Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1858-11-11
Iche BOOB on the other Ler.

. HNHHNN 6AS 80
men were bound to Arespect." Now,
while it is notorious that the aforesaid
Court made no such assertion, in the
sense imputed to it; still if it did it has
been more than sustained by a recent
decision by the Supreme Court, of the
State of Michigan, composed of four
very ultra Republicans. The facts of
the ease are about like this, after read
ing which our readers will doubtless
conclude with US, that "the boot is now
on the other leg" Last year while a
steamer was lying at the wharf in De-
troit, a colored man stepped up to the
captains Office, and wanted to purchase
a ticket which would entitle him to a
passage in the cabin. The clerk of the
boat refused to sell him such a ticket.
He was offered a deck passenger ticket,
and was told that by the regulations of
the boat negroes were not permitted to
take passage in the cabin. The ne
gro,s name is William H. Day, and he
brought a suit against the owners of the
boat for damages in not permitting him
to enjoy a passage with white persons.
The Circuit Court denied the validity of
Days claim, when he was induced by
the Black Republicans" and Adolf
t~ionists to remove the case to the Su-
preme Court of the State, which court
deliberately affirmed the judgment of
the court below, with the necessary
costs. The Detroit Free Press, in com
menting upon this case, concludes with
the following pertinent and opportune
remarks: I'D. a.ri !
When the Supreme Court of the
United States, in the famous case of
bred Scott, pronounced the opinion
that negroes were not citizens of the
UDited States under the Federal Con-
stitution and laws, we have a distinct
recollection that the whole Black IKE
publican press, fronpthe eastern boun-
daries of Maine to the western bounda-
RIGS of Illinois and Ohio, was horror
struck and overwhelmed with the most
virtuous indignation. It declared the
decision to be barbarous, and the voca-
bullry must have been searched for
epithets suited to be hurled at the trib-
unal which had laid down such mon
strous doctrine as law; and up to this
day every occasion has been seized by
this Black "Republican" press and by
the Black ''Republican" orators, in
Congress and out, to assail the decision
of the Supreme Court of the United
States and to bring it into popular dis
We shall await with some interest
and curiosity the treatment which the
Black "R~epubiican" press and the Black
"Republican'' orators will deal out on
this decision of the Supreme Court of
the State of Michigan;-because, if the
decision in the bred Scott case was
barbarous, the decision in the William
H. Day case is intensely barbarous; if
the doctrine laid down as law in the
one case was monstrous, that laid down
as law in the other case is odious and
scandalous. The Supreme Court of the
United States simply passed upon the
political status of the negro according
to the Federal Constitution and laws;
the Supreme Court of the State of Mi
chigan has passed upon his social status.
The one court decided that the negro,
by the law, did not stand upon a politi-
cal equality with the whites; the other
court has decided that, if not by the
statute law, by the law of custom, he
does not stand upon a social equality
with the whites. The one court deci- |
ded hat he is politically an inferior be-
ing: the other that he is morally an in
ferior being. The one excluded him
from the Federal courts; the other ex-
him from steamboat cabins and
railroad cars. The one dealt
with him with respect to citizenship
the other deals with him with
to his manhood. If the one de-
him as part and parcel of the
body polite, the other has abased him
and tainted him and shamed him as
part and parcel of the social fabric.
Let it not be supposed for a moment
that we condemn this decision of the
Supreme Court of the State of Michigan.
We do not. We shall sustain it, as we
nave sustained the decision of the Su-
IRENE Court of the United States
Both in our judgment arc c~minently
light. Neither court could make any
,ther decision; or, if the Supreme
Court of this State had made any other
decision, they would have merited the
and contempt of the whole
The fact which we wish to
prominently out in this whole
connection is, that the Supreme Court
# the State of Michigan is composed of
our gentlemen of the Black ''Rcpubli-
IAN" party, and they have been COM
,clled, when this question of n;ggers
,ame before them, to determine it upon
COMMON sense principles and in contra
of the protested principles Of
he Black Republican" party. They
lave been compelled to determine it in
accordance with the principles of the
Democratic party and of the bred Scott
l~ecision itself. They have been COM
9elled to acknowledge, and to write it
lpon their enduring records, that the
is an inferior being, though in so
they have kicked away the plat
'orm upon which they sought and walk
ID into Office. They have been COM
'elled to go farther than the bred Scott
l%ecision went. They have been COM
'elled to pass upon the negro as a social ,