, 1874-01-18

:. "14A 70 aoAe' out We think we deserve
~; Tor others organs are established and edi-
tor1als are written. ~ w.
That beautiful courtroom reouiraa hrt ora
thlng to complete it the bust Of William Cnsl-
g 3ng set On & bracket st the extreme end Of the
meath: 81 NY opinion at the bottom is as good
as yours at the top" e~
And there, declining to be put in the position
OF the Prophet Elisha when the little bows cried
+" 20 up, thon bald head!" old William Cush,
Supreme Court decisions are as coed "a If he had
been ut the head of the Bench.
oneer Ellsworth Was then nominated. and
leaving the Senate, became Chief Justice. The
same came year samuel Chase, Of Maryland, became
Now came the trial Of ..
THE sED1r1oN CASES,
Wherein Chase, who had been opposed to the
Federal Constitution for overriding the State
authority. VAS the most hot-headed Fedcralist.
The Bench had been put into shape, and held
the opinion that, without statute authority. tbs
tederal Courts possessed a common-1aw jurisdic-
ton over offenses against the United States
corresponding cor! to the common-law jurisdie~
The astsss on t's as bsess eeafs
try editors, witnesses, public speakers, and what
not. And we had, during tie trial OF the i'm
parchment OF Andrew johnson, after the lapse
ct seventy years, Mr. Groeabeck accusing Benja-
num-. nun =: Butler, before The Chief Justice and the
nothing more than q revival Of the Sedition
law. Groesbeck said:
It expired by its own limitation. It was the
most offensive law that has ever been passed
aive Was it that tho people would not rest under
II although it was passed to last but three years.
They started, as it were, the hue-and-cry against
everybody who defended it, or we're concerned
in it, and hunted them to political DEATH
And yet the Supreme Bench in its earliest
yeara, assented to this law, and Matthew Lyon,
B candidate for Congress-, had to defend himself
in pe1son before Justice Patterson. for saying
usual political things about the President, on
the stump, and he was sentenced to four months
imprisonment and fine Of 81 900.
Amongst the
- EXTRAORDINARY OPINIONS
delivered at this time was one bY Chief-J Justice
Ellsworth himself, in the case Of Isaac Williams,
that g. It was not in the power Of any man to
throw off by his own volitiou the allegiance to
the country in which he had been born. Will
iams was q naturalized French citizen. and
Ellsworth sent him TO jail for prlvateering under
the French flag.
Here we see the difference between the high
est decision at law in the first quarter OF a CEN
tury and the public opinion OF mankind in the
third quarter. It ia considered to be the great
act Of George Bancroft's diplomatic life that he
prevailed upon the Prussian Government to
abandon the principle which an American Chief
Justice had solemnly announced.
ROMANCE OF TIE BENCH.
In the year Washington died, his old Attorney
General, Randolph, attacked the principle OF the
Supreme Court, thai it and it's satellite courts
!1ae Iatfarao-, 10.
do,rn th;a ,,renadant snd +ho sTeooL ~ A.
Kasson, OF Iowa, 3 few days ago, against the
pending Civil Rights bill, protested against iton
the ground that 1T would enable the Govern
ero1 conT+a md nj ;fa hanG ;nto avaru achnoi.
district in The conntrr.'' Hare. arain' va sea
how the az. Sins nnst the Bonch.
Justice Sam Chase' q snrt ~ nf Rencb noliticia,,.
scattered teTror thrnneh ali tha M;dd1e Statoa
s1I V;.;n ~ -; asi :; - asaot;s.e ;ds
md nolsfica7 onnnnents nndnr ~ SeG;tfcn 1aw.
and W;I;oro VIZ ha;na ;nsn,ta5 ~ Thasa -
Richmond 1rban no1;to{g nal-;n0 rorn,;csinn ~
grgue the copstitntiona]ity of the law tbrew
down his brief and walked out OF court.
In 1901, Chase was impeached by Congress for
his couduct in these and layer tria1s. and his
celebrated trial came otT,-John Randolph being
manager, and Aaron Burr, fresh from Ham
managers we're no match for the couusal. and
failed to carry two-thirds Of the sonate and
then Randolph set Ben Butler the exanpie Of
railing at The Senate. CLase's trial lad the
effect, az one Of bis euiogists says, .' to check
Bench handed down from Colonial times.n It
NAV be said that there arc not wanting Justices.
however. even in cur lato day, who regard with
hostility the press and discussion. as q promi-
that
mo Administration could be snccessfI With
modern newspapers" I might have replied that
"I knew somo Justices in our day who could
not succeed even with newspaper
sEpo11sx ON TIE BEScu.
The Scotch wilson WA snccecded ut bis
death hv Rnshrod Washinrton' fhe Gencra1;s
nephew, - spendtl,rift and speculator, .sho had
heer in tho hands of a Sheriff for 7ebt' Wash
inetoa ~ had Tr;tten to him nrevionaIT ]" Yon do
not possess the ability for such an appoint
nent T,i,ia man gas Int "a venrs I'D when
.nnnfn+aj 10 IoIn Adams. ha Wis the nroren;-
tor Of JOHN 4. washington, who sold lit. Yer
nm and ncriahea ohscrrely in the Rebellion.
T;Ie 81 T anrno;n+r,a,ta ~ nonot7an, IN Hannh-
lea. this vas an otfico made ready for The man.
and not The man for tha Office
RAN srArE OF TIE gESou.
Judges DeIanay and Durell had their predeces-
sor in Judge Moore, Of the District Court Of
Nav Hambshire. III o. in 1904. yag impeached
Tor ~ a Wfllfu1 sacrifice Of the riehts Of the
United States. habituI Drunkenness. and pro-
family m tha Bench" Thia uan Was one Of
Inhn Adans' selections. and. although be Was
convicted and removed, every Federalist Senator
vnted apainst i.
T:T Tt;aa r,,.,-,-+9, -oo;ora3 1r9ar Ads,na