Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-19
The State of Arkansas VS.. SAM
ueI w. Williams.
OPINION
BY THE CoURT, Mr.. JUSTICE PIKE
Concluded


the power Of deciding such questions for
him; or, looking through forms to
realitv, every citizen having agreed to
exercise Jointly with ali the States other
citizens, and by certain agents and IN
certain manner and Oy certain MAORI
ties, that power; and that the decisions
so made IN any case should be has de-
eision the decision of the State con-
cludes him and Is his, for all practical
purposes that is, hold what private
opinion he may, he must conform all his
action to that decision, no matter now
contrary il may he to his opinion or to
his vote as electOr or legislator. No pro
test on his part can prevent that conclu-
sion. He can only avoid its cOnse-
( quences by removing from the state ana
ceasing to be q citizen, If, indeed, even
/ that will release him. He cannot appeal
from the decision, because there Is no
forum into which to carry the appeal.
Nor ought he to be alld I'D an appeal {;
for he might, on the same ground, claim
4 the right Of refusing to be bound by any
other action of the State. He is cOrpo-
rstor: the State is the corporation. He
has agreed that the acts Of the corpora
ton shall be his acts. If that were not
so. there would be no cohesion between
the-ipdividuals in q State, 10 constitute
a State. There would be no government
He helped make or adopt the general
| law and that Jay makes what the State
does, his act.
He has had the consideration fCr this,
| La The rights, privileges and immunlues
he has possessed and exercised as a citi-
! zen of the state in Gll the liberties, and
| franchises he has enjoyed as q free man
| IN all the protection afforded his rights
I by the Constitution, the laws, the Courts
OF Justice and the arms OF his fellow
citizens; in all the benefits he has en-
loved in the State, whether or free gov
ernment, equal laws, peace, unlmpeded
access to the tribunals OF justice, security
of prOpertv, liberty and life, the right Of
voting, the right of free thought and free
speech.
Nor is il Mt to overlook the other rela-
tions that exist between a country and
I her citizens, the other duties owing by
] them to her, more sacred and solemn ana
binding than any that spring and How
1 from contract. For as neither all nor
/ the highest OF strongest springs and mo-
tiyes OF human action, whether II be IN
dividuRl or national, are those OF interest
and selfishDess, because man is not body
alone, but also living soul, so the hlgn-
est duties and loftiest motives Of the cit
/ fzen are not those created by statute-laW
or contract. Honor, loyalty, patriotism,
/ love of country are more than that, ana
vet are as real as the soul ITSELF II IS
i neither possible or necessary to define
these relations. They are felt, by
the instincts Of the heart and the
sentiments Of the soul, rather than
defined by the intellect and reason.
/ Man, sRgRge or semi-civilized, often
] onL L
edges them more fully, aud Obeys them
more implicitly, than man civilized into
Rslfsbness, instructed by education, en-
Heightened by philosophy. These higher
1 duties are not without the sanction OF
Law. They are indeed commanded by
the universal Law of all nations, coeval
/ with the existence Of society, and neither
reDesled nor altered, nor its force ana
( authority diminished by Time whose
influences waste and gorrode almost al
/ things else. In the performance Of those
highest duties, Socrates refused TO escape
| from prison. when his country unJustly
REQUIRED him innocent to remain there
/ and accent at her hand the cup Of hem
/ loek. The law prescribing them was
! long in full force in Athens, Sparta and
Rome. 1t is only disregarded where the
cold arguments Of selfshness appealing
I TO the reason and calculation only, SUD
stitute in its stead the obligations Of
contract and the inducements Of Interest
It is expressed, and needs nodefinihoni
when we call our country, as has oeeA
done Ia all ages, Ogr father or our mother
Prtri0, the country, was 70 the fsos1sas
hut the feminine form Of I9IteT, father
The same word, slightly varied, when q
all. expresses the country of the tFench
4 "a ffaffan h,nT
land IS the Mother-land Of her chit
! dren, and the Teuten everywhere call
/ his country 'Faderiand.' Every where
in the world, and in all time, the rela
ton, by the highest lawS between IN
. citizen and his country, has been the re
lation between child and parent; ~
) duties, those owing by the child TO hl
I father and mother.
If this had not been so, the iofttes
5 virtues Of the citizens would never nav
s been displayed Bnd the loftiest deeds Q
{ psfriotism never done. Whenever IN
) Eprings and motives of action, exertol
: and self-saerifiee, which these relation
/ can alone create, are wanting to nation
s il will be no longer a country, to b
2 loved, but great farm to be worked 70
: profit: no longer a home for citizens, bu
s an inn for boarders by the day.
Hence the peculiar horror with whiel
) | all nations and all mankind have eve
$ regarded treason, or the subversion {
$ the constitution Of government, and ID
: laws, OF ones country. Parrieide an
? I,stricitiss are crimes Of the same horn
s | nature. j has sometimes not even bee
6 / deemed necessary to enact i law 70 pur
5 | ish treason, more tlfsn one to punish tn
2 Staying Of 3 parent, because It was nc
Z conceived as possible that crime :
: unnatural as either could be committed
S II there had been no other reason (
| withdrawing from the Union, Virgins
5 for Instance, would have eyed II 70 bel
z self TO DO Sc. because, by the dootrlu
= established in the northern States, tines
4 holy relations Of child and mother
Is longer exested between her children an
: herself: these most sacred duties were
longer owing by them 10 her but sue
f. relations existed only between them an
the United States, the superior Of ~
ginia, and such duties were only due 3
them to thai superior. To rob State
the loyalty, the reverence, the love-
:. its children, was crime against natur
Te teach them the lesson thus insists
on, was 10 debauch aud corrupt Il
children Of the State, and leave her mo
8, ohilGlGss than Lear.
- tits hardly conceivable that any Z
man citizen, in tAe ( etter days OF Il
Commonwealth, could have been
= ,iueed, by any danger or loss Of propert
by any threats or infiietiOn OF toTtaf
by any length of Imprisonment, OF
any hazard Of life, or even by the swo
). AZ the throat OF his wife and children,
submit to the unheard Of degradation
swearing allegiance and loyalty 81
fidelity to Maeedon OF Carthage, VIII
either was at war with Rome, and
nat oath becoming Rome's enemy a
me enemy Of his cOuntrymcn and kir
=. men. The Roman virtne was of
s1erner mould, The Roman would
- saoner have sworn his infant children
eternal hostility to the public enemy,
Hannibal was sHcrn by MS father,
- eifar Of the gods OF Carthage,
~ ~ eternal hostility to Rome.
Z ~- 1s and ftinCinuntus WaFa nos