The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-01-24
Congress and the Supreme Court.


Congress and the Supreme Court.
The extremists are reckless, if not desper-
ate For twelve months past they have been
engaged in tying the hands of the President,
and stripping him of authority conferred on
him by the Constitution. And now they are
about to attempt the same operation upon the
Supreme Court, with the view of preventing
an adverse decision upon the Reconstruction
acts.
On the part of those who share the views
of Mr.. Stevens, the talked of measure will be
consistent. Whatever else may be charged
against them, they at least have not resorted
to false pretenses to justify the Congressional
policy. No constitutional scruple has been
allowed to stand in their way. They have
boldly confessed that policy unconstitutional,
and have rested its defence upon the plea of
revolutionary necessity. The Constitution
according to their theory, is for the time sub
ject to the higher law of the conqueror as in
terpreted by bipartisan majority. Ifessential
to their plans, they would disregard every
Constitutional right of the Executive and
make the Supreme Court in all things subser-
Went to their will. . ...u.
In pursuance of the latter determination, it
is understood that the House Judiciary Com
mittee have in preparation bill making i'm
peratiVe the concurrence ot.two-thirds of the
Supreme Court in any decision involving the
issue of Constitutionality. The movement
has its origin in an apprehension that ma
jority of the Court will sooner OF later pro-
nounce the Reconstruction law unconstitu-
tional and the considerations which have
hitherto prevailed in Congress may possibly
again assert their sway For by passing the
measure proposed an adverse decision will
be rendered impossible-so far as Congress
can contribute to that result, since three of its
judges are known adherents to their policy.
If this project prevail, the higher attributes
of the Court will be destroyed. The princi-
pie will be i'll effect affirmed that partisan ex-
igencies, real or supposed, constitute the SUI
preme law that the Court created by the
Constitution in part to judge of the validity
of Congressional action, shall henceforward
be'powcrless, whatever the character of that
action may be. To-day the proposition is
that instead of a majority of the Judges, two
thirds of the whole shall concur, tomorrow
fnecessary the concurrence of all may be re-
CURED. There is no limit to the interference
II it be commcnced-no restriction saws that
which Il majority ofthe dominant party may
for the moment impose upon themselves
They proclaim that they may enact what they
please, and may obviate objection ON the
ground of unconstitutionality by usurping
power to mould the decisions of the Court in
any shape which to themselves shall seem best
If it be unmanageabe after eXacting d two
thirds judgment, or a unanimous judgment,
the number of Judges may be increased and
thus by one device or other, the independent
jurisdiction of the Court may be destroyed.
No more significant commentary on the
reconstruction legislation--no more startling
Illustration of the unscruplousness which &C
tuates the Radical leaders-can be conceived,
than that which this affair affords. The cow
ardice as well as the bravado of guilt is
stamped upon its face 1t shows an utter alb
sence of confidence in the constitutional effi-
cacy of the measures which are applicable to
the South, and an utter want of moral cour-
age to uphold the principles that are invol-
we'd. A consciousness of right usually in
spires calmness and strength, and the party
which realizes it seldom shrinks from the
contingencies incident to political warfare
These extreme Radicals, however, seem to
shut their eyes when they rush ahead. They
are afraid Of the ground they tread upon,
and of phantoms at every turn. Now it is Of
the President, anon of the District Comlnan-
ders, and yet again of the Supreme Court
We suspect that they also begin to fear the
people in whose name they act, and whose
instructive sense of justice revolts against the
abuse Of their delegated power. The idea
seems to prevail in the Reconstruction and
Judiciary Committees that there is no time to
lose. The thing called reconstruction must
be pushed through, even though it be neces-
sary to muZzle the Supreme Court Judges.
How the Court will treat the attack upon
its independence remains to be seen. 1t is
not likely to respect or obey q law which in
terferes with its constitutional functions, no.
toriously for the accomplishment of an uncon-
sttutional purpose. What then ? Suppose
the Court, by majority of its members, de-
clares the Reconstruction acts constitutionally
i. invalid, and refuses to recognize as constitu-
tional the law defining the conditions of a
judgment ? VIII Congress, having failed to
leeislate the Court into compliance under
take to legislate it out ofexistence? Will a
party majority make the General in Chief the
judge of the Judges as well as the superior of
the President Will they ut last avow their
contempt for the Constitution and their re-
solve to proceedfregardless of its provisions
To this position their steps unquestionably
tend, and the only influence that can restrain
them will be fear for their own safety. OF
what possible value then will be the policy of
Congress when pushed to extremities {? A
party whose leaders trample on the Constitu-
ton because it impedes their operations can
not long retain the confidence of the country,
and when their overthrow comes-as come it
must--what will be the fate of their policy +?
what the upshot of their plotting and legisla-
ting and usurping These are inquiries
which concern more than themselves, for they
indicate the reopening of the Southern ques-
ton and the reconstructing of Reconstruction,
rs consequences of the recklessness which
marks the Radical programme.-N. Y. Times
( (Rep) Jan. 13.
A New USE FOR PAPER.-A new process
has been discovered by which paper can, by
chemical and mechanical influences, be rem
dered as hard as hickory wood, and may be
manufactured into variety of articles hith-
erto made of wood tin, copper and iron. The
substance produced is a non-conductor of
heat, impervious to the action of acids, and
not liable to be injured by heat or cold. 1t
can bear heat of three hundred Fahrenheit,
without injury. When the preparation is
soft it is shaped in moulds, and made into
water-pails, sh-basins, pitchers, &c. When
further improvements are made articles form
ed of paper will come into competition with
crockery and china. The White House and
the Departments in Washington have been
already supplied with sets of paper water-pails
ice-coolers and spittoons. A factory at Green
point, l.. L., is now engaged in developing the
procees which of course Ia secFets