Roland Cashel Volume Ii Part 56

The next witnesses examined were the group who, headed by the Chief Justice, had entered Cashel's room. If they all spoke guardedly, and with great reserve, as to the manner of the prisoner, and the construction they would feel disposed to put upon the mode in which he received them, they agreed as to every detail and every word spoken with an accuracy that profoundly impressed the jury.

The magistrate, Mr. Goring, as having taken the most active part in the proceedings, was subjected to a long and searching cross-examination by Jones, who appeared to imply that some private source of dislike to Cashel had been the animating cause of his zeal in this instance.

Although not a single fact arose to give a shade of color to this suspicion, the lawyer clung to it with the peculiar pertinacity that often establishes by persistence when it fails in proof; and so pointedly and directly at last, that the learned judge felt bound to interfere, and observe, that nothing in the testimony of the respected witness could lay any ground for the insinuation thrown out by the counsel.

Upon this there ensued one of those sharp altercations between Bench and Bar which seem the "complement" of every eventful trial in Ireland; and which, after a brief contest, usually leave both the combatants excessively in the wrong.

The present case was no exception to this rule. The Judge was heated and imperious; the counsel flippant in all the insolence of mock respect, and ended by the stereotyped panegyric on the "glorious sanct.i.ty that invests the counsel of a defence in a criminal action--the inviolability of a pledge which no member of the Bar could suffer to be sullied in his person"--and a great many similar fine things, which, if not "briefed"

by the attorney, are generally paid for by the client! The scrimmage ended, as it ever does, by a salute of honor; in which each, while averring that he was incontestably right, bore testimony to the conscientious scruples and delicate motives of the other; and at last they bethought them of the business for which they were there, and of him whose fate for life or death was on the issue. The examination of Mr. Goring was renewed.

"You have told us, sir," said Jones, "that immediately after the terrible tidings had reached Tubbermore of Mr. Kennyf.e.c.k's death, suspicion seemed at once to turn on Mr. Cashel. Will you explain this, or at least let us hear how you can account for a circ.u.mstance so strange?"

"I did not say as much as you have inferred," replied Goring. "I merely observed that Mr. Cashel's name became most singularly mixed up with the event, and rumors of a difference between him and his agent were buzzed about."

"Might not this mention of Mr. Cashel's name have proceeded from an anxious feeling on the part of his friends to know of his safety?"

"It might."

"Are you not certain that it was so?"

"In one instance, certainly. I remember that a gentleman at once drew our attention to the necessity of seeing after him."

"Who was this gentleman?"

"Mr. Linton,--a near and intimate friend of Mr. Cashel."

"And he suggested that it would be proper to take steps for Mr. Cashers safety?"

"He did so."

"Was anything done in consequence of that advice?"

"Nothing, I believe. The state of confusion that prevailed; the terror that pervaded every side, the dreadful scenes enacting around us,--prevented our following up the matter with all the foresight which might be desired."

"And, in fact, you sought relief from the unsettled distraction of your thoughts, by fixing the crime upon some one--even though he should prove, of all a.s.sembled there, the least likely."

"We did not attach anything to Mr. Cashel's disfavor until we discovered that he was in his dressing-room, and in the manner already stated."

"But you certainly jumped to your conclusion by a sudden bound?"

"It would be fairer to say that our thoughts converged to the same impression at the same time."

"Where is this Mr. Linton? Is he among the list of your witnesses, Mr.

Attorney?"

"No, we have not called him."

"I thought as much!" said Jones, sneeringly; "and yet the omission is singular, of one whose name is so frequently mixed up in these proceedings. He might prove an inconvenient witness."

A slight murmur here ran through the court; and a gentleman, advancing to the bar, whispered some words to the Attorney-General, who, rising, said:--

"My Lord, I am just this instant informed that Mr. Linton is dangerously ill of fever at his house near Dublin. My informant adds, that no hopes are entertained of his recovery."

"Was he indisposed at the period in which my learned friend drew up this case? or was there any intention of summoning him here for examination?"

asked Jones.

"We did not require Mr. Linton's testimony," replied the Attorney-General.

