New-York tribune., 1867-06-24
CHASE on REBELLION.

Clief-Justice Chase delivered at Raleigh, \.
G., on the nth, an opinion, in the case of
Shortridge g. Co. as. Macon, which declares
and defines the law Of the land OH very i'm
pOrtant question arising out of our late civil
war. The plaintiffs were Pennsylvanians, the
defendant North Carolnian, but whether per-
sonal.y Rebel or not, we are not advised, and
it is not essential. He owed ShOrtrdgc
g. Co. debt, and had given note
therefor; but this note, during the ascend
ancy of the Rebellion in North Carolina,
he was obliged to pay into the Confederate
treasury, whether willingly or not. We may
safely presume that he did it willingly, as the
| fact that he owed the note might otherwise
have been concealed. Suffice ii that he owed
money to Shortridge g. Co., which he paid to
| the Confederacy and took its discharge from
the debt considering that the end Of the matter.
But Shortridge & Co. could not see the matter
in that light; SO, after the Rebellion collapsed.
they brought suit against Macon in the U. s.
District Court, where Judge Chase has just
decided that Macon must pay his debt, and
that his Confederate discharge from it is MT
worth a rush, though it would have been if
the Rebellion had succeeded so that Campbell
or Sbarkey had now been holding Confederate
District Court at Raleigh for the trial of
this case. All this is simple common
sense, and the Chief Justices statement of
the facts and the law is signally lu-
cid and fOrcible. If any Reinforcement
were needed, the consideration that Rebellion
is not quite New Way to Pay Old Debts
would afford it. We know that very gene
raj and severe pressure of debt at the South
in 1860 was one of the main indictments to
SECESSION. Thousands, goaded TO mad
ness by the pressure of their liabilities
to the North, said" Civil War can
"not make Our situation less endu-
"rable than it isr-and rushed in. Now let it
be established that an insurgent population
could discharge their indebtedness to their
loyal creditors in the way Macon supposed he
had paid his debt, and we may have rebelfOns
fOmented Oh purpose to square off debts, and
given mp when that end is achieved. That
won't do <af. s- %
But the Chief Justice sees fit, without OBJ
viOus necessity to argue as follows:
Courts have policy. They can only declare the
cay that the levyng Of war ceases 10 be treason When
the war formidable THAT though levied By
when levied by OOl-tat the armed attempts
Of few. attended by serious danger TO the Union and
IRSs
attempts by vast combination controlling several
States putting great armies into the field, mcnaciDg with
imminent peril the very life OF the Republic, and de-
inanding immense efforts and immense expenditures
and blood for their defeat and suppression
swell beyond the boundaries OF the definition and become
innocent IN the proportion Of their enormity.p
Answer.--The Chief Justice here overlooks
the very grave difference between q govern
ment based avowedly OH the right of the peo-
pie TO modify or radically change their political
institutions and one founded ON the doctrine
of Divine Right or Legitimacy, as are the Old
World monarchies. In the view of this doe
trine, the more formidable the rebellion the
greater the crime; so that to have four-ffths
of the people in sympathy with the rebels
would only aggravate the wickedness of their
outbreak. fn. .t
But, in republic based on popular consent,
the case is brayely altered Here, the conspiracy
of few argues a culpable design to subject the
many to despotic sway not SO the arousing OF
Millions vast combination controlling sew
era States, putting great armies into the field
&C., &c. Such a rallying Of millions i'm.
I plies either the existence Of real grievances
to be repressed, or Of sincere though mis-
I taken convictions that they have wrongs that
they can right only by the sword. And this ID
why our earlier statesmen, down to and in
cluding Webster, have held doctrine regard
ing formidable instructions which seems to us
the opposite of that above enunciated by the
Chief Justice.
But it is said, eff the disaffected are 90
numerous, they may peacefully secure re-