Blackwood\'s Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. written by Various
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Various >> Blackwood\'s Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.
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22 BLACKWOOD'S
Edinburgh
MAGAZINE.
VOL. LV.
JANUARY-JUNE, 1844.
[Illustration]
1844.
* * * * *
BLACKWOOD'S
EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
* * * * *
No. CCCXXXIX. JANUARY, 1844. VOL. LV.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
STATE PROSECUTIONS, 1
ADVENTURES IN TEXAS. NO. III. THE STRUGGLE, 18
CLITOPHON AND LEUCIPPE, 33
THE NEW ART OF PRINTING. BY A DESIGNING DEVIL, 45
THE BANKING-HOUSE. PART THE LAST, 50
KIEFF, FROM THE RUSSIAN OF KOZLOFF, 80
MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN. PART VII. 81
LETTER FROM LEMUEL GULLIVER, 98
THE PROCLAMATION, 100
THE FIREMAN'S SONG, 101
POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF THE GOVERNMENT, 103
* * * * *
EDINBURGH:
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;
AND 22, PALL-MALL, LONDON.
To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed.
SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS THE UNITED KINGDOM.
* * * * *
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.
* * * * *
STATE PROSECUTIONS.
The Englishman who, however well inclined to defer to the wisdom "of
former ages," should throw a glance at the stern realities of the
past, as connected with the history of his country, will be little
disposed to yield an implicit assent to the opinions or assertions of
those, who maintain the superiority of the past, to the disparagement
and depreciation of the present times. Maxims and sayings of this
tendency have undoubtedly prevailed from periods of remote antiquity.
The wise monarch of the Jewish nation even forbade his people to ask
"the cause that the former days were better than these;" "for," he
adds, "thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this." Far different
would be the modern precept of a British monarch. Rather let the
English subject "enquire _diligently_ concerning this," for he cannot
fail to enquire wisely. Let him enquire, and he will find that "the
former days" of England were days of discord, tyranny, and oppression;
days when an Empson and a Dudley could harass the honest and
well-disposed, through the medium of the process of the odious
star-chamber; when the crown was possessed of almost arbitrary power,
and when the liberty and personal independence of individuals were in
no way considered or regarded; days when the severity of our criminal
laws drew down from a French philosopher the sneer, that a history of
England was a history of the executioner; when the doomed were sent
out of the world in bands of twenty, and even thirty, at a time, at
Tyburn or at "Execution dock;" and when, in the then unhealthy tone of
public morals, criminals famous for their deeds of violence and
rapine, were regarded rather as the heroes of romance, than as the
pests and scourges of society. Let him enquire, and he will find that
all these things have now long since passed away; that the rigours of
the criminal law have been entirely mitigated, and that the great
charters of our liberties, the fruits of accumulated wisdom and
experience, have now been long confirmed. These facts, if universally
known and duly pondered over, would go far to banish discontent and
disaffection, and would tend to produce a well-founded confidence in
the inherent power of adaptation to the necessities of the people,
possessed by the constitution of our country. Thus, the social wants
of the outer man having been in a great measure supplied, the
philanthropy of modern times has been chiefly employed on the mental
and moral improvement of the species; the wants of the inner man are
now the objects of universal attention, and education has become the
great necessity of the age. Hitherto, the municipal laws and
institutions of this country have been defective; inasmuch as they
have made little or no provision for the adequate instruction of the
people. Much, no doubt, has been already done, and education, even
now, diffuses her benignant light over a large portion of the
population; among whom, the children of the ignorant are able to
instruct their parents, and impart, to those who gave them being, a
share in the new-found blessing of modern times. Much, however,
remains still to be done, and the splendid examples of princely
munificence which a great minister of the crown has recently shown the
wealthier classes of this wealthy nation, may, in the absence of a
state provision, have the effect of stimulating private exertion and
generosity. In spite, however, of the moral and intellectual
advancement of the present age, the passions and evil designs of the
vicious and discontented are still able to influence vast masses of
the people. The experience of the last few years unfortunately teaches
us, that increased knowledge has not yet banished disaffection, and
that though, during the last quarter of a century, the general
standard of the nation's morality may have been elevated above its
former resting-place, that education, in its present state of
advancement, has not as yet effectually disarmed discontent or
disaffection, by showing the greater evil which ever attends the
endeavour to effect the lesser good, by violent, factious, or
seditious means.
