Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1900-06-16
THE SUPREME COURT.

THE SUPREME COURT.
An Oratorical "Gem OF Purest Ray Serene"
At the banquet complimentary to
Judge S. S. Calhoun, 1.-THE Supreme
Court was responded to by Judge E.
H. Whitfield. Mr. Wilson, in his Plea.
yune Current Comment says truly
ut 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-
servative force of the State. 1t sits be-
tween contending litigants, the calm,
final arbiter of life, liberty and prop
erty. The supremacy of its 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 no 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 its bar the
humblest stands the unchallenged peer
of the mightiest, and the most defense
less is clothed with the same measure
of right, and 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 move
Coke from his immortal stand for Eng
fish liberties, and the splendor of that
really grandly great achievement fills
the judicial sky of Bcitaln 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 court must not be
fearlessly independent as between the
defenseless and the oppressor alone. 1t
must exercise independent thought. 1t
is difficult to tell which would be the
more dangerous judge, he who adheres
slavishly to the precedents of 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 customs
and institutions of the people. Law
undergoes revolution, along with the
changing conditions and advancing civ.
ilizations ont 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, harmonious
with and preservative of, the highest
and best interests of the people over
whom it extends. But the browning
glory of the supreme court is that it is
the sure refuge of the weak, the vindi-
Gator of the defenseless.
mo one can read the terrible denun'
Citations of the later prophets against
the false judges of Israel-false to their
duty, to stand in the breach between
the oppressor and the defenseless-
without trembling at the solemnity OF
the trust and the awful sanctions which
secure its faithful enforcement.
at should excite our pride, but, at
the same time quicken our sense of re.
sponsibility when we realize that we
occupy
1.-THE throne of righteousness within the
shrine
Built on the basic pillars of the state;
The throne that stands mistaken mid the
surge
OF rival greeds and party insolence
And the wild clamors of the frenzied hour
May the Judge of all the earth give
Mississippi's supreme court
Large knowledge Of the shifting battle
lines
And captured strongholds in the ancient
fight
OF Right and Wrong; keen vision to discern
Amid the tangled forest of the law
The thread-lke path of justice; skill to strik'
The subtle line of cleavage 'twixt the trutl
} And that which masks and apes the truth
supreme
Intent to see and do the right, and weigh
Out Judgment with an even hand"