Chapter 360: Red Face, White Face

Chapter 357 – Red Face, White Face
Inside the office of the Chancery Hall, Viscount Melbourne and Lord Brougham sat on each side of the sofa.

There were also several documents in front of them, which were densely filled with names.

Behind these names were all sorts of felony charges that made one’s liver feel shaky just by looking at them.

Robbery of large livestock, burglary, vandalism, roadblock robbery, murder, treason ……

Any of these charges taken individually would have been enough for a hanging sentence, let alone the fact that many of them carried several charges, so that he could only be sentenced to a single death sentence to be carried out repeatedly.

Lord Brougham held that list and looked at it for half a day, “More than a thousand felons, if this is all sentenced to hang, it is simply more than the number of hangings in the past ten years combined.”

Viscount Melbourne stroked his hair and said, “Of course I am aware of this, and I have promised these rioters before that as long as they are willing to surrender voluntarily, the government will definitely consider a lighter sentence. Therefore, these thousand or so people definitely cannot all be executed by hanging, not even most of them. This is no longer the time a decade or so ago, the ethos of freedom has taken root in Britain, and every hanging will be scrutinized with a magnifying glass by the people of Britain, not to mention, Fleet Street also supports a group of news media who see what’s going on.”

Lord Brougham leaned back on the sofa with his glass of wine crossed, “This is indeed an advancement on a social level, but at the same time it has caused a lot of trouble for our executive agencies. Although Britannia’s courts have always been known for their ironclad, independent judgments, but now even if the court ultimately imposes a sentence of death by hanging, in the end, only one tenth of it can actually be carried out.”

Viscount Melbourne smiled and spoke, “Your Excellency, for this Swain Riot, I think that even one-tenth of the execution rate is still too high. Executing more than a hundred people at once is already as many as the number of executions in England last year.

For the trial of this riot, I have already spoken with Peel, and both he, as the former Home Secretary, and I, as the present Home Secretary, think that it will be sufficient to execute only those who led the riot, and those who committed unforgivable offenses, such as murder. As for the rest, those with less serious circumstances can be considered for acquittal at their discretion, and those with more serious circumstances can be sentenced to exile or hard labor instead.”

Hearing this, Brougham frowned slightly and said, “Your Excellency the Viscount, with all due respect, no one can interfere with the independence of the Judges of Britannia. Although I hold the power to appoint judges to shortages, I don’t have the power to remove them once they sit in that position. If it is only a few criminals, I can indeed help you seek out a few judges with more flexible means.

However, a trial of this kind with over a thousand people cannot be completed in a short period of time with only a few judges. Perhaps the Home Office can afford to wait, but there aren’t many chronic journalists in Fleet Street. If they blow the whistle on this, then things will only get worse.”

“No, you misunderstand me.”

Viscount Melbourne spoke up, “Of course I know that the independence of the judges of Britannia is sacred and unshakeable, even His Majesty the King has suffered at their hands not once or twice. When you were a lawyer, didn’t you win the divorce case with the late King George IV for Queen Caroline?

Therefore, I would not and could not desecrate the justice of the court. On the contrary, I want all courts to be impartial and to rule as they should. It was precisely to demonstrate the fairness, openness and transparency of the trial that I requested the establishment of the Swain Riots Special Trial Commission to oversee the trial.”

Lord Brougham was no fool, and as soon as he heard that Viscount Melbourne was not trying to manipulate the trial, he immediately understood his subtext.

“You are trying to get His Majesty the King to issue special pardons to those criminals after the trial is over, right?”

Viscount Melbourne nodded with a smile, “I have already explained to the Prime Minister beforehand, and I will also visit the other members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council one by one afterward. As long as you, the chairman of the committee, similarly nods, then I believe that His Majesty the King should respect the collective opinion of the committee.”

Viscount Melbourne had expected that he might have to spend some time in the Lord Chancellor’s Chambers, after all, Lord Brougham, the senior Queen’s Counsel, was notoriously difficult to deal with.

In addition to his slightly raw personality, Brougham’s habitually venomous writing style and rhetoric was intimidating.

As one of the founders of the Edinburgh Review, the organ of the Whig Party, Lord Brougham, in his youth, in addition to doing his job as a lawyer well, his other major hobby was to attack Byron, Shelley, Keats and other Romantic poets who were so licentious as to make him look at him with disdain.

Among these attacks, Keats was particularly criticized most fiercely.

It is said that Keats was seriously ill when he read one of Lord Brougham’s criticisms of him before he spat blood and died.

Although this kind of gossip can not be fully believed, but the people of London still in a long time he called ‘cold Brougham’.

However, using ‘cold’ to summarize Brougham as a person is actually inaccurate. This is because, in the opinion of the Whig party, he sometimes appeared to be too ‘warm’ again in terms of his political stance.

In the longstanding rivalry between the Whigs and the Tories, the Tories pride themselves on valuing tradition, while the Whigs use liberal progress as their slogan.

But even to the liberal-progressive Whigs, Brougham still seemed too liberal-progressive.

