Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 06.pdf/418



CURRENT TOPICS.

Where did Raleigh Die. — On the occasion of Lord Chief Justice Coleridge's visit to this country, he was entertained at a club house on Grand Island, in the Niagara River, a few miles below Buffalo. A feast was spread for him, and the master of the ceremonies was his lordship's host in Buffalo, an accomplished lawyer, a cultured scholar, and an influential citizen, of national reputation. It had been agreed between him and his lordship that there should be no speeches, but the other diners would not be content with this, and loudly demanded "Coleridge." Thereupon the chairman aforesaid arose, and introduced his lordship very felicitously, observing that to quote some words recently em ployed by a distinguished United States senator, on another momentous occasion, "The shallow mur mur, but the deep are dumb," and that the deep at the head of the table must respond to the demand of the shallow at the foot. The chairman insists that he distinctly spoke of the line as a " quotation" by the senator, but at all events, nobody present, except Lord Coleridge, could for a moment have supposed that the chairman intended to attribute the authorship of that hackneyed verse to that senator, Roscoe Conkling, although perhaps the chairman, like most others present, was ignorant of the author ship. But Lord Coleridge, misunderstanding the matter, or perhaps in accordance with the not un common horse-play of the House of Commons on the occasion of classic or poetical quotations, affect ing to misunderstand it, began substantially as follows in response : " This is a country of surprises. I have always been instructed to suppose that Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded a good many years ago on Tower Hill, but to-day I learn that he is a present senator of the United States." A great many present thought the hit a rather rude one in the circumstances, although of course it was not so intended. Now only a few days ago the occupant of this Easy Chair read in that very delightful, although rather too gushing, book, William Winter's " Shakes peare's England." a statement that on the inner wall of St. Margaret's Church, at Westminster, is a brass tablet with an inscription to the effect that Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded in Old Palace Yard, just

outside the church, and that his remains are buried in the chancel of that church! On consulting Ed ward's Life of Raleigh we find this correct. He slept his last night at the Gate House, and not at the Tower. He dropped his head at Westminster in stead of Tower Hill, and Lord Coleridge was a mile or two out of the way in the locality. It is always well for a critic to be sure of his ground, and •- Physician, heal thyself" is a very wise injunction. No critic is infallible, as was exemplified in our own case, when last month we moved the great stone lion from Lucerne to Berne! We must have con fused him with the Bears of Berne.

Judges' Terms. — Apropos of Lord Coleridge, another solecism of his was recently brought to our attention by a distinguished judge of the Supreme Court of New York. This gentleman was present at the Bradlaugh trial held before his lordship, and heard his charge, in the course of which he cited a case from 17th Johnson's New York reports. His lordship invited comment and criticism from counsel, and Mr. Bradlaugh, who conducted his own cause, very respectfully called his attention to another American case. His lordship replied in his suave and grandfatherly way, that his attention had previ ously been called to that case, and that he could not deem it authoritative, because while he must acknowl edge with deep pleasure the constant courtesv with which he had been treated in the United States, it still must be admitted that decisions in the courts of that country were not of authority in the courts of England; that this must necessarily be so for the reason that the "American" judges are elected by popular vote, and hold office for extremely short terms — in some instances only a year or so. Our New York judge was struck by this remark about the length of the judicial term in this country, and con sulting the standard English authority, Whittaker's Almanac, he found that there was not at that time a single English judge, except Sir James Hannen, who had sat on the bench so long as he himself, and Sir James antedated him by only a month! The New York judge is competent for several years yet. This