The Maryport Advertiser March 10, 1882 DEATH of Mr. Edwin JAMES

DEATH of Mr. Edwin JAMES

The Maryport Advertiser - March 10, 1882

DEATH OF MR. EDWIN JAMES.    The younger generation will know nothing of Mr.  Edwin JAMES, whose death was announced on Monday; but a quarter of a century ago  he was one of the best known men in London. A member of the House of Commons and  a Queen's Counsel, he was not more distinguished by his somewhat high-flown  eloquence than by the strength of his Radical opinions at a time when Radicalism  was by no means so popular as it is now.    The friend and adviser of GARIBALDI, he reached the  culminating point of his career when he defended BERNARD on the charge of being  concerned in a plot to murder the Emperor of the French. He not only performed  his duty with success, getting his man clear, but he did it in such a manner as  to give great offence to the Emperor and the french Army. It was, indeed, after  Mr. JAMES'S speech at the Old Bailey, that the french Colonels solicited leave  to "clear out the den of assassins," so that in one sense Mr. Edwin JAMES might  be accounted the author of the Volunteer movement , as that movement undoubtedly sprang from the famous address of the french Colonels. Very soon after this stirring episode in his career, Mr. JAMES fell upon evil days. He made grave professional mistakes, was disbarred and disgraced, and went to America. He came  back a few years ago, and vainly tried to reinstate himself.    We are sorry to learn that he has died, if not in  actual want, at all events in extreme poverty.

 

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