Within the last thirteen years, the government has been compelled, on
several occasions, to curb the violence and to repress the outbreaks
of men who had yet to learn the folly of such attempts; and the powers
of the executive have been frequently evoked by those who, of late
years, have wielded the destinies of this country. Several state
prosecutions have taken place during this period. They never occur
without exciting a lively interest; the public eye is critically
intent upon the minutest detail of these proceedings; and the public
attention is concentrated upon those to whom is confided the
vindication of the public rights and the redressing of the public
wrongs. It has been often asked by some of these critical observers,
How is it that, when great crimes or misdemeanours are to be punished,
when the bold and daring offender is to be brought to justice, when
the body politic is the offended party, when the minister honours a
supposed offender with his notice in the shape of criminal
proceedings, and the government condescends to prosecute--how is it,
it has been asked on such occasions, when the first talent, science,
and practical skill, are all arranged against the unfortunate object
of a nation's vengeance, that the course of justice should be ever
broken or impeded? Is the machinery then set in motion in truth
defective--is there some inherent vice in the construction of the
state engine? Is the law weak when it should be strong? Is its boasted
majesty, after all, nothing but the creation of a fond imagination, or
a delusion of the past? Are the wheels of the state-machine no longer
bright, polished, and fit for use as they once were? or are they
choked and clogged with the rust and dust of accumulated ages? Or, if
not in the machine, does the fault, ask others of these bold critics,
rest with the workmen who guide and superintend its action? Are the
principles of its construction now no longer known or understood? Are
they, like those of the engines of the Syracusan philosopher, lost in
the lapse of time? Is the crown less efficiently served than private
individuals? and can it be possible, it has even been demanded, that
those who are actively employed on these occasions have been so long
removed on the practice of what is often deemed the simpler portion of
the law, and so long employed in the higher and more abstruse branches
of the science, that they have forgotten the practice of their youth,
and have lost the knowledge acquired in the commencement of their
professional career? Lesser criminals, it is said, are every day
convicted with ease and expedition--how is it, therefore, that the
cobweb of the law holds fast the small ephemerae which chance to stray
across its filmy mesh, but that the gaudy insect of larger form and
greater strength so often breaks through, his flight perhaps arrested
for a moment, as he feels the insidious toil fold close about him? It
is, however, only for a moment; one mighty effort breaks his bonds--he
is free--and flies off in triumph and derision, trumpeting forth his
victory, and proclaiming his escape from the snare, in which it was
hoped to encompass him. The astute and practised gentlemen thus
suspected, strong in the consciousness of deep legal knowledge, and
ready practical skill and science, may justly despise the petty
attacks of those who affect to doubt their professional ability and
attainments. Some in high places have not hesitated to hint, on one
occasion, at collusion, and to assert, that a certain prosecution
failed, because there was no real desire to punish.
Such is the substance of the various questions and speculations to
which the legal events of the last thirteen years have given rise. We
have now collected and enumerated them in a condensed form, for the
purpose of tracing their rise and progress, and in order that we may
demonstrate that, though there may possibly exist some reasons for
these opinions, founded often on a misapprehension of the real
circumstances of the cases quoted in their support, that they have, in
fact, little or no substantial foundation. With this view, therefore,
we shall briefly notice those trials, within the period of which we
speak, which form the groundwork of these charges against the
executive, before we proceed to state the real obstacles which do, in
fact, occasionally oppose the smooth and _rapid_ progress of a "State
Prosecution."
