Year: 1866

and Congress.


The most delicate and difficult part Of
statesman's task in republican governments
is to keep each department within the le-
gitimate sphere of its powers and authority
Each department within its own sphere IS
supreme AS soon as it breaks down the
barriers that confne it, and encroaches on
the others it usurps its functions and becomes
tyrannical in proportion to its departure
from its sphere. In our own government 1t
is an object Of great care to restrain each de-
partment from its too evident desire TO gain
by expediency what the Constitution pro-
hibits 1t was a work of greatanX.ety and
,bor with the trainers of our Constitution
to divide the powers Of government in such
manner that while each had its own ap-
propriate sphere and could not encIoach
upon the other without violating u con-
stitutioual provision, together they would
form a mower sufficient to answer the ends
of the government. The Constitution
having for its object the protection OF the
liberties Of the people, any entertainment
that violates it either in letter or in spirit,
encroaches upon the liberties of the people
Some writers have contended that an time Ct
roQr the rights of individuals must be sub
ordinate to the public safety of the whole
Under the guise ofpublic danger thesei en-
croachments ,are submitted to as being neces-
sary to secure the public safety. Power is
always grasping. It's one Of its peculiar
tiles never to surrender what it has once
gained Under the guise of public danger
power makes eucrOaChments with which 1t
is loath to part Precedents but serve for
further encroachments and if they are not
resisted by the people the form of govern
meut becomes, in time, entirely changed
All governments that have failed owe their
failure more to this encrOachment of power
than any other one thing that procured
their downfall The English government
owes its stability, now, to the opposition
which parliament made to the encrOach-
ments of the sovereign. Numerous exam
pies will readily occur to all familiar with
history, where these contests occurred. Com
mencing at the time ofElizabeth we cannot
but be struck with that policy which, while
its grasping tendencies are manifest, never
theIess artfully withdraws them in time to
avoid 4 rupture, but to seize advantage of
another favorable opportunity. In the
reign of James L the imprudence of his
grasping prerogative brought him
into open conflict with his parlia-
ment and people, and by
the victory of the Commons over him, laid
that foundation for an opposition which cul
minated in the defeat of the arbitrary pre-
tensions of the crown. The reign of Charles
furnishes more apt examples, by the numer
GUS instances OF the successful opposition
which parliament made to the same policy
This opposition finally eliminated in the
civil war, where kingly power succumbed tt
republican government. 1t was a fearful
lesson; hut it was lesson which, learned il
blood, has left an example that not Englisl
monarch since that time has entirely forgot
The immediate causes that animate differ
eut persons, or departments, of government
in these entertainments, may he different
but their tendency is to the same great end
II is the duty OF the people, then, to resis
this eucroachment from its very inception
We hays now in our own country the legis
lativc department of the government strain
ing all their efforts to violate the Constitu
tion OF our government, and to fasten on th
people au odious bureau for party purposes
1t is an encroachment on the liberties of th
people. The remedy is not to be found il
animadversionS on the officers of this bureau
They arc but the creatures of the act. Th
remedy is to be applied in Congress. w
must Gghtit there. The President, discover
ing the danger, has appealed from the &C
tion OF Congress to the action of the people
The issue he has made is distinct, aud can
not be reconci ed. Everywhere at the NortI
the moderate, conservative men are rallyiu!
to his standard. Let the South join issu
with him against Congress Let meeting
be held and let the people, in endOrsin!
him, show that they are willing to suppor
him in the great struggle to perpetuate thei
liberties