Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

natures as soon as they enter? Is it the opinion that one man there is worth a dozen?

We are aware that some of the foregoing remarks may appear to prove too much. It may seem, or 'seem to seem,' to the caviller, for instance, that it is undermining the main proposition, to say, as we have said, that it is next to impossible to get any three men to agree on a given subject, and that therefore we ourselves reason against a fundamental element of our own argument; since if that number can never be brought to exact coincidence of opinion, it is preposterous to suppose that seven out of twelve men can do so. Softly and soothly, Monsieur Sophist, if it is perfectly convenient for you! You, instead of ourselves, are probably upon an erroneous scent.'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

It strikes us that seven men are rather more likely to agree, than twelve; at any rate, less likely to agree to disagree,' by reason of the utter impossibility of agreeing, when even a single individual of the number holds full control over the entire panel. So long as it is understood that any number, no matter how much short of the whole, hold the verdict in their own hands, there is of course no hope, no inducement, for that matter, to modify opinion, or concede sentiment. Elever jurors may in vain have done their best to reconcile minor discordances of view, if the twelfth man has made up his mind to decide the case according to his own arbitrary (perhaps corrupt) determination. If he chooses to do so, there is no power on earth to prevent him. He is the palladium of liberty,' not the jury! It is idle to rate of twelve peers; it is one 'peer' who sits in judgment. 'he trial per pais, or by the country, of which we boast so much, is mply a trial by a single individual blockhead; or at best a trial in which the law gives to a few boobies the power of overruling a majority of sensible men. Let it be remembered that in the trial of a criminal cause, there can be but two propositions submitted to the jury the guilt or innocence of the prisoner; and any given number of the triers, knowing that the majority of voices must govern the decision, may make up their own minds without difficulty, and without embarrassment, while knowing to the contrary, they find the exercise of mind useless and nugatory altogether. Aware that the accused must be convicted or acquitted by the largest number of the panel, all that is to be done, is, for every juror to give an honest opinion. He is not either to be starved or worried in any other way into compliance with the caprices of the minority; and even if no two arrive at the same conclusion, by the same consideration of the testimony, or by the same process of reasoning, one or the other propositions will be agreed upon by the largest number, and a verdict be found. If a majority doubt, and the doubt prevents them from pronouncing the accused guilty, he is acquitted of course; and if, on the other hand, the majority do not doubt, their opinion is not controlled and annulled by the scruples of the lesser number. We do not think, therefore, that the argument comes within the category of what lawyers and logicians call 'proving too much.' It proves precisely what we proposed. Where is it possible to find, in any department of civilized polity, an absurdity more gross, more thoroughly ridiculous, or fraught with more manifest mischief, than this same 64

VOL. XV.

requirement of our laws? It contradicts all our professions of respect for republican government, and contravenes one of its wisest axioms.

If any number less than the largest, in a given body, is to govern, it were as well at once to acknowledge ourselves monarchists, and discard the doctrines which we profess to cherish. Let us say, honestly and above-board, that the sic jubeo of Russia and of Turkey is preferable to the democratic principle of our own government. Let us elect our law-givers, our presidents, governors, and all subordinate magistrates, on that blessed plan; declaring every candidate who is lucky enough to receive the least number of votes, duly chosen to office. Having secured a minority, the presumption is clearly in favor of his fitness! This would be carrying out the principle consistently, and fully in accordance with the sentiment of the juror, who complained of the stupid obstinacy of his eleven brethren, who refused to find such a verdict as he insisted on, against the views of him, the said single juror. The eleven thought differently, to be sure, but the unit' very considerately looked upon the eleven as so many mules, because they could not agree that his individual opinion was worth more than that of all theirs!

If we had not already extended these remarks much beyond the limits we had prescribed in commencing them, we would go farther into the absurdity of our present jury system. There are other aspects of the case, capable of being made still more pointedly ridiculous; but we must close, at least at present, with the simple recurrence to the first proposition stated in this article; viz., that there is nothing in the number twelve which gives any value to the trial by jury. On the contrary, if there be any soundness in the objections to unanimity in jury decisions, it is quite clear that any even number- six, eight, ten, twelve, or fourteen - should be avoided; for it is desirable, in this as in all other cases, to steer clear of a tie. A 'tie' is always a consummate rascal; one who does more mischief than any other vagabond in society. He is your most egregious 'delayer of justice' in creation, and one who works more inconvenience to the community than any score of varlets who happen to judge wrong Much better is it that a mooted point be decided erroneously, than that it be not decided at all.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

A MAN may easily reckon upon his fingers' ends the few good deeds, as they are termed, that it has fallen to his share to perform; but there is a huge volume of mischief, which it is alike his destiny to fill, that must ever be to him in this world a Sibylline book of mystery. Feelings of others hurt by inadvertence; by want of attentions that have never occurred to him; by quickness of manner, ungracious tones of voice, incautious words, that have been well-meant but illchosen; impatient or uncomfortable looks while he has been thinking, honest man, rather of King David, than of the subject supposed to occupy his thoughts; all these things are put upon record against him, under their appropriate heads; and whether he laugh or cry about it, he may be sure that in each page of that mystic volume, he is shown to have been the author of more harm, than his whole life has ever done of good. Old Priam, of Troy, had fifty children, one of whom killed five hundred men with his own hand, and another, by his love-affairs, caused the death of five hundred thousand; and this I take to be the proportion that exists between the good we do, and the evil that we are the unconscious authors of. It was a good-enough deed, at least it would seem a harmless one, to bring up a family of fifty children; but what shall be said to the source of two such Rivers of Death and Depopulation!

