National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-06-04
THE POLIrICAL "nIDERs." :"


veto the following sentence, which is at
tracing much attention;
This bill recognizes the authority and duty
of the United States to appoint supervisors to
guard and scrutnize the Congressional cleo
tious, but it denies to the Government of the
United states all power to make its supervi5-
ion etfeCtual,
This utterance prompts the remark that
the legislation and coincident debates of the
Congress now in session indicate clearly
that the Democrats ignore the plain fact
that one of the marked differences between
the articles of Confederation and the Consti-
tuition of the United States was that under
the Confederation the Congress was
the sole depository of all Federal
power. THE Confederation" says MADI-
SON, lin Federdlist No. 35,) held the
command ofthe army" On the other hand
the whole people of the United States, by
| their Constitution, have created the office
of President of the United States and Com
mander-in- Chief of the Army and Navy,
and have vested, by the terms of the Consti-
tuition, in the President and Commander-in-
Chief the power to execute the laws and
preserve, protect, and defend the Consttu-
ton. When that instrument was on trial
for its deiiverance before the people of the
several States its ratification was opposed
on the ground that it conferred upon Con-
gress and the Executive unlimited power.
To all such objections-and they were nu-
merous in every yState-ALEXANDER HAM
ILToN, speaking to the listening people of
all the States, and urging them not to reject
that matchless instrument that bore the
name of WASHINGTON, said:
These powers ought to exist without limita.
ton, because it is impossible to foresee or de-
fine the extent and variety of national exigen-
cies and the correspondent extent and variety
of the means which may be necessary to sat
sfy them. 1t must be admitted as a
necessary consequence that there can be no
Limitation of that authority which is to pro-
vide for the defense and protection of the COM
munity in any manner essential to its efficacy.
" II This is one of the truths which to a
correct and unprejudiced mind carries its own
evidence along with 1t, and may be obscured
but cannot be made palmer by argument ol
reasoning. 1t rests upon axioms as simple as
thev are universal. The means ought 10 be
proportioned to the end the persons from
whose agency the attainment of any end is ex
| pected ought to possess the means by which II
is to be attained .-Federalist, No. 90.
In the same greatconte for the adoption
of the Constitution, MADISON, who was
sometimes called the father of the Consti-
tuition, said:
With what color of propriety could the force
necessary for defense be limited by those whit
cannot limit the force Of ofcnse? " Tht
means of security can only be regulated by tn,
means and danger of attack. IL is in vain t
oppose constitutional barriers TO the impulse o
self.preservation. 1t is worse than in yaln be
cause it plants in the Constitution itself neces
sary usurpation Of power.-Fsaerdiisi, No. II
Congress and the President are but tn,
agents of the whole people, and this powe
is but the power of the people intrusted t,
the legislative and executive department
as their agents, for any and every abuse 0
which these agents are directly responsible
to the people,
With this construction, proclaimed bot
by the advocates and opponents Of its rati
! fication, the Constitution of the Unite
States was accepted and adopted, and tina
construction has been followed and acte
upon by every department Of the Govern
ment, until the faction now dominant i
Congress, WHO Nlt tbu7l9kSLN Ollg III lutI
I indifference to anything but self-aggrau
dzement, have adopted a constructio
peculiarly their own to pave the way 10 tn
: qualification of their inordinate ambition
i 1t is consoling, however, to the friends {
If good government to know that in the
% headlong rush to grasp power, they hay
G fallen into such a maze of political ntricac
n that neither ARIADNE nor any other morta
II with love or perpleXity to sharpen thei
C wits, can devise satisfactory clue to tn
n labyrinth. There may they remain unit
It the people cut the Gordiau knot and r,
!. mand them to obscurity.
\ The trouble with the Southern Brgadiel
a and their Northern sympathizcrs is, thu
n they cannot diyest themselves Of the halt
;. cination that they are living under a COZ
t federaoy instead of a Union and ConstitJ
\ tion which make rs nation and to whic
q all the States must be subseryient. Whe
y they rid themselves of this deluson the
e will become happier men and better cit