76 



London Stone. 



tical status as every individual does now. But every family did not 

 represent itself on State occasions by all the persons composing it, that 

 is, by the chief of the household and all his children and grandchildren, 

 attendants, slaves and servants; but for all State purposes the chief 

 was the only one considered, and as he was responsible to the State 

 for the conduct of his household, and to him was relegated their pun- 

 ishment and their reward, so to him alone was given the honor of 

 attending the State assembly — the council of his village, his tribe or 

 his nation. This assembly of the people was both legislative and 

 judicial, for in those early days there was no clear division between 

 these different branches of government; and the law's delays were un- 

 known, for when a judgment was rendered it was at once carried into 

 effect, particularly if it was a judgment of death ; for many of these 

 law hills are closely associated with another hill called Gallows Hill, 

 and the two are in such close proximity that a man was hurried from 

 one to another with a rapidity appalling to this generation, educated 

 as we are to questions of appeal and pleas of insanity. And perhaps 

 justice was as fairly meted out then as it is now. 



Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors would not hold their courts in any other 

 place than the open air ; that was freedom, and at the same time there 

 was the fear of the magic spell inclosed within the four walls of a 

 building, and they must judge in the open air that this magic might 

 have less power over them. And, besides, we do not find in the large 

 cities any remains of large halls or buildings, where the Witan might 

 have met, nor are any such structures found in the villages or places 

 mentioned as the meeting places of the local or national assembly. 



All old nations have left some record of this open air assembly; but 

 we gather from Bible history an example connected intimately with 

 our subject. It is recorded that when Joshua came to resign the trust 

 that had been committed to him, " he gathered all the tribes of Israel 

 to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and 

 for their judges and for their officers," i. e., he called an assembly of 

 the people and it was unquestionably in the open air. The object of 

 this meeting was to decide a very important question, whether or not 

 they would adhere to their national religion. This the people decided 

 in the affirmative ; and after they had decided "Joshua made a cove- 

 nant with the people that day and set them a statute and ordinance 

 in Shechem and wrote these words in the book of the law of God and 

 took a great stone and set it up there under an oak, and said ' Behold 

 this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it hath heard all the words of 

 the Lord which he spake unto us ; it shall be a witness unto you lest 

 you deny your God."' And when Adonijah would usurp the king- 