Well, my friend G

[ocr errors]

at the close of his mortal career, had in

existence against him the smallest possible of these registers of unhappiness. It was not merely, (if one may make use of such a word to qualify such a thought,) it was not only that he was a gentleman; having God in his soul, woman in his heart, poetry, music, and painting in his imagination, and honor and benevolence in every act of life; but with great feeling he had rare tact, and that intuitive felicity of expression, in word, look, and manner, to which one class of men seem entitled by birth-right inheritance. Nature, indeed, had admirably seconded his father and mother, and while she gave him a full Roman cast of countenance, in a grand oval outline, had covered his head with flaxen hair, and with deep sea-blue eyes, and a mouth of irresistible sweetness, removed every thing like severity from the reigning character of his face. His hands were such as women long remember, and men are willing to obey; small for his size, with fingers that were well-planted, carefully-jointed, flexible, round, fine by degrees, and beautifully less.'

Now, in the left pocket of my friend's waistcoat was every morning placed a well-filled circular snuff-box, the cover of which was not attached to it by any hinge, but according to a fashion that prevailed before every-thing was done in a hurry, was to be first looked at, slightly polished, perhaps, with the coat-sleeve, then gracefully lifted off, and folded under the bottom of the box, to be there held by the inferior fingers of the left hand, while the thumb and fore-finger of the right, in a luxurious yet thoughtful leisure, smoothed and sifted over the surface of the fresh and aromatic mixture, powdering up some adhesive lump of particles that had raised an indecorous head above the mean elevation. Then followed, the gathering; the heaping; the pinch; the motion that threw back the superfluous quantity; the replacing of the lid; the taste- quick, graceful, elegant, enjoyed by the heart, and by a nose that snuff could never mar; the sigh of pleasure; the eyes were then raised with a deep and refreshed lustre, and the mouth spake.

During the time that was required for this manual of the box, some proposition had been well considered, canvassed, decided upon; and the answer, if unfavorable, had clothed itself with language that was least like a negative in its effects, and though determined, that never sounded like a repulse. Snuff frequently impairs the voice, but it never touched his organs, which it was like the gratification of one's own lungs to hear; and the listener felt as if the rich tones came from his own chest, that had only been echoed there with a vibratory sympathy. So that snuff-taking, which is often half a vice in other men, shone in him like a virtue that had come one way o' the Plantagenets.'

It was not easy to quarrel with such a man, nor to record any thing against him in a book. He was obstinate; in the habit of having his own way; miraculously perverse in his political judgment; and rarely came with any degree of punctuality to dinner, although you had given it expressly for him. But that which would have been a death-blow to all hospitable intercourse with another person, was disregarded as his image rose upon the mind. Every thing favored him. The dinner would not spoil when he was waited for; the very cook seemed in the general conspiracy of attachment toward his

person; and all adverse sensations vanished, and an end was put to the animosity of political discussion, at the moment that he said, 'Come, let us take a pinch of snuff.'

I had intended, when I chose my motto, to have described pathetically his close of life in the interior of Brazil, where he had met with a snuff that he preferred to that of Guignon; but my sketch being already too much extended, I have thought it more polite to leave this part of my subject to the inspiration of the reader. JOHN WATERS.

[blocks in formation]

Sitting within a sapphire-shell,

Swift-drawn by eight bright butterflies,

She raced with every zephyr well,

And always made new bounties rise;
The grapes grew sweet in every place
That borrowed lustre from her face;
Good fairy, grant it may be known
Where you that magic wand have thrown!

She humanized the judges all,

And inade their selfish passions weak,
So Innocence on Truth would call

And plaintively would dare to speak;

Error to Mercy, too, could kneel

Nor find the heart of Justice steel:
Good fairy, grant it may be known

Where you that magic wand have thrown!

To make her god-son stout of heart,
She touched the crown upon his head;

And all his people, though apart,

To him in heart and hand were wed;

If envious nations dared encroach,

They forced them back at their approach:

Good fairy, grant it may be known,

Where you that magic wand have thrown!

Alas! the fairy's fled afar,

Home to her crystal region fair;

The Asiatics fear a war,

America is in despair;

To us a better lot may fall,

But though less fear assail us all,

Good fairy, grant it may be known

Where you that magic wand have thrown!

« AnteriorContinua »