be executed-Emancipation by the Government without compen-
sation would be unjust "The Union as it was" impossible—A
plan suggested for gradual emancipation-Constitutional diffi-
culties-Weakness of the Government-The plan proposed might
be carried out according to the Constitution,

269

CHAPTER V.

DEMOCRACY.

No Democracy in the Constitution-The Slave States virtually aristo-
cratic and oligarchic-Have no resemblance to European aristoc-
racies-Decay of the Southern gentry-Increase and triumph of
Democracy in the North-Elements of Northern society-The
Constitution has failed to prevent civil war―The antagonism be-
tween North and South because of slavery produced the war—
The Missouri Compromise-Why it was violated-Consequences
of the attempt to force slavery into the Territories-These con-
sequences caused the war, and were under the control of the
leaders of the Northern Democracy-Why did Northern Demo-
crats unite with the South to repeal the Missouri Compromise?—
And to force slavery into Kansas?—Why did not the Constitution
prevent the war?-Slavery not alone the cause of the war, because
the power of slavery depended on its alliance with a Northern
party-Abolitionism did not cause the war-Its true character-
Southern attacks on Northern rights gave strength to the Aboli-
tion party-The Northern people have never been Abolitionists—
The Republican party was created by the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise and by the aggressions of the South in Kansas-
The Republican party never meant to attack slavery as a
Southern institution-Mr. Seward and Mr. Lincoln-The party
of Mr. Bell-Democracy, as permitted by the Constitution, now
on trial-Our troubles caused either by want of intelligence in
the people or defects in the machinery of the Government—The
dangerous element that caused the war is in the Democratic
party-It was divided by the exactions of the South—Mr. Doug-
las-Social distinctions do not, in this country, form the dividing

lines of parties-Democracy in the European sense does not

exist here The Celtic race-The Germans-The dangerous

elements of American society belong to the Democratic party-

Equality of condition causes the formation of parties-Obedience

to party discipline-The party that contains the most ignorance

and poverty will be the most submissive to party rules-Analysis

of American society explains the cause of the war-Alliance of

the South with the Democratic party-The war caused by a small

minority of the people and by political leaders-The sway of

demagogues-Liberty always in danger during periods of tranquil

prosperity-The North was gradually falling under the bondage

of slavery and Democracy-The Union valued for the sake of its

material benefits-Abolitionism the only moral element left in

our politics-Subserviency of Northern opinion to slavery-The

spell, broken by the fall of Fort Sumter-The war caused by the

politicians and not by the people, even in the South-This fact

proves a defect in the machinery of Government-Nominating

Conventions-The low character of public men and universal

corruption caused by them-The moral and intellectual standard

of the Government below that of the people-The intelligence of

the people avails nothing if it cannot be applied because of de-

fects in the Government-Electoral methods-Lessons of the

crisis—What is Democracy?-Effects of equal and universal

suffrage—Power of the people cannot be applied without suitable

machinery-Difficulty of constructing a Government-Nomi-

nating Conventions should be regulated by the Government-

Changes likely to be caused by the war-Is the power to cope

with the difficult questions to arise granted by the Constitution?

-Can they be disposed of by universal suffrage and nominating

Conventions?-The war has developed the intelligence and force

of the Northern people-They must always live under free in-

stitutions, .

318

THE

TRIAL OF THE CONSTITUTION.

CHAPTER I.

A WRITTEN CONSTITUTION.

GOVERNMENT is a machine for applying principles and imposing rules of conduct essential to the well-being of a people. The machine is very simple or very complex, according to the needs and capacity of the people; and it varies with these, through all forms, from the chieftainship of a savage tribe up to the highly artificial structure of an English or American constitution. It varies, also, to supply wants created by the progress which a nation makes, upwards or downwards, to higher or lower planes of civilization, and is always "becoming" something that it was not; its "real being," to use Plato's language, consisting of the idea or truth it is intended to manifest and execute.

But the machine called Government, or improvements in it, are not easily invented, and when invented are difficult to get accepted by the people or put in operation. Forms, therefore, should not be rashly altered; and the only safe foundation for government is custom-another name for experience—the best guide in temporal affairs. No man or assembly of men is wise as the generations or as time, for time reveals imperfections, and the thought of those who feel them is set to work to remedy them as they arise. Therefore Lord Coke says, the reason that is dispersed into so many several heads were

"If

united into one, yet could he not make such a law as the law of England is; because by many successions of ages it hath been fined and refined by an infinite number of grave and learned men, and by long experience grown to such perfection, for the government of this realm, as the old rule may be justly verified of it, neminem oportet esse sapientorum legibus; no. man (out of his own private reason) ought to be wiser than the law, which is the perfection of reason."

The meaning of this is, not that the law has attained or can attain ideal perfection, but that the reason of the people is always employed in perfecting it to suit the demands which are made by time, so that the law grows with the mental growth of the nation, and fits its shape and stature always,— thus imitating, in its changes, time itself, which, as Lord Bacon says, "innovateth greatly, but quietly and by degrees, scarcely to be perceived."

Indeed, it is philosophically true that all law, in the long run, is and can be nothing but custom. A statute is a declaration of an old right or a new want. If it supplies the one or guarantees the other, it survives, and, with its constructions and the practice that grows up under it, becomes custom or common law. If it serves neither of these ends, it is repealed or amended, or becomes obsolete, or is bent or twisted by the courts and the people to suit the needs of the hour, until, by judicial legislation and the action of public opinion, it is made to mean something which perhaps those who wrote it never intended. So it is with political or constitutional law. It is either immemorial custom, as in England, or a written constitution in the nature of a statute, altering custom to suit a change of circumstances, or to provide security for violated or newly-acquired rights.

A revolution is usually the occasion which gives birth to alterations in constitutional law, or to renewed guarantees for endangered rights. Should the new constitution prove adequate to the wants and satisfy the wishes of the people, it is cherished as their chief blessing and richest inheritance. Succeeding generations are taught to regard it with love and reverence, and it becomes, after a time, custom or common law,