The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1869-04-28
Il TEXAS CASE.

: The supreme Court of the Unite
States has recently decided the case {
the State of Texas uersas George N
White, involving tie question wllethc
a State can seccdc from the Union an,
release its citizens from allegiance t
the Federal government. We tax
from the opinion of the Court, as de
livered by the CIiief Justice, the follow
ing extract which contains the sub
stancefoft tho decision:
So far as the object could be accom-
piishcd by ordinances of the Conven
ton, by acts of the Legislature and b,
votes OF the citizens, the relations o
Texas to the Union wcro broken MP
and new relations to q new govern,
ment were substituted for them. The
position thus assumed could only bt
maintained by arms, and Texas &C.
cordingly took part with the Other
Confederate States in the war of rebel
lion, which these events made ineyita-
bic. During the whole of tho wal
there was no Governor or Judge, or
any other State officer in Texas who
recognized the national authority nor
was any officer of the United States
permitted to exercise any authority
whatever Under the National Govern
ment within the limits of the State, cx-
cept under the immediate protection
of the national military forces.
The obligations of tho State as a
member of the Union, and of every
citizen OF tho State as q citizen of the
United States, remained perfect and
unimpaircd. 1t necessarily follows
that the State did not cease to be q
State, nor her citizens to be citizcns of
the Union. IF this were otherwise, the
State must have become foreign and
her citizens foreigners. Tho war must
have ceased to be q war for the sup
preston of the rebellion, and must
have become a war for conquest and
subjugation. e2
Our conclusion, therefore, is, that
Texas continued to be q State, and q
State of the Union, Notwithstanding
tho transactions to which we have re-
and this conclusion, in our
Judgment, is not in conflict with any
or declaration of any department.
OF the National Government, but en-.
lreiy i'll accordance with the whole Sc
les of such acts and declarations since
.ile first outbreak of the rebellion.
Having settled the question that the
authority of the United States was SUI
IRENE and its right to allegiance per-
ect in the State of Texas during the
our years in which q Federal officer
'ould not have set his foot on her soil
Without being hung to tho nearest tree,
he Court branches out in a discussion
II the favorite Yankee idea of the in
.estructibility of the Union. The |
'ourt afirms that tho Union is perpot-
al and in~destructible. On this point
he learned Chief Justicei is not as clear
nd as happy as We should like him to
g. The contemplation of the ruins of
mpires has ever been a faYorite en- I
loynaent of ours. We have delighted {
, dwell on the history of tho many !
reat nations of antiquity, as great in l
day as any that Yankee, with I
Il his Ingenuity, is capable offound- S
g, and to cndeayor to ffatlom tho S
'uses of their decay and DOWNFALL,
have satisfied ourselves that there
q principle of decay and dissolution L
nations, as well as individuals, \
[ich will as inevitably lead to the S
estruction of the one as to the t
'ath OF the other. We should have v
Scd, therefore, ii Mr.. Chase had con- a
seconded to inform us how 'ftho best t
'vernmont in the world" happened to
t a taste of tho "Elixir of Lifen and
us have fortified itself against the !,
to which all the other ma u
ms of tho Earth arc subjected. AS .'
, never heard of the theory until the
perhaps the perpetual lease Il
life which the Great Republic is said :
have obtained is the result of an q
sonic potion made from tho blood "
lwn from its own veins in that mem 81
bic contest. We rather suspect
that the Chief Justice did not
i've his opinion on this tubject from m
study OF tho Constitution and tho N,
IS, but that it was animated by tho D;
ltlcal clap-trap which sounded
1--I =
ough tho land when tho North, with
Western harlequin at it's head, was 81
lnding on it's minions in q crusade mi
inst the liberties of tho Southern an
pie. flo
got thus far with it's decision W.
Court, becoming satisfied that it -
made q fool of itself proceeds to an
llify tho decision in such a manner M
t it really becomes no decision at 81
Having decided that the Union is
cstructible ii. G. that it cannot bo 20,
Or d~issolved) tho Court pro mo-
DIS 10 admit that it may be dissolved
revolution OF by ihe consent of the {
Now this is certainly a lumin- AL
decision. The American Republic Pc
'eoth, though it differs from all 9th vii
nations in being absolutely indie on
'ctioIe, yet it may not only be de- I.