SPEECH 
 
 GEN. J. J HARDIN, OF MORGAN, 
 
 THE BILL TO RE-ORGANIZE THE JUDICIARY. 
 
 Delivered in the House of Representatives , on the 21th day ofJanuary , 1841 . 
 
 The bill proposed to repeal out of office all the Circuit Judges, and to 
 elect liY r e additional Judges of the Supreme Court, who, with 
 the four already in office, were to act as Judges of 
 both the Supreme and Circuit Courts. 
 
 Mr. Chairman: —It was not my expectation 
 when this bill first came up for consideration, 
 to €letain this Committee with any remarks 
 of mine upon it. But the violent and den¬ 
 unciatory course pursued by the friends of 
 the bill before the committee, coupled with 
 its certain effects, and the avowed objects and 
 designs of its supporters, have made it my 
 imperative duty to meet the arguments 
 which have been adduced, and to expose tho 
 motives and designs of its advocates. I do 
 not hope that l will be able to entertain the 
 committee with the eloquence of some who 
 have preceded me in debate, but it shall 
 be my aim in my own plain and blunt man¬ 
 ner to state as forcibly as is in my power, 
 my objections to the bill which is now under 
 consideration. For the time I shall con¬ 
 sume, I shall seek no other apology than the 
 vast importance of the measure now under 
 discussion, and that intense interest, which 
 its agitation has every where excited in the 
 public mind. 
 
 The gentleman from St.Clair (Mr. Trum¬ 
 bull) who has preceded me, has attempted to 
 answer the constitutional objections* to the 
 bill which were made by my friend fromVer- 
 niillion (Mr. Brown.) So far as his assault 
 was made on the course of abstract reason¬ 
 ing, the analogy to legal maxims, and the 
 principles of our government as enforced by 
 the member from Vermillion, 1 think he has 
 moat signally failed. Reason, analogy, the 
 arguments ever used to sustain an indepen¬ 
 dent Judiciary, and the principles of ourRe- 
 ptffilican Government, all concur in creating 
 and sustaining constitutional objections to 
 this measure, whilst almost the only legiti¬ 
 
 mate argument in its support is to be found 
 in precedents set in times of the most heated 
 party excitement, by a popular and trium¬ 
 phant majority. It is not my design howev¬ 
 er to enter into the discussion of the consti¬ 
 tutional argument, for if the strong and 
 logical reasoning of the member from Ver¬ 
 million has not convinced, or at least created 
 doubts of the unconstitutionality of this 
 measure in the minds of those disposed to 
 give it their support, then I should despair 
 of producing that effect by any thing I could 
 add on the subject. 
 
 Aside from the constitutional question 
 which has chiefly engaged tho attention of 
 debaters,there are many grave questions of 
 expediency involved in its decision, to which 
 the attention of the committee should be es¬ 
 pecially directed. The first one 1 shall urge 
 is the entire inability of the Judges of the 
 Supreme Court to perform the duties which 
 will be required ot them under this bill.— 
 There are at present four Judges of the Su¬ 
 preme Court; this bill proposes to add five 
 more, and these nine Judges are required to 
 perform all the duties which at this time are 
 required by law to be performed by the nine 
 Judges of the Circuit Court, and the feur 
 Judges of the Supreme Court. At this 
 timo the complaint is almost universal from 
 every part of the state—of the crowded state 
 of the dockets of the Courts, and the conse¬ 
 quent delay in the administration of justice, 
 and the collection of debts. In every Circuit 
 they are asking for more time in which l© 
 hold their courts, and in soveral it is admit¬ 
 ted to be wholly impossible for any one 
 Judge to transact all the business which fc» 
 
2 
 
 now required to be performed by the accumu¬ 
 lated mass of business. 
 
 To illustrate this, I will state the following 
 facts, which I have learned by applying to 
 gentlemen residing within the several cu¬ 
 bits. In the Chicago Circuit, there are 
 upwards of 2000 cases undisposed of. 
 
 In Judge Ford’s Circuit, about as many. 
 
 In Judge Lott’s Circuit, about 3000. In 
 Judge Breese's upwards of 3000. And in 
 Judge Stone’s and JudgefSkate’s Circuits they 
 are also considerably behind the dockets, but 
 to what extent 1 have not ascertained. I he 
 only three circuits where the Juuges have 
 approximated towards keeping up with the 
 
 business, are the circuits of Judges-HaiUn, 
 
 Treat, and Thomas. 
 
 It will not be contended by any person, 
 that this vast accumulation of business m 
 our courts has arisen from the incompetency 
 or negligence of Circuit Judges. W the 
 solution of the difficulty^ to be found in 
 the unprecedented increase of the-popula¬ 
 tion and commerce of our State. In 18*>Mhe 
 population of Illinois i-vas An I 
 
 1840 it is within a fraction of o00,000.— 
 The increase of the commerce and trade ol 
 our state has been greater than that o oui 
 population, and it is not wonderful theiefoie 
 that whilst business of every other dcscnp- 
 cription Is increasing, that the business of 
 our Courts should also be enlarged. 
 
 The Judges of the Circuit Courts are now 
 occupied six months, on an average, in the 
 performance of circuit duty—and if addi¬ 
 tional time is given them to transact al the 
 business in their courts, they must constant¬ 
 ly be on duty for eight months in the year. 
 The Judges of the Supreme Court are now 
 required to be at the seat of Government 
 acting as the Supreme Court for three months 
 each winter. (For it is to be borne in mind 
 that we have had a session of the Legislature 
 five winters out of the last six, and from the 
 present embarrassed condition of t 0 - a 6 
 
 there is every prospect that there will be an 
 annual similar infliction.) i hey aie also 
 engaged a month at the summer term in go¬ 
 ing to and attending the June tenn of the 
 Court This with the time occupied by the 
 winter term makes four months on the 
 bench, besides the time employed in exam¬ 
 ining cases and writing out opinions when 
 not attending Court. When the great quan¬ 
 tity of business in the Circuit Courts is dis¬ 
 posed of, a larger portion of the most impor¬ 
 tant cases will be thrown into the Supreme 
 Court, and its sessions will thus be prolong¬ 
 ed two months more in the yeai. t lcic 
 fore the labors of both courts are to be thrown 
 on to one set of Judges, it is impossible for 
 
 them to perform the physical labor w; a 
 would be required of them. And to show 
 that I am not without competent authority 
 on this point, I will quote the language of 
 Judge Ralston and Pearson in their argu¬ 
 ments on this bill in the Senate, and who, it 
 is known, have recently resigned the mnces 
 of Circuit Judges. Judge Ralston remarks. 
 
 “Each Senotor in his district has seen (and ie 
 
 had no doubt with regret) the 
 which the law is administered. Our uoclcet& 
 swell with the increase of business at each su 
 cessive terra, and no hope remains of us> «« r 
 ing disposed of under our present inefficient sys 
 
 tem. 
 
 “Suitors with their witnesses attend tne couit 
 terra after term to their great inconvenience, ex¬ 
 pense, and sometimes their entire min, but 
 the wheels of justice are clogged. 
 
 Judge Pearson on the same subject re¬ 
 marks 
 
 “Besides, it would be unwise and unjust to re¬ 
 duce the labors of the Supreme Courts who had 
 now but little labor to perform, by tne ^dm™^ 
 •mother fudge to that bench, and at tne same 
 time refuse to extend any aid to the Circuit Court,, 
 the Judges of which were found pliys.cally incom¬ 
 petent to perform the accumulating laoors m then 
 various circuits, arising from the increase of pop¬ 
 ulation and the multiplication of tne commercial 
 
 and business transactions af the people. 
 
 And in another part of bis speech he says: 
 “The lesser branches of the system (Circuit 
 Courts) was found unable without an increase 
 of Judges to transact the business of the 
 people of this state, as required by the Con¬ 
 stitution and demanded by common justice. 
 
 The Senator from Union (Mr. Hackei) 
 
 remarked: 
 
 “He did not think the bill would answer the 
 purpose. It provided for the establishment of 
 nin« Circuits. lie doubted whether the nine 
 Supreme Judges proposed by the bill possessed tl e 
 Physical ability 'to perform all the duties which 
 would be required of them in their circuits. 
 
 When such are the statements of Fan 
 Buren Judges who have presided in your 
 courts, and of honorable Van Buren sena¬ 
 tors, how is it possible for gentlemen to per¬ 
 suade themselves that nine men can per 
 form the duties of both courts'? 
 
 It may be said that the circuit courts arc 
 to be relieved of much of their business j) 
 the creation of inferior courts. If this soon 
 be done, it still will not relieve the Judges. 
 The present business remains, which is near 
 ly sufficient to keep six of the Judges bus- 
 during the year without the addition of an 
 new business. If appeals are allowed noi 
 these inferior courts, which are proposed, t 
 the circuit court, then all contested busmes 
 will be removed by appeal to that court, an 
 if an appeal is allowed from tho intone 
 court directly to the Supreme court, .ho 
 the business of that court will be more tha 
 
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 3 
 
 •/ 
 
 quadrupled. From the laborious manner of 
 practice, and the necessary examination to 
 he made in that court, the consequent delay 
 will be equivalent to a denial of justice. 
 
 Another objection is, that the proposed 
 change will make the Supreme Court too 
 large and unwieldy. The number of Judges 
 being so large, will lead to contrariety of 
 opinion, and consequent delay in decision. 
 Again, these Judges, by our constitution, are 
 required to act as a Council of Revision. 
 And ifit should happen, (as it has once hap¬ 
 pened) that there should be a necessity for 
 the Legislature to be convened during the 
 time appointed for holding the Circuit Courts, 
 the Judges will be compelled to leave their 
 courts and hasten to the seat of government, 
 to the great loss of parties litigant, and to 
 the manifest denial of justice. 
 
 There is another objection which would 
 be of frequent occurrence. Our constitu¬ 
 tion provides that every person “ought to ob¬ 
 tain right and justice freely, and without be¬ 
 ing obliged to purchase it, completely and 
 without denial, promptly and without delay, 
 conformably to the laws.” Our laws pro¬ 
 vide that when a person is accused of mur¬ 
 der, he may demand a trial, and it shall be 
 the duty of the Circuit Judge to hold a spe¬ 
 cial term, without delay, to try the accused. 
 Now, if the duties of Circuit Judge are to be 
 performed by one of the Judges of the Su¬ 
 preme Court, it would be impossible for that 
 Judge to leave the seat of government during 
 the winter; and thus, an innocent man might, 
 and would doubtless, often be incarcerated 
 in a jail during the long and gloomy months 
 of winter, iu violation of the laws of the land, 
 and the just and express provisions of the 
 constitution of our State. 
 
