Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-04-06
Those HOrrid Editors.


This court must be awakening to a
conviction that "obliquity of the moral
sense !" is wonderfully prevalent among
the newspaper editors of the country.
Not one SO far heard from agrees with
the court in the view it has taken of our
conduct towards it. Evidently our
judges have undertaken a cause which
will need great deal Of hard fighting to
make prevail. There is no knowing
what good active fighter may do when
he sets fairly to work. Judge Patterson
is host when he gets his faculties in
moving order and has himself in the
proper blaze of excitement. Still we
never knew him to do much execution
with the pen. In his case it is hardly
mightier than the sword. Mounted
upon that old white horse of his,
when he summoned Onr citizens to
arms once upon a time throughout the
length of King street, he might make
valiant battle against these wretched
newspaper editors with their unanimous
"obliquity of the moral sense" But as
matters stand they evidently have the
better of him. They have great many
more pens than he, and, if something is
not done, they will persuade the people
that it is the judges of this court, and not
the editors of this paper, who have got
their moral sense twisted. To horse,
Judge! to horse Trade your judgeship on
that old white horse; you will lose your
dignity, anyway, if you can't find out
some way to choke off these rascally edi-
tors who are getting the people to think
you are fool. You may rs well have
the game as the name, judge, every whit
We shall be sorry if, in rendering this
advice, we may be thought to be seeking
to impair the courts official integrity
and influence The court charges us
with this intent, because we urged it tc
vindicate its integrity and influence by
calling to account the attorneys who be-
trayed it in the Snyder case. We had a
holy motive then and did not get credit
for it. Nevertheless we can't help adj
vising the court our attorneys oath, a:
we have been kindly reminded, require:
us to act with all good fidelity to the
court and we cannot discharge our duty
better than by advising the judges t(
resign; unless, as we have said, they car
find some violent and quick method of 81
lencing the abominable newspapers with
editors g whose folly is equalled only b.
their criminality'' in Judge Patterson
sweeping phrase and profound judg
ment.
No doubt he will be ready to say o
this proposition, as he said of one he in
vented and put upon us, that g its utter
ance shows its wickedneSS and folly
We can only entertain feelings of depre
cation and sadness for any one, mucl
more for an attorney-at-law, who Cal
utter such a sentiment.' Abominabl
as the Judge will doubtless find our pres
ent sentiment to be, it is cheering tt
know that his grief in contemplating j
will be mitigated by the fact that it j
expressed 10y one who is no longer an at
torney-at-law.
There were number of very eXcellen
remarks in that opinion, albeit they wer
not pertinent to the matter in hand
which is trivial objection when one ha
noble sentiment to let fly. We espe
cially commend the declaration that in
tegrity and learning are essential to al
attorney who will rise and shine. The
are also useful to judge. A great war
rior does not need much learning. w
always have thought since the day of hi
gallant charge on the big white hors
that the martial career was Patterson S
When he leaves us we will have in hi
stead an equestrian monument built mid
way in the street of his glory.