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"Be it so," answered Black Ivo, "this night belike I shall hang thee above the ruins of Belsaye yonder, and thy son with thee!" So saying, he turned about and chin on fist rode into his camp, where was mounting and mustering in hot haste. "Beltane," spake the Duchess, clasping Beltane's hand, "dost know at last?" "Aye...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"Giles," said she, "thou wert true and faithful to my lord when his friends were few, so methinks thou should'st be faithful and true to thy sweet Genevra--so will I make thee Steward and Bailiff of Mortain an my lord is in accord--" "Lord," quoth Giles brokenly, "ere thou dost speak, beseech thee hear this. I have th...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"For that, dear Benedict," cried she, "for that shalt kiss me, so off with thy great helm!" Forthwith Sir Benedict did off his casque, and stooping, kissed her full-lipped, and meeting Beltane's eye, flushed and laughed and was solemn all in a moment. "Ah, Beltane, dear lad," quoth he, "I envy thee and grieve for thee...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
Meantime, Black Ivo's archers advancing, fell into arrow formation and began to ply the Mortain ranks with clouds of shafts and bolts 'neath which divers men and horses fell--what time Black Ivo's massed columns moved slowly forward to the attack--yet Duke Beltane, sitting among his knights, stirred not, and the army ...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
With Helen's soft hand a-tremble in his, Beltane hasted down from the tower and Sir Benedict followed, until they were come to the square where, amid the joyful acclaim of the populace, their small and hardy following were drawn up; and, as they came, from townsfolk and soldiery a shout arose: "Beltane--the Duke--the ...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
Then Beltane sighed, and kneeling, kissed his lady's white hands: "Beloved," spake he low-voiced, "e'en now must I go from thee, but howsoever fortune tend--thine am I through life--aye, and beyond." "Beltane," she whispered 'twixt quivering lips, "O loved Beltane, take heed to thy dear body, cover thee well with thy ...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"Lord," said he, blinking bright eyes, "we have fought well ere now, but to-day methinks we shall fight as ne'er we fought in all our days." "Aye," nodded Beltane, "verily, Giles, methinks we shall!" Thus saying, he turned and looked upon the rolling battle-dust and settling his feet within the stirrups, clenched iron...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"And I pray God," spake the Duchess, shivering, "these eyes may ne'er look upon another! O 'tis hateful sight--see--look yonder!" and she pointed where from the awful battle-wrack reeled men faint with wounds while others dragged themselves painfully across the trampled ground. "Why, 'twas a bloody business!" quoth th...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"Up, man," he panted, covering the prostrate archer with his shield, "up, Giles, an ye can--we're close beset--" "But we be here, look'ee Roger--'tis we, look'ee!" cried a voice behind. "Aye, it do be us!" roared another voice, and Roger's assailants were borne back by a line of vicious-thrusting pikes. "Art hurt, Gil...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
Presently before them the ground sloped sharply down, and while Beltane shouted warning to those behind, his voice was drowned in sudden trumpet-blast, and glancing to his left, he beheld at last all those knights and men-at-arms who had ridden with his father in their reserve all day--a glittering column, rank on ran...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
Now of a sudden a shout went up and thereafter was a great quiet--a silence wherein friend and foe, panting and weary, stood alike at gaze. And amid this expectant hush the two Dukes of Pentavalon fronted each other. No word said they, but, while all eyes watched them, each took lance and riding to the extremity of th...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
In a while Beltane came forth into the courtyard and beheld Sir Jocelyn mustering their knightly prisoners in the ward below, for, with Black Ivo's death, all resistance was ended. And now the trumpets blared, rallying their various companies, but Beltane abode very full of sorrowful thoughts. To him presently cometh ...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
