The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-01 00:00:00

THE PROsECUTION OF MR. EYRE.

(FROM OCR OWM CORRESPONDENT.)
MARKET DRAYTON, seretwm,
From a remark dropped by Mr. St.•f.hcn
Thursday, it was anticipated that, either
summary of the facts deposed to by his wittie;st
or by the establishment of a right to reply t., ti
remarks of Mr. Gifford, the latter gentleman woe
be compelled to share with him the advantage
gaging the attention of the court on the last the
the proceedings. But probably perceiving thr u,.
lesaness of further argument before the bend. •
which Mr. Eyre had appealed, Mr. Stephen to:
tented himself with supplying an omission ~
in the evidence tendered on Thursday, and f•a•
rest of the day formed one of the audience
listened to the eloquence of Mr. Giffard.
Commencing his address within five min.;;,
of the assembling of the court, Mr. Gifford spn•
his speech over a period of nearly sit hone
I use the word " spread " advisedly, hymn*: tl
learnedcounsel is an exceedingly deliberate speake:
and though Mr. Stephen's speech occupied oi
hour less in the delivery, Mr. Giflanl.a addre.
contained considerably less matter, in more „,,„
than one. It was clear to those who were fat-ire
by hearing Mr. Giffard that in preparing thy n.,:
for his speech he had been fully impressed
the value of that axiom which directs the "them
up of the plaintiff's attorney on the altar of a At.,
case. At the outset he coolly proclaimed his ruse
tion of not replying to the legal arguments •,,h,,•
had been so abundantly adduced by Mr. Stept
in the course of his statement for the prosecute,
" Facts " were what Mr. Giffard relied on. all
under his treatment the " facts" were divided 31t
two heads ; first, adulation of Mr. Eyre and
that he did or said as Governor of Jamaica ; at.
secondly, abuse of the prosecution. For •
learned friend, Mr. Stephen (who was present
Mr. Giffard, indeed, was good enough to say the
apart from the present inquiry, lie had cur
respect ; and for Mr. Shaen (who was also preset
he likewise professed an esteem somewhat vale'.
' by the addition that it was " because lie did
know any-thing about him ;" but for the James.
committee (who were absent), Mr.
some difficulty in finding epithets which spit.
to him to be sufficiently opprobrious. " Mahcioe.
" malignant," " false," " unjust," " unscrep
lons," and "slanderous," were used up at an ea
hoar of the morning ; and as the day wore on.
it was necessary still to abuse the other side. ti
learned counsel found it necessary to repeat t
choice expressions with which he had aloe
charmed the ears of his client's ne • '
hours. I can give you no more striking pr,
of the extent to which Mr. Giffard went
acting up to his brief than to menti.
the circumstance that in one of his frequent ref
ences to the prosecution, even Sir Baldwin Leight,
the chairman of the bench, thought it desirably
interpose, and with an apologetic reference to
fact that he had also " stopped counsel on the of
side," begged Mr. Giffard to refrain.
These interruptions of counsel by the c • -
of the bench form, by the way, not the least not
feature in the case. Sir Baldwin Leighton. :
many years known in the House of Commons
the tory member for South Shropshire, holds strt
opinions of his own on other questiona beside; t'
of the duty of policemen in connection with •
preservation of rabbits. To do him justice he
in the course of a lengthened experience as a cote
magistrate, gained an intimate acquaintance
the duties of his office ; but there is, of coin_
considerable variety of manner possible in the
formance of the most narrowly defined duty, and.
putthe matter mildly, I may say that it is within t
scope of a sober imagination to conceive a ni•
strata displaying on the bench huts self-esteem ;••
more urbanity than are met in the person of t
chairman of the Shropshire Quarter Sessions.
my last letter I mentioned how up to a cert
point Mr. Stephen had been frequently interne.:
in the course of his address by remarks from
chairman, and yesterday Mr. Gifford suffered
the same way, though in the latter instance
interposition was kindly meant, and it further,
Tercel front that addressed to Mr. Stephen,
much as its effect waste make the learned 001/11.
and not the chairman, look ridiculous. In p
suance of the determination with which he
started, to ignore questions of law and deal
"facts," Mr. Giffard hid been drawing a mov
picture of the island of Jamaica at the time u•
the Governor thought it necessary to hang
Gordon. With a clever prefatory allusion tilla
ho proceeded to picture Mr. Eyre protecting
lives entrusted to him by the Queen f
" fiendish outrage, barbarity, and lust," and
chided by asking whether, for doing that, he w& t
be persecuted to death, winding up the pass.n:,
the exclamation, " Good God t is this jetties
and then burst into tears. It was clearly esett
by those who had been present when the chairs
rebuked Mr. Stephen for slightly raising his
' in commenting on the terms in which Mr. E
referred to Gordon at a time when his victim
hardly in his grave, that Mr. Giflard would
be re • dad that he was not addressin4 a :I'4
But though the chairman moved uneasily in A
seat, he did not say a word, and Mr. G
recovering from the depth of his emotion, tee
ceeding to apologise for the little scene, when
Baldwin Leighton, seeing his opportunity, be
in with " Oh, don't mention it ; but will yo ti
much longer 1 because if you will, we had better
to lunch now." The ludicrousness of the ewer
—a Queen's Counsel in tears, and the charm
thinking of his lunch—utterly spoiled the tin,:
this otherwise powerful passage, but the rt m.
was made with such perfect artlessness, that
once Mil
Giffard at accepted his positioe, and dr,:
his eyes and resuming his natural voice, went
with the crowd to luncheon.

