COCKBURN, ALEXANDER J. E. 



COLOMBIA. 



113 



Office had been annoyed by supposed intrigues 

 of France and Russia in Greece, and was the 

 more peremptory. Greece appealed to those 

 powers. Tremendous complications ensued. 

 The French ambassador was withdrawn from 

 London. Europe was on the verge of a general 

 war. The matter was finally settled by a pay- 

 ment of a small portion of Don Pacifico's claim. 

 The House of Lords then passed a vote of cen- 

 sure on the foreign policy of the Government, 

 and Mr. Roebuck moved in the Commons that 

 it was injurious to the honor of the country to 

 sustain exaggerated and unjust demands. Mr. 

 Cockburn's speech on the dignity of a British 

 subject, and the inviolability of his rights, car- 

 ried away The House of Commons, saved the 

 Government, and made him famous. Promo- 

 tion followed swiftly. In July, 1850, he was ap- 

 pointed Solicitor-General, and in March, 1851, 

 he was promoted to be Attorney-General, which 

 office he held until the dissolution of the Russell 

 Ministry in the spring of 1852. With the Ab- 

 erdeen coalition he resumed this office, which he 

 held until 1856, when he was made Chief-Jus- 

 tice of the Court of Common Pleas. He was 

 knighted in 1850. In 1854 he was appointed 

 Recorder of Bristol. During his attorney -gen- 

 eralship his consummate, abilities were displayed 

 in the celebrated Hopwoocl case, and in the 

 prosecution of Palmer. On the elevation of 

 Lord Campbell to the woolsack in 1859, Sir 

 Alexander was advanced to the office of Lord 

 Chief-Justice. Most of the leading cases of 

 the last twenty years have been tried before 

 him. In the case of General Nelson and Lieu- 

 tenant Brand, prosecuted by the Jamaica De- 

 fense Committee for the hanging of Gordon, 

 his charge contains an exhaustive juridical and 

 historical exposition on martial law. On the 

 trial of the Wainwrights for the murder of 

 Harriet Lane, whom they buried in chloride of 

 lime, the defense assumed that if this was her 

 body, she committed suicide, and his reply was, 

 "I will instruct the jury that it is unusual for 

 suicides to bury themselves." In the Tichborne 

 case he presided throughout, and his charge 

 occupied nineteen days in its delivery. 



In 1870 he received from Oxford the degree 

 of D. 0. L., and that of LL. D. from Cam- 

 bridge in 1874. In 1876 he received the free- 

 dom of the city of London in the customary 

 gold box. He was always a favorite with the 

 English people. His controversies with Mr. 

 Gladstone, with the Dean of Arches, with any 

 and every one who infringed the boundaries of 

 what he considered the law of the land, were 

 sure to command the sympathy and attention 

 of the public. His cogent arguments and caus- 

 tic wit combined to put him high on the list of 

 their illustrious judges. He was selected in 

 September, 1871, to be the British arbitrator 

 in regard to the Alabama claims. He left Ge- 

 neva disgusted, and published his " Reasons for 

 dissenting from the Decision of the Tribunal 

 of Arbitration." Mr. Caleb Gushing, in his 

 book, "The Treaty of Washington," attacked 

 VOL. xx. 8 A 



the Chief- Justice's " Reasons " with more force 

 of invective than of argument. Satisfied with 

 comparing their author to "infamous judges 

 like Jeffreys or Scroggs," he left to Mr. Rob- 

 ert Lowe the honor of making a proper rejoin- 

 der to the " Reasons." They end with a hope 

 that the decision of the Geneva tribunal would 

 be received with respect and submission. u If," 

 said Mr. Lowe, " it was his opinion that we 

 ought to acquiesce without a murmur in the 

 award, he should not have published his argu- 

 ments. If he thought it right to publish his 

 arguments, he might have retrenched his ad- 

 vice." 



He brought about the abolition of public bet- 

 ting-houses, which were numerous not only in 

 London but in the minor towns, a reform for 

 which he deserves well of his country. One of 

 his last acts was the rehabilitation of Edmund 

 Galley, a guiltless convict who underwent for- 

 ty years of penal servitude before the wrong 

 was rectified, which was accomplished finally 

 through the untiring efforts of the great Judge. 



He was fond of yachting, fishing, and field- 

 sports, when his laborious duties permitted such 

 indulgence. He died in the harness. In the 

 morning he was occupied in hearing a case in 

 Westminster Hall. At midnight, November 

 21st, he breathed his last at the house in Hert- 

 ford Street so well known to all the social and 

 literary celebrities of England. This grave 

 Judjje, occupied with all the weighty matters of 

 the law, found time to cultivate the whole circle 

 of literature and the arts. He was himself a 

 writer of no mean merit, skilled in the compo- 

 sition of Greek and Latin verse, a lover of music, 

 and as conversant with French and Italian liter- 

 ature as with that of his own country. He was 

 equally great as lawyer, orator, and scholar, and 

 in each department he has left his mark upon 

 his time. 



COLOMBIA (EsTADOS UNIDOS DE COLOM- 

 BIA). For statistics concerning area, territo- 

 rial divisions, population, etc., reference may 

 be made to the " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 

 1877. 



The boundary question with Costa Rica came 

 again before the Colombian Congress in the 

 past year, and we here transcribe a brief re- 

 view of the resolutions passed on the subject : 



Article I affirms Colombia's " dominion and 

 possession " of all territory within a certain well- 

 defined line. Article II enumerates Colombia's 

 titles to the country from the river Culebras to 

 Cape Gracias a Dios. Article III declares Co- 

 lombia's "uninterrupted possession " up to the 

 line described in Article I. Article IV details the 

 attempt of a Costa Rican official to exercise ju- 

 risdiction over the disputed ground, his prompt 

 discomfiture, and Colombia's continued posses- 

 sion until the present. Article V is a plain and 

 peremptory demand for the continuance of the 

 status quo, until the question is settled by arbi- 

 tration or " other means," and declares any acts 

 of dominion by the Costa Rican government vio- 

 lation and " usurpation." Article VIII asserts 



