Part 4
I was also surprised to hear the Judge say more than once that he did not understand, and was astonished at, the interest which this case had excited in the country. It is no defect of intellect which prevents the appreciation by the Judge of the deep interest taken in this case by the thousands in our land who appreciate the vital principles involved in it. It is the habit of men of the world to look at all things from the point of view of the conventional standard of society in which they move—a society which seems to be becoming yearly more corrupt.
I am much mistaken in my reading of physiognomy if the majority of those Jurymen were not themselves surprised at the Judge’s summing up. I believe them to be honest men, who intended to be thoroughly just; but they were placed in a difficult position, the ground having been so narrowed on which they were to pronounce their verdict, and having been forced to eliminate from their considerations all question of motive.
It is as true of human law as of Divine law, that “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” It is equally true that, by a blind adherence to technical formalities, administrators may find themselves acting in direct opposition to the spirit of the law, while carrying it out in the letter.
Mr. Auberon Herbert justly remarks that the time for free discussion of the attitude of our judicial tribunals has come, when the lay sense of justice and the legal sense of justice diverge. We are a law-abiding people: hence it is all the more easy for a Judge, by basing his decisions upon a merely technical idea of justice, to overawe and unduly influence for a time the good and moral portion of the community, so as to produce a temporary verdict outside the Law Courts which agrees with that inside in condemning those who have rendered the highest service to the nation by labouring to make the law more “honourable.” But that verdict is only temporary. The real, well-considered verdict of the nation is yet to come. Present events are educating the people in regard to their own share of responsibility for the personal character and acts of our judges and magistrates, as well as of our representatives in Parliament.
William Stead, worn out and ill, has written in a moment of depression words which I regret in his farewell leader in the _Pall Mall Gazette_. He speaks of having had a fair trial; compliments the prosecution; confesses himself to have been to blame; hopes that nothing will be done to reverse the sentence. Against some of these expressions the country will loyally protest, though we shall readily forgive our brave and beloved friend for having fallen momentarily into such a tone.
Perhaps Mr. Stead may think that he himself was courteously treated; but what of the courtesy or even decent fairness shown in regard to Rebecca, upon whom the utmost of vituperation permissible in a Court of Law was vented?
In conclusion, I think I scarcely need to say any word to those who have been my fellow-workers in the cause of Purity for many years. They, I am sure, rejoice, as I do, in the midst of all our trouble, that this question has come fairly to the front, and that it can never be thrust back again into darkness. God is using the blindness of our Government, of the Press, and their supporters, to bring about some great revolution for good which could not be born without agonizing birth-pangs. No great thing has ever been done except through suffering. The Salvation Army are not wrong in taking for their device the words—“Blood and Fire.” Revolutionists for God and for purity must be ready to go through blood and fire.
Though for the moment hearts may fail, and the wicked seem to triumph and sin to have the victory, already we have our reward in many ways—in the passing of a better law, and in the partial check given to the great machinery of criminal vice, even without the action of the law, by the publicity given to the machinations of the evildoers. Surely every one who can move, speak, write, or pray, will now haste to the rescue. No reticence on the part of the Public Press, or any other power, will ever succeed in drawing the veil again over the horrors which have been once exposed, nor in stifling the cry of the poor victims.
A young girl spoke to me a day or two ago, having heard of the result of this trial. With despair in her eye, and bitter scorn on her lips, she spoke in a low, muffled tone, and said:
“I am sure God _doesn’t care a bit for girls_. Whenever there is a chance of something being done for us, and of these wicked men being punished, then the Government comes and stops it all; and the good people are punished and frightened, and all the work is put an end to; and girls are as badly treated as ever. God lets off the bad rich men so easily, and doesn’t care for us girls a bit.”
I said to her: “Stop, child; have a little patience, and you will see.” But she only answered in the same low, bitter, scornful tone: “But we have waited so long—so long!” Do not let this poor child’s expression of despair be forgotten. It is typical of what thousands are realizing, more or less consciously to themselves. But that God does not care is not true: and we shall prove it! If justice and judgment linger, it is only that their triumph may be the more complete.
