The Washington herald., 1912-02-23
his IMPRESS
ON CONSTITUTION
Hannis Taylor's address on Wash
ington Before Catholic
University.

| Asserting that the personality of
George washington was the greatest fac
tor in the development and growth Of
the United States, Hannis Taylor. l. l.
D.. ADDRESSED the students and faculty OF
Catholic University at Mcmahon Hall
yesterday afternoon. having as his sub
tect George Washington and the Fed
eral Constitution" Mgr. Thomas sha-
han, rector OF the University. presided.
Mr.. Taylor said:
Cicero has told us that the constitu-
| tion OF republic Is not the work OF
any one age or OF any one man. The
great German jurist. savigny. has told
us that the constitution OF a republic
or empire is simply one aspect Of the
national life; that all law. public and
| private, IL the natural outcome Of the
consciousness Of the people, like their So
clal habits or their language; that the
people themselves are always the true
legislators. Thus we know for certain
that state life. like plant life, Is the
unpremeditated outcome OF growth: and
that when state life, like plant life.
reaches the proper stage OF maturity II
blooms, and out of the bloom emerges
the constitution and the laws. And yet
the fact remains that as state growth
advances under the impulse of natural
law the process Is invariably interrupted
at long intervals by the advent of epoch
making men who sometimes retard. some
times accelerate the growth by i'm
pressing upon IL special laws that seem
to animate from their own personalities.
Rome Under Caesar.
when the law Of growth forced the
Roman republic 70 open into an empire,
the process Of transition was suddenly
accelerated by the advent Of destruc-
tive revolutionist, who cleared the ground
for future rebuilding Caesar made Celtic
Britain a part OF the Roman world; and
by throwing himself blindly into the
maze OF small Celtic republics and an
Initiating them. he made possible Latin
Gaul. the mother Of the present France
Few things have lived so long as those
erected on the ground that Caesar
cleared
When on Christmas Day, 500. Charlie
magne had placed on his brow at Rome
the diadem Of the Caesars. political dis
integration was checked by the genius
and energy Of one man, who had welded
unto one vast monarchy all the races OF
Continental Germany.
Code of Napoleon.
when the world was shaken by the
earthquake generality known as the
French revolution. a man emerged at
the critical moment who brought order
out Of chaos in France, and then made
the map OF Europe. Above all, he made
code which has encircled the earth
as one Of the vital forces in modern
civilization. Napoleon made no mistake
when he said that he would go down to
late posterity with his code In his
mind. At the height of his power he
decreed funeral honors TO the founder OF
a new republic in the Western Hemi-
sphere whose birth was destined to be-
c'1me turning point In the worlds his
tory.
In the life of that republic the
greatest single factor has been the per-
sonality Of Washington. Thus the prob
lem OF problems that arises out of the
history of nations is that involved in the
reconcilement OF the natural law OF growth
by which states advance in an unconscious
way with the personal law imposed by
the epoch-making men, who seem at
times to hasten or retard the growth,
and to bend IL to newer Wills II is the
business OF the constitutional historian
to explore and explain the processes
through which these conscious and un-
conscious forces act and react upon
each other.
IAN unusuaTy fruitful field for such
study Is presented by the constitutional
history OF the United States, because the
subs tructure of our complex system Is
represented by the States. the uncon-
scious product Of political construction.
while the superstructure. by which such
States have been held together, has con-
sisted OF two purely artificial Federal
constitutions, with personal authors.
only with such a background clearly in
view is II possible TO define the relation
in which Washington stands to the max
ing of the existing Constitution OF the