New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-12-29

which we have decided ourselves what was
law By eur predecessors would possess an
to thu citizens and In the exercise OF whlch
tits tribunal would ut become feared and hated
c. MORE or coTToN
Not now, kind readera of the plant 81 Of the |
staple; but Of that other Cotton. which, by the
judioous suffrage Of the people. sits, in Dogber-
ran state, upon the woolsack.
We had little thought ever to become the an
notator Of such an author. Had it pleased
Heaven TO give us our choice, when we became
commentators, we should not, certainly, have
pitched upon just this legal luminary as him
whom it would have been delightful and labor
Of love to elucidate. But the severity Of Fate
assigns us to each other, for our mutual discom-
fort We cannot evade Cotton, nor Cotton us.
Destiny hath appointed US to deal with one an
other; and she, at least, holds Court Of Ap-
peals, whose DEGREES neither Judge Cotton nor
ourself can set aside. We yield, therefore, to
the stern power Of necessity; who, as everybody
knows, hath no law: in which particular, she
and Judge Cotton are exactly alike-as has
already been made fully to appear to all who
chance not to be aware Of it. =
Heretofore, the number Of these was very
great; being exactly equal to that Of all those
who had never heard Of him as either the brief
less lawyer or the lawless Judge Now, how
ever, all that has been changed. The envious
veil of obscurity, which till now concealed Cot
ton from the worlds adniring gaze hath been
drawn aside; the cloud that covered him hath
been blown away by the breath Of the Press.
Cotton himself, who slept supine and as If for
ever, in the maternal lap Of oblivion, hath Of q
sudden walked up, as Lord Byron did one morn
ing, and found himself famous.
Thrice happy Cotton! The renown which
others are fain to work out by toll, he hath
achieved without an effort. Others attain to q
painful celebrity only by their knowledge: he
hath accomplished an equal ono by his Ignorance !!
But while we thus resound the praise Of Cot
ton, let US not forget that something is due to
our own. Save for our trumpet, where were
Cotton's fame? What Agamemnon owes to Ho-
mer, or Dogberry the elder to Will Shakespeare,
Judge Cotton owes to u.s. And herein lies our
triumphant vindication from the ill-judging
blame Of some who deem US to be prosecuting
the admirable Cotton, while, in truth, we are
but making him what he never made for him
self-a reputation.
| Had Cotton, the poorest Of sticks, remained a
little &c limb Of the law p had he not, by dema-
goguism, grown up into tree, under whose
shade people must sit, perforce, for protection,
we should never have sung Of him. Had he
rested content in his natural negatiyeness, q
harm to no one but the very few and foolish
clients who employed him, who would ever have
molested him? Not only would it have been
inhuman to do 50, but impossible: for who
could have found him? When, however, nc
longer modest, he aspires to the ermine, and,
harmless no longer, gets it, he becomes rock
of offence and a stone Of scandal, against which
all who pass for justice by the way where lies
the block Of his ignorance must break their
shins, if not their necks. It then grows impera-
. lively the duty Of every body to remove that
stumbling block out Of this great highway to
mems rights. More especially does it become
the duty Of us Of the Press, surveyors and in
speetors Of that and of all other public ways
4 as we are, to stop not and stint not, until such
grievous impediment, such wanton and fool
i ish hindrance to Justice--the great end for
/ which society is instituted-be cast out from the
place which it encumbers and where it only
| offends. But even this is not ell bad enough
was it that Cotton should be judge; bad
enough that he should, from his puny tribunal
| deal out injustice to the suitors Of single I'M
fortunate district: but when, dissatisfied with
his petty sphere Of wrong, he energies from it
claiming to upset those supreme decisions which
alone can bring q remedy to the existence Of
such magistrate as he is; when, in short, he
| would set himself up to re-expound to the Su.
preme Court what they have deliberately settled
in an opposite sense, to break down with his
shallowpat all rules, all precedent, all author.
ity, 50 that the entire State shall stand in the
condition Of his own district, and have no Law
in it; why, in that case, Judge Cotton, ceasine
to be the mere plague of neighborhood, rises
into the nuisance of the State, and must be
abated. As his great prototype, Dogberry him.
self, says, !" it is tolerable and not to be en-.
such judgments and of supporting them by
such authorities as he produces to sustain them
should sit upon. the judgment-seat, in any
country Of Jurisprudence.
EOhLhANs We are TO De favored VIII
Meyerbeer's favore opera of the Huguenots whcf
thehef parts to be performed by Msssr
Lacroix and Genbrel the chief female, by Mesdames
Bertini and Berton We need say that all these arr
singers Of great excellence The ne music Of the PIECE
will therefore receive full justice.
/ NoRMAs's BOOKSTORE. Mr.. Norman, No. IA Cam,
street, has on hand of the largest assorsments O
ANIMALS, gift books juvenile works. and other literature
appropriate to the holidays that ka found in thu
city His counter is covered with standard works
beautifully illustrated editions of the poets We
mend those intending to select present for the hol
i days to examine his stock,
1 MINIATURE DIARy.-We have been furnished by Messrs
D. Felt stetson "a Chartres street. with several spsci
Of convenient blank Diary the larger size ntende,
the desk and the smaller for the pocket 1t contains
for 1854 and one has but to glance at the inge
NOUS arrangement to appreciate its utility
Il 5s -@--zElazr%
HS We have been requested to call attention to the
sale Of the Billiard Saloon ITO Common st. at IL ococl
this day, by Messrs L. Carman Co. See their adyer
tsement under the proper head.
As The clerk Of the Grand Tower has our thanks 70,
st. Louis papers.
L