orce passing under
the name of "the Blairs." But Congress is stronger than the whole body
of its opponents, and is backed by the great mass of the loyal people,
determined not to surrender all the advantages of the position which has
been gained by the profuse shedding of so much loyal blood.

"Constitutional government is on trial" in this contest; and Mr. Johnson
seems neither to have the constitutional instinct in his blood, nor the
constitutional principle in his brain. The position of the President of
the United States is analogous, not so much to that of a Napoleon or a
Bismark, as to that of an English prime-minister. In the theory and
ordinary working of the government, he is one of a body of statesmen,
agreeing in their general views, and elected by the same party; what are
called his measures are passed by Congress, because the majority of
Congress and he are in general accord on all important questions; and it
is against the whole idea of constitutional government that the
executive _will_ is a fair offset to the legislative _reason_,--that one
man is the equal of the whole body of the people's representatives. The
powers of an executive are of such a character, that, pushed wilfully to
their ultimate expression, they can absorb all the other departments of
the government, as when James the Second practically repealed laws by
pushing to its abstract logical consequences his undoubted power of
pardon; but a constitutional government implies, as a condition of its
existence, that the executive will have that kind of mind and temper
which instinctively recognizes the practical limitations of powers in
themselves vague; for if the executive can defy the legislature, the
legislature can bring the whole government to an end by a simple refusal
to grant supplies. In his Washington speech, the President selected for
special attack the chairman of the House Committee of Ways and Means,
and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; but it
would be difficult to conjecture how he could carry on the government
without the aid of what these men represent, for Mr. Stevens pays him
his salary, and Mr. Sumner gives effect to his treaties. Bismark, in
Prussia, snaps his fingers in the faces of the Prussian Chambers, and
still contrives to get along very comfortably; but an American President
does not enjoy similar advantages. He can follow his own will or caprice
only by the toleration of the legislative body h