SOME PARTICULARS OF THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION.
The whole country is divided into districts, in general governed, like
our Provinces, in the Sovereign's name, by viceroys and governors.
The heir to the Crown, if he be the son of the reigning Ruler, is
Prince of Wales--a title bestowed upon his eldest son by an ancient
king; and which, at the time, gave the administration of that Province
to this son. The eldest son of the Queen now enjoys with this title
also that of Duke of Cornwall. These lofty designations confer no
power, although they carry with them high distinction and great
revenues.
The Aristocracy in the case of the heir, as in that of the Sovereign,
watch jealously anything which looks like _intellect_. They do not
stint personal respect and ample revenues, but take care that upon
coming to the Crown, the new Sovereign shall be a "puppet."
He is, whilst heir, not allowed to take any kind of share in
government, but is surrounded by flatterers, flunkeys [pluc-ngi], idle
young people of both sexes, and, from mere want of useful business,
falls into every sort of sport and pleasure. He must, indeed, be strong
in morality and in character, if, upon coming to his high office, he
be not reduced to the selfish _imbecile_ and puppet, desired by the
High-Caste. Lucky if he have not become absolutely contemptible by his
vices!
Ireland is governed by a High Viceroy, whose chief employment is to
amuse the Irish with shows--the real power being in the hands of the
General of the armed bands. Anciently, the Provinces were administered
by Vice-roys, who possessed authority; but the pettiness of the Island
and swiftness of communication have now concentrated all actual
administration at the Capital city. The Provincial governors, however,
keep up some show of the ancient order, and, nominally, command the
Provincial _Militia_. This is a merely nominal force, composed of
butcher-boys, farmer-lads and the like, who do not know how to handle a
_fire-arm_, nor how to fight, unless in the Barbarian pastime of _the
Ring_: a combat wherein the young Barbarians, two being pitted against
each other, try each to hit the other a terrible blow directly in the
eye. This, done with the hand doubled up, nearly destroys that organ.
He is victor who succeeds in hitting both eyes of his antagonist, and
fairly blinding him! This, a common and admired sport, is greatly
esteemed by the English Barbarians, and considered an admirable
training. It develops the ferocity and brutality required to make good
soldiers (plunderers), and the powers of endurance indispensable in
the distant forays. Even in the Halls of Learning, it is thought to be
a manly _science_, fitting the young Aristocracy to match any man in
personal conflict, and enabling him to be self-possessed and ready to
fight his way through the world. As, in general, the lowest orders are
badly fed and reduced in strength, and, though well used to brutal
fights, yet are not trained to the _Science_, the young Aristocrat
is expected "to pummel the brute" upon the slightest occasion of
disrespect.
The provincial Magistracy are mainly employed in keeping the
Lower-Castes in order, and especially in punishing trespasses upon
the lands, or upon the convenience of the Higher-Castes. The most
common form of trespass is that called _Poaching_. The High-Castes
own all the lands, and the Low-Castes, who till the soil, are the
ancient slaves--slaves no longer under any law, but nearly as much
so by custom. Very poor, but little better than beggars, and really
beggars in large numbers, and hungry, the temptation to knock over the
abundant nearly tame creatures (birds, fowls, hares, and the like)
everywhere around them in the fields and copses, is too strong to be
resisted. To do this is to be a _Poacher_--a criminal most detested by
the High-Caste; for he presumes to think, in some cases, that the right
in these free creatures is _not_ absolutely vested in the High-Castes.
Yet this sort of property is most rigidly _preserved_, by the penalties
of severe punishment, to the use of the High-Caste--for his sport in
the shooting of them, rather than for food. The Poacher, who is merely
tempted by hunger, and who abjectly begs pity and promises reformation,
escapes in some instances lightly; but he who presumes to question the
right to this wholesale appropriation feels the full wrath of the Law.
Petty civil and criminal offences may be tried by the Provincial
Magistracy; subject, however, in cases involving any interests of
importance, to revision at the Capital.
