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" The topics of mercy are the smallness of the offence—the infrequency of the offence . The temptations to the culprit , the moral weakness of the culprit , the severity of the law , the error of the law , the different state of
society * the altered state of feeling , and , above all , the distressing doubt whether a human being , in the lowest abyss of poverty and ignorance , has not done injustice to himself , and is not perishing away from the want of knowledge , the want of fortune , and the want of friends . All magistrates
feel these things in the early exercise of their judicial power , but the Christian Judge always feels them , is always youthful , always tender when he is going to shed human blood : retires from the business of men , communes with his own heart , ponders on the work of death , and prays to that Saviour who redeemed him , that he may
not shed the blood of man in vain . " These , then , are those faults which expose a man to the danger of smiting contrary to the law : a Judge must be clear from the spirit of party , independent of all favour , well inclined to
the popular institutions of his country ; firm in applying the rule , merciful in making the exception ; patient , guarded in his speech , gentle and courteous to all . Add his learning , his labour , his exnerience . his nrobitv . his labourhis experienceIns probity
, , , his practised and acute faculties , and this man is the light of the world , who adorns human life , and gives security to that life which he adorns . S € Now see the consequence of that state of justice which this character implies , and the explanation of all that deserved honour we confer on
the preservation of such a character , and all the wise jealousy we feel at the slightest injury or deterioration it may experience . " The most obvious and important use of this perfect justice is , that it makes nations safe : under common
circumstances , the institutions of justice seem to have little or no bearing upon the safety and security of a country , but in periods of real danger , when a nation surrounded by foreign
enemies , contends , not for the boundaries of empire , but for the very being and existence of empire ; then it is that the advantages of just institutions are discovered . Every man feels that he has a country , that he has
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something worth preserving , and worth contending for . Instances are remembered where the weak prevailed over the strong : one man recalls to mind when a just and upright Judge protected him from unlawful violence , gave him back his vineyard , rebuked
his oppressor , restored him to Ins rights , published , condemned and rectified the wrong . This is what is called country . Equal rights to unequal possessions , equal justice to the rich and poor : this is what men come out to fight for , and to defend . Such
a country has no legal injuries to remember , no legal murders to revenge , no legal robbery to redress : it is strong in its justice : it is then that the use and object of all this assemblage of gentlemen , and arrangement of juries , and the deserved veneration in which we hold the character of
English Judges , is understood in all its bearings , and in its fullest effects : men die for such things , they cannot be subdued by foreign force , where such just practices prevail . The sword
of ambition is shivered to pieces against such a bulwark . Nations fall where Judges are unjust , because there is nothing which the multitude think worth defending ; but nations do not fall which are treated as we
are treated , but they rise as we have risen , and they shine as we have shone , and die as we have died , too much used to justice , and too much used to freedom , to care for that life which is not just and free . I call you all to witness if there is any exaggerated
picture in this : the sword is just sheathed , the flag is just furled , the last sound of the trumpet has just died away . You all remember what a spectacle this country exhibited : one heart , one voice , one weapon , one purpose . And why I Because this
country is a country of the law ; because the Judge is a judge for the peasant as well as for the palace ; hecause every man ' s happiness is guarded by fixed rules from tyranny and ca * price . This town this week , the business of the few next days would
explain to any enlightened Europcasa why other nations did fall in the i n storms of the world , and why we did not fall . The Christian patience you may witness , the impartiality of the judgment-scat , the disrespect of persons , the disregard of consequences ^
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260 Character of an English Judge *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 260, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/4/
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