which they cannot grasp,' and their counsel, if they have counsel, can
only guess at the most obvious line of defence. He gives instances of
injustice inflicted in such cases, and suggests that the prisoners
should be made competent witnesses before both the magistrates and the
judge. This would often enable an innocent man to clear up the case; and
would avoid the evils due to the French system.[183]

Without going further into this or other practical suggestions, I will
quote his characteristic conclusion. The Criminal Law, he says, may be
regarded as an expression of the second table of the Ten Commandments.
It follows step by step the exposition of our duty to our neighbours in
the Catechism. There was never more urgent necessity for preaching such
a sermon than there is at present. There was never so much doubt as to
other sanctions. The religious sanction, in particular, has been
'immensely weakened, and people seem to believe that if they do not
happen to like morality, there is no reason why they should be moral.'
It is, then, 'specially necessary to those who do care for morality to
make its one unquestionable indisputable sanction as clear and strong
and emphatic as acts and words can make it. A man may disbelieve in God,
heaven, and hell; he may care little for mankind, or society, or for the
nation to which he belongs--let him at least be plainly told what are
the acts which will stamp him with infamy, hold him up to public
execration and bring him to the gallows, the gaol, or the lash.'[184]
That vigorous summary shows the connection between the 'Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity,' the various codifying enterprises, and his
writings upon theology and ethics. The remarkable point, if I am not
mistaken, is that in spite of the strong feeling indicated by the
passage just quoted, the tone of the book is throughout that of sound
common sense, impartiality, and love of fair play. It is characteristic
that in spite of his prejudice against the commonplaces about progress,
he does, in fact, show that the history of criminal law is in many most
important respects the history of a steady advance in humanity and
justice. Nor, in spite of a reservation or two against 'sentimentalism,'
does he fail to show hearty sympathy with the process of improvement.

II. 'NUNCOMAR AND IMPEY'

In the summer (1883) which followed the publication of the 'History,' it
began to appear that Fitzjames's health was not quite so vigorous a