The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-01-13


slavery States rights Democrat. The
Journal says:
Within few days Alexander Fl, stephens and
other Democrats in Congress have declared the
pending Civil Rights bill unconstitutional. Their
words were less extreme than those OF fancy, out
the logic OF their position was precisely the same.
THAT bill will doubtless become law. A similar
act is now the statute-books Of the nation The
validity OF the civil rights legislation OF Congress
will come before the Supreme Court OF the Unit
ed states at an early day, In all likelihood. Would
II be prudent just and wise 10 place at the head OF
the judiciary man whose every antecedent is wrong
We do not believe President Grant took into &C.
count this aspect OF the case. He doubtless acted
upon the idea OF Cushings legal qualifications,
It is the duty OF the Senate to consider the subject
In al! its bearings before acting upon the nomina-
ton,
We find no fault with the Journals state
ment quoted above We are no admirer
of the political views of Aleck Stephens or
Caleb Cushing Both have been on all
sides of every question. Both were called
National Republicans, during the begin
ming Of the Jackson Democracy. Both be-
came Wings afterwards, and when the
Wing party died both became Democrats
Gushing was a johnson man during the
days of Andy's power-then he became
Republican, and is Republican now. We
have no love for him or his sort, politically.
But what we object to is the continued and
unnecessary lying about Judge fancy In
the same article from which we make the
foregoing quotation, the Journal says
1t was only two days after Caleb Cushing had
ceased to be Attorney General OF the United States
that Roger b. fancy announced from the Supreme
Bench OF the United States this most atrocious
doctrine: Negroes whether slaves free,
"beings of an Inferior order and altogether unit
ITO associate with the white race, either in social
or political relations; and go far inferior that they
have no rights which a white man is
by MIR. Gushing, for he continued to affiliate with
the party which accepted it. That endorsement
has never been withdrawn, so far as known. The
issue involved therein Is still vital.
Now, the Journal ought to know that
neither Judge fancy nor the Court "de-
cided' any such thing The Journal
quotes incorrectly, and states what is not
true.
The majority Of the Court decided that
bred Scott was not citizen of Missouri,
and that is all the Court diddecide. Judge
fancy decided nothing of himself alone.
He announced the decision of the Court in
the following words:
Upon the whole, therefore, it is the udg-
ment of this court, that it appears by the
record before us that the plaintiff in error
is not citizen OF Missouri, in the sense in
which that word is used in the constitution;
ana that the Circuit Court of the United
States, for that reason, had no jurisdiction
in the case, and could give nojudgment in it.
Its judgment for the defendant must, CON
fIyy ha 5n1 ,l,kl
sued, directing the suit to be dismissed for
want of jurisdiction.
In arriving at this decision (for that was
all that the Court decided, in the bred Scott
case,) Judge fancy delivered the opinion
orreasOning of the Court gave the reasons
for the decision. These occupy 81 pages of
type, discussing the whole matter of cti-
zenship in this and in other countries, be-
fore and after the adoption of our Consti-
tuition, and setting forth at great length the
status of the negro more than a hundred
years before that time, on both sides Of the
Atlantic. On page 4O7, of the reasons for
deciding that bred Scott was not a citizen
of Missouri, is found the following:
1t becomes necessary, therefore, to de-
termine who were citizens Of the several
States when the Constitution was adopted
And IN order to do this we must recur to
the Governments and institutions of the
thirteen colonies when they separated from
Great Britain and formed new sovereign
ties and took their places in the family of
Independent nations. We must inquire
who, at that time, were recognized as the
Or tf of IL ,..-l4
and liberties had been outraged by the
English Government and who declared
their independence, and assumed the DOW
ers Of Government to defend their rights
by force of arms.
In the opinion of the court, the legisla-
ton and histories of the times, and the
language used in the Declaration of indie
pendence, show, that neither the class of
persons who had been imported as slaves,
nor their descendants, whether they had
become free or not, were then acknowledge
ed as a part OF the people, nor intended to
be included in the general words used in
that memorable instrument.
1t is difficult at this day to realize the
state of public opinion in relation to that
unfortunate race which prevailed in the
civilized and enlightened portions of the
world at the time OF the Declaration of In
dependence, and when the Constitution of
the United States was framed and adopted.
But the public history Of every European
nation displays it in manner too plain to
be mistaken.
They had for more than century be-
fore been regarded as beings of an inferior
order, and altogether unfit to associate with
the white race, either in social or political
relations and so far inferior, that they had
no rights which the white man was bound
to respect; and that the negro might lust
ly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for
his benefit. He was bought and sold, and
treated as an ordinary article of merchandise
and traffic whenever profit could be made
byit. This opinion was at that timeIfxed and
universalin the civilized portionofthe white
race. 1t was regarded as an axiom in NOR
ais as well as in politics, which no one
thought OF disputing, or supposed to be
open to dispute and men in every grade
and position in society daily and habitually
acted upon it in their private pursuits. as
well as in matters of public concern, with
out doubling Tor moment the correctness
of this opinion.
And in no nation was this opinion more
firmly fixed or more uniformly acted unon
than by the English Government and En-
glish people. They not only seized them
on the coast of Africa, and sold them or
held them in slavery for their own use but
they took them as ordinary articles of mer-
chandise to every country where they could
make profit on them, and were far more
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