trbe lEarl of CarM^an 241 



wounded. The miller, who was a constable, arrested 

 Lord Cardigan, and so strongly did public feeling run 

 against the Earl, that there was a universal clamour for 

 his trial. Cardigan exercised his right as a peer, and 

 claimed to be tried by his peers. Sixty years had 

 elapsed since such a trial had taken place, and the case 

 created extraordinary interest and excitement. 



On the 1 6th of February 1841, Lord Cardigan 

 appeared at the Bar of the House of Lords to answer 

 the charge against him. Lord Denman presided as 

 Lord High Steward. Sir John Campbell, the Attorney- 

 General (afterwards Lord Chancellor, and author of the 

 Lives of the Chancellors), conducted the prosecution. 

 Sir William Follett, one of the ablest and subtlest 

 cross-examiners the Bar has ever produced, was counsel 

 for the defence. When the case was concluded on 

 each side, the Lord High Steward put the question to 

 each of the peers in turn, beginning with the junior 

 Baron present — 'John, Lord Keame, how says your 

 lordship — Is James Thomas, Earl of Cardigan, guilty 

 of the felony whereof he stands indicted, or not 

 guilty ? ' Then Lord Keame, amid deep silence, stood 

 up uncovered, and laying his right hand on his heart, 

 said, ' Not guilty, upon my honour.' One after another 

 each peer returned the same verdict, until it came to 

 the turn of William Harry, Duke of Cleveland, and 

 he, after a moment's hesitation, said, ' Not guilty, legally, 

 upon my honour,' with a marked stress upon the 

 adverb. Lord Cardigan, whose handsome, aristocratic 

 face had shown no sign of emotion of any kind from 

 start to finish, then bowed with dignity to the Lord 

 High Steward, walked erect and soldierlike from the 



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