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House of Commons and the country, he must give way to some one else. That opinion may be somewhat more slow in forming and declaring itself, than the public opinion as represented in the Legislature of the United States; but it is only more slow because more anxious to reflect the matured wisdom of the community, and not its impulses. And when that opinion is once declared, it is seldom indeed that it is not final. Against any measure brought forward by a minister so supported, and upon the responsibility of the Government of the day, the Crown would never venture, except in some very extreme case, to interpose its negative. If it did, it would be by no exercise of "patronage," which it now possesses in so scanty a measure as to be almost inappreciable in reference to public affairs; it would be by no indirect "influence," which it has no means of bringing to bear upon the course of legislation, that it would seek to support itself. It would be by an appeal, which the act would indicate, to the intelligence and the justice of the nation,

which appeal would be all the more impressive and solemn because resting on no other ground than that of high constitutional principle. It may be anticipated that the good sense of the nation may prevent such an appeal from being ever necessary. The constitutional negative of the Crown is a power, to use the words of Burke, "the exercise of which is wisely forborne. Its repose may be the preservation of its existence, and its existence may be the means of saving the Constitution itself, on an occasion worthy of bringing it forth."*

*Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, A.D. 1777.

John Adams, afterwards the second President of the Republic, in his great work above quoted (vol. i. p. 70), expresses his "mortification" that the negative power of the Executive was imperfect, and the constitutional balance therefore "incomplete."

[President Polk, in his message of 1848, states that Washington once exercised his veto, and that six Presidents have done I have been unable to ascertain all the occasions.]

So.

CHAPTER XII.

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

We are familiar in this country with the lengthy document presented to both Houses of Congress by the President of the United States, at the opening of every new Session. This document, called the President's " message," contains, among other matters, an exposition of the opinions and intentions of the President and his ministry, in regard to the principal public questions of the day.

It might naturally, therefore, be expected, that this message would be immediately taken into consideration by each House, in order, first, that a respectful acknowledgment might be given to the head of the State for his communication, and next, that an opportunity might be afforded for expressing at once, if

need were, the concurrence or disapproval of either House in the general course of policy indicated by the message. And it may very well arise in that country, as it occasionally does in this, that the interests of the public may require an immediate expression of opinion on the part of the Legislature, as to whether it will support or oppose the policy of the ministry.

But to the President's message no answer is returned, and no discussion takes place upon it.

Under the two first Presidents of the Republic the practice was otherwise; and was, in fact, the same as our own. Mr. Justice Story thus describes the change, and records his opinion that it has not been for the public advantage.

"Under President Washington and President John Adams, the practice was to deliver speeches. President Jefferson discontinued this course, and substituted mes

and this practice has been since invariably followed. . . . When the habit was for the President to make a speech, it was in the presence of both Houses, and a written answer was prepared by each House,

which, when accepted, was presented by a committee. At present, no answer whatever is given to the contents of the message. And this change of proceeding has been thought by many statesmen to be a change for the worse, since the answer of each House enabled each party in the Legislature to express its own views as to the matters in the speech, and to propose, by way of amendment to the answer, whatever was deemed more correct and more expressive of the public sentiment than was contained in either. The consequence was, that the whole policy and conduct of the administration came under solemn review; and it was animadverted on, or defended, with equal zeal and independence, according to the different views of the speakers in the debate; and the final vote showed the exact state of public opinion on all leading measures. By the present practice of messages, this facile and concentrated opportunity of attack or defence is completely taken away; and the attack or defence of the administration is perpetually renewed at distant intervals, as an incidental topic in all other discussions, to which it often bears very slight or no relation. The result is, that a great deal of time is lost in collateral debates, and that the administration is driven to defend itself in detail, on every leading motion and measure of the session."*

It is probably not difficult to account for the change of practice, although Mr. Justice Story passes from the subject without further * § 895.

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