The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-02-27
From the Nation.1

jections TO going to war, but 1t forms also one
OF the inevitable sequel1 Of war. 1t furnishe:
reason for dreadlng aud refrainlng from war
as long as possible, but 1t does not, any more
than the loss of life or destruction Of proper.
ty furnish reason Tor not going to war at all
under any circumstances, as some Democrats
seem to think. But it Is the duty OF all good
citizens when war is over to do what they can
10 bring officials back to the ancient ways, and
| revive in everybody's mind as fast as possible
| that reverence for legal enactments and
Judicial decisions without which no political
system has ever lasted or ever can last long.
| 1t was the duty of the Republican party, as
| the party In power aud the party which car
ried on the war, to have addressed itself to
| this business with even more zeal than to the
business OF paying off The national debt. 1t is
| hard for candid man 10 say that 1t did 3d. On
the contrary, 1t Is very difficult to deny that it
encouraged The administration to persist In Its
lawless military way of looking at lis duties.
The impeachment trial. O strictly legal pro-
| ceedlng, was conducted as If such q thing as
| law was unknown, and as II no man need look
any further than his own breast for rules OF
conduct In any exigency Of life; and any one
| who then talked of law as something binding
on his conscience, was assailed With the foul
est abuse. Mr.. Grimes, just deceased, was q
victim Of this outburst OF mob fury, and Mr..
Fessenden's death was certainly fastened
by 1t.
ministratlon was to add to the Supreme Court
two new Judges, chosen avowedly. because
they were known to hold certain fixed opin-
ions on matter in litigation between private
parties before the court, and with the View and
Intention OF having judgment already given
In that litigation reversed by the aid of their
votes. What made the matter all the worse
was that that Judgment bore hard on certain
great corporations whose counsel one oil the
new Judges had been, and that the relief 1t
granted was granted 10 creditors under con-
tracts which had for several years been de-
liberately violated. It would be impossible
to put Into an article In newspaper all
the moral objections there were to this per-
formance. Among the political objections to
1t were these: that 1t was dlrecly calculated
to destroy the confidence of the country In all
subsequent decisions OF the court, or, In other
words, to destroy the popular respect for the
whole of that enormous branch OF American
jurisprudence which Is embodied In judicial
decisions; that 1t was really an interference by
the Executive alone-an interference, too, such
as royalty In Its worst days has never at
tempted-between private suitors about
matter OF property, the President having used
almost as directly as If be ad Sent u military
force to prevent the execution of writ or TO
inLimidale the judges on the bench; finally,
|
the constitution of the Supreme Court, on
grounds of ,phat seemed TO the President public
policy, and In preparation ior lohat he thought
probable contingency (the necessity Tor
legal tenders In some other war)-hein fact
constituting himself sole Judge of the whole
matter. The affair reused good deal Of In
dignalion, but the Republican party, as
party, wInked at It. We are glad 10 see that
the "Independent Republicans have taken
adopted ut Jefferson City, and trust that II
will not be overlooked al Cincinnati.
A President who has successfully exercised
hie discretion In this way Was hardly likely
to be in q modest frame of mind, and was
not likely to be filled with very profound
respect for the law or law-gIvers. But Con-
gress, far from doing anything to bring him
back 10 healthier and more constitutional
view of his duties, then armed him with
authority such as has never been bestowed on
constitutional ruler In any age or country,
by giving him power 10 suspend the habeas
corpus over half OF the Union, whenever In
his Judgment i5 should be necessary. The
suspension of the habeas corpus, being practi-
cally suspension OF the law, is serious
measure, to which resort should only be had
in the gravest crisis, but certainly the Legls-
lature alone should, In O law-abidng country,
be competent TO soy when the crisis had come.
At this moment, this unprecedented discre-
lion Is lodged in General Grants hands. He
has not abused 1t, 1t will be said. Perhaps
not; but does anybody suppose 1t has Increased
bis respect, or the respect OF his followers, for
the constitution and The laws
We shall not comment on the San Domingo
movement, hlgh-handed as many of It's fed
lures were, inasmuch as 1t was resisted, aud
successfully resisted, by Congress. But Is 1t
surprising, after all this, that when Mr.. Bout
well came to place his new loan, aud found
the provisions OF the law under which he was
acting inconvenlent or objectionable, ne
should instead of waiting 10 have 1t altered,
have totally dsregarded II, and have acted on
his own discretion in matter on which The
legislature allowed him no discretion what
ever? And does anybody seriously suppose
that other managersiof the public finances,
after seeing his disregard Of the law unbush-
ingly pronounced wholly biameless by solid
party vote, will be any less scrupulous than
he, whether they are as nprlSnI ana Well
meaning or not?
We need not wonder, then, that the War
Department, having received permission by
resolution to sell damaged arms, should not
only 20 to work to sell rs good arms as ever
were made, but should actually manufacture
ammunition to accompany them. Somebody
In this case-we do not know who 1t was-
only did what the President did In the matter
of The legal tenders and che Supreme CourT,
and what Mr.. Boutwell, did In the matter OF
the loan-that is, substitute conclusions of his
own as to what was desirable or advanta-
geous, for the will of the nation, as plainly eX-
pressed ia legislation. General Graut el:her
knew and did not care, or did not know,
which is nearly as bad, that court packed by
the President to render decisions in support
of what he considered good policy, was not o
thing contemplated BY the constitution or by
the American people; and Mr.. Boutwell, prob
ably knew very we'll he was breaking the law,
but he felt that his Judgment was better than
that of the lawmakers, 30 he followed his
Iugment and disregarded theirs.
The disease Is one which Is running through
the county, and has seized on fuDctionaries,
both State and Federal. IN every direction.
AS might be expected, it shows itself la its
grayest form in financial matters, but 1t is not
confined to financial matters. The Judges,
the shprlffs, the governors, and the mayors
are alllex-rcsing their discretion in all sorts Of
ways tor "Lhe good OF the people" aud letting
the statute lie In their drawers. We have had
worse outbreak of the dlslemper In New
York than elsewhere, bnL the type grows more
malignant as time wears on, and It Is time
something was done TO stay the plague. We
want "a government OF laws, and not OF
menn-an ancient phrase, associated with
many great traditions. but which, in our day,
is becoming mere rhetorical commonplace;
aud unless we greatly mistake the sigus OF The
times, something will be done before long to
give 1t back its old force and pregnancy.