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LONDON-JUDGES AND JURY.

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others, placed in the arena, or on the stage. Examinations of witnesses,-statement of the case,law arguments,-charge of the judge to the jury, verdict,-judgment,-all is done audibly and publicly. There is not a doubt that the judge could inform himself of the merits of the case much better in his closet than amidst the noise and bustle of a court, where so many things distract his attention, on written statements of facts and documents, than on vague and desultory pleadings. But, in that case, it is but too likely that, instead of the judge, it might be his secretary who would have to do all this; and that, instead of examining witnesses, he would examine the parties themselves. As to the jury, it is clear that they are not half so able as the judge to decide either on the fact or on the law; and I would much rather trust to him than to them, if these were the only qualifications required; but the twelve men composing the jury are placed in a situation of which habit has not blunted the sense of importance and of moral responsibility,-of curiosity,of interest, and of awe of the public; and the judge himself, who delivers his charge when they are going to retire to their box, and who knows that so many eyes are upon him,-so many ears listening, may possibly give them very different advice from that he would follow himself, if he had to decide alone.

"On en vaut mieux quand on est regardé

L'œil du public est l'aiguillon de gloire."

The highest department of the British Government, the throne, does not indeed commit its dignity in the general struggle; and if exposed, as well as the other branches, to the eye of the public, it is

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LONDON-ROYAL PREROGATIVES.

from the top of a pedestal, not in the vulgar crowd. The royal person is here a fine hollow statue, in which the priests of the temple place themselves to deliver their oracles. He acts only through his ministers; they are answerable, and may be impeached by Parliament; but the King himself can do no wrong; in fact he can do nothing,-not even affix his royal seal, which is in the keeping of the chancellor. The King is supreme magistrate, but he does not administer justice, and cannot meddle in any legal processes, either civil or criminal. James I. happening to assist at some great trial, the judge put him in mind that he was not to take an active part in it. The King appoints the judges, but cannot displace them without impeachment and trial,—nor can they be impeached without the concurrence of the two Houses. Their salary is permanent; and as long as they do their duty, that is to say, as long as they are the strict organs of the law, they are as independent of the King and ministers as these are of the judges; and this is the most important safeguard of public liberty.

The King is the commander in chief of the army and navy; but an express act of Parliament is necessary to establish and enforce martial discipline in the army, renewable annually, and the army is disbanded, ipso facto, at the end of every year, unless continued by Parliament. The discipline of the navy is, on the contrary, established by permanent laws; but there is no money to pay either sailors or soldiers, or any body else, without the consent of Parliament.

The King gives titles and confers dignities; he is the fountain of honour:-he treats with foreign nations, or rather his ministers do in his name;-he is the head of the church,-that is to say, that he

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LONDON ROYAL PREROGATIVES.

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convokes, prorogues, and dissolves the assemblies of the clergy; his consent is necessary to render their acts valid, and he appoints bishops and archbishops: he has the power of pardoning criminals, but cannot exempt them from pecuniary compensations; and, in case of murder, if the widow, or the nearest relation of the deceased, choose to prosecute, the royal pardon is not admitted. It is uncertain whether the right of pardon extends to the cases of condemnation on impeachment, at least it is certain, that the King's order is no justification of the act, or that his pardon granted beforehand does not stop the prosecution. Finally, his sanction is necessary to all laws after they have passed the two Houses of Parliament; but there has not been any instance of a bill rejected by the King since the year 1692, under William III.; it was to render Parliaments triennial. The majority in Parliament is in fact the sovereign ;—no money without its consent;-and if the King should refuse to sanction the laws passed by that majority, the arm of government would be at once palsied. A majority in Parliament must then be obtained; and that is done by means, called legitimate and proper by one of the parties which divide public opinion,―abominable and corrupt by the other ; and really there is so much to say on both sides, that I have not yet made up my mind on the subject.

Mr Pitt was the first minister bold enough to dissolve a refractory Parliament, in order to try the temper of a new one,-and it succeeded with him. It is a serious thing for a member of Parliament, who has been at great expense for his election, to be thus sent back again to his constituents, to take the sense of the people, as it is called, or rather to go again through the trouble and expence of a

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fresh election. This expedient of Mr Pitt is something like running through the body a man who has given you the lie, and then, turning to the rest of the company, the sword still reeking with the blood of the offender, to ask them what they think now of your veracity.

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We have here a Persian ambassador, who furnishes a good deal of conversation to the fashionable world; the ladies love his fine black beard,-his broken English, and odd good-humour. His propos are much repeated. He complains that there are none but old women in England; the young ones not being so much in company. He likes embonpoint, and exclaims; "Ah! nice fat, nice fat!" Of a pretty woman he said, " She is a nice little fellow." A young lady was sent to sit by him on a sofa, and talk to him; the conversation being exhausted, and he perceiving she was tired, or being so himself, said, "now my dear it is well,-you may go." He complains of course of the want of sun; but said, the other day, at an audience of Mr Perceval, that he wanted no other sun than the radiance of the Grand Vizier's face, (a grand eastern hyperbole). During the Walcheren business, he took it for granted that the heads of the ministers would be off. The court of St James's does not shine at present in European ambassadors; there are but two or three, including the one from the United States, but it has three unshaved ones, this one of Persia, the Turkish ambassador, and a Barbary envoy.

I have been carried to one of the hospitals of this great town, supported by voluntary contributions. I shall relate what I saw. The physician, seated at a table in a large hall on the ground-floor, with a register before him, ordered the door to be open

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ed; a crowd of miserable objects, women, pushed in, and ranged themselves along the wall; he looked in his book, and called them to him successively. Such a one! The poor wretch, leaving her wall, crawled to the table." How is your catarrh ?" "Please your honour, no offence I hope, it is the asthma. I have no rest night nor day, and "-" Ah, so it is an asthma! It is somebody else who has the catarrh. Well, you have been ordered to take, &c." "Yes, Sir, but I grow worse and worse, and—” "That is nothing, you must go on with it.”— "But, Sir, indeed I cannot."-" Enough, enough, good woman, I cannot listen to you any more; many patients to get through this morning, never do to hear them talk,-go, and take your draught, &c."-The catarrh woman made way for a long train of victims of consumption, cases of fever, dropsy, scrofula, and some disorders peculiar to women, detailed, without any ceremony, before young students. This melancholy review of human infirmities, was suddenly interrupted by the unexpected entrance of a surgeon, followed by several young men, carrying a piece of bloody flesh on a dish. "A curious case," they exclaimed, placing the dish on the table; "an ossification of the lungs! Such a one, who died yesterday,-just opened. This is the state of his lungs. See these white needles, like fish-bones, shooting through here and there; most curious indeed." Then they handled, and cut open, and held up between the eye and the light, these almost palpitating remains of a creature who breathed yesterday! The symptoms of his disorder, and the circumstances of his death, were freely talked over, and accurately described in the hearing of consumptive patients, who felt, I dare say, the bony needles pricking

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