The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-06-07
A JUDGES BANQUET SPEECH

A JUDGES BANQUET SPEECH
 During a recent banquet. given at Pine Bluff, Arkansaw, by the Knights oi Py,hias, U. S Judge, H. ( Caldwell, made the following speech in response to the toAs, of The Judiciary" :"
 The committee on ,oasts for this oc- czsion were a polite body of men They were careful to frame their toas,s 90 as not to commit themselves to any rash, or doubtful proposition. Observe the cnsning form of the toast to which am invited to respond, The Judici iry. There 1t stops-not the slightes, indica- sion of opinion about the judiciary is ven- tured upsn. Nov. as there are two very different modes of toasting individuals and collective bodies, this silence IS omnibus. For instance, the conmittee migh, nave said '' The Judiciary, the protectors and defenders of the cons.i.n- ton. the dispersors of equal justice be- tween suitors, a terror to evil doers, the shield of the innocent, and the safe guard Of society" or on the other hand they might have said, The Judiciary, the Actions, forms, ceremonies and techni- cslities, with which they have clothed the administration of justice, has licensed crime, rendered life and property inse- cure, defeated the attainment of justice between private parties, and left society without other protection than mob vio- lence and lynch law"
 You see how differcn, the two modes of toasting are. On this occasion, with out paying any money for the privilege. VIC can take our choice.
 have no prejudice against judges. think they are entitled to the same rights as ether accused persons. and are pre- sumed to be innocent until the contrary is proved. Judges belong to very ancient order, and spring from very re- spectahle source. In ancien, times, in all countries, the office of judge, and the profession of medicine as well, were an- nexed 10 the priesthood.
 There were no judges as such no physicians ss such-but there was the priest to whose sacred office the duties of judge and physician were annexed as mere incidents The addition of these temporal or secular duties to the priestly office grew naturally out of the faith of the adherents to all religions in early times.
 Men believed tha, all their diseases were inflicted by the immediate dis pleasure of the Deity, and, therefore, very naturally concluded that no one could be of 90 much service to them as those who were particularly employed in His scrviee, and believing the priests to be in direct communication with the eternal throne of wisdom and justice 1t seemed obvious that they were the only persons compe- tent to administer justice and whose judgments would be righteous alto gexher." The judgment of the priest was clothed with sanction greater than hu- man power could confer. It proceeded from . divine source, and was not the judgment of an ering man.
 The priest, as a doctor, resorted to magic and incantation, and as a judge a6ected to speak by divine authority.
 Whether 1t was because the priests made poor doctors or the doctors poor priests, know not, bat for sopae sui hcient cause, the practice of medicine vas divorced from the priestly office. The divorce has proved beneficial to priest and doctor alike, and the public as we'll. The priest in the exercise of his spiritual office, and the doctor in the practice of his profession, meet at the bedside ot the sick and the dying, each better qualified for his duties than either could be to discharge the duties of both The lawyer and the doctor are still agreed on one point of practice their customers. The administration of civil and criminal justice is no longer committed to the priesthas&, A&i the pEetense that the judge is divinely in spired in pEonouncing his judgment is abandcned.
 The divorce between the off -es of priest and judge is not difficult to account for. lt is not recorded that the priests made particularly bad judges; and they were probably not deprived of their offics of judge on that account.
 The most reasonable and probable ac- coant ef the divorce is that they con- 6nusd to act as judges until law yen came into existence, and began Q pracfice before them. The poor piest soon found he could not suc- osssfary contend with :he devl and the lAWyers both, and that he must either gise ID his warfare on the devil and de- vuoe his whole time to the lawyers, or give up the lawyers and devote his ener- gies to Sasan, and having had experience vifh bod, be wisely concluded that his peace of mind would be promoted by giving up his ofsce of judge and thus get 6ng i'd of the lawyers. and sticking to Ais warfare on his Satznic majesty. Since tAas time the general rule has been to Dake judges out of lawyers, and the