T1 bring her into port. Still less was there an overpowering or extreme necessity for her destruction. It was not even vital to Russia's military interests that that portion of her cargo which consisted of railway material be destroyed or prevented from reaching its destination. Under the circumstances we must pronounce the sinking of the Knight Commander a serious and wanton attack upon neutral rights and an undoubted violation of International Law. EAST TENNESSEE LAW STORIES. HERE have been, and are still, strong men among the Bar of East Tennessee. Anyone familiar with the Courts at Knoxville in the sixties and seventies can remember much of interest. Aside from the local Bench and Bar, the Supreme Court, chosen from the three divisions of the State and sitting at Knoxville for East Tennessee cases, brought lawyers from a distance. Some of the men of that day still live at Knoxville, others have gone to other places, not a few have ceased practice unless before "Heaven's high Chancery." court. Horace Maynard, distinguished as a lawyer, had been by that time so claimed by public life that but little was seen of him in For many years in Congress, afterwards Minister to Turkey and PostmasterGeneral, a fine scholar, man of irreproachable private life, elder in the Presbyterian Church, he was a standing refutation of the thoughtless claim sometimes made that no one can succeed in politics without dirty work. He has long since joined the great silent majority. One of his sons, now a retired rear-admiral, captured. the first prize in our late war with Spain. It is told of Mr. Maynard that on one occa sion, probably at a country court, being assigned by the court to defend a woman, he read from the court Bible the story of Christ's reply to those who accused the woman taken in adultery, telling the jury that that was the oldest and best law book, and asking them to govern themselves accordingly, with the result that the woman was acquitted. Another story is told of his exasperating an opponent in court to the extent of a personal attack, by merely shaking his forefinger at him and exclaiming in his sarcastic tones, "I am not mistaken, sir!" There was a legend that he had Indian blood, to which color was given by his straight figure, straight black hair, complexion and cast of features, and the name "The Narragansett" (he came from Massachusetts) was as well understood as is now "The Sage of Wolfert's Roost." Associated in some stories of this olden time were two genial gentlemen, Colonel T. R. Cornick, one of the older members of the Bar, long since departed, and Colonel Will A. Henderson, one of the younger set, now for many years Assistant General Counsel of the Southern Railway, with an office at Washington, one of those happy men whose spirit will keep young even if the body that holds it should pass the century mark. Colonel Cornick was a man of learning and travel, an interesting talker and good lawyer, but prone to follow off on a side trail suggested by any interesting question which might arise. The two gentlemen were on opposing sides in the famous Haynes-Swan case in the Supreme Court, one of the points in which was that Haynes had been for a time insane. As proof of insanity testimony had been taken showing that he had claimed property that did not belong to him. Cornick conceived the idea that the evidence was intended to establish ownership, and proceeded to combat the idea that the claim was any evidence of title. "Why, if your Honors please," he said, "Mr. Henderson says Mr. Haynes claimed this property. What if he did? I remember many years ago, if the Court please, I was passing through your city, (and, by the way, it was not a city then, it was a small town), and I went out into the forks of the river to the home of my friend Captain Boyd (the Trustee of your County, a relative of mine), and, if your Honors please, the captain was not at home, but his negro man, Remus, proposed to show me what he called his farm, and his horses, and his cows, as he called them, this negro man Kemus, if your Honors please, himself the property of my friend, Captain Boyd. And he took me down to the pen to show me what he called his hogs. And, by the way, they were really very fine hogs indeed, and this, if your Honors please, was before this new fangled disease had got among the hogs, 'tricheenae' or 'tricheinae', I don't know how they pronounce it; I believe Mr. Cocke is not present." (Mr. Cocke posed as the Admirable Crichton of the Bar, infallible alike in law or literature.) "Most remarkable disease, if your Honors please, this trichinae, baffles all the skill of the most scientific men of the nineteenth century. Worms in 'em! Worms in 'em! It gets into the flesh of the hog, and it gets into the flesh of the man that eats the hog. The brightest minds of Europe and America are unable to unravel the mystery, and, if your Honors please, as I was about to remark," here he ran his hand through his hair and paused, "if the Court will indulge me a moment,- -as I was about to say if your Honors please, the precise point that I was about to illustrate has escaped me, but every statement I have made is true, on the honor of a man!" But Despite this losing the trail Colonel Cornick's side was victorious in this case. the result was otherwise on an occasion when he and Henderson were opposed, and Cornick, having a hopeless case, was vehemently eloquent. Citing Freeman's authority he closed his argument by shouting at the Court, "If your Honors please, if Mr. Henderson is correct, Freeman's a fool, Freeman's a fool!" The judges, including Judge Thomas J. Freeman, put their heads together consulting whether they should render a decision at once or, from courtesy to Colonel Cornick, take the case out. Being a little hard of hearing, Cornick asked Henderson what the judges were saying. The Court heard the question, also Henderson's reply, which was, "They want to know which Freeman you allude to." Instantly Cornick was on his feet and convulsed the Court by shouting, "If your Honors please, I meant the California Freeman." Colonel Cornick, who though a secessionist did not relish criticism of the country by a foreigner, was travelling over a Swiss mountain in a diligence with an English lerd, who told him that his country had all gone to pieces. "And," said the colonel, “I had a great mind to slap him in the face, but thunder! he weighed two hundred and fifty pounds, and I thought it would not pay!" It is told of him that once, sallying out on the street after a retirement of several hours, he enquired the time, and being told it was four o'clock, laid his finger aside his nose with the words, "Query? Morning, or evening?" Colonel