cution of
their legal functions, and against those who assail the property
of the Federal Government, are clear and undeniable." Conceding
so much, the mild denial which the President re-asserted, of "the
right to make aggressive war upon any State," may be charitably
tolerated; for, under the defensive power which he so broadly
approved, the whole force of national authority could be used
against a State aggressively bent upon Secession.

The President did not fail to fortify his own position at every
point with great force. The situation had become so serious, and
had "assumed such vast and alarming proportions, as to place the
subject entirely above and beyond Executive control." He therefore
commended "the question, in all its various bearings, to Congress,
as the only tribunal possessing the power to meet the existing
exigency." He reminded Congress that "to them belongs exclusively
the power to declare war, or to authorize the employment of military
force in all cases contemplated by the Constitution." Not abandoning
the hope of an amicable adjustment, the President pertinently
informed Congress that "they alone possess the power to remove
grievances which might lead to war, and to secure peace and union."
As a basis of settlement, he recommended a formal compromise by
which "the North shall have exclusive control of the territory
above a certain line, and Southern institutions shall have protection
below that line." This plan, he believed, "ought to receive
universal approbation." He maintained that on Congress, and "on
Congress alone, rests the responsibility." As Congress would
certainly in a few days be under the control of the Republicans in
both branches,--by the withdrawal of senators and representatives
from the seceding States,--Mr. Buchanan's argument had a double
force. Not only was he vindicating the position of the Executive
and throwing the weight of responsibility on the Legislative
Department of the government, but he was protecting the position
of the Democratic party by saying, in effect, that the President
chosen by that party stood ready to approve and to execute any laws
for the protection of the government and the safety of the Union
which a Republican Congress might enact.

A certain significance attached to the date which the President
had selected for communicating his message to Congress. It was
the eighth day of January, the anniversary of the Battle of New
Orleans, celebra