 It i9 urged as an argument against the 
 present system, that there is, or may be, a 
 want of uniformity of decision, as the Su¬ 
 preme Court consists of four Judges, and if 
 they should be divided, the decision of the 
 Circuit Judge would be affirmed—and thus, 
 if two of tho Circuit Judges should decide 
 differently, on the same principle, both their 
 decisions might be affirmed. Itisasuffi- 
 cient answer to this objection, to state the 
 fact, that no difficulty or contrariety of de¬ 
 cision on any important question, has ever 
 occurred in more than 20 years practice un¬ 
 der our present system, and not a case has 
 been named where injustice has been done, 
 by this alledged defect in our system. And 
 when the court is divided in opinion, it is 
 right in principle that tho judgment of the 
 Circuit Court should be affirmed, as two of 
 the Judges of the Supreme Court agreeing 
 with the Circuit Judge, make three Judges 
 
 to two; and the case being once decided, it be¬ 
 comes the rule of decision fov the Circuit 
 Courts, as fully as if made by the unanimous 
 decision of tho Supreme Court. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, nothing has surprised mo 
 more in the argument of this measure, than 
 to hear some of its sup’porters contend that it 
 will be a saving of expense to the State. Our 
 present Judiciary system, including nine 
 circuit and four Supreme Judges, costs $15,- 
 000 per annum. The plan proposed with 
 nine Supreme Judges, will cost $13,500— 
 and this, it is contended, is a saving to the 
 people—and tho gentleman from Gallatin, 
 (Mr. McClernand) has pronounced it to be 
 “a permanent gain to the State.” Does that 
 gentleman and his friends suppose that we 
 are so ignorant, as not to know that this bill 
 is to be followed by another, which was 
 promised in the Senate,—that it was then 
 proclaimed to be but the incipient step to¬ 
 wards judicial reform—and that another 
 puisne or puppy court is to be created in 
 each county in the State, to be held by a 
 County Judge, elected by this august and 
 imperial body, with, perhaps, a county com¬ 
 missioner on each side to aid him in mistifv- 
 ing the law—that this court is to have juris¬ 
 diction in all cases, to the amount of $500 — 
 and perhaps in criminal cases—arid that it 
 is to be paid, not out of the State Treasury, 
 for that would be too barefaced an imposi¬ 
 tion, but by fat fees to be collected on a fee 
 bill, and by a tax on writs, which is but 
 another name for a tax on justice. 
 
 These inferior or puppy courts, it is sup¬ 
 posed, will taRe away half the business of the 
 Circuit Courts, and of course the men who 
 do the business must be paid for it.. There 
 will be at the close of this session of the Le¬ 
 gislature, ninety-three counties in this State. 
 If these County Judges get but two hun¬ 
 dred dollars, on an average, apiece, (and that 
 is less than they will get, even in addition to 
 the fees now received by the Probate Justi* 
 tices,) it will amount up to the gross sum of 
 $18,000. Add to this the cost of your new 
 fanglcd Supreme Court, which is $13,500, 
 and you will find that your judicial reform 
 will cost the State $32,100 per annum, being 
 $17,100 more than the whole cost of the 
 present system. it may be answered that 
 those County Judges are not to be paid out 
 of the State Treasury. But what of that.' 
 Are not they and all other officers of the 
 State to be paid by the people? And whnt 
 is tho difference to one of our hard fisted 
 constituents, whether ho pays five dollars n 
 year to the collector of taxes for the support 
 of these puppy Judges, or five dollars extra 
 to a constable ou a fee bill for tho same p*r- 
 
4 - 
 
 po$e? It is the people on whom the cost falls 
 at last, turn it and conceal it as you may; 
 and whilst you, and your batch of new judi¬ 
 cial officers are dancing to this new fashion¬ 
 ed music, the honest farmers at home will 
 have a villainous long bill to pay for your 
 fiddling. 
 
 But 1 intend to show, to the satisfaction of 
 every unprejudiced man in this committee, 
 that these economical gentlemen are not sin¬ 
 cere in their professions about endeavoring. 
 10 save the money of the dear people. If 
 they merely want the accumulated business 
 of tiie circuits to be transacted, and also want 
 the Judges of the Supreme Court to do cir¬ 
 cuit duty, then, as they have the entire pow¬ 
 er here, why do they not introduce a bill cre¬ 
 ating four new circuits, and make the Su¬ 
 preme Judges perform Circuit duty in them? 
 This, under our constitution, is entirely 
 practicable, and it would enable all the busi¬ 
 ness of the circuits to be done, whilst it would, 
 not add a dollar of expense for Judges. But 
 to give a still stronger case; if these gentle¬ 
 men must save something, why do they not 
 repeal out of office four of the Circuit Judges, 
 and compel the four Supreme Judges to per¬ 
 form circuit duty in their circuits? If the 
 Legislature possesses the constitutional right 
 to repeal out of office all the Circuit Judges, 
 it certainly has the same right to repeal out 
 of office a part of them, and by taking this 
 course, this economical , penny-saving Legis¬ 
 lature might effect all the objects, most of 
 them profess to have in view, and save to the 
 State the sum of $;4,000 per annum. It is, 
 then, as dear as the sun at noon-day, that 
 this cry about saving expense is altogether 
 insincere,—it is merely “a tub to catch 
 whales,”—a lure thrown out to-deceive the 
 people, whilst the advocates of the bill may 
 accomplish other objects, which some of them, 
 are ashamed to avow, but which I will soon 
 proceed to expose. 
 
 Another objection which strikes me with 
 much force, against this proposed measure of 
 Judicial reform—is the great number of offi¬ 
 cers it is to create, who are to be indepen¬ 
 dent of the people; and if this doctrine is car¬ 
 ried out, who will be dependant on the Le¬ 
 gislature. I am met with the statement, 
 ■however, that “this bill repeals out of office 
 nine Judges of the Circuit Court, wh© are- 
 life officers, and only creates five life office 
 Judges of the Supreme Court.” Now, if we 
 admit that the Legislature has the constitu¬ 
 tional right of repealing out of office the Cir¬ 
 cuit Judges, then it may with much proprie¬ 
 ty bo contended that those Judges are not in 
 office for life, or even during good behavior, 
 but they hold their offices during the pleasure 
 
 of the Legislature. These Supreme Judges 
 will not be in the same position. Even 
 should the people of the State, and the Legis¬ 
 lature, hereafter become convinced, (as 1 
 doubt not they will) that the election of so 
 many Judges of the Supreme Court is un¬ 
 wise, and impolitic, yet they will be preven¬ 
 ted by the constitution from getting rid of 
 these additional Judges, except through a 
 convention. By the provisions of this bill, 
 all the clerks of the Circuit Courts and Mas¬ 
 ters in Chancery are to be repealed out of of¬ 
 fice, and ninety-three new clerks are to bo 
 appointed for life, or during good behavior; 
 and ninety three Masters in Chancery, who 
 are to hold their office during the pleasure of 
 
 the JucLe. When the whole system is car- 
 © , 
 
 ried out, the Probate Justices who have been 
 elected by the people, are to be deprived of 
 their offices, to make room far a set of hungry 
 office-seekers, who are to be elected by the 
 Legislature. 
 
 Heretofore it has been considered a demo- 
 cratic doctrine to elect all officers by the peo¬ 
 ple... But since patent Locofocoism has 
 usurped the place of genuine democracy, the 
 principles and maxims of the Democrats of 
 *98, are wholly disregarded,and contemned 
 as the antiquated notions of forgotten enthu¬ 
 siasts; and new it is much more democratic 
 to save the people the trouble of those elec¬ 
 tions, and to give the. power of appointment 
 to the members of the Legislature, ninety- 
 nine one-hundredths of whom are wholly ir¬ 
 responsible for the power they will thus be 
 exercising,. When you come in the progress 
 of your judicial disorganization, to electa Lo- 
 eofoco puppy Judge to lord it over old Mor¬ 
 gan, who will be responsible to the people of 
 that county, if you select a man who may bo 
 despised by the people for want of capacity, 
 audit may be, of honesty and moral princi¬ 
 ple? The wishes of myself and my col¬ 
 leagues, and my constituents, 1 know will 
 not be regarded, and members of the Legis¬ 
 lature from Cook, Gallatin, St. Clair, and 
 other remote counties, will dictate to my con¬ 
 stituents who shall adjudicate on their prop¬ 
 erty and settle the estates of widows and 
 minors, and, they will impose upon them an 
 officer for life,, whom, perhaps,.they would 
 not think of selecting for any place-except a 
 place in.the State’s House at Alton, or if dis¬ 
 posed tone lenient, a locality in Hayti. This, 
 sir, is not democracy, but Locofocoism. 
 
 Who, that has heard these gentlemen de¬ 
 claim by the hour, for the last eighteen 
 months, against life offices, would have be¬ 
 lieved that they would sustain such a mea¬ 
 sure as this? The gentleman from Gallant* 
 declared, that, 
 
^Our Supremo bench is monarchical in its fea¬ 
 tures. The tenure of ‘.heir offices is at variance, 
 ami is at war with the genius of our institutions.” 
 
 If the gentleman from Gallatin and his 
 political friends, really believo what they say, 
 why is it that we find them supporting a 
 measure which proposes to create five Su¬ 
 preme Judges, 9.3 Circuit Clerks, and 93 
 County Judges, in all 191 life offices, and 
 all at a single sweep.—Sir, the course of 
 these gentlemen justifies me in stating that 
 there is no honesty in these professions. The 
 objection is to the incumbents and not to the 
 tenure of their offices. And [ verily believe 
 that if all the present officers were of the 
 true Locofoco stamp, for aught that these 
 gentlemen would care, they might hold their 
 offices during life, and after their death the 
 salary of the office-be divided amongst their 
 children, if the galvanised corpse of the pa¬ 
 rents could obey the beliests of party dicta¬ 
 tion. 
 
