The court recognized that the Government of the United States
exercised full jurisdiction, within the sphere of its powers, over
the whole territory of the country, and that when any conflict arose
between the State and the General Government in the administration
of their respective powers, the authority of the United States must
prevail, for the Constitution declares that it and the laws of the
United States in pursuance thereof "shall be the supreme law of the
land, and that the judges in every State shall be bound thereby,
anything in the Constitution and laws of any State to the contrary
notwithstanding." The court quoted the language of the Supreme Court
in Tennessee v. Davis (100 U.S. 257, 263), that "It [the General
Government] can act only through its officers and agents, and they
must act within the States. If, when thus acting and within the scope
of their authority, those officers can be arrested and brought to
trial in a State court, for an alleged offense against the law of the
State, yet warranted by the Federal authority they possess, and if
the General Government is powerless to interfere at once for their
protection--if their protection must be left to the action of the
State court--the operations of the General Government may, at any
time, be arrested at the will of one of its members. The legislation
of a State may be unfriendly.
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