The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-05-14
THE ENGLISH AND AMERICAN coNsTIru'
TIONs.

The New York Post, crltlclsln8 tne oPiliNA
current with English papers that the connlc'
waged at Washington between two depart
ments of the government resulted from an in-
herent fault OF the United States Constitution
retorts by pointing to the occurrence OF what
il deems an analogous conflict between the
present ministry and the House OF Commons.
Events, it argues, are moving rapidly In Eng
land rs well as the United States, and the
political system OF the former country Is hkaly
to undergo even more severe test than the
one through which that of the other Is no"
passine. Where, then" asks the Post is
the superiority Of the boosted system OF gov
eminent by cabinet?" And 1t continues:
Is it not plain that man in the place OF Mr.. DIS
raei with The control Of the army and the navy,
and of eli the machinery OF government, mignt
BECOME more dangerous to the lioerues OF the
people than any American presidentf Ihere i
no CONSTITUTIONAL method OF removing MN whaf
ever II his sense OF self-respect Will not induce
him 10 resign, when defeated 10 the House, a. it
does not induce MIR Disrae 10 resign, the use
may IN year or less, by Withholding supplies
make IL very diff ult T. carry on the adminlsua-
tiop. But mean while, he may inrencn himself
strongly against the nation; and, on any threat Vi
lnpeachmebt he may dissolve Parhtm1nt.
All the dangers OF usurpa Ion aud OF conuict
then, which our English friends have feared IN
our Constitution. appear TO exist IN much hlgher
d, gree in their own. The excitement aud pas
SO stirred among the people by the present et-
fort 10 remove the head of the government, are
far more serious in England than here. Ana
should actual crisis arise. IN which violence
~ uhhridled ambition should make a formldaole
effort to seize the instruments Of rule Ia the III
Iertst Of tyranny, the experience of the less se
we're tests To Whoh both governments nave re-
cenly b. subjected, seems 20 indicate that tne
= & IL ttnuT IA Of a
our institutions as in those OF Great Britain.
There is no such constitutional parallel be-
tween Mr. johnson and Mr.. Disraeh as our
New York contemporary assumes to exist.
| The President is not called upon by self-re-
/ spect, or any other sentiment by precedent,
by custom, tradition, or explicit mandate OF
the Constitution, to resign when defeated in
the House of Representatives or in the whole
Congress- The United States executive and
the English cabinet are not counterparts OF
each other. There is more analogy, IN con-
stitutional theory, between President john
son and Queen Victoria, than between Presl-
dent johnson and Minister Disraeli. 1t is
an almost universal mistake with American
writer's to suppose the English government to
be purely parliamentary, and in fact, If moi
in form, a prototype of the. Legislative oligar
ehy which a class of revolutionary politician;
would like to establish in this country. The
supremacy of the English Parliament was
never either normal or formal. Its existence
in the rare instances when it did occur, wa
strictly exceptional and transient, marking
periods of interregnum, CONFUSION and tran
sition. The Parliament which overthrev
Charles / was an example of the longest con
tinuance of such supremacy; and it was als'
an example of the corruption and oppression
incident to unchecked power of legislation
and of the final incompetency of an assem-
bly, possessing this power to constitut
an efficient, peaceful selfsustaining an
stable system of government The Lon
, Parliament, with fatal progression, degener
} ated into the Rump, and the Rump was, Il
due course, kicked out by Cromwell. And S
intolerable a nuisance and a scandal had
become, with its 90 Pride's purges and othe
, outrages to personal, political or religion
liberty, that no intelligent, honest and decen
7 Englishman regretted to see the despotism c
, Parliament replaced by the despotism of tn
: Protectorate. We may not know, as ye
} | what strides in absolute power will be mad
: by the next English Parliament, elected on
} new and wider basis of suffrage. 1t is poss
t bic that there will be then no longer prim
. minister standing as now, in complex rel
: resentative capacity between the House I
Commons and the monarch. The vel
= power, so long in a state of suspended an
nation, may then become utterly extinct an
the ministry, in the blaze of Legislative usur
:, alton, may not have about it even IL
;, semblance or the shadow of royal prerogativ
;, as it subsidies into the body of Parliament
: sort of committee or caucus fox the CONVEX
n ence of the parliamentary majority. Nor mi
we know, as yet, what will be the end of co
- gressional encroachment upon the presiden
in the United States. But of one thing '
- may be certain. Neither Parliament nor Co
n gress can long maintain absolute power
the government if they should gain it. Eth
- revolution would readjust affairs under conc
a. tons more favorable to political equilibrium
: or it would seek deliverance from an irl
% sponsible multitude of tyrants by placing t
, country under the more simple, the mo
"A equal, and the more tranquil rule of a sins
despot.
FEMAIE SUFFRAGE