The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-13

this decision, though strict law, was probably
good law. And indeed the Nation admits
that the real quarrel of the people of the
North with the court was that it would not
expressly acknowledge that slavery was intrin-
sically wicked-a proposition which, whether
true or not, it could assuredly never have laid
down without q gross dereliction of duty.
When, however, the temporary disruption of
the Union left the Supreme Court in exclusive
connection with its Northern section, it be-
came inevitable that suspicion should turn for
the time into hatred and dread. For, if the
court bad decided as il very possibly must have
decided if its jurisdiction had been appealed
TO, it would have deprived the North of all
power of aggression or resistance, assuming
its decisions to have commanded obedience.
The least astute reader of the Constitution of
the United States can see that, to say tho
least, plausible case can be made out for
holding that laws declaring paper money
legal tender, and permitting CONSUMPTION
for the army, are inconsistent with careful
provisions for the sanctity of contracts and
the liberty of the person. The subjugation
of the South doubtless re-established respect
for the court among the nation as whole;
but the Republican party soon learned to re-
gard it with the EXTREMIST jealousy as soon as
the Reconstruction laws were determined
upon. 1t is not likely that there is any mem
Der of the party who does not feel they are
very near the wind indeed, and it was noto-
riously the hope that the Supreme Court
would declare them unconstitutional which
animated President Johnson during his
struggle with Congress.
1t is all but certain that, if the judges had
laid down during the war the law which most
lawyers expected from them, the people of
the North would have set aside their autho-
rity; and in that case the wreck of the institu-
tions of the United States would have been
all but com plete. But the court, we are told,
gave no really important decision (if we ex-
cept those on belligerency) during the whole
of the war. In spite of this prudence, it
seems to have been regarded by the majority
of Northerners as dangerous partisan body,
and every attempt was made to change its
character by filling all the seats on the bench
which became vacant with persons qualified
for them only by stubborn devotion to the
cause of the North More open attacks were
made on the court when all power fell after
the war into the hands of the Legislature. An
act of Congress taking away an appeal in
case already pending threatened the
most extreme measures; but an extraordi-
nary bill rendering majority of two-thirds of
the judges necessary before law passed by
Congress could be declared unconstitutional,
but allowing bare majority to declare it
constitutional, was permitted to drop, though
it. This however, seems to have been the
last attempt on the independence of the
court, and we are assured that its credit and
popularity have been rising ever since. 1t is
not without natural and justifable pride that
the writer in the Nation points to this ten
dency in the ship of the State to right itself.
1t is distinctly, he tells us, because President
johnson so disgraced himself that the dignity
and self-restraint of the Supreme Court met
at last with the appreciation which they de-
served. We may be pardoned for adding our
suspicion that the violence Of Congress had
much to do with the change; but we are
equally of opinion that it is creditable to the
American people that they should turn with re-
lief to the deliberations of judges from the spec
tacle of factious contention in the Legislature
and furious intemperance in the Executive
1t is fortunate for the Supreme Court that
popular feeling has set in favor of the prin-
ciples on which it was constructed, since
never had President such an opportunity as
President Grant for destroying its purity and
independence.