Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-06-20
cHzEF JUS7ToE PARsoMg Az.

LIE CALIOAL4fh DIN K
Some days since the bar of-North
Carolina, moved thereto by adesire to
conserve the dignity and purity of the
judiciary, presented the following pro-
test against the alleged partisan con-
duct of the newly elected Judges of
the Supreme Court of that Slater
active and open participation in the
strife of political contests by any Judge of
the State, so far as we recollect, or tradi-
ton or history has informed us, was I'M
known to,the people until the late exhibit
tions. To say that these were wholly un-
expected, and that a prediction of them,
by. the wisest amonst us, wouldhave been
spurned as incredible, RyOuld not express
half of u astonishment, or the painful
shock suffered by our feelings when We
saw the humiliating fact accomplished.
Not only did we not anticipate 1t, but
thought ii was impossible to be done in
our day. Munyon's have passedthrough
political times almost as exciting as those
of to-day, and most of us, recently,
through one more excited; but never be-
fore nave we seen the Judges of the SUI
preme Court, singly OF en- nlGSSe, moved
from that becoming propriety so indispen-
sable to ecure the respect of the people,
and throwing aside the ermine, rush into
the mad contest of politics under the eX-
element of drums and flags. From the
unerring lessons of the past we are as
sured that a Judge who openly and pub
hcly displays his party zeal, renders him
self unfit to hold the balance OF justice,"
and that whenever an occasion may offer
to serve his fellow-partisans, he viii yield
to the temptation and the watering
balance y will shake. ltE
1t is a natural weakness in ina that he
who warmly and publicly identifies him
self with a political party, viii be tempted
to uphold the party which uphOlds him,
and all experience teaches ms that a par
tisan Judge cannot be safely trusted to
| settle the great principles OF a political
| Constitution while he reads and studies
the book of its Laws under the banners of
Unwilling that eur silence should be
construed into an Indifference to the hui
initiating spectacle now passing around
us; Influenced solely by a spirit of love
and veneration for the past purity which
has distinguished the administration Of
the law in State, animated by the
hope that the voice of the bar of North
| Carolina viii not be powerless 10 avert
| the pernicious example which we have
denounced, and to repress its contagious
influence, we have, under a sense of SOL
emn duty, subscribed n published this
paper. 3 20 E-. .al.a -
This judicious, sensible and we'll
timed document was signed by one
hundred and eight of the leading law
yers of the old North State, men every
way the equals and peers of the mem
bers of the Supreme bench; a fact that
excited to an unusual degreethe anger
of the gentlemen whose unseemlycOn-
duct called it forth, and who, though
not named in it, felt its force and
acknowledged its effect through Chief
Justice PARSONS, who on the Sthinst.
ordered the Clerk of the Supreme
Court to inquire and report such per-
sons as practiced in that Court, whose
names appeared among the signers of
it. 10 this the Clerk made answer re-
porting the following gentlemen :
Messrs. B. F. Moore, f. G. Haywood,
Thomas Bragg, Sion H. Rogers, Jos.
B. Bachelor, a. S. Merriman, H. A.
Gillian, C. NJ. BusbeP, VIM. Eaton,
jr., f. Conigland, G. V. Strong, j. F.
Wooten, John Hughes. Richard w.
York, W. A. jenkins, VIM. X. Bar
ham, Asa Biggs, t. j. Jarvis, c. c.
Clark, Win. T. Dortch, T. B. Venable,
John Kerr, z. B. Vance, Joseph j.
Davis and f. j. Warren.
Upon procuring this list, PARSONS
ordered "that the attorneys named
in said report be disabled from here
after appearing as attorneys or cO1m-
seH0rs IN this court, unless they shall
severally appear on the 18th of June,
1869, and show cause to the contrary
The gentlemen, it is stated, who Were
present left the courtroom in Il
body, thus dignifiedly r~esenting the
petty tyranny of a court that justified,
thereby, every word of a protest that
will become as historic as the DECLARE
ton of MeckIenburgh. 1t is a merited,
as well as singing rebuke, that willb
felt, not alone by the partizan judges
of North Carolina, but by those OF
Tennessee and other States, where the
ermine has been trailed in the filth OF
party mire. PARSONS is as COM
pletely stamped with public Odium as
ever was NORBURY or others of the
base and supple tools of English YEA
geance in Ireland. He first furnishes
occasion for the protest and afterwards
confirmed the wisdom of it by a base
ness that exceeds the results ii was
destined to prevent. An honor to the
Bar of North Carolina. They are
worthy of their high calling, and
worthy the confidence Of Il people
who look to them TO stand as q
"stonewall" against the encroach.
ments of despotic power.