MISCELLANEA. 
367 
Mr. Collier , in replying on the, ease, commented in severe terms 
upon the admission which the defendant, Mr. Badcoek, had been com¬ 
pelled to make as to his conduct with reference to the bankrupt Strong. 
It showed what value he attached to the sacred obligations of an oath. 
It gave him (Mr. Collier) great pain to put the question, because he 
had the papers in his hand, and knew what the answer must be, but 
the jury had to decide between the truth of two statements, and he had 
been compelled to show them what sort of a man Mr. Badcock was; 
that he was a man capable of inducing another to deceive the Court of 
Bankruptcy on his oath ; that he was a man who had no respect for 
courts of justice, no respect for an oath, and who would suborn another 
almost to commit perjury, for it was little better than perjury to swear 
that he had not accepted bills which he had in fact accepted, cheating 
his conscience by a mere trick about the dates. He submitted that the 
jury could have no difficulty in determining on which side the truth 
was, and that their verdict must be in support of the straightforward, 
reasonable story which had been told them by the plaintiff, whose cha¬ 
racter was wholly unscathed. 
His Lordship, in summing up the evidence, remarked that it hap¬ 
pened, by some mysterious law of Providence, that there never was a 
horse-case in which the plaintiff did not swear one way, and the de¬ 
fendant exactly the other. In this case undoubtedly either the plain¬ 
tiff or the defendant had perjured himself, and the jury must choose 
between them. As for the transaction admitted by the defendant and 
commented on by the learned counsel for the plaintiff, he had no hesi¬ 
tation in saying it was a positive fraud, and amounted to nothing more 
nor less than subornation of perjury. The learned judge then went 
through the evidence adduced, reminding the jury that the first ques¬ 
tion for their consideration was, whether there was a warranty or not, 
and secondly, if they considered there was, what should be the amount 
of damages. 
The jury, after a deliberation of about twenty minutes, returned a 
verdict for the plaintiff, damages £20. 
MISCELLANEA. 
“ THE RIGHT MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE.” 
A much higher boon and far more valuable privilege has 
been conferred upon the middle and lower classes of this 
country by an Act of Parliament passed last session. For 
the first time in the history of this country any one may 
claim as a matter of right, and not of grace, to show that 
he is worthy to serve the State in an official capacity. 
Though the people at large, from time immemorial, have 
taken part in the legislation of the country through their 
representatives in Parliament, no man could enter the exe¬ 
cutive departments of the State, or lay claim to any of its 
offices, even the poorest or the meanest, but through the 
favour of somebody, who had himself been appointed through 
the favour of somebody else. Thus the service of the State 
was damaged and degraded. Its offices were bartered aw r ay in 