 And, sir, let me ask where do we find au¬ 
 thority and direction for this entire revolu- 
 %> 
 
 tion in our courts of justice? Not a single 
 petition has been presented to this House in 
 its favor. Not a solitary resolution has beers 
 adopted by the people, in their primary as¬ 
 semblies, for such a measure as this. It is 
 altogether new, unheard of,and unexpected. 
 It is not the legitimate offspring of the sov¬ 
 ereign people, but it is an illegitimate deform¬ 
 ed bantling, generated in the hut bed of par¬ 
 ty politicians. It is the business of the Le¬ 
 gislature to follow, not to lead public senti¬ 
 ment. No important measure has ever been 
 adopted in this State hitherto, which did not 
 seem, at least, to have tlie sanction of the peo¬ 
 ple. Not a single complaint has been heard 
 from any part of the State, against the Cir¬ 
 cuit Judges. Not a solitary call for the elec¬ 
 tion of additional Judges of the Supreme 
 Court —Not a murmur of disapprobation, 
 because the people have the election of their 
 own Probate Justices,—and yet we are call¬ 
 ed on to destroy some of these courts, and 
 wholly to revolutionize the others. Is there 
 not reason that we should pause, until the 
 voice of the people can be heard in the ap¬ 
 proval or condemnation of so important a 
 step? 
 
 Mr. Chairman, it could not be disguised, 
 and it is not denied, that this measure is de¬ 
 signed as a direct attack upon the indepen¬ 
 dence of the Supreme Court. That court, in 
 tho discharge of its official duty, has had the 
 manly firmness to decide one or two consti¬ 
 tutional questions, which had been forced up¬ 
 on it for its decision, contrary to tho wishes 
 of the dominant party in this Legislature. 
 For daring to exercise the glorious privi¬ 
 lege of American Judges,—that of deciding 
 
 according to their conscientious convictions 
 of right; and because they would not consent 
 to become the truckling and subservient tools 
 of the party in power—this measure has been 
 introduced, which is intended to overrule 
 their decisions, and punish them for their 
 honesty. To get at the Supreme bench, it 
 became necessary to repeal the Circuit 
 Courts. No member on this floor, nor one 
 of our many constituents has made the least 
 complaint before this Legislature, against 
 any one of our Circuit Judges; but their rights, 
 and the interests and wishes of the people 
 who respect them, and desire to retain them 
 in office, are to be trampled under foot, and 
 they are to be used but as scaling ladders, 
 on which the forlorn hope of party malignity 
 may mount, to storm the citadel of judicial 
 integrity. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, courts of justice, when 
 attacked, cannot return the assault. When 
 assailed by party malice or personal vindic¬ 
 tiveness, their very position prevents Judges 
 from descending from the dignity of their 
 station, to resent and resist those unmanly 
 attacks, Instead of being objects of attack, 
 they constitute that branch of our govern¬ 
 ment, which most needs the fostering and 
 protecting eaie of the Legislature, and the 
 people. Withdrawn, as the Judges neces¬ 
 sarily are, from the public e)e, by the nature 
 of their avocations, without power to make 
 themselves feared, or patronage to attract 
 partisans around them, they are constantly 
 liable to be assailed by those who have been 
 disappointed in personal views, by their de¬ 
 cisions, as well as by those,who seek for them¬ 
 selves a disgraceful notoriety, by attacking 
 defenceless public officers. Unfonunate, in¬ 
 deed, must be their condition, since they have 
 innocently drawn down upon themselves the 
 ban of proscription of the party in power, 
 which has shown itself so unscrupulously ob¬ 
 durate in meting out summary vengeance on 
 all who will not piiantly submit to party dic¬ 
 tation. 
 
 Let it not be said, that I am not warranted 
 in making these charges, as to the objects 
 and motives of the supporters of this bill.— 
 You, Mr. Chairman, and every member on 
 this floor, are well aware that I am speaking 
 the words of soberness and truth. It has been 
 distinctly avowed m the Senate, by a distin¬ 
 guished Van Buren Senator, (Mr. Hacker) 
 and in this House by three gentlemen who 
 claim to be leaders of tho party, (Mr. Me- 
 Clernand, Mr. Wheeler, and Mr. Dodge) and 
 1 wish the startling sentiment might be heard 
 by the tenant of every log cabin in the State, 
 that “this was a party measure , intended to 
 effect party purposes The Senator from 
 
6 
 
 Union, (Mr. Hacker) said that “he doubted 
 the expediency of the measure, and question¬ 
 ed whether it would work well, but a3 it was 
 a party measure, he would go with his party 
 in its support.”* The members from Galla¬ 
 tin and Pike, (Mr. McClernand and Mr. 
 Wheeler) seem to glory in it as a party 
 measure, and have earnestly called upon 
 their friends to sustain it as such. The 
 member from La Salle, (Mr. Dodge) says “it 
 is a -party question , and he thanked his God , 
 that his party had originated it .” All these 
 gentlemen on this floor have denounced as 
 apostates and traitors , those few members of 
 their party, who have had the manly inde¬ 
 pendence to think and speak for themselves 
 and their constituents, against this bill. Ev¬ 
 ery opprobrious epithet which could be in¬ 
 vented, or which could be ransacked from 
 the sluices of billingsgate, has been heaped 
 upon them to mortify their pride, or wound 
 their feelings, as though these dictators 
 thought that the Van Buren members of this 
 House who were disposed to be refractory, 
 might be led like unruly horses, by putting a 
 twitch upon their nose,or treated like thieving 
 curs, that when caught out of place, arc 
 kicked, without ceremony, back to their ken¬ 
 nels. 
 
 But, sir, to return to particulars, for I in¬ 
 tend to examine each reason which has been 
 given by these gentleman why this bill should 
 be supported as a party measure. And first 
 in order, is the gentleman from Pike. He 
 avows himself to be a party man, and goes 
 for carrying out party views. He says a 
 majority of the Judges of the Supreme Court 
 are Whig Judges, and they have decided 
 some questions, and he is afraid they will de¬ 
 cide others against the wishes and views of 
 his party. He says that he does not see 
 how he can carry out the views and doctrines 
 of his party, except by electing a new set of 
 Judges of “the right stamp.” And ho adds, 
 that “the State Bank is in the field against 
 this bill,and he don’t wonder at it, for if they 
 elected the new Judges of the right stripe , 
 and the true grit, such as he would go in for, 
 she would have hut a poor chance , indeed , be - 
 
 *The Van Buren Senator from Edgar, in a letter 
 dated the 26th January, 1841—and published in 
 the Paris Statesman, justifying his vote for the Ju¬ 
 diciary Bill, closes his letter as follows : 
 
 “Now it is useless to say that this is not a par¬ 
 ty measure. I believe it to be a Democratic mea¬ 
 sure, and for this reason, I have not heard one 
 whig, in or out of either House, with one exeep- 
 tion, say a word in favor of the measure. 
 
 “Illinois is a Democratic State, and ought not 
 to be ruled by a Federal Supreme Court. I con¬ 
 tend that the Democratic party is entitled to their 
 equal share of the big Judges, yes and the little 
 ones too. N. W. NUNN ALLY.” 
 
 fore them.” He is, therefore, against the 
 present court, because he wants to get at the 
 State Bank. But 1 pause to ask. the gentle¬ 
 man whether he can accomplish his aim, by 
 the election of his five new Judges. Suppose 
 they should decide that the act which creates 
 five additional State Directors, whom it is 
 proposed in this Legislature to force on the 
 Bank against her consent, is constitutional. 
 And even suppose they go further, and over¬ 
 rule the decision of the present court, which 
 declares that Bank to be constitutional; does 
 not that gentleman, who is one of the burn¬ 
 ing lights of the law in Pike, well know that 
 the Bank can take an appeal, in such a case,, 
 to the Supreme Court of the United States; 
 and it will become necessary for that gen¬ 
 tleman, and his political associates, to reor¬ 
 ganize that Court, before they can make ef¬ 
 fective, their partisan attacks upon vested 
 rights. 
 
 The next case in order, is the gentleman 
 from Gallatin. He brings forward another 
 charge, and declares that the Supreme Court, 
 in the celebrated Secretary case, of John A. 
 McClernand, (the member from Gallatin) vs. 
 A. P. Field, “laid piratical hands upon the 
 constitution of the State, and in violation ef 
 the letter and spirit of that instrument, deci¬ 
 ded the Secretary of State to be a life officer” 
 —and he has gone still further, and pro¬ 
 claimed that to be one of the doctrines of the 
 Whig party. I confess I was perfectly as¬ 
 tonished to hear that gentleman make such a 
 statement on this floor. He, doubtless, felt 
 great interest in that case, as he happened 
 to be the Pseudo Secretary, who, by the de¬ 
 cision of the court, didrao^ get the office. But 
 the gentleman and his friends have used a 
 garbled statement of that case long enough 
 to demagogue upon. He is well aware that 
 the Supreme Court never decided the Secre¬ 
 tary of State to be a life officer, but expressly- 
 admitted that the tenure of the office might 
 be limited by an act of the Legislature. The 
 question before the court was, whether the 
 Governor could remove at pleasure that offi¬ 
 cer, or whether he was a constitutional offi¬ 
 cer, who, under our State constitution, could 
 hold his office until it was limited by law. 
 The Whigs held that it was more consonant 
 with our State constitution, and the princi¬ 
 ples of our government, to limit the office by 
 law, rather than leave the tenure of the of¬ 
 fice at the discretion of the Governor. They 
 further have held that every Governor should 
 have the right to appoint his own Secretary 
 of State, and that gentlemen well knows that 
 on the Journals of this House and of the Sen¬ 
 ate, at the last session, will be found tho 
 names of myself and of every one of my 
 
9 
 
 7 
 
 political friends in both Houses, in favor of a 
 bill limiting the tenure of the office, and au¬ 
 thorizing each Governor to appoint a Secre¬ 
 tary of State. The charge, then, that the 
 Whigs are in favor of making that office, a 
 life officer, is wholly unjust and unwarran¬ 
 ted. If, however, the member from Galla¬ 
 tin shall succeed in carrying out his purpose 
 in this bill, and in making the Supreme 
 Court a partisan tribunal, and if he should 
 again be so fortunate as to get another nom¬ 
 ination for that office, ho need not be at the 
 trouble of reading a three hours speech, fill¬ 
 ed with nourishes and involutions, as he did 
 in that case, before that court; but the slight-, 
 eat intimation from that gentleman, to the 
 newly fledged Judges, would meet with the 
 ready response, that the wishes of the party 
 should bo tlieir rule oj decision in the case. 
 It is not wonderful, therefore, if the member 
 from Gallatin, with his views and feelings 
 on this subject, should feel indignant at the 
 Supreme Judges, whose stubborn convictions 
 of duty crushed the aspirations of his vault¬ 
 ing ambition. 
 