Even among the already left-leaning Whigs, Brougham belongs to the radical left.

On a legal level, as a youth Brougham was already one of the avid fans of the legal reformer Samuel Romilly.

On the human rights front, he was an active supporter of the abolitionist movement’s founder, William Wilberforce.

In education, he was one of the first figures in Britain to make the call for public education. And he did more than just shout slogans. Although he was unable to change Parliament’s mindset, Brougham worked with a few like-minded friends to raise money to found the University of London.

As for the political level, Brougham is a hardcore supporter of parliamentary reform, and still the kind of even if the neck of ten donkeys can not let him turn back the kind.

Perhaps because of Brougham’s radical ideas and power of action, even though he joined the Whig Party at an early age and had a good reputation in society, it was not until 1810 that he was formally recognized as a parliamentary candidate by the unavailable Whig Party.

Neither the curses of those Keats supporters nor the vicious attacks of his political opponents ever turned the Royal Chancellor’s face.

Such a my-way-or-the-highway personality was almost the polar opposite of Viscount Melbourne, who was mild and lazy to the point of being less inclined to start an argument.

Therefore, when Viscount Melbourne came to the Chancellor’s Hall today, he had long been prepared for the possibility of hitting a wall.

After all, this matter of him opening his mouth at Brougham was, to a certain extent, completely defying the authority of the court.

However, what he didn’t expect was that Brougham actually promised to do so.

“In fact, even if you don’t come to me, I will still ask His Majesty to grant a pardon.”

“Hm?” Viscount Melbourne raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise, “What is the reason for this?”

Lord Brougham spoke, “Originally, this was still in the preparatory stage, but since it just happened to come up, let me get it straight. As you all know, I have been supporting Lord Romilly’s call to reform the criminal law all these years.

Although Lord Peel, during his tenure, has pushed significantly for the repeal of the Blood Act. Today the death penalty entries in Britain have been cut from 222 to 56, but it seems to me that some of them still need careful consideration.

Hanging, for example, for the 42 crimes of forgery, is inappropriate. Although in 1830 an Act of Parliament reaffirmed the necessity of the death penalty for these crimes of forgery, in practice, after my discussions with Sir Radzinowicz, I have found that in the last year or so not a single criminal has been executed for the crime of forgery.

Sir Radzinowicz said bluntly: ‘The contrast between the letter of the law and the practice of the law is perhaps even more alarming.’

The jury did not agree with burying a living life for forgery, and there were many among the group of judges who thought the sentence was too harsh. In order to avoid getting a person killed, juries often return not guilty verdicts. If this continues, then such a law would amount to a dead letter.

That’s why I’ve been thinking for some time now about replacing punishments that are disproportionate to their crimes with lighter but more certain punishments. Only a law that can be recognized by the public can actually be enforced, and if it can be enforced, it can be called a law. Otherwise it is no different from Keats’s verse.” “Keats’ verse?”

“Uh-huh.” Lord Brougham took a small sip, “It looks gorgeous, but in reality it’s just sickly and serves no purpose.”

Viscount Melbourne sniffed, his lifted heart finally put back into his stomach, he smiled and raised his glass, “Appointing you to be the Lord Chancellor was indeed a correct decision. If the Lord Chancellor’s Office decides to continue to push for judicial reform, the Ministry of the Interior will definitely support you with full support as well.”

Hearing this, Brougham suddenly opened his mouth, “However, just as you said, although His Majesty the King will grant pardons to some people, or change the sentence to a lighter level of punishment, the sentences pronounced in the courtroom will still be carried out in accordance with the original provisions.

Those who are sentenced to be hanged in court must still be hanged, and if the court is lenient, it will be like encouraging riots, and there is no way to talk about the majesty and sanctity of the law. His Majesty the King has been merciful on this occasion, but it will not happen again.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Viscount Melbourne smiled and spoke, “Letting His Majesty the King be the good guy for this, I’m sure he’ll be very happy as well. Speaking back, the current His Majesty the King doesn’t seem to be quite the same as his brother, he was born with a compassionate heart and practiced humanitarianism. I have heard that every time the Old Bailey Court sends a death sentence to His Majesty for approval, he always reads it over and over again several times before ordering the judge to present the case to him in person before he is willing to sign his name. It seems that His Majesty himself has commuted ninety percent of the death penalty cases in the last year.”

Lord Brougham joked, “With His Majesty’s help, your usual work is much easier isn’t it? If he was as lazy as the late king, according to the usual practice, but the death penalty should be approved by the Minister of the Interior.”

Viscount Melbourne also laughed easily, “That’s right, His Majesty is probably aware of my lazy personality and knows that not everyone can be as energetic as Sir Pierre. He is always considerate of his subjects, whether they be the Home Secretary or his old brother in the Royal Navy.”

Lord Brougham winked and laughed, “Unfortunately, the rest of the House of Lords may not think so. When the House of Lords was in session a while back, I heard the old curmudgeons complaining that His Majesty doesn’t have class and style like his brother, that he doesn’t have the time of day to speak, that he likes to give the group a lengthy pre-war rallying speech for the ship when he’s drunk, and that even elegant French smells like Caribbean tobacco when it comes out of his mouth.”