Now as he spake he loosed a corner of the war-cloak, and from its grimed and ghastly folds there rolled forth into the red light of the cleanly sun a thing that trundled softly across the pavement and stopping, shewed a pallid face crowned with red hair, 'neath which upon the brow, betwixt the staring eyes, was a jagg...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"The world doth change, as change it must, But true-love changeth never. Proud ambition is but dust, The bow doth break, the sword doth rust, But love abideth ever." Beltane was leaning half out of the casement, of the which fact who so unconscious as Giles, busily furbishing armour and bascinet. "Giles!...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"Such things do wait upon success, Beltane, and moreover thou'rt Duke! Aye, verily thou'rt Duke! The which mindeth me that, being Duke, it behoveth thee--" "And yet, Benedict, I do tell thee that all things must wait awhile, methinks, or better--do you attend them for me--" "Nay--I am no Duke!" quoth Sir Benedict hast...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
Quoth Sir Benedict, as with Roger's aid Beltane did on his armour: "There is a postern beyond the pleasaunce yonder shall bring you forth of the city and no man the wiser." "Why, then, bring ye the horses thither, Roger, and haste ye!" Now when Roger was gone, Sir Benedict arose and setting his hands on Beltane's shou...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
Soon were they free of the city and reaching that rolling down where the battle had raged so lately, Beltane set his horse to a stretching gallop, and away they raced, over upland and lowland until they beheld afar to their right the walls and towers of Belsaye. But on they rode toward the green of the woods, and ever...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"Forsooth," quoth Giles at last, "as thou sayest, Roger, the world waggeth well with me. Hast heard, belike, our lady Duchess hath been pleased to--" "Aye, I've heard, my lord Bailiff--who hath not?" "Nay, I did but mention it to two or three," quoth Giles. "Moreover our lord doth smile on me these days, though forsoo...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"Here is a fair song, methinks; dost not wonder at love now, Roger, and the glory of it?" "I wonder," quoth Roger, "how long thou shalt believe all this when thou art wed. I wonder how long thou wilt live true to her when she is thy wife!" Now hereupon the archer's comely face grew red, grew pale, his bronzed hands fl...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"Giles!" "Aye, Roger!" "Forgive me!" But Giles neither turned nor spake, wherefore contrite Roger must needs set an arm about him and turn him about, and behold, the archer's eyes were brimming with great tears! "O Giles!" gasped Roger, "O Giles!" "Roger, I--I do love her, man--I do love her, heart and soul! Is this s...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"How mean you, Pardoner?" "Lord Duke, when thou didst bestow life on two poor rogues upon a time, when one rogue stole away minded to betray thee to thine enemy, the second rogue did steal upon the first rogue, and this second rogue bare a small knife whereof the first rogue suddenly died. And thus Duke Ivo, thine ene...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"Art wondrous skilled in wood-lore, my Rogerkin!" quoth Giles. "Forsooth, lord, there is no man knoweth more of forestry than my good comrade Roger!" "So will I make of him my chiefest huntsman, Giles--" "Master--O master!" gasped Roger. "And set thee over all my foresters of Pentavalon, Roger." "Why master, I--forsoo...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
"And thou art come back to me at last. Beltane! Hast brought to me my heart unharmed from the battle, beloved! And thou didst take no hurt-- no hurt, my Beltane? And art glad to see--thy--wife, Beltane? And dost love me--as much as ever, Beltane? O wilt never, never leave me desolate again, my lord--art thou mine--min...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
Then, while Beltane, speaking not, watched her downbent head and busy hands, she filed off his fetters one by one, and kissing them, set them aside. But when she would have risen he prevented her, and with reverent fingers touched the coiled and braided glory of her hair. "O Helen," he whispered, "loose me down thy ha...
