New-York tribune., 1867-04-13
SHARKEY,S DOCTRINE.

The Supreme Court decided yesterday 10
consider separately the Mississippi bill of in
junction against the President and Gen. Ord
excluding the motion made in behalf OF
Georgia. We print the full proceedings
with the argument of Attorney General
Stanberry against the motion, and that
of Mr. Robert j. Walker in support of it.
The main ground taken by the Attorney
General is that the President cannot be made n
defendant in any court; that he is in his official
capacity, answerable only to Congress for his
acts, and that the Constitution, by giving Con-
gress the power to impeach and try him, refuses
that power to any other branch of the Govern
ment. After hearing the arguments the Court
decided to hold the motion under advisement.
A wcll-known gentleman from Mississippi,
supposed to be q factotum and familiar of the
President, appears as the Ostensible head of the
new opposition to Reconstruction. Mr.. ShaTkey
has fixed his teeth in the Military Government
act, and the Government must, at least go
through the ceremony of making him ict go his
hold. There is just suspicion that Mr.. Sharkey
is biting file but we let that pass. We must
bear in mind the ravenOus affinity on the sub
ject of State Rights existing not only between
Mr. w. l.. Sharkey and Mr.. Johnson, but also
between the ex-Provisional Governor of Missis-
sippi and few of the judicial old men of the
sea who make up the mveteracy OF the SUI
preme Court MIR. Sharkey has evidently cal
cuated his chances for presenting respect
able if not q formidable, issue; indeed, he
imagines that he is going TO win At the worst,
Inc is bound to put the fate of State Rights to
the test, cor win or lose it all" He is both
desperate aud sanguine. and il in the condition
of man VIII. must either become 9 million
aire OF e. C. State prIs5n. @ That Mr. Sharkey
can I've sanguine appears from the fact that
when Mr. Reverdy Johnson some time ago re-
fused to undertake an application for a man
damus to compel the admission of Mississippi
into Congress, Inc urged the matter, declaring
that he had thoroughly studied it, and that it
must result in success. 80 ~.
Thus, like other superiuous politicians, the
itinerant Mr.. Slarkey IL still floating his power
ful mind in the spirituOus doctrine of State
Rights. He wandcrs from Mississippi to Wash
ington, and back again. and again forward,
but will never give il up. Other men are
accepting facts and grasping them. Such facts
are the shovel and the hoe, rice-fields and
cotton fields labor and franchise: and the old
lumber of State Rights may well be thrown
out in the wilderness, if only Alabama
and Georgia eau work to their best advan-
tage. Ii is unfortunate that any of Mr..
Slarkey's brethren should feel themselves
shackled by the consciousness of this terrible
doctrine. No community can proceed pros
perously when troubled by conviction that
it has right to be lazy when it ought to
work. Labor under such circumstances be-
ui.. tVtfl tla
accompaniment of ball aud chain, and thus
the dcluson of State Rights may be u moral
slavery of the worst sort. State Rights aro
the old chivalrous gauds, and trappings,
and dandysns with which the South
became vain enough to rebel; but on
no account can it afford to wear such
braveries now. Better work in plain home
spun than NOPE like the lazy cavalier in his
garret. State Rights are not going to appre-
ciate labor and property, and rebuild the for
tunes Of the South. A hearty acceptance of the
situation certainly will, and so think the
slrewdcst men of that section. One can do
without title to sovereignty when all the king
dom he owns is farm, and all the treasury
he has is what he earns. Under these con-
ditions, we submit that it is better to dig
potatoes than to be noisy over State Rights.
Gov. Jenkins of Georgia follows ex-Gov.
Sharkey of Mississippi in a legal protest against
what lie considers the unc0nstitutiOnality OF
the Reconstruction act. Both of these gentle
men became Governors by process in direct
opposition to the Sharkey doctrine of State
Rights, the open and indiscriminate violation
of which by President Johnson enables Mr..
Sharkey to set up the contrary with the great
est show and pretense. AS ~ i9dea-mWk, the
people will not he slow to learn the significance
of such straw as Mr.. SlpTkey. lie u
Union man of long suffering, one who
found nothing to do in the Rebellion, and,
we fear, has been rather useless out of it. He
belongs to the extra-class of poiticians-the
gentlemen who are now acting the part OF po-
litcal resurrectionists 1t is not live business:
it is only bringing the corpse of State Rights
to the dissection table. We are no wise alarmed.
If the Supreme Court delivered a decision like
an earthquake, so that even Mr.. James Bu-
chanan should he wakened, we are not sure
that it would produce any more than very
dreadful shaking of dry bones.
|
1t would be supposed from the current re-