5437. MONOPOLY, Of the judiciary.—
It is the self-appointment [of the county
courts] I wish to correct; to find some
means of breaking up a cabal, when such a
one gets possession of the bench. When this
takes place, it becomes the most afflicting of
tyrannies, because its powers are so various,
and exercised on everything most immediately
around us. And how many instances have
you and I known of these monopolies of county
administration? I know a county in which a
particular family (a numerous one) got possession
of the bench, and for a whole generation
never admitted a man on it who was not
of its clan or connection. I know a county
now of one thousand and five hundred militia,
of which sixty are federalists. Its court is of
thirty members, of whom twenty are federalists
(every third man of the sect). There
are large and populous districts in it without
a justice, because without a federalist for
appointment; the militia are as disproportionably
under federal officers. * * * The
remaining one thousand four hundred and
forty, free, fighting and paying citizens, are
governed by men neither of their choice or
confidence, and without a hope of relief.
They are certainly excluded from the blessings
of a free government for life, and indefinitely,
for aught the Constitution has provided.
This solecism may be called anything
but republican.—
To John Taylor. Washington ed. vii, 18.
Ford ed., x, 52.
(M.
1816)