The first of these proceedings, which occurred during the period of
the last thirteen years, was the trial of Messrs O'Connell, Lawless,
Steel, and others. This case perhaps originated the opinions which
have partially prevailed, and was, in truth, not unlikely to make a
permanent impression on the public mind. In the month of January 1831,
true bills were found against these parties by the Grand Jury of
Dublin, for assembling and meeting together for purposes prohibited by
a proclamation of the Lord Lieutenant; and for conspiring to do an act
forbidden by the law. By every possible device, by demurrers and
inconsistent pleas, delays were interposed; and though Mr O'Connell
withdrew a former plea of not guilty, and pleaded guilty to the counts
to which he had at first demurred--though Mr Stanley, in the House of
Commons, in reply to a question put by the Marquis of Chandos,
emphatically declared, that it was impossible for the Irish
government, consistently with their dignity as a government, to enter
into any negotiation implying the remotest compromise with the
defendants--and that it was the unalterable determination of the
law-officers of Ireland to let the law take its course against Mr
O'Connell--and that, let him act as he pleased, judgment would be
passed against him--still, in spite of this determination of the
government, so emphatically announced by the Irish Secretary, the
statute on which the proceedings were founded was actually suffered to
expire, without any previous steps having been taken against the state
delinquents. There has ever been that degree of mystery about this
event, which invariably rouses attention and excites curiosity; the
escape of those parties was a great triumph over the powers, or the
expressed inclinations of the government, which was well calculated to
set the public mind at work to discover the latent causes which
produced such strange and unexpected results. After an interval of
seven years, another case occurred, which was not calculated
materially to lessen the impression already made upon the public; for
although, in the following instance, the prosecution was conducted to
a successful termination, yet questions of such grave importance were
raised, and fought with such ability, vigour, and determination, that
the accomplishment of the ends of justice, if not prevented, was
certainly long delayed.
On the 17th December 1838, twelve prisoners were brought to Liverpool,
charged in execution of a sentence of transportation to Van Diemen's
Land for having been concerned in the Canadian revolt. Here the
offenders had been tried, convicted, sentenced, and actually
transported. The prosecutors, therefore, might naturally be supposed
to have got fairly _into_ port, when they saw the objects of their
tender solicitude fairly _out_ of port, on their way to the distant
land to which the offended laws of their country had consigned them.
If justice might not account her work as done, at a time when her
victims had already traversed a thousand leagues of the wide
Atlantic, when could it be expected that the law might take its course
without further let or hindrance? On the 17th of December, as has been
observed, the prisoners arrived at Liverpool, and were straightway
consigned to the care and custody of Mr Batcheldor, the governor of
the borough jail of Liverpool; by whom they were duly immured in the
stronghold of the borough, and safely placed under lock and key.
Things, however, did not long continue in this state. In a few days
twelve writs of _habeas corpus_ made their sudden and unexpected
appearance, by which Mr Batcheldor was commanded forthwith to bring
the bodies of his charges, together with the causes of detention,
before the Lord Chief Justice of England. Mr Batcheldor obeyed the
command in both particulars; the judges of the Court of Queen's Bench
met; counsel argued and re-argued the matter before them, but in
vain--the prisoners were left in the governor's care, in which they
remained, as if no effort had been made to remove then from his
custody. All, however, was not yet over; for, as though labouring
under a strange delusion, four of the prisoners actually made oath
that they had never been arraigned, tried, convicted, or sentenced at
all, either in Canada or elsewhere! Upon this four more writs of
_habeas corpus_ issued, commanding the unhappy Mr Batcheldor to bring
the four deluded convicts before the Barons of the Exchequer. This was
done; arguments, both old and new, were heard with exemplary patience
and attention; the play was played over again; but the Barons were
equally inexorable with the Court of Queen's Bench, and the four
prisoners, after much consideration, were again remanded to the
custody of the governor of the jail, and, together with their eight
fellow-prisoners, were, in course of time, duly conveyed to the place
of their original destination.
