August 1862. When, in 1864, he was secretary of state, General Johnston declared that the confederate cause could never succeed so long as he remained minister. He was generally blamed for the part he took in raising a loan from France, and in the construction of some 'rams' in that country, measures attributed to the fact that the daughter of Slidell, then envoy at Paris, had married a French banker (Draper, iii. 290). On the failure of the commissioners sent to Fortress Monroe to treat for peace, Benjamin made a spirited speech at a meeting held at Richmond, urging his hearers to liberate all slaves who would join the ranks of the army, and declaring that his own slaves had asked to be allowed to fight.
On the fall of the Confederacy Benjamin fled from Richmond. His adventures in his escape from Richmond to England were of a romantic kind. Mr. Davis left Richmond after the news of Lee's surrender at Appomattox court-house, accompanied by the members of his cabinet. On leaving Greensborough. North Carolina, on 12 April 1865, Benjamin, to whom corpulence had made riding difficult, insisted tnat an ambulance should be found for him, and in this he rode with his brother-in-law, M. Jules St. Martin, and General Cooper. The roads were in very bad condition, and the conveyance often stuck fast in mud holes, and fell behind the rest of the train. The roads getting worse he rode on a tall horse from Abbeville, in South Carolina, to the other side of the Savannah river, and then, unable to ride further, or scenting danger from so large a party, he, on 4 May 1865, made for the sea coast, intending, says Davis, 'to make his way by Cuba to Mexico, and thence to Texas, to join me, wherever, with such troops as might be assembled, I should be at the anticipated time; and still hopeful that it might be a more successful struggle in the future.' He carried with him an army certificate and free pass to all confederate officers certifying him a French subject, and it was agreed that if he fell in with any federal troops he was to keep up the deception by using French, which language he spoke like a native. 'So long as he remained with us,' says Harrison, 'his cheery good humour and readiness to adapt himself to the requirements of all emergencies made him a most agreeable comrade ' (B. N. Harrison, in Century Magazine November 1888, The Capture of Jeff. Davis ; Interview with Mr. Jefferson Davis in Manchester Guardian, 8 Aug. 1884). Ill luck pursued him. He escaped from the coast of Florida to the Bahamas in a leaky open boat ; 'Sailed thence in a vessel laden with sponges for Nassau, and after being wrecked on the way was picked up by a British man-of-war and carried into St. Thomas. The steamer in which he sailed thence for England caught fire and had to put back. By this time the final collapse of the Confederacy was known, and Benjamin went into exile as a deflated rebel.
He landed in Liverpool almost penniless. With the exception of a small sum of under 3,000/. remitted to England, all his fortune was lost or confiscated. A small portion of his real estate was indeed overlooked in the confiscations, but this was not sold till 1883. On the confiscation of his property his friends bought in his law library. He entered as a student at Lincoln's Inn on 13 Jan. 1866, and at once began the study of English law in the pupil-room of Mr. Charles Pollock, The interest of Lords Justices Gifiard and Turner, Vice-Chancellor Page Wood (afterwards Lord Hatherley) and Sir Fitzroy Kelly procured him a dispensation from the usual three years of studentship, and he was called to the English bar 6 June 1866 at the age of fifty-five. He at once joined the old Northern Circuit. Here he was befriended by Quain and Holker, then leaders of the circuit, but for some time got little practice, His first, and for some time his only clients, were Messrs. Stone, Fletcher, & Hull, of Liverpool, who through their London agents introduced him to London work. Mr. Brett was his first leader, and he was congratulated on his first brief on his first circuit by Lord Justice Lush. misfortune, however, seemed to attend him wherever he went. What little was saved from the wreck of his property in America he lost in Messrs. Overend & Gumey's failure in 1866, and he was compelled to resort to journalism for a livelihood.
In 1868 appeared his work on the contract of sale, the classic upon this subject in Engish law, a book at once more scientific in its treatment and more clear and useful for the purposes of a practitioner than almost any other. Its success was immediate and complete both in England and America, Baron Martin constantly quoted it with approval. A second edition appeared in 1873, and a third, the revision of a portion of which was Benjamin's last task before his health gave way, was brought out in 1883. His practice now grew rapidly. He was already a 'Palatine silk' for the county of Lancaster, and although he met a slight check by the 'refusal of his application for the rank of queen's counsel, when, in January 1872, a large number of juniors received 'silk,' it was soon retrieved. A few months later, in arguing Potter v. Rankin in the House of Lords, he so impressed Lord Hatherley that he shortly
