umane, and high-minded system, eminently favourable to
individuals, and free from the taint of that fierce cowardice which
demands that, for the protection of society, somebody shall be punished
when a crime has been committed.' Though English lawyers are too apt to
set off 'an unreasonable hardship against an unreasonable indulgence,'
'to trump one quibble by another, and to suppose that they cannot be
wrong in practice because they are ostentatiously indifferent to
theory,' the temper of the law is, in the main, 'noble and generous.'
'No spectacle,' he says, 'can be better fitted to satisfy the bulk of
the population, to teach them to regard the Government as their friend,
and to read them lessons of truth, gentleness, moderation, and respect
for the rights of others, especially for the rights of the weak and the
wicked, than the manner in which criminal justice is generally
administered in this country.'[95]

The book produced many of those compliments to which he was becoming
accustomed, with a rather rueful sense of their small value. He could,
he says, set up a shop with the stock he had received, though, in common
honesty, he would have to warn his customers of the small practical
value of his goods. Two years hence, he thinks that a report of his
being a legal author of some reputation may have reached an attorney.
Among the warmest admirers was Willes, who called the 'View' a 'grand
book,' kept it by him on the bench, and laid down the law out of it.
Willes remarks in a murder case at the same time (March 1865) that the
prisoner has been defended 'with a force and ability which, if anything
could console one for having to take part in such a case, would do so.'
'It is a great consolation to me,' remarks Fitzjames. The local
newspaper observes on the same occasion that Fitzjames's speech for the
prisoner kept his audience listening 'in rapt attention' to one of the
ablest addresses ever delivered under such circumstances. In the
beginning of 1865 he 'obtained the consent' of his old tutor Field, now
leader on the circuit, to his giving up attendance at sessions except
upon special retainers. Altogether he is feeling more independent and
competent for his professional duties.

IX. THE 'PALL MALL GAZETTE'

At this time, however, he joined in another undertaking which for the
following five years occupied much of his thoughts. It involved labours
so regular and absorbing, that they would have been impossible ha