The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-01-30

Executive Department the appoIntmen
of Judges is a violation of the funda
mental principle of our political system
that the several departments of tn
Government should be co-equal, eacI
independent of the other. We presum
even as learned a jurist as our Holl,
Springs contemporary will bow before tn
superior wisdom of Judge Sharkey (wht
by the way was always sustained in hi
high Office by the people at the polls.
What said he upon this very point
Let us quote his language employed in (
somewhat noted decision with which thu
editor of the South is no doubt familiar
at is duty to prevent the encroachmen
of one department of Government upon
another. The importance of keeping
them separate not only an one thing but
IN all others, Is universally admitted to be
a feature of government ESSENTIAL to liberty.
During the administration of Governor
Ames we had striking illustration of the
consequence Of violating this feature
Essential to liberty" One Of the
grounds of his impeachment "a measure
by the way, which was vehemently OPP
posed by the SOUTH was that the Ex-
ecutive had employed the power with
which he was invested by the Con-
stitution to intimidate and control
the judiciary in the discharge
of their almost sacred functions. No
better example need be furnished of the
dangers of the present system which was
forced upon the people at the point of
the bayonet by the carpet-bag oligarchy.
1t was a notorious fact that, under Radi-
cal rule, Judges were, with few excep-
tiops, selected with reference, not to their
fitness, but to partisan considerations.
If there has been an improvement in our
judiciary, the fact is due to the victory
which was wrought by the people them
selves, who, according to the reasoning
of some persons, are not fit to be entrust-
ed with the selection of their Judges.
How illogical and absurd If they
can make the Governors who create the
Judges, why are they not capable of MAX
ing the Judges also
The South says it will not do for the
people to elect their Judges because the
negroes have been invested with suffrage.
1t does not deny the right of the whites
to participate in their selection +; but it
proposes to deprive them of this inalien-
able privilege because of the incorpora-
ton of the new element into the
body polite. The same reasoning
would deprive them of the right
to participate in the choice of
Governor, members of the Legisla-
ture, and in fact all other officers. The
negroes are permitted to vote in these
eIections-they are ignorant and inca
pable-and therefore, the whites, though
they have shown their capacity, must be
denied the privilege, in order TO pre-
vent the former from participating. This
is the whole argument. 1t might as
well be applied to one branch of the
Government as another. Carried to its
logical conclusion, there is but one re-
suit. It is destruction of free govern
ment and the erection of despotism on
its ruins. Now, practically, we do not
think the effect will be as the South APP
prehends. If the intelligence and expe-
rience and sovereignty of nature of the
whites are to give shape to the Govern
ment in one department, they are equal
ly capable of controlling it in all.
There always was class in this
country, who from the beginning of
popular government, distrusted the peo-
pie; opposed charging suffrage, and
were in favor of retaining power in
the hands of the few. But they have
been compelled to succumb to the onward
march of progressive ideas. 1t was
so in Mississippi; with all their ener
gies they opposed the elective prin
ciple, and predicted that it would re-
suit in corrupting and degrading the
Judiciary. It was tried. 1t proved
a complete success. The people in
stinctively selected the ablest and |
most capable men. There was a great |
in the Bench of the State.
None of the evils predicted came to pass.
The selection of such men as Sharkey,
and Smith, and Clayton, and the HAIRLESS,
and the Handys, and Elicit, and nu-
others whose names adorn the
iurisprudential records Of the State, are
lasting monuments of the benefits of the
reform. Two-thirds of the States have
adopted the system and it isa signal
proof of its beneficial operations. None
Of them have abandoned it Of their own
accord. They have taken no step back
ward. The people of Mississippi never
would Of their own free will have surren-
Tered their right to elect their Judges.
L was ruthlessly torn from them by
.lien adventures at the point Of the
oayonet We are pleading earnestly for
+ restoration. The spirit Of liberty de-
hands that the distance between the
people and their servants should be mar
owed NOT widened.
T. - .ks - =.