There is a sort of Provincial (and yet Metropolitan) Court called
_Convocation_ [Kal-ti-se]. In this, things touching the Christ-god
Superstition are determined. If a Bonze has not worn, or has worn
improperly, his neck-tie, or his _surplice_ [ro-bsi]; if the table
before the Altar (Idol) has been placed out of square; for things of
this sort--or if a Bonze be accused of departing from the ordered
rendering of some word in the _Sacred Writings_, or of having said
something contrary to the orders of Convocation or of the _rites_--for
these and other things respecting the great Idolatry, _Convocation_
sits. It is composed of High Bonzes and a few delegates of High-Caste
devotees, whose duty is merely to ratify the decisions of the High
Bonzes--these regulate everything.
This High and Lofty Court was anciently styled _Star Chamber_, because
exalted above mere mortal interests, and only concerned with the
preservation of the Idolatry. Formerly it worshipped the Sovereign as
Pope of the Superstition more devotedly than is the fashion at present,
and burnt people to death for refusing to do so. Now it refrains from
this severity, and is content (or tries to be) with depriving a Bonze
who doubts, of his _living_, and all honours and emoluments.
It still convenes in the old hall of its former glory. A venerable
moss-covered pile, vast and gloomy, with lofty towers and turrets of
rock, with hewn cells and deep dungeons. Here may be seen, fixed to
the rock, the rings and chains, worn and rusty with age, where the
victims of superstition suffered beneath the decrees of this ancient
Court. Slow and proud, along the dark stone corridors, and beneath
the dusky arches of this great prison-palace, the High Bonzes and the
devotees walk in state. Ushered with pompous ceremonial, and with the
grand incantations to the gods and devils of the Superstition, into the
lofty and obscure hall of the Star-Chamber, the _Convocation_ sits. In
deep alcoves around are stored the ponderous volumes, containing all
the mysteries and terrors of the Superstition. In these are the horrid
imaginings of fanatical Priests and devotees; the _dogmas_ and _canons_
of the Superstition; the dreadful arsenal, whence were drawn those
frightful weapons of superstitious terror, whence issued the chains and
bolts, and scourges, the faggots and the flames. One hears the groans
of the tortured, the steps of the jailers, the clashing of the chains,
when, in these long and resounding aisles and arches, the winds moan,
the distant footsteps fall, or the old casements in the ruinous towers
shake and rattle.
Nor is the arsenal wholly useless now; the weapons are not all rusty;
_anathemas_ may yet be found to terrify, and restraints to punish.
_Heresy_ [pho-phi], as any doubt concerning the Queen-pope and the
_Superstition_ is called, drives the culprit from Society, deprives the
Bonze of all preferment, of his employment, and turns him ignominiously
_adrift_, to live or to starve.
_Convocation_ watches over the _Sacred Writings_, to see that no
change, not so much as of a syllable, be made; not trusting to _Jah_,
who may have himself, perhaps, grown indifferent to the matter. A
curious thing, showing how irrationally men will act in respect of an
irrational system. For the notion is that this Word of Jah (the _Sacred
Writings_), being his _Revelation_ (Word), have always been by Him
exactly preserved through all the ages and the changes of languages,
and of transcription, and of _everything to this hour_. Why is it to be
supposed, then, that He will suddenly lose his power to preserve, or
will be indifferent to preserve?
Punishments in the ordinary Courts are not very remarkable, only there
is one so characteristic of the English, so comically barbarous, that I
will try to describe it.
The offender is stripped naked to the waist, tied up with his hands
widely extended, and with his face to a strong post; then a man takes a
large strong cat, kept hungry and savage for the purpose, and placing
the creature at the back of the neck, draws it forcibly down the naked
back. Of course the cat holds on with teeth and claws. This is repeated
till the culprit faints, when the cat is removed. The back of the man
is washed with vinegar and salt, and he revives, perhaps to undergo
the infliction again. This astonishing mode of correcting offenders is
called _flogging with the cat_.
I may also make a remark upon another feature of criminal punishment.
The crime of _treason_, not only insures the death, but the horrid
mutilation of the culprit; and, not satisfied with this, reaches to
the innocent wife and children. All the estates, titles, honours,
properties of the offender are sequestrated to the State, and his blood
is _attainted_; that is, made incapable of giving honour and employment
to his offspring! Thus the innocent are disgraced, and reduced, not
merely to beggary, but, as far as possible, placed in a condition of
hopeless misery!
