peace and happiness from a world beset by temptation-where the most prosperous meet with many privations, disappointments, and

sorrows.

6

But what must be the feelings of the relations of Medhurst-his widowed mother-his little brothers and sisters-old enough to know the nature of the charge brought against him, and its awful consequences? He, gentlemen, as you may perceive, behaves with firmness and resolution, in the consciousness of innocence-ready, with God's assistance, to meet his fate, whatever it may be. What a group would they now present to you! Till they suddenly heard the astounding intelligence that he was committed to prison on a charge of murder, they had ever found him quiet, mild, gentle, dutiful, and affectionate. They looked forward to an early visit from him-when, as usual, he would fly into his mother's arms—and his brothers and sisters clinging round him to kiss him, he would remark how they had increased in stature aud beauty since the family was last assembled. These innocents are unacquainted with legal distinctions-they are incapable of appreciating the degree of danger to which, by law, he may be exposed; in an agony of tears they await your verdict. But, gentlemen, their suspense and their suffering will be recompensed by the joy of that moment when you restore him to their embrace-all danger over, and his character unsullied.'-(Pp. 41-44.)

We cannot afford space to follow the advocate over the delicate ground on which he next touches-the possibility that the jury might entirely exonerate his client from guilt, by finding the wounding to have been the immediate result of mere accident; but it is glanced over with consummate skill. To have dwelt on ground so untenable might possibly have offended the jury, and would certainly have called down expressions of strong dissent from the presiding Judge; to have passed it entirely by, would have been not only to throw away a slender chance of acquittal, but to deprive the prisoner of the benefit of that sort of compromise which so often prevails in the jury-box between extremes; it was therefore suggested, and left with as much 'modesty as cunning.' The result was just-a conviction of manslaughter, with a sentence of three years' imprisonment-leaving the fate of the two unfortunate fellow-students to answer the description given of a similar calamity by a Scottish tragedian :And happy, in my mind, was he that died;

For many deaths hath the survivor suffer'd."

The speeches in Parliament are, we think, of less interest than those at the Bar; and, though distinguished for moderation and practical sense, afford little occasion for commentary. We must pass them over; and also the speeches for the Times,' on the trial of the criminal information obtained by Sir John Conway against the publisher of that Journal-though the suggestions of the injustice and absurdity of our libel law which the defence contains, are particularly edifying from the lips of an Attorney-Gene

ral-to notice the opening speech on the prosecution of Frost for high-treason, before the Special Commission at Monmouth. This address was in happy accordance with the tone and spirit and forms of that august proceeding-which in all but forms presented a signal contrast to certain trials for treason and sedition still within the recollection of some of us-and which tended to make the administration of justice loved, even more than it caused it to be feared. The charge of the Lord Chief-Justice Tindal, whose gentle wisdom presided over the Commission, had been delivered some time before the assembling of the parties necessary to the trial; and the effect of this grave and mild exposition of the law was felt in the profound tranquillity which reigned through the scene of the enquiry, and the confidence which the most violent partisans of the accused expressed in the impartiality of the tribunal and never was confidence better justified and repaid! Although the little town of Monmouth lies only at the distance of about twenty miles from the wild country which had, a few weeks before, bristled with armed thousands in sanguinary revolt; and although knots of those deluded men, who rallied under the name of Charter, without any more knowledge of its five points than of those of Calvin, were sometimes seen in its streets; no tumult, no noises, not a shout or a hiss, broke the silence which prevailed during the three weeks' sitting of the court. The few Lancers who, from proper but needless precaution, had been quartered in the town, only relieved the monotony of its winter aspect by the intermixture of their dark-green uniforms with the coarse dresses of the peasantry, who silently clustered in the market-place; and when a few of them were seen following the prison Van, as it carried the leader of the insurrection between the Court and the Jail on the successive days of his trial, a spectator who saw the little procession gleaming along the terraced road, which corresponds in beautiful curvature with the softly-swelling hills which closed and surrounded the picture-might have regarded it as some holiday pageant; instead of the guard of an alleged traitor on trial, in the midst of the multitudes whom he recently led to bloody strife. Within the court all was as calm and still as if an action for a builder's bill had been languishing after vain attempts to refer it; and yet the proceedings did not want the excitement which the most ingenious defence could create; for never were the noblest qualities of the English bar more perfectly developed than in the conduct of the prisoner's counsel. Mr Frost, the avowed leader of the Monmouthshire Chartists, with a wise reliance on these qualities, entrusted his defence to two of the most eminent Conservatives in the profession-Sir Frederick Pollock, the present Attorney-General of Sir Robert

Peel, and Mr Fitzroy Kelly; and nothing more strenuous or more fervent than their management of his cause, from first to last, can be imagined. At the earliest possible moment they took their stand, and displayed the character of their defence, by a bold and nervous opposition to the peremptory challenges of the Crown; in the face of solemn decisions, acted on without controversy, they sustained an argument which, but for these precedents, would perhaps have succeeded, but which, against such precedents, was hopeless-in urging which they probably neither expected nor cared for direct success-but by which they manifested their resolution to cast themselves unreservedly into the struggle, and their power to dare, and persevere, in every legitimate means, however unusual, of rescuing the life committed to their protection. In arguing the subsequent objection to the list of witnesses, which they wisely reserved until the period when, if established, it could not have been obviated, they displayed even greater power-the power of investing a mere technical complaint of an informality, caused by an indulgent concession to the wish of the prisoner's attorney, with the solemnity belonging to the charge and the issue; and their splendid addresses to the Jury, at the close of the evidence for the Crown-urging that the object of the insurgents was less than traitorous-would have been triumphant but for one defect, which no ingenuity could supply, and no eloquence conceal,-the absence of any offer to explain what else that object was. The defences were also illustrated by a speech of great vigour from Mr G. H. Rickards, a young Barrister, who was suddenly associated in the defence of Zephaniah Williams; and whose efforts were the more remarkable, as the topics had been apparently exhausted in the preceding trial; and the more pleasant, as it incidentally afforded an example of the blessings of those institutions which had been assailed, in which such ability can find its scope and its reward.

