VON BAUHR.
It will be remembered that Mr. Crabwitz was sent across from
Lincoln's Inn to Bedford Row to ascertain the present address of old
Mr. Round. "Mr. Round is at Birmingham," he said, coming back. "Every
one connected with the profession is at Birmingham, except--"
"The more fools they," said Mr. Furnival.
"I am thinking of going down myself this evening," said Mr. Crabwitz.
"As you will be out of town, sir, I suppose I can be spared?"
"You too!"
"And why not me, Mr. Furnival? When all the profession is meeting
together, why should not I be there as well as another? I hope you do
not deny me my right to feel an interest in the great subjects which
are being discussed."
"Not in the least, Mr. Crabwitz. I do not deny you your right to be
Lord Chief Justice, if you can accomplish it. But you cannot be Lord
Chief Justice and my clerk at the same time. Nor can you be in my
chambers if you are at Birmingham. I rather think I must trouble you
to remain here, as I cannot tell at what moment I may be in town
again."
"Then, sir, I'm afraid--" Mr. Crabwitz began his speech and then
faltered. He was going to tell Mr. Furnival that he must suit himself
with another clerk, when he remembered his fees, and paused. It would
be very pleasant to him to quit Mr. Furnival, but where could he get
such another place? He knew that he himself was invaluable, but then
he was invaluable only to Mr. Furnival. Mr. Furnival would be mad to
part with him, Mr. Crabwitz thought; but then would he not be almost
more mad to part with Mr. Furnival?
"Eh; well?" said Mr. Furnival.
"Oh! of course; if you desire it, Mr. Furnival, I will remain. But I
must say I think it is rather hard."
"Look here, Mr. Crabwitz; if you think my service is too hard upon
you, you had better leave it. But if you take upon yourself to
tell me so again, you must leave it. Remember that." Mr. Furnival
possessed the master mind of the two; and Mr. Crabwitz felt this as
he slunk back to his own room.
So Mr. Round also was at Birmingham, and could be seen there. This
was so far well; and Mr. Furnival, having again with ruthless malice
sent Mr. Crabwitz for a cab, at once started for the Euston Square
Station. He could master Mr. Crabwitz, and felt a certain pleasure
in having done so; but could he master Mrs. F.? That lady had on one
or two late occasions shown her anger at the existing state of her
domestic affairs, and had once previously gone so far as to make
her lord understand that she was jealous of his proceedings with
reference to other goddesses. But she had never before done this in
the presence of other people;--she had never allowed any special
goddess to see that she was the special object of such jealousy.
Now she had not only committed herself in this way, but had also
committed him, making him feel himself to be ridiculous; and it was
highly necessary that some steps should be taken;--if he only knew
what step! All which kept his mind active as he journeyed in the cab.
At the station he found three or four other lawyers, all bound for
Birmingham. Indeed, during this fortnight the whole line had been
alive with learned gentlemen going to and fro, discussing weighty
points as they rattled along the iron road, and shaking their
ponderous heads at the new ideas which were being ventilated.
Mr. Furnival, with many others--indeed, with most of those who
were so far advanced in the world as to be making bread by their
profession--was of opinion that all this palaver that was going on in
the various tongues of Babel would end as it began--in words. "Vox et
præterea nihil." To practical Englishmen most of these international
congresses seem to arrive at nothing else. Men will not be talked out
of the convictions of their lives. No living orator would convince a
grocer that coffee should be sold without chicory; and no amount of
eloquence will make an English lawyer think that loyalty to truth
should come before loyalty to his client. And therefore our own
pundits, though on this occasion they went to Birmingham, summoned by
the greatness of the occasion, by the dignity of foreign names, by
interest in the question, and by the influence of such men as Lord
Boanerges, went there without any doubt on their minds as to the
rectitude of their own practice, and fortified with strong resolves
to resist all idea of change.
And indeed one cannot understand how the bent of any man's mind
should be altered by the sayings and doings of such a congress.
"Well, Johnson, what have you all been doing to-day?" asked Mr.
Furnival of a special friend whom he chanced to meet at the club
which had been extemporized at Birmingham.
"We have had a paper read by Von Bauhr. It lasted three hours."
"Three hours! heavens! Von Bauhr is, I think, from Berlin."
"Yes; he and Dr. Slotacher. Slotacher is to read his paper the day
after to-morrow."
"Then I think I shall go to London again. But what did Von Bauhr say
to you during those three hours?"
