The Reminiscences of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton)Brampton, Henry Hawkins, Baron
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The Reminiscences of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton)
Brampton, Henry Hawkins, Baron
Brampton, Henry Hawkins, Baron, 1817-1907; Judges -- Great Britain -- Biography
My opponent sought day by day some cause of quarrel with me. At times
he was most insulting, and grew almost hourly worse, until I was
compelled, in order to stop his insults, to declare openly that I
would never speak to him again on this side the grave, and I never
did. My life was made miserable, and what ought to have been a quiet
and orderly performance was rendered a continual scene of bickering
and conflict, too often about the most trifling matters.
With every one else I got on happily and agreeably, my juniors loyally
doing their very utmost to render me every assistance and lighten my
burden.
Even the Claimant himself not only gave me no offence from first to
last, but was at times in his manner very amusing, and preserved his
natural good temper admirably, considering what he had at stake on
the issue of the trial, and remembering also that that issue devolved
mainly upon my own personal exertions.
Nor was the Claimant devoid of humour. On the contrary, he was
plentifully endowed with it.
One morning on his going into court an elderly lady dressed in deep
mourning presented him with a religious tract. He thanked her, went
to his seat, and perused the document. Then he wrote something on the
tract, carefully revised what he had written, and threw it on the
floor.
The usher was watching these proceedings, and, as soon as he could do
so unobserved, secured the paper and handed it to me.
The tract was headed, "Sinner, Repent!"
The Claimant had written on it, "Surely this must have been meant for
Orkins, not for me!"
Louie's story of picking him up in the boat must have amused him
greatly. If he was amused at the ease with which fools can be
humbugged, he must also have been astounded at the awful villainy of
those who, perfect strangers to him, had perjured themselves for the
sake of notoriety.
I did what I could to shorten the proceedings. My opening speech was
confined to six days, as compared with twenty-eight on the other side;
my reply to nine. But that reply was a labour fearful to look back
upon. The mere classification of the evidence was a momentous and
necessary task. It had to be gathered from the four quarters of the
world. It had to be sifted, winnowed, and arranged in order as
a perfect whole before the true story could be evolved from the
complications and entanglements with which it was surrounded.
And when I rose to reply, to perform my last work and make my last
effort for the success of my cause, I felt as one about to plunge into
a boundless ocean with the certain knowledge that everything depended
upon my own unaided efforts as to whether I should sink or swim.
Happily, for the cause of justice, I succeeded; and at the end,
although nattering words of approval and commendation poured upon
me from all sides, from the highest to the humblest, I did Hot
then realize their value to the extent that I did afterwards. The
excitement and the exertion had been too great for anything to add to
it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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