eme judicial tribunal of
the land, to whose members a secure tenure of office had been given,
that they might be above all temptation of serving the time. The
politicians of the North were becoming alarmed by the issues which were
forced upon them by those of the South with whom they still wished to be
friends; they longed to shift the responsibility of the decision upon
the Supreme Court. The Court was slow to be swerved. The case of Dred
Scott was before them; and the decision of the Court was embodied in an
opinion which would have produced no excitement. But the Court was
entreated to give their decision another form. They long resisted, and
were long divided; but perseverance overcame them; and at last a most
reluctant majority, a bare majority, was won to enter the arena of
politics, and attempt the suppression of differences of opinion: for,
said one of the judges, "the peace and harmony of the country require
the settlement of Constitutional principles of the highest
importance,"--not knowing that injustice overturns peace and harmony,
and that a depraved judiciary portends civil war.

The man who took the Presidential chair in 1857 had no traditional party
against him; he owed his nomination to confidence in his moderation and
supposed love of Union. He might have united the whole North and secured
a good part of the South. Constitutionally timid, on taking the oath of
office, he betrayed his own weakness, and foreshadowed the forthcoming
decision of the Supreme Court. Under the wing of the Executive,
Chief-Justice Taney gave his famed disquisition. The delivery of that
opinion was an act of revolution. The truth of history was scorned; the
voice of passion was put forward as the rule of law; doctrines were laid
down which, if they are just, give a full sanction to the rebellion
which ensued. The country was stung to the quick by the reckless conduct
of a body which it needed to trust, and which now was leading the way to
the overthrow of the Constitution and the dismemberment of the Republic.
At the same time, the President, in selecting the members of his
cabinet, chose four of the seven from among those who were prepared to
sacrifice the country to the interests of Slavery. In time of peace the
finances were wilfully ill-administered, and in the midst of wealth and
credit the country was saved from bankruptcy only by the patriotism of
the city of New York, against the treacherous intention of the Secretary
o