"Of course it was all in German, and I don't suppose that any one
understood him,--unless it was Boanerges. But I believe it was the
old story, going to show that the same man might be judge, advocate,
and jury."
"No doubt;--if men were machines, and if you could find such machines
perfect at all points in their machinery."
"And if the machines had no hearts?"
"Machines don't have hearts," said Mr. Furnival; "especially those in
Germany. And what did Boanerges say? His answer did not take three
hours more, I hope."
"About twenty minutes; but what he did say was lost on Von Bauhr, who
understands as much English as I do German. He said that the practice
of the Prussian courts had always been to him a subject of intense
interest, and that the general justice of their verdicts could not be
impugned."
"Nor ought it, seeing that a single trial for murder will occupy a
court for three weeks. He should have asked Von Bauhr how much work
he usually got through in the course of a sessions. I don't seem
to have lost much by being away. By-the-by, do you happen to know
whether Round is here?"
"What, old Round? I saw him in the hall to-day yawning as though
he would burst." And then Mr. Furnival strolled off to look for
the attorney among the various purlieus frequented by the learned
strangers.
"Furnival," said another barrister, accosting him,--an elderly man,
small, with sharp eyes and bushy eyebrows, dirty in his attire and
poor in his general appearance, "have you seen Judge Staveley?" This
was Mr. Chaffanbrass, great at the Old Bailey, a man well able to
hold his own in spite of the meanness of his appearance. At such a
meeting as this the English bar generally could have had no better
representative than Mr. Chaffanbrass.
"No; is he here?"
"He must be here. He is the only man they could find who knows enough
Italian to understand what that fat fellow from Florence will say
to-morrow."
"We're to have the Italian to-morrow, are we?"
"Yes; and Staveley afterwards. It's as good as a play; only, like
all plays, it's three times too long. I wonder whether anybody here
believes in it?"
"Yes, Felix Graham does."
"He believes everything--unless it is the Bible. He is one of
those young men who look for an instant millennium, and who regard
themselves not only as the prophets who foretell it, but as the
preachers who will produce it. For myself, I am too old for a new
gospel, with Felix Graham as an apostle."
"They say that Boanerges thinks a great deal of him."
"That can't be true, for Boanerges never thought much of any one but
himself. Well, I'm off to bed, for I find a day here ten times more
fatiguing than the Old Bailey in July."
On the whole the meeting was rather dull, as such meetings usually
are. It must not be supposed that any lawyer could get up at will, as
the spirit moved him, and utter his own ideas; or that all members of
the congress could speak if only they could catch the speaker's eye.
Had this been so, a man might have been supported by the hope of
having some finger in the pie, sooner or later. But in such case the
congress would have lasted for ever. As it was, the names of those
who were invited to address the meeting were arranged, and of course
men from each country were selected who were best known in their own
special walks of their profession. But then these best-known men
took an unfair advantage of their position, and were ruthless in the
lengthy cruelty of their addresses. Von Bauhr at Berlin was no doubt
a great lawyer, but he should not have felt so confident that the
legal proceedings of England and of the civilised world in general
could be reformed by his reading that book of his from the rostrum
in the hall at Birmingham! The civilised world in general, as there
represented, had been disgusted, and it was surmised that poor Dr.
Slotacher would find but a meagre audience when his turn came.
At last Mr. Furnival succeeded in hunting up Mr. Round, and found him
recruiting outraged nature with a glass of brandy and water and a
cigar. "Looking for me, have you? Well, here I am; that is to say,
what is left of me. Were you in the hall to-day?"
"No; I was up in town."
"Ah! that accounts for your being so fresh. I wish I had been there.
Do you ever do anything in this way?" and Mr. Round touched the
outside of his glass of toddy with his spoon. Mr. Furnival said that
he never did do anything in that way, which was true. Port wine was
his way, and it may be doubted whether on the whole it is not the
more dangerous way of the two. But Mr. Furnival, though he would
not drink brandy and water or smoke cigars, sat down opposite to Mr.
Round, and had soon broached the subject which was on his mind.
"Yes," said the attorney, "it is quite true that I had a letter on
the subject from Mr. Mason. The lady is not wrong in supposing that
some one is moving in the matter."
"And your client wishes you to take up the case again?"
"No doubt he does. He was not a man that I ever greatly liked, Mr.
Furnival, though I believe he means well. He thinks that he has been
ill used; and perhaps he was ill used--by his father."
"But that can be no possible reason for badgering the life out of his
father's widow twenty years after his father's death!"