 The member from La Salle, (Mr. Dodge) 
 who has five or six hundred alien voters in 
 his county, has found great fault with the 
 Supreme Court in their decision of the 
 “alien case.” He declares this to be “a party 
 measure, and thanks his God that it origin¬ 
 ated with his party.” And he avows that 
 “one of the very objects of this measure is 
 to settle the question that aliens have the 
 right to vote.” A few days since, com¬ 
 plaints were made loudly and bitterly, that 
 the court were holding back their opinions, 
 and were afraid to decide this case. Now 
 the cry is that they have acted improperly 
 and indecently, in deciding it during the pen¬ 
 dency of this bill. To withhold their opin¬ 
 ions, is pronounced, to be evidence of cowar¬ 
 dice and want of decision,—to deliver their 
 opinions, is said to be a bold and unjustifia¬ 
 ble attempt to overawe the action of this 
 House. Truly, there is no satisfying such 
 fault-finding gentlemen—not to act, is in¬ 
 excusable neglect,—to act promptly, is an 
 unpardonable sin. The truth is, Mr. Chair¬ 
 man, that your party has used this “alien 
 case” for political capital so long, that they 
 are alarmed, lest its decision should deprive 
 them of one of their hobbies. 1 his is the 
 cause of the unusual nervousness of mem¬ 
 bers on this subject. And I am not surpri¬ 
 sed that they manifest so much anxiety to 
 distort the true state of the case—for their 
 political stock in trade has become so re¬ 
 duced by repeated failures, that one or two 
 more losses of effective political hobbies will 
 produce the entire bankruptcy of the party. 
 
 As so much has been said upon this sub¬ 
 ject, it may not bo improper to state the facts 
 of the case, and the grounds of the decision 
 of the court. By our election laws, if a per¬ 
 son will take an oath, that ho is a resident 
 of the county where he offers to vote,—has 
 resided in the State six months,—and is 
 twenty-one years of age, it is made the duty 
 of the Judges of the election to receive his 
 vote. A penalty is imposed in the same law 
 on any Judge of the election, who shall 
 knowingly admit any person to voto who is 
 not qualified according to law. A suit was 
 brought to recover this penalty, against a 
 Judge of election who had admitted an un¬ 
 naturalized foreigner to vote, who had taken 
 the oath prescribed in the statute. All the 
 Judges have decided, that as the Judge of the 
 election complied with the law in permitting 
 the alien to vote, he cannot be punished un¬ 
 der that statute, when, io truth, there had 
 been no infraction ol the statute. There is 
 no doubt that this decision is correct. The 
 gentleman from St. Clair, (Mr. Trumbull) 
 who appears to be much vexed because they 
 did not decide against the aliens, yet admits 
 the decision to be strictly in accordance with 
 legal principles. 
 
 But we are told the constitutional question 
 was the only one submitted by the counsel te 
 the court. That matters not. If counsel 
 should wish the court to decide a point of 
 law which does not proporly arise in the re¬ 
 cord before the court, it is tho duty of the 
 court not to decide it. It is a principle of 
 decision with the courts of the last resort, 
 not to decide a point, which is not necessa¬ 
 rily involved in die issue, which may affect 
 the rights of third parties. Here the right 
 ef a numerous class of the people of this &tate 
 to vote, was at stake, and if the court had 
 decided upon their rights in this case, they 
 would clearly have boen giving a decision 
 affecting their rights, when the constitu¬ 
 tional question did not properly arise in the 
 case. 
 
 The opinion of the court, as I understand 
 it, decides, that under our election laws, the 
 constitutional right of unnaturalized aliens to 
 vote cannot arise, and before that question 
 can fairly bo made, a test oath, or explanato¬ 
 ry law must be passed by the Legislature, 
 similar to the laws passed in New York and 
 Ohio, whose constitutions are, or were, like 
 ours in their phraseology in this respect. But 
 we are told by gentlemen, that the court will 
 decide against the aliens, when the constitu¬ 
 tional question is properly brought before 
 them. Sir, I should have supposed that the 
 false clamors which have been already rai¬ 
 sed against that tribunal, would leach mem- 
 
8 
 
 7 
 
 berg the absurdity and impropriety of telling 
 any more ghost stories to frighten their alien 
 constituents. Another such false alarm will 
 convince them that this exceeding great re¬ 
 gard for their rights, is nought but hypocrit¬ 
 ical compassion to win the votes of aliens to 
 their party. 
 
 But, sir, the member from La Salle, not 
 content with villifying the Supreme Court, 
 has denounced the Whig party in unmeasu¬ 
 red terms, and has proclaimed it to be “the 
 doctrine of the Whig party to disfranchise, 
 aliens.” This charge 1 pronounce false— 
 unqualifiedly false. In no part ©f this State, 
 or of the Union, have the Whig party, in 
 their conventions or primary assemblies, or 
 by any accredited agent, proclaimed that 
 aliens who have complied with the laws of 
 the land, and taken the oaths required by 
 the laws of Congress, shall be disfranchised; 
 —or in other words, deprived of the rights 
 of an American citizen. For this must be 
 the meaning of the expression, if it was in¬ 
 tended to have any meaning. It is true that 
 many Whigs and many Van Buren men be¬ 
 lieve, that under our State and Federal Con¬ 
 stitutions, no alien can vote until he has be¬ 
 come naturalized. All that they ask is, that 
 foreigners should abjure allegiance to the 
 Kings and potentates of the old world, and 
 swear fealtr to our Republican Government. 
 When they, have done this, I know of no 
 Whig, and certainly there can be none who 
 deserves the name, who would then deprive 
 them of the rights and franchises of an 
 American citizen. For my own part, 1 have 
 entertained the opinion, arid have uniformly 
 expressed it, that under our State constitu¬ 
 tion, unnaturalized foreigners have the right 
 to vote. In this opinion, lam far from be¬ 
 ing alone amongst the lawyers of my party. 
 My friends from Green and Madison, (Mr. 
 Woodson and Mr. Gillaspie) besides many 
 others I could name, coincide with me in 
 that opinion. Nor is this a new doctrine 
 with mo. In 1834, long before i was a can¬ 
 didate before the people, the Illinois State 
 Gazette, a Jackson Democratic paper, pub¬ 
 lished in Jacksonville, and edited by S. S. 
 Brooks, came out against foreigners, and de¬ 
 clared they had no right to vote. 1 answer¬ 
 ed the article of the editor, and contended 
 that they had that right, and for so doing, 1 
 first incurred that displeasure and censure of 
 the Van Buren editors, which has, since that 
 day, been so liberally heaped upon me. But, 
 sir, times are changed, and some men have 
 changed with the times. Those very men 
 who, six years ago denied the right of for¬ 
 eigners to vote, because they would not all 
 support Gen. Jackson, now claim to be their 
 
 only real friends, when they are willing to 
 vote for Mr. Van Buren—and to-morrow they 
 would again be against them, if they would 
 not submissively bow to the dictates of party 
 leaders and party tyrants. 
 
 Sir, the Whigs of Morgan county have of¬ 
 ten proved that they wore not opposed to for¬ 
 eigners. Once were they represented on 
 this floor by a foreigner. At another time, 
 they ran another for the same office, and at 
 this time, two of our county officers are 
 Whigs, and foreigners. Ever, sir, are we 
 ready to do justice to that noble spirit of in¬ 
 dependence which prompts the emigrant to 
 leave the abode ot his infancy—the faces of 
 kind friends and relations, and the homes 
 and graves of his ancestors,—and to brave 
 the storms of ocean to seek an asylum Irom 
 oppression, in ibis our happy land, under the 
 broad canopy of our glorious institutions. 
 Here, amongst us, they have opened their 
 farms and planted their houses, and as their 
 offspring grow up around them, here are 
 clustered their hopes and affections. And 
 when time shall have whitened their locks, 
 and furrowed their brows, and left nought 
 of the recollection of foreign climes, but an 
 abhorrence of the principles of their govern¬ 
 ments, ere they step into the grave, they 
 leave it os a parting admonition to their chil¬ 
 dren, to love, cherish, and protect our free 
 institutions. But a few generations have 
 passed away,since our forefathers crossed the 
 foaming billows to seek this bright and hap¬ 
 py land; arid in a few more generations, the 
 children of those whom to-day we call for¬ 
 eigners, will be esteemed amongst the no¬ 
 blest and truest of the sons of America. 
 Such, sir, are our opinions about foreigners. 
 And 1 scout from our hearing, the false and 
 slanderous charge that we wish to disfran¬ 
 chise aliens. 
 
 Mr. Chairman: —-A charge has been made 
 
 l_ ■ 
 
 against the Judges of the Supreme Court, 
 which, if true, must, seriously affect their 
 standing as men, and their integrity as Judg¬ 
 es. It has been asserted on this floor, that 
 three of the Judges had prepared an opinion 
 at the last June term of the court, against the 
 right of aliens to vote, and at this term had 
 delivered a different opinion, in order to af¬ 
 fect the action of this House on the impor¬ 
 tant question before it. This statement has 
 not only been made, but a contradiction of it 
 challenged. And as it is of so grave a char¬ 
 acter before commenting, on it, I call upon 
 the gentleman from Gallatin, to know if I 
 took down his expressions upon this subject 
 correctly. When the gentleman was speak¬ 
 ing, I wrote them down thus. 
 
 “I am authorized to say, and I do say on 
 
my own responsibility, if any is needed — 
 that tho Judges prepared an opinion against 
 tho right of foreigners to vote at tho last June 
 term, but on account of an objection made to 
 the record bv counsel, they withheld their 
 opinion, but did so most reluctantly.” “Tho 
 opinion has gone abroad that these Judges 
 have made their decision at this time, in or¬ 
 der to defeat this bill, and to prevent these 
 Judges from going on the circuit.” 
 
 (Mr. McCIernand here arose and said that 
 his expressions had been taken down sub¬ 
 stantially correct,—and he took that occa¬ 
 sion to re-assert what he had before stated, 
 and he would add that his informant, who was 
 a gentleman of high character, had received 
 his information from Judge Smith, ono of 
 the Judges, and that similar statements of 
 that Honorable Judge could be proved to have 
 been made, by at least twenty persons, and 
 he challenged any contradiction of this state¬ 
 ment.) 
 
