Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-04-17


A careful observer of the tend
ency of the times can not fail to see
that on every hand and in every
branch of the government we are
rapidly advancing toward consOli-
dation and Capitalization of power
as against the states.p u+
s'These constant violations of the
constitution are setting daily and
hoUrlYa bad example to the people.
Any violation of the constitution
tends to familiarize the mind with
the idea. that the constitution is OF
no consequence when it stands in
the way of our present wishes and
purposes -
These are not the words of DEM
Ocratic statesman. This eXplana-
ton is necessary. We are fallen
upon such times that when a voice
is lifted in opposition to "centrali-
zation OF power as against the
states,n and when plea is made on
behalf of the constitution of the
/. United States, the voice is assumed,
not always in a respectful manner,
to be the voice of a democrat, and
the plea is supposed to come from a
democratic source. 1t actually re-
quipes SONS moral courage to speak
properly of consolidation, of CEN
tralization," of the "rights of the
states" and of the constitution. TO
do these things is to invite the
charge being . democrat and to
provoke harsh epithets. And so
10 -, fI11
thoughtful words quoted above are
the words of one of the most BRILL
ant republicansin the United States
senate or in the country Senator
Matt Carpenter, of Wisconsin.
We have been accustomed to
think that the bulWark of civil lib
erty in this country was, at last, the
supreme court of the United States.
The Judiciary should be the impreg-
nable citadel of civil liberty. When
that can be successfully assailed in
this country by anti-republican, an
Unconstitutional, centralizing tend
encie5, the republic is, indeed, in
peril, If the eAeputiVe steps over
the lines fixed by the constitution
the republic elastic by suffrage, may
restore itself to the constitutional
condition. II. congress enacts up-
constitutionally, the people In sub
sequent elections and the supreme
court are the ample remedies. But
if the supreme judicial tribunal Of
the land is seized of anti-demOcratic
anti-republican, anti-pnnstItutional
heresies, and is devoted to what
Senator Carpenter calls the "cen-
tralizatiOn of power as against the
states" the indivisible union of in
destructible states, as a late chief
Justice described our political sySr
tenn, is no more, And so an Amer
lean writer has we'll said that sit is
in the history of the English courts
still more than in the history of the
English parliament that we are to
trace the origin and growth of those
popular rights, and of that idea Of
public liberty, proPagated from
England to America, and upon
which orr Anglo-American free in
stitutions' are mainly founded"
And ID Is added that ii has not been
so much by the aid of mercenary
soldiers as by the assistance Of law
YefS anu ,luOSCo mat y dIiJ Aieto
sought to Introduce itself into Brit
ish history. And this is an impeu-
ding danger in the United States.
Tho theory of the Capitalization of
power as against the states" seenis
to have taken possession of the sH
nrenne court OF the United States.
That supreme tribunal appears to
have no respect for local self gov
ernment-the fundamental idea of
this constitutional democracy and
the friends OF tlie republic may well
contemplate with eonsternation
this, its over-hanging and under
lying peril.
John Sherman, candidate for the
presidency, in his Mansfield speech
on Wednesday night, made q
shaInelesa. con fession, ana annouced
vicious purpose, touching theehar-
acter OF the supreme court of the
United States. In the midst of his
passionateiy partisan haTangne, he
practically confessed that the su-
preme court, as at present cOnstitu-
led, Is a partisan republican court,
and he pleaded for the election Of Il
republican president chiefly for the