The Idolatry and Sacred Writings are, no doubt, responsible for this
impolitic injustice and cruelty. For _Jah_ is constantly made by the
Priests to say, that he visits the sins of the father upon his child
even to the tenth generation! A natural development of the moral sense
would fall short of this vindictiveness; and in this false and horrible
wrath, taught in their _Sacred Writings_, the fierce Barbarians are
encouraged to outdo themselves!
The greatest of all the Courts, and which chiefly controls the others,
is the High and Mighty COURT OF CHANCERY. It has many names--as
Court of Equity, of the King's Conscience, and others--assuming as
many styles and jurisdictions as the ancient _Proteus_ of Egypt;
who, as the Priests said, could take any form, or no form, be fire,
or cloud, or invisible air. So this Court, feared by the Barbarians
with a paralyzing dread, takes on any shape! It stands for the King's
conscience--which, as the conscience of a Pope-king, must be a doubly
divine thing. For, as remarked elsewhere, "_Divinity doth hedge a
King!_" We, I think, should fear that this conscience would be as
uncertain as the man. Its function is, therefore, to decide with
_Equity_; to relieve against the inexorable hardness of the ancient
rules; and give relief in cases of _mistake_, _accident_, and _fraud_.
This looks admirable, but it is all _sham_ (phu-dgi).
Not the least attention is really paid to equity, but only to the
_decrees of the Court as recorded_. A Suitor petitions for redress.
The petition is not examined to be determined upon the matters therein
stated. First--The _Petition_ must be in all respects in due form,
according to the recorded rules. Second--The matter of it must be
such as the Court will consider, and such as may come before the
Court. Third--Are the Parties in the Jurisdiction, and are all the
parties who may be interested, duly notified and present; or, if not
present, accounted for. Fourth--Are the matters for the Court only,
or must it be assisted by some petty judges to ascertain the facts.
Fifth--The petition being at last before the Judge, he may not look
into it, unless the Lawyers look into it with him; and, then, no
opinion (decree) can be given until the Records are fully examined,
to discover if anything of the sort _has been_ relieved. If a similar
case be found, then the petitioner is called upon to prove his case as
stated in his petition; and, if he fail to prove his exact case (though
he may make a stronger show for relief), he is ordered out of Court,
and condemned to heavy costs (tin-tin). If the case be proved, then
the Judge _reserves his judgment_. For he must very carefully compare
all the cases, examine all the voluminous Records, besides examining
the innumerable Papers which have grown up around the Petition during
all the proceedings (often spreading over many years), before he dare
to order the recording of his _decree_. For, this done, he has added
another Case to the King's conscience; that is, to the highest form of
Law and of human Justice!
He dare not do this unless justified by the Records; interminable,
stretching backwards to the first King who pretended to have a
conscience; obscure, contradictory--he dare not unless justified by the
Records--_Precedents_. If he mistake, grossly, he will be certain to be
called to account by the Lawyer-Caste, who make a business of seeking
for discrepancies; in fact, he is bewildered--not by the case; that
is simple, or _was_ originally, simple enough; but, by the arguments
of the Lawyers, the documents overlying and enveloping the case, _and
by the difficulty of deciding according to the Precedents_. Could he
merely announce his _own_ judgment, there is no difficulty--but that is
the last thing to be thought of--in truth, if reduced to _that_, he is
bound to refuse any relief, however clear it is that _equity_ requires
it!
Thus the Judge, old and wearied; a man tottering over his grave,
feeble, irresolute, takes the course which maybe looked for--and
postpones, and postpones; other like cases accumulate on his hands; he
dismisses some, "reserves" others, _refers_ to another judge what he
can decently, decides none! Or only those which are petty, or those
which are really unopposed, or those exciting no interest.
Meantime, the parties to the _Petition_ are dead, or absconded, or
beggared. Years have elapsed; all parties are worn out or impoverished
by the enormous expenses--at length, there is no one to pay Lawyers
and the Court Officers--the thing _lapses_--dies. Term after Term
(as Sessions of the Court are called), the Case is called. Some poor
wretch struggles still to save something of the property _tied up_ in
the Court by the Case--he tries to call up from the mass of dusty and
forgotten Records, a reminiscence of the lost Petition. In vain--the
thing is a wreck, and has wrecked its builders!
