Nathan Clifford

“ Certain acts, such as those described by the State appellate court, it is admitted are valid, but the late Chief Justice, as the organ of the court, proceded to say that acts in furtherance or support of rebellion against the United States, or intended to defeat the just rights of the citizens, and other acts of like nature, must be regarded as invalid and void. ”

“ Members of the legislature may perpetrate treasonable acts after the legislature is organized as well as before they take their seats, nor is the question affected in the least by the fact that the legislature was duly organized before the State seceded, as the public history of the period shows that the whole government and people of the State joined in the rebellion before the act in question was passed through the forms of legislation. ”

“ Surely such remarks do not serve to support the proposition of the appellant; and he is equally unfortunate in his reference to the case of Horn v. Lockhart, [7] in which the opinion was given by Mr. Justice Field. 'Order,' say the court in that case, 'was to be preserved, police regulations maintained, crime prosecuted, property protected, contracts enforced, marriages celebrated, estates settled, and the transfer and descent of property regulated precisely as in times of peace. ”