The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-03-31
CONFLICTING THEORIES OF GOVERN.
MENT.

CONFLICTING THEUhlES VI GUfEhh"
MENT.
We hope that, pending the arrival In
this city Of Mr. Hayes High Commits
gioners. we shall not hear any more OF
the senseless talk which has heretofore
been INDUCED In by thou htless people
about Returning Board quorum" OF
the Legislature. Such talk is simply
nonsensioal, having no foundation
either in reason or in law. We can un-
derstand that the leaders Of the Radical
party In this State should continually
harp upon the findings OF the Return
ing Board their object 10 to mislead the
people of the country into the belief
that that body pos sesses unlimited
jurisdiction In the matter Of counting
the votes aud declaring the result OF all
general elections, and In this aim they
have certainly succeeded to great ex-
tent.
During the sixteen years In which the
Radical party has held sway over the
Union there has been witnessed such q
perversion of the letter and spirit Of
constitutions and laws, that the funda-
mental principles Of Republican rep
resentative government have almost
been lost sight Of; at any rate, they
are practically ignored to such an
extent that the public mind of
the North receives, without that
shock which would have been oc-
casioned by the mere suggestion at the
time when Democratic teachings and
doctrines prevailed, the unrepublican
idea that the organization OF the Legis-
lature of sovereign State may be con-
trolled by board of canvassing officers
| who are the mere creatures Of a pre-
vious Legislature. The people OF the
Southern States have much clearer
conception Of the true character OF re-
publican institutions, and OF the real
sources and nature of the powers vested
| in legislative bodies. and Of the powers
which these may confer upon public
officers, than the Northern people. The
bitter experience Of the last twelve
years, the constant shameless violation
| of what instinct and natural sense OF
right and justice led. them to consider
as the inalienable privileges of free
men, has driven them to careful study
of the Federal constitution and Of the
constitutions Of their respective States,
to which they felt they must cling as
the only anchor Of safety within their
reach. circumstances have given them
a clearer knowledge Of the theory and
practice OF constitutional government
than Is possessed by the people of
any other part Of the Union. The
most superficial observer would be
impressed by this fact from q
mere casual perusal of the political
journals of the North and South. He
would notice at once to what an extent
the teachings of the early apostles Of
Radicalism, like Sumner, and Greeley,
and Seward, the founders OF the "high-
er-law" party, have bred in the North a
contempt for the forms OF the Federal
Neutrality-suspicious. strict observ-
ance of which the National Republic
cannot possibly exist in it's integrity
and a persistent disregard of the re-
straints and Limitations imposed by
that constitution upon the exercise Of
Federal jurisdiction over State affairs.
The great majority Of the people of
that part of the country, even Of the
most intelligent classes, are controlled
in their views and discussions Of politi-
cal questions, not by the law governing
any particular case, but by sentiment,
that is to say, by their individual no.
tions Of what the law ought to be. In
deed, it is a common remark among
them that the war abolished the consti-
tuition and made of the Federal Union
a nation every portion Of which is sub
iect to the almost Unlimited Jurisdiction
and control of the central government.
! The people of the South, on the con-
trary, abhor and reject every principle
Of government which tends to the GEN.
tralization of power in the hands of the
Federal authorities. They regard the
written constitutions Of the Union and
the several States as the source of all
governmental power. In this they fol-
low in the footsteps and obey the teach
\ ings of the founders of the American
Republic, who knew full well that the
j Union Of the States could not be main
tanned without preserving the autono-
my of its constituents parts. Moreover,