The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-08-28
The Chief Justiccship-What Alone
Should Guide tho Selection.

The Chief Justiccship-Vhat Alone
should Guide the Selection.
The Supreme Bench of the United States
has, since its foundation, deservedly held the
respect Of the nation. AS the high court of
last resort it is indeed necessary that this
should be the case A Judiciary in any sense
corrupt Is one of the most fatal signs that
people could exhibit When assertions against
the honor and dignity of members OF the
judiciary in this State were scattered abroad
the citizen felt sense of hopeleusness as he
entered into litigation. More than that the
fair fame of the Empire State in other coun-
tries was injured, and her financial projects, or
those of bodies of her citizens, suffered In con-
sequence. When impeachment followed and
the charges were in many instances sustained
never was greater incubus taken off than in
the removal of the judges who had degraded
themselves and sullied the Bench. The over
throw of the Tammany ''ring." signal service
as it was to the aopse Of the people. was
scarcely of greater Importance to all honest
men than the downfall of the cor
rupt and undignifed judges. 1t was
the strong words of Bolingbroke to discover
the dangers we underwent. Men felt it who
had never heard his name When this was
the case with the Bench Of single though
important State, it follows that it would
appear small thing beside the terror
we should feel if similar shade of dis
trust fell upon the Court which guards the
interests of the great federation which we call
the Union The position Of judge in that
Court has always been one Of the highest honor
In the earliest days of the Union it was looked
on with becoming awe. From year to year it's
Importance has been growing with the growth
of the Union. Since the close of the war the
manifest tendency to Capitalization has given
it an elevation which the founders Of the
constitution could scarcely have foreseen. In
the cradle days Of the nation, common and
mutually sustained as had been the struggle
for Independence, the young States experienced
but few of the necessities for that more in
developed. Each lived moro in ITSELF The
severe lines of rights which the trainers of the
constitution drew around the States
are, therefore, all the more marvels of
wisdom and foresight that the exigencies Of
to-day were dreamed to be we'll nigh impos-
sible. The doctrines of Alexander Hamilton
and those of Thomas Jefferson were more alb
stract in their day than it is possible for us to
imagine The railroad had not been thought
of as means Of tying States together. The
industries, whether agricultural or manufac-
turing, had not resolved themselves into Sec
tons, making one State dependent on others.
The war, which left the South without State
governments such as the constitution contem-
plated; which suddenly gave manhood and
citizenship to four million slaves, and which
in the North had given extraordinary powers
to Congress, was in the early days represented
only by sporadic sentiment Of repulsion be-
tween certain classes-the slave-owners and
those who condemned slavery. Every phase
in the progression to the present entailed adj
ditional duties and greater scope for their
powers upon the Supreme Court judges.
When we recall, also, that during the term Of
the late Chief Justice Chase he was called
upon to assume for the first time in our his
tory, the great responsibility of presiding
over the Senate during an impeachment trial
of the President of the United States, we
can measure the enormous proportions
of the figure which the Chief Justice must
make in all our future history. The man who
may sit in trial upon Presidents who have
been the elect of millions, and who presides
over the highest judicial body in the Union,
must, indeed, be man whose selection should
be made with the greatest care 1t is merely
necessary to recall the constitutional supreme
powers of this Court in order to indicate at
the present juncture how learned, able, dis
passionate and bipartisan the man should be
who IS called to the judicial altitude of Chief
Justice Of the Supreme Court of the United
States Article 8, section 2, says:-
/. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in
law and equity arising under this constitution, the
laws OF the United States and treaties made, or
which shall be made, under their authority; to all
and consuls; to all cases OF admiralty and MARI
time jurisdiction; to controversies to which the
Or Os TO tse
citizens OF another State, between citizens Of diff
ferent States, between citizens Of the same State
claiming lands under grants Of different States
and between state, or the citizens thereof, ana
foreign States, citizens or subjects.
In view of the vacancy caused by the death
Of the lamented Chief Justice, Salmon P. Chase
it devolves upon President Grant to name his
successor in the Chief Justiceship. No ap-
pointment that the President has hitherto
made approaches this one in gravity and re-
sponsibility. He is to present to the Senate
for their endorsement the most necessary por-
ton of the great balance wheel of the
machinery of our national government-the
balance wheel which, when true to the object
of its construction. should forever govern and
restrain the motions of the executive and legis-
lative portions of our ruling power in the
pure interests of the people. It is great
opportunity to signalize q perfect devotion to