CAREER AT THE BAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22247, 23 October 1935, Page 13

CAREER AT THE BAR

MANY FAMOUS CASES * GREAT. CROSS-EXAMINER DRAMATIC TRIUMPHS The career of the late Lord Carson might logically be divided into two parts, one at the Bar and the other in politics. If the political aspect of his life should appear -at times to overshadow Carson the advocate it might be only because the memory does not have to reach so far to recall the picture of Lord Carson as the focal point of the political maelstrom. As an advocate in the Courts of Law his name will bo asscyiated with a number of causes celebres, both varied and dramatic. It was at the practice of the law that he spent the first vigorous years of his life, for it wasgnot until he was 57 years old that he i|jidertook hi? arduous political leadership. "His virulent invective," states Mr. Edward Marjoribanks in his ljiography of Lord Carson the advocate, "his uncanny skill in laying traps for unwary feet, his power of making witnesses say ridiculous things by an almost diabolical mastery of the arts of cross-examina-tion, the strange weight which his great personality and expressive voice lent to everything he said, would supply more than enough material for a biography if he had never entered polities." Deadly Cross-Examiner It is stated that when he commenced practice in London his reputation as a deadly cross-examiner quickly spread, and highly-coloured stories of an eccentric Irish counsel began to go thfl round of the Inns of Court. One day some briefs were laid on his table. Among them were some which seemed to be . 5 thinly-veiled blackmail. To his clerk's ' dismay Carson took the papers and hurled them outside. "If there is one thing I loathe and detest above all else," he said, "it is the raking up of a public man's private affairs against him." Among the famous actions in which Lord Carson appeared as a barrister are the Oscar Wilde case, the Jameson Raid case, the Russell divorce action, the trial of "Colonel" Lynch for treason, the Archer-Shee case and the Alaskan boundary dispute. When Wilde instituted his action alleging criminal libel against the Marquess of Queensberry it was Carson who was briefed for the defence. Wilde, it is recorded, was greatly amused -and told his friends that he "was to be crossexamined by old Ned Carson," the two having known each other in their college days. Wilde was convinced that his own brilliant intelligence and wit would render him impregnable. Course of the Trial The trial took place in April, 1895. Carson knew, the cleverness of Wilde and how he could turn to ridicule the most serious matters. He commenced his cross-examination with caution. Wilde adopted the role of entertainer with some apparent success, but Carson's questions penetrated deeper and deeper. It tfas a conflict of wits, likened to a combat between a knight in full armour and a dancer. Wilde's pose was eventually broken down and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty for the defendant. A sequel was the arrest of Wilde and his trial and conviction on a criminal charge. In the following year Carson acted with Sir Edward Clarke in defence of Dr. Jameson, leader of the historic raid " for the supremacy of the British flag in South Africa." Carson, however, had little voice in the conduct of the defence and his advice, when proferred, was not taken. The case wa,s lost, but it gave rise to a series of actions in which Carson was the victorious leading counsel. Trial of " Colonel " Lynch In the " khaki election " which followed the South African War there appeared the remarkable figure of " Colonel " Lynch, who had commanded the so-called " Irish Brigade " in South Africa against Britain; He was elected as Independent Nationalist member of Parliament for Galway, ; though at the time living in France, and forthwith he appeared to take his , seat in the House. He was arrested on a treason charge on landing in England and Sir Edward Carson, who by then had become Solicitor-General, led the case for the prosecution. The trial lasted for three days and accused was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to one of penal servitude for life, but before many months the prisoner was released. Then by the turn of fate "Colonel" Lynch became indeed a colonel, and this time in the British Army, for the Great War came with the years and he fought for the British Empire in France. For nine years, too, he sat in Parliament as member for Clare. It was his'work in the Alaska boundary dispute which brought to Carson the offer of the office of President of the Admiralty and Divorce Division. It was an offer, however, that he refused. The Alaskan boundary dispute followed the finding of gold in the Klondyke in 1896. Certain access points were seized by the United States, and the Governments of Great Britain and Canada protested. Preparation of Case Eventually, in 1903, the two Powers signed a treaty by which the matter was referred to a commission of six jurists, three to be appointed by each Government. The sittings took place at the Foreign Office in London. One of the counsel briefed by the British commissioners was Mr. J. A. Simon, later to become Sir John Simon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and now Homo Secretary, but then in his first youth as a barrister. To Carson fell the task of preparing the British case, and he invited Sir John Simon to help him. It was a formidable undertaking, and much of it was done in a country house at Cowes which had been rented for the summer. The work of preparation lasted for several weeks, and occupied night and day. Old documents written by explorers, geographers, trappers and sailors were perused, together with modern surveys and photographs of wild and trackless country. The Attorney-General, Sir R. Finlay, opened the case for Britain, and it was closed by Sir Edward Carson. The strength of the British case was shown by Carson's skill in reducing" the most complicated subject matter to the " narrowest compass and the clearest issue. Lord Carson was Solicitor-General 1900-6, Attorney-General 1915, First Lord of the Admiralty 1917, and a member of tho War Cabinet without portfolio, 1917-18. He was Lord of Appeal-in-Ordinary 1921-29.