After enumerating the powers of the President, this is the first, the very first duty which the Constitution gravely enjoins upon him.  And now, Sir, in no language of taunt or reproach, in no language of party attack, in terms of no asperity or exaggeration, but called upon by the necessity of defending my own vote upon the subject, as a public man, as a member of Congress here in my place, and as a citizen who feels as warm an attachment to the Constitution of the country as any other can, I demand of any who may choose to give it an answer to this question:  WHY WAS NOT THIS MEASURE, WHICH THE PRESIDENT DECLARES THAT HE THOUGHT NECESSARY AND EXPEDIENT, RECOMMENDED TO CONGRESS?  And why am I, and why are other members of Congress, whose path of duty the Constitution says shall be enlightened by the President’s opinions and communications, to be charged with want of patriotism and want of fidelity to the country, because we refused an appropriation which the President, though it was in accordance with his views, and though he believed it important, would not, and did not, recommend to us?  When these questions are answered to the satisfaction of intelligent and impartial men, then, and not till then, let reproach, let censure, let suspicion of any kind, rest on the twenty-nine names which stand opposed to this appropriation.

How, Sir, were we to know that this appropriation “was in accordance with the views of the executive”?  He had not so told us, formally or informally.  He had not only not recommended it to Congress, or either house of Congress, but nobody on this floor had undertaken to speak in his behalf.  No man got up to say, “The President desires it; he thinks it necessary, expedient, and proper.”  But, Sir, if any gentleman had risen to say this, it would not have answered the requisition of the Constitution.  Not at all.  It is not by a hint, an intimation, the suggestion of a friend, that the executive duty in this respect is to be fulfilled.  By no means.  The President is to make a recommendation,—­a public recommendation, an official recommendation, a responsible recommendation, not to one house, but to both houses; it is to be a recommendation to Congress.  If, on receiving such recommendation, Congress fail to pay it proper respect, the fault is theirs.  If, deeming the measure necessary and expedient, the President fails to recommend it, the fault is his, clearly, distinctly, and exclusively his.  This, Sir, is the Constitution of the United States, or else I do not understand the Constitution of the United States.

Does not every man see how entirely unconstitutional it is that the President should communicate his opinions or wishes to Congress, on such grave and important subjects, otherwise than by a direct and responsible recommendation, a public and open recommendation, equally addressed and equally known to all whose duty calls upon them to act on the subject?  What would be the state of things, if he might communicate his wishes