Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1857-03-25
authority, and so he himself shall treat il.

Aie Is not tue only member OF the court who
holds this opinions. Judge Curtis, a younger
man and younger judge, but of profound,
comprehensive and discriminating mind, en-
riched tn all stores of legal learning, who
has hitherto been classed among those ultra
conservatives who lean wholly to the South,
comedies with Judge Mclean, both as to the
conclusion that the judgment of the Court on
those points lacks authority, and also as to the
grounds of this conclusion. He says, ssI do
not consider any opinion of This Court or any
Court binding, ohen oppressed on a question not
iegitimateiy before it. dissent, therefore, from
that part of the opinion of the majority of the
Court, in which it holds that person of Afri-
can descent cannot be a citizen of the United
States; and / regret / must go further, and
dissent from what l deem their assumption of
authority, to examine the constitutionality of
the act of Congress, commonly called the Mis-
souri, Compromise act, and the grounds and
conclusion announced in their opinion On
SO grave subject as this, feel obliged to say
that, in my opinion, such an exertion of judi
cial power transcends the limits of the author
ity of the Court, described bg il, repeatei de-
cisions, and as acknowled in this opinion of the
majority of the Court Judge Curtis does
not consider any opinion of q court as bind
ing, when expressed on question not legiti-
mately before it; and he affirms that the Su-
preme Court, according to his own repeated
decisions, has transcribed the limits of its
authority in so exercising it's judicial power.
We doubt not that his view exactly talles
with that of the great body of our citizens who
are not versed in the peculiar lore, and langu-
age, and mysteries Of the courts of law, but
who are intelligent, educated, and endowed
with common sense. 1t stands to reason that
court should not pronounce upon case that
is not actually before it for decision. Other
wise it can settle all disputed questions over
the whole land, whether brought to its bar or
not. 1t can put to rest every political topic of
the day, so as to tie the hands and tongues of
the whole nation. An administration would
find such court (f the court had the same
political bias with itself) very convenient
instrument for its purposes-one which would
have admirably suited Charles the First or
James the Second. But this puts all our inter-
ests, life and liberty included into the hands
of an unrestricted Judiciary. Every one sees
ity, even when confined to its legitimate bus
mess of deciding upon cases that are brought
TO its bar. And when, as in the present in
stance, it has given its judicial opinion on ca
scs not legitimately before it, it has gone be-
yond the bounds of its jurisdiction; it is out
on the public arena, where its opinions are no
more than those of private men, not so weigh
ty indeed as the opinions of the Attorney Cen
eral, who is the law adviser of the government.
SO Judge Curtis and Judge Mclean have de-
cided.
But how is the matter to be tested The
present Congress or the next Congress may
try the validity of this decision. The differ
ent departments of the general government
have a self-defensive right, which justifies each
of them in examining and repelling aggres-
sions upon its own prerogatives and bounds
Congress has always exercised the power
which is now for the first time denied to it by
the court. And certainly if the court has
transacted the limits of its authority in the
manner and from of its decision, the Congress
of the nation will find method to set their
illegitimate opinion aside; we do not say the
present, but some future Congress which the
people will elect in reference to the momen-
tous issues involved in these questions upon
which the court assumed to pronounce. But,
If those questions-tle right of the slaye-hold
er to take slavery with him into any territory
of the United States, and others that we have
mentioned-should hereafter be legitimately
brought before the Court, and decided in the
same way-what then could be done7 Per-
+I,., Il.
is the evil thereof. Congress will know how
to discharge its Own duties when the emergen-
cy comes. Butthe people are the fountain of
power. They can change the character of the
judicial department. They can amend the e.
normous inequality of southern representation
in it. They choose national administra-
tion and natoual legislature OF political
complexion wholly different from that which is
now in the ascendancy. They can thus ulti-
mately change the Judiciary itself. We may
be well assured that the mass of the people will
not slumber over the questions of such un-
speakable import, involving in their appre-
tensions not only the liberties and destinies
of this great republic, but also the onward
march of the entire human race in the career
of moral and mental, as well as material I'M
provement-a noble march in which we have
hitherto boasted ourselves to be in the van,
leaders and exemplars, but in which we are
now ordered to retrace our steps and set our
faces toward the darkness of the middle ages.
.sChaos is come again. But out of chaos,
liqbt. order, beauty and lasting peace may
arise.
ry-Three hundred thousand persons in