 Mr. Flardin resumed— 
 
 Mr. Chairman,—'Phis charge has not on¬ 
 ly been made here, but has been repeated in 
 lobby meetings, and reiterated in the streets. 
 It is, in truth, the only tangible charge 
 which has been made against the court, and 
 it has been dwelt upon with every intona¬ 
 tion of voice, and variation of manner, 
 which could give it effect. If it is trm, these 
 Judges, so far from deserving the support, 
 should receive for such a truckling vacilla¬ 
 ting course, t ie unmitigated contempt of ev¬ 
 ery honest citizen of the State. But is the 
 charge true? So startled was I, when the 
 member from Gallatin first made the state¬ 
 ment on this floor, that I felt it my impera¬ 
 tive duty, as a member of this House, to as¬ 
 certain from the highest authority, the truth 
 of tho assertion. To accomplish this pur¬ 
 pose, whilst the gentleman from Gallatin 
 was speaking, I addressed a note to tho 
 Judges of the Supreme Court, containing the 
 statement 1 have read; on the next morning, 
 
 11 received an answer from tho Judges, which, 
 with the note addressed to them by myself, 
 
 I would ask may be read by the Clerk, for 
 the information of the Houso. 
 
 [COPY.] 
 
 House of Representatives. } 
 Springfield, Jan. 26, 1841. \ 
 
 To Wm. fVilson , T. iV. S.nilh , T. C. Browne , and 
 S. D. Lockwood , Judges of the Supreme Court 
 of the State of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. McCIernand, a member of this House, 
 (who is now speaking,) has made the following 
 statements, in substance, in his speech in favor of 
 the bill to re-organize the Judiciary of this State. 
 
 “I am authorised to say, and I do say, on my 
 own responsibility, if any such responsibility is 
 needed, that the Judges of the Supreme Court, 
 prepared an opinion against the right of foreign¬ 
 ers to vote at the last June term of that Conrt; 
 
 but on account of an objection made by counsel to 
 a mistake in the record, they withheld their opin¬ 
 ions, but did so most reluctantly.” 
 
 “The opinion has gone abroad that these judges 
 have made the decision recently given on the 
 subject of the right offoreigners to vote, in order 
 to defeat the bill under consideration, and to pre¬ 
 vent these judges from going on the circuit.” 
 
 This communication is made to call your atten¬ 
 tion to the statements, and I think it but due to 
 yourselves that an answer should be made to 
 these [statements,] as deductions may and will be 
 made from silence which would seem to imply an 
 aequiesence in the truth of these statements. 
 
 Desiring to know whether these allegations are 
 true, I trust an answer will be <?iven. 
 
 Yours, JOHN J. HARDIN. 
 
 Springfield, January 26, 1841. 
 John J. Hardin , Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir:—Y our letter of to-day has just been 
 received, and we proceed to answer it without 
 hesitation. 
 
 In doing so, we cannot, however, but express 
 our great astonishment at the character of the 
 statement to which you refer. You say that Mr. 
 McCIernand, a member ol the House of Represent¬ 
 atives, has asserted in debate, in substance, “I 
 am authorized to say, and I do say, on rny own 
 responsibility, if any such responsibility is need¬ 
 ed, that the Judges of the Supreme Court, prepar¬ 
 ed an opinion, against the right of Foreigners to 
 vote, at the last June term of that court, but on 
 account of an objection made by counsel, to a 
 mistake in the record* they withheld their opinion, 
 but did so most reluctantly.” “The opinion has 
 gone abroad, that these Judges have made their 
 decision recently delivered on the subject of the 
 right of Foreigners lo vote, in order to defeat the 
 bill under consideration, and to prevent these 
 Judges from going on the circuit.”— To this state¬ 
 ment we give the most, unqualified denial in all its 
 parts; neither member of the Court ha,ring ever 
 prepared or written any opinion against the right of 
 Jlliens to vote at elections. 
 
 In reference to the mistake in the record, the 
 error alluded to was discovered by one of the 
 Judges, and suggested to the counsel in the cause, 
 as interposing a supposed difficulty in coining to a 
 decision, which, with a subsequent motion made 
 by the counsel for the plaintiff in error to dismiss 
 the eause lor that reason, and for the further rea¬ 
 son, produced the continuance of the cause, as 
 will be seen by a copy of the motion herewith en¬ 
 closed. 
 
 As to the insinuation that, the decision was 
 made at this time to defeat the Judiciary bill, we re¬ 
 ply that it is in all its parts equally unjust , and with¬ 
 out. a pretence for its justification. 
 
 Having been repeatedly urged to come to a de¬ 
 cision of the case, and having been, moreover, 
 assured that individuals were industriously enga- 
 ged in circulating reports that the Judges had 
 opinions written against the right of Aliens ti> 
 vote; and that as soon as the Judiciary bill be¬ 
 fore the Legislature was defeated, these opinions 
 would be delivered. To refute these groundless 
 assertions, and to stop all further miareoresenta- 
 tions, on this subject, we concluded to decide the 
 case without further delay, having no other means 
 of refuting these aspeisions. 
 
 We have thus promptly complied with your re¬ 
 quest, and w'e cannot close this communication 
 without remarking on the great injustice done to 
 ourselves, not only by th? statements referred to, 
 but numerous other slanders which, in our situa¬ 
 tion, we havo no means of repelling. 
 
10 
 
 
 We have tti<£ hen-or to ’he respectfully, your 
 Woedvent servants, THEO’S W. SMITH, 
 
 SAM’L D. LOCKWOOD, 
 WM. WILSON, 
 THOMAS C. BROWNE. 
 
 There, sir, is a response to the assertion, 
 not from one Judge alone, bvu from all the 
 Judges, unequivocally denying the charge. 
 The men, who of ail others, ‘should best know 
 the truth of the statement, have positively 
 contradicted it, and the Honorable Judge who 
 is relied on as the author of this slander, un¬ 
 conditionally acquits Ins brethren of the 
 bench. There is no room for shuffling or 
 evasion;—-the denial is as broad as the charge. 
 They say, “neither of the Judges have ever 
 prepared or written am opinion against the 
 right of aliens to votef and they pronounce 
 the statement of the gentleman from Gallatin 
 untrue. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the character of the ma¬ 
 jority of the Judges for honor and truth, 
 will not be questioned by any. Non© will 
 accuse them of putting their names to a pa¬ 
 per which is untrue. One of the Judges re¬ 
 sides in my county, and there, where he is 
 best known, universal opinion admits Samuel 
 D. Lockwood to be an honest and honorable 
 man, and a conscientious, talented, and up¬ 
 right Judge. Of other members of the bench 
 1 might speak in the highest terms, but there 
 are others on this floor who have known them 
 longer than myself, and who are both ready 
 and willing to vouch for their character. 
 When men like these, have stamped this 
 charge as untrue, I feel fully justified on 
 such authority, to pronounce it unequivocally 
 false. And, now, having nailed this base 
 coin to the counter, 1 leave it for the gentle¬ 
 man from Gallatin, and his informants, to 
 settle among themselves the question of ve¬ 
 racity.* 
 
 The member from Gallatin, in the course 
 of his remarks, said, that the people have 
 been complaining against these Judges, from 
 Cairo to Chicago; and in proof of this asser¬ 
 tion, he has read the proceedings of sundry 
 indignation meetings, which were held in se¬ 
 veral counties of the State. But does that 
 gentleman suppose the people do not under¬ 
 stand how those meetings were got up? When 
 the Supreme Court decided that the member 
 
 * After Mr. Hardin had taken his seat, Mr. Mc- 
 Clernand read a letter from S. A. Douglass, Esq., 
 stating he had given him the information, and 
 justifying him in making the assertion he did. 
 Other certificates have since been published in the 
 State Register, on the same subject; but as the 
 question of veracity arises, between the persons 
 signing the certificates and Judge Smith, which 
 does not affect the remainder of the court,, no ex¬ 
 pression is intended by Mr. Hardin, to interfere 
 in that dispute, and to decide who is in fault. 
 
 from Gallatin could not be Secretary of State, 
 because the office was already legally filled, 
 it was determined by the party leaders to 
 make political capital out of tbe decision, 
 and to make it a party question. An attack 
 was forthwith begun on the Supremo Court, 
 as it was known, that from the very organi¬ 
 zation of the Judiciary, they were entirely 
 defenceless, and could not retort on their as¬ 
 sailants. To make the movement more ef¬ 
 fectual, and to give tone and colour to this 
 dastardly attack, the Democratic Central 
 Committee issued a Circular to the party 
 leaders, requesting them to call meetings of 
 the people to condemn a decision of the court, 
 which few, if any of them, had ever seen. 
 By a resort to such means as these, and by 
 grossly misrepresenting the decision of the 
 Court, the drill sergeants of the party suc¬ 
 ceeded, in some counties, in getting enough 
 of the faithful together, to make a Chairman, 
 Secretary, and committee, to pass a set of 
 stereotyped resolutions against the decision 
 of the court, which had been furnished from 
 head quarters, “ready cut and dried,” and 
 assorted “in lots to suit customers.” This, 
 sir, is the sum and substance of the evidence 
 against the Supreme Court on this subject. 
 Yet, neither in the resolutions passed by 
 those meetings, or in any others, can the 
 gentleman find a request from the people to 
 destroy our Circuit Courts, or to elect more 
 Judges to the Supreme bench. 
 
