Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-02

respects both Of the ensetments IA ques-
ton were erPost Jdcto laws.
Itisa terrible fact that these enact-
ments have been decided 60 be u~nconsti-
tutionaI by the opinion of a single judge,
and that il the President were put aside,
the Jacobia majority in Congress would
Immediately create new jsdges ana
procure a reversal Of the decisions in az
other case made for the purpose. it was
an immense power entrusted to a single
Judge, appointed by LINCOLN and Mr..
/ Justice FIELD is entitled to immortal
honor, for remembering, as Chief InJns-
tiee CHASE neuer remembers, that he
owed no duty to Power and Faction, put
only to the Law and the Constitution
The Court has put it beyond further
dispute, that no person can be punished
or incapacitated as guilty Of an offence
in ana other way than by a conviction,
upon a trial by due course of law. That
is the great point decided. This sRnuls
an test oaths, no matter by what power
enacted; and those Of Tennessee are
henceforward as much a dead letter as
those of Missouri. If it should be still
attempted to maintain them, let any
man whose vote is refused, bring his ae-
ton. Lord Chief Justice HOLT long ago
decided that an EngIishman could main
tain such an action, because, he said,
50 his vote is his birthright."
And alss the Court has ~conclusiyely
settled that the power of the President to
pardon is pIenary, and that no other
power.o of Congress or a Legislature, can
limit or diminish the effect OF 8 pardon
given by him. The offence and all its
consequences are as if they had never
been.
One does wonder that Mr.. Justice
WAYNE should have dissented from
these conclusions. But no n is amazed
at Chief Justice Chase, whose appoint
ment was one "not fit to be made y
since neither his legal ability OF intellec-
tuaI greatness entitled him to it and II
is for him so completely a stepping-stone
to political preferment, that he dragged
the ermine through the pollutions Of the
kennel, when it had hardly beeu flung
upon his shoulders.
OF course, under our miserable system
of dissenting opinions, which is uhotty
unknown in France, and little INDUCED
min England, and whichha become with
us an intolerable pest and nuisance, the
minority of the court, through Mr.. JUS
tice MILLER, has done all it could to
weaken the authority of the Judgment
and decision Of " the court Neverthe-
less it may be that these two decisions
are to cause the people to reflect, and
arrest the career of ~radicalism. The tide
may be about to turn. But We confess
that we consider it more probable that
the mad current will not be stayed by
the feeble barrier interposedi and that
the people will be easily persuaded by
their leaders to revOlutioniZe the court,
no matter by what means, and so to put
all power in the hands Of the body which
will then be, not a Congress of the
States. but a National Assembly Of the
populace. When WILLIAM of Orange as
eended the English throne, SERGEANT
MAYNARD said to him, "YOurM Majesty, ]
am the oldest lawyer at the bar. Ihave
outlived ali my brethren; andif youi
Majesty had much longer delayed YOU
coming, l should have Outlived the law
itself.,' Thanks to Mr.. Justice FELL
and those who agreed with him, the Law
still lives, short as its lease Of life may
prove, and the rights of man are moi
vet entirely annulled.