. j and millers of the town of BotVon, refpec r tin« the Prcfideiu's We P,o clani:ition.— U antei. Ro.ge b-s, Ffq. PreJ'iieut. Voted, Tliat we consider ibe Pre fi dent's latePioclaiua:iirn asthe moil (alurary step that conld have been adopied to fecoi e the neutrality of the United States, during the pre sent European co»tc(l , and pi e ferve inviolate those faci ed Nation al Rights which are the grand basis cf good government. Voted, That we will exert onr tnmofl: endeavors to prevent a breach of ftich neutrality, and to bring to putiifhment the perpetrators of such breach, whose feme; iry /JiaJl leinpt tfietii to the cotiiiniiuin of such conduct. Voted, T|iat we feel oitrfelvs peculiarly interested In tiie support ofthe President's Proclamation, not only ;>s citizens df the United States, but frctn our local fiiuation, as thereby* it tends to the eftabiiftiment and pt otertion of one of the gr;rnd Itaples of this Coinmonwealth, the Fifheryof Maflachufetts. Voted, That a copy of the pro ceedings of this meeting be trahf mined to Mr. Benjamin Btiffcl„ fc'di iar of the Columbian Celriiiiiil,. stnd reqneft their publication. Si t<-ue copy from'the Records, JOHN G. ROGERS,Stc'rji. Glohctfter, Augujl 28, 1793. Portsmouth (New-Hump. J Agreeable to notification, for the purpose of considering of the Pre sident's Proclamation declaring thele United States neutral, i'nthc prelent European war, the inha bitants of this town alfembled, on the 28th u!t. and palled the follow ing refolntions : Voted, That the inhabitants of this town do heartily approve of the Proclamation of the President of the Supienie Executive of the United States, warning all persons to refrain from violating the taw of nations, and declaring the neutra lity of the United States, and their disposition to observe a conduct friendly and impartial to ward's all the belligerent Powers. 2d. That in our opinion the Pre sident of the United States in ifT'u ing his Proclamation has ailed in ftritft conformity to the nature and duties of his office, as the Executor of the L aws and Guardian of the Public Welfare, »niif thereby ren dered essential ferviee to the Public in general, and tnolf seasonable re lief to the Mercantile interell at a time when it was doubted in foreign ports whether our flopping would remain neutral or not. 3d. Thar we are determined to affifl to the otinoft of our ability the Government in maintaining the Neutrality and Peace of the United Stfttes, afid will life our best endea vors to deleft and bring to Jullice all persons who by their adis and proceedings shall violate the Law of Nations, and endangerthe Peace and Welfare of the Union. 4th. That we rely on the fnpporr and energy of the government of the United States, that our Naviga tion shall be fr£ed from the present depredations and inftilts committed by the Powers at War—and that jnft compenfarion shall be made to those who have fuffered by fucli un warrantable cotvdull. G. Went worth, ToiUH-C/crt. Chestertown (Maryland) At a meeting of the citizens of Kent county, in the Srare of htad, convened M the court bmrtfe in this town, on the rfay of A»- gust, for the ptirpofe o( declaring their feutiinents relative terte'FVd-