Beltane the Smith
Farnol, Jeffery
1878
1952
['en']
30
{'Blacksmiths -- Fiction'}
PG10064
[Illustration: _Photo Henry Dixon & Son_ _From the Portrait painted by Harrington Mann for Gray's Inn_] JAMES M. BECK HONORARY BENCHER OF GRAY'S INN _The Constitution of the United States_ _A brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution of the United States_ _By James M. Beck, ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The framers of the American Constitution were faced with an entirely new problem, so far, at all events, as the English-speaking world was concerned; and though they founded their doctrines upon the English traditions of law and liberty, they had to deal with circumstances which none of their British progenitors had t...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
[Footnote 2: Address of Sir John Simon on the conclusion, on June 19,1922, of the three lectures herein printed.] _Author's Introduction_ This book is a result of three lectures, which were delivered in the Hall of Gray's Inn, London, on June 13, 15, and 19, 1922, respectively, under the auspices and on the invitati...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
I also must not fail to acknowledge the generous space given in the British Press to these lectures, and the even more generous allusions to them in the editorial columns. An especial acknowledgment is due to Viscount Burnham and _The Daily Telegraph_ for their generous interest in this book. The good cause of Anglo-A...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The success of my Gray's Inn lectures convinces me that Dr. Sarolea underestimates the interest in America and its history in England. However, the episode, which is treated in these lectures, is, as he says, "_terra incognita_" not only in England, but even in the United States. It is amazing how little is known in A...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Therefore, while in these nations the literal obligations of Articles X, XI, XV, and XVI of the Covenant of the League are not taken rigidly, we in America, pursuant to our life-long habit of constitutionalism, interpret these clauses as we do those of our Constitution, and we ask ourselves, Are we ready to promise to...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION FIRST LECTURE: THE GENESIS OF THE CONSTITUTION SECOND LECTURE: THE FORMULATION OF THE CONSTITUTION THIRD LECTURE: THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE CONSTITUTION THE REVOLT AGAINST AUTHORITY _I. The Genesis of the Constitution of the United States_ I trust I need not offer this audience, gathered ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Americans have never lacked interest in English history; for however broad the stream of our national life, how could we ignore its chief source? But is there in England an equal interest in the history of America, whose origin and development constitute one of the most dramatic and significant dramas ever played upon...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Moreover, these hardy pioneers were the privileged heirs of the great political traditions of England. While the Constitution of the United States was very much more than an adaptation of the British Constitution, yet its underlying spirit was that of the English speaking race and the Common Law. Behind the framers of...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Then, as now, a world war had ended. Then, as now, half the world was prostrated by the wounds of fratricidal strife. As Washington said: "The whole world was in an uproar," and he added that the task "was to steer safely between Scylla and Charybdis." The problem, then as now, was not only to make "the world safe for...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
One of England's greatest Prime Ministers, William Pitt, shortly after the adoption of the Constitution, prophetically said that it would be the admiration of the future ages and the pattern for future constitution building. Time has verified his prediction, for constitution making has been, since the American Constit...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
"Yes, for that law was not from Zeus, nor did Justice, dweller with the gods below, establish it among men; nor deemed I that thy decree--mere mortal that thou art--could override those unwritten and unfailing mandates, which are not of to-day or yesterday, but ever live and no one knows their birt...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
This spirit of constitutionalism in America, which culminated in the Constitution of the United States, had its institutional origin in the spacious days of Queen Elizabeth. That wonderful age, which gave to the world not only Shakespeare, Spenser and Jonson, but also Drake, Frobisher and Raleigh, was the Anglo-Saxon ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Bacon became a member of the council for the Virginia Company in 1609. His deep interest in it is attested in the dedication to him by William Strachey in 1618 of the latter's _Historie of Travaile into Virginia Brittania_. In his speech in the House of Commons on January 30, 1621, Bacon saw a vision of the future and...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Sandys suffered for his convictions, for the party of reaction convinced King James that Virginia was a nest of sedition, and the arbitrary ruler, in the reorganization of the London company, gave a pointed admonition by saying: "Choose the devil, if you will, but not Sir Edwin Sandys." In 1621 he was committed to the...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
All this developed in the colonists a powerful sense of constitutional morality, and its pertinency to my present theme lies in the fact that when each of the thirteen colonies became, at the conclusion of the War of Independence, a separate and independent nation, they were more concerned, in establishing a central g...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Obviously, a working government could not easily be constituted between peoples of different religions, races, and economic interests, who, for the most part, never met each other face to face and with whom frequent communication was impossible. The differences between the colonies and the mother-country with respect ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
"As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off, at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." This assumes that the Constitution sprang, like Minerva, armed _cap-à-pie,_ f...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Had this _de facto_ government assumed the plenary powers which provisional governments must, under similar circumstances, necessarily assume, it would have been better for the cause of the colonists. For want of an efficient central government, the civil administration of the infant nation was marked by a weakness an...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The founders of the Republic were not fools, and while they did not, as Gladstone seems to intimate, have the inspired wisdom to develop a wonderful Constitution by sheer intuition unaided by experience, they did have the ability to make of their very errors the stepping-stones to a higher destiny. By the Articles of ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
