The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1858-09-24
FICTION OF JUDGES BY THE PEOPLE.
rvrotn the Nashville Bannefl

ur Editor:-I noticed recently an article
:. ,bs Union aud American, upon the subject
# eIecting Judges oy the people, in which
a. conaeity Of the people for selfgoyern-
msr, 4 yindicated, and federal or Know
Nothing principles are aseribed to thc oppo
nonts Of our present system Of eeeting our
Judiciary. II seems to me that the editor OF
tbe Union and American has failed to per-
ceive. or at least, failed to notice one OF the
most formidable objections to the system in
question. All that he says about the eapaci
" of the people to goverr themselves. is but
the restatement Of propositions that nobody
denies. Conceding, then, that the people are
entirely capable Of governing themselves
that they will make as good. for the sake of
the argument better selections than the Legs.
Iature. and our present mode Of electing
Judges still fails to commend itself to the
friends of an ineorruptible and independent
Judiciary. ANY plan of election that tends
IN embarrass our Judges in the discharge Of
their responsible duties, or to impair the con
fdence OF the people in their integrity, is IA
tally and lamentably defective. A Judiciary
that is not Independent may be farce. an
engine of oppression, or form, but an i'm
martial dispenser of evenhanded justice to
rich and poor, great and small it certainly is
not After the people have elected good
lawyer to the bench, is he in condition as
favorable TO correct discharge Of his duties,
as if he had been elected by the Legisaturei
Suppose he has won his election at the end
of an exciting, 1t may be bitter, contest,
whose causes are to be tried before hint His
ardent friends and determined opponents
come alike before his bar for Judgment with
suits affecting their lives, liberties, property
and regulations. He has carried with him
on the bench, necessarily thousands of obi
acknowledgements of animosities or unpleas
ant "reminiscences, fresh in his mind and warm
in his heart. lie is to dispense justice TO the
very people who have engendered those feel.
ings. Can a Judge, thus clrcumstanced, have
mind as free to act be in a situation as pro.
pitous to rigid snd impartial administra
ton of the law, as If he had received his APP
pointment from another poweri And sup
pose he dreams of second terni-will this
have no effect upon hint | know il may be
said that an honest man will discharge his
duty at all hazards. We must take human
nature as we find it. 1t is idle to suppose
that by elevating man to the bench, you
thereby dlvest HIM of all the motives that
usually govern men. and render him imper-
vious to all the influences that operate in
moulding human conduct and directing hu-
man action. a..- -... ..
To say the very best that can be said for
to deviate, and opens field to the man of
low moral principles fearful to contemplate.
LEAD us not into temptation, but deliver us
from evil" is a prayer that the most exalted
human virtue need not blush to breathe
Not disposed to question, indeed, cheerfuly
admit that the people are as well qualified to
select the Judges of our inferior Courts, as
the Legislature; but cannot admit that they
are SO well qualified to elect our Supreme
Judges, for the plain reason that, as general
thing, they have no means OF aseerta'ning
the qualifications of the candidates FOR that
position. Three fourths of the voting popu-
lation in Tennessee are in total Ignorance OF
even the names of the profoundest lawyers
in the State, and necessarily SO. A large ma.
iority of the people of the State are engaged
in agriculture and other pursuits, which do
not lead them to an acquaintance with such
matters and they are uhprepared, in eonse-
quence. to vote inteligibly in such an eec
tion-not because they are incapable OF self
government, but simply because they are
called upon to vote in a contest, the merits
Of which the, do not understand and have
had no means of ascertaining. In our last
election fer Supreme Judge. heard the ques-
ton repeatedly asked Ivy intelligent farmers
--"how are we to know whom we ,rght to
vote fort" They said they knew nothing of
means Of knowing. Very true they could
have asked some lawyer. and in th,s way,
they might have ascertaned and voted the
LAWYERS choice, but not their own. This is
the reason the people do not vote in our
elections for Snpreme Judges. Now, II a
good Supreme Judge is elected under such
circumstances, it may be from chance, 1T may
be from some other cause, but it IS perfect
fooishness to aseribe il to the sagacity OF the
common understanding, for the masses. as
general thing, have staid at home without
knowledge of or interest in the subject.
The plain truth is, the people Of the, state
never desired that the election Of judges
should come before them. Demagogues going
ahead Of the popular voice clamored in the
unauthorized mans of the people for reform,
as they called it, and none Of the leading
men of either party having taken ground
against it--the question was not discussed
and the popular mird was not exercised and
enlightened upon the subject The Union
and American SAYS the bench OF the State
was never SO ably filled as at present. 1t
might be considered indelicate to deny the
correctness of this opinion, but will say, It
is a question on both sides Of which good
deal might be said, and on the negative side oil
which great deal is said by men whose OPP
portunities ought to enable them to form a
compare the ability Of our present Judiciary
with that Of former day before the light OF
the great reformation broke upon the state
must be permitted to say thai the people, to-
day have les reverence for courts ana less
confidence in judicial opinions than at any
former period, and he who has not noticed
in the operations of our present mode o.
electng Judges direct tendency to degrade
the Judiciary in public estimation, has been
a careless observer of passing events; and we
have not, as yet, in this State, tested tue
real beauties OF the system-it is IN It's ih'ah'
cy here. The people have treated the power
so unceremoniously thrust upon them win
such contempt, that they have not de'gheu
TO exercise i6. The Union and American AT
tempts to excuse the evident want OF inter,
est which the people manifest in our Jud'c'ai
elections, by saying that il was not known
that Judge Wright had a competitor low
was it when Judge Harris and Bullock ran
The result was the same-the polls were not
even opened in some of the most p,opulous,
towns IN the state. Yet the Union ana
American says "the people have resumed the
power of eleeting their Judges" II any man
can examinethe vote in the last two eiect,ons
for Supreme Judges, and keep his face straigh'
while reading the above line from the onion
and American, he has great control over MS
risible propensities-and # he will go shroug"
the country and hear the remarks Of the peo'
pie and witness their indifference during the
exercise of this "power"s which they nave