Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-10-13
From the Baltimore Gez 1T.
A PARTISAN JUDGE.

II was said, and wisely said, by the mes
illustrious man of ancient Rome. ths
Caesars wife must be above suspicion.
lt might be said, and ss wisely too. ths
the legal tribunals of the lsnd should b
| above suspicion. For the purity OF tn
ermine should be held scarcely less sacre
than the purity ct woman. They should
like twin sisters, go hand in hand an,
! every Inroad upon the one bs met ard re
pulsed with the same uuerripg certaiut
aud rigor as is the other. Corrupt th
two. and you iufallibly undermine civi
liberty, and worse still, morality, piet,
decency and the social fabric. Thes
priceless boons may, perehanco, burviv
through many years a depraved, vera
Exc cutive and Legislature. They canno
for year or day, widespread contain,
iaation of the Judiciary and OF woman
It was the uttersnce of r. late incorrupti-
bic lHm inaTy of the bench, that in hi
opinion. partisan and unprincipled ju-
dietary is the greatest curse that an cffsnd
ed Deity can send upon people. True
| alas, too true, as the American people are
| fast learning by sad experience.
/ There is decadence, a marked de
cadence, in this vital department., State
and Federal, as in every other; we speak
not of intellectual capacity, for that's uni
|
| tue. The first mi ght even be tolerated,
were it couuterbalanced by the LAST. Bet.
ter weak head and an honest heart in the
dispenser of Justice than the lat, de-
praVed by avarice, bias or revenge, though
| snrmouDted by the head of a Bacon. But
| woe to the peope who have to abide by
| the decisions of that worst combination of
character that the world affords, viz: knave
| ard fool united. The most dangerous
A. II
house of Stuart to subvert the liberties of
his country, was the venal, vindictive, un-
principled scoundrel, Jefreys, alike de-
void OF sense and virtue the shame, and,
it might be added, the glory of the Eng
l1sh bench, lnasmuch as thousand years
has produced but one such, and his eter
nal infamy and execration is there, a warn
ing to all would be imitators.
In Republics the three first steps in the
progress to the crown of an aspiring usur-
per is to lull the citizens, seduce the army,
and defile the bench with his base partisan
tools. This done, and it requires no Cae sar,
Cromwell, or Napoleon to enact the role
of either. A Grant will even suffice.
The above reflections were not prompted
by the recent enlargement of the United
States Supreme Court for the known, If
not avowed purpose of reversing a decis-
ion obnoxious to the Executive upon a
question involving point of constitution
al law. No! Unparalleled encroachment
and monstrous crime as it was, it's one
beyond my grasp, and leave il for others
better able.
Nor were they by the deplorable condi-
ton OF the State bench in q large number
of States, where not unfreQ emily the
Judge on the bench is the greatest crimi-
nal in Court. and the most ignorant and
vitiated vulgarian, one in Carolina having
even served his term in the penitentiary. |
L only deal with an isolated fact the late |
mockery Of a trial in Raleigh, N. O., in
volving the personal freedom of numbers |
OF worthy men and good citizens. A trial |
which for baretaced partisan partiality and |
vindictiveness, will rival any of drunken
Jefrey's, and is without a parallel even in
these days of degenerate American Courts.
A trial which should damn to everlasting
infamy the United States Marshal, and
United States Presiding Justice, Carrow
and Bond by name. In order that that
vile emanation of Congressional tyranny
known as the Ku Klux bill might not re.
main dead letter upon the statute book,
and pass from the minds of men, it was
deemed meet to recall it by practical H.
lustration, and the sons of that grand old
State were selected as the victims.
Upon tho bare assertion of irresponsible
nformers, that they belonged to that
mythic brotherhood known as the Ku-
klux, large numbers of citizens we're last
,ummer arrested in Rutherford county.
orn from their families, and dispatched
adm1dst the taunts, llDes and insults of
negro mobs, to all hundreds of miles dis
ant, aud thus deprived in a measure of all
evidence, If indeed any would
nave sutticed before such tribunal In
selecting the jury, it was ascertained, and
10 announced, that every individual in the
7enire belonged 10 the Radical party. =
strange coincidence for it was in State
where ninety mine hundredths of the pris-
'ners' peers belonged to the other political
Is any one so week as to
assert or think that the selection was the
'esult of accident ? Conceding, however,
or the sake OF argument, that it was. il
became his Honor's bounden duty to have ,
dissolved the pannel. and thus rectified
he bluGder OF his subordinate, the mar
hal, as did Judge Trigg, of Tennessee, if (
am correctly informed, on a precisely j
analogous occasion. This noble example
If an upright judge challenged the admi-
alton and applause of the good men of all
parties, end was worthy of imitation.-
Judge Bonds reputation in that quarter {
If the circuit, like that Of Cesar's wife, I
vas not above suspicion. His conduct Oh
late previous occasion in lin q most ex- 8
manner) releasing two of the s
most coEsummate scoundels who ever 9
igured in the annals Of crime in that {
state. had invested him with the character I
Il being nero whipper-in of his party. :
nstead of an honest, upright magistrate. |
These men were to the number of IL t
'ut on their trial at the same time, and de- Y
lied the additional challenges in such (
ase usually aocol ded by the English
)ourts. Against them no overt act was I
'roveD, their presence on the occasion for @
7hich they stood indicted being only J
aguely surmised by the complainant him I
eli, ore by tho binding of his coat and :
mother by his voice. This uncertainty :
s to their identity is shared in by near,y T
very witness for the Government. And =
ct, in the face Of such fimsy testimony. '
udge Bond charges the jury in the most /
csitive terms and vehement language to Z
onvict. interpcsing in stay only one soil. g
ary little if. VIZ: ''If the witnesses speak q
ruly." Well put, your Honor, bat rather 9
'eak; for it is universally conceded that
ae evidence of informers, whether infiu- t
nced by fear of punishment or hope OF y
swar1, should always be taken with many v
rains of allowance. And you, sir, should D
now that renepatea and anostataa ara g.