| OCR Text |
Show 294 ATROCIOUS JUDGES. (A. D. l C83. But this was only a ca~e of n11.~ detneanor, in which he could a 'k for nothing b yond fine and impri ' onment. lie was soon to be engaged in pro "'ccu t ion ' fot· high tren on again t the noblest of the land, in which his avage taste for blood might be gratified. The Ryehouse plot broke out, for which there wa some foundation; and after the conviction of tho c who had planned it, Lord Rus ell was brought to trial at the Old Bailey, on the ground that he had consented to it. Jeffreys, in the late tate trial , had gradually been en· croaching on the attorney and elicitor general, Sir Robert Sawyer and Sir IIeneage Finch, and in Lord H,ussell'"' case, to which the government attached such infinite importance, he ahno t entirely 'upersedcd thern. To account for his unexampled zeal, we mu t remen1ber that the oifice of chief justice of the IGng's Bench was . till vacant Saunder::; lw,vinrr ~ ' 0 died a few 1nontb before, and Lord l{eeper North having strongly oppo ed the appointment of Jeffrey, aB his successor. These trials took place before a commi ion, at the head of which was placed Pemberton, chief ju ~ tice of the Common Plea "', to whom a chance was thus afforded of earning a reappointment to the chief ju ticeship of the ICing's Bench, in which he had been super eded by Saunders. 1"'he case of Colonel vValcot was taken first ; and here there was no difficulty, for he had not only joined in planning an insurrection against the government, but was privy to the d sign of a a. inating the king and the Duke of York, anu in a letter to the secretary of st~te he hau confessed his complicity, and offered to become a witne. s for the crown. This trial was meant to prepare the public mind for that of I...~ord Russell, the great ornament of the Whig party, who ha(l carrieu A. D. 1683.] GEORGE JEFFREYS. 295 the exclusion bill through the House of Commons, and, attended by a great following of vVhig In embers, had delivered it with his own hand to the lord chancellor at the bar of the House of Lord::3. In proportion to hi · virtue was the desire to wreak vengeance upon him. But the object was no Jess difficult than de irablc, for he had be n kept profoundly ignorant of the intention to offer violence to the royal brolher:-:, from the certainty that be would have r ('jectcd it with abhorrence; and although he had b en present when there 1vere deliberations re. peeting the right and the expediency of resistance by force to the government after the t;y ... tcrn had been established of ruling without Parlimnents, he hnd never concurred in the opinion that there were no longer con titutional means of red res ; 111 uch l es. had he concerted an anned insurrection. N otwith. tan din rr all the effort~ made to r eturn n. 0 prejudiced jury, there ·were serious apprehensions of an acquittal. P emberton, the presiding judge, seems to hnve been convinced that the evidence again,·t him wa insufficient; and although he did not interpose with bccon1ing vigor, by r eprC.'Sing the unfair art of J effreys, who was lcadi ng coun::;cl for the crown, and although he did not top the prosecution, a' an independent judge would do jn n1odern time , he cannot be accused of any perversion of ]a w; and, instead of trcn ti ng the pril:)oner with brutality, a wa wished and expected, he behaved to h.im with courtesy and seeming kindness. Lord Russell, on his arrairrnment at the .itting of the court • 0 m the morning, having prayed that the trial slwuld be post-poned till the afternoon, as a witne:s for him was absent, and it had been u ual in uch ca ·e to allow an interval bet ween the arraignment and the trial, Pemberton said, " "\Vby may |
