The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-02

and turn loose the negro. Judge Bar
row can hang the murderer and let
the man go. The Final Judge can send
the sinner TO perdition and the man or
woman to heaven.
"Oh! for such plan, let rocks and hills
Their lasting silence break"
But that ingenious and delightful
Jesuitical dialectics, if satisfactory to
the parson. does not suit the Judge,
nor sa tisfy the laws of the state. nor
the rules of conduct that govern gen.
tlemen. ! leave it to you, while l take
your words as men understand them
and proceed with what l have to say.
LeVity Laid Aside.
And. first, whether as preacher or
man, you have no right conception
of justice or mercy Without know
ing the facts. without trying to learn
the truth, you, for a sensation, con-
vert your pulpit into the hastings and
hurI anathemas at a judge, breathe
hot blast of calumny TO destroy his
reputation and usefulness. You deny
IAN animus" to injure the man, but
admit you intended to damn the judge
What a softening. mellowing of your
tone-from the reckless. hectoring, dar-
ing, challenger on the stump, to the
gentle, humble, Aminadab Sleek
Your purpose and your words were
not those of a Christian, a friend, or
a gentleman. You told your adienoe
that you spoke with full knowledge
of what you said, when you knew that
statement was not true.
Had you been a Christian, friend. or
a just heather. you would have sought
for facts. You could have gotten them
within ten minutes. The enormity of
your Islander is to be measured by the
trifiing offense as imagined by you.
1t was not d corrupt act of the judge.
1t was only the amount of the fine
on what you call "a poor negro in
dulging in a game" Now sir. after
you have done TO yourself the damage
intended for me, l will give you the
facts:
Facts Furnished by the Judge.
I fined the negroes $67, instead of $42,
as you said. They all pleaded guilty"
They thereby saved much expense to
the county They were not the real
criminals, although guilty. They are
ignorant tools Had 1 sent each and
all to the changing. other tools of the
same class would have been in their
places the next day.
I have fined the owners of the pol
icy shops $1,000. or twelve months on
the changing, and warned them that
for the next like offense would omit
the fine. They have not reappeared
l punish gamblers as heavily as
thieves, as rule. l consider all the
facts in each case and measure the
punishment by them. Yet, have new
or been criticised for leniency TO
thieves. You said in that stump speech
that If judges would fine gamblers ST.
900 each, and every time, they could
break it up The Ignorance behind that
speech is very common. There are too
evils so deep-rooted in human infirmity
that no punishment can eradicate
and the social evil
You must work within, not without;
not by chains, but with the sword of
the Spirit. to abolish those evils.
1t would seem that a judge who pun
ishes an offense, made so by Gods fin
ger-his writing on stene-as much as
an offense made so by mans law, is
not "'polluting his office" to a great
degree--not enough, any way to justi-
fly a minister of Gods law to mount a
stump AMI to challenge the Judge to
fight a duel Gambling is a great evil.
The limit to its ravages cannot be
even imagined. So are the social evil
and theft. God expressly forbade the
two last, and said nothing of the first
Yet, as rule, l have fined gamblers
four times the amount / have fined
thieves. Here is another text for your
next stump speech. OF the trials
of a judge seeking to do justice and
yet be merciful, you know nothing
BY your Herodian rule, l should pun
ish child thief as severely as the
hardened adult. l should make JUS
tice. Procrustes' bed--stretch the short
and saw of the long logs to make them
lit the bed. So much on facts you did
not would not, seek before you con-
demned. Hang first. then try him"
is your justice. your mercy.
You are out as a Reformer. Reform
ers should be informed. Your first
charge against the judges exposes your
ignorance. You say a United States
judge sentenced 0. M. Carter to only
FIVE years Imprisonment though he
stole three-quarters of a million dol
lars. Where were you in 1878? How
is 1t you did not know that Carter was
tried in Savannah by a court-martial,
not one of which court was a civilian,
Judge, or a lawyer? Besides YOU did
not know that an additional penalty
of $4,000 fine was imposed Hereafter
follow Mr.. Gradgrinds whose living
motto was, Give me facts, sir! 1 want
the facts"
Subjects Preached on by Mr.. McCor-
kIe Reviewed.
The bench is not exempt from criti-
cism. This is a free country Free
dom of speech is a birthright 1t is
the chief guardian of liberty. Judges
are but men clothed with the ermine.
1t neither regenerates the heart, sub
dues passions, nor enlightens Judgment
1t sometimes cloaks vice, conceals evil
designs and affords opportunity for
malevolence. But, to the right minded
the ermine is a constant stimulus to
conscience and to courage No one
who has not worn it knows its burden
when the intellect cannot discern clear
ly the right of a cause; when ire
parable injury may be done by an
error of reason and by final judgment;
or, in a criminal case, how far, with
out detriment to the public, Justice
may be tempered with mercy.
Nor is the pulpit exempt from criti-
cisn and censure. Preachers are but
mortals clothed in vestments canonical.
If Christ was of like passions with
men, who can claim perfection? But,
/ am not crusading against the pulpit
or preachers. Without them this world
would be what no ina gination can de-
pct, as, with all their strenuous labors.
piety and prayers, the world is far, far
too wicked.
Ny criticism of you is that as "a
minister of the Gospel you convert the
pulpit into the hustings whence you
illuminate calumny; and challenge sin
ners to join you in a breach of the
peace. Next, that, in the pulpit, in
what you call sermons. you discuss
subjects which do not lift the mind
and heart towards Heaven but which.