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GALLERY SKETCHES
among the federal
MEMBERS.
By 1THUMEL.
"Ithuriri, with his spear touched lightly."
Scene—The Australian High Court, 1904.
—Air. Higgins, K.C. (bewigged and scarcely
recognisable to those who have been accus
tomed to look down upon the vast polished
space which covers his legal lore)—"With
great respect, your Honour. With due
submission, your Honour—certainly, your
Honour'—your Honour conveys your
Honour's self with the utmost lucidity—I
quite see the force of your Honour's view,
but I have an affidavit here from Mr. Wat
son ". ' Chief Justice Sir Edmund Bar
ton.—"Watson? Watson? I do not recall
the name." Air. Higgins.—"Ha, ha, ha,
ha! Excuse me, your Honour. Your
Honour's humour so pungent—interests of
client as well as own inclination con
strain—to laugh, judicial wit. Who is Mi.
Watson? Ha, ha! Excuse me again. Ex
cellent joke! Mr. Watson, if your Honour
pleases, is the leader of the Labour party."
Chief Justice.—"Labour party? There was
nothjng about the Labour party in the
pleadings. Have wc any cognisance o£„the
Labour party? How do we know that
there is such a part}'? What is your
opinion, brother Isaacs?" Air. Justice
Isaacs.—"I am not aware that there is such
a thing as a Labour party." Mr. Justice
O'Connor.—"We certainly have no evi
dence of the fact before us." Mr. Higgins.
"With all due deference, your Honour, if
your Honour pleases, I venture to submit
that Sir Edmund Barton, ex-Prime Alinis
ter, stated " Air. Justice Isaacs.—"I
do not think the statements of some person
who may at one time have been Prime Alin
ister can have any weight with us." The
Chief Justice—"Certainly not. It would
be most embarrassing." Mr. Justice O'Con
nor.—"Quite irregular." Air. Higgins.—
"With due submission, your Honours, I
fear I do not convey myself to your Ho
nours' minds. Your Honours were chosen
to fill your high positions because of your
federal and Parliamentary knowledge and
experience, and, with all respect for your
Honours' " The Chief Justice.—"Ex
cuse me; I think the position is clear. It
is true that we were chosen because of our
great eminence as constitutional lawyers
and our special federal knowledge. But the
distinction is this—our minds may go back
to the Federal Convention and the Federal
Parliament in order to inform ourselves as
to our decisions in the present, but no whis
per of that time must come forward to us.
Do I make myself sufficiently ambiguous?
Our minds may dwell on the fact that there
was a convention, that there was a labour
party, that there was a Mr. Watson, but
no suggestion of those things can be allowed
to reach us through the ban As a remini
scence the Labour party is valuable; as ar
gument it is utterly inadmissible. The in
fluence of the Labour party on certain
learned jurists is permanent, but for the
Federal High Court the Labour party does
not exist. For us, as a corporation, there
is no Mr. Watson." Mr. Higgius.—"Cer
tainly, your Honour, if your Honour
pleases."
Yes! Mr. Watson and the Labour party
have now practically set Sir Edmund Bar
ton free from his thraldom. In Parlia
menlary circles, it is regarded as certain
that Sir Edmund will "be the Chief Justice.
Had a number of the members of the
Labour party followed their inclinations
and defeated the Judiciary Bill, Sir Edmund
would have been obliged to remain their
vassal as long as the people kept him
power; but, as a recognition of his faithful
services, they have given him the oppor
tunity to escape further obedience—except,
no doubt, for certain specified obliga
tions.
Prospero Watson: "How now? moody?
What is't thou canst demand?"
Ariel Barton: "My Liberty."
Pro. Wat.: "Before the time be out? No more."
Ari. Bar.: "Remember, I have done thee worthy
service,
Without or grudge or grumblings."
Pro. Wat.: "Thou dost, forget
How often from defeat I did protect thee."
Ari. Bar.: "Pardon, master,
I will be correspondent to command
And do tliy'bidding gently."
Pro. Wat.: "Do so. After one service more
I will discharge thee. Stay, I'll make it two.
