The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-09-18
CHEF JUSTICE TANEY AND THE
DRED SCOTT DECISION.
BY r Il. Howison. Ill D.

Pook. Esq an eminent lawyer Of Obi
cago, who. at recent meeting Of the
American Bar Association. delivered an
address on The March Of the Oonsii-
tuition. " in which be spoke with high
favor Of the sincerity Of purpose and
steadfast devotion TO his sense Of duty
which always characterized this great
Judge
Mr. Peck is a Republican. and, there
fore, could hardly be expected to concur
in the opinions and conclusions cf Ohief
Justice Taney In the far famed "Dred
SCOTT case, decided by the United
States Supreme COURT in the December
term Of 1896 Mr. Peck says " la all
fmnknfs', let me say 10 mysolt-and I
believe for my profession-I wish there
had been no Dred SJott case Ii attract
ed so much attention, it touched the
minds and souls Of men 80 deeply that
Taney's name is inseparably connected
with It and yet, who of US Is prepared
20 maintain that, apart from the ad
mitted obiter Ia the opinions, the de-
cisi1n was wrong, as the law then
stood Let US be Just Judge Taney
was sustained by the entire court save
two-McLean and Curtis 1t matters
little now who was right. and who was
wrong. for the issue went to higher
court and was settled forever. "
The soundness Of such a declaration
must at once be challenged. It never
can matter little who was right end
who was wrong. IL is now admitted
by oil people. exercising common sense
that the Dred Scott decision was
entirely impotent and worthless for any
good 20 the cause Of the South or 20 her
people It brought no peace stopped
mo agitation stilled no fanaticlsm ;
gained no votes entranced no influence
favorable to the South. II was justly
regarded not as a high and commanding
decision Of lofty and enlightened judi
oial minds, and made In the spirit Of
peace and Of union. It's immediate and
continuous effect was entirely partisan
and union breaking 1t was one Of the
most potent Of all the oauses then ire
sistibly working TO cause the secession
Of tie cotton States, and uniting its
power for evil 60 the John Brown raid,
made by assassins. murderers and rob.
bers from she Northern and North west
ern States it brought on the secession
Of Virginia and most Of her sister boz
der States. and preoipitated the country
into q bloody war Of four years, which
caused losses in life, in health. in slaves
and other property. and in impairment
of vested rights. from which our South.
land has not fully recovered even to
this day Had the "Dred Scott " de-
cision never been made, or had IL been
different in its spirit and in Its recog-
milton of the ever-expending benefits Of
the Common Law Of England. which
was the foundation heritage Of every
State except Louisiana, ii is probable
that the four years Of serious reflection
on the decision thus given to the people
Of the South would have led TO gradual
emancipation instead Of to secession,
blood war, enormous losses of lives and
Of property. aud 20 negro suffrage and
desolation.
The "Dred Scott case is reported
in full In 224 printed pages of Howard's
Supreme Court Reports, xix PIP S93-6SS.
There it is. and any competent person
can sread it and inwsrdly digest 1t.
The decision is wrong, wrong upon the
facts proved and upon she law as it
then stood, " and as 1t applied to those
facts. This can be shown in few
words of exposition free from uuneces-
sary legal technical terms. To suppose
that the proper view as to the laws APP
plicable to negro slavery had made no
progress and had gained no ascendency
between the time when Sir John Hawk
ins, without the slightest provocation,
attacked and burned an African town
Of s 900 negroes, killed, wounded, or
drove Unto the wilderness the larger
number Of those poor. black savages,
and carried off $50 Of them as slaves
and between the time when the Queen
Elizabeth knighted Sir John Hawkins
and gave him coat Of arms, having
for it's device q blaokman bound in
chains and kneelinR TO him; or even
between the time when, in August.
1920. q Dutch slave ship sailed up the
James river, and "sold us twenty ne
gEoes;" between those times and the
time Of brilliant moral, legal and intel
lectual light. In which the" Dred Scott
decision was made, is to venture a sup
position, wild. baseless and necessarily
false
And yet the seven Supreme court
judges -Tsney, Wayne. Oatron, Daniel.
Nelson, Grier and Oamrbell-ooncurred
In an opinion which adopted as the
facts and the law applicable to Dred
SCOTT the very worst and most brutal Of
all the views applicable to negro slavery
that had ever been held in the world.
The actual words Of several Of these
justices Ars given. from the printed re-
port, in the Students History Of tie
United States, PIP 75S.750. and fully
bear out the above assertions.
Moreover. these justices ignored en-
tirely the decisions Of the highest and
n gu horitative ,olrts as to the fac
substantially identical with those Ok.
listing in the case Of "Dred Scott. " AS
early as the opening Of the eighteenth
century Lord Holt. Chief Justice Of
England. had decided that II negro