Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1867-02-23

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~ ne Ehff ofN.N , IHf
when fonfuim.ln1l ftfnueni De- in f.
refii there IL tleaYs uHfhIuH o. DO im.
pendinr dtratr. 4 f.Hy aftf " IHltl .
ior. AMI men DrtWarnfd Nrl jet hH if they F.
were not fortamed The blow is struck /
not by an open enemy u comcs from q /
quarter In Witch POWER bas been eousiiu /
iionaliy placed for the Irrseryniipn NJ The F.
very Government, The destruction NJ which F.
1. comprised. The snf, guards Of consiilu'
uonal liberty are swept away ln the pre-
tended interests OF the nation, lut really
because they stand In he way Of The men
or the party In power, They fear that heir
power and constitutional government can
not exist together aud therefore they de
stroy constitutional government, u such
a rifle TO stand In the way Of their great
plrposes7 This, rs we all remember was
thN way In which Louis Napoleon, Prcsi-
dent OF the French Republic, usurped power
which made him Emperor. lie was made
President because he had persuaded ma
iority OF the French people that he, Of all
men, was best fitted TO preserve, protect,
and defend the Constitutional Government
of the French Republic. lie made himself
the autocrat Of France, and destroyed its
Constitutional Government by sweeping
coordinate branch Of that Government ont
of his path, in the coup dctdi OF tho "a OF
December. For this Kind Of political usur-
patton we have to use a French name, Our
language, framed by people in whose era,
die were the seeds of popular liberty AMI
which advanced steadily TO constitutional
government from the time II left the Sean
dinayian forests, happily furnishes us with
no word or phrase expressive Of just this
action.
And vet il would seem that We have re-
Gently developed pressing need for some
such phrase in our mother tongue, for few
Of us are blind enough not 10 see that there
is now impendiuga coup detGt At Washing
ton. II hangs above our head ut this very
moment, and il we do not lay aside oil
party hopes and fears, or in fact all other
political considerations, it will fall upon us
us We are gazing upon it with stupid ara
inactive apprehension. The power by
which the existence of constitutional gov
eminent is mperled in this country has
control of one branch only of our Govern
ment. II holds that power rs the reprcscn-
tat;ve of only majority of only part of
the nation. a large minority of the con
stituents Of the very members who Mt pres
ent control the legislative branch Of our
government are opposed TO their action, and
yet must submit and ought to submit to
that action so long as it is constitutional
Now, it is the one cardinal principle OF
constitutional government that within the
provisions of the Constitution the rights of
minorities as well as those of majorilies
shall be safe. 1t is chiefly for the grotec-
ton of minorities that constitutional gov
eminent is established the party
which for the time being has control of
the executive and the legislative branches
of the Government may not use its power
exclusively in its own interests, and in
tyrannical disregard OF the rights of the
minority. Therefore it is thata Constitu-
ton declares what the executive and what
the legislative power may do, and also that
they shall not do certain other things, or
that they shall do only that for which they
receive authority through the Constitution.
If this restraint is broken through, either
by the executive or by the legislative pow
er, constitutional government is at an end
The immediate object in view may be good,
but constitutional liberty is none the less
DESTROYED, and the course over its ruins is
made easy for every chief executive or any
legislative majority thereafter. No ntelli-
geut and moderately well informed citizen
of this Republic needs to be told that Con-
rress has no powers but those derived from
the Constitution, that it is the creature not
of the people directly, but of the people
through the Constitution, that it may tran
scend its Just powers as easily as the Presi-
dent can transcend his. From its nature,
it's organization, and its functions, it is the
mos. powerful branch of the Government,
md is therefore the one to be most feared,
and most jealousy watched and restrained.
Upon it there are only two checks; the
Presidents veto, which Congress itself can
nut aside Ivy two-thirds vote, and the Su-
preme Court, which has no control over the
wisdom or the patriotism of its acts, but
only over their legality. Imperfect as these
checks are, because they are of human con-
fiyance, they have thus far been sufficient,
for the security of constitutional govern
ment. Without them constitutional liber-
ty would not exist For year; but each ses-
sion of Congress we should be OF the mercy
of an irrepressible majority, which, il nee
essary to its purposes, could declare Mas
sachusetts or Ohio, or both, and New York
besides out of the Union, which could i'm
peach the President at will and suspend
him from his office until he was declared in
nocent or guilty, it would make no natter
and which could bid the Supreme Court at
tend to its own business and not concern
itself with the legality of any act done by
the majority. | said this might be; but 1t
is, except for the mere formality Of pass
age by a majority who vote by roll-cal and
pass between tellers after their leade like
sheep between gate-posts. The purpose of
the majority Of the present imperfect Con-
gress, as we all see, is to remove the Presl-
dent, and not only the President but the
Supreme Court ont of its way. We see this,
and we look on in apathy, and 60 about our
money making, stupidity trusting that no
harm will come oft, and yet what is doing
is that Constitutional Government is de-
stroyed before our eyes. Abill was brought
in ON Monday by Mr.. Williams, of Penn
sylvnnia, which, absolutely, is entitled
bill to "defne the powers of the Supreme
Court''-of the Supreme Court whose pow
ers are defined by the Constitution, and the
chief object of whose creation was to define
the powers of Congress. more barefaced
attempt at usurpation was never seen; a
more fatal blow to constitutional govern
ment was never dealt. Yet what may we
not expect when Mr.. Wilson reports bill
which declares valid and conclusive certain
proclamations and consequent acts which
the Supreme Court can only delaTe valid!
and when Mr.. Boutwell, does not hesitate TO
declare, "with strong emphasis that the
Supreme Court exists but by the breath OF
Congress-the Supreme Court, cheated by
the creator of Con yress, to interpret its laws
and be a check upon its actionl Congress
has no more right to define the powers of
the Supreme Court than TO define its own
powers or those of the President. The peo-
pie have already done all this through the
Constitution; the people may change their
definition through the Constitution. When
the powers either of Congress, the Pres-
dent, or the Supreme Court are abridged or
enlarged in any other way, constitutional
pssernment is at an end, and constitutional
liberty has for the time, perhaps forever,
been destroyed. Yet, this proposition to
define the powers Of the Supreme Court, and
10 make full bench and unanimity neces-
sary to any decision upon theconstituiion-