Appeals, he repeated—and upon that turned the
whole question—let gentlemen show him the
political questions which that tribunal is to de-
cide, He had lived long enough in Maryland
to believe and know—he said it with the most
sincere personal respect for the Judges of Ma-
ryland—that the organization of a court with
but one class of politicians on the bench, had a
tendency to foster and encourage practicing
lawyers with reference altogether to their le-
gal knowledge It favored the practice of a
particular class of men belonging to a particu-
lar party.
Now, as he had seen the force of that state of
things under our old judiciary system, as he
believed that a political court had a tendency
to foster a certain class of lawyers, and to give
them the lead, he would assist to organize courts
on such a basis. We ought all to know that
clients over-estimate the advantage of having
counsel who coincide in politics with the pre-
siding judges, and will place their business into
the hands of the party favorites of a court.
And, when about to form a Constitution, our
Superior Court, especially, ought to be so or-
ganized as to establish for one party an abuse
of which many members of another party had
experienced the advantages. He (Mr Thomas)
thought he could stand between the two parties
on this queston as an umpire.
His political career was over. Tired and
care-worn, with long continued contest in the
public arena, he repeated, be long for the pleas-
ures of retirement. He was to hold none of
the stations to be created under this new Con-
stitution.
He had no personal aspirations to bias his
judgment, and would not advocate a mode
of electing Judges of the Courts of Appeals
that would give, probably, exclusive control
of that branch of our Government to one
political party. He would not, if he could,
inflict upon others one of the evils he, (Mr.
Thomas,) had contended against all his po-
litical life. These opinions he had long en-
tertained, and must. act in accordance with
them. He would make, if he could, all the
walks of professional and political life equally
accessible to the meritorious. He would not
arrange for favors to be shown to those who
came after him in any political or professional
career they desired to run.
The broad aspect of this question was plain;
there ought to be no politics in it. He was not
so sure that if the election were by general
ticket, the people of Maryland would not elect
four Whigs. The inclination of his mind was
in the direction of that as a possible event. But
whether so or not, he was not disposed to make
a political question of the election of Judges.
But he would not have a Judge disfranchise
himself, or deny himself the privilege of politi-
cal party association. We were apt to judge
men by the promptings of our own bosoms. He
(Mr. T.) was disposed to believe that he was
responsible yet for a strong political feeling,
and he did not feel conscious that it would dis-
qualify him to sit on the judgment seat. Even if |
our Judges were politicians, they would proceed
as lawyers and not as politicians, when presid-
ing in our courts, if they were not elected as
party men. And, whether or not, he desired to
see the elections held by the district system, and
not by general ticket. The people may know
nothing of a candidate for the Presidency, and
yet know how to select one who represented
their political principles. The politician rep-
resented a principle, but the Judge represented
nothing but his own professional and private
life.
These were the reasons that would influence
him to vote for the district system. He would
take the occasion to say that he could not, under
any combination of circumstances, vote for the
bill as it came from the Judiciary committee.
He had followed his leader—the chairman of the
Judiciary committee—with the utmost cheerful-
ness, as it regarded many of the provisions of his
report; but he could not consent to vote for one
judge in every county of Maryland. He thought
if the Convention was to sanction the election of
one judge in every county, it would make the
adoption of the constitution extremely doubtful.
He could not vole for such a measure, because
he thought it would he creating supernumerary
officers. And he said that out of respect to that
constituency he represented. For, if there was
one feature more obnoxious than another to his
constituents, it was that Frederick, Allegany,
and Washington counties had not had as many
judges as they required, while other sections of
the State had had an unnecessary number.
In this connection, he would say, he could not,
in any event, vote for that part of the report from
the committee on the Judiciary that proposed to
abolish the revenue of the Orphans' Courts of the
counties; for he believed those courts to be well
qualified for the duties assigned to them, and they
were very popular. He would so far change
their organization as to authorize the people lo
elect them. He did not see that business enough
would devolve upon any one judge of a county
in Maryland to give him employment. He was
familiar with the business before the county
court of Frederick county, and felt very certain
that a judge could not find constant employment
in its Iran-actions. He knew that one judge
could try, without much effort, every case in
Frederick and Washington counties. He was
sure that one judge could preride there and
transact all the business as well at law as in
equity. It we give one judge to each county, be
would be idle; and instead of improving, as all
intellectual men should do, by constant employ-
ment—instead of progressing in improvements,
he would get rusty. If you made one individual
a judge, in the prime of manhood, for some of
the smallest counties, he would, in all probabil-
ity, not to sleep like the weed on Lethe's shore.
But he would prefer very much—it being the
wish of his constituents, and he might speak gen-
erally of the counties of the West—that they
should have one judge on the benches of our
county court—and he believed that if the State
was divided into seven or eight circuits for such |
