sible, where * any defence
is made, before men of ordinary prejudices and passions, that our Judges
are effectually independent of the nation. But this ought not to be. I
would not, indeed, make them dependant on the Executive authority,
as they formerly were in England; but I deem it indispensable to the
continuance of this government, that they should be submitted to some
practical and impartial control; and that this, to be impartial, must
be compounded of a mixture of State and Federal authorities. It is not
enough, that honest men are appointed Judges. All know the influence
of interest on the mind of man, and how unconsciously his judgment
is warped by that influence. To this bias add that of the _esprit de
corps_, of their peculiar maxim and creed, that 'it is the office of
a good Judge to enlarge his jurisdiction,' and the absence of
responsibility; and how can we expect impartial decision between the
General government, of which they are themselves so eminent a part, and
an individual state, from which they have nothing to hope or fear? We
have seen, too, that, contrary to all correct example, they are in
the habit of going out of the question before them, to throw an anchor
ahead, and grapple further hold for future advances of power. They are
then, in fact, the corps of sappers and miners, steadily working to
undermine the independent rights of the states, and to consolidate all
power in the hands of that government, in which they have so important a
freehold estate. But it is not by the consolidation, or concentration
of powers, but by their distribution, that good government is effected.
Were not this great country already divided into states, that division
must be made, that each might do for itself what concerns itself
directly, and what it can so much better do than a distant authority.
Every state again is divided into counties, each to take care of what
lies within its local bounds; each county again into townships or wards,
to manage minuter details; and every ward into farms, to be governed
each by its individual proprietor. Were we directed from Washington
when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread. It is by this
partition of cares, descending in gradation from general to particular,
that the mass of human affairs may be best managed, for the good and
prosperity of all. I repeat, that I do not charge the judges with wilful
and ill-intentioned error; but honest error must be arrested, whe