Henderson enjoyed a joke far too well to suppress it merely because he was himself the victim. Returning from the Confederate army, impecunious and arrested twice for treason before he got up town from the station, he gladly accepted an offer of a hundred dollars to go into North Carolina to take some depositions, though the trip was by no means a safe one. Equipping himself with a blue overcoat for protection if he fell in with Union troops and depending on other means to get along with the Confederates, he started out with a comrade, and one night at a widow's was roused by hearing the house hailed by a party in pursuit of two horse thieves. They described one of the miscreants as a chunky fellow with a blue army overcoat and a black hat, which fitted with Henderson's dress, and "a mean-looking countenance." The hostess finally persuaded the party that those they sought were not there, but next morning at the breakfast table remarked, "Mr. Henderson, they described you exactly." Henderson had to a rare extent the faculty of making fun without making the victim angry. L. A. Gratz was a German who had borne a major's commission in the Federal army, married and settled in Tennessee, studied law and practised successfully, though not for some time thoroughly at home in the American surroundings. The following story I heard many years ago, and never knew it questioned till quite recently, when I was told that Major Gratz says it is without foundation. But it is so true to life to the ears of those who knew to the parties and the community and the presiding judge, the late L. C. Houk, that it is at least true in the sense in which Shakspeare's creations are real, and I must appeal my friend the major to withdraw his plea of not guilty. He came into the court-house of the little countyseat of the mountain county of Morgan just at the close of a suit about a hound, and Henderson suggested that he make a speech in the case. Objecting on the ground that he did not know the facts, Henderson told him that one mountaineer had given another the hound pup in settlement of damages for breach of warranty in a jackass, and then replevied the pup. Henderson proposing that Gratz should speak, the court consented, and Major Gratz launched into a glowing oration on dogs, including the St. Bernards of the old world, and finally said, "And now, gentlemen of the jury, I come to what you've heard so much about in this case, the jackass." This being the first mention of the animal, jury, court and spectators became much interested, while the orator, encouraged by attention and applause, and judging by the peals of laughter which soon greeted him that he was succeeding eminently in his efforts to be witty, soared in describing the failure of the jackass and the utter lack of his progeny throughout the hills and valleys of the county. He closed in a blaze of glory and self-satisfaction, and when the noise had subsided the judge, after wiping his eyes, remarked, "I was not aware before that there was any jackass in this case, but since Major Gratz has appeared I see I was mistaken." Court was about adjourning, and judge and lawyers were soon on their way. Gratz and Henderson rode, horseback, side by side, out of the town in silence. Finally, after full meditation, Gratz remarked, "Vell, Henderson, if it vasn't so good a joke I would challenge you." T THE JUDICIAL HISTORY OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY. X. BY VAN VECHTEN VEEDER, Of the New York Bar. HE steady advance toward liberty of opinion which had been made the first half of George III.'s reign was rudely checked by the violence of the French Revolution. The widespread alarm that was felt throughout the civilized world at the excesses of the French revolutionists was further aggravated in England by the extravagances of a small but turbulent body of social and political agitators. The first of the repressive measures which have already been referred to warned the people against the seditious writings which were being circulated among them, and commanded the magistrates to apprehend their authors, printers and promulgators wherever found; and the reactionary period thus begun, which will now be illustrated by reference to the public trials, was not finally terminated until the passage of the Reform Bill in 1832. During this period freedom of speech was severely restrained, and criminal prosecutions abounded. The number of State prosecutions for political libels and seditious words during the years 1792 and 1793. was only one less than the total number of such trials from 1704 to 1789. Brief reference to some of them will indicate the extravagant activity of the government. The notorious Lord Gordon was prosecuted for composing and circulating among the prisoners in Newgate a crazy harrangue which was construed to be a libel on the judges (22 St. Tr. 175). Duffin and Lloyd, two inmates of the King's Bench prison, were prosecuted for posting this placard in the prison: "This house to let. Peaceable possession will be given by present tenants on or before 1st day of January, 1793, being the commencement of the first year of liberty in Great Britain." (22 St. Tr. 317). Winterbotham, a Baptist minister, who had spoken favorably in a sermon of the French Revolution, and had asserted that the taxes were oppressive, was found guilty of sedition, although seven witnesses testified that he had not used the language imputed to him. (22 St. Tr. 875). Thomas Brillat was charged with having said, in conversation at a public house, that there could be no reform without revolution, and that he wished there were no kings. On conflicting evidence he was convicted, imprisoned twelve months, and fined one hundred pounds. (22 St. Tr. 909). Dining with a friend at a coffee house, Dr. Hudson had proposed some toasts: "The French Republic," "The System of Equality," etc. He was overheard by others, and in consequence was convicted of sedition, imprisoned two years and fined two hundred pounds. (22 St. Tr. 1019). See also, the cases of Holt (22 St. Tr. 1189), Whyte (ib. 1237) and Binns (26 St Tr. 595). It is refreshing to find that the government occasionally overreached itself in these ridiculous prosecutions, which only served to bring odium upon the administration of justice. Daniel Eaton, who had been twice prosecuted for publishing Paine's works (22 St. Tr. 753, 785), was put on trial in 1794 for the publication of a contemptible pamphlet entitled, Politics for the People, or Hog's Wasb, in which the king was supposed to be typified under the character of a game cock. The whole affair was so trivial that the prisoner escaped punishment (22 St. Tr. 753). In 1795 John Reeves, the author of |