ance either from counsel or solicitor, here is matter for serious reflection. The disputes which grow out of ordinary transactions seldom involve legal doubts, or require the exertion of professional skill; and the diffusion of improved education has taught men in general a freer use of their own powers of narration and argument. What is called a legal understanding is rarely required except for the discussion of the rules, unavoidably arbitrary, which regulate the descent and transmission of real property, and of those more recondite secrets in the art or mystery of Special Pleading, which the good sense of the late House of Commons virtually extinguished by putting an end to Special Demurrers.

Lord Mansfield advised the student of English Law, with the intention of practising at the Bar, to begin with "Tully's Offices," the title then given to Cicero's three books, De Officiis. A clear understanding of the duties of men in society was considered by him as the true basis of Legal Science. I may cite one of the ablest lawyers of this century who, to strong natural sense united the largest experience, for a similar opinion, my honoured master, the late Mr. Tidd. I well remember the advice he gave to a pupil, who was about to commence practice : "When you are called upon for your opinion, make yourself perfect master of the facts, and then consider what is right. You may be pretty sure that is the law, without looking much into the cases.”

When once the facts are well ascertained, few persons differ in opinion as to the result of a civil action. But this ascertainment of facts is no easy matter, and here the assistance of the advocate may become all-important. Here is the point at which the question must be asked and answered, "In what manner and upon what conditions is the advocate's assistance to be afforded?"

Occasionally, at least, eminent and experienced counsel must be called upon to act in County Courts. A rule prevailing in the Profession that barristers should accept briefs in the Superior Courts from no hands but those of an attorney, was incorporated by Act of Parliament into the practice of the County Courts. But in the late Session, when their jurisdiction was extended, a repeal of this provision was at

tempted in the House of Lords, but failed, a clause having that object was added by the Commons, who probably detected something absurd in the enforcement of professional etiquette by Queen, Lords, and Commons; and besides, might doubt the propriety of maintaining an etiquette which would have necessitated a double outlay by the suitor, and so have run the risk of denying justice to the injured.

If the etiquette cannot be made matter of law, can it be expected to establish itself in this new state of things, by virtue of an agreement, either express or implied, among the members of the Bar? I do not hesitate to declare my opinion, founded on experience as well as reflection, that it cannot, and therefore feel it to be unnecessary to enter on that difficult inquiry, "What practice ought to be agreed on?"

I am sorry to find my answer so unsatisfactory to Mr. Cox's appeal. It is not for want of careful consideration. But the affairs of the world do not stand still while they are under discussion. Pending the controversy respecting the best possible practice, some practice has been actually adopted. What it is, or whether it has been uniform, I have no means of knowing, but I believe we may safely lay this down as a truth: That all interference of authority with the freedom of actions not in themselves wrong is to be avoided as an evil, and one that most commonly aggravates whatever evil it was designed to correct. The forum domesticum, to which the Profession paid allegiance, as a band of brothers, can hardly maintain its authority over a family so widely diffused, so indefinitely multiplied. Without rules the honourable man will act correctly, and none will restrain those of opposite character.

But I will not yet despair of the fortunes of Westminster Hall, which rose with intellectual energy and moral worth, and will not fall by the failure of some accidental but problematical advantages. The numerous seats of judicature in the County Courts are added to the existing rewards of industry and learning, likely, we may hope, to be rendered more attractive by occasional promotions from them to the higher judicial rank. The numerous legal establishments in the colonies greatly multiply the prospects of a respectable posi

tion and comfortable competency. The aspirant must still support himself during the tedious but inevitable time of waiting for business by some expenditure of capital, if he possess it, by the aid of friends, or by some of the numerous employments that are constantly demanding and remunerating intellectual labour. A greater number of treatises on Jurisprudence, with more philosophical views than have been ́usual among us, may be expected, and we may confidently predict, that regular attendance at those practical lectures which the Superior Courts at Westminster are constantly reading will be one of the highest recommendations to this and various other offices. All these causes will conspire to preserve that supremacy of character which has induced the Legislature to lodge the supremacy of power with the oldestablished tribunals of the realm.

STATE TRIALS have, not inaptly, been termed the Drama of History. They form that finer shading without which history would be little more than a bare outline. From them the historian may deduce unbiassed, because undesigned, proofs of his various statements; they show him the customs, the habits, and manners of private life. Nay, more; from them he may see the motive, aim, and well-spring of indivi

See No. I., 16 L. R. p. 59.

