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ter; nobody will attempt to justify them. It is without parallel in any of the numerous state and federal courts of the Union; and yet the great body of our people are drifting along, apparently quiet and unconcerned, while these complaints, which everybody knows are real and not the mere vaporings of suitors and lawyers who have lost their causes, are ringing in their

ears.

The indifference of the court and of the public generally to these complaints would seem to be unaccountable; but upon deeper inquiry and on consideration of the real situation the reason for the neglect and for the indifference to complaints is plain enough. The real tenure by which the judges hold their offices is the reason. I have already shown that our judges do not in fact hold their offices during good behavior, in accordance with the Constitution, but only during the pleasure of the partisan power that happens to be uppermost for the time being, in accordance with a precedent permanently established in violation of the Constitution.

A man who finds himself in the possession of official power and dignity wants to keep them, and turns his attention naturally to such measures as he thinks will make him secure in that possession.

When a judge is carried into office on a partisan wave he knows the potency of that wave and fears it, and he knows too that there may be a reflex wave also potent, and he goes to work by instinct to keep the powers that be placated, and also, if he does his work thoroughly, to placate the powers that soon may be. This business will assert itself and keep itself uppermost in his mind and in spite of himself urge him on or hold him back in everything he does. Applying the law so as to do justice, and writing out consistent opinions and publishing them for the bar to read, are secondary matters, to be laid on the table and attended to when the important business is finished. The situation of the judges on the bench, the manner in which they got there, the tenure by which they hold their places, and the influence which necessarily all the while must be operating upon them are such that, assuming for the judges the ordinary frailties of humanity, results similar to those of which we complain

must necessarily follow. Under the circumstances it would be unreasonable to expect that the legal opinions of the court would not be more or less sensational and more or less shaded by the influences operating upon them, and that those opinions would never conflict with each other and the established principles of the law. It would also be unreasonable to expect the court to have the time or the inclination to labor diligently in the preparation of their opinions for publication unless it might be some special opinions which they desired promulgated for effect. Considering all the surroundings of the court, the many things they have had to do, the strait-jacket in which they have been laced, now pinching here and now pinching there, I think, so far as their decided cases have come to our knowledge, their opinions are no more sensational or warped or conflicting or contradictory of established principles than what, in view of such surroundings, ought to have been expected, and I think that the court have furnished us with all their opinions in the cases by them decided which they had the time or the inclination to furnish. On the whole I am inclined to the opinion that it has probably been better, both for us and the court, than it would have been if we had had the decided cases fully and promptly reported. In case we had been promptly informed of all the decisions of the court, I doubt not we should have been worse bewildered, more confused, and less certain as to the law than we have been, and the court, while holding under its present tenure, needs to be in light marching order, unencumbered by the worse than useless baggage that a map of loose, contradictory precedents would be. The call for reformation is loud enough, but the individual members of the court are to blame only for taking places under such a system. Having accepted their positions they have acted as their surrounding compelled them to act. A bird with clipped wings cannot fly, nor can a man loaded with chains walk with freedom. The fault is in the perversion of our judicial system, which has been wrenched from its constitutional moorings and set adrift on the wild waves, under the guidance of a crazy, Know-Nothing precedent.

It may be well enough to make an effort to obtain a report of the decided cases by securing more stringent legislation on

that subject; but I doubt about our getting much satisfaction in that way so long as the court remains as it is and the judges understand their tenure of office to be what they now understand it to be. It has been suggested that we make a new court, that is, that our present judicial system be abolished and a new one substituted in place of it, and that either the old set of judges, purged of the obnoxious members, be reappointed or a new set altogether be appointed.

This would be a mere continuation of the see-saw business inaugurated by Know-Nothingism in 1855, and would result in knocking the court down on to a plane still lower than the one they now occupy. It would be going from bad to worse and simply create a new court with a tenure more precarious than the one under which the present court holds. I think the story about the traveler who objected to driving away the swarm of insects that covered his person because a more hungry swarm might come has application here.

We want no more new courts until there is a new order of things, until the lost independence of the judiciary is restored and it is understood that judges hold their offices under the Constitution and not subject to the Know-Nothing precedent of 1855. When the morning of the day that shall usher in this new order of things shall dawn, then, and not till then, either let the old court be born again or a court altogether new be created. That day will be a glorious day when we shall see the court clothed with self-respect and with the dignity of the olden time, seeking diligently to do justice for the sake of doing justice and not for the sake of making a display the fame whereof shall be wafted on the winds and blazed on the house-tops, while the great body of their labors lies sleeping in oblivion. The judges will not then be behindhand with their reports. Daylight will then shine on their works, and we shall rejoice in the possession of the means of knowing what the law is.

The judiciary will be out of politics and will be no longer a machine with which to run politicians or to be run by politicians. Legal opinions will cease to be issued from the bench in the interests of politicians or to please popular fancies.

A judge will be selected for his probity, for his learning, for

his great industry, and for his sound legal discrimination and judgment. His politics will be let alone. It will be assumed that he is not fit for a judge unless he knows enough to vote intelligently and conscientiously and can safely be trusted with that responsibility.

This new order of things may be afar off and it may come soon. I believe it will come some time; all we can do will be to hope earnestly, pray devoutly, and labor diligently for its coming at an early day.

In conclusion I submit to you whether or not I have exaggerated the evils I have named and whether or not those evils have originated from the causes I have suggested. I also submit that it is time for reform; that the best way to secure reform is to remove the cause of evil; that the people ought to be awakened to a realizing sense of the dangers by which they are surrounded, and that they ought to be induced to rescue the elective franchise from prostitution and to restore to the judiciary its constitutional independence.

And further I urge that reform is necessary, not only for the preservation of the welfare of our people, but it is necessary in order that the honor of our state may be saved and that the name of New Hampshire may not become a byword and a reproach in the mouths of her sister states.

THE LIFE AND DEMOCRACY OF JOHN HATCH GEORGE.

ADDRESS DELIVERED AT MANCHESTER, N. H., BEFORE THE GRANITE STATE CLUB, JUNE 27, 1888.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I speak tonight in memory of a distinguished citizen of the state, with whom, in his lifetime, most of us were associated, and whose name is familiar to all Col. John H. George.

There is danger on all such occasions that speech may not be bounded by its proper limitations. On the one hand the very generally accepted rule, "Nihil de mortuis nisi bonum" may tempt the speaker to indulge in extravagant, indiscriminate, and consequently unmeaning praise. On the other hand, by closely analyzing and justly reviewing the character and work of a pronounced, positive man, slumbering animosities and forgotten prejudices may be revived. I do not fear falling into the language of unmeaning eulogy, but I do apprehend that the duty which I have undertaken requires me to be specific, to discuss Colonel George as we knew him, to consider his political and professional services and the times in which and the circumstances under which those services were rendered. At his death he had been for many years a trusted leader of the Democracy. In their service he was prompt, fearless, able and untiring. He is now in his grave. His last blow is struck, and his voice is silenced forever. Everybody, friend and foe alike, stands today ready to honor his memory and to accord to him singleness of purpose, sincerity of heart, and that steadfast earnestness which can come only of honest conviction. But we are not here at this time merely to honor his memory. We are here to study his character, to review his life-work and to be instructed by his example, and especially to review his political teachings and example. Such a review as the one last named necessarily involves the consideration of political parties, of their principles,

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