Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-04-24

of what he wds, when he ran against
Wines for the Legislature, might
prevent it from mixing with him TO
any alarming EXTENT. 1t is liberal,
eclectic, progressive. s~ Up
on its face we see i'm letters which all
the world may read-'Peace, Progress
and Public Education" Now, we
put IL to our readers whether they
ever saw or read of such an animal
before. The gorilla is nothing to it.
If Mr.. PETER could capture it and sell
IL to travelling menagerie, he and
the menagerie both would make an
everlasting fortune.
But the idea which was intended
TO be conveyed by all this mess of
nonsense 1--WE ask Mr.. Peffer's pardon,
we mean no disrespect), seems to be
that If you want the law expOunded
or the constitution construed, you
ought to have one of these progress
ive Judges, who will not stop to in
quire what the iduO maker intended,
but what the spirit of progress de-
mands, and although no such idea
ever entered the heads of its authors,
the constitution shall be made to
mean whatever is required and
moulded into any desired shape by
the plastic hand of one of these Glib
eral, eclectic and progressive" Judges.
For instance, Lauck was liberal, &C.
lectic and progressive when he de-
cided that five school directors were
an incorporated town, and thus ex-
posed five of our worthy citizens to
the danger of being laid off into lots,
and sold to the highest bidder, through
mistake, by those enterprising real
estate agents, Mallory u Jones.
Now, we have a fancy that if a
philosophical and neutrality-suspicious.,
who is at the same time liberal, &C.
Iectic and progressive, should find his
way upon the Bench, we would have
a Court fully competent to settle for
ever the long mooted question as to
whether popular elections should be
decided by internal suggestions or the
bias of jurisprudence, and we call up
on Mr.. PETER to state how he stand:
upon this question. If he thinks
"internal suggestions" land we arr
afraid he does have anything to d,
with it, we can not support him bu
if he will come out boldly in favor o
the "bias of Jurisprudence" we will
think about 1t, although heintimate
in his card that any man who is no
Republican will be acting yer,
much out of the line of his duty t
vote for him-an opinion, by the way
in which he will find more of til
people of this country willing to agre
with him than any he has ever befor
advanced.
But Mr.. PETER must really eXcus
us. His ideas upon this subject ar
entirely too loose, uncertain and mel
ulous to suit us. We want no Judg
upon the Bench who, in construin
the constitution, or any other law
will discard or ignore the cardinal rul
: in the Interpretation of all laws-tt
wit: the intention of The idtU make,
| and substitute therefor what he think
the law maker ought to have done,
properly imbued with the spirit
progress. Such man upon I'll
Bench would be extremely dangerou
In his hands the organic law woul
be as brittle as a pipe stem and broke
Z to pieces by him with as little con
: junction of conscience. Upon Il
= political questions, a party CONVEX
ton would answer as well rs his j.
Co. dicial opinion.
+ We want no man upon the Benc
c who has so little respect for the pr
i prieties of the position, that in ord
" to rally his partisan friends arour
II him, proclaims that politics ought
g control Judicial elections, and that
Ic does not expect the votes of any b.
his party friends.
i Let the people of this Circuit me
n and select man for whom men
IS al parties will feel safe in voting
- man who, whatever may be his po
D, ties, when he takes his seat with
u the hallowed temple of justice, W
l. do so rs misrepresentation of no part
J. but rs the representative alone
Justice and her eternal principles.