ment, and he regretted exceedingly that his
health was such that he was obliged to go
home; and be expresses a strong desire that
this proposition should receive the attention
of the house, and be carefully considered,
I for one hope it will be postponed. It is
worthy of consideration by the house; and I
think it is a proposition, that when it is ex-
amined will be found to be a proper one. It
combines both the ideas that have been pro-
posed for the prelent section, providing for
the election of achief' justice by a general
ticket, and of the associate justices by the
different sections of the State. I am sure
that no gentleman here desires to alienate the
feelings of one part of the State against an-
other by selecting all the officers from one
section of the State, as might be the case.
Mr. CLARKE. I was not here during the
debate upon the general question of the ap-
pointment of judges by the executive or their
election by the people. It is evident that
there is a very great diversity of opinion upon
this question when we come to reach the de-
tails of it. By the vote taken yesterday it ap-
peared that there was a large majority of the
house in favor of an elective judiciary, provid-
ed that elective judiciary would be so organ-
ized that the State would be districted, and the
people of the districts might have an oppor-
tunity of choosing their own judges; the
result of which would be that the political
complexion of the court would not be determined
by a vote upon general ticket; but
there might be in one district a judge elected
of one political party, and in another district
a judge elected of a different political party.;
the result of which would be to deprive the
court of appeals of anything like a political
bearing;.
We have voted to adopt the elective system.
We have followed that up by a vote
which determines that the court of appeals
shall be elected by general ticket. What will
be the result? Simply this: that the nom-
inating State convention will determine who
lie to be the candidates of their political par-
ty. That will determine the entire court;
and the result will be that the entire court
of appeals will become a mere political machine
political body. If you district the
State, and have one judge of one class of po-
litical sentiments, and another judge of a
different class of political sentiments, there
will be no such political agreement on the
part of the court of appeals.
Mr. HEBB (interposing.) I rise to a ques-
tion of order.; whether it is in order to discuss
merits of a question, upon a motion
to postpone.
Mr. CLARKE. I am not discussing the
merits of the question, but the operation of
the different propositions to combat the view
taken that this question has been already
settled. The propositions have been presented
in various forms and various phases; and |
the proposition is now presented in such a
form before this body, as to convert, in my
judgment the court of appeals into a mere ex-
pression of the political sentiments of a party.
Mr. STIRLING, The gentleman is not in
order. He is arguing against what the house
has done.
The PRESIDENT. The question is upon the
propriety of postponement.
Mr. CLARKE. I am just coming to that.
I say that is the result. Now there is another
proposition, to change the characters of the
organization of the court of appeals, providing
that the chief justice shall he elected by the
whole State; to a certain extent changing the
character of the court, by having one elected
by general ticket instead of by the bench, and
coming back to the district system to a cer-
tain extent. Inasmuch us the desire of the
house seemed yesterday to be in favor of an
elective system, and now the character of
this organization is such that it will convert
it into a political machine, the gentleman
from Somerset (Mr. Jones) and probably-
other gentlemen may desire either to adopt
the proposition of the gentleman from Balti-
more city (Mr. Thomas) or to reconsider the
proposition by which the house determined
to have an elective judiciary instead of hav-
ing them appointed. I believe the views of
gentlemen have changed upon the question
of appointment, and I should like to seethe
question raised again.
Mr. SANDS. I think nothing will be lost
in passing this section for the present. As
to gentlemen changing their views from the
appointive system to the elective, and from
the elective back to the appointive, from po-
litical motives and considerations, I suppose
that is a game that may be played at by both
sides of the house.
Mr. CLARKE. I hope the gentleman did
not understand me as saying that gentlemen
proposed to change their views from political
considerations.
Mr. SANDS. What I understood from the
remarks of the gentleman from Prince
George's was this: that many who started
fur the appointive system became converts to
the elective, and would modify their opin-
ions under some new state of affairs, and be-
come willing to turn back to the appointive
system. I am satisfied, myself, that they
shall have either one or the other; because
if they are going to turn it into a political
machine, that matter cuts both ways. I
concur very heartily in the suggestion to
postpone this.
Mr. DANIEL. I wish simply to Bay in ex-
planation of what has been stated with refer-
ence to my colleague from Baltimore city
(Mr. Thomas,) that the casual remark which
fell from me will not operate at all upon my
vote upon this subject, nor do I wish the convention
to be influenced by it. I would just
as cheerfully vote for postponing it, had the |
