ALABAMA CLAIMS. 89 



Since Le became the bead of the Queen's Bencli lie 

 has occasionally appeared in tbe field of letters on 

 questions connected with municipal or public law, but 

 not 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, Mr. Beach Lawrence, on 

 droit d'auhaine^ 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 allegiance in England. 



Again, when it was proposed to arraign Nelson and 

 Brand as criminals in England for acts committed in 

 Jamaica under proclamation of martial law. Sir Alex- 

 ander Cockburn delivered a voluminous charge to the 

 grand jury, which he afterward published with addi- 

 tions and notes, notwithstanding the partiality and the 

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

 and it must 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 Mr. 

 Whiting, in America, on the same subject. 



This charge, and some proceedings by which it 

 was followed, provoked much criticism. Mr. Ga- 

 thorne Hardy, for instance, called attention to the 

 fact that the Chief Justice "vacillated," that he 

 "went from one side to another," so as to render it 

 doubtful what his opinions really were; and Mr. 



