The record-union., 1897-06-25

There was such a sympathetic sound
however, in Mark Twain's voice that 1
wonder how much he really put in the
plate, for one of the most striking char
acteristics of the man is his profound
affection for humanity, characteristic
that comes out in many and many an
unexpected place in his writings, we'll
ing up from unsuspected depths of
kindliness in his nature
AS, for example, speaking about his
stay in Paris and his visit to the
French law courts, he said: The basis
of French legal procedure is humor,
and, like the best humor, it is made
up of tragedy What, for instance, can
be more ludicrous from the point of
view of justice and more tragic from
the point of view of humanity, than
the examination of a prisoner in
France? Think of it! A man is ac-
cused of a crime, and his Judge ap-
pears to bend all his energies not upon
discovering the truth, but upon prov
ing him guilty.
He usurps in certain ways the func-
tions of the Almighty. In fact, If all
those tricks to entrap man into con-
victing himself were adopted at the last
judgment even reverence would not pre-
vent you saying that it was a low down
trick on the part of the Great Judge. 1t
appears to me all right that lawyer
should be paid to prosecute and should
do his duty Loyalty to convict you if
you are guilty. 1t is equally right that
the lawyer should be paid to defend
you. But that q Judge should inter-
fere and, in fact, should do anything
except take into consideration the ev-
idence and weigh proba bilities in OBJ
scure points is monstrous."
| HUMOROUS SIDE OF FRENCH LAW
Il once thought of writing about
French law, for it is a most engross-
ing subject Many time ask myself
what was the good of tearing down the
Bastille if they saved the machinery it
| contained. They simply took the abuses
somewhere else and destroyed a piece
of valuable property, which was a fool
ish waste.
THE material system of punishment,
too, seems TO me utterly wrong. I'm
| agine a sentence passed on the man
Acciarito, who attempted to stab the
King of Italy, Think of it, Seven
years complete, absolute, solitary con-
finement! Why, no crimes that man
| can do merit such punishment
L often think of a man of whom l
had heard nothing before. He told
me he had studied drawing under So
and-so, anatomy under this great man.
l said, Yes, that is all right You
have learned the details of your art,
but did you ever paint picture?' When
he said. No l said, Well, you are not
an artist until you have done So
Similarly we make a lawyer study
Blackstone and statute law and COM
mon law, and we try him before a jury
and see what his skill as an orator is.
but we never ask him the crucial ques-
tions, Have you ever committed a
crime? Have you ever undergone a
term of imprisonment? Because un-
til that has been done man is not fit
to sit in judgment upon his fellow
creatures.
1T is such little thing that stands
between all of US and crime at one
time or another of our lives.
As I said about charity. if the i'm
pulse to Kill and the opportunity to
| kill came always at the same instant,
! how many of us would escape hanging.
| We have all of us at one time or an
other felt like killing something. and
we have all of us at one time or an
other had the opportunity to kill some
thing: but, luckily for us, impulse and
opportunity did not coincide. If a
man is rich and he does want to kill
something he can take his gun and go