The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-07-19

|, mr.. m~Acu0uneu IN tno -DicttOnAfy Oi W.
tionai Biography. comes nearest the truth
ATheL judgments which he has left are In
many ways unique. Our law reports oon-
tain no more perfect examples Of precise
! and lucid statement. Of concise reasoning
or Of polished English. and no Judge has
striven more persistently thar did Lord
Westbtry to bring every question to the
test Of principle and to restrain within due
limits what seemed to him the excessive
authority Of ~precedents. Judge made
law" was his abomination, and his ideal
would AVE beento give statutory authority
to q limited number OF clearly expressed
propositions and then to determine by pure
ratiocination whether q particular state OF
facts fell within them.
We pass over the Edmunds and Leeds
cases. because. although they led to the
acceptance Of Lord Westbury's resignation
Of the post OF Chancellor In 1855, public
opinion acquitted him Of corrupt motives.
and because so highly were his services
appreciated that more than three years
larer, when there was a vacancy for O Lord
Justice Of Appeal. he was sounded as to his
Willingness to resume a definite post on the
judicial bench. He declined the ofer:' but
1t was renewed in the autumn Of the following
year (1S69), and he was still for a while re-
garded as a possible candidate for the Great
Seal. There 10 no doubt that the dignifed
and touching appeal which he uttered SIN
the dark hour of shame when he laid down
the Office of Chancellor and took leave OF
the House Of Lords In that capacity, won for
Lord Westbury a place in the hearts OF his
audience and OF his c~ountrymen generally
which he had never reached In the plenitude
Of his full blown dignity. The revnlsion Of
feeling in his favor which then began has
continued down to the present moment.
vi.
Hugh MoCalmont Cairns, who was to be
twice Lord Chancellor. was born in 1919
at Belfast and in his sixteenth year pro-
oeeded from the Belfast Academy to Trinity
College, Dublin. where he was graduated In
1888 with a first class in classics and other
distinctions. He had been destined for
holy orders. but his tutor persuaded his
father to send him to the bar and he was
admitted at Iincoln's Inn in 1s41. He was
called to the bar In 1874 from the Middle
Temple, whittier he had migrated while
retaining his membership Of Linooln's Inn.
He began the practice Of his profession
itiiou dhy CVlilCCthoi WAidb0NCIs io
start entitled him to be regarded as a stand
ing example Of the industrious apprentice.
While still an obscure Junior he was briefed
in q case with Bethel. who said Of him at
the time: THAT young man will undoubt-
eddy rise to the top Of the bar In 1852.
while only in his thirty-third year. he was
elected a member Of Parliament for Belfast.
and sat for the Ulster capital during the
whole Of his career in the House Of Com
When Lord Derby became Prime
Minister for the second time, in 1858, he
obtained as Sir Hugh Cairns the post Of
Solicitor-General. an Office which he held
more than fifteen months. During
the next seven years he returned to the
active practice Of his profession. but his
position on the front Opposition bench in
the House Of Commons became firmly as
sured. When Lord Derby formed his third
and last Administration he appointed Sir
Hugh Cairns Attorney-General. who thus
found himself entrusted with an office
which never before had been filed by any
one not a native Of Great Britain. His
health. however, proved unequal to the
strain Of the 'painfullest place in the king
DOM and a vacancy having occurred in
the Chanoery Appeal Court he accepted
the, appointment Of lord Justjces and took
his seat in the upper chamber as Baron
Cairns Of Garmoyle, County Antrim. having
been sworn OF the Privy Council.
It was while sitting In the Court Of Appeal
that he first established his judicial reputa- |
No sooner did Disraeli succeed Lord |
Derby February, 1889 as head of the Con- |
Government than he offered the
Great Seal to Cairns. who proceeded forth
to display on the woolsack the vigor
and readiness which no physical infrmities |
overcome. In December, 1858. he |
his party into retirement and as
the formal leadership Of the Opposi- |
ton in the House Of Lords, but on Disraeli's
return to power in 1874 he became Chan
cellor for the second time. Mr.. James
Bryce, the present British Ambassador at
though strongly opposed to
Lord Cairns in politics, has pronounced
him -unquestionably the greatest Judge
Of the Victorian era, perhaps Of the nine
teenth century, Mr.. Benjamin-the ex-
who attained so eminent a
at theE English ba~r-speaking from
In experience acquired in both hemi-
declared Cairns the greatest lawyer |
before whom he had ever argued a case,
From a religious point Of view Cairns was
Puritan whom 1t seems easier to associate
with the Great Protector than with Lord
During the anxious months
n 1873, when the nation seemed drifting
INTO a second Crimean War. the wife Of a
Iabinet Minister asked Lady Cairns: What
8 the secret Of the Lord Chancellor's con-
'tant and unruf1ed calmness, which my
tells me pervades the whole place
Is soon as he, appearsp' 1T is this was
he reply; she never attends a Cabinet
Without spending half an hour Immediately
alone with his God.' 1t cannot
70 denied. however. that this consistent
accompanied as it was with a
trong tinge Of austerity. had a narrowing
Afeot, and placed him out Of touch with
many Of his political allies and Of the men,
Of his own profession. He would
probably have suooeeded instead OF Lord
to the headship Of the Conserva-
i've party on the death Of B~eacons1eld
ut for the fact that he was entirely lacking
magnetism. and owing to his forbiddine
had never been able to ACQUIRE
ny personal following.
We must leave for another occasion some
ccount OF the last four Of the Victorian
Lord Hatherley, Lord Sell