The Law and the Lawyers [excerpt]

THE deliberation and absence of all unseemly haste which have characterised the trial of the assassin of President MCKINLEY, and the interval which will elapse between the passing of the sentence of death and the execution of the criminal, are in striking and pleasing contrast with the rapidity which marked the trial and execution of the assassin of Mr. PERCEVAL, when Prime Minister, in 1812. Mr. PERCEVAL, whose tragic ending by the pistol of an assassin in the House of Commons appeals with particular pathos to members of the Bar, since he had attained to eminence at the Bar and had filled the position of Attorney-General, was murdered on the 11th May. BELLINGHAM, his assassin, was tried, convicted, and sentenced on the 15th May. He was hanged on the 18th May, the day week [sic] on which the crime had been perpetrated.