The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-01-24
The Supreme Court. Go,

l.5Ino IOliOWI oPo0SA "~S AA,e>S -
Judge Black, on the evening of the sth,
atthe National Hotel, at the banquetg given
III honor of the ffty-second anniversary
ofthe battle ofNew Orleans. The speech
was made in response to toast compli-
mtr,sern,tiiing.. tr,sr,tiii the United States Supreme
Court: - 49, - (. '..s. -
- Mr.. Chairman, In the history of this
eauntry. it has mover before been thought
necessary either to toast the Supreme
Court or defend it. But times have
Changed. Very recently, attacks full of
bitter malignity have been made ,onthat
tribunal. and measures are deliberately
taken to break down its just authority.
Considering by whom these assaults are
made. and what the object of them is, it
would, perhaps, be better to encourage
them. since tits certain that, in the long
rum they can do no harm to anybody but
their authors. If you have q viper to
deal with, or nest Of vipers, it is better
to keep them biting at o file than any
thing they can lay their teeth to: Still it
may not be inappropriate to look, for a
moment, at the occasion of the present
persecution. -, 49,, .
Three private citizens of Indiana, per
fectly innocent of any ofence-I say per-
feetlv innocent, because, iupto that time,
no human being has ever legally sworn
exens to. q belief of their guilt-these citi-
zaps, were. arrested, kidnapped, and car
ried before body of men wholly without
uower to meddle with them-not author
lied even to swear witness for them or
against them-and there, after proceed.
ing which it would be mockery to cali a
trial. they were ordered to be killed on a
certain fixed day. In this condition OF,
things the judicial authorities intervened,
and with the aid of President johnson,
the victims were rescued. 's q,
.sWhen the cause came into the Supreme
Court, the simple question was, whether
ascitizen could be lawfully deprived of bis
life without a fair, honest trial before an
impartial jury and regular court! 10
this there could be but one answer, and
that answer was given unanimously all
tie, Judges yielding their full and unre-
served assent to it. They held, in effect,
tbat,the pretended trial was conspiracy,
and that the execution, if 1T had taken
place, would have been mere iawless
murder. What else could they do? To
hang men without Judge or jury, is an act
80 clearly forbidden by the fundam entail
lsw.Jthat ano;one can make any y-mistake
about it, if he has sense enough to know
his right hand from his left. The prohi-
bition is written down as plain as any
onne(of the ten commandments; there is
not a sentence in the Lords Prayer more.
SIMPLE; not moral precept can be found
ia the .child's primer that is more easily
understood Yet the court is villipended,
and abused and 'slandered for saying it,
The organs of disunion and anarchy pub
licly proclaim their determination to dis
regard the decision, not because it is er-
roneous, but because it confines their
power by limits inconveniently narrow.
They declare that they will 90, in def
ance of 1T; whatever grati6es their own
purposes or promotes their own INTERESTS
and they impudently use this very eX-
preston eff the law stands incur way,
30 much the worse for the law.
aMr.f Thaddeus Stevens, the leader and
driver of the present Congress, denounces
this decision on the floor of the House.
To my certain knowledge, he knows it to
be perfectly right. The senseless twad-
die about hanging American citizens by
the law of nations, on criminal accusa-
tions of fheir own. Government, could not
for single instant impose on an under
standing like his. But he denounces the
Judges for deciding what he knows and
what they know to be true, for no con-
ceivable reason, except his desire that his
particular friends may continue to enjoy
the delightful luxury of shedding innocent
blood. ~.
The judges, and all who think with
them, are called traitors, because they de-
clare the Constitution to mean what it
SAYS, and because they will not violate it
themselves, or permit its violation by
Others; when they can prevent il. If this
conflict for and against the Constitution
implies treason on either side, the guilt
does not lie at our door. 1t is not the
man who sustains and loves, and believes
it the laws of his country-it is not'such
q man that can be justly called a traitor.
But if there be an American citizen any
where, who, with an oath upon his con-
science to support the Constitution, would
make war upon it, subvert it by brute
force,and take away the defences it af-
fords to life, liberty and property, leaving
them to the mercy of mobs, murderers,
kipnappers, military commissions, and
bureaus of military justice-such man
is thoroughly traitor.
ssAye, from the extremist upward of his head,
To the descent and dust beneath his feet,
A most toad-spotted traitor"
These arrows which they cast against
us, barbed and poisoned with the accusa-
tion oftreason, rebound from our impene-
trable armor and fall harmless at our feet
fors we are shielded and helmed, and weap-