The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-11-20
BALTIMORE.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20. 1858.

Whom the District Court of the UNITED STATES,
coma weeks ago was called on to adjudicate case
Of violence. committed within the jurisdiction of
tbe Federal Government, upon the site of the Post
Office buildings, it was quite singular that the tri-
bnna itself should have been compelled to hold its
own sessions in an edifce belonging to private in
dividuals, and upon ground subject to the exclu-
sive jurisdiction of the State of Maryland. On the
18th of August 1856, an absolute appropriation of
two hundred thousand dollars was made, by Con-
GROSS ITO enable the President to procure and pay
t.f9r d site for a building for the accommodation
a,f the UNITED STATES Courts in the City of Balt-
s,rnore, and to erect thereon fre-proof building
tfor such purpose on such plan as the President
'.may approve" Why it is, that two whole years
should have elapsed, without a single practical
step having been taken towards an Improvement
which has, for so long, been a matter of the last
necessity to the judicial authorities and the people
of this Federal District, it is very difficult to i'm
agine. The act of Congress imposed a duty, at
the same time that it conferred power, and it
surely was never contemplated, by the National
LEGISLATURE, that the execution of work so essen
tia to the dignity of the Government the con-
veuience and decorum of its tribunals, and the
accommodation of their officers and suitors
should be indefinitely suspended, at the Executive
discretion Our attention has more than once
been called TO the subject before but it is particu-
larry suggested to Us, now, by the spectacle which
the building used by the Federal Courts at this
moment exhibits. The Court-room--itself un-
suitable and inconvenient enough-being in the
Of &c Ind no =
ing with jury, the regular docket of the Circuit
Court, the venerable CHEF JUSTICE of the UNITED
STATES is forced, for the hearing of Admiralty
Appeals, into a comfortless chamber, adjoining
the Courtroom, which is used indiscrim-
naely likewise as a Grand Jury room and
Clerks Office. There, without any Of
the commonest appliances of personal COM
fort or judicial respect-subject to momentary
interruption of every sort-the first law officer of
the nation, second only in official dignity and
station to the President of the United States
himself--s compelled 10 sit, from day to day, in
the discharge of one of the most important and in
terestng of his public duties. 1t is utterly dis
paraging to the Federal government that such
thing should be- and its continuation should not
be tolerated. There is no excuse or paliation for
it, and least of ALL in the face of the ample provi
sion which Congress, after long years of unbe-
coming and vexatous delay, at last was shamed
into making. There must be suitable sites enough
for the purpose, easily to be found by the exercise
of ordinary diligence, and if one should not be
satisfactory, there can be no difficulty in falling
upon others that are Happily, the Federal
Judiciary is yet independent of those accessories,
upon which others less elevated are compelled,
more or less, to rely for public respect. But, as
matter of right and justice-of decorum and policy
the Courts of the Union should not be dispar-
aged by any neglect of what is due, through them,
to the majesty of the people whose laws they ad-
minister and whose most permanent representatives
they are.
In Washington, the Executive Offices are stately
with colonnades and porticoes. The newspapers
have been jubilant too, of late, over the noble
balUstrades and stairways the precious marbles
and the gorgeous frescoes of the capitol extension
Around the honorable gentlemen whose talk is
OF bleeding Kansas and Lecompton, there are all
the appliances Of luxury and the prodigalites of
art. Is this BECAUSE from their peculiar refine
ment, they are able TO appreciate them better than
the rest of the public servants-or because they
are wise in their generation and take care of them
selves-or because the Executive has an eye to
the main chance likewise, and is careful 10 see
that appropriations are expended first, for the
benefit of those who will be pleased with them
and be grateful? These are questions for those
who understand better than We, the mysteries of
the Hobbies and the White House. Perhaps, if we
were more enlightened, we might be better able
to understand, why federal judge should be
compelled to administer justice, where Depart
ment clerk would not condescend to sit, or a
member of Congress be willing to put his feet on
the chairs