Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-03-03

laws construed, their rights determined
anu their liabilities fixed.
Aye, does not this Court 90 even fur
Their still by this dscisioni The eonsti-
tutional amendment provides that the
State shall "not deny TO any person
within its jurisdiction the equal proiec-
ton OF the law" Is il to be the law Of
this country that Chinaman, who isa
person, or a Uomapche Indian, who isa
person, can, being OF a different race OF
color from the citizens Of State, TO
move their cases, either civil or cri'ni'
nal, from the State courts into the
United States courts, simply because
the laws OF the State forbid any but Its
own citizens 10 constitute its junes1
Such, US we understand, is the effect oil
the decision Of the Supreme Court oil
the United States in the TAYLOR srRAu-
DIR case.
Whittier, We ask. are our rights as
citizens oi the Safes, hed2 What are
our States but mere municipalities,
subject to Federal power, Il such laws
are TO be sustained rs obligatory
Again, the Supreme Court on Monday
last went even farther still, as We un-
derstand the case, IN what Is known rs
the habas corpus case from Virginia.
The Virginia jury law makes no dis
tinction upon account OF race aud color,
but under the law the judges OF the
County Courts, in the exercise OF
judicial discretion given them by the
State law, select the persons who shall
serve as jurors in their respective
courts.
Judge RlyKs, u Judge Of the United
States District Court, charged his grand
Jury in effect, that wherever It APP
peared that u State judge, IN discharge
Of the duty imposed on him by the
State law, in preparing the annual list
OF qualified Jurors, had never put ne
groes on the jury lists made out by him,
it was presumed that his failure 50 to do
was because of their race, color or pre-
yious condition OF servitudo, and that II
was the duty OF the grand juries Of his
court to indict them for that offence,
under the 4th section Of the civil!
rights act OF Congress. Judge CoLKs,
ui Pittsylyania county, among other
Judges, was thereupon indicted ia Judge
RlyEs' Court for the offence named, he
was arrested, applied Tor hdbeas corpus to
the Supreme Court for his discharge,
and we are informed by the Washing
ton kilograms that the action Of the Fed
rral Judge was sustained aud the hdbeGs
corpus denied.
We had supposed in our oyer'wean-
ing confidence in our Supreme Court,
having decided ~ it did, in the Slaughter
kouS case and other cases a. to the Ell
feet Of the fourteenth amendment; that
there were no sharp teeth IN 1t to Tile
aud maugle the dearest rights OF the
States aud the citizens thereof; but now
We are suddenly awakened, as
by lire bell ut midnight 10 the
sad realization OF the TACT, thet
the fires OF radicalism, kindlcd
by the fuel supplied by the Fourteenth
Amendment have enveloped aud con-
sumed the fair citadel oi home rule
that us State We can ouly pass such
laws as Congress and the Supreme
Court may sustain; that We cannot
choose our own juries for the admins
tration Of our own laws without the per-
mission Of the Federal government; that
We cannot Try our rights in our own
courts, but are liable to be dragged from
our homes and taken to another juris
diction remote from our residence; that
our State judges, even Of our court OF
last resort, arr liable to indictment by u
Federal grand jury for administering our
State laws, the grand jury being urged
to find the indictment by even an
interior Judge oi tho Federal judi.
ciary.
Citizens oi West Virginia, citizens OF
Ohio, citizens ol all our noble States,
whether Republican or Democratic, do
YOU acQuiesce in this2 Rather will you
not say that il tins Fourteenth amend,
mcnt at this late day is properly con
strued, away with 1t, as soon rs II can
be constitutionally repealed. Is there
State in the Union where Legislators
have So far lest their proud spirit OF lab
erty that they will not at once and
unanimously, by Sirtccnh amendment
forever erase from our fair National
Constitution, the heritage Of our fathers
this disgrace 10 that instrument which
is in direct conflict with every other
provision in it, il the construction put
upon u 10y our supreme Iour'
be correct All honor to Judges
FIELp and CLIrroRD, who had the
manllncss 10 stand up against
such construction. II is with NOR
tifcation that we behold the ma
joriiy OF the court going back upon the
principles OF every decision here
toiurc made on this amendment
some Of them were ON tho seven
to eight commission; and this, for the
tirst time in the history Of the court
rs now constituted, by their partisan
acts destroyed the confidence OF many
We DO not want to believe that impur,
motives have controlled the Court; but
We know how strong party ties are. W,
supposed ii there WIS one spot in ouI
fair land where party spirit could not
20, that spot VAS the Supreme Court
room IN Washington. When the inia
nous JKFTRIEs, after life Of shame AM
reproach, in which he had committed