New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-12-20

of the whole present race Of iron beeIed judicial
pressoiB shall have rotted and been forgotten. Ne
johnson amply justified his fitness for the serv;c.
in which it is understood he volunteered in the pr,
sent case.
1t was impossible no. to feel, during the whole
progress Of Mr.. Johr sons Argument, that il the
power Of this Union is to be turned and held tot be
support Of the tyrannic dogmss which be pronul
gated, the sooner il is broken the better. A Gov.
eminent whose foundations are to be acknowledged
to rest on the neck Of the oppressed is not worth
preserving. II tie Government is TO insist that
Slavery is its corner. stone, it is a Government
which should come to an end. This Union was
framed by s oun !ers as an instrument for the free
dom and elevation OF man. BY them Slavery was
regarded as an exceptional institution to be re-
moved BY time gradually, but surely, to be rooted
out by Liberty. The ain Of the party which has
the control of the Government and which is repre-
sented by Mr.. johnson in this his highest effort be-
fore the highest Judicial tribunal of the country.
now is to thwart and destroy these lofty purposes
Of the founders of the Constitution and
the Union, and to make the Government an
ergine Of aristocratic rule and dire oppression
Should success attend the effort, should it come TO
be understood that the determination of this Gov.
eminent is to assert that Slavery is not an excep.
tiona institution among US, but is to be regarded as
permanent and perpetual where it exists, and that
it shall not only be permitted to spread, but that it
is entitled to the protection Of the Government in
its extension throughout our territory who should
desire the Union to stand Yet such was the po-
siiOn taken by Mr.. johnson in his argument TO-
day, and such the position he earnestly tried to
persuade the Supreme Court to occupy. And let
me say that whatever the decision of the case now
before the Court may be, it is very generally con.
ceded here that unless the political character of
soon changed, such is the position it very soon will
occupy.
No rejecting mind can have failed to observe in
the growth and development of the ideas which un-
derle the case now under adjudication, that our
judicial decisions upon constitutional questions
touching the subject of Slavery, are rapidly coming
to be the enunciatiOn Of mere party dogmas; that
the country is dividing geographically upon ques-
tons of constitutional law, and that in the process
of time, if we continue united people, what the
law Of the country and the Courts is, will depend
upon the political ascendancy for the time being of
the doctrines of Freedom or Of Slavery. 1t is mau
ifest that an antagonism of doctrine upon the
question of Slavery will divide the Court as it
has divided the churches, and that while
the latter are allowed to separate, the former
are held together by political tie that
will necessitate the decision OF cases
by the mere power of msjorities What under one
Administration may be declared to be sound con-
shtutional Interpretation is to be totally repuda'ed
under another. If the Supreme Court were TO-
day to decide that Congress had no power over
Slavery in the Territories the decision would be
simply majority decision, carrying no moral power
with it in the North, and if speedy change were
possible in orc or two Of the individuals composing
the Court, such decision would be unceremo
niously reversed at its very next session.
1t is useless to disguise this state of things, or to
pretend that there is any present probability Of re-
storing the harmony that existed in the workings
Of the Government when there was Common
agreement, North and South, that Slavery was
and an evil to be get rid Of at the earliest
practicable moment. Such was our condition when
the Union was formed and the Constitution adopted.
At later period, comparative harmony was pre-
served by compromises on the question. Now, the
old idea is repudiated by the Slavery men, and the
system seemingly ahjured BY ALL We
are thus arrived at the point Of collision between
the opposing forces in the Government. While
this state of things continues to exist there can DO
no peace. There can be a triumph of one party
over the other, but that is all. How long is polit'
cal union possible under such circumstances
There may be period or periods Of peace between
the combatants, but they will ever be temporary,
and partake of the character Of truce, or Of sub
mission of the vanquished to the victor. lnevita-
bly,, however, they must come to an end, and
that end is separation of the Free and Slave
States; and it is the part of wise craftsmanship,
both North and South, among alldispassiOnate men,
to prepare the way for this result in manner
which shall not disgrace the civilization of the age
in which we live. If we cannot as nation, agree
to 90 back to the position of the founders OF the
and regard Slavery as an exceptional
institution, and administer the Government in the
interest of universal Freedom; or, If We Will not
agree upon any fixed compromises in respect to the
institution of Slavery, the longer continuance OF
the existing Union is political impossbility
J. 8. p
EXPLANATION BY THE Hon. WV. SAPp.-Mr Sapp,
in Congress from Ohio, made the fel-
lowing personal explanation in the House on Wednes
day: pof,,.
o. n., nnb.bed nj Mount Vernon in Conessonh DIS
,r The town in which reside, and edited BY one harper