New-York tribune., 1896-11-22

Slavery vanished there because Il was useless
and the law had nothing to do but to recog-
nize a fact which was as much matter or
climate Of morals. The organic law or the
country which was subsequently divided among
the States Of the Eastern and Northern Mis-
sissippi Valley forbade slavery. The people OF
California excluded it Of their own motion. A
climatic law supplemented by provision of
the Constitution which Mr.. Curtis himself ex-
plotted IN an argument on the Dred Scott case
before the Supreme Court OF the United states
would have kept the institution out Of the Ter
ritOries north Of Texas. The deserts OF what
now New Mexico Arizona. etc. precluded
slavery and left territory to the IN
fanny. twin with the pet abuse of Mormonish'
which not already occupied. If Mr.. Cur
It's is right slavery should have died or IN
antion under the system Of compromise IA
vored by Webster Clay, Corwin, Crittendeh'
and indeed nearly all the statesmen OF the ante
bellum period
Mr. Curtis did not ignore the fact though he
mimimized it, that the slave power became more
imperious than as it neared its geographi-
cal limits He is less emphatic than he ought
TO be-not on the point that words are thihsS'
but that they are very different Things from
bludgeons and revovers. He is not half as Sc
we're on the man who dubbed Charles sumner
almost to death in the United States senate
Chamber as he is on Garrison, the ADolitlonst'
who was merely violent in writing on princlpie
one might read this volume and It's predecessor
through over and over again without ever find
ing out how arrogant the system or slavery
made it's defenders Even the Constitution Of
the United States will not suffice to keep the
peace when the alternative is between general
..o,;o. Of ata nua
But Mr. Curtis is right enough in advocating.
that sort Of provision which may obviate the
quarrels And there is no time better than the
nresent when the bitterness of war is past. 10
remember that the Government of the United
States was not established in anger nor in the
rivalry Of class against class. nor In the envy
of the poor toward the rich, nor in the interest
OF anv social theory but in the best light that
the wisest men who ever founded nation had
upon the matter of government Of the people by
the people for the people
The thing least to MIR Curtiss taste In the his
tory of the Union Immediately after the KeDei-
lion was the process Of reconstruction. lie
would have favored what he supposed to have
been the plan of President Lincoln. and he con-
demns the scheme adopted by Congress as Nio-
lation Of the Constitution. His chapter on this
subject is only fragment. however. supple
mented rather curously by the remarks OF tho
late Professor johnson. in which the actual
process of reconstruction is defended. not be-
cause Of It's legality. but because OF It's results
While Curtis dwells on the partisan motives In
the process. Johnson emphasizes the fact that
more was done for both whites and blacks In
the way of advancement In the space Of few
years than had ever been done before for an
tagonstc races under similar conditions in
period Of generations Probably the question
Of what was best Tor those times Will always he
an open one in American political history.
Meanwhile II Is to be observed that Mr.. Curtis
is an advocate OF the Presidency opposed 10
the enlargement of legislative power in cases
where the two come into conflict. Almost the
only instance where he generalizes outside OF
the strict legal domain is to be found in his
statement that the Anglo-SaXOn race has al
ways shown Il preference for dictatorship in
emergencies Some OF the parallels which he
draws between the American Congress after
the Civil War and the Parliament after the fall
of the StuartS are suggestive But the best
part Of these comparisons is the cearness with
which they bring out the fact that the men
who have Magma Charta for a birthright never
get so far from constitutional order that they
are unable to find their way back This ele-
ment OF political conservatism which has been
gaining in force and value ever since the time
Of King John Is better guarantee on the whole
for the future Of the United States than fidelity
TO the written Constitution. If the latter only
were 10 be depended on. not even Mr. Curtis.
with all his skill in legal Interpretation. could
predict what might happen when great party
suddenly chose to advocate all the political nov
elites in it's reach. He argues well on the value
Of the States as means for making expert
ments in which the Nation as whole has no
concern: but what he would say II he could see
the whole system reversed can only be guessed.