The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-05-30

chance to use judicial powers TO the in
jury of others, to injure this man and
that man, he will pass from my memory
as far as / am concerned. 1t is a ques-
ton Of when this resolution has been
ma ssed. the Bar Association occupying a
higher standard by reason Of it. BY not
being led off with the proposition that
we cannot pass on these things now.
ACTION BASED ON PUBLIC REC
ORDS.
Gentlemen, they are matters of public
record If there had been merely some
personal charge against Judge Hum
phreys. no man would be here to- sup
port this resolution; these resolutions
are based on matters as fully known to
all of us as they ever be made
known to a committee. They are all
based on matters of public record.
After ALL the main Indictment against
the man is that he is constituted that
there is no hope of any change. He does
not see the situation today. / believe
that he is filled with righteous indigna-
ton against his enemies He has sim
ply been disclosing the temperament
with which he was born. He has
gone from bad or worse; he simply can
not control himself: it is Unborn. So far
as trying to do him an injury, We have
from the Judgeship and that thus the
matter would end in peace
Gentlemen, when children play over an
issue they give childish reasons. When
men come together we have come to-
gether here, it is for business and moth
ing else, and I, for one, would not want
to belittle myself or the Bar after all of
this, commotion, by having a mountain
bring forth mouse. In the face of
resolution in which We say he has in
suited us, and then not pass it. He has
i1nperiled the rights of the poor; he has
imperiled the rights of individuals who
have come before him unassisted Indi-
viduals are imperiled and these are the
men that we should primarily defend and
let these resolutions stand as a witness
of our conviction.
DAVIS SUPPORTS RESOLUTION.
Mr. Davis. Mr.. President, during the
Crimean war it was John Bright who,
in the English House of Commons, said:
The Angel of Death has been abroad
in the land. | can almost hear the beat
ing of his wings" 1t was listened to as
John Bright was always listened TO; but
the fact was England was experiencing
deadly war. Acts of war had been COM
mitted and the honor and integrity of
the flag was at stake, and England could
not withdraw, and war was forced on.
This is a matter that should be APP
proa ched without passion or prejudice;
it should be approached calmly. If the
Honorable A S. Humphreys is innocent,
he VII have q chance 10 yind:eate him
self before the final arbiter to whom
these charges will be forwarded. for il
is provided in the Organic Act that the
term of office for Circuit Judge shall
be four years unless sooner removed by
the President of the United States.
When these charges are formulated and
sent to the committee. which is the only
course that the Bar Association can take,
it will have done its duty 70 society, and
to one of the noblest professions which
it has ever been the lot of man to fol-
low, and in defense of nome and honor
and principle. When these charges are
prepared and sent to the President of
the United States, the Honorable A. S.
Humphreys will have ample time in
which to prepare his defense and refute
these charges if they are not true, and
to contradict the evidence submitted. He
knows these proceedings have been insti-
tuted. When Andrew Johnson sought to
dissolve the American Union by treach-
erous and reasonable conduct, it was
hard to put him on trial but the Sena te
of the United States, in the exercise of
its high powers did not hesitate to i'm
peach him and put him upon trial. He
barely escaped going down into history
ignominiously branded, but there was one
vote that failed to secure his conviction
HUMPHREYS JUDICIAL CAREER.
Mr.. Humphreys started in his judicial
career with all promise, with all bright
ness and with merit and respect both on
the right and the left The members of
this Bar within my hearing and within
the sound of my voice. when charges OF
serious and grave character were filed
against him in Washington, came in al
most unanimously, one after another,
and wrote letters, guaranteeing and in
dorsing the character and the high stand
ing of the man; refuting the charges
made against him. have in mind a
dozen men present who were appealed
to and who sent forward letters of rec
ommendation, and Judge Humphreys
was elevated to the judicial position
which he now occupies; but a few
months had elapsed when some of the
authors of those very letters were pre-
senting a matter before the Court and
made certain remarks before the Court,
remarks which any man would have
passed By, but for which Judge Hum
phreys sent one of them to ten days i'm
prisonment. He did not stop to think or
To QeEDerate or hesitate. HIS punish
ment was swift, and the very men who
helped to put him in his present position
were shown no mercy. They were among
the first to suffer by his arbitrary exer-
else of power. When jurymen were a
few moments late, he imposed a penalty
of One Hundred Dollars each against two
merchants of this City. He introduced
into his court short mallet to pound
and keep silence; if there was the slight
est interruption there was sure to be
trouble. His whole career as a Judge
has been one not in keeping with judi
cial character, and he has not fulfilled
the expectations of the members of this
Bar.
CONDUCTS POLITICAL NEWSPAPER.
But, gentlemen, there are other and
higher grounds to take in this matter,
as members of this association, than be-
cause he has done these things What
right has a Judge of a court into whose
hands is committed life. liberty and prop
erty, who has to decide momentous and
important cases in community, to con-
duct partisan newspaper? They say it
is war between newspapers; but the ed
itor of the Advertiser and the proprietor
Of the Advertiser occupy no judicial po-
mn