|
|
ACT ONE
Scent 2
|
| |
Curtain rises -- It is five hours later.
Sherwood has returned to the Bench, accompanied by Judge Hagerman.
|
|
JARVIS
|
Order. Order in the court. Quiet, back up there! Quiet!
|
|
SHERWOOD
|
Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
|
|
DAVENISH
|
Yes, my Lord.
|
|
SHERWOOD
|
Thank you, Mr. Davenish. You have done your duty well. Mr.
Rolph, do you wish to say anything before the Court pronounces sentence?
|
|
ROLPH
|
My Lord, the jury's verdict has not been unanticipated by
my client, by my colleague Mr. Baldwin, or by myself, given the nature of
your Lordship's summation. I believe you went so far as to pronounce my
client not only a retailer of calumny but a wholesale retailer of calumny.
After that, and given the state of affairs in this Province, in Upper Canada,
what other verdict could be expected? But my Lord's words have been taken
down, in shorthand, by my client, and also, I am told, by his fellow editor,
Mr. Carey, proprietor and publisher of the York Observer. No doubt those
words will return to haunt your Lordship in days to come. No doubt, in time,
the people themselves will render judgment on them.
|
|
ROBINSON
|
My Lord, my colleague threatens the Court! If I understand
him well, he wants the people to decide these matters.
|
|
SHERWOOD
|
Let him proceed, Mr. Robinson. Sentence has not yet been pronouned
by this court.
|
|
ROBINSON
|
Quite so, my Lord; quite so.
|
|
SHERWOOD
|
Mr. Rolph, the Court has extended great indulgence, but do
not try the patience of the Court much further. There is a limit. As you
well know, Mr. Rolph, the Court of King's Bench is constituted of three
Judges. Mr. Hagerman not only has a right but a duty to sit on the Bench,
and I look forward to receiving his learned advice, should it be desired.
Do I make myself clear, Mr. Rolph?
|
|
ROLPH
|
Only too clear, my Lord. I fear anything more I might say
would only make matters worse for my client this day. The court of public
opinion may have a different view. I see no point in continuing.
|
|
SHERWOOD
|
The accused will stand and face the Court.
|
| |
(Collins stands.)
|
|
SHERWOOD
|
Francis Collins, you have been found guilty of libel by a jury of your
peers, after a fair trial, with all the protection that the law offered
and the Court could afford. (Pulls sheet of paper from inside his robe.)
Francis Collins, it is my duty to pronounce sentence as follows. You
shall be incarcerated in the Common Gaol of the District of York for a
period of one year; you shall pay a fine of £50 (fifty pounds) at
the end of that twelve months' imprisonment; you shall lodge bail, yourself
in the amount of £400 (four hundred pounds), and two sureties on
your behalf in the amount of £100 (one hundred pounds) each, to
ensure you be of good behaviour for a period of one year -- (Hagerman
leans over and points with finger at paper from which Sherwood is reading)
-- Excuse, me, Mr. Collins -- to ensure you be of good behaviour for a
period of three years, and you shall remain committed to gaol and not
released until these conditions be complied with. God save the King. Sheriff,
remove the prisoner. (General hub-bub.) This Court will now rise until
the June Assizes.
|
|
JARVIS
|
All stand. (Sherwood and Hagerman move off the Bench. (Curtain
starts to fall.)
|
|
VOICE
|
That's me royal Irish arse of a Chief Justice!
|
|
|
(Curtain)
|
The Whole Damn Lot Navigation
First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page
Home
| About
| Canadian Vindicator
| Literature
| Gallery
| History
|
|
|
