be accounted for and cannot be excused. They
stood stubbornly, solidly, without reason, without justification,
against a great enlargement of popular rights. It is a matter of
wonder that a political organization which claims Jefferson for its
founder and Jackson for its exemplar, should have surrendered to its
rival the sole glory of an achievement which may well be compared with
that increase of liberty attained by our ancestors, when the dependence
of Colonies was exchanged for the independence of States.

Two eminent judges of the Supreme Court who died after the close of the
war are entitled to the admiration and gratitude of the loyal citizens
of the United States. When Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated there were
three judges on the Supreme Bench from the States which afterwards
formed the Confederacy,--James M. Wayne of Georgia, John Catron of
Tennessee, and John A. Campbell of Alabama. The last-named was placed
upon the bench in 1853, and was undoubtedly the choice of Jefferson
Davis, who as the leading Southern member of President Pierce's Cabinet
exerted large influence, if not absolute control, over appointments
from the slave-holding States. The personal and political associations
of Judge Campbell led him to resign his position on the Supreme Bench,
and to give the weight of his name and his learning to the Confederate
cause.

Judge Wayne was appointed by President Jackson in 1835, and Judge
Catron by President Van Buren immediately after his inauguration in
1837, under a bill enlarging the Court, which had been approved by
General Jackson. Judge Catron had long been a favorite of General
Jackson in Tennessee, and it was understood that in appointing him
to the Bench Mr. Van Buren was carrying out the expressed wishes of his
predecessor. Both judges came from that earlier and better school of
Southern Democracy which resisted the injurious heresies of State-rights
and Nullification, sustained the Force Bill under President Jackson,
and stood loyally by the Union of the States. They were allied
to the South by birth, by education, and by the associations of
a lifetime. Their friends, their kindred, even members of their own
families, joined in the Rebellion. But these patriotic men, one of
whom was born during the Revolutionary war and the other during the
first term of Washington's Presidency, maintained their judicial
positions and were unshaken in their loyalty to the Union. Their
example was fol