Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-08-08
lancaster fntellge,lrcr.
EVENING, AUGUST 8, 1881.


MONDAY EVENING. AUGUST 8. 1881.
Judge Blacks Vindfcation.
The contributions to the early history
of the war made by an interview with
Judge Black in the Philadelphia Press,
are of undoubtedly great value in she'd
ding light upon little understood and
much misrepresented period Of our ma
tional history. 1t cannot be complained
that the disclosures made unduly
vindicate Judge Black, since mani
festly no one but himself could give
the facts and documentary evidence
which he produces and which he has pa
t,ently kept back, although knowing that
he could at any time by their publication
stem a torrent of abuse to which he has
been subjected by those whose interest
lay in misrepresenting him. His letter to
General Scott and his memorandum to
the president as his legal adviser, both of
which are included in this interview,
and which we will reprint at our earliest
convenience, show cOnclusively that who
ever lost his head or whoever quailed
with fear of consequences at that
critical time, it was not Judge
Black. That he was the patriotic
cabinet officer, the clear headed lawyer
and loyal citizen there can he no doubt.
There really never was on the part of
those who knew him or even Of those who
examined into the facts of that period
and did not yield their judgment and
fairness to prejudice and partisan mis-
representation. The position assigned to
Judge Black, as the constitutional ad-
wiser Of the president 1T that time, has
been that he couhselled against
the power of thc general gov
ernment to cOeico Il state from
rebellion, and that III substance he
proclaimed the right Of secession. Had
he even done this lie would have done
no more than concede what the aboli-
tionists had taught for over half a cen.
tury, from the Hartford convention
down, and had lie even encouraged the
overt acts of rebellion, he would only
have been in accord with that sentiment
nursed for years before, by those who
have since been canOniZed by the Repub-
licans, that our only legal bond of union
was "league with death and covenant
with hell - but the fact is, as is now
disclosed in clear light, that Judge Black
steadfastly held then tOthis sound Demo
cratic faith:
"The Union is necessarily perpetual.
No state can lawfully withdraw or be ex-
pelled from it. The federal constitution is
as much part of the constitution Of every
state as if it had been textually inserted
therein. The federal government is SOW
ereicm within its own sphere, and acts di-
rectly upon tho individual citizens of every
state. Within these limits its coercive
power is ample to defend itself, its laws,
and its property. 1t can suppress insur-
rectiOn, fight battles, conquer armies, dis
perse hostile combinations, and punish any
or all Of its enemies. 1t can meet, repel
and subdue all those who rise against It.
But it cannot Obliterate single common
wealth from the map of the Union to de-
clare indiscriminatc war against all the in.
habitants OF a section, confOunding the in
nocent with the guilty.
This declaration, made at a time when
one element of the Republican party was
ready for forcible separation of the
states and another was trying to recon.
cile the country to a peaceful dissolution
of the Union, contains i concession OF
all the federal powers that existed under
the constitution and ;,ll that were neces.
sary to wage war for its preservation,
withal having that regard for the rights
Of the states, which is just as necessary
to i proper view of the Union as the
other. Taken with his letter to Gen.
Scott, which was SO ungraciOusly re-
ceived by the man who eight years be-
fore had been the Wing candidate for
president, and his memorandum on the
answer to the South Carolina commits
sioners-wh,ch We will find occasion to
review hereafter-Judge Black : position
at that time is set forth unmistakably ,and
shines conspicuous for sagacity and ag-
gressive patriotism by the side of those
of whom Greeley spoke as the g very
many Republicans those by no
means without consideration or iIflu-
ence-who would have cheerfully con-
sentel to Il peaceful withdrawal from
the Union of the cotton states, with such
others rs might have chosen to accom-
pany them, had these accorded time for
decently effecting and asserting to such
a separation"