Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 2.djvu/261

Rh most charitable construction upon all these acts—do not call it a crime what the President has done, do not call it a misdemeanor, call it by the mildest term—an involuntary mistake—and still that great duty remains. It is the duty to vindicate the Constitution of the United States.

Sir, what was the oath we took before entering upon the discharge of our duties in this Chamber? It was that we should support the fundamental law of this country. So we have sworn; and we are now called upon to uphold the Constitution in one of its most essential points. The power to declare and initiate war is one of the highest attributes of sovereignty. More than any other, it involves the welfare, the peace and the honor of a people. Therefore this power was expressly lodged in that branch of the Government in which the sovereignty of the people is most comprehensively represented: in the Legislature. It cannot be otherwise in a truly republican government. This is a conditio sine qua non of republican institutions. Let that power pass into the hands of the President, and the dearest interests of the people are at the mercy of one single man.

I ask you, Senators, has not the power of the Executive, through the immense patronage at his disposal, become alarmingly great already? Is it not to a fearful extent already encroaching on the independence of the Legislature of this Republic, and exercising a most dangerous influence upon the morality of our public life? Permit the Executive, in addition, to arrogate to itself the war-making authority, and you create a one-man power in the new world stronger and more dangerous in some respects than you find it in some of the constitutional monarchies of the old. Some newspapers have been indulging in extravagant statements about the despotic power of the Emperor of Germany. Why, sir, the