The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1875-03-13
OLD-TIME POLITICs--MODERN
POLITICS.
J Judicial Eligibility TO Political
Ofice-Judge q. w. Thompson In
teryiewed.

and gam may, through them, De acquired,
contrast with old-timed manners, when
honesty and dignity ruled the hour must
be of great interest.
For this reason we are very glad to be
able 10 Law before our readers the subjoined
Interview, recently held, on various mat
tiers of the nature referred to, with Judge
G.. w. THOMPSON, of this city. The
Judge is so well known as a thinker and
observer, and his experience has been SO
extensive, that il is useless to do more
than to merely mention the fact that the
, following are his views, to cause their
value to be appreciated;
Well, sir, you are somewhat advanced
| in years?
Ye. sir, verging three score and ten.
/ Your whole life has been passed in
this vicinity
Yes sir, within ten miles of Wheeling.
Ny grandfather, over ninety years OF
age, was buried at the Stone meeting
house in this county, before l was born,
and my father, the youngest of the fami-
w, died at eighty-four, so we make a
| family of long memories.
You were here then, before telegraphs
and railroads?
Yes, or before turnpikeS, or much pub
lie improvement of any kind. | saw all
the mail. of the United States for the
South, Southwest, West, and pretty much
Of the Northwest, when they were car
ried on one horse. l saw the first steam
boat that navigated the Ohio river. At
the age Of ten years was over nine days
in riding on horseback to Richmond, Va
while YOU can reach it now in twenty
four hours. | have seen twenty great
States arise and become parts of the
republic, where there was wilderness when
| was boy. | have seen nm empire es-
! tablished where there was republic, af-
| ter had passed the prime of manhood.
That is strong language. You do not
rncsn to SAY that we have the empire?
/ ! mean to say that when the first ire.
rersible step is taken of deliberately
surrcnderisg the liberties of the people
! TO the armed authority Of a President, at
his own discretion; to suspend the habeoS
corpus, and to intrude his soldiery into
| the States, and control or interfere with
their domestic management of their own
affairs. the republican principle is sur
rendered and the empire is inaugurated.
The forms of the republic will remain
long after the substance of republicanism
is eaten ont of their vitalites. 1t was
Greece; it was Rome; it is the turning
point of the American life.
You are then, what is, or what was,
called a "strict constructionist?'
Yes, but not "seccssiOniSt.' Guided
by this principal, as the only one to pre-
serve the Constitution, forty-six years
ago | WAS the first man in the West to
propose and carry through a public
meeting, apreamble and resolution sus-
tanning the administration of General
Jackson III his great war with the Bank
ofthe United States. Against great array
of talent and energy in my own neighbor-
hood fought his battle against MULTI.
cation, Standing by the Constitution
and on constitutional grounds, opposed
the assumption of the State debts by the
general government, which WAS one o
the entering wedges for corrupting anC
demorslizing the principle of self-gov
eminent by the States
Then you have great fears Of Central
ization?
That is pretty much all that the Aver,
lean people have to dread.
Then YOU think that the grant of such
powers to the President Is a very direct
wav to bring about Capitalization?
Think! Ii is the thing itself, as far Il:
it goes. aud AS far as it goes it is the sur
render of the principle. 1t is the insti.
tuition of despotic powers. 1t is a thing
/ that lies in Grant, and it has been granted
and Grant took it, and exercised it des-
politically before it was granted. That is
the evil. and that is the danger. The
Executive leads by the bayonet, and the
great army of his mercenaries in office
follow his behests, and manufacture pub
lie opinion to support him and them
selves.
/ That is great impeachment of the
men in office?
l do not impesch them. They have
their own record. Judges do as Grant
has done Senators have done it, who 60
To Washington poor, live eXtravagantly,
and die rich; members of the House fol-
low the example, and the results are the
same, and their committee of investiga-
ton in concealing everything, publish to
the world tho enormous fact that every
thing at Washington is bought and sold
for price. 1t almost makes one think
it would be cheaper to support a King
than to elect a President, for there are,
in great measure, the appliances used
- secure the third term. Directly ana
indirectly it is go. To keep up such a
system among those who have plundered'
who are plundering, and who expect TO
plumber, and who want no honest IN
yestlgatlon in the future, the party must
be Kept marching on in solid column.
You think there is not much hope,
then, for the Republic?
That Is a matter do not care to dis
eusS. | have great faith in providence,
but as Tyndall, Huxley, and other great
men will not let lis have a God who
hears prayers, or has any regard for hui
man destinies, have great faith in the
combination of circumstances" that
when "the sum of all the relations at