then the very first thing he would do would be
to put his heal upon those whom he conceived.
to be his enemies, and to extend, the fostering
hand of patronage to his friends. The mem-
bers of the bar who opposed him, would be
marked; and those who favored him would be
the objects of his adillation. Nor would this
be all. As has been well said by the distin-
guished gentleman from Prince Georges, who
reported this bill, if you restrict the tenure to
ten years, and do not allow him to be re-eligible,
finding that when he retires from the office of
Judge, his position in life as a lawyer is gone,
that other aspiring and ambitious men have
risen up and taken his position, and assumed the
control of the. cases of his clients, knowing at
the end of the ten years he will have to look to
another theatre of action, he would use the
power of his office to court the popular favor,
in order to be elected to the office of clerk, or
register, or perhaps governor of the State, or
member of Congress. This would be the ne-
cessary and inevitable consequence, if the judges
are not re-eligible.
My friend has attempted to illustrate his posi-
tion by reference to the office of Governor. That
office, he says, is only occupied for a given length
of time. Does not my friend see the marked
difference between the office of Governor and the
office of Judge? What is a Governor elected for?
To represent the political branch of the govern-
ment. What is the judge elected for? To ad-
minister the law to all portions of the community
alike, without reference to party or politics. The
Governor is elected wholly in reference to politics;
and a field of politics is ever varying and chang-
ing. New interests are suddenly arising, new
questions are suddenly presented. But the judge
represent? the stability of the law; the unyielding
sternness and integrity of the law, and is elected
to administer the law sternly and inflexibly.—
Where is the analogy?
He has also illustrated it by reference to the of-
fice of sheriff. I ask my frienk where is the an-
alogy to he found. The sheriff is re-eligible, not
at the end of his term, but after a given number
of years. The sheriff is the officer who executes
the process of the courts; that collects debts ad-
judged by the courts; and is required at the end
of his term to render an account. He is only
proscribed for three years, when he may be elect-
ed again. Is there not as much inducement for
the sheriff to electioneer for an office which will
be open to him again at the end of three years,
as if he was immediately re-eligible? Where, then.
is the force of the comparison which my friend
attempted to draw?
Now let us take the other side, and suppose the
judge to he made re-eligible. It has been argued
that the effect of this system would be to make
them politicians. We are now upon a field of ex-
periment. We know that their holding office in-
indefinitely, without reference to re-eligibility,
does not secure them from being politicians. We
know that our present judges are not re-eligible,
and from the foundation of the government have
not been re-eligible. I ask if it is not the experi- |
ece of every man in this House, that in mayy in-
stances those judges, are politicians? I know that
there are exceptions; but will any man deny that
many of them are or have been politicians? Do
they not take part in the elections? They do not
go out and make political harangues; but do they
not talk freely? Do they not embrace every oppor-
tunity of conversation upon the subject of politics;
to express their views in regard to men and meas-
ures? Do they not take a deep interest in the
elections, and watch their progress with anxiety?
I do not say this out of the slightest personal dis-
respect to the judges. It is a feeling natural to
man, and they would not he human if they did
not ahare it. In a country like ours, which is at
times convulsed almost by the great political ex-
citement, when every man, woman and child en-
ters into it, how can the judges escape from shar-
ing the feelings belonging to human nature? I
say, then, that the fact that they are not now re-
eligible, does not prevent them from becoming
politicians, either in feeling or in action.
We are now about to enter upon a new field
of progressive intelligence. The judges are to
be placed in another sphere. They are to be
appointed to office with a limited tenure.
Where is the man who can by any kind of fore-
sight pretend to say that the party which has
elected him in 1851 will be in the ascendent in
1861? No man breathing would venture to
hazard all his future life to make a conjecture.
The effect would naturally be this: The indi-
vidual would reflect, I am now before the com-
munity as a judge. Upon what does my posi-
tion depend? Upon the gratification of political
feeling? In an interest in particular friends who
have elevated me? No; those very friends may
change their position. In the course of these
ten years the whole aspect of parties will be
changed; and, if I undertake to serve these par-
ticular men, I shall excite in the community a
contempt and hostile feeling upon the part of
all others. But if I demean myself in such a
manner as to win the confidence of my fellow-
men, showing myself faithful to my post, and
qualified for the office, showing an integrity and
stern adherence to duty, I shall command the
veneration and affection of my fellow-men.
Will any friend of the people say that the people
will not discriminate in favor of that judge, and
consider him entitled to their confidence? And
in such a case, are not the people to have the
opportunity of selecting the man who has mani-
fested his integrity and won their respect and
confidence? I repeat, that if the judges are not
re-eligible, I would advocate their being elected
for life. I know of nothing which, in my judg-
ment, would pour upon the community in which
we live such a pandora box of evil, as this
election of judges for a term of years, and at
the end of that time, however faithful, throwing
them upon the world to seek a living as they
may.
Mr. JOHNSON. I rise simply to say that I
gave a vote yesterday with a view to have the
shortest term of limitation imposed upon the
judges, and my motive in giving that vote was |
