Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1854-09-29
sketch of Judsecraft in all Ages.


Republican Convention at Worcester.
For myself, let me say that hold judges,
and especially the Supreme Court of the
country, in much respect; but am too Ia
miliar with the history of judicial proceed
ings to regard them with any superstitous
reverence. Sensation Judges are but
men; and in all ages have shown a full
share of human frailtv Alas alas the
worst crimes Of history have been perpetra-
ted under their sanction. The blood of mar
tyrs and of patriots, crying from the ground
summons them to judgement. 1t was a jI-
deal tribunal which condemned Socrates to
drink the fatal hcmlock, and which pushed
the Saviour barefoot over the 'pavemcnts of
Jerusalem, bending beneath his cross. 1t
was judicial tribunal Which, against the tcs-
timons and entrcatics of her father, surren-
dcrcd the fair Virginia as a slave; which ar
rested the teachings of the great apostle to
the Gentilcs, and sent him in bonds from
JUdca to Rome; which in the name of the
old religion, adjudgcd the saints and fathers
Of the Christian church to death, in all its
most dreadful forms; and which, afterwards,
in the name of the new religion, enforced
the fortunes OF the lnquiSition, amidst the
shricks and agoncs of its victims, while it
compelled Calico 70 declare, in solemn de-
NAL Of the great truth he had disclosed, that
the earth did not move round the sun. 1t
was q judicial tribunal which, in France, du-
ring the long reign Of her monarChS, lent it.
self to be the instrument Of every tyranny,
as during the brief reign of terror it did not
hesitate to stand forth the Implying acccs-
sorry Of the Implying guillotinc.
Aye, sir, it was a judicial tribunal in Eng
land surrounded by all the forms of law,
which sanctioned every dcspotic caprice of
Henry the Eighth, from the unjust divorce
Of his queen to the bcheading of Sir Thorn
as More which lighted the fires of persccu-
ton that glowcd at Oxford and Smithtied
over the cinder' Of Latimer, Ridley and John
Rogers; which, after elaborate argument,
upheld the fatal tyranny ofship money against
the patriot resistance Of IIanpdcn; which in
defiance Of justice and humanity, sent Sid
ncy and Russell TO the block; which persist
entity enforced the laws Of conformity that
our Puritan fathers perSiStcmtly refused to
obey; and which afterwards, with Jcttrc7S on
the bench, crimsoned the pages of English
history with massacre and murdtr-cycn
with the Blood Of innocent woman. And it
was a judicial tribunal in our country, sur
rounded by all the forms of law, which hung
witches 1T Sa!cE-wlich affirmed the con-
stitutonaii.y Of the Stamp Act, while it adj
moniohcd " Jurors and the people" to obey
and which now, in our day, has lent IFS
sanction to the unuttcrIhie atrocity Of the
Fugitive Slave Bill. (LQng-coutinucd op-
plausc, and three cheers for S0nncr.)
How TO JoIS TIE KNOW NoTUINGs.-
The Amesbury Mass.l ViIla@er tells tt good
story Of an exceedingly anxious individual,
who was "most crazy" to obtain some ac-
count of the Know NothingS lie was told
by Il wag one day last week, that ifho would
come out to - that night at ten o'clock,
and advance fourteen PAGES into the barn, he
would there find a party TO initiate him in
due form into the mysterious order. The
proposition ''took, ard he accordingly went
to the place at the time appointed; he had
scarcely entered, however, When he was Sa-
lutcd with most unccrcmonious grip" in
the rear, which caused him to vacatc the
premises in quick time, leaving part of
his climber garments in the teeth of care
ful Watchdog, whose owner had given him
the cuphonious title of " Know Nothing"