William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 2

Carolinian judges used to be named for life, like English judges, and were as rarely deposed from the bench as judges in the parent State; but this Conservative way of dealing with the higher magistracy has been set aside under the Reconstruction Act. A judge is now appointed for four years only, and is seldom named a second time. His day is short, and he must make it pay. Some of the judges (I am told, on good authority) deal in cotton, rice, and other produce, and not unfrequently appear as parties to suits at law! An ignorant Negro, placed on the bench by party voters, has much temptation to resist.

A Negro has not sense enough to see that office requires some training, not to say some natural aptitude. His only thought of office is a place where he can sit and smoke, give saucy answers, and receive his salary. Office was made for man, not man for office. If you ask a Negro what he wants, he says “a place,” caring but little whether you make him a jailor or a judge.

Some weeks ago a coloured man was brought to