National Republican., 1885-06-13

been hidden ont OF sight. Those who were
In shaping the dNAiisof the structure
may not have cCompfuhcnded It's future splendor
Aad Mblimity as whole. II IL not strange,
therefore, that thoy should not have been
aware ofihe f1ll. intensive meaning OF certain
words they used, Ur Of the power with
ward change terms which they regarded
A. merely formal, or even as restraining such
sentiment I shall not pause to notice how
this WAS The case with the word ELECTORS" In
the clause providing for the election of the
President Ui the United states, 10 that II IL the
people of the United States voting In states
VINO really choose the President, and not a
body OF unchecked referees rs the trainers Of
notice The way In which other phrases have
exhibited an Intensive meaning unsuspocted
when they were adopted. Congress has
power 10 establish postJihceS and postrOnds."
Those who pennCd thess words had in their
minds few modest rooms in the larger cities
and villages IN which the mail was deI sited
and the country roads over which II was car
rled NJ not very close intervals In aaddlCbags
or In stages IOltng along NJ four miles an
hour. They had no conception Of immense
marble buildings, which were to be the post
offices Of the present day There wore only
seventy Ave posiOtilccs in 1890, no one of them
having more than one or two rooms in build
ing itself plain and small; in 1885 there arc up.
ward Of 5000, somu Of them OF az colossal
grandeur rs the most magnificent palaces Of
Europe. In 1900 the revenue from the depart
90. In i79J the poStroads were / $50 miles In
length, In 1855 ovCr 400 O0D miles. In 179J these
roads were of the natural soil, made none the
less rugged al least In the warmer months, by
a sprnklinE Of stones; in 1885 they are iron or
steel rails uniting oceans on Il continent. or
they are lanes Of steamship transit uniting
continents to oceans. so again a. to the clause
sanctloning he admission oincw states. Those
who peuued this clause had In Wow Vermont,
then not either state or a territory, but do
main, which. when II was cast of by New
York and New Hampshire, would bo rs foreign
a. Texas at the time of iu admission But, ad.
yauCng through the gates opened to receive
Vermont, aud Hyailing themselves Of the
right thus given, were aitcrward 10 be seen
procession OF future sovereign states then un.
known. First came Louisiana ~ tho
leader In this stately train bearing
the device Of Il pelican, emblem OF the Missls.
sippi river. wasting itself In AlluYial terraces,
from which rice aud sugar were to spring, aud
Florida, pointing on her shield to an Indian
scattering llowets, while by the palm tree on
the rivers bank comes up a boat. prophetic OF
the numerous Travellers who, In after days,
were 10 seek those balmy shores, aud then,
alter group Of western and northwestern
states, Texas, with tha lone altar ON her brow,
and the dates, In themselves histories, of 1886,
isl5, aud 1870. and California who shows, as
she comes up, the tracery on her escutchOon
oil II sc0ptcr stretched over mines with bound.
less wealth, aud hDrycsts Of unmatched rarity
and luXuriance, aud the golden gates of n
harbOr of surprising beauty and convenience
having All ocean almost to itself These and
other majestic forms, soycteigns yet asSO-
ciatod under u supreme head in n common
empire, the prophetic instinct OF the people
might have seen approaching through the
portals which seemed to some OF those who
them open only ior Vermont, yet
who u there who Is familiar with the people
of the United States but must feel that expan-
sion 10 the gulf aud to the Pacific was their
destiny and their purpose, The penmen of the
"builded better than they knew
Ihey introduced words permitting this exten-
sion, though had most of them been asked as
to 1t they would have answered that IL was too
great aud complex 4 territory for any one CON
icderacy TO control. And yet, with all this
elasticity Of the constitution, and with the
marvellous growth which has IAkon place
under it, it must be remembered that the
equipOisc Of the relations of states TO
federal government, aud of the throe
departments of the federal government
to each other, remains unchanged. The fed.
eral executive still bears the old relation to
Congress and TO the Judiciary; the province of
Congress remains i'll Its old bounds; the judi
clary, which It was feared would be the weak.
est OF the three occupies In majestic simplicity
the full prer0gatiyes OF II coordinate power
Nor, even ailer the strain OF civil war, has
there been any abrOgalon Of the sovereignty
OF the states, but the amendments to the con.
stitution which specify new exceptions from
state sovereignty. by these very exceptions,
the argument for that sovereignty
in its own range. In other words, the devel-
opment OF which | speak is intensive, not eN-
tcnSive: ID vertical, not lateral. The mine of
each sovereignty or department has bOen
quarred deeper and deeper, so az TO bring out
its own wealth, but not sideways, 10 Us to en-
croach on others.
