That it is his [the President's] duty, during the recess of Congress, to use all his Constitutional means in opposition to it, leaving that body, when it assembles, to decide on the course which, in its opinion, it would be proper for the Government to adopt.
Mr. Morton. Precisely; that he shall use all the Constitutional means. He does not say what they were. Perhaps he might take the same view that President Grant did in reference to what were Constitutional means. Of course the question would be referred to Congress when Congress met, if actual hostilities took place. What I maintain is, that that dispatch must convey the impression to the Senator, as it did to my mind and as it will to the mind of any man who will read it, that an invasion of Texas would be resisted if it was then made. I do not want to quibble about it.
Mr. Schurz. It conveys the impression to my mind that the President of the United States, through the Secretary of State, made a declaration to Mexico which our Executive, under the Constitution of this country, can always make to a foreign Government, a declaration which, in the course of our diplomatic relations with England, we were frequently on the point of making, and which we would have found no fault with the President for making if——
Mr. Stewart. Will the Senator allow me a word?
Mr. Morton. Allow me to make one suggestion.
Mr. Schurz. One at a time, gentlemen.
The Vice-President. To which Senator does the Senator from Missouri yield?
Mr. Schurz. The Senator from Indiana.
Mr. Morton. The Senator from Massachusetts yesterday read an extract from Benton's Thirty Years View, I believe, showing that Mr. Bent on put that construction upon the dispatch that I say the dispatch bears, and it is
