Delaware State journal and statesman., 1866-04-27
tProm the phiAielphia prea.l
WHAT IS A TRIBUNE OF THE
PEOPLEt

81 am a Tribune of the People In
dre,c johnson 10 the soldiers, Aprd IS, 1866,
As new order of things is sought to be
established, in which the Chief Magistrate
of this great Union is to be designated Tri.
bune of the People, though the Constitution
has declared that 1.-THE President shall be
his title, it may not he without advantage to
turn over few pages of history and see
what the plebeian Tribunate really was. If,
instead of being American, we are henceforth
TO be Roman, let us, at least, ascertain what
were the history, the character, and the
functions of a Tribune of the People
Without the slightest hope of being so clas
sical as the author and champion OF what is
now known as "MY Policy" we may vet
act as junior teacher under that great po
litical pedagogue.
The office of Tribune was established in
Rome, when first the plebeian or subject
class, made a successful stand against tic
Patncian order, which, after the overthrow
of the monarchy, had become the ruling
power there. There were five Tribunes ai
first, and at a later time increased to ten
They were, in effect, magistrates of the pie.
beian order, but they gradually gained more
and more power until, at last, they usurped
the whole. They were protected with great
privileges. Macaulay says-"The person
of the Tribune was inviolable; and though
he could directly effect little, lie coVld o5struc
eoerythiagn 1t must be confessed that, in
this respect, our Tribune of the People ha.
u great resemblance to his Roman prototype.
Moreover, as DIR. Smith informs us, the 1'ri.
bunes having "gradually gained more and
more power, obtained the right Of putting Il
Veto upon any public business" The Tri
bunes frequently opposed the Senate, often
prevented the business of legislation, and
also prevented the Consuls from summoning
the Senate Gibbon says: "Thcn force was
suited rather for opposition than for action '
They could obstruct, rather than create, but
theirs (the same high authority afflrms) was
"a dangerous influence Merivalc record.
that Sylla abridged the power OF the Tri
bunes, who, in addition TO their original
office of protecting the interests of the plebs,
had usurped direct control ooer The deliJera
lions Of the Senate" At times, says Macau
lay, they continued to exert to the full
extent, their po,0er Of stopping tie Whole ma
cline Of tho Goeerament"
A Tribune of the People then, was one
of body of officers nominally the protec-
tors of the people, but gradual usurpcrs oil
sovereign power-men 1--WE cannot mean any
personal application) who, as the old adagC
has it, ''if given an inch would take an ell
who were protected with great privileges
who, though they could do little, could oh
struet egerything; who had the power o.
putting the Veto upon any public business
who were in the frequent habit of preventing
the business of legislation by opposing N,
Senate; who often interfcred TO prercnt h,
Senate from meetihgj who, instead of mind
ing their own business, had usvrped direc
control orer the deliberations of The Senate
and who sometimes misused their power &c
as TO stop the whole machine NJ tic Gorern
menL.
Let free American citizens decide whether
their President with powers clearly dcfinct
by the Constitution, is not more desirabl,
than the tyrannic and capricious rule of d
Tribune of the People.
Bredd and Butter-Hall, in his Journa
of Health, gives the following bit of wisdom
Bread and butter are the only articles o
food of which we never tire, from carly
childhood to extreme old age A pound Of
fine flour of Indian meal contains three
times as much meat as one pound of butcher
roast beef; and if the whole product of the
grain, bran and ALL were made into bread
fifteen per cent more Of nutriment would be
added. Unfortunately the bran, the coarsest
part of which gives soundness to the teetl
and strength to the brain, is generally ex
cluded. Five hundred pounds of flour give
to the body thirty pounds of bony aliment,
while the same quantity OF bran gives more
than one hundred and twenty-five pounds
This bone is lime, the phosphate of lime
the indispensable aliment of health 10 the
whole human body, from the want of which
multitudes of persons go into general de
cline BY swallowing phosphate in thC
shape OF powders or in syrups to cure these
declines, has little or no effect The articles
obtained in these phosphates must pass
through natures laboratory; be subject tc
her manipulations in alembit1s specially pre-.
pared by Almighty power and skill, in ofdc.
TO frame, in palmer phrase, the shortest,
satestand iniallible method of giving strength
to the body, bone and brain, thereby arrest.
ing disease and build up the constitutions, is
to eat and digest more bread made out of the
whole grain, whether wheat, corn, rye, OF