GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 493 



suppose, that the chief town or capital of a de- 

 partment is the most convenient and suitable 

 place for the court to be held ; and not accord- 

 ing to the present law, whereby the capital, if 

 chosen, cannot send members. The consequence 

 will be, that the weight of the interest of the 

 capital will cause some town very near it to be 

 named, and by this means the court will be as 

 much under the influence of the capital as if it 

 were situated in it; and it will, in any event, 

 cause more inconvenience, expense, and delay, 

 than if in the capital. In my opinion, the best 

 check, and almost the only one necessary, 

 is the freedom of the press as now establish- 

 ed. Should a court be notoriously unjust, 

 its actions will be held up to the noonday 

 light, and public opinion will soon cause the 

 members to be deprived of their high office, 

 and fix on them that odium which ought to 

 be the lot of every unjust and partial judge 

 throughout the world. 



The federal system, I conceive, will certain- 

 ly cause the republic to be much more du- 

 rable than the present plan of centralism, 

 where appeals for justice are to come from all 

 parts of the country ; but I am very doubtful 



