Show secretary evarts is undoubtedly tho genius of tho BO far as law and logic aro concerned ilia erudition docs not consist so much of a genuine thorough knowledge knowl edgo of the theory and application of the various branches of jurisprudence as of tho faculty of originality his master mind scorns tho trammels of the lex septa and lev fion as understood and practiced practised by ordinary members of the bar and he soars above and beyond the narrow limits of commonly accepted interpretations of statutory provisions he is to all intents and pur josesa modernized nineteenth century pericles a newly dei blackstone with tho fertility of thought and aptness charac the first the executive talent of the second and the richly endowed mind and clearness of ex of the latter at least ho evidently thinks so and would like tho united states and tho rest of mankind to do likewise but there be those who even in tho presence of supposed colossal intellects liko that of eirts dollino to receive his edicts circulars or ideas as the emanations of other than a mediocre politician these people may be ignorant and unappreciative and may not at least it can do no harm for one or more of them to analyze the case and point out a few of his irregularities eccentricities and mistakes when they exist evarts undoubtedly knows a great deal but that he know everything is equally apparent from the earliest stages of human development down to the present time the necessity of recognizing the proneness of our species to commit crime by adopting laws to punish it when committed has always existed richard III states the case very aptly when he says why should laws be made but that were rogues by nature and this inherent ten dency to do evil has at all times and in all been the means of creating its opposite hence lawi givers jurists and practitioners spring up all along the avenues of life whose duty it is to expound devise and unfold measures for the protection of society but the better classes of the legal and judicial professions fes never drift so far from their moorings as to ignore well established precedents which were evidently founded upon good principles of law and regulated by tho necessities out of which they grew and through which they have subsequently passed in fact a legal precedent which has stood tho test of ages cannot bo set aside by a mero dictum a concerted movement or even a revolution if perishable at all it can only fade away in the rear of advancing civilization and gradually become obsolete because superseded by something better fitted to the growing condition of the race but his something better it should bo remembered comes as slowly and deliberately as the something inferior departs a circular letter from the premier of a country to its correspondents abroad being of no avail a that direction and in overlooking purposely perhaps this important act mr evarts egregiously blundered for if his object was to create a reputation abroad tho criticisms bestowed upon hh effort by such journals as tho london has shaped whatever be may have achieved in that connection into fame of the character least desired by a statesman criminal laws are tho least elastic of any of the repelling forces known to jurisprudence their construction is generally strict and confined as far as reason will permit to their naked provisions constructive guilt is admissible to the absence of direct means of proof when crime has been committed but upon amm evarts has fallen the honor of discovering that breaches of law may bo established presumptively in prospective cases to the world at large this must be a new idea and to prosecute ing attorneys it would if adopted be unquestionably a charming feature of modern criminal practice and when to this absurdity is added the idea of inflicting the penalty of such future probable guilt upon persons who are outside the jurisdiction of the united states the caad would geom to indicate budding if not well developed insanity mr evarts is undoubtedly a radical he believes in overturning rearranging and setting aside lawyers in their professional capacity are seldom in fact hardly ever so being tied to the traditions of the probes holding in almost sacred reverence those precepts and max im which had their rise in alio agea hoary with antiquity and have been proved invulnerable by their existence through tho processes of attrition criticism and application to whish all tho intervening ages have subjected them tho trained and thorough lawyer of the period in tho line of his occupation must of sheer neco wity it would bo eminently conservative lie at tho idoa of laws which create criminals in advance of crime would punish the commission not the contemplation of offenses even f such contemplation could bo established and would turn in disi dain from any proposition looking to the distortion of those rules and regulations which the experience of mankind through an cycle has demonstrated as the wisest safest and most just for the deberr ruination of crime it may be that tho secretary of state is a profound thinker a wise politician and a thorough but if BO the conclusion seems to us irresistibly that tha common herd are in a otate of hopeless draveling driveling dri idiocy A CHAP waa fined 10 at salt lake on saturday for exhibiting lewd pictures A |