The Irish standard., 1901-06-01

-SO CAIAdO1Oludiy, 1 udy dUU, dS W
reach heights so incredible as to be
absolutely grotesque. Under recent
act of parliament a number of promi-
nent county councillors, elected to
their position by the free voice and
the free vote Of their people, became
members of the magisterial bench.
In this country, as you are aware, sir,
one magistrate is as good as another.
In the case to which am about to al
Jude there were four magistrates on
the bench, and United Irish League
case came before the court. Two of
the magistrates were r. MS, and the
others were what l may call popular
magistrates. The two latter were
against committing the case for trial,
but the two II. MS were in favor of
the committal of the accused, and ''of
course" that was their instructions
Qaughter). Now, 1 ask, what would
happen i'll England in such case? l
should certainly say it would be re
garded at least as case where there
was doubt (hear, hear), and the ac
cused would have the benefit of the
doubt. But in Ireland the resident
magistrates, clothed with all the dig
nifty and omnipotence of Dublin castle,
regarded the voice Of the two popular
magistrates as nOn-existent, took no
notice Of them at all, and committed
the men for trial. In this country, sir,
you are fortunately free from the cen
turtles Of struggle and dscord Of class
and race and creed which we in Ire
land have, and congratulate this
country on being so blessed, for re-
gard it as one of the secrets Of the
comparative benignity and mildness
of your strongest political strife, and
as one of the foundations of the good
feeling prevailing between class and
class in this country (hear, hear; but
in Ireland, sir, We have not the same
state of things, and it is not altoge-
ther the fault of Ireland. 1t is not the
fault altogether Of the minority in Ire
land. 1t is the fault of those crafty
and l might say devilish statesmen
who have adopted as regards Ireland
the old maxim of the Roman emperor:
"Divide and conquer" (hear, hear, and
who, by planting number of their
gionists Oh Irish soil under circum-
stances that necessarily brought them
into antagOnism with the majority of
the people, SoWed the seed of religious
and racial hate and discord, which has
come forth as hideous harvest of
dragons teeth in the history of Ire
land today Qrish cheers. Therefore,
sir, you have in Ireland at the present
time this great war of classes and Of
creeds which l deplOre, which every
honest Irishman ought to deplore and
do his best to remove, and which this
party has done it's best to remove
Qrish cheers). OF that fact, so far as
religious strife is concerned, ask no
better proof than the presence by my
side of che distinguished Protestant
Irishman who came to us from Can
ada cloud Irish cheersl. Coming now
to the grand jury, that, sir is Il jury
necessarily composed of men divided
by class and religion and political feel
ing from the men who are usually
brought to trial. Therefore, say the
Il II, f.{,, RI
a means of protection for the liberty
of the subject as it is in England
In every other country where men
seek for justice they look to the jury
as the last thin partition between
them and the loss of their liberties
and rights Qrsh cheers) Therefore
we are entitled to come before this
House and demand that it shall con-
denim in the strongest form a system
which is a denial of the rights of trial
by jury, which, while giving to Ire
land the form and semblancc of trial
by jury, packs the box until the sys-
TEN as little deserves to be called trial
Dreyfus in France or the trial of n
Nihilist in Siberia. What is the real
test Of government by law? The first
is the absolute separation of judicial
and executive authority. and l say
that the administration of justice in
Ireland, in addition to its wrong, has
this additional vice that it has all the
forms of law and all the realities of
despOtism (clleers). Govern Ireland
that way II you think it is your duty
and do not say your experiments
in that way have been encouraging
but ut all events avoid the miserable
cowardice of pretending you are gov
erning constltutionllly (cheers). What
does trial by jury mean? If the conf
mittee requires me to give definition
of jury-packing l would remind it of
the passage in Stevenson where one
Of the characters in the troublesome
times in Scotland was asked to stand
his trial. what" said he--he was of
the other clan--"what. with MacCall,m
on the bench and twelve MacCallums
in the jury box?" cloud laughter)
That was a most excellent definition
of jury-packing. 1t was trial of man
for class offense by men of a differ
ent class, and if the offense was po-
litical ii was his tl.iHl nv ~ iurv con-