The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-30

came a cry or alarm rom h0r, the admitted into the Union. The able men Confederate States were quite fsmilIaT with the doctrine of she great case of Osborne vs. Bank, 9 Wheaton, 72S and Abelman vs. Booth. q Howard, 5Os. of the Confederate States where 1t deals with suits against the State or else- where, that indicates any purpose principles of these great decisions. e Certainly. the Constitution of the Con- federate States may be said to embody the principles on that side of the strug- was not a struggle. but rather an ef- fort by g part. of the people of the United States, for reasons deemed sat separate government for certain of the States which adopted as their funda- mental law the fundamental law made by our fathers as construed by the Su eracy was formed. There were some slight changes as to taxation and the ike. but none on the point here inc volved; This was the Kind of govern States then struggled. Yet some for getful of the history of the country, and the devotion of the people of this principles of the Union. in the forna- ton of which their forefathers had such an important part, now seek to revive the embers of . buried strife. which the heroism and sacriaves of those days bring to those who took pert n It and te. their children,~ Co rights demands the insistence that there Is something wrong or abnormal, when an unconstitutional act of the so,son state is .aIn.r orrsssed by court of opr responsibility of so declaring falls upon the Federal. instead of the State Court. Those who teach this doctrine shut their eyes to the fact that one of the many causes which culminated in the civil strife was the resistance in some quarters of the Union to the rights which the constitution gvaran- teed and whose enforcement by the Federal Court, some then. as now. char acterized as an unwarranted meddling the sovereignty of the State. The just balance between the powers of State and Federal governments as to the ex- sSStiSn ecu ader. of the or lays Sf the Union Sy as firmly as Judicial decision could settle anything long before the un- happy. days of the Civil War, by Story lustrious successor, Chief Justice Ia ney. who was a firm believer in the rights of the States. may be appropri-
 
 "Nor is there anything jh this su- premacy of the General Government or the Jurisdiction of It's judicial tribun- als. to awaken the jealousy or offend sovereignty Neither this Government nor the power of which we are speak ing. were forced upon the States. The Constitution of the United States, with General Government, and surrendered by the States, was the voluntary act of the people of the several States. de- liberately done. for their own protec- ton and safety against injustice from one another.
 "And their anxiety to preserve 1t in full force. in all its powers, and to guard against resistance to or evasion of. it's authority on the part of State is proved by the clause which requires that the members of the State Legis- latures. and all executive and Judicial officers of the several States Gas well aR those of the General Government), shall be bound by oath or affrnAation to support this Constitution. This is tho last and closing clause of the Con- stitution. and inserted when the whole frame of Government. with the powers hereinbafors specified. had been adopted by the Convention. and it was in that Constitution was submitted to the peo- pie of the several States for their con alteration and decision.
 "'Now 1t certainly can be no hu- initiation to the citizen of a republic to yield ready obedience to the laws as administered by the constituted author tiles. On the contrary, it Is among his first and highest duties as citizen, be- cause free government can not exist without 1t.
 "'Nor can it be inconsistent with the dignity of a sovereign State to ob- serve faithfully, and in the spirit of sincerity and truth, the compact into which 1t voluntarily entered when 1t became a State of this Union. On the contrary the highest honor of sover- eighty is untarnished faith And cer- tainly no faith could be more deliber- which every State has pledged to the other States to support the Constitu- ton as 1t is. in all its provisions un- which the Constitution itself prescribes In the emphatic language of the pledge required, 1t Is to support this Constitution Ableman V. Booth, 2l Howard 5o6. 524.
 In accordance with the understanding with counsel. the court will not make any order or decree as to the motions and pleadings which were proposed to be filed at the time Of the arg gument: They will be treated as filed as of that date, and upon some day upon which counsel may agree among themselves, the issues they desire to make may be seems best and formal judgment will then be rendered thereon in accordance with this opinion. Since this opinion was written, and while 1t was In the hands of the printer. the Supreme Court of the United States in the Mlnnesota case has decided several of the ques- tions involved in these cases. As yet. the court has been unable to obtain 6 copy of the opinion. but has authentic information that the principles therein declared will not require any modihcaT tion of this opinion, on the points ds. cided by the Supreme Court in that case