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Show 8-l ATROCIOU~ JUDGES. clearly pl·oved that there w:JS no evid nee wlultove~· to suppol't d tl at he ·wa" cntitlecl to an arqu1ttal; \rlH'n the charge, an 1~ ~ . . llich, the solicitor generu.l, was penni t ted to present hulrvlt . 1 " 1 . 1 in the witness box, and to swear falsely, t ntt w,vmg o.l- ,, · ,• vnte C011Y~rsalion With the prisoner in tht' serveu, 111 a pn '~ . Tower 'No Parliament could make a law that God shoultl not be' God,'* Sir Thoma replied, 'No 1norc can the Parliament 1nake the king supreme head of the church.'" A verdict of guilty wa.' pronounce<l again. L the prisoner, notwithstanding his olemn denial of ever hnxing poken these words. lie then moved, in arrest of j ndg1nent, tbnt the indictment was insufficient, as it did not properly follow the words of the statute which n1ade it high treason to dc.ny the king's supremacy, even supposing that l)arliatnent hatl power to pass such a statute. The lord chan ·ellor, '':ho c uuty it was, as head of the commission, to pas.-- the sentence - 'not willing," says the report, "to take tbc whole loftd of his condemnation on himself, asked in open courL the ad vice of Sir John Fitzjmnes, the lord. chief juslice of J~ngland, whether the indictment wa valid. or no.' FitzJames, 0. J.- '' l\Iy lor<I.· all, by St. Gillian, (for that wa always hi::; oath,) I 1nu t necu , confes , that if the act of Parliament be not unlawful, then the inclid1n nt i., not, in my conscience, invalicl." Lord Chancellor.-" Quid ad!tnc drsideramus, lest imonl:- um ~ Reus est mortis. (\Vhut more do 'vc ne d? lie is worthy of death.) Sir Thomas 1\Iore, you lJeing, by the opinion of that reverend judge, the chief ju tice of I~nglancl, and of all '* This would hardly be allowed by some of our American juridical deniers and deriders of the "higher law." It is hard to distinguish a law (such as the fugitive slave act) which sets the moral sentiment at defian ce, from n. hw that God s1H\ll not be God. - Rd. A. D. 153G. j JOUX FJTZJ .L'\lE 3. 85 his Lrethren, July eonvicte<l of high treason, this court L1oth a<1ju<lge that you be carriecl Lack to the 'fo\r er of L on(1on, and that you be thence drawn on a hur<.lle to T yburn, where you arc to be hangccl till you are lwlf dead, and then being eut down alive and cmbowdleJ, an<1 your bowels burnt before your fttee, you arc to he Leheaded and quarter ed, your four quarters being . et np over the four gates of the city, and your head npon London DridgC'." No one can deny LhaL Lord Chief Ju:::Ure Fitzjames wa:? an a~cessory to thi atrocious n1ur<ler. The next occasion of hi;:; attracting the notice of the public wa when he prcsideu nt tlw trial~ of Smeaton anu the other supposed gallants of Anne Boleyn. Luckily for him, 110 particular::; of the c trials have eome down to 1.1~ and we remain ignorant of the arl s by which a conviction wa obtained, and even a oon.fessiun - n lthough there i ~ eYcry rea ·on to believe that the parties were innocent. ....'\.ccording to the rules of evidence which t.lwn prentilcd, the convictions and eonfes: ion .' of the gallants were to Le gi n.~n iu eYidence to c::;tal>lish the guilt of the unhappy queen, for whose death Ilcnry was now a impatient as h<~ had on<'e been to n1ake her hi ., wife. \Yhcn the lord high :-;te \\' anl an<l the peer. a:-,;:;emL led for her trial, lTitzjan1e · and the ot hf'r jud:-rC's ~\t tendetl n1 cr ely as a~ses .. or , to adYi.'e on any p int of la\\. whieh might ari:;e. I do not find that they were cousu1tet1 l ill the vcrdid of guilty ha<.l been r econled, and ~ n tcnee \\'i\S to be pronounced. Burning wa the death which the law appointed for a woman attainted of treason ; yet a Anne ha<.1 been Clueen of Englan< l, on1e peers suggested that jt n1ight be left to the king to dctcnnine whether she should die uch a cruel and ignon1in1ons death, or be beheadC'd, a pnni ·lunent suppo8 c1 to be 8 |