So much the better—we’ll have candles for them yet; and if we do, my boy, the game is our own ... fire away; my authorities are almost ready now—fire away.
—I journeyed the world over, but I found little to prove that human life was of much value anywhere—anywhere I should say, except among the barbarians and the savages. My heart was troubled with fear. I knew not whither to go, nor where to look. Should I pursue my way further into the cities of Europe, or go back into the wilderness of America?—At last I heard of a nation—bear with me judges—where all men were supposed by the law to be innocent, until they were proved to be guilty, where the very judges were said to be of counsel for the accused, where the verdict of at least twelve, and in some cases of twenty-four men—their unanimous verdict too, was required for the condemnation of such accused; where if a man were charged with a crime, he was not even permitted to accuse himself or to acknowledge the truth, till he had been put upon his guard by the judges—who would even allow him, nay press him to withdraw an avowal, though it were made by him with serious deliberation; where the laws were so tender of human life to say all in a word, and so remarkable for humanity as to be a perpetual theme for declamation. I heard all this.... I had much reason to believe it ... for everybody that I knew believed it.... I grew instantly weary of home....
Lights there! lights....
—I could not sleep for the desire I had to see that country.
You’d better stop awhile, Mr. Burroughs, whispered the lawyer.
—And I lost no time in going to it.
Pull up where you are ... but keep your face toward the jury.
CHAPTER IX.
Well, continued Burroughs, I departed for the shores of that other world, where human life was guarded with such care and jealousy. I inquired for the courts of justice and for the halls of legislation ... I hurried thither; ... I elbowed my way up to the sources of their law, and I had the mortification to discover that in almost every case, their courts were contrived, not as I had hoped from the character of the people, so as to give the public an opportunity of seeing the operation of power at work in the high-places of our earth, for the detection of guilt and for the security of virtue, but so as to hinder that operation, whether evil or good, from being viewed by the public. Everywhere the courts of justice were paltry ... everywhere inconvenient. Seeing this I grew afraid for the people. I found but one large enough to accommodate its own officers, and but one which it was possible for a stranger to enter, even by the aid of money, without much delay, difficulty and hazard. Ye do not believe me—ye cannot believe that such things are, such courts or such men, or that ever a price hath been fixed in a proud free country, for which a few and but a few of a mighty and wise people may see, now and then, wherefore it is that some one of their number is to be swept away from the earth forever. What I say is true. To the Halls of Legislation I proceeded—to the place where that law is made of which I have had occasion to speak this day. I went without my dinner; I paid my last half-crown to see the makers of the law—and I came away, after seeing—not the makers of the law, but the door-keepers of their cage—it is true that while I was there, I was happy enough to see a man, who was looking at another man, which other man declared that the wig of the Speaker was distinctly visible—
Are you mad?