The Shadow of Great Britain

315: Chapter 202: Human-like Constellations Shine (5K)_2 315: Chapter 202: Human-like Constellations Shine (5K)_2 When Arthur talked with many Londoners who had witnessed the scene, without exception, they all mentioned that Mr.

Ince, one of the conspirators with the noose around his neck, was still laughing loudly and singing: “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!”

And when someone asked if he regretted anything, Ince merely blinked and replied, “No, I don’t regret a thing.

I hope future generations will understand that although I failed, at least my efforts were sincere.”

To deter the ‘mob’, Earl Eldon also ordered that after the five men were hanged, the masked executioner should cut off all their heads and hang them.

While Britain’s laws still retain many remnants of the Middle Ages, this kind of beheading punishment had not been seen for a long time.

Eldon’s intent to intimidate the ‘ragtag’ clearly fell through; not only did his execution actions fail to deter anyone, but it also ignited an even stronger spirit of resistance among the British populace, and even his Cabinet colleagues were saddled with tremendous public pressure.

Liberal literati like Shelley and Byron wrote articles one after another, criticizing the Cabinet’s bloody policy, and Viscount Castlereagh, the Foreign Secretary who had once supported Earl Eldon’s iron-fisted approach to riots, couldn’t bear the tremendous public pressure and eventually committed suicide with a letter opener two years later.

If Mr.

Bernie Harrison was often in the company of these gentlemen, it wouldn’t be hard to guess what sort of ideas filled his head.

As the witty saying often passed around by the farmhands from Arthur’s family estate in the country goes, if you keep company with a cripple day after day, it won’t be long before you start to limp, too.

Thinking of this, Arthur suddenly furrowed his brow.

Now Mr.

Harrison could basically be categorized as a hardliner of the Tory Party.

In this faction that advocates ‘hardness is everything, stability is strength’, could Mr.

Harrison really accept his arrest by a few Scotland Yard country bumpkins without a fuss?

After all, according to Mr.

Drummond from the same faction, as rulers, they have always looked down on the lower class of Scotland Yard.

From this, one could basically deduce that Mr.

Harrison was definitely not a man of weak character, and his acceptance of arrest that day was absolutely an act.

As for why he was so calm about his own arrest, looking at it now, it’s also completely understandable.

As a friend and perfume supplier to Earl Eldon and the former High Chancellor, although he had stepped down, as an old-timer who held the position for 26 years, Britain’s judicial system was almost filled with his political pupils and old associates.

Nowadays, whether it’s the Magistrates’ Courts, the Court of Appeal, or the Court of Chancery, over seventy percent of the judges have received their warrants from Eldon.

With their assurances, knocking down a Lower House MP valued by Earl Eldon with no decisive evidence of his crime is truly harder than reaching the heavens.

Of course, this situation is probably only possible in Britain.

Generally, in other countries, a change of Cabinet would come with a systematic purge.

A typical example of this would be those savages in the North American colonies.

Arthur remembered that over there, they even came up with an artistically named phenomenon for it, called the ‘spoils system.’

But in Britain, especially in the judicial system, such a situation is completely impossible.

Because no matter which court it is, the High Chancellor only has the power to appoint vacancies, not the power to remove judges from office.

To remove any judge from his duties, it must be directly reported to His Majesty the King in the Privy Council for approval; if the King does not nod his head, there’s no discussion to be had.

And as far as Arthur knew, the King rarely ever nodded his head in such matters.

That’s because for nearly a century, whenever the King had taken the initiative to dismiss a judge, he could not avoid being chastised by public opinion afterwards.

In this respect, the various newspapers of Fleet Street were exceptionally instrumental; they would frequently drop bombshells like “The King interferes with judicial fairness,” “Despotism sparks over Britain’s skies,” “Shocking: Louis XVI moves into Buckingham Palace,” “What do you think of Cromwell as Lord Protector?” or “His Majesty the King says: I have decreed it!”

Therefore, after repeatedly being mocked by Fleet Street and finding that no matter what, they couldn’t shut them up, since the late George III’s reign, subsequent Kings also began to resign themselves to the situation, frankly leaving that area untouched.

The mindset of successive Kings shifted from grand visions to something more humble: there’s an old British saying that goes, ‘It’s best to keep quiet and make a fortune.’

Therefore, even if a judge truly made a mistake, as long as the issue wasn’t serious and public opinion didn’t push too hard, the King would mostly turn a blind eye and pretend not to see anything.

Plainly put, the King was not pleased to take the blame for the decisions of the ruling party; he left the judiciary to fend for itself.

Who asked you to make me sign the “Great Charter” back in the day?

Whoever has the problem should take it home.

Consequently, even though Lord Brougham had now assumed office as High Chancellor, stuffing the judicial system with new appointees was still something that had to be done slowly, one step at a time.

This is also why Viscount Melbourne was so grateful to Lord Brougham for willingly providing a vacancy for George Norton.