This is a circumstance calculated to have more
influence upon the character of our governments, than but few may be
aware of. The benefits of the integrity and moderation of the judiciary
have already been felt in more States than one; and though they may have
displeased those whose sinister expectations they may have disappointed,
they must have commanded the esteem and applause of all the virtuous and
disinterested. Considerate men, of every description, ought to prize
whatever will tend to beget or fortify that temper in the courts: as no
man can be sure that he may not be to-morrow the victim of a spirit of
injustice, by which he may be a gainer to-day. And every man must now
feel, that the inevitable tendency of such a spirit is to sap the
foundations of public and private confidence, and to introduce in its
stead universal distrust and distress.
That inflexible and uniform adherence to the rights of the Constitution,
and of individuals, which we perceive to be indispensable in the courts
of justice, can certainly not be expected from judges who hold their
offices by a temporary commission. Periodical appointments, however
regulated, or by whomsoever made, would, in some way or other, be fatal
to their necessary independence.
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