| Show w THE SUPREME COURT DECISION tho decision of iho supreme court of the United States in alio appealed casoff georgo reynolds was delivered on monday last by chief justice waite on behalf of tho full bench ul the text of the learned gentle lien s ruling on tho chief points did ilot reach us until r giuy morning it in morn I ings lie majority of our reader t have doubtless cro this inspected t lit document carefully mid formed opinions for themselves we worn not elow in arriving at conclusions clu to iti merit and demerits though tho keenom of iff reception rendered it to express them at length earlier what we have to say in relation to the decision is simply our private idea suggested to us by certain views of law equity and ethics which wo entertain by reason of study experience and commingling com mingling with mankind were we elsewhere and our circum tance and surroundings different wo could not look upon the subject in fany kotlier light and the views subjoined sub joined arc therefore unbiased unforced and unprejudiced i to our mindy tho document is strongest as an on social polity weakest w a judicial decree and occupies mediocre ground as a legal dissertation it violently assumes premises upon which to predicate unwarrantable conclusions and merely follows the premises actually existing to drop them when mentioned and pick up conclusion which alie logic of the words does not point to V great deal is known to cultivated humanity as horse manifests throughout the text that is such opinions aa men of alio world would naturally arrive at in relation to subjects remote from their fieldi of culture and experience ex ht and are interwoven the judicial fabric in a manner libich as if not skillful must at least under alio circumstance bo considered plausible the first untenable as wo regard it assumption on alie part of the chief justice is tho statement that the inquiry is as to the guilt of one alio knowingly violates a law ams been properly enacted the great pillar upon which alie in error depended for the success of his appeal was that alio law was not properly enacted eliat being an abridgment of a privilege which ho regarded as inalienable through lie principles of the constitution alie law was therefore in conflict with tho constitution and consequently inoperative and while the presumption of liw ii always in favor of alie correctness of the findings of a trial court it is not so to the extent that would bo the caso did not the appeal go to alie validity of the law under whose pro visions lie was tried and convicted under circumstances hie law becomes bec omec and the man pending a de ailon ceases to be tho of lending agency alie law biad the abstract right of trying mr reynolds and the logic of the circumstances temporarily annuls that right when the power which created alie law permits mr reynolds to place it upon trial it is a virtual admission and a logical deduction that tho permission grait cd the defendant of testing tho law in the court of last resort is to make it for the purposes of alio trial at wt a negation A man cannot well toolate a law which atts been properly enacted when he knows that ho has the privilege of questioning and contesting the law itself in alio courts anoro particularly when such contest w not ft captious ono but is founded upon a conscientious and unquestioning belief that the act was improperly made and that his convictions wore that lie was not doing wrong but right the next point at issue is alio citation from tho constitution congress make no law for alic orica abridging alio freedom of religious exercise this point alie loar noil judges concelo because par leapt they cannot do otherwise but aliey proceed then after a fashion peculiarly that of those who find themselves confronted by nn ment which is squarely opposed to the views they propose to et forth that is they attempt to explain it away and meet hard facts w alth special pointed provisions with shuffling evasions aind with quibbling jhc thc y state that no such law shall be and then proceed to make this particular one an atlon the dinenna by this piece of judicial legerdemain J to aft aro fai sti na alio oxbry unequivocal prolix cited coven tho law of and second tho fact that the word religion is not defined in tho con we suppose U K not d fined for tha ralf annio that many other bordi auch ns treason citizen man bouw houw ac ac are not defined fran iera of atiat mant and it took sefor granted that such acro antly by tho average to ronder special but as if to add something in lie of absurdity to thin feature of the decision aliey te ming gravity that wo for tt if wo do not already know what word in everyday no mean it would certainly bo tho laight of folly to look in tho constitution ofelio country for enlightenment and equally absurd to adopt the proposition chioli alio eteve and reverend to that astute conclusion that nowhere can we more look than to ho of ho uuie su alio of which ahe provision provi tion wa now of alio Sup roina judged do not intend to convey flie idea that tho literal rendition of the word ii to be found in tho at tho M mentioned exclusively they are not ignorant ni enand would perpetrate any buch monstrosity but tins being the cafe only brings us face to another and uglier interpretation of their words it arf t n to take 1862 matulate mai af the constitution to new defoi lion of the word upon which the whole hingess one or the other of these conclusions A cem us it be taft knowledge eliat the gentlemen constituting sti the chief legal t inal af alio nation anro not only learned but in the us to adopt alio alternative hat yielding to a popular arf hure which had lor its object tho stumping out of a system not in accord with certain prejudices of civilization the supreme court determined to uphold an enactment having that object in view even though to do so involved a departure from alio by which such are supposed to arrive at conclusions A judicial decision ought to bo a crystallization of all thelia and facts presented in tho case to bo decided not lucli as can bo dragged in from every source it should not contain of fact distortions of law or illogical deductions the arguments and papers presented con bo carefully sifted hie merits of each side judiciously weighed and judgment rendered in accordance with alio preponderance of merit can any one after intelligently roat ling the decision in the reynolda Key nolda case say the