Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-06-19
A POLITICAL JUDIIIAKY

men the ermine OF The Judge is
dragged persistently in the mire Of
politics, the administration of JUS
tee speedily becomes subordinate
to the passions and prejudices of
party. We have a notable instance
OF this in North Carolina, where the
Judges of the Supreme Court have
carried their political partisanship
TO such lengths, that no less than
one hundred and eight of the lead
ing members of the bar of that
State have solemnly protested
against the disreputable spectacle.
They say: .-...- ..
" Never before have We seen the
Judges of the Supreme Court, sing
~ or en- m1dSSe, moved from that
becoming propriety so indispensa-
Die to secure the respect of the
people, and throwing aside the er-
mine, rush into the mad contest of
politics under the excitement of
drums and flags. From the unerr-
ing lessons of the past we are ass
sured, that a judge who openly and
publicly displays his political party
zeal, renders himself unfit to hold
the balance of Justice and that
whenever an occasion may offer to
serve his fellow partisan, he will
yield to the temptation and the
'wavering balance will shake"
K Unwilling that
our silence should be cons
strued into an Indifference to the
humiliating spectacle now passing
around us; influenced solely by
spirit of love and veneration fer
the past purity which has distin-
guished the administration of the
law in our State, and animated by
the hope that the voice of the bar
of North Carolina will not be pow
erless to avert the pernicious ex~
ample which We have denounced,
and TO repress its contagious infiu-
ence, we have, under sense of sol
emn duty, subscribed and published
this paper" areeH.. .aE1
Indignant at this bold and manly
rebuke, the Judges in question,
through Judge Pearson, ordered,
on Tuesday last, that all the attor-
neys practising in the Supreme
Court, whose names are appended
to the protest, "be disabled from
hereafter appearing as attorneys or
counseliors in the court, unless they
shall seyerally appear on the 18th
of June, 1869, and show cause to
the contrary"
1t has come then to this pass
either the protesting members of the
bar must purge themselves of an act
which the incriminated Judges as
sumo TO be contempt of court, ="
Z or they must submit to be "dis-
barred" .....
For the whole of the past week,
the twenty five gentlemen affected
by the order Of the court, have not
been allowed to appear in the cases
in which they are engaged. BY this
outrageous proceeding, the court
first undertakes to punish them, and
then fixes a day to hear their de-
fence. But the injury done to these
attorneys and their clients is but a
trivial matter, compared with the
indecent and .high-handed course
which this court hes dared to pur-
sun. AS citizens of North Carolina,
the gentlemen in question had q
right TO protest against the degrade.
ton into which the courts of the
State had fallen. AS officers of these
courts, they had the right to de-
nOunce openly the disreputable con.
ductof any judge. Never until these
degenerate days, has any man in
this country been arbitrarily pun
ished for commenting publicly upor
the shortcomings of public men
There has been too long and toe
general an acqmescence in the mis-
cradle insults and expressions
which the emissaries of the Radica
party are heaping upon the South
and we hope the people of Nortl
Carolina will oppose to this last out
rage such active or passive resis
lance as it may be in their'power T.
offer, DO the consequences what the
may.