The Mirrour — Concord, N.H., 1794-02-10 00:00:00, page 1

[Vol. 11. — Num. 68/
FOR THE MIRROUR.
MR. RUSSELL,
IT gives me pain to find so great a propor
tion of the time of our General Court em
ployed in hearing peti ions to be restored to law
—This kind of business is pretty much pecul
iar, (believe, to the legislature of Newhamp
fhire@ It does appear to me that the Fathers
of the State, had better attend principally to
those objeds which interest the citizens in
general, and assign the consideration of these
' pe itions to the judicial departments. My
opinion iriaytTe erroneous^—-It is founded,
however, on the following reasons:
In the firft place, the consideration of these
petitions, by the legislature, is very expensive
to the state. Suppose that the hearing of each
petition, and the subsequent debates thereon,
employ one day—There are upwards of one
hundred and twenty men engaged in the bus
iness, at fix (hillings per day. Os course each
petition cofts'he state betwixt thirty alia for
ty pounds. Suppose that there are as tqany
as fifteen petitions in a year—This business
: then costs the state upwards of fifteen hun
rdred dollars. This calculation, I presume,
is much too moderate
£ In addition to this, the great expense to
which the petitioners are fubjeded, deserves
atten ion. They must attend at least two ses
sions. One, to obtain a day of hearing ; an
other, with their witnesses, when the day of
hearing comes on. Sometimes, I am inform
ed, they are obliged to be upon expense ten or
twelve weeks from their firft application, till
the hearing is concluded. This circumstance
is grievous and oppressive. The adverse par
ties too must attend with their witneffes,and
be fubjeded to an enormous expense, or fuf
fer the Petitioners to proceed without oppd
fition.
" Another reason that influences my mind
is this, I cannot purfuade myfelf that the
General Court are so well qualified to judge
upon questions of thi, kind, as the Judges of.
the Court where the actions were decided.
- Thc^c pciitiom are generally grounded,on a--
suggestion of furprize, or new evidence.--
With regard to the fu prize, surely the Judg
es of the Court where the adion was decided
are under many more advantages to judge of 3
this,'than the members of the General Court
can be. The Judges can by advertin to
their records ascertain how long the adion
was pending—they may recoiled the partic
ular circumstances attending the adion—
they may remember whether the party pre
tended or appeared to be furprized at the
time of trial. With regard to the new evi
dence—the Judges may colled much from
their own memories whether the pretended
new evidence be in fad new or not—and the
probability is, that they are better capacitat
ed to judge of. the nature of this new evi.
dence, whether it be material, or pertinent,
or admissible. It is true there may be mem
bers in the General Court as well capacitated
to judge of the nature of evidence as the
Judges of rhe Courts But is it a fad, that
the opinions of these members upon such
points are invariably influential ? Does the
legality of she evidence occasion much de
bate ? Has cool, unprejudiced reason much
influence in the deciiron of these questions?
Is it not the pitiful story of the Petitioner
that influences? Do not the members in
general, even those who are unprejudiced,
decide upon questions of this nature more
by the impulse of their feelings at the mo
ment, than by the sober dictates of their
judgments ? These petitions in general are
calculated to interest the passions. This
very circumstance renders them improper
fubjeds for the deliberations of a large body
qf men. For it is well known that large bo
dies of men are easily borne away with the
tide of passion. This circumstance too, has
||made all nations coincide in the fentimenr
phat it is unfdfe and improper to submit quef
'tions concerning property between individu
lals to the decisions of large bodies of men,—
When parties are known to the members of
Legislative Assemblies, private friendfhips,
and in:ercfts operate againfi the ftid, small,
voice of impartial justice ; and the great
numbers which compose such assemblies af
ford each individual an opportunity to (bel
ter himfelf in the crowd, and screen himfelf
from refoonfibility. Even when the violence
rs passion does net operate—the influence of
' one or moremembers who are in the inrereft
of either p^rty, does wonders. Management
facilitates exceedingly the progrefsof business
°'Anotherconfideration of na small import
ance is, whilst this kind of business is tranf
a&ed by our Legislature, the enjoyment of
property is rendered in some measure, precati
fos. For the Legislature in such, cafesu
CONCORD.
