though not as yet of continuous application ; he is ambitious of fame, and he has very courteous manners both in public and in private.' When Lord Palmerston came into power in 1859, Cockburn was ambitious to receive the great seal, but Lord Campbell becoming chancellor, he succeeded him on 24 June 1859 as lord chief justice of England. In the previous year, upon the death of the dean of York, he had succeeded to the baronetcy. He now, as afterwards on his return from the Geneva arbitration, declined a peerage ; but on the latter occasion accepted the grand cross of the Bath.
As an advocate Cockburn's knowledge of the law was not profound ; before his death he certainly was a good lawyer. He is said to have acquired his knowledge by sitting on the bench with Mr. Justice Blackburn. In style, however, his charges and considered judgments were masterpieces, and his summing up in the Matlock will case was especially eloquent. He preferred to take an adjournment in order to obtain time to throw his judgments into good form. It was his great pleasure to try all the most notorious cases himself. Thus the motion for a criminal information made by the Earl of Cardigan in the case of Reg. v. Calthorpe in order to vindicate his character, the action in 1865 in which Mrs. Ryves sought to prove that she was of the blood royal, the Jamaica rebellion case in 1867, the Roman catholic convent scandal of Saurin v. Starr (an action by a nun against the superior of her convent for conspiracy), the prosecution of those concerned in the Clerkenwell explosions in 1867, the second Tichborne trial in 1873, the Wainwright murder in 1875, and the Franconia collision case (Reg. v. Keyes) in 1876 all came before him. His charge to the grand jury at the central criminal court on the indictment against Brigadier-general Nelson and Lieutenant Brand for their conduct on Gordon's trial during the Jamaica rebellion occupied six hours in delivery, and was a masterly disquisition upon the whole field of martial law. Subsequently it was published with notes by Mr. Frederick Cockburn. The jury threw out the bill. The trial at bar of Orton or Castro in the court of queen's bench for perjury committed during the trial of the action of ejectment, Tichborne v. Lushington, took place before the lord chief justice, Mr. Justice Mellor, and Mr. Justice Lush. Sir John (now Lord) Coleridge and (the present Sir Henry) Hawkins, Q.C., were for the crown, and Dr. Kenealy defended the prisoner. During the trial, which lasted 188 days—the longest except that of Warren Hastings upon record—Dr. Kenealy, who had owed much to Cockburn's patronage, behaved to the court in the most unprofessional manner, and after the trial libelled the chief justice in his paper, the 'Englishman.' During the whole trial Cockburn assiduously perused his notes of the day night by night, and his charge to the jury occupied eighteen days in delivery, and was afterwards published in 1874 in two volumes of eight hundred pages each with his own corrections. On 23 April 1875 Dr. Kenealy, having been elected for the borough of Stoke, moved for a royal commission to inquire into the conduct of the Tichborne trial, and during the debate Mr. Disraeli, the prime minister, said of Cockburn : ' He is a man of transcendent abilities ; his eloquence is remembered in this house, and when he left it to ascend the highest tribunal almost within the realm, he sustained the reputation which he had attained here and in the courts of his country with learning and majesty' (Hansard, vol. ccxxiii. col. 1598). Shortly after this trial the freedom of the city of London was conferred on the chief justice.
At the same time Cockburn played a conspicuous part in public life. The same overflowing energy which led him to elaborate his judgments perpetually precipitated him into pamphlet controversy or stray publications. He published in 1869 a pamphlet on 'Nationality,' in which he discussed the report of the Nationalisation Commission. He published also a letter of remonstrance to the lord chancellor upon the judges being required to try election petitions ; an attack on the then projected Judicature Act, under the title of 'Our Judicial System,' being a letter to Lord-chancellor Hatherly, dated 4 May 1870 ; a remonstrance on Sir Robert Collier's appointment to the judicial committee of the privy council in 1871 ; and a letter, dated 10 Dec. 1878, to Lord Penzance, in reply to the latter's animadversion in his judgment in the case of Combe v. Edwards upon the conduct of the chief justice and Mr. Justice Mellor in issuing a prohibition against his proceedings as ecclesiastical judge in the case of Martin v. Mackonochie.
But his most conspicuous public appearance consisted in representing the British Government under the treaty of Washington at the Alabama arbitration held at Geneva. For this duty his knowledge of international law, his perfect mastery of French, and his courtly demeanour peculiarly fitted him. The American claims were excessive and not very fairly urged, and as he dissented from the award, he explained his reasons in an elaborate report, dated 14 Sept. 1872, and presented to parliament with the award in 1873. He held the British government liable for
