Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-06-27
THE VERMONT PHOENIX, BRATTLEBoRo VT, JUNE ~ 1873

mnistration of justice in this Common
wealth and trying to learn If could, some
thing of the qualities which fit men to take
part in the administration Of justice, and
declare that the longer I live, the more
thoroughly I am convinced of the supe-
riority In arriving at the truth of what we
call the intuiive and instructive judgment
which is the faculty of woman, over the
quality of the masculine intellect. The train
ing and discipline our lawyers go through.
In my judgment tends after time, TO un-
fit man for an accurate determination up
on the facts. The value which you place
upon the institution of the jury is not
merely or chiefly because the Judge is not
merely or chiefly because the judge is not
supposed to be as honest or as impartial,
or as just as the twelve jurymen, but it is
because the experience of men has found
that the gift of the practical man who looks
into the witness face, though he can never
tell you why he believes or disbelieves
him, is often better than all the reasoning
of Il parson or n marshall in getting at the
truth. l was surprised seine time ago to
think how the relation of women to the adj
self in some of the most important events
of history. Shakespeare, the great define
ator of human character, when he desired
10 introduce into that matchless scene
which the world knows by heart, the iudg-
ment, which cut the knot which had puz-
zled the lawyers and doctors, placed Il wo-
man upon the Judgment seat. think when
slavery demanded of ms that pound of flesh,
secured TO ii in our National Constitution,
that some of us would rather have had
Portia than fancy on the bench DAgues-
seau, the consummate Chancellor of
France, TO whose tomb pilgrims from afar
have Travelled, in the one important and
turning point of his life when he was sent
for by Louis XIV, to Versailles, who de-
manded Of him an unjust judgment against
his conscience, was about departing from
his house trembling and preparing to SUBJ
NIT, when his wife laid her hand upon his
shoulder, and said to him, "When you APP
pear before the King, forget your wife, for
get your children, forget everything but
your duty and your God" and the council
of that woman, it was, that saved that
matchless judicial reputation, among the
treasures of mankind.
In the great case between Charles First
and John Hampden, Judge Coke gave the
opinion of the minority in favor of the lib
erty of the subject. lie was, however, about
to determine in favor of the crown. He
was reproached for his baseness by his
wife. Says Nugent, "rhis noble lady cast
the shield of her feminine virtue before the
honor OF her husband to guard it from the
assaults equally of interest and fear and
with that moral bravery which is so often
she exhorted him to do his duty at any
risk to himself, to her. to their children;
she prevailed"
think perhaps some or all of you, will
Der in this connection more famous
judgment and case of a more august defen-
PLATE assembled the judgment seat, on that
famous morning, you remember the mes
sage that his wife sent, "Have you nothing
to do with that just man. | should like
to have our opponents tell us whether they
think the judgment of the man or the wo-
mended in that case. So you see that
Scripture, history, and literature alike con-
cur in recognizing the superiority of the in
stnct OF woman both in recognizing and
DECLARING truth when ii is brought in issue
before the judgment seat. lion. George r.
Hodr, at the |VomdnS Suffrage COnvcn-
lion, ia Boston.