THE LATE SIR CRESS WELL CRESSWELL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 584, 31 October 1863, Page 10 (Supplement)

THE LATE SIR CRESS WELL CRESSWELL.

(Fiv-m the Times.) The shock to the system caused by an accident ha s deprived us of one of the best and perhaps altogether .the met- valuable of our Judges. Sir Cresswell Cresswell died ye-terday evening. He was an old man. fo'-, as he tonk his degree at Cambridge in 1814. he must i;s all probability have been in hi-s seventieth year. Titne, however, had nor. impa;red the vigor of his intellect. He was in the full enjoyment of all his judicial powers ; his memory wi* as good, his tiiscriminatiou as prompt, his learning as ready, and his nerve sss strong as in his earlier years when battling at the B:ir. But for this miserable occurrence of a broken-down carriage and a frightened pair of' hovses he misrlit, notwithstanding that he appears to have had a latent di-ease lurking in his frame, have gone on for yrars doing" good service to hi* country, and fiuding his best enjoyment in the discharge of his duties . Sir Cresswell Cresswell's career has besn simply that of a hardworking lawyer. In-later years he appeared to.be- one of those who seem tv love work for its own saka, and such men always make their way at the English Bar.-. This, however, may have bee;t an acquired habit. Being only the fourth son of a gentleman of good estate, perhaps it was in the first instance a necessity to him to apply with as- J -Bicmity to hi* profession.'. Ibis certain that after his call ia 1819 the attorneys found'.out'a c.ipaeity which the Cambridge examiners • had" ..failed'to discover. That he drudged away in Westininsterball the lon» series of Baruewa I and Cresswell's reports vs'ill testify. 'Hejoineli the Northern Circuit &{?a tit'ne w'h"n Brougham and Scarlc-tt governed the irevels f the Grand Court, aiid divided the business 6f serous litigation. He-fought his way along through.'the dust in which these two gladiators were klwavs-enveloped; a-ul at, last when the heroes were taken up mto the secies discretes and no longer vexed tae Northern Circuit, unless as judges, (Cresswell and Alexander suceeedd to their places The leadership of the Northern Circuit wab in those <j£ys' something to struggle for- and something to retain. It took a strong man to hold his'own there. pre?swell was not a Brougham, perhiips he was not in $act and power of persuasiou a, Scarlett, but he -was

