The Irish standard., 1902-01-11
The Great Jurist in Rendering His Opinion
Did Not Use the Language
Attributed to Him.
The Anh-Slavery Men in Their Zeal Were
Guilty of Gross Injustice
in Distorting 1t.

ry's nomination in December, 1884. In
January, 1885, he was appointed a
Justice of the supreme court, with the
approval of Chief Justice Marshall,
rom whom he differed so widely in
politics; but again his nomination was
rejected. In December, 1885, after the
lcath of Marshall, Tancy was ap.
pointed chief justice of the supreme
court, and, as the party complexion
of the Senate had changed, he was
confirmed though his commission was
opposed by Clay. Tancy's commission
was issued to him on March Is, 1886.
He was frail in strength, but had
great talents, great learning and in
domitable will. AS II practical lawyer
he was superior to Marshall, though
not equal to Marshall in genius. The
four most famous eases with which
his name will ever be associated were
the following:
1.-The Charles River Bridge case
Gl Peters 420, 1880 in which he linn
tied the effect or modified the doc
trine OF the Dartmouth College case,
and thus, it has been said, "freed the
states from the grasp of monopolists
and left them uncripplcd in the ex.
ercisc Of most important rights Of
sovereignty" by preventing the legis-
latures from giving away forever the
franchises and rights Of the people.
2-The cases of Wharing VS.. Clarke
Is Howard AL, 1s4O and the Gene
see Chief az Howard 443, 1851 in
which lie held that the admiralty and
maritime Jurisdiction of the federal
courts extended to all our navigable
rivers and the great lakes.
3-The case of Luther vs. Borden
q Howard 1, 1849) in which it was
held that the supreme court could not
decide which Of the two state govern
ments in Rhode Island was the lawful
one; that that was political ques.
ton, not judicial question, and that
the supreme court should follow the
President Of the United States and the
courts Of Rhode Island that had de.
cided in favor Of the government or.
ganized pursuant to the charter
granted by Charles ii. The case of
Luther VS.. Borden was followed by
the supreme court in the late contest
between Beckham and Taylor for the
governorship of Kentucky.
1.-The unfortunate Dred Scott de-
cision 40 Howard G91, 1866, in which
it was held by the supreme court Q)
that Drcd Scott who was the slave Of
n Missouri owner and who was tenn.
porarily taken to Illinois and then
brought back to Missouri, was not a
citizen Of the United States, and,
therefore, could not sue in the circuit
court of the United States, and (2)
that the Missouri compromise act Of
March G, 1920, by which slavery was
abolished forever in the territory
north of the parallel 80 degrees 30
minutes, was unconstitutional and
void.
The Dred Scott case, no doubt,
brought on little sooner the newt.
able conflict over slavery; but I can.
not here discuss that famous decision.
l only wish to point out how partisans
(some blinded by honest zeal and some
by furious passioD have done Chief
Justice Taney gross injustice by dis.
torting his opinion and maliciously
misrepresenting his words. In that
opinion the chief justice adopted q
familiar legal method Of arriving at
the meaning of part of the constitu-
tfon by stating what the opinions of
the people at the time of it's adoption
were on the subjects treated by the
constitution, and, in order to show
that the trainers of the constitution
and the people who adopted the consti-
tuition did not intend to have free ne
groes treated as citizens of the United
States he used the following lam
guage:
"They the negroes) had for more
than century before been regarded
as beings of an inferior order, and al