Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-13


and iha, reducing the appropriation TO
contingent expenses OF the mission
abroad from $50, 900 to $40, 900. A com
mittee OF conference was appointed
Resistance to Void Laws ~ Obedience q
the supreme Law.
From Harrer's weekly.l
But by subsequently assuming TO re
move the Secretary the President DELHI
erately aud distinctly violates the law
which forbids the removal Of any ciyi
officer appointed with the consent Of th,
Senate without its concurrence II il b,
in session. There could not be more
fragrant defiance Of law or usurpation Of
authority. II the President, as we have
said, may do il in the case Of one law,
he may do il with all laws The country
could not be sure OF the execution Of any
law, however constitutionally enacted,
until the Supreme Court had passed upon
il, ani the consequent confusion and un'
certainty would be intolerabls. The as
sumption Of Mr.. Brooks and Of the New
York TYraes that q law may be held mn
constitutional until pronounced other
wise BY the court is suhversive Of the
Government and Of civil order; and the
question ought, therefore, to be distinct
" settled whether the President has the
power of dispensing with the laws-a
power which the English two hundred
years ago dethroned King James ii for
claiming.
From the New York World.l
An Unconstitutional law is void from
the beginning !. 1t is void till adjudged
unconstitutional and after. 1t is not
more void after than before. 1t is void
from its enactment till its erasure. That
is the sound doctrine Of all govern
meuts with written constitution, which
is the supreme law. The supreme law
permanently exists aud controls The
inferior law conflicting herewith THAT is
UNCONSTITUTIONAL, cannot also control,
else there are two supreme laws, both of
which it is impossible to obey by the by.
pothesis; else laws are only made net to
guide the obedient, but to make obedi-
ence impossible. The inferior law can
not control, nor can it even exist as law.
1t exists as the pretense of law. But
conflicting with the law which perma-
nently exists, it is not only void-it eau
not but be void. The courts but declare
its character and affix the brand-they
do not make it that which tbs. They de-
clare not merely that is not law, they de-
clare also that it has not been law.
Therefore an unconstitutional law is void
from the beginning.
This applies to the Tenure-of.ofice
law. 1t was an unconstitutional law. 1t
is plainly such, as sixteen Presidents,
thirty-nine Congresses and the Supreme
Court have practically adjudged. 1t con-
Germs the Presidents right of removal of
the officers by whom he is to take care
that the laws be faithfully executed. 1t
usurps to the Senate share of his right
of removal. 1t is void from the begin
ming. 1t violates the supreme law. Both
laws cannot co-exist and be obeyed-this
Tenure-of-ofice law and the Constitution,
which is the supreme law, and with which
all inferior laws must be in conformity.
To violate the void law is to preserve,
protect and defend" the supreme law,
which the President is sworn to do. Not
to violate the void law, the unconstitu-
tional Tenure-of- Office law namely, would
have been to violate the supreme law.
Void laws should always be broken,
never obeyed. Resistance to an uncon-
sti,utionsl law is obedience to the su-
preme law.
President johnson had no choice but
to violate one or the other law-the SUI
preme law or the usurpation which was
disguised as law. He had either to be
a consenting partyt to subversion of the
tripartite structure of the Government,
TO a disturbance of its balanced powers,
or he had to interpose the shield of his
executive authority then and there.
The Radical press and loose takers
cry: "Oh, the President has violated a
law of Congress; that deserves impeach-
ment" But suppose be had violated the
supreme law which created Congress and
him? How about his deserts then
Suppose he had consented to the under
mining of the executive power, he the
mere successor of Presidenta, and after
whom many Presidents, God grant It'll
are to come;-was he to transmit TO
them an impaired authority, a dimiu'
ished power2 Was he to consent to be
the first of line of beheaded Execu :
tiyes, responsible to the Constitution
and the people for the faithful execution
of laws, but powerless to discharge his
responsibility
And now consider that in this conflict
of laws, unless the President is to judge
for himself and the Congress for itself,
and strife and contention to be per
nanent till it should chance that cleo
tons had put Congress and President in
accord again-in this conflict of laws
we say, there is q common law, the Con-
stitution, but no common judge unless II
be the Supreme Court, and no way tc
| get the case before the Supreme CourI
except that way which the President
took. He had to create private right
He chose no stranger to the office. Id
| disturbed in nowise the business o
| the Office. He was provident of thu
public welfare. He made his cast
for the court by appointing ad interim
the very public officer through and from
whom. as Adjutant General, all orders o
the War Department actually issue, ant
nv whom the machinery Of the Depart
ment then was aud now is in fact con
trolled. Thus it was that the Presiden
sought to get the Judgment of tn
Supreme Court upon this void law; thu
with prudence he strove before Judg
Carter to get the case on its way to tina
high unbiased tribunal Stanton and tn
Rump SUNK from the judgment The
dared not submit their usurpation to tn
judicial test. They knew the law wa
void by which their usurPation was al
tempted TO be accomplished. They knee
il would be declared void.
They it is who have violated the Law
They have violated the law which is 81
preme. which permanently exists an