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Christians ; and upon which the conduct of the Romans that invented them , and of the Christians that adopted them , forms the inost ludicrous of commentaries ; bo little does the actual behaviour of a people depend on its statutes , —so little can the real morals of society be gathered from the formal laws . It was not long since that we had to hail the appearance of a spirit of justice on the "bench of justice , in the remarks which Mr . Yardlev uttered on the Emmett case . The _ * . « V ^ d % _ 4 * ¦ * St
letter of the law in that case would have rendered indifferent justice ; but it is evident that the feeling of the public , of the press , and of the judge himself , marked the commencement of a better spirit , which , may ultimately communicate itself to our statutes . Chief Justice Jervia gave expression to a similar improvement , when lie scouted the letter quoted in the case of Lefroy versus Cridland . In this case , a husband whose conduct had driven away his wife , pursued her with letters , accusing her of purloining his goods ; flaunting in her face assertions that
he had enjoyed undue familiarity with her sister ; making that a reproach against the two women ; and inculpating his wife ' s attorney in similar insinuations ! The letter might bavo been called a " privileged communication , " since it was addressed from the husband to his wife . The woman had been divorced from him ; she remained without any protector , except the law ; and
it would be monstrous to assume that , in the case of a woman so circumstanced , the indiscriminate veneration for the matrimonial compact could compel the law to refuse interposition , and reserve to a husband the " privilege "of being the only villain free to pursue tlie woman with insult and accusation . Happily the Lord Chief Justice Jervis placed the letter in its true character before the
jury ; and tlie damages which they gave may perhaps check the libellous offences of " privileged" husbands . In this country wo are free to condemn the Americans for their rough paraphrase of law , under the name of Judge Lynch ; we point to the organization for extending the institutions and influence of the republic as proving that the republicans have a slighter veneration for law than we have . If we set aside prejudices ^ however , we must confess that the reverse is" tho fact . The difference
is , perhaps , that they have far less of the letter and more of tho spirit . In almost any particular the comparison with ourselves is advantageous to them . If we look to certain licences , we find that the importation of women for nefarious purposes , common in this country , and intended for general consumption , is almost limited to New York on the other side of tho Atlantic , and is intended for tho consumption of foreign residents . We are apt to consider our Yankee cousins sanguinary ; but it must be confosscd that in tho pursuit of murder * tho people of tho United Kingdom excel those of tho Republic .
Lucre is usually tho motive with us , or domestic revongo ; and treachery of a very calculating kind is generally the method , except that in Ireland they vary it with ambush . Murders of that kind in tho United States are almost universally committed by foreign emigrants . In tho last ; instance , —tho murder of Mr . Whitham , on Long Island , —tho murdoroi 1 was a man from tho United Kingdom . Characteristic American murders aro of a totally different order , —they arc usually committed openly , or on tho impulso of tho mornont . Dr . wobator alow his accuser in . a fifc of passion ; and tho la « t native American murder of a striking kind illustrates our position . Not very long since tho Amorican papers told the story of a school master , who had been deliberatel y shot in opon day by the
brother of one of his pupils . The story , with its sequel , is curious , as illustrating a particular phase of society . The assassin in this case belonged to " one of the best families '' in a Western State—for there are good families also in America , and in no country are the members of such families more tenacious of their genealogy . The family is wealthy , and enjoys an hereditary position , though the Hepublic , of course , does not recognise hereditary titles . It has for ^ ¦ » f % A * h ¦ - _
some time been distinguished by acting upon its self-asserted claim of independence . At the school in question a pupil belonging to this " best" family had committed some offence , and had been punished . The merits of the punishment enter little into the case , and we need not go into them . The schoolmaster was much respected , and it is not denied that he thought himself just . He had , we believe , been a private tutor in the family , and had assisted in the education of the elder
brother . On hearing , however , of the punishment , this elder brother , taking a second in company with him , procuring pistols by the way , and loading them , went to the school , demanded an explanation , and not receiving an apology shot the schoolmaster through , the heart . The murderer was brought to trial ; and here comes another curious fact of the influence already exercised by " the best families " in some states .
The influence , may , in many respects be salutary . For our own part we are inclined to think that it is so . Democracy is a vehement reaction upon the decay-dHm-aristocracy which has abused its privileges—privileges acquired during the earlier years of the order by actual service ; and democracy is in itself liable to a corresponding counteraction , when social equality has reached its extreniest level , and when a field of freedom is reopened for those peculiar and distinguished services which give birth to an aristocracy . But the exploits must be of a different kind from those of the family whose history we are touching .
The young man was brought to trial , and he was acquitted . For some reason the jury would not convict a member of " one of the best families . " The public , however , so strongly resented this apparent breach of justice , that they made the place too hot to hold a son of " one of the best families " set himself abovo tho law . He was obliged to seek a residence in another state . His
story , however , had gone Avith him , and a deputation of the inhabitants waited upon him for the purpose of considerately informing him that he could not be permitted to reside amongst them . And so , it appears , ho must wander from state to state , unable to find a resting-place for his foot . Whither can ho go ? It is thought by some that he will seek refuge in England , tho land of liberty ; where , possessing wealth , he will no doubt bo able to obtain a position in society . For in this country we have tho same slavish reverence lor wealth , which they have in America for rank and birth .