The Case lies forgotten amid the interminable processes, affidavits,
answers, pleas, replications, rejoinders, motions, applications,
notices, subpoenas, summonses, commissions, bills of amendments, and of
supplement; documents of all sorts, making up the _Case_, mouldering
away in the stone alcoves of the huge Records; as the poor victims
of it lie mouldering in similar forgetfulness! Not, however, without
profit to the Lawyer-Caste; for some miscreant of this profession,
perchance, discovering the Case, in his searches after means of spoil,
sees how _he_ may gain by it. He knows of an estate remotely touched by
the matter of the old and forgotten Petition, and he knows quite well
that there is really nothing affecting the property; yet, he sees fees
and spoil. It is merely to frighten the possessor of the estate by an
intimation of a _defect of title_, and refer to this old Case, never
decided. The _bandit_ [khe-te] sets in motion the machinery of the High
Court of Chancery. One of its officers summonses the poor man to come
into that Court, and answer to the allegations touching his right to
possess the house in which, perhaps, he has lived for twenty years! and
lived without objection from any source!
Now it does not matter at all that there is no sort of ground for
this attack; the moment it is made, the title of the poor unoffending
man to his own house is ruined--almost as completely as if by the
sentence of the Court he had been deprived of it. The robber who
attacks wishes merely to force the owner of the house to buy him off.
To secure this spoil _he records his summons in the Court_, and from
that moment no one will buy the house, nor will any one lend any money
upon the security of it until that record be removed. If the victim of
this oppression be in debt, or have but little money, or but little
more than his house, or if he have borrowed money upon his house--in
fact, unless he be a man quite rich, he is inevitably ruined! He is
ruined, because the lawyer has, _by the Record_, practically deprived
him of his estate. And this is done by a Petition to the Court, making
allegations artfully and untrue. Yet, as they are not supported by
any sort of evidence, and are merely bare _insinuations_ often of
anybody--it does not the least matter--is it not inconceivable that
such a thing should be allowed? That merely upon the _Record_ of
a Petition, without any evidence, without any character, without
any surety for its truth, without any, the least, inquiry, or any,
the smallest deposit in Court to cover the expenses to which the
summoned party may be put, should it appear he has been wrongfully
summoned--this great injustice may be perpetrated, and perpetrated
without risk of any punishment! "But surely the Court will immediately
dismiss this iniquitous case?" Not at all; the Court cannot be reached;
all the endless proceedings and delays already mentioned intervene. The
fees and expenses are enormous--the decision far off. The victim cannot
get a hearing. He borrows money and employs lawyers--in vain. He can do
no more--he is bankrupt. The lawyer who has ruined him gets nothing
in such a case, because the victim prefers poverty to gratifying the
robber. He gets nothing, because he has no real case, and drops it as
soon as he sees he can make nothing out of it. Should the party be
very rich upon whom the robbery is attempted, he may fight it out and
finally clear his property, and get a _decree_ for some costs (only
a portion) against the other party. But this _decree_ is worthless;
the party has no property and cannot pay. _He_ has fought _for luck_,
having nothing to lose, but all to gain.
Usually, however, as the Lawyer well knows, the party attacked will
hurry to buy off the suit!
In this way, old Causes are Mines, which the Lawyer-Caste work to their
own peculiar advantage. They have every facility, both from their
experience and from the usages of the Caste. The very Judges of the
Courts are of the same Caste, and give every assistance in matters of
forms, continuances, motions, dilatory proceedings, and the countless
processes by which Lawyers make fees and their clients are robbed.
Thus the Court of Equity, with a mocking irony, becomes a Court of
Iniquity! and the very tribunal designed to do more perfect Justice
is perverted to the most scandalous use--made an engine the most
oppressive and destructive ever contrived for the misery of Society,
short of one invented to destroy it wholly!
The Court was originally organised by Priests who had acquired the
Roman learning, or some tincture of it, and endeavoured to strengthen
their own Class, and to soften the barbarous harshness of the common
Law, by erecting this Court. The laws of the Barbarians were savage,
in civil as well as in criminal things; and the Priests, more cultured,
endeavoured to soften and temper this harshness, or, at any rate, to
get more complete control by it. They formed it, and administered
it at first, and for a long time. But the Lawyer-Caste have now its
administration, and they have not so much respect for the opinions
of the general public as had the Priests, and have made the Court a
_bye-word and a shame_ [Kri-mi]!
