The judge, too directly interested and free of the criti-
cism which might fall on him from the general public,
is liable to the danger of forming for himself an opinion
as to the guilt of the accused. He may do this in per-
fect good faith, but sometimes runs the risk of falling
into grave error. It thus occasionally happens that he
is anxious not so much to know the truth as to prove
that he was right in his own, often rash, opinion.

LA ROBE ROUGE is a criticism of certain judicial pro-
ceedings which obtain in France; but it is also a study
of an individual case of professional crookedness. We
should be greatly mistaken were we to draw the danger-
ous conclusion that all French judges resemble Mouzon,
and we should be equally wrong were we to condemn
too hastily the French code relating to criminal trials.

In the struggle of society with the criminal it is very
difficult, perhaps impossible, for the legislator to hold in
equal balance the rights of the individual as against
the interests of society. The balance sometimes leans
one way and sometimes the other; and had I been an
English citizen, instead of writing a play against the
abuse of justice by a judge, I might have had to illus-
trate the same abuse by the lawyer.

I wish most sincerely that these three plays may in-
terest the people of England and America. The prob-
lems which I have studied I am sure I have not brought
to their final solutions. My ambition was to draw and
keep the attention of honest people on them by means
of the theatre.

BRIEUX.

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