 But what the supportei’3 of this bill have 
 failed to supply in proof against the court, 
 they have amply compensated for, in the way 
 of assertion and vituperation. The member 
 from Lasalle calls them a “set of Federal 
 Whig Judges.” The member from St. Clair, 
 proclaims them to be a set of “drones.” The 
 member from Gallatin, to outHerod all com¬ 
 petitors, denounces the court as a “partisan 
 tribunal” and a “piraticalband, irresponsi¬ 
 ble >o the laws of the land.” If these char¬ 
 ges are true; not one moment should these 
 Judges be permitted to disgrace the highest 
 judicial tribunal of our State. With utter ab¬ 
 horrence and indignation, should thoy be hurl¬ 
 ed from office. If they are ignorant, neg¬ 
 ligent of their duties, dishonest, unqualified, 
 or corrupt, they should immediately be im¬ 
 peached for misdemeanor, or addressed out 
 of office. If gentlemen believe the state¬ 
 ments which they have themselves made 
 against the Judges, it is their imperative du¬ 
 ty to seek to remove them from office. Any 
 thing short of this will be temporising with 
 corruption, and compounding with crime. If 
 they have given credence to their own state¬ 
 ments, they have been recreant to their duty 
 to their constituents, false to the oaths they 
 
11 
 
 nave taken, and will stand perjured before 
 the bar of the country, if they do not endea¬ 
 vor to thrust them from office. But have any 
 of these gentlemen proposed such a step? 
 Have they made any specific charges, or even 
 asked for a committee of investigation? No, 
 sir, far from it. Instead of seeking to re¬ 
 move them from office, they are, by this bill, 
 endeavoring to send those corrupt Judges, to 
 dispense justice in four of the largest circuits 
 of the State. They are seeking to keep them 
 in office during life, by electing five thor¬ 
 oughly dyed Democrats to preside with them 
 on tho bench. Would they thus mix Feder¬ 
 alism with Democracy? Will the accession 
 of five patent democrats to the bencl), be suffi¬ 
 cient to atone for, and counterbalance the 
 political and mor il iniquity of three Federal 
 Whig Judges? Will this admixture of Fed¬ 
 eralism and Democracy, sufficiently sweeten 
 the draught to their palate? Would they put 
 five honest Judges on the bench to hide the 
 ignorance and corruption of four others? 
 And would a court, composed of five honest 
 Democrats, coupled with four ignorant, cor¬ 
 rupt judicial pirates , be such a tribunal a3 
 should satisfy the people of Illinois? I de¬ 
 mand an answer to these questions. And I 
 pray these gentlemen to consider, whether 
 the cloak of democracy,which they are about 
 to throw over this monster of clay and gold , 
 will be sufficient to conceal its deformities 
 from the people? And are they satisfied that 
 such a course will maintain the oath which 
 they have taken? Sir, these questions can¬ 
 not be answered. And in view of the course 
 which these gentlemen have pursued, 1 am 
 constrained to believe that these charges are 
 made purely for political purposes, to cloak 
 the base attempt they are making to consti¬ 
 tute that court a partisan tribunal, and make 
 it subservient to the dictation of party lead¬ 
 ers. ♦ - 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I consider this bill, and the 
 objects designed to be accomplished by it, as 
 a direct violation of the spirit of our consti¬ 
 tution, and a fatal blow aimed at the princi¬ 
 ples of our government. The constitution 
 of our State has divided the powers of gov¬ 
 ernment into three departments, “each con¬ 
 fined to a separate body of magistracy.” The 
 sovereignty of the people,—in so far as tho 
 law making power is concerned, resides in 
 the Legislature. To execute tho laws, the 
 sovereignty of the people is vested in the 
 Governor and his subordinate executive offi¬ 
 cers. And for the purpose of administering 
 those laws, and carrying justice to the door 
 of every man, and protecting him in his le¬ 
 gal and constitutional rights; the sovereignty 
 of the people is as amply vested in the judici¬ 
 
 ary, as it is, or can be, in either of the other 
 more dazzling departments. Each depart¬ 
 ment is constituted, and should ever remain, 
 independent of the other. Each was inten¬ 
 ded to act as a check upon, and not as a ruler 
 on the others. It is the duty of the govern¬ 
 ment, and of the people, to sustain each de¬ 
 partment in the discharge of its legitimate 
 duties. When one or two departments usurp 
 any of the powers; or make an attack upon 
 tho independence of the third department; 
 they destroy the checks and ballancesof go¬ 
 vernment, and violate the spirit of our con¬ 
 stitution. The judiciary, in the exercise of 
 their undoubted constitutional rights, have 
 been called upon to decide some questions of 
 deep political interest. Some of the deci¬ 
 sions which have been given, and others 
 which it is feared they may give , are oppo¬ 
 sed to tho wishes of a majority of this Le¬ 
 gislature. The avowed object of this mea¬ 
 sure is, to elect five Judges to overrule the 
 decision of the court heretofore given, and to 
 carry into effect the will of the Legislature. 
 What is this but a direct attack upon the in¬ 
 dependence of the Judiciary? The decision 
 of constitutional questions has ever been con¬ 
 sidered, under our government, as the pecu¬ 
 liar province of an independent unbiassed ju¬ 
 diciary. That is no longer to be the case in 
 Illinois; but the will of the Legislature must 
 be carried out, and members openly avow on 
 the floor of this House, that this is a party- 
 measure,—that they are party men, and in¬ 
 tend to carry out party views,—-and that in 
 the selection of Judges to fill the offices crea¬ 
 ted by this bill, “ they will look, first to his 
 politics , and secondly to his qualifications .” 
 
 When the objects of this bill are fully 
 consummated, what will the judicial depart¬ 
 ment of the government be, but a subservi¬ 
 ent truckling minion, crouching at the foot¬ 
 stool of legislative usurpation? It will be a 
 court to register the odicts of party proscrip¬ 
 tion; and not that fearless, independent, and 
 impartial tribunal, which dares-to do right, 
 even in defiance of legislative or popular 
 clamor. 
 
 Sir, let me ask, upon what principle was 
 it, that the immortal framers of our Federal 
 and State Constitutions, made the tenure of 
 judicial office, during good, behavior, if it was 
 not, to place that department beyond tho 
 reach of popular excitement, and legislative 
 dictation? Upon no other principle than the 
 necessity of making Judges independent and 
 impartial, can the tenure of such offices be 
 justified in a republican government. In a 
 government like ours, tho independence of 
 the Judiciary is absolutely indispensable for 
 tho preservation of political and private? 
 
12 
 
 rights. Where will be the safeguard of in¬ 
 dividuals, if questions affecting directly their 
 property, liberty, or lives, are to be decided; 
 not bv the constitution and laws of the land; 
 but by the will and caprice of an accidental 
 majority in the Legislature? 
 
 Suppose, sir, this principle is carried out 
 and an humble honest farmer has a case in 
 court with one of the leaders of the dominant 
 party, and the presiding Judge should he one 
 of these new Judges elected for his political 
 views and services' Think you that the hum¬ 
 ble farmer would obtain justice before such 
 a Judge who dare not offend his party leader? 
 Suppose again, that some individual like my¬ 
 self, who could not bridle his tongue, or his 
 pen, when he saw political or judicial cor¬ 
 ruption abroad in the land, should be indict¬ 
 ed for writing a libel on one of these newly 
 
 CD y 
 
 hatched political Judges. Think you, that 
 when the case was tried before one of his 
 brethren, if truth and justice should be on 
 my side, and yet popular clamor and party 
 feeling against me, that 1 could obtain impar¬ 
 tial justice before such a tribunal? No sir. 
 It would be.as preposterous as for a lamb to 
 appeal to the tender mercies of a tiger, or the 
 sympathies of a hyena. 
 
 The gentleman from St. Clair, when 
 dwelling upon the supposed truckling of the 
 court to the Legislature in the alien case, 
 asked with much emphasis, “will the people 
 trust their liberties to a court which is sub¬ 
 servient to the Legislature?” 1 trust, sir, nev¬ 
 er. And J, in turn, will ask that gentleman 
 whether the people will, or ever ought to 
 trust their property, liberty, and lives, to a 
 court which would be subservient to so vin¬ 
 dictive and proscriptive a Legislature as this? 
 Never sir. No never. Majorities should 
 rule in political affairs, kut minorities and 
 individuals have rights, which should ever be 
 held sacred; and amongst these, is the privi¬ 
 lege of having all questions affecting their 
 rights, decided by an impartial tribunal. 
 Carry out the principle that the will of the 
 majority shall be the rule of decision in 
 courts of justice; and the rights of citizens, 
 and the titles to property would ever be in¬ 
 secure, and subject to the endless fluctua¬ 
 tions of party predominancy. 
 
 In one of the temples of ancient Trey, 
 there was a statue of Pallas, which tradition 
 asserted was delivered into their custody by 
 the presiding goddess of the city. It was 
 watched and guarded with the most scrupu¬ 
 lous attention, for it was believed that ss 
 long as thatstatue was preserved in the city, 
 so long would the liberty of Troy be unin¬ 
 terrupted. Sir, in America, the judiciary is 
 hN Palladium of our liberty. Whilst the 
 
 courts of justice are honest and independent, 
 parties may vary, and popular feeling may 
 be aroused, yet will the liberty and rights of 
 individuals be secure. But when the foun¬ 
 tains of justice are polluted, -there is no ty¬ 
 ranny so oppressive as that which is wreak¬ 
 ed upon a people through a partial and cor¬ 
 rupt court. And if there is one curse above 
 ali others, from which 1 wish myself and my 
 children to ba exempt, it is, that they may 
 never live in a land where the judgment of 
 courts are to be rendered according to the par¬ 
 ty principles or influence of suitors, instead 
 of the justice and merits of the case. 
 
 Mr. Chairman: if there is any one thing 
 which will excite to convulsions, the Amer¬ 
 ican people, it is the question of the inde¬ 
 pendence of the judiciary. Every man can 
 feel, thit if that is attacked, his own rights 
 and liberties may he affected. The party 
 which seeks to render courts subservient to 
 themselves, are walking on a mine which 
 may explode, when they least, expect it. 
 Some of us can remember when party excite¬ 
 ment ran so high in Kentucky, upon the 
 subject of their judiciary, that family was 
 divided against family, father against son, 
 and brother against brother. it may be so 
 in Illinois. And I wain gentlemen that they 
 are firing the crater of a volcano, which 
 may shatter the firmest erection of the par¬ 
 ty, and ovei whelm both builders and build¬ 
 ing in one common ruin, beneath the burning 
 lava of popular indignation. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I have but little hope that 
 any thing I may say, to expose the impro¬ 
 priety of the adoption of this bill, will effect 
 the vote of any one of the majority in this 
 House; for this is but one of a series of mea¬ 
 sures which are on foot in this Legislature, 
 to create a perfect political organization 
 throughout the State, and thus bind it irre- 
 
 4 ^ o 
 
 deemabiy, (if possible) to the car of the party 
 now in power. This is the true reason why 
 so much anxiety is manifested to pass this 
 ■measure, it is the foundation on which is to 
 be erected an arch of inferior offices, which 
 is to uphold the falling fragments of Van 
 -Burenism. A Van Buren Senator declared 
 in the other end of the capital, that his party 
 had the power, and they intended to have all 
 .the offices in the State. in their thirst for 
 “Whig blood,” they have already thrust our. 
 of office every Whig State officer of impor¬ 
 tance, and when the measures now before 
 tins Legislature are perfected, ther. will no,t 
 be a single Whig in tho State, who will hold 
 an office worth ten dollars a year, of which 
 the Legislature could deprive .him. 
 
