New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-04-18

WcE0 touB0t 70 D0I0V0 IN 1Go necessity
to submit to it, to justify it, to aid it. Why:
States became hardly known to them by
name. That is only tradition and expe'
rience under which they have grown up,
and now they are taking an active part IN
the control Of our government. Is not the
mere statement OF this undenlaole 1act
sufficient to fill with apprehension the heart
of every friend of constitutional govern
ment and of popular liberty IN TINS coun-
try? 1t was my fervent hope that tne
party in power, when peace was restored
and the legitimate results Of the war were
firmly secured by constitutional guarantees,
would appreciate its tremendous RESPONSE
bility in this respect: that it would cOmpre-
bend it's great duty just because the ha bit
OF arbitrary assumption of power on one
side and Ot.easy acquiescence on the other
had grown up in times of great public dan
ger, to stem that perniciOus tendency with
the most conscientious care; that, instead
of continuing the practice Of CONSUMING
powers into the constitutions beyond its
clear meaning, it would strenuously insist
upon a conscientious observance of its re-
strictions; that instead Of permitting any
arbitrary assumption or exercise Of author
ity. it would, with watchful eye, see to a
faithful and strict compliance with the
laws of the land in every branch of the gov
eminent. .....
Has this duty been fulfilled2 We have
witnessed things of the most alarming na-
ture. We have seen legal enactments
passed, glaringly putting the most essential
guarantees Of the rights and liberty of the
citizen at the mercy OF the central power.
We have heard them justified on the
ground that the objects to be attained were
good, regardless OF the fact that the en-
plOyme of unconstitutional and arbitrary
means as a system to correct evils may be
worse in its consequences than the evils
themselves, and that the overthrow of free
institutions almost always begins by the
assumption Of arbitrary authority on the
ground that existing evils call for it. We
have law in force to-day, which, had it
been on the statute book before the war,
might, by liberal construction such as we
have SO frequently seen in our days, have
put every anti-slavery organization, as an
unlawful conspiracy, at the mercy Of pro-
slavery government.
ABUSES OF POWER.
We see officers of the government using
their power with adisregard Of the laws de-
timing their authority, as if power were a
law unto ITSELF and we see them do it with
impunity. In your own midst you have
seen private rights scandalOusly interfered
with by public officials, as if they recognized
no authority but their own pleasure We
have seen the President OF the United States
himself, in his anxious desire to annex ST.
Domingo, which scarcely anybody wanted
but he, give orders to the navy to commit
acts Of war should the ruler Of that country
be interfered with either by foreign power
or by his own subjects and this even after
the treaty Of annexation had been solemnly
rejected by the Senate, thus clearly usurp-
ing the war-making power, which the con-
stitutiOn vests in Congress. We have thus
seen an act committed which, if raised to
the dignity of a precedent to serve as
an authoritative rule Of constitutional con-
structiOn, will virtually place the war max.
ing power in the hands of the President,
and make the peace of the country a.mere
plaything for the ambition or arbitrary
pleasure OF one man. And we see these
things, before which the statesmen of the
best times of this republic would have stood
aghast, not only done with impunity. but
justified and whitewashed in the halls of
Congress and by servile press; and more
than that, we see the reelection of the ex
ecutive who committed so glaEfS1 an act of
vociferously deman4 by eager
partisans, who thus strive to stamp that
of one of the most essential prin
ciples of our constitutional government, as
valid precedent for all time, with the sane
ton of popular approval. What is the doc
trine thus practically taught That the
central power NAV do as it pleases, and
that the constitution and laws are to be
construed in accordance with its acts.
Nay, worse than that, we are told that
the people do not care about such things,
and that those who raise their protest
against them must be set down as captiOus
tault-fnders and disappointed soreheads.
Well, if it is true that large numbers of
people do not care about the observance
of the laws and the maintenance OF those
principles which form the
bulwark Of their rights and liberties; if
1t is true that the great Republican party.
is controlled by influences which are ready
to sacrifice the saDctity of the laws and the
to party advantage, then, l
say, it is high time that those who do care
should rise up with patriotic determination
to defend the laws and the constitution, not
only against arbitrary assumption, but also
against equally dangerous indifference. 1t
is high time that they should not confine
themselves to empty protests to be followed
by DusillanimOus acquiescence and submis-
sion to party dictatiOn. but act with all the
means which free institutions put at their
disposal. l repeat, action is needed. that
this republic. now happily freed from slave
~, be freed from every species of arbitrary
rule; that the constitution. not only with all
the grants OF power it makes, but also with
all the restraints of power it imposes, shall
again resume its supreme authority: that
The selfgovernment of the people shall be
in it's legitimate sphere; that the
aw of the land shall be again the law, not
,nly for those who are governed, but also
or those who govern, and that the whole
people Of this republic he again inspired
With clear appreciation of the meaning
md value of constitutional rule, and Just
ense Of their rights and obligations.
THE TIME FOR REFORM.
The time has come when this effort must
De made, and / confidently trust there are
till men enough in the Republican ranks
whom slayish terror of the party whip
will not deter from doing what they con
,eive to be great duty. 1t is time, say,
or another term of such arrogant assump-
ion OF power, and such wanton acUuiescence
nay furnish the hunkies of power with
uch store of precedents for argument
Is to bewilder the common understanding
Until people cease to look for ordinary
means Of relief. Still another problem is
imposed upon US by this period of our his
ory. AS this republic grows in population
md the multitude and grandeur of its in
erests, so the machinery of the government
rows in extent and influence upon our
POLITICAL life. In the same measure the
necessity increases of infusing into that
machinery a higher spirit of morality to
prevent that influence from becoming des-
'Otic and corrupting. But we are sur
Ounded by extraordinary circumstances.
)ur civil war, as all great disturbances in
history, has stimulated and fostered a spirit
f speculation and jobbery, which has made
ur public concerns the subject of rapacity
nd plumber to an unusual degree. 1t has |
nade our public morals easy and loose. |
Corruption and peculatiOn invaded our
olitical life with alarming holiness.
1t became the supreme duty of those in |
over to check this dangerous tendency |
nth vigor and determination. To accom- |