Tlirough all these irregularities , however , there is evinced an abiding and general rovoronco for tho law , a popular determination that it shall bo observed . Tho same spirit was shown , in tho roeolvo to enforce tho fugitive slave-law at Boston , although tho people so groatly disliked that law . It appears to us , thorolore , that in spite of tho irregularities and tho laxities necessarily belonging to a young country , with groat intervals even oi wild land amidst tho civiliaod populations , Uhh'o is more living concorn for the observance and enforcement of law than thoro is
amongst ourselves ; who seldom resist it , but constantly and generally ovado it , while at tho same timo wo sanctimonioualy profess that infraction is impossible
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A "STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . Mb . Cakdwell is one of those great British statesmen forced upon the State by a governing class , who have not intellect enough , for a decision , but have cunning enough to trim , and , no doubt , be trimmed with remarkable acuteness , which everybody found out on Tuesday evening" last in the debate on the Partnership Laws . But it is rather strange that he should have been authorised by the Cabinet to hesitate on a question of "Limited Liability , " seeing that the Coalition is based unequivocally upon that principle . Observe the incidents of the week , and it will be seen that the Gorettunent couldn't stand at ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^•^^^^^^¦^^^^^^¦^^^^¦^¦^^^^ fc ^^™^^™^^^^^^—^^^^^——g
*^—all if an unreserved political partnership were understood to be in force , for , all their bills being beaten , or in process of being beaten , and no one having anything to do in his " department , " the sole occupation of Ministers is to do damage to one another—succeeding , it must be confessed * considerably . There is only one political action now to be detected , and that is a Whig conspiracy against Lord Aberdeen . There is nothing in Parliamentary history so disgraceful to the State , and so degrading to individual statesmen as , the spectacle one now sees night after night in both Houses—Whig
partisans being put tip to assail and sneer at the Peelite colleagues of the Whigs . No doubt Lord . Dudley Stoarfc was silly on Thursday , and no doubt Lord Clanricarde was not a success on Monday ; and some decency was preserved in the former case by the Whig Minister abstaining from any answer to the Bashi-Bazouk from Marylebone . But . what 4 id such speeches mean ? What is meant by the abortive brutalities directed by the Russell and Palmerston press against Lord Aberdeen ? They mean an attempt to excite in the old Whig way a popular
clamour , which ^ may replace the Whigs in stateomnipotence— that misfortune for England being fortunately quite impossible . Does any person suppose that Lord John could not put a stop to these systematic efforts to depreciate the honest old nobleman who carried Lord John out of impotence into a respectable position ? Could not Lord Palmers ton . have suppressed Lord Deadly on Thursday ? It is much asked lately why Mr . Disraeli is so silent ? But could Mr . Disraeli do better Opposition work than Lord Palmerston or Lord John ?
Such exhibitions as those of Lords Clanricarde and Deadly , the Admiral of Connaught , and the F . LI . of Poland , and such blinded abuse as that of the Radical papers , who do not observe that Lord Aberdeen , as Minister of the Court , is much more likely to be national than a Minister of the Whig aristocracy—do not do much harm , and are only to be noticed as evidences of the unscrupulous selfishness of Whig ambition . Lord Aberdeen , on , Monday , exploded the conspiracy , and set himself absolutely right with the country , which is satisfied with phrases , and believes that Russell and
Palmerston are auti-Russian because they talk of a durable peace , tho country forgetting that these are the statesmen during wliose . time Russia has grown strong , and continental liberty ha 3 disappeared . Lord Aberdeen ' s phrases were excellent ; and I think that , in his case , they were more than phrases ; because , vlrilo insisting precisely on that for insisting on which Lord John was cheered in Guildhall , and Lord Pnliucrston is idolised among tho party oi liberal piv ^ ty-goers—viz ., that we cannot have the status quo ante bclluin— -ho abstained from
rhodomontading "liberalisms , " which in an English statesman ' s mouth can only have delusive signification . Tho wholo misconception which had existed in reference to Lord Aberdeen arose from tho steady integrity of his character , which forbida him to play with a great people for tho purposes of popularity ; and us the merit of such " exp lanations" as ho gavo on Monday night depends in a groat measure on tho impression produced at tho moment , it is of importance to know thut tho manner of Lord Aberdeen on tho occasion was a manner which touched everybody , being that of ft sublimely conscientious
man . Wo aro expected to sympathise with Lord Join ; when ha weeps over n botched Reform Bill , wiry not wltli Lord Aberdeen when , with solemnity and anxiuty , lie expounds a groat policy ? Speaking iu tho Bight and hearing of tho groat assembly or
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July 1 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . f- 615
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 1, 1854, page 615, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2045/page/15/
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