Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-02-18
The People VS.. the U. S. Supreme
Court.


manifesto, alludes with his usual tenderness
to the Supreme Court, and acknowledges tha
it has ultimate jurisdiction as to the constitu
tionality of the acts of Congress and of ii!
nrocIamations. This fact, in connection witt
the political complexion of that body, natu
rally excites some fears in the minds of the
friends of freedom, and, perhaps, some hopes
in the minds of rebels. For our part, moth
ing would please us better than to have the
Southern States return to their allegiance III
the hope that the Supreme Court would pro
nouncc the ConGscation Act and the Enamel
patton Proclamation UNCONSTITUTIONAL and
stet'nn quo ante beNum Not that We have
amy conf dcncc in the judicial branch of our
government as ii is at present constituted
We are only too well aware that its Judges
are the creatures of that dynasty which made
complete prostitution to slavery a condition
precedent to an appointment They have
already demonstrated their willingness to
H'makc tyrant of the law Our trust lies
in the fact that while Tancy and his comrade
fossils are the Supreme, the People are the
,Spprcncr Court. BY this We mean nothing
revolutionary. The Supreme Court pronounc
cd the Alien and Scdition Law constitutional,
yet that failed to make it operative. 1t gave
the sanction of its Judicial approval to the
nited States Bank, but that great monopoly
was swept away because the People disap-
proved 1t decided that the 90 lsttutior car
ricd slavery into the territories, and that the
negro had no rights which the white man
vas bound to respect, but we believe that
poor Drcd Scot was the only one who ever
has suffered, and we know that no one ever
will again suffer- from that monstrous dceis-
ion
All this means simply that the popular will
is us jnsrt@ which will always carry before
it parchmcnts, precedcnts and prejudice.
If the Supreme Court were to morrow to
pronuncc against the constitutionalty of ev-
cry act looking toward enamel patton, how
much would it retard the cause Of freedom :?
Little, if any. No power can restore slavery
in this couatry save that which raised Lazar-
lis from the dead; and, if it is not blasphenl-
Gus, We don't believe that could. Wherever
our armies have gone, they have carried free
dom, and very many of those who were slaves
are now in the military service of our gov
crnment. How suggestive to the mind of a
rebel STAKEHOLDER it must be to see i've hun
drcd thousand dollars worth Of property riM
m,tsktts their shoa1&tyS, charging a rebel
battery and singing as they pressed forward
John Browns body lies mouldering in the
grave,
But his soul is marching on ~
Such scene transpired few months since
on the Teche.
We trust, then, in the PEOPLE and in the
PEorLEs PRESIDENT, ABRAHAM LINCOLN
TIE DESIGNS OF THE REBELs.-
George Dawson writes from Washington to
the Albany Eccaing Journal: 1t seems to be
the opinion in well informed circles that the
rebels do not propose to much longer waste
their energies in the protection of Richmond
Reports and appearances concur in this =
That preparations are being made to take the
iebei government farther South, and TO con.
centrate the rebel army at some defensible
point where its whole power may be prompt.
~ made to hear upon the isolated Union ar
mlee, and to risk the future of the Confede
raey upon combined assault upon some vital
point IN the lniop lines This point is be
.ieved to be Chattanooga or Knoxville
out the possession of which it is wholly i'm.
practicable for the rebels to much longer
nrotract the war.
If this supposed programme shall no con.
fymed, and the Army of Virginia" shall be
sent out on its vital mission, twenty thousanf
veteran troops, now doomed to inactio. :,
''the defences of Washington" will he nm
Gagged and permitted to share in the peril
and glory of the crowning campaign of tn
war. And never were men more eager 70
the fray They literally pant for an oppol
tunity to show their metal in the "deadl
breach" as they have their patience IN tn
classmates and carthworks on the banks {
the Potomac
ENcoURAGING.-The type founder
have issued circular to printers that the
have raised the price of printing material 2
L,