And this is the body, soulless, the very school of
faction, as a whole of very questionable quality in the outset,
that, according to certain expounders of the constitution, is to
perform all the functions of a government; which is not only to pass
laws, but is to interpret them; which is to command the army, aye,
even to wheeling its platoons; which reads the constitution as an
abbe mumbles his aves and paters, or looking at everything but his
texts; and which is never to have its acts vetoed, unless in cases
where the Supreme Court would spare the Executive that trouble. We
never yet could see either the elements or the fruits of this great
sanctity in the National Council. In our eyes it is scarcely ever in
its proper place on the railway of the Union, has degenerated into a
mere electioneering machine, performing the little it really does
convulsively, by sudden impulses, equally without deliberation or a
sense of responsibility. In a word, we deem it the power of all
others in the state that needs the closest watching, and were we
what is termed in this country "politicians," we should go for the
executive who is the most ready to apply the curb to these vagaries
of faction and interested partisans! Vetoes.
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