The expenses and fees are beyond belief. A Lawyer who gets one good
Chancery Case into his hands, lives upon it luxuriously. I was once
shown a _Bill of Costs_, as these items of fees are styled.
I observed that one would be charged for a thing done and for the same
thing not done--in other words, for the doing and for the not-doing.
Thus, if one requests a thing be done, the Lawyer will charge for
"receiving instructions," "for reducing the same to writing," "for
instructing a clerk," and the like--then, having sent away the clerk on
_another_ matter, he will charge for taking new instructions and going
over the same ground again. Thus, actually charging for the delay and
obstruction caused in the affair.
Again, if you ask a Lawyer something, he will presently say, "I must
take counsel," meaning he wishes to ask another Lawyer. When the _Bill_
is examined you will find, say, "for being asked and not knowing, 6s.
8d.; for taking your instructions to counsel, 6s. 8d.; for attending
upon counsel, £1 1s.; for fair copy made for him, £2 2s.;" and so
on. Your simply unanswered _question_ has thus served the following
purposes:--If it had been answered at once the fee would have been,
say, 6s. 8d.; but as it was not, but carried elsewhere, it has given
the first Lawyer five times more of fees, and his _brother_ in the
Caste also a handsome sum! One may judge how ignorant the first Lawyer
will be likely to be, and how often he finds it convenient to help his
higher Caste brother, especially when in helping him he so greatly
helps himself! We have some cunning rogues in our Central Kingdom, but
such astuteness as this is beyond them!
I once visited this tribunal of Chancery to witness the
proceedings--but they are so dull and prolix as to drive one away as
soon as possible. The presiding Judge, and all the High-Caste Lawyers,
wear wigs and gowns. The lower Lawyers, who are called Solicitors, sit
in a sort of well, below and at the feet of the High, and have no badge
of distinction. In fact, they are not respected, and only tolerated by
the _bigwigs_ (as the High Lawyers are often called) as the jackals
who provide them with prey. They immediately act in matters with
the victims of the Court, and do all the dirty work, extracting the
fees, and the like--the High Lawyers taking the most of the plunder,
although, for decency sake, they will not see the victims of their
rapacity if they can help it.
The _wigs_ spoken of are very absurd, and make the wearers seem to be
engaged in masquerading, or fooling. (We have no term corresponding to
the former.) The lappets of thick hair come down over the ears of the
Judge, to enable him (as it occurred to me) to take his _nap_ [qu-iz]
with less danger of being disturbed.
No one can be a Judge, nor a High-Caste Lawyer, who does not wear
the wig. It has a funny appendage behind, like a pig's tail, exactly
fitting to fall upon the small of the neck; and is itself a curiously
curled "frizzle" of horsehair, selected for uniformity of whitish
colour. There is something _cabalistic_ in this thing, which is
carefully hidden from the outside world.
If a Judge take it off, all business immediately stops. A Lawyer
instantly loses his power of speech if his wig fall off. It was
told me in confidence, that the tail (like that of swine) had a
peculiar significance, to say; the utter selfishness of the Caste and
_greed_--another whispered a darker thing, referred to the Devil of
the Superstition: that, anciently, this Caste struck a bargain with
the Demon, and he made it obligatory upon the Lawyers always to wear
this chief sign of _diabolism_! This may be merely the chaff [pti-ni]
of these Barbarians. At any rate, something _occult_ is attached to
the thing; and a curious respect is shown to it, mixed of fear and
contempt, even by outsiders.
The Judge sits so highly exalted, as to be out of the way of hearing
the passages occurring among the Lawyers. He is generally half-blind,
half-deaf; quite worn out with age, and the ceaseless wretchedness of
his Court and the Lawyers, and incapable of vigorously dealing with
anything. In this Court the most imbecile is most fit; for nothing is
expected but imbecility (so far as the public is concerned), and fees
for Officers and Lawyers.