But we have been led, by the recollection of these impressive scenes, from our immediate subject-the speech of the then Attorney-General in opening the case for the prosecution of Frost. It seems to us a model for all such speeches-lucid, unimpassioned, and candid; singularly abstinent in statement when any doubt existed as to admissibility in the import of evidence; distinct yet cautious in the annunciation of the law of treason; and no further indicating the inference to be drawn from the alleged facts than was necessary to enable the jury to apply the proofs to the charge, and the prisoner's counsel to understand the manner in which the accusation was to be sustained. Its only positive merits as a composition-all that the mild performance of his duty admitted-are the clearness of its narrative, and some touches of picturesque power, seemingly thrown in without con

sciousness, in mapping out before the jury the wild hill country of Monmouthshire, in which the insurrection was planned; and along the ravines of which the insurgents marched to the central point near Newport. Its details were fully sustained by the proofs, which showed that the three principal prisoners, Frost, Williams, and Jones, had assembled sturdy artisans, to the number of many thousands, in the dead of the night, many of whom were armed with formidable weapons, and conducted them along the deep valleys to the plain near Newport, in such force that, if their junction had not been prevented by rain and tempest, and the division which did arrive had not been dispersed by the troops, aided by the courage and wisdom of Sir Thomas Phillips, (who fortunately filled the office of mayor,) must have caused extensive bloodshed and confusion. Many of the details were singularly instructive-manifesting the utter ignorance of the insurgents of the provisions of The Charter,' which they seemed to fancy was 'something to do good to the poor in workhouses;'showing how a mere love of change and adventure could be wrought on, so as to induce thousands of men, earning excellent wages, to embrace a desperate enterprise, without knowing or caring for its purpose; how even heroic qualities, as in the case of poor George Snell, might be enlisted and urged to the death -for nothing; and all this effected by men, two of whom were stupidly ignorant, and the third, Frost, though a man of intelligence and education, wofully deficient in constancy and every attribute of a leader! The summing up of the Lord Chief-Justice Tindal, in the case of Frost, was so studiously mild, it presented every point in favour of the prisoner with such clearness and force, that an acquittal was anticipated by many; and when the heavy tread of the Jurymen, descending the stairs from the grand jury-room, to which they had retired to deliberate, told as distinctly as words the decision of the prisoner's fate, a strange thrill for the first time became audible among the crowd of expectant spectators. The dispassionate conduct of these prosecutions by Sir John Campbell, and the solemn and gentle manner in which the Judges discharged their high functions, has probably tended more to destroy the influence of turbulent spirits among the workmen of Monmouthshire, than the terror of many executions.

One of the latest duties performed by Sir John Campbell while Attorney-General, was his address on behalf of the Bar to Mr. Justice Littledale, on the 8th of February 1841, when that learned and excellent Judge sat in the Court of Queen's Bench for the last time; it gave universal satisfaction to the body in whose name it was delivered; and they will be glad to see it preserved

in this volume, from which we will transfer it to our pages. It consists of unexaggerated truth gracefully expressed.

Mr Justice Littledale-It having been intimated to the Bar that we are not to have the satisfaction of again seeing you on the Bench, I am deputed by their unanimous voice to express to your Lordship the deep sorrow they feel at this separation. Notwithstanding their entire confidence in the residue of the Court, they most sincerely regret that they should be deprived of a judge of such profound learning, distinguished acuteness, and spotless integrity,-who during the many years he has occupied the judgment seat in this Court and the Circuits,-while he has ever displayed the utmost impartiality and independence,-yet, from the kindness of his nature, has never given offence to a human being. Though still in the full enjoyment of the high faculties which it has pleased God to bestow upon you, they are sensible that from your eminent services to your country, you are well entitled to that dignified leisure to which you now gracefully retire. In that retirement we earnestly hope that you will long enjoy health and happiness. We rejoice to think that you will find occupation and delight in the renewed pursuit of those abstruse as well as elegant studies in which you early gained distinction, and which have been interrupted by your devotion to your professional and judicial duties. We beg leave to assure your Lordship that you carry along with you the gratitude and good wishes of every member of the profession of which you have so long been a distinguished ornament, and that we shall ever think and speak of you with feelings of respect and affection.'

Mr Justice Littledale did not long enjoy that dignified repose which the gratitude and affection of the Bar desired for him; he has gone to his rest, full of years and honours; leaving behind him the memory of childlike simplicity of character, which has rarely indeed been preserved to old age amidst the anxieties and the labours of the profession which he adorned.

We now take leave of Lord Campbell-renewing our congratulations on the prosperity and honours which his industry has won, and our expression of regret that he has not, by the introduction of earlier speeches, enabled us to trace him through the first stages of his progress. Although his most perfect efforts those arguments on abstruse questions of law, which for exactness of reasoning and fertility of analogical illustration have never been excelled-are too technical for general appreciation, there have been many of his speeches to Juries which, if not, in the ordinary sense of the term, eloquent, exhibit ingenuity, tact, and sense in so high a degree, as to deserve other records than the verdicts they obtained. One recollection alone is sufficient to enrich his retirement-his share in the abolition of imprisonment for debt on mesne process-with all the wretchedness which it inflicted, and all the iniquity which it fostered. If he had achieved nothing but this, he would not have lived or laboured in vain.