Trying To Change A Sovereign.

legislated against by the statute . The restoration judges , however , like the foul sycophants they were , ruled differently : they earned to an extravagant extreme the Mens rea fault return theory , ancl held that a spoken sermon constituted an " overt act " of high treason , not onl y within the recent statute , but semble within that of the Plantagenet monarch , as years afterwards other Stuart Judges held ( ride the leading case of Algernon Sdney ) to the eternal shame of

y , English lawyers , that an unpublished essay—a mere philosophical speculation —found in manuscript in the writer ' s desk , was evidence of " compassing the death of the king . " It took three "big-wigs" to try the Whitechapel spouter . Three king ' s counsel " took up their parable " in three separate speeches against him . He tried ably , but vainly , poor wretch , to point out that the eavesdropping witness was mistaken or perjured , but this was sternly

disallowed as " objecting to the king ' s evidence . " He "humbly conceived ' " that his case was not within " the mischief of the recent statute , " but he was sharply though somewhat illogically , told that this was " impeaching the wisdom of Parliament ancl not to be borne . " Ineffectively he urged that an overt act of treason required to be proved by the evidence of at least two witnesseswhereas here there was but one . " How do you find the prisoner at

, the bar ? " says the clerk of the court as the jury re-enter , and after their names have been re-enumerated— "Guilty or not guilty ? " "Guilty . " " Guilty , and that is the verdict of you all ? " " It is . " " Of what goods and chattels possessed ? " " None to our knowledge . " " Gaoler , look to him , " says the junior judge . Do you know what this meant , reader ? If you have ever had the agony of attending a capital trial yon will have observed that as

the verdict is given , when my lord is fumbling under his desk for the black cap , two stalwart warders start up as if by magic , one on either hand of the convict . They are there ostensibly to support fainting nature , should it give way under that terrible ordeal ; but they , also though now—God be praisedonly traditionally , represent a much more ghastly ceremony formerly " de riguear . " In Scotlandfor instancewhen the terrible word " guilt" was

, , y uttered , the " deempster , " or " doomster , " clad in a close-fitting black doublet ancl hose , upon which was rudely indicated in white the osteology of the human skeleton , used to spring up by the side of the moribund and then ancl there " tie his thumbs I "

In England , Richard Brandon , of Rosemary Lane—ordinary avocation , ragseller ; overtime employment , " supreme executive " or hangman—the fellow who was carried to his loathed grave in Whitechapel churchyard in a coffin ornamented with " hanging ropes in wreaths "—the bonrreau , who was said to have cut off royal Charles ' s head ; in England , at the words " look to him , gaoler , " Brandon , or Squire Don or Dun * ( see your Hudibras ) , or Jack Ketch , would appear as Mr . George Conquest suddenlmakes his avatar through

y a trap door as Trappistino in " Venice , " and incontinentl y , in the presence of the whole court , proceed to pinion his victim . "What are your usual days of execution , Captain Richardson ? " Ermine would enquire of the attendant keeper . " Tuesdays and Fridays , my lord , " would be the read y reply . "Mr . Attorney , " says big-wig , "you can move for judgment to-morrow morning , and we will ive you a rule for Tuesday " or Fridayas the case miht be

g , g , and so poor John James disappears from view , and goes to—to prepare his soul for the great change impending—to make his peace with his Creator—to arrange sadly ancl timorously his mundane affairs ? Nothing of the kind . To wrangle with gaolers and tipstaves and catchpoles , over fees and lodging