The National Republican And Ohio Political Register

FOR THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN.

REGENERATOR—No. II.

"Curses are like young chickens,
They always come home to roost."
Southey.

FELLOW CITIZENS—

I could show you from a hundred authors, and holy writ besides, that the evil men do in their lives, is and should be visited upon their own heads here: their follies and their crimes meet with, although not always a swift, yet a sure retributive justice. Such is the idea meant to be conveyed by the proverb heading this piece; if it is not "germane to the matter" that succeeds, you can let the whole go for nothing. In the first number you were promised a brace of delineations, and they shall not be caricatures, of the magistracy of this city, as it now stands. In doing this, although I have my "likes and dislikes," as the saying is, I am not moved one jot or one tittle towards a change, by any one motive other than the love of immutable justice.

It must be obvious to all those who possess but even a small portion of that faculty called common sense, that the first and best evidence of a person's poverty, is his being sued for a small debt: or rather, as it no doubt will be made appear, dragooned before a biped miscalled a Justice. If, then, it is agreed that it is the poor and needy, and nine times out of ten they are such, who are summoned before a magistrate on petty claims, for trifling debts, or still more trifling misdemeanors, how much more necessary is it, that the hand which administers justice should be free from rapacity—extortion! Call it what you will; but the taking illegal fees from the miserable, who have not wherewith to pay the principal, requires new terms to be added to the dictionaries: there are none there, to an honest and honorable mind, sufficiently expressive of detestation. But I digress.

The magistrate you should choose, ought to wear his ermine unspotted:—there should be no hook to hang a doubt upon, either in regard to his uprightness or his benevolence. Without an inborn charity, no man should be either elected or appointed to the bench. Justice always leans towards mercy: it is necessary for the good of the whole. Severity mars the very end and aim of justice.

"Mercy is an attribute to God himself:
And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When Mercy tempers Justice."

The next qualification necessary to a magistrate, after an upright and benevolent heart, is a sound understanding.—Without the last, all the study of the law and the prophets is of no avail: without it, learning sinks either into pedantry or chicane; and sometimes into both. With good common sense, there is but little law reading necessary to fit a Justice of the Peace for official duty. There are, comparatively speaking, but few cases that are likely to come before him of much intricacy; and books of reference can always be had, to solve those doubts that may arise. I will here observe, that there is one reason why we should not be over prone to turn lawyers into Justices of the Peace, and that is, that well read and sound lawyers are not apt to accept of the office: if men of sterling abilities, there are greater profits and higher honors to be obtained at the bar. It will be recollected, that with now and then a look at some particular statute, and a little reference to the common law, a Justice of the Peace is only another appellation for an arbitrator. For an arbitrator, you would certainly choose, firstly, an honest man, free of prejudice; and lastly, one of good sound sense. If well educated, so much the better.

So much for such a magistrate as you should choose. Now for the reverse.—Petulance, obstinacy, and self-sufficiency, are qualities, any one of which, being a component part of a man's character, would unfit him for being a magistrate, even among the Hottentots; but when those three qualities are intimately allied in one person, say, would such a man be a fitting magistrate for Pandemonium?—Yet there are such men, and such men have aspired to be magistrates.

TEASEL.