Out of politeness, Viscount Melbourne only turned up the corners of his mouth slightly and did not burst out laughing.

He spoke, “The fellows you speak of didn’t think much of His Majesty before he took the throne, and His Majesty himself probably didn’t expect to inherit the throne. For a long time, he was the royal family’s little transparency. Whether it was choosing to follow General Nelson when he was young, or later threatening his old man to join the House of Lords himself, it shows that His Majesty is a man who craves attention. Though in some places he does it in a less than decent manner, he does want to be a great king.”

Brougham picked up his handkerchief and wiped his mouth, “Is that why you gave him this opportunity to be able to show his mercy in front of the public of Britain by pardoning the mobs?”

Viscount Melbourne laughed softly, “Just a coincidence.”

Viscount Melbourne was unwilling to say it explicitly, and Lord Brougham did not intend to pursue the matter further.

Professional lawyer that he was, he wasn’t very fond of the human side of things, and his my-way-or-the-highway personality made him more concerned with the specific execution.

He just asked, ”Now that the candidate to show mercy has been determined, that task of socking the shit on yourself, who are you going to give it to? Swaying the judge’s decision only exists as a theoretical possibility, and this kind of thing that makes people actively roll in the mud pit is something only a guy with a brain problem would be able to do.”

In one sentence, Brougham cut through the other purpose of Viscount Melbourne’s trip.

Viscount Melbourne reorganized his language and analyzed slowly, “We all know the sensitivity of this trial, so we can’t get a guy with a bad reputation in his own right to do it, that would only make the Fleet Street reporters cheer and the citizens of Britannia rage …… “

“Fair enough.”

Lord Brougham waved it off seemingly casually, “It would be nice if you could convince the Archbishop of Canterbury to take charge of the prosecution.”

“That would be quite unnecessary, and the prosecution needn’t be icy clean like that.”

Viscount Melbourne hastened to interrupt the other’s whimsical thoughts, and knew that Lord Brougham had presumably guessed what he was thinking.

That being the case, he did not intend to beat about the bush, but asked directly, “I intend to leave the matter in the hands of the London District Attorney’s Office, or, more accurately, in the hands of your favorite pupil, Arthur Hastings.”

“Wow…… “Lord Brougham rested one hand on the back of the sofa and raised his eyes to look out the window, “I must say, you have a very jumpy mind. From the religious leaders of Britannia, all of a sudden you’ve taken a turn to the atheist stronghold that is the University of London.”

A simple sentence instantly pulled Viscount Melbourne back to the cold reality from the relaxed writing he had just done.

Brougham’s difficulty was instantly apparent.

The reason why he was so nice just now was not because he had a good temper at all, but because Viscount Melbourne’s thoughts were on the same line as his.

Once the two thought contrary to each other, the turn of the day was hail on the face and wild winds.

However, it wasn’t like Viscount Melbourne couldn’t understand the other party’s thoughts.

The University of London as a newly established school, but also just received a teaching charter not long, itself not many famous alumni.

Only the other day, an advertisement for admissions featuring Arthur Hastings had just appeared in The Times.

In the blink of an eye, Brougham’s favorite disciple was to be asked to carry a bag of dynamite; there was no such thing under the sun.

What’s more, Arthur had just been shot in Liverpool. According to Brougham’s temperament, it is already polite not to explode directly.

If he was still smearing his students at this time, he was simply not taking him seriously.

However, Viscount Melbourne also thought of this point early on, and he took out the rhetoric he had prepared long ago to persuade.

“In fact, if there are other suitable candidates, I don’t want to bother him out again. Even in terms of my personal feelings, Mr. Hastings has been quite helpful to me. A while ago, I had a misunderstanding with Mr. Faraday, and it was only when he stepped in that he helped to resolve it. That’s why, when the Liverpool incident happened, I was the first to transfer people from Scotland Yard to strengthen his defense.

However, in my personal opinion, putting Mr. Hastings in charge of this job will definitely be beneficial to his future growth. It is no secret that the Home Office has also recently been considering a revision of the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829. Arthur’s ability and merit are well known to the group.

Although promotion on the basis of merit is not permitted to a certain extent, I have always been unstinting in promoting young men of ability. If Arthur can do a good job in this prosecution, after the reorganization of Scotland Yard, he deserves to be promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Police, and those doubts about his concurrent duties as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in the London District Attorney’s Office can be silenced.

Apart from that, at the last Privy Council meeting, didn’t we discuss about the list of Sir Knights of the Inferior Order of Merit to be conferred in the coming year? The specific candidates have not been formally determined yet, and if Arthur is able to close the case before the list is submitted, I feel that with this merit, he definitely deserves this honor.”

Lord Brougham’s face was still set in displeasure when he heard this.

He was about to share a few more words with Viscount Melbourne, but before he could speak he heard a knock on the door.

“Your Excellency, Mr. Hastings has returned from Liverpool, are you free to receive him now?”

(End of chapter)