If their course was unwise it is not altogether unintelligible.

But the action of the Northern Democrats cannot 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.