The Portland daily press., 1896-09-03
LORD RUSSELL IN JAMESON TRIAL.
How England's Lord Chief Justice De-
molished the Legal Cobwebs Spun in Be-
half of the Accused Raiders.
(From the London Daily Chronicle.

(From the London Daily Chronicle.
Before we proceed to a word of oom-
ment we must pay most deserved trib.
ute to the lord chief justice for his mas
terly handling of this very difficult case,
Never have the great legal talents OF
Lord Russell Of Killowen been more need.
ed than during the past week, and never
nave they been SO conspicuously displayed.
Strengthened at every point by the entire
concurrence of Baron Pollock and Justice
Hawkins, he has dominated the trial at
every moment-domina it with learn
ing. with patience, with justice, with
unshakabls tenaoity for the great legal
and social issues, no more lucid e4posi-
tlon OF tangled threads, no more lumin-
GUS presentation of the technical prob
lsms of the law and the obvious demands
OF common sense, has been heard in our
time. 1t was absolutely Irresistible, and
the Only wonder to all who heard 1t was
that the jury should leave the box for
even an hour. Every contention which
had been adduced in defense of the raid
ers was shattered to pieces. The .miser-
able plea OF resouing women and chill
uren IN danger was placed in relentless
contrast with the long record OF plans
and preparations. till the men who threw
II as dust in the eyes of their oredulous
Ielio".oountymen must have hung their
heads for shame.
Thesgreat legal quibble, over which
days have been wasted, was that Pits ami
Pitlogo, where many of the preparations
were made, was not place in her rnaies-
tvs dom1nions within the meaning OF
the act The lord chief justice knocked
this On the head by the simple declara-
tion that for the purpose of the trial it
did not matter in the least whether this
was 80 or not. IL the men at Pitsani
could be shown to lie ooadjutors with the
men at Mafeking, then they came within
the foreign enlistment act, just as Brit
ish conspirator in Paris or Berlin would
be similarly oulpable Ii he were allied
with men i'll London breaking that law.
Not content with this, however, Lord
Russell OF k1llowen proceeded to demon
strate beyond the shadow of a possible
doubt that Pitsani was within the
queens dominions for the purpose of this
act, that native law had ceased there and
that British law had been substituted for
it,; that If the queens law did not run
there, then there was no law there at all:
and finally that it would be utterly alb.
suru tHAb tHeSe brlGlSh cOuBDiratOrS
should be able to plan an armed ATTACK
upon friendly state with impunitv by
choosing as their Headquarters \ MACS
which, though controlled solely by the
queens ministers, was not absolutely and
nominally part and parcel of her emnire
Furthermore, the lord chief iustice
showed that even an act of war was not
necessary to make q man liable under the
act. The evil intention was suffioient
whereas Jameson had marched with MAY
inns and seven-pounders. with Lee-Met-
fords and boxes of ammunition. and with
all the discipline and methods of an army
on the march. Finally, down came an.
other batch of oarefully-spun cobwebs
by the exposition that no philanthronio
or humane motives, no desire, even If
sincere, to cause change in the law of
another state for the benefit of an on |
ressed class afforded the remotest de- |
Tense in law. The whole edifice of |
Jameson enthusiasm crumhled to an i'm |
palpable powder at the touch of the laws |
strong and clean hand. Tt day there are |
no more ridiculous persons in these |
islands than those who declared not so
long ago that justice could not reach |
Jameson and his companions; and all |
whom 1t concerns may look and know |
that the law of Great Britain though it
may move with a leaden heel, strikes at
last hard and surely, no matter what
malign influences, from what ever quarter,
may be banded together TO turn IT aside.