“And is not this the truth? Will not the mass be all the better off, by exercising as much power as they can?”
“No; and for the simple reason that masses cannot, in the nature of things, exercise more than a very limited power. You, yourself, for instance, one of the mass, cannot exercise this very power of choosing a judge, as it ought to be exercised, and of course are liable to do more harm than good.”
“The deuce I cannot! Why is not my vote as good as your own? or that of any other man?”
“For the simple reason, that you are ignorant of the whole matter. Ask yourself the question, and answer it like an honest man: would you—could you, with the knowledge you possess, lay your finger on any man in this community, and say, ‘I make you a judge?’”
“Yes; my finger would be laid on you, in a minute.”
“Ah, Ned, that will do, as a friend; but how would it do as a judicious selection of a judge you do not know? You are ignorant of the law, and must necessarily be ignorant of the qualifications of any particular person to be an interpreter of it. What is true of you, is equally true of a vast majority of those who are now the electors of our judges.”
“I am not a little surprised, Tom, to hear you talk in this way; for you profess to be a democrat!”
“To the extent of giving the people all power, in the last resort—all power that they can intelligently and usefully use; but not to the extent of permitting them to make the laws, to execute the laws, and to interpret the laws. All that the people want, is sufficient power to secure their liberties, which is simply such a state of things as shall secure what is right between man and man. Now, it is the want of this all-important security, in a practical point of view, of which I complain. Rely on it, Ned, the people gain nothing by exercising an authority that they do not know how to turn to good account. It were far better for them, and for the state, to confine themselves to the choice of general agents, of whose characters they may know something, and then confide all other powers to servants appointed by those named by these agents, holding all alike to a rigid responsibility. As for the judges, they will soon take decided party characters; and men will as blindly accuse, and as blindly defend them, as they now do their other leading partisans. What between the bench and the jury-box, we shall shortly enjoy a legal pandemonium.”
“Yet there are those who think the trial by jury is the palladium of our liberties.”
Dunscomb laughed outright, for he recollected his conversation with the young men, which we have already related. Then suppressing his risible propensity, he continued gravely—