WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1844
501
in the discretion or judgment of the Executive. The Executive, however, entertains no such opinion of the motives of the House, because they could not intend against him any derogation as an individual, and because any indignity offered to his official station, would equally degrade the country and themselves while the chief magistrate might remain unscathed. Our national character and standing are to be regulated by official correspondance of its functionaries; while our personal worth must be determined by proper demeanor and moral bear- ing. Intelligence in the f untionaries of government is the very leaven of national character. The Executive feels so perfectly assured that the framers. of the constitution in depositing the treaty making powers with the President and the Senate, left with him the sole power of con- ducting and controlling our national correspondence, that even apart from the necessary policy and wisdom, he could not permit the correspondence with foreign powers to be promulgated. He assures the Honorable House that though he would be happy to afford any information in his power that might enable them to act advisedly in the business of legislation; yet he cannot believe that by attempting to comply with these resolutions, he could afford them the slightest facilities. He has not failed in his annual message to comply with his privileges under the constitu- tion of giving such information and recommending such measures as he deems it his duty to do. In that communication he pre- sented such matters and in such terms as he conceived he should, and had he believed it subservient to the public interest to divulge the national correspondence, he would have done so without a call ; ever ready as he is to aid the Congress in the discharge of its duty, but never willing to wound the country or to compromise its interests or honor. He desires to afford every possible opportunity to the advance- ment of our national prosperity; and whilst he reserves to himself the unqualified right of withholding from publication all matters of national correspondence, until the negotiations on hand shall have terminated, he nevertheless assures the Honorable House, that if they desire information on the subject of our foreign correspondence, the Honorable Speaker of the House, accom- panied by the chairman and members of the Committee on Foreign Relations, will be received at the State Department, at any time when the Head of that Department has leisure, and they can obtain all the information they desire upon any and every
Powered by FlippingBook