He has also, by his sovereign will and pleasure, estab- lished civil Governments in New Mexico and California, appointed Governors, organized courts of justice, commis- sioned macristrates, &c., without even consultingr Conofress, and with no law whatever authorizing the exercise of these high prerogatives, or providing for the salaries of the nu- merous civil ofHcers he has seen fit to appoint. It ap- pears from the Report of the Secretary of War, Dec. 4, 1847, that the duties collected in Cahfornia, "have been apphed towards the support of the civil Government." Thus has the President, of his own will and pleasure, not only appointed officers, but paid them salaries at his dis- cretion. Thus have a people, jealous of their hberties per- mitted, in the dehrium of victory and conquest, their chief magistrate to assume over vast regions the most unhmited and despotic authority, grasping at once the sword and the purse. Henceforth it is to be part of our theory of Government, that during war, the President of the United States is released from all constitutional restrictions, so far as he acts without the limits of the country, and that he is wholly beyond the control of Congress. The immense power and patronage thus conferred on the Pi-esident by a state of war, may hereafter prove a strong inducement with that officer to plunge his country into hostilities, and to postpone the return of peace.
The course pursued by Congress has apparently been directed by the principle, that when the country has once also he has already done " Speech of M>Calhoun m Senate^ March 1848. " Is the establisliment of a code of customs in Mexico, an act of wai% or derived from war, or an act of legislation? Why, clearly it is the latter I want to know how the President of the United States can overturn the revenue law of Mexico, and establish a new one in its stead, any more than he can overturn the law of the descent of property, the law of inheritance, the criminal code, or any other portion of Mexican law ?" Mr. Webster^s Speech in Senate^ March, 1848.
been involved in war, no matter by what meana, or foi what objects, it is the duty of the representatives of the people to afford to, the President