The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1867-01-12

OF public opinion which is interested only
IN the strict administration Of justice, it can
rarely secure the sympathy or Jealous sup
port either of the executive or the legisla-
ture If they are not, as is not unfrequently
the case, Jealous Of Its prerOgatives, the con-
slant necessity of scrutinizing the acts Of
each upon the application of any private per-
son, and the painful duty of prOnOuneing
judgment that these acts are departure
from the law and Constitution, can have no
tendency to eOnciliate kindness or nOurish
influence. it would seem therefore that
some additional guards would under such
circumstances be necessary to protect this
Department from the absolute dominion of
the others; yet rarely have any such guards
been applied; and every attempt to introduce
them has been resisted with pertinacity
which demonstrates how slow popular lead
ers are to introduce checks upon their own
power and how slow the people are to believe
that the Judiciary is the real bulwark of their
liberties. If Rny department of the Govern
ment has undue influence or absorbing power
it certainly has not been either the Executive
or Judiciary. In addition TO what has been
said by these distinguished writer's, it may
also be urged by the dominant party in each
house, that they may, by the expulsion of a
sufficient number of members, or by the ex-
clusiOn from representation Of requisite
number of States, reduce the minority to
less than one-third Congress by these
means might be enabled to pass law, the
objections Of the President TO the contrary
Notwithstanding, which would render impO-
tent the other two departments of the gov
eminent and make imperative the wholesome
and restraining power which it was intended
by the trainers of the Constitution should be
extended by them. This would be prae-
teal concentration of all power in the
United States; this, in the language of the
authors of the Declaration Of Independence,
would be precisely the definition of despotic
government. have preferred to reproduce
these teachings Of the great statesmen and
constitutional lawyers of the early and later
days of the Republic rather than TO rely sim
| ply upon an expression of my own opinion.
| We cannot tOO often Fecur to them, especially
at n cOnjuneture like the present Their APP
plicatiOns to our actual condition is so aDpar.
| ent that they now come to us as a living
| voice, to be listened TO with more attention
than at any previous Period of our history.
We have been, and are yet, in the midst oil
| popular cOmmOtiOn.
The passions aroused by q great civil wal
are still dominant lt is not time fayOra
BILE to that calm and deliberate judgement
which is the only safe guide when Fadica
changes in our institutions are to be made
The measure now before me is one of thOst
changes It initiates all untried expert
ments for people who have said with one
voice that it is not for their good. Thi;
: alone should make US pause. But it Is no
all-the experiment has been tried or 81
much as demanded by the people of the sew
eTal States for themselves-in but few O
the States has such an innovation been a.
lowed as giving the ballot to the colOred pOpu
lation without any other qualification than
residence of enc year, and in most of then
the denial of the ballot to this race is absC
j lutte and by fundamental law placed beyOn
the domain of ordinary legislation. In mos
, of those States the evil of such sufrag
, would be partial but small as It would be,
is guarded by constitutional barriers. Hei
the innovation assumes formidable prOpO
tions which may easily grow to such an e.
) tent as to make the white population sui
3 ordinate element Ia the body polite Ate
3 ! full deliberation on the measure, / cannC
J. bring myself TO approve It, even upon lOci
r considerations nor yet as the beginning of a
t experiment on larger scale. L yield to L
e | one in attachment to that rule of gener
5 suffrage which distinguishes our policy as
s | nation ;bnt there is limit, wisely observe
\ hitherto, which makes the ballot aprivileg
e and a trust, and which requires Of son
t classes a time suitable for probation and pr
: paratioh. To give it unfortunately to
It new class, wholly unPreparsd by preyiOu
# habits and opportunities TO perform the tru
G which it demands, is to degrade it and final
It to destroy its powers for it may be safe
e / assumed that no POLITICAL truth is bettt
/ established than that such indiscrimina
r and allcmbracing extension of pOpul'
b suffrage must end at last in its destruction.
E. ANDREW JOHNSON.
e WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 1866,
e TSince the above was put in type we lea
V that both houses of Congress have pass
= the bill over the Presidents veto. Il is nc
Dt the law. Next comes the States-and tn
n anarchy, bLOodshed and ruin.