National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1878-02-21

IL tne supreme law 81 tne ianu. Not IN
restricted or qualified sense, nor for the
mere purposes Of Federal administration,
but absolutely supreme in the sense that
no State can make fundamental law or |
any statute law, which derogates in any de-
gree from its force and binding obligation.
The same constitution of Louisiana which
authorizes prosecutions by information"
also says: "The citizens of this State owe
allegiance to the United Stafes; and this
allegiance is paramount to that which they
owe to the State"
This Is no more than an explicit rccogni-
ton by the people of that State Of what is
plain on the face of the national charter.
In the organization of the National Consti-
tuition the people of the United States have
seen At to embody in that instrument not
only the powers that were necessary to
make the Government efficient for the spe-
cal purposes for which 1t was created, but
they have also thought proper to conse-
crate, in the most solemn form, by embody-
ing them in that great national charter,
certain rights and privileges which they
deemed too sacred to trust elsewhere
Among other rights Of this class may he
mentioned the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus the prohibition against
| eSpoa Jdcto laws, and against unequal tax
alton; freedom of speech and Of the press;
the right to bear arms; to be only once
tried for the same offense, and to have the
assistance of counsel to aid him in his de-
tense; and, finally, no person shall be held
to answer for capital, or otherwise in
famous crime, unless on presentment or
indictment of grand jury.
It is idle to say that this last clause has
reference only to prosecution in the Federal
courts. There is no ground for such dis
tinction. These words are the expression
of the universal sovereign will Of the peo-
pie. and, rs part of the Constitution, are
the supreme law of the land in that particu-
lar matter. All the rights above enumer-
ated, though, perhaps, they do not confer
any special powers or attributes upon the
Government rs a governing power, are
nevertheless parts of the Constitution
that sacred deposit of the collective will of
the whole people-and are each and every
one Of them equally protected by the SUI
premacy of that Constitution. Is there not
just as much reason to say that the right to
the writ of hdbeds corpus is confined to the
Federal courts? Hns anybody ever
dreamed that State can derogats from
that right by any act of its own, or from
the right of freedom of speech, or of the
press? Is not every judge in all the States
sworn to support the Constitution of the
United States2
Why? Simply because ii is the supreme
law even in his own State. No one would
be absurd enough to say that one part OF
the Constitution is more supreme than an
other part, or that the supremacy Of that
instrument resides only in those parts that
confer the attributes of government. This
Constitution Is the supreme law of the
! land" Each and every part is alike su'
preme. The powers conferred by that Con
stitution for the purposes Of government
cannot be infringed by State. No more
: can the rights deposited there by the people
; for safe-keeping be infringed by State
The powers and the rights were all con
ferred and established by the same author.
ity and in the same manner, and are all or
an equal footing and of equal dignity, ant
I are all equally sacred and inviolable by any
S authority less than the whole people il
e their sovereign capacity.
e The people of Louisiana have no NOR
I right to authorize the prosecution of a Grim
inal oilense above the grade of a misdc
}, meanor, upon mere information than the.
= have to coin money or to establish and rul
n a separate post-oilice system.
=; The x-White-League paciacators of Lou
C isana in their exuberance of zeal to dcfumo
d prosecute, and ruin their political oppO
l. nents, have violated all the proprieties c
II the situation, to the supreme disgust of eve
% their friends, by an attempt to punish on
l. of her most eminent citizens, in violatio
% of the fundamental law of the land.
|