Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1857-02-13
FT me Enquirer.
TO THE VOTERS OF THE EIGHTH JUDI
CIAL CIRCUIT.

| FOT me Enquirer.
TO THE VOTERS OF THE EIGHTH JUDI
CIAL CIRCUIT.
AYrginan. residn. far from your circuit, yet feel
ing deep interest, in the welfare Oi every portion o
his mother Stateand especially in the due working OF
her judiciary system begs to suggest few thoughts
which, he hopes, may be Of use TO you in your pre-.
sent critical condition. Removed he s, from the
divisions and feuds whch may exs: among you, he
Is at least disneresed witness and hatters himself
tist it he does not speak with wisdom, he will at
least do 80 with truth and sincerity
II every portion OF the government works we'll and
your judicial circuit should be afflicted with an in .
competent Judge, lhe blessings ot practical, con.
servative, good government will be lost to you. The
most of you are farmers. To what end would be,
make good crop and after housing il, leave the
keys in uutrusty hands The Judiciary is the store
house OF your rights of person, property and chsac.
| ter; ot what will they be, II the judge who Is
the keeper of the key, unlocks and gives out unduy
or trusts those keys To improper hands You are
very well or very badly off. Very we'll, indeed; much
better dare say, than the same extent of territory
in the known world if you really possess ten ht per-
Sons, for the vacant Office; very badly slarpngly so,
H. without the qualifications ten gentlemen or their
friends suppose them to be qualified. The due requi'
sites Of good Judge are embodied in Judge Lomas;
| you know what good Judge is and IN deciding on
the merits Of the candidates before you, you hav.
only to ask which of them resembles that Judge the
most! which OF them reminds you Inost OF him! For
| that man vote.
Of all things. don't elect maq inferior to the aver
age talented men of the bar over which he will pre-
slde-who knows less than they do, or has not az
much talent. They will fool him out of the law when
it ls against them, and turn and twist him about as II
he toy in their hands. You who are to be the
cliens, those who will suffer. Suppose regiment
going to battle in which the privates had more know
| ledge of than their colonel, would II not be III
danger OF being whipped Suppose the boys at school
knew more than their teacher, could he teach them
| anything! Suppose your negroes knew more OF
making crop than the overseer. would you not be
alarmed about your bread7 The absurdity is as
great and the danger may be as important in having
Judge inferior TO his bar. You 10 be the sufferers
and the only ones. 1t makes but little difference with
the lawyer how the case may go his Tee is generally
safe but to you the suitors who 10 pay the cost
and lose the property, it makes very serious affair
The price of good and bad Judge is just the same.
Now farmers, would you hesitate at the same price,
in taking able, active, powerful horse in prefer
ence to a pony, slabsided, spawned and blind
Nowadays, very curious interest has grown up
among the lawyers-one directly opposed TO that OF
their clients-and they are making good deal o mo.
ney out OF it. will expsin it The Dlstrict Courts
embrace two circuits from which appeals lay. case
is for trial before Ounce in the Circuit Court; the
law is either for the plaintiff or defendant talented
lawyer the side which has the law, knows 1t very
well, but when the case comes for trial 'he rides
jockey as the racers say; he won't tell the Judge
all he knows about the law aud won't try 10 make
him understand what he does tell him-and, tell
you, it is no easy job for lawyer to teach bard law
to Ounce, even if he s called Judge. The conse-
quence is, that by keeping the law back the Judge
decides against hm-eIacily what he wishes him TO
do He meets his poor client. who hears with beat
ing heart and wet eyes, that his home has been taken
from him. or that he has lost debt which will beggar
himself his wife and twin babies or that the paper he
claims all his slaves under, is really not his fathers
will The lawyer finds him in the very mood he &c.
sres-a fine subject for rextortonand after the usua!
appliances OF pity at his bad luck, ells him well, the
case has been decided against you did all could
for you; the judge of course knows the law great
deal better than do; spose he must be right, and
could not advise you TO spend any more money on
this case but as your living and that of your family
depends on your success, aud as the Judge may OF
wrong-for all of us the wisest, are, at times,
liable to err-l will get an appeal for you, If can, to
the District Court; if succeed, you must give me
haf-if fail, though it is very hard TO work for no.
thing and find myself, will make no charge" Ine
client, poor fellow, really thinks there s reason and
kindness in all this. The case must be very bad
one, for Judge Dolt, for whom ele'tioneered ana
treated or Judge Ounce, whom pulled in the papers
and voted for very sound Wing, certainly would
not have decided the a. he has DONE unless THE
law was against mo orvery near beng 20. lie agrees
10 the proposH!; the goes up; the COUNSEL VINO
before thought the case against him, opens in tri
umphant manner, defying oil answer to the plain law
in favor Of his client, and really the case Is so PLAIN
that no answer can be- made. SO much Tor having
Judge Dot or Judge Ounce in the Circuit Court
This poor client pays one nan o, ;ne PROP. hnr N, u IN
fact with an able Judge in the Court below 1t never
would have been necessary to carry II up.
