Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1851-05-08
Judge Jeffrey. and Alice LI.l~.

SMuDW anu AbGe LbAE.
No one who has read Macanlay's His
tory Of England, will be likely soon 10 for
get the character Of Jeffrey., the furious
and ihhnm>a Judge, Who 50 irdusiriou.iy
executed the laws pf England, during the
tyrannical reign of James III. His case
may suffice to convince us, that man nav
gain Tor himself most hateful reputation,
while he is acting all The while under the
form OF law. As Chief Justice or the Court
OF Kings Bench, IL was his busines. 70 see
that the laws Of the realm were executed.
He did so, and in doing 50, he left upon
the page of history name among the most
detestable in the British annals. Before
this judge of the realn-iLis npholder Of
law and order, the gentle, godly, pure
minded Baxter, was srrsigned as cni.
prit, for breaking The laws OF England. and
after mos; abusive trial, was condemned
TO fine and imprisonment. II is not at all
unlikely that Baxter had broken the laws
of England. This was very common cir
cnms'ance with men Of his stamp iw hum
dred years ago. And we had supposed
until recently. that il was The glory and
the boast OF the sons of New England that
they drew their lineage from such stock.
Blu, il is now Sc, forth from high places,
that the only proper use which man can
make of his conscience. In relation tu gov
ernment, is TO obey oil the laws Of that
government, asking no questions about
right and wrong. So il seems that Bax-
ter and men like him are TO be condemned
for the course they took.
But our object more particularly was to
| refer TO Jctfreys, in connection with the
case indicated by our title. During the
reign of James H., the Duke Of Mon
| mouth, natural son Of Charles H., rashly
invaded England with few followers, in
| expectation Of a general movement i'm his
favor among the people. His object was
10 overthrow the reigning king and place
himself on the throne. The expedition
was disastrous one. The army of Mon
mouth was soon broken 10 pieces, and he
himself was brought to the block. As soon
as the danger was over, Jrffreys with four
other Judges, set out upon a circuit thro'
the infected districts, TO bring 10 summa-
ry punishment all who had in any way
participated in this movement. He CON-
menced his operations at Winchester, by
instituting trial against Alice Lislie, a
respectable widow lady or that Place,
whose only crime was, that she had. jim the
kindness of her heart, given food and shell
ter TO two men, who had come TO her house
weary and hungry, flying ircm the brok-
EN- and routed army OF Monmouth. They
were pursued by soldiers and were found
secreted in her house. The act OF which
she had been guilty, was, according 10 the
laws of England, high treason, and was
punishable with death. The trial went
forward after thai peculiar mode in which
all Jeifreys' trials were conducted. Hs
foully abused and insulted the prisoner,
stormed q; the Witnesses. and when he
saw tina, the hearts Of the jury were sink
ing within them at the idea Of carrying
out the law against woman who had done
nothing but deed Of charity he raved and
Mustered until he extorted from them The
word gully. And he was doubtless right
legally. There is no question that she had
broken iaw OF the land. Thereupon JEFF
freys pronounced sentence OF death upon
her, and gave command that .he should be
burned alive, That very afternoon. But by
the earnest solicitation OF those about him,
he granted a respite Of five days, and alter
ed the mode of execution, so that she was
put 10 death upon the scaffoid. All this
was done in the name Of law.
But the world is not so blinded by this
| circumstance as mt 10 pronounce J-ffreys
n monster of iniqnily. 1he world ap-
proves the aci for whiei. this oman was
condemned. The British Parliament in
a later age, touched with pity and with
shame at this legal murder, removed the
| Act of Attainder, which had passed upon
her, so that the disgrace might be taken
from her family. The government that
undertakes 10 punish an act of Christian
kindness like this, how ever il may bolster
itself up at the time. by talking OF the maj
esty of law, will in the estimation oil after
ages he consigned TO the infamy il deserves.
Ii Jeffreys had stolen about in England ~
private assassin, and actually put To death
agains, law, as many persons, ss he cen
| demned to death from the bench. and in
the name Of law, he would not have left
behind him name any more execrsble
| than now.