I respect not that constitutional charlatanism that fastens its eye on
the printed page alone, disdains our institutions as interpreting it,
and refuses to consider the sources of that Constitution--the
development of our present form of government for a century and a half
from the old crown charters; the English struggle for the rights of
man, regulated by equal laws which preceded that; the spirit of Dutch
independence, Dutch federation, and Dutch institutions working upon
that, and still back to the counsels of our Teuton fathers in the
German forests in the dim light of a far distant time.
If a people adopt a written instrument, you must understand that
_people_ and their _institutions_ before you understand the writing.
You cannot separate a people and their history from a written
constitution which is only a part of that history. The same words by
one people may have a different meaning used by another people. Any
writing can only be an index to the institutions of a people.
A people's _institutions_ are the soul of the written and unwritten
law. You must understand the French people, their history, and their
institutions, before you can understand their written constitution.
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