Those officers, by
whatever name they are called, have no authority to add to, alter,
or abridge the original articles. It is only to the constituting power
that this right belongs.
From the want of understanding the difference between a constitution
and a government, Dr. Johnson, and all writers of his description,
have always bewildered themselves. They could not but perceive, that
there must necessarily be a controlling power existing somewhere,
and they placed this power in the discretion of the persons exercising
the government, instead of placing it in a constitution formed by
the nation. When it is in a constitution, it has the nation for its
support, and the natural and the political controlling powers are
together. The laws which are enacted by governments, control men
only as individuals, but the nation, through its constitution,
controls the whole government, and has a natural ability to do so. The
final controlling power, therefore, and the original constituting
power, are one and the same power.
Dr. Johnson could not have advanced such a position in any country
where there was a constitution; and he is himself an evidence that
no such thing as a constitution exists in England. But it may be put
as a question, not improper to be investigated, that if a constitution
does not exist, how came the idea of its existence so generally
established?
In order to decide this question, it is necessary to consider a
constitution in both its cases:- First, as creating a government and
giving it powers.
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