1„' " = " • — ! — : , — j;ta. ■ .ra
not governed by known, pre established rules,
but every case is determined exclu lively by its
own circumstances. The conscience of the:
Legislatures is the only rule, and this is pro
nounced by a very great man to be a griev
ons tyranny. One bf the greatest buffings
of a free government is the secure enjoyment
of property. F n r this purpose all questions
relative to it, ought to be decided by known,
fettled, long established rules or precedents.
The citizens ought to be affored that future
decisions will be similar to those heretofore
made upon questions of the fame nature.
Are these purposes effected by the present
mode of granting new trials ? Every one
must acknowledge that applications lor new
trials are in this State attended with the
greatest uncertainty imaginable. The ap
plicant knows of no pre-eftablifhed rules by
which his application will be judged. His
.principal objeds then are to secure the good
graces of the members of the Gen. Court, —
to impress their minds deeply with the hard
ship of his case, and to prejudice them against *
his antagonist All this must be out-door
business, and tranfa&ed ex parte, or a thouf
ahd chances to one, if the applicant does not
fail of fucc^fs. The public hearing is the
formal part of the business. The lubftan.,;
rial part ofit is negociated before the public/
hearing comes on. The adverse party, if hq
wishes to counterad the petitioner, must a
dopt the fame line of condud, and attend the
General Court, session after fe son, in some
instances, for a great number of years hfi
t e petitioner should am g,sera/him. Do not
thefeobfervations, the truth of which must
be acknowledged on all hands, make it apf
pear beyond all contradiction that, whilst the
business is transacted in the way it now is,
the enjoyment of property is rendered very
precarious ?
Let the legislature confine this business to
the judicial departments, or to the fu periou?,
court exclusively; oblige them to proceed by
general rules. And the business will be con
ducted with much more dispatch than it now
fc. Subftarofcai, impartial justice will be furi
thered. Intrigues, in matters of this kind,
will in a great measure cease. The judges,
being few in number, will probably be less
influenced by passion, and feel a greater de
gree of personal responsibility. Petitioners
will know the rules by which the fate of their
petitions will be decided, and what decisions
they may exped. Os course, the enjoyment
of property will be rendered more secure, the
sessions of the legislature very much fhofren
ed, and a great saving of expense made both
to the state, and to individuals.
COLBERT.
Political Club, Jan. 28, 1794.
The following important debate took place
on the expediency of palling
THE FOUR POUND ACT.
n /rR. Speaker, I am against
. r. Pyne, palling the billin its pref
sent form ; 1 think it will be prejudicial in its
confequences—lt will have a tendency to set
up avast number of petty Justices Courts in
the several parts of the state, which will open
a wide field of litigation, & be infinitely more
expensive to the parties, than the present
mode of doing the business. Suppose, Mr.
Speaker, a suit should be commenced before a
justice of the Peace—The defendant cannot
immediately pay the debt—his object is a de
lay of payment —he will then get some petti
fogger to put in a dilatory plea ; and should
the Juffice overrule it, he will claim an ap
peal to the court of common pleas ; and then
there will be another travel and attendance,
with attorney's fees, which will (well the bill
of cost to an enormous size, and be in the end
more detrimental to the parties, than if the
action had originated at the court of common
pleas. Should this four pound a& take place,
Mr. Speaker, I think lawsuits will be greatly
multiplied; for justices will be very fond of
having aftiops brought before them, and pet
tifoggers will not be wanting to stir up suits;
and id far from being any relief, ?twill in my
opinion be acurfe to the people—l am there
fore, Sir, against palling the bill. r^ ,^
% D—„. Mr, Spaker, lam in favour of/
palling this bill. I never heard of it, before
It was laid on your honor's table. As my
time, as a Justice, is onAhe point of expiring,
I hope to die ttefcath of theßighteoc&for
I have meddledbut very little in civil suits.
Butit seems, by the,genfcman last speaking,
that Honesty and Virtue have departed from
the justices of this state; but 4 thiAk, Sir,
they are not inferiour to those of Maffachu-?
setts or Connecticut, where they try causes
to a much higher amount. Hadi a debt due
to me, Sir, I (hoddrather lose it,.than try
— ■ — , I ~ — T- I -— ,
BYE. RUSSELL.
MONDA Y, FEBRUARY 10, I 794.
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to obtain it in the present course of the law ;
where 1 must firft fee an attorney, give eight
Shillings for a writ, attend with witnesses to
luppoit my claim at two or three courts be
fore I can havea trial ; and all this, Sir, on
ly prepares the case to go up to the fuperiour
court, where usually there is rhe belljury;
which might be done with muehjefs expense
to the parties, where an hour is aligned in
the fame town, and no other cause to hinder,
and where most cases would be fettled with
but little expense. Justices of the Peace, Mr.
