Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-18
THE COURT OF APPEALS.
3. r, Webb OF Baird, RtplIPs to TEN
pie HOuston's Letter Attacking Cer-
tain Court Of appeals Judges.
A New srraignment OF FRcts-The Sea
asOr's Motives and His Interpretation
of tho Law Questioned.
BAIRD, TEX, March 10, lsss.


ment destined to inevitable failure, and
yet later on, the staunchest friends of the
experiment hsd reason to regard its sue
cess with anxious solicitude and the
grsvest apprehension. But when the
republic had safely passed its hundredth
anniversary, when it had withstood the
severest tests and mightiest internal
shock to which any government had ever
been sui j5cted, and had preserved its
existence aud autonomy at the cost OF
million lives, when the principal cause OF
dlssension and danger had been removed,
and reunited people had sgsin
rallied to common standard OF
liberty, there we're many who
believed, in view of these facts, and the
further one that an advancing civilization
and intelligence had better qualified the
masses of the people for the task OF self
government, that the perpetuity OF the
republic was st least reasonably assured,
aud that government by and for the
people should not perish from the earth.
as to the states OF the Union, excepting
Texas, and as to the government c0nsid-
cred as whole, this belief may still be
well founded ;butin so far as our own COM
monwealth is concerned, 1t would seem
to be an illusion inst need not longer be
INDUCED. This is said with reference to
an article in THE GAZETTE OF the 9Th
inst, by Senator Temple Houston, Sc
verely rejecting on the Texas Court OF
Appeals, and containing statements and
conclusions which, if true and correct,
demonstrate that the people of Texas are
alike incapable of the duties and unworthy
the privileges Of free men.
court Of last resort, entrusted with
final power over the life and liberty OF the
citizen, is questionably most impor-
tant part and factor Of the system OF gov
eminent, and it is equally true that such
a court must in the very nature of things
be q fair exponent Of the char
scter of the people whose creature 1t
is, whose will it represents, and to whose
control it is directly subject. Men such
as Gladstone and Webster and John Mar
shall are the logical outgroWth Of 8 lofty
national patriotism and intelligence, just
as Nero and CaligulS were the product
and precursors Of national despotism;
the fungus growth Of general and tsst
advancing moral ecay. From the article
alluded to, considered In connection with
the political history of the Court Of APP
peals, 1t would appear not only
that the people of Texas have
selected IS judges to administer
their laws men VIGOROUSLY Incompetent
saa who themselves fagrAntly violste
\ gnoseyery laws; but also that this deplor'
i sble state of affairs has existed for long
peIied OF time, and as to one Of these
i lHeEes, for the full space of twelve years
dud after this judge had done nothing fol
six years but publish to the world his in
competency, and sitter nearly dCzer
printed volumes thereof had been sem
into all the public courts Of the state
there to be read Of all men. that the PEG
pie in convention assembled, glor7iDg il
their own open shame, and wslloWing il
the mire of their own ignorance and de.
basement, predicatiug their action o.
these very proclsm1tions Of incompetency
again selected for the high place, owe
many others worthy and well qualified
willing and waiting, this unjust and mos
! unWorthy Judge; and in the full blaze o
light Afforded by the dozen volumes Q
his misdoings, and the 10, 900 copies thereo
scattered throughout the state, and speak.
ing with more than 10000 tongues
Endorsed him, ard put & robe about hi
neck, and advanced him to the head OF tht
court; and rolling their shame es a swee
morsel under their tongues, proceeded tt
eIses him Big; 100000 more votes thai
q we're necessary; and it would further ap
n pear that this wicked man, confederGtinI
and conspiring with another Judge Of In
same court, as his accomplish, has sine
then, for another period of six years
violated the constitution, trsmpled undel
foot the laws, spit upon the psterna
ashes and done such fantastic tricks be.
fore high heaven as make the angel
weep" and that during aIl this time thesr
Truly degraded people have lifted up NJ
voice Of protest, cried out for no relief
Instituted no proceedings TO stop tn
shameful spectacle, but on the contrary
that their other high tribunals hayt
Winked at this wiCkedness and quoted
approvingly the misdoingS Of these per
fdious men.
These propositions challenge the be
lief OF even the most c~edulous, and re-
quire for their confirmation "prooil
strong as holy writ" The character o
our people and their actions in other mat
tiers, do moi corroborate these conclu
sions, and are not consistent with tht
existence of such facts as are alleged
The rejecting reader lays aside the Article
with an innate consciousness tins. these
things cannot BIS so, however respectable
the source from which they may emauste
and however seemingly reliable they ma!
on their face appear. Surrounded by thu
warm sunshine, 1the limpid waters and tht
fonsge of the summer time, he cannot b.
made to believe 1t is midWinter simply
by holding before his eyes thermometel
which indicates temperature below faro
Aside from any personal sensation o
warmth, or personal knowledge O
the time Of year, he sees this
the indicis and concomitants of sucl
9 Wintry temperature and season Sre al
Tauting-the register Of the mercury Il
not true. Il is more reasonable to be-
lieve that one man is mistaken or labor
ing under an hallucinatio1 than tba,
such inconsistencies csn exist, snd 6
whole people have so tesrfully retro,
jsrAded in the very fscs CT civilization
on ard and most rapid march. There
sre, alas, yet to be found, even in this
Nineteenth century, 3 few modern Dor
QuiXotes who bestride their Rosinsntes
and, with visor down and lance ct full pre-
sent, sslly forth TO redress the wrongs OF
fair Dulcineas and to destroy imaginary
foes. Sometimes men become intoXi-
Gated on the splendor of too ferYid i'm
aginetion, IS they contemplate noun
tains "girt with the clouds Of
awful revolutions and damp with
blood of liberty's martyred dead," and
below which mountains Aforesaid the
sparkling streams "gem the Yales" where
the antelopes sTe forever agotng aloping
around; and these enhancing pictures
produce disordered conceptions such as