Year: 1874

lutte protection would remain to the States
from the ambitious daring of President?
Suppose the rioters In New York at the time
of the drafts had taken possession of the city,
what would have prevented their recognition
by the President had he believed in their
cause? Does not Mr.. o. Conor in his zeal for
State rights clothe the President with preroga-
tives as immutable as those of the Czar? And
might we not easily imagine a condition of
affairs so delicate between the Executive and
the States that by the very exercise of the
power conceded to the Executive by MIR.
O'Conor we could have a coup d etat?


The less the independence of the States de-
President or not the better it will be for our
liberties. If the arguments of Mr.. OConor
are sound then the Communists in Paris
should have been free from the interference Of
M. Thiers and the intransigentes at Carthagena
should have been protected from the armies Of
Serrano and CASTELAR,. We admit the logic Of
the proposition that President is as much
bound to revise wrong decision as any one
else. But it seems to us that in conceding
prerogatives to the executive Office we must
not clothe them with moral laws. or laws OF
logic, appealing only to the Presidents con-
science but we must surround them with the
sevcrest statutes. 1t is on extreme, unusual
and even dangerous prerogative for President
to have in his hands the decision of such
question as the recognition of State. We
would much prefer to see him deprived Of
any power of this kind. But when we are to
have prerogative that may change from day
to day-that President may put down as
well as build up-we drift at once upon
anarchy or absolutism. If such power
exists the sooner it is ended the better for
freedom and popular rights. Mr.. O'Conor's
logic is as perfect as a diamond; but we
can never have logical republic. The es-
sence of our form of government is compro-
mise, agreement, concession-not logic. The
evil effect of the war is seen in the un-
hinging and dislocatlng of SO many old tradi-
tions and customs In suppresslng the
Confederacy our whole republican system re-
ceived a shock, o strain, from which it now
suffers The fact that two lawyers as learned
and illustrious as Charles O'Conor and
Reverdy johnson differ upon the point of an
executive prerogative only illustrates this po-
sition. We have become less and less demo-
cratic. The independence Of the States is
fiction. We are stronger nation, but weaker
republic. The presidential Office has as
sumed attributes that do not belong to it,
which were never intended by our fathers.
The Senate has become so powerful and ir-
responsible that its existence is almost incom-
patlble with pure democracy. The House
of Representatives, which should be sovereign,
is only dependent auxiliary body. We
think the time has come for the country
seriously to consider these things not merely
as they effect Louisiana, but as they affect our
national freedom They should be considered
in national convention of peace and recon-
struction-a convention composed of men
like Charles O'Conor and Reverdy Johnson,
the true fathers and statesmen of the Repub-
lie, who would, In the centennial year OF our
national existence, calmly determine how far
the rude shocks OF wax had deranged the con-
stitutlon and what is needed to restore our
government to the simple purity of the Repub-
lie of Jefferson and Franklin.