Spaker, is an ancient infti'ution, whose pew
& er has been enlarged by sundry statutes under
several Kings' and Queens' reigns. Should
this four founder go off, Sir, I don't know
but it may prove a Death-Warrant to the
courts of common pleas, but if it (liould, I
am not certain but they may have out lived
their Ulefulbefs, as well as some of the Justic
es. As enlarging, then, the power of Jus
tices was contemplated by the framers of the
Constitution, before it was adopted, and as
• it is the wi(h of the people to have it done, I
think, Sir, it is our duty to pass the bill.
Mr. H gg. Mr. Spaker, if this bill should
pass, I thick it will be the means of encour
aging Lawyers, and encreafing the cost
, of lawsuits. For when an adion is brought
before a Justice of the Peace and an Attor
ney is employed by one of the par ies, the
other party, unless he be able to state his
own account and speak for himfelf, or sub
mit to the inconvenience of having his cause
managed just as the other party would have
it, must perhaps be at the cost of going 20 or
30 miles to employ an Attorney who will
ask him three imes as much to carry on his
suit as he would have done had he been ready
on the spot, as the Lawvers generally are at
the Court of Common rleas ; for.thefe and
several other reasons, fir, that might be men
tioned, I am against palling the bill.
Mr. r4g Mr. Speaker, 1 believe the gen
tleman last speaking is not altogether right
in his calculations, for so far as I have been
acquainted with trials in the Court of Com
mrm^ P^cp, rriF=^tvt*~<^ —..:--<> .---' • <~ —-
tions which have been entered at Lid Court,
wherein the sums demanded have not exceed
ed four pcunds, have been defauk^d ; and
that, therefore, she bringing such actions at
those Courts served only to enlarge the bills
of cpft which, to be sure, is a mighty pretty
way of enabling poor defendants to pay the.r
debts, when the only reasons why they were
filed were because they are unable to pay the
debt without any cost being added hereto.
And though 1 am, Mr. Speaker,no just ad
vocate for the bill, yet when 1 gonfiJer the
foregoing 'premites, together with the impli
cit with of the people, when they adopted the
Constitution, that fucli a law fhouk; be pag
ed by the LegThture; I can fee no good
reason why the bill should not be paired.
M r . —As this is a matter of publick con
cernment, I must beg leave to make a' few
observations upon the bill before it pafles.
Although it is implied in the constitution, it
by no means follows that the people thought
this a measure the most advifeable to be
adopted. 'For my part I am extremely
doubtful of the expediency^ the measure.
I am confident it will be a more expensive
mode of doing business than the one hereto
fore praaifed. I have no notion of creating
monsters, or of puning an oxes head upon an
ass. It would be a dangerous experiment;
for who knows but he might gore as well as
kick the people to death. Should this bill
pass, every neighbourhood will soon have
some Trading y*pi<tcv Pettifogging Attorney
ready on all occasions to fe. the people to
gether by the ears, and ^& ^ ^g ar J 10
read the Riff A& in twenty diffirto friars in the
ftateevery day. It 13 always unfortunate for
the people, when those undertake to do busi
ness, wholeaft. understand it. For my own
part I wi(h to have no hand in engendering
a race of vultjufes to gnaw upon the vitals of
the poor, people. Fends and animosities
are frequent among us already, without be
ing publickly encouraged by law. But if,
asa worthy'gen tieman has'bbfefved, we in
fpedthe cll roll, we shall soon dilcever the
moving cause of all this business;
For my own part; I believe my pubic con
dud will' evidence that I have potheen very
much in favour of encouraging lawyers :
I have heretofore done but very little business
in fhejtfice way —but should this bill pass, I
am determined, to fit up for business, and
have spoken to several lawyers for theircfo.
Mr. Cte-11. Mr. Speaker, lam pretty ^ 1
perfeaded© fy, in ^ VtyrCfotrw could
have but totters tried before Justices ts the Peace,
;nineteen twentieth bfthe c^s now difried ;
/be fettled.. I have lived, Sir, in federal o^tr
mW3#^
• NEWHAM.
Price 7s. per anu.]
S'..,
chufetts, jujtess try causes as high as eight
pounds*, with the greatest ease in the world ;
Idon't know why our ftf ices are not as good as
theirs. 1 am, Sir, in favour of puffing the bill.
