While the Executive may recommend such
measures as he shall deem expedient, the responsibility for legislative
action must and should rest upon those selected by the people to make
their laws.
Contemplation of the grave and responsible functions assigned to the
respective branches of the Government under the Constitution will
disclose the partitions of power between our respective departments and
their necessary independence, and also the need for the exercise of all
the power intrusted to each in that spirit of comity and cooperation
which is essential to the proper fulfillment of the patriotic
obligations which rest upon us as faithful servants of the people.
The jealous watchfulness of our constituencies, great and small,
supplements their suffrages, and before the tribunal they establish
every public servant should be judged.
It is gratifying to announce that the relations of the United States
with all foreign powers continue to be friendly. Our position after
nearly a century of successful constitutional government, maintenance of
good faith in all our engagements, the avoidance of complications with
other nations, and our consistent and amicable attitude toward the
strong and weak alike furnish proof of a political disposition which
renders professions of good will unnecessary. There are no questions of
difficulty pending with any foreign government.
The Argentine Government has revived the long dormant question of the
Falkland Islands by claiming from the United States indemnity for their
loss, attributed to the action of the commander of the sloop of war
_Lexington_ in breaking up a piratical colony on those islands in
1831, and their subsequent occupation by Great Britain.
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