Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1862-03-05
Bancroft lie tat Historian Ills Opinion Of fancy.

DaatIOil TIC Y "a nieseiidA my VfniVh VI i"ho!'
The great Historian, Bancroft, must have
nov passed his seyentieth year. It Is said
Of BIN that he never failed to vote his
democratic ticket, and that bis mind was
III a quandary as to whether he should sup
port Breckenridge or Douglas. Bancroft
always spuraed office, though We believe
he filed one or two special missions to
Europe.
AT the late Banquet in New York, for
hearing read the Farewell Address If
Wa hington, Bancroft was invited to speak
Among other historical events alluded to
by the Speaker, he thus alludes to the re-
markable decision of Chief Justice fancy
Tlle present Chief-Justice has on one
memorable appeal accompanied his decis-
i9n with an imprisoned defamation,
wherein with profound immortality which
no one has as yet frlly laid bare, treating
the people Of the United States as shrew
to be tanned BY an open scorn Of the facts
of history, with a dreary industry collecting
evidences Of cases where justice may have
slumbered or weakness been oppressed,
compromising for want Of evidence by con-
/ fidence Of assertion, with partiality that
1 would have djsgraced an advocate neglect
inc humane decisions Of Colonial Courts
and the enduring memorials Of colonial
statute-books, in bis party zeal to prove
that the Fathers Of our Country held the
negro to have mo rights which the white
man was bound to respect" he has not on
ly denied the rights Of man and the liber-
ties of mankind, but has not left ioothold
for the liberty Of the white man to rest up
on. That ill-starred disquisition Of TaieY
who, | trust, did not Inte4d to hang Out
the flag of Disunion, is the iountain-head OF
this rebellion; that ofFense to the conscious
memory Of the millions conyulsed our
country with the excitement which swept
over those OF us who yainly hoped to pre-
serve strong and sufficient though narrow
isthmus that might stand between the con-
fiieting floods. No nation can adopt that
Judgment as its rule and live; the iudg.
ment has in it no element Of political vital
Fity. Twill not say il is an invocation OF
the dead past; there never was a past that
accepted such opinions. If we want the
opinions received in the days when our
Constitution was framed, we will not take
them secondhand from our Chief-Justice
we will let the men Of that day speak fol-
themselves. How will our American mag
istrate sink when arraigned, as he will be,
before the tribunal Of humanity; how ter
rible will be the verdict against him, when
he rs put IN comparison with Washington
political teacher the great Montesquieu, the
enlightened magistrate Of France, in what
are esteemed the worst days Of her mon
arehy. The argument from the difference
Of race which fancy thlusts forward with
passionate confidence, as proof Of com
| plete disqualification, is brought forward by
Montesquieu az a scathing satire on ali the
brood Of despots who were supposed to up
hold Slavery as tolerable in itself. The
rights Of MANKIND, that precious word
which had 20 equivalent in the language
Of Hlndostan, or Judea, or Greece, or Rome
or any ante-Chrstian tongue, found ii
supporter in Washington and Hamilton; in
Franklin and Livingston; IN Otis, George
Mason and Gadsden; in all he greatest
men of our early history. The one rule
from which the makers of our first confed-
eracy aud then ofour national Constitution
never swerved, is this: to fix no new con
stituliona disability on any one; whatever
might stand in the way Of any man from
opinion, ancestry, weakness Of mind, ineri-
ority " Inconvenience Of any kind, was it
self not formed into a permanent disfran-
chisement The Constitution Of the Uni
ted States was made under the recognized
influence of "the eternal rule Of order and
right" SO that as far as It's jurisdiction ex-
tended, it raised at once the numerous elias.
who had been chattels into the condition
Of persons; it neither originates nol perpet-
yates inequality.