The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-02-01
CHARACTER OF JEFFREYs.

y
time offered to him. II was determined that
another lawyer Of more vigor and audacity
should be called to assist in the administra-
ton. The person selected was Sir George
Jefireys, Chief Justice Of the Court OF the
Kings Bench The depravity Of this man
has passed into proverb, Both the great
English parties have attacked his memory
with emulous violence; for the Wings con-
sidered him their most barbarous enemy, and
the Tories found il convenient to throw on
him the blame OF all the crimes which had
sullied their triumph. dllgent and can
did inquiry will show that some trightful sto-
ries which had been Told concerning him are
false OF exaggerated yet the disPassionate
historian will be able to make very little de-
duction from the vast Mass Of infamy with
which the memory OF the wicked Judge has
beer loaded
He was man Of quick and Vigorous parts,
but constitutionally prone to insolence and
TO the angry passions. When Just emerging
from boyhood, he had risen into practice at
the Old Bailey bar, a bar where advocates
have always used license Of tongue I'M
known in Westminster Hall Here, du-
ring many years, his chef business was to
examine and to cross.eSamine the most har-
dened miscreants Of a great capital. Daily
conflicts with prostitutes and thieves called
out and exercised his powers so eflectually
that he became the most consumate bully
ever known in his profession. All tender
ness for theieelings OF others, all self-respect,
allsense ofthe becoming were obliterated from
his mind. He acquired houndless COM
mand Of the rhetoric in which the vulgar ex-
press hatred and contempt. The profuson
Of maledictions and vituperative epithets
which composed his vocabulary could hardly
have been Fivaled in the fish market or the
bear garden His countenance and his voice
must always have been unamiable; but these
natural Advantageous su cheseems to have
thought them--he had improved to such a
degree that there were few who, in his par
oxysms Of rage, could see or hear him with
out emotion. lmprudence and ferocity sat
upon his brow. The glare Of his eyes had
fascination Tor the unhappy victim on whom
they were fixed; yet his brow and eye were
said TO be less errible than the savage lines
Of his mouth. His yell,o fury, as was said
by one who had often heard, il sounded like
the thunder Of the judgment day These
qualifications he carried, while still ayoung
man, from the bar to the bench He early
became sergeant, and then recorder Of
London As Judge at the city sessions he
exhibited the same propensties which after
ward, in higher post, gained for him an
unenviable Immortality. Already might be /
remarked in him the most odious vice which /
is incident to human nature, delight in mis-
cry There was Eendish exultation in the
way in which he pronounced sentence on Of
tenders. Their weeping and imploring-
seemed to titillate him yoluptuously; and he
loved to scare them into fits by dilatng with |
luxuriant application on all the details Of
what they were to suffer Thus when he
had opportunity Of ordering an unucky
adventures to be whipped at the carts tai,
"Hangman,'' he would exclaim, 81 charge
you to pay particular attention to this lady
Scourge her soundly, man! Scourge her
till the blood runs down! 1t is Christmas;
cool time for madam to strip in See that
you warm her shoulders thoroughly!o He
was hardly less facetious when he passed
Judgment on Ludowic Muggleton, the drunk
en- tailor who fancied himself prophet
"lmpudent rogue" reared Jef1reys, "thou
shalt have an easy, easy, easy punishment''
One part Of this easy punishment was the
pillory, in.which the wretched fanatic was
almost killed with brickbats
By this time the nature Of Jefreys had
been hardened to that temper which tyrants
require in their worst implements, He had
hitherto looked for professional advancement
to the corporation Of London He had there
fore protested to himself a Roundhead, and
had always appeared to be in higher state
Of exhileration when he exclaimed to Popish
priests that they were to be cnt down alive,
and were to see their own bodies burned,
than when he passed ordinary sentences Of
death. But as soon as had got all that the
city could give, he made haste to sell his
forehead OF brass and his tongue Of vernon
to act as broker in infamous contracts Of
more than one kind, lent his aid. He had
conducted many amorous ard many political
antiques, but he assuredly never rendered a
more scandalous service 10 his master then
when he introduced Jetfreys TO Whitehall -
The renegade soon found patron in the Oh
aurate and revengeiul James, but was always
regarded with scorn and disgust by Charles,
whose faults, great as they were, had no az
fnity with insolence and cruelty ssThat
man." said the king, ''has no learning, no
sense, no manners, and more impudence than
ten carted street-walkeTs." Work was to be
done, however, which could be trusted to no
man who reverenced law, or was sensible of
shame; and thus Jetirey$, at an age at which
bairister thinks himself fortunate il he is
employed lead important cause, was made
Chief Justice Of the Kings Bench
His enemies could not deny that lie pos
sessed some of the qualities Of great Judge
His legal knowledge indeed, was merely
such as he had picked up in practice Of no very
high kind; but he had Que Of those happ-
~ constituted mtelects which, across laby-
rinths Of sophstry and through masses Of
immatera facts, 60, straight to the true
point. OF his intellect however, he had sell