The next of these cases, in chronological order, is that of the
Monmouthshire riots in 1839. This case, also, might tend to
corroborate the opinion, that the service of the state, in legal
matters, is attended with much difficulty and embarrassment. It will,
however, be seen upon examination of the facts of the case, that the
difficulty which then arose, proceeded solely from the lenity and
indulgence shown to the prisoners by the crown. On New-Year's day
1840, John Frost and others, were brought to trial, on a charge of
high treason, before a special commission at Monmouth. The proceedings
were interrupted by an objection taken by the prisoners' counsel, that
the terms of a statute, which requires that a list of witnesses should
be delivered to the prisoners _at the same time_ with a copy of the
indictment, had not been complied with. The indictment had, in fact,
been delivered five days before the list of witnesses. This had been
done in merciful consideration to the prisoners, in order that they
might be put in possession of the charge, to be brought against them,
as early as it was in the power of the crown to give them the
information, and probably before it was _possible_ that the list of
witnesses could have been made out. The trial, however, proceeded,
subject to the decision of the fifteen judges upon the question, thus
raised upon the supposed informality, which nothing but the _anxious
mercy_ of the crown had introduced into the proceedings; and the
parties were found guilty of the offence laid to their charge. In the
ensuing term, all other business was, for a time, suspended; and the
fifteen judges of the land, with all the stately majesty of the
judicial office, were gathered together in solemn conclave in
Westminster Hall. A goodly array, tier above tier they sat--the heavy
artillery of a vast legal battery about to open the fire of their
learning, with that imposing dignity which becomes the avengers of the
country's and the sovereign's wrongs. Day after day they met, heard,
and deliberated upon arguments, which were conspicuous from their
consummate learning and ability. At length these learned persons
delivered their judgments, and, amid much diversity of opinion, the
majority thought, upon the whole, that the conviction was right, and
that the terms of the statute had been virtually complied with. The
criminals, however, probably in consequence of the doubts and
difficulty of the case, were absolved on the most highly penal
consequences of their crime, and were, by a sort of compromise,
transported for life to one of the penal settlements.
The doubt which some have entertained of the real insanity of Oxford,
and others who have recently attempted the same crime which he so nearly
committed, has caused these cases also to be brought forward in
confirmation of the opinions, which we contend rest upon no real
foundation. The insanity of a prisoner is, however, a fact, upon which
it is the province of the jury to decide, under the direction of the
presiding judge. In each case the law was luminously laid down by the
judge for the guidance of the jury, who were fully instructed as to what
the law required to establish the insanity of its prisoner, and to prove
that "lesion of the will" which would render a human being irresponsible
for his acts. These verdicts, undoubtedly, gave rise to a grave
discussion, whether the law, as it now stands, was sufficiently
stringent to have reached these cases; and though this question was
decided in the affirmative, the mere entertaining of the doubt afforded
another specious confirmation of the impression, that a singular
fatality was attendant upon a state prosecution. This idea received
another support from the case of Lord Cardigan, who, about this period,
was unexpectedly acquitted, on technical grounds, from a grave and
serious charge. This, however, was no state prosecution, and we do but
notice it, _en passant_, in corroboration of our general argument.
