The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-12-06

Il NC tash VI TSSlUStDS anu
the official service OF the government Is one
of great responsibility and difficulty, and
i II involves long and arduous labor. With
4 great Difference suggest that the legisla-
tive sessions arc so crowded with muitifari-
Gus and urgent matters that legislators can
not spare the time required for such an
undertaking. A special commission ought
to be carefully created with authority to
employ the hest experts and practically to
re0rganize the departments Mt the capitol.
Among other heavy burthens on the trea-
/ sury which can at once be reduced are those
imposed By the penitentiary and the lunatic
asylums.
The crowded condition OF the peniten-
tiary and its consequent expenSyeness are
due 10 no increase OF crime among the peo-
PIE, but to the fault OF the law which ranks
as felonies such offencesas ought to be pun
ished as misdemeanors, summarly and in
expensively. commend to your attention
the bill matured at the last session of the
General Assembly which embodies partial
revision OF the criminal code.
! The lunatic asyiums are encountered with
many cases OF senile lUDacy. These unfor-
tunate beings are inofTensve and tractabe
imbeciles, " no are known to he incurable.
1t is said that many OF them have compe-
care OF them, and ell OF them can be suita-
bly, and humanelY provided for either at
their homes or in the public almshouses.
At present they so block up the assiums az
TO exclude cases OF recent and durable in
sanity. The result is that persons OF the
latter class are kept in the iails with hurt4
full surroundings and at great expense to
the State, and there they become incurable
| for want Of skilled attention. The lunatic-
asylums are Institutions for the scientific
treatment and cure OF insanity, and they
!were never designed TO be hospitals for in
curables. ,,
I In dissemination. again call attention
to the oppressive and unjust charges i'm
posed upon the State in the transportation
| OF convicts to the penitentary and unatics
| to the asyluuls. As many as three guards
have been employed for the imaginary ser
| vice OF assisting an officer in bringing a
manarled and helpless prisoner to the peni-
| Tertiary. In many cases of the sort the o.
| tepsible guards are parties travelling really
! for mileage and pleasure at the expense OF
| the State. Where fugtives from justice,
often OF desperate character. have been
brought back from other and even distant
States, under Executive re1uiSition, it has
been ny rule not to allow any guard: and
vet in those cases 4 single officer CONVEYS
his prisoner safely and without difficulty
to the place OF his destination. No guard
ought eyer to be allowed for conveying a
convict TO the penitenti;ry; but one OF the
trained officers OF that institution should
solely perform that duty and should be al
lowed not mileage, but necessary expenses
merely. The plainest dictates OF humanity
require that the pitiablc lunatic should be
i,couveyed TO the proper asylum only by one
of the experienced assistants or nurses OF
that institution.
The criminal expenses. being the allow
ances certified by the courts in criminal
cases, amounted during the last fiscal year
to SIT ,940.6j. During the ten years pre-
ceding the war. when the State was more
populons and the courts more numerous.
these expenses averaged SOS. 429.3l ANNUAL
IL. Such an increase OF criminal charges
! is as unnecessary "a it Is inexcuSable. 1t Is
notable that. with no perceptible increase
OF crime. such charges have greatly in
! creased since the transfer Of criminal bu>-
ness from the circuit 70 the county courts.
1t is said. with reason, that these allow
anccS against the State are not generally
subjected TO such inquisition nd,correctlon
as claims against the county treasuries-the
/ latter being awarded under the eye 81 the
! local Taxpayer, by whom they are directly
felt 1t may be proper for the State to pay
abe expenses in felony cases, but there Is
no good reason why all other criminal
charges should not be horne by the coun-
ties and corporations; and, II this change
be made, it is safe to assume that the criml-
nal charges will he so reduced by local in
| t1uenceS and interests that no county would
then pay as much directly through its own
treasury as it now pays indirectly through
the State treasury on this account.
There are economic and other still more
| important considerations which call for
revision Of the judicial system. Almost the
whole OF the complicated litigation result
ing from the war has been ended. The buSl-
ness OF litigation has been largely and last
inglv reduced. l. is now generally con-
coded, and it is undoubtedly true, that If,
the present circuits be rearranged so as to
equalize the labor OF the judges. the circuit
and musings courts can henceforth dispatch
all causes, both civil and criminal, without
delay or Inconvenience. Every reason for
4 maintaining the present county-court sys-
tenn has ceased TO exist, and it's continuance
rs a charge upon the people will be rs in
con~rlous as useless. Moreover, in its
very structure the system is liable to the
gravest objections. It violates the essential
principles which govern the administration
| OF Justice. that the same person should ut
once be Judge. practicing attorney, and
4 dispenser OF county patronage. Those
princiDes forbid that the ermine OF the
Judge and the gown OF the lawyer should
!, be worn alternately By the same person.
whatever his abilities or his worth. The
! Judge decides in his own court the
cause OF 4 part! who Is bis client IN
another court. The pracnciRg atFor-
rev champions one side OF question
| ,ah hn ha,. t.l-
mine as 4 Judge in another court. Such
mixed relations OF personal interest and
| public duty are utterly Incompatible with
the sanctitv, the reverence, the diSinterest-
edncss. and the absence OF all bias, which
are the indispensable muniments OF the jul
dicial office. In my judgment it is as prac-
tcable as it is desirable TO return to the an
cieut and honored~ county-court system OF
justices, originally appointed and commits
stoned by the Executive, themselves ming
vacancies in their own body. and serving
without pay. The gratuitous, d!sinteTested,
and independent nature OF the service,
caused it to be honored and aspifed to, and
elevated the men who performed 1t. Their
example eXeTted the finest conservative IN
fluence among the people under whose eye
the service was performed. The system was
A great factor in moulding that distinctive
character for Virginia which notably has at
tracted the respect OF mankind. 4 similar
institution in England has been styled by
the foremost statesman OF that country the
sheet-anchor OF its liberties. The ilus,rious
BODY OF statesmen who assembled here to
form constitution iorty-eight years ago
concurred in the opinion then expressed.
that this system was the conception OF a
wisdom which had "snatched grace be
vond the reach Of art" Il is idle to say
! -. IL ranlann the In