Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1867-02-07
Tine supreme Court.
SPEECH OF non. JEREMIAH S. BLAt

/ llvered on the evening OF the oth ul-
timo, at the National Hotel, Wash
ington, at the banquet given in honor
of the fifty-second anniversary Of the
battle of New Orleans. The speech
was made in response to toast com
| plimenting the United States Supreme
Court
Mr.. CHAIRMAN In the history of
this country it has never before been
thought necessary either TO toast the
Supreme Court or defend it. But
times have changed Very recently
attacks full of bitter malignity have
been made on that tribunal, and meas.
ures are deliberately taken to break
down its authority. Considering by
whom these assaults are made, and
what the object of them is, it would,
perhaps, be better TO encourage them,
since it is certain that in the long run
they can do no harm TO anybody but
their authors. If you have viper to
deal with, or n nest of vipers, it is bet
ter to keep them biting at a file than
anything else they ran lay their teeth
to. Still, it may not be inappropriate
to look for moment at the occasion
of the present persecution.
Three private citizens of Indiana,
perfectly innocent OF any offense-l
say perfectly innocent, because, up to
this time, no human being has ever
legally sworn even to belief Of their
guilt-these citizens wero arrested,
kidnapped, and carried before a body
of men wholly without power TO med
die with them-not authorized even
TO swear witness for them or against
them-and there, after proceeding
which it would be mockery TO call a
trial, they were ordered to be killed
on a certain fixed day. In this con-
dition of things the judicial authori-
ties intervened, and, with the aid Of
President Johnson, the victims were
rescued.
When the cause came into the Su-
preme Court the simple question was,
whether citizen could be lawfully
deprived of his life without fair,
honest trial, before an impartial jury
and a regular court. To this there
could be but one answer, and that
answer was given unanimously, all the
judges yielding their full and unre-
served assent to it, They held, in eff
feet, that the pretended trial was a
conspiracy, and that the execution, il
it had taken place, would have been a
mere lawless murder. What else
could they do? To hang men with
out Judge or jury is an act so clearly
forbidden by the fundamental law
that no one can make any mistake
about it, if he has sense enough to
know his right hand from his left.
The prohibition is written down as
plain as any one of the ten command
ments; there is not sentence in the
Lords Prayer moro simple; not a
moral precept can be found in tho
child's primer that is more easily un-
derstood. Yet the court is vilipended,
and abused, and slandered for saying
il. The organs of disunion and anar-
chy publicly proclaim their determin-
alton to disregard the decision, not
because il is erroneous, but because it
confines their power by limits incon-
vcnicntly narrow. They declare that
they will do, in defiance of it, what
ever gratifes their own passions or
promotes their own interests; and
they impudently use this very express
ion "If the ldlo stands in our ,cdy, so
much the ioorSe for the la,o."
Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, the leader
and driver Of the present Congress,
denounces this decision on the floor of
the House. To my certain knowledge
he knows il to be perfectly right. The
senseless twaddlc about hanging Amer
lean citizens by the law of nations,
on criminal accusations of their own
GOV ernment, could not for a single in
slant impose on an understanding like
his. But he slaLders the judges for
deciding what he knows and what
they know to be true, for no conceiva-
bic reason except his desire that his
particular friends may continue to en-
Joy the delightful luxury Of shedding
innocent blood.
The Judges, and all who think with
them, are called traitors because they
declare the Constitution TO mean what
il says, and because they will not vio-
late it themselves or permit IFS viola
ton by others when they can prevent
it. If this conflict for and against the
Constitution implies treason on either
side, the guilt does not lie at our door.
1t is not the man who sustains and
loves and believes in the laws of his
country that can be justly called n
traitor. But if there be an American
citizen anywhere who, with an oath
upon his conscience TO support the
Constitution, would make war upon
it, subvert il by brute force, and take
away the deienses it affords to life,
liberty, and property, leaving them
to the mercy of mobs, murdercrs, kid
nappcrs, military commissions, and
bureaus ofmilitary justice, such man
is thoroughly a traitor:
"Ayc, from the EXTREMIST upward Of his head
To the descent and dust hcncaih his fcoi,
A most toad spotted traitor
These arrows which they cast
against us, barbed aud poisoned with
the accusation of treason, rebound
from our inpcnetrablc armor, and fal
harmless at our feet; for we are shield
cd and hclmed, and wcaponed Will
the truth but if we choose to TAX,
them up and send them back at oul
adversarics, W. would leave then
quivering in their very hearts.
........a a....Al. -. ~. IL Al. q. Z.