The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-06-16
THE SUPREME COURT.

healed.
THE SUPREME COURT.
An oratorical "Gcm Of Purest Ray Serene,
At the banquet complimentary to
Judge S. S. Calhoun, 1.-THE Supreme
Court was responded to by Judge E.
FL. Whitfield. Mr.. Wilson, in his Plea.
yune Current Comment" says truly
lit was sublimely eloquent and lofty in
every word, sentence and paragraph,
and deserves a place in the scrap books
of the State" He said:
The supreme court is the great con-
sentative force of the State. 1t sits be-
tween contending litigants, the calm,
final arbiter of life, liberty and prop
erty. The supremacy of it's authority
binds it, by the highest and most solemn
obligation, to patiently, faithfully and
fearlessly ascertain the very right of
every cause, and in the beautiful and
noble language of the Episcopal liturgy,
to execute justice and maintain truth
Absolutely impartial, it has no friends
to reward and 40 enemies to punish.
Whatever distinctions, social or politi.
cal, may elsewhere obtain, it knows, it
can know, nor race, nor color, nor sex,
nor rank, nor condition. At it's bar the
humblest stands the unchallenged peer
OF the mightiest, and the most defense
less is clothed with the same measure
OF right, ana receives the same equal
justice that is melted out to the proud
est in the State. The supreme court
must be fearlessly independent Neither
the prerogative of the crown, nor the
omnipotence of parliament could NOV.
Coke from his immortal stand for Eng.
lish liberties, and the splendor of that
really grandly great achievement fills
the judicial sky of Britain still with
fadeless light.
Here, at last, are anchored the con.
fdence and faith of the people in the
protection Of equal laws. However
passion and prejudice may kindle into
flame, in other arenas, the interests and
sympathies of stormy partisans, here,
at least, serene amid tumult, far re-
moved from the reach of angry strife,
unawed by power, unmoved by public
clamor, stands the judge, the high
priest at the altar of passionless Justice,
administering the delegated functions
OF him of whom alone it can be said, A
God without iniquity, just and right is
he.' The supreme our must not be
fearlessly independent as between the
defenseless and the oppressor alone. II
must exercise independent thought. II
is difficult to tell which would be the
more dangerous judge, he who adheres
slavishly to the presidents of a century
} since, or he who, with the busy hand
Of reformation and with reactionary
spirit disturbs settled rights and over
} turns law, crystallized in the custom:
and institutions of the people. Law
undergoes revolution, along with the
| changing conditions and advancing civ
/ i~lizations out of which it grows, and he
is, therefore, the wisest judge who
walking in the golden mean, aids in de
veloping, establishing and maintaining
a Jurisprudence adapted to, harmoniou.
with and preventative of, the highest
and best interests of the people over
whom it extends. But the browning
l glory of the supreme court is that it /.
5 the sure refuge of the weak, the vindi
Gator of the defenseless.
mo one can read the terrible denun
: Citations OF the later prophets agains,
the false judges of Israel-false to theii
duty, to stand in the breach between
the oppressor and the defenseless-
without trembling at the solemnity o
t the trust and the awful sanctions which
secure its faithful enforcement.
ut should excite our pride, but, q,
the same time quicken our sense of re
sponsibility when we realize that we
occupy
: "'The throne of righteousness within tn,
shrine
Built on the basic pillars Of the state;
? The throne that stands mistaken mid tn,
surge
, OF rival greeds and party in~solence
And the wild clamors of the frenzied hour.
MAY the judge of all the earth Civ,
Mississippi's supreme court
Large knowledge of the shifting BATH,
lines
; And captured strongholds in the ancien
fight
OF Right and Wrong keen vision to discern
Amid the tangled forest of the law
The thread-like path of Justice skill to strik,
. The subtle line Of cleavage 'twixt the truth
And that which masks and apes the truth
, supreme
: Intent to see and do the right, and weigh
Out judgment with an eve hand"