The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-01-20
8itIunaild 9is1ahh,
Ts,,rsn,1g q. .sXasUARS Isl 1874
The Texas Case. ]

$ rrne careful reader Will donb have mo- /
Hssd ,bst Attorney General WIIrdAxs, ior
uhose EXCLUSION frora The bench Of the sa-
,p,srenc Court we cannot be too gratelni, gave
rery peculiar reasons for not interfering 50. "
hefween Governor CoTE and Ex-Governor
D,rIs hoth ciasn,ing 10 be the rigHnni Coz
vernnr Of Texas. The Attorney General
refers DAVIS to the Consultation OF Texas,
and enters Into an argument 70 prove 70
DAy,s's satisfaction that he has acted a. .
Governor as long as the Constitution. Oh
ITeras REQUIRES him to do so. Any man
who is qualified to be Attorney. General, and
surely any man who would worthity wear
the mantle OF JoHs MARSHALL. would nave ls''
referred Mr.. DAVIS to the following pfovl-
sion of the Constitution OF the Uhitea
States:
aAr.icle w.. Section 4. The United States
shan guarantee to every State in the Union
republican form Of government, and shall
nrotect each Of them against invasion; and
on application OF the Legislature, or Of
The Esecutire ,ohen the Legislature cannot
De coarcned, against domestic violence"
w hen DAVIS made his application the Lee
s,is,sture of Texas was in session. There is
no other body OF men in Texas Claiming 70
be Legislature, SO far as we have lmorma'
ton. The Constitution of the United states
exnressly denies to the Governor the Fright 10
ann,y 70 the President OF the United States
for assistance when the Legislature is III SEES
sion. and vet this learned Attorney.General,
uhom General GRANT considers worthy TO
ne Chief.Justice of the Supreme Court, is so
full Of the idea that the President is the
fountain Of all power and the paternal
ruler of all the States, that he does not for a
moment question the duty of DAVIS to In
woke Federal Intervention under other cir
,,umstances than those existingin Texas, but,
on the contrary, tacitly admits that he would
have been entirely right in making bis appli.
cation if only the Constitution of Texas had
not stood in the way. The Constitution OF
the United States is not once mentioned oy
this great lawyer.
The right to deny to comply with requests
Of the kind made by Ex-Governor DAVIS
implies the right to comply with them under
other circumstances. According to MIR. VIII
r1Aas, the President would have been Justi-
fed in sending troops to Texas to keep
DAVIS in power if he had found that
the Constitution Of Texas required
DAVIS to serve longer; and this, too,
in spite Of the fact that the Federal Con-
stitution, as we have shown above, denies
to the President the right to interfere unless
called upon to do so by the Legislature.
WHAT the Attorney-Ge or the President
may mean by thus ignoring the Constitution
Of The United States we know mot. Per-
haps the idea never occurred to either Of
them that that Constitution contained any
provision bearing upon the case. Perhaps
they did not care whether it did or not. But
liz either case it is sad commentary upon
the history Of the country. Little by little
the power of the States is stolen away, and
step by step the President advances towards |
arbitrary AZ bS;;trary rule. How long the people Will
sustain party whose leaders thus trample
upon the Constitution is question we are
unable to decide. Perhaps the oranges may
do something to bring about respect for that
spStrr,rnant