New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-06-01
A JEREMIAH IN OUR MIDST.

like the one of old, and apt in foreteiling
future events, is thought by some to be
skilled in telling of things that have trans
PRED. jeremiah Black, ''the eminent
jurist and accomplished constitutional
lawyer" is a pilgrim sojourning in our
city for the time being. We have
much recollection of him as mem.
Der of the Cabinet under President
Buchanan's administration, and as one OF
the advisers of Andy, and feel that
if the counsels of this "eminent jurist
and accomplished constitutional lawyer
could have prevailed with the people as
they did with buchanan and johnson, we
might now say Of our country, as the Pro-
phet jeremiah said in his lamentations
"How doth the city sit solitary, that ,cas
full of people? .Ho,o is she become as
widow; she that araS great among the ma
tons, and princess among the provinces
HO,o is she become tributary" If the
pernicious Interpretation given the
constitution by Attorney Black,
to the effect that the United
States government had no power under
the constitution to coerce seeding State
to remain in the Union, and other singu-
lar views of his had prevailed with the
people, then there would have been an
end 10 free government, and upon its
ruins would have been established gov
eminent with slavery as its cornerstone.
The great fault of President Buchanan
and his Cabinetconsisted in not giving the
popular Interpretation to the constitution
that would authorize the preservation of
the Union, the integrity Of the country and
the enforcement of its laws. 1t is
not our purpose to rake up the dead
past. We have no malignant spirit to
crafty, and if we feel compelled to speak
at all it will be in defense of the truth of
history and those great apostles of free
government that stood by the United
States government when it was so fiercely
assailed by the enemies of freedom. Ex-
Attorney General Black could have arrived
in our city, partaken of its Inequalities
and went on his way rejoicing without ex-
citing the especial wonder of any one,
except for bis abilities as lawyer,
had not the peculiar friends and ad-
| mirers of his State rights doctrine
taken it upon themselves to publish. by
way of heralding bis presence in our
midst, letter of his recently published in
the New York GALAXY, in answer to one
written by Senator Wilson, of Massachu-
sets, in regard to Secretary Stanton. In
this letter "the eminent jurist and accom-
plished constitutional lawyer" says to
Senator Wilson: "But you think l ought
not to have answered the Presidents
questions truly, and that he ought not to
have been influenced by constitu-
tional scruples. That is the rub.
There is no dispute-never was. and
never can be, about the law; but
Mr.. Buchanan's wickedness and treason
consisted in obeying it when you think
| he ought to have broken it. For this
cause you try to excite against his mem
DRY those bad party passions by which he
was bounded and prosecuted during all
the last years of his lte." These remarks
of the doughty ex-Attorney General are
made in defense of his "opinion' given
to President Buchanan. just before he
went out of office, upon the subject OF
constitutional authority to put
down rebellion, or rather, in the language
of such men as Mr.. Black and the men
| who went into overt acts of rebellion,
| "that the government of the United States
had no power to coerce a seeding State. >
This was the peculiar State rights doctrine
of the men allied to the institution of
slavery. Mr.. Calhoun was the father of
| the pernicious doctrine that State could
| nullify national law at will by re-
fusing to obey it; but this infa-
| nous and ruinous doctrine was never
| sanctioned nor sustained by the honest and
patriotic people. and therefore could not
as they are in this country source OF
all power-be regarded as correct law, Mr..
Black to the contrary Notwithstanding.
Yet in the face of this and the well known
history and opinions of the leading men of
our country from the foundation Of its
government to the present time, the pun
gent ex-Attorney General does not hesitate
to say: at was the most natural thing in
the world for Mr.. Buchanan to follow the
example of such men as Washington,
Madison and Jackson"
The idea that Washington, Madison and
Jackson would have favored the breaking
up of government they had helped to
found and sustain, or that there is any
thing in the history of their illustrious
lives that can be cited as authority to
| authorize others to do so is too prepos-
ferrous and false to be seriously enter
| tanned. The determined stand that
President jackson took in 1882
against notification, and its leaders in
their first attempt at rebellion is too well
known not to bear witness against the as
sertion of Mr.. Black, that President Bu-
chanan. In taking the course LIE did when
rebellion first reared its head under his
| administration, bat followed the example
of such men as Washington, Madison and
jackson. 1t is bad enough that Mr..
1