 This bill proposes to turnout of office the 
 Circuit Judges—all the Circuit Court Clerks 
 
and Masters in Chancery, and it alone will 
 create 191 new offices-to bo filled. Another 
 bill proposes to elect 93 Judges of County 
 Courts, by the Legislature. Another propo¬ 
 ses to make five additional Bank Directors 
 on the part of the State, and to give the whole 
 21 State Directors in the Banks, three dol¬ 
 lars a day, for each day they may act. 
 Another bill which originated in the Senate, 
 that hot bed of Locofocism—proposes to turn 
 out of office every Notary Public, and Pub¬ 
 lic Administrator, and have an entire new 
 set appointed forthwith. Your catalogue 
 then stands thus: 
 
 5 Judges of Supreme Court. 
 
 93 Clerks of Circuit Court. 
 
 93 County Court Judges. 
 
 93 Masters in Chancery. 
 
 93 Public Administrators. 
 
 300 Notaries Public. 
 
 21 Bank Directors. 
 
 093 Total—new offices made or to be■ rc- 
 sil led this winter. 
 
 What can be the object of this radical 
 change in officers, but to create a set of po¬ 
 litical drummers andftfers , who shall forma 
 nucleus at tho county seat of every county, 
 through which party orders can be given 
 and enforced. I must congratulate gentle- 
 men, at the perfect system which pervades 
 their movements, and the certain prospect of 
 success which a ppears to await them. And 
 since nothing short of the utter extirpation of 
 everv Whig from State offices, will satisfy 
 the dominant party, l trust, if President 
 Harrison should ‘-follow in the footsteps,” 
 and oust from office, every babbling inter¬ 
 meddling government officer in the State, 
 that he will at least receive, for so doing, the 
 commendation of every Loco in this Legis¬ 
 lature. Who, that will look at these facts, 
 will not be convinced, that it is not “Judicial 
 Reform"’that you seek, but the preservation 
 and perpetuation of political power. 
 
 But, sir, if this bill should pass, who are tho 
 men, who arc to be called to sit on your Su¬ 
 preme bench. Perhaps, sir, some one who, 
 clothed with tho powers of an inferior 
 judge, has doffed his judicial mantle, and 
 oast it on tho counter of some grocery, and 
 then mounting on a whiskey barrel at the 
 door, has acted the part of the lowest politi¬ 
 cal demagogue in misrepresenting the opinions 
 
 his opponents, and in appealing,to sustain 
 u tottering cause, to tho vilest and most un¬ 
 worthy prejudices of the human heart. Per- 
 naps,it may be some ex-Rail Road Commis¬ 
 sioner, who having drawn his §1825 per an¬ 
 num, besides what other perquisites the law 
 aiid his conscience would allow him,—and 
 
 having squandered hundreds of thousands of 
 dollars of tho people’s money, until ho was 
 choked out of offico,—is now seeking as a re¬ 
 ward for his zeal and services in behalf of 
 the party, a judicial station worth §1500 a 
 year. 
 
 We have been told that there were corrupt 
 influences used to retard the passage of this 
 bill. So far as myself, or my political friends 
 are concerned, we utterly deny it. Let the 
 charge be specifically made, and we will not be 
 found shrinking from the most thorough inves¬ 
 tigation, and punishing with severity any at¬ 
 tempt at threats or bribery. It may not be so 
 vvit.li the friends of this measure. For it is. 
 not t) be denied that there is a powerful influ¬ 
 ence urging forward this bill, which is without 
 the bar of this House. 1 mean, sir, the influ¬ 
 ence of indefatigable and selfish lobby members. 
 Illinois has been doubly cursed by this influ¬ 
 ence. When the State Bank charter was be¬ 
 fore the Legislature, the lobby was crowded 
 with persons, urging its passage by every ar¬ 
 gument the ingenuity and selfishness of man 
 could devise, and it was such hangers on as 
 these, who then disgraced the legislative hall 
 by loudly applauding the passage of that bill. 
 When your nnmmotlr system of Internal Im¬ 
 provements, which has crushed the richly bud¬ 
 ding prospects of the State, was before thp 
 Legislature; this same blighting influence was 
 the powerful engine which assisted, if it did not 
 effect the adoption of that disastrous scheme. 
 Men with their handsome town sites, and Jv- 
 thographed cities, were constantly represent¬ 
 ing the necessity of making roads through their 
 towns and cities; until many members actually 
 believed that the selfish desires of speculators 
 and interested lobby members, were the wish¬ 
 es of the people. That same unhappy influ¬ 
 ence which has- desolated the financial pros¬ 
 pects of the State is now busily at work to sap 
 and undermine the judicial tribunals of our 
 country. .Members of 'the party who are sus¬ 
 pected of shewing a spirit of independence, are 
 waited upon, and watched, annoyed and per¬ 
 plexed by committees of these vigilant lobby 
 .members. They are told if they vote against 
 the bill, they are preventing this friend from 
 getting a judgeship,, and that friend from ob¬ 
 taining a clerkship, they are cajoled with 
 promises, and threatened with punishment* 
 until members often look, and I doubt not do 
 sometimes feel, that a seat in this House, is a 
 seat of thorn*. 
 
 Classical history tells us of certain creatures 
 which existed in the earliest ages of anti¬ 
 quity, which had the face of a woman, the 
 wings of a bird, the claws of a beast, and 
 the stomach of a vulture. They were knowrt 
 as the Harpies. Wherever a sumptswoi*. 
 
14 
 
 feast was spread, thither instinctive gluttony 
 directed their flight, and when they had 
 devoured all the luxuries their capacious sto¬ 
 machs would contain,—with their fetid breath, 
 their filthy claws, and their bestial habits, they 
 befouled and destroyed the remainder of the 
 banquet. 
 
 Sir, these lobby members are the Harpies of 
 Illinois. The rich banquet which nature and 
 our glorious institutions had spread before a 
 young and happy State, they have wantonly 
 seized upon, and having devoured all within 
 their power, they have left the refuse wreck 
 of the banquet, so foul and broken, that those 
 who helped to spread the feast, are ashamed of 
 the remnants that are left. Look at them now, 
 as with the smiles of syrens,—with wingsswift 
 to take flight when pursued—claves greedily 
 grasping, their illgotten gains—and with huge 
 stomachs distended with the plunder of the 
 people, they are sitting on their perch with 
 gloating appetites, ready to gounqe upon some 
 other prey. Sir, these lobby members and 
 party disciplinarians, have been the evil genii 
 of Illinois. They are the vampyres which have 
 drained our life blood—cormorants,which have 
 eat out our substance—false prophets, who 
 have led us astray. And now, like true politi¬ 
 cal vultures, ready to prey upon the flesh of the 
 living, or the carcass of the dead—they have 
 seen the diseased frame, and having eaten the 
 flesh from the half expiring carcass; they are 
 making a last attack upon the vitals, and un¬ 
 less the dormant energies of this exhausted 
 State are aroused, to beat off the foul assail¬ 
 ants, she will fall a prey to the most despica¬ 
 ble of plunderers. 
 
 Classic story tells us, that Prometheus, for 
 his crimes, was bound by Jupitei, on Mount 
 Caucasus, and condemned to remain there for 
 30,000 years, alive in chains, with a vulture 
 feeding on lvis vitals. And shall we now, act¬ 
 ing under the influence of .these Harpies, bind 
 the State of Illinois, Prometheus-iike, with 
 the strong chain of the constitution, to the 
 rock of party proscription, and place these in¬ 
 satiable vultures to prey, as long as life shall 
 be spared them,upon the vitals of the Republic? 
 
 Would, that I had the power to place the 
 brand of public infamy, hissing hot upon the 
 foreheads of these Harpies, until the mark of 
 the red iron should be burned upon their singed 
 countenances, as indelibly as are the injuries 
 which their selfish machinations have inflicted 
 upon our unfortunate Q tate. 
 
 We have been told, Mr. Chairman, that 
 “this was a par?y measure, and that it would 
 be made a party question for two years to 
 come.” Let me assure gentlemen, that as 
 such, we do not fear it. Pass this bill with 
 your system of inferior courts;—turn out of of-. 
 
 flee tbe Probate Justices elected by the people* 
 and put in others elected by ) r ourselves;—re¬ 
 peal out of office every petty Whig officer in the 
 State, and fill his place with a servile partisan; 
 —and then, sir, you will have done more than 
 the Whigs could do by forty thousand speech¬ 
 es, in exposing the policy and principles of the 
 leaders of your party. It is a mere contest for 
 power and office on your part, and not an effort 
 to benefit the State. Look at the facts which 
 have transpired since this Legislature conven¬ 
 ed- We were called together by the Gover¬ 
 nor, before the usual time of assembling, be¬ 
 cause tbe credit of the State was endangered, 
 and her financial condition involved in over¬ 
 whelming embarrassments. With the excep¬ 
 tion of one little bill of a dozen lines, passed 
 by your party, authorising the hypothecation of 
 $300,000 of State Bonds, to pay $90,000, 
 what has been done? Not one thing , except 
 turning out some Whig officers, and putting in 
 some Locos of the newest stamp. We have 
 been more than two months in session, and not 
 one solitary bill is before either House, or has 
 even been proposed during the session, by any 
 of your party, to relieve the State from the 
 embarrassments into which site has been 
 brought by the reckless legislation of former 
 Van Buren Legislatures. The credit and char¬ 
 acter of the State will be irretrievably destroy¬ 
 ed, when our sister States, and foreign Na¬ 
 tions, see the party in this Legislature, which 
 is all powerful, engaged, not in trying to sus¬ 
 tain her faith and honor—but in assailing the 
 Judiciary in order to make it subservient to 
 party dictation. And think you, that you will 
 not beheld responsible for this? 
 
