292 ROADSIDE WASTES. 
Berkhamsted case, took the advice of the Commons 
Society and of its solicitor, Mr. P. H. Lawrence. He 
was recommended to follow the example of Mr. Smith, 
and to make an emphatic demonstration of the 
illegality of the encroachments, by forcibly removing 
the fences, and by employing for the purpose a body of 
men so large, as to render any opposition on the part of 
Lord Salisbury’s employés impossible. 
Lord Cowper, acting on this counsel, collected a large 
body of tenants and labourers, who, under his personal 
superintendence, removed the whole of the fences in 
the night and early morning. Having effected this, 
he sent a servant on horseback to Hatfield with a letter, 
informing Lord Salisbury of what had been done, and 
of his reasons for doing it. It was stated at the time 
that the late Lord Cairns—then Lord Chancellor— 
was a guest at Hatfield, when this missive arrived, 
and it was surmised that his advice on the legal 
aspects of the case restrained his host within prudent 
bounds. However that may have been, Lord Salisbury 
contented himself with issuing a writ for trespass 
against Lord Cowper, but took no further action upon 
it; he submitted to a defeat, and never attempted to 
question the legality of Lord Cowper’s action in remov- 
ing the fences, or to assert his own right to erect 
them. 
A mutual friend of the two peers, it was said, en- 
deavoured to induce Lord Cowper to tender an apology 
to Lord Salisbury for so violent a course, upon the 
understanding that no further attempt would be made 
