The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1867-04-04

Supreme Court was 70 auoPt "-4tA AOA-' -
,Is,tieions of the state Courts IN questions
,,-l,;b ,e,,,ear-r,ed merely their own COnstltu-
tion and laws This ought TO nave ended tue
casa l,t4t he subsequently used the following
I.,,gr-,rr.. Moreover the Constitution OF
the United States, n far as IL mas PfoNlueN
for an emergency Of this klud ana aotLol-
ized the General Government 70 lAtefPesS
ina the domestic concerns OF state, i''
treated the subject As political IN is natute
and placed the power IN the hands o. tuA'
D+.rIrtu4eutr. sThe fourth section OF the
fourth article of the Constitution pToNiUls
that the United states shall guarantee ~
every State In the Union q repub-lcdn ioi ~
If e5rerame4t and shall protect each OF theLl
against invasion, and on the application o4
re 7. .4eriS{a t51re. or OF the Executive lwheh .
the legislature cannot be convened against (
domestic violence. Under tins article u I
rests with Congress 70 decide what govern \
ueut Is established In a State before IL eau I
determine whether it IS republican or NOT 7
And when the Senators and Representatives /
are admitted into the councils of the Jnlon' +.
the authority of the government UndeI /.
which they are appointed as well rs Us re-
publican character Is recognized bS tAe /
proper constitutional authority. and It's de-
cisi0n is binding, &c 1t Is true that the I
contest TN this ease did not last long enough .
To bring the matter to issue, and as no Sen
ators OF Representatives were elected under
the authority of the government OF when
Mr. D0rr was the head, Congress was not
called upon to decide the controversy. Yet
the right 10 decide Is placed there
The only question before the Court being
such as / have stated it, then 1t Is clear that
if the above language Is to be construed as
meaning that in time Of profound peace,
aud when there is neither Invasion nor dor
nestle yO1cHce 10 suppress trdicb tie pOceT ~
The General Government bds been inr9ke3 By the
LEGISLATURE or ErecGtire Of tie STATE, the Con
srress or General Government has power to
overthrow and establisLa state government
ysyuBIirqH az It's character, and to establish an
absolute despotisn in its place, and that the
Courts of the Union would have no power
to declare such legislation unconstltutlon
al which is the construction sought TO he
placed upon it; il won -tsA-e-d mere dictuu,
/ and would he u @ judicial authority whatever.
Ii would also be wholly Inconsistent with
the decision in the case of Rhode Island vs.,
Massachusetts. before referred TO, and would
! be inconsistent with even the dissenting
. opinion of Judge fancy In that case, ana
directly in opposition to the best recognized
/ principles of const tutional law and OF the
/ nower of The judiciary If with this
+ construction it should become the eStab-
( IiShrd doctrine of he courts. IL would eN-
I tinguish the vital spark of the constitution,
/ auuihilate what is left OF the sovereignty OF
the States and authorize Congress at any
I moment to overthrow every one OF the eN-
over the ruins of American liberty unlVer-
sal aud all-embracjug despOtlsm. But to
place such n construction on the language,
. would be to do great injustice to the memo
I ry of the eminent and distinguished Judge
. who used it. and he would have been over
. whelmed with grief and norJIHcaton couId
I he have imagined that so disastrous de
duction could be IeLitiGutely drawn from
. the principles which lie maintained Sup
posing the language, however, not to have
been a mere dictum, all that can be legiti-
mately deduced from it Is that when Con
gress acts within the limits of the power
c0utiled to it by the Constitution. its action
within those limits is conclusive on the
court But when it exceeds those limits,
and in a time Of profound peace, when no
application is made to ii by the Legislature
OF Executive ola State. Tor its aid TO sup
press domestic violence it lutcrtercS under
the false pretence that tie form OF govern
mcut is not republican and proceeds not to
perform its constitutional functions of
guaranteeing q Republican form, but to
overthrow the established government of
the State and erect i'm It's place an absolute
dcspotism it IS perfectly clear that the
LANGUAGE d8es not embrace HE idea that such
action of Congress, being in plain violation
. of the Constitution would be conclusive in
the courts If it does, thu indeed we have
no constitution, and all the supposed wis
dom of the founders OF the republic was but
a false and delusive dream.
! For these reasons, beng satisfied of the
jurisdiction of the Federal Court to give
relief ultimately. | SHAH briefly endeavor
, to show that the right tOiuvOke that relief
whether by the State OF any Of its people,
will not be waived or in any manner pTejU.
diced by the participation ia the convention
ofsuch portion of them as viii be authorized
to vote, whatever may be the action of the
convention, and l base tie view OF the sub
iect on the opinion tina the action of the
. convention viii be absolutely void for the
. following reasons;
Both, during the progress of the war, and
since the surrender OF the Confederate
armies, the Government of the United
States has recognized the fact that the ten
States included in the military bill have
never ceased to be members of the Federal
! Union, and this is mquestiOnably true,
whether the acts of secession were void
or not since the Government of the United
/ States considered them void and waged the
war upon this idea. Indeed, on every oc-
casiOn when the attempt of the southern
; States to separate themselves through
the acts of secession, has been declared 10y
the general government rebellion, it has
admitted and asserted that these States still
remained members of the Union.
Ifthis question should ever come before the
J Supreme Court. it must necessarily so decide,
unless it should hold that the acts of seces-
sion We're legal and valid.
This being so, it follows that no State has
forieltel Ouy constitutional right or can do
sOs>ince State cannot be guilty nor be con-
victed and punished as guilty of crime. 1t
is equally true that no citizen has or can
forfeit any constitutional right until be has
been first convicted by due course of law OF
some crime to which forfeiture is attached
as a punishment.
In discussing this point, 1 assume
the truth of these positions, and in doing so
Z / hut an ba gr,I.i
all that have urged on the first of the two
propositions is, | am satisfied, equally appli-
cable to this one. The States being separate
and independent sOvereignties, except so far
rs their rights as such are limited and re-
strained by the Constitution of the United
States, lit follows as the night the day
that each one has the exclusive right to es-
rablish its own Constitution, the same not
being in violation of the Constitution of the
United States. and there is no other
power that has the right, unless we abandon
the Amer lean principle that the people are
the source Of all power Hence it follows
that the constitution to be adopted under
the Military bill and Supplement, being as l
have shown to be adopted alone by Congress
TO the exclusion of the State, will be abso-
lutely void. How this right of making
State Constitutions is 10 be exer
cised and under what conditions, has been
50 well explained by Mr.. Webster in his
great argument in the case of Luther vs..
Borden, that L caunot 10 better than quote
lHs words, prefacinG them with the remark
that the language employed by him in refer
ence TO the people as tie source of ali pow
eT, was intended to be applied by him to the
people of the several States In. their separa re
sovereign capacity. These are his words
Well, then, let al admit what none deny,
that tie only source of political power IN
this country is the people-that is to say,
the aggregate community, the collected viii
ot the people, Is sovereign - and again
The Aggregate community Is sovereign, but
that is not the soFatvIgaty which acts IN the
daily exercise OF sovereign power" The
people cannot act daily; they must estab-
, lish government and invest it with SO
much OF sovereign power as the case re-
quires, and the sovereign power being del
. egated and being placed in the hands OF the
government that government becomes
what IS called the State
, And having shown that this sovereign
power of the people Of State must be eXer-
{ 4 clSed through the ilstrumentality of the
principle OF representation, be adds Now,
the basis of representation IS sutfrage-the
rlSht TO choose Representatives Is every man :
part IN the exercise of sovereign power-to
have Voice in 1t fhe bes he proper quail
lHcations Is the portion of politieqlpower be-