New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-03-22
ATTACHING TIE CITADEL OF AE.


ATTACHING TIE CITADEL OF LAE.
The profound respect which the Anne lean
people entertain for the decisions OF the SUI
premc Court has its root i'll feeling wAith Is
deeper than the general reverence tOr law
that charactelizes the race. The develop
ment OF Il final tribunal to pronounce judgment
on legislative enactmcnts thems lives, ana 0c-
clare whether they are binding or VOID, Is the
noblest result of mo Tern political progress anu
the people instinctiyely appreciate 1t as one OF
the richest attachments which has been gained
in the cause of constitutional liberty. More
than tlis The Federal Courts constitute our
distinctive guarantee of national unity. When
the articles of confederation were superseded
by the Constitution the Federal judicial system
was recognized as the one element III the new
compact which supplied the cohesive force ioi
lack of which the old cODfederacy failed. Tins
authoritative tribunal was established not only
to protect the States and the individual citizen
rom I ederal aggression by It's power to fix tie
bounds which Federal force could not exceed
| but at the same time to insure to the Nation a
life and vigor peculiarly and exclusively its
own, by defining the limits within which the
Federal authority Is supreme. II is owing to
tiis vital function OF the Fed ral Courts In our
system of government that any attack upon
them has been rightly considered by the people
blow aimed at the national life. In their eyes
any obstruction offered to the practical enforce
ment of the DEGREES OF the Supreme Court Is a
political crime, and crime which they VIII be
swift to resent and slow to forgive.
In view of these facts II IS amazing that the
Democrats in Congress should have dared to
make stand against the Appropriation for the
special deputy marshals, and thus outrage the
most profound political convictions OF the coun-
try. And this attitude, it must be remembered,
did not measure the FIJI mahgnancy OF the at
tack upon the Court. For Mr.. Mcmahon, who
does not appear TO be unique phenomenon, hut
a true representative Of the purposes of the ma
jOrity, declared that they would not be content
with a refusal to meet the deficiency Tor the
special deputies, but that they would vote
no supplies for the officers of the Court
during the current year. IL is true that there
has been an apparent abandonment of this
positiOn. but how long will it be before it IS
again assumed Some of the most active Dom
| ocrats IN the House--Messrs. BlacSburD, Iurd,
| Hooker, Knott-oppOsed to the end any sur
render. Mr.. Hurd now openly declares his be-
| hef that if he and those who sympatnized had
| fought the so-caied compromise in debate IN
| stead of voting against it in silence, they would
| have defeated it. Mr.. Springer, who was one
| of the busiest Of the busy in urging his fellow
| Democrats to support the compromise, frankly
| saws to our Washington correspondent, that 1t
seemed impossible to hold the party together"
| and that he did not feel safe one moment"
nntll the bill had passed The fight between
| the advocates and opponents OF the new Demo-
cratic policy is to be bitterly waged IN the Senate,
! with all the chances in favor OF those who want
| TO DEFY the law and insult the Supreme Court.
| OF course, no practical party advantage lstO be
gained by the course hey urge. No one dreams
that there vii! be any failure to enforce the
election laws, which have been pronounced con
stitutional by the ultimate authority. The Pres
ident will appoint supervisors and deputies as
he is bound by his oath to do, and the Demo-
Gratis will suffer all the disadvantages OF an
honest vote so far as these Federal officers are
able TO prevent fraud at the polls. The attempt
to defeat the operation of the laws will prove
utterly futile. and the wOud-be nullifieTs will
| gain not even momentary partisan benefit TO
| compensate in the slightest measure FOR the
odium which their lawlessness will bring upon
| them
| 1t would naturally be supposed that even a
| Democratic Congressman could not forget
within single year the humiliation which the
| majority suift red III It's wild struggle with the
Executive, and its endeavOr to starvc the Gov
| ernrnant into submission But in spite of that
disastrous lesson the mocratic part now
seems likely, in spite of all warnings and in
soi,e of one fierce effort at self-restIaint to
| place itself in open hostility to the orderly
procedures Of the Supreme Court This cha-
lcnge the people would promptly meet They
would meet it as they met secession and
other Democratic attacks upon the integrity
of the Government. The party which is mad
enough to dare such an assault upon the very
. tadrl of law is doomed already.