The bill industrial, placing the employers
Beneath our heel, see that thou fail not there.",
Ari. Bar.: "I shall not fail; what else my noble
master?"
Pro. Wat.: "The Navigation Bill, wliich tlio
wouldst shirk.
It must be passed this session."
Ari. Bar.: "My Lord, it shall be done."
Pro. Wat.: "Well said my tricksy spirit,
So I'll support this bill judiciary,
Which opes thy way to freedom. Yet beware
' If you do fail me."
Ari. Bar.: "All hail! my noble roaster!"
[Exit singing.]
" Where the court site, there sit I,
There I'll couch, when Beid doth cry,
After session merrily," Ac.
Among those who "breathe the federal at
mosphere, who respire the national spirit,
without which it is impossible to understand
federal movements, Ac.—in other words,
amongst those who are in the "federal
know"—it is now accepted that the Prime
Minister is a certainty for the position of
Chief Justice. The. other absolute cer
tainty for the bench is Mr. R. E. O'Connor.
It also seems probable that all the judges
will be chosen from the Federal Parliament
—the* only possible exception being Sir
Knnyiel Griffith, If he will take any position
less than the highest. Mr. Deakin disclaimed
abjT personal interest in the passing of the
bill, and it is fully understood that he does
not aspire to the bench. His position after
the court is appointed will be that of Aus
tnaJb's 'Nbblest Son No. II. The mantle
cf the Prime Minister must descend upgn
him, and there will be two places to fill in
the Ministry. If the Interstate Bill passes
there may be three. The Government will
go to the cdumtsy with a new head, and, to
some" exfentit & iiopei ptii®^ of iBeun
popularity which the present head has
achieved. All these prospects would have
been defeated if the bill bad got passed.
And It was actually trembling in the
balance for some hours, and Ministers were
talking about resigning. 'There is much
talk about changes to be made in the bill in
committee, but these may be largely dis
counted. .The opponents of tbe bill were
united on the second reading vote. In com
mittee they will be divided^ and will be de
feated in detail.
The two best speeches cf the debate were
undoubtedly those of Sir Edmund Barton
and Mr. Isaacs. Neither of them affected
the result one iota. That was obtained by
quite other means. The Prime Minister's
speech was the best he has made in tbe Par
liament. It was thoroughly prepared, and
many of its most important sentences were
in manuscript. This was an advantage, for
they were much stronger, more lucid, and
more direct than they would otherwise have
been. On constitutional questions the
Prime Minister is always at his best—and it
-is a great best. There he treads with un
hesitating feet. There he is a statesman of
strong, fixed convictions, of broad views,
of wide knowledge, of keen insight, of great
debating power, and of ample courage.
Ob, si sic semper! His Bpeeck brought
back the leader of the convention—that per
sonality which has quite escaped us in these
latter days—who raised such high hopes as
to the career of the first Prime Minister. If
Sir Edmund could have stepped straight
from the Convention to the High Court
bench it would have been a great deal
better for liis reputation. .That he will
make a sound and wise constitutional judge
there is no reason to doubt. And who
knows?—to relieve him from his present
office and place him there—though appa
rently extravagant and expensive—may be
cheap at the price.
Mr. Isaacs is spoken of as one of the com
ing men. H1« speech was a weighty one
of its class, and if we were in a position to
"hang the expense," as be and Sir Edmund
wish us to do, it would be difficult, indeed,
to find an answer to their arguments. Mr.
Isaacs, like the Prime Minister, has the
judicial temperament. If he were placed
in a position where he could follow the dic
tates of his own intelligence, informed by
his wide constitutional and judicial learn
ing, and untrammelled by the constant de
sire to advance Mr. Isaacs, there is every
reason to expect that be would do great
credit to the state from which he would be
selected.
It has been quite a history-making week.
If a few of those who were wobbling had
only wobbled over to the other side during
the division, the events of the next few
years might have been much changed. The
history-making in the case of the wobblers
may not be completed yet. Their reckon
ing is to come.
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