The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-27
THE REAL GENERALIZATION.

From Eoery Saturday.
1t is a statement frequently made that
fearful Capitalization is going on in our
Government which threatens to paralyze
the States and destroy individual liberty
Like most alarming. outcries, it seems to
us to have but semblance of justification.
Hamilton remarked in the FederdSst.-''Th
operations of the Federal Government will
be most extensive and important in times
of war and danger; those of the State
governments in times of peace and security"
Ii he had foreseen war, not of the ordinary
character, not such as the Union actually
encountered before the present generation,
but one waged by States themselves against
the Federal Government, how much stronger
would he have made his statement. Con-
curing with Madison in the saying that the
Union was not a monster whose members
controlled its head, he would have viud-
Gated the general exercise of powers by the
Federal Government which was assumed
during the war of the Rebellion. That Gov
ernment in a sudden and chaotic crisis, was
called to save the life of the nation. The
machinery provided in the Constitution for
ordinary exigencies was inapplicable, or was
thrown out of gear by the secession of eleven
States. The nation fell back on its inherent
powers, using the forms of law, following
precedent wherever it could, but confronting
the peril at all events; and it succeeded. In
so doing it showed itself strong where even
the most acute and disinrerested critics, like
De Tocqueville, had pronounced it weak
Undoubtedly that was a centralizing process
but it's results were of two kinds: those which
were temporary or which will recur only with
the return of a similar crisis, and those which
have entered into the working character of
the Government.
What, then, is the permanent centraliza-
tion which is supposed to have originated
with the present era? In a word, it is the
increasing predominance of the Legislative
branch of the Government. When the war
of the Rebellion came on it was found, as
has been well said, that Congress was the
| driving-wheel of the Government engine,
while the will of the people was the motive
power. The Judiciary was powerless, the
Executive could do but little more than
| await legislative action. And so it continued
! throughout the war; and the lesson that was
then learned, which England was centuries
in acquiring, will never be forgotten, and
the result will be to make Congress the
! predominant force in our Government, as
| Parliament is in the British Government.
| We know there are those who imagine that
the Executive has been gaining on the other
departments, and that the real Capitalization
is there. No greater mistake is possible.
The President of the United States is not
near so powerful in our political system as he
was even a dozen or fifteen years ago. Bu-
chanan, who was much weaker personally
than Grant, carried through the Lecompton
iniquity, which was much more obnoxious
than the San Domingo project, which Grant
was obliged to drop. Perhaps it will be said
that the removal of Mr.. Sumner from the
chairmanship of the Senate Committee of
Foreign Relations is q proof of the power
and interference of the Executive with the
legislative department. but the failure of
| the main scheme, of which Mr.. Summers
removed was but an incident, shows that
the latter event was chiefly owing
to other and probably personal causes
existing in the Senate itself. How the Presi-
dent fares in a direct issue with Congress,
even where he is strongest, as in the control
OF patronage, may be seen in the Tenure-of-
! Office law, with which President johnson was
lassoed. In whichever direction we turn, in
fact, we see this same process of legislative
ascendancy going on. Does the Supreme
| Court render decision adverse to the action
and views of Congress The court can be
reconstructed and enlarged by Congress, till
the decision is reversed. We do not say that
such was the history developed by the recent
legal-tender decisions; but we do say that
the example shows what can be done ia such
exigencies, and the mere fact of ability often
answers answers every purpose of its exer-
- u3n- In Mr.. Fishers thought
iui work on "The Trial of the Oonsti-
tnuon, great stress is laid upon the prac-
teal neficiency of the fifth article-that pro
Wolng ior amendments-Of the Constitution