The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-19
Wendell Phillips and the United States
Supreme Court,

Eyo1, me Anti S,are1U Standard Of This Week
OF ala the instruments used by the South IN
old times, the Supreme Court was the r. most eVil-
intentiened and the most efficient. Tue people
have been bred in such serVile reverence ior lts
deci ions that whichever party got possession Oh
that weapon was almost sure to conquer us
JUDGES appointed for lite, and lingering en- the
bench to extreme old age-as Sidney SMITH SAID
of bishops, with Episcopal pertnaclty"-haVe
always represented the opinion OF former
generation. This department OF the Govern
.ment has always been the last to come into line
with the nation as new eras have opened. The
South never appealed TO arms until 1t found that
this usually formidable weapon had, IN 1861, lost
its power. The nation swung away from treason
like Taney's, and the ship OF state moved on
with upright keel.n Stung to madness, the
South appealed to the bullet-unsuccesslully.
The signs at Washington indicate that Mr..
Johnson means to try to find refuge under the
old shelter. He plans evidently 10 strengthen
himself by putting the army into the hands OF
his friends as far as possible; but only as re-
serve force. The cbeckmate he intends to call
on Congress Is TO be, it would seem, some action
of the judiciary declaring all the recOnsruc-
tion legislation constitutional. How danger
GUS and EN- mbarrassing a check that would be to
the nations progress, every one familiar with
the history of the aLti-slavery movement will
fully appreciate. Whether Mr.. johnson will
succeed in obtaining such decision no one
knows. His counsellors evidently count upon
il; we fear with loo good grounds for their trust
Every tboue httul man has anXiously watched
that tribunal ever since 1861. MIR. Stevens early
saw the danger in that quarter, and was only
deferred from a vigorous attempt to avert the
danger by the fact that the appointing power
resting with Mr.. Lincoln, it seemed impossible
to secure any sufficient change in the .charac-
ter of the bercb. The action of most of the
Judges who owe their appointment 10 Mr.. Lin
cou is evidence enough how unwise and dan
gerous it would have been to put it INTO his
power to SADDLE us with any more enemie., en-
powered 10 balk us as long as their lives lasted.
Mr.. Johnsons main object is to confuse public
opinion and divide the ranks of the Republican
party. No more effectua means could be de-
sired than a decision of the Supreme Court
adverse to Congress. Round such decision
would rally all the timid, tired, weak kneed,
halfway, compromising, and dishonest elements
which victory has lured into the Republican
ranks. Landlocked and hampered by such op-
position, the reconstruction movement would
move very slowly and ftiully torward-the
youngest of u.s. in such circumstances, may
reach old age before it will be ended-ln any
true sense OF the word.
What measures the radical element in Con-
gress will adopt to meet such o contingency time
will show. We entreat them to remember how
much hangs on their action. The nation will
support them in going, as Franklin said, Ito the
extreme verge of their constitutional power" for
means to meet such an emergency. Sdlus popuIt
Saprefnl lea. WENDELL PHILLIPS.