Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1858-10-27
AN ExrRA-JUDIcIAL oPINIoy.
From the Philadelphia Press.

There is nothing more graceful than grace
full submission to defeat. The true philoso-
pher is he who meets disaster with smiling
front. and goes into retirement without sigh
This lesson seems to have been lost upon the
highly distinguished gentleman who was a
candidate for Supreme Judge, in this State,
at the late election, and was badly beaten by
Hon. J ohm N. Read. We alude to the Hon.
William a. Porter, whose lettor to Governor
Packer, resigning his position upon the Su-
preme Bench, to which he had been appoint
ed by the Governor, we reprint in another
column. We are free TO say that, IN point oi
style and temper, it does Judge Porter no
credit. In the first place, il reflects upon
Governor Packer. Would it not have been
at least decorous for Judge Porter to have
held over, under the commission conferred by
the Governor in such manifest good faith, for
the very brief period remaining before Mr..
Read assumes the ermine Why this hot
haste to get rid of the judicial robes Sure
Is his clients would have waited little while
! longer in order 10 let his term close as proyi-
ded by law.
Judge Porter is not less unfortunate when
he says that whenever a judge can ssbc elected
by reason of his sentiments on any question
of politics, that moment the real power OF
the judicial Office will disappear. Then, the
Convention that nominated him did wrong in
taking him UP because be was Il Democrat,
ana III SO lar TcOuhcS theR Dui il!tI
Porter had sentiments on certain '.ques-
ton" He took care, in some places, to de-
clare his anti-LecomptoniSm: while IN others
he allowed himself TO be quoted as of re-
verse opinion, and was even content TO stand
on s.any platform in order TO get votes
Now, more remarkable than all, he allows
himself to say what is neither more nor less
than rebuke to those who, if trey sinned at
all, sinned only in standing where he proiessed
himself to stand. What else does he mean
when he speaks of those who '.remain in the
Democratic party TO do the work of disorgan-
ization 20 He may allude, indeed, to his
uncle, James Madison Porter, who ran as a
volunteer candidate for judge some years ago,
in the Monroe judicial district, or to his own
father. Ex-Governor Porter, who is known TO
oppose the regular nominations in the county
where he resides, whenever they do not please
him. lie did not suppose that the taunt at
the glorious Democracy, which refuses to en-
dorsc Lecompton, so many disorganiZers,
would react upon those so near TO him. That
Democracy may now how right they were
in distrusting Judge Porter, and we only re-
gret that he did not allow his real sentiments
to appear before instead of after the election.
Had he done this, the majority against him
would have been five times larger than ii is
Judge Porter is one of the last men to use
harsh language to any portion Of the Demo-
cratic party. He is the last man to set HIM
rendered any service 10 that party; has in
most cases refused TO subscribe to lis eSpcn-
ses was more than Indifferent to it in 1856 ;
and even now, while declaring that he obtain
ed the appointment of the Judgeship without
solicitation, and that he expected TO reach it
by election, without doing anything 20 pro-
mote his success, he forgets that he was in
consultation. with some of the most reck less
local partisans before he procured his nomina-
tion at Harrisburg, and that these partisans
acted under his lead.
Judge Porter makes allusion to his youth,
in his singular letter. 1t Will take him many
years to recover from the impression it will
make Oh the public mind. He has had full
share Of patronage, and he must not think
that he has any claim, either of family, or of
intellect, or of orthodoxy in matters OF faith,
to enttle him to the right OF holding Office,
or of denouncing those who do not think him
deserving of it. The days OF the Bourbons
OF politics are over in this State aud We re-
gret that so young man as Judge Porter
does not know II.