"Of course he thinks that he has some new evidence. I can't say I
looked into the matter much myself. I did read the letter; but that
was all, and then I handed it to my son. As far as I remember, Mr.
Mason said that some attorney at Hamworth had been to him."
"Exactly; a low fellow whom you would be ashamed to see in your
office! He fancies that young Mason has injured him; and though he
has received numberless benefits from Lady Mason, this is the way in
which he chooses to be revenged on her son."
"We should have nothing to do with such a matter as that, you know.
It's not our line."
"No, of course it is not; I am well aware of that. And I am equally
well aware that nothing Mr. Mason can do can shake Lady Mason's
title, or rather her son's title, to the property. But, Mr. Round, if
he be encouraged to gratify his malice--"
"If who be encouraged?"
"Your client, Mr. Mason of Groby;--there can be no doubt that he
might harass this unfortunate lady till he brought her nearly to the
grave."
"That would be a pity, for I believe she's still an uncommon pretty
woman." And the attorney indulged in a little fat inward chuckle;
for in these days Mr. Furnival's taste with reference to strange
goddesses was beginning to be understood by the profession.
"She is a very old friend of mine," said Mr. Furnival, gravely, "a
very old friend indeed; and if I were to desert her now, she would
have no one to whom she could look."
"Oh, ah, yes; I'm sure you're very kind;" and Mr. Round altered his
face and tone, so that they might be in conformity with those of his
companion. "Anything I can do, of course I shall be very happy. I
should be slow, myself, to advise my client to try the matter again,
but to tell the truth anything of this kind would go to my son now. I
did read Mr. Mason's letter, but I immediately handed it to Matthew."
"I will tell you how you can oblige me, Mr. Round."
"Do tell me; I am sure I shall be very happy."
"Look into this matter yourself, and talk it over with Mr. Mason
before you allow anything to be done. It is not that I doubt your
son's discretion. Indeed we all know what an exceedingly good man of
business he is."
"Matthew is sharp enough," said the prosperous father.
"But then young men are apt to be too sharp. I don't know whether you
remember the case about that Orley Farm, Mr. Round."
"As well as if it were yesterday," said the attorney.
"Then you must recollect how thoroughly you were convinced that your
client had not a leg to stand upon."
"It was I that insisted that he should not carry it before the
Chancellor. Crook had the general management of those cases then, and
would have gone on; but I said, no. I would not see my client's money
wasted in such a wild-goose chase. In the first place the property
was not worth it; and in the next place there was nothing to impugn
the will. If I remember right it all turned on whether an old man who
had signed as witness was well enough to write his name."
"That was the point."
"And I think it was shown that he had himself signed a receipt on
that very day--or the day after, or the day before. It was something
of that kind."
"Exactly; those were the facts. As regards the result of a new trial,
no sane man, I fancy, could have any doubt. You know as well as any
one living how great is the strength of twenty years of possession--"
"It would be very strong on her side, certainly."
"He would not have a chance; of course not. But, Mr. Round, he might
make that poor woman so wretched that death would be a relief to her.
Now it may be possible that something looking like fresh evidence
may have been discovered; something of this kind probably has been
found, or this man would not be moving; he would not have gone to the
expense of a journey to Yorkshire had he not got hold of some new
story."
"He has something in his head; you may be sure of that."
"Don't let your son be run away with by this, or advise your client
to incur the terrible expense of a new trial, without knowing what
you are about. I tell you fairly that I do dread such a trial on this
poor lady's account. Reflect what it would be, Mr. Round, to any lady
of your own family."
"I don't think Mrs. Round would mind it much; that is, if she were
sure of her case."
"She is a strong-minded woman; but poor Lady Mason--."
"She was strong-minded enough too, if I remember right, at the last
trial. I shall never forget how composed she was when old Bennett
tried to shake her evidence. Do you remember how bothered he was?"
"He was an excellent lawyer,--was Bennett. There are few better men
at the bar now-a-days."
"You wouldn't have found him down here, Mr. Furnival, listening to a
German lecture three hours long. I don't know how it is, but I think
we all used to work harder in those days than the young men do now."
And then these eulogists of past days went back to the memories of
their youths, declaring how in the old glorious years, now gone, no
congress such as this would have had a chance of success. Men had
men's work to do then, and were not wont to play the fool, first at
one provincial town and then at another, but stuck to their oars and
made their fortunes. "It seems to me, Mr. Furnival," said Mr. Round,
"that this is all child's play, and to tell the truth I am half
ashamed of myself for being here."
