The English Bench and Bar of To-day. to guide us to ends and results which will strengthen yet the power of a people, and maintain untouched the Empire of our Queen." Separated as the Liberal Unionist party now is, by four years of bitter controversy and by the widest differences of political opinion, from their old associates, and stead fastly refusing as they still do, in spite of their numerical weakness, to coalesce with the Conservatives, it seems improbable that Sir Henry James's fidelity to principle will receive the outward and visible recognition which it deserves. Yet the unanimous voice of the legal profession has declared him wor thy to be had in honor, and history and pos terity will affirm the verdict. The present Parliament contains comparatively few law yers who are good politicians, and only one who has displayed some of the qualities of statesmanship. Sir Charles Russell, Sir Rich ard Webster, Mr. Lockwood, and many others enter the House of Commons wreathed with the laurels of forensic victories, and forth with sink into relative insignificance. Their debating powers are as keen as ever, but the atmosphere and the ground and the condi tions of the contest have all been changed. With the exception of Sir Henry James, Sir Edward Clarke, Mr. Finlay, and Mr. Asquith are the only English lawyers in the House of Commons who are regarded by their lead ers as really skilful and effective henchmen in a critical struggle. Sir Henry James's parliamentary reputation is quite as high as his legal. There is hardly a volume of Hansard which does not contain striking instances of his powers as a debater. His defence of Mr. Justice Keogh, in the riotous discussion to which the Galway Election Pe tition gave rise; his reply to Mr. Goschen, who is the greatest master of destructive criticism in the House of Commons, on the second reading of the Franchise Bill in
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1884; and his speeches in defence of the Irish policy of the Government, may be taken as typical examples. But Sir Henry James's management of the Judicature and the Corrupt Practices Acts called forth the admiration and enthusiasm of his party, and gained credence for the rumor which was current after the general election of 1880, that he was about to become Home Secre tary. The excitement of political life, and possibly the constitutional indolence with which his friends credit him, have prevented Sir Henry James from becoming a very great lawyer, in the sense in which those terms are applied to Cairns and Selborne, and his own compeer, Sir Horace Davey. That he could have placed himself on a level with the foremost men of his day, no one doubts. Sir Henry James has very re markable natural gifts, — a singular facility in mastering and reproducing complicated details, and a keen insight into character and motives. As a cross-examiner he is second only to Sir Charles Russell; as an advocate, he rises to heights to which Sir Charles Russell never attains. In literary perception, and in the power of literary ex pression, he has no living rival at the Eng lish bar. His appearance is familiar to every one who has had occasion to frequent the Eng lish courts. A tall man, with iron-gray hair, gray whiskers, dark, sunken, pene trating eyes, high brow, and clear-cut lips, Sir Henry James can neither come nor go without observation. His voice is husky till it is raised and cleared by strong feeling, and he speaks rapidly and with frequent gestures. He is the doyen of the English bar. No one is more popular, no one car ries popularity more gracefully. If he were raised to the Chancellorship to-morrow, not a murmur of discontent would challenge the appointment. Lex.
