The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-01-09
The Cesar Griffin Case.

q The Cesar Griffin Case.
The New York Sam of Wednesday, after
long silence on the subject, atsenpts 10
make reply TO our article censurinc 1t for
iss comments upon the Cesar GRIFFIN
ease. The Sun declares with great so'emnisY
that the fourteenth amendment Of the Fede-
raj Constitution Inequalities certain persons:
that rome Of these disqualified persons are
IN Office in Virginia; and that UNDERWOOD
has merely decided, as it seems to that
journal it was his duty to do, thai. THE
amendment being in force in Virginia.
Judge saEFFrY Is no judge at ell, but .
usurper. And 1t cannot understand why.
IL the Constitution is the supreme law OF
the land, anybody shonld denounce UN-
pYRwoop for this decision. II the Satn
would lake the trouble to study the qnes-
tion, or ask CHARLEs O'CoNoR, or WILL
LIAM nj. EvARTs. or any other LAWYER OF
reprte. II would learn that the legal points it
presents with 30 much confidence in their
soundness have nothing TO do with the
case. Admitting. an we Of course do, that
the Constitution Is the supreme law OF the
land. and that it Inequalities certain per-
sons. and conceding also that Judge sHFF-
FEY is one Of the persons thus disqualified,
it still does not follow that UNDERwooD's de-
cision was right. In the language or .
Radical lawyer, we would inform the S'm
that the law is this That where person
"exercises an Office known to the laws ano
Constitution, and is known and recog-
"nized by the public as such officer, De
"holding commission ns such either
"by election or appointment, the acts
"of such person, as such ottlcef,
"are legal, valid, and binding, and
"cannot be coAaterally inquired into"
Or, in other words, Judge UNDERWOOD
usurped power which does not belong to
his office, when, in iDquiring into the
causes Of the detention in custody OF per-
con brought before him on writ of hdbeas
corpus, he went into the question of the
qualifications for his Office Of the Judge OF
the court which had condemned the con-
vict to confinement in the penitentiary.
We suppose the CESAR GRIFFIN case was
the handiwork of the Republican committee
of this city, or at least of some of the mem
bers Of the same, who, desiring to monopo-
lize the Offices Of the State, knew that they
would find in UNDERWOOD a tool with
which they could work out their purpose
We have no idea that CESAR GRIFFIN, or
his counsel, would ever have thought OF
such thing as applying for writ of ha-
beas corpus in the expectation that any
Judge of any sense would discharge him
upon the ground that Judge sHEFFEY is
disqualified. 1t was not the work either OF
an ignorant negro or of learned lawyer,
but of some person or persons who knew
that there was such q. thing as writ Of
haJeaS corpus, and that criminals were
sometimes discharged under its operation,
but knew not that there was prescribed
mode Of inquiring into the qualifications OF
judges. 1t is evident that the editor of the
Sun belongs to this class of persons. If
UNDERWOOD had known how to proceed, he
would have caused some of his Radical
ofice-hunting friends to sue out writ
Of quo aoarranto, and then, admitting that
his court has jurisdiction in such cases, he
might have disposed of Judge sHEFFEr
in due form of law" The Sun might
have learned all this from Judge NELSON,
or Judge BARNARD, or any other Judge IL
New York, if, when its friend BowLEs was
imprisoned the other day, it had sued out
a writ Of habeas corpus, and, instead of
showing cause why BowLEs should be dis
charged, had undertaken to show to the
court that the magistrate who committed
him was not constitutionally qualified TO
hold the Office he did. UNDERWOOD had
just as good right to issue Subpoena
duces tecun,, and cause the clerk of Rock
bridge county to bring down the sheriff's
official bond, and to examine that document
to see if it was in legal form, and to inquire
into the suficiency of the sureties upon it,
as he-had to inquire into the constitutional
qualifications Of Judge SHEFFEY.