New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-02-19
ENGLAND AND AMERICA.
THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION - ENGLISH
AND AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.

" LONDON, February 4.
II is extremely difficult for an American VINO
has never lived in England to comprehend now
little the English know about the CONSTITUTION
and Government Of the United states lhat
they should be familiar with details is not to be
expected but they are for the most part equally
ignorant of principles and OF the fundamental pro-
visions of this instruments The American Minister
has undertaken to enlighten them by an exposition
I'm the February number of The Nineteenth Cen
turyr How far he will succeed is question.
They have had means of information before
now 1t is the will to use these means that seems
wanting Professor Dicey has chapter on the
subject in his learned treatise on the Law OF the
Constitution Of England. Sir Henry Maine has
another in his excellent book on Popular Govern
ment Both are accurate In the main and as in
teresting as they are instructive. But they do
not seem to sink into the English mind. Mr..
James Stephen, son of Mr.. Justice Stephen, has
reprinted the American Constitution and sells 1t
to all corners for four cents; In the hope OF diff
fusng among his cUuntrymen some useful knowl-
edge of it. fear his efforts have met with little
success.
The most extraordinary mistakes are made by
the most eminent men in England; the most ex-
traordinary questions are put have been asked
whether the Constitution Of the United States
was in writing: whether the President was elected
for life whether the Constitution and Declaration
of Independence were the same thing; whether
the President could issue paper money OF his own
authority and make it lcgal-tender; whether he
could repeal act of Congress; whether an act
of Congress or State law Of higher author
fly: whether an amendment was binding on
State which withheld its assent to it; whether the
President appointed the State Governor And
once an Engshman Of position wrote to ask
whether thought it possible that copy Of the
Constitution of the United States could be found
in the British Museum. Lord Salisbury held that
the Supreme Court having been applied to for the
purpose of enforcing the. provisions of the Con-
s;itution, could not deliver Judgment according to
their c0nsciences because the soldiers of Presi-
dent Lincoln appearing ut their doors in arms,
so terrified them that they perverted the law to
suit the design Of the Executive" quote from
Mr. Blaines Twenty Years Of Congress" Lord
Pamerston declared in Parliament that Mr. Lin
coin and Mr.. Seward had the power Of making
If they could secure the sanction Of the Senate
The late Lord Derby insisted that the President
and Congress together had power in case Of
rebellion to suspend the habeas corpus. Lesser
personages have propounded even more extraor-
binary doctrines but the lesser personages need
not dctain
Mr.. Bagehot in his book on The English Con-
stitution' enlarged on the enormity of the power
exercised by President Lincoln at the beginning
of the Civil War I have quoted the passage
before but it can hardly be quoted too often as
an example of what instructed Englishman
is capable of believing about the United States:
" 1t has been held that the President has power
to emit such tpaper) money without consulting
Congress at all The first part Of the late war
was so carried on by Mr.. Lincoln; he relied not on
tho Grants of ConcrnSs bnt ON the a.
emission. 1t sounds joke, but it is true never
theleSs, that this power to issue geenbaclIs is de-
cided TO belong to the President cOmmander-in-
chief Of the army; it is part of what was called
the 'war-power'"
This was written deliberately in December
1866, by one Of the most enlightened of English
political thinkers. published rcpublished in book
form in 1867. 1t is only fair to Mr. Bagchots
memory to say again that, spite of his blunder,
the English part Of his work is Of the very highest
value.
Lastly will quote Mr. Goodwin Smith, whose
habiual accuracy reinforced by long residence in
America, might be expected to guarantee him
against error on point at once fundamental and
elementary. In the January number of The
Nineteenth Century" Mr. Goodwin Smith brings a
grave charge against the Supreme Court:
Without political motives, it could hardly
have decided that the Legal-Tender Currency Act
which forced creditor to receive payment in
paper deprecated that he lost so per cent of
the debt was not breach Of the article of the
Constitution forbidding any legislation which
would impair the faith Of contracts"
Perhaps Mr. Goodwin Smith will tell which
article of the Constitution forbids such legislation
to Congress.
1t would be easy to multiply such illustrations
1,t. 9TH 70 CHI hOxp
such an article as Mr. Phelpss is wanted. lie
has rightly devoted the first part of it to brief
account of the history of the Constitution and to
a recapituaton of its provisions. Americans as
well as Englishmen will be glad to see the obser-
vations it which this accomplished juriSt
promises for another paper.
Mr. Phelps himself remarks that it is probable
that very few even among the best instructed
Englishmen have q clear or accurate conception
of the Government Of the United States as it actu
ally exists. But for the diplomatic politeneSs
exscted of him by his position and popularity, he
might have said more. The exceptions to be
sought among the few men, like those l have
named above, who are jurists and who happen to
have made a special study Of the subject 1t is
conceivable that Mr.. Phelps's article may have |
been suggested by the multiplicity of questions |
addressed to the American Legation on elementary |
points Of Constitutional knowledge. Among the |
statesmen of England few indeed trouble them
selves to acquire a working knowledge Of system
under which their kin beyond the sea have
thriven England has been going through, since
1882, q succession Of political revolutions. She
has thrice remodelled her franchise and always
by extension, always in obedience to democratic
tendencies and demands Power, broadly speak
ing passed from the arlstocracy to the middle
classes in s32; in ls67s and FIR more decisively
in sS4, the working classes first the artisan and
then the agricultural laborer succeeded to that
splendid heritage What could have been more
useful to reformers during this period Of transition
than an accurate acquaintance with the workings