The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-26 00:00:00

ATETROPOLITAN 11 Y Bishop's-
road station.

RAIL'

ek Y—Traliis every

3IYLES FENTON', General Manager.

METROPOLITAN and GREAT WESTERN
ItAILWAYS.—CHRISTSIAS FIOLIDAYA.—Extra
Trains between the City, Kin.es-cross, bower-street, Port-
land-zoad, Begent-circas, Baker-street, Edgware-read and
Paddington, Hammersmith, Kensin,gtm, Shepherd's-bush,
Notting-hid, and Westbourne-park.

SPIRI L' OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—It would perhaps be premature to say
that the Government of the United States is about
to undergo a complete change ; but the more we
hear of the proceedings of the current Session of
Congress the more apparent is it that elements are
at work which must speedily transform the Consti-
tution, unless their action is checked by the national
opinion. The Republican party, flushed with vic-
tory and overwhelming in strength, hurries on to its
ends without listening to a word of remonstrance.
It is for a time the uncontrolled and uncontrollable
master of the situation. The minority which passes
for an Opposition in the Senate and House of Re-
presentatives is literally silenced.. The power of the
President is gone. Unable to reckon upon a suffi-
cient number to support his veto he sits at the
White House an impotent witness, ofhe
powers
alegislative
T
action which he cannot impede.
one con-
ferred upon his office are taken away from
him by one, and his duties are reduced to those of the
most formal character. The small remnant of autho-
rity which he might exercise during the interval be-
tween successive Sessions of Congress he will not
enjoy, as an act has been already passed making the
next Session follow immediately on the termination
of the present. The Republican supremacy is thus
complete. But perfect as their position now is, the
leaders of the party are conscious of its insecurity.
They have endangered, if they have not sacrificed,
the Constitution that they might turn to the utmost
profit a triumph probably temporary. Their victo-
ries in the autumn were in the most important States
the direct consequence of a reaction against the
violence of the Chicago tour, and the majorities
won by the indiscretion of their principal opponent
may be lost by the extreme course they have them-
selves taken. Without considering the possibility
of the admission to the national Legislature at no
distant time of representatives from the excluded
Southern districts, it is manifest that the Republi-
can party cannot depend on the continued fidelity
of the middle States. It is not unnatural, there-
fore, that they should he eager to consummate all
their projects now, in their time of power ; although
should delay from any cause intervene, it is possible
than their eagerness may prove their own destruc-
tion. The present Congress may not have time to
complete its plans, but enough has been done to
show the essential character of the changes the
majority desire. The Legislative has conquered the
Executive Department of the Government, and
would now proceed to absorb all a:lm. power through
out the country. It is not diirigul,t to see that a
collision between Congress and seand of the middle
States is the thing to he next apprehended. The
policy of the Republican party in dcalieg with the.
conquered South must be supplemented by consti-
tutional changes in the States still in the Union,
and it is certain that these changes will not be
accepted without 'au opipsition wliic!i must first
be crushed by enlarging the sphere of Congress.
One of the great—perhaps we should say the great
—question in relation ,co the South is that of the ,
suffrage. Last spring Congress was willing to
allow the reconstituted States to settle the suffrage
at their own discretion as heretofore, subject to the
proviso that representatives should be allotted in
proportion to the electors, and not to the inhabitants,
of a district. No such compromise is now possible.
The accession of strength which the Republican
party has received emboldens its leaders to insist
upon " impartial " suffrage in the South— that is to
say, a suffrage limited, it may be, by property or
educational qualifications, but admitting of no dis-
tinction of race. It would, however, be wholly in-
consistent to insist upon an impartial suffrage in
the South so long as it is not conceded in the North,
and at present, with some exceptions iu New Eng_
land, persons of colour are hindered in acquiring, if
not absolutely debarred from, political privileges in
the North. Congress has accordingly shown its
temper by a Suffrage Bill for the district of Columbia.
district—specially In this peculiar subject to the
National Legislature—negroes will, after the pre-
sent Session, be admitted to vote like the other in-
habitants. The next step will be the application of
the same law to the Northern States. At present
it is uncertain in what proportions the Senate
would
be disposed to support a bill interfering with the
liberty each State has to determine who shall have
the privilege. of the suffrage within it, and until it is
well ascertained that a sufficient number of Senators
would favour t
he proposal to pass it over the Presi-
dential Veto, its introduction will be delayed. But
already there is a cry that the Senate is a clog to the
House. Its tendencies are too conservative for the
extreme.. Republicans in the House and the country ;
and it is very possible that some wavering Senators
‘may give way rather than provoke a hostile feeling.
.E. vents are at present marching fast in that direc-
tion, and we may anticipate that the 40th Congress,
if not the 39th, will pass a law which will be a more
striking innovation than anything of which we have
yet heard. The threatened interference of Congress
with the qualification of voters in every State will,
if effected, be an essential alteration
instance
the charac-
ter of the Federation, and the first of the
aggrandisement of the central authority by the re-
moval of the checks which were designed to limit its
power. The tendency of Congress to encroach on the
functions of the separate States is a sequel to its
absorption of the Presidential powers, and is in
complete agreement with the conduct. of the majo-
rity towards the minority with in itself. The
" Caucus" has always been a great institution at
Washington, but never hitherto has its power been
anything like what it is this Session. The " Caucus"
is King. It supersedes discussion in House and
Senate. In this conclave of the dominant party
the measures are hatched which are then brought
to light in the Legislature, and hurried through
without debate. A dissident in the ranks of the
Republican party itself must give way in every par-
ticular to the resolutions of his associates, as he
knows that Otherwise his name would not be in-
cluded in the " ticket" of his party at the next
election, and his political career would be sum-
marily closed. In the " Caucus," however, there
may be debate, though it is a debate in secret. In the
Legislature there is no discussion worthy of the
name. The bill, for example, providing that when
the present Congress comes to au end on the 4th of
March the new Congress shall immediately assemble
for the despatch of businesswas carried in the ouse
of Representatives, after scarcely half an hour's dis-
cussion, by a majority of 127 to 30.
If the bill be
important, and an attempt at opposition is expected
the " previous question" is called into play. `Phis
device absolutely precludes debate, since when it is
demanded a vote is immediately taken whether the
discussion shall be continued. If the majority de-
cides this 'in the negative, a vote is at once taken on
the bill itself, and a measure thus becomes law, al-
though no opportunity has been given to its oppo-
nents to argue against it. The minority is thus sub-
ject to the caprice of the majority, and the temper
of intolerance fostered which forbids any expression
of independent opinion. The man who is in a party
is its slave ; -the man who is in a beaten party is a
silent slave ; the man who attempts to be indepen-
dent of party is nowhere. In observing the change
-which American institutions are suffering, it muse be
observed that we pass na opinion on the immediate
objects of the dominant party in Congress. The