THE TICHBORNE TRIAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1031, 2 September 1871, Page 8

THE TICHBORNE TRIAL.

The following is an extract from a letter from a gentleman in London, dated 28th June. This letter is from one of the writers of the letters printed in the Otago Daily Times of Thursday last, and its date, as will be observed, is between the two former sets of letters :—: — You can scarcely imagine to what extent

the Tiohbarne claim has became part of a\w daily food in London. In the winter, when we spoke of the war, wo agreed to begin by saying they are wonderful fellows those Prussians, or something of the sort, by way of introducing the subject j but in the Tich-> borne case no such introductory matter \u necessary. Everybody knows that Tlch« borne is already in everybody else' 3 thought*, In the English language — ever-changing am it is — "he" now meann the claimant, and if you want it to mean anybody else you must say so. You step into a railway carriage ; some one says, " He has been standing to« day's cross-examination very well ;" or, simply, "He is an extraordinary man." Xo further preface is necessary. Everybody understands what is meant, ' ' He " means Tichborne (if he be Tichborne), and Tichborne] has become the only "he" and "him" in the English language, unless some other meaning be assigned to those words. For my part, 1 must confess that my wavering faith has been much shaken of late. Orton appears much too often when Tichborne is at fault. The Mellipilla business seems to me by far the strongest point yet brought out against the claimant. He Baid that he was three M'eeks there, But somehow, three spare weeks could not be found in young Tichborne's chronological itinerary, and Arthur Orton wa3 undoubtedly at Mellipilla for a long time. But to-day, when I saw the man again, and heard hii» examined, his natural manner impressed me more than ever. I admit that I am fairly puzzled. It Beems to me that the Solicitor-General is a deal too virtuous ; it is his great failing. He has gradually created a strong impression, not only that he is virtue incarnate, but that his whole case is of astonishing purity. Now this, no doubt, is very well, provided it can be made to last ; but I have heard faint whispers to the effect, that howsoever high he may soar, hia familiar spirits are not immaculate. Thia may prove dangerous. If a man begins as Ballantine did, by saving "We are a baddish lot," he has prepared the way for what may come out. But if one com* mences in so high a tone as the Solicitor' General did and then cornea down, the fall is the greater. Now Westminster says — and Westminster ought to know — that no one ia to come out of this case with his skin quite whole. If underhand working is shown against the immaculate defendants, it will bring them far lower than the plaintiff is brought even by his friendship with Morgan and others of his stamp, and I am told that the conduct of the defendants' agents in was not exactly above board. Anyhow the whole thing will be raked through, and if there is anything of a shady nature in the conduct of the case, out it mußt come. Caricatures and skits are multiplying rapidly. I am making a complete collection of them, but I fear I shall hardly keep pace with the press' It is said that Sir George Honeyman advised against attempting to prove him to be Orton, but now the defendants are fairly committed to that affirmative issue. However, everything seems to point to his being Orton, if he be not Tichborne. Most men agree that if the defendants fail to show that he is Orton, the jury will be forced to say that he is Tichborne, and so it occurs to me. The whole evidence hitherto given seems to exclude the possibility of his being any one but Orton or Tichborne. I think I have mentioned the claimant's enormous figure in my last letter. It would be difficult fairly to describe him, but note this : — In an ordinary man of six feet high, and of large frame, the distance from the lower corner of the waistcoat to the knees is nearly two feet, as he sits in a chair ; in this man it is only a few inches, so great is the projection of the abdomen. His knee has no angle, it is a perfect curve. As he sits in a chair his thighs are lost, and hia legs look like two curved trusses of flesh, presenting a most ludicrous appearance. If you were to lean on a desk with your hands together, you would show an angle at each wrist, another at each elbow, and a third at each shoulder, together with various other angularities ; but this man is one continuous curve from wrist to wrist, round arms, shoulders and back, with an enormous roll of fat over the back. Yet he is not exactly ponderous in hia movements, on the contrary, he moves easily and sometimes jauntily. The SolicitorGeneral has dropped his imposing expression I " Should you be surprised to learn," &c. Punch, or one of the other comic papers, quizzed him out of it by a caricature. The Solicitor-General (Sir John Bull) to the claimant (for place — D 'lsraeli), SolicitorGeneral : "What is the meaning of liberty!" The claimant : "I think it means conservative measures." The Solicitor-General : " Should you be much surprised to learn that I in 1848 Dizzy, the patriot, said that the true meaning of liberty was radicalism ?" Claimant : " Don't remember."— .(Sensation.)