 Your leaders pretend that they want to save 
 $1500 a year by this change in your courts,— 
 and yet you will spend $10,000 in legislating 
 on the subject. And to show how flimsy and 
 hypocritical your pretences are, let me remind 
 you of a few facts before the House. The 
 Fund Commissioner, at the commencement of 
 the session, informed the Legislature, that for 
 the purpose of defraying the expenses of the 
 transportation of Rail Road iron, he had hy¬ 
 pothecated with the Bank of the United States 
 $ 100,000 of State Bonds. He has further in¬ 
 formed us, that about $22,000 was dole on this 
 contract to the U. S. Bank, and that if the 
 Bonds were not redeemed by the 1st of Febru¬ 
 ary, they would be forfeited, and would be put 
 up and sold at auction to the highest bidder. 
 Myself and another of my political friends,pro¬ 
 posed measures to provide for these Bonds, and 
 to raise permanent means for their redemption; 
 but you unceremoniously voted them down. 
 And now, no provision is made for their re¬ 
 demption, and not one solitary measure is be¬ 
 fore us for that purpose, apd in three day* 
 
i 
 
 15 
 
 more, -$100,000 of Illinois State Bonds are to 
 bo put up and sold to t.h« highest bidder, in 
 Philadelphia, to pay the comparatively paltry 
 sum of $22,000. In this single instance, sir, 
 if you had been attending to the interests of 
 the State, instead of blindly and doggedly le¬ 
 gislating for the interest of party, you could 
 have saved to the State a larger sum than you 
 even pretend to do in forty yearn by the paltry 
 gain in your proposed Judicial Reform. 
 
 When l see the course which has been pur¬ 
 sued in this Legislature, so perfectly at war 
 with the best interests of the State—when the 
 whole tendency of the action of the majority, is 
 to aim a deadly blow at the faith, honor, and 
 reputation of the State—it does seem to rne, 
 tis though the demons of destruction and Loco- 
 focoism, which have been ousted from the sea¬ 
 board, and driven with rapid flight from New 
 York, through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indi¬ 
 ana, had at last, to our sorrow, found a resting 
 place in this Legislature. Surely, sir, an hon¬ 
 orable Senator must have been under their in¬ 
 fluence, when he pretended to quote from Iloly 
 writ, the text, “Let us do evil that good may 
 come of it,’' Yes, sir, this is the avowed max¬ 
 im, under which this measure is sustained. 
 Let us do evil to the country, that good may 
 come to the party. To men who will avow 
 and act on such principles, I cannot belter re¬ 
 spond, than in the words of the text,which has 
 been so grossly misquoted. St. Paul, in one of 
 bis epistles, says, “And not rather, (as we be 
 slanderously reported, and as some affirm that 
 we say) let us do evil that good may cornel — 
 Whose damnation is just.” 
 
 A few years ago—a Van Buren Legislature, 
 to wreak their vengeance on a Whig Governor 
 (Gov. Duncan,) wrested from the Executive, 
 nearly all his official patronage, and most wan¬ 
 tonly took upon themselves the exercise of Ex¬ 
 ecutive functions. Owing to the usurpations 
 of the Legislature, the Executive Department 
 has but a nominal existence in our State. That 
 same overbearing department, inflated with its 
 own importance, and conscious of its strength, 
 is now making an unholy effort to prostrate 
 the judicial department, and to make it subser- 
 vieut to its will. It is a maxim adopted by all 
 liberal writers upon government, and one which 
 has been acted on universally m this Union, 
 “That where the power of judging and legis¬ 
 lating is placed in the same department, there 
 is vo liberty.” If this project succeeds, ail the 
 power of government will be virtually concen¬ 
 trated in the Legislature, and the integrity and 
 independence of the Executive and Judicial 
 Departments, will be totally ann ihilated. The 
 balances and checks of our republican govern¬ 
 ment vvill be gone, and the result will be, what 
 has ever been the case in all governments 
 
 where all power is concentrated in the hands of 
 one department— misrule, oppression , and 
 tyranny. Tyranny consists in the abuse of 
 arbitrary power, and it may as readily be ex¬ 
 ercised by an hundred, as by a solitary individ¬ 
 ual. In no part of the world has tyranny 
 shown itself in a more distrusting and odious 
 form, than in the days of ;he French revolu¬ 
 tion, when, by the single vote of the Jacobin 
 clubs, the blood of one hundred thousand of 
 the noblest and best of the sons and daughters 
 of France was shed on the Guillotines ofParis, 
 to gratify the malignity, avarice, and rage, of 
 a despicable and infuriated populace. In this 
 Government, no true American ever can, or 
 will consent, that any one department shall 
 exercise, or control the appropriate duties of 
 another. And l now tell that majority here, 
 which boastful of its power, is tyranizing over 
 the Judiciary, but as a prelude to act the ty¬ 
 rant over the people; that not only the Whigs, 
 but the people of the State en masse will arise, 
 and rally around the banner inscribed with the 
 motto of our Revolutionary Fathers,—“ Resis¬ 
 tance to tyrants is obedience to God.” 
 
 When, sir, reason and experience suggest 
 that such must be the result of the illiberal and 
 unstatesmanlike action of the majority in this 
 Legislature, gentlemen may rest assured, that 
 as a party, we do not fear the effect of this 
 measure. Yet, sir, we hate a duty to perform 
 to our country, one which is higher and holier 
 than any personal or party obligation. It is a 
 sense of the duty which we owe, as men and 
 as legislators, to our oaths and to our country, 
 which has impelled us to oppose this violent, 
 and wanton assault on the most defenceless de¬ 
 partment of government. The majority here 
 can pass this bill, and if they will, let them do 
 it. We, sir, have done our duty in opposing it. 
 If they sow the wind, let them not be surprised 
 if they reap the whirlwind. 
 
 For all natural diseases, nature has provi¬ 
 ded an appropriate remedy near at hand.— 
 Wherever the pestilential fever rages, there 
 will be found the-mineral or vegetable which 
 will give relief. And wherever the deadly 
 rattlesnake is found to inflict its rapid poison 
 there beside it will be found the plant which: 
 will give the sufferer relief. Thus it is, also, 
 in political bodies. When oppression is heav¬ 
 iest, then is redemption nearest at hand. In 
 the days of the Revolution, when misfortunes 
 were oppressing our fathers on every side, and 
 the night of tyranny seemed about to settle 
 forever on our land, then the battles of Tren¬ 
 ton and Princeton rolled back the dark cloud, 
 and the glowing sunlight of liberty appeared. 
 In the days of James II of England, when the 
 oppression of that bigoted prince was moat 
 keenly felt, and when the court o'. Ecclesias- 
 
16 
 
 tical Commission, under the management of 
 that most odious of all judicial tyrants, Judge 
 Jeffries, made its iniquitous judgments felt.by- 
 all, whether high or low, who fell under the 
 displeasure of-King or minister, then it was 
 that Judicial integrity and independence was 
 nearest; for the People arose in their majesty 
 and banished the narrow minded selfish Janies, 
 and called William of Orange to the throne, 
 and amongst the first acts of his government 
 was the signing the Bill of Rights, which for¬ 
 ever secured the integrity and independence 
 of the Judiciary of England, by making them 
 independent of the King. And here, when 
 legislative oppression is about to be visited on 
 the State, the appropriate remedy is provided. 
 It is in the Convention Resolution , which has 
 been adopted. 
 
 Sir, if the Qmeen of England, or the King of 
 the French, were to attempt to effect the sub¬ 
 serviency of the Judiciary as you are now do¬ 
 ing, we should hear re-enacted the regicide 
 scenes of Charles 1 and Louis XVI,or the Revo¬ 
 lutionary acts of the deposition of James II of 
 England, and Charles X of France. These 
 potentates dare not, at the peril of their lives 
 and thrones, attempt to degrade and destroy 
 the independence of the Judiciary. Happily 
 for ns, the spirit and formation of our govern¬ 
 ment do not require the blood of Kings or the 
 dethronement of Princes to enable us to effect 
 a Revolution in the policy and managers of our 
 Government. All can be done by the peacea¬ 
 ble means of a Convention. If gentlemen are 
 sincere in what they say, and only want to get 
 at the State Bank? then let them go with us 
 for a Convention, and I will join them in throw¬ 
 ing open the door for competition, and thus do 
 away'with an odious monopoly. Do they want 
 tooiveeach Governor the power to appoint his 
 own' Secretary of State? If so, I will join them, 
 in that. Do they wish to turn the present 
 judges out of office] then I will join him so far 
 a s to make them all stand their chance with all 
 other citizens, in obtaining an office under the 
 new constitution. 
 
 ^ Hat the course which has been pursued con¬ 
 
 vinces me, that the reasons which have been 
 given for these various measures, are insincere 
 and hypocritical pretences. Under the pre¬ 
 tence of Judicial reform, you are seeking to de¬ 
 stroy the independence of the Judiciary. Un¬ 
 der the excuse of economy, you are taking a 
 few dollars from the Whig officers and giving 
 with a lavish and liberal hand to your own 
 partisans. Under the pretence of making the 
 State Bank do its duty to the public, in viola¬ 
 tion of the obvious intention of the suspension 
 act of the last Legislature, and without a day’s 
 notice, you have compelled that Bank, by a par¬ 
 ty trick, to resume specie payments, which has 
 already compelled it to withdraw from circula¬ 
 tion half a million ofits notes, to the great in¬ 
 convenience of its debtors, and to the mani¬ 
 fest injury of the public. 
 
 A sense of duty to my constituents, who 
 look to me as a fearless asserter of their rights, 
 has thus compelled me, it may be with no gentle 
 hand, and utterly regardless of consequences, to 
 tear aside the gaudy and arrogant veil which 
 conceals the true motives and objects of your 
 party in the support of this measure. Denu¬ 
 ded, asvour designs now are, of the silvery 
 veil and gaudy trappings in which you had 
 cloaked them, I leave it for a just and impar¬ 
 tial people to pass in judgment on your mo¬ 
 tives, conduct, and principles. 
 
 But, sir, you have the power—go on and 
 pass this bill if yon will, and trample in the 
 dust, the spirit of our constitution, and the 
 principles of our government. Yet remember, 
 that the Con mention resolution you have pass¬ 
 ed, which now appears but as a weak taper, 
 will grow, expand and magnify, until it shall 
 become a torch, a blaze, a burning mountain, 
 which will wholly consume your false and arro¬ 
 gant pretences. And from the ashes of the 
 constitution you have destroyed, shall arise. 
 Phoenix-like, another and more glorious instru¬ 
 ment, which iu all time to come, shall be a bul¬ 
 wark for the protection ol the rights of the va¬ 
 rious departments of government, and the im¬ 
 pregnable citadel of individual liberty. 
 
 [NOTE._A Bill establishing county courts, to have jurisdiction in all cases to $£00, the judges of 
 
 which were tube elected by the Legislature, and repealing out, of office the Probate Justices, subse¬ 
 quently passed the Senate, but was defeated in the House.]