WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1859
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All these stupendous and vile objects were sought to be ac- complished through the subserviency of Judge Watrous's court, and by the aid of the corrupt appliances he possessed. The whole conspiracy centered in him; and for the sum of all its wrongful acts he is to be held responsible. How shall this fearful responsibility be exacted? This hon- orable body cannot do it; it cannot administer the punishment, or series of punishments, that the black record calls for. But although it cannot visit a felon's doom upon the culprit, it may banish him from the offices of the State. The least it can do is to deprive of further opportunities of further wrong a judge who has disgraced his station and defiled his ermine and stricken dismay in the hearts of the people. This is all that is asked for; simply that Judge Watrous's opportunities as a judicial officer of continuing with impunity his offenses, may be limited by the _passing of the bill I have offered. And in making this least request, I appeal for your compliance in the name of a noble, outraged people; and in the name of interests which are even higher in their appeal to you-those of the honor of this Govern- ment as residing in the character of our Federal judiciary. Mr. President, I shall for only a few moments longer occupy the attention of the Senate. This has been a most extraordinary case. It is one that appeals to the integrity, to the consideration, and to the reflection of the Senate. These disclosures of crim- inality, the evidence furnished by his confederates, the extra- ordinary character of his judicial decisions, his tyranny, his unprecedented despotism in judicial action-all these things seem to present it as the only alternative that we should get rid of this man in some way. Why, sir, the temptations of twenty-four million acres of public domain, and the corrupting influence of a combination so extensive and extraordinary as this has been, are calculated to engulf all the interests of the State. There is a mode of remedy that has heretofore been resorted to, and can be again. By con- solidating the two judicial districts of Texas into one, we can get rid of this intolerable incubus; we can divest ourselves of this calamity. Texas, in all that she has ever felt in her days of extreme excitement to the present day, has never felt so keenly the afflictions of revolution as she feels this moral curse, and this judicial iniquity upon her. She has passed through many trials, but none that compare to this. This promises an inter- minable duration; we know not when we are to get rid of it.
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