Year: 1876




lashing which Senator Bayard has ad-
ministered to his official opinion up
holding the use of bayonets in the
approaching Southern elections, has
defended himself ty a communication


published in the New York Herald:


This defense brings the inquiry re-
specting the correctness of his notorj.
Gus opinion as Attorney General, and


the legality of the equally notorious
orders of the War Office approved by
the President, within very small pro,
portions. The single point of dispute
between Senator Bayard and the At>
| torney General is over the recent opin-


ion of the Supreme Court at Washing
ton, to which both appeal. The At


torney General comedies that the very
Legislation of Congress on which he


rests the Presidents monstrous order


was before the Court, and was includ.


ed in Judgment, but he pleads that


the facts in dispute in that case only


called fort decision of the constitu>


tionality of that legislation in its ap.


plication to an election for State off


GERS. He contends that whatever fell


from the Court, on which Senator
Bayard relies, respecting an election


of Federal officers was outside the


record and obiter dictd, as lawyers say.


But even if the case only of necessity


raised inquiry as to State, in contra


distinction to a Federal election, yet


if the Court in its opinion uttered gen


eral views, or propositions of law.


which covered an election of Federal


officers, those views or propositions,
even if 0biter dacta. are as controlling


and as binding on the Executive, in


moral sense, as if such an election


case was most thoroughly argued, and


the opinion rendered gives evidence


of the profoundest deliberation. The


Court appreciated fully the great


excitement the opinion would create.


and that it would be looked upon, as
it was, as cutting up by the roots ali
the Republican legislative continuance
for taking Southern elections. State
and national, into their hands through
, the army, and out of the hands of the
States. Whatever intimations the


Court made respecting national elec-
; tions are as binding in good morals on


the conscience OF the Executive as if


the question were actually decided


The Court said, in so many words


that the entire legislation on which
Taft relies, the very sections of the
Revised Statutes which he quotes.


were in violation of the Constitution,
because, although some part, if stand
ing alone, might be permissible, yet
the good was so intermingled with the
l bad that all must fall. The Court laid
= down as its premises of State rights
the very doctrines for which Senator
| Row IN n Qtfpnt n
e voting power is conferred by the


States. its machinery is in their hands
4 and the new amendments give to the


Federal Government no new power
, over the subject unless State, By Sts


lao, discriminates against negroes.
This no State has done.


The fact is evident enough that Judge


Taft had not sufficiently studied the
opinion of the Supreme Court till after
Mr.. Bayard's criticism of the Presi-


dents order. He clearly exhibits this
in his communication to the Herald,
and criticism on his order which we


publish to-day by leading New York
+ lawyer shows it as clearly. We make
r no doubt that to-day Judge Taft really
, believes that the Supreme Court will


say, if the question ever comes before
: it, that the Presidents order is utterly


illegal; that it confers not particle of


authority on those 10 whom it is ad-


dressed; that the by ISLANDERS will be
: protected by the courts if they disregard
: the order of the marshal or the soldiery,
and that if either of the latter injure
' or commit trespass or assault on any
-, one by virtue of the Presidents order,
/ they will be liable to condign punish
ment.


t Attorney General Taft is plainly
: enough badly frightened. He is ood
l enough man. although very slow and
1 not familiar with Federal laws. He
/ now sees that the law of Congress
: cannot, since the opinion of the Court,
l be presumed by him to be supported
} by the Constitution as other laws can,
2 till the Court pronounces otherwise.
c We shall be surprised if the lawyers in
e Ohio do not make it hot for the At.
a terney General if he ventures to 60 on
S the stump in tina! State within the next


two weeks. Not even the teapot of


his predecessor in office could save him


from the modification and dishonor
= his blunder.


y This question of military interfcr-
d ence in the South is not merely the
d tremendous issue of civil and consti-
II tutional liberty, but it is aquestion of
II material interests in the North. The
e legal question have an enormous bear
|, ing ON our pecuniary prosperity in the
n North, for they concern good order,
e peace and civilization in the South.
h The Southern States must be left to
d govern themselves under the Constitu'
: tion, free from carpet-bag or any out
e side dictatiOn They must learn to
e settle their disputes as other States do,
by themselves and for themselves.
+ The ignorant, vicious and good-for>
e nothing must be dealt with in Georgia
as in Nevada, or in any other COM
e munity. The rich and the poor, the


worker and the idler, the gentle and


the rough, the virtuous and the vi
9 cious. mnst be made to get along
N together in the South during and at
" elections, without the army, as the
+. CO m n q n = q 0opi1inp claimants do in fh O