dicted that the Union would be dissolved if Loui-
siana should he annexed; because, they said that
we could not have any sympathy with the popu-
lation living there. But I will not dwell upon
such illustrations. I merely indicate the class of
facts that might be adduced to sustain my argu-
ments, and could refer to hundreds of similar ill-
stances.
Read the Essays of Fisher Ames, one of the
wisest, ablest and most patriotic men that ever
lived, upon the subject of universal suffrage.
He had a constant trepidation of giving to all
men the right to participate in the administra-
tion of the government, and predicted, and
honestly believed that agrarianism would follow,
He is one of the class of authorities brought for-
ward on the other side. No one of his predic-
tions in that respect have been realized. Madi-
son and Hamilton advocated the election of the
Senators of the United States for life, because,
they said, without this there would be continual
fluctuations and yielding to popular impulses.
Is there a man now who would retrace our steps
in that particular? Look at the practical
working of another branch of our government—
the electoral college for the choice of President
and Vice President of the United States, which
was organized by the men of that age By read-
ing the debate on the formation of this college,
it would be seen that it was intended that this
college should be composed of a wise and patri-
otic body of men, better qualified to choose the
President and Vice President than the great
mass of the people. It never entered into the
imaginations of our greatest ancestors that these
electors were to give pledges as to the manner
and mode in which they were to discharge their
trusts. What is the practice under it? Has not
that branch become as thoroughly democratic
as any other? Is there a man that would re-
trace our steps in that particular? We leave
now our chief magistrate a mere effervescence
of the popular will. Is there a man who will
insist that the people are not qualified to dis-
charge their high trust' I know gentlemen do
not like this mode of disposing of their theories,
I saw it in the manner in which my colleague
disposed of the argument of the gentleman from
Kent. He referred to facts which occur around
us, and which are truly at war with these theo-
ries, and in that mode, in my humble judgment,
established their fallacy.
Let us come to the question itself—the inde-
pendence of the judges. Independent of what?
That is the question. If you make a man inde-
pendent of all control, while dependent upon
carrying into execution the promptings of his
own head and heart, that is not the best mode
to insure pure and good conduct. Show me a
man pre-eminently above his fellow-men, with
none of the impulses, passions, predilections
and animosities of other men, and inaccessible
to all human frailties,—show me that man, and
I Will make him dependent upon his own im-
pulses and actions, and independent of any neces-
sity to consult and respect the opinions of others.
is there any man who does not participate in
politics? Did we not choose officers of this |
Convention in regard to politics? Observation
satisfies us on that point. How is it with your
judges in office? I respect them as much as any
other class of society. I never have seen a man
on the bench that did not take part in the ex-
citements of the day. They may learn, perhaps,
a more measured manner in announcing those
opinions, but those opinions are as unqualified
as they are in any man in society. I have dis-
cerned no exceptions, and would be sorry to see
this class of men indifferent to public affairs.
When the great interests of this country are at
stake, when the very institutions of the whole
confederacy are at peril, would you have a wise
and learned class of men who can influence the
community by their conduct, their votes, and
their counsels, profoundly intent on their own
affairs and abstract from all observation in the
disposition of these questions involving our
magnificent confederacy? Silent for what? That
they might hold the position they occupy Esau
sold his birthright, but I would scorn, in this
age, to believe that as a class, the whole judi-
ciary are mere spectators of these mighty strug-
gles, that have, as all honestly believe, the well-
being of this magnificent confederacy involved
in them—its well-being as an exemplar to the
whole human family. Are judges to have no
impulses, no wish, no desires, no concern? I
say, with great candor, I know them for being
so far party men as to form opinions, and ex-
press them at the polls, and to propagate them,
and make proselytes, if they can. What does
their judicial dependant mean? It originated in
England, the people claiming that the judiciary
should be independent of the momentary pas-
sion of a king. We do not propose to have
judges dependent upon the momentary impulses
of our sovereign, the people. Nearly all of the
dependants I have heard upon this point, start
with the assumption that we are about to pro-
vide for the election of judges who shall try all
the facts, enact and expound the law, and final-
ly and for ever dispose of every thing that comes
before them in criminal and civil cases. Are
we engaged in any such work? Every man pro-
poses checks and balances, and this is the great
improvement of modern reform. It is that
which distinguishes us from the little mob-
ocracies of Greece, the great mass of whose
population were savages. There the masses
met under the impulse of momentary passion,
and gave laws to society, and carried these laws
into execution.
We are in a condition similar to them Your
jury is summoned by the sheriff; they come from
the vicinage; they come to try all the facts of a
case. The judges of your county courts are
elected by the community, but are they all-pow-
erful ? They are controlled by the consideration
that their opinions in law are liable to he reviewed
by a superior tribunal. These checks and bal-
ances are the great guarantee and guide. Put a
corrupt man upon the bench in this or in any
State, and my judgment against that of the gen-
tleman from Kent, although I have much less
experience, he will for the time being conduct
himself with propriety. Why ? The tide of his |
