Year: 1860

comparatively short period of their exist.
ence as people, they have not added anoth-
er name to the illustri0us list (which is equally
true of all the other nations of the earth)


they may proudly boast of one example Of
life and character, one career of disinterested
service, one model of public virtne, one type
of human excellence, of which all the cOun-
tries and all the ages may be searched in
vain for the parallel. l need not-on this
day 1 need not-speak the peerless name.
1t is stamped on your hearts, it glistens in
your eyes, it is written on every page OF
your history, on the battle-felds of the Rev.
olution, on the monuments of your fathers,
on the portals of your Capitols. 1t is heard
in every breeze that whispers over the fields
of independent America. And he was all
our own. He grew up on the soil of Amer
lea he was nurtered at her bosom. She
loved and trusted him in his youth she
honored and revered him in his age and
though she did not wait for death to canon
ize his name, his precious memory, with
each succeeding year, has sunk more deeply
into the hearts of bis countrymen.


ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE


An honest and impartial administration OF
justice is the corner stone of the social
system. The most serious charges brought
against US, on the occasion alluded to, are,
that owing to the all pervading corruption
of the country, the judges of the Supreme
Court of the United States, who once COM
manded the public respect at home and
abroad, are now appointed for party pur.
poses, and that some of their decisions have
excited the disgust of all high minded men,
that the judges of most of the State courts
hold their Offices by election, some by annual
election; that the undisputed dominion of
the numerical majority, which has been
established, will not allow the desires and
passions of the hour to be checked by a
firm administration of the law !; and that in
consequence, the laws in this country have
become mere cobwebs to resist either the
rich, or the popular feeling Of the moment !;
in word, that the American Astr9a, like
the goddess of old, has fled to the stars.
need not say, fellow citizens, in your hear
ing, that wherever else this may be true
land I believe it to be true nowhere in the
United States) it is not true in Massachu-
sets and that Westminster Hall never
boasted court more honcred or more
worthy of honor than thst which holds its
Office by life tenure and administers impair
tial justice, without respect of persons, to
the people of Massachusetts. Such court
the people of Massachusetts have no wish
to change for an elective judiciary holding
Office by short tenure. In their opinion,
evinced in their practice, this all important
branch of the government ought to be re-
moved as far as possible beyond the reach
of political influences but it is surely the
grossest of errors to speak of the tribunals
of the United States as being generally
tainted with party, or to represent the law
in the main as having ceased to be respected
and enforced. Taking q comprehensive
view of the subject, and not drawing sweep
ing inferences from exceptional occurrences,
it may be safely said that the law of the
land is ably, cheaply and impartially admin
istered in the United States, and implicitly
obeyed. On few questions, not half a
dozen in number since the organization of
the government, and those partaking of a
political character, the decision of the court,
like the questions to which they refer, have
divided public opinion. But there is surely
not tribunal in the world, which like the
Supreme Court of the United States, has,
since the foundation of the government, not
only efficiently performed the ordinary func-
tions of tribunal of the last resort, but
which sits in judgment on the courts and
legislatures of sovereign States, on acts of
Congress itself, and pronounces the law to
confederation co-extensive with Europe.
l know of no such protection under any
other government, against unconstitutional
legislation, if, indeed, any legislation can be
called unconstitutional, where Parliament,
alike in theory and practice, is omn;potent.
With respect to the partisan character of
our courts, interfered from the manner in
which the judges are appointed, the judges
of the United States courts, which are the
tribunals specifically reflected on, are ap-
pointed in the same manner and hold their
Offices by the same tenure as the English
judges of the courts of common law. They
are appointed for life, by the executive
power, no doubt from the dominant party of
the day, and this equally in both countries.
The presiding magistrate of the other branch
of English Jurisprudence, the Lord Chancel-
lor, is displaced with every change in politics.
In seventy-one years since theadoption of the
federal constitution, there have been but
four Chief Justices of the United States, and
the fourth is still on the bench. In thirty.
three years there have been nine appointments
OF Lord Chancellor, on as many changes of
administration, and seven different individ.
uals have filed the Office, of whom five are
living. As member of the Cabinet and
Speaker of the House of Lords, be is neces-
sarily deep in all the political controversies
of the day, and his vast official influence and
patronage are felt throughout Church and
State. The Chief Justice of England is
usually member of the House of Lords,
sometimes a member of the Cabinet. As q
necessary consequence, on all questions of q