THE COLONIST.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 238, 31 January 1860, Page 2

THE COLONIST.

NELSON, TUESDA V, JANUAR V 31, 1860, When the ancients made a statue which in their primitive ideas they wished to repre- < sen* Justice they embodied a figure which < was blindfolded; this was perhaps from the Very crude.ideas which they had formed of Law. Tergiversation had not arrived at being recognised as a science amongst ' those unintellectual men who founded the great dynasties of the world. It was sufficient for them to attempt at arriving at a ; conclusion without seeking the great advan- [ tages which a full developemerit of any system of intricacies requiring Jynx-eyed attention would afford, and so their < names are honored till this day. '< Justice in the abstract is a something be- ' tween man and man. It may be taken fop granted that, unless in exceptional cases, ( the person sueing feels aggrieved, and lor ' the. better protection of society he defers < the natural initiative he would take to afford i himself compensation, to the opinion of ( those unprejudiced, and knowing the falli- ' bility of human judgement when swayed by personal influence he rather defers tp ] those whose age, position* or experience i point clearly out as the fittest to judge be-r ! tween himself and his neighbour. ' ' As disputes were constantly arising', it ] became a matter of habit to appeal to those '< who had'by their'intelligence proved themselves most capable of adjudicating < feeling that the workman-was• worthy of | his hire they gave an honorarium to those who would devote themselves to this par- j ticular branch of study. Thus a profession < was produced who made their income as ' advocates arid judges. History, has furnished us with numerous examples of the clear insight of Chief Justices. We have heardalsoofJeffeiiessurnamed the*bloody,' ( and of a Lord Chancellor wlioAvas degraded i from his. office upon clear charges of bribery \ being proved agajjiat hirp. This last was indeed a;case to mbUrn, for he was the phi- ' JosGpher of the age-=-the celebrated jLord Bacon. With such examples we ftiay ;(airlybe;al!ovved to pause before jvc adm.it in our individual minds the decision of any one man whose positioh. .places him in the high, office of Justice. ':; ( r |In their aifxiety that true justice should be dealt out, it grew, during many ages, into a habit to encumber the decision with numerous difficulties, and perhaps the only one plain question asked of the defendant was ** guilty or not guilty," and even in i this case, when the prisoner pleaded guilty, he was often advised to withdraw it and tell a lie by pleading innocence. The judi- ' cjial mind perceiving no falsehood in this, < and as a sort of salve for the consciences of , the judge and prisoner, the law has said that I the true meaning of the words is, not that ' which thej,' j-cpre^ut to a nQn-ltigalj r v <?du- '

cated mind, but that there is supposed to be understood the word *' legalty, " and that when thatsimple question is asked before God, the Judge, and Jury, " Prisoner, are you guilt} or not guilty ?'' that it means " prisoner ate you legally guilty or not guilty ?''

We have lately been informed upon very high authority that there is no. such thing as a quibble in law. To an enquiring mind nothing can be more gratifying than the acquisition of information, and we own our acknowledgements to the new legal light that has resolved this point. In common with our ignorant fellow-men we had held a contrary opinion. v v'-, This being grantefigiw a basis to start from, we fee] ie verj difficult to understand some of the verdicts jfound during the last sessions held here.. We, all remember the trial of Shannon and Whiting*—those-two great zoologists who killed a sheep that ♦'never had a head." The sending them loose amongst us again with very damaged characters was the result of our noble legal institution, declaring that they were not guilty : and the Judge in his summing up seemed to gay that he considered they were, and yet were not. His address to the prisoners seems a sort of verbal phantasmagoria, like the dissolving views; he had at first a clear sight of one phase, viz., that they were guilty, and that he did not doubt but that they had often done it before. Then gradually a legal mist appears, and by distorting the spectacle they soon reappear in the garb of innocence, and twelve of their countrymen, every one morally sure of their guilt, find a verdict exactly the contrary. We have heard of putting green spectacles... on horses to make them eat shavings for grass, but here a jury has had indeed to eat their own words and thoughts through a pair of very green legal spectacles —and this the result of—not a quibble but " one of the great points raised for the defence of the rights and liberties of the subject.

The fiction of the law is, that the judge is the prisoners' counsel, and Messrs. Whiting and Shannon may bless their stars that they were born Englishmen and were not tried in the dependency of New Zealand before the sessions of .January 1860.

