Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-08-21

4
met. Not till September 9Th did they
name committee of Ave, to arrange
and revise the style of the articles
they had agreed to; choosing then as
such committee Messrs. Johnson,
Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, Madi-
son and Rufus King. On the 18th
this committee reported draft, which
definitely provided that the legislature
Of each state should choose two SEN
ators, for six years each, each of
whom should have one vote. Con-
cessions were in order, In the conven-
| ton, at that time. Mr.. Gerry declared
compromise was necessary; that with
out similar disposition several of
| the states would never have had
constitutions at all. Madison argued
persistently in favor of provisions
which he ultimately waived. DR..
4 Franklin confessed that there were
several parts of the constitution as
finally presented which he did not ap-
prove-though as men changed their
views he was not sure he never
would approve them: he hoped, that
i for their own sakes, and as part of
the people, and for the sake of pos
/ terity, they would heartily recommend
it, anu that every delegate would sign.
| Alexander Hamilton hoped all would
sign: mans ideas were more re-
mote from the plan than his own We're
known to be; but he asked. 1T it red
4 sonable to deliberate between anarchy
and convulsion on one side, and the
i chance Of good to be expected from
the plan on the other?" Obviously
1 those views impressed him ard Mad
ison more and more, for in "The Fed
! eralist." in cooperation with John
Jay, they advocated ratification, in
pages that have won the encomiums
Of publicists and statesmen not only
of our cwn, but of foreign lands. 1t
is no doubt more becoming to cite
what those o. other lands have said
/ about that political classic than eulo-
gies written by Americans; and what
the former have said seems relevant
4 They have also expressed themselves
most clearly on the point on which
the word; quoted by Mr.. Root wero
uttel cd-the wisdom of leaving The
electing of senators to the state legis
latures.
All Americans recognize the wis
dom. is we'll as the friendliness, with
. which Ambassador Bryce has com
mented on our institutions, in his
american Commonwealth" Coming
. into intimate relations with us in
many ways. he nevertheless possesses
an advantage of perspective which no
4 American can claim. He comments
on what he calls this masterpiece
OF our ,.onstitution-mall this mode
of choosing senators for the national
legislature; says it was a happy acct
dent; that It grew up under the hands
Of the convention as the result of the
necessity of reconciling the conflicting
demands of the large and small states.
AS respects the executive functions"
of the senate, be says. at stands
alone in the world; further, that 1T
has succeeded by effecting that chief
object of the fathers of the constitu-
ton, the creation of a centre of gray
itv in the governm ent-an authority
able to correct and check, on the one
hand, the democratic recklessness'
Of the house, and on the other the
.'monarchial ambition" of the presi-
Ident. He says: "The senate, albeit
no. chosen by direct popular election,
does represent the people; and what it
may lose through not coming in inn
mediate contact with the masses, 1T
gains in representing such ancient
and powerful ommonwealths as the
states" He contrasts it with the Brit
fish house of lords, whose debates on
occasion he thinks rank probably the
higher, but adds: 'The senate seldom
wears that air of listless vacuity and
superannuated Incidence which the
house of lords presents on all but a
few nights of every session." He ap-
provingly quotes from Woodrow Will
son a paragraph which concludes with
: the assertion that the senate "con-
tains the most perfect product of our
politics, whatever that product may
be-" and himself says, "the. place
seems consecrated to great affairs. I"
Further, that it has been a stouter
bulwark against agitation than the
house has been; has usually kept its
head better; has expressed more &C
curately the Judgment, as contrasted
with the emotion, of the nation. He
adds that it has well discharged the
duty of restraining the propensity of a
single and numerous assembly to
yield to the impulse of sudden and
violent passion Mr.. Bryce seems TO
have recognized, at its full value, the
federal element utilized in our consti-
tuition and most clearly exhibited in
the election Of senator's He says:
Federalism, if it diminishes the col
lective force of the nation, diminishes
also the risks to which it's size and
the diversities of its parts expose it,;
and "To create a nation while preser7-
ing the states was the main reason
for the grant of powers which the ma
; tional government received; an all
sufficient reason, and one which holds
good today"
; To the above quoted judgments
of the author. of "The American Com
monwealth" should be added one ex-
pressed by another eminent English
man and student of politics, the late
Sir Henry Sumner Maine, who, in his
Popular Government" in the chapter
on our United States constitution, ap-
: provilgly quotes Hamilton in "The
FederaIist" as predicting chat the sen
ate will be peculiarly out Of reach of
Occasional ill-humors, or temporal, y
prejudices and propensities," and him
self concludes: