| Show LECTURE ON CIVIL government an interesting lecture jecture on the above subject was delivered friday evening april bilth by the hon P F S richards under the auspices of the students 1 society of the latter day saints college there was a large audience the lecturer commenced by stating the vastness of the subject and the consequent necessity for general rather than special treatment civil government is that form of control which has to deal with the political i interests ote rests of the peo people pie monarchies monarch ies aristocracies and democracies are the three forms of government the first farst being the strongest so far as centralized power is concerned the forms of monarchies are the absolute and the limited in the first of which the sole power rests in the monarch the latter form recognizes the power as divided between the sovereign bove reign and the legislative body in every government a sov must exist in connection with which is the power to make law in monarchical governments this sovereignty is in the king as in absolute monarchies or in the legislative assembly as in limited ones while in the aristocratic form it is in the hands of a select class of noble birth called the aristocracy to cracy many claim that the last us named mod form of government is the best for the better educated class would have more wisdom thau than the people at large but such a centralization of power is not good the pu pure re democracy is that form formin i n which all th the e people meet and make the laws while in the case of a republic this power is delegated to the representatives of the people the first although the most highly distributive in power to is impracticable I 1 except webre the poo peo le je are few in number the rhe latter form which is that existing in the united states possesses many advantages over the other forms sometimes all these forms are combined together as in the case of great britain there being it a sovereign to represent the monarchical form the house of lords the aristocratic and the house of commons the reau republican alican there are certain rights which properly belong to all men and laws jaws are enacted to preserve these personal rights from interference on the part of others the first of these is the right a man possesses to enjoy life and to act as he chooses so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others some of those these natural rights are given up by the individual to the state in return for its protection this protection can be exercised only through law and hence the necessity of law political rights or privileges are conferred by law among them being the privileges of voting holding office etc in addition to these we have certain civil rights which can not be taken away from us without due process of law although the political privileges may be taken away by the legislature without such process civil rights may however be taken from a man by the infliction of fines imprisonment etc but this must be done only by due process of law the pilgrim fathers all assembled together for the purposes of legislation tit in the early part of their history but afterwards the representative form of government had to be adopted on account of the I 1 increasing ner easing numbers of the people virginia before this time had elected a legislature from among the people it was in this country for the first time in the history of the world that written constitutions based on the idea vf the preexistent pre existent right of all men to be free became the organic law of government virginia is said to have taken the lead la in this matter and we can point with pride to the fact that constitutional law and civil liberty had their origin in our country the lecturer referred to the early COI colonial history when eh barters charters of a more or less liberal character were granted to the colonists by the king of england these theft charters were referred to in some detail it being shown that were granted to the two branches of the legislature to make laws law tinder sunder the restrictions that no law should be passed in opposition to any act of parliament and that all laws were subject to veto by the governor the parallel between the territorial form of government now existing in the united states aud the colonial government was pointed out it being shown that in some respects our condition is worse than was that of the colonists for while they could make no law at variance with the statutes of parliament parl amen t that body was denied authority to legislate for the colonists lia in their domestic affairs as congress now legislates for us for purposes of mutual aid the colonies formed a confederation aiming to preserve the former rights of each colony anti and still more to cement the union between the established communities the rhe articles of confederation provided that congress should consist of one house the members voting according to states but this confederation was comparatively weak there being no power to levy taxes or regulate commerce under the circumstances cum stances it was thought necessary to form a constitution and as a result of the calling of a convention for this purpose that grand instrument known as the constitution of the united states was wag originated its foundation lies in the statement tha all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights this idea having first been enunciated in the declaration of independence this principle in fact is the cornerstone corner stone of the government of the united states and all attacks upon it tend to jeopardize the entire fabric the members of the constitutional convention had bad many difficulties to meet and it was only by divine inspiration on that the great and successful result of their labors was achieved some of the representatives of the people maintained that there would be danger in attempting to take any rights from the states but without doing this no central government could be formed on OB the other hand there were two classes who favored the constitution the leader of one no of these classes was james madison who contended that only such powers should be given to the central government as were absolutely necessary and that centralization should be avoided as much as possible the other faction led by Alex alexander allder hamilton favored a more mere compete camph to centralization of power as the only means of forming a government of any strength the constitution on its completion was submitted to conventions in the different states where it met with determined opposition on the part of some some but was finally ratified by the people of a majority of the states and went into effect so far as those states were concerned this constitution is not a compact of the thirteen original states but it is the organic law adopted by the people of those states and is equally binding upon da all the nation this instrument forms the fundamental and supreme law of the land and prescribes the form powers and office of the government it may be changed but it must not be disobeyed its object being to I 1 acers place lace certain limitations upon the 0 officers of the government 11 also protects the minority against the encroach ments mente of the majority which would have complete control of the government ern ment were it not for the restrictions of the constitution our government is divided into three parts the legislative the executive and the judicial this division is necessary as each of these branches acm am as am a check upon th others and thus an undue exercise of power in any portion of the gov eminent is prevented the legislative body is divided into two parts larts the senate and the house of representatives the members of the first being appointed by the legislatures of the states from which they come that they may not be influenced too strongly by the people senators are elected for six years and one third go out of office every two years in the case of the house of representatives its members are am elected by the people and the entire assembly is reelected elected re every two years each oh state has awu senators but the re redenta tives fives are apportioned to tte the states according to population the numbers ranging from one to more than thirty the speaker defined at some length the powers of each of tb these bodies and explained their method of doing busi business nebs congress is restricted in some of its powers especially regarding infringements fringe ments upon the rights of the different states ex AX post facto laws jaws bills of attainder and like enactments act ments are prohibited such restrictions being of a most wholesome character the chief executive power 01 IB vested in the president of the united M tales states who is elected in a pec peculiar aliaT manner all the votes of the che states vote for electors who meet and cast their ballots for president the returns being sent to the vice president who announces the result by declaring the one receiving ing the greatest number of all the electoral elect orar votes to be president elect in case no choice Is made the election of president is left to the house of representatives each state however having but one vote the third branch of the government is the judiciary which is one of the strongest members of the governmental ern mental body since it has power through the supreme court to nullify all acts of congress this court is called the voice of the constitution because in legal contemplation that instrument means no more nor less than the supreme court says it means it was thought by the founders of this government that all necessary safeguards were placed around both civil and religious rights out hut many of these safeguards have seemed to melt away and vanish under the decisions of this thia court and some of its decisions have been quite contradictory I 1 he different kinds of law were e defined by tile the speaker the objects of each being clearly stated he stated that after all the law given by the great lawgiver law giver moses moms lies at the foundation of till all human gov and it is gen generally emily cou con cedea oy idy terson political science that no legislation at variance with divine law can stand the lecturer closed by exhorting alland especially the young toa to a more complete understanding and appreciation of the principles of civil government and political science |
