Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-09-27
THE ATLANTA TR1-wEEKLY JOURNAL

was without u precedent, must De taken
largely as oratory.
Mr.. McElreath stresses the limitation Of
the powers OF government and its division
into three parts, 1.-THE separation of the pow
ers of government first suggested by the
tical application in the Constitution of Vir-
ginia, and was thereafter made part OF the
constitutions of the other colonies and of
the Constitution of the United States. This
principle is regarded as the most remarkable
contribution of America to the constitutional
history of the world" 1t was expressed in
the closing words of the Bill of Rights of
the Constitution of Massachusetts in 1880
in these words: In the government of this
commonwealth the legislative department
shall never exercise the executive and judi
ciaI powers, or either of them; the executive
shall never exercise the legislative and judi
cial powers, or either q them; the judicial
shall never exercise the legislative and ex-
ecutive powers, either of Them to the end
it may be a government Of laws and not of
men These last words-a government of
laws and not of men-Daniel Webster said,
were the greatest words contained in any
written constitutional document"
And this says the speaker, sis American
freedom-a government of laws and not of
the influence of that spirit which the Great
Charter breathed over their foregathers."
.. Remember, the English people in a
thousand years experience have found their
liberties were never really in danger as
when they knew it least"
1t was out of this that sprung the we'll
known aphorism, the price of liberty is eter-
nal vigilance.
The speaker gave the concrete experience
of centuries I'M the statemnt that, "if our
country fails it will fail through blunted
morality and quoted the third Philippe of
Demosthenes. But what is the cause of the
mischief? There must be some cause, some
good reason why Greeks were so eager for
liberty then, and now for servitude.
What is this? Nothing subtle or clever;
simply that whoever took money from as
pirants to power or the corrupters of
Greece, were universally detested; it was
dreadful to be convicted of bribery. But
now all such principles have been sold in the
open market and those imported in exchange.
by which Greece Is ruined and diseased.
What are they? Envy, when a man gets
BRIDE laughter II he confesses it; mercy to
the convicted; hatred to those that denounce
the crime-all usual attendants upon cor
ruption.''
No student of the American Constitution
can obtain the historical view to perfection
without familiarizing himself with the ex-
perience of the Dutch Republic for which
Motley is the accepted authority, though
Griffith's Brave Little Holland" based on
Motley, is more convenient. The barons at
Runnymede were imbued with principles of
justice older than English civilization and
looking far back to Teutonic ideals. The
American Constitution was shaped on the ex-
perience of Holland, or more properly the
Dutch Republic. Says Griffith: '"Original-
ity in methods of government is hardly pos
sible From the Dutch system they (our
fathers) borrowed the idea Of written con-
Senate, or States-General, the
Hague, or District of Columbia, the Supreme
Court with vast improvements) the land
laws, registration of deeds and mortgages,
local self-government from town and county
up, the common school system, freedom OF
religion and of the press" James Madison
and Benjamin Franklin both were students
of the Dutch system. The Americans took
warning of the Dutch defects and cured them
in their own instrument by srigid division
of government into three Independent heads;
by supreme court with extraordinary pow
ers; by providing one head for the army; and
President But the Dutch had a republic
and a written Constitution for generations
before the American was born, and out OF it,
it would SEEM sprung, in notable measure,
both the English and the American revolt
lions.
The American Constitution is not fn-