New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-23
RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES.
A STRIKING FRANco-AMERlcAN BOOK.

peculiar interest always attaches 10 the
Impressions Of educated and intelligent foreigners
regarding American institutions. laws and Gus
toms That interest must be heightened in the
present instance by the knowledge that the au-
thor whose work is 10 he examined here mas en-
joyed particular advantages and opportunities In
the prosecution of his studies: that he IS not
mere visitor, but an established resident IN tne
country; that>by his profession. which Is that oil
the law, and by the principal seat OF his pfacuce'
which is at Washington. he has been enabled IN
n sueciol manner to take both broad and near
views of his subject and that by his thorough
familiarity with both European and American
jurisprudence he is in position to institute COM
parsons of the most illuminating character M. de
Chambrun has addressed himself in this volume
which constitutes the first part of the work he
has designed-to an examination of the rights and
liberties of the citizen in the United States
With discussions in name identical are most
of us familiar but il would be mistake to as
sumo that NJ de Chambrun follows the beaten
track or that he has modelled his study upon
those of his countrymen. Montesqnieu Or
Tocaueville The distinguishing characteristics
of his work are these In the first place. he mas
penetrated the significance Of Apglo-Saxon Tree
dom with acuteness rarely seen in foreigner; IN
the second place, he has kept steadily IN we"
and carefully pointed out the essential differences
between that freedom and what passes by inc
same name on the continent Of Europe.
The thing which has impressed him through
out is evidently the extreme practically Oh INC
Anglo-Saxon spirit in statecraft, politics and leg
islation. While making no attempt TO trace the
origin of this jealous insisence upon material
guarantees for personal liberty to that remote anu
obscurd period concerning whose deVeiopmeh'
there is room for so much conflict OF OPINION nc
consolidates and WHITES his view oil the operating
causes sufficiently. by taking his departure from
that central event of the thirteenth ccntury-ue
signing of Magma Charta. Here, he MAINTAINS
we come in view Of direct contract Det"een Iuiei
and people; contract in which the reservoir
rights Of the latter clearly recognized anu
from this covenant 20 the Declaration OF Anoe
pendence, from the latter to the es'aonsh"en'
of the constitutional government under which we
live the line of connection ana causatoh Pio
ceeds unbroken. But now, says NJ. de Chamoruh,
,nrn 70 the old French royal ordinances and
cartularies:
We shall doubtless find, either IN certain
articles of the royal ordinances, or IN certain pSss
of our great jurlsts provisions which recall inc
stipulations OF the Great Charter upon Ieuaai law
upon taxes and serviceS-but there the anadoges
end The Great Charter alone stipulates that the
lord sheriff or magistrate shall not aroIurarly
accuse free man alone II aeeiarss 'nSI dencs of
vnb;assed witnesses. And above all | have
found nowhere the equivalent oil that stipuIat1on
in virtue of which no tree man may De arrested ~
held or imprisoned deprived Of his property
or condemned. save by the lawful Judgment of
his peers or in accordance with the law OF the
land. The conception which has inspired these
provisions does not seem to have existed among
the French of the same epoch; and however one
NAV search throughout the English and French
middle ages. here Will be found the distinguishing
mark.
bo
The meetings of the States-General in France
during the reign Of Philippe lie Bel. anu sui
more TIE States Provincial Of the fourteenth cen
tury, have almost as fair an external appeaTa1Se
as those of the barOns, the counties ana Lne
towns already represented in Parliament. ms
observation may even be extended; tile Corte2
sure Of themselves and Of their power than is the
English Parliament of the time; hnaiIy the
Italian commones affect b0ider ana oroa .nr
theless / can nowhere discover. under these
osensby more imposing forms snyshhiingg c nse
those clear positive stipnietions uS %rta 0oA-
crete rights are established in Magma Charta
These quotations give the keynote of NJ. de
Chambrun's study Anglo-Saxon freedom, he
abors to show is the result of nccssant struggles
on the part of a tenacious, intelligent and clear
sighted race, to secure effective guarantees for
the maintenance of personal liberties and equal
rights His view of the causes of the American
Revolution may be thought to involve too strong
an emphasis upon the influence Of Locke. and to
Law too much stress upon the doctrine or Parla-
ments incompetence to lcgislate for the colonies
because of the theoretical predom1nance OF The
rovai perocative As regards the first Of these
influences, while its existence must be admitted
Its assumed scope may be demurred to. AS to
the second, it certainly came to be merged In
more direct and practical considerations long
before the quarrel eliminated that is so far as
the mass of the cOlonists was concerned But
NJ de Chambrun is perfectly right in attaching
the greatest weight to the bearing upon Anne risaI
no less than upon English development of that
common law which embodes and represents th'
most ancient customs and usages. and the prin
ciple which experience has shown to be the mos
necessary to the maintenance of freedom
In highly interesting chapter on Equality
the author remarks upon the failure OF TIN
American state-founders to carry out their pro
fessed principles. Here. he thinks. they rathe
followed the Continental fashion than the Anglo
Saxon. They put the theory Of equality int
their instruments. but they took no steps TO appl
the theory At this point the laws of inherit
ance and succession and other customary statute
dating far back interfered directly with tn
new theory, and in fact made its experimental
application impossible. Here again the Frencl
legislation is compared. The Revolution, a
crystallzed in the Code Napoleon did actua
produce and enforce the equality which tn
Americans only talked of. But at what price
NJ de Chambrun is of opinion that notwithstand
ing the appearance of contradiction. the Anglo
Saxon instinct was true in this case also Tn
French secured legal equality at the cost O
individual liberty; the Americans let the appear
ance of equality 60, in order to preserve individua
freedom. This whole question is subjected I
elaborate examination, and the conclusions Q
NJ de Chambrun are often luminous and strongl
suggestive. Thus he fluids in the common lay
which underlies both English and American libel
ties one of the most powerful hindrances to th
spread of tie theory of equality. The commo
law, he holds, is of aris,ocratio origin in grea
part, and thence arises this tendency; but it
so elastic and facle of adaptation that it accommt
dates itself readily 10 democratic institution