The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-01-07

ifs prerogatives the constant necessity Of fscrutnz
ing the acts Of each, upon the application of any
private pefs0n and the painful du Of pron0unclng
Judgment that these acts are departure from the
law or Constitution, can have no tandency to con.
cihate kindness or nouTish influence. IL would
seem, therefore, thai some addihOna guards would,
under such circumstances, be necessary to prOtec.
this department from the absolute dominion of the
others Yet rarely have any such gusrds been APP
Piled; and every attempt TO introduce them has
been resisttd with pertlnaciy when DE- demonstrates
how slow popu ar leauers are 70 introduce checks
upon their own power, and how SLOW the peOp are
to believe that the Judiciary the real buwark of
their III critics." III any department. OF the Govern.
ment has undue influence, or absorbing power, 1t
certainly has not been ei'ber the executive juoi
ciafy"
In addition to what has been said by these
distinguished writers, ii may also be urged that
the dominant party in each House may, by the
expulsion of sufficient number of members, or
by the exclusion iron representation of a requl-
site 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 70 the contrary notWlthsland.
ing, which would render impotent the other two
departments OF the Government, aud make To-
operative the wholesome and restraining over
which II was intended by the trainers of the
Constitution should be exerted by them This
would be practical concentration oil all power
in the Congress of the United States-ihis, in
the language OF the author of the Declaration VI
Independence, would be precisely The defni-
ton Of despotc government"
have preferred TO reproduce these teachings
OF the great statesmen and constitutional law
yers OF the early and later days of the repub-
lie, rather than to rely sim oily upon an express
sion of my own opinions. We cannot too often
recur to them, especially at coniuncture like
the present. Their application to our actual
condition is so apparent, that they nov come
to US 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 of popular cOmmotion. The passions
aroused by great civil war are still dominant.
1t is not time favorable to that calm and
deliberate Judgment which is the only SAFE
guide when radical changes in our institutions
are to be made. The measure now before
me is one of those changes. IT initiates an
untried experiment, Tor people who
have said, with one voice, that it Is
not lor their good. This alone should
make us pause; but it is not ali. The expert
ment has not been tried, or so much as de-
manded, by the people of the several States for
themselves. In but few OF the States has such
an II novation been allowed as giving the ballot
TO the cololed population without any other
qualification than residence Of one year, and
in most of them the denial of the ballot 10 this
race is absolute, and by fundamental law placed
beyond the domain of ordinary legislation. In
most of those States the evil of such suffrage
would be partial; but, small as it would be, 1t is
| guarded by constitutional barriers. Here the
innovation assumes formidable proportions,
which may easily grow to such an extent as to
make the white population a subordinate ele.
ment in the body polite.
After full deliberatioB upon this measure l
cannot bring myself to approve it, even upon
local considerations, nor yet as the beginning o
an experiment on larger scale. yield to IC
! one in attachment TO that rule of general sut
| irage hich distinguishes our policy as a nation
! But there is a limit, wisely observed hitherto
! which makes the ballot privilege and trust
and which requires of some classes time suit
able for probation and preparation. To give i
! indiscriminately to a new Glass; wholly unpre
! pared by previous habits and opportunities, t
! perform the trust which it demands, is Il
degrade it, and finally to destroy its power; TO
it may be safely assumed that no political trutl
/ is better established than that such indlscrimi
nate and allembraclng extension of popula
| suffrage must end at last in its destruction.
ANDREW JOHNSON.
Washington, January 5, 1867. - -.