The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-26
nY IA NtARouIsE DIE F0NTENoY.

EOPLE Interested in the womans
u emancipation and suffragette
movement. which aims among
women all the offices and cailings
hitherto monopolized by men. will be
doubtless surprised to learn that in
! former times ladies' occupied seats on
istrates and justices of the peace, but
also as Judges of sessions. So that
women lawyers who are clamoring
for official recognition in this country
in the shape OF judicial .preferment,
are not asking. for anything, that Is
repugnant to the spirit OF the Eng.
lish common law, upon which that OF
most OF the States Of the Union Is
based.
Thus, the Countess of Richmond
mother of Henry VII, was lady JUS
tice, and is on record as having de-
those days, II must be borne in mind,
women enjoyed a far better education,
and possessed much more instruction
Of every kind than the, average man.
pointed a Lady Bartlett who owned
extensive estates in Gloucestershire.
to q seat on the nagisterial bench OF
that county.
daughter of the Earl OF Huntingdon,
and wife of the sixth Lord Berkeley,
of Berkeley Castle, also in Gloucester
shire, who having complained very
bitterly to Henry VIII. of the poaGhlng
done on her estate, and being a very
pretty woman, moved that usceptible
monarch to such sympathy for her
wrongs that he granted her special
commission under the Great Seal of
England, which still exists. appoint
ing her a member of the Commission
OF the Judges OF Assize at Gloucester.
TO try and sentence those caught
poachng on her estates. Armed with
this commission bearing the Kings
signature, she returned TO Gloucester,
opened the commi ssion, sat on the
bench in the public sessions hall. i'm
paneled jury, who found guilty those
caught poaching on her property. and
thereupon pronounced upon them sem
fences of such severity that her estates
were ever afterwards free from game
thieves. This gave her taste tof
magisterial work, and the KING nav
ing received glowing reports as to, ;,
manner in which she had presided
over the trials, transformed her tenn
porary commission into permanent
one, and she remained an Asslze judge
for the county OF Gloucester uhul hef
death.
From this 1t will be seen that a
lady police magistrate, or, female
sessions judge, would not be such a
novelty as the Gomic papers papers on oo "
believe. And once this old-tlme prac-
.tice (resulting largely from the know
ledge possessed In medieval times by
the women of Latin, In which most
Of the laws We're wr1tten) is revived
and women holding the requisite d.
mitted to the bench, there is no reason
why some dear old lady may not as.
pire to the proud position or Chlel
Justice of the Supreme Court or the
United States.
That Lord Beaconsfeld was born as
member Of the Jewish faith, tact
which has always until now neen des =
MED by his friends and by ms chlel
followers, has now been deMhltaty e h,,
his biographer, Mr.. Monypenny. IN
deed dee il was not until his thirteenth
YEAR, that, owing to q change OF creed
the part Of his father IN he mas bae 81
tized and received into th nh Hmti 5o -
bo 5lI IaI london. on July 81. 1877. Up
svnagogue with his father, his sister
Sarah and his elder brother.
Lord Portsmouth. wh ,pa is sao one y, ao Of
~ descendant in the female line Of
Sir Isaac Newton, has once more ore
Changed his political alleglance, when
1t may be OF interest 70 rec9tu. u othar
to the fact that his second brother'
and the heir presumptive to his earl
dom and great estates. is not only
married to an ] american f Wa W yerl u
Chicago, but is likewise an Ame ,r
can Citizen, making his home on the
Big Horn River, Sheridan county,
Wyoming. ~
Lord Portsmouth commenced ms
political career as Liberal. Then ne
seeded from the Liberal party on
the home rule question. and joined
the Unionist Liberals. Differing from
the Unionists on the subject OF tariff
he thereupon reverted to the Liberals.
receiving the office Of Under Secretary J
Of State for War. in the Bannerman,
administration He was eliminated
therefrom on the reconstruction OF the
Liberal cabinet, after Bannerman.s
death. by Premier Asquith, hrge!y
in consequence OF the popular con
Itroversy in which he became involved,
owing to his efforts to enforce the