[The Judiciary in Nevada Territory, Sacramento Union, August 26, 1864]

 

THE JUDICIARY IN NEVADA TERRITORY.

            We notice in the Gold Hill News of August 24th the following proceedings in reference to this subject :

            Yesterday morning the Bar of Storey county met to select and recommend a successor to the Judgeship rendered vacant by the resignation of Judge North. A series of resolutions were adopted, after which the Bar proceeded to ballot, each member having his name recorded as he voted.

            Forty-nine members voted. The result was as follows : R. S. Mesick received 26 votes ; H. O. Beatty, 21; C. M. Brosnan, 2. The Chair thereupon announced that Mesick, having received a majority of all the votes cast, he declared him the nominee of the members of the Bar of Storey county for the position of Judge of the First Judicial District. On motion, the nomination was made unanimous. A Committee, consisting of William M. Stewart, Caleb Burbank and Joseph M. Nougues, were appointed to frame and dispatch to the President a telegram informing him of the action of the Bar of Storey country. The following dispatch was submitted:

VIRGINIA CITY, August 28, 1864.

            To His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States: At a meeting of the Bar of Storey county, at which forty-nine attorneys were present, it was unanimously resolved to recommend R. S. Mesick, of this place, for appointment to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge North. And the attorneys earnestly request the appointment to be made immediately and the undersigned informed thereof by telegram.

WM. M. STEWART,

CALEB BURBANK,

JOS. M. NOUGUES.

            In this connection the Virginia Enterprise of the same date has the following remarks:

            While the community is jubilant over the abdication of the old Judges—while the people are elate with the prospects of Courts whose ministerings in the name of justice shall be something more than a farce and mockery—we are called upon to record an act of treachery, which must excite a universal feeling of indignation and resentment. On the 22d instant, from the overwhelming pressure of public sentiment and the imperative demand of the members of the Bar, our Supreme Judges were forced to resign. A meeting of the Bar of Storey county was held yesterday to determine upon a successor to Judge North, and R. S. Mesick was selected to fill the position. A Committee was chosen to solicit his appointment by the President. The Committee telegraphed to Judge Field, Senator Conness and Governor Low for the assistance of their united recommendation in procuring the appointment. Last evening a dispatch was received from Judge Field, stating that a week since, himself, Senator Conness and Governor Low, with the knowledge of Judge North's intended resignation, and at the request of several gentlemen of this Territory, had recommended the appointment of John F. Swift, of San Francisco, as his successor ; but that they would use their influence to have Mesick appointed as successor of one of the other Judges ! Who has ever heard of Swift ? Who does be belong to ? Who are the " gentlemen of Nevada" that have treacherously usurped our rights and robbed us of what little voice we have in the selection of our Judges? We demand that their names be made public, that we may know who are implicated in secret resignations and the appointment of men of whose very names our people are totally ignorant ! Depend upon it, we have been sold. True to his instincts, when the general execration excited by his shameful judicial conduct rendered it impossible for Judge North to remain upon the bench, he secretly signified his resignation to his patrons and partisans that they might forestall the public voice and have a man of their own choice appointed to fill the vacated seat. We know nothing of the appointee, Swift. He may be a gentleman who would honor the position. But, if he possessed all the virtues and abilities which have distinguished the greatest jurists of the world, we would advise him, in view of the excitement and indignation created by his secret appointment, to never cross the border.