New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-23


fessonal. politicians. and he observes
Forbid IL that I should repeat here the unjust
sIurs with which too commonly all who are CON
temptuously called politicians are aS S
there politicians who VIII so'nc nay tbore are
distinguished statesmen and great men there aie
many who have acquired gradually anu honts'S
a precious experience Of men ana anairs; 'nJ ,s
who have had business WIN .em , r a%~ 81
which they are the objects, will bear witness 70
the truth of what say IL is 70 sucn sp pP;ah
from the erroneous or nlppan. snainsf noIiti
clans And here l would ask those VINO hase
had to do with men of Importance IN taeir P'a LIS
or in Congress. how many tney nave iounu W..
have been seduced by promises or Dought WIN
gold There is q very simple means OF tfsune
such charges let any one take list oil the t%enIy
or twenty-five United States senator's VINO iesu anu
govern that great Assembly; let him examine IN
rigorous detail the antecedents Of each one, ana
their means of subsistence; then be Will De IN a
position to form an intelligent Judgment. And !,
came to the conc usion amounting TO unreserved
acouittal The same may be said OF the HOUSE
of Representatives and OF the high feoeral ON,
cials IL there are some scandals In a land OF
pitiless publicity, the investigations when tney
have provoked have. in the majority OF instances,
established the perfect honesty OF the pody
We must pass over several chapters deserving of
comment merely remarking that all We have
said of the preceding ones applies with equal force
10 those on the duality of American rights and
obligations as regulated by State and Federal con-
situations and laws and those on the judicial
power, wherein the author thus enforces his
central theory of the practical persistence which
is at the foundation of Anglo-Saxon freedom
Thus the American social construction is built
upon the model We have partly described II con,
teins first the English common law. modineu
solely by colonial statutes and Judgments DuS
preserved in its integrity so far as the rights OF
the individual are concerned then come the STATE
q hair oyn1io
tue of which it is stipulated between the people
and the Government established by the people
that individual rights shall always and every
where he above abuse by the constituted authorl-
ties Last, the delegations of power made by the
people to the Federal Government are accompanied
by contract similar to that entered into Detwceh
the citizens and the State Governments Observe
well the precautions taken; nevertheless these pre-,
cautions have not been thought sufficient; ana
here the American people. resuming and complet-
ing the work of their English ancestors. ha Et
perceived that the most solemn declarations might
easily be gotten, that all the guarantees stipulated
in advance might become futile, II tue GUARDIAN,
ship Of these contracts between the geo9ie ana
judiciary always at hand and always in readiness
TO act.
Surely this is an admirably compact and accurate
presentation Of the central facts OF American
Government.
The care and tforonghness with which M. de
Chambrun has studied the constitutional history
of the United States are shown in many ways:
for instance in his comment upon the way In
which the Interpretation of the Constitution came
to be vested in the Supreme Court in default of
any Constitutional provision directing or author
ling that arrangement. There are, perhaps, not
many native historical students who could have
discussed this point with more eruditlon. or
brought to It's calculation more opposite Illus
trations and citations. NJ. de Chambrun, IN
frovn
decision of the Supreme Court or from some recog-
nized legal classic in point and the weight OIL MS
conclusions is thus considerably increased. In
considering the judicial Power in its Relations
with the Liberty Of the Man and the Citizen, he
has some suggestive observations upon the effect
of the diverse legal systems Of England and
France in separating those nationalities and fore
ing them into wholly different lines of develop
ment Thus he shows that in 1915, when Magma
Charta declared that Englishman should De
imprisoned or deprived of his property or MS
rights save by the Judgment of his peers. the
House of Capet had almost established the Jurs-
diction of the royal parliaments and the triumph
of Roman principles and in 1884 the hand OF ot.
Louis was put to royal ordinance establishing
torture. "Since then he proceeds, THE TWO
systems of law have separated more and more
every day, to such effect that Anglo-SaXon ana
Franco Roman institutions have scarcely any
thing more in common: under these systems have
been formed two peoples, 50 different one from the
other that it is only by great mental exertioh
one of them is able 10 comprehend the other
institutions. How curious chapter of literary
history this subject might suggest When
Montesquieu, in pages as immortal as the human
mind. treats of the constitution of England, he
| Describes with strokes Of genus the mechanism
%bo
liberties Of the English subject appear hardly u
| have attracted his attention. May not similar
| observation be made upon another great writer
| upon him who explained American democracy 70
| France and Europe-and may IL not be asked no"
| so deep thinker so ingenious an analyst, couit
| have allowed the BEST the most vital element IL
| AnGlo-Saxon institutions, to escape him !? nave
named Montesquieu and Nj. de TocqueVihe'
| might with even better reason extend these re-
marks to those patient Germans who have writer
| in this century upon England and the Cni'et
| States: the reproach of theiF often very remark
able works. in truth. is that they have arrested
| their researches at the surface of Anglo-oaXoi
society, and merely described institutions; IN
word, they have ignored man and his rights.
Once more he strikes the keynote of his treatis
the preservative force Of AnglO-Saxon attention
to the execution of guarantees-in s'fikin'
passage Of comparison:
| The declaration of the rights of man and o
the citizen, which appears at the head oil tiI
French Constitution of 1871, is, on the wh0 ,Dt
we'll conceived; it is q tolerably satisfactory ia
| of didactic The meaning is plain, the word
we'll chosen In fine, the composition is infnite.
superior to that of nearly all the declarations
rights adopted in the United states during I'm
TO this document? Simply life. 1t atlirms rights
but no one has thought Of asking, either then o
since, why this declaration of rights was made a'
and what power TO protect the rights so az
ciared, in everyday life. The result is that It
nothing but a fairly good experiment IN poitic'
nb;iosonhy Constitutions have succeeded on
another rapidly, each one containing its declare
ton Of rights; and that was the end Of the matter
We regret that it is not possible here TO eN
anime with the which it deserves NJ. d
Chambrun's review Of the Code Napoleon and 1t
effects upon national life; but it is to be hope
that his work will he translated into English be
fore long. and thus be placed within the reach @
|