"And you'll look into that matter yourself, Mr. Round?"
"Yes, I will, certainly."
"I shall take it as a great favour. Of course you will advise your
client in accordance with any new facts which may be brought before
you; but as I feel certain that no case against young Mason can have
any merits, I do hope that you will be able to suggest to Mr. Mason
of Groby that the matter should be allowed to rest." And then Mr.
Furnival took his leave, still thinking how far it might be possible
that the enemy's side of the question might be supported by real
merits. Mr. Round was a good-natured old fellow, and if the case
could be inveigled out of his son's hands and into his own, it might
be possible that even real merits should avail nothing.
"I confess I am getting rather tired of it," said Felix Graham that
evening to his friend young Staveley, as he stood outside his bedroom
door at the top of a narrow flight of stairs in the back part of a
large hotel at Birmingham.
"Tired of it! I should think you are too."
"But nevertheless I am as sure as ever that good will come from it.
I am inclined to think that the same kind of thing must be endured
before any improvement is made in anything."
"That all reformers have to undergo Von Bauhr?"
"Yes, all of them that do any good. Von Bauhr's words were very dry,
no doubt."
"You don't mean to say that you understood them?"
"Not many of them. A few here and there, for the first half-hour,
came trembling home to my dull comprehension, and then--"
"You went to sleep."
"The sounds became too difficult for my ears; but dry and dull and
hard as they were, they will not absolutely fall to the ground. He
had a meaning in them, and that meaning will reproduce itself in some
shape."
"Heaven forbid that it should ever do so in my presence! All the
iniquities of which the English bar may be guilty cannot be so
intolerable to humanity as Von Bauhr."
"Well, good-night, old fellow; your governor is to give us his ideas
to-morrow, and perhaps he will be as bad to the Germans as your Von
Bauhr was to us."
"Then I can only say that my governor will be very cruel to the
Germans." And so they two went to their dreams.
In the mean time Von Bauhr was sitting alone looking back on the past
hours with ideas and views very different from those of the many
English lawyers who were at that time discussing his demerits. To him
the day had been one long triumph, for his voice had sounded sweet
in his own ears as, period after period, he had poured forth in full
flowing language the gathered wisdom and experience of his life.
Public men in England have so much to do that they cannot give time
to the preparation of speeches for such meetings as these, but Von
Bauhr had been at work on his pamphlet for months. Nay, taking it in
the whole, had he not been at work on it for years? And now a kind
Providence had given him the opportunity of pouring it forth before
the assembled pundits gathered from all the nations of the civilised
world.
As he sat there, solitary in his bedroom, his hands dropped down by
his side, his pipe hung from his mouth on to his breast, and his
eyes, turned up to the ceiling, were lighted almost with inspiration.
Men there at the congress, Mr. Chaffanbrass, young Staveley, Felix
Graham, and others, had regarded him as an impersonation of dullness;
but through his mind and brain, as he sat there wrapped in his old
dressing-gown, there ran thoughts which seemed to lift him lightly
from the earth into an elysium of justice and mercy. And at the
end of this elysium, which was not wild in its beauty, but trim
and orderly in its gracefulness,--as might be a beer-garden at
Munich,--there stood among flowers and vases a pedestal, grand above
all other pedestals in that garden; and on this there was a bust with
an inscription:--"To Von Bauhr, who reformed the laws of nations."
It was a grand thought; and though there was in it much of human
conceit, there was in it also much of human philanthropy. If a reign
of justice could be restored through his efforts--through those
efforts in which on this hallowed day he had been enabled to make
so great a progress--how beautiful would it be! And then as he sat
there, while the smoke still curled from his unconscious nostrils, he
felt that he loved all Germans, all Englishmen, even all Frenchmen,
in his very heart of hearts, and especially those who had travelled
wearily to this English town that they might listen to the results
of his wisdom. He said to himself, and said truly, that he loved
the world, and that he would willingly spend himself in these great
endeavours for the amelioration of its laws and the perfection of its
judicial proceedings. And then he betook himself to bed in a frame of
mind that was not unenviable.
[Illustration: Von Bauhr's Dream.]
I am inclined, myself, to agree with Felix Graham that such efforts
are seldom absolutely wasted. A man who strives honestly to do good
will generally do good, though seldom perhaps as much as he has
himself anticipated. Let Von Bauhr have his pedestal among the
flowers, even though it be small and humble!