The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-27 00:00:00

appeal iota case in which it had actually been

already exercised.
But now the court had touched the lowest point
in its career, and the wheel began to revolve. The

war was over. The object of destruction was gone,
and the spirit of Conservatism reigned in its stead.
To build up what had been thrown down, to. re,
store order, to bring back harmony and justice into
the affairs of the country, became the important

problem of the hour. The agency beat calculated
to assist in the work was the judiciary; and it be-

came evident that the hands Of the Court must be
strengthened. The executive, which had during
the war, been all-powerful, bad given way before
the Legislature on the return of peace; and• the
judiciary, which had hitherto been the sport of
both, began at length to assert its ancient rights.
The relations of the States to each other and to the

Union, the questions of currency and taxation t
which the war had given rise, the questions of pti-
vate rights, which had of late been settled by the
strong arm of military power, all these came back
again into its grasp. Popular respect for the judi-
cial function began again to appear. Partisanship
in judges, which during the war had seemed a vir-
tue, once more took on its hideous natural aspect.
As Congress and the President fell, so Vie Court
rose in regard and esteem. The balance is at length
in a fair way of being restored, and one more illus-
tration furnished of the inherent excellence of the
system of checks and balances which lies at the root
of American politics. Thus one day may the future
historian of America record for the instruction of
generations to come the lessons of the recent history
of our judiciary. Thus will he note how in the
revolving years the ship of State rights herself.
But his record is our task, his study our daily
work, and how far he is to be euablei to read the
past as we would have him read it depends upon
the exertions of the actors DOW upon the stage.

A great deal may still be done to retard the natu-
ral readjustment of the powers of government by
designing or foolish men, and we are very soon to
see how far those now in power at Washington
are able to comprehend the true use of their autho-
rity. By an act of Congress approved on the 10th
of last April, the Supreme Court of the United
States is hereafter to consist of the Chief-Jus-
tice and eight associate judges, and under this
provision a new associate Justice is soon to be
appointed. By section second of the act, nine new
circuit judges are to be appointed, who are to pos-
sess within their respective circuits the power of
Supreme Court judges. The object of the act is a
good one. It was unquestionably passed for the
purpose of giving more time for the discharge of
its duties to the Supreme Court. But the prac-
tical effect of the act will be bad or good accord-
ing to the character of the new appointments.
Never before in the history of the country has the
President had such enormous power placed in his
hands as this. Hitherto the changes in the Su-
preme Court have been so slow that if a President
could find a single appointment to make during
his term he was well pleased. But here at one
blow the President can create ten new judges, one
of them a judge of the Supreme Court, and the
rest ju Iges of a tribunal which is superior in autho-
rity to all but the Supreme Court. The present
organization of the United States Courts is as fol-
lows :—The United States are divided into as many
circuits as there are judges of the Supreme Court,
and into a large number of districts, each State
generally forming one district, though some of the
larger States, as, for example, New York, are di-
vided into two or more. in each of these districts
sits a district ju Ige, while the circuit court in acy
circuit is composed of the Supreme Court judge
allotted to that circuit, together with the district
judge for that district. Appeals may be taken for
almost all cases from the district to the circuit
court, but it is much more difficult to carry a
case up to the Supreme Court, as the sum in-
volved in the suit to entitle a party to appeal
must be a large one ; practically, therefore, the
circuit court is a court of last resort for most sui-
tors. By the second section of the act of April 10, the
circuit courts in each circuit are to be held, Ist, by
the Justice of the Supreme Court allotted to the
circuit; or, 2d, by the new circuit judge appointed
under the Act ; or, 3d, by the district judge of the
district court sitting alone ; or, 4th, by the Justice of
Supreme Court and the new judge sitting together;
or, sth, in the absence of either of them, by the
other, together with the district judge. That the
circuit will be held by the new judge can hardly be
questioned. This, as relieving the Supreme Court,
was the chief object of the Act. It will readily
he seen that we speak within bounds when we say
that to give the President power to appoint nine
new circuit judges is to clothe him with an autho-
rity such as no President, since Washington, has
enjoyed.
It is a gratifying proof of the increased respect
in whichthe Supreme Court is held that we do not
hear of any attempt to foist upon it, under the pro-
vision-of this Act, a partisan judge. '1 here seems
to be a general agreement of opinion that no such
appointment should be made. The reiterated asser-
-1 ions that the Attorney-General is to have the place
show the general feeling about it. The present
Chief Justice has been "in politics" quite enough
to sicken the palate of the most radical disbeliever
in the " judicial mind." If Judge Hoar is ap-
pointed, the appointment will be an admirable one,
though the vacancy in his present office is mor,
likely to be filled by a worse than a better At-
torney-General. On this account we should be
sorry to see him appointed. But the important
matter is that these ten new officers whom the Pre-
sident and Senate will appoint in December should
be first of all judges. We do not care whether they
are Republicans or Democrats, or Old line Whigs,
or annexers, or anti-annexers, or woman's rights
men—the first question is, are they judges ? Will
they decide cases, regardless of fear or favour, in
accordance with law and conscience, or will they
truckle to the dominant party of the day, and ren-
der decisions in accordance with the popular
clamour? If they are of the latter class, the ad-
ministration of Grant will one day stagger under a
heavier load of obloquy than its most grievous poli-
tical mistakes can ever render it accountable for;
because in this case it will not be able to plead the
excuse which has served its turn under other cir-
cumstances, that the outcry of party supporters was
too great to be resisted. There is now no outcry.
There has been even a singular silence as to those
new judgeships—a silence of which Grant may avail
himself to his lasting fame and the country's per-
manent happiness.