Year: 1867

+ "A spectator in the hall died during the
ceremony. ot Yt9r@n .,147
The Importance of a Single Life,
| Probably very few persons are aware of
the incalculable Importance of a single 1ife
in the present situation of public affairs.
Yetiupon the lehances of one Life will de-
pend so; far as, can now be f0reseen,


whether the series of measures which have


been forced upon the country shall receive
the sanction of authority or, the condem-


nation of law, Knowing the controlling
importancef of the Supreme Court Of the
United States in the conflict between


themselves and the President, Congress at
its last session passed q law for the reduce
tion OF the number OF judges from nine to
seven, forbidding any new appointments,
in case vacancies occur, until, by the hap


pening of vacancies, the limit of. seven
judges is reached, 1t is well known that


the Supreme Court now consists of nine
judges, five of whom entertain opinions, as
expressed in late decisions, utterly at war
with the scheme of military administration


which the Sherman military reconstruction


bill provides for, and four of them have


declared their belief in the power of Con-


gress to erect military tribunals in the


Southern States under the war power. OF


the five judges who adhere TO the ancient,


clear and well-settled principles of right
and constitutional liberty, two or three are
aged and feeble, with the chances of life
very much against them. while the minor
ity is composed of young, robust men, the
new appointees, with one exceptions. The
death of any one of the majority would


make a tie in the Supreme Court upon the


essential principle of the Sherman bill, and
of course would prevent the court from
lpronouneing the bill : unconstitutional.
The veto of the President being overridden
by q two-thirds vote of Congress, and the
Supreme Court thus divided, there remains
no constitutional instrumentality by which
to escape from the tyranny of its operation.
Let single one of the five judges die and
the consequence is that every citizen of the
Southern States. in life, liberty and proper
| ty, is at the unchecked mercy of military
tribunals. How frail. then, is the barrier
between rightIand unlicensed power. Any
day, any hour may remove this last I'M
| pediment, and then all further power OF
peaceful resistance to the encroachments of
partisan organization will be at an. end.
When we consider further that under no
circumstances can the directquestion upon
the act itself be raised and decided in this
tribunal before next winter, the chances OF
failing, in one Or more of those lives, are
fearfully increased. Witha sagacity wor.
thy of a better cause, the managers of Con-
gress saw and calculated these contingent
cies, and provided for the advantages
which may flow to them from their hap
pening. They knew that while the ap.
pointing power was with the President, ne
would place in that court men whose opin-
ions were in harmony with the teachings oi
the fathers OF constitutional liberty-no1
Ecould they remove from office men whose
knownltidelity to right was an obstacle tC
their political devices. But the cunning
device of reducing the number Of judges


as death from time to time may create
vacancy, has nothing in,its outward form
to violate the law or to shock the public
sentiment; yet its probable practical effect
will be utterly revolutionary and, disas.
trous. Such, then, is the value Of one
single life, and that of feeble old man


Upon its continuance will depend the al
ternatives OF preserving the rights of man.
over ten millions of people.-BaItimore
Sun. ~.iaa tra. .t -EE. = -.-.r--.-af .f