Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-04-22
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.

of King James the a2oond, o. hng lnnot from ms
accession in 1886 to his virtual abdication and
hit flight in l6ss;-an era most remarkable for
the various questions between prerogative ON
the one hand and personal RIGHT on the other.
Il was the era Of George Jeffreys--a name sy-
nonymous with Judicial insolsnoe and opprss-
sion, and a name memorable, as such, TO every
lawyer or student Of History English liberty
in substance as now enjoyed, dates, Qf not from
the days of Cromwell and the Commonwealth
from the revolution Of 1888, by which the last
ofthe miserable race Of Stuarts, became fugi-
tive from the indignation Of the people. u.
Howelrn State Trials is a rare but most en-.
teftaininR book. The causes eelebres ofthe period
referred to, reported as they are with marvellous
minuteness Of detail, have afforded to Mr.. Ma
caulay, as to all others who have attempted TO
write history materials for some Of their most
graphic delineations.
We have no power of the sort. Butwe have
read recently in HolOeu, the trial Of Lady Alice
Lisle for High Treason
On the 9th Of August 1886, Lady Alice
Lisle, gentlewoman of the age of more than 70
Years, was arraigned before the Lord Chief JUS
tice Jeffreys charged with High Treason. The
verbose Indictment sets forth that the prisoner
had furnished meat and drink to one John Hicks
a traitor who had conspired or imagined the
death Of the King.
Hicks was Presbyterian preacher, and Lady
Lise, herself conscientious, pious old lady, had
sheltered a minister Of her own persuasion,
without particular inquiry further He had
neither been convicted or proclaimed traitor -
She pleaded Not Guilty. The trial proceeded
Lady Lisle had no counsel butby special grace,
her age and in6rmi,y of hearing being consider.
ed, zone Matthew Browne was named to give
her such assistance as he could"
Jeffreys, though the Judge, acted in fact as
the Prosecutor. His manner in that capacity
was not unlike that Of Judge Belden, the U. s.
District Attorney, in the recent Rescue case of
Cleveland.
Profane as Jeffreys recorded expressions are,
we choose to copy them as predatory to some we
are about to quote in case more recent
To one Of the witnesses he said
Jesus God there is no sort Of conversation
or hum1n society to be kept with such people
as these are, who have no religion but only in
Dretence 1t seems that The saints have a
certain charter for lying. They may lie and
cant and deceive = A Turk has more title to
an eternity Of bliss than these pretenders to
christianity How they can cant and
snivel and lie, oil for the good old cause.
Oh how hard the truth is to come out of
lying Presbyterian knave. Oh |!
blessed Jesus What an age we do live in,
and what a generation of vipers we do live
among Is this what you call the Protestant
religion. And thou wicked wretch,
how burst thou appear before even an earthly
tribunal with 80 much impudence and false
hood, when every lie will cost thee SO dear! +"
Jesus God was there ever such felon as thou
art
WitheSs-I cannot tell what to say Ny Lord.
Lord C. GOOD God Was there ever
such an impudent rascal Hold the
candle that we may see his brazen face.
= will tell you there is not one of those
lying, sniveAing, canting PresbyteriaDs, but
had some hand in the late rebellion.
Presbytery has all manner of villainy in it
Shew me Presbyterian and will show you a
lying Knave"
Enough-porhaps too much of the foul talk
of Jeffreys. One OF the jurors asked, whst was
certainly question quite pertinent.
"Juryman.-Pray my Lord, some of us de-
sire to know in point Of law, whether it be the
same thing, and equally treason in receiving
Hicks before he had been convicted of treason
as il it had been after!'
"Jefries.--1t is all the same there can be no
doubt"
The Jury returned after repeated instructions
and rendered verdict of Not Gully The Judge
was furious and threatened the Jury until at
length they brought in the desired verdict of
Gully.
Jeffreys sentenced her "to be burnt alive un-
til you be dead" the same afternoon. He finally
deferred the execution until the I'd of Septem-
ber and on appeal to the King he changed the
sentence of burning to beheading.
On the I'd of September, 1886, at the city of
Winchester, England Lady Alice Lisle was be-
headed for sheltering clergyman of her own
faith alleged to be a rebel and traitor but not
known to her as such.
1t is hardly questionable to assert that these
political prosecutions so alienated the minds of
people from the Government, as to have been
the primary cause of the expulsion of the Stu
arts forever from Great Britain.
The Beacon proceeds to give brief history
Of the rescue case tried and decided in the U.
s. District Court Judge Wilson presiding. Of
the case it remarks; ... #.
But it is a case where the Government officers
pursue a man for an offence purely political,
with all the vindictiveness that JefIreys and
his master had towards Lady Lisle.
True, the forms Of trial and modes of pun.
ishment have been changed within two cen
turies; but the anirnEs of government pros
ecutor is the same under James Buchanan as it
was under James Sluart--his malignity pertains
to his Office as a government Pursuer.
The Beacon quotes number Of"specimens"
from the speech of U. s. District Attorney Bel
den, and pertinently comments
We submit it as a fair question Cor the con-
alteration of candid persons whether the essen
tial spirit of the prosecutions,-that of Jeffreys
and that of G. w. Beden,--is not the same in-
capacity to discriminate between acts done
in the ordinary exercise Of Christian and hu-
manly charity ;-the same folly and utter fatu-
in both cases.
And now, in view OF this whole matter, what
shall be said Are we living in the nineteenth
century, or the seventeenth Under King
James, and Lord Chief Justice Jeffrey, or under
a republican government? Law, let us at all
times and at all hazards, abide by. But ENACT
MENTs may OF may not be law. Scof as a Bel
den or Jeffeys may, At ''HiRher Law" there
is al least, an appeal to the judgment Of other
Courts, and,-faiing that--an appeal to the
great source of legislative power,-the people.
We should expect the Executive Of this State
to take notice of this strange procedure, aud by
directing an application 10 the Supreme Court
of Ohio for writ of haBeas corpus, or by such
other mode as he may judge appropriate, to see
TO it. that citizens of Ohio are net punished un-
der any such prosecution as this.
II is about time the question was made Wheth
eT white men in the Free States have any rights
which negro catchers are bound to respect, and
whether the State or the kidnappers, are sove-
reign upon the soil Of Ohio
From the Albany Evening Journal.
A New Outrage under the Fugitive Slave