Arkansas intelligencer., 1845-09-13
THE JUDICIARY.

Onr Article some weeks nro, promising discussion
upon the detects of State constitution and rropoa
ing State Convention rtcr the plan Of many Of the
oldest States of the Union, to remedy the evils has
called down upon our devoted heads the anjmadvcr.
sons of our worthy and more experienced contemPorl-
ries the Washington Tc!cgrGpi and the rEansaS Gd-
sette
In our article we incidentally remarked that were
in favor of elcctrng the judiciary by the people. And
SO arc and of all other officers from the President
down to constabcs. For however well the old mode
may have 'rorkcd, to the chastc language OF the
Gazette, yet it is for our cotemporares to ShcW that
the friends Of truly popular liberty have ever lost one
inch orground which they have gaineduPon those
who believe that mln is incapable of self goyernm mt
or rather OF choosing his rulers. All those agu
ments about dignty," and STOPPING to the mob and
all that as applicable 10 the election Of Governors,
and was used quite as crctualy, upon tho first at
tcmpts to introduce gubcrnatoral elections into the
old thirteen, as they an elective Judiciary
The true question s should the people have the cho1s
ing of their rulors2
The Ga=ettc makes our article pretcyt for insinu
atirg that have not high oPnlpn OF the learn.
ing and ability of the present Ju cia ncumhcn!s o:
our State 1t is enough that have never said sn;-
nor have VIC ever hintcd that our Bench has LOST a
Mansfield or Marshal, by the present excellent sys.
tenn So far as we have Observed the decisions of the
new Bench seem to he sound and pretty well wrttcn'
paraking Ike the decisions of the former ncumbcnts,
Of quite enough pcdantry which may or may not be
pertinent prcccGcuts for ought we, any one Clsc,
not having three Thousand mns'y volumes, can know.
This by the way, another Of the weak points Of our
.Cnmmon Law system, which mean to attack 10
our promised discussion.
That our present Judiciary are quite Tu p7rTcnr
We feel certain but that they would be quite as indie
pendent did their elections depend nP1n the people,
instead of the Legislatures, think equally Gear.
The Gazette and Telegraph seem to propose Two
remedies, for existing evils. The first is, that the
people sec the folly of clcctng wdo mouthcd buster
ing partizans and parasites to the Legislature (who
would better be mauling rails than making ridiculous
laws for the Statcl &C.
Now here is a covert argument, that the election Of
egislaters by the people, is giving too much power
to every trilng demagoguc who may chance to be al
urcd by the salIry or imaginary honor of legslang
In to this have only to say that these Sapcnt
editors may have the full opportunity of discussing tho
propricty of admitting pa,tsaHs into Legislative
halls; Of defning in the constitution VIII" shall
maui rails and who shall eglslate We prefer that
the people, who are the gamers or losers, settle the
whole business; but perhaps our contemporaries would
think quite we'll, to give all elections to editors In
tina event the craft would certainly have fat oices
But both cotemporarcs certain that high s1i-
aries would forst the hest hTyers OF the State into
all the iudgships. Tins they seem to regard as GER
tain n,remcdy.' To this have to say, that however
comfortable this might be to the ncumbcns, should
like TO sec it illustrated how the remedy would attain
the object Even in the rich State of New Yook, they
have been constantly reducing the Judges salaries;
nor are VIC aware, that the spirit of the age is any
where n favor OF increase. But concedc the argu