New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-01

of commerce was the result in great part Oh tuo
restrictive policy of Great Brtann part also Oh INC
selfish and dscordant policies OF the different states
The cOnfederacy had no power to regulate tlaae no
power to retalate for unfriendy foreign legislation
no power to negotiate commercial treaties; ioi
what European nation would bargain with Con-
oress which could not keep its promises The gen.
eral distress produced the usual consequences
Ouack remedies were sought for the financial DIS
orders. clamor for paper money arose. ana when
it was demonstrated that rags would not be eX-
changed for gold the advocates of the paper
nanacea demanded tender law to force 1t into cir
culatiop. We have seen much OF this ioily
century later thait will perhaps be satisfaction TO
know that in the tune of our ancestors the deiuson
was carried TO greater extravaganza than IL mas
been in our own day. The coin in circulation
was of highly miscellaneous and conius
ing character Clipping was general; even
the Government was guilty OF II;
and counterfets abounded The corruption
of the currency was naturally attended by more or
less obhquity on the subject of debt 10 get rd OF
debts without paying them became the problem OF
the age. 1t is strange circumstance, which might
have justified an elaborate inquiry II only on ac-
count of the contrast with our modern experience,
that those creditors whose claims were nosI oo-
stinatey resisted were the soldiers Of the Revolu-
conclusion of peace was lasting disgrace to the
| country. But the mutual jealousies of the thlr-
| teen auarrelsome sovereigns who composed our
| confederation will account for many wrongs.
Each was afraid of bearing more than It's snare OF
| the burden One odd result of the popular confu-
| sion between debt and oppression was
| an intense hatred of lawyers. In conse-
ouence of the multiplication of suits the legal
profession became so odious that voters prescribed
| them "a knowledge of the law was held 10 ne the
| best reason in the world why man should not DC
| legislator" and the press in some cases went 30
far as 70 insist that attorneys should be abolished
Courts shared in the popular hatred. That Judges
should presume to inquire into the constituonaliy
of an act of the Legislature was held 10 he an al
pardonable usurpation. In times of popular DIS
| turbance courts were dispersed by the mob. III
| New-.Jersev the court houses were nailed ~. in
| Virginia they were burned.
| All these. and many similar disorders, sprang
I from the looseneSs of the tie between the
States weak Government always means
| n bauchty mob: and when the political
Reorganization is accompanied by financial
| distress the habit Of lawleSsness easily becomes
| general and very dangerous II was the attempt 10
| find q remedy for monetary and commercial eNliS
which led to the reconstruction OF the OcVerhmc III
! IN tbe basis OF a genuine union. The necessity Tor
|
soon admitted, but when the States came to act
upon the admission nothing resulted except
a mass of conflicting and incongruous loglsla-
| tion Zone State granted everything that had
been asked but closged the grant with the condi-
| ton that when the twelve others had done Ike
wise the regulation of trade by Congress should
become an article of the confederation. Three had
| determined the date when the act was to take
| effect Another had settled upon the time
the act was to run. -Four had suspended
| their acts till all had complied. Three had not
| given the act any consideration whatever one
| prescribed how the trade of the state should be
! regulated" No authority could be drawn rom
snch tumble of grants. How the states succeeded
| in the attempt to regulate trade themselves mas be
illustrated by a certain quarrc. between Ncw-fork
| and New-Jersey. New-York undertook 10 protect
her hucksters against the competition OF the jersey
| market boats exactly the same measure was at
| tempted by some of our wise irish Aldermen few
years ago); and New-Jersey retaliated By
| laying tax of $50 month
, the Sandy Hook liohthouse The evolu-
"a of the Constitution out of the attempt 10 cor
re. these and other evils is the subject Of most OF
NJ, McMasters first volume. His method oil
t.a,ment is different from that OF his predecessors
/ Considering the reorganization as purely popular
achievement he describes at fall length the meet
/ ings, discussions, newspaper and pamphlet con
troversies, propositions both Wild and rational
opposition both factions and sincere, which lei at
last to the convention and its remarkable work. 1t
will probably be thought that he underestimate
! the influence of individual statesmen in
! This labor of construction, and that
/ the Constitution of the United States Is
! hardly accounted for by what he tells us Of its
| origin. But however opinions may differ on this
point there can be question that he has presented
an able and instructive sketch OF the progress of
public opinion and political enlightenment at
| most critical epoch in the experiment OF popular
| government. Herein lies his best claim to our
careful study and our thanks.
The lessons which we draw from the history are
encouraging The American people at the close
of the Revolution were honest but they
were very ignorant. Their colonial experience in
self-government hal not qualified them to deal
| with large interests, and the lessons taught them
| by Great Britain were far from being such as they
needed 10 learn. They assumed the character OF an
| independent nation, free to work ont their own
| form OF government indeed but without guidance
| and under circumstances of great difficulty. That
they rose so soon to the requirements of the situa-
! ton that they got rid of many crude and delu-
slve notions by the simple means OF popular debate;
that T.. discovered quickly the defects OF their
first piece of administrative machinery, and with
out model, without further tentative essays Duilt
| an entirely new one which has trumphantly stood
| the test of hundred years,-that they did all this
is the strongest possible proof Of public virtue and
political capacity. We complain too often that the
national character has been corrupted But We have
only TO look back to the period of the Confedera-
ton TO discover that most Of the evil tendencies
| which seem to have originated in our prosperous
! days were much stronger and more dangerous in
| our youth. The rag-mOney rnauid, the communis-
! tic theory of debt, tho ignorant hatred of bond
| holders the belief in the omnipotence of popular
| legislatures 70 set aside economical laws
| are not new disorders but the scquele