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Commons are, from various circumstances, afraid to act on their real opinions," on the subject of the Reform Bill then before them.

I have already observed that it would be impossible, within the limits of this address, to enter into a detailed examination of all the matters laid to our charge, on the occasion alluded to. The ministerial leader (Lord Granville) candidly admitted, in the course of the debate, that, though he concurred with his brother peer in some of his remarks, "they were generally much exaggerated." We too must admit with regret, that for some of the statements made to our discredit, there is a greater foundation in fact, than we could wish; that our political system, like all human institutions, however wise in theory and successful in its general operation, is liable to abuse; that party, the bane of all free governments, works its mischief here; that some bad men are raised to office and some good men excluded from it; that public virtue here as elsewhere sometimes breaks down under the temptation of place or of gold; that unwise laws are sometimes passed by our legislatures, and unpopu lar laws sometimes violated by the mob; in short, that the frailties and vices of men and of governments are displayed in Republics as they are in Monarchies, in the New World as in the Old; whether to a greater, equal, or less degree, time must show. The question of the great Teacher, to which the reverend Chap

lain has just called our attention, may as pertinently be asked of Nations as of individuals, "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, and considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

An honest and impartial administration of justice is the corner-stone of the social system. The most serious charges brought against us, on the occasion alluded to, are, that, owing to the all-pervading corruption of the country, the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, who once commanded the public respect at home and abroad, are now appointed for party purposes, and that some of their decisions have excited the disgust of all high-minded men; that the Judges of most of the State Courts hold their offices by election, some by annual election; that the undisputed dominion of the numerical majority, which has been established, will not allow the desires and passions of the hour to be checked by a firm administration of justice; and that in consequence the laws in this country have become mere cobwebs to resist either the rich, or the popular feeling of the moment; in a word that the American Astræa, like the goddess of old, has fled to the stars. I need not say, fellow-citizens, in your hearing, that wherever else this may be true, (and I believe it to be nowhere true in the United States,) it is not true in our ancient commonwealth; and that Westminster Hall never boasted a Court more honored or more

worthy of honor, than that which holds its office by a life tenure and administers impartial justice, without respect of persons, to the people of Massachusetts.

Such a court the people of Massachusetts have no wish to change for an elective judiciary, holding office by a short tenure. In their opinion, evinced in their practice, this all-important branch of the government ought to be removed, as far as possible, beyond the reach of political influences; but it is surely the grossest of errors to speak of the tribunals of the United States as being generally tainted with party, or to represent the law, in the main, as having ceased to be respected and enforced. Taking a comprehensive view of the subject, and not drawing sweeping inferences from exceptional occurrences, it may be safely said that the law of the land is ably, cheaply, and impartially administered in the United States, and implicitly obeyed. On a few questions, not half a dozen in number since the organization of the government, and those partaking of a political character, the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, like the questions to which they refer, have divided public opinion. But there is surely no tribunal in the world, which, like that court has, since the foundation of the government, not only efficiently performed the ordinary functions of a tribunal of the last resort, to the general satisfaction of the country, but

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which sits in judgment on the courts and legislatures of sovereign States, on acts of Congress itself, and prónounces the law to a confederation coextensive with Europe. I know of no such protection, under any other government, against unconstitutional legislation; if, indeed, any legislation can be called unconstitutional, where Parliament, alike in theory and practice, is omnipotent.

With respect to the partisan character of our courts, inferred from the manner in which the judges are appointed, the judges of the United States Courts, which are the tribunals specifically reflected on, are appointed in the same manner and hold their offices by the same tenure, as the English judges of the courts of common law. They are appointed for life, by the executive power, no doubt from the dominant party of the day, and this equally in both countries. The presiding magistrate of the other branch of English jurisprudence, the Lord Chancellor, is displaced with every change in politics. In seventy-one years, since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, there have been but four chief justices of the United States, and the fourth is still on the bench. In thirty-three years there have been, I believe, nine appointments of a Lord Chancellor, on as many changes of the ministry, and seven different individuals have filled the office, of whom five are living. As a member of the Cabinet, and Speaker of the House of Lords,

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he is necessarily deep in all the political controversies of the day, and his vast official influence and patronage, generally administered on political grounds, are felt throughout church and state. The Chief Justice of England is usually a member of the House of Lords, sometimes a member of the Cabinet. As a necessary consequence, on all questions of a political nature, the Court is open to the same suspicion of partisanship as in the United States, and for a much stronger reason, inasmuch as our judges can never be members of the Cabinet or of Congress. During a considerable part of his career, Lord Mansfield was engaged in an embittered political warfare with the Earl of Chatham, in the House of Lords. All the resources of the English language were exhausted by Junius, in desolating and unpunished party libels on the Chief Justice of England; and when the capital of the British Empire lay for six days at the mercy of Lord George Gordon's mob, its fury was concentrated against the same venerable magistrate.

The jurisprudence of this country strikes its roots deep into that of England. Her courts, her magistrates, her whole judicial system, are regarded by the profession in America with respect and affection. But if, beginning at a period coeval with the settlement of America, we run down the line of the chancellors and chief justices, from Lord Bacon and Sir Edward Coke to the close of the last century, it will, in scarce any

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