strong enough -to s&ize'up'on the leadership of theNortheru Circuit, and to hold it easily against all comers. He got his silk gown in 1831, and'from that year till 1812 he worked very hard, and must have mado much money. Most m^n in such a position would have locked to the House of Commons and to thi) higti prizis of his profession, all of which seemed to be wirbin his reach. Cress well was elected for Liverpool in 1837, and retained-his seat until he was raised to the Bench. He was not, however, a've.-y ardent, politician nor was he particularly successful in the House of Commons.. His position wtis'mnde before he was a member of Parliament, and his seat for Liverpool neither advanced nor retarded him in his career. When Mr Littiedale was asked by the Patronage Sscrelary ol ihe Treasury what his p >litics were, he replied that he was a special pleader. Cress well could nut have given this answer, but when be was male one of the Justices of the Queen's -Bench, in 1842, it was because he was a sound lawyer and;certainly not because he was a member for Liverpool. He fully answered all expectations formed of him as a lawyer. He was what is called a "strong" ju-'igfe; That is to say, he wa,snot only a learned judge, hut a man who would have i,-is own way. He had sufficient conh'dene3 inhirusplf, a sufficient contempt for his- audience, ani a sufficient power of saying very disa^ree-ibfe truths at proper times to keep every one in awe of. him. It is a great temptation toiiave this power in that position, and perhaps tiii1 Cresswell Cress well abused it as little as it is in hutna a nature to dol. ■ • The work by which, however, Sir Cresswell Cresswell will be remembered—and the only work by which he will he remembered —is the creation of the Divorce Court. Sir Cresswell Cresswell was appointed to preside here in January, 1853. It was an experiment distrusted at the time by the public, nnd most dangerous to the reputation of the man j who should first undertake it. Sir Cresswell Cresswell's confidence in himself allowed him to accept it, and, as that' self-confidence was fortunately in his case well founded, it enabled him to carry it through. To him chiefly ifc is owing that the Divorce Court has been a great success. Hi has made a cole of Divorce law by his decisions, and he has based it upon sound, broad principles. Asa social lawgiver Sir Cressweli Cresswell is as great as Lord Mansfii Id is as a mercantile lawgiver. He has built a bridge in chaos; and if his successor has the prudence to' keep to it he may travel without any very violent ialls. , This building up of a new system of law must have grown to be a labour of love with Sir Cresswell CresswolK ~He : hacl long since earned his pension. He was rich in private means ; he was childless, and, indeed, unmarried.- It could only have been an absorbing interest iv his work and a desire to consolidate the practice of• Ms -Court which could have induced him to toil'on in a drudgery which must have caused him frequent* disgust and continual labour. It is true that he was, generally appreciated by his countrymen and countrywomen, and was doubtless conscious that he was doing his work well; but in the work itself he could have taken ho pleasure. 1 He was a hardworking-, conscientious, and successful public servant, and his life has been useful.- How few there are who die and of whom so much, as this can be truly said ; and who is there among us of whom we could truly say much more ? (From the Lancet) At seven minute 3 to seven on the evening of Wednesday, the distinguished Judge of the Court ot Probate and Divorce, Sir Cresswell Cresswell, suddenly expired. It is well known that he had recently met with a severe accident; but thednjjwy which he then received, although it may have accelerated his decease T)y the severe shook which it undoubtedly inflicted on- the system, does but appear to have had any direct share in the fatal result which has unexpectedly occurred. W hen violently thrown over by the r.untway hoises which broke from Lord Aveland's carriage Sir Cresswell was found, on being raised from the ground, to be suffering from fracture of the knee-pan. This was not, however, a fracture from direct violence; but when examined by the surg-eon summoned—Mr James Lane, of St. Mary's Hospital - •he found that from the nature of the fracture it was evidently one of those fare inst-ince3-4a which the knee-pan is rent by the sudden and violent action of the extensor muscles of the thigh, commonly in the effort'to recover the ba'ance of the body, and avoid falling. There was but little bruiting—much less than might have been anticipated, and no other apparent injury. The fractured part -was healing favourably, ami Sir Cresswell bore the confinement with great equanimity, and was in good spirits throughout. Mr James Lane and Mr Charles Hawkins were in continuous attendance, and everything promised a speedy recovery. Properly devised splints having been adjusted. Sir Cresswell was able, "with' assistence, to shift himself from the bed to a c?uch, and had done so in the course of Wednesday. As he was being lifted in the evening from the couch again to the bed, with the assistance of his brother, the Rev. Oswald Cresswell, he Complained of feeling fafnt, and asked for wine, aud almost immediately died. He had always considered himself a'specially healthy man, and was mentioning shortly after his accident that he had never had a day's illness, and had never consulted a physician since he left school. He had lately become somewhat suddenly corpulent, but ifc was never suspected, by himself or any other person, that the hand .of disease had seized him so firmly though silently. The post inqrte\n inspection was performed at seven p,ra. on Thursrlav .by ;Mr Charles Hawkins. Mr James Lane, and Dr Baber. The examination of the chest showed that the heart was the sole seat of disease. It was loaded with fat, the walls of the ventricular cavities were thin and weak, and the muscular fibres pale ; the. valves were competent. Throughout the rest of the| body the organs were found in a healthy condition, although in parts much loaded with fat. On examining the knee-joint some blood was found effused between the fractured surfaces of the bone; there wns no inflammation, irritation, or eflusion in the interior of the joint, but repair was going on satisfactorily. The cause of death was, doubtless, severe syncope, fatal because occurring in a weak heart fattily degenerated. ■'.-■■■'■' • A circumstance occurred in connexion with the accident which, although by no means exceptional, deserves to be mentioned, as illustrating the admirable spirit in which our hospitals are administered, and the firmness and self-devotion with which the members of the medical profession perform their duties to the poor in those establishments. Sir gresswell was overthrown within sight of St. George's Hospital, and a ba«ty message was sent there, stating that an accident had occurred to the distinguished judge, and requesting that the house-surgeon, might accompany him to his home. The house-surgeon, however, was then enga?ed in urgent duties of attendance upon poorer sufferers, and felt unable to leave his post. Other skilled attendance was immediately at hand. Such incidents are not rare, and we cannot but think that they reflect honor on our profession and deserve to be widely known.