The Daily Union

"Is not this a naked usurpation of power?"

[National Intelligencer of Dec., 1846.]

We have more than once called the attention of our readers to the gross usurpation of power made by the administration in re-establishing the Mexican government over the people of California. We think it has been sufficiently demonstrated, that Gen. Taylor has violated the plain letter of the constitution, and acted in utter disregard of the nature and character of our institutions, in exercising the kingly prerogative of establishing a government and commanding one of his military subordinates to rule over a portion of our people. The illegality of this usurpation of power is so glaring and unjustifiable, that even the fawning sycophants who surround the President, and the shameless and unscrupulous apologists of his administration, have not ventured to defend it. We hazard but little in saying that both the central organ of the Whig party and the mouth-piece of a portion of the cabinet, in this city, regard the order to Gen. Riley, to proclaim himself the civil governor of California, and to establish and sustain the government which was provided for that territory while it was a portion of Mexico, as a clear and unquestionable violation of the constitution. Indeed, we have already published extracts from the National Intelligencer, written in December, 1846, which establish, beyond question, if we understand the English language, that the editors of that journal hold that the President has exercised legislative powers which could be lawfully exercised by Congress alone; that he has no more right to establish the Mexican civil government in California than to establish a monarchy, and no more authority to appoint General Riley governor of that territory, than to proclaim himself its emperor. And if space allowed, we might extract from the debates of the last Congress overwhelming proof that the members, both of the Senate and the House of Representatives, of both political parties, regarded as fixed facts which required no demonstration, that New Mexico and California were without any government whatever, and must remain without any government whatever until Congress provide for their wants in that behalf. The whole country viewed the matter in the same light; and until General Taylor's orders to General Riley were made known, we had never heard that any single person entertained the belief that the President could, under the constitution, provide political institutions for the people of California, and coerce, by an armed force, submission to those institutions. But in defiance of the unanimous sentiment of the people, and of the representatives of the people of both political parties, the President has re-established the Mexican government in California; and the Whig press which but a few months ago was so loud in its professions of regard for the constitution, and of deference for the popular will, maintains an ominous silence. A Whig dynasty has openly, in the face of the nation, held the plain provisions of the constitution as naught, and, in defiance of the well-known views of the people, has usurped privileges and prerogatives which can belong alone to a king or to an emperor; and yet no word of complaint even is heard from those who stunned the public ears twelve months ago with wild denunciation. All the one man power," and with their hypocritical professions of regard for the will of the people, and of respect for the wisdom of their representatives in Congress assembled. We have not to seek far for the cause which prompted a usurpation which no one, even of the sycophants who fawn around power, seems willing to justify, for fear of stultifying himself before the country. That cause is apparent to all. General Taylor was elected by fraud. He allowed himself to be presented to the people of the North as a friend to the Wilmot Proviso, and to the people of the South as its uncompromising enemy. In the emphatic language of a distinguished Whig senator, "some one must of necessity be cheated." General Taylor was elected, and of course either the North or the South was deceived. One section or the other of the Union was defrauded of its vote by the false representations which General Taylor permitted to be made of his principles and opinions. Then came the necessity of avoiding that storm of indignation which would inevitably burst upon the administration, when General Taylor should be forced to throw aside all concealment, and make known who had been deceived, cheated, and duped. The men whom he called around him saw the necessity of averting the impending storm. There was but one hope; that hope lay in the establishment of a government in California which should take active measures to force the inhabitants of that territory to settle the question of slavery before Gen. Taylor could be compelled to make known his sentiments. This course of conduct required a deliberate violation of the constitution, and a grievous blow to republican institutions, as well as contempt for the will of the people. But all these were but as dust in the balance. The fortunes of the Whig party were in imminent peril; and what cared the administration for the provisions of the constitution, or for republican institutions, or for the popular will, when the cause of federalism was in danger? Nothing. The Whig party was in power, and power must be retained at all hazards; and therefore General Taylor usurped the prerogatives of a monarch, and sent a pro-consul to rule over his province of California. They who live by class legislation and corporate privileges, by bank charters and by wresting from labor the rewards of its toil, and this corrupt horde which swarms around a new administration to batten on the public treasury, what cared they for the usurpations of their President? Less than nothing. This is the reason that the Whig press remains silent. It knows full well that the President has falsified his professions, and that he has been guilty of acts which cannot be defended; yet it utters no rebuke, because the views of the Whig party must be promoted and its power retained, no matter what wrongs may be perpetrated to accomplish those ends. The administration has made a desperate effort to avoid the danger which threatens it; but we greatly err if the effort will succeed. We have an abiding faith that wrong can never triumph over right; and that the very efforts which falsehood and fraud make to escape exposure, lead to detection and condemnation. In the present instance, there is every reason to believe that the administration has by an illegal use of authority insured its own disgraceful overthrow. There is but little room to doubt that the people of California at least, had they been permitted to act for themselves, would have provided either a State or territorial government, and presented it to the next Congress for its sanction. Meetings had been called for that purpose, and a convention would have assembled fully authorized to act in behalf of the people. But while this was being done quietly and lawfully, General Riley was ordered to proclaim himself the civil governor of California, to re-establish and reorganize the Mexican government, and to call a convention to specify the number of members, and apportion them among the different districts. These are acts which none but the people have a right to perform; and as a natural consequence, the citizens of California deny the authority of Gen. Riley to dictate in that behalf. At the last ad-