THE MIRROR OF MAGISTRATES.
" The friends of Sir Peter Laurie are about to invite his Lordship to a dinner on the 6th of November, at which a handsome piece of plate is to be presented, in token of their approval of the manner in which he has discharged the duties of the civic office during the past year."
" Sir Peter Laurie means well, and he has made a bold attack on the priests of the shrine of Themis. But the English are a superstitious people—slaves of custom—Battered by being told that every thing in England has always been better than in any other country. They will again present their noses to the lawyers, to be led by them; and Sir Peter will hardly have obtained possession of his plate, when his successors will be found departing from the precedent he set them."—Morning Chronicle.
There appears to be a determination in some quarters to set up Sir PETER LAURIE as the mirror for Magistrates—the very pink of Justices of the Peace. Such a man, one might imagine, was never seen on the bench before, and .there is no hope of a suc- cessor •like unto him: After the fatal ninth of November, the lawyers will again have the British public by the nose ; and pro- fessional chicanery will recommence her reign in what ought to-be the domain of justice and equity. Sir PETER LAURIE, we are told, strikes greater terror into the souls of evil-doers, than all the other Magistrates in London put together. Every scamp in the City holds him in mortal dread; and the sneaks and fences of Westminster and the Borough bless their lucky stars that they are not within the limits of his searching jurisdiction. It must be allowed, indeed, that thieves have small chance of escape from punishment when once they are brought into his awful presence. Whatever may be the evidence pro or con, Sir PETER makes it a rule to consider all guilty; and if he cannot legally commit them for the offence with which they are directly charged, the chances are that he. will be able to put them in limbo for some other. Then he exercises all the ingenuity he possesses— which, tobe sure, is but small—to make the wretches convict them- selves. He gives them to understand, that there is a strong pre- sumption of their guilt, if they refuse to answer his interrogatories; and having obtained replies under this threat, what should he do but make use of them against the accused? No wonder that, before so active a judge, discreet men, whether innocent or guilty, object to produce the evidence in their faveur. Thus, we are persuaded that Mr. SAVORY, the silversmith, acted wisely, the other day, when he reserved his defence for the time of trial, when an im- partial Judge, as well as an independent Jury, would have to decide upon its value, and real bearing upon the case; an ex- ercise of the reasoning faculty of which, we suspect, Sir PETER LAURIE is quite incapable. The Morning Chronicle, indeed, throws all the blame of sending that case into court upon Mr. SAVORY'S counsel ; who, it is said, ought to have produced the ex- culpatory evidence at once. Before an unprejudiced judge, this perhaps would have been the preferable line of conduct ; but it was impossible not to see that the Lord Mayor was biassed against Mr. SAVORY, and that the credit of his witnesses would have been blown upon had they been produced at the time of the examina- tion. Therefore,—although we think that there is much truth in what the Chronicle says respecting the practices of the lawyers, and their natural propensity to increase the costs of trials and litiggion,—the selection of Mr. SAVORY'S case as an illustration of the evil consequence of such practices appears to he unfortunate. We are not disposed to deny that Sir PETER LAURIE " means well,"—for it would be quite irrational to believe the reverse: but we are far. indeed from concurring in the extravagant praise which is showered upon his conduct as a Magistrate. We have repeatedly had occasion to notice his utter want of self-respect, as evinced by his making low jokei, chattering perpetually with all sorts Of people, swelling- the reports. -of the penny-aline gentle;., men, and at the same time furnishing ample proof of his own ridi- culous vanity, and unfitness for the magisterial office. A magis- trate, on the bench of justice, should be serious and restrained in his demeanour : he should never forget, that in those cases which he has no power finally to decide, the strictest decorum towards the persons brought before him is an essential part of his duty : he should inquire diligently into the facts, but not commit himself by a decided opinion on the merits of the case. A discreet ma- gistrate would conduct himself after this fashion : a prejudiced, restless, vain trifler, follows a course directly the reverse.
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