Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-01-25
rurnAnIcAL rHoRoueH.


THE RADICAL THOROUGH.
Radical audacity and desperation seem
to have no limits. The measure con-
cocted in that JacObin juLta called the
Reconstruction Committee, of which men,
ton was made in the dispatches Of yes
terday, is the boldest stroke yet delivered
at the very heart Of the constitution. 1t
was not enough, in the bill regarding the
supreme Court, yet pending in the Senate
10 make fundamental alterations in that
body. and to interdict its prerogatiyes,
but. before that revolutionary innovation
is consummated, it is proposed to enter
the precincts Of its bar and remove from
its docket causes which involve the de-
cision Of questions vital to personal and
public liberty, and to command that tri-.
burral, in the interests of faction, to abdl-
cate functions conferred on it by the con-
stitution TO annihilate the writ of hGbedS
corpus in ten States; and 10 shield the
enormities Of the reconstruction infamy
from all cognizance by the courts Of the
land. The constitution says "the .Su-
preme Court shall decide all questions
arising under The constitution This
bill declares that it shall not decide a
class of questions, than which none more
important can arise. Doubtless the order
Of the court advancing the McCardle
case has produced this last outrageous
movement
The American Congress is today
welding an authority greater than the
British Parliament has exercised for two
centuries. Ii has assumed entire charge
of the government; is attempting to
render the constitutional executive and
judiciary utilities, and comforting on the
base ministers of its sinister designs
whatever power it chooses. One OF
the Jacohins, the other day, announced
that Of Congress found the President
and portion of the people islse, 1t
would become its duty to take the re-
spOnsibility, and find an agent that would
execute its will. What this wretch
meant by false is resistance to the
unwarrantable edicts Congress- is utter"
ing in the name of laws That body has
discovered that in that sense, the Presi-
dent, the Supreme Court and majority
of the American people are false, and
that is why it has entered upon the game
it has played since the first OF January.
1t is, indeed, fearful game, and the
stake is constitutional liberty. 1t remains
to be seen whether, with all the courage
and dexterity it exhibits, public virtue
is so far gone that it can succeed
The nearest parall ell in history to the
series of measures now being pressed by
the Radicals in Congress, is the scheme
of STAFFORD devised TO make Charles the
First an absolute autocrat, and fifty
named by its author-Fhorough His
plan was to put the estates and liberties
of English subjects at the disposal of the
crown; to deprive the courts of law of
all Independent authority; to prohibit
them from granting relief against any
acts of government; to fix penalties
against any obstruction by officers or citi-
Gems to the Kings orders, and to enforce
all these with standing army. This
plot which was justified before Parlia-
ment with subtleness of argument OF
which his imitators in this country are
incapable, came near succeeding; but in
the attempt to execute it, Hampden and
his glorious compeers took fire, and be-
fore the revolution set in motion had
ceased, both Charles and STAFFORD dyed
the headman's axe with their blood in
expiration. Let the little Straffords of this
hour take warning. Their Thorough is
as wicked and comprehensive in its pur>
poses as their prototypes, and some of
them may meet his fate They have to
deal with n people who were born
and reared in the principles of Pym and
Hampden, and who can guard them with
an equal vigilance They are not going
to surrender themselves to plundering
taxation by the government in the in
terest of bondholders They will not
stand tamely by and see the province Of
their highest law court supplanted in one
half the country by the military Star
Chamber of the reconstruction act They
do not intend that these and cognate
impurities shall be perpetrated against
them even by Gen Grant and his army.
The Jacobins may proceed and perfect
their Thorough, but it will be arrested
10 mid-career, peaceably and under the
forms Of law, ifpossihle, but forcibly and
in the tbroes Of revolution. if necessary.