e
charge ere it is submitted to the grand jury, may be well conceived to
involve many niceties and refinements, on which the case may easily be
wrecked. It must also be remembered that the utmost legal ingenuity is
called into action, and the highest professional talent is engaged in
the defence of the accused. The enormous pressure upon the accused
himself, who, probably from the higher or middle classes, with ample
means at his command, an ignominious death perhaps impending, or, at
the least, imprisonment probably for years in threatening prospect
close before him; his friends active, moving heaven and earth in his
behalf, no scheme left untried, no plan or suggestion rejected, by
which it may, even in the remotest degree be possible to avert the
impending doom; the additional rancour which politics sometimes infuse
into the proceedings, the partisanship which has occasioned scenes
such as should never be exhibited in the sacred arena of the halls of
justice, animosities which give the defence the character of a party
conflict, and which cause a conviction to be looked upon as a
political defeat, and an acquittal to be regarded as a party
triumph--all these circumstances, in their combined and concentrated
force, must also be take into consideration. In such a case every step
is fought with stern and dogged resolution; even mere delay is
valuable, for when all other hope is gone, the chapter of accidents
_may_ befriend the accused; it is one chance more; and even one
chance, however slight, is not to be thrown away. Such is a faint
picture of the defensive operations on such occasions: how is this
untiring, bitter energy met by those who represent the crown?

"Look on this picture and on that."

Here all is calm, dignified, generous, and forbearing; every
consideration is shown, every indulgence is granted, to the
unfortunate being who is in jeopardy. The crown has no interest to
serve beyond that which the state possesses in the vindication of the
law, and in that cool, deliberate, and impartial administration of
justice which has so long distinguished this country. Nothing is
unduly pressed against the prisoner, but every extenuating fact is
fairly laid before the jury by the crown; it is, in short, generosity,
candor, and forbearance, on the one side, matched against craft,
cunning and the resolution _by any means_ to win, upon the other. Such
are the real difficulties which may be often felt by those who co