The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-07
The illegal NatuIaliZations in the
Supreme Court.

supreme Court
WE present elsewhere the protest addressed
by Judge Read Of the Supreme Court to CHIEF
Justice Thompson. After reviewing the i'm
pediments which have been thrown in the
way of those who desired to give publicity to
the names Of those who have been naturalized
by the court presided over by Judge Shars-
wood, Judge Read proceeds to compare the
regulations adopted by his colleague with
those enforced in the other courts Of the
county and State. He states that in the Court
of Quarter Sessions, every petition is
approved and signed by the Judge before
the certificate Of naturalization is authorized
to be issued by the Prothonotary; that SINH
lar course is pursued in the Court of Common
Pleas; and that in the District Court each ap
plicant and voucher is interrogated by the
Judge in person. Judge Read presents table
showing that the total naturaliz atoms in these
three Courts since the first OF September num-
bered about 300 only; while in the Supreme
Court alone, with but one judge to conduct
the proceedings, the number reached total
Of over 5000 during the same period
The reason for this inequality in the amount
of labor performed by the respective courts
consists in the fact brought out by Judge
Read that all the requirements of the law and
all the dictates Of common prudence are OBJ
served in the Quarter Sessions, Common
Pleas, and District Courts, while in the Su-
preme Court they are all set utterly at defiance!
AS Judge Read declares, in the latter tribunal
'The whole practical part ef naturalization as en-
trusted to t,Oo tipstaves," instead of being
clothed with the solemuites of grave judicial
proceeding, as required by the acts of Con-
gress regulating the matter.
For these conclusive reasons Judge Read,
having consulted Judges Agnew and Williams,
emphatioally declares:-
I'VE all three regard the practice of ,,aturali
cation pursued in the NiSt PriuS hOOeUer old
by sOhateuer Judges sanctioned, as cJntrtry 10 The
pain ,oords Of the acts Of ComsreSs, and as there
fore illegal"
Judge Williams has not yet taken the oath
of Office, but Judge Read states that "this OiH
be the opinion of majority of the Judges Of the
Sup, eme Court" as soon as the new member is
fully installed.
Unfortunately, the court in banc having
risen in July last, without an order of adjourn
ment, a full bench cannot, in the present state
lar term, which is set down for the 18th of the
present month, at Pittsburg. This circumstance
will prevent the matter from being brought
before full bench until after the State elec-
tion, when the votes of the 60lS persons who
have been Illegally naturalized will
have been deposited in the bal
lot-boxes, unless some means can
be devised whereby the perpetration o
such gross and infamous fraud can be pre-
vented. There would appear to be but one
course open for those who favor the strict en-
forcement of the law and the preservation Of
the purity of the elective franchise. The
District Attorney is the law officer Of
this county, and by his opin-
ion, in the absence of a regular
decisions of the Court of highest resort, the
executive officers of the Commonwealth are
governed. 1t therefore falls mithin his province
TO advise the election officers of the HegaLity of
hese pretended naturalization certificates, and to
instruct them to refuse the ballot Of every person
who attempts to oote on papers obtained in the
manner practicei in the Supreme Court.
We earnestly call the attention of the
District Attorney to the subject, and urge
upon him to give it careful consideration and
prompt action. In this way, and in this
way alone, can the perpetraton of the grossest
fraud upon the rights of free people be pre-
vented.