The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-09

you may live to ave many such legacies
IA Algernon Sidney has left you in his
printed will; FOR I doubt not, 30 long as you
live, you will deserve them in the same
manner from suoh men as have the inn
pudence TO call themselves the best Protes-
tants. though they do NOT own them
selves Christians. or, II they do, are u scan
dial to the name" The Bishop went on to
regret that Jefreys was not still with him
in Flintshire to exercise his talent In on
verting fanatics and begged his Lordship
10 put life in the secular arm against a GER
tain Edward Jones, a Troublesome Dissenter
in those parts, who had promised Jeffreys
on his last visit to mend his ways but had
failed to keep his word. JefYreys could
hardly look for warmer Oommendation and
encouragement in his new sphere Of en-
ployment than that given by the good
Bishop OF St. Assph. II in time TO come
he was to ~disappoint the expectations and
forfeit h regard OF Lloyd and his breth-
Nren. at any rate for the present. his rigorous
punishment Of such enemies Of Church
and State as Algernon Sidney gave I'M
mixed satisfaction and evoked spontaneous
approval in the most respected quarters.
".
We come to tbs Bloody Assizes," held
in August and September Of 1886 TO try
the participants in Monmouth's Rebellion.
To these assizes, by his conduct OF which
Jeffreys must stand or fall. two chapters
Of this volume are allotted. Our author
begins by recognizing that if a man Of
passionate temper, suffering at the time
the agonies OF q peculiarly cruel disorder
the stone-is appointed Ia his capacity
Of Chief Justice to try by the comparatively
slow process Of law more than a thousand
rebels against tho Government, OF which
he is himself AT ardent member, at q time
when mercy 20 rebels and mercy in the
administration OF the law were no part Of
the ethics of political strife, it Is more than
likely that from a combination of such
circumstances results will ensue very shock
ing 10 modern notions. All the more ap-
palling will the results appear II they are
depicted by writer's whose political prelu-
dioes tempt them TO forget the differences
Of thought and spirit that divide one cen
fury from another. The suppression Of a
revolt in the age OF Jeffreys was accompanied
by seventies repulsive 10 Dur more humane
ideas. but they were the inevitable outcome
Of victory at that period, and had been so
for centuries past. determination for
the sake OF example. in a more or less com-
pIete form, was the principle invariably
adopted by q SUCCESSFUL Government within
the area OF an unsuccessful rebellion. It
was usual. as in the case OF the Northern
Rebellion in Elizabeth's reign, to leave II TO
the victorious General TO hang up a few
hundred OF the common sort, besides those
actually taken in the field. 70 serve a. a
warning 70 others.
Had this example been followed in the
case Of Monmouth's Rebellion there would
have been comparatively little cutlery.
The summary executions by martial law,
however, were quickly stopped, the Govern
rnent having determined TO send down to
the western shires a commission Of assize
to try by ordinary legal process some
1000 prisoners. Within the limited space
Of time allotted To the assiZe IL would be
impossible for the Judges to give these
men such q trial AZ the law allowed them;
the thing was physically impossible and
unless the Judges we're prepared to relax
considerably the provisions of the law
or use some method Of force or cajolery
to shorten the proceedings they would
be engaged on the western circuit all
through the winter. The manner in which
Jeffreys carried out his difficult and I'M
pleasing duty il the burden Of the principal
accusation brought against i Mr.. Irving
submits that the question with which his
b~iographer IL concerned is not so much
the nature of his functions as the degree
in which the Chief Justice by a fierce Rnd
brutal demeanor aggravated the horrors
Of an unpleasant situation. How far did
he deride and exult over the prisonersp
What innocent men. did he condemn? Was
his progress marked by drunkenness and
shameless immortality Was he venal as
well as brutal? Was he a raging wild beast
rather than a man? These are the ques-
ions that have to be answered for OF against
Jefreys il we would see the man as he
really was and not the distorted creation
Of his enemies oaricature.
Our author goes on TO show that the evil
dcnce from which the details given in
~auently In Macaulay's and all the accepted
narratives Of the Bloody Assizes are de-
rived is set forth in a book called the Bloody
Assizes," published in London, 1889, by one
John Dunton, and republished at subse-
quent dates under other titles. These books
include q life OF Jeffreys and various scurri-
lOub aLthChb lcNctCu dknlLSJ IA" ~ lo lItlS
Of his fall. Mr.. Irving Is not the only re-
cent investigator-Mr. A, l.. Humphreys
arrived at the same conclusion In lse2-who
does not hesitate 70 pronounce these books
unworthy of a more than most limited and
suspicious credence, though they have been
accepted un~questioningly by Macaulay and
other historians. Dunton was a low class
publisher OF obscene and sensational liter
AZURE. The writer Of the greater part Of the
books was John Tutchin, who was thrashed
TO death by some Tories he had viliied in
1907 and whose fate Jenreys had endeav-
ored TO anticipate by sentencing him during
the Bloody Assizes TO be whipped through
all the market towns in Dorsetshire, a sem
tence which, even in the hourO Of his fall. when
challenged by Tutchin on the subject, the
Judge saw no cause to regret. Many read
ers, We think. will concur with Mr.. Irving in
thinking that it would be idle TO pretend that
at the hands Of such al author J~effreys,
whatever his guilt, could be expected to re-
ceive anything but the most unfair and
~calumniatory treatment. A WORK dictated
by obvious motives OF personal vengeance