When, some three hours later, Mr. Gilfard
eluded his defence and the magistrates ?L.!.
tired for consultation, the interval woo
regarded by tho audience with that fever:
anxiety which would be natural at the china,
similar cause, but tried under inherent on:::
stances. No one present doubted for a in. we
what would be the result; indeed, Sir IL
Leighton,with that itafati of which I have alt
given an amusing instance, disclosed the `-
that the magistrates had no need for private •
sultation ; for on Mr. Giffard reewniur his
said : " The magistrates wish to retire fir a
time—we won't be very long." And very
they were not, for in less than a quarter •
hour the magistrates re-entered the room,
chairman holding in his hand a prof N''.
containing a wordy decision, the Incre writia;
which would occupy at least one-hall the
were they absent from the bench.
With the contents of that paper c m are air,.
acquainted, and you will probably also 11.0 e !ec'
that on its being read the country gent,..
filled the room cheered their brethren ~1t
bench, and that when the applause uas lc
in the court it was taken up by the "'
who tilled the street outside. As a cominet:t•
on this latter fact I have only to add that on LC
nesday night, when Mr. Stephen had mace,
his speech, the very same crowd ho,ted Mr. E:
as he entered his carriage.

THE ACCIDENTAL DEATH INSI* it ‘Ncr, CourA
—A correspondent of the Tines makes known let
this company has refused to pay the pronnini on
policy of the late Mr. Jeffcock, the engineer. who ro`
in his efforts to ex'ricate the poor creator'* left in
pit after the Oaks colliery explodun in Deconl..r.
reply to questions put to them by Mr. Ri own, the et
engineer who went down but escaped, they a 7. 1,11:
risks
incident to your profession are covered .
policy, but you are expressly forbidden to pho• 7.3
in voluntary danger under any circtunstano, whiter/
Thus, it would appear that if a mining engineergoei
scene of disaster after an explosion in a conl-pit-, h‘•
a risk, according to the Accidental Death C..mpanY•
incident to his profession. They add, "It i,. th,
characteristic of nobleness that it he disinten-g,.1.
cannot be disinterested if the direct cwisequenert k
secure pecuniary benefits which under other circuiesn
would not accrue." It can hardly be suppus...l slot
consideration of his policy could have enteied the head
poor Mr. Jeffcock before he ventured up on what
celled to be his duty—a duty necessarily inchlentsl
u'
profession of a mining engineer, evechilly a N
engineer.