Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1828-07-04

shall not be performed, in spirit of personal as
peri'y, but only with an eager regard TO the pub
| lie good.
| The trainers Of our Constitution, guided by the
surest lights of human wisdom, have conferred
your offices upon YOU to be holden by the stable
tenure Of good behaviour. 1t was their benevo-
lent purpose, to make Judges, whose judgments
could not be influenced by their effects upon them
selves. This they have cfectually accomplished;
! they have made ample provision Tor the ndepen-
dence ofthe Judges. But, independence is not G.
quivalent 10 irresponsibility.
Tho you may not be liable TO the penalties OF
the law, for mere general misconduct, "a par,icu-
lar act perhaps being requisite TO constitute le
gal offence--yet are you held most rigidy amena-
BILE to the public opinion. In this way, you may
escape from prosecution, and enjoy, what l shall
not envy you the consultations Of wounded consci
ence. You may retire upon your estates in easy
Incidence; ride ON the circuits for health and
| creation; travel TO Richmond in November, when
the season is agreeable, but never in June, when
the heat is oppressive; pocket your salaries; and
defy the people. This you may do this has been
done.
BY what obligations, let me ask are you bound
to the performance OF your dutes!-By all which
oaths, and honor. and common honesty can impose
Each OF you has sworn that he would :. well
x truly serve the Commonwealth, in the Office of
Judge" You were bound then, by oath, TO attend
on the General Court, at the last term, fully and
completely as you are 10 perform any other act OF
official duty Eight out OF fifteen f,i!ed to do so
and demand OF them personally and individual
ly-what is their excuses:
If any one has failed to attend this court, from
any other cause, than absolute physical inability,
hereby solemny charge upon that man, viola
ton OF the most sacred of all obligations Let each
OF you PROFOUND this question to himself. l have
no concern with your innocence, or your guilt
1t is the public wrong that would proclaim, in
order that il may be redressed.
One would have looked, at this particular peri
cd, above all others, for full and punctua fulfil
ment Of the acquisitions Of the law. But your
negligence has outstripped all human CALCULATION.
Under the influence OF some extraordinary infatu-
alton, you have alike disregarded the public inter
ests, and your own. We are upon the eve OF a
civil Revolution. majority OF the freeholders
oi Virginia, it seems, have declared in favor of
reformation OF the fundamental law. a crisis is at
hand, second in intcreS; and importance one on
ly which has marked our history. Ii surely was
desirable that the people should have met it, in a
state OF tranquility, and in spirit of moderation
1t was desirable that they should have gone into
Convention free from any strong bias and excite
ment whatever; but above all, free from indi qua
ton and disgust at department. OF the government.
The very members of that department, however,
by wanton and Hagrant neglect, have called down
that Indignation and disgust upon themselves and
they will feel it, in all its bitterness and all its an
ger, when the hand OF reform shall sweep over
them. They will be cutoff from the body polite
which they have enfeebied by their neglect, and
which they have dsgraced by their imbecility.-
A series OF minor offences has been gradually pre-
pairing the public mind for such an outbreak and
the excitement which now prevails bears no pro
portion to Its proSimate, apparent cause. The
true cause is to be found in long, dull catalogue
/ OF past misdeeds; which may not now be specti-
cay recollected, ,but which lend the impression
which they left, to darken the complexion of the
last.
Your honors will find this to be the true reason
OF the present discomfort; and unless you look back
with me, upon your public lives almost marked
with utter uselessness and dedicated to ndo-
lence, you may find yourselves at a loss to con-
ceive an adequate motive fcS the final overthrow
which awaits You. am glad to be able to render
you an act OF service, in furnishing an exploitation
OF the phenomenon that is at hand. You NAV be
prepared Tor its occurrence; for come it must there
being causes in operation of which it is the neces-
sary effect. But should be reoiced 10 render you
the greater service, OF pointing the way of es-
cape from this p-rii. You cannot meet and subdue
ii. 1t is the part of friendship to warn US of our
weakness; and as undertook to perform that par
towards you, am constrained TO declare that you
are too weak for that encounter. Then, you must
shun it, do, therefore, advise you 10 make a
| timely and magnaniInous retreat. Relinquish will
lingly, and with good grace, what you will be
| forced to abandon with shame and notification
1t my sincere belief, that on the part of most of
| you, 1t would be considered the most useful and
patriotic act OF your whole lives; that nothing
could, at once, so greatly contribute to your ind-
vidua reputation and the public good
| But great as my aftiicton is at the danger of
| your final and total overthrow, il becomes matter
of little concern, compared with the deep drea
which feel at dangers which your conduct has
| produced. | fear, that, when the hand of innova
ton shall lay hold Oh the Judicial Department. to
redress itself for many wrongs, it will be sa
tished with the expulsion OF the men who fill it,
but may strike deeply at the foundation, of the
Enlistment itself. fear that the stable tenure
by which you have so long enjoyed your legal i'm.
puhity, will be given to the winds; for know there
IL strong feeling in the country, in favor of its
abolition If this feeling could be appeased by the
destruction OF the men whose misconduct has pro-
duced IT, there could be reason for fear or re-
greet; but blow will he aimed at that stable tenure
thar pillar Of strength in the Constitution; and il
have dared TO take these liberties with your no.
nors.
Putting out Of view, however, your public duty,
and the public good, am absolutely amazed at the
blindness TO Jour own Interests, which your re-
cent conduct has exhibited. On the eve of your
trial for life and death, you have most grossly and
wdnonly @ronged and insulted the very tribunal
by whose judgment you are to live or le. Your
honors should know something OF the advantages
OF IA trial by jury favorabiy disposed You have
| seen the abest advocates at the bar, labor most
painfully, to effect such purpose: and now you
stand arraignad at the bar of public opinion, and
will be put upon your trial by the very people
whom you have thus provoked to PREJUDICE your
cause.
| The late robbery of the Treasury by that unfor
tunate man Jerman Baber, <hOuld have been con-
sidered pressing and extraordinary reason for the
| formation OF a court, at the last term tor thro
that court alone the coInInon1re 18th be redress
ed. But reasons, to men who above their duty,
are above their comprehension.
Many an innocent man, whose misfortune IL is
TO he dragged to the bar of Justice for supposed
crime, may have been left, for half year, 10 lin
ger amidst the horrors Of "A loathsOnie dungeon,
because, forsOoth it j. unpleasant TO these honora-