Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1867-05-01
The Supreme Court not a Political
Power.


The Memphis Bulletin edited by Raphae
Semmes, has d long editorial in its issue o.
the 18th inst. against the attempt of Gov.
ernor Sharkey and others to force upon the
Supreme Court the decision of political
question The following is the concluding
portion:
What was the condition of things when
Judge Sharkey fled his petition for an in
junction? What were the facts of the case.
aside from the political processes by which
those facts were brought about? The facts
were and are, that the ten Southern States
in whose behalf the petition was filed are
no longer States. They are provinces. or
military satrapies, actually under the gov
eminent Of commanding generals. provided
for by Congress and appointed by the Presi-
dent-the generals being, in other words
new governors, appointed by the political
power of the States. The ex-States do not
even exist as separate provinces. with sepa-
rate governors being ten provinces
and but five military governors The
changed condition of these States is clearly
political. Has the Supreme Court any
more power to look into the processes by
which the change was accomplished than
it had to inquire by what process West
Virginia became State, or whether the
late war had been declared by Congress in
conformity with the Constitution? Must
it not accept the fact as it finds it: as fact.
and fact onlyY The change in the condi
ton of these States is the result of a revo
luton, and courts always take coenizance
of the facts that are accomplished by revo-
lutions. They rightly look to the de facto
condition of things, rather than to the de
jure condition Of them. The venerable
Chief Justice Hale, of England. continued
to SIT upon the bench and administer justice
under Cormwell, as he had done under
Charles the First, though he was royalist
lie simply looked at the fact that the gov
eminent had been changed, without troub-
ling himself as to the political processes by
which the fact had been accomplished. In
course Of time the Commonwealth" disap
peared, and Charles the Second was restored.
but still Hale kept his seat He was
judge-the follower of revolutions and not
the maker of them. The truth is that
nine-tenths of our Southern people have
gone astray on allthese questions, and their |
error lies in their overlooking one funda-
mental principle. They forget that they !
seeded from the United States, and became |
a foreign government, and waged foreign |
war against their enemy. If they would |
bear these facts in mind they could solve
all their difficulties With these premises
they could draw logical conclusions, instead
of stultifying themselves at every step. We
cannot talk about our rights under the Con-
stitution without condemning ourselves out
of our own mouths To do so we must I'M
say all we have said, undo all we have done.
We must throw our honor to the dogs, and
consent to let the enemy brand us as rebels
and traitors. Why can we not be men, and
stand up to what we have done, instead of
whining, like whipped spaniels, and claim
ing to re-enter the kennel which we so re-
Gently spurned? We feel mortified and
BUNDLED at the position in which Judge
Sharkey has placed Mississippi. He has
BUNDLED her in the dust by making her eat
her own words and undo all her glorious
leeds of the war. In our judgment we had
.he right to secede, we did secede, we have
been conquered in the war, and the result is
hat we are foreign territory. Instead of
our honor requiring us to deny all these
,hings it consists in our affirming them, and
We should get back into the Union as soon
is possible under the terms the conqueror
has proposed. Once in the Union we shall
be in a condition to take advantage of any
political changes that may enable us to regain
5he liberty we have lost.