The same latcncy, vet Limitation OF develop
ment, may be noticed in the fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments to the constitution The
primary and immediate effect of these amend.
ments was TO guarantee the civil and political
rights of the negro race But their secondary
and latent effect Is far wider and more mo-
nentous 1t involves ~ the perpetual en-
trlnchisement side by side with the land
owners, of the land tillers, and thus, in the
community of interests of the class SO
tlon in the south political power of which
they would otherwise be bereit And the
clause giving equal protection Of the laws to
all persons, and procluding the states from
depriving ANY person of lie, liberty, or prop
erty without due process of law" removes IL
great danger to which our institutions were
cXposed-that of unfair Determinations or
g,sgirPa'ion4ss by the legislatures of the
here there is no power taken from
the states and given to the federal government.
There is undoubtedly power taken from the
state legislatures but 1t is power handed back
to the people OF the states IL is virtually the
people OF the United States saying, through
organs little conscious OF the full meaning of
the words; First, tnat II there are to be dlvis-
ions, they are 10 he the friendly competition Of
and second, that while the relations OF states
to the federal government are to continue un.
changed, no state government is TO be per
mitted 10 give unfair privileges TO particular
persons, to take away rights except by due pro-
cess of law, or to undertake to do for thCpeOple
that which they can do best for themselves.
The last illustration | have to give Of the
omanatlon OF law from popular conscience aud
need may DC drawn from international law.
Since the fall of the Roman empire inter
national law has gone through and been
molded by three. distinct phases of political
life The first phase began when barbarian
floods rushed down into the channel filled in
part with the then torpid river of the old Ro.
man civilization, resulting in the placing in
JuSiapOSllOn within the same bank of distinct
currents oil population with distinct jurspru-
denCes, and consequently distinct conceptions
Of personal status as To legitimacy as TO mar.
rlage, as to parental power and us to the de-
seent Of property after death. As for genera
tions these currents did not mingle, as the bar.
harlan, respecting the higher civilization OF
the Roman, shrank from siibjeCtng that civ
lliEation to his own ruder laws, and as the
Roman had not the power of forcing his laws
on the barbarian, there sprang up, Us u neces'
sary consequence, what was called personal
law, which means thar the status OF lndivid.
uals Is to be determined by the law of their
race. The next phase was that of the
fusion OF these races within terrific
armnnon af 9SSnd Was 50 Sced ha, and race reDsi G
personal status imposed on all residents OF the
territory Of the particular sovereign. The
third phase, which Is the present, is that OF
tcrrltOrillity modified by the necessities
arising from that interchange of travel which
is an incident OF modern civilizations; travel
not merely for recreation or for pleasure, but
for education, for the lurtherRnce OF those
business cXtra.terriLOrlal interests on which
the prosperity Ola nation depends as IL groas
in strength aud wealth, a. well In subjection
to those political ylclssitudos by which exile
is sometimes chosen or Imposed. From thi,
condition, which, from one or other Of these
causes brings many OF the most influential
most useful, or most promising citizens OF one
country nom time to time within the terri.
tOrial limits Of other Ioyereignties a now and
important principle has sprung up. Visitors Of
this class, no matter how long their visit may
continue while subject TO a temporary allegl
ance 10 the sovereign Of the place of their 10
Journ, arc still governed as 10 status, II they
expect hnally TO return 10 their home, by The
law of that home. Hence tho country from
which such visitor comes, and TO which ht
hopes 70 return 10 lay his bones, 20 whose
mold he has adapted his family relations and
LII