The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-09-18

fancy and Mr. Chase-CannOt We
Raise Justice Above Politiess
Had it pleased Heaven, said the heart
rent Othello, to try him with affection and
bring upon his life sores and shames, poverty
and captivity, he could have found patience;
but when the fountain of his honor-where he
must live or know no ife-became q cistern
for foulness and shame, what remained?
We have recalled the mournful eloquence OF
the Moor's sad words when rejecting upon
the relations of our Judiciary to the govern
ment and liberties of the people. So long as
the Bench remained pure we could have
patience with any form Of misgovernment.
So long as we felt that Justice was interrupted
by Ambition and untainted by Dshonor we
could care little for the freaks of President
or the corruptions of the Legislature. These
in time we could remedy, for the people have
ultimate if not speedy, jurisdiction. But
as the Bench is above any such supervision,
so we felt it to be above the temptations and
ambitions of public ife-to be, as it were, in
o serene atmosphere, where neither storms
nor fogs, nor vapors nor poisonous airs, could
come to disturb the reason. Is 1t really trueP
Has the judiciary escaped the faint of the
timer Has the spirit of C@sarism, which we
find in the army the civil service, the gov
ernment-in the White House itself-affected
the Supreme Court Is this fountain of the
nations honor pure and unoontaminated2
We approach this branch Of the question
with some difidence, because we would fain
believe that our conclusions in reference to
the Supreme Court are unfounded. In COM
menting on the grave importance of the con-
siderations involved in the selection Of q
successor to the late Chief Justice we recently
referred in general terms to the gratifying
fact that, despite the political influences some
times controlling the appointment of our
high judicial officers, the Supreme Court
had as a body proved faithful and
pure. But in treating more specifically Of
individual members of that important Court,
and in searching for any stains upon its ermine
that may have been left there by the pol.
luting touch of Csesarism, we are compelled to
resort to q more scrutinizing and less aatter-
ing criticism. The duty is forced upon us Of
inquiring dispassionately whether in every act
of their judicial lives our Supreme judges
have been, as they should be, above suspicion
or reproach; whether every appointment that
has been made to the Supreme Bench has been
dictated by those high considerations for the
public good which alone should prevail in the
selection of Justice Of the highest Court in
the nation. In the last forty years we have
had two men in the Office of Chief Justice
Mr.. fancy and Mr.. Chase. AS we attribute o
good deal of the strength and prevalence of
Cesarism in our politics to the precepts and
example of President jackson we find the spirit
manifest in the appointment of Mr.. fancy.
Readers remember Jackson's stormy contro-
versies with the Bank; how he waged war upon
it in defiance of law and equity; how he made
and unmade secretaries to suit his anger or
his pleasure In the course of this war it be-
came necessary to remove the deposits of the
government from the Bank. This could only
be done by o violation of Law. The Secretary
Of the Treasury-we believe it was Mr. Ing
ham, of Pennsylvania-declined to violate the
law jackson dismissed Mr.. Ingham, and
found in Mr.. fancy an officer who cared more
for the Executive will than for the enactments
of Congress. fancy 8 subservience gave Jack
son the victory For doing this fancy was
honored by the grateful President with the
highest Office in his gift He was made Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court; but the stain
upon the ermine which came with its bestowal
was never removed. Chief Justice fancy
lived many years, and gained the honors
which in many ways it is impossible should
not pertain to the lofty station; but he
was never so much of Judge that he was not
partisan He served the slave power. He
proclaimed the Dred-Scott decision, and en-
deavored to paralyze Mr.. Lincoln in his early
war measures by mandamus. Slavery died
in spite of his decree, and the war triumphed
over his opposition, as it did over the opposi-
ton of jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee
Mr.. fancy In time passed into history to be
remembered 1--WE can scarcely say honored)
with Story, Marshall and jay.
Salmon P. Chase succeeded Mr. fancy.
Mr.. Chase hos only just passed away, and the
flowers we threw upon his bier have scarcely
lost their bloom. We have already done Mr..
Chase full justice in regard to those instances
in his judicial career in which he manifested
in his decisions from the Bench his indiffer-
ence to his former political convictions and to
his former political acts. But when submit
ting the high judiciary of the United States
to a searching Investigation, for the
purpose Of discovering to what extent
it has become impaired by the corrosion of
Cpsarism, we are compelled to lay bare the
motives which placed Mr.. Chase in the Chief
Justiceship, and to inquire, with the cold i'm
Partially of judicial investigation, whether
his every oct on the Bench was above re-
preach. Mr.. Chase was a skilled leader, q
courageous thinker, with genius for authority;
in many respects great man. But he was