Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1850-02-27
THE sTAUNTON SPECTATOR
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY s7' 1859,

90 A few points in the closing article OIL
farm ,, mt noticed by us the iast@eek tor want Vi
time, we shall comment upon the present noie III
tha uurpose of showing the virulence and iechiesS
.sss of The warfare now commenced against 'hose
ne, taking extreme ground upon every question u
,sesryn, than from any hope cfreaehiHg Inc jung
uneht ola RADICAL
..Resarmn states, (Feb. 20,h)-"In most ofy your
editorials, except the last, (Feb lSth) oueAPfesS
grsa. danger from popular elections" MAN INC
dash. IS indicating distinct and substanliVeproP-
esi,ion, nsinuaige also Of our distruss OF me people
and opposition to.popular elections generally. N0'
50. Mr.. Reform but we do distrust the Dema-
xogue in his loudest tones of attachmentto the Pe0
Mas rights and the louder he sings, the more We
S;.,rusthim. Butsuppose ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS DC
oualifed by the nexpmemberofthe sentence, '''ha'
the Judges &C., giving thein'erpfe'a'ion as.we
feared great evils from popular elections Vi ',''
Judges it is apparent that such terms Imply noun
;,o more than effective Judiciary in popular
sense or periodical elections, in opposition 10 Tie
tenure Of good behaviour. inthis sense we nave :
o,r fears and fully expressed them on the ION Oh
January, and 18th of February, bat not ffoin,afs
rust of the people, as the appointing power winch
..Reformn well knew, from the statements JUS. le-
ferred to. But, says ''Reform," (Feb %Oth9 You
have declaredyour opinionsin favor OF aaoa' cna'e
of the tenure of the Office ofJustcss, %hlsyon OF
pose any essential changein the office OF the oud-
ges.n That IS, we favored the'eiecton OF the JUS
ices periodically by the people. just SO ana was
mt this most conclusive that we did not diseiuS'
chem? How then came you, sir, to make 'ne III
sinaation?
Apar. saws Reform making difference Of
,enure in the offices of Justice and JrdSe--"Le'
your readers say whether you have not sweep rom
under yoa the only foundation resting in Principfe,
on which you can rely to support the tenure oil goo0
sshavour, or, IN other words, the feaen're IN Inc
bigber JUDGES" One who writes merely Tor effeci'
is strongly tempted to hope his readers may say
what he would not say himself. We deem 1t no
hard task to satisfy his readers and ours upon the
proprety Of the two tenures in the TWO oinceS' as
eon,ended for by US.
It is conceded that IL our opposition to perlodl-
cal election of the Judges had been based upon a
d;struss of the people, ii would have been grossly
inconsistent to admit such periodical elections IN Inc
case of the Justices Taking the ground we did,
however, with respect to the Justices, who under
auy judicial system, must out-number the Judges
in the ratio of so TO /, the denagogcal insinuaton
Of disrust only shows the spirit and purpose OF the
writer, while the charge Of Inconsistency vanlshes
into thin air. Who, then, has had his 'founda'iUn
swept from under him"?
We come now to the reasons sustaining the pro-
pre.y of different tenure Of the two classes oil ju-
dicial officers. Some OF these, aud enough, as we
supposed to satisfy most people, were given on the
3O,h of January. On the present occasion, we shai
not only refer to these, but present additional aFgu
ments for the distinction in tenure which we favor
We maintain then the distinction in the tenure,
in the first place, from the laborlous training essen
iia as qualification for Judges in the higher courts
The law as science is said to be "the perfection
Of reason'-it is the study OF life time. The
higher Judges, therefore, are selected from the Bar
from that class Of men whose profession and bust
ness lead to a thorough examination OF The great
principles Of Law and Equity. The eminent in
their profession usually command large business and
large profits Such, it may be safely affirmed, with
shs existing salaries Of office, would not abandon
practice for small profits under tenure of years.
The consequence would be, upon the plan OF IKE
form," that the office Of Judge would fall into the
hands of inferior lawyers. The Office of County
Magistrate, on the contrary, is not filled from the
bar-it does not require special training, and any
gentleman Of good mind and business habits, whe-
Their he be farmer, mechanic or merchant, is fitted
for the Office.
But again, to strengthen our position, the ju,ts-
aietion OF the two classes Of Courts is highly i'm
portant consideration especially in reference to the
supervising character Of the one in the correction
errors, and the final settlement Of great qnes
TONS of law The safety Of titles, security to Per
sonal rights, and activity even in trade, all depend
upon Just and final decisions. To intrus, this aigs
and soFerDD duty to rotatiug set OF Judges as con
templated by ultra reformerc, would be any thing
than favorable 10 sound aud uniform adjudlcatIons
Such system would seldom find within its pre-
cincts such mindsas PESpLEToN, WYrHE, RoANE
and MARSHALL. A sentiment uttered by the las
samed gentleman upon this question, in the Con
ven,ion of lS29-30, willing to contrast will
the opinions Of Reform" 81 feel strongly (sal'
Mr.. M tina, this Convention can do nothing tina
would entail more serious evil upon Virginia, thar
TO destroy the tenure by which her Judges hol'
their Offices" Not holding the opinion, however
that name merely should settle any hnPofran
questions, we propose, in urtherance Of our argu
meat, to give not only the names, but the reason
of distinguished men in the Convention referred TO
upon the present question. We shall do SO for tn
more important reason, that We are re-PublIshlng
BY request, an article from the democratic he
view" upon the same point. More next week.
G. EEEx. Fl. Ii. Sru&ar, Esq, of this place
Eas been engaged by the Cooperation of Wheelin