J. D—n. Mr. Spaker, I believe, Su , the peo
ple at large knows their own thierffl too well to be
cajoled cut ofit. I wife. Sir, that the yeas and
nays may be called upen the queflion. 1 think we
have [pent time enough about it already.
So theyeas ana nays were called — when there
appeared 65 yeas, 26 nays.— —Caira ! Caira!
Vive les Four Pound Justices !
* The gentleman must be mistaken in this
particular. —
FOR THE MIRROUR,
[from OUR CORRESPONDENT O. O. s.].
Mr. Russell,
„you lately published a piece in your paper
about " Rum Guzzlers, Flip Soakers, Dram
Drinkers," &c. wherein many fevers things and
hard words were pointed against we gentlemen of
" the Staggering Gentry,",ou wiLpltaje also
to fabifh the following Oration lately made at one
of our meetings by brother Tom Toper, who,
with the cheering jug in bis band, with patent
''"'©'> (taking one or two " Good Swigs"
as be began, and aljo in the midJi of the perform
ance,tcftrengtben bis lungs and enliven bis fancy)
thus proceeded,funding on a jorn in one corner of
the Jlcre.
The ORATION..,
RUM! thou art the quintefl'ence of ex
cellence, the assistant of nature, the en
livener of fancy, and the mother and the au
thor of great and glorious adions. When
cvercome with labour, or Wearied with care,
or vexed wi h ingratitude, or dejeded by
misfortunes, 1 return home fad and solitary;
the mills of furrow are upon my counte
nance, ahd the resemblance of the lleep of
death hangeth upon my brow. 1 call for
the liquid of the limpid fountain ; I drink.it,
but it yields me no relief! My heart is still
heavy, my ideas are flat and waterifh, and-'
am but a small remove from 4 beast with four
legs. Some happy change, some guardian
angel, the friend of man, direffs me to the
4;^™ -=•*-rertf* T — A ^rtr===^#''^^
, drink it with exftacy ! Immediately I call
out, Why, Onature, wert thou so nigg fdly !
why were not all th) springs, thy it tile s,
thy rivers, thy lakes, and even thy oceans re
plenished wi b this divine liquid, i^ftead of
the insipid element of which they few con
sist —I drink gain ; [here be took a jl^g] I
feel the strength of ten men, nothing is too
difficult for me to attempt,nothing too haz
ardous to execute. The journey of a hun
dred miles is contra&ed to a span of my
hand, andthe men of mighty bones are di
mlnifhcd to the contemptible size of grass
hoppers. Rum ! thou art also the support of
heroism.. The mind of supreme ingenuity
fiift placed thee in the plants that grow, and
concealed thee from the undifeerhing in the
plump grains cf the harvest. It was left to
the men of latter ages 0 difeover thee there,
and accommodate thee 10 their own use and
purposes. While the ox or the horse travels
on his tedious journey, it is indeed with a
heavy heart ! He is nourished but not in
spired ;js fed,but not inebriated —how pain
ful are the hours, how ungrateful is the road,
how dull are his profpeds! But to man, who
carries with him the jovial flafkjt is nothing.
Every object puts on the colour of gaiety,
and, by the assistance of this magic, every
difficulty vanishes before him. Without this,
our whole life would have been little better
than a fort of cat sleep, a dream between
slumbering and waking, a moment of ani
mation not worth enjoying.
Mr Russell,
OF many a felty like the vineyard of the
Mouthful, the fence broken down, it
may be truly said that if half the time spent
in drivingout cattle when they broke in had
been spent in making fence, it might have
been well enclosed ; do such " do for the pre
sent" careless farmers work it right?
Mooers' .and Towle's Eflates.
Rockingham ) T^HE Committee appoint
ed to receive and examine
the claims of the several creditors to the es
tates of Samuel Mooers, Esq. arid Samuri
Towle, Gent, both late of Candia, deceased,
represented insolvent ; hereby give notice,
that the term of fix months is allowed the
committee for that purpose ; ahd that 'hey
will attend the business at the house of Major
^^^
and the second Wedn^fdays of the five fol
lowing mdnffis. from i to 7 o'clock, , m.
WALTER. ROBIE ? Com-
NA THI BKOUIx, <@uctv
- ABRAHAM FITTS. J
Candia, Jan. 15, 1 7 94- 66