ALABAMA CLAIMS. SO 



Since lie became the liead of the Quceii\s Beiicli lie 

 has occasionally appeared in the field of letters on 

 questions connected with municipal or public law, but 

 jiot in a way to invite respect at home, or attention 

 beyond the limits of Great Britain. 



A few years ago he published a monogram on the 

 subject of nationality, in which he reproduced in an 

 abridged form [but quite incorrectly, as the remarks 

 of a most competent judge, ]\[r. Beach Lawrence, on 

 droit cCauhaine, tend to show] the matter contained 

 in the report of a commission appointed by the Gov- 

 ernment to inquire into and report upon the laws of 

 naturalization and allei:ci''^iice in En«i'iand. 



Again, when it was proposed to arraign Nelson and 

 Brand as criminals in En^rland for acts committed in 

 Jamaica under proclamation of mai'tial law, Sir Alex- 

 ander Cockburn delivered a voluminous charge to the 

 grand jury, which he afterward puljlished with addi- 

 tions and notes, notwithstanding the partiality and the 

 ui'gency of which, the grand jury refused to find a bill ; 

 and it nuist be confessed that, as a charge, it was pas- 

 sionate, vague, declamatory, and confused ; and as an 

 exposition of law, it is valueless when compared with 

 the treatises of Mr. Finlason, in England, and of ^Ir. 

 AVhiting, in America, on the same suliject. 



This charge, and some proceedings by which it 

 was followed, ])rovoked much criticism. ^Ir. Ga- 

 thorno Hardy, for instance, called attention to the 

 fact that the Chief Justice "vacillated," that he 

 "went fi'om one side to another," so as to render it 

 doubtful what his opinions really were; and Mr. 