The colony of New Zealand has been established some twenty odd years, and the laws of England as administrated by our ignorant .officials* during that time have gradually weaned a fa;ce of savages from their own laws and' customs,' and we find them eager to assist the ends of our justice. Those who were in court on the day when E. Manu and Pitama came as the representatives of their race to explain to the Judge, (Mr. Gresson) that they willingly submitted to the decision of an English Jury in a case of murder, cannot forget the thrill which their noble demeanour caused. They explained their own customs, they said that but a few years ago they would have sacrificed a holocaust of victims to the Manes of their mufdered'si^ter^ and5 that though the cry of blood for blood was yet warring in their hearts^ with better feelings they submitted to the judgment.of the Pakeha. If we have brought forward a painful subject and have caused a pang to the hearts of any of our Maori readers, we regret, and it was only on strong necessity that we have done it. We know lull well that to the fatherly kindness of that Judge in examining the Maori witnesses, the result that followed was to be attributed. Had intimidation, or clever sarcasm, been his means of educing evidence, the wild blood would have boiled yet wilder in the hearts of our Maori neighbors, and we must either have delivered a lunatic into their hands for them to wreak their vengeance on, or we must have armed to protect the Sheriff in his .duty. For our part we would rather hold Portia forth as a study for incipient barristers than Shylock.

In the last sessions we have had a case which though not involving so grave an accusation as murder, has caused a considerable sensation, we allude to that of Travefs v. Sauriders, and it was during one of the numerous hearings in this case that we gained our knowledge that there are no quibbles in law. That the defendant was injudicious few will deny, but the case looks curious when we find that the asserted libel was published in the Nelson Examiner. Had not Mr. Elliott, one of the proprietors, sworn distinctly that "no conversation took place between Mr,, Travers and myself, respecting the letter previous to its publication," we should have thought that some private arrangement had been entered into by which they were to be held harmless.

Justice has to be appeased by one hundred and-fifty pounds,-and six months* imprisonment, we may, we believe, say with truth that the punishment is excessive—we fully concur with Mr. Justice Johnston that a libel published.by a person of authority against a Judge is.a heavy, offence, but we think not one which deserves imprisonment.

With regard to the way in which this case vvas conducted, we are told in the last speech-' of thfe Judge, previous to passing the sentence, that there had been a most patent inquiry, and yet we find the defendant stopped in nearly every sentence he juttercjd; • In ah earlier part of the' trial the jJudge speaks of the, proceedings as being V, treated %s ii'xhpy jyem the mere acts of a theatre." We had inachj the game observation ourselves;; previous; to this case being called on, but can certainly averithat there was but ones speaker who caused a laugh.

To continue our remarks upon what felj from his Honor, he spealss of the sympathy, which nearly all feel for the defendant as misplaced; it was as well to attack that sympathy at once, and if we can make any thing of the sentence, it indicates a clear foresight as to what was sure to follow. Those who know the prisoner best, willingly allow him the credit for being an earnest independent man, who never shirked what he considered a public duty, and would be the la>t to attempt to make himself appear V wiser than bjs feilqw men and wiser than,

and above the law." If his language was *• inflated is it not allowable for a defendant to make the best defence he can, and is that to be arrayed against him so as to prejudice the public? Our new judge has shewn himself particular in matters of form and legal etiquette, yet he says, " He could hardly trust himself to utter the words of contempt for such a crime which forced themselves to his tongue." How such- an expression could have escaped from one whose highest dignity it should be to remain an unimpassioned arbiter of justice, we do not choose to hazard a guess, and it is soon followed, by saying that Mr. Saunders came " with a sort of impudent contempt for justice.": The Steady deferential conduct of Mr. Saunders in that court has elicited the highest approbation from e?en those most opposed to him, and none will j think but that there must be a mistake somewhere when people are "deceived" into thinking him a " dangerous character."

The" amount of wickedness" perpetrated, when cleared of all the flourishes of rhetoric in which it is described, consists really in writing a letter which he believed at that time to be true. For his own sake for the future, we should advise him to consider twice before he again does so incautious a thing—for he has it upon record that if he does not "a far different fate awaits him in the future," a very indistinct promise of something unpleasant here or hereafter, unr less he studies some "Gentleman's complete Letter-writer.

