Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1850-05-01

'"er usefulness or dignity, or bring their
official conduct fairly under suspicion. But
let not the ermine of justice fall on the
shoulders of man who has jus, emerged
from the arena of party strife, soiled with
the dust and dirt of fierce political s,rug-
gle for his own advancement. 1t will leave
faint, which will discolor his official acts
and shake the public confidence in the puri-
sy and impar'iality of his administration of
justice. Judge, like Casar's wife, should
be not only unsuspec,ed, but above the
reach Of suspicion. A popular election up
on party grounds, would make the best
Judge an object Of popular distrust to por-
'ion (nore or less large) Of the community.
This objection is decisive against this mode
OF appointment, if there were not other and
strong arguments against its eligibility
The purity and independence of the judici-
ary should be guarded; by the mode of ap-
polnsment and of responsibility as to the
first: and by liberal and unal.erable salary
as to the last. Its efficiency and despatch
may be secured by limiting the tenure, and
by increasing the responsibility and making
1t direct, by having one Judge where we
now have three. The machinery will be
cheaper, more simple, and more Efficient
The State will save more from this branch
of economic reform, if extended to Clerks.
i'll one year, than the whole cost of the
Convention and the taxpayers will feel
the benefit ever after. Retrenchment and
economy will be lost sight of in no branch
of the work done by the Convention.
will now tell "Old Charles'' what a
Convention can do in the way of reform and
for the relief of the whole people, which a
Legislature could never be got to do. 1t
can and will give US cheap government
it can and will reduce overgrown salaries,
such as are most of our Clerkships and par
ticularly those Of Baltimore; it can will
abolish useless Offices, created or multiplied
to reward partizans-in word, it can save
the people of the State an expenditure of
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and
to tha. ox,en,, Tighten the weight Of public
charges, which presses so heavily on their
labor and capital. Is this not inducement
enough to try the experiment? But Con-
ven'ion will do an act of still greater and
more permanent bene6! for the people it
will fling a Safeguard around the public
credit and put it out Of the power of specu-
lating politicians or financial charlatans to
render the government of the Slate bank
rupt, and to weigh down the productive en-
ergies of its people by debt and taxes. A
wholesome and necessary Limitation will be
put upon the extravaganza and improvidence
of the Legislature; no more borrowing,
without first providing the means Of paying
interest and redeeming the principal Is
this not an object worth securing to every
man, who wishes TO enjoy the earnings Of
his own labor or the proceeds of his own
capital? leave the answer to every pru-
dent and industrious man in The county, and
can readily judge what it will be. Liberty
in our day, has more 10 fear from debt and
taxes than from standing armies. Extrava-
gance the mother of bo.b) is the bane O
free institutions.
There is alarm expressed as to our los.
| ,,f ronreeantot;vo nowor :, tho o.;,I,,
1t may be that the House of Delegates ma,
pass under the control of the majority sec
i lion-but the Senate will remain under lha
Of the minority section. Constitutions ar,
, made for the protection Of the minority
the majority can protect itself Such
check is good for all; it secures wise ant
r fair legislation. But the weight and infu
ence of a county, in representative, deli.
bera!ive body, depends more on the intel
lectual character than the mere number OF
its members. But lie. it not be forgotten
all the evils (deb,s and taxes) we have la.
bored under for years, were inflicted on us
by the votes Of this and other minority
counties. We have no more of internal
improvement loans to fear. What then have
we to apprehend, if sufficient guarantees are
provided for our slave property; and now
is the time to secure them and regulate as
to free negroes. PLANTER.
.Apail 20, 1850.