But this is not an abandonment of the methods and forms of law! This is
not the establishment of an _arbitrary_ government! This is not passing
from freedom to despotism! The _people_ of this country are sovereign,
let it be repeated. So long as its Government is conducted as its people
or as the majority of them wish, it is conducted in accordance with its
established principle. There were no freedom if the vital spirit of
liberty were to be held in bondage to the dead forms of powerless or
obsolete prescriptions in the very crisis of the nation's death
struggle! Freedom means freedom to act, in all cases and under all
circumstances, so as to secure the highest individual and national
well-being. It does _not_ mean freedom to establish certain codes of
procedure under certain regulations, and to be forever bound under these
when the preservation of liberty itself demands their temporary
abeyance. So long as the Government fulfils the wishes of the people, it
is not arbitrary, it is not despotic, no matter what methods an
emergency may require it to adopt for this purpose, or in what manner it
ascertains these wishes; provided always that the methods adopted and
the modes of ascertainment are also in accordance with the people's
desires.

But how is the Executive to discover the will of the people if he does
not wait for its formal expression? How is he to be sure that he does
not outrun their desires? How is he to be checked and punished, should
he do so? Precisely the same law must apply here as has been indicated
to be the true one in reference to the fulfilment of the people's
behest. Fixed, definite, precise, formal expressions of popular will,
when time is wanting for these, must be replaced by those which are more
quickly ascertained and less systematically expressed. The Executive
must forecast the general desire and forestall its commands, regarding
the tacit acceptance of the people or their _informal_ laws, such as