New-York tribune., 1902-12-28

treason. it is because his election to Parliament
Nationalist member for Galway rendered 1t
impossible for the authorities to affect any
longer ignorance of his violation Of the statutes
against high treason during the conflict in South
Africa In fact, they have had no alternative
but to proceed against him.
High treason in war time in the field is. ac-
cording to the British Crown, dealt with by
means Of court martial. In times of peace
there are two methods by which it is tried, by
the House of Lords. where the proceedings are
sometimes preceded by impeachment, by
court composed usually Of the Lord Chief
Justice of the realm and a jury. If the offender
is peer Of the realm, he has, of course the
right to demand trial by his peers. Impeach-
ment is resorted to in where the culprit is
statesman, high government official a
great dignitary of the realm, and is resorted to
only at the instance of the House Of Commons
which acts prosecutor, the House of Lords
combining the functions of judge and jury. The
which is about to be adopted in the case
of Colonel Lynch is & trial by the Lord Chief
Justice and jury.
England's statutes on the subject of treason
date back to the year 1851 one of the clauses
thereof defining high treason adherence to
the Kings enemies in his realm, giving them aid
and comfort in the realm elsewhere" and the
penalties provided for the punishment on con-
victfon comprised burning at the stake when
the offender was woman and, where men were
concerned Of hanging, cutting down before the
extinction of life, disembowelment and dsmem-
berment, the head and four quarters Of the
body remaining at the disposal Of the Crown.
During the subsequent centuries the laws of
high treason were added to in manner to COM
prise all sorts of offences against the sovereign
and against the State, King Henry VIII actually
securing from Parliament the enactment of a
law rendering it high treason for the consort of
the monarch to have been guilty of any inds-
cretion prior to becoming his Queen This stat
ute was, 1 need hardly add. devised for the
purpose of enabling this royal Blue Beard to rid
himself Of of his numerous consorts by
sending her to the scaffold for the crime of
high treason. But by successive acts of Parlia-
ment in 1917, 1S4S. and lastly in 1870 high
treason was defined within more reasonable linn
its, and the penalties restricted in the cases
enumerated to death by hanging, and penal
servitude, the burning at the stake, the hang
ing, the drawing the hurdle to the place of
execution the beheading and quartering being
abolished
AS the Statute of Treasons' stands it
provides for the punishment act of high
treason the assassination of the sovereign, of his
consort or of the heir apparent; the attempt to
assassinate, the conspiring to do so, and
the endeavor to harm or MAIN them. The con-
sort OF the monarch can, according to the pres
ent state of the law, no longer be held guilty OF
treason in the of matrimonial misconduct,
but the correspondent in the case would be pun
ishabe as such, while in the event of the throne
being occupied by queen regnant the prince
consort would, in the event of ndiscretions, rem
der himself liable to the penalties provided for
high treason. Any attempt, whether successful
or not, to imprson restrain the monarch. to
abduct him, or to engage in any conspiracy with
of these objects in view, constitutes high
treason and so, too do acts of warfare and
belliun by British citizens against the estab-
lished government.
Owing to the peculiar wording of these amend
ments of 1913 and 1870 considerable doubt pre-
walls to whether the particular offence of Ar
Lur Lynch has been specifically included