The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-02-23

inces, which had been granted by five charters
to his ancestor, and all confirmed by act-of Par
lament, it opened an opposition in the Court
OF Session against his right to the Earldom Of
Stirling. The case was argued before the
whole bench of thirteen judges, who tFebru-
airy 9, ls30) unanimously sustained his right
1t subsequently came before the Lord Chaucel-
lor of England, who likewise recognised his
right. 1t was likewise dragged On quibbie
before the Courts of Queens Bench and Com
mon Pleas, which on each occasion sustained
the other judgments. 1t likewise was recog-
Missed by the King in Council in August, 1891,
| in most formal manner. And finally when
the illegal action, commenced in 1888, was
| brought into the House Of Lords, it was finally
| admitted before that tribunal-the highest in
| Great Britain-and before which no man car
present himself, bearing name or character
nesrecognised or established according to law.
Hence, on the point of title, there has not
been an instance on record in Great Britain,
of such repeated and unanimous recognition.
The reader, surprised, will perhaps ask, Why,
then, this persevering opposition The answer
is simple enough; and we give it in the words
used by many British Ministers-that athe
claims involved political consequences of such
| moment, that the Government was afraid to
graphic with them" This is the key to the
whole mystery.
Now, as to the property The Scotch law
requires certain forms to be gone through, be-
fore an heir can enter into possession of his
lands, and the rights appertaining to them. All
these Lord Stirling fulfilled. He obtained four
verdicts of Juries, of Is men each-and finally,
after the last or special Jury, the King, William
w, on writ issued from Chancery, gave him,
in the castle of Edinburgh, seisin or legal
possession of ell his lands and rights These
lands comprise the whole of the Canadas Nova
Scotia &c, and the Fisheries. By that instru-
ment Of seisin, the charters confirmed by act
of Parliament became again the law of those
countries, giving the Provinces in fact through
Lord Strings rights, entirely Independent
of Government.
On the completion of that act, on the 9Th of
July, 1881, great dinner was given to Lord
Stirling, in Edinburgh. at which Mr.. Robert
son, advocate, who had been Chancellor of the
last Jury and is now Lord Robertson, Judge
of the Court of Sessions, addressed the Earl in
a complimentary speech, in which he remarked
that az the law of Scotland had now done for
him all that it could do to invest him with his
rights sc.
We must, at this point, say few words in
regard to Scotch Juries on questions of heir.
ship. We have the testimony of many Judges
to their superiority over the common Jury
and among them, Mr.. Hayes gives that of a
Judge singularly hostile to Lord Stirling, on
account of the political character" as he
chose 10 term it of his case. He quite ridiculsd
a common Jury, in comparison with the highly
respectable Juries in Lord Strings case. The
| reasonIis obvious. The common Jury, from in
capacity or want of habit, is rarely able to
| grasp the value of evidence, and takes its cue
after the last speaker, or some obstinate fellow
Juror !; while in this system of Scotch Jury,
men of different stamp sit upon it. AS for
instance, in all Lord Strings Juries, the ma
jorty were Advocates, writer's to the Signet, or
| Solicitors-the very men most capable of sift-
| ing documentary evidence; and through this
severe ordeal did Lord Stirling 60, four times.
His case is the more strengthened, as in the
case of the Title, by opposition for on the lat
ter Juries, in particular, lawyers presented
themselves and sat on the Jury, who intended
no favor to Lord Stirling, (the Crown law
yers watching the proceedings) and yet they
unanimously eoneurred tn the verdiets in his
| favor.
To deceive the public on the Importance of
these verdicts, las the character of these Juries
is unknown out of Scotland the opponents of
Lord Stirling have had recourse to falsehoods.
For instance, some months ago, an Engiishman
imposed statement upon the editors of the
New York Tribune, which they accepted and
repeated in good faith, to the effect that these
Juries are assembled by the maeers of the
court and before this drunken tribunal"
Lord Stirling went
The reader will hear with surprise that the
statement is pure inven!ion Yet upon such
facts has the whole slanderous opposition of
agents of the British Government been based.
Years before Lord Stirling came before the
courte, the habit of employing maecrs to sum-
mon Jury in the absence of a Judge, was
abolished by act Of Parliament; and all his
jury we're assembled and acted under the inn
proved and strict system instituted by the act
of 1921. We have for obvious reasons enlarged
upon this matter.
1t was after "the law had done all it could
do to invest Lord Stirling with his rights" that
negotiations were opened with the British Gov
eminent. they were chiefly characterized by
shutting and duplicity-their course was first
interrupted by forgery at the Colonial Office
in London, the object of which was to get Lord
Stirling to place from which he could be car
ried away or kidnapped. The forgery was the
act of the Private Secretary of the Colonial
Minister, at the instigation of his chiefs. All
these details, with letters and proofs, were pub
lished by the eminent London publishers, Ridg-
way & Co., and again in Edinburgh in 1885,
Copies are in the Capitol Library, and in Mr..
Peter Forces and other collections
The agitation in the Canadas, and the acts
of Lord Stirling in thwarting Government
schemes in Parliament were the cause of this
project to extinguish him quietly.
twas Immediately after this had failed, that,
by gaining an agent of Lord Stirling an iIle-
gal action, in May, 1888, was commenced
against him, to give the impression, at home
and abroad, that his case was not settled
The judges would not dismiss it. They ,canted
to hold Lord Stirling's hands, sohile they plum
dered his lands and sought means to tranquilliSs