The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-01-24


13nsg- For announcing candidate, Five Dollars
insaavance. -. ,.,,a,.. s,.s,s...
w VT. The. Supreme, Court. =
a.aThe following speech was made BY
Judge Black, on the evening of the Sth
atthe National Hotel, atthe banquetgiven
IN honor of the .ffty-second anniversary
ofthe battle Of New Orleans. The speecn
was made in response to a toast compli-
meernting the United States Supreme
Court: l. s.sa~.i... >.
Mr.. Chairman: - In the history of this
eeuntry. it has never before been thought
necessary either to toast the Supreme
Co6rt or defend it. But times have
Changed. Very recently, attacks ,fnl! OF
bitter malignity have been made on1that
tribunal. and measures are deliberately
taken to break down its just authority:
Considering by whom these assaults J! are 5
niade, and what the object OF them ls' "
would, perhaps, be better to encourage
them, since tits certain that, in the long
run. they can do no harm to anybody but
their authors. If you have 2 viper TO
deal With, or nest of viperss it is better
to keen them biting at o file than any
thing. they can lay their teeth to. Still it
may not be inappropriate to look, Tor a q.
uSoment, at the occasion OF the present
persecution., a. q
,Tbree private citizens of Indiana, per-
fectly innocent of any ofence-l say per-
,setll innocent, because, up to- that tine,,
no human being has ever legally E!sQ sworn ;.
even. to a belief of their guilt-these cltl-
zsns. were arrested, kidnapped, and car
ried before a body Of men wholly without
power to meddle with them-not autnor-
ized even to swear q witness for them or
aSsaaiin1sst them-and there, after q proceed
ing which. it would be mockery to call a
trial. they were ordered to be killed on o.
certain fixed day.. In this condition OF.
things the judicial authorities interyened,
and aidd with the aid Of President johnson,
the victims were rese1ed.pi a rtg y,
.sWhen the cause came into o'the Supreme
Court, the simple question was, whether
aicitizen could be lawfully deprived OF his Al
life without fair, honest trial before an
inpartiuliury and regular court? To
this there could be but one answer, and
that answer was given unanimously all
tie Judges yielding their full and unre-
served ed assent to it. They held, in effect,
that. the pretended trial was conspiracy,
and that the execution, If at had taken
place, would have been mere lawless
murder. What else could they do? 70
lrana men without Judge or jury, is an act
sS cfeafH forbidden by the fundan entail
lsw,.kKat sno;one con make any mistake
about it, if he has sense enough to know
his right hand from his left. The prohi-
bition is written down as plain as any
onefoe the ten commandments ;'there is
not a sentence in the Lords Prayer more,
SIMPLE; not moral precept can be found
in the ,child's primer that is more easily
understood. Yet the COURTS villipended,
and abused and slandered for saying it..
The organs of disunion and anarchy pub,
licly proclaim their determination to dis
regard the. decision, not because it is er-
r5o,2neous, ron but because it confines their
power by limits inconveniently narrow.
They declare that they will do, in def
anees of 1T, whatever gratifes their own
purposes or promotes their own interests;
and they impudentiy use this very eX-
preston: "If the law stands incur way,
80 much the worse for the law.
sMr.f 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 it to
be perfectly right. The senseless twad-
die about hanging American citizens by
the law of nations, on criminal accusa-
tions Of their own Government, could not
for o single instant impose on an under
standing like his. But he denounces the
iudges for deciding what he knows and
what they know to be true, for no con-
ceivable reason, except his desire that his
particular friends may continue.to enjoy
the delightful luxury of shedding innocent
blood. ,ez. ~
The Judges, and all who think with
them; are called traitors, because they de-
clare the Constitution to mean what it
SAYS, avs and because they will not violate it
themselves, or permit its violation by
others, when they can prevent IL. 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
iii the laws of his country-it is not such
q man that can be justly called traitor.
But if there be an American citizen any
where, who, with an oath upon his con.
science to support the Constitution, would
make war upon it, subvert it by brute
force and take away the defences it af-
fords to life, liberty and property, leaving
them to the mercy of mobs, murderers,
kipnappers, military commissions, and