The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-08
Thompson Responds.

Thompson Responds.
The Age this morning commences to call hard
names on the very first line OF its editorial
page. Judge Read is likened to ga vile bird"
in rare sentence which laments the fact that
ga partisan Judge descends from his eminence
to assail the integrity of the records Of the
court of which he is a member" But the
Age has nothing to say about partisan Judge
who leaped over the counter and benches in
front OF him in his eager haste to get into the
witness box, and then swore point-bl and
without moments hesitancy, that a certain
signature was not that of the man who sat
trembling in front OF him confessing his ina
bility to say the same himself Perhaps the
fact that James Ross Snowden, the Prothono-
tary, is the brother -in-law of James Thomp-
So the Chief Justice, may be palliating cir
cumstance, and tend to detract materially
from the indecency which attaches to the
acrobatic feat of the latter, when viewed solely
from the standpoint of the proprieties Of
judicial life.
Be that as it may If Judge Read had, in
truth, descended from his emnence to assail
the integrity of the records of the court of
which he is a member, his action would in
deed have been grossly partisan, and justly
censurable on more grounds than one. Bat
the statutes of the State are so framed that
the Supreme Court cannot come together in
banc until week after an infamous fraud
upon the rights and liberties of free peo-
pie may perchauce be fully consumated.
But the rights and liberties of the people are
not alone involved in this matter. The honor
and dignity of our highest judicial tribunal,
which has heretofore ranked as among the
purest in the land, have likewise been assailed,
and that through the connivance of two of its
members. AS Judge Read has incontestably
shown, the judicial labors of the court
have been turned over to two tip
slaves, the law of the land set at utter
defiance, and the rights of the people most
wantonly attacked. The sanctuary of justice
has been profaned with wholesale perjury, no
longer matter of mere presumption, but
now clearly established by the voluntary con-
fession of one of the men who have been guilty
of the heinous crime. II the presiding judge
had pursued course in conformity with the
law and the practice in other courts, this out
rage would have been impossible. By his
negligence and connivsnoe alone was it rem
dered possible; and as soon as it was brought
to his attention and that of his Democratic
colleague, the Chief Justice, 1t was fully en-
dorsed by them, no effort being made even to
inquire into the facts involved. By this
course, so openly defiant of law and justice,
the two Democratic judges made it absolutely
ecessary that the remaining members of the
court should protest in the most solemn man
ner against the whole proceeding.
In response to that protest the Chief Justice
has written letter. which we publish else
where. AS the Age confesses this morning,
its most striking feature is its Careful abste-
miousness from referring to the particular
facts of the case" The facts of the case are,
indeed, incontestable, and in avoiding any
reference to them the Chief Justice displays
more wisdom than he usually does. He
affects to regard the letter of Judge Read, with
the endorsement and concurrence of judges
Agnew and Williams, as purely extra.judi
cal proceeding, and yet declines to meet any
of its allegations in an extra-judicial way.
nhu Oil shisj ioisoothJ poOouoo VI LIS uiSu
sense Of propriety When James Thompson,
brother-in-law Of James Ross Snowden, and an
undisguised champion of the Hampton Demo
cracy, talks about judicial propriety, his
Righteousness becomes go broad and
open that the whole community is
convulsed with laughter at his rare judicial
tact in putting and po hitting frst-class joke.
Aside from this careful and laborious lecture
upon the proprieties of judicial life, the re-
sponse of the Chief Justice is empty and void,
and, therefore, contains nothing which de-
mands further notice at our hands.
The simple fact remains that three of the
judges of the highest judicial tribunal of the
Commonwealth have entered solemn protest
against the illegal and unwarrantable proceed
ings of the two who constitute the Democratic
minority. This much they could do at pre-
sent, and nothing more. For acting so promptly
they have merited and received the heartfelt
thanks of the people, who will await in pa
tience the day when they can enforce this
protest, and prevent the consummation of the
gross fraud which two partisan judges have
attempted to perpetrate in the interest of pro
slavery Democracy.
How FAR the efforts made to arrest the
scheme to prevent fair expression Of the
sentiments OF the legal voters of Pennsylvania
by the circulation of fraudulent naturaliz alton
mill