The Washington union., 1858-03-18
WASHINGTON CITY.
THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH is, 1868.
THREE PARTIES DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLICAN,
AND THE ABSENIEES.

Ihe experiences vi pIeeeHt SonoioH VI ooh6'oos
has shown that there are least three ways of de-
featng bill First, to against it a majority
of votes second to institute system of factio as
opposition under the rules by calling p. that time
killing process Of taking do,~n the yeas and nays
upop frivolous moticns to adjourn to call the House,
and to excuse members third, just sufficient OF the
friends of bill to be absent, being careful to select
precisely such times as will place it in the power of
the opposition to vccure all possible advantages.
We have stupid way of thinking that there is
precious little difference, in practical sense, be-
tween the first and last process of inviting and nc.
curing the defeat of the majority. It 10 said that
tho great Carthagenian general lost his army by an
ovor-free indulgence in the good things of this
world, producing decentralization, weakness and uti-
mate overthrow. The historian is silent on the sub
ject, but we entertain no doubt of the fact that
largo portion of his best troops and officers were
ubseM when the hour of trial came II is easy to see
at all events, that majority is wholly unlike Mr..
Robert J. Walkers sovereignty-itis is both aenable
and divisiblc
The democratic party elected majority Of all the
members of the present Congress-. We would like
exceedingly to SEQ them collected together for once
in the House of Representatives. In this respect,
If in no other, they might follow the example set
them by the opposition, whose forces constitute
compact body, always onhand and always welding
tho almost strength of their numbers.
We hold it to be clear that the majority should be
able to control legislation; and If they do not de-
feet exists in their weapons in their organization
which should be remedied at once. When high du-
3iean dav va1 puh 10 ind,
to their execution becomes u political offence of se-
rious and alarming import Nor able to see
the distinction in practical point of view, between
Indifference to the success of measure and ne
gloct to perform those duties which necessary
secure such success.
THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION NOT A SOCIAL
COApACr."--THE UNION OF STATES NOT
CONSOLIDATED REPUBLIC
Among the southern opposition journals upon
whose cooperation we had most confidently counted,
In the pondng struggle Of the national men and party
With the back-republican party of the North and its
sectional allies, there was to which looked
with more confidence than the Richmond Whig. But
we find, with surprise and regret, that that journal
has allowed itself to be arrested and trammeed, in
the advocacy which it evidently intended to give the
proposition before Congress for the admission of
Kansas by absurdty of the New York Express
Tho Express has suddenly conceived profound
veneraton for constitutions especially for the federal
constitution, and affects to nd in the recent speech
of Mr.. Dix at Tammany Hail. doctrines Wild Jacobin-
ical subversivc of the federal constitution in parcu
lar, and alarming to the integrity of constitutions in
general.
The doctrine announced by Mr. Dix, at which the
Express affects to stand aghast, hath this extent-no
more 1.-The constitution of Kansas contains pro-
vision that it shall be unatered until 1864 But /
regard all such attempted Limitations Of Sovereignty as
nugatory. 1t is the right of every people to amend
abolish at will the form of government under
which they live" That is the doctrine of Mr. Dix
though the advocates in Congress of the admission of
Kansas under the Lecompton constitution base the
right of the people of the State to change their
constitution not only on the abstract principle an
nounced by Mr.. Dix, but also on the express reser-
vation of that right mbodcd in the Lecompton decla
ration Of rights.
The Express, with the true molarchical instincts
of the old Adams party, of which it is a fossil
scion. resists the right of majority of peo
pie to change at will the constitution of govern
ment under which they live; and excaims with
earnestness, that if such right were conceded
mot a charter in tho country, or a compact, or a
vested right socalled, would be worth the paper it
is written on" The Express labors under deu
sion The majority of the people is not mob or a
demon. To concede to the majority of a people the
right to change their constitution at WILL is not "to
abolish property to install agraranism, to light
the torch Of anarchy to invoke tho demons of con-
fusion and chaos. The reason is simple and obvi-
ous but is one which we do not expect the Ex
press 10 Hiv~ aPP-eeiatn The reason is that the
people are apdblc Of self gouernment. The people are
more honest, more intelligent, welded to order
and justice, capable of conducting their own
government peacefully and with just protection to
property, than tho Express any other organ of
that old party in country which never could ac-
knowledge the capacity of the people for self govern
ment, magnes can believe. The people--the ma
jority of the people--are wise just honest peaco-
loving law-abiding, and conservative. The MAORI
ty 10 nota wild beast dovil. The experience of
three quarters of century continent ought
certainly to have convinced the Express ere now
that the people be safely trusted with their own
affairs and capable of selfgovernment.
But the rights Of property, and social order and
peace, are not the only things supposed to be jeop