|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 4
We come then to the relations of the press and the Executive. We have
seen that all liberty is _relative_, and not _absolute_; that the
people, the sovereigns in this country, have prescribed certain methods
for securing, in ordinary periods, those blessings which it is their
desire to enjoy; that when, under special contingencies, these methods
become insufficient for this purpose, the people may, in virtue of their
sovereignty, suspend them and adopt others adequate to the occasion;
that these may not, indeed, from their very nature, cannot be of a fixed
and circumscribed kind, but must give large discretionary power into the
hands of the Executive, to be used by him in a summary manner as
contingencies may indicate; that this abrogation or suspension, for the
time, of so much of the ordinary civil law, in favor of the contingent
law, is not an abandonment of free government for arbitary or despotic
government, because it is still in accordance with the will of the
people, and hence is merely the substitution of a new form of law,
which, being required for occasions when instant action is demanded, is
necessarily summary in its character; that the extent to which this law
is to be substituted for the ordinary one is to be discovered by the
Executive from the general sense of the nation, when it cannot be made
known through the common method of the ballot box and the legislature;
that in the people resides the power ultimately to determine whether
their wishes have been correctly interpreted or not; and, finally, that
the Executive is equally responsible for coming short of the behests of
the nation in the use of the contingent law or for transgressing the
boundaries within which they desire him to constrain his actions.
The press of the United States has always been free to the extent that
it might publish whatsoever it listed, _within certain limits prescribed
by the law_. The press may still do this. But the nature of the law
which prescribes the limits has changed with the times. The constituted
authorities of the people of the United States are obliged now, in the
people's interest, to employ the processes of summary rather than those
of routine law. Hence when the press infringes too violently the
boundaries indicated, and persists in so doing, the sterner penalty
demanded by the dangers of the hour is enforced by the sterner method
likewise rendered necessary. So long as Executive action concerning the
press shall be _in accordance_ with the general sentiment of the people,
it will be within the strict scope of the highest law of the land.
Should the Executive persistently exercise this summary law in a manner
not countenanced by the nation, he is amenable to it under the strict
letter of the Constitution for high crimes or misdemeanors, not the
least of which would be the usurpation of powers not delegated to him by
the people.
The Executive of the United States occupies at this time an exceedingly
trying and dangerous position, which demands for him the cordial,
patient, and delicate consideration of the American nation. He is placed
in a situation where the very existence of the republic requires that he
use powers not technically delegated to him, and in which the people
expect, yea, demand him, to adopt methods transcending the strict letter
of statute law, the use of which powers and the adoption of which
methods would be denounced as the worst of crimes, even made the basis
of an impeachment, should the mass of the populace be dissatisfied with
his proceedings. It is easy to find fault, easy in positions devoid of
public responsibility to think we see how errors might have been
avoided, how powers might have been more successfully employed and
greater results achieved. But the American Executive is surrounded with
difficulties too little appreciated by the public, while an almost
merciless criticism, emanating both from injudicious friends and
vigilant foes, follows his every action. Criticism should not be
relaxed; but it should be exercised by those only who are competent to
undertake its office. The perusal of the morning paper does not
ordinarily put us in possession of sufficient information to enable us
to understand, in all their bearings, the measures of the Government.
Something more is required than a reading of the accounts of battles
furnished by the correspondents of the press to entitle one to express
an opinion on military movements. It should not be forgotten that the
officers engaged in the army of the United States are better judges of
military affairs than civilians at home; that the proceedings of the
Government, with rare exceptions, possibly, are based upon a fuller
knowledge of all the facts relating to a special case, than is obtained
by private persons, and that its judgment is therefore more likely to be
correct, in any given instance, than our own. The injury done to the
national cause by the persistent animadversion of well-intentioned men,
who cannot conceive that their judgments may perchance be incorrect, is
scarcely less, than the openly hostile invective of the friends of the
South. The intelligent citizens of the North, especially those who
occupy prominent positions as teachers and instructors of the people
through the press, the pulpit, and other avenues, should ever be mindful
that the _political_ liberty which they possess of free thought and free
speech, has imposed upon them the moral duty of using this wisely for
the welfare of humanity, and that they cannot be faithless to this
obligation without injuring their fellow men and incurring a heavy moral
guilt.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|