The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-08-07

. Tolerance or the Abolftionists.
The Tribune of yesterday morning contains
fair sample of the style of argument peculiar
to the party of which it is an organ. 1t has
reference to the Wheeler case in Philadelphia.
The facts are well known to the public. Mr..
Passmore Williamson, citizen Of Philadel-
| phia, is imprisoned for contempt of court.
| Application il made to Chief Justice Lewis to
lberate him on habeas corpus: the Chief Justice,
| specifying the grounds in law on which his
| decision rests, refuses to grant the writ.
Now it is quite possible that Chief Justice
| Lewis may have been mistaken in his reading
of the law Great and conscientious lawyers
| err daily. But when q man has attained a
| position of emincnce on the bench, it is
| usually taken for granted that his decisions
| though they may be erroneous, will be honest
Respectable men, mindful of what they owe to
| themselves and society, do not accuse leading
Judges of folly OF absurdity or corruption
They may think them wrong, and, if they are
means to reverse their sentences; but they
will not, if they care for public esteem, openly
proclaim that the Judges are fools or knayes,
because they differ from them in opinion. For,
it is obvious, if such were the practice, the
courts would ultimately cease to command any
measure of public respect; it would become
impossible to carry out their sentences without
an armed force, and society would be set
adrft.
The Tribune newspaper and the party for
which it speaks are not bound by these rules
With them uniformity Of opinion is the only test
ofvirtue morality and religion. In their intellec
tual despotism, they pronounce all men who diff
fer from them liars and scoundrels. If thinker
questions their theories, he is villain" if a
Judge refuses to abide by their Interpretation
of the law, he is fanatical, reckless and pas
sionate, blinded by rage and impelled by ha-
tired" Chief Justice Lewis is a man Of ad-
vanced age, eminent station, high repute.
There appears to be no reason to doubt that his
judgment in the case of the prisoner William
son was the fruit of conscientious study and re-
Election. Yet because me Tribune happens to
have taken this malefactor like so many others
under it's protection, it rants and raves against
the "chicanery," the /" false constructions" the
"follies and absurdities" Of the Chief Justice,
as though he had actually committed some
shocking crime and had been convicted
thereof.
just in the same way it abuses Judge Kane.
He's "a jailor''-he could not " do justice with
out being absolutely forced into it by pitch
fork'-he sends men to prison to rot at his
pleasure"-and SO forth. What has Judge
Kane done? Merely his duty-the duty he
was sworn to do-a duty the law requires some
one to perform.
In precisely the same strain, it insinuates
that the Hon. Ogden Hoffman gave an opinion,
unsolicited, on the Liquor law, in order to in
fluence the city electors, whose votes he ex-
poets to get when he runs for Corporation
Counsel. We have every reason to believe
that the material portion Of the statement is
false, and that Governor Clark did solicit Mr..
Hof,man's opinion on the Liquor law 1t was
his duty to have done so, and we are not pre-
pared to believe that the Governor neglected
it. But whether he did or no, the insinuation
Of the Tribune is scandalous and gratuitous
imputation on the character of q gentleman
than whom no one in public life is more gene
rally respected.
rests on the principle of mental despotism.
Acting thereon the Tribune denies every moral
virtue to all who differ from it, and respects
neither character nor station the moment they
refuse to obey its behests If all the world
would follow the lead of the Tribune, vote for
prohibitory laws, set all the slaves free, estab-
lish womens rights, declare all property to
be common, and fall in with the other isms Of
the chief aboltionist organ, we should then
have just judges, upright lawyers, patriotic
citizens and worthy fellow countrymen all
round. AS it is, the 7ri6unes party being gene
rally in the minority, its sphere and time are
devoted for the most part to the task Of
proving that our judges are fools, our lawyers
rogues, our commissioners scoundrcls, our citi-
zens--with the exception of handful gath
cred around Mr.. Seward-uttcrly abandoned
and depraved creatures. II must be an agreea-
bic task.