The sun., 1893-07-09

Accordingly. his speech upon tho subject
made in the House OF Lords In June, 1892.
was read with the keenest interest. To the
amusement of both auditors and readers
the Lord Chief Justice. although conscious
that Mr.. HuRbBERT. II arrested might be
tried before him. did not scruple to disclose
virulent bias; and. taking advantage of
the Injury suffered by Mr.. HURLBERr in
tho mirds of the unthinking through his
refusing to permit tho service OF the
order OF arrest. deflantly accepted full
responsibility for withholding access to the
impounoed documents, not only from all
private counsel. hut also from the Pub
lie Prosecutor. unless tho latter would
pledge himself beforehand. and while ig-
norant OF the facts. to subject the American
defendant to the shame Of u prosecution.
This head OF tho Queens Bench acknowl-
edged that q prosecution OF the plaintiff
upon the letters imputed to Mr.. HURLBERr
was thing that he was not disposed to en-
courage: as IL any man In his senses would
have tried to prosecute tho paintin ON
those letters alone, instead OF on her al
legged diary and tho threatening blackmail-
ing letters which had been Enthusiastically
brought home to her. And what was the
pretext for this monstrous and iniquitous
discrimination against the victorious de-
fendant In suitY We quote tho cStraor-
dinary passage in which Lord CoLERIDaE
betrays the most vlrulent bins against Mr..
HURLBERT. while protesting to aver that
he hos no bias whatever in the matter:
"Now. my Lords. I ought to say that OF Mr.. HuRI
prnr personally I know nothing whatever never
say him. 1 never met him. never read word OF
his writing am absolutely ignorant Of him Whether
he is entitled to tho description which an iiusrious
American gave of him. namely, that he 10 a man of
fathomless and neasureless turptude. or whether
he is person entitled to tho eulozies that have been
passed upon him. and to tho respect. admiration,
and intimacy which have been given to him by
persons Of very high rank aud position In this
try. 1 neither know nor care. lie is an absolute
stranger to me- But II was obvious to me. and
/ think 1t must be obvious to your Lordships. tina:
he was tho person the plnntir represented
him to be- and Vho capable Of tho production OF
those letters three only Of which have looked atand
until saw those letters the capacity OF the human
mind for nth unknown TO me; IL say. he was
the person capable OF writing those ietors-I say ''
for do not know suggest whether ho was no-it
Is OBVIOUS tnat tuch perAon Wouu sphre no meahs
and would spend any money he had got to make him.
self the possessor of this body Of letters Under those
circumstances It seemed to that thero should be
some distinct authority to apply to documents i'm
pounded by order OF the Court. and which should
authorize tho person who had those documents to act
under the orders of the Court. might bo advisable"
We have heard it sud that much virtue
tn 81 hut To hof
there is also an infinite capacity Of maligni-
ty in the monosyllable. Had the hypothesis
put forward by Lord CoLERIDGE. on the
authority OF an unnamed " "illustrious "
American. been regarded by him simply as
q precautionary hypothesis. he would have
confined himself to ordering that tho pri-
vate counsel OF neither of the parties in the
breach OF promise case should be permitted
to obtain possession OF any OF the impound-
ed documents. but that either party might
have access to them upon duo application.
and under the strict supervision Of officers
of the court That the malignant hypothe-
sis which the Lord Chief Justice pretended
TO view merely as an alternative. was really
accepted by him as truth to be affirmed. is
indisputably proved by his refusing so much
as an inspection Of the documents even by
the Public Prosecutor. unless the latter
would pledge himself In advance to launch
the machinery Of criminal justice against
only one Of the parties in the case. to wit.
the victorious American defendant.
1t seems scarcely necessary to accept
the theory Of a widely ramifying political
conspiracy. with which. in his natural indig-
nation. Mr.. HURLBERT envelops multitude
of persons who have shown themselves un-
friendly and unfair at this appalling crisis
Of his life. 1t seems less probable that Lord
CoLERIDGE was the deliberate promoter Of
q conspiracy to ruin political opponent.
than that he let himself be swayed in his
judicial action by a personal prejudice
which. as he admits, rested on the slender
est foundation. 1t matters but little by
which of these unworthy motives he was
prompted; whether actuated by one or
by the other. he knowingly and hagrantly |
failed to administer even-handed justice. |
and he made an American citizen the VIC |
tim Of his grave peiversity. We do not |
hesitate to say that. had on American Judge |
been guilty Of a like surreptitious and In
iqlitous discrimination against one of the |
parties to suit, he could not have escaped |
and we believe that. among |
his own clear-sighted and right-minded |
the deed that the Lord Chief |
Justice did will hold him up to enduring |
scorn and obloquy.