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Show 298 ATROCIOUS .JUDGES. [A. D. 16S:l ju tice of England, as the only 1nan fit t.o conden1n Algernon Sydney.* rl'he new chief justice was sworn in on the 29th of September, 1683, and took his seat in the Court of ICing's Bench on the first day of the following lVficba~lmas term. Sydney's case was immediately brought on before him in thi court, the indictment being rernovcd by ce'rtiora'ri from the Old Bailey, that it might be under his peculiar care. 'I'hc prisoner wishing to plead some collateral n1atter, was told by the chief ju tice that, if overruled, sentence of death would immediately be passed upon him. Though there can be no doulJt of the illegality of the conviction, the charge against Jeffreys is unfounded, that he adtnitted the MS. treati.'e on government to be read without any evidence of its having been written by the prisoner, beyond " similitude of hand ... " Two witncssef3, who were acquainted with his han<lwritin<)' 0 from having seen him indorse Lills of exchange, swore that they believed it to be hia handwriting, and they were corroborated by a third, who, with his privity, had paid notes purporting to be indorsed by hirn without any complaint ever being made. But the undeniable and ineffaceable atrocity of the case was the lord chief justice's doctrine, that "scribe1·e est agere," and that therefore this 1\fS. containing son1e abstract speculations on different forms of government writt en many years before, never hown to any human being, and containing nothing beyond the constitutional principles of Locke and Paley, was tantamount to the evidence of a witness to prove an overt act of high treason. " If you believe * Evelyn, Oct. 4, 1683. "Sir Gco. J effrcys was advanced, reputed to be most ignorant, but most daring." A. D. 1C83.J G EOltG E ,J l:Fli'ltEYS. 299 that this was Colonel Sydney's book, writ by him, no man can doubt that it is a s ufficient evidence that he i . g uilty or eon1- passing and imagining the death of the king. I t fixe, the whole power in the Parliament and the people. The king, it says, is responsible to them; the king is but their t r u:::;tee. Gentlemen, I must tell you I think I ought 1nore than orJinarily to pret;s this upon you, becau .~e I know the mi. fortune of the late unhappy r ebellion, a nd the bringing of the laic blessed king to the scaflol<.l, was fi rst b<'gun w i l h such kind of principles. 'rhey cried he had b etrayed the trust that wa, delegated to hitn by the p eople, so that the case r c·· ts not upon two but upon greater evidence than t wenty-two witnesses, if you believe this book wa writ by him." The chief ju ~li cc having had the a ti ,faction of pronouncing with his own lips the sentence upon Sydney, of death nnd mutilation, in. 'Lead of leaving the ta k as u ual to the senior puis11e judge, a scene followed which is frun iliar to every one. Sydney.-" Then, 0 God ~ 0 Goll! I l>c~ecch thee to ,,anetify these sufferings unto rnc, uml impute not 1ny blood to the country; let no inquisition be maJe for it, but if any, and the shedding of blood that is innocent 1nust be r evenged, let the weight of it fall only upon tho::-e that maliciously per ecute me for righteousne... sake." L ord 0. J. .h:tfi·eys.-~' I pray God work in you a temper fit to go unto the other worlll, for I sec you are not ilt for this." S!Jdney.-" 1\fy lord, feel my pulse [holding out his l1and,] anJ :cc if I am diso rdered. I bless God I never wa · in bett r temper than I now am." By order of the chjcf j n tice, the lieutenant of the tower immediately r emoved the pri oner. A very few day after, and while this illustrious patriot was still lying under sentence of death, the LorJ Chief J usticc |