II has become common saying among lawyers
practising in Circuit, with good Judge, I'VE cant
make anything in our Circut-our Judge 10 too able
a man. he knows the law too well-there is no use In
appealing from his decisions, they can't be reversed
But in the adjoining Circuit where they nave
Judge Shsliowpate TO prerde, the law is fortune;
they are certain in every case OF imporanee 10 nave
two feee one below. and in the Circuit Court, and
one of these big.bsed fees in the Circuit Court, l.
rs large as a whole litter OF the others Ihe law
yers do and will make money out OF these weak
Judges rather out Of you, the sultors through the'r
ignorance.
No. have Judge like LomaI before whom his
bar felt inferorty-whose countenance lighted up
bench and bar by its mingled rays OF Intellect and IN
tegrity-to whose decisions counsel and suors sub
mit,ei cheerfully and confidently. Have q nan moi
TO be baed by ingenuity nor suppression ot the law
but no is lawyer enough 10 know the law, though
the eide which it lays has no counsel ut all to e1
hibit it.
| presume you will have but little chance OF apply
ing the following teste 10 the candidates before you
though it is very good one, as l presume, III you:
Circuit but few appeals have been taken to the Dis
succeeds in them shows knowledge of his profss
sou and If he be man having other requisites, oug
to be preferred Judge. The counsel OF the appellee
il on the defensive he is obliged TO fight whether he
wills or not but the counsel OF the appellant waSes
the war and afiirms that he can conquer, and he
generally does 80, il is high evidence OF his ability.
Lawyers understand the qualifications of candi
dates better than any other class of the people, tor the
same that Doctor is the best Judge OF dis,
ease-a farmer of cropping and blacksmith o;
iron. 1t is disparagement OF others to say this
il is not saying that lawyers have more sense
than others, but only that they understand
;heir own business better than = others. o. Inc
s..cancv has occurrrd il not the one to be re-
lied on They then have thousand private and Sc
cret ends TO attain-hopes to gIat'fyIenmltes I"
/ satisfy, and rvalres 10 consult. Who, by the Ia"
vers, before it was known that Judge Lomax intend
cd TO rssipn was thought the ablest in his pro-
| fessionl Mark that man
! You ought ~ remember that you are about to EN-
pIoy al agent to do jnb-a great many jobs OF the
utmost importance you and it may be To your helrs
forever. DO it by the same prudent rules by which
YOU employ q tailor or blacksmith, that Is, get the
man who will do You she most faithful job. One Gle
ment of selecting them, however, is here removed,
! for the price is JUST tho same. Judge Lomax and
Judge Noodle H. Pate, by the law, cost you the same
in the way of salary, but the cost of the damage
which the last may do may be worth all the salaries
that all the LomaIrs ever received Now, III getlhg
tailor, if he were good one he would have certain
marks and signs about him, winch ~oud 30 10 sno"
how long and laborousy he had attended to bis bu'
siness; his finger and thumb stuck in holes hs coun,
tcnance wan and pale with the sedentary nature OF
/ his trade. The blacksmith would show STOUT arms
: burns about his face and hands and sooty lace
/ These signs would by means turn you from them
in disgust, and induce you to employ those who did
I not have them. On the contrary, you would look to
them as evidences Of industry, hard aud continued
toll, which alone could have made them good work
men. Every profession has lett its marks on those
who have diligently followed it, and made Themselves
able in it, man is no lawyer by mere instinct; be
il not born one; he must become one by study, toll
labor and that for many years together. lIs mus,
deny himself many Of the pleasures Of life. II.
must toll in his chair in court by day, fasting
thinking, reading, writing speaking, and sit solitary
and secluded by night long after nature calls him tC
Sleep when the world has sunk to slumber, his only
companions being his book and his candle. Now
these things will leave their marks him, as was
done on the tailor and blacksmith. He will becom,
ensciated lesn diseased silent retiring, thoughtful
and awkward in manner. He would not have &C
auired the knowledge he has, without contracting
the1e marks. They the signs Of his success, o
his qualifications and, without them, he would no