JUDGES ELECTED BY POPULAR SUFFEAGE. 149 



soothe down and suppress — It forms a bond of union also 

 which makes the intellect of this vast population, and all 

 its triumphs, the almost instantaneous property of its 

 remotest members ; which makes countless hearts beat, 

 and pulses throb in common sympathy, and which opens 

 no less readily to the accents of peace than to those of 

 war an entrance to many ears — as the sound of the 

 ancient tongue of his country is said to command an 

 immediate and easy admission for the peace-bearing 

 doctrines of the gospel to the heart of the Irish moun- 

 taineer. 



Among the advertisements contained in the New York 

 papers of to-day, I was struck with one which referred 

 to the elections to be held in that city on the first Tues- 

 day of November, and which specified, among other 

 ofiicers to be elected by the suffrage of '^all male citizens 

 of twenty-one years of age," — 



A Justice of the Supreme Court. 



A Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. 



A Judge of the Superior Court. 



This practice of electing Judges by popular suffrage, 

 and for a limited number of years, appeared to me, with 

 my home opinions and historical recollections, one of the 

 most suspicious of the novelties which have lately been 

 introduced into the New England States. 



This practice is of recent origin In the State of New 

 York. The constitution of this State, as amended by the 

 State Convention of 1846, enacted that all Judges should 

 be chosen by the suffrages of the electors of the district, 

 great or small, over which their functions were to be 

 exercised, and that their tenure of office should not 

 exceed eight years. Justices of the Peace are chosen by 

 the electors of the several town (ships,) at their annual 

 town meetings, and hold office for four years ; and they 

 are paid a 'per diem allowance for their services in ses- 

 sions, and fees for other services. The Judges of the 



