But of recent years the police had fallen, comparatively, into disrepute. The mounted police had been withdrawn, and the local officers were selected more with a view to rewarding past political services, and furnishing a retainer for services yet to be performed, than from any consideration of mental or physical efficiency. This fact was undermining the public loyalty to the police, and the crowd who discussed Burton’s attempted arrest as they waited at the post office for their mail were obviously in sympathy with the young man.
“I’m in favour of the law, an’ of the law bein’ carried out,” said Big Jack McTavish, “but when my hired man thinks he’s more important about the farm than I am, I gen’rally manage pretty soon to make a change. An’ that seems to be about the attitood of these here policemen like we have now-a-days. We hire ’em, an’ give ’em a job an’ a clean soot, an’ they ain’t got the crease outa their pants before they get the idea we was just created for their convenyunce.”
“Taint just the police,” said Tim O’Brien; “it’s the whole joodishary. Where do they get the judges, will you tell me that? Lawyers, bedad, an’ no recoord uv their conversion, nayther.”
“Wheest, man,” said Big Jack. “Don’t ye know that’s contempt of coort? You can criticise ev’ry public official from the pound-keeper to the king, but your thoughts about the joodishary must be kept to yourself. That’s because this is a free country. All the same, Tim, I don’t know that the contempt gets any less by bein’ bottled up.”
Tim removed his pipe preparatory to a more lengthy speech.
“Oi mind when Ould Dave Cottrell was up before the beak, which in them days was Noah Chapman, fer shootin’ a dog o’ Mrs. Mandle’s. The dog had worried Ould Dave’s sheep, and one day, d’ye moind, the ould fellow up an’ shot him. Av coorse, the decision was against Dave, an’ as he pays his fine he up an’ says, ‘That’s what comes uv bein’ tried by a relative uv the deceased,’ says he.
“‘Oi fine ye foive dollars for contimpt uv coort,’ says ould Chapman, just loike the Czar sintencing a gineral to be shot, he says, ‘an’ what’s more, ye’ll pay it afore ye go out.’
“Ould Dave looked at him a minute, and thin he pulled out tin dollars an’ handed it to him, solemn as if he was gettin’ married.