"What a constancy, what a magnanimity, what a surprising persistence against fortune!... Washington, the chief of a nation in arms, doing battle with distracted parties; calm in the midst of conspiracy; serene against the open foe before him and the darker enemies at his back; Washington, inspiring...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The impotence of the new government, which was still sitting in Philadelphia, can be measured by the fact that on June 9, 1783, word came that eighty soldiers were on their way to Philadelphia to demand relief. They stacked their arms in front of the State House, where the Congress was then sitting, and refused to dis...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Chaos had come again. It filled Washington's heart with disgust and despair. After surrendering his commission to the pitiful remnant of the government he had retired to Mount Vernon, and for a time declined to act further as the leader of his people. Thus, in October, 1785, he wrote James Warren, of Massachusetts: ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
It was, however, the darkest hour before the dawn, and again it was Washington who became his country's saviour. In 1785, some commissioners from the States of Virginia and Maryland visited Mount Vernon to pay their respects to the well-loved commander. After conferring with him upon the chaos of the times, they decid...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Anticipating the masterly ability with which a seemingly impotent and dying nation plucked from the nettle of danger the flower of safety, let me conclude this first address by quoting the words of de Tocqueville, in his remarkable work _Democracy in America_, where he says: "The Federal Government, condemned to i...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The time was May 25, 1787; the place, the State House in Philadelphia, a little town of not more than 20,000 people, and, at that time, as remote, measured by the facilities of communication, to the centres of civilization as is now Vladivostok. The _dramatis personae_ in this drama, though few in numbers, were, howev...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Above all they were a group of gentlemen of substance and honour, who could debate for four months during the depressing weather of a hot summer without losing their tempers, except momentarily--and this despite vital differences--and who showed that genius for toleration and reconciliation of conflicting views inspir...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The suggestion was a radical one, for the States, with few exceptions, were chiefly insistent upon the preservation of their sovereignty, and while they were willing to amend the Articles of Confederation by giving fuller authority to the central government, such as it was, the suggestion of subordinating the States t...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The extreme care which was taken to preserve this secrecy inviolate, and its purpose, were indicated in an incident handed down by tradition. One of the members dropped a copy of a proposition then before the convention for consideration, and it was found by another of the delegates and handed to General Washington. A...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The members of the convention kept its secrets inviolate for many years. With few exceptions, the great secrets of the convention died with them. Only one, James Madison, left a comprehensive statement of the more formal proceedings. With this notable exception, only a few anecdotes, handed down by tradition, escaped ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Without this extraordinary provision for secrecy, which is so opposed to modern democratic conventions, and which so little resembles the famous point as to "open covenants openly arrived at," the convention could not have accomplished its great work, for these wise men realized that a statesman cannot act wisely unde...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The rules of order and the nature of the proceedings thus determined, the convention opened by an address by Mr. Randolph of Virginia, in which he submitted, in the form of fifteen points--nearly the number of the fatal fourteen--the outlines for a new government. He himself in his opening speech summarized the propos...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Having received the two plans, the convention then went, on May 30, into a committee of the whole to consider the fifteen propositions in the Virginia plan _seriatim_. They wisely concluded to determine abstract ideas first and concrete forms later. Apparently for the time being little attention was paid to Pinckney's...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
While this was some advance toward a truly national government, it yet left the national executive dependent upon the constituent States, for if they failed to respond to the call above stated the national government had no direct power over their citizens. The New Jersey plan precipitated a crisis, and thereafter, an...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Hamilton's plan was never taken seriously and, so far as the records show, was never afterwards considered. His admirers have given great praise to his work in the federal convention. His real contribution lay in the fact that when the Constitution was finally drafted and offered to the people, while he regarded it as...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
He referred to the demand of the larger States that representation should be proportioned to the population. To this Bedford, of Delaware, as heatedly replied; "We have been told with a dictatorial air that this is the last moment for a fair trial in favour of good government. It will be the last, indeed, ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Some days previous, namely, June 28, when the debates were becoming so bitter that it seemed unlikely that the convention could continue, Doctor Franklin, erroneously supposed by many to be an atheist, made the following solemn and beautiful appeal to their better natures. He said: "The small progress we have made...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
"I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service." It may...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Fortunately, political alignments have rarely been between the greater and the smaller States exclusively. Their equality in the Senate was a big price to pay for the Union, but, as the event has shown, not too great. The convention next turned its attention to the Executive and the manner of its selection, and upon t...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
