St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-05

publiciStS had organized revolution on
the basis of constitutional right: they
had brought out of the chaos of revolt
the order of the confederation. the first
crude conception OF the union of states;
they had transformed the states of the
confederation from communities in
rebellion against sovereign into SOW
ereignties in their own right: they
had Waged a successful war and had
made an honorable peace, and dur
ing all these years of struggle and
vicissitude they had been profound stu
dents of the problem of liberty as Sc
servator of liberty. Never since the
Hebrew lawgi0er pondered, on the
plains of indian and in the shadow Of
Horeb, the deliverance and leadership
of an enslaved race, had there been
such period of preparation and of pro-
found insight into human government
and human rights. The Revolutionary
leaders had explored all the theories of
philosophers and all the annals of the
race in the search for the pattern and
ideal of free government, and above all
they had sifted through the web and
mesh of their own thought and expert
ence the elements of the great cOnstitu-
tiOndl system. 1.-The mirror of free gov
spite of its expressions, the mother
country. They meditated on these
things in the night watches; while they
were musing the fire burned; the mex
tinguishable fire of patriotism which,
in those lofty souls, flashed from heart
to heart and mind to mind. as from
peak to peak in some beleaguered land
the midnight sky Is lighted with the
rallying fires of freedom.
THE LIFE TENURE OF THE JUDGES.
Plato. in his ideal republic, had fixed
the age of seventy as the limit of judic-
ial service, but the trainers of the con-
stitutioD, with Franklin, at the age of
four score and one, aiding in their daily
deliberations, were wiser than Plato.
They agreed with Hamilton that 1.-The
mensuration of the faculties of the
mind has no place in the catalogue of
the known arts" Experience has justi-
fed their conclusions. The life tenure,
with the wise provision permitting re-
tiremeut at the age of seventy, after
ten years of service, has worked well.
1t has kept on the supreme bench jurists
whose long familiarity with its duties
and whose ripened wisdom have made
their services invaluable to the country !;
services not grudged to-day by the men,
berS of the court whose years Outrun
the three score and ten of scrlptural
limitation and of statutory privilege.
During the century of its existence the
court has. in the main. been singularly
fortunate in exemption from accident.
casualty or premature death. and the
year Just closed has been marked by a
signal deliverence from the hand of
violence.
POWERS OF THE COURT.
The most striking element in the
powers granted is that which clothes
the Judiciary with the right to annul
legislative enactments. Even as to this
power it has been said that the supreme
court 'has no prototype in history. Ju-
diclal tribunals have existed as COM
ponent parts of other federal systems,
but the supreme court of the United
States is the only court IN history that
has ever possessed the power to finally
determine the validity of a national
law" But In the clause next following
the judfciaf power is extended to con-
troyerSieS between two or more StateS.'
This brief but comprehensive waiver
on the part of the thirteen sovereign
states of exemption from judicial power
and this mandate of the organic law
that the judicial power created by the
people shall be the arDiter between the
states themselves, in all their coDtro-
verSies with each other. mark the high
est level ever attained in the progress
OF representative government. They
have justly excited the wonder and ad-
miration of the most Intelligent OBJ
servers of our constitutional system.
REMEDIES AGAINST ABUSE OF POWER.
Vast and far-reaching as are the
powers thus granted, the same organic
law which confers them provides
against their abuse by declaring the
liability of the judges to impeachment
for bad behavior. and by the reserved
right of the people to amend the consti-
tution--a right exercised in the restraint
OF jurisdiction imposed by the eleventh
ameHdment-and, further, by the
power of congress to regulate the ap-
pellate jurisdiction. Finally, beyond
and above all written boundaries and
limitations of The judicial power,
is the ever-present scrutiny of
the people, whose instrument it
is-the collective wisdom of the
whole nation, that which James Wilson,
of Pennsylvania, one of the ablest men,
bers or the convention, and one OF the
first associate Justices of the supreme
court, called ''the mind or sense of the
people at large" another name for Or
SaHlZou puOIlc opinion, SuCl Is, IN
brief and imperfect outline. the origin
OF the supreme court of the y tied
States. and of the grant of its Judicial
powers. On this centenary of its Or
ganizati0n; in the city where its earliest
Jurisdiction was exercised; in the pres
ence of the chief executive, of the heads
of our national legislature, of our high
est state courts and officers. of citizens
representing all tue activities of
the country, and in the face of
the world. we make profert of
this high tribunal as proof of
the stability and abiding strength
of our free. constitutional government.
members of the bar, and as citizens
Oh this state and of the United States,
we bring to it and bespeak for it the
homage of national gratitude and of
universal respect. not so much because
1t has added illuStrious names to the
roll of the worlds great jurists and
magistrates, or even because it has so
we'll upheld, in its own sphere, the
honor and dignity of the nation. as be-
cause through all these hundred years
of time it has, with strict fidelity, with
out fear and without favor, with clean
hands and with pure purpose, served
the people in the wise and patient exc
cution of its high trust to maintain in
violate the absolute suprem acy of JUS
tice.