the bench do not come into the held to election-
eer—although you may witness even that after
a while, when the awe for the judiciary has
worn off by this unseemly familiarity—yet their
friends and opponents will be active both in
public and in private, and will ply all the ma-
chinery by which popular elections are commonly
decided. Can a judge thus elected, help
knowing who have been his most strenuous sup-
porters, and who have opposed him with greatest
vehemence; who have abused his personal char-
acter to the lowest point of infamy, and who
have praised him as if he were a god? If he be
not ignorant of these things, is it in human na-
ture to forget them" I can conceive of no more
painful situation lor a man of sensitive feelings.
Even when conscious of his own freedom from
bias, either of favor or prejudice, would he not
often be tortured by the thought that he was
suspected, and might he not sometimes, when
he remembered the frailty of his nature, feel a
distressing doubt, of his own impartiality? Un-
der any system, however independent the I enure
of a judge, and however upright he may be in
performing the duties of his office, malignant
minds may suggest suspicions of his integrity.
But then the strong consciousness of rectitude in
his own heart, would be seconded by the support
of intelligent and sober minded men, who would
sustain him in a special case, when they know
that his general course is governed by a rigid
impartiality, and who would not believe that he
could be easily swayed by mean personal mo-
tives. Suppose, however, under the proposed
change, an important case—and such might easi-
ly happen—where his sense of justice compels
him to decide in favor of some strong partizan,
who has actively and efficiently exerted himself
in favor of his election as judge. Might not sus-
picion find its way under such circumstances, to
the minds of even the best disposed of his polit-
ical opponents" To have a suspected judge upon
the bench, whatever might be his actual integ-
rity, would to the common sense corrupt the
very fountain of justice, and make its waters
taste bitter, even when purest and sweetest; and
I fear, that after a while, the experience of such
a state of things, would prevent the best men
from consenting to occupy such positions.
Whatever confidence we may have in the sa-
gacity and uprightness of the mass of the peo-
ple, we must remember, that in our elections
they do not decide between the best men: not
because they cannot, but because they have not
the opportunity. The voters will not themselves
select those for whom they must cast their bal-
lots when they come to elect judges. Practi-
cally, it will not. be in the power of any one of
them to say—"I deposit my vote for the man
who I think most fitted to be a good judge," He
must unless he is willing to throw away his
vote, take one of two party nominees—his choice
is in fact, limited to two men, neither of whom
may be fit for the office. Now, by what magic
can the people select one good man out of two
bad ones? The effect of this is, that before the |
day of election, two men are chosen by irres-
ponsible colleges of electors, unknown to the
laws, and from these two, the people have the
privilege of selecting one. If the proposition
were made here or out of doors, for a college of
electors to be legally chosen by the people
themselves, which college should select our
judges, or select candidates to be put before the
people—that would be denounced as aristocratic,
as proceeding from a distrust of the people. Yet
in the present state of politics in this country
and State, the power of choosing their own ser-
vants is more completely taken away from the
mass of the people than if the intervention of
a college of electors were made necessary by
the laws of the land. Can this be denied by any
one at all acquainted with our recent political
history?
Let us look at this matter somewhat in detail.
It may seem beneath the dignity of the subject
under consideration, to examine the machinery
by which political nominations are ordinarily
made, but it is all important to enable us to
judge of the practical working of the system.
Sometime before an election is held, primary
meetings are called in every election district by
both parties to select delegates to their county
nominating conventions. Out of four or five
hundred voters in a district, perhaps ten or a
dozen, rarely more and often not half the num-
ber, attend the primary meeting. Any man who
pleases to spend a single day in riding round the
district can get together just such a meeting as
suits his purposes, and by some little concert
the same thing can be done in other districts.
Thus the delegates sent to the county conven-
tion are often the representatives of a most in-
significant number of the voters, and meet lo
carry out their own private plans and political
intrigues, or those of designing men who have
pulled the wires. Of course there are excep-
tions, but in general it must be admitted that
the most honest, intelligent, and disinterested
men in the county do not take such an interest
in these proceedings as to attend the meetings
and govern their action. You may tell them
that it is their duty to attend, and you may
point out the consequences of their neglect, hut
they will not heed you. For the most part, even
the best men in the community concern them-
selves more about their private interests than
about matters of public concern; and their me-
thod of attending to their private interests is to
stay quietly at home in the pursuit of their or-
dinary business. The small politicians, the busy
wireworkers, also take care of what they consi-
der their private interests, but they do so by de-
voting themselves to the management of the
primary meetings and party conventions, and se-
curing such nominations as may best serve their
own particular purposes, either present or pros-
pective. This state of things is the same in
both parties, and what occurs in the counties,
occurs also with more or less variation in larger
districts, and in the whole State. The result
very frequently is, that the nominations made |
