The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-06-25

LIMITED AND LOC4ErZED GOvHRF-
MENT.

MENT.
Necessltv for LjmattatlWms UpOn the
Fewer ofCSnsress.
Hon. Clarkscnx n. Potter, a dis
tinguished New York Democrat, in q
letter to the Herald, expresses the fol-
lowing sound Democratic news:
What is q party organization for but
to carry intoeffect the measures It sls-
tains Purity, economy, efficiency, re-
form, are not measures, but ends. IL o
party has no measures to support, but
only men, II has ceased to be party OF
principle, and has become persona!
party. It is indeed well to have good
men to administer government, but It is
ment. The one ends with the man-the
other remains In permanence. Ii our
system Of government is now as per-
feot as possible, then, indeed, the only
thing to be done is to secure the best
possible administration OF 1t. But II
the evils which exist arise from defects
in our government, which result from
the inability OF those who framed the
government to foresee such evils, and
therefore to guard against them and II
these deficiencies In the government
can be remedied (as they have been In
large part In other governmentsl. surely
III lS Tile pHTb VI WlSuvIu w lCuiCOJ ohOb
in our government. Doutless, IL every
body were good, we should have no such
evils. Doubtless, we want purer and
better people. But 1t Is the duty OF the
statesman to make the best OF the ex-
listing condition Of things; and, taking
people as they are, to so regulate
and administer government as to
bring about for the people,
as they are, the best practical
results. While popular government
continues in go vast country as ours,
there must generally be two parties.
One for having the governing powers
do much, the other for having them do
little, one for having the exercise OF
government centralized, the other for
having IL localized. The Democracy Ia
the party which is for limited and for
localized government. 1t exists, there
fore, by the very necessities OF the case,
aud It. or some other party to a like
end, must continue to exist. But the
conditions to which limited or localized
government are to be applied now differ
wholly from the conditions to which our
fathers applied them, and yet we talk
about them as IL they were the same.
We hold fast to the methods rather
than to the principles which our fathers
established. and still hope to secure
Of the powers OF the Federal Govern
ment. without regard to the changes In
the condition of the country which have
taken place. We favor the rights OF
States, although such rights have no
value except 50 far as, by means OF
them. we preserve the rights OF indi-
viduals. For when the fathers sought
to preserve the rights Of States, their
purpose was, In thus restricting the
power OF the Federal Government, to
better preserve the liberty Of the people
within the States. SO far as they re-
trained from granting powers to the
National Government which they estab-
lished; SO far rs they put limitations
upon the exercise by that Government
OF the powers granted to IL, their con-
slant object was, by thus limiting and
to better secure the liberties of
the people. And a strict construction
of the Federal Constitution did, In
those days, secure good govern
ment. For when this Government
was established, 1t embraced bat
100000 of people. scattered along the
Atlantic sea board. In spare communi-
ties. separated by wide differences. with
little communication, less trade and no
riches. Unlike in origin, unlike In
ubUltS, uullhO III tlduStiiNS Wh6u obC
people of those States yielded to the
National Government which they es-
tablished they yielded with apprehen-
sion. as power given to be exercised by
strangers. and which only pressing
necessity justified them in delegating.
But all this has changed. Forty-tive
millions of people occupy the continent
from ocean to ocean, knit together as
our fathers never dreamed of, by land
ways and waterways, by the steamboat
and the railway, and kept by the tele-
graph in constant communication each
with the other. So that the last gener-
alton has grown up homogeneous In
language, In origin, in occupation
strong In the pride Of q common ma
tionality; careless Of the dual nature Of
our government, and regarding the
Federal government not rs co-equal
government, with partial and separate
authority, but as a paramount. govern
ment with general supreme authority.
Such people may naturally be ex
pected to listen with impatience to opin-
Ions which once generally prevailed.
and to regard as dangerous truths
which every statesman at one time
avowed. And yet the necessity for
limitations upon the power Of Congress
Is greater now than ever before, and
that, too, in respects inevhich no strict
ness In the construction Uf the Federal
Constitution can avail US.