New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-09-23
STUDIES IN WICKEDNESS.
SPECIMENS FROM CRIMINAL HISTORY.


p Putnams Sons.
The first question likely to occur to readers OF
this book is why the number OF scoundreis Is
,im,tod 70 twelve No excess OF confidence In hui
man nature would lead any one TO suppose that
the list Of eminen,y bad men was so short. on
the contrary, It is plain that only an accident
rave such creatures as Colonel Charters. the
gambler and Ubertine and James Macaine. the
hirhwayman their distinction. Swift. keen
observer. remarked that four-ftths OF the "old
villains and monsters OF Dublin were worse than
Charters MaClaine appears TO have been I'M
usually tmid even for n thief These two can
hardly figure as sole specimens Of their Kind
The Earl OF Boutwell,. instead Of being model
OF wickedness IL reckoned almost saint by
General J. Watts de Peyster; and old Lord Lovat
revpngeful and trcacherous as he was. was hard
Is worse than his contemporaries. The real
crime with him was that he outlnsted the age
to which he belonged II is n rank absurdity Tor
a man destined to die a violent death 10 put OF
the ceremony until he has reached the age OF
fourscore years. All the men who shared MS
youthful training or who could have interpreted
his motives as he understood them had returned
to the dust half n generation before TINS aged
chief OF the Frasers was brought 10 the block
AS for Judge Jeffreys. II In conceded In this vol
ume that he was not phcnomenally worse than
his neighbors or Edward Kelly. the Australian
bushranger, II can be said that his exploits were
similar 10 those OF the American bank robber
whose methods used to be familiar in all frontier
towns. But the other miscreanis mentioned In
this book are types Of narrower classes. There
have been few such men ms Edward Kelley. the
alchemist, necromancer and crystal skryer.
Hardly more than two three can be reckoned
with Matthew Hopkins. the witch-fnder. iona
than Wild cannot be deprived Of h!s pre-cmincnce
as the commander OF an army Of thieves Titus
Oates stands alone. with career as unique as
his face and one has TO look about very care
fully to And parallel for either Fighting Fitz-
gerald or Wainewrglt. painter. poet and poi
soner.
But all these biographies exempiify one fact
The worst crime a man can be guilty 81 is to be
born into one age with aptitufes for another. Dir.
se-rcombe apologies for emitting characters Ike
Lord Verulam ana Eugene Aram. but these were
hardly more complex in themselves than the per-
sonality Of Boutwell,. Bacon struck the very
heart Of the problem Of moral Judgment when he
said that he had been the Justest Judge In Eng
land down 10 his time and yet that the verdict
against him was the Justest which had ever been
passed upon any man. Bacon could never have
said that II he had not been one who thought
with both the men Of the past and the men Of
the future In one breath he compared himself
with his contemporaries at their own estimate
and then added the opinion that postery was
bound to hold He p!iloried himself for the bribe
takers Of preceding ages. and these included
every king we'll "a every judge In England
from the time OF the Norman Conquest and pos
siby from a far arlier date. lie must have
ticipated that the world would forget the com
munity OF crime In which II had hitherto lived
without anxiety. and would innict all It's new
found scruples upon him. II did just this Ba-
con stands and must stand for the offences Of an
age from which he did more than almost any
other man to extrcate humanity. When the pub
lie conscience Is quckened, the victim OF It's
stings gets everlasting notorety. This hap
pened 10 Jcfrreys Even II one knew nothing
abou, the details OF English history. one could
not believe that this the first super
serviceabe minion Of royalty on the Bench or
the first to turn the law 10 murderous uses on
the contrary II was his misfortune TO be the last
OF long line OF men In judicial positions who
had done what ne did worse. and had even
supposed that they were serving God by having
so-called traitors butchered according TO methods
prescribed by law. Many Of them II they could
have revisited earth when Jeffreys was carrying
after Monmouihs rebellion. would have criticised
the shortness Of his list OF condemned persons
and would have exclaimed, "Is 1t thus you serve
your King. since We have passed away But
the revolt OF the public against such things was
strong enough In his time to overthrow him and
his king too and 30 he has TO stand as the
symbol Of cruelty and Injustice. II Is curious to
note the contrast between his evil reputation and
hno IA I'm a
In a portrait by Kseller. copied in Mr. seccombe's
work In later years his excessive potations and
his all-night slttings with the rough humorists
who formed his company must have changed his
appearance. Moreover. Kneer doubtless fiat
tered him. But the face would not in any case
be taken for that OF a cruel man. even for
that OF a man with intense will. II is the
face Of a self-indulgent man who will get on in
the world and who has ability. a wit who was
never sober he could not help being a bufYoon
From a good many points OF View much could be
said for Jeffreys lie a typical Engshman
OF the cock fighting bcar-baiting class, who had
pushed his way into high place. so Leslie Ste
phen is justified in saying that wherever the
name Of Jenreys appears we may be- certain
OF good sport" While he could ne baited the
mob: and when the mob got its turn. he was
baited; and as he was already incurabiy afflicted,
It took only few months Of popular annoyance
to put an end 10 him.
II Jeffreys had been Judge half century or a
century before his actual time, he would never
have been famous. no matter how cruel he had
been II Boutwell, had lived In the times Of Fulk
Fitx Warine, or Eustace the Monk, or Hereward
the Saxon. his act In blowing up the obnoxious
husband OF Mary Queen Of Scots would have
been deemed praiseworthy. But he lived in an