We now come to the case of the Chartists in 1842. For some time
previous to the summer of 1842, great distress, it will be remembered,
prevailed among the manufacturing population of the northern and
midland counties. The misery of the preceding winter had been dreadful
in the extreme; emaciated, haggard beings might be daily seen
wandering about the country half naked, in the coldest weather;
sufferings, almost without a parallel, were borne with patience and
resignation. Despair there might be in the hearts of thousands, but
those thousands were mute and passive in their misery; all was dark,
all was hopeless; the wintry wind of penury blew untempered, keen upon
them, but still they cried not; hunger preyed upon their very vitals,
but they uttered no complaint. Let us not, even now, refuse a passing
tribute of honour and respect to the passive heroism which in many an
instance marked the endurance of the hopeless misery of those dreadful
times. At length, however, evil and designing men came among the
sufferers--remedies for the pressing evil, and means of escape from
the wretchedness of their condition, were darkly hinted at; redress
was whispered to be near, and they, the hungry fathers of famished
children, lent a greedy ear to the fair promises of men whom they
deemed wiser than themselves. The tempter's seedtime had arrived, the
ground was ready, and the seed was sown. Day by day, nay, hour by
hour, was the bud of disaffection fostered with the greatest care;
and, day by day, its strength and vitality increased. When, at length,
the people were deemed ripe for action, the mask was thrown off,
treasonable schemes and projects were openly proclaimed by the leaders
of the coming movement, and echoed, from a hundred hills, by vast
multitudes of their deluded followers. Large meetings were daily held
on the neighbouring moors, where bodies of men were openly trained and
armed for active and offensive operations. At length the insurrection,
for such in truth it was, broke forth. Then living torrents of excited
and exasperated men poured down those hillsides; the peaceful and
well-affected were compelled to join the insurgent ranks, busy in the
work of destruction and intimidation; when each evening brought the
work of havoc to a temporary close, they laid them down to rest where
the darkness overtook them. The roads were thus continually blockaded,
and those who, under cover of the night, sought to obtain aid and
assistance from less disturbed districts, were often interrupted and
turned back by bodies of these men. Authority was at an end, and a
large extensive district was completely at the mercy of reckless
multitudes, burning to avenge the sufferings of the past, and bent on
preventing, as they thought, a recurrence of them in future. The very
towns were in their hands; "in an evil hour" a vast body of insurgents
was "admitted" into one of the largest mercantile towns of the
kingdom, where they pillaged and laid waste in every direction. In
another town of the district a fearful riot was put down by force,
some of the leaders of the mob being shot dead while heading a charge
upon the military. The ascendancy of the law was at length asserted;
many arrests took place; the jails were crowded with prisoners; and
the multitudes without, deserted by those to whom they had looked up
for advice, their friends in prison, with the unknown terrors of the
law suspended over them, probably then felt that, miserable and lost
as they had been before, they had now fallen even lower in the scale
of human misery. Criminal proceedings were quickly instituted. Several
commissions were sent down to the districts in which these
disturbances had take place, in order that the offenders might meet
with _speedy_ punishment. The law officers of the crown, with many and
able assistants, in person conducted the proceedings. Temperate, mild,
dignified, and forbearing was their demeanour; in no case was the
individual the object of prosecution; it was the _crime_, through the
person of the criminal, against which the government proceeded. No
feelings of a personal nature were there exhibited; and a mild, but
firm, as it were, a parental correction of erring and misguided
children, seemed to be the sole object of those who then represented
the government. Conviction was heaped upon conviction--sentence
followed sentence--the miserable tool was distinguished from the man
who made him what he was--the active emissary, the secret conspirator,
also received each their proportionate amount of punishment. True, a
few of the more cautious and crafty, all included in one indictment,
eventually escaped the penalty due to their crimes; but, among the
multitude of cases which were then tried, this was, we believe, the
only instance even of partial failure. In spite of this single
miscarriage of the government, the great object of these proceedings
was completely answered; the end of all punishment was attained; the
vengeance which the law then took had all the effect which the most
condign punishment of these few men could have accomplished; the
constitutional maxim of "_poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes_," has been
amply illustrated by these proceedings; Chartism has been suppressed,
by the temperate application of the constitutional means which were
then resorted to for the correction of its violence, and the
prevention of its seditious schemes.
We must not omit to mention the instances of signal and complete
success which have been, from time to time, exhibited in other
prosecutions against Feargus O'Connor and different members of the
Chartist body, within the period of which we speak. On none of these
occasions has the course of justice been hindered, or even turned
aside; but the defendants have, we believe, without exception, paid
the penalty of their crimes by enduring the punishments awarded by the
court.
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