Because a people have existed under a certain system does it follow of necessity that that system could not be safely changed or improved? Most certainly not. Yet such is the force of the argument, if any force it has. As far back as the dark ages when an effort was made to do away with the feudal system, the cry of sacrilege was raised-the cry that new and dangerous innovations were about to be made upon their old and time honored laws, laws under which their fathers had lived and died—and from that day to this, whenever any movement has been made to do away with any of the relics of the dark ages, or to ameliorate the condition of man, the same cry has been raised, and by the weak, timid, and corrupt it has been stigmatized as dangerous, visionary, and impracticable.

We would have our constitution expressly provide the manner of creating the judiciary. We would not by any means (as suggested by our correspondent) vest that power in the legislature. We would place it beyond the control of hasty, corrupt, or selfish legislation. It is termed an experiment. We do not consider anything as an experiment which has been thoroughly and successfully tested, as an elective judiciary has been in several of the new states, or that which is so clearly based upon the broad and eternal principles of justice and democracy.

Our correspondent seems to go upon the supposition that our judicial officers must be either appointed or elected by delegates in convention. To either of these modes we should be opposed. It is true candidates may, and probably would, be nominated in convention, but they can only be invested in the "gown official" by the people at the ballot box.

It is a mistaken idea that the people are unmindful of responsibility when it is thrown upon them. If such were the fact, why do they so critically, freely, and fearlessly canvass the characters and capability of their candidates. He who asks at the hands of the people power or station must be, to pass unscathed, like Caesar's wife, above suspicion. In the

election of a judge every elector would have a great and direct interest; they would feel it and act accordingly.

The great mass have no unworthy or selfish purposes to subserve; therefore their action would be independent and high minded. The action of the executive together with the legislature might or might not be the same. The very fact of their occupying stations presupposes them to be politicians; the fact of their being politicians is presumptive evidence of ambition; and the fact has been for years established, that the ambitious are not always over-scrupulous as to the course they pursue or the means they make use of to accomplish their objects. Perhaps the executive of the state may be ambitious to wear the senatorial robes at Washington. A corrupt but talented politician may stand between him and the object of his aspirations; he removes the obstacle from his path by placing the politician upon the bench. The executive has gratified his ambition; what matters it to him if he has done it by polluting the halls of justice. The idea that a judge should be above and beyond the control of the people is one that in our opinion should long since have been exploded. Like other public officers he should be but a public servant, responsible to the source from whence he derived his power for the faithful and honest discharge of his duties. We again repeat it is safer to leave power where, in a republican form of government, it legitimately belongs, to wit: in the hands of the people.

Many of the old and barbarous "landmarks," as they are termed, monuments of the iron ages, are passing away, and being superseded by a new order of things. The spirit of the age is the spirit of progress; its course is onward and upward; it moves with a power that cannot be stayed, and a velocity that defies pursuit.

SELECTIONS FROM THE RACINE ADVOCATE

STATE GOVERNMENT-No. 1

[February 24, 1846]

The most important act passed at the late session of our Legislative Assembly will be found on the first and second pages of this week's Advocate. It provides for the speedy formation of a state government, preparatory to the admission of Wisconsin into the Union as an independent commonwealth. The members of the legislature, who enacted this law, were "fresh from the hands of the people," and felt that a preference for state government prevailed with the great mass of their constituents. They accordingly adopted a measure which they conceived would be most in accordance with the sentiments of the citizens of Wisconsin, and passed the act which we have given in preceding columns. To this law, we most earnestly invite the attention of every inhabitant of the territory into whose hands this number of our paper may chance to fall; trusting that everyone will give it an attentive and thoughtful perusal, pondering the subject deliberately in his mind. Let every voter but do this, uninfluenced by false issues, and still more false representations, and we shall feel an entire confidence that the official annunciation of the balloting for and against state government, on the first Tuesday of April, now only forty-two days distant, will be: "The ayes have it!"

In noticing this subject hereafter, we shall endeavor to demonstrate to our readers that every consideration of selfinterest and public policy prompts us now to determine in favor of self-government-to assume the reins and exercise the franchises of state sovereignty; that in our present de

pendent political condition we are bereft of very many of those advantages which flow from an independent and permanent government, controlled in all its departments by ourselves upon principles of stability and duration, etc., etc.

STATE GOVERNMENT-No. 2

[March 10, 1846]

We have said that "every consideration of self-interest and public policy" required of the people of Wisconsin to vote for state government. We will go further, and say that duty demands it of them-downright shame, indeed, should urge them into the adoption of self-government. With a population of more than one hundred thousand souls, shall we remain the nursling of Uncle Sam, drawing our sustenence from his larder? No, no! fellow-Badgers; let us put on pants, and assume the dignity of free-men! Let us make unto ourselves a charter of rights as a self-governing community, and take our position in the line of the now twentyeight confederated sovereignties.

A friend writes us from Washington that, could the few citizens of Wisconsin who deem it inexpedient to vote for a convention now only be present at the seat of government a part of a session of Congress, they would come home divested of every shadow of doubt on the subject, and would urge upon their fellow citizens the immediate adoption of state government; that it is humiliating to a high-minded Wisconsonian, cherishing an ardent affection for his beautiful home, to witness the cold neglect with which his territory is treated in the halls of Congress. Our delegate, who is the organ of more free people than any state representative in the Union, is doomed to play the part of a suppliant for favors, rather than demand rights for his constituents; and is driven to a mortifying course of solicitation in order to secure a small share of the benefits flowing from the National Government,

which in justice should be bestowed equally upon every portion of our common country.

Now our only chance of redress for these grievances is to vote "for state government" on the first Tuesday in April. This will enable us to assume the responsibilities and acquire the franchises of American sovereigns within one year from this date. Wisconsin will then shine forth as a conspicuous star in the bright constellation of free and "United States." She will then have her senators and representatives on the floors of Congress to advocate the rights and vote for the interests of Wisconsin and the West. We can then take a proud stand of equality with the other sovereignties of the Union; and shall then be enabled to realize and enjoy facilities for acquiring wealth, intelligence, and happiness, the elements of which have been so bountifully scattered throughout our territory by the great Architect of the uni

verse.

THE CONVENTION

[March 24, 1846]

The convention that must soon be held to form a constitution for the new state of Wisconsin demands of its inhabitants the most severe thought, for it is from the mass of the people that the constitution must emanate, the members of that body being but agents. These agents, however, must be chosen for their qualifications, must be men in whom the utmost confidence can be reposed, and should be selected with a view not only to their intelligence, but to the confidence reposed in them by the people of the county they represent.

It is to be remembered that their legislation cannot be local, that they must act only for the whole state, and therefore that they should be selected from the county at large, without reference to any particular location. If any one town, whether it be even the smallest in the county or the