The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1862-03-05
aDisrcgara 81 tAs Lsvtp. =

The editor of the Consfisufion insist
that the Gate City advocates .opposisio
to law because il refuses to acknowledg
the inhuman and lying dictum Of Chic
Justice Taney in the bred Scott opinion
and especially that one which culminate
in the idea that s'negroes have no right
which white men are bound to respect.
Nov Ne don't propose to argue tina, point
but We append quotation from . speech
Of hr. Lincoln, whom the Constitution
processes to respect as q sound conserva
tive man and IN upholder of the Constitu
ton and Government, and another from
Geo. Bancroft the great historian and I
democrat worthy the name, with both Of
whom We are proud to agree on the entire
scope Of the Judge Scott opinion and cor.
relative questions.
Mr. Lincoln said, amogst other things
What are the uses Of decisions OF
courts! They have two uses. As rules
of property they have two uses. First
Fhey decide upon the question before the
Court. They decide in this case that
bred Scott is slave. Nobody resists
that. Not only that, but they say to
everybody else, that person standing Just
as bred Scott stands is az be is. That is.
they say that when question comes up
upon another person, it will be SO deci-
ded again, unless the court decides in
another way, unless the court overrules
its decision. Well, We mean to do what
we can to have the court decide the other
way. That is one thing we mean to try
to do.
Why, decisions ap-
parently contrary to that decision, or the
good lawyers thought were contrary to
that decision, have been made by that
very court before. It Is the fnt Of its
Kind; it 10 an astonisher in legal history.
Ii isa new wonder of the world. II Is
based upon falsehood in the main as to
facts-allegntions Of facts upon which it
stands are not facts At all in many instan-
Gee, and no decision made on any ques-
uon--the 6rt instance Of decision made
under SO many unfavorable circumstances
thus placed, has ever been held by the
profession as law. and it has always need.
ed confirmation before the lawyers regard
ed it as settled law.
Bat according to the doctrine Of the
Drsd-Scott-ites as set forth BY the Con-
stitution, all the palpable lies Of that
opinion and oil its false principles md in
human differences, are irreversible Consti
tutional Law, any dissent from which.
subjects one to the charge Of opposition
to the Constitution and resistance to the
laws. And the natural and logical result
of the doctrine is that, if the Supreme
Court Of the United States declares that
Iowa is 4 slave STATE, there is no remedy.
and we must all bow in humble and silent
submission to the false and tyranoical
decree.
We close with the quotation referred
to from Bancroft's recent great speech:
The final decree of the Supreme Court,
in its decision upon particular case. must
be respected and obeyed; the present
Chief Justice has, on one memorable ap.
peal, accompanied his decision with an im.
defamation, wherein with pro-
found immortality which no one has as vet
laid bare, treating the people of the Uni
ted States rs shrew to be tanned by m
open scorn of the facts of history, with q
dreary industry collecting evidences of
cases where justice may have slumbered
or weakness been oppressed, compromising
for want of evidence by confidence or as
sertion, by partiality that would have
dlsgraced an advocate neglscting humane
decisions Of colonial courts and the endur-
ing memorials Of colonial statute books.
In his party zeal 10 prove that the fathers
OF our country held the negro to have .sno
rights which the white man was bound to
respect" he has not only denied the rights
OF man and the liberties Of mankind but
has not lett foothold for the liberty Of
the white man 10 rest upon.
The il-starred disquikition Of Taney,
who, | trust, did not intend to hang out
the nag Of dlsunlon, is the fountain-hca Of
this rebellion; that offense to the con.
scious memory Of the millions, convulsed
our country with the excitement which
swept over those Of us who vainly hoped
te preaerre = strong and sufficient though
marrow isthmus that might stand between
the conflicting foods. No nation can
adopt that Judgment as lis rule, and live.
Il was the bred Scott men par ercel-
ience who inaugursted the present REBEL.
ion to overthrow the Government and de-
stroy the liberties Of the country. And it
cannot but be matter of establishment
that the bred Scott doctrines, in ill their
enOrmity, should be thrust into the f.co