Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-01-22
The Compromise Bill.

is q weak invention. Reports from Wash
ington speak quite confidently OF its pas
sage in both houses, but after the sober,
second thought of senators and represen'
tatives has been taken the prospect OF Its
adoption may not be so 1attering. 1t Is
a device which is revolutionary, is "a fraud,
and far more dangerous to the peace OF
the country and the existence OF the gov
eminent than the ways and means provid-
ed in the constitution and established by
the usage of the fathers, which it is in
tended to supplant. 1t is as cowardly as
revolutionary. 1t displays want of faith
in our institutions and people. 1t imag-
ines danger where none can be if we but
follow boldly the path which is marked
out by the constitution. The danger from
such precedent as this would be if adopt
ed thousand-fold more than that which
the compromisers imagine they are avoid
ing. If the people submitted to the de-
cision at this election under it. it would be
q menace and source of trouble in all fu-
ture time.
II one part of the scheme is more objec-
tionable than another, ii is that which pro-
poses 10 bring In members ofthe Supreme
Court TO sit upon the commission to de-
eide the count. These Judges are herald
ed as the part of the commission which
give to the whole body an bipartisan
character and stamp it with judicial purity
aud fairness. and yet four of them are Sc
lected because Of their politics-two be-
ing republicans and two democrats--and
the fifth must be selected if at all by draw
ing lots-a method better adapted to gam
bling than to the dignitaries of the high
est judicial tribunal in the land On this
subject the New York Times editorially
says:
The worst feature Of the plan is that which col
stitutes five of the Supreme Court Judges arbers
between the two branches of Congress. A readop
ton Of the twenty-secoud joint rule would, as
matter of policy, have been preferable. 1t might
have been q more direct concession to the demands
Of the House, since it would probably have pre-
vented declaration of the result of the election
by the President of the Senate. In that case
however, no pretense of patriotic mpartiality
could have disguised the fact of surrender, Or
shielded from popular indignation the Legislators
responsible for it. Trust in the sufficiency of the
Constitution would have remained unimpalred
The highest Judicial tribunal in the land would
have retained unternished its title TO the conf.
dence on which its dignity and usefulness depend
As the case stands, the odum of pronounclng
judgment which one half of the county will OBJ
ject to as partisan will rest upon the Supreme
Court. Who among the Judges will make up the
five members of the projected commission whose
decision is to be binding, matters not. Under no
possible circumstances can they reach a concu-
sion that will be acceptable in both parties We
may assume that they will be required take into
consideration the returns from South Carolina
Louisiana and Florida. Oregon also, will proba-
bly, be included in the category. From each Of
these States there are first, the regularly authen-
ticated return, and second, what purports to be
return. Under the Constitution and the law, as
they now are, the duty of determining which OF
these should be received devoyes upon the Pfesi-
dent of the Senate, whose position is good
guaranty Of Gdelty as that OF any occupant of the
Supreme Bench. Under the law as it will be
when this scheme goes through Congress, this
delicate task will be transferred to one of the
Judges two being regarded as the nominees of
the democratic party aad two of the republican.
How they are to choose the fifth Judge, who will
be the controlling member of The commission, we
can only guess. Judges are, at best but mortas,
and II least, of the four indicated by the JOINT
committees is reported to be partisan of very
scrupulous sort How, then, four Judges,
known to be evenly divided in their political sym
pathes, 10 agree in regard to the selection of the
fifth: The most likely supposition is that the
lottery principle will be used to overcome the DIFF
fculty. A bit of paper drawn blindfolded from
hat will mark the Judge whose nod is to determine
whether Hayes or Tiden shall be the President
Will any candid man say that such a mode of
counting the votes Of three States, and OF settling
dispute respecting vote of another State, will
commend itself to the States concerned or to the
country at Target A reference of the leea points
involved to the Supreme Court in its entirety, in
expedient though it might be, would at least have
some claim upon our respect. There could then
be no suspicion Of trickery undue influence in
singing out particular Judges, and the opinion
finally expressed by the court would carry certain
weight. But to pick out arbitrarily four of the
nine Judges, and TO allow the four to pick out a
fifth by lot, and to constitute him the maker of
the next President, is TO bring the Supreme Court
into contempt, to destroy faith in the future of
the judges mixed up in the transaction, and to
awaken in one or the other of the political parties
feeling that its rights have been violated and It's
interests BETRAYED.
1t is folly to imagine that there is magic in the
phrase, "a Judicial decision" when the matter
passed upon serges upon psrtissnshp. The de-
cision irritates and dsgusts more than it pleases
and the moral authority of the court is for the
time weakened. Chief Justice Taney's treatment
OF the bred Scott case was hailed by the demo-
Gratis OF that day as source Of immense strength
TO the slave-power. Its real effect was to impsrt
directness and force to the sentiment against the
extension OF slave territory, and to bring down
upon the Supreme Court the Indignation Of the
greater part Of the nation No man who desires
to preserve for the court the essential conditions
Of usefulness IN the sphere marked out by the
Constitution, will look with indifference upon the
present proposal to bring certain of its Judges in
10 he partisan arena. with the vain expectation OF
adjusting ecceptably to all the points at issue be-
tween the republican and democratic parties The
Judges themselves will be suspected, and one of
the inevitable results of their action will be to en-
gender in the aggrieved party feeling vastly
more dangerous than any that could arse under
the ordinary process of counting the Electoral
votes. Trouble there might be even then but
none that wsald not quickly yield 10 the patriotic
instincts and the common sense OF the couutry
The means Of ending controversy devised by the
JOINT cowardiee and folly of the associated com
mittees viii, IN truth, widen its range, and bflng
IN elements Of danger and difficulty 10 comparison
WIN which any that now exist are tfifies. The
plan would be Objectionable if all thai could be
SAID against 1t were thst il seeks outside OF the
Constitution what the Constitution it-elf provides
Add to this objection the damage done TO the Su-
preme Court and the discomfort and oi.ttusi that
will follow the ultimate decision, and the imnolicv
Of the pending measure will be too apparent to be
denied.
Agricultural Hall nj the Il a., l.