Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-12-19

II remarkable Scene in an English Court
A Young Woman Pleads her Fathers
Cause.
The bar of England has been recently put
to shame by woman. By this we do not
mean, that its members have been outdoue
in effrontery by feminine rival, for in that
respect the gentlemen of the long robe are
invulnerable and invincible; but that q young
and delicate lady, stimulated by filial affec.
ton, has undertaken and admirably dis
charged duty, from the performance of
which five first-class lawyers ignobly shrunk
at the critical moment. This remarkable in
stance of professional poltroonery, and of
nerve and ability on the part of one of the
fair sex, occurred in the London Court of
Divorce, at the opening of the case of Mr..
William Shedden, native of New York, to
establish his legitimacy. The counsel in
question are some of the elite of the British
bar, and had been highly feed for their
services yet when the petition of their client
was called upon to be heard, instead of be-
ing prepared to support it, they pleaded igno-
rance of its nature, oraved an adjournment,
and left the court in body, on being told
that their request could not be granted
The plaintiff was now in a most awkward
predicament. His opponents counsel were
ready and eager to proceed; his mothers
honor and his own were at stake, large
amount of property was depending on the
result; and yet he must enter the arena with
ont advocates, and, thus defenseless, expose
himself to defeat, as well as his reputation
and rights to ruin. But his case was not so
desperate as he imagined. ~
A powerful defender of it suddenly ap-
peared when the lawyers withdrew from
court. This was no other than his daughter,
who, intimately acquainted with all the facts
in controversy, and inspired with an elo-
quenee and courage suitable to the occasion,
Co. o,.I sf,-
mission to plead her parents cause at the
tribunal of justice. The judge, struck with
astonishment and admiration, assented to
her novel prayer, and bid the lady advocate
to proceed.
Miss Sheddens opening address occupied
the entire day. After apologizing for heE
temerity in appearing there as pleader
which no consideration save concern for her
| fathers honor could have induced her to do,
she went on to give, in a style equally clear
and correct, q detailed and interesting narra-
tive of the whole case. On the subsequent
day she concluded her argument, and began
| the examination of witnesses in support of
the allegations advanced, and at the sailing
| of the last steamer was conducting matters
with all the tact and GOODNESS of veteran
lawyer, and with every prospect Of success.
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF CHEvALIRR Bun
sEN.-Christian Karl Josias Bunsen was born
in August, 1871, at OorbaOh, in the German
principality of Waldeck. He was educated
principally at Gottingen, where he COM
menced his career in 1911 as a teacher in a
gymnasium. When twenty-five years old
he won an academical prize for a disquisition
on the Athenian Laws of Descent. Subse-
! quently, Bunsen travelled in Holland aAd
Denmark, and in 1915 went to Berlin, where
he became intimate with Niebuhr. In 1876
he visited Paris, and soon after went to Rome,
where he married the daughter of an En-
glish clergyman, and became private secre-
tary to Niebubr, who was then Russian Min
lister to the Papal Court.
In 1927, on the resignation of the latter, he
succeeded to his diplomatic position. This
post he resigned in 1887, and the year after
became Prussian Minister TO the Swiss Con-
federation. In lS4l he was promoted to the
Embassadorship in England, filling this high
official position till 1853 During this period
he took an active part in the political dis
cussions of the day, and sided strongly with
the French and English during the late war
with Russia. These sentiments rendered
him unpopular with his Government, and
brought about his diplomatic overthrow.
Since 1853 Bunsen has lived in Heidelberg
and Bonn, engaged in literary and theolOgi-
cal labors. He had reached the advanced
age of seventy years before death closed his
checkered career.