Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-07-28
Convention,

our present Constitution, convened under
peculiar circumstances. We were then
under military rule-were "out OF the
Union; and our people were anxious TO
restore their relations with the United
States. The Convention was called by
military order issued by a General OF the
United States. TIE occasion was such
that but few repres natives of the sober,
industrious men of the State were in that
Convention. The result was that sys
tenn OF government was devised lll-adapt-
ed,to the requirements of our people. We
are a poor people, and therefore need the
most mex pensive style of government. We
are blunt, honest folks, aud therefore pre-
fer a sim pie form of government which all
can be familiar with. We wish all of our
public business transacted in such man
ner that every one Interested may under
stand "the why and the wherefore" In
stead of the Constitution establishing
simple and economical form of govern
meut it gave us a complex one-hard Tor
the best of us to understand, and in some
degree entirely impracticable and far
fro M being economical like the system it
superseded, it is magnificent and splen-
did concern. a itch people can afford
magnificence in their arrangements, but
our wants and condition require us to cur
tail every useless expenditure. The Jstsm
inaugurAted by the Constitution IS the
New York system and may answer good
purpose in that densely populated State,
but is entirely Incompatible with the needs
of our people.
In the first place it destroyed the old
County Courts" which were, in truth,
the peoples Courts, where justice was ex-
peditiously, cheaply and we'll administered,
and where the forms and method OF pro-
ceeding were SO simple that every intelli-
gent citizen could readily understand the
management of county affairs, and could
easily become acquainted with the prin-
Clip es on which are based the laws of his
country. Indeed, these Courts were
schools in which the young men of the
State from time inmemorial had been
trained to venerate the Law, to love liberty,
and to prepare themselves for the admin
istration of public affairs. They combined
j~~~AO~J
with quarter sessions, which brought the
people together at stated times, and were
a great convenience to the citizen in the
transaction of his private as well as pubic
business. In their place the new Constr
tuition established Boards OF Comm1s-
sioners to attend to county matters, and
a novel but expensive concern with power
40 fho
The latter sits. as it were, in private
session; apprentices children, grants letters
of administration, makes guardians and
unmakes them at its discretion, at all
hours, and not uufr equently, perhaps.
transact these important matters without
that consideration which they would COM
mand if they were to be arranged in term
time before the public. The Court being
perpetually open, and the summons
having no stated periods for their return,
parties to suits are obliged to pay unre-
uniting attention to their cases. and if one
should have should in Court unnecessary
time must be consumed in attendance on
divers days, rendering the system ex-
tremely expensive and obnoxious to the
people.
Bat so oppressive is this last feature of
this iuiquity that even the Republican
party, which transplanted it from the
North, have continually kept it partially
suspended and imperative, by which they
have failed to c ,rry olt the provisions of
their ill devised Constitution. The result,
as might have been forseen, is confusion
ho Iox
being frequently ignorant of the proper
mode of procedure.
And yet the worse part of this system is,
that to render it perfectly harmonious,
there should be Superior Court Judge for
each county in the State-a necessity that
would entail still greater burdens upon our |
impoverished people.
1t is, therefore, univ ersally conceded by |
the thinking men of all parties that this
new-fangled Judicial system is so utterly /
at variance with the requirements and the
condition of our people that it should be
at once entirely abolished.
AS parcel of the same system, we have
the way from New York-where the most
eminent lawyers and patriots agree in con-
demuing it, as highly burdensome and OPP
pressive. However, the most oppressive
and useless of the innovations fastened on
rs by the new Constitution, is the division
Of the counties into insignificant corpora
ions kno wn as Townships. governed by
Trustees with powers to tax at pleasure.
What good they were intended to accom-
olish we cannot tell but what harm they
fleet We know to our cost. Ii
An unnecessary expense to the people, IL