The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-06-21

turn over many musty page which in the
light OF events possesses none but painful
interest. The noblest men that ever lived
in all the tide of time were denounced as the
common enemies of religion and of society.
The people demanding only a faithful OBJ
servance of the constitution were 1.-The rab-
ble," preparing in the secrecy of the Demo
cratic societies all the horrors of the French
revolution, and Jefferson, Madison, Gala
tin, and their compatriots were JacObins
and disunionists.
HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF.
But the Federalist party and all its be-
longlngs were swept away for the time. and
no man of that generation saw its foul head
raised again. THE constitution was
saved" said Jefferson, Sat the last gasp"
The people and the states reclaimed the
rights which had been filched from them;
the doctrine of implied powers in the
Hsmiltonian sense was decidedly negatived,
and the process of consolidation was not
merely arrested, but reversed. THE ship
of state was put on her Republican tack
again." ornaments were reduced; simple
lty and economy became the rule: the fed
eral tax gatherer disappeared; the public
oebt was discharged; the territory of the
nation was doubled; the political prisoner
came forth from his dungeon; the liberty
or speech and OF press was restored: and
the golden age of the republic passed like
cloudless summer under the illustrious line
OF Virginia presidents.
History IS again repeating itself. The
election of President Cleveland at the close
of the term for which President Garfield
was chosen marked the turn of the tide. and
with the message in which President Cleve-
land struck the key note for this campaign
the standards OF JefferSonian Democracy
were again raised. In the election of 1883,
under changed names and new leaders, the
same great parties front each other on the
same lines as in $500. On the one side the
party of protection" or special privileges
the party of Hamilton. On the other
side the party of freedom or equal rights
the party of Jefferson. / have faith in the
result For years it has indeed seemed as
if Hamilton waxed, while jefferson waned,
but the question fairly before the people
and the political revolution of 1900 must re-
peat itself.
a simple statement of the systems of
Hamilton and Jefferson-the one the ideal
of the Republican party and the other the
ideal OF the Democratic party-will susi-
GENTLY account for the action of the people
whenever their sober Judgement" un-
veXed by any other issue. has been called
to decide between them. For free people,
intending to remain free, there can be but
one choice. The question is a perfectly
plain one, between fixed written constitu-
ton and constitution capable of indefinite
expansion in any direction considered de-
sirable by its administrators. between a
government of limited and government of
unlimited powers, between the republic and
the empire. QUE forefathers rendered
their decision between the two in the adop-
ton of the constitution of 1716, in the adop-
ton of the amendments proposed by the
first Congress, and in the total reputation
in $500 of the federalistS. who mad under
taken to accomplish by forced construction
what they had failed to accomplish by fun
damental enactment.
HAMILToN's PLAN OF CoERCIvE UNION.
Hamilton's earliest dreams respecting the
new government was of a grand, costly,
''coercive union"-a dream
which he found time to elaborate in the very
heat of the revolution. The British consti-
tuition was his ideal, and its worst features
were those which he distinguished by his
heartiest appreciation He made no secret
Of his conviction that, while it was as il
stood the most perfect government ever de-
vised by man, the extension of the suffrage
or the curtailment of the power of the min
istry 20 procure corrupt parliamentary ma
iorities by the patronage of the crown,
would render it abortiye. Upon this model
with all its defects, which in his eyes were
but SO many virtues, he longed to fashion
the institutions OF the new world. His
fundamental postulate was, not that the
people should govern, but that they should
be governed, and his next, that there were
but two methods OF governing them well,
by force and by intereot. When.
therefore, he appeared in the convention Of
1857, nobody was surprised by the extra
ordinary scheme of empire which he i'm
proved an early opportunity to develop.
Here is the outline: His first step was the
extinction Of the states; they could not CO.
exist with national government. For the
rest he proposed to follow as nearly as
might be the British model, being specially
careful to give constitutional sanction to the
worst abuses of that system.
sit is said with Us, he said, Ito be unat-
tainable. II 1t was once formed it would
itself. All communities divide
themselves into the few and the many.
The first are the rich and the well born 1.-The |
other the mass Of the people The voice of
the people has been said to be the voice of |
God; and however generally this maxim !
has been quoted and believed it is not true |
n fact. The people are turbulent and |
changing: they seldom judge or determine |
right. Give, therefore. to the first class a |
distinct, permanent share in tee govern |
nent. They will check the unsteediness |
Of the second, and as they cannot receive |
any advantage by change they, therefore,
will ever maintain good government Can |
l Democratic assembly, who annually re-
posed steadily to pursue the public good. |
Nothing but permanent BODY can check /
he imprudence of Democracy. Their tur-
,ulent and controlling disposition requires
checks. 1t is admitted that /
you cannot have good executive on the
Democratic plan. See the excellency of the |
British executivel He is placed above
he can have no interests dis
inct from the public welfare. Nothing
short Of such an executive can be efficient.
Let one body of the leg
stature be constituted during good behavior
" life.
Let one executive be appointed who
iares execute his power.
at may be asked, is this q Republican
ystem!
ut is strictly 50 as long as they remain
elective. And let me observe that an exec
ltive is less dangerous TO the liberties of
he people when in Office during life than
LET electors be appointed in each of the
tates to elect the executive (here Mr.. H.
Produced his PLAN, to consist of two I
ranches. and would give them the un- Il
United power OF passing all laws without
reception. (The sentence stands thus in