The sun., 1904-06-19

comparison with the Darjeeling- -Lhassa
journey.
Goldwin Smith on the Changes In
Our Constitution.
There is no British subject, with the
possible exception Of the Right Hon.
JAMES BRYCE, who is better qualified to
enlighten his countrymen with regard
to the actual and prospective working
of the Constitution Of the United States
than il Prof. GOODWIN SMITH. Nor
have we any doubt that the article
which he contributes to the June num-
Der of the Monthly Review on the innova-
tions which time has wrought on the
American Constitution will receive on
both sides of the Atlantic the careful
attention that it deserves.
Mr. GOODWIN SMITH lays due stress
on the completeness with which the
contemplated method of choosing
Chief Magistrate has been brushed aside;
on the extent to which the House of Rep
resentatives has oeased to be delibera-
tive body; and upon the species of sub
ordination which that body, although
probably designed to be the chief seat
of legislative authority, has of late tended
to evince toward the Senate. He is also
keenly alive to the grave consequences
threatened by the inequalities of rep
resentation inseparable from the Con-
stitutional provision that all States,
small or great. shall have the same num-
ber of United States Senators, and that
the number of the Presidential electors
chosen by each State shall be equal to
the aggregate number of it's Senators
and Representatives He does not over
state the truth when he says that since
the admission OF Nevada to the Union
our Federal Senate and our electoral
colleges exhibit anomalies as striking
az were those which disfigured the House
Of Commons OF the United Kingdom
before the Reform Act Of 1882. He might
have added that the gross disproportion
between the political power vested in
an individual citizen of Nevada and
that which is possessed by an individual
citizen of New York differs essentially
from the inequality which in England
formerly existed between voter in a
rotten borough" and voter in a great
urban constituency, because in the for
mer case it is constitutionally incurable;
for the fifth article of our Federal or
ganic law declares that mo State, with
out it's consent shall be deprived of its
equal suffrage in the Senate"
1t seems to us that, with regard to the
future of the United States, a somewhat
too gloomy horoscope is drawn by Prof.
Goodwin SAITH. His pessimistic deduc-
tions are based mainly on the fact, not
only that our Federal organic law shares
the rigidity characteristic of all written
constitutions, but that, in this instance
emendation is exceptionally difficult
After quoting from BACON the aphorism,
If time, of course, alter all things to
the worse, and wisdom and counsel
shall not alter them to the better, what
shall be the end?" he asks: How, in the
case of the United States, are wisdom
and counsel to be brought into play?
He answers the question by remind
ing us that IF either party attempted
to amend the Constitution, the other
party would try at once to raise storm.
The modes of Constitutional amendment
are excessively cumbrous and difficult;
| so that to carry an amendment of any
! importance 1t took the momentum Of
civil war"
1t is possible that Prof. GOODWIN
SMITH, like all English, and like almost
all American students of our Constitu-
tional history, exaggerates the necessity
of definite amendments and fails to
recognize the enormous extent to which
our Federal organic law has been modi-
fed through the application, not only Of
the doctrine Of implied powers, but
also OF the far more startling and preg-
nant doctrine Of resultant powers.
Not that the assertion of the latter doc
trine ought 10 startle US; for we owe the
suggestion of the name, as we'll as of the
thing, to ALEXANDER HAMILTON. There
Is, as he intimated, sense in which our
Federal or National Cover nment must
be regarded as one of original and
inherent powers--powers that come to
it from the very nature of all Govern
ments; from necessity and usage in
government, when reduced from theory
to practice. All functions essential to
the life and processes Of q nation must be
conceded to our Federal Government. 1t
must be allowed TO perform every
national governmental function which
any other national sovereign govern
ment can perform, from which it is not
expressly debarred by the provisions of
the Constitution, Prof. TIEpEMAN, in
his book "The Unwritten Constitution
of the United States, mentions as cases
illustrating the employment of original
rather than delegated powers-of what
HAMILTON called resulting powers"-