The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-28 00:00:00

I shall bo on the Fifteen Acres' in fifteen
minutes, and most happy to have the pleasure
of meeting you there ;" and he did
trystieg place where affairs of honour usually
came off, and after waiting there a sufficiently long
;ime for his adversary, who declined to follow,
he returned to business at the eppointed time, and
concluded the charge he had been delivering to the,
jury when interrupted. There were witty anel
hard-living dogs amongst them, who drank eopie
ously during the night and appeared very slink. Y
in the morning, while there was one in the daily
go to the
habit of eating himself into intoxication. Judge
K—, having sworn against drink at the earnest
entreaties of his friends, had a newly-baked 103,1,
steeped in a bottle of port every morning until 5"
the wine was completely absorbed, anti eat it °/:1
the bench while discharging his functions. Others
there were who came into court late in the evening
and administered justice until midnight, after
which they enjoyed the "flow of wit" and claret
.:
until " daylight in the morning." But with all
their peculiarities, whether of fighting, drinking,
eating port wine, or carrying on the legal business
of the country by night instead of by day,
men were courteous in their manners ; and although
their hot blood manifested its existence after a
fashion quite inconsistent with onr present
•
ideas of judicial propriety, still, when clad In
ermine, they almost invariably conducted them
selves with a dignity of demeanour which commanded
respect and with a politeness which disarmed hostile
criticism on their private habits. That race of funds
tionaries has passed away, and the Irish bench 1
all
now occupied, happily, by a different class of then'
some of whom have raised themselves by their ac-
knowledged talents, while others owe their elevation
more to political services than to professional distin.°_
tion. They may know more of law, but it is certall'
that their overbearing arrogance when dischaliage
their duties is often in strange contrast with t-
h
patience and good temper of their predeces sors'
Trate!
And, if what is stated of one of them by the
Chronicle, in reference to his conduct at the last,
Kerry Assizes, be true, it must be admitted that
the judge seems to have entirely forgotten not 011
the limited extent of his power, but the (14
entailed upon him by his position. Justice Ps,
is a very old gentleman, who was never at an
time remarkable for amenity of disposition, ""r
whose nerves seem to be from some causeior
other, now so completely unstrung as to reo„"ke e
him nu conscious of the effect of his acts. aril,
police seem to be the objects of Justice Ball's Pnr'"‘
cular aversion, hatred of the preservers of the Pea`i
appears to be with him a sort of monomania, wile
he indulges, forgetting that a judge should r
the last person to derogate from the charact,,eo
or to diminish the respect due to the men
most efficiently secure the peace- of the count"
and the execution of the laws which he is B.Pc;
pointed to administer. " About this time, s 10(
the Tralee Chronicle, when giving the accoun'',
the proceedings in court, "the crier's ictmt"
which had been lying up against the jury•uo:
fell down. His Lordship—' Have that policeots-
and his truncheon removed at once.' Mr MatinfV;
My lord, it was the wand that fell.' His Lordshl
—' Whoever threw that down I order him out 11:11
court; all through the circuit we are annoYe".„ll
policemen throwing their truncheons about 1",,s
that man to go out immediately.' A door sy'ss
opened, some person walked out and the businek,
was proceeded with." Now what, we may 134
would be thought of an English judge who order "0
a person to be ignominiously expelled froth a
public court merely because he happened to staabe
t
near a sheriff's wand which accidentally fell t° `to
ground P No man upon our bench would dare, the
' do so arbitrary and illegal an act, which was all
more improper in a country such as Ireland, vi.
respect for the law and for its agents should be selhe
lously inculcated by the superior authorities. ~;00
absence of the Irish aristocracy, and the traG-I'e,
of the bench when those who sat upon it Fief:he
rally belonged to that class, have position
ite
Irish judges to assume a social position tea
beyond that which is accorded to their bretl'id`eo
in this country. This unexpected and sou 030
elevation seems to have turned the heads 0f6,,° to
amongst them, who, dazzled by the respect PnL",,c•
their office, sometimes conduct themselves in 8,12,12-0
ner more becoming a three-tailed pacha of pea' ""rded
than a wigged and constitutional magistrate of P
sent times. Attention to their eccentricities enhe
exposure of their illegal acts of tyranny, hijtio,
Irish press, are duties which it owes the Pth'uo
The ridicule which such proceedings are sure, viLhbi
known, to provoke, will be the most suitable phn,isde
ment that can be inflicted on men of little till
and unbounded vanity.