National Republican., 1883-05-21

few very silly words expressive Of his
hatred Of Christianity, For this cler-
gyman caused him TO be summoned be-
fore magistrate, who was also clergyman. Iho
magistrate, instead OF plying him or remonstrat.
ing with him, committed him for trial and sent
hin to A. the nsSS S Ss5ss SG S ssSg
but nc son Of de Judge acted az counsel 10 prossce
him. The father and the son performed their
tinder their auspices Pooiey was found guilty.
He was brought up for judgment When ad;
dressed by The jury his restless manner, his wild
and incohcfout speech, his disordered coun-
tenanc9, and glarlng eye betokenod too surely the
disease of his mind But neither this nor the fact
that he was Ignorant, poor, and triendless pro-
duced any effect upon that stony hearted man
who now held him In his grippe. He was sentencee
e be imprisoned for year and nine months c,I5.
tinuity was protected and her triumph assured by
dragging poor, harmless, and demonted creature
from the bosom OF his family, throwing him into
jail, and leaving his wife and children without
provision, either tu stnrve or to beg" (Revcw OF
MIL ou Liberty, Buckles Misc. and Posthumous
Almost Immediately Pooley became vio-
lent maniac, and was removed from Jail to
tho county lunatic asylun and his case hav.
ing attracted the attention of several philan.
thropic men, in response to their determined
efforts, n pardon was granted him at the end
of o few months. None the less, however,
did Mr.. Buckle visit his indignation on the
judge and his son, and tho episode, as Is well
known, ultimately proved the most important
event In his life. (see Mr.. Huth's Life aud
Writings Of Buckle" PIP. 250 ct seq
Now, tho judge who tried, convicted, and
sentenced Pooley was Sir John Taylor Cole
ridge, afterward privy councillor, and the son
who, without an opponent, prosecuted the
Disappearing offender TO conviction was no
other than the present lord chief justice, then
plain Mr.. John Duke Coleridge.
But his lord ship at that time did not con-
fine himself to tho Office Of prosecutor; he took
upon himself tho task Of defending his father
against tho savage onslaught Of Mr. Buckle.
To go over Mr.. Buckles ground would be
quito beside my object in bringing Pooley's
case again to notice our interest is in what
the lord chief justice then thought as to
blasphemy, and Christianity as part Of the
law Of the land, and judges making pre-
cedents for themselves &c. Without going
more fully into particulars, let those passages
serve as tho keynote of the whole defonse,
which may be examined by all interested in
'Fraser's Magazine" for June, 1859:
That Judge selects who he will try, and where
he will try them that he can try or not try at his
pleasure persons who aro arraigned before bim
hot he can refuse he ptedses, TO put IN force The ldI
heis sent 70 ddminf,er, and choose which tdSs he t
s,Vorce and ,chich he toih not are matters
S YhS bsEay STcdSs dngSs dp.yi %sp
10 all persons Of ordinary education that Judge In
the position OF Sir John Colehdge had and could coMd
not put in force.
Does not this afford strange commentary
on tho general and somewhat free utterances
in Foote'S case 2 Lord Chief Justice Coleridge
then strenuously defended his fathor land
incidentally himsolf on tho firm ground that
judge may not legislate, or disregard, or in
any wise do anything more than merely ad-
minister the law ; now he thinks judge may
take general and special notice of tenets and
doctrines and notions entertained by indi-
viduals, at variance with tho current Of deci-
sions, not only not set aside or overruled, but
also just at this time most vigorously sup
ported by his country's parliament in Mr.
BradlauEh's case. Then ho was righteously
indignant that any one could expect Judge to
consider the popularity or nationality of hold
ing some things to be offenses, against hold
ing which to be such Mr.. Mill and Dir. Buckle
conducted so vigorous a revolt, with what
he declared "intolerable icentiousness of
speech" How contrary his position now !
Said Mr.. Mill and Mr.. Buckle, "a judge
should note the character Of tho times in
which he lives; he should heed the spirit of
the age;' and he should never adopt or coun-
tenance, for the purposes of dealing out
penalties, those provisions and principles Of
the law which have become antiquated and
fossiiized in the judgment Of intelligent, rea-
sonable men," Mr.. Coleridges reply was,
mo judge may do such; no single mind
nay determine what is tho character
of the times what is ! tho spirit Of
the age what provisions or principles
of the law have become antiquated or
fossilized, or who are the intelligent or rea-
sonable among men. So to do and determine
is legislative function which q judge may
no moro usurp than he can accroach the royal
prerogative." But presto the lord chief
justice-a vastly moro important parsonage
than John Duke Colerdge-now visits his
condemnation on the latter unfortunate indi-
vidual, and is become the judicial exponent
and champion of the identical views urged
and supported by Mr.. Buckle and his COM
panions in the vigorous assault OF twenty
five years ago.
Which shall we say, that Mr.. Coleridge was
right and Justice Coleridge is right, or the
reverse? In either case we have an interest
ing illustration of what vast difference a
quarter of century may make, even in one
who may become a judge; and ifsuch thing
be possible in the spirit world, there must be
now spreading over that portion of Mr..
Buckles immaterial residuum that ought to be
when his face was in the flesh, something
very like grin at this remarkable achieve
mont Of times whirligg Respectfully,
II. E. d.
A..