When the committee on detail had made its report on August 6, the convention proceeded for over a month to debate it with the most minute care. Every day for five weeks, for five hours each day, the members studied and debated with meticulous care every sentence of the proposed Constitution. Time does not suffice even...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
"After the lapse of six thousand years since the creation of the world, America now presents the first instance of a people assembled to say deliberately and calmly and to decide leisurely and peaceably on the form of government by which they will bind themselves and their posterity." In the absenc...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
It may be interesting at this point to give the result of their labours as measured in words, and if the framers of the Constitution deserve the plaudits of posterity in no other respect they do in the remarkable self-restraint which those results revealed. The convention had been in session for 81 continuous days. Pr...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
_O, fons Bandusiae, splendidior vitro. Dulce digne mero, non sine floribus_. If I be asked why, if this be true, it has required many lengthy opinions of the Supreme Court in the 256 volumes of its Reports to interpret its meaning, the answer is that, as with the simple sayings of the great Galilean, whose words h...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
"In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people, if well administered, and I believe further that this is likely to be we...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Truly this spirit of Doctor Franklin could be profitably invoked in this day and generation, when nations are so intolerant of the ideas of other nations. As the members, moved by Franklin's humorous and yet moving appeal, came forward to subscribe their names, Franklin drew the attention of some of the members to the...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
It could not have been ratified had there not been an assurance that there would be immediate amendments to provide a Bill of Rights to safeguard the individual. Thus came into existence the first ten amendments to the Constitution, with their perpetual guaranty of the fundamental rights of religion, freedom of speech...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
While it is true that the _text_ of the instrument has suffered almost as little change as the Nicene Creed, yet it would be manifest error to suggest that in its development by practical application the Constitution has not undergone great changes. The first and greatest of all its expounders, Chief Justice Marshall,...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
While in its practical adaptation to this complex age the men who framed it, if they could "revisit the glimpses of the moon," would as little recognize their own handiwork as their own nation, yet they would still be able to find in successful operation the essential principles which they embodied in the document mor...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
While the Constitution apparently only deals with the practical and essential details of government, yet underlying these simply but wonderfully phrased delegations of power is a broad and accurate political philosophy, which goes far to state the "law and the prophets" of free government. These essential principles o...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Measured by present-day conventions of democracy, the Constitution is an undemocratic document. The framers believed in representative government, to which they gave the name "Republicanism" as the antithesis to "democracy." The members of the Senate were to be selected by State legislatures, and the President himself...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Colonel Mason, of Virginia, who was also of the Jeffersonian school of political philosophy, said: "Notwithstanding the oppression and injustice experienced among us from democracy, the genius of the people is in favour of it, and the genius of the people must be consulted." In this they were true prophets...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
For this change in attitude there has been much justification, for in my country, as elsewhere, the people do not always select their best men as representatives, and, with the imperfections of human nature, there has been so much of ignorance and, at times, venality, that the instinct of the people is to take the con...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
At the time of the adoption of the Constitution this division of jurisdiction was quite feasible, for, geographically, the various States were widely separated, and the lack of economic contact made it easy for each government to function without serious conflict. The framers, however, did not sufficiently reckon with...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
For the same reason, the dual system of government has been profoundly modified by the great elemental forces of our mechanical age, so that the scales, which try to hold in nice equipoise the Federal Government on the one hand and the States on the other, have been greatly disturbed. Originally, the States were the p...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
This conception of individualism, enforced in courts of law against executives and legislatures, was wholly new and is the distinguishing characteristic of American constitutionalism. As to such reserved rights, guaranteed by Constitutional limitations, and largely by the first ten amendments to the Constitution, a ma...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
"Due process of law" means that there are certain fundamental principles of liberty, not defined or even enumerated in the Constitution, but having their sanction in the free and enlightened conscience of just men, and that no man can be deprived of life, liberty, or property, except in conformity with these fundament...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
It must be added, however, that in one respect this function of the judiciary has had an unfortunate effect in lessening rather than developing in the people the sense of constitutional morality. In your country the power of Parliament is omnipotent, and yet in its legislation it voluntarily observes these great funda...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The founders of the Republic were not enamoured of power. As they viewed human history, the worst evils of government were due to excessive concentration of power, which like Othello's jealousy "makes the meat it feeds on." This system of checks and balances again illustrates that the Constitution is the great negatio...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
