The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-06-12
VOL. 13.
the courts, as is suggested in the passags
which have quoted from the message of ths

the courts, as is suggested in the passagse :
which have quoted from the message Of th
President
If State has right to s'renounce its place
in the Union" the citizens of the State have
right to accepted its decision and follow its
fortunes. This hypothetical proposition in
voves the very life of the nation, the unity
Of the Republic. Ifit may be determined
judcially disaster must result, no matter on
which side the decision may stand. If the
fright to renounce' be affirmed then there
is no treason and the Union is dissolved. If
| it he denied, another trial may reverse the
Judgement, SO that certainty Of result would
have disunion alone for a handmaid, for q
decree of dissolution would be the only one
not subject to reversal.
| The unity of this Republic needs not to be
ljudicially pronounced. 1t is the Republic
Courts have nothing TO do with it. 1t would
be crime against the people for judges to
permit its discussion, and judicial treason for
them to assume jurisdiction over it. Armies
alone can discuss it. Battles alone can de ).
eide it. All other tribunals must accept the
unity of the nation as O fact about which
| bangs no uncertainty, and concerning which
there must be no disputation. The people
settled this question when they ordained the
Government, and left no pretense for Presi-
dent or judge or legislator to meddle with it.
From I'VE, the people of the United States,
comes the high command to Executive, court,
and Congress to accept without doubling, TO
defend without faltering, to enforce by all the
powers embodied in Ne Constitution, includ-
ing the grand and unlimited powers of the
right Of self preservation, the sovereign unity
which constitutes us nation.
All true friends Of the country must regret
that the President permitted this serpent to
| nestle itself in his message. The certainty of
a proper determination Of the question by the
Supreme Court of the United States as now
constituted is no apology for the presence of
the mischievous thing. The death of judges
and the mutations of parties are unsafe pre-
servers Of judicial DEGREES. The tenure of of
fee of judge, although it be for life, is too
short wherewith to measure the life of nation.
The purity and patriotism of particular judges
are no sure guarantees that the same bright
qualities will always abide with the court. for
Judges die but courts do not Patriots of toI
day may be succeeded by conspirators to-mor-
row but the court remains. Treason lurked
in this Hail. 1t may at some time be enrobed
on the bench Of the Supreme Court. These
considerations all show how grave would be
she blunder of submitting question for the
decision of any court the fright ota State to
renounce its place in the Union" and that
the question cannot be .'settled finally and
forever by casting it into the ever. changing
stream of judicial opinion.
Perhaps the convention OF Georgia believed
the right OF State to renounce Its place IN
the Union question Of judicial decision,
and therefore repealed the ordinance of seces1
sion which plunged that State into war instead
OF declaring it null and void. Doubtless jeff
Oh IL. 10 IL II
would like to have his case crowned with ju-
dicial afirmance of the right of a State to re-
nounce its place in the Union, and thereby
win for himself and for the Sou,h that which
armies and battle and all the woes of war
could not secure for them-tne disintegration
OF the Republic.
Courts can be changed destroyed, and ere
ated oy Congress and the President. The fu-
ture may find an outgoing Congress and a re-
firing President turning IN the last few months
OF their power upon the Supreme Court, and
changing It's organization or adding TO the mum
Der of lis members. and in this way securing
majority to pronounce the right of the States
TO retire from the Union. Under cover of this
decision the Southern States may again pass
their ordinances OF secession. organize pro-
visional government and elect the retiring
President of the United States President Of
the rebel government. Let the ,reacherous
Congress 90 one step further. and allow the
people of this District to decide with which
government they will cast their lot. Let the
traitorous court make one more decision In a
manufactured case and declare this action of
Congress and the people of this District valid.
This done, and you find before the arrival of
the day for the Inauguration of the President
elect of the United States the Republic dis
solved by decree OF court, a new Government
IN possession OF your capitol, and ruin and
anarchy apportioned to your people.
This is disunion made easy; and yet it is
not more unlikely to happen, if you once
knowledge the rights OF the courts TO pass
upon the great question of national unity,
than was the recent gigantic rebellion. Once
| admit that the right Of State to secede from
the Union is debatable question to be deter
mined by the courts. and you will have done
more towards the destruction of this Govern
ment than was ever done by armed treason on
ceded to the courts, and to them will traitors
hereafter direct their corps of sappers and
miners for the destruction of the Government.
No need Of armies will traitors feel; judges
can do this work. In the solemn stiffness of
the hall OF The Sunreme Court mar that dieal
work tnen be done which could not be accom-.
piished amid the most terrific thunders of the
recent awful struggle between treason and the
Republic. The black gown may be NOR
potent than the gray uniform. The manu-
script Of Judge may most iearfully demon
strate the saying that the pen is mightier
than the sword.
Mr.. Speaker, do not charge the President
with purpose to bring upon the nation the
evils which must inevitably follow practical
application OF the doctrine Of Lis message 20
| ..le aIairs OF the country. He evidently ek-
poets but one result, denial of the right of a
State of its own will to renounce its place in
the Union. The danger does not l,e in the
intention Of the President hut in the doctrine
itself. Calhoun did not regard his theory Of
State rights an one which would end in war
whenever State shou d attempt to put it in
practice. We know how fearfullY he was
mistaken. Four years Of desolating war,
three hundred thousand graves of loyal men,
hundreds of thousands Of widows snl or.
pnaus, untold numbers of desolate hearth
circles, sorrows and heart pangs which can
only be made known by the pnsoldings OF that
day which shalt number the crimes and woes
| of the human race, all stand as witnesses
now, or will, in the coming times, OF the
wichedness which lurked in the theory of Cal
houn. His theory provided the rallying point
for that band Of conspratcrs and army OF
traitors Wh,ah covered this land with the
woes Of war. His eriminali,y is measured by
the direfnl results of his teachings, and not by
his intentions. His theory was that State
possessed the right to peacefully retire frota
the On on. He asserted ,he right and did not
seem to realize that if il should be disputed
the issue joined could only be tried by the tri
bunai Of war. His disciples affirmed it. II
was disputed. The issue was tried by armies
and resolved in favor of the indissolube unity
i l.l-.- IL