Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1870-11-02
roR THE CHRoNICLE.l
Our Law of To-day.

Ii is not amiss for us TO do as the mari
ner: take careful observation of oul
bearings, compared with surrounding
fixed objects, so as to determine our true
longitude end latitude. Up to this date
or nearly so, (say the Dist inst, the I'M
preston was, that the United States OF
America was legally Tightin its suppression
of the late rebellion; and that the rebel
lion was 10th unlawful and unjust That
so far from its reason or grounds being nee
essary or lawful, that they rested on theo-
ries of Oppression-the violation of private
and public rights-and was the productive
source of the most grievious evil and wrong;
and that those who were its authors, adj
ministrators and executors, were guilty of
an open violation of public law, an liable
TO severe pains and penalties. But it now
appears Tor has since the DIST inst. that
in view of the death of r. T.. Lee, and
many other extraordinary encomiums and
eulogies pronounced on the occasion. that
i has become necessary for most extra
ordinary supreme Court of most extra
ordinary and peculiar State-to-Wit: the
State of Tennessee-to announce by the
voice of Judge Nelson. a new, legal and
political gospel, to-wit: briefly stated, this:
that because the Supreme Court of tbs
United States has held that the COnfeder-
ate government of the late rebellion was
of great force, and, for a time, compelling
IN certain districts, the exclusive use of
Confederate notes as currency, that
although such paper was unlawful,
<yet because It Udtue was attached
10 1t by said communities, that good
faiNh required the estimated value
to 9e enforced; that, therefore, thinks
ourtsix-stranned Supreme Court the Con-
fedejfate States government was dc tacto
government, and as such was entitled to
all the rights, immunities, powers and
privileges exercised by the Government of
the United States. That the true doctrine
aO,o is Ito use the language of Judge Nell
son that Gen. Vaughn and.General Long
street were the sole judges of what was ne
eessary for them and their armies to do or
take under the usages of national warfare
law, and neither they, their soldiers, nor
MI. Smith, or any other citizen who pro-
cured, aided and assisted the destruction
of Mr.. BraZelton's timber and the appro-
prlatlon of his pork, corn and oats were
guilty of a trespass." That the COnfeder-
ate rebellion became, and was "sover-
eign' dc fdctO government, and as such
neither 1t nor the most malicious and
wicked persons procuring its forces, parti-
san rangers and ireebOOters to prev upon
and destroy the property of the citizen, can
now lawfully be called upon and held to
answer. 1t will be noted that one of the
reasons for declaring this extraordinary
dc JdctO doctrine is that the Confederate
authorities had Congress, an army and
navy, and that by force of the bayonet. il
had 'fred boundary H,les,n and became a
terror to the commerce Of the United
states over all the seas of the world
The fact that this tired boundary line Of
ddyonets rolled about on ochocis and that
at the time of the trespass against Brazel-
ton all these wheels had been rolled out of
Tennessee, except in a few skirts of East
Tennessee, and the further fact that the
" Confederate naval terror spoken of was
English mechanism, manned by English
sailors and seamen, and prompted by Eng
iish bad fdtH, for which Great Britain
will soon be required TO answer in well as
certained dollars and cents, makes no sort
Of difference where and when "lOst cause
Democratic interests are TO be established
and vindicated.
Another very important "Heaven-sent'
adjunct and auxiliary happens in the fact
that the Court of Appeals of the State of
Kentucky Mr.. p. Nasby's State has de-
cided all these seif-sUHJC thing. before and
but recently, creating double-headed pre-
cedent for the ease OF "Smith vs. BraZzle-
ton - and moreover and furth r.. that the
Louisville COUTiCr-JCJrU0i, Of the 18th
inst, declared in an editorial. double-lead-
ed and of the length Of one and One-half
columns, that the South was not only au-
LhOriZed TO say all il had said OF Cen Lee
and the cause he represented and epito-
miZed, but that the North, and everybody
else, must cOncede and admit that the late
war was simply a war Of HlistdLCs,n
and that the wrong was not
All OF one Slue ana the right on the other,
but trat an equal division was made, and
that the war was simply "a national af-
fair' to settle question that could not be
disposed of by ordinary debate. All these
matters, of course, explain our late legal
depg rture.n
But let us look at the consequences. for
they are very great. BY this decision, if
band Of lawless desperadoes in a county
elect a sheriff and organize a colorado
county court government, all the acts of
violence and wrong they deem proper to
commit are rendered LdtgfiM and right be-
cause of this de .tdctO doctrine and If
murderous desperate can call around him
force enough to resist the sheriff and con-
stitute force Of ''gredt resistance he and
his aids cannot be held to answer and ac-
count for private property taken and used
during his violent resistance to and against
the laws of the land.
70 what extent the decision in the case
Of Smith VS.. BraZeltonn will be pleaded
and relied upon in answer to the late writs
OF quo Uorrdi3tO, remains to be seen. II
the defeaddats can get up good force TO
aid them, and firmly resist the Marshal,
the case Of Smith vs. Brazelton NAV
become political and legal pdndccd.
V.X.
CREAM CHEESE.--A correspondent of
the Rural NetC IOrkcr furnishes the fol-