When a Case is _on_, the Lawyers begin to talk, and to read from the
big books, on one side, and then on the other. Neither tries to get at
the truth, but each in turn does his best to mislead the Judge. Both
read from the interminable and conflicting Records, and both find ample
records which fit the precise Case, which each contends for. The poor
old Judge, now and again, takes a note of these quotations from the Big
Books of records--for he is to decide not upon the equity but upon the
records, as we have seen. By the time he has found his _spectacles_
[Qu-iei] he has forgotten the Book, the number, the Recorder's name,
and the many other things, needful to find where the record is, and
when he is again told, lifting up his wig-pallet, he only hears
imperfectly, and _mistakes_. So, when, perhaps a long time after, he
tries to make up a decree to fit the Case, the _record_ to which he
turns refers to nothing in the world like what was intended!
Hour after hour, and sometimes day after day, these speeches of the
Lawyers go on. For the longer the talk the larger the _fees_--nobody
thinks of Justice! The old Judge understands the trick of the _farce_
going on, perfectly well; in his younger days he was famous for his
skill in all the arts of the High-Caste Lawyers, and obtained his
present position on that account, and because others wanted to get
a formidable rival out of the way; he understands how very little
(but fees) is involved in the endless talk and reading, and begins to
nod--even, the gods would nod. The Lawyer observes, stops a bit; the
unexpected silence awakens the wearied old man--he opens his watery,
blinking eyes, fumbles his papers, or takes a pinch of snuff, and says:
"Go on, brother Bounce, I'm with you"--meaning he is attending to him;
and soon falls asleep again.
Perhaps one of the talking Lawyers is of the High Q.C. I am told that
such is the dread of this Lawyer-Caste, that the Sovereign constantly
flatters the tribe, and gives to them the _fattest_ [phig-sti]
offices. All Judges and the Keeper of the Sovereign's Conscience--this
Court--and a great many other most important places, and exaltation
to the Highest Caste of Lords [Tchou], falls to them by established
rule--in truth, the Caste is chief in the Law-making Houses, and,
consequently, in Government itself. The Q.C. is, however, a thing done
to many who cannot, as yet, get fees from the public treasure, that
they may get them from out-siders more amply. The right to attach these
symbols to the name of Lawyer also gives him a _silk gown_ (during
the present reign) worked by the sacred hands of Royalty itself! The
honoured wearer of this is a Q.C.--that is, Queen's Champion--and binds
all its wearers to defend the Sacred Head (Pope) of the Superstition
from the machinations of the Evil One, and those of their own order
who, sold to the Devil, may possibly be put up by him to plot mischief,
not only against the general outside world, but against "Crown and
Altar!"
Perhaps, after days of this weary work, one of the Lawyers suddenly
discovers that somebody, or something required in the intricate and
dubious _processes_, is wanting; or in some document some erasure is
detected; or something _to hang a point_ upon is seized hold of--and at
once a wrangle between the Lawyers ensues. The Judge fairly awakes;
the whole _case breaks down_ [kei-tz-se]; and everybody, but the poor
victims in the case, anticipate more fees. The victims, however, who
have already beggared themselves in it, suddenly despair; perhaps the
case never again comes on, and the property involved in it wastes away
in dark obscurity beneath the gnawing rats, which infest the Court.
Sometimes (as I was told) some poor man, or woman, who had scraped
together the last farthings to pay the Lawyers (for they will in no
wise act unless paid beforehand, feeling that such service as they
render is not likely to be gratefully recompensed, and it being the
severest rule of the order never to show any pity for outsiders), being
in Court when they see all hope destroyed, and themselves and their
children beggared, have fallen down and been carried out of Court with
reason for ever gone; or with such a deadly blow that never more do
they revive, but soon die, and are buried at the public charge!
You will see wretched creatures trying to look decent in well-brushed
rags, darned and patched, with shoes through which the toes protrude,
but over which the blacking [di-yte] is carefully smeared--you will see
these victims of the Court, like ghosts, flitting about the passages,
and watching for the entry of the Judge. One will attempt to address
him--but he is conveniently deaf. He knows the _victim_ is there, and
though a party may speak, has the right to speak for himself, and the
Judge is bound to hear, yet, such a thing is unknown. The mysteries of
the Court deny to any _sane_ man the attempt. These poor creatures are
insane--or, what answers just as well, have been branded by the Lawyers
as _Insane_. So the miserable wretch, trembling, raises his voice, "_My
Lud_" (meaning my Lord), "My Lud;" here the Court-officer cries out
_Silence_; or, if the man be, _for the first time_, attempting to call
attention to his case, by the time he has got so far as to fairly say
"My Lud!" what with the jeering looks of the Lawyers, his own ignorance
of the mysteries, and his wretchedness, he either completely breaks
down--or if the Judge, seeing a _new_ face, asks him to "go on"--almost
at once perceives that the man is only a "poor ruined suitor," and is
entirely out of order, and _cannot_ be heard! He says: "You must sit
down. Case _Hoggs_ v. _Piggs is in order_. Mr. Clerk call _Hoggs and
Piggs_." Thus "My Lud" will be as far as any "poor ruined suitor will
ever get!"
