Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1865-06-02
gaIlg empire
English state Trials under the
and at the present time.

Stuart's and at the present time.
lFroma Review Of Foss Judges Of Eosland"l
But il our civil law WAS improved at this
period in several respects, and private Justice
was fairly administered, nearly all the polit
icaI trials of these reigns have acquired n
dark and Infamous celebrity. These righful
scenes of judicial crime were more like the
inhuman rites in which barbarians immediate
their victims, after going through some pom
pouss ssolemnites, than the calm proceedings of
courts of justice. The objects of the jealousy
Of the q Government or ofthe enVenomed hatred
Of factions we're brought hurriedly before tr.
bunals, over which might have been written
the words inscribed by Dante on the Inferno,
which forbade hope to those who entered
After listening to some mystic shbbo!eths,
expressed in untntelligible jargon, which
charged them with vague and uncertain
crimes, they were exposed without profession.
al aid, except what waa really a mockery, to
the sinister accusations of advocates we'll
versed in the craft Of murder Ivy law Tor the
most part inscriptions and brutal, and often
urged by strong self.interest to do anything
to secure convictions. If 10 this unjust and
fearful contest they wished to encounter the
evidence against them, their means of proof
were not equal, since their testimony could
not be on oath, and was accordingly denounc-
ed or discredited. Nor was the conduct OF
those Inquests of Blood less shameful than
their unfair procedure The Crown witnesses
we're generally wretches who made Staying by
perjury trade, and were paid in proportion
to the success Of their efforts. The juries
were, for the most part, arranged by officers
bribed for, this purpose, so that their verdict
he ntin Aaf IL s,,J. A.
only few exceptions, they strained the law
to destroy the accused or admitted illegal
proofs against them, or made speeches in
favour Of the prosecution, or artfully distorted
the facts of the cases, or adjursd the Jury to
find for the Grown, or, in tones sometimes of
nauseous cant, occasionally Of simulated in.
dgnaton, invoked opinion against the prs
oners, playing the part not Of moderators of
Justice, but OF bloodhounds enger to run down
their victims Can we wonder that under
conditions like these the State trials of these
evil days, from that Of Vane, iphumanly
murdered because he recognized the author.
ity of Cromwell, to that OF the hapless Lady
Lisle, condemned for following the instincts
of mercy which are the peculiar glory Of her
sex, were foul tragedies, in which awless
power was enabled under the forms of justice
to work out deeds of the darkest inquiry2
Can we WONDER that they were described by
one intimately acquain' ed with them as prac
tices worse than the practices OF the Inqui
silonH
The composition Of the Judges and
jurors in the existing estate of public opinion
was and even more active cause Of these
atrocities. In the present times our Judges
are free; it is very seldom they receive pro-
motion; and juries are selected by a method
which is not open to rational exception. Our
higher tribunals are thus kept pure, 90 far as
human precautions can reach, from the taint-
ing influences of Government and party, and
the results have been notorousIy successful.
The upright magistrate who sent back M.
answered letter written by George III, in
the hope of gaining decision against
Wilkes the eloquent chief, who, in stern &C.
cents condemned the conduct OF the Secre.
tary of State in the famous case of GenerLl
Warrants; the honest twelve men who rescu-
ed England from bloody prescription by
acquitting Hardy, show how valuable are the
guarantees we now possess for the admins
tration of justice. Securities even more
effectual are, perhaps, the presence OF an ed
ucated Bar, brought up to respect an equal
law and keen and ready to denounce Unfair
ness, and the vigilance Of a powerful press,
which could hold up TO irresistible infamy
any real instance Of Judicial iniquity. In the
bad time Of the later Stuarts these checks on
wrong were altogether wanting, and the con
sequences are matter of history. The
judges held their Offices on conditions which
made them liable to instant dismissal il they
disregarded the "Sovereign's pleasure" The
jury pannels were arranged on system
which enabled secret agents OF the Crown, by
eorrupting sheriffs and returning officers, to
make verdict tolerably certain. The Bar
was, like the mass OF the nation, 80 impreg
mated with the servile doctrines of passive
obedience and hereditay right, and so full of
irrational loyalty, that il hardly showed
sgn of independence, and the power OF the
press did not exist TO direct and enlightsn
general opinion. In trials between the
Crown and subject the resutr were cslami.
tous and fearful With the fear Of removal
ever before them ifthey disobeyed the behests
OF power, and subject to no counterbalancing
influence. the judges, for the most part, pre-.
ferred the commission Of crime to hazarding
their places, and performed unscrupulously
any bloody work which happened to be Allott-
ed to them. In this they we're conveniently
aided by juries selected for the occasion by
men well trained to the vile office, while the
lRyysrs--ths Finehes, the Williamses, and
the PembertOns--lOoked on cynically at the
tragic mockery, without feeling of pity for
the victims or Of indignation at the prosecu-
ton of justice, and no appeal from the sen.
tence lay in the last resort to a nation kept
in ignoranc ofihe execreble facts, and with
few means Of expressing its opinion
The New York Tribune, which is so strong.
y against negro slavery makes the following