The Red Cloud chief., 1882-06-15
BRITISH LAW OF TREASON.

ing public. From the beginning Of the
osimon law treason was recognized
and punished as n crime. the cause OF
the crime always being some act OF hos.
tiiity against the Crown by some one
owing allegiance 10 il. With nm un
written law and corrupt or subservien,
Judges, it may readily be imagined
what bloody injustices were possible.
The laws of Alfred declared that il any
man plotted against the King. either
himself or by harboring exiles. he
should be liable in his life and all his
possessions. During the two centuries
that followed the conquest, however,
trials for treason were rare, and the
literature Of the subject is scanty. The
King being merely regarded as n sort
Of Premier-Baron, and there be-
ing no difficulty in finding a
flaw in his title. reasonable enterprises
were frequent; per contra, when
those engaged in such enterprises came
10 grief, they were got rid of without
excessive formality. William de Braosc,
when King John invited him TO send
his son as "a page to Queen Isabella,
hesitatcd. and his wife declared that
she would never trust her child i'm the
hands of n man who had murdered his
own nephew. The result was that the
whole family, having vainly fled TO the
Irish wilds, was shut up in n room in
the tower and starved 10 death. The
punishmcnts varied, but were often
barbarous. The Barons under Mortimer
and Isabella hanged lie Dcspcnccr and
burned out Edward lis bowels with a
red-hot iron introduced through n cows
horn. The Nurscmcn had an interest
ing way of insinuating IN adder into n
prisoner stomach in a similar fashion,
while Edward Ill. when he caught
Mortimer, his mothers paramount, mere
~ hanged him. In the wcnty- fifth
year Of his reign. Edward made a
creditablc attempt at rcmedying the I'M
certainty of the earlier law under which
countcrfciting was treason, whether
the Kings seal or his coin were copied,
and il was treason 10 "eacroach upon
the royal power" The new statute
made il treason 10 compass the sover-
eign's death. Ia levy war against him,
or 10 adhere to his enemies. etc, though
all such oilenses had to bc proved by
an over act. comprising the Kings
DEATH however, proved a term capa-
bic of almost indefinite expansion; and
when the phrase could not be stretched
TO take in an obnoxious opponent. the
law was disregarded, or n new act was
passed for his benefit. Not alone was a
prosecution for treason n convenient
method of getting rid of a political OPP
ponent, but very small fish were scooped
in in the net. Under Edward w., one
man. whose deer the King had killed.
was put To death for wishing that the
King had the deer's horns in his belly,
and another was hanged, drawn and
quartcrcd for making n pun. He called
his inn the Crown, and his son the heir
To the Crown. The Judges must have
resembled that loyal magistrate of the
last century who sent a man to
jail for declaring hat the Prince
of Wales was born without a shirt
10 his back. A special statute of
Henry VIII. made il treason To believe
the Kings marriage with Anne of Cleves
valid. The statute of Edward vi. re-
CURED for the conviction of one charged
with treason two sufficient and lawful
witnesses. but this provision was eluded
in a dozen ways. Bacon. when Attor-
ney-General. convicted the decrepit old
Parson Peacham OF treason by bringing
in a sermon found in his study which
had been preached-more by
token. the great philosopher stood by
him when he was racked TO extort a
confession. The punishment of treason
in he ''good old times was something
too horrible almost for description. The
average reader has a mild and very err
roneous idea of what changing. draw
ing and quartering" really meant, but
he will be instructed if he reads the his
tory of the Jesuit Billiards. conspiracy
in favor of Mary Queen of Scots. in
which he enlisted Anthony Darlington.
Chidiock Titchbourne and other gen.
crous young men; or turns To the recital
by Mrs. Elizabeth Willoughby of the
execution of the Jesuit Hugh Green. in
1912. The hangman," we read, .'either
through unskillfulneSs or for want of a
sufficient presence Of mind. had so ILL.,
performed his first duty of hanging him
that when he was cut down he was per-
fectly sensible and able to sit upright
upon the ground. viewing the crowd
hat stood about him. The person who
undertook TO quarter him was one Bare
foot, q barber, who, being very timor-
Gus when he found he was to attack a
living man. it was near hall an hour be-
fore the sufferer was rendered entirely
insensible of pain. The mob pulled at
the rope and threw the Jesuit on his
back. Then the barber immediately
fell to work. ripped up his belly. and
laid the flaps of skin on both sides, the
poor gentleman being so present to him.
elf as to make the sign of the cross
with one hand. During this operation
the writer of this kneeled at the Jesuit's
head and held it fast between her hands.
His face was covered with a thick sweat.
and blood issued from his mouth. ears
and eyes. and his forehead burned with
so much heat that she could scarce en-
dure her hand upon it The barber be-
ing still under a great consternation',-
but enough.
When Titus Oates Matched the Popish
plot of 1878, the infamous C~hief,Justice
Scroggs aided the perjurer most yipor-
ously. No second witness appearing
when the Jesuit Whitbread was nut up-
ON trial. Scroggs discharged the jury
to enable the Crown to supplement its
evidence. and. on q subsequent occasion.
Whitbread was duly convicted and ex-
ecuted. But Scroggs was outdone by
Jclfreys, when Lord William Rus
eel and Algernon Sidney were brought
before him in 1858, on q charge of COM
plicity in the alleged Rye-house plot.
The jury was constituted illegally, and
he was refused the right to challenge.
while not a witness proved the Of
tense charged-conspiring to kin the
King. In Sidney's case. only one wit
ness. the infamous Lord Howard. could
be found, but Jeffreys improved on
Bacon By accepting IS the second wit
hess gaxbsed extracts from . theoretical
manuscript work on government found
among his papers Sir Thomas Arm
strong was At the same time hanged, |
drawn and quartered. without trial,
Without having been confronted with /!