Thousands of hearts and consciences will respond to the following words of Rev. HUGH PRICE HUGHES:—
“While our Government is squandering thousands in an attempt to ruin the one man to whom we owe a revolutionary improvement in the law, they are doing practically nothing to stop the real evil. The police of our great provincial towns are already effecting unprecedented moral improvements under Mr. Stead’s Act. But the 10,000 Metropolitan policemen, under the direction of the Government, have done nothing except allow Mrs. Jeffries to escape, rebuke Minahan, and prosecute Mr. Stead. All the journals which for fifteen years have never broken their conspiracy of silence, except to advocate the obscene and iniquitous Contagious Diseases Acts, are now howling against Mr. Stead. To each of them, as to Judas Iscariot of old, it must be said: ‘That thou doest, do quickly.’ ‘This is the hour and power of darkness.’ Now is the time to betray the cause of virtue. Stab away with your malignant and mendacious articles at the quivering hearts of pure women and good men. Hasten to fill up the measure of your iniquity. Jesus of Nazareth, the Friend of sinners, the Protector of children, has heard our prayers. The night is far spent. The long-expected day of Purity and Justice and Brotherhood is at hand.”
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London: MORGAN & SCOTT, 12, Paternoster Buildings.
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REBECCA JARRETT.
BY
JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER.
PRESS COMMENTS.
“This little book is one which should be read by all who desire to know the truth about the recent trial at the Old Bailey. Feelings of respect and sympathy cannot fail to be called forth towards one so earnest-hearted and devoted as the writer.”—_British Women’s Temperance Journal._
“All fair-minded persons ought to welcome the account of Rebecca Jarrett’s life, just prepared by Mrs. Josephine Butler. We venture to think that the perusal of this pathetic sketch will modify those hard and bitter feelings towards this woman, which some good and sincere people think themselves justified in cherishing.”—_The Christian._
“We beg our readers to purchase at once the little book which Mrs. Josephine Butler has just issued, entitled ‘REBECCA JARRETT.’ It is published at sixpence by Morgan and Scott. It places Rebecca Jarrett in quite a new light, and brings out the real character of the recent trial more clearly and fully than it has been brought out by anybody else.”—REV. HUGH PRICE HUGHES in _The Methodist Times_.
[Illustration: [Fleuron]]
NOW READY. FOURTH EDITION.
_Handsomely Bound._ _Price Six Shillings._
CATHARINE OF SIENA:
A BIOGRAPHY.
By JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER,
_Author of the “Memoir of John Grey of Dilston,” &c._
WITH A PORTRAIT ENGRAVED ON STEEL.
EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS.
_The Spectator_ says—“Mrs. Butler, as we cannot but believe, has achieved a great success, and of the pages of this remarkable biography it is difficult to say whether they reflect more strikingly the aspects and events of the great century in which Catharine lived and laboured, or the personality of the saint herself.”
_The Literary World_ says—“The story of Catharine of Siena, as told by Mrs. Butler, presents the saint in such a new light, that it is well worth reading by those who would turn with weariness from the lives of the saints as told either by the Bollandists or Benedictines. It teaches us that, as one man in his time can play many parts, so a life which we are tolerably familiar with in one aspect may be seen in a totally new light, according as it is grouped with others or simply studied by itself.... We are ready to admit that we have made a discovery in reading this life of St. Catharine, and the discovery is all the more striking since Mrs. Butler has apparently not sat down with any intention of rehabilitating the fair Sienese saint.”
_The Dundee Evening Telegraph_ says—“We see in the beautiful character portrayed by the accomplished authoress of this volume a noble, pure and devoted Christian worker. She visited the forsaken prisoner; she brought comfort and hope to the lost and abandoned; she visited the sick, and in the hour when all human help fails and the fairest hopes of earth wither, we see her holding before the plague-stricken dying people the sacred emblem of sorrow and of triumph, and pointing undismayed to the unfailing refuge.”
_The Freeman_ says—“No Christian reader will fail to be edified by the devout spirit and the profound sympathy with all that is noble and heroic in philanthropy, which pervades both the biographer and the subject of the biography.”
_The Christian_ says—“We should be glad that all the women of England, and especially the Christian women, should read this noble life.”
LONDON: DYER BROTHERS, PATERNOSTER SQUARE (CORNER OF ROSE STREET). _May be ordered through any Bookseller, or will be sent post-free on receipt of the published price._
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. ● Used numbers for footnotes. ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. ● Enclosed blackletter font in =equals=.