"It can scarcely be inferred that we feared it," said a junior barrister, "since the first palpable evidences that implicated the prisoner were discovered by Mr. Linton: the wadding of the pistol; part of a letter in Mr. Cashel's own handwriting; and the tracks corresponding with his boots."

"This is all most irregular, my Lord," broke in Jones, eagerly. "Here are statements thrown out in all the loose carelessness of conversation, totally unsupported by evidence. I submit that it is impossible to offer a defence to a cause conducted in this manner."

"You are quite right, Mr. Jones; this is not evidence."

"But this is, my Lord!" said the Attorney-General, in a heated manner; "and for motives of delicacy we might not have used it, if not driven to this course by the insinuations of counsel. Here is a note in pencil, dated from the 'Pa.s.s of Ennismore,' and running thus: 'It looks badly; but I fear you have no other course than to arrest him. In fact, it is too late for anything else. Consult Malone and Meek.' And this can be proved to be in Mr. Linton's handwriting."

Mr. Clare Jones did not speak a word as the note was handed up to the Bench, and then to the jury-box; he even affected to think it of no importance, and did not deign to examine it for himself.

"You may go down, Mr. Goring," said he, after a slight pause, in which he appeared deliberating what course to follow.

Making his way to the side of the dock, Jones addressed himself to Cashel in a low, cautious voice:--

"It now remains with you, Mr. Cashel, to decide whether you will intrust me with the facts on which you ground your innocence, or prefer to see yourself overwhelmed by adverse testimony."

Cashel made no reply, but leaned his head on his hand in deep thought

"Have you any witnesses to call?" whispered Jones. "Shall we try an _alibi?_"

Cashel did not answer.

"What is your defence, sir, in one word?" asked Jones, shortly.

"I am not guilty," said Cashel, slowly; "but I do not expect others to believe me so."

"Is your defence to rest upon that bare a.s.sertion?" asked the lawyer; but Roland did not seem to heed the question, as, folding his arms, he stood erect in the dock, his attention to all appearance bestowed upon the ceremonial of the court.

Jones, at once turning to the Bench, expressed his regret that, neither being able, from the shortness of the time, to obtain proper information on the case, nor being honored by the confidence of the accused, he must decline the task of commenting on the evidence; and would only entreat the jury to weigh the testimony they had heard with a merciful disposition, and wherever discrepancies and doubts occurred, to give the full benefit of such to the prisoner.

"You have no witnesses to call?" asked the judge.

"I am told there are none, my Lord," said Jones, with an accent of resignation.

A brief colloquy, in a low voice, ensued between the Crown lawyers and Clare Jones, when, at length, a well-known barrister rose to address the jury for the prosecution. The gentleman who now claimed the attention of the Court was one who, not possessing either the patient habits of study, or that minute attention to technical detail which const.i.tute the legal mind, was a fluent, easy speaker, with an excellent memory, and a thorough knowledge of the stamp and temperament of the men that usually fill a jury-box. He was eminently popular with that cla.s.s, on whom he had often bestowed all the flatteries of his craft; a.s.suring them that their "order" was the bone and sinew of the land, and that "our proudest boast as a nation was in the unt.i.tled n.o.bility of commerce."

His whole address on the present occasion tended to show that the murder of Mr. Kennyf.e.c.k was one among the many instances of the unbridled license and tyranny a.s.sumed by the aristocracy over the middle ranks.

Mr. Kennyf.e.c.k was no bad subject for such eulogium as he desired to bestow. He was the father of a family; a well-known citizen of Dublin; a grave, white-cravated, pompous man of respectable exterior, always seen at vestries, and usually heading the lists of public charities.

Cashel was the very ant.i.thesis to all this: the reckless squanderer of accidentally acquired wealth; the wayward and spoiled child of fortune, with the tastes of a buccaneer and the means of a prince, suddenly thrown into the world of fashion. What a terrible ordeal to a mind so untrained--to a temper so unbridled! and how fearfully had it told upon him! After commenting upon the evidence, and showing in what a continuous chain each event was linked with the other,--how consistent were all,--how easily explicable every circ.u.mstance, he remarked that the whole case had but one solitary difficulty; and although that was one which weighed more in a moral than a legal sense, it required that he should dwell a few moments upon it.