New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-12
CONSTITUTIONALTSM.
rrs CHARACTERISTIC IN DIFFERENT
STAGES OF CULTURE AND IN d.
VERSE POLITICAL SYSTEMS.


THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE r ENGL's,h IN
WScs |. pa1H Out by Of
s G 'ss fSsss HSa'' Be-
Pyb, Of the uned STATS BY o he
tinted states to spain In Two Parts Part 6.,,I 10;
Ts' XIV Is 81 sSe S SSHi1SS0 octave
c0NsTITyrI9NAhLI H IFjN B OF rra nms
Two Volumes Octave. ID XVII 4s6 XIV. eso'
Harper Brothers
schwill Phi %. Instructor in Modern Mode. ~, History
he Tniye1siy Of Cn,caso m WIZ Na Charles H
Scribners Sons.
THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MOD, MOD,
to the Present Time. b, Charles NJ And I,osrr
Associate Professor OF History IN sTyn S MaMs
Scribner's Sons.
n there s word which more clearly than
any other marks the course and the goal OF
modern public life. II is a word like constitu-
tionalsm. Everything else can be brought with
In tie meaning in some way unless ii be anar-
chism and IL ia 10 be imagined that even An
archists will In the end adhere 10 some common
political formula But the tendency In writing
on this subject Is TO discuss II as II the world
was all made over politically about century
ago or at most two centuries. The present age
We are told in monotonous repetition. is the IN
dustrial age the civil age as compared with the
military ages Of the past and 1t gets its reforms
IN a wholly different way from the past This is
all very questionable In the first place. no
rational reforms have ever been made except in
the presence Of physical force. either latent or
displayed This is just as plain in the abolition
of slavery In the nineteenth century after Christ
as il was in the release OF the Hebrews in Egypt
before Christ In the second place there never has
been a constitutional revolution that was not
Industrial In its origin The House of Have and
the House OF Want. TO use a picturesque phrase
Of Mr. Thorpe's have always been at war. The
former is always satisfied with the existing state
of things whatever that may be. while the latter
can only he satisfied by new turn Of the wheel
Of fortune
Take Professor Wilson's voluminous study Of
the State and look back 10 the earliest political
reforms that are Of record. for example. Solons
new constitution for Athens. The little country
had emerged from conditions in which the
tradesnen and laborins classes were known only
by the name of some patron. They were now
numerous enough to be heard their own &C
count and numerous enough to break UP the
State II they combined their strength. Hitherto
their masters had been able 10 deal with them
as individuals and though they had not been
pered by load Of debt arthcially increased in
a dozen ways and the penalty Of debt was
slavery. In Solons time Attica was divided So
cay among three classes. the rich landowners
of the plain country the poor mountaineers and
the somewhat more comfortable farmers along
the coast. who had small fisheries as we'll as
their crops TO depend BY a very gradual
process step by step. these two weaker classes
came together. Then they were seen to be
strong enough to compel recognition. and the
men of the plain, who called themselves the
well -sired," saw that something would have TO
be done or the Industrial movement would end
In military upheaval. Scion was made head
Of the State. with practically unlimited powers
He was governor constitutional convention,
legislature and court Of last resort. all in one.
His methods we're drastic. He cancelled every
debt anG set free every debtor held as a slave.
He eXpunged every mortgage Then he changed
the debtor law. that thereafter no man could
be held in slavery for debt, and he tried to ac-
complish what has never been done then
since. namely. to limit the growth Of estates
by law He improved the coinage, he equalized
the taxes. and he encouraged diversified in
dustries. and he proportional the share Of men
in public authority strictly according to prop
erty instead Of according TO family connections.
In this respect he was as far advanced in con-
stitutonal development as Americans were al
the close Of their Revolution, which occurred
about twenty-three hundred years after he was
dead And all the changes which he made in
the organic law Of Attica dictated by in
dustrial necessity
II one turns 10 those modern phenomena which
seem most purely military. like the French EN-
pire OF Napoleon III and the existing German
Empire. one will nnd the industrial question the
first 10 confront him. The argument by which
Napoleon was justified as long as be was sue
cessfu solely that the French were better
of than they had been under preceding govern
nents They earned more, they lost less. Even
nnilitarism was profitable to them till IL came TO
an invasion Of their own soil Among the Ger
man States OF the pre-imperial period there were
particularist sentiments and preferences and
prejudices Of all kinds to overcome But the
fnal test was one Of profit and loss that went
home not to the magnates and governments,
but 10 every citizen and every farmer. After the
defeat and exclusion Of Austria, when the North
German Confederation compacted into
union practically indissoluble the problem
manned how get the South German States to
consent to annexation. While peace lasted those
States were at ease. They escaped the military
exaotness OF Prussia and they had their trade
as usual. Apparently content" says Professor
Andrews. with the advantages they derived
from the zollverein and from the secret treaties
of alliance with Prussia, they seemed unwilling
to assume the burdens that closer relationship
with the North would impose upon them" The
remedy for this was obvious. But two three
years elapsed before attempt was made TO
apply IT, There Is plenty Of evidence in matters
70 recent to show how earnestly all the aspects
Of the incomplete organization OF the country
were canvassed. Bismarck followed rather than
led popular feeling. or at least he waited till II
got to point where It was in sympathy with
his plan which as II developed was tariff