The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-12-31

No feature OF our national govern
ment has hitherto been regarded with
such general respect as the tribunal
bearing the designation of Supreme
COur; of the United States. Men of all
parties have felt the necessity OF keep
ing such court entirely aloof from
the slough of partisan politics, and
they vaIniy hoped 10 induce its Judges
TO pursue such a course by showing a
sincere ven"ratiOn for them and their
decisions. Ii WAS, indeed. difficult to
retain this feeling when Jackson np-
pointed As Chief Justice SO unsCrupu-
!ous partisan as fancy. Nevertheless
the traditional sentiment toward the
Court remained intact until the afro
clous decision in the bred Scott case
completely destroyed 1t, and since
then the moral sentiment OF an over
whelunng mass of the people has
longcd 10 see the Court purged of the
evil element it contained and restored
to its pristine purity.
Death and rebellion together furnish
ed President Lincoln with the means of
erecuug this, and he thought he had
done so in the judge he appointed. He
made one mistake, however, in ap-
pointing a judge OF the fatal name of
DdUlS, and though he was excuseable
the circumstances. as this same Davis
was his bosom friend, vet the unFor-
tuuatc experience he had with two
others OF the name might have warned
nun. But II did not, and now the Re
publican parry is suffering from the
detection of this third Davis, even more
than it does from that OF Andrew John
son; for the latter we can reach and
cOuntsract through constitutional
means, while the former we cannot
reach without utterly dismautling the
Court, even If we can do it bv that
means, OF which we have very grave
doubts.
Tothe decisions of the Supreme Court
we bow with the same pect we could
have others show to it were its decis-
ions favorable instead OF unfavorabIe
TO Republican principles and policy,
Nor Will we disguise that there are good
reasons for thinking that under some
circumstances the decision against mil
itary tribunals would be an Invaluable
defence to popular liberties, though in
the present instance 1t is purely intend
cd to aid in establishing Johnson's idea
that the south is reconstructed beyond
the reach of Congress because civil rule
is again enforced and the war at an end.
and it is so clearly the fOreruuner OF
other decisions, all looking to a defeat
. OF Republican aScendancy and the res-
/ torntion of southern domination. But
we cannot refrain from saying that the
Indignation against the Court aroused
I by TINS decision is just and warranted
and that those who depend upon the
sentiment OF respect Tor the Court so
! long cherished by conservative ReDub.
| licans, to enable them to use these do
cisions against us, Will find themselves
wholly mistaken.
We may as well now state bron6Iv
our belief that the tribunal, which mn
/ dertoOk by the bred Scott decision To
destroy forever the anti-slayery move-
/ ment in America, is now attempting n
similar movement toward the Republi-
can policy OF reconstruction, and that
/ it is now about to fortify the Southern
resistance and the johnson usurpatiOns
/ by series of decisions as perVprso M
that in the bred Scott case. 1t will be
no more successful in this instance than
| it was in that, and the record of the
I former attempt might be sufficient to
warn the men who are now making the
attempt.
There can be no doubt that it was the
knowledge of this intention on the part
OF Davis and his associates that render
ed the traitor Johnson defiant and out
rageous in his conduct and language,
The two things stand together, and are
| part of the same scheme. We warn
those who are concerned in it that if il
he pushed much further, the impeach-
ment of Johnson, hitherto only talked
of, will be undertaken in downright
| earnest, and that the Republicans will
not for moment shrink from the con-
test, however great it may be. Sub
mission Is not for the conquerors, but
for the conquered.
AN act has been passed by the Geor-