This separation of the two departments, which causes so much friction, has been emphasized by one feature of the Constitution which again marks its distrust of democracy, namely the fixed tenure of office. The Constitution did not intend that public officials should rise or fall with the fleeting caprices of a constit...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The framers were unwilling to lodge any such power in the Executive, however great his powers in other respects. This was primarily due to the conception of the States that then prevailed. While they had created a central government for certain specified purposes, they yet regarded themselves as sovereign nations, and...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
I suppose that since that conference no part of our constitutional system has caused more adverse comment in Europe than this system. It often handicaps the United States from taking a speedy and effectual part in international negotiations, although if the President and the Senate be in harmony and collaborate in thi...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
While this may lead, as it has in recent years, to temporary and regrettable embarrassments, yet in the long run, it is not only better for the United States, but it is even to the best interests of other nations, for in this way they are safeguarded against the possible action of an Executive with whom racial instinc...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
I have thus summarized briefly and most inadequately some of the essential principles of the Constitution. I have only been able to suggest very impressionistically what they are and the lessons to be drawn from them. If I were able to deliver a dozen addresses on the subject in this historic Hall and with this indulg...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The Constitution is something more than a written formula of government--it is a great spirit. It is a high and noble assertion, and, indeed, vindication, of the morality of government. It "renders unto Caesar [the political state] the things that are Caesar's," but in safeguarding the fundamental moral rights of the ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
_IV. The Revolt Against Authority_ "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." PROVERBS xxix. 18. One of the most quoted--and also mis-quoted--proverbs of the wise Solomon says, as translated in the authorized version: "Where there is no vision, the people perish." What S...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
We are apt to see the past in a golden haze, which obscures our vision. Thus, we think of William Penn's "holy experiment" on the banks of the Delaware as the realization of Sir Thomas More's dream of Utopia; and yet Pennsylvania was somewhat intemperately called in 1698 "the greatest refuge for pirates and rogues in ...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The streets of our cities, once reasonably secure from crimes of violence, have now become the field of operations for the foot-pad and highwayman. The days of Dick Turpin and Jack Sheppard have returned, with this serious difference--that the Turpins and Sheppards of our day are not dependent upon the horse, but have...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
_In limine_, let us note the significant fact that this spirit of revolt against authority is not confined to the political state, and therefore its causes lie beyond that sphere of human action. Human life is governed by all manner of man-made laws--laws of art, of social intercourse, of literature, music, business--...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
In the greater sphere of social life, we find the same revolt against the institutions which have the sanction of the past. Social laws, which mark the decent restraints of print, speech and dress, have in recent decades been increasingly disregarded. The very foundations of the great and primitive institutions of man...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
The accuracy of this indictment will commend itself to men who like myself are not of Pope Benedict's communion. I trust that I have already shown that the challenge to authority is universal and is not confined to that of the political state. Even in the narrower confine of the latter, the fires of revolution are eit...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
[Footnote 5: I am here speaking of the conditions of 1920. I appreciate the great improvement, which seems to me to justify the Lincoln-like patience of Lloyd George.] Nor were they altogether unsuccessful; for, when the armies of Lenin and Trotsky were at the gates of Warsaw, in the summer of 1920, the attempts of th...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
"O good old man! how well in thee appears The constant service of the antique world. When service sweat for duty, not for meed!" The _moral_ of our industrial civilization has been shattered. Work for work's sake, as the most glorious privilege of human faculties, has gone, both as an ideal and as a potent spiri...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
In Germany, the progressive revolt of labour against work is thus measured by competent authority: There were lost in strikes in 1917, 900,000 working days; in 1918, 4,900,000, and, in 1919, 46,600,000. Even in our own favoured land, the same phenomena are observable. In the State of New York alone for 1920, there was...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
If my reader agrees with me in my premises then we are not likely to disagree in the conclusion that the causes of these grave symptoms are not ephemeral or superficial; but must have their origin in some deep-seated and world-wide change in human society. If there is to be a remedy, we must first diagnose this malady...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
Proceeding to deeper and less recognized causes, some would attribute this spirit of lawlessness to the rampant individualism, which began in the eighteenth century, and which has steadily and naturally grown with the advance of democratic institutions. Undoubtedly, the excessive emphasis upon the rights of man, which...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065
With Watt's utilization of steam vapour as a motive power, man suddenly passed into a new and portentous chapter of his varied history. Thenceforth, he was to multiply his powers a thousandfold by the utilization of the invisible powers of Nature--such as vapour and electricity. This prodigious change in his powers, a...
The Constitution of the United States: A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution
Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)
1861
1936
['en']
64
{'United States. Constitution', 'Constitutional law -- United States'}
PG10065