The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-04-25
DE-. KsnssIy-TAe Tichborns Case in
Parliament.

course, is kenealy himself; but THIS tacL
which would settle and determine almost any
topic that ordinarily comes up in the political
bodies, will not settle the great Tichborne
topic No majority in Parliament can con-
jure such ON evil. On the contrary, the more
overwhelmingly the House decides against
any inquiry the more easily may the feeders
and supporters of this agitation convince their
followers that there is denial Of justice
and that which would still the tumult if it
had rational origin will only aggravate its
fury, as its origin is in so great degree IRA
tional. All the gentlemen are for keeping the
butcher out of the property, whether it is his
or not This is the conviction of the exceed
ingly large number which sympathizes with the
butcher in his disaster and admires him as
the hero of the greatest and most vital Of
modern romances a true knight Grant OF
their own sort, who tilted calamity for a
great estate and only lost it after On encounter
in which he commended himself to the popular
heart by the exhibition of all sorts OF game
qualities Now, the fact that four hundred and
thirty-three gentlemen in Parliament decided
against the Tichborne inquiry only deepens
this popular impression 1t does not convince
these people that they wrong in their SYM
pathies, but that they are right IN their I'M
preston that the dominant class will not do
Justice where there is a powerful interest
against it in their own order.
1t is in the nature Of the case that
the rejection of the Kenealy appeal
should feed the agitation upon the wave
of which this ingrained mischief-maker has
been tossed into Parliament and we sup
pose it was equally in the nature of the case
that the proposition for commission of in
quiry should be rejected as it was. But why
was this latter in the nature Of the case? And
is not the very fact that the lines are SO
harshly drawn that no one in England could
for moment suppose that Parliament would
favorably respond to Kenealy's demand? Is
not the circumstance that by common recog-
milton the case was there prejudged-de
mined before it was stated-do not these facts
indicate that the perceptions outside the
vague sense Of oppression or injustice are not
altogether the wild imaginings Of the I'M
washed? Certainly there is the verdict of the
jury that must be respected; for is not
the trial by jury one Of the pillars of
freedom? And then there is the dignity
Of the ermine, which must be protected.
But il an institution like the trial by jury
cannot be inquired into, and if the Judicial
dignity may not be touched by common fin
gers, are not these excellent things already
half tyrannies !? And what does it matter to
the people whether the oppression they feel,
or fancy they feel, comes in the old forms
or in new form; whether it is undisguised
or assumes the form Of an institution they
have been taught to honor? 1.-THE foot is put
on them in the name of the royal prerogative,
or in the name Of judicial dignity which
they know to be a sham, what is the differ
ence?
Perhaps it was not orth while to insult the
Lord Chief Justice or the Tchbcrne jury by
authorizing an inquiry into the case they had
decided; and undoubtedly they are album
dainty capable Of judging in Parliament
whether the agitation has such gravity as to
Justify any consideration of ii whatever. But
from this distance it seems . pity that the
course taken in the House of Commons was
such as directly tends to supply Kenealy with
I
minds Of perhaps half the people in
England the notion that, not only
we're Judge and jury and society in league
against the claimant, but that Parliament
itself is in the conspiracy. But if, in that
spirit Of ''gay wisdom" which Mr.. Disraeli
seems to admire, the government had &C
cepted the proposition for an inquiry what
-. IL
seem to have triumphed, but there might be
no great harm in that while the report Of
the royal commission might have been a very
Ithuriels spear in its exposure Of the ugly
toads OF this agitation. In the report Of such
a commission the case would have been
made clear and the government would have
practically given its pledge to the people that
the trial had been fair one. It might not be
wise to make such precedent in way in
which it could be applied to ordinary criminal
trials but this case was one without a paral-
lei, extraordinary IN every aspect; and recog-
nizing this it might have been judicious to
adopt course calculated TO terminate mis-
chievous agitation rather than one that will
directly increase the agitation.
How intelligent persons can doubt that
the man imprisoned is Orion and not Itch
borne-an imposter and not the true heirs
more than We can comprehend, but We know
very well that intelligent persons do doubt il,
and intelligent persons by the thousand, more.
over. Few things can be clearer to our mind
than that the great trial in London was the
result Of q conspiracy calmly laid by
sharp solicitors in Australia for getting
possession Of great estates in England by
the personaton Of the heir, conspiracy Of
which Orton was first the tool and then the
victim, and Of which Lady Tichborne, ami
e 1870 Ii.