Besides the numerous, worse than useless, idlers (Lawyers) who fatten
upon the industry of others, and the loss inflicted by their voracity
and by the other expenses, this Court devastates upon a scale beyond
belief. I was told by an English Barbarian that he once tried to obtain
one thousand of money from the Court, which the lawyers said there
would be no difficulty in getting, as it was clearly _his_; it would be
only a matter of form, possibly _some_ delay. "Well," said he to me, "I
instructed my lawyer to go to the Court and get the money. He demanded
fifty pounds to cover fees [tin]. To make a short story, he went to the
Court, _but I never got any money_! After I had actually paid in fees
more than half of the one thousand, the obstacles had grown to be so
insurmountable that I merely dropped the matter." "But," I said, "the
thousand--who has that?" "Oh, it is in the Court of Chancery!"
Another honest Barbarian told me that he had spent all his life (he
was sixty) studying and endeavouring to awaken attention to the abuses
of this Court--but in vain. The attempt seemed hopeless. The Court
was entrenched in the very frame of the body politic, and nothing but
_reconstruction_ would answer; and that reconstruction is probably only
possible after first _demolishing_!
This man said that a prodigious sum--sixty millions of English
money--was _directly_ locked up; and that of property of all sorts,
subject to the _clutch_ or injured by the processes of the Court it
was incalculable, and, very likely, would represent a tenth of all the
valuables in the whole Kingdom!
In my walks and in my travels, sometimes in the city, I would notice
many houses, with windows smashed out, the walls tottering, the
doors hanging loosely, or wholly gone, the approaches filthy, the
whole place a _nuisance_, injuring and depopulating all about it, or
filling the ever-spreading mischief with the vilest population. I
have asked an explanation--"Oh, it is in Chancery." In the midst of a
village, suddenly one comes upon a vacant space; it is an abomination;
everything near catches the infection, all that portion of an otherwise
pretty place becomes a _nuisance_. The character of the village at
length suffers; it becomes known as a place ruined by the Court of
Chancery. In fine, whenever one sees a wrecked building, or any
property marked by neglect and verging to total destruction, the
explanation is: "It is in Chancery." And the same thing is often said
of ruined men and women: "Oh, they have lost everything in the Court of
Chancery!"
To such an extent is the destruction of the Court carried, that the
Law-making Houses are forced to interfere, or perhaps the Officers
of Health. These may abate a _nuisance_, and sometimes mere filth
and indecencies are removed. But nobody will improve a property to
which he cannot have a certain and quiet possession. Therefore, when
the evil becomes intolerable, the Law-making Houses make a Law by
which a property of this sort is sold, under their _guarantee_ that
the buyer shall have perfect possession. This is a thing next to an
impossibility; and nothing less than a great public evil too great to
be endured, will ever induce the Lawyers who control the Houses to
interfere with the legitimate work of the Court.
It is wonderful that the English Barbarians submit to this Court; but
one must consider that, after all, it is not so inconsistent with
Barbarian habits as it at first sight looks. Plunder is natural to all
the tribes, and especially to the English. As nearly all plunder, the
thing is normal. Lawyers must live; and the common English Barbarian
makes a business to _keep out_ of their hands. The Higher Castes
enjoy so large a share of the gains, and are, in fact, so largely
interested in preserving the Court, that _they_ do not care to move.
Then, to other causes, must be added the stolid conceit of the English
Barbarians, who really think everything English so much better than
what can be found elsewhere, that, in respect of this very Court,
admitting some abuses, yet, after all, "Where else can you find such
Judges--men who cannot be bribed?"
On the whole, therefore, with that conceited stolidity of character,
more remarkable in the English than in any other Barbarians, they come
to regard even the worst of _their institutions_ as better than the
best of the rest of the world!