New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-12

not invited there. and II they had BEEN stu
they would have preferred the Nor'n"es''
Thus while the slave States continued to ADJUST
themselves to laws which relate to things 'he
Northern States. and. in the Far West. Califor-
mia. gained a wider conception OF man as the
unit in political life. With drawbacks here and
there and timid restrictions raised now on one
side and now on another. they still advanced
toward constitutionalism in which the social
weight the virtue. the money value OF man
was left TO his own computation. and he. GOOD.
bad or Indifferent was reckoned az one In max
ing up the state II seen that this was the
perfection of democracy. But was 1t good
kind of constitution for men to have In state
To answer this question would he to revie" all
the hopes and fears the optimism and pes
simism Of forty years. Mr.. Thorpe calls democ-
racy our political weather" and SAYS that like
the weather In another sense II has not always
been pleasant But the fact that 1t is weather,
something all outdoors and not merely an art-
fetal structure contrved to the purpose before
hand. is a great point in it's favor We may be
sure that IT never will be pleasant and uniform
It will also never become monotonous. An IN
finite number Of human beings busying them
selves at the same task will be sure in the END
to evolve something which no group of learned
theorists of the world together would have an
ticipated. The tendency OF American life now
is to transcend the written constitutions and to
read new meanings into them. The tendency
Of the constitution makers when they get q
chance Is to intercept the popular habit by en-
larging the organic law until 1t begins TO have
the dimensions Of code Of a treatise on the
rights OF man. Thus the constitution becomes
a sort of monument In the history Of state
showing what the stage Of political thought
at a given date Less and less is the in
strument deemed necessity to the life OF the
State Surely this means that the Nation as
whole is working toward that ideal point where
fexibility and permanence may both he at
tanned. America has not yet abandoned all the
traditions of the eighteenth century as England
has constitutonally. Legislative judiciary and
executive are still neatly DISTINGUISHED both in
theory and practice. II will be an excellent
thing to have the two nations proceed In their
evolution side by side. Whichever Of the two
proves the better in the end we may he
will be initiated by the other.
In exemplifying his historical scheme Mr..
Thorpe has taken typical examples Of con-
stitution making the conventions Of Louisiana.
Kentucky. Michigan and California In the
analysis % the debates out Of which the con-
processes by which democracy gradually made
Itself understood. TIE vital change from prop
erty to persons in fixing the value Of the polit-
cal unit has had far-reachng results. which Mr..
Thorpe describes generally as altruistic. The
landless man when he came into his political
rights knew what others were suffering. The
best appeal TO him since he numerousy rep
resented at the polls was by words OF human
sympathy. Thus. In widening the suffrage the
Nation opened its heart 10 thoughts which had
not been cherished much in the older world.
That was mainly why the first half century Of
the Republic will be reckoned remarkable In
history But in general 1T was a half century
Of Improvement, Of increase ~ domestic com
forts. Of more humane treatment Of the insane.
the deaf, the dumb. the blind, the criminal
classes Legislation in restraint OF crime. too
long vindictive in its purposes was becoming
remedial. Legislatures were compelled to pro-
vide educational opportunities for the poor.
Slavery losing its grasp. freedom was per-
vading the Territories and overspreadng the
States. Public sentiment. conscience-stricken.
was turning helpfuy toward the fugitive slave
and the free negro, but it was in defiance OF
custom laws and constitutions"
Professor Wilson's book is too we'll known in
its earlier form to need much commendation.
But 1t has certainly lost nothing in revision.
Mr.. Schwilrs book is. II anything. too brief for
the enormous activity Of tho period which 1t
covers II reads like a suggestion rather than
a treatise. Professor Andrewss second volume
lacks somewhat the perspective Of the first. but
the two. taken together. furnish the hest intro
ducton TO modern European history that has yet
been written Mr. TaylOrs work on the English
constitution is hard reading because Of the i'm
mense amount Of detail crowded into its pages
He seems To have missed little in the whole
body Of literature which describes and explains
that invisible hut very palpabe system by which
the English govern themselves Mr.. Thorpe
the face Of things. had easier ask. but when
we consider that an American constitution in
variably has written body and an unwritten
soul. It is not much wonder that he grows
mystical at times and occasionally oracular