ecxlviii LIFE OF BACOX. 



is cowardice, or of giving pain when it ought to be 

 given, which is improper compassion. (&) He is just both 



House of Peers, and a committee was appointed to hear and report them 

 to the house, of which the Earl of Rochester was chairman. But the 

 Chief Justice Holt refused to give them in so extrajudicial a manner; but 

 he said that if the record was removed before the peers by error, so that it 

 came judicially before them, he would give his reasons very willingly; but 

 if he gave them in this case, it would be of very ill consequence to all 

 judges hereafter in all cases. At which answer some lords were so offended, 

 that they would have committed the Chief Justice to the Tower, but, not 

 withstanding, all their endeavours vanished in smoke. 



Colonel Whaley^ who commanded the garrison, came into court, and 

 urged &quot; that a man was killed for disobeying the Protector s order, and 

 that the soldier was but doing his duty, yet the judge (Sir M. Hale) 

 regarded both his reasons and his threatening very little, and therefore pro 

 nounced sentence upon him. Hale s Life. 



Two of Sir Matthew Hale s rules are : That popular or court applause or 

 distaste have no influence upon any thing I do, in point of distribution of 

 justice. Not to be solicitous what men will say or think, so long as I 

 keep myself exactly according to the rules of justice. 



See the account of Judge Gascoyne in Henry V. 



(/c) It is for you, upon reading the information, and by comparing it 

 with the pamphlet, to see whether the sense the Attorney General has 

 affixed is fairly affixed, always being guided by this that where it is truly 

 ambiguous and doubtful, the inclination of your judgment should be on 

 the side of innocence; but if you find you cannot acquit him without dis 

 torting sentences, you are to meet this case, and all other cases, as I stated 

 yesterday, with the fortitude of men, feeling that they have a duty upon 

 them superior to all leaning to parties ; namely, the administration of jus- 

 tice in the particular cause. Lord Kenyon, in Stockdale s case. 



Gentlemen, let me desire you again and again to consider all the cir 

 cumstances of this man s case, abstracted from the influence of prejudice 

 and habit ; and if ought of passion assumes dominion over you, let it be 

 of that honest, generous nature, that good men must feel when they see an 

 innocent man depending on their verdict for life. 



Curran, for Finnerty, p. 222. 



One of Sir Matthew Hale s rules is, &quot; That in business capital, though 

 my nature prompt me to pity, yet to consider that there is also a pity due 

 to the country.&quot; Another is, &quot; If in criminals it is a measuring cast to 

 incline to mercy and acquittal. In criminals of blood, if the fact be 

 evident., severity is justice.&quot; 



