The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-01-11
e of the Bedford Gazette.


three Branches of the Government Benz
0crafic---CeIe5ratf0n of JaclxSOn's Fic-
tory Rf New Orleans. dc.
Correspondence of the Bedford Gazette.
WASHINGTON, ID. c.,
Jan. ), 1867.
Mr.. EDIToR:-Congress has had its
Holiday recess, and SO has your corre-
spondent. 1t has been remarked that
the capital has been unusually dull this
winter. Well, the adjournment of
Congress having temporarily elimina-
ted the negro from our daily talk, as
I well as from the society of white folks,
things began to take livelier turn,
and we actually began to enjoy our
selves as in the good old Gays of yore.
But our season of pleasure was brief.
! The inevitable Congress re-assembled
and the everlastingnegro again obtru-
ded himself upon our notice. So we
relapsed into our old feeling of min
gled wonder and desperation at the
folly and fanaticism that rule the day.
You willremembert that the Supreme
Court of the United States was recon-.
structed by the late Abraham Lincoln,
of pleasant memory. 1t is not gener-
ally known that the said Lincoln was
a greatfriend of civilliberty. |, there
| fore, digress to inform the public that
! he was. As such, he found it his duty
to sanction military commissions"
and "courts-martial, as proper tribu
mails for the trial Of civilians, in districts
i'm which the administration of the
civil laws was unimpeded. As such, he
found it necessary to send Vallandig-
! aam into exile, because the latter had
chosen to exercise the right of express
ing his political opinions. As such,
too, he discovered that the Supreme
Court must be remodeled in order to
sustain his great work in behalf Of civ
il liberty. Well, the Supreme Court
was remodeled. One of the ten dis
tricts was abolished, and the friend of
civil liberty appointed five of his own
oartizans to seats upon the bench.
These were S. 2. Chase, and Noah
SSWayne, of Ohio, David Davis, of Il
Iinois, Samuel T. Miller, Of Iowa, and
Stephen J. Field, of California. The
other judges for the old ones did not
Ill die, or resign) J. NJ. Wayne, of Geor-
,yia, Samuel Nelson, of New York, Ma
than Clifford, of Maine, and r. c. Grier,
of Pennsylvania. These nine consti-
lutte the Supreme Court as it exists to-
lay. Judge Wayne is a Southern
LOyalist," of the Jack Hamilton type,
which is to say, he is Of black polite
III hue. Judges Nelson, Clifford and
t51rier were "war Democrats" during
the Rebellion" So, you see, Mr..
Lincoln thought ne had "sure thing"
of it in the Supreme Court, and, in
1act, the Radical leaders all thought as
lie did. According to theirarithmetic,
81 Y Radical judges would certainly out
number three Democratic judges. But
the battle is not always to the strong.
The very question which Lincoln and
his co-adjutors were afraid the Old Su-
preme Court, with Judge Taney at the
head, would decide against them, came
up before the new Lincoln court, some
time last year. 1t was the question of
the cOnstitutionality of Military Com
missions. Three citizens OF the
State of Indiana, Messrs. Bowles, Mil
ligan and Horsey, had been tried by a
military commission for conspiracy to
release the Confederate prisoners at
Chicago. They were found guilty and
condemned to death. Their sentence
was afterwards commuted by the Pres
ident to imprisonment for life. A
Hd6eds Corpus was demanded in their
case, and the question of the legality
of their imprisonment was thus brought
, before this court. The case was ably
and fully argued on both sides, Judge
Black, of your State, making a master
! ly effort in behalf of the prisoners.
After long ngdeliberation, the Court man
imousLy decided that the prisoners a0ere
au.laWfttIly detained and should be dis |
charged from Imprisonment T.! Mark
you, Chase and eUery other Radical on
the bench, agreed to this decision. Five
of thejudges decided every point in fa-
11or of the prisoners; the other four a.
reed with them in all points save, one.
J udge David Davis, of Illinois, deliv-
red the opinion of the majority of the
Court, which decides every point at is
lie in favor of the prisoners. / know
Judge Davis well. He was for many
years, the President Judge of one of
the central judicial districts Of Illinois,
and Mr.. Lincoln practiced law in his |
court for many years. The Judge has |
always been q. Republican" and was
bosom friend OF Mr.. Lincoln, to |
whom he owes mis- appointment as one
of the justices of the Supreme Court. |
Nevertheless, he is an honest man and |
"a good lawyer, as is abundantly proved |
by his conduct in the great case just men |
toned. But L am getting ''desultory." |
Suffice it to say, that the castle built /
by the Radicals upon the Supreme
Court as a foundation, has toppled to
the ground, and in consequence Of this
great fall, the whole Mongrel hive is
in such a state of uproar as | have new
or lon,1 tbnn1 81 mao Tho dow NITilco,, }