OCR Text |
Show 172 DESPOTisr-r upon which those courts administer the law of contracts. But all these appeals to general principles, however able and conclusive, have, when applied to tlw question of slavery, but little weight with the great body of the community. Did they relate to points in which that body had a direct, obvious, personal interest, the appeal, no doubt, would be irresistible. When Andros, governor of New England, undertook to dcpri ve people of their lands, under pretence of defective titles, "the men of Massachusetts did much quote Lord Coke ; " and finding that useless, they stripped Andros of his power. When Grenville attempted to levy taxes without their consent, they were ready at once to resort to fundamental principles, and, when those principles failed, to their muskets. 'l'hcn, the case touched themselves. When it only touches the unfortunate negroes of the southern states, or a few poor colored people of the north, it is quite a diflcrent matter. Appeal to principle is then denounced as wild and visionary. Always fearful of ellort and responsibility, the great mass of the community intrench themselves on this question behind statutes, deci~ions, usage, the opinions of lawyers, and the current notions of the day. 'l'o be sure, slavery 1~ wrong and unjust, and impolitic and wicked, but then it is-legal. Nor, indeed, is this conduct to be wondered at, 1 he very courts, those reverend depositories of the knowledge of the Jaw, those vicegerents upon earth of eternal equity and justice, having themselves set the example. In mere questions of private right, the courts resort, without hesitation, to those eternal principles of right reason, that is, of true morality, which they boast to be the foundation of law; and they set asidP, without hesitation, every private contract which has in it any trace or tincture of fraud or crime. But when it cornl'S to 1 he enforcement of so called politi· cal contracts, a sad change is observable. Individual lawyers, indeed even judges on the bench, of the IN Al\miUCA. 173 highest em~ncncc, have not hesitated to say, that an act of parJJamcnt contrary .to ~he law of God, that h;, eoutrary .to. the eternal pnnc!plcs of right, is voi<l. S~ch opuuons have been thrown out incidentally, wtth great appare~tt boldness and decision. But when has an act of legislation been set aside on that around? No co~ut jn England or America has ever y~t dared to do 1t. Courts have bowed submissively at the feet of the governments, their creators, ascribing to those creators an ~mnipotence over right and wrong greater than the plHiosophy of our day is willirw to allow even to God himself. 'l'hey hold, ind.;'cd to the maxim Fiat justitia, ruat cwlum, but in thi~ sense: "the will of the government must be done thoual1 heaven itself be trampled under foot." It 'must be admitted as the settled doctrine of courts of law, that the supreme legislative authority has the power to declare. to be law even that which is against right. But tl11s has been a forced concession· and as Galileo, when obliged by the Inquisition t~ confess that the earth stood still, mumbled yet between his teeth as he rose from his knees, "It moves though/'-8~ o?r courts of law, blushing and stammering at the dtsgraceful concession ~xtorted from them by fear and power, have done theJr best to limit and to nullify that concesswn. If the supreme legislature chooses to sa~ that manifest wrong shall be law, the courts submrt to enforce it as such. But then they will never presuppose that the supreme legislature intends to ~o any thing so absurd and cruel. If the lntenhon 1s plain, manifest, and clear, it must be e!1forced; b.ut the courts \Vill never resort to implica~ wn, ?r conJecture, or construction, to make out any such mtcntwn. 'This principle in the interpretation of legal enactments, perfectly well settled and established ~n all the courts of England and America, is thus latd down by Chief Justice Marshall, in the case ~i~ Umted States v. Fislter, 2 Cranch, 390. " Where t:ohts are 1nfnnged, where fundamental principles arc overthrown, where the general system of the Jaws hi 15. |