Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1867-01-19

is interested only In the strict administra.
ton Of justice, II can rarely secure the
sympathy or jealous support either Of the
Executive or the Legislative Departments
II they are not, as N not untrequeniy the
casc, icalsas OF It's prerogaliyes, the con-
slRnt necessity exists Of scrulinillng the
Meta Of each upon the application Of any
private person, aud the painful duty OF
prOnounoing judgment and that the facts
are not q depart from law or Constitution
can have no tendency to coneiliate coldness
or nonrisE influence.
II would seem therefore that some addi-
tonal guard would under su,h elreumslan.
ccs, be necessary TO protect this Depart
ment from the absolute dominion OF the
others. Yet rarely have any such guards
been applied, and every attempt to iatro'
ducc them has been res stcd wit peril
nacity which demonstrates how slow popu-
lar leaders are 10 intro,'pse chscks upon
their own power, and how slow the people
are to believe that the Judiciary is the real
bnlwark Of their liberties. II any depart
meni Of government has undue influence
or absorbing power, il certainly has not
been either the executive or judiciary.
In addition to what has been said by
these distinguished writers, 1t may also be
urged that tie dominant party in each
House may, by the expulsion of n sufficient
number Of members, or by the exclusion
from representation Of requisite number
Ct States, reduce the minority to less than
one.third. Congress, by these means,
might be enabled TO pass laws, the objec-
tions Of the President to the contrary not
withstanding, which would render impo.
tent the other two departments Of the
Governments and make imperative the
wholesome and restoring power which 1t
was intended by the trainers Of the Consti-
tuition should be exerted by them.
This would be n practical concentration
of all power in the Congress Of the United
States. This, in the language Of the au-
thor of the Declaration OF independence,
would be precisely the defnation Of despo-
tic Government.
have preferred to reproduce these teach
ings Of the great statesmen and constitu-
tional lawyers of the early and later day1
Of the Republic rather than to rely simply
upon an expression Of my own opinions.
We cannot too often recur to them, especial
ly ut conjuncture like the present. Their
application to our actual condition is so
apparent that they now come to us as o
''.uing voice to be listened TO with ntrc
attention t,s"n at any previous period of
our history. We have otch and are yet in
the midst Of a popular commotioh. 1ne
passions aroused by great civil war are
still dominant. II is not timo tavoran!e
TO that calm and deliberate judgment
which is the only safe guide, where radical
changes in our institutions are TO be made.
The measure now before me is one of these
changes. 1t constitutes an untried expe-
riment for people who have said with one
voice that it was not for their good. This
alone should make us pause, but it is not
ALI the experiment has not been tried, or
so much MS demanded by the people of the
several States, nor by themselves. In but
few of the State Constitutions has such an
innovation been allowed rs giving the bal
lot to the coored population without any
other qualification than residence of one
year; and in most Of them the denial Of
the ballot to this race is absolutely and by
fundamental law, placed beyond the do
main Of ordinary legislation. In most Of
those States the evil of such suffrage would
be partial; but small as it would be, it is
guarded by constitutional barriers, Here
The innovation assumes formidable proper
tions. which may easily grow to such an
extent ms to make the white population q
subordinate element in the body polite.
After full deliberation upon this meas
ure, l cannot bring myself TO approve it,
even upon local considerations nor yet as
the beginning Of an experiment on larg-
er scale. Iyield to no one in attachment
to that rule of general suffrage which dis
tinguishes our policy rs nation, but there
is a limit wisely observed hitherto, which
makes the ballot q privilege, | trust,
and which requires of some classes time
suitable for probation and preparation.
To give it indiscriminately to new class,
wholly unprepared by previous habits and
opportunities to perform the trust which it
demands, IS to degrade it and finally to
destroy its power for it may be safely as
sumcd that no political truth is better es-
tablished than that such indiscriminate
and all embracing extension of popular
suffrage must end at last in its destruc-
tion.
ANDREW JOHNSON.
Washington Jan. 7th 1867.
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