The fiat has gone forth, and A. Saunders prisoner and J.P. at present, is undergoing his sentence. Justice has not exceeded her powers, and has indeed shewn a Want of anything like a mercenary spirit by preferring to have the man instead of more money. So let it end, for

" Come what, come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day."

There is one more part of the address to Mr. Saunters which we cannot pass over in silence, as it was spoken to those present as spectators. Mr. Justice. Johnston assumed that they were all friends, of the defendant and therefore required well looking after; even at last when an expression of feeling was uttered he conceived that.it must arise from the fruits of Mr.' Saunders' example. For information we will tell all that are strangers amongst us, that we are not Chartists nor Redßepublicans; our greatest fault has been that we Have not jookecl after our public institutions sufficiently, and when our stagnation can be aroused it is a sign that something has occurred which they look upon as more than usually startling.

. In connection with the aibove we may offer a suggestion. The residents of Otago are complaining that their District Judge is one of themselves, that he knows everybody's business iri the place, and that the is either an active or sleeping partner iin a business firm in the province. His judgments might therefore sometimes be looked upon withadegieeofsuspicion. Would Mr. Travers take his district and give him Nelson, all this trouble and botheration would so be avoided for the future, and each province less liable to commit such an " amount of wickedness " as Mr. Saunders has.

If, as Englishmen, it could be said we have failed in our loyalty, if we have sul■lied the erminerobeof Justice, if we have too closely questioned a Judge in any remark Which we have made, we should deserve censure; but we appeal to the people whose cause we defend if we .have not at all times inculcated morality, obedience to authorities, arid all those duties which it is the boast of Englishmen to perform towards their Sovereign and her officers. We hay.& this advantage, that our lips can not-be closed in the utterance of plain or distasteful truth. The free Press of Great Britain is one of her noblest institutions, and whilst we remain a member of that body, its independence shall receive no injury at our hands.

JUDGE JEFFERIES AND THE REV, RICHARD BAXTER. We copy the following extract from Neal's History of tlie Purtians, Vol. 111, page 260. • "One of the first who came into trouble was the Rev. Mr. Baxter, who was com--mitted to the King's Bench prison, Feb. 28, 1625, for some exceptionable passages in his paraphrase on the New Testament, reflecting on the order of Diocesan Bishops, and the lawfulness of resistance in some possible cases. The passages were, in his paraphrase on Matthew, v. 19; Mark ix., 39; xi.. 31; and 12., 38-40; Luke x., 2; John xi., 57; and Acts xv., 2. Thdy were collected by Sir Roger L'Estrange; an 3 a certain eminent clergyman, reported to beDr. Sh———ck, put into the hands of his enemies some accusations from Romans xiii,, that might touch his life, but no use was made of them. Mr. Baxter being ill, moved by his counsel for time; but Jefleries said he would not give him a minute's time to save his life. " Yonder stands Oates in the pillory,' said he, " and if Mr. Baxter stood on the other side, I would say, two qf the greatest rogues in England stood there. J^e was brought to his trial May--30, but the Chief justice would not admit his counsel to,plead for their client, When Mr. Baxter offered to speak lor himself, Jefferies called him a snivelling, canting Presbyterian, and said," Richard, Richard, donit thou. think that we will hear thee poison the court, thou art an old fellow, and an old knave; thou hast written books enough to load a cart, every one as full of sedition, I might say of treason, as an egg is full of meat; hadst thou been whipped out of thy writing trade forty years ago, it had been happy. Thou pretendest to be a preacher of the gospel of peace; as thou hast one foot in the grave, 'listiuie tor thee to begin

give; but, leave, thee to thyself, and I see thou wilt go. on as thou hast began; but. by the grace of God, I will look after thee. - I know thou hast a mighty party', and I see a great many of the brotberboQd in corners, waiting to see what will become of their mighty don, and a l)bctor of the. party, (Doctor Bates,) at your elbow, but by the grace of the Almighty God, I-will crush you all." The Chief Justice having directed the jury, they found him guilty, without going from the bar, and fined him five hundred marks, to be in prison -till he paid it, and to be bound to his good behaviour - for seven years. Mr: Baxter,c,ootMi^&4 ; jn prison about two years, and wMv^jhe court changed its measures/ his. fifie 'jtfat remitted, and he was released. .' f^f