, 1870-03-30


two or thrco hundred banks can 60 through
: this trnnsition process Ill at tho samo time,
without causing contraction of the most
fearful chasacter, and producing financial
revulsion which every man in the United
states would feel down TO- the bot
tom of his boots, is ine1cusable
and unmitigated blindness. It Is akin to
that Of the Iriahnlan who was being drawn
out Of well with rope, and who, when half
way up, called out to The mon at the top
Hold On up there while I spat on my
hands" They held on sure enough, bat
the next minute there WIS an Irishman at
: the bottom of the well.
TIE SUPREME COURT AND TIE LEGAL
TENDER DEC1BI0N.
It is not only 10 be hoped that there is no
truth whatever in tho specinl Washington
despatch to The New York Tribune, init
mating that the Supreme Court Of the
United States is about to reverse it's recent
decision On the Legal-Tender act, but the
hare suggestion Of such possibility is
cause for serious alarm. The judiciary is,
or ought to be, not merely above suspicion,
hut there should Le pa rrnch fifth in, and
reliance upon it, as in the stability Of the
government itself. It is true, unhappiy,
that, in some parts of the country, The judi
ciasy has fallen into contempt, and that just
SO far forth as it has become the creature Of
political or commercial interests; but if
the bare suspicion, even, shall obtain That
this is true also of the United States Su-
preme Court, we may unquestionab1y look
upon it rs the first step in the history OF the
decline and fall Of republican institutions.
Not only tho framess of the constitution
Contemplated, Int The common sense Of the
people accepts, tho inevitable fact that Leg
islaturas and Executives shall be swayed and
controlled, Is they arc created, by the poll
tics of party, and the popular but transitory
feeling OF the day; but the Judiciary was
meant TO be above and beyond the sphere Of
popular passion, and personal or class in
teresta, and to govern and be governed by
pure and abstract reason, and the law OF
absolute right, We do not mean to descend
to the talk Of tho domagogue when We say
palladium Of our liberties, but TO state
sober and earnest Truth, which, When We
have forgotten, We have entered upon the
downward road, the jaeitis descens,ts, of
| political ruin.
The decision on the Legal Tender Act, as
applied to pre-e1jsting contracts, is not only
res ad;udicata by the Court OF Inst appeal,
| and for that reason alone should not be dis
turbcd for Light and transient causes but
it is decision good in Law, wiso and Just
in itself, and commands tho confidence
md respect OF our own people, and OF
foreign governments and peoples. Its basis
is the faith Of contracts as between man
and man, and it rescucs, ut the earliest
moment possible, the government from a
state Of wnr, when only extreme e1pedients
are defensiblc, and returns it to time of
| peace when absolute right and not tcm-
porary e1pedicnts should bo the law and
the custom of the land. It is not strange
that the character and the action of q
| government like ours should be misunder-
stood abroad, and that tho heated contro.
rersies OF political parties should some-
times undermine the confidence TINT should
he felt in its stability and credit. But, in
| the decisions Of tho Supreme Court, We have
standard by which to measure with un-
erzng certainty our actual strength, both
moral and political, to which wo may
safely appeal as to what We really ore,
what VIC really mean to do, and fol
the principles by which, in the long run,
We are really governed. The uncertainty
nrouscd abroad by the political discussions o.
the last few years. AZ to what We should ds
with our public debt and how We should set
tie the various motty questions left us b,
the war, has been, in q large measure, dis
pclled BIZ the recent decision of the Supreme
CopEt; and, unquestionably, it is no les
true that confidence has been restored q
hAzc iaess' o. ICON rtottlssef = sti6 fo r.
the highest Law Of the land mistaken b,
, party bias, Or transient clamor, or m.
r supposed pubGccxigency. Doubtless ther
are private persons and corporations VIII,
| regret that they can no longer shelter thei
r Owl breach of contracts under a legal e1
. pedicnt madc to bridge over public neces
: sity. but the great mass rejoice that tn
supreme Court has brought Us nearer to tn
hhFd-pan OF strict justice and absolute Law
and have, moreover, adapted their bnsines
and based al their calculations and plan
iof 'ne .a'ato 0lon Tue acclsaon Oh u
.ou11 ~ ~ sssaa7 "no '1'e e1pectat'on eoa
" u anat'elao'e
Lei IN ,'''s., leseto,e' .uat 'no fntiua'
~" y. LAY 3.e" Lula AF'"u"e, anu LIZ