conclusions arrived at by the court were alio result of such process does it not rather look like artemus warda lecture on the babes in the wood in which ho occasionally referred to his subject in order thattie people might know what it was no alio word religion is not defined in the constitution and as a matter of commonplace equity we decline to receive any interpretation terp of it imported from such time and place as the timeserving jurist may select aa the beat suited for alio accomplish genf of a certain object we prefer the common sense in other words alia universal meaning as expounded by noah webster can any reasonable person suppose tha a congregation of intelligent men chosen for alio purpose of framing a constitution fora nation or even an amendment to such constitution in framing the same section by section would have any other idea in their minds than that conveyed to the reader as alio unquestionable import of so many words or if a latent or ambiguous meaning were to be adopted an utter improbability and contrary to all reason would they not specify what words or sentences were so used in order that those who wore to be controlled by their work might know upon what to depend undoubtedly and though tho framers of the first amendment to the constitution left ua to infer as an inevitable consequence that thoy meant what they said no moro and no leas the supreme court claim to have a pretext pre for going back to tho time of the adoption of the amendment and resorting to ex iraneous trane ous utterances and strangely construed sentences in order that it may bo shown eliat religion is not religion and that the constitutional tut ional prohibition against interference therewith has no application when a feature of religion not in full accord with tho highly moral sentiment of this highly moral nation B the object aNai leill in other bordi an unconstitutional law becomes constitutional when popular clamor so dc manda A very dignified position this court of list resort to bo forced into the learned judges then quote alie language of thomas jon arson which as nearly a direct blow at their conclusions in this case as wo can well conceive of it i to suffer tho civil magistrate to intrude his power into taft hold of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principle on the supposition of their ill tendency M a dangerous danger oua fallacy winch at once destroys all religious belief and as tho direct conse of pointer provisions they subjoin from the same author it ix time enough for alio rightful purposes of tho civil government offices to interfere when principles break out into overt nets against poalo and good order now wo as the sn premo court arc considered to have done adopt both these extracts ta as sound political gospel alio first um qualifiedly condemns tho position derived alby ahoise who quote it and ee out a clear case of in order to avoid which ia made partly to iho citation fand partly to more sophistry the former to bland ami or ittoli it tolf aa the judged do we proceed to the sentence ia oft arod sm explanatory or we codo that atia timo for the officers of the civil government to when principles manifest m overt nets and good order but by ing do tho ma o a religious pra wit h neither icaco nor good order and asat lie diott but a question tion of morals fand polity nn cucu te for anoli 04 they tacitly admit leavo to ahw profitably again go to til moaning of tenni provided they go forthie purpose of obtaining information and not for tho fako of fishing out support for unwarrantable conclusion cl for is slight diftler lucli broils and tU iw alie or wel faro of society ard alto of a religion duty which it but con an oh etim ciul piul ill nc ctr if any exist aro remote from but in the former anao we deal with an immediato danger menace life uw prop arty ami thui lW underlying good society ond the foundations of the whole national superstructure that it is then time tor glicr officers to interfere ana out uch proceedings is undisputed and indisputable but this does not convey tho right of going angad to extirpate everything not in consonance with their peau liar ideas and those of neigh barf by any mean ali revero rev cro chov are to ow i of odthe the public good order mayre main they buo tuned from alo commission of acts ill derogation of ano rights or anul omo more cause alian the peaceful hrab tice of religious tenet which jn theory att least in with the of no one and m practice is unattended by menaces against the and good order of alie community the state or the nation so that if the evils which the second citation sought to provide against do not m the case of mr key and they do not because the terms are not applicable una prop falla and the court are forced back upon the first sentence quoted a a justification of their conclusions which ia so and positively against them that if maintaining their position before the world wax the object they certainly most unfortunate selection the precise point as stated by alie judges is what is alie religious freedom guaranteed by tho constitution they flounder around through a mass of verbiage to shiow that it moans the freedom to worship god according to the dictates of conscience unless congress sec fit to restrain such that the moaning of constitution provisions but the enactments of congress are how very like alie discipline adopted by the governess toward alio placed under her control you have everything you want but you want anything you cant have and how delightfully confusing to the intellect and dis arranging the and practice of law in the nineteenth century such tergiversation A privilege ia granted and then withheld becaro beca a difference of opinion in relation to alie meaning of a term exists A right which a largo portion of our citizens supposed themselves in possession of beyond all cavil is thrown aside because everybody cannot see things as they do and there Is a divergence of sentiment in relation to the power of a denomination bof christianity to adopt the teachings of tho biblo and alie practice of those precepts are supposed in every christian community to contain the very essence of religion lack of space compels us at aliis point to forego discussion of this subject hereafter we will devote some remarks to alie general and special meaning and scope of he word religion and to a review of the points of court which wo have been unable to reichi today to day |
