The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1857-04-08


opinions
Can any lawyer, or any mar Of oom-
mon sense, call such decision fatc, or
claim that it shall DO acquiescsd in, as
au authorised decision Of q judicial tri.
bunal2
Thu, far I have treated the opinion
Of the Court merely as extrs,judioial,
aud, therefore, upon we'll established lc,-
gal principles, entitled TO no weight, r
Nigh, 60 back Of this, and arrsigu il
for its utter disregard Of we'll estnblish.
ed prooedeuts long acquesoed 10 by the
,ssots country and its like disregard Of
we'll established principles Of legislation
under tho Constitution. | might show
hew it overturns the Constitution, a. un.
derstood, and practically construed, by
she men who framed it, and by evory do.
psftment of the government from thai
day onward, for moro than sixty years,
in that it makes slavery a national in.
misunderstanding it, by force Of the
Constitution, into every State and Ter.
ritory of the Union. That decision so
revolutionary in its character, Infringing
the government from the great prinei.
plas upon which it turned 10 ito forma.
zion, by making this a slave.hoLding ma
fton, can stand the test of time and dis.
oussiop, it seems impossible to believe.
But is decision Of the Supreme
Court to be discussed ? Why not 2
Are the Eve slave holding judges immor
tsl2 Will not this nation outlve them
And is there no hope Of turning thi, rev.
olution Backward OF course there is
not, if the Prcss is to be muzzled and
sbe People gagged by the opinion of five
judges. But teW they bs7 We shall
SEQ And we shall see whether, with
the due pressure of corrected public
sentiment, upon the judicial, as we'll as
tho other departments Of the govern.
msnt, such decision can remain unre.
versed. 1t may we'll DO doubted, in.
deed, whether the opinion in question
would ever have been given. bu: for the
pro'slavery triumph in the lato Prssiden.
tisl election.
Ii isA fact OF om;uous import, that
msn who are opposed to this decision of
'hs Supreme Court, and regard it even
as revolutionary in its character, talk Of
unqualified acquiesenco 10 il. as estab.
lished law. / have shown that, with re-.
gard to the main points in the case, there
has been no proper judicial decision
no decision eu,iiled, in any serse, to DO
regarded as law What is mean, by I'm.
qualified acquicsenco in such decision
Is it that the decision must not bs for
chilly resisted ? But pray who thinks OF
foroibly resisting i,2 What is there
thus 70 resist Law' Nay, - for
what lawyer will hazard his reputation
by giving that name to an opinion Of
the Supreme Court, or Of any Court
which is wholly ex.rajudicial1 Itiss
mere naked opinion, without tho sliyh.
test legal force or effect. Forcible r..
distance to it wonld b. like resisting an
nPparition III . grave yard
But there is another kind of resistance
which is practicable, and may bs mads
10 mean something. Tits the resistance
Of fact, and history and reason and argu.
ment, directed against the opinion Of tho
five slavs-holding judges. That decision
was intended not to have the forco and
etfoot OF law-for they we'll knew il
could have no such force and effect-but
as = weight thrown into the scale Of one
Of the political parties, in the current
struggle between slavery and freedom.
Il is impossible to regard i. in any other
light After the decision upon the ques.
tion Of jurisdiction, which throw the
plaintiff out OF court, there was nothing
In the case requiring q decision. And
the Court should have said so, and there
stopped. Why did it not do 500 Why
did it proceed to give a volunteer opin.
ion wholly uncalled forl There can be
but ono answer TO this question-It was
for political effect. Although the opin.
ion was not called for by the case as it
stood after the decision upon the cues.
ton of jurisdiction, it was called for in
auother direction. 1t was wanted BY
the slave propaganda to act on public
sentiment Ii was wanted to give an
apparent judicial sanction to the viola.
ton Of public faith in the repeal Of the
Missouri Compromise, and the arrogant
claim Of the South to carry slavery into
every part Of the confsderacy.
And to this purpose il is used. and il
to be used, by the party in power. lis
pretended that the opinion of tho five
judges is laW,-that the whole question
4" settled, aud that nothing is Left but to
aoquiesce-submit In regard to this,
the President took care to sound the
key note 10 his Inaugural address, in
which, speaking Of the question of slav.
cry in Kansas, be says" 1t is q Jude.
ial question, which legitimately belongs
to tho Supreme Court of the United
States, before whom it is now pending.
and will, it is understood, be speedily
and finally settled. To their decision.
in common with all good citizens, l shall
cheerfully submit, whatever this may
be-" -" Whatever this may be-" says the
President,--as though the decision was,
10 him, among the uncertain things of
the future, when nobody doubts that he
then knew as well as Judge fancy knew,
what the decision would bo-which had
then been prepared, and was delivered
Two days thereafter. Indeed the decision
wass part-then unpublished of the pc.
litical programme. a. shall cheerfully
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