2 We have preferred retaining the Scotch idiom as far as possible. The pages in the margin refer to the nineteenth volume of the State Trials, and are referred to in proof of the assertions in the text.

dual action. The trial we have now selected owes much of its celebrity to the revival of the bitter feud between the Stewarts and the Campbells, consequent upon the enormities committed by the latter after the battle of Culloden. Colonel Charles Stewart', the owner of the forfeited estate of Ard

'We make no apology to our readers for introducing the following anecdote from Beattie's Caledonia Illustrated (vol. ii. p. 90.):—“ Charles Stewart of Ardshiel, who commanded the Stewarts and M'Colls of Appin in 1745, was previously to that period desperately in love with one of the three daughters of Haldane of Landrick. There being at that time no made road in the Highlands, the shortest and most direct way from Appin to Landrick Castle was by Landgearn and the clachan of Balquhidder. Ardshiel paid several visits to Miss Haldane, but was not successful. In his last and almost despairing visit, he fell in on his way with Rob Roy, who happened to be at his brother's at the clachan of Balquhidder. During the course of their conversation, a quarrel took place, and each being provided with an Andrea Ferrara, they immediately encountered in a kail yard. Ardshiel was the conqueror; and Rob Roy on his way up the glen, was not only heard in the greatest fury exclaiming that' Ardsheil was the first that ever drew blood of him ;' but it is said, moreover, that he threw his broad-sword into Loch Voil, nearly opposite to Stronvarr House, where there is reason to believe it still remains. But Ardshiel not only conquered Rob Roy, he also won the fair lady; for, on the report of the rencontre reaching Landrick Castle, Miss Haldane was so flattered with it that she favoured his addresses. This account of the matter is well known to several of the inhabitants in the parish of Balquhidder; and there is no doubt of its being the correct one." See also" Memoirs of the Haldanes," by Alexander Haldane, Esq., Barrister, 1852, p. 6, n., who confirms the above statement. A somewhat different version is given by Sir Walter Seott in his Introduction to Rob Roy; but he says, "that the period when I received the information is now so distant, that it is possible I may be mistaken as to the particular Stewart to whom it properly applies." Ardshiel was among the first to join the Prince. On the 16th of August, 1745, Charles proceeded to erect the Royal Standard, with the celebrated motto "Tandem triumphans." "On the next morning," says Lord Mahon, "they began their march, Charles himself proceeding to Lochiel's house of Auchnacarrie, and he was joined by Macdonald of Glencoe with one hundred and fifty men; the Stewarts of Appin under Ardshiel, with two hundred, and Glengarry the younger with about the same.-Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iii. p. 320. The part which Ardshiel took in this unhappy though gallant adventure may be seen in the subsequent portions of this volume. He was one of the five lairds who it appears were then in the Council of the Prince (see memoir in Hogg's Jacobite Relics); and even in the fatal battle of Culloden, if all the Highlanders had acted as did the Stewarts of Appin, the result might have been different.-See Authentic Account of the Occupation of Carlisle in 1745, p. 225. After the dispersion of the clans and the flight of the Prince, he was among the last to leave the country; but the Act was passed under which, among many others, his estate was forfeited (20 Geo. II. c. 41.); and he escaped to France, where he died many years afterwards, as we have already mentioned. The whole clan of Stewarts of Appin

shiel, led the Stewarts of Appin in the whole of the Rebellion of 1745. The prisoner, James Stewart, was a naturalson of Colonel Stewart's father, and, very kindly, managed the affairs of the Colonel's family, who were in distress on account of the forfeiture of their patrimony; and to them, indeed, he acted the part of a father, but was not, as some appear to think1, ever recognised by the family, under the feudal patronymic of Laird of Ardshiel.2 The real Laird of Ardshiel, the Colonel (in the Prince's army), was living, at the time of this trial, in exile, at Sens, where he died in 1757, about five years after the execution of the unfortunate pannel. We may observe that Ardshiel commanded the Stewarts with much distinction at Preston Pans, Falkirk, and Culloden; but only because the Appin branch, now extinct, to whom the honour more properly belonged, was unable to furnish a leader, and Ardshiel represented the next major branch of the clan. (See Hogg's "Jacobite Relicts," vol. ii. in notis.) To the title of Laird the pannel, James Stewart, could never have attained, for purity of descent was essential to the enjoyment of such an office.

Any one who knows any thing of the bitter enmity, alluded to above, which existed between the Stewarts and the Camp

have been recently gratified by the elevation of one of their number to a ViceChancellorship — Mr. John Stuart, descended from the Ballachelish branch, and a true son of the clan.

In a work recently published, "Narratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland, by John Hill Burton, Advocate, 1852," giving an account of this trial, the author appears to consider that the James Stewart here tried was Laird of Ardshiel. "After the suppression," he says, "of the last Jacobite insurrection, Colin Campbell of Glenure had been appointed factor for the Government, on certain forfeited estates in the West Highlands, one of which had belonged to Stewart of Ardshiel. In the spring of 1651 he had removed Stewart from the farm of Glenduror."- C. T., vol. i. p. 78. But the James Stewart, the tenant of Glenduror, and the prisoner in the above trial, was not the Laird of Ardsheil, but simply one of his tenants, and the foster-brother of the Laird. Of the Laird himself we have given some account above.

2 In his History of Highland Clans, Colonel Stewart of Garth mentions, that for some time after the forfeiture of this estate, the tenants paid double rent, once to the Government factor and next to the exiled Laird, vol. i. p. 220., and see 19 St. Tr. 19. The estate was restored to the family at the end of the last century; the present being the seventh Laird, Charles Stewart, Esq., is the great grandson of Colonel Charles Stewart. It is proper to say, that Stewart of Appin, who held the senior fief, never joined the standard of Prince Charles.