TRIAL BY CORSICAN JURY 27

introduced, Sir Gilbert was himself, after a years experience of its practice, obliged to consent to its abolition ; because, as he tells us, there had not been " a single instance of the conviction of any prisoner since the crown has been accepted by his Majesty, although there have been many trials in which the offence was proved in a manner to leave no degree of doubt and no possibility of innocence. This evil arises from one of the most remarkable and most rooted peculiarities in the Corsican character—I mean clanship and the attachment of blood-relationship and friendship. A Corsican is deemed infamous who does not avenge the death of his tenth cousin, and he fears the dishonour of convicting his relation or his friend, or the relation of his friend, much more than that of breaking his oath as a juror." x

For my purpose this illustration, given on the evidence of Sir Gilbert himself, is only important as showing that as in this instance, so in all, the Corsi-cans were wholly unadapted to a constitution like our own, which had been the product of centuries of struggle, gradually thereby adapting itself to the British people. Now one of the most essential conditions of our constitution is the subordination of military to civil power. The liberties of England depend on this; and the British soldier must be very ill provided with historical experience if he does not recognise that, quite as much for the happiness of the army as of the nation, the supremacy of civil law over military force is essential to the well-being of a free country, that has had such training in orderly liberty as ours has had. Very naturally, therefore, in transferring the British Constitution to Corsica Sir Gilbert

1 " Life of Sir Gilbert Elliot," vol. ii. p. 264.