, 1873-02-09
VIRTUE IN TIE JURY-B0X.

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VIRTUE IN TIE JURY-B0X.
Philadelphia paper asserts that trial By juryis
1T present failure, and cites the disagrcements
of the jury in the Tweed caco and in that OF
Mts. Wharton, as instances to provo the asser-
ton. In Mrs Whnrton's CASE, th-ee-fourths OF
tho Jury we're for conviction. The minority OF
the jury refusing to concur, the case LAS to be
tried again. The remedy suggested is, that the
majority Of the Jury shall in all cages render the
verdict, but tho writer overlooks the fact that,
had ouch rule been in force, Tweed would have
been acquitted. Tho guilt OF both prisoners Is
assumed. vet in tho ono case Ehero no bribery 1s
suspected, the prisoner would haEo been CONVICT
cd. while in the other, where there IS an aleSa-
tion Of corruption, the accused WOULD
have been acquitted. To make out
the case in behalf OF the proposed
new rule, tho minority in Mrs. Wharton's case
must be pronounced 'sas incapable Of weighing
the relatiyo force OF statements and Arguments,
and not open to conviction by their mo3o intel
licent bretheren;" while for the minority in the
Tweed case must be claimed the superior
honesty and intelligence which would have been
overwhelmed by the stolid ignorance OF the
majority. Placing these two cases as illustra-
tions OF the advantage Of the proposed change
in the jury lar, the Tweed case completely de-
st-ovs every argument or theory furnished by
tho Wharton case.
We do not deny that there aro evils in the
Jury system, nor do We imagine thct the Jury
system has escaped the corruption which
has attacked every branch Of public SERVICE
The remedy is with the public. The standard
OF official morality hna been tarribly degraded.
Every man convicted Of fraud, perjury, enbez-
element, or official corruption in any form, OF
late Years, has been made the special mark OF
clemency. Philadelphia, like all other large
cities. is controlled at the ballot-box, in the
choice Of public officers, by those who make
crime q profession. Not one in hundred OF
these Is ever brought to trial, and when the
h1Ddrcdth man is accused and convicted, no ID
turned loose by Executive clemency when his
criminal associates demand his release as the
price Of bal1ot-stuf1ing, perjury, murder, rob-
berry, or other crime. When corruption is thus
supreme in all branches Of the Government,
and when public opinion is so strongly IN sym
pathy with that corruption, it is perhaps absurd
to expect unblemishod virtue in the jury-bo1.
Whv should not juror accept i consideration
for acquitting or refusing to convict criminal
when he knows that, il the man is convicted,
%,np f,rr a. him from
tho sentence7 When man is convicted Of false
eyearins and stuf6ng the ballot-bo1, and is par
doned because it is ''a political prosecutions"
when man is convicted for robbing the Treasu-
r. Of Philadelphia, and pardoned that he may
| make affidavit Of tho Innocence Of his partners
| who at the time are candidates for office, ho"
can public opinion in Phi1adelphia complain
| that an official robber in New York. who ia on
tile wrong side to have hope Of Executive par
don, is not convicted by the jury? When public
opinion juatifes, upholds, and sympathizes with
Executive protection for crime, even when no.
! toriously corrupt, it caa hardly find fault with
| iu1ies if they cut under and tnke tho profits out
! OF the hands OF higher officials.
In the State OF New jersey, public officer was
tried last year and convicted Of precisely tho
same acts charged against Tweed. He did not
waste his time in corrupting or befogging the
iury, because he knew that he would be par
doned,-as he Was. Tweed knows that he will not
be pardoned, and therefore he takes care that he
is not convicted.
What ia wanted is reformation Of public
opinion, and higher standard Of official mo-
| ralitv. Official crime is far moro heinous than
any other, and yet is mover punished, because
| "party" insist. upon defending its man. When
public opinion shall have advanced to that point
when it shall neither tolerate, excuse, palliste
or Justify Official corruption in any form, nor by
any officer, be his place high or low, or
his past record, good or bad, then there will be
no difficulty in having jurics who will convict,
| aud then there will be fower cases Of that kind
| calling for prosecution. The snme improved
public opinion will not be confined in its opera
ton to iuries in cases Of official crime, but will
| extend to nil cases, and tho juror, and The Gov
ernor, and the Sheriff, and the witness, will alike
feel impressed with the certainty that crime is to
be punished, anu 1OaG every pcthOu onE1gea III
/ the administration OF Justice will haVo to choose
between fidelity to duty or perpetual infamy,-
personal es well as public
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THE DOCTRINE OF CASTE.
Mr.. Summers pet hostility to that general SEN
| timcnt OF society OF government which he calls
| "c.ste," is scarcely sustained by the doctrines
| advanced by